A Vote of Inspiration

It's been a while since I've blogged about my photographic exploits, but not because there's been nothing to say.  My wife and I started a new venture early last winter which has given us a new direction in which to focus our efforts and what a fulfilling experience it has been.

Last November, we began a project we termed "Feathered Hope". Our goal was to find a way to give back to something we both enjoyed - wild bird photography.  That's when we turned our attention toward Marge Gibson and her amazing non-profit, Raptor Education Group, Inc. (REGI).   Marge's passion runs so deep she's given her entire life to the birds.  She is a world renowned avian rehabilitation biologist who has truly defined the field.  We are so very fortunate to live only a stone's throw from this amazing woman.  REGI is one of the premiere rehabilitation facilities dedicated to native wild bird species, especially eagles, in the entire world and for those that have the privilege of knowing Marge, that's no surprise.

We recently had the honor of documenting a summary of her incredible story in her nomination for the 2014 Eagle Rare Life Award.  This prestigious award offers a $40,000 grand prize and much deserved recognition to the non-profit whose story most represents the "rare life" theme.

We would love to introduce you to Marge via her nomination which you can read, vote on and then share with friends and family at http://EagleRareLife.com/content/Marge-Gibson.    If you are as inspired as we are by her work, help us take up the cause of voting daily (1 vote per IP every 24 hours) and asking those close to you to do the same.

Thank you.

-Ken & Lisadawn Schram

Microsoft Surface Pro for the Photographer

It’s been a long, long wait, but it’s finally here.  The Microsoft Surface Pro is on the market and I’m lucky enough to have spent the last week setting mine up and using it for my photography tasks.  That’s right.  A tablet form factor running Lightroom and Photoshop!

For 7 months I got to read editorials saying things like: “It’s too heavy. It’s too expensive.  There’s not enough available storage.  The battery life is horrible. The wide screen is awkward. The kickstand isn’t adjustable. Who uses a pen anymore?” Blah, blah, blah, blah!

Now that I finally have it in my hands, here’s my response: “WHO CARES!”.  Yes it’s a tablet and if that were all it was the naysayers may have valid points.  What they were all overlooking, however, is that this is also a fully functional Intel powered laptop!  I’m running Adobe Lightroom 4, Adobe Photoshop CS 6, Microsoft Office 2013, Windows Media Center, no compromise web browsers and on and on and on.  In short, I am PRODUCING content and not just consuming it all on a device slim enough and lite enough to slide into my messenger bag with my Nikon D300s and my work HP EliteBook laptop.

With all of that being said, here are a few of my personal observations for those of you who may be considering your own Surface Pro now that stock is beginning to be replenished.

