I get a lot of questions regarding metadata, so I thought I would throw together a quick tutorial explaining how I generally handle exporting images with metadata. If you have any questions feel free to email or leave a comment below.
Archive for the ‘Video’ Category
Exporting Images with Metadata
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012Tim Grey posts 10 Videos on CS6–for free
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
OPG friend and instructor extraordinaire has posted tutorial videos on his top ten features of the new Photoshop CS6 beta.
Tim describes the new features in each video and he teaches us how to use them. Here’s a look at the videos:
#10: Paragraph and Character Styles (04:57)
#9: Panel Updates (01:42)
#8: Auto Brightness/Contrast (01:32)
#7: Auto Curves and Levels (01:40)
#6: Perspective Crop Tool (03:10)
#5: Sample Size for Magic Wand (03:18)
#4: Crop Tool Overhaul (03:45)
#3: Content-Aware Move Tool (04:04)
#2: Improved Patch Tool (02:52)
#1: Oil Paint Filter (03:59)
You can access these videos on Tim’s video video2brain store here, and check out all of his other goodies while you are there.
Thanks a bunch Tim!
Tim’s work combines several of his greatest passions: photography, technology, teaching, writing, and travel. All of these have been part of his life in some way for as long as he can remember. He has been focused on digital photography and imaging for over 15 years.
You can see his website here.
Tips For Photographing Waterfalls
Friday, March 23rd, 2012Our pal and frequent contributor Juan Pons brings us tips on photographing waterfalls this spring.
Juan has a wonderful workshop on photographing waterfalls in North Carolina. Get more info on this killer workshop here, and get $50 off the workshop price if you mention OPG when you sign up!
Fotobug Everglades Podcast Video
Friday, March 9th, 2012Follow Jim Caldwell and Fred Rogers as they make a two day dash through the Everglades, with Chris from OPG tagging along! You won’t want to miss the footage Jim took from his remote control quad copter.
Jim is leading a workshop to Costa Rica this May for an unbeatable price! Check out the details here: Creatures of Costa Rica
Rick Sammon talks Induro BHL Low Profile Ballheads
Friday, February 24th, 2012Check out Rick’s video and browse the Induro Low Profile Ball Heads in the OPG store.
Eckla Gear Carts Video Overview
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012We thought you might like to see a little video we put together on the Eckla Gear Carts. They sure make it easy to haul your gear! Check them out in the store here.
Thanks to Maxis Gamez and Curt Edwards for your help!
NEOS Overshoes Review by Jim Caldwell of Fotobug
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011Make sure and check out Jim’s great Elusive Image podcasts at Fotobug!
Eckla Eagle Car Door Support Video Review
Thursday, August 25th, 2011Good friend and incredible bird photographer Alan Murphy came in last week to shoot a series of videos, both on bird tips and on products. We had a fun time shooting finches and woodpeckers out on my deck, and have some great footage.
Our first video is on the Eagle Car Door Support from Eckla. Alan reviews all the features of this sturdy mount, which makes shooting from your vehicle a breeze.
You can see the Eckla Eagle in the OPG store here.
Alan has an incredibly detailed and useful best-selling ebook “Songbird Setup Photography” in the store. You can also check out Alan’s images and workshops at his website here. Thanks Alan!
View the Eckla Eagle Video Transcript
Hi, I’m Alan Murphy. I’m a bird photographer. Many times I like to take pictures out of my car window. So I’m going to share with you a great product that allows me to do that. This is the Eckla Eagle Car Door Mount. This is a window mount designed to work with your large lenses, like the 600 or 400.
This is made out of stainless steel and aluminum. It is built in Germany, and this is going to allow you to attach a gimbal head or a ball head, or you can even still use your bean bag. This is very, very strong material, and it’s very lightweight. This is much lighter than using one of those filled in bean bags. It also has an integrated bubble level, and this is great for lining up and getting everything level.
So I’m going to go ahead and show you how to adjust this. I’m going to mount this up, and I’m going to show you all the adjustments and how I go about using this.
