Ask Dave, September 4th

First off... Sorry that I took the month of August off, without warning. I was charged with launching the new website for Rocky Mountain College, and they had lots of issues thanks to a consultant and designers that did not understand the needs of the college. It all worked out okay, but I did end up spending a few weeks working 100+ hours each week. When you work 108 hours and there are only 168 hours in a week, well... you can do the math, but sleeping about 42 hours left me with less than 18 other hours to cook, eat, clean the house, do dishes, do laundry, attempt to stay in touch with friends/family and work my last few shifts at Best Buy. No time for blogging, I barley made time to make an end of the month trip to Yellowstone (I had no choice, I had to make a trip to keep my 5 year run going).

If you forgive me, keep reading :)

Ask Dave, September 3rd
I get tons of questions each week, I respond as quickly as possible, and I might just answer them here too. If you have questions you can email me at Learn@DaveShumway.com.

Question:
From... Colleen
I will be visiting Yellowstone in September and have been addicted to your photo galleries. Beside the tourist areas in Yellowstone, are there any areas that you love to photograph at? Any advice you can give a novice photographer?

Answer:
September is a great time in YNP, but much will depend on weather.  Some years early September is cool, and the shooting is spectacular all around the park.  Other years it is hot into September/October and then the shooting can be much like summer, best at sunrise and sunset, then very slow all day.

My advice would be:

• To spend time at higher elevations if you are looking to see and photograph bears;
• To head to the Tetons mid September - early October if you seek moose;
• To spend time around Canyon and Madison if elk are the object of your desire;
• To search for great grey owls around Canyon;
• To spend time around Canon/Hayden and Lamar if wolves are what you seek.

As far as landscapes the temperature will greatly impact the changing of the leaves, so it is always a guess as to where the colors will be best at any give time.  I tend to shoot early change in the Tetons, then focus on the colors of the Beartooth Pass and finish fall shooting whatever color I can find.  I know many folks who put all there eggs in the big change at Ox-Bow Bend, but normally they miss it (the big change happens inside of 24 hours most years).  I keep an eye on the Beartooth Pass because it is a short drive for me, if I lived in Jackson I would watch Ox-Bow Bend, and that is about the only way to be present at the right time (other than being super lucky, which I am not).

Use Av (aperture priority) mode if you can, make sure that you are checking your screen/histogram, bring all the telephoto power you can, download and inspect your photographs each night/day and enjoy your time out taking pictures in paradise.

I'll be making a trip in a few days, and will try to post to my blog/site/etc quickly after I return, but another great way to keep track of what is happening is to follow me on Twitter/Facebook/Google+, as I post my day by day while on trips (and share some updates that I receive from friends too).

The general nature photography tips still hold true:

• You can't photograph it if you don't see it (so get up early and stay out late);
• Bad weather makes for good light;
• Change in weather stirs animals behaviors;
• If you don't have a camera with and set you cannot capture an image.

Happy shooting

Ask Dave, July 4th - Fireworks

Ask Dave, July 4th
I get tons of questions each week, I respond as quickly as possible, and I might just answer them here too. If you have questions you can email me at Learn@DaveShumway.com.

Question:
From... Dan
How should I photograph tonights fireworks?

Answer:
Well the best way to do it is by having your camera with you and remembering to use it. (The best camera is the one you have with you :)

I would go into a long list of tips/tricks; but countless others have already done it, so I'll give you some links, and a tip or two:

• http://www.creativelive.com/courses/photographing-fireworks - A great resource
• http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-fireworks
• http://www.geofflawrence.com/photography_tutorial_photographing_fireworks.php
• http://www.garryblack.com/fireworks.htm
• http://www.nyip.com/ezine/holidays/firewks.html

They all basically say the same thing; but I'll reiterate:

• Use a tripod;
• Get your exposure right (remember dark sky looks great as black);
• I use a cable release;
• Remember you are letting the motion of the light paint your picture;
• Plan you shot ahead of time;
• Have fun; but remember to take and use your camera.

Happy shooting, and God bless America

p.s. I have not photographed fireworks sense I took the shot on this post, back in 2006. I have been on photo trips to Glacier/Waterton/Colorado each year over the holiday weekend; but nature can give some nice firework displays too.

p.s.s. Remember that without all of the brave Americans that have served in the armed forces, each day would not be filled with freedom.

New font may save you money

Ecofont has a new font that uses around 20% less ink/toner to print.

I never print emails; but many of my colleagues do, so I have changed my default email font to Spranq Eco Sans regular. I will also try to print simple reference things off with it as well. For the frugal ones of us we are saving money, everyone else tell yourself you are helping the environment or something like that :)

Oh I forgot the font will also will give your smily faces teeth (try it out big and you will see what I mean).

The font is free to download and use for personal use. It looks OK too.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - "The big move"

OK, so how many of you have started using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (LR2)?  If you have not, you should.  Most people start using Lightroom with the images saved onto their computers main hard drive, while the typical MacBookPro or iMac only has 320-500 gigabytes of storage space.  In the beginning we all think that we will have plenty of room for our images.  Then we start shooting RAW and buy amazing 21MP cameras, and all of the sudden our computer is preforming very slow, and Mac’s are not supposed to ever run slowly.  