• Windows 8 –  I’ve been using the new OS on my work computer for a while, but on a touch-based device it really comes to life.  Forget about the Start menu and embrace the efficiencies of the new design.
• Tablet Experience – The screen is incredible. A visual treat with a very responsive feel to your touch.  While there is definitely still “app discrimination” when compared to the iPad and Android markets, things are coming around and I’m confident that the Surface will help accelerate the pace. One area that did catch me off-guard was the fact that so many magazine publishers only allow Amazon to cater to iOS and Android.  For example, Outdoor Photographer is available via Zinio, but you won’t find it on Amazon.
• Desktop Experience – Having used Windows 8 for awhile now, the only challenges to using the full desktop environment on the Surface have been 1) Getting accustom to the Type Cover and, 2) text scaling.  I have purposely limited myself to he Type Cover so that I’d become more efficient. I’ll be honest, I won’t win any typing contests, but it’s still better than being limited to an on-screen version (new wireless keyboard and mouse arrive for my desk today).  The text scaling comes into play when connected to an external display.  Out of the box, the Surface Pro is set to scale your text to 150%.  That’s a good size when you’re packing 1920x1080 pixels into a 10” space, but not so great on a 24” external display.  It’s a shame text scaling isn’t display independent, but I’ve found what works best for me is to default back to 100% as most of my desktop experience happens on the external display.  On the occasions where I only have the 10” display, a few keystrokes (namely Ctrl + ‘+’) allow me to zoom in at the application level.
• WiFi Only – I tend to be where the WiFi is so the lack of a cellular radio doesn’t impact me all that much.  If I must, must, connect, there’s always the option to tether to my phone.
• Storage – I’ve done a few proactive tasks here to help make my 128GB go as far as possible:
  • New Lightroom Catalog – I’ve backed up my old (and somewhat bloated) Lightroom catalog to my external drive and started over.  Well, I imported my keyword hierarchy, a few other preferences and of course my “best of the best” photos, but otherwise it was time for a clean start.
  • “My Documents” on “D:” – I popped in my 64GB microSXDC card, formatted it with NTFS and changed the default location for the “Documents” library to point to this new drive.  From what I’ve read, you cannot install applications on external devices so reserving space on the C: drive for apps is something to consider up front.
  • Available Space – I’m still at 66GB free with Lightroom, Photoshop CS 6, Photomatix, Topaz Adjust, Word, Excel, OneNote, Chrome, Kindle, Live Writer, Movie Maker, Media Center, Total Theater, etc……  I am not loading my music library as I already have it on my phone and any movies (which look awesome on this display, btw) or other large files go to the external drive.  This leaves me with ample room for the photos I’ve yet to take and process.
  • Backups – I have a few OneNote docs on my SkyDrive for convenience, but limited to satellite internet at home prevents me from overusing cloud-based services.  I do, however, backup EVERYTHING to my Windows Home Server each night.

Oh, and that pen thing…. It ROCKS! While I’ve used it occasionally in OneNote, its value to me is inside Lightroom and Photoshop.  Yeah, editing photos on a 10” display isn’t something you’ll want to do everyday, but when you have detail work to do with that pen, it blows away my old Wacom tablet.

For now, that’s all.  Is the Surface Pro the holy grail of all computing devices? Probably not.  If you asked me what I’d change, however, I’m not sure I’d have much in the way of answers.  It’s the form factor I’ve been waiting for to provide the ultimate in portability which, in itself, asks for compromises.  The selling point for me was the fact that I can be productive wherever and whenever and in that space, I have not been disappointed in the least.

Update: This morning I had the opportunity to test drive the Type Cover.  As I was never a very good touch typist and with productivity being my aim, I’ve made the switch.  For a few bucks more and a couple of extra millimeters in thickness, I can now proclaim that I’ve relinquished the “Backspace” key as my favorite key.

My Favorites of 2012

At the end of each calendar year I like to make it a practice to review my photo catalog for my favorite photos of the year and this year is no different.  In 2012 I really started to get more into kayak photography and can’t wait for the ice to melt to get out and do it again.  Of the nearly 4,000 clicks that occupy space in my 2012 catalog, here are my favorite 15 in no particular order.

Packaging Prints for Resale

The entire Feathered Hope project has been packed full of learning opportunities.  From dusting off my HTML skills while building a new web site to “fine tuning” the processing of a print until I was personally satisfied that it met my quality standards, there were a lot of challenges that took some time to overcome.  One of those challenges popped up when I suddenly found myself with a couple of local retailers willing to stock our prints for resale.  Awesome! Now how do I package them?

Our Feathered Hope Limited Edition prints are printed commercially on 20” x 30” E-Surface paper.  They arrive from the printer taped face down on a piece of cardboard, wrapped tightly in plastic and then sealed in a nice box.  That’s great for getting them from here to there, but not really an option for selling retail.  After spending some time in the forums and consulting a local gallery owner, here is what I ended up with.