All right. Now we have it set up in the car. I’m going to go through what I did to set it up. First of all, we have a couple of adjustable levers right here, and what that does, it allows you to adjust for the thickness of your door, which is a nice feature. We have a couple of levers right here that will allow you to adjust this angle, and you do that so that you can get this plate nice and level. You’ll know that’s level because you used the spirit bubble level that’s built in, which is a great feature.
Down here, we have a couple of adjustable levers that will allow you to extend this plate down so that you can snug it right on top of the car door handle, and every car brand has the handle at a different distance. So that’s a really nice feature as well.
Once that’s all set up, you can see that it’s really, really secure, and that will support any amount of weight.
We have our tripod mount. That is the last thing, right here, that will go back and forth. I really like this because sometimes I’m using a shorter lens and I want to use the mount for the back and closer to my face, or if I’m using a long 600 millimeter lens, I can put my mount further out here.
Now that we have this all set up, I’m going to show how it looks with a gimbal head.
All right. So here you can see that we have it mounted with a gimbal head on and a large 600 millimeter lens. If you look at the smoothness of the action of this, this is as if you were just shooting on a tripod. So it’s very, very sturdy, very secure, and I like that.
Also, depending on the height of your gimbal head, rather if you have a large tall ball head or a higher gimbal head than this, or a large bean bag, these adjustments here will allow you to drop this plate down, so it will give you more room and give you more headway out of here.
One other feature I like about this is when I’m shooting at refuges or out in wildlife preserves and I want to drive another 200 yards, all I have to do is just turn my lens in, lock that down, and go. I don’t have to take anything down. It’s a nice feature.
So one of the really special benefits about this window mount is that you can also mount it on the outside of the car. This is primarily the way that I shoot, and the reason for that is I can attach my gimbal head, but I can also attach my flash bracket. So now I have the use of flash for my photography shooting from the car, which you cannot do with a bean bag.
So you can see the perspective from the inside of the car. I really like this window mount. This makes shooting from inside the car a breeze.
Photo Tips – Shooting from a Kayak
Friday, June 24th, 2011
Sometime you want to take pictures without your feet on the ground. Here are some tips for keeping your gear safe while shooting from a kayak. In this video, New Hampshire based conservation photographer Jerry Monkman explains how to keep your camera gear safe while shooting from a kayak.
Check out Jerry's fall Cape Cod workshop here: Eco Photography
Transcript
Hi, everybody. This is Jerry Monkman from Ecophotography.com. I’m often asked how I keep my gear safe while paddling. So today, I’m going to give a few tips on how to shoot from a kayak.
First off, obviously our main goal here is not to get our camera immersed in water. Everything we do is to keep our gear safe, and the first thing you need to do to do that is to know your own limits as far as paddling. If you’re not good at keeping a boat upright, don’t take your camera out when you’re in a boat. If you can’t handle big waves out in the ocean, don’t take your camera out when you’re in the boat.
Otherwise, if you’ve got those skills, there are some things you can do to minimize the water getting on your camera. One thing I do is use this really cool camera vest called a cotton carrier, which holds the camera snug against my body so I’m not banging it with my paddle and water is not dripping down my paddle onto the camera.
It’s really a pretty neat little gizmo. It’s got this Velcro strap to hold the camera snug, and then you just twist and turn and get your camera out and you’re shooting.
When I’m shooting, I’m shooting for shutter speeds of 1/250th, 1/500th of a second, a little faster shutter speeds. If I need to use a faster ISO, ISO 200, 400, something like that, I’ll do that. There’s a lot of movement when you’re in a boat, obviously, so you need to use that faster shutter speed so you don’t get camera blur.
Before I had a cotton carrier, I would just cinch my camera strap up so the camera was up here, a little more snug, not down here where it was more likely to get some water on it.
That’s pretty simple kind of stuff, but that is the basics of what you need to do when you’re shooting.
