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Cory Photography with Tom and Pat Cory |
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Iceland, 2008 |
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Newsletter, August 2008 Continued |
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Lightroom 2 We knew it had to be coming, Adobe comes out with new versions of their software at an alarming rate, so now we have Lightroom 2. We haven't installed it yet, but will be doing so shortly. For the person who doesn't like complicated computer software and just wants to do some tweaking of their images (like Tom), Lightroom is a very intuitive, everything in one place, software. Tom actually likes using it. For the person who likes to do more heavy duty editing, cloning, etc, you will still also need a more robust image editing software to go along with it.
Blurb Book We have now sent two books to Blurb and will be sending a third version before long. We are pleased with the books. There were a couple of pictures that didn't reproduce quite like we'd like so we would recommend that you get a sample made before you go for a coffee table version. You download the software to your computer and then choose the template you want for each page. The templates are well designed but there were times I would have liked to have been able to modify them just a bit and wasn't able to. I also found a few quirky things when moving in text but over all the process is pretty intuitive. I also found their support to be quite good when I had a couple of questions. If you are interested in creating your own photo book, it's definitely work looking into.
A Few Summer Photo Tips
In hot weather, taking a camera outside from an air conditioned house or car will cause the lens to fog up. It's even worse with a camcorder which sometimes just won't even record if condensation forms inside. So, if at home, put the camera outside for a while before you want to photograph, if in a car, keep the air conditioner turned off or put your camera in the trunk.
If the heat's just too much, consider doing some window-light flower photography with a north facing window. We use black or white foam core for a backdrop.
Even with all the photo editing software we have available, it's still fun to experiment with creative techniques in camera. For a water-color effect, try photographing a colorful flower against a white background, over exposing by about 2 stops. If you have a white sky like we get here in the summer, you can also use this technique with the sky as a background. Be sure your camera is metering the flower and not the background. You may want to experiment with different camera settings.
Our bird bath has been a very popular spot today. If it's been dry where you live, it's really important to have some water out for the birds. And if you have branches or even some flowers near the water, the birds may repay you by posing for you.
Waterfall Website
Our friend Joyce just sent us this website ( world-of-waterfalls.com) about waterfalls. The home page begins: "Welcome! My wife and I love waterfalls! In fact, we love them so much that we've created this website to share information, photos, and travel stories about the falls we have personally visited around the world." If you too like waterfalls, you might find it interesting and also a good resource for identifying a falls you're just not quite sure about. Thanks, Joyce.
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