Tips to protect your DSLR from common Dangers

There are 4 things that you have to be on the lookout for in order to keep your DSLR away from danger. These elements are SAND, WATER, HEAT, SUNSCREEN and DUST.


What are the signs that’ll tell you your DSLR has already come into contact with any of the 4 elements? How can you solve it? Most importantly, how to avoid ever letting your DSLR get exposed to these 4 things?


Signs That Your DSLR Is Already In Trouble

When your DSLR gets into contact with sand, you will notice that the moving parts of your DSLR get stuck. The error message on your DSLR’s screen appears.

How To Resolve This Problem?

It’s bad news that sensor cleaning kits won’t be able to come to your DSLR’s rescue. Not even gadgets that puff air.
Your only option here is to send your DSLR to a dealer who will do the cleaning for you. Otherwise, you can take it to the manufacturer.

What they’ll do to rescue your DSLR is to take it apart, then clean and re-lube all the moving parts of your camera.



Tips To Avoid Getting Your DSLR Into Trouble with Sand

Fortunately, there are numerous methods you can implement to avoid sand from entering your DSLR. One of the many methods is to make use of a sealable food bag. Another tip is not get low while shooting at a sandy area. Doing this is very much similar to you inviting sands to hop onto your lenses.
Despite that, you can put towels in an ice chest cooler and keep your DSLR in it. Why not just use the camera bag? This is because camera bags trap sand. Your goal here is to not let sand harm your DSLR.


Also, while you’re shooting, keep an eye open while the other closed. This way, you’ll be on the lookout for incoming sand. Other than that, you must anticipate danger. For instance, if you see kids running past you, then quickly save your camera.









Signs That Your DSLR Is Already In Trouble

Once your DSLR has gotten into contact with water, immediately remove the battery. Do not turn it back on as a killer power surge will be released.

Be on the lookout for corrupted files and error messages on your DSLR’s screen.

Also, be watchful that if your DSLR happens to turn off unexpectedly, it is most likely that your camera has already been hit with water.



How To Resolve This Problem?

The best way to solve this is to get professional advice from a dealer. Place your DSLR (although already damaged) in a bag of dehumidifying sachets to make it dry.



Tips To Avoid Getting Your DSLR Into Trouble with Water

Something that you should consider doing is to invest in a camera encasement. Also, save up some money to invest in a waterproof rolling bag. Another way to avoid your DSLR from getting hit by water is to never put it on a table next to drinks.

When you’re photographing at a location where there is water nearby, especially at a splashy condition, be sure to use a zoom lens to avoid your DSLR from being hit by water.

Never attempt to switch your lenses during snowy or very cold weather conditions. If you have to switch lenses, then perhaps have it done under your coat or a blanket. Be creative here. At all cost, refrain from letting your DSLR get into contact with water.


Signs That Your DSLR Is Already In Trouble

Although most of the latest DSLRs are tailored to withstand extreme weather conditions, there still are a few types of heat that are very bad cameras.

These types of heat are direct sunlight and hot enclosed air. An example of hot enclosed air is the hot air trapped in a car’s boot under the hot sun.
The polymer glues, glass coatings and plastic casings within your camera kit may be damaged by heat, so be watchful for that. When the heat is very strong, the oils in your DSLR that act to lubricate the inner workings can indeed be evaporate, otherwise get separated.

Also, be watchful in case your memory card is no longer working right. If your DSLR’s LED screen appears to be malfunctioning, it is very likely that your camera has been exposed to conditions with extreme heat.



How To Resolve This Problem?

When you touch your DSLR and notice that is burning hot, leave it somewhere shady and let it cool down. Once cooled, remember to replace the memory card with another one before you use it.

However, if the damage of your DSLR is serious, be sure to bring it to a dealer to be analyzed.



Tips To Avoid Getting Your DSLR Into Trouble with Heat

There are things you can implement as to avoid your camera from being damaged when exposed to extreme heat. Never put your DSLR in a car while the sun is shining very brightly. Also, while you’re out photographing, provide your DSLR shade whenever possible.



