About My Photos
November 24th, 2009
I’ve recently gotten more active with my life-long passion for photography, and have decided to share some of the more recent shots with RQD readers. I’ve decided on Fotopedia to publish my photos. It does a nice job organizing and presenting the images I’ve taken.
Fotopedia automatically presents each album in a slide show. There is an option to view the images full size, which also has an automatic slide show. Each album can contain additional albums, so one can organize photos by category and subcategory. I can also add titles, descriptions, link to a relevant Wikipedia article, and show the subject’s location on Google maps.
You don’t have to join Fotopedia to view the images stored there, but a membership is free and far less intrusive on one’s privacy than other places like Facebook. Once a member, you can “follow” collections. This means you will get an Email notice every time a collection you are following is updated with new photos.
You are welcome to leave comments here, and I’ll answer any questions, as long as they are not too personal.
November 26th, 2009 at 5:19 am
Just a quick question. What made you choose Facebook over Flickr?
-John
November 26th, 2009 at 7:31 am
John,
I actually started with Flicker and abruptly dumped them. They play a bait and switch game. There is absolutely no mention of the limitations until you have signed up and hit them. As I recall, after reaching 300 photos the older pictures can no longer be accessed or viewed unless you pay a $19.95 annual fee. So only the most recent 300 are available. Other restrictions kick in, but that’s the big one. I would not have had a problem paying the $19.95 if Flicker (Yahoo) had been upfront about it. Thus, it will be a cold day in hell before they ever get a dime out of me.
Wikipedia lists 21 different photo sharing sites, not including Facebook, so there is no shortage of options out there.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Nice photos. Only had time to view a few categories, but will be going through the rest soon. Thanks for posting.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:57 am
A reader asked - I’m shopping for a digital SLR for XMAS this year. What gear do you use? Any recommendations on brand, etc?
Don,
The photos you see have been shot mostly with two different cameras - a Canan Rebel SX digital SLR, and a Fuji S2000HD bridge camera. There are a few photos that were taken with my pocket Nikon Coolpix S200, and 8 year old Olympus E-10 digital SLR.
I don’t know what your experience is with SLRs, but don’t buy one if your only motive is to get better photos. You have to take into consideration the bulk and weight of an SLR, compared to the closely matched smaller bridge cameras, and even a few high end pocket point and shooters. My Rebel SX is one of the lightest SLRs on the market, but hang one pound of camera on your neck, in the hot Thailand climate, and then judge how important the edge in quality it gives you really is.
In the SLR class you can’t go wrong with either Nikon or Canon. However, at the lowest end I found Canon Rebel SX slightly more superior to its competing Nikon D60. They are very closely matched, but for my needs the Canon was a better choice. It also uses a CMOS censor which tends to deliver lower grain at higher ISO settings than the CCD censors. I’m a big fan of Nikon but feel Canon wins out with their lower end models.
http://www.digitalreview.ca/content/Nikon-D60-Compared-to-Canon-Rebel-XS-1000D.shtml
One important piece of advise I can offer is lens selection. Rather than purchasing a box and lens kit, get the box only and buy the lens separately. This way you can get a lens well suited for travel, one with a Zoom range of roughly 18-200. These are called super zooms or travel lenses. The kit lens will not give you a long enough focal length for many shots you’ll want to take while traveling. The alternative is to by two or three different lenses, but then you are lugging around a lot of hardware. In addition, every time you change lenses there is a risk of getting dirt inside the box, and in BKK or rural areas the risk is even higher. While most new SLRs are self cleaning, they do have their limits.
If purchasing a Canon, I’ve heard you can get the 500d with the 18-200 SI as its kit lens. In my opinion, that would be a smart buy, as long as you are not wanting exceptional quality print photos. It is the lens I’ll be upgrading to shortly, as I’m feeling a bit limited with the 17-55 I have now, and there is no way I’m going to lug around extra lenses. The super zoom travel lenses do have a trade off in quality, but not enough to be noticed if you mostly publish your photos on-line.
As far as I know, all of the new bridge cameras are equipped with permanently mounted zooms, most with super zooms. The advantage of the bridge camera is they typically come in at a much smaller size and weight. But they tend to fall short on quality in low light and long focal length shots, because their small CCD sensors produce too much grain at ISO 400 and above. Many consider bridge cameras a higher end point and shoot, but they really perform best when you know how to play with some of the manual settings. A good percentage of the smaller pocket point and shoot cameras have these settings, but they are not as easily accessed because their intent is to be used by those that don’t want to bother making adjustments. On the other hand, bridge cameras are targeted at those wanting to make the transition (bridge) to SLR, so these settings are much easier to quickly access.
Arguably the percentage of photos that go into the trash is less with a higher end SLR, but with the right bridge camera the ratio between the two isn’t that great. And the bridge cameras, if used correctly, can deliver some stunning results. All the photos in Korat were taken with the little Fuji, and its not the best bridge camera on the market. In the bridge class I’d give serious attention to the Canon G10 (not a super zoom), Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38, Panasonic Lumix GF1, or Fujifilm FinePix S200EXR (a bit heavy).
In the compact pocket point and shoot class the Panasonic Lumix series has been beating the pants of its competition for several years. I had one once and loved it.
Digital SLR cameras are for the serious amateur enthusiast or professional. They are a big, bulky, heavy, money pit that only a serious photographer will put up with. If you just want something that will consistently take good photos, without breaking your back or wallet, take a serious look at the smaller bridge cameras or high-end compacts. Most of these cameras will do very well if you learn how to make use of exposure compensation to eliminate washing out in high contrast scenes, and lower ISO settings to avoid grain. Cameras, including SLRs, set on full automatic, will quickly make use of high ISO settings to get the exposure, and I’ve never seen a camera that can automatically adjust for high contrast scenes. Take control over these two situations and most good quality cameras, of any class, will deliver great results. The big difference with the SLRs is you may be able to get a photo that the others can not when ISO is an issue.
December 8th, 2009 at 9:07 am
I misspoke concerning cameras that can automatically compensate for extreme contrasts. Nikon has a technology that does that and does it well, and it is on the D60. Canon claims to have the same ability but it does not work. This feature on the Nikon was the only consideration that made my choice between the two a difficult one.
April 18th, 2010 at 1:14 am
Do I have to add you to my facebook to view the photos? If so, how do I do so? Your facebook options do not allow me to add you from my account
April 18th, 2010 at 1:32 am
There are links to most of the albums in this post. To see all the albums you do need to be added as a friend in Facebook. Not sure how that’s done as I’ve never tried it. I’m guessing you need to look for an option that requests you be added as a friend rather than just adding me. Another individual just did that two days ago and it worked fine. I’ll get a message when someone requests to be added as a friend and I go in and approve it.