Wednesday 1 October 2008

Thank You!

One month in and I just wanted to make a quick note, then back to your regularly scheduled "daily photo". I just want to say thank you to everyone that has taken the time to visit, to comment, and to email me direct. I enjoy the constructive criticism, the questions about Buckingham and most of all the links back to other blogs in which to explore.

I thought I'd also take this opportunity to answer a few questions that have come up more than once.

Who are you? and Why?
My name is Sarah, I'm an ex-Californian who fell in love with Buckingham just over four years ago and I wanted to be able to show other people what I see when I walk these streets.

What camera do you use?
I shoot on a Canon G9. Fancy enough to give me control over aperture, shutter speeds, iso, etc... but simple enough for this novice to work out!

Your photos have a different look about them... do you Photoshop?
Nothing more than rotating, cropping and erasing the odd power line. I typically "bracket" photos meaning I take 3 shots of the same thing with different exposures (-2, 0, +2) and then layer them using a program called Photomatix. What I'm aiming for is High Dynamic Range images. With HDR I can create images with a more detail in the highlights and shadows than I can with a normal straight out of the camera shot.

Do you really take photos everyday?
Sadly no. I have the unfortunate burden of working a 45+ hour work week with an hour commute everyday. That coupled with the fact that normal boring duties like cooking and laundry and blogging rule my free time. What I do instead is set aside one day a week to go mental photographing everything in my path... on these days I easily shoot 300 images. I delete a lot of photos... would someone like to buy me an external hard drive?

Do you know the history of...?
Cripes I'm woefully ignorant when it comes to Buckingham's history... but I bought a book! This book has old photograph's as well... so fingers crossed I'll be able to tell you more. Beginning with October's entries I'll try to give as much information as I possibly can... if you know more please say! I love history and there just aren't enough hours in the day for me to join the historical society as well.

Keep those questions coming!

3 comments:

Rob said...

OK, great info, thanks. This blogiverse is quite large, difficult to get around at times due to work and family obligations.

I'm curious about the settings you are using while working with Photomatix. I find it rather combersome at times to work in. I suppose I need more practice at it.

Carrie Nicole said...

Awesome! I have a Canon Rebel DSLR and for the life of me, I have no idea what any of the settings do and I long to take fantastic photos!

With a schedule that sounds as busy as yours, not sure when I'll have time to go take a Photography course!

essbdee said...

DL: I have no idea what I'm doing... I just fiddle with it, muck it up, delete, start again, repeat x 2, sigh, then try again...eventually I get something not too horrible.

LB: there's oodles of info online... start with http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/ I learn tons here!