Full Moon in January

It’s fun to go though pictures of the past month as I sit in my cozy little office looking outside at the blowing snow and thinking about the blizzard warnings here in Chicago. There was snow on the ground for most of January, and it appears as though there will be for the beginning of February, at least.

Can you guess what time of night this picture was taken? Believe it or not, it is 6:02 in the morning. When the moon is full, it travels almost exactly opposite as the sun and sets at about the same time the sun rises. Morning is usually a better time to shoot the moon.

I was walking to work early that morning as I gazed up at the surreal beauty in the heavens. Normally, I do not have all my equipment with me when I walk, but for some reason, this morning I did. “How coincidental” I thought. It hadn’t been clear for the past few days either.

As I was setting everything up, I began to realize how cold it was. They said it would get down to 9 degrees; but never mind, this was a rare opportunity. Just before taking the picture, I set the aperture to f/16 so that I it would create starbursts of each light source. To keep the shutter speed no longer than 30sec. I bumped the ISO up to 800.

As the camera took the picture, I stood off to the side doing jumping jacks to keep warm. When the picture had been taken, I only had time to set up one more composition before my fingers really became painfully cold. Finally I picked up the tripod and trotted to a warmer climate.

When I got inside, I checked the temperature: it was –1, but felt like –23. It sure felt that cold to me!

The principles of finding the right tripod is not much different than finding anything else relating to photography, such as a compact camera. Therefore, having just finished going through the process of researching and purchasing a new tripod, I will expound more on why I chose the tripod that I did.

After several years of observation, a trip to a local photography shop for hands on examination, and 5 hours of research one night, I arrived at these prerequisites:

Ball Head

• Socket vs. Joystick. This was a difficult decision to make, but I didn’t want to be restricted to having only one hand on the camera while the the ball was in the released position.
• One knob to release the ball. I knew this didn’t make for absolutely accurate panoramas, but I didn’t want to untighten more knobs than I had to.
• Around 1lb. The less weight the better, for the most part.

Tripod

• Carbon Fiber construction. I had heard much about the benefits of  this expensive material. Yes, it costs twice as much as aluminum, but knowing that I will be traveling often, I decided the lightweight, durable, scratch-proof, jitter-absorbent material was worth the investment.
• Over 10lb load capacity. Adding the weight of the camera, battery-pack, flash, tripod head and the largest lens I envisioned me using in the next 5 years, I concluded that, to be safe, the total amount of weight the tripod could hold should be over 10lbs.
• Standing height of 51in (with the center column down). I added the height of the camera and ball head to determine what the height of the tripod should be for the most comfortable usage. I kept in mind that you can always slightly raise the camera using a tripod’s vertical column, but that you can never quickly make it lower.
• Total weight of less than 4lbs. The tripod I had been using recently was almost 7lbs. It was heavy, bulky, and a drag to carry around; I only used it in absolutely necessary situations.
• Lever leg locks (vs. twist). Though it makes for a slightly bulkier tripod, levers speed up set-up and tear-down time.
• Q90 mechanism. I really wanted  the quick vertical/horizontal repositioning feature of the vertical column after having seen it work in action.
• 3-number of leg sections. Though 4 leg sections makes for a smaller tripod, they are often heavier and take a lot more time to set up and tear down.
• Multiple leg angles. Almost all tripods these days allow for this, but I wanted to make sure.
• Less than $400. I don’t buy camera equipment often, but when I do, I want the best quality I can get within a reasonable budget.

So with all this in mind, I went online to see if I could find something! At first I thought nothing would meet all these requirements, but to my amazement, I found exactly what I wanted: a Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 tripod with 496RC2 ball head. Praise the Lord!

I hope this is helpful to anyone who is contemplating the purchase of a tripod!

It’s not often that I get to go on a photoshoot with someone else. But when a friend called me last night to ask if I would like to accompany him on a night photography venture, I readily jumped at the chance.