Signs That Your DSLR Is Already In Trouble

It is easy to scout and check if your DSLR has already been affected with dust by looking at the resulting photos. When you see little black specks on them, it’s a sign that your DSLR has already been attacked by dust.
Dust that lands and get stuck on your camera’s sensor form these tiny black specs on your photos. Dust has the tendency to affect your DSLR’s autofocus so that it fails to function properly.



How To Resolve This Problem?

Some of the latest DSLRs have great features that will periodically shake dust off your DSLR’s sensor. This cleaning system is set by default. What I like about this system is that it actually rids off dust before it can even become a problem to your DSLR.



Tips To Avoid Getting Your DSLR Into Trouble with Dust

Properly place your camera at an appropriate place when you’re not using it. Keep the insides of your camera away from dust. This can be done as long as you avoid leaving your camera without a lens or the front camera.

Avoid switching lenses at dusty areas. If you really have to switch lenses despite the dusty condition, then you must hold your camera so that the lens mount faces downwards. This way, dust will not fall and later get trapped onto your DSLR’s sensor.

Low light photography tips (Dom Bower)

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Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

Ansel Adams is very likely the single most recognized photographer by name. A combination of timing and location led to his fame. In the early nineteenth century travel took much longer than today so Adams’ sweeping views of the stunning Western United States landscapes were unprecedented views to the vast majority of Americans.

Beginnings
Ansel Adams was born February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California (Turnage, n.d.). Adams parents, Charles Hitchcock Adams and Olive Bray were around forty years old when Adams was born (very old for the times) (Turnage, n.d.). By the time Adams was 12, he obviously did not “fit in” at school and Adams’ father took the bold step of bringing the boy home for homeschooling (Deyo, 2002). Beyond English literature and algebra, Adams also studied the piano and spent a full year exploring the Panama-Pacific International Exposition which was a collection of exhibits based around the opening of the Panama Canal (Deyo, 2002).

The Photographer Emerges
In 1916 the Adams family took a trip to Yosemite National Park during which young Ansel was given a Kodak Brownie (Deyo, 2002). A few years later, in 1919, Adams joined the Sierra Club which was later responsible for the his first published works. Like many photographers today, Adams had his first published work in a club newsletter (Turnage, n.d.). It was Sierra Club trips during which Adams began to realize that photography instead of music was a possible career (Turnage, n.d.). In 1932 Adams joined photographers, Willard Van Dyke, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, Henry Swift, Sonya Noskowiak, and Jon Paul Edwards in starting the photographic group f/64 (Hostetler, 2004). This group was dedicated to photography that looked like photography and showed the world without glossing over bits and pieces of it (Hostetler, 2004). The name f/64 came from the theoretical smallest aperture possible on a camera lens that allowed for the largest depth of field to show as much of an image as possible in sharp focus.

Body of Works
While Adams is probably best known for his images of the Sierra Nevadas and Yosemite he had a much wider body of work. Working with Dorothea Lange, Adams created various image sets for Time Magazine and others (Deyo, 2002). The subjects of these images were diverse as water rights struggles to the Mormons of Utah (Deyo, 2002). Adams also recorded the Japanese American interment camps from World War II (zpub, n.d.).

Technical Photography
In addition to the photographs themselves, Adams contributed to the growing field of photography in his development of the “zone system” relating to exposure and development (Turnage, n.d.) before computerized light meters and developing techniques. Adams was also a consultant for companies such as Polaroid and Hasselblad (Turnage, n.d.).

Trivia

• Nearly became a concert pianist instead of a photographer (zpub, n.d.)
• Died of cancer-related heart failure (zpub, n.d.)
• Was never financially secure despite his fame (Turnage, n.d.)
• Was described as having a “particular fondness” for alcohol (Turnage, n.d.)

