The Juggler

Here’s a candid shot I took in Tapachula, Mexico in the state of Chiapas.

This city is 100 percent Mexico. Not many gringos here.

In order to take this pic I had to get out of my car to get a close-up shot.

I gave the kid a couple of dollars for his efforts.

I can make an educated guess that this kid’s parents made him go out and perform on the streets for money.

He didn’t seem all that happy, but then I wouldn’t if some big, strange gringo wanted to take my picture.

I can only imagine how I looked through his eyes.

10 Great Photo Gifts Under $100

Scratching  your head trying to figure out what to get your family and pals for the holidays?  Scratch no more, 101 Quick and Easy Secrets is here to guide you.

Check out these great gifts that are high quality and not all that expensive.

1. iPhone 3G ($99)  Join in on the fun of using hundreds of apps that are available on the spot for photos you’ve taken with the iPhone camera. Everyone’s shooting with their iPhone and tweaking their photos to turn them into works of art.

2. Kodak EasyShare DX7440 4MP Digital Camera ($99) If I were a new camera user who wanted to learn about photography, this is the camera I’d get. You can learn about aperture and shutter speed because the camera has both aperture and shutter priority modes so you can practice shooting with different apertures and shutter speeds.

3. 101 Quick and Easy Secrets for Using Your Digital Photographs ($19.79) If you don’t have a clue what to do with all those digital photos on your computer’s hard drive, this is the book to get. Filled with ideas from framing to tweaking online and even making coffee cups with them, this book will make your photos come alive.

4. Canon Wireless Remote Control RC1 for Digital Rebel ($21.99) Just point the remote control at your camera and the shutter will be released. It uses an infrared center and can run on the same battery for years. You’ll never have camera shake from pressing the shutter release button down again.

5. Canon Selphy CP740 Compact Photo Printer ($99) Get those photos in your camera/laptop printed, get a portable printer to print on the spot. This has to be the portable printer that is best bang for your buck. Better than the i80. Weighs only 5 lbs. Prints can last a lifetime.

6. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens ($98.30) The best of the best for the price. Number 1 seller lens for dSLR cameras. If you want a lens with good optical quality this is the one to get. If you’re a beginning photographer and want something better (and inexpensive) than the lens that came with your camera, this is the lens to get.

7. IOGEAR 56-in-1 USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader GFR281 ($16.39) Need your photos downloaded to your laptop fast? Just remove the memory card out of your camera and slip it into the memory card reader, which connects to your computer with a fast USB connection (cord supplied), then this is the gadget to have.

8. Photoshop Elements 8 ($99, $59 after mail-in rebate until Nov 30) Adobe’s having a Photoshop Elements sale. Get in on the action of tweaking your photos to make them winners. No digital camera buff should be without this software.

9. 3M Microfiber Lens Cleaning Cloth ($4.99) What good is a camera with a dirty lens?  Get it cleaned properly with a microfiber cloth.

10. Velbon Dual Function Mini Photographic Tripod ($32.24) Traveling? Don’t leave home without a mini tripod to get the sharpest shots on the road. Portable and easy to use, you won’t regret leaving home without it.

The Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner Photograph

Let’s give thanks to the people who lived in Mexico 7000 years ago. They developed corn.

What do you think was on the menu when the pilgrims and the Indians had their feast?

Not sweet potatoes, not cranberries, but corn, lots of corn.

In the picture above you see flint corn, better known as Indian corn. I believe this is the most photogenic of the many kinds of corn.

Now, some tips for photographing the dinner itself–

 

The Close-Up

When you’re photographing this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, catch some close-ups of the turkey, not only just after it’s cooked whole, but also the parts, the dark meat and the white meat.

Catch friend’s and relative’s faces close-up. Catch the dog close-up.

Come to think of it catch everything you see close-up.

Close-ups reveal texture and expression from the fine lines (come on there’s character there) in people’s faces to the color of the kernel’s of Indian corn.

Flash

When you can, avoid using the flash. Instead of using your flash, use the natural light in the room. You want to catch that ambiance of the celebration.

Making Money from your Thanksgiving Photographs

To make money from your Thanksgiving photos go here.

Paris Restaurant

When I think of Chinese food, Paris isn’t the first thing that crosses my mind. What were these people thinking?

At any rate, I love signs and I have another blog called the Book of Signs.

It’s a pretty good collection of signs (mostly neon) that I’ve shot over the years.

