Random Graffiti

Just some random graffiti that appeared on a rest room door that caught my attention. Have a great weekend!

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The best part about digital photography is the fact that it no longer costs a fortune in film and processing to take the thousands of images you need to experiment and learn the art of photography. A few years ago I took a cruise down south and spent over $1000 on pro slide film and processing. For that amount now, you can buy a decent SLR camera with two lenses, a few cards and take as many pictures as you want!

The sad fact of digital imaging that most people forget (until it happens to you) is that with one computer hard drive crash you can lose years upon years of precious memories.

You need a backup plan.

With all the nice aspects of digital photography, the one benefit of negatives and slides is you could throw them in a drawer and forget about them....until your kids find them years later and make fun you.

Making Copies

Currently the most economical method for backing up large amounts of data is an external hard drive, which costs roughly $100 for terabyte of space. Burnable DVD's and CD's are okay if you are a casual shooter, just get in the habit of burning two copies, in case one fails (go ahead, get one wet or leave it in the sun and see what I am talking about, they are not a very permanent media!).

Hard drives being relatively cheap, I always make sure I always have two copies of everything from the moment I transfer my files to the computer.

I have dual hard drive system in the computer that automatically make copies of themselves (or RAID for the computer geeks in the crowd). I will go through everything and make sure to delete obvious mistakes and bad photos, as there is no need to keep them, let alone letting them take up space in your backup system.

I tend to sort and name all photos in folders by date and there are some great software packages out there for managing your images and cutting out the amount of time you actually have to sit in front of a screen (Adobe Photoshop Lightroom being my personal fav, but that's for another column....).

Once a month, or when the drives are getting full, I move everything off the main computer as multiple copies on separate external drives. If you have a safety deposit box, consider storing a copy of everything offsite. In the event of fire or flooding you will still have your images. Even if you don't have a safety deposit, consider teaming up with another photographer and store you backups at each others houses.

Get your head in the clouds

Another interesting idea that is becoming popular lately is “cloud” or internet storage of your files. You upload your data to the internet, pay someone and let them worry about backing up your data. Let them buy the big fancy storage arrays and spend some more time shooting. There a few different services, Amazon S3, Smugmug and Carbonite to name a few. Some even let you specify a folder and the service will automatically scan that folder and backup any new data that you have added. If having your photos on someone else's machine doesn't bother you, this might be a good option, especially for offsite backup.

Go big or go home

If you shoot a lot of photos and videos, you are going to want to upgrade pretty quickly from just standard one terabyte external drives, each with a connection cord and power supply to something larger, but maybe not as large as owning your own server. Enter Drobo.

Drobo is an external enclosure that hold multiple external drives (four or more) in one sleek looking unit. It automatically makes duplicate copies of all your data across multiple drives, so that if one fails, you simply pop in a new drive and you are good to go. If you fill up the Drobo, you simply swap out one or more drives with a larger drive and you automatically have more space. It doesn't help you much if you want to have an offsite backup, but it is a pretty powerful all in one backup solution.

As with all technology, all the above solutions will probably be outdated in a year or two, so you have to make sure to keep up with new technology as it emerges and migrate your data forward. Don't think your whole image collection could end up useless? Two words: Eight Tracks.

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Well we did it. Our family of four went an entire year without cable, and we aren’t going back.

Last week I found out we aren’t alone – more and more Canadians are blowing up their TV’s. The Canadian Press recently wrote that “Canadians who shun TV tend to be young and well educated, commute by walking or public transit and prefer the arts over sports, according to a report”. While I do prefer arts over sports, I’m none of the others.

To be honest, I have never been much of a TV watcher. I hate commercials, and I like to watch things when I have the time to watch them, not when a network decides they should be on. I mostly watch movies, and the odd show here and there. I would definitely not consider myself a heavy user.

My wife and I decided to cut our living expenses and tighten the belt a year ago, and the first thing we looked at was the cable bill. We were currently on a bundle – we received phone, internet and television all from one provider. Add in a DVR and a few extra channels (one level up from basic) and our bill was close to 200 dollars a month. Internet only now runs us about 60 clams – a heck of savings. Time to cut the cord.

