Bleeding Hearts - ISO 320 f/36 1/160 sec | flash A @ 1/4 - flash B @ 1/8

I have a small studio setup in my basement – I call it “command central”.  The basement is really just a lower level of the house, which happens to have the laundry room and a door out to the garage.  I have all my computer equipment, lighting and table setup for photographing still life (mostly floral).  It’s cramped, but it works, if one steps around the equipment carefully.  I had spent a good part of the day shooting with studio strobes (remote wireless trigger) and had shut down the lights, etc., and I was going to call it quits for the day, when I decided that I had an item on my “to-do list” (a never-ending list that attempts to keep me on a relatively straight path to completion of projects) that I could easily accomplish before going upstairs for dinner.

I wanted to check out a macro flash system that I hadn’t used in awhile.It’s the R1C1 Wireless Close-Up Speedlight System from Nikon. I had bought it several years ago, used it in the field for awhile, but got tired of putting all the components together while in the field, so moved on to another flash solution.  And, even since I’ve had this studio/still life setup in my basement, I had not yet used the R1C1. The reason for it being on my “to-do list” was that I just finished reading one of Harold Davis’ photography books – Photographing Flowers: Exploring Macro Worlds – and it dawned on me that I should try working with the R1C1 again in the studio. Having all my equipment “at hand” here in the studio makes it much easier to use.

R1C1 Wireless Close Up Speedlight System

Shooting Macro with the R1C1

I set the R1C1 up using my Nikkor 105mm Macro lens – there’s an adapter ring that attaches to the threads on the front of the lens with the SX-1 master attachment ring that holds the flashes. I have two of the flashes, as shown in this picture, but you can attach more if you want to make a true “ring flash”.  The Su-800 is the wireless speedlight commander that I’ve been using with my SB910, 900 and 800 Speedlights, so I was familar with its use, especially in how to set up the channels and thus setting it up for the SB-R200 Wireless Remote Speedlights was not new to me. I popped my camera (Nikon D3s), with the macro flash setup onto my tripod, and began shooting.

These remote speedlights are versatile and can be adjusted up and down and moved around the master attachment ring, depending on where you need the light.  The strength of output can also be adjusted individually via the SU-800, which is what I did with the macro shot of the Bleeding Hearts as seen above.  Flash A was on my left and I needed more juice from it, so I programmed it to fire for 1/4 of a second versus Flash B, which fired for 1/8 of a second. It was really easy to make adjustments to the flashes, as well as their positions relative to the Bleeding Hearts.

The toughest part of the whole macro shoot was focusing up close, I used an extension tube and was in manual focus mode – but I’m beginning to think I need some macro focusing rails. Picking up the tripod to move it  back and forth an inch is annoying and cumbersome. Maybe that will be my next purchase and I’ll write about in my blog!

The first big consideration was whether I convert my PC license for Photoshop and Lightroom to a Mac license, and never look back, or purchase new licenses for the Mac. Adobe allows you two installs of Photoshop and Lightroom – typically on a laptop and desktop and I thought I could have one install on my Dell PC and one install on my Mac Mini.  I found out that they do not allow two installs on two different operating systems. Other programs do, but not Adobe!

I decided that I couldn’t put my all my eggs in one basket – transferring files and software licenses to another OS, without some backup.  It seemed risky to me, and subsequently I had/have a few issues with the Mac that made me glad I didn’t abandon my PC access to Lightroom and Photoshop.  Of course, that decision came at a cost, almost a $1000 to purchase new licenses for Photoshop and Lightroom, but it was worth it. Once purchased (the hard part), the installs onto the Mac Mini were easy.  Then the real fun began, installing the plugins on the Mac.

Each and every plugin had to be deactivated and/or deinstalled from the PC and then reinstalled and activated on the Mac. I, of course, made the mistake of uninstalling a few without “deactivating” first, which meant that I had to REINSTALL them back onto the PC, then DEACTIVATE them, so I could ACTIVATE them on the Mac.  Not all software manufacturers require the deactivation, for some an uninstall is enough.

One software manufacturer’s policy is particularly annoying – Alien Skin:  For example, if you uninstall without deactivating, reformat the harddrive, and then sell or give away your computer, there’s no recourse to the “deactivate first then uninstall”.  You will have to buy another set of plugins.  They cannot or will not “restore” your activations – they say it’s impossible to do as they are coded into the PC, even if it’s reformatted, so 1 of the 2 licenses is lost forever. And – you have to deactivate each and every plugin individually, as there is no global deactivation.