• Crystal Clear Bags – 22 7/16” x 34 1/4” + flap.  100 pack
• 3/16” Acid Free Foam Board – Cut to 22” x 32” at our local Hobby Lobby (seeking a good online source)
• Scotch 3M Removable Double Sided Tape
• Business Card/Registration Card – www.Moo.com

Using about a 2” long piece of tape on each of the back top corners of the print, I adhered it to the center of the foam board allowing for an inch of border all of the way around to protect the corners.  Then it was as easy as sliding into the envelope, removing the plastic strip from the flap adhesive and then folding it over tight onto the back of the package.  In my case I also included a 9” x 12” envelope inside the clear bag and taped it to the back of the foam board.  Inside the envelope is a Certificate of Authenticity, an attractively printed copy of “From Behind the Lens” (the story of how the image was taken), a business card and a registration card offering some “owner benefits” to get those retail buyers to login and let me know who they are.

The total cost of the packaging was about $6 a print, but I’m pretty sure once I find a good online source for the foam board and am able to cut my own I can get that number down to just a few dollars.

The Motivation Behind “Feathered Hope”

Regular readers of the blog have heard this story before, or at least a portion of it.  If you have, I apologize in advance, but it’s one that I never tire of telling.

Print:  "Still Watchful"
Artist: Ken Schram
Date:  8/25/2012

One quiet Saturday morning in late August I was kayaking with my camera in Wisconsin's beautiful north woods when I came upon this magnificent juvenile bald eagle perched on an overhanging branch. Having hatched earlier this spring, the "baby" is now nearly as large as his parents. With the sun cresting the top of the trees and the golden rays of light falling upon his pin-feathered face and chest, he is content in the new warmth brought to this chilly fall morning.

Completely lost in the moment, I drift silently in my kayak on the windless lake. Raising camera to eye, I hear the soft whir of the lens that brings this beautiful creature into focus and then there he is in all his glory. As I watch motionless through the viewfinder he slowly turns his head to observe this strange one-eyed newcomer and it is then that the glint of the sun sparks in his eye. Click.

A few more minutes pass as I watch him and he me before it's time for me to go. This is his house after all and I certainly don't want to overstay my welcome. While brief, the experience has moved me in a way that's difficult to describe. I've certainly photographed bald eagles before, but on this quiet and tranquil morning our interaction seems meaningful in a way I can't quite comprehend. Dare I say "spiritual"?

Several hours later, still riding the high experienced from the special encounter, I sit at my desk and review the morning's photos on my computer. While still 4 or so years away from reaching his mature plumage of white head and tail, he is no less majestic than a full grown adult. His young brown eyes are so deep and intense as he stares back from my computer screen that suddenly I feel as if I'm back on the lake and "in the moment" once again. I can't help but post some images online and share the experience.

The following week I return to the lake hoping to recapture that high, but my young friend is nowhere to be found. I'm blessed with the opportunity to photograph one of its parents, but begin to assume that junior has left the nest and begun his own journey in the wild. If only my assumption could have been proven true. Instead, I learn from a friend who lives on the lake that this beautiful creature is no more. Just days after our interaction, a resident found the young bird floundering in the water dazed and confused. He was transported to an incredible group of caring and dedicated people at Raptor Education Group, but despite their best efforts he eventually succumbed to the effects of the West Nile Virus.

I'm stunned. Despite having read that as many as 40% of new eaglets won't survive their first winter, I still can't believe it. His parents worked tirelessly all summer to care and provide for this young one. He survived the perils of learning to fly. He had grown into a regal young adult only to be taken out by a tiny insect carrying a deadly virus. I can only think, "What a waste!".

But does it have to be? ….

While not affiliated with the organization, my wife and I had been familiar with the work of Raptor Education Group for some time and had been looking for a way to support their cause. We made the occasional monetary donation and did what we could to help spread the word of their heroic efforts through social media, but considering our love of bird kind and the respect we held for this organization, it never seemed like enough.  Now more than ever we were determined to find a way to take this seemingly senseless event and turn it into something positive. As it turned out, the answer we were looking for was in the title I'd given the image.

