May 2008 Desktop Calendar Wallpaper

This month's calendar is a smiling young monk from Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Click on the image to get the larger version.

Ansel Adams and Yosemite

Louise Story writes an excellent article in New York Times, going back to the Yosemite of Ansel Adam's days and talking about Adam's perspectives of the Park.

Adams first visited Yosemite in 1916 when he was 14 years old. On that trip, he hopped up on a tree stump to take a photo of Half Dome, then stumbled, headfirst, and accidentally pushed the shutter release. The upside-down image remained one of Adams’s favorites, he wrote in his autobiography.

Yosemite is one of my favourite places on earth, and what I regret greatly is not being able to spend any more than just a weekend in the park. Here is a picture, shot using a disposable point and shoot film camera in the days when digital SLRs were far behind film.

One for Earth Day

Here is an earth day link for photographers - "10 Tips for Being a Greener Photographer".

Some of the tips are obvious and you would have already done it with or without good intent, like going digital and using rechargeable batteries. But a few more are interesting, like what to do with the old cameras.

I am doing some of the things mentioned without actually having aimed to reduce my footprints. One - I printed very little since the time I have gone digital, and I have occasionally used the camera to work for NGOs.

DSLR News and Rumours

There is a rain of new entry level DSLRs in the last couple of months. Gizmodo does a quick review and comparison of all them. Just the kind of stuff you would want to know if you are looking to buy a new basic DSLR. Cameras reviewed - Canon Rebel XSi, Sony Alpha A350, Nikon D60 and Olympus E240.

Next about rumours - Engadget reports of rumours of a Nikon D3X in the making with a 24.2 megapixel sensor. And Photography Blog says Samsung is coming up with a full frame sensor camera, trying to catchup in DSLR market.

Update: The Chinese are making clones of high end point and shoot cameras. Of course, they come cheaper than the originals. I hope they start cloning SLRs too. Not that I would buy one of them, but they all help in driving the prices down.

Image: Entering the Temple

I was lucky to be here at the right time when the sunlight fell through an opening in the roof. I waited for someone to enter through the door, and took a picture.



Exif: Canon EOS 350D, 17-40L at 37mm, f/4.0, 1/50sec, ISO 400

Now upload video on flickr

No, flickr is not going head on with youtube. At least not yet.

Flickr is now allowing video uploads, but with a few restrictions. First thing, they are not really looking at you uploading a video of a favourite number from your favourite rock star. They want you to upload stuff that you have shot, keeping in mind the spirit of image sharing in flickr. Next, in their own words, they don't want you to upload your 3 hour wedding video - the video clips are limited to 90 seconds, even when you can upload a longer video. Not surprisingly, only you can download your video but anyone can embed the video on a webpage. Video uploads are limited to pro members.

Read what flickr folks have to say about the new feature, and the help page.

Round up from last fortnight

Unread RSS feeds can become a nightmare quickly. 2 weeks of up-opened feeds had piled up to a few hundreds and it took more than an hour to just scroll through them and isolate the ones that I wanted to read. Here is a round up of stuff that looked interesting.

1. Leaks of new camera release news had become very common, and then companies figured it could become free publicity for them. Now they are calling it official leak? See Canon EOS 4D official leak on The Online Photogrpaher. Expected pricing? USD 2000. Thats a good news for people living outside USA who are looking for a 5D like camera. Reduced price and depreciated dollar is a double deal.

2. A Photoshop user survey says 60% of users use pirated copy! Interesting.

3. Adobe launches Photoshop Express Public Beta, a free online photo editing software. Press release and the software website.

4. This is something curious. Someone who posted a picture of a UFO is said to have disappeared. You can never tell the amount of truth or lies in these stories.

5. A couple of photography competitions. One from Profession Photographer Magazine and the other from Photography Book Now.