Unplugging from the Matrix

I originally thought it might be hard to make the switch and dropping cable all together. We were pretty hooked on our DVR, and had all of our shows setup to record automatically. Watching DVR recordings is treat, as you get to fast forward through the commercials. The kids also had shows they liked to watch - Star Wars the Clone Wars for my son, Dora for the daughter.

I fully expected an all-out war from kids and lots of “Daddy’s a meanie!” None of this happened. It turns out kids will pretty much anything that flickers on a screen and my wife was content to get the few shows she did enjoy directly from the network’s websites on her laptop in bed.

Ways to Cope

We get most of our programming now through Netflix, which launched in Canada last year. Since we have Nintendo Wii, we installed a Netflix channel and we can watch it’s programming directly in the living room. While Netflix doesn’t have the latest shows, it has a ton of content and the kids were forced to expand their horizons. My daughter quickly became hooked on the original 1960’s Pink Panther cartoon series. Recently Netflix has updated it’s service with a handy “Just for Kids” section, which makes it ridiculously easy for kids to find their own content and not browse through R rated movies to get there. At $7.99 a month it’s a bargain.

Even though there aren’t a lot of other options for online viewing right now in Canada, things are about to get better. iTunes has a huge selection of movies and current TV programing available for purchase, but it helps to have an Apple TV (around $119.00 CDN) to watch them on the big screen. YouTube recently announced its plan to start streaming movies in September of this year for about $4.99 each. Amazon has also begun hiring producers for online programming and the Huffington Post recently announced that it will begin streaming 12 hours of programming a day through the week.

Of course you don’t have to replace one screen with another. I found I had time again to do what I loved to do in high school and university – read. My wife found the same thing and she has finally been getting through all the books she had stacked up on her dresser in the “must read” pile.

Have some other options for living without cable? Leave a comment below.

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I was trying out a new app called Camera Awesome (full review next week) and I was having a coffee break inbetween assignments, so here is the result. And yes, it tasted that good too.

Have a great weekend!

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Museum of Natural History, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Wow, March already? I completely forgot to upload a wallpaper for February, so I hope you enjoy this one! I made sure to get it on the site in time to be useful for you.

One of the things I have notcied being a parent is the innate desire of kids to connect with nature. My kids can entertain themselves with a few sitcks in the woods behind our house. Sadly most children these days only get to interact with nature though museums. It seems like such a disconnect.

Click on the image to get the full sized image (2550 x1600) which should be large enough for pretty much any device you'd like to put in on.

Enjoy! 

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Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

I thought I would start a new feature on the blog called instagram Fridays. I'm really hooked on Instagram and cell phone photography in general. We have come a long way in such a short time! The quality has improved and the apps for editing are just amazing.

My general 'workflow' for my iPhone photography is pretty minimal, or else I might as well be using my DLSR! I like to run the photos through an image editor like Snapseed first, just to give the image some extra snap by tweaking the contrast. Then it's straight into Instagram.

My favourite filter is Earlybird, the one shown here. It's a real throw back to photos I remember from my parents Polaroid camera in my youth.

This shot was taken a few weekends ago - we were out for a drive and the kids wanted to get out and hike around the rocks at Peggy's Cove - one of their favourite activities. The added bonus of winter means there aren't gaggles of tourists crowding your shot.

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Although Photoshop from Adobe has been the undisputed king of image editors, since the move to smaller mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad, the photo giant has had trouble adapting its software for the small screen.

Although it did release Photoshop Express Editor, it didn’t really give me the results I was looking for or take advantage of the touch-screen interface.

Editing photos with your fingers on a tablet device such as iPad instead of a using a mouse should make things easier and more fun when it comes to photo editing, but this is one area that app developers fail to factor in.

Then I discovered Snapseed.

Snapseed ($4.99 iPhone-iPad) is produced by Nik Software, a company that cut its teeth making outstanding plug-ins for Photoshop such as its popular black-and-white conversion software Silver Efex Pro 2.