Now, if you’re in really extreme conditions but need your camera out to shoot, you’re going to probably want an underwater housing. If you can’t afford a real expensive one, do what I do. I’m kind of cheap, so I’ve got this U-A Marine housing. It’s still a few hundred dollars and it doesn’t give you access to all your camera controls, but if you use auto-focus and auto-exposure, you can shoot all day long with your camera in here safely. If the waves are crashing over you, you don’t have to worry about your camera getting ruined. This is a good investment if you’re going to be shooting in that kind of stuff.
Also, you can store your camera and other gear in a dry bag, either in your cockpit so it’s easily accessible if there’s room, or in the hatch where you’ll need to, obviously, stop the boat for a moment to get out and get your gear.
Let’s see, what else. Lastly, I always have pockets in my PFDs so I can get at extra camera gear easily, such as a memory card holder. These Geppie holders are great because they’re waterproof and they float. If your memory cards fall in the ocean, you can just paddle over and pick them up.
I also keep a lens cloth in here somewhere. There we go. Inevitably, you are going to get a few drops on your lens and your camera, and you’ll want something to wipe those off. I keep that handy in here. I’ll also sometimes throw in a polarizer. It’s where I store my lens caps, things like that.
It’s good to get a PFD with pockets.
All right, those are my photo tips for the day. Get out there, have fun in your boat, be safe, and enjoy your photo adventure.
Photo Safari in Tanzania – Andy Biggs Video
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011If you’ve never been on a photo safari in Tanzania, you’ll get a taste of one by watching this video. Andy Biggs of Gura Gear fame shows us travel, accommodations, relaxation and wildlife in this video of a typical photo safari.
You’ll want to go, or go back, after watching this video. Thanks Andy!
You can learn more about Andy’s safaris here.
Photo Safari in Tanzania Video Transcript
Hi, I’m Andy Biggs, and thank you for taking the time to look at this brief introduction to an African photographic safari. The reason I put this together was to really explain what we see on a typical game drive. We have beautiful wildlife. We have beautiful landscapes. And then to also show you our accommodations, how comfortable they are, as well as take a look at our professional wildlife guides
Photographic Safari Client
When you get to be around my stage in life you’re looking to fill your bucket list, and Africa was number one, has been since I was a child, actually. So when I chose to come to this safari, I had high expectations. They’ve all been met and exceeded. You walk in here, you walk around the campsites, you get in the vehicles, you see Africa, and it’s sort of becomes part of your soul.
Photographic Safari Client
My favorite moment was, for sure, the encounter with the cheetahs at the water’s edge. There was a little stream with cheetahs, and the reflection was just awesome, all blue. I got some awesome shots from that.
Photographic Safari Client
I also just like the general massive herds just trucking on through. Don’t worry about you. They’ve just got a place to go. That’s all they’re worried about is where they’re going, and it’s impossible to describe these masses of animals just moving along.
Photographic Safari Client
My favorite part of the trip so far – because this is my first time to do anything like this, any type of vacation – was actually when we flew into the airport. There was a pond of hippos below us when we flew over. So that was kind of, “Okay, we’re in Africa now.”
Photographic Safari Client
The accommodations have been great. We have warm beds, a self-contained toilet that we can use, a hot shower in the evening. The food’s been great. I eat a lot of food at home and have not gone hungry here. I’m also a very picky eater, and I’ve definitely liked the food that we have.
Photographic Safari Client
The accommodations here have just been fantastic for tents. It’s like you’re in a hotel or a lodge actually, because you can walk out. The food’s been great, and the beds and everything has been fantastic, comfortable, warm.
Photographic Safari Client
I’ve been on Safari now for about eight days, and I can honestly say this is one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. The wildlife has been amazing. We’ve seen everything that I was hoping to see multiple times and more. The guides are knowledgeable, friendly. One of the things that I like about Andy’s safari is that, as a photographer, you get the time to work with the animal as long as you want. You can recompose. The drivers are accommodating. If you need them to move around for different angles, they’ll stay with the subject as long as you like. If you want to wait for better light, you can wait for better light. There’s no rush.