Refernces

• Turnage, William (no date) Ansel Adams, Photographer, http://www.anseladams.com/content/ansel_info/anseladams_biography2.html
• ZPub (no date) Ansel Adams, http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/adams.html
• Hostetler, Lisa (October 2004) Group f/64 In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/f64/hd_f64.htm
• Deyo, Nan (2002), A biography of Ansel Adams Pagewise, http://www.essortment.com/all/anseladamsbio_rjrq.htm

- Source - PHOTOGRAPHY.ABOUT.COM

Depth of Field calculator

Most photographers know the effect of different apertures. The smaller aperture (=bigger f-value) the longer depth of field. But how long is the depth of field precisely?

I was quite surprised how much the distance from the subject affects the length of the depth of field. Let's imagine that we are taking a photo of a flower from one meter distance with 100mm f2.8 on 1.6 crop frame. Based on an online calculator the depth of field is 9.7 mm. But we want to double that because the flower is not completely sharp.

Stepping down to f5.6 gives depth of field of 19.3 mm. Now the dof is twice as long but the exposure time has become four times longer. In case of hand held photography this might be too much.

Another option is to keep aperture at f2.8 but take one step backwards so that the distance is 1.4 meters.  This will give the same depth of field as above but without the expense of longer exposure time.

How to photograph the moon

Taking a decent moon photo is not too difficult but you need to have some equipment for it. The most important one is a proper tripod or similar support for the camera. Almost as important is a decent telephoto lens. A sharp 200 mm telephoto lens is a good start for photos like this:

But even if you have the best possible gear you still need to see the moon. So, check the moon phase calendar, weather forecast and head to a dark location. Usually cities have way too much light pollution and this reduces the contrast between the sky and the moon. Find a dark area with solid ground for your tripod.

Then set up your tripod as stable as possible. Do not extend it completely unless really necessary. Select your telephoto lens with longest focal length and remove any filters you have. Even high quality filters can cause unwanted flare.

Use low ISO setting to avoid noise - ISO 100 works well. I do not pay attention to white balance as I shoot on RAW which allows more post processing options. Use mirror lock up if available and use long timer to trigger the shutter. These help to reduce camera shake and therefore improve image quality. The choice between manual and automatic focus is up to you. When using a lens without distance view the autofocus might be a better option.

Finding the right aperture for your lens needs some experiment. Most lenses have their sweet spot around f8-f11. Any higher aperture number causes diffraction which reduces image sharpness. Too low aperture number leads to soft photos especially on cheaper zoom lenses.

After all this setup the last step is to aim the center of the moon and select the right exposure. There are calculators for moon photography but couple test shots give you a good idea anyways. Depending on your camera its exposure metering it might give totally misleading results so feel free to ignore it.

Take plenty of shots with different aperture and exposure times. At the post processing I use only green color component because it seems to have less noise compared to red. I also reduce saturation so the end result is black and white. Apply some sharpening, crop tight and upload to your favorite image gallery for feedback.

Canon EOS utility and tethered shooting preview quality

Canon DSLRs come with a software bundle and one of the applications is EOS Utility. Among other features it allows you to transfer your shots right away to your computer over USB cable and it also displays a quick preview of the photo on the computer screen. This is pretty handy because it is much easier to see results on the big screen. Obviously the USB cable length limits your movements so I guess people will use this for studio shots mostly.

I was playing around with this feature and I noticed that the preview had rather bad quality. After trying out different settings it turned out that shooting in RAW+JPEG mode instead of RAW only resulted better previews. Apparently the quick preview's RAW conversion outputs only low resolution images.

Valentines Day Gift Ideas 2011 - 10 Best, Romantic and Most Popular Ideas

Valentines Day falls on Sunday and indeed, it would be a fun day and will be the best Sunday in 2011. Everyone wants to celebrate this Valentines Day by gifting something or doing something special. Here is the list of 10 best, romantic and most popular ideas...

With just a couple of days left for Valentines Day, people are searching all over the net for Valentines day gift ideas for him, boyfriend, Valentines Day gift ideas for her, Best most popular gift ideas, best gifts for valentines day, What to do on Valentines Day, things to do on valentines day etc.

This year, the Valentines Day falls on Sunday and indeed it would be a fun day and will be the best Sunday in 2010. Everyone wants to celebrate this Valentines Day by gifting something or doing something special.