I expected a lot from Snapseed after using Nik Software’s previous products and I wasn’t disappointed. What I didn’t expect is an innovative approach that brought fun and ease of use to a task I normally dread.

When you open an image in Snapseed, you can access the various adjustments neatly grouped together by genre. Basic adjustments, for example, are found in Tune Image.

Simply swipe up and down to access various controls such as brightness and contrast, and swipe left and right to adjust the strength. You can quickly preview before and after, save as a favourite adjustment (for quick use later) or choose to save or cancel your changes. You can also access creative genres such as Vintage, Grunge and, of course, Black and White, which looks fantastic.

Aside from great general adjustments, one area that Snapseed scores huge points is through its use of selective editing points. You can select certain areas of your image (by tapping and pinching) to locally control brightness, contrast and saturation. This is great for making areas of the background darker, for example.

Once you are happy with your creation, you can also add a creative (read: not tacky) photo frame to your image, which again is fully customizable with touch-screen gestures. Save your image to your camera roll or share directly on your social networks. Rinse and repeat.

Since being chosen as app of the year for 2011 by Apple, Nik has also made the popular mobile editor available for Mac desktops through the Mac App Store ($19.99). While it obviously lacks the touch-screen interface of its portable cousin, it makes for a perfect cross-platform editing solution that doesn’t break the bank. A version for Android is also in the horizon this year.

Let’s be clear: Snapseed is a wicked editor designed for basic adjustments and creative edits. But don’t go burning your desktop copies of Photoshop quite yet. Snapseed’s success at utilizing the touch-screen interface provides an interesting glimpse into the possibilities of image editing in the future.

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A friend sent me an interesting newsletter e-mail the other day that included this great post about Journalism that Matters:

Journalism That Matters is an evolving community and collaboration supporting pioneering individuals who are shaping the emerging information and news ecosystem.Journalism That Matters focuses on cultivating "healthy journalists" and lively, informative interaction between journalists, teachers, reformers and community members.

Journalism that matters in an interesting combination between old and new world journalism and Art of Hosting techniques, another community that I have been involved with in the last few years. Art of Hosting is all about bringing out the best ideas in the room or community to best solve a problem. It's a great technique for tackling big issues, like the future of journalism. Many un-conferences, like Podcamp Halifax, use art of hosting techniques like 'open space' to loosely plan an event.

Although traditional newspapers have slowed the rapid decline since the recession a few years that saw many papers shut their doors or drastically reduce staff, the message is clear: innovate or die. Journalism that matters looks like great way to discuss ways for the future while respecting the traditions that got us here.

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The world's biggest tech show, CES 2012, wrapped up a few weeks ago after displaying all the newest tablets, TV's and cameras to a huge crowd hungry for the latest gadget news. It's kinda like being Tim the Tool Man Taylor at a Binford Tools convention – but for tech geeks. One day I hope to make the trip in person, but for now I'll have to be content to monitor it from the wings on the internet. This column is a little short to cover all the exciting products unveiled – but I wanted to focus on the cameras that caught my eye.

Fuji Goes Retro

The huge news was the unveiling of Fuji Cameras first interchangeable lens, mirror-less camera, the X-Pro 1. It doesn't seem that impressive to type out, but this camera is taking firm aim at the Leica M9 digital rangefinder, which with a lens, costs the same as a small car. So for those of us without an extra 10K in our pocket, but want all the advantages of small rangefinder like camera, the new Fuji looks like it will be a winner.

The camera is modelled after Fuji's hugely popular 2011 hit, the X-100, which sold like hot cakes to photo enthusiasts looking for a retro styled camera with a digital upgrade. The 16 megapixel X-Pro 1 gives the user an updated version of the X-100's hybrid viewfinder. The viewfinder is either optical with the camera information and focus points overlayed, or with the flick of a switch, is a full digital electronic viewfinder. The X-Pro has pretty well the same manual styled controls of the X-100, but the big difference is the addition of interchangeable lenses.