Originally titled "Watchful" in reference to the intense gaze this young eagle cast my direction that wonderful morning, that label seemed somewhat inappropriate after learning of his demise.  It didn't take long, however, to realize that despite no longer being of this earth, his gaze would always fall upon anyone having the opportunity to enjoy this one "click" I was so blessed to capture during his brief life. So for me, and hopefully you as well, he remains "Still Watchful".

To learn more about the “Feathered Hope” project, please visit us at http://www.FeatheredHope.net.

-Ken

Winter Fog

This wintery scene could have been captured this past week here in Wisconsin.  This image, however, was taken in December 2010.

My apologies for my hasty “disappearance” from the blog for the last couple of weeks.  My wife and I have launched a new projected which is near and dear to our hearts and it’s care and feeding have been rather intensive on top of the regular holiday hustle and bustle.  The project’s name is “Feathered Hope” and its purpose is to help raise awareness and financial support to the efforts of Raptor Education Group, Inc (REGI) located in Antigo, WI.  REGI is a wildlife rehabilitation center focused on providing public education and conservation of our native wild birds in addition to caring for, and ultimately releasing, injured and orphaned wild birds.  They are an incredible group of people and we’re hoping to be able to help them out through both social media awareness and financial support generated through the sale of some of our limited edition wild bird prints.

If you’d like to learn more about the project, you can visit the site at http://www.FeatheredHope.net.  Tomorrow I will share the inspiration behind the project.

Feathered Hope

After much planning and preparation, my wife and I are very proud to introduce a new project we're calling "Feathered Hope".   We both take great enjoyment from photographing wild birds and have been searching for some time for a way to "give back".  "Feathered Hope" is the result of months of planning and discussions and we're really excited that the day is finally here where we can announce it to the world.

We will be offering our very best wild bird photos for sale as original 20" x 30" limited edition, hand-signed prints.  The proceeds of each sale are being donated to the non-profit Raptor Education Group in Antigo, WI to help support in the rehabilitation and release of injured and orphaned wild birds.

The introductory offering in the "Feathered Hope Series", titled "Still Watchful", is now available to the public with more offerings to be released in the coming months.  You can read more about the project at our new web site http://www.FeatheredHope.net.  If you like what you see, please take a moment to share with friends and family to help us get the word out.

Thank you for your support.
-Ken

Lightroom Identity Plates–The Curse of Scaling

It’s no secret I’m a Lightroom believer.  Up until recently it’s never let me down, but I think I’ve finally found an scenario where it simply falls short – the scaling of a graphical identity plate on prints.

About a year ago I blogged about creating a 2 line identity plate in Lightroom.  For one reason or another, Adobe hasn’t accommodated those of us on the Windows platform to be able to create a multiple line textual identity plate within Lightroom.  Instead, we must resort to creating the plate as a graphical file.  It sounds simple enough and it actually is pretty easy, but here’s the problem.  Scaling.  When you add the graphical identity plate in the Print Module, it automatically scales to 100% of the page size and not the size of the graphic.  Odds are pretty good that you didn’t create the graphic to be the width of the entire page so you’ll immediately notice that the text in the graphic is somewhat distorted.  Even when you scale the plate down to the size you intended, odds are pretty good it will STILL be somewhat distorted.

This hasn’t been a problem for me in the past as I’ve been confined to printing simple posters, etc. for my own use.  Now, however, I’m working on a limited edition print to benefit one of my favorite charities and “good enough” or “okay” are not acceptable outcomes.  It needs to be perfect.  No matter how hard I tried (and how much money I spent on what ended up to be “sample prints”), the text still appears “soft”.  In my example, the page size is 30” wide so I made the identity plate exactly 3” wide and then scaled it to exactly 10%.  Nope. Still “fuzzy”.  So what to do?