I have 5 Alien Skin plugins, 6 Nik Software plugins, 7 from Topaz Labs, 6 from OnOne Software, 1 from Tiffen Labs, 2 from Redfield, 1 from Flaming Pear, 1 from Neat Image and 1 from Lucis Art. So, that’s 30 uninstalls and reinstalls, plus the deactivations on some!  And, I haven’t finished all of them yet.

Another issue that came up had to do with versions ad upgrades.  Over the years, I’ve purchased software and plugins and upgraded them when the upgrades were available. For some software companies, the original license was sufficient for the upgrade, and for some, a new license key was issued with the upgrade.  Some of the programs simply look on your computer  to see if there’s a previous version installed (Adobe), and if so, then it doesn’t ask to have the earlier version’s license key as well as the new license key. Adobe wants to make sure that somewhere in the past you purchased a full version, because the pricing of upgrades is based on the premise that you forked out the money for the full version earlier.

I have a practice of keeping all of my downloads in folders in my Outlook email, so I can look up all the version purchases and the licensing information, as all the manufacturers send you an email with that information. I also am registered on the sites of many of the software companies, because they often keep a full record of purchases and downloads, and license keys.  All of this was necessary to get all the plugins and other software programs up and running on the Mac.  However, I had to write Customer Service in a couple of instances, to get them to restore the activations/installs, because they were just not working on the Mac, even with following all of the procedures mentioned above.

In summary:  The whole process of moving plugin licenses to the Mac was very time consuming, but on the positive side, I did get a lot of practice in deactivating, uninstalling and reinstalling and activating on the Mac!   I’m going to have an issue with the Lucis Pro plugin as I believe it isn’t supported on a Mac OS X 10.7.2.  This is why keeping Photoshop on a PC was so important to me.  If I want to use Lucis Pro, I will have to go back to the PC, which is not ideal in terms of workflow management, but at least I have the option.

What’s next?  In Chapter 2.3, I will talk about installing Corel Painter 12, working on a Mac desktop, and a few other insights in the transfer from PC to Mac.

Approximately one month ago, I bought a Mac Mini harddrive and a MacBook Air SuperDrive. These were for the Wacom Cintiq 24 HD display monitor that I already had and was using with a Dell Precision 4500 PC. I bought the Mac Mini server as it is the only one of the minis that has the quad core processor, along with the Lion 64 bit OS and 8 GB RAM. My Dell PC is 32-bit, with 4 GB RAM and as I stated in my previous blog, woefully under-equipped to handle Photoshop CS5 and a variety of plugins, and other programs, memory-wise.

I also bought the Apple Wireless keyboard for the Mac (with Bluetooth technology), as I wanted a keyboard that had a small footprint to work with the Cintiq 24HD.  It doesn’t use a USB interface, which frees up a USB port.

I anxiously awaited the delivery of the Mac Mini – it took about 5 days from the day I placed the order. The peripheral items had all arrived before the Mini. Once I got it, it was fairly easy to install, with just a couple of hiccups.

The first one was interesting as I had to use my Dell PC’s wifi keyboard while doing the system setup, as I couldn’t get the Mac Mini to recognize the Apple Wireless keyboard, until all the system preferences had been set up. Once the Mini was setup, then all I had to do was reboot and the Mac recognized the “new” keyboard. I believe that the instructions for the Apple Wireless keyboard were based on the premise that a Mac was already up and running, and the keyboard was purchased as a replacement to an existing keyboard. No where did it address using the keyboard in a new system setup.  It would’ve been difficult if I hadn’t already had a wireless keyboard available. (I later discovered a blog post that discussed my same issue – you’ll need a wireless mouse, keyboard and display to set up the Mac Mini).

Second issue was in the setup of the server.  As I said, I bought the Mac Mini server, because it was the only version of the Minis that had a quad core processor. I had no intention of using it as a server, but I had to give it a server name and since I’m not a techie, the 3 choices meant little to me, even after reading the descriptions several times over.  I found out later that my choice was the correct one. There were several other server setup options, which I didn’t do, basically because I only wanted the Mac Mini to function as a standalone computer.  Even now, as I research the Mac Mini setup on the Internet, I see that I may have to go back and address some of the server setup that I opted to bypass the first time. (BTW – YouTube is a great resource for training, setup and how-to-do/use for these products.  I learned how to set my Wacom Cintiq 24HD by going to YouTube and I just finished watching several videos on setting up Mac Mini servers.)