Here is the list of 10 best, romantic and most popular valentines day gift ideas for your someone special:

1. As it’s a Sunday, you can stay home, cook something special and celebrate with champagne.

2. Gift an iphone or an ipod.

3. How bout a gaming console? He would love the PS3.

4. Take your partner out for a romantic dinner night out.

5. Get her a diamond ring or a necklace.

6. Why don’t you take her out for shopping to her favourite designer boutique?

7. You can even get your partner’s name tattooed on your body.

8. Gift his/her the best, favorite perfume. You would want your partner to smell good, right?

9. Give your partner 14 red roses, 14 cards – remember its February 14, Valentines Day.

10. Gift a spa package.......

Music For Valentines Day

Music is a rare gift of nature to the human beings. It is a medium of conversation with God and when we meet a human being in love - this means we are certainly in touch with God. The ultimate act of loving is giving one's life for the other. Music is the very presence of God in the form of a human being for God is love. For lovers music is one of the most fascinating ways to express their love. And what can be a better gift to lovers than love songs which have the power to take the pain away, to help you through each day and last but not the least- to tell your beloved that you are their for him/her forever! Valentines Day is the perfect occasion to express your love and to show how much you care. These everlasting love songs will help you to say what you could not do before. So go ahead and have a rollicking Valentines Day.

All I Want to Do is Make Love to You - Heart All Out Of Love - Air Supply And I Love Her - The Beatles And You Don't Remember - Mariah Carey Angels - Robbie Williams As Long As You Love Me - Backstreet Boys Baby I Love You - Jennifer Lopez Because I Love You - Jewel Because You Loved Me - Celine Dion Blessed - Christina Aguilera Breaks My Heart - Monica Breathless - The Corrs But I Do Love You - Michelle Branch Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley Change The World - Eric Clapton Crazy For You - Madonna Dangerously In Love - Destiny's Child Escape - Enrique Iglesias Everything I Do, I Do It For You - Bryan Adams Feel Like Making Love - George Benson Give Me Your Heart - Backstreet Boys Have You Ever Been In Love? - Celine Dion How Did I Fall In Love With You? - Backstreet Boys I Could Fall In Love - Selena I Just Fall In Love Again - Carpenters I'll Never Stop Loving You - Britney Spears I'll Still Love You More - Trisha Yearwood I Love You - Celine Dion I Need Your Love Tonight - Elvis Presley I've Been Thinking About You - Mariah Carey I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston I Will Still Love You - Britney Spears Let's Talk About Love - Celine Dion Love For All Seasons - Christina Aguilera Love Is All We Need - Celine Dion Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley Love Takes Time - Mariah Carey Love Will Find a Way - Christina Aguilera Make You Happy - Celine Dion Making Love For Fun - Enrique Iglesias My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion My Love Is Your Love - Whitney Houston Never Forget You - Mariah Carey Nobody Loves Me Like You Do - Whitney Houston and Jermaine Jackson Open Off My Love - Jennifer Lopez Please Don't Stop Loving Me - Elvis Presley Power Of Love - Celine Dion Remember Me - Marc Anthony Saving All My Love For You - Whitney Houston Shower Me With Your Love - Surface Somebody Loves You - Crystal Gayle Sometimes - Britney Spears Still In Love - Brian McKnight Straight From The Heart - Bryan Adams Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley Thank You For Loving Me - Bon Jovi That's The Way I Like It - Backstreet Boys That's When I'll Stop Loving You - N Sync The One - Backstreet Boys The One - Jennifer Lopez The Way You Love Me - Faith Hill The Woman He Loves - Alabama Underneath Your Clothes - Shakira Until You Come Back - Whitney Houston Valentine - Martina McBride Waiting For Tonight - Jennifer Lopez What A Girl Wants - Christina Aguilera We Can't Love Like This - Alabama Whenever, Wherever - Shakira When I Dream At Night - Marc Anthony When I Fall In Love - Celine Dion When You Love Someone - Bryan Adams Where Do Broken Hearts Go? - Whitney Houston Where Does My Heart Beat Now - Celine Dion Who Do You Love? - Whitney Houston Without You - Mariah Carey You Belong To Me - Jennifer Lopez You Belong To My Heart - Elvis Presley You Drive Me Crazy - Britney Spears You Give Me Love - Faith Hill You Need Me - Mariah Carey You're A Heartbreaker - Elvis Presley You're So Cold - Mariah Carey You're Still My Man - Whitney Houston You'll See - Madonna Your Song - Elton John You Remind Me - Mandy Moore You Take My Breath Away - Rex Smith You Were Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton You Will Be Mine - Faith Hill.....

