Thomas Fitzgerald Photography

Here’s another one from the archive. Best viewed large (click on the image for a large version). I reprocessed it in Aperture 3 which allowed me to bring up more of the wasp than an older one which I had done. The original Image is here – as you can see – it’s quite a departure.

Here’s just a quick image I was playing around with in Aperture 3. I really love the new extended range curves adjustment. I love it even more that you can add as many as you want and brush them in and out. Here’s an image from our heavy snow in January.

As you can see the sky is burnt out. I could just use the recovery slider or lower the exposure then use the shadow and highlights to compensate. If I was in lightroom I would probably use the gradient tool to bring the sky back in. But in Aperture 3 by using a curves tool, I can bring the sky back in and have fine control over the contrast and darkness of the sky. Once I have it right I can just brush it on the areas I want. Here’s the result.

I have more before and after images on my flickr site. You can check out my Aperture 3 testing set here. I’ll keep adding to it so remember to check back regularly.

Another image from the Archives. Taken in Kilorglin, Kerry a few years ago. Eos 5D, Straight out of the Camera.

I was going through my Aperture Library after upgrading to 3.0 and I’m finding all sorts of Images I’d forgotten about. I don’t know how I’d missed this one when I was putting my portfolio for this site together.

Following up on my comments from the other day about the new Canon Rebel / 550D, DXO labs have run their tests on a pre-production model and the results are…..well, I think they speak for themselves:

“Yeah, but it’s got 18 megapixels maaaannnnn, that’s all that matters”

[UPDATE]
Just a quick point. I picked the D90 because it’s a camera that I know. Bear in mind that the D90 is two years old. I’m not trying to make this a Canon / Nikon thing. I own 3 DSLRs and two of them are Canons. I know test results aren’t everything either, but they do seem to match up with people’s experiences of other Cameras on there so I would give them a reasonable amount of credit.

Apple has finally launched Aperture 3. It’s been two years since the last version came out and this is a much needed upgrade. Apple certainly hasn’t been resting on its laurels however as this is a huge upgrade with over 200 new features. I’ve outlined some of my favourite new features over on my technology blog. I’ve just ordered my copy so as soon as I have it I’ll give it a proper try out. You can check out the full list of new features on Apple’s website, and I suggest you check out some of the cool “Aperture in Action” videos too.

I just don’t understand what the people at Canon are thinking any more. I really don’t. I’ve been a long time Canon user, and a long time fan, but I really do think they’ve lost the plot when it comes to product development. Today, I see in my RSS reader they’ve launched yet another Rebel. The Eos 550D (or Rebel T2i. ) is the latest in a long line of entry level DSLRs from Canon. My first ever DSLR was one of these. In fact it was the first Digital Rebel, or the EOS 300D as it was called over here in Europe. It was a great little camera and a breakthrough at the time. Lately Canon have been churning them out every year. To be honest it’s not really a segment of the market that interests me much any more. Having said that I am shocked by the 55OD

Why? Canon have chosen to put a 18 Megapixel Cropped APS-C sized sensor into this latest rebel. But wait, I hear you say, that’s brilliant. Already some over enthusiastic Canon fans are calling it a “Very Powerful Entry Level” camera. And, I suppose in some ways it would appear so, or at least it would if resolution was everything. But it isn’t. The 550D is an entry level camera. At the level of customer this is aimed at, 18 megapixels is completely and utterly pointless. No consumer level lens is ever going to be able to resolve the detail of that amount of pixels in such a small space. The only way to ever get sharp Images from this is to go out an buy L series lenses from Canon, the majority of which cost more than the price of this Camera. I’m sure people will tell me that the extra resolution will be great for cropping and zooming, but that’s bull, because you can’t crop in if the Image isn’t sharp to begin with. The other excuse you frequently hear is that the extra resolution will make up for lack of pixel level sharpness. But this is also bull. If your image is soft at 18 megapixels it’s still soft. It’s just soft in extra detail.