Other than those two items, the setup proceeded quickly and easily.  Since I’m familiar with computer setup from using a PC for 30 years, much of Mac is conceptually the same as a PC with respect to basic setup.  However, I did discover that there are enough differences to drive me a little bonkers, as I often got to a place, but wasn’t able to remember how I got there the next time.  That’s still one of my big “learning curve” issues.

Mission accomplished:  I successfully set up the Mac Mini with a Wacom Cintiq 24HD display, Apple Wireless Keyboard and a conventional mouse (with USB).  Now the real fun starts with moving my photoprocessing applications from the PC to the Mac.

I have long been a PC-user, since I grew up in the corporate world, cutting my computing-teeth on IBM and HP PC’s. Does anyone remember the floppy disk – putting a program disk in drive A and the data disk in drive B? When hard drives came along, we were grateful for the speed, but the ease of use didn’t come around for a long time. I remember when the Mac and its GUI interface was introduced. A friend had one and we were intrigued, but not running out to buy one. We were stuck with the PC, still using the DOS prompt – no GUI for us PC folk, at least for a while.

We all know what Steve Jobs and the amazing engineers at Apple have done for us, the PC users. They forced Microsoft to develop a user-friendly interface, and before long, no one was typing in commands at the DOS prompt anymore. Still, the corporate world embraced the PC and MS applications, and the Mac belonged to educators and artists. But, slowly there has been cross-pollination. I was introduced to the amazing Apple world via the iPod, but it was the iPhone that turned my head. The iPhone interface, with the teeny icons and apps, and getting my home email on my phone – was too much fun for me. I love the touch keypad – much better than the raised keys of the Blackberry. I love playing Scrabble on the iPhone screen. I have a 4S now, and it’s still amazing to me (even as a seasoned iPhone user). I also have an iPad, which is great because of the larger screen – more real estate for photo apps.

I have held onto the PC, tho. Not been too keen on moving over to a Mac. First it was the strangeness of the Mac interface, but by using the iPhone and IPad, some of that strangeness evaporated. Can’t use that excuse anymore. Then it was that all my apps and files are for a PC, too much work to change over everything, especially the major software, plugins, settings, etc. But, I started having problems with Windows (first Vista and now 7), goofy stuff that shouldn’t happen (I had to reinstall Vista 3x due to crashes and I stopped using Windows IE8 altogether), and finally, I’m having issues with some of my key photography software: Photoshop CS5 and its plugins, Lightroom and Corel Painter. It’s a memory issue, mostly, because I have Windows 7 32-bit with 4GB of memory, dual-core processor. I know, I know, I could upgrade the OS to 64-bit and then install more memory, but I’m convinced that I would never do it correctly, given how difficult it’s been to fix some of the Windows issues I’ve had, and there’s no guarantee that even if I did everything correctly, the upgrade would eliminate all the issues.

Can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Hah – I beg to disagree. I think you can, if that old dog is motivated enough. Deeply entrenched in PC world – yes, but the PC has disappointed me many times over. This relationship is on the rocks! Tired of all the hassle, long hours spent researching the solution to a problem that shouldn’t have happened? You bet!

So what was the last straw, the “I’ve had enough of this #$#$”?

Mac Mini

I bought a Wacom Cintiq 24HD monitor, and upgraded Corel Painter to Painter12. Ready to rock ‘n roll, right? But no, my meager system had/has all sorts of memory issues with large brush sizes and other assorted tasks. I could go to Starbucks, order a grande, non-fat, decaf latte and come back home, while waiting for a few brush strokes to finish “painting”.

Cintiq 24HD

Research started immediately, to see which Mac I needed and how much this conversion was going to cost me. I called Wacom to ask them if the Cintiq 24HD was compatible with the latest Mac OS – Lion. Yes, it is, and, as we were talking, I asked them which Mac do most people use. The answer was any Mac, even laptops, because the laptops have a mini Display Port, so with an adapter to HDMI or DVI, there’s the connection to the Cintiq. But, when they said that they (the Wacom folk) use the Mac Mini when they go to trade shows with the Cintiqs, I was all ears. They didn’t need a big MacPro, because this little piece of wonderment has a quad-core processor, 8GB RAM, two (2) 500 GB hard drives, and it’s only 7″ square! And, it’s 1/2 the price of a Mac Pro. I was sold!!