The History Behind Valentines Day

On 14 February we celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day, usually by the way of exchanging cards, sweets, lingerie, flowers or jewelry.....

But, what exactly are we celebrating, is it just a holiday the retail stores invented to get our money? One could think so, but no, we are actually celebrating a Christian Holiday, Saint Valentine’s.

We are following a Christian and ancient Roman tradition. By now the Catholic Church recognizes three Saints by the name of Valentine, or Valentinus.

The first legend to the background of the celebration of Valentine’s Day is this:

During the 3^rd century a priest by the name of Valentine, under Claudius II in Rome, secretly disobeyed the law.

Claudius had come to believe that a single soldier was a better soldier than a married young man and so decided to outlaw marriage in order to have plenty young strong men with no wives at his disposal. 

Valentine, the priest, did not obey this law and continued to celebrate the holy bond of marriage for young couples in secrecy. 

Of course, the way it always works with secret clauses, he was caught and sent to his death.

The second legend believes that Valentine was a prisoner who fell in love with a young woman, who came to see him often. It is believed that she was his jailors daughter. Before his untimely death he wrote her a love letter, signed with ‘Your Valentine’. There fore the phrase ‘Be my Valentine’.

Some believe he was beheaded, others thought that he died of sickness.

No one is even sure if 14 February was the day of his birth or his death or if it had indeed anything to do with Saint Valentine at all. The only thing that is for sure, is that the Romans had a tradition in the middle of February, which would mark the 14^th, called the Love Lottery. It was believed that spring and with it the renewal of life came along in the middle of February, therefore the love lottery was held, coupling young men and women for one year, often leading to marriage. 

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the USA, Canada, Mexico, France, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The oldest known Valentine’s card can be viewed in the British museum.

Valentine’s day became an official Catholic Holiday in the year 496 or 498 AD. Pope Gelasius declared the 14 February to be Saint Valentine’s Day.

The oldest known and remembered Valentine’s poem is from Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife, in 1415, while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It is part of a manuscript collection of the British Library in London.

Years later King Henry V is supposed to have hired the writer John Lydgate to compose a Valentine’s letter to Catherine of Kalois.

In Great Britain it was around the 17^th century that Valentine’s Day became a celebrated Holiday. By the middle of the 18^th century it was common for all social classes to exchange small gifts or handwritten notes with lovers, loved ones and friends.

By the end of the 18^th century printed Valentine’s cards were available.

In the United States people started celebrating Valentine’s Day in the early 1700’s by exchanging Valentine’s notes.

The Greeting Card Association announced that Valentine’s Day is the second best selling card-sending day with one billion cards sold per year. The leader in the card industry is with 2.6 billion, Christmas.

In the year 1835 Pope Gregory XVI was so impressed by the Irish Priest Father John Spratt that he gave him the black and golden casket, which is believed to house the remains of Saint Valentine. This gift from Rome, the black and golden casket, can actually be viewed on Valentine’s Day every year at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin, Ireland.

We hope that you did enjoy this little background on Valentine’s Day and we wish you a very happy Valentine’s Day, with lots of lasting love and Friendship! 

A Guide To Buying A Digital Camera Equipment - How to Buy Digital Camera Equipment

There are so many digital cameras that it can be confusing trying to buy digital camera equipment. Here are some tips to help you decide which the best choice is for you and buy digital camera equipment that you will get the best results with:

• The first step before you buy digital camera equipment is to set a basic budget on how much money you want to spend. You do need to be realistic about the fact you won't be able to get the best of every feature, as you may have to make tradeoffs when you actually buy digital camera equipment.