Instead of improving the quality of a lower resolution sensor, instead of creating cameras that suit its target market Canon, has chosen to compete on paper, on spec lists, and that’s a real shame. What’s even more of a shame is that it will probably work for them. People will think that they’re getting a bargain because they’re getting such a high resolution sensor for such a low price, but they’re going to have to spend far more to actually make use of it. In the end, people who are entering the world of Photography and want to learn are being done a great disservice by cameras like this. Already we’re starting to see bad habits and misinformation permeate the consciousness of the internet when it comes to Photography, perpetrated by fans of these high resolution cameras to make up for their gear’s shortcomings. Eager enthusiasts are being told that their pictures are supposed to be slightly soft, and that checking them at 100% for sharpness makes them a bad photographer. What’s next? Chromatic Aberration is a good thing? That unsightly purple fringing is “art”? Every time Canon crams more pixels into their sensors they lower the quality of the resulting image, and in the rush to embrace higher resolution, up and coming photographers are loosing out on the necessary skill to take technically critical images.

I know this sounds like a terrible rant, and it is. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that’s fair enough. Having said that DP Review already has sample images up and some look terrible. They look like the result you would expect from a digital compact. Shame on Canon for abandoning the principles of quality and perfection that many of us grew up respecting them for  in order to find the cheapest way to make sales. This camera will probably be a huge success, but that success will be a great disservice to the name of Photography.

[Updated to fix a few Typos]

(I know this is a touchy subject, and I appreciate a spirited discussion, but please keep it civil. Any rude, personally insulting comments etc will be deleted)

I made it out first the first time in a few weeks the other day (I’ve been battling a bad chest infection) and as always I brought my camera with me. (My trusty D90 and 18-200 lens for anyone who is interested!) Having been cooped up inside for some time it was good to get some fresh air and it was good to get the feel of a viewfinder again. I hadn’t gone out specifically to photograph but some interesting things caught my eye. It got me thinking though. I realised that I have a particularly bad habit when it comes to being out and about with my camera. I have a tendency to see something interesting, but for some reason I won’t take my camera out to take the shot. Usually it’s because there’s some distracting element, or I think to myself, I’ll come back and get it later. But the words of a recent interview I saw with a well known photographer were ringing in my ear: “take a lot of photographs”. They had gone on to explain that they didn’t just mean, take lots of shots of different things, but to take lots of shots of the same thing. Try different angles, different framing. I realised that there was one more thing I could add to that. Take the damn shot to begin with. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. It’s still good practice.

Here’s an example. This isn’t a great shot because the bollard behind the bike is throwing off the composition. I could try and Photoshop it out but it’s a fairly complicated job and not really worth it. I could have just not taken the shot. After all, it’s not perfect and I’m sure lots of people online would be quick to point that out (using far less friendlier language) Instead though I decided to see what I could make of it.

(more…)

I had all these great plans lined up for things to do in January. I was going to absolutely make sure I kept up with my photo of the day. I was going to make sure I had all my galleries and portfolios updated. I was even going to work on some new merchandise designs. Unfortunately all of this went out the window when I got sick a few weeks ago, and I’ve been pretty much out of action since then. It’s very frustrating, especially when you work freelance, to have an illness take you out of the loop.

I had been trying really hard too to keep up my 365 project but in the end I just didn’t have the energy. I had really wanted to make a go of it this year, but at least I got further than last year. I don’t know whether to just keep going now, to start again, or to post images for the missing days belatedly. Any suggestions ? Actually the one thing I did find as I struggled in my weakened state, was that by forcing yourself to try and take at least one image every day is that you start to think outside the box pretty quickly. I think it doesn’t have to be a great photo, just something, anything. It will make you look in the world, even your own little confined world, in a different light. I’m pretty disappointed in myself that I couldn’t keep going but I was in a bad way. Anyway, hopefully I’m on the mend now and I can get back to regular blogging, and more importantly regular photo taking.

Actually, on the subject of regular photo taking, I heartily recommend this weeks D-Town TV which has an excellent interview with the renowned Chase Jarvis. It’s well worth checking out as Chase gives some tips on becoming a better photographer and it’s an interesting way of looking at things.

Oh, and while you’re at it check out this gorgeous little video I came across on vimeo. It was shot on the D3s and Is quite beautiful (in my opinion)