I know I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m jazzed because I really believe (and hope) that by becoming an Apple user, I will eventually be spending more time creating in Photoshop and Painter, rather than fixing OS and memory problems.

Stay tuned for Chapter Two – Converting PC Apps to Mac – I already know that I cannot maintain any Adobe products on both platforms. It’s one or the other. If I want to continue using my PC’s, then I will have to buy CS5 and Lightroom all over again for the Mac. If I don’t, then my use of the PC’s will be limited. Not sure if I’m ready to quit the PC cold turkey.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the second Retreat/Party/Workshop hosted by Joe DiMaggio and JoAnne Kalish at their learning center in Milford, PA. My take away from the retreat was a day of artistic and creative dialogue/exchange with some very successful artists, who just happen to be long time friends of Joe and JoAnne. We also got to listen to a great jazz saxophonist – Hugh Brodie, accompanied on the bass by Chris. The icing on the cake was the opportunity to do some rim lighting shots of Hugh.

JoeD did the lighting setup, utilizing one powerful light to highlight Hugh. I got several good shots that I’m very pleased with – and now I know how to duplicate rim lighting in my small studio.

HUGH BRODIE

I used my Nikon D3s, ISO 2000-3200, SB900 flash, set on Manual, 1/64 second, aimed to bounce off the ceiling of the studio.  I was trying to light up the right hand side of Hugh’s face just a tad.  And, it worked (first photo)!

The second photo is my favorite, I think. I love the way the light moves from left to right, with the edge of his face perfectly highlighted.

HUGH BRODIE2

And, finally, this last one also captures a very special side of Hugh – in between playing some phenomenal sets, he laughed and joked with all of us.

HUGH BRODIE3

 
 
 
SCOOP, SCOOP . . . . .

I’ve been in a writer’s slump, not sure what to write about for my next blog post.   Finally, an idea crept into my sleepy brain – I love the new Lens Baby Sweet 35 lens.  I must confess that I have been remiss in using my Lens Baby Composer for some time (since last fall – yikes!), and I think one of the reasons was that changing the little aperture doohickeys was tedious and not user-friendly “in the field”… So, someone at Lens Baby came to my rescue, designed a new lens that fits into the Composer (and other versions) and there are no more little aperture doohickeys.  The Sweet 35 is all grown up, like the big lenses, and you can switch apertures in the lens!  Imagine that.

So, what does this have to do with the price of gold, you ask?  Well, I’ve now become hooked on this little easy-aperture-changing lens and find that I get better results and I’m having more fun using it.

A few weeks ago, I went to the New Botanical Gardens 3 days in a row, using my “get in early pass” (comes with the Supporting Member membership), and I had a wonderful time in the ladies’ gardens, using my Lens Baby Sweet 35 lens with my Nikon D3s.  Everything is better with the Nikon D3s.  Camera, Lens Baby and me…. I brought my tripod, but didn’t use it – ’cause I didn’t need it.  I was able to find the “sweet spot” – focus and shoot, without all the tediousness of the tripod.  Tripods are great – but a hassle and no matter how light they are, they end being cumbersome to carry and heavy after a while.

Here are a few examples of my Lens Baby creations:

New York Botanical Gardens Flower Potpourri

As you can see, there is much diffusion in this photo, but it all works to create a palate of color, and even though the center flower is not in perfect focus, it doesn’t matter, because you “get” what it is and what is surrounding it.

NYBG Yellow Flowers

Here’s an example of very specific focus (center flowers on stalk in the front) with the rest of the stand of flowers diffused.  I wish I knew the name of this flower (will have to make a trip to NYBG to find out!), but it is beautiful.  I got this shot around 7:45AM, the sun was already out in full force, and these flowers were inundated with bees.  The Rule of Thirds almost works here, as the flowers in focus are in the lower quadrant of the photo.  I didn’t want to cut off too much of the U-shaped upward movement of the flowers, as I thought it would look weird if truncated too much.

Day Lily: And another example of selective focus, with most of the day lily in good focus and the rest of the photo /background diffused.  There are a few yellow light patterns to the left of the photo that some may say divert your eye away from the day lily, but they are moving towards the flower, so I left them in.

Hostas

 
I love the Hostas. Again, very selective focus, just a few flowers in focus and then a painterly diffused background of colors.  This is why I love the NYBG, because if chosen carefully, the backgrounds can add a whole dimension of color that is usually not available in backyard gardens (unless of course, you have acres of English gardens).

