PShizzy: The Blog

AdoramaPix is at it again with their big print sale. Running through March, 4.95 gets you a 16×20 Kodak Endura Matte or Lustre print, and 7.95 for a Kodak Metallic. And like last time, you can purchase prepaid prints at these prices, and use them after the sale ends. This is great for anyone who prepurchased the metallics last time, as they’re still paying 4.95 for those.

Not only that, but if you’re signing up for the first time, you get 25 4×6 prints free.  And if you happen to do that, please consider dropping my name as a referral (my email address for this is msimbron at gmail dot com). I’ve accrued a bunch of 4×6 prints and plan to do something (don’t know yet) with them.

If you read my previous article on this, “Big Print Giveth,” there are comments from users who purchased large prints from AdoramaPix and were quite happy with the quality.

Feel free to add any thoughts or queries in the comments.

Tags: business by PShizzy
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Another quick update for everyone. I got this note in my email from the folks at Adorama. Their online print shop, AdoramaPix, is offering 16×20 prints for 4.95. This is a great deal, and it gets even better. They offer this price for metallic prints as well. By comparison, MPix (also an excellent print shop) charges 19.99 for metallic 16×20, and White House Custom Colour charges 16.80 for a 16×20. Just click on the image to head on over to AdoramaPix.

And, if you look closely, the ad mentions prepaying. Lock in that price over 25 prints for 124.00, so you can still cash in on the savings long after the sale is over.

Of course, there are other factors to consider besides price. I love Millers lab (same place as MPix, but for businesses, while MPix is open to anyone), and their service and shipping time is superb. Still, a big metallic for five dollars is hard to beat. I would say that anyone considering the prepaid option should at least order one print up front, or a couple, and see how they like Adorama versus their current print shop.

If anyone has any experience with Adoramapix, please comment, I’d love to know more. I typically don’t print much of anything for myself (I’m more of a digital screen kinda guy), but if I do put in an order, I’ll report back.

Tags: business by PShizzy
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First, Instant JPEG from RAW has been updated to version 1.1. Added support for new cameras (50D, anyone?) and some bugfixes make it a worthy update. Click on the image to head on over to their site.

Next up, I thought I’d test out a photo gallery. Photoshelter has recently updated their site to offer Flash based photo galleries. I think it’s pretty cool because it’s so easy to set it up. In fact, it’s retroactive, so I can set up a Flash gallery for any galleries I’ve already made. Creating the gallery itself isn’t too hard either, but this has further motivated me. So, I’ll give it a test run after the jump.

Oh, and I’ve been playing with a few D3′s lately. I really like the cameras. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from users over at the FredMiranda forum on a few posts about the D3 and my opinion on it. Link to that after the thread. It’s been a long couple of weeks. Preseason NBA, NCAA and high school football, even a local kids soccer game, plus other non sports shoots (wedding, and two schools) have kept very busy lately. It’s been great to be so busy, but it’s also been time consuming. And of course, it’s my favorite time of the year, with the NBA season finally starting. More after the jump! [Read more →]

Tags: photography by PShizzy
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When you preview a RAW image taken on your camera, most often what you’re doing is reviewing a low resolution JPEG rendering from that RAW data. Some applications offer ways to extract these jpegs. Canon’s own Zoombrowser allows this, as does Photo Mechanic. It’s not a big deal to open up these apps and extract a few files, but now there’s a better way.

From the crew over at Imagenomic (known for their Portraiture and Noiseware plugins), comes Instant JPEG from RAW. It’s not a program, but rather a system level utility. Right click on a folder, select the utility, and just like that the images are extracted. Sounds great. Here are my favorite features

1) Um, it’s free. This is big. I don’t like installing weird apps like Zoombrowser (which is free) to do one single thing. It’s a waste. But a simple utility, that’s right clickable? Awesome.

2) The Imagenomic folk aren’t strangers to many of us. I know a few people who use their Portraiture and/or Noiseware applications.

3) It’s cross platform. Since I rock a Dell laptop and a Mac Pro tower, these things are important to me.