• Your experience level has to have a big influence in your decision to buy digital camera equipment. There is no point in buying too much buy digital camera equipment than you can actually use. For a novice you should buy digital camera equipment that is point and shoot so that you don’t have to worry about manually changing any settings. Digital zoom is not as important a part in the process of choosing to buy digital camera equipment as you may first think. Basically it just means that the camera crops the picture and gives you the center piece of it. You do not need to buy digital camera equipment that does this as you can do it better yourself after you take the picture. You can usually move closer to the subject anyway and to buy digital camera equipment that includes an optical zoom can add a lot of unnecessary cost and weight to the camera. Of course, expert photographers will want to buy digital camera equipment that gives them more manual control over the exposure process.


• Next you need to consider what you will use your camera to capture before you set out to buy digital camera equipment. A fast shutter speed is necessary for moving subjects. You can also buy digital camera equipment that has special features to enable you to take multiple pictures in quick succession for high-action pictures.

• There are a number of helpful websites that give reviews on photographic products to help you decide on the best camera for your needs before you buy digital camera equipment. Of course, you can also ask friends and family about their digital camera choices. Price comparison websites are also essential to help you to buy digital camera equipment at the best possible prices. Remember that when you buy digital camera equipment there are often a list of extras that you may want to purchase, including batteries and memory cards.


Don't be tempted to go for a trendy-looking, colorful camera if you really want to buy a less cool looking one that does more of what you want. Make sure that you have got as many of the features that you wanted to have in the first place and haven't compromised too much on them for the sake of a few extra dollars. It is important to ensure that you buy digital camera equipment that you are happy with and enables you to take the photographs that you want.

-Ahmad Faiz Mustafa

Choosing Your First Digital Camera

Digital cameras are no longer a luxury these days, with high resolution mega pixels and sophisticated features coming within a very appealing price range. And thanks to many comprehensive digital camera reviews, it’s easy to pick the most sought after features and qualities and still stay within a budget.



Most people turn to digital photography because they like the ease of printing and sharing the photos on the web. Business owners choose the digital quality for their product catalogues or brochures, students employ digital cameras for their projects and with digital cameras in most recent cell phones, even a child can take a snap and publish it instantly on the web. And thanks to the newest lens and zooming qualities, you don’t have to be a seasoned pro to shoot close-to-professional images with modern digital cameras.



You can hardly find a digital camera today with resolution lower than 2 megapixels – two million color dots per picture. This is a decent quality for most uses, including printing the photos for the home or school use. The higher the megapixel rate, the bigger photos you can print without sacrificing the quality. However, if you are not a professional photographer or a graphic professional who deals with upscale images all the time, you don’t really need a digital camera that produces more than 8-megapixel camera – and these rarely become available for less than $1000. Plus, if you seek to print large detailed photos, make sure you have a high-quality printer that can reproduces all the tiny details that make a difference.



When you pick a digital camera, you should also pay attention to the zoom number. Digital cameras have two different kinds of zoom. Digital zoom enlarges all pixels digitally, while optical zoom enlarges the image with the lens magnification. Since you can always enlarge the image later, on the computer using the Photoshop or other image manipulation program, you would be better to concentrate on higher optical zoom rate. The average optical zoom for midlevel digital cameras is 2 to 4x.



There are a few other options to consider: whether a digital camera uses a rechargeable batteries (zoom and LCD screen consume a lot of energy); whether the digital camera has a standard flash memory (you may need to buy a few more flash memory cards in future), and if the menus are easy to understand. If you travel a lot, you may want a digital camera that is lightweight and compact.



Even if you decide to pick the least expensive digital camera to serve your basic photography needs, you will still enjoy all the benefits of digital photography: no film rolls to buy, no wasted photos to dispose of and best of all, no waiting time to get them printed. New models of digital cameras are constantly launched, and the older ones are becoming less expensive day by day. Know your priorities, check the most recent digital camera reviews, and there should be a digital camera to perfectly suit your needs.


- Ahmad Faiz Mustafa