Introducing the Technology & Camera Creatives Group – a meetup group Kevin Owocki and I are co-founding here in Boulder, Colorado. The group was born from an obvious and increasingly present intersection of technology and photography in our everyday lives. We thought it was finally time to have a formal group in Boulder to discuss these intersections, and make the most of it.
The Technology & Camera Creatives Group will meet on a monthly basis in Boulder, Colorado, USA and is open to anybody interesting in learning, teaching, networking, and enjoying the creative and technological fringes of photography, media, and technology.
Our first meetup is this coming Wednesday – details are at Meetup.com. Stop by our next event, share what you’ve been working on, and get inspired! This week, I’ll be showcasing a bit of my photography taken in freezing temperatures in Antarctica, as well as will be discussing how lightfield photography works, and showcasing the latest Lytro Illum camera system.
Recently a blog reader wrote to me about my photos taken with the Sony RX-100, as well as my creative process. Here’s the exchange:
Hi Jeffrey
I have done quite a lot of looking at people's photos using the RX100 and I can say without exaggeration that yours are the best I have seen by far. I find it incredible that all the photos in this post
https://www.jeffreydonenfeld.com/blog/2013/07/traveling-through-australia-new-zealand-southeast-asia-and-japan-summer-2013/ were all taken with this camera.
Great work and a pleasure to view, thanks for all your hard work posting these images.
If I could ask one question, you state shoot RAW and then process, do you find a lot more dynamic range in the RAW shots and do you have any quick fix settings for to get you in the ball park or do you process each one according to taste?
I took this camera to China and got some of my favourite photos with it but generally shot JPGs. Do you process each photo or just the keepers?
-Simon
Simon –
Thanks for checking out my pics, I’m glad you liked them. You might also be interested in these items –
In general I find I have better flexibility when shooting in RAW – both for the dynamic range, as well as range and purity of white balance. Additionally, for archival purposes I like to have as pure of a file as possible. In many cases my old images have been found by people wishing to purchase them or use them in media productions, and the ability to re-edit to suit a client’s needs has proven useful. Memory is cheap nowadays, and it’s trivially easy to carry a pocket of SD cards around and just keep ripping away full blast.
I don’t apply any blanked develop settings, and usually quickly apply basic copyright info to the metadata on import (I use lightroom, latest version whatever that is). I then usually do one or two passes of stars to edit down to what I feel like is a good workable set, and then edit those. As I’m editing, I’ll sometimes eliminate another 1/4 of the photos that I don’t feel like I can get totally there with an edit. From the other 3/4 that get edited, I upload those to flickr, and then usually embed about 1/2 of them in the related blog post.
Generally with coherent sets of photos (like for a given trip or event), I’ll try to keep the general feeling and editing style of each photo similar, but I do them each individually by hand. Occasionally I’ll cut/paste develop settings from one to another, usually if the images are very similar, or I’m showing a progression and want to focus on that instead of the distinctness of any one photo.
Let me know if ya have any other questions, and send me a link to your photos from china!
During the past year, I spent 3.5 months living and working at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica, and then traveled solo through Southeast Asia. At my side consistently through my year of extreme adventure was the best pocket camera I’ve ever used, the Sony RX-100. Now that I’ve returned, here’s a quick portfolio of photos I’ve taken in the last year with the camera.
Inquiries can be directed to me at Hello@JeffreyDonenfeld.com
Traveling with the Sony RX100 turned out to be great. I had loved shooting with that camera at the south pole, and shooting with it while traveling was just as good. It’s very small – I can fit it in the pockets of my jeans. Yet, it still has full manual control of all camera functions, and just barely enough hand controls on the body to make it relatively easy to handle while shooting. Additionally, the other extremely important factor for me while shooting was the responsiveness – and the RX100 is great with that – controls feel snappy and responsive, and the feel of pushing the shutter button is tight. Not quite as instant and seamless as the controls on my SLR, but pretty darn close. When I’m shooting with my SLR, I know it well enough and it’s responsive enough that I can easily stop paying attention to using the camera, and devote full attention to shooting photos. With the Sony RX100, I’d say I can get about 75% of the way to fully forgetting about the camera. Not perfect, but pretty darn good for a compact.
The RX100 takes great quality pictures, and I loved shooting on it. I shot mostly with it on Manual mode, taking RAW files. Occasionally i would have moments of laziness and shoot in Aperture priority or Program mode, but for the most part it was manual. Also, I assigned one of the settings memories to a low quality reference image mode – shooting JPG at a small picture size, full automatic, with a locked in high ISO of 3200. I used this mode for quickly shooting reference images, only for my use – pictures of descriptive signs, menus, receipts, business cards, maps, and other things I wanted to be able to refer back to while editing, but didn’t want to burn too much memory card space on. I didn’t delete any photos.