There are limitations. The biggest one, as noted on their blog:

IJFR has no control over the look of the file. Since the file was created by the camera, it was the settings on the camera at the time of capture that rendered the file into what it looks like. In the case of a DNG exported from an application like Lightroom or ACR, it is the adjustments in that application that will affect the look of the rendered JPEG that is stored in the JPEG (it is called the Preview image).

There are ways around this, but it could be more work than just exporting out of Lightroom or Photoshop.

A little more info, the link, and thoughts after the jump. [Read more →]

Tags: general by PShizzy
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I’m not old school or anything, in fact I’m only 30, but for some reason, whenever I see boxing, I just think it needs to be done in black and white. I’d actually really like to break out this RZ67 I have and get some frames with it. But, for now, what I can do to appease my desire is simply present my work in black and white.

It’s been a good while since I’ve shot boxing, and the scene in Phoenix, even Arizona, just isn’t as strong as it once was. I remember shooting the “retirement” fight for Julio Cesar Chavez (this was actually a tour, as he retired a few times), and even shooting the stunning upset of Sergei Liakhovich by Shannon Briggs, in the very last second of the very last round. The fights themselves weren’t amazing comparatively speaking when you consider the depth of boxing lore. But for a few fights, Phoenix was the place to be.

Back to the point: I love black and white boxing photos. You’re left with fighters and details when you remove the color. Tonality, the contrast of the image, works to great effect with a nice black and white conversion. A couple more photos, a small gallery, and an oldie but goodie link after the jump. [Read more →]

Tags: photography by PShizzy
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The moon is now full. Canon had a teaser site, with the moon slowly revealing a new camera body. Rumors and speculation all talked about it being the new 5D II (or 7D, or fabled 3D). Well, the moon is now full and the 5D II has been revealed.

In this quickie article (Its 11pm, after all), I’ll do a roundup of links to some specs and a forum or two, and my thoughts on it. Oh and Canon’s also released an updated lens, the 24 1.4 II, as well as announcing a few new P&S cameras, including the G10 (an update to the very cool G9), and others. [Read more →]

Tags: equipment by PShizzy
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After some Friday night hs football action, I had to gear up again for Saturday night, as the #15 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils faced off against the unranked Stanford Cardinals. Stanford, if you recall, ended USC’s 35 home game winning streak last year in one of many upsets last year. Stanford came into town hoping they could revive some of that magic.

Arizona, led by Rudy Carpenter, led the whole way, only letting up slightly when the Cardinals cut the lead to 27-17 before the Sun Devils put up another two touchdowns. Thankfully, despite the score, the game was much more competitive than ASU’s home opener against NAU.

While it’s the same game, there are many differences (besides skill level) between the hs and college games. Yes, if you’ve shoot football, you understand the game, but at the college level, football is an event. So, what are these differences?

[Read more →]

Tags: photography by PShizzy
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So I get a call from an old friend and she asks if I wanted to go cover a HS Football game. I was amped. I haven’t covered hs football in a long time, and while football is football, each level of skill has their own challenges. With the NFL, even the worst coach teams can run off a play with military precision. Broken plays just don’t happen that frequently. In college, if you’re lucky enough to shoot a D1 school (such as ASU), then you’ll have an assortment of talent, and while play’s may get broken, the players are often talented enough to make the best of it.

At the HS level, sometimes having enough players is good enough. And thus enters Boulder Creek at St Mary’s. Boulder Creek in only it’s second full varsity year put up a good fight, led by All Region quarterback Taylor Davis. Inexperience in their receiving core kept Boulder Creek on the ground, with Davis running for dear life and the ocassional first down, against St Mary’s. Boulder Creek’s defense held their ground, only giving up a touchdown through the first half to keep the score close at 7-0, but St Mary’s opened the second half with a kick return TD. Eventually, a 32 minute (of 48 total) time of posession by St Mary’s caught up with the Boulder Creek defense. Final score: 27-7.

So, how do I prepare for a hs football game? a few thoughts, and a gallery, after the jump. [Read more →]

Tags: general, photography by PShizzy
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