Evening On 5th. Ave. Naples, FL

On Thursday June 14, 2012 5th Ave. S in Naples, FL hosted an "Evening on Fifth". Musicians, local charities and even dog adoption agencies were all present to celebrate a night out on the town. It was a wonderful evening. Everyone was happy to see the community together in a positive way, many were even dancing to the music. The street was bustling with people for many hours.

 



Nikon D7000 Review

Nikonusa.com

     The Nikon D7000 is a spectacular camera. A top-end advanced consumer camera featuring 16.2 MP resolution and a DX CMOS Sensor. What this means is that it takes great pictures with clean clarity and sharpness.

Features:

• A group of 39 focusing points which can be individually selected to choose your own center point.
• Focus Area : Single, Continuous, and Automatic.
• The ability to shoot 1080p video at 24 frames/second(OR 30-25-24 F/S at 720p) for up to 20 minutes continuously.
• A rear 3 inch LCD monitor which is useful when recording or shooting in Live View mode.

• Ease of control with numerous dedicated buttons such as: Menu, White Balance, ISO, Image Quality(RAW, jpeg, jpeg fine...) one push record button, Pad selector (for choosing those focus points and navigating the menu screen) Info (displays the DSLRs current setting information) playback button (pictures and video).
• The D7000 has four dials.The two on the right-hand side control the shutter speed and aperture settings (these dials can be reversed so the shutter speed can control the aperture dial).  On the left hand side the two dials control: Single shutter release, continuous low, continuous high, auto, quiet mode, timer, remote, mirror up.The other dial controls the shooting modes: manual, aperture priority, shutter priority,
• Six Different Auto Focus (AF) Area Modes.
• Two Individual customizable memory card slots. Whats great about these is that Nikon allowed them to have separate functions if you select them to. One can save video while the other is dedicated to photos. OR one can save JPEG while the other saves RAW/NEF files. OR you can dedicate memory card one as the main and slot two as an overflow.  

There are another two pages worth of technical jargon to fill your minds with, but enough with the technicalities.

What I Like about the Nikon D7000

• How crisp the pictures are. The 16 MP really shine through with this camera. Amazing shots are just a click away.
• The "Info" button that displays ALL of the settings you have selected on the back LCD screen.
• The ability to record video with one button push.
• The live view switch.

What I DONT Like About the Nikon D7000

• The control pad used to select your focus point. You have to squish your face up against the camera to look through the viewfinder and adjust your settings.
• Too Small. My hands seem to cramp up after a bit of time shooting. If Nikon would have made it a little wider it would fit my hands perfectly.

OVERALL

My honest opinion is that if you have the money, buy the camera. You will not regret it. Months later I am still learning all of the settings and my pictures keep improving. It will be hard to outgrow this camera.

Unboxing the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Wide Angle Zoom Lens

Lightroom 4 Slideshow

What Makes You Better Than The Rest

    

      So now you're a photographer, you have the camera, lenses, filters, packs, sacks, containers, programs, a fancy computer, and even a top of the line "professional" printer. ALL your friends say what great work you do, now what? What's your goal? whats your niche? What makes you better than the millions of average-joes with pockets deep enough to afford professional equipment that makes your gear look like cheap plastic toys?

ASSETS
This might sound common knowledge but the first thing you should do is identify your assets. What are you good at. What are you not good at. Choose a subject to practice with, are you a people person? Maybe shooting models or portraits is your talent. Have a love for animals? Cant stay away from the zoo? Perhaps wildlife photography is your gift. Sports, product photography, newspaper event photography. Explore. Learn. Educate. Find what fits you and your lifestyle best and stick with it. You cant do it all, so give one your all.   

WORK WHEN ITS NOT WORK
To stay above the rest work to your best. Always have your camera, always be looking for that "one" shot. “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take.”  - Wayne Gretzky. Always be "working" and hunting for anything that will let you shine past the rest of the crowd. Birthdays, Family reunions, no matter what you should at be least known as "that photography guy with the camera".

ALWAYS RELY ON YOUR BASICS
One great picture is better than one hundred okay pictures. Go for quality not quantity. Apply what you have learned and the rest is easy. "Click"

STATE OF MIND
You are the best no matter what; be an arrogant gentleman or misses. Don't be rude, vulgar, or inappropriate. Be confidant. Over believe in yourself. People can see how you really feel about you and your work. Help convince them that your pictures are the best and that you can easily capture more moments in life. Be a compelling and desirable photographer.

RELAX
Don't stress. Your best work will come when you least expect it. The last photo of a long day, or an accidental shutter release. Even just goofing around and having fun can yield the best work of your career. Don't stress, don't stress, don't stress. HAVE FUN.

Adobe Lightroom 4

 

     Adobe released Lightroom 4 this year and as I scoured the Internet to find the best image editing software to accompany my new DSLR this program kept popping up. Granted, LR4 doesn't compare to the capabilities of Photoshop, which I was considering as well, but for my experience level and my cost limitations $700 for Photoshop was out of my price range. The price of $150 for Lightroom and the great reviews was the determining factor in my purchase.

Being that I have NEVER used a dedicated program for editing my photos I was amazed with what I could accomplish with this program. Underexposed images could be recovered, colors manipulated, sharpness, clarity, luminosity, effects....the list is endless.

Main tabs in LR4:

Library: After importing and custom renaming your photos you have the ability to scroll/tab through your images and mark them with identifying colors, flags, and compare two images next to each other, there are also two side modules that allow you to "Quick Develop" and add "Keywords" to your images, and view and edit your "MetaData".

Develop: This tab is where 99% of image editing will take place. The adjustment modules found on the right side of the screen and each have their own setting adjusters.

• Basic: Temp., Tint, Tone, Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Blacks, Whites, Presence, Clarity, Vibrance, Saturation
• Tone Curve: Highlights, Lights, Darks, Shadows, Point Curve
• HSL/Color/B&W: Hue, Saturation, Luminance, Color and B&W adjustment
• Split Toning: Highlights, Shadows
• Detail: Sharpening controls, Noise Reduction Controls
• Lens Correction: Used to reduce or remove known defects with lenses (Vignetting...)
• Effects: Choose a preset effect and adjust it
• Camera Calibration: Calibrate color details for your specific camera

 

Map: The Map tab allows you to use Geo tagging to tag where your pictures were taken from anywhere in the world.

Book: One great aspect of LR4 is the ability to make custom books using your pictures. Do everything in Lightroom and just click and send it to be printed and shipped to you.

Slideshow: Tired of using "Powerpoint"? Now Just use LR4 and everything is in one spot. All your pictures, adjustments and controls are in the same window to control your custom slideshow.

Web: Publish your images to a variety of online hosts and websites. All of which is customizable.

amazon.com

National Get Outdoors Day-Everglades

In honor of National Get Outdoors Day it was only fitting to head-out into the everglades(which I happen to live right next to) and do some wildlife watching. My pictures came out quite well and It was the first time I have had the D7000 in that environment.

Other than being EXTREMELY HOT the day went well. The picture of the alligator sitting out was the only issue I had. He was blocking the walkway and I was forced to walk ten feet in front of him to get past. He was very intimidating I wasn't sure if he was going to attack or behave.