I have been using external drives since long before the Beta of Lightroom came to the public; but I have many friends who have not.  One such friend recently had his iMac come to a halt (essentially filled the hard drive).  We then went on a search to find a way to move every image that he had in Lightroom from his iMac to a 1TB external drive without losing all the editing and organizing that was already done.

Now I know what you are thinking, it is Adobe so this should be an easy thing to do.  And I thought the same thing. I assumed that one could export the library, or move the photos and have Lightroom simply re-locate them.  Both of these will not do the trick.  We need the files moved and to still keep all of the Lightroom settings and have the file structure “Hierarchy” stay intact.  If all of your photos are in a single folder all you need to do is re-locate and then find one image (Adobe will do the rest); however if your folder”s” are organized into more than one folder (like we all do) this will not work without locating images in each folder manually (way more work than any of us have time for).  

Here is Jonathan’s report:

After weeks of searching, two weeks of adobe portal help, and three phone calls (2 Americans & 1 Indian) I have a successful method.  



What not to do: The Indian gentleman suggested moving all of the files to the external hard drive and then Re-import them. NO, NO, NO...  



As it always happens, the last call was the one that held the key to success!  A relatively easy way to move everything without losing the Hierarchy or your edits.  

The first thing that needs to be done is to make sure the entire folder hierarchy is in the “Folders” pane of LR2.  

While I had a folder hierarchy on my local mac drive, it didn't show up in folders on LR2. The reason for this is in order for the folder hierarchy to show up, at least one photo file needs to be in the top-most folder.  For me, that was the folder I named "pics".  Each Year's folder is under the folder "pics" on my local mac drive.

So, simply, I put an image (I was directed to use "ducky" in CS3 Samples because it has a bright yellow icon) into the folder "pics." So now I have a photo File called Ducky, and Folders years 2000-2009, all in my top most Folder named "pics".  I then import the file Ducky in the "pics" folder, obviously using import while leaving file in original location.  


Now, the entire folder hierarchy under "mac" HD is in the “Folders” pane in LR2 - a mirror of the hard drive.

Now, you have two options.

Note, the external hard drive (the drive you are moving to) needs to be added to the “Folders” pane in LR2 first, by simply clicking on the "+" sign and adding it.  

~ The first option is: 

In the “Folders” pane in Library section of LR2, drag and drop the folder you want moved, e.g. "pics" or any subfolder into the external hard drive located under “Folders” pane in LR2.  

This method will move all the files with the folder hierarchy intact to the external hard drive/new location.  At the same time this will delete the photo files on the local hard drive.  What we don't know is if there are additional files/photos/videos you have not imported to LR2; but exist in that folder hierarchy, will they be deleted - I doubt it; but I'm not going to gamble since LR2 doesn't even know they exist nor do I know if LR2 checks the integrity if it did move them.

~ 
The second option is the one that worked (with no fear).

Because most people export tweaked images from LR2 to another folder in the folder hierarchy.  Those exported tweaked files are never imported to LR2 - why should they be, they are JPG's/TIFF’s.  If you want to move all photos, including ones not imported, like the tweaked ones - from the local hard drive onto an external hard drive for space reasons then this is the safe way.

To make sure ALL folders/images/files are moved to the external hard drive, simply copy and paste the entire top folder (all 25K files/photos for me) on the local "mac" Hard drive to the external hard drive. Remember that you must have the entire hierarchy in LR2 so that it is maintained after the transition (see the “first thing” with questions).

Obviously, this will copy and paste all files/folders, maintaining the hierarchy as well as moving even the files not imported to LR2 - it also has the advantage that a "copy-paste" done by the computer checks the integrity of what was pasted to the original at the end of the paste. And, you guessed it, one does not delete the original files until you are sure the move and reconnection to LR2 was successful.  

Last; but not least, go back to the “folders” in LR2 and under "mac" HD, locate the “top” folder, which was copied and pasted to the external hard drive.  Right click on that folder in LR2 and choose "update folder location..."  

Choose the new location on your external hard drive, and the “top” folder in LR2 is now located under the external drive in LR2 folders and all photos/files are linked.  
--
This method obviously works for many applications, including moving between external hard drives (1TB to a 4TB in a year or two).  

Adobe does encourage one other thing, one should "save metadata to File" for all photos to create sidecars - not completely sure of the reasoning to this, but they suggest it...

There you go, Jonathan wrote this partially because he thought I would like to know and partially because he wanted a way of preserving the information.  Jonathan is not only a talented photographer and good friend; but he is also a gifted medical professional (MD).  He wanted me to share this with as many people as possible, so it goes onto my blog and wherever else I can find for it in the future.  His hope is that this will be helpful to many people who have these same issues now and in the future.  

Thanks for the information Jonathan.  If you want to check out some of Jonathan’s photos they can be viewed at http://bumpitup.smugmug.com/

Thanks for reading, and get the word out.  

Remember things change with software all of the time.  If things do not seem correct, contact Adobe and see if they have made changes.  If you find errors let us know; but we offer no warrantee to the use of this advice, nor are we available as technical support.  Sorry :)