C-17 Globemaster III from New Zealand to AntarcticaFlying over the Transantarctic MountainsTaking in the view in an LC-130 Hercules over the South Pole, AntarcticaDeploying Neutrino Sensors for the Askaryan Radio Array, South PoleFuel Tanker docked at McMurdo Station, AntarcticaAngkor Wat, IndonesiaShan State, MyanmarKyoto, JapanBorobudur, IndonesiaMandalay, MyanmarKomodo, IndonesiaBangkok, ThailandTonsai, ThailandMt. Cook, New ZealandThe late summer growth was amazing, lots of hues of green and brown set against the crumbling piles of rock. Arthurs Pass, New Zealand
Antarctica
C-17 Globemaster III from New Zealand to Antarctica
Flying over the Transantarctic Mountains https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8184154641/in/set-72157632973563889
Taking in the view in an LC-130 Hercules over the South Pole, Antarctica https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8197937055/in/set-72157632973563889
Deploying Neutrino Sensors for the Askaryan Radio Array, South Pole https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8395485013/in/set-72157632973563889
Fuel Tanker docked at McMurdo Station, Antarctica https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8496076961/in/set-72157632973563889
Southeast Asia
Angkor Wat, Indonesia https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/9526686932/in/set-72157636058352725
I recently had an online conversation with old friend Dakota Blair. It had been a while since we talked, and so there was a lot to catch up on – where we’re both working now, life events, tech news, etc. Throughout the course of the conversation, in response to about half of the questions Dakota asked me, I found myself sending him links to blog posts I’d written in the past. For example, my response to “what are you currently doing for work” was simply “here, check out this blog post”, with a link to the blog post in which I detailed exactly who I’m working for, and what I’m doing – complete with links to everything, list of clients, etc. I had already taken the time to answer that question in full, and so instead of typing out the answer again, a simple link answered the question fully. I love this method for answering question. Not because pushes people away, but because it allows me to remain closer and have more detailed conversations with people. Instead of my hacking out a half-assed response to that question, I can now simply send the link and give full answer. Less energy for me, more room for detail, closer relationships.
In explaining this methodology to Dakota, he aptly made reference to the “Don’t Repeat Yourself” (DRY) principle for software development, which simply states:
“Every piece of knowledge must have a single, unambiguous, authoritative representation within a system.”
For me, my own DRY Principle universal knowledge base is my blog. And thank you for reading it. :)
Recently, I wrote about the decision making process for selecting a new pocket camera. I finally decided on the Canon SD780 IS digital camera, and after a couple months of average use of the camera, I’ve gotten to know a bit of its strengths and weaknesses.
I’ve owned Canon compact digital cameras ever since the Canon S100 came out. This is by far the smallest one I’ve owned, but maybe not the highest quality photos.
Size
For size, this is the one to get. It’s super small and slick, and all of the buttons are recessed and stripped down. When going out with it in my pocket, it takes up almost no space, and easily fits in my front pocket. This is the easiest camera to carry. Also, since the body is mostly metal and has an integrated lens cover, when it’s rustling around in your pocket with change or keys, it simply scratches, without denting or harming the camera. I’ve actually grown to love the various scratches and “character” my perfectly working camera has picked up. I also have a small neoprene Walk On Water case I use when tossing it in my bag.
Photos
The lens on this camera is very small, and so is the sensor – however, Canon managed to squeeze in 12.1 Megapixels. I think this is definitely overkill for this camera. The photos it makes are large, but there’s often a little more noise than I’d like. I think this camera could have been really great with the same sized sensor, but only 6 megapixels of resolution – but a much higher quality overall image. For pocket snaps, I really don’t feel the need for huge image sizes, and would much rather have really great looking pictures, and/or really high sensitivity potential. However, for casual snaps and playing around, the camera is good enough quality.
Videos
The 720P HD video mode is where this camera really shines. With a quick flick of the mode switch, the camera starts taking widescreen 16:9 HD video, complete with sound. Recording length is only limited by the size of the card, and since it takes removable SDHC cards, recording time is virtually unlimited. Since this camera goes for only $249 MSRP, it’s one of the better, more flexible pocket HD video cams. I’ve often seen friends using a Flip Mino HD video camera, which pales in comparison. The closest matching Flip camera is the Mino HD 120 minute, which seems to be about the size of the 780Is, and costs $229 MSRP. The Mino HD only shoots two hours of footage at a time, at which point you have to plug it in to your computer and offload the video before you can shoot again – it only has 8gb of memory. The 780IS, with its replaceable SDHC cards, can keep on shooting. I have a 32gb card in mine, which is more than enough. Also, with the 780IS, you also have an awesome still camera, with the full host of features. The Flip Mino HD is slightly easier to use than the Canon, but, I’d rather have the features and flexibility of the Canon over the stipped down simplicity of the Flip. The actual video that it shoots, at 720P/30fps, looks great. It’s nice and sharp in good light, and retains its brightness in low light, by way of higher iso. The higher iso does get a bit grainy, but the video in low light is still usable. Sound is decent, standard mono sound, and I’ve noticed that the sound recording on this camera doesn’t seem to clip as much as the sound on some previous cameras I’ve had.