Post your question to the nice community of folks on the Adobe forums.  At least that’s what I did.  You can view the entire thread here, but the short answer is to prepare the print as you normally would to provide to a commercial printer, but WITHOUT the identity plate.  Then open the jpeg file produced by Lightroom into Photoshop and recreate the identity plate on a new layer and save it back to the jpeg file using the maximum quality settings. 

This may sound like common sense, but I was worried that “re-saving” back to the jpeg file was going to result in loss of image quality because it was being further compressed.  It took someone with experience with the process to convince me it wasn’t worth worrying about before I actually tried it.  While I don’t have the actual print in hand yet, I did do a compare of the jpeg images within Lightroom; the one where the jpeg with identity plate was produced from Lightroom and the one where the identity plate was saved from Photoshop.  It appears to be true.  I can see no discernable difference in the quality of the actual photo even zoomed in to high magnification.  Well, almost no difference…

The top line is the text captured from the file with the identity plate scaled to 10% in Lightroom.  The bottom is the exact same text produced directly in Photoshop.

Hopefully this is something that is addressed in future releases of Lightroom because so far it’s the only scenario I’ve encountered in my workflow where there isn’t an acceptable solution.

Survivor?

Welcome back.  I hope everyone survived the Thanksgiving Day holiday. 

Self Reflection?

Sometimes those of us behind the camera do crazy things to "get the shot". Others of us are, well, just crazy :). Take a look at Sony's view of those who may be ought to trade their DSLR's in for something more "simple"?

The Hunt for the Snowy Owl

I love photographing birds and especially birds of prey.  I find them to be beautiful and fascinating creatures.  While I’ve captured images of numerous hawks and eagles, I have only 1 image of a great horned owl in my collection as most owls and I tend to keep different schedules.

I recently watched an excellent episode of “Nature” on PBS titled “Magic of the Snowy Owl” (full episode here).  It follows the plight of one breeding pair of snowy owls in the Alaskan tundra and features some simply stunning cinematography.

Clip from “Magic of the Snowy Owl”

One of the things that I learned during this broadcast is that is the juvenile owls that occasionally find their way into our neck of the woods.  When food sources are scarce in their native homes, these young and less skilled hunters make their way south in search of easier meals.  There have already been reports of Snowy Owls spotted in southern Wisconsin again this year and I’m hopeful that I’ll find myself among the lucky few to frame one within my camera viewfinder.

While I can watch the local bird spotting web sites and take variations of the numerous country roads on my way to the office each morning, Lady Luck will undoubtedly play a huge role in any success I might have.

Have you ever seen a snowy owl?  Were you lucky enough to photograph it?

Title This…

There’s a perch that’s not having a good day!

How Large is Your Lightroom Catalog?

 

My computer is tired. 

As a technology professional I employ all of the best practices to keep things running smoothly and efficiently, but inevitably things just start to bloat and slow down over time.   I’ve been running it pretty hard for just about 2 years now and this is generally the point at which I’d wipe the hard drive clean and reload my favorite applications and data from scratch. A fresh start.

If you’re a reader of the blog, you know I’ve been keeping my eye on the Microsoft Surface Pro as a potential laptop replacement.  Unfortunately we’re still a few months away from the release of the product so here I am in “limp along” mode.  Windows 8 has been available for a few weeks now too which, for a self-proclaimed geek, it’s pretty hard to sit back and wait patiently rather than just pull the plug and rebuild my current machine.  Still, I wait.

One of the areas I’m noticing the most degradation is within Lightroom.  I have only a single catalog which is now approaching 9,000 images.  I’ve read posts online from people having 5 or 6 times that number in their catalogs seemingly without performance problems.  Regardless, I’m wondering if it’s time to start with a new catalog when the eventual migration to the Surface Pro happens.  After all I will be taking a step down from 500GB of storage in my current laptop to just 128GB (plus whatever memory card I purchase).  So what does 9,000 images translate to in occupied storage space?

