2004 – The year I made true contact with my inner self

Ok, this year had a lot of action.  I got married, my honey moon, Olympic Games in Athens, EUROVISION 2004, EURO 2004 champion was Greece. What a year!!!  Photographically speaking, this was a colorful year.  I was drawn to colors, sunsets and simple frames, but I was always seeking for advice.  Internet had many resources to look  things up, but not so many nobble users. I kept things to myself as I was afraid of criticism. Not many chances to learn what others saw through my photos and I didn’t seem to care because I was afraid of not being liked.  I tried to learn everything by myself, so it took longer, I even lost opportunities to learn things others wanted to say and I needed to learn.   

Canon issues allergy warning for EOS 650D/Rebel T4i

The front rubber grips of some units of the Canon EOS REBEL T4i Digital SLR camera (EOS 650D/EOS Kiss X6i overseas models) may change color (turn white) after a short period of time. Customer support for this phenomenon is described below.

Canon updates EOS 60D and EOS 60Da firmware to v1.1.1

Canon has issues a firmware update for the EOS 60D mid-level DSLR and 60Da astrophotography camera. On the 60D, firmware v1.1.1 corrects a bug that placed the wrong serial number in image EXIF. On both cameras it also fixes language errors in some menus. The company will announce updated versions of its software at a later date to correct existing images with the incorrect serial number. The firmware is available for download from your local Canon support site now.

 Click here to visit the Canon USA support site for the EOS 60D

Canon issues EOS 5D Mark III firmware v1.1.3, adding 40mm F2.8 support

Canon has announced updated firmware for the EOS 5D Mark III. Firmware v1.1.3 makes an unspecified change to accommodate the EF40mm F2.8 STM pancake prime lens announced earlier this month. Beyond this, the update fixes a series of bugs and corrects a series of linguistic errors in menu screens. The firmware is available for download from your local Canon support site now.

Click here to visit the Canon USA support site

Enhanced with you in mind - new features of the EOS 7D

Enhanced with you in mind – Canon adds a range of new features to the EOS 7D

London, UK, 28 June 2012 – Canon today enhances the EOS 7D with firmware v2, adding a range of new features for enthusiasts looking to push the limits of their photography. Building on the camera's high speed, advanced handling and creative versatility, the new firmware provides photographers with a host of new benefits including higher maximum RAW burst rate, in-camera editing functions, user-definable Auto ISO and support for Canon's latest GPS Receiver, GP-E2.

Kalamata, June 2012

I've just finished the vast amount of photos I had to select and post process and I have mixed feelings about Canon's accuracy in focusing successfully.  I cannot understand if the unsuccessful focus is because the camera can't focus accurately or because subject or photographer moves.  I have used long and short lenses, high and low shutter speeds in day and night and what I have found is that when focusing from camera's live view in day I have many successful shots, but when point and shooting, things become difficult. 

(2012-06-16) Wedding of Kiriaki Zambara

Early afternoon in Meligala, the bride drives around the church three times as the custom commands.  The groom is waiting patiently in front of the church with a bunch of flowers in his hands.  The bride arrives, the car stops and through the open window the smiling face of the bride appears. The wedding ceremony will start in a few moments.  Photographers and guests are waiting for the meeting out of the church and they applause for the couple.  They enter the church and the mystery begins.  The couple is happy and it is showing as they keep smiling and whispering.  Their smile makes everyone else smile too. 

Time of your life

There are times in your life and then, they are THOSE times in your life that makes your hobby enjoyable.  Such a day was the 14^th of June, when our company of four planned a trip to Polilimnio falls near Charavgi village.  I had been there before, but two trips are never the same and the time I now spent was the most enjoyable one.  I personally made a childhood dream come true by swimming in the turquoise waters of a dream lake and I had good company with me.

Photoshooting Maria, Polilimnio

I am always asking for permission to publish details of every photo shooting I do from my models and I was granted one from Maria for our photo shooting at Polilimnio area, at lake Kadoula (which resembles the shape of a heart – I could not see that anyway!).

Technical Data

Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Lens used: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS, Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 Macro APO Super II + Culmann 4500-C flash (24-85mm)
Aperture: Min f4, Max f8
Shutter Speed: Min 1/200, Max 1/80
ISO: Min 200, Max 800
Weather: Similar to an overcast day due to the sun not reaching the bottom of the canyon

Vacation sample

Summer arrived and I spent my first days on vacation trying to find new challenges for my camera.  Fortunately, these were very busy days with promises for future endeavors for photo shootings and excursions.  The past few days I made a dream of mine come true and it was nothing more than swimming in a dream-lake.  We found this lake at Polilimnio area near Charavgi village.  This is by no means a summary of the day, but rather a promise for a future photo story as I am still processing the photos from these few days.  

Canon announces EOS 650D / Rebel T4i 18MP touch-screen DSLR with Hybrid AF

Canon has announced the EOS 650D (known as the Rebel T4i in North America), and 18MP touch-screen DSLR with a sensor-based hybrid AF system for improved focus in movie and live view modes. The camera gains the all-cross-type 9-point AF sensor from the EOS 60D and can now shoot at 5fps. It also adds stereo mics for its Full HD video recording, which is available at 30, 25 and 24fps. The camera will be available from the end of June at a price of $849, body only, $949 will the 18-55mm IS lens or $1199 with the co-announced 18-135mm STM IS lens.

2002-2003 Olympus C220 zoom, a step ahead

It was an exciting moment when I bought my first digital compact camera. It would mean that I could make mistakes and learn from them, since I could select what photos to print and what settings to test. Unfortunately, it would also mean that I was about to lose all customization of shutter speed and aperture value, but I guessed that the “automatic little miracle” would know what I wanted to expose and where to focus. Of course nothing was like that.

OAKA - "fighting with light and space"

Athens Olympic Aquatic Center at Athens Olympic Sports Complex or “fighting with light and space”

Later this May I came across a difficult challenge which I feel I have failed although I managed to salvage all the shots up to a satisfactory (for others) degree.  I took some shots during an event in the Athens Olympic Aquatic Center at Athens Olympic Sports Complex that stretched my