I recently took a vacation to Alaska. It was a great escape from the city, and an awesome return to the backcountry for my Brother and I, who have both spend time backpacking there. There are a few photos in this blog post, and the rest of them, including captions describing most of the trip, can be found over on flickr. Check out all the Alaska photos.
The view from our kitchen in the backcountry of Denali State Park
During the trip, I took about 700 pictures, along with a few videos. My father also took a couple hundred, as did my brother. I actually uploaded all the photos to flickr, but I think for the sake of time and giving you a good overview of the trip, I’m only making the top 50 or so publicly accessable. If you would like to see more photos from a particular section of the trip, or if you’re planning a trip to the AK and want to know more about any particular section of it, just let me know. I’d be happy to open up more photos and videos.
Throughout the trip, I carried my Garmin eTrex Vista HCx GPS with me, with rechargeable batteries and a 1gb micro SD Card. It was set to record a track log every 30 seconds, and was on for most of the trip. Additionally, for road navigation, I as using Garmin’s US Road Atlas 2008. The whole system worked very well. I made sure to synchronize the clock in my camera, as well as my fathers and brothers cameras to the clock in the gps, so that all time stamps line up.
We took a flight with Talkeetna Air Taxi around the mountains in Denali National Park. The maximum altitude for the plane was 10,000 feet, but Denali tops out around 20,000 feet. The whole flight we were flying very very close to the steep walls of the mountains.
When I got home, I successfully merged the GPS track log with the EXIF data on the photos, and Geotagged each photos. If you go to the flickr photo set, you’ll see a map link on each photo, which will show you on a map approx where the photo was taken. The gps is typically accurate to about 7 feet, and since it takes a track log recording every 30 seconds, if i was moving while shooting, depending on how fast i was moving (500+ mph in the air, 2mph hiking, etc), the location could be off a bit.
Extending the geocoding of the pictures a little further, I used Jet Photo studio to create this interactive photo gallery, with the Google Maps API. Each photo is placed on the map at around where it was taken. Additionally, all the (public) photos have map links, which will place them on the map.
These flowers were blooming in a recently burned down forest. Regrowth and renewal.
Media Links:
Flickr photoset of Alaska 2008. If you’re a friend of mine on flickr, you should be able to see slightly more pictures than what I’ve made public.
During the backcountry portion of the trip, my brother and I found a crashed NOAA Weather Balloon with an attached Radiosonde. I’m writing about that in a separate post.
We made a bunch of friends in Alaska. Here’s the blurbs on a few of them…
Andy Morrision runs Alaska Backcountry Access, his own outdoor guide company. Andy is a great guide, and does a ton of trips. We went jet boating up the river, and kayaking with him
Rachel Drinkard lives in Girdwood, and works as a reporter and writer. Her blog, Anarchy in the AK, covers all sorts of Alaskan issues and stories. She came boating and kayaking with us.
Ron Tenny and his wife Michelle run the Hidden Creek Bed and Breakfast, and were very hospitable to us. We had a great time staying there, an awesome breakfast, and fun discussing the area, and the industry with Ron and his son and daughter.
In Girdwood, we grabbed a relaxing dinner and felt like locals at Chair 5.
The marina in Seward, Alaska. The Chugatch mountains are jutting out in the background.
And for the videos – I’m posting up two videos to this post, but there are many more – including the full footage from the weather balloon. Those will go up in a bit, after I’m done editing them together etc.
Ermine Hill, Denali State Park, Alaska
Taking a break on after hiking to the top of Ermine Hill, a small peak within the Kesugi Ridge, in Denali State Park, Alaska. The view up there was incredible, and the terrain made us feel like we were on another planet. After finding a weather balloon crashed, I kept on expecting to find a lunar rover or something.
Flying Next To Denali
During our flight with Talkeetna Air Taxi, we flew right next to Denali, making sharp turns to weave in and out of the peaks, and through the clouds.
Introducing the Technology & Camera Creatives Group – a meetup group Kevin Owocki and I are co-founding here in Boulder, Colorado. The group was born from an obvious and increasingly present intersection of technology and photography in our everyday lives. We thought it was finally time to have a formal group in Boulder to discuss these intersections, and make the most of it.
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