Catalog File	730 MB
Preview Folder	3.94 GB
Original NEF files (RAW images)	135 GB
Total	139 GB

How many images reside in “My Favorites” collection? 65.  I have just 65 photos out of nearly 9,000 images that I feel are “portfolio quality”.  I guess that helps me make my decision. I think with the advent of a new machine I’ll be bringing over those favorites into a new catalog and archiving the rest to external storage.  Another “fresh start”.

How about you? How many images are in your Lightroom catalog and have you noticed any loss of performance as your catalog increases?

Loner

This one comes from the archives and was taken during our pass through Yellowstone last fall. It was processed both as a black and white and color image and then merged together in Photoshop with the help of a reveal mask.  What do you think?

Wildlife Photography Resource

If you’re like me you’re constantly on the lookout for ways to improve your photography and in this day and age there are a lot of sources for knowledge. Blogs, social sites, books, magazines… you don’t have to look far to find someone willing to offer you advice.

I recently purchased and read Jim Harmer’s “Improve Your Wildlife Photography” kindle edition book.  Like most photography books you will find that there is some rehashing of things you already know, but there were some nice tips included for my $3.99 investment. 

It’s not a long book (only 40ish pages), but that’s the beauty of e-publishing.  It doesn’t have to be crammed full of 200 pages of fluff to make the buyer feel like it was worth their money.

Have you read any good photography books or stumbled upon any worth while blogs lately?  Drop a comment below and share your most valuable resources.

Title This…

I’ve been finding more and more enjoyment in wildlife photography, but I can’t really call this one “wild”.  No, it isn’t a deer park, but this guy lives in a gated community and doesn’t seem to have many reservations about the 2-legged trespassers.  As he was walking across the yard I grabbed my camera and pointed it at the back of his head.  I whistled 3 times when he finally stopped and gave me “the look” before turning back and continuing slowly on his way.

Capturing the “Impossible”?

So I had the occasion to be outside during a hazy, crisp, full moon night and miraculously my camera was in my hand.  Imagine that .  With the haze being illuminated by that big bright moon and the silhouette of the bare tree in the foreground,  we had all of the makings of a good Halloween picture.  Until I tried to shoot it.
If you’ve tried to photograph the moon, you know it can be a process of trial-and-error before you get the settings right to expose that giant light bulb in the sky.  Now consider how you’d expose the moon AND get more of the silhouette of the tree in the foreground!  After handholding 10 or 15 shots it became apparent that this was one of those  “beyond the camera” moments.  It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t obtain detail in the moon as there wasn’t really any to be obtained in the hazy sky.  The problem was that if I exposed for the tree, the moon blew out the whole image.

Luckily I was shooting in RAW and it was Lightroom to the rescue!  With the help of an adjustment brush to reveal more of the tree and then a healthy dose of noise reduction, I was able to come much closer to what my eyes actually saw that chilly, spooky evening.
Have you ever found yourself shooting that seemingly “impossible” scene? What did you do to overcome it?

Not Many Left…

It won’t be long now before the rays of the morning sun will be falling upon the smooth surface of winter ice and not the gentle ripples of flowing water.  Hard to believe its November already!

End of Fall

Welcome, November. 

Lightroom 4 – Still no “Windows Love” for Multi-Line Identity Plates

Over the weekend I was fooling around with adding text to the bottom of an image I was preparing for print.  I vividly remember the last attempt at this exercise because that is when I discovered that while Lightroom allowed for multiple lines of text on the Mac platform, the feature was missing from Windows!  After a little searching I quickly discovered that I wasn’t the only one who happened to notice this and that there were plenty of disgruntled Windows users voicing their frustration on the Adobe forums.

Over one year and one version later, I figured for sure that the issue would have been addressed.  I figured wrong.  If you’re a Lightroom user on Windows, you’re still limited to the graphic identity plate if you need more than one line of text.

You can find my original tutorial here.  You can voice your outrage here.