Fuji is going to have three fast prime lenses available for launch – a 18mm f2, a 35mm f1.4 and a 60mm f2.4 macro (that's equivalent to a 27, 53 and 90 in a full sensor D-SLR camera). The absence of a zoom lens may deter some, but for the photo-enthusiast it's all good. The camera is rumoured to be selling for $1700US for the body and about $600US for each lens. 

Upgraded Canon Compact

Camera giants Canon unveiled a new G1-X compact camera that is modelled after their hugely popular G12, but adds a sensor closer in size to an SLR camera. They boast that this gives you better quality and detail then your average compact camera, but with better portability then an SLR. The 14 megapixel camera is slightly larger then the G12, but looks easy enough to carry around.

The G1-X boasts and 28-115mm f2.8-5.6 lens, which will give you some wider then average shots. The camera also can shoot up to 12,800 ISO which makes it a great candidate for getting great pictures when the light gets low, even without a flash. I used to use a G10 quite extensively, and I loved the fact that it was small, but let you shoot with the same options as a D-SLR. This camera looks like a huge improvement over previous models and I excited to see what it can do. It is slated to sell for $799US.

New Nikon Flagship

 Nikon unveiled it's latest flagship camera, the D4. If you have ever pressed the shutter on a D-series camera, you will know why it is the prized possession of many a professional photographer. The upgraded 16.2 megapixel version doesn't look like it will disappoint Nikon's loyal customer base.

The big upgrade is the addition of a full 1080P HD video mode which runs at 30 frames a second. Nikon has been later to the video game then it's Canon counterparts, but sample videos floating around the net look simply stunning. The D4 will also shoot stills at 10frames a second and sell for $6000US. 

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When you are producing your next video, multimedia project or slideshow and you want to have some nice music to accompany it, you just can't use the latest Katy Perry tune that you may have purchased. If an artist creates it, then it's copyright. Buying music on sites like iTunes only gives you right to listen to it, not use it in your work. Sites like YouTube often remove copyrighted music, along with whatever audio you might have had in your project.

The best way to find legal music you can safely use in your next project is to license some royalty free-music. Royalty free means once you purchase the track, you won't have to pay out traditional music royalties every time you use it, like radio stations do. You pay a fee upfront, and while you won't find top 40 hits, if you go to the right sites you can find some really great music to add some punch to your videos.

One of the sites I have been using lately is FriendlyMusic.com – it's probably the cheapest option at $1.99US per track. It has a really nice search engine where you can just search for a mood or keyword and then narrow your search results even further – just selecting instrumentals for example. They are partnered with YouTube, so if that is the destination for your work, then this is a great place to start searching.

The one catch is that the music has to be used non-commercially, meaning you can't have gotten paid to produce the video, or be using the video to make money. The basic $1.99 only gets you personal use rights, which is fine if its a family video or a personal project.

If you do get paid to produce video, or would like to make money from your work at some point, you can go checkout a great site called Neosounds.com. They have lots of great music, usually for around $29.95US for a full track. They also have a nice search engine where you can browse tracks by mood, genre or even usage (e.g. Documentary) which I thought was a great entry point to their collection.

If you prefer traditional CD's I have also used DigitalJuice.com – they have lots of music collections for sale as well as some stock motion graphics for video projects. If you watch the site carefully, they often have some great blowout sales and you end up with an entire disc of music for a reasonable price.

One of the things I really liked from Digital Juice is when you get your CD and use the free software provided –  you select a track you like and you can actually choose what instruments you want in the track. Don't like the drum track? Delete it. I have had good luck finding tracks that were so-so and then deleting the instrument that was distracting to the listener. If you are real keen you can also export each instrument separately and do your own mix in your audio or video editor of choice.

When you make a video, audio is half of the users experience. Choosing great music for your work sets the mood that the user views your video in, and when chosen wrong can detract from your visual elements. Make sure to spend lots of time sourcing some great quality music, and it will show in your end production. 

Have a favourite source for royalty free music? Share it in the comments below.

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