http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:daniel21&section=today deviantART RSS for by:daniel21 en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:37:49 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/16920143/ http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/16920143/ Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:23:52 PST
I want to do more portrait work. If you enjoy having photos taken of yourself, volunteer, so I can be less rubbish at portrait photography! I'll buy you candy or a Porsche or something as a reward.

For Christmas, I was given a new tripod (cool!) but quickly realised by reading the box that it wasn't going to be anywhere near suitable for my camera (d'oh!). With a maximum weight of 2kg, and a camera that weighs a little over 2 on a good day and up to 2.5 with all bits tacked on, I needed to do the dreaded "heyyy.... can I have the receipt so I can return this?". I managed to essentially white lie to the guys at JB Hi Fi, and went to my favorite camera store in the city and paid the difference to purchase a shiny new Manfrotto 190. It should last me a very long time indeed.

Other stuff I need to grab when I can be bothered shelling out for it:

Remote release switch (If anyone knows where I can get an el-cheapo one for a 350D, please reply to this and let me know! I don't really want to pay $80 for something that costs $2.50 to make). I've seen the schematics, and they're dead simple, but I'm rubbish with a soldering iron.

Polarising filter: I do loads of landscape photography, and I don't have a filter. Very, very slack indeed.

As far as non-photography stuff goes, I finished uni, averaging a distinction. Yippee! Graduation is in a month, and I've ordered my tight threads for the occasion (regalia... I'll look such a tool).

So yes, everything is pretty much dandy. Hopefully I'll post another one of these in less than a year. :-s

]]> ~daniel21 http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/11692461/ http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/11692461/ Mon, 05 Feb 2007 03:50:44 PST
One;

I have realised that I don't do nearly enough wide angle photography. There is a reason for this, and it's my cheap 18-55 stock lens from my Canon EOS350D. I hate using it, because it is plastic-y and the photos it produces have chromatic aberration and are generally soft.

Solution:

[link]


Two;
I got my Uni results back.
I win at academia :-p


Expect more new stuff soon. I promise. Really.

]]> ~daniel21 http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/11047477/ http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/11047477/ Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:06:39 PST
Point One: I'm on uni holidays! Hurrah! Now I get to work a lot and not really get a lot of time off (until Christmas, anyway).

Point Two: Because of Point One, working a lot gives me large amounts of disposable income. Instead of spending it all on pyramid schemes, I decided to buy a laptop for uni next year. I perused, browsed and pondered, finally deciding on a MacBook (gasp!). It's tiny, it's really fast, etc... It also looks hot. I swore black and blue once that I'd never own a Mac, so seeing it on my desk every day is like a trip to an alternate bizzaro world where my evil twin killed me and took my place. Using OS X is like taking a holiday to a really pleasant place where everyone is really nice and its sunny all the time, to describe it in non computery terms.

Point Three: I need to take more photos. I promise I will soon. I'm going to try some more rural-rustic-landscape-at-sunset-with-pretty lighting, because I totally dig late afternoon light. I have locations in mind, all i need to do is wait for an afternoon with the right sort of cloud cover, drive there, and take them.

Point Four: Adobe Lightroom is officially made of awesome. If you hate the way you get photos off your camera, play with them in photo shop, save them, etc, Lightroom is for you. Essentially, the idea is non-destructive editing; the original files are imported from a folder that you monitor with Lightroom (automatically, if you wish) and changes are saved non-distructively; Lightroom tags each photo with a 'recipe' - a set of instructions to apply to the photo when it opens it, such as curves, hue, colour temperature etc. Your originals are safe for later editing, and Lighroom handles your workflow. Go. Download it. Free beta. Everything is done for you;

[link]

Point Five:
Very happy non-denominational holiday greetings to you all!

Point Six:
I keep listening to Snow Patrol. Someone suggest something else to listen to, I think iTunes will soon become self aware and attack me if I play "Hands Open" one more time.

]]> ~daniel21 http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/10409181/ http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/10409181/ Mon, 16 Oct 2006 06:44:08 PDT I probably won't be posting a whole heap of new stuff until its all over, unless I have a major procrastination attack and decide I want to go for a walk with my camera. This probably means I will be posting new stuff at some point.

I probably should have written something about it earlier, but I finally got a proper proper flash (Canon Speedlie 430ex) for my SLR for my birhtday (which was, oh, what, 2 months ago now?).

It has been excellent so far! Bounce flash is quite useful, and never having to do red eye removal ever again is a real frustration saver!

Anyway, anyone else out there who is studying, Uni, TEE or otherwise, good luck, and I'll see you on the other side of it all!

]]> ~daniel21 http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/9413345/ http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/9413345/ Tue, 18 Jul 2006 06:44:20 PDT
Also, I've hit only a couple of the spots to photograph in my previous post... here's hoping I can do a few more before Uni is back on... ]]> ~daniel21 http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/9196939/ http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/9196939/ Tue, 27 Jun 2006 07:46:08 PDT
The plan is to work enough during the uni mid year break so i can afford a new lens for my camera (Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM) which will give me a far, far better range and optical quality than the included kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm), which tends to be very soft, especially around the edges. The 50mm EF has stayed on my camera most of the time, over the 18-55. It has simple Gaussian optics. For a $150 lens, I really cant complain at all. I shot a 21st with it (samples up in scraps), and most of the photos were brilliant, even at ISO 800 and F2. I think I've finally got 'in the dark' operation of my EOS350D, after a month and a bit of ownership.

Photography trips/ideas I’ve got in mind for the break:

*That boat shed on Stirling Highway. I know, I know, it's the most heavily photographed boat shed in the southern hemisphere, but it's location just lends itself to good composition.

*Walk around the UWA campus and do some architecture shots. UWA campus rocks my world, profusely.

*Freshwater Bay/Peppermint Grove. Plenty of interesting sites, and some lovely older houses. Easy to do shots of yachts out on the bay.

*Sunset at Cottesloe beach looking south towards the Indiana Tea House.

*Long exposure at night of after mentioned tea house.

*Long exposure of Lake Monger at night.

*Some good storm photography (if we get a good lightning storm)

*It's been done hundreds of times before, but Kings Park.

*Get up into the hills (Mundaring, etc). Shots back towards Perth, and maybe some stuff around the dams.

*Random walks through the city, with the 28-135 on the camera, after I procure it.

*The Zoo?

And if you're a uni student on break, reading this, and you love photography, get out there now, take photos, while you can ]]> ~daniel21 http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/8928104/ http://daniel21.deviantart.com/journal/8928104/ Wed, 31 May 2006 07:46:52 PDT
Whatever I do, I can't seem to take a decent photo of myself. I always look... well... like i'm thinking about what i'm doing (composition, lighting) as the shutter does its thing. I know that I can get somebody else to take a picture of me, but that would be cheating, wouldn't it?

Any suggestions would be welcomed with much appreciation. ]]> ~daniel21