It wasn’t anything fancy; just a stroll down to where a small bridge crosses a creek. You see, that was the only place where we could find enough light to take pictures. The moon was almost full, but clouds prohibited it from shedding much light on the landscape.

Despite the fact that it was in the single digits, and that we weren’t exactly dressed properly for those temperatures, and that twice we had to retreat to a nearby building to warm ourselves up . . . it was actually quite enjoyable! Perhaps more memorable than profitable, but still, quite enjoyable. 

Along with photography, I enjoy doing layout and design projects on the side. A business in Connecticut needed a simple sheet explaining how to pay bills using PayPal. After talking over details with the company, researching the PayPal website, and conducting a test run, I was able to throw together a document that perfectly met their needs.

You don’t have to be genius to help others out; just some practical skill, a will to work, and just enough creativity to complete a job just a little better than what the client was expecting.

Click here for a printable version

George poked his head into the office. “I’m heading off to Australia tomorrow for the annual ATI Conference” he said. “Would you be the one to ask for a camera to bring along with me?”

Yes, I was the guy to talk to. But what camera would I give him? The old Nikon D70s work well for departmental use, but for someone who doesn’t need the SLR functionalities, is trying to pack light, and would most likely run into difficult lighting situations . . . it just didn’t seem like the best route to take.

But there was another option. Buried for several months, this new idea suddenly sprang to life. GA had always considered purchasing a small, compact camera for occasions such as this, but there had never been a valid reason. This was certainly the excuse we needed!

After procuring permission, doing some meticulous research, and deliberating as a department, we came to a conclusion, drove off to the store, and brought back the new member of our department: the Canon PowerShot SX130 IS.

So why did we choose this camera?

1. Of the thousands of compact cameras to choose from, it wasn’t hard to narrow it down to a few hundred when we chose to go with Canon. Choosing a brand is the first step, and choosing Canon was easy. You can’t go wrong with Canon.
   
2. Now we had to decide how much we were willing to pay for it. (I didn’t know you could pay $500 for a compact, say, like the G12!) We decided our budget was $300 or less.
   
3. Once this was determined, we had to decide what major components and features we wanted. These were on my list:
   • Solid, durable, not-necessarily-small body
   • 12x or more optical zoom
   • 10 or more Mega Pixels
   • ISO 1600 or more
   • 28mm equivalent focal length or less
   • HD Video
   • Image Stablization
   • Manual controls
   • RAW shooting mode
     
4. Then comes the best part: research! I looked over and compared many cameras before finalizing on the best possible option: the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS. It met and even surpassed every criteria (except for the RAW shooting mode which I found compacts don’t usually have these days anyway), and it was even less than $300!
   
5. But lastly, you have to make a final decision. From another research source, the PowerShot SX130 IS was suggested. It was cheaper, still met the criteria well enough, and appeared easier to use. I was the one who had to make the decision. Would I go with the more expensive one that I knew was the best? Or would I go with the cheaper one, and hope it would meet our needs? Two major factors played out in the final decision: one, compact cameras depreciate very quickly; and two, money doesn’t grow on trees.

So, as far as I know, George is enjoying the pleasure of packing light and knowing that he doesn’t have to worry about technical difficulties when he whips out his new camera in the land down under.

Last Thursday, I received one of those urgent phone calls from Mr. Gothard’s office! With only one hour of sunlight left in the day, I was commissioned to photograph a hotel close by that IBLP is in the process of purchasing: the Drake Hotel of Oak Brook.

My instructions were specific: get the front of the hotel in full sunlight, with the gold inscription glinting in it’s auriferous rays. Every insuring day was cloudy, so today was our last chance. The task sounded adventurous. It was freezing outside, so I donned my winter clothes and drove off into the fading light.

Well, the sun makes all the difference in any outdoor photographic adventure. I quickly found out upon my arrival that the front of the building faces east, so what we had imagined was only a figment of our imagination.

But I’ve learned to never let a trip be in vain. I took pictures from all angles of the building in preparation for another trip sometime in the future . . . in the morning.

December Happenings

1800s Buildings