Phlox - Blue Paradise

Finally,the Phlox was shot with the Lens Baby Fisheye lens, with a flash attached.  I cropped out a lot, and got this wonderful closeup of the Phlox.  Background is a deeply diffused green, which adds to the contrast of the blue/purple phlox and makes it stand out, almost in a 3D effect.

As always, I welcome your comments, and any questions will be answered promptly.  Thanks for “listening”.

Ann

I had a wonderful 1/2 day touring the 55-acre estate of Judy and Michael Steinhardt, last Saturday, May 7th. This was my first experience with the Garden Conservancy and the spring tour of the Steinhardt estate. This is a link to the description of the estate, please give it a read when you can:
http://www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays/open-days-schedule/venueevents/681-judy-a-michael-steinhardt

Steinhardt Estate - Spring Tree

I came with a rollie with all my camera essentials, but quickly discovered that I was going to have to pack whatever I wanted into my many pockets, because the terrain was not conducive to pulling a rolling suitcase behind me. Once we had all of our equipment assembled, we started off on the tour.

On our way down the hill from our cars, we saw camels and zebras in their large, grassy pastures. We didn’t stop as we were on our way to see the black swans (a favorite of my friend).

Black Swans

These guys/gals are truly awesome.  And, they have such long necks!  I marveled at how far they could stretch their necks.  We lingered here for quite a while, photographing them swimming and on shore.

Such a long neck!

Beautiful Black Swan

Free roaming ducks

Everywhere we turned, in a quiet wooded area, we saw these lovely creatures, healthy, beautiful specimens, walking around, hanging out, amongst the woodland fauna:

Woodland Bluebells

I marveled at the quality of care and design that was evident throughout every path we took.  It all looked so naturally placed, nothing looked overdone or outlandish.  It was quietly elegant, peaceful, beautiful, with so many photo ops that we could hardly leave one place for another.

Maple Tree Branch

The maple garden was one such place.  One tree after the other was a sight to behold. There were so many shades/hues of green, red, yellow in the leaves of these maples.  I am told that this place is particularly spectacular in the fall.  I can only imagine, as it was quite inspiring in its springtime colors.

Ferns Unfolding - Fiddleheads

These incredible specimens were unfolding along the shore of a small pond.  Small inlets fed into the pond, with stepping stones carefully placed for traversing over the water.  Of course, I had to miss one of the stepping stones and plunged one foot into the silty water.  I survived, with one wet, dirty foot.

I have many more photos, but I think I will carve this into 2 posts, as one will probably be too lengthy.  Stay tuned for Part 2!

I’ve celebrated and wished my Mom Happy Mother’s Day.

When I was young, we celebrated Mother’s Day with presents, flowers, cards, and other treats such as breakfast in bed, going out for dinner, doing the housework, all the usual Mother’s Day stuff.  When I was older and out of the house, I celebrated Mother’s Day with my Mom as long as I was in the vicinity.  However, there were many years that we were not in the same state, so I couldn’t visit with her, but I always remembered Mom on Mother’s Day – flowers and a card, always.  A phone call first thing in the AM was a must.  I loved her very much.

This year, as in last year and the year before, I cannot call my Mother to wish her happy Mother’s Day.  She’s gone.  She left us on June 24, 2008.  Hardly seems possible that almost 3 years has past since she died, yet here we are, close to the 3rd anniversary of her death.  I miss her more as time passes than I ever thought possible.  And, now with Mother’s Day this Sunday, I wish I could I call her one more time to say “I love you Mom.  Happy Mother’s Day”.  I now get how much she missed her mom (and dad).  I thought I understood her melancholy, but I never understood it really, until I went through it myself.

So, I’ve been thinking about what kind of tribute  I should pay to my Mom on my blog.  I thought about posting a pictorial history – done that before, but it could be good to do it again.  I’ve been looking for some new photos to scan and post.  In my search, I came across a photo album that Mom made for me.  I guess she made one for each of us (4 daughters), with photos of our lives laid out in each of the albums.  I cannot remember when she gave me this album, but it has to be at least 20 years ago.

On the very first page is a birthday card to me from her and a very little, tiny (1″ x 2′) card inserted on top of it.  I believe the little card was the card that accompanied the album as her part of her gift to me.

I scanned the little card and the inside inscription to share with you, because the message is so enormous to me, and the tinyness of the card makes it even more poignant.

I love you too Mom . . . . .

Annie