Whenever I have a lot of time (which isn’t that often) I post a couple of sign pics there.

Please send me one of your sign pics and I’ll post it there (and give you credit for it).

Book about How to Emulate Famous Photographers

My new book 101 Quick and Easy Ideas Taken from the Master Photographers of the Twentieth Century (see link to the right) is off to the printer. The cover is also done.

I’m posting here. I think the publisher did a great job in designing it (the publisher is Cengage Learning).

I’ve been informed that preorders for the book are brisk. There’s nothing like hearing that type of news.

The cover picture was taken in Paris (isn’t that the place where all good shots can be had?). If you ever get to that city take your camera to the giant Farris wheel. You can get wow shot of it from far away, close up and while you’re riding it.

The nice thing about that city is you can photograph it when it’s cloudy and get gray hues that you’ve never seen before (especially at sunset).

Panama Canal Lock

Going through the Panama Canal ion a cruise ship is fascinating.   This is a lock where water entered to raise the ship, the MS Oosterdam, up one level to prepare it for entrance into the lake, which is above sea level on it’s way from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean.

You really can’t feel the boat rising, but you can see it. It looks like as if a ship is rising from under the ground. If there was one word to describe it, I’d say that word would be elevator. The canal works like an elevator, except instead of being pulled up or down, you’re pushed up and down by the water entering and leaving the locks.

It really is one of the world’s greatest technological marvels.

People Reading

Andre Kertész spent the better part of his life taking photographs, many of which were of people reading. A book of photographs, On Reading, was published in 1971.

Just as Kertész’s photographs show people totally absorbed in the reading process, so, too, does the image of the reader to the left. The reader’s gaze into the book reminds viewers how engaging such a solitary activity can be. An added element to the photo—a pencil—makes one wonder why the subject is using it to read.

The surroundings—a park in Paris—have story of their own. The trash receptacle, which is a plastic bag inserted into a large metal ring came about as a result of the War on Terror. After Sept. 11, Paris eliminated traditional trashcans because if a bomb were dropped into one, you wouldn’t be able to see it. Plastic bags such as the one you see in the photo are transparent so that if anything suspicious is dropped into the bag, people will be able to see it.

Andre Kertész is one of the photographers covered in my new book 101 Quick and Easy Ideas Taken from Master Photographers of the Twentieth Century.  Check it out (or preorder it) by clicking on the link to the right. The book comes out next month.

 

Droid´s Camera Competes with iPhone´s

The Droid is out, has a 5 MP camera, costs $199, creating stiff compitition with the iPhone GS, which costs the same and has a 3MP camera.

Decisions, decisions.  If you´ve already got Verizon, you´ll be getting a cheaper contract than you would with ATT´s iPhone.

While Apple´s camera has touch focus and Droid doesn´t, Droid has many other options that iPhone doesn´t, like flash, image stablization and 4X zoom.

Personally, I think the iphone takes better pictures, even without the extras.

Take a look for yourself. Some Droid photos are at http://phandroid.com/2009/11/03/motorola-droid-camera-review/

Some iPhone photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmohns/sets/72157600587133596/

Which mobile phone do you think takes better pictures?

Grand Turk

Now here’s a spot in the middle of nowhere. You might not call it the end of the earth, but it sure looks like it. It’s Grand Turk an island owned by Britain, that’s desolate and downright depressing.

Traveling here on the Oosterdam has been a pleasure, and the island, while downtrodden and bleak, does have it’s photo ops. Take this pair of girls for example. The mother wasn’t phased at all when I asked to take their picture. The little one seemed a bit put off, but the big one was more than pleasant.

Now what would you do if you were an island girl no more than 5 years old if a guy with shoulder-length frizzy hair asked to take your picture with a white rectangular thingy-magiggy that looks as if it came from a spaceship?

The answer is you’d look like the little girl in this picture–freaked out!

Medium Format Digital Camera Is a Whopping 56 MP

I just ran into an interesting article about new medium format digital cameras coming out this month.

Until I read this article, I thought I had a fairly decent camera, a 12 MP Canon D5 with a full frame sensor (35 X24 mm).

Now I read that there is a Mamiya DM56 that’s coming to market this month. It’s one camera I’ll probably never see in my hands. It makes my camera look like a beginner’s.

However it is exciting to know that such a camera even exists. The DM 56 (it has 56 MP) camera has a sensor size of  56 X36 mm. It costs nearly $33,000.

Ouch, I wouldn’t be able to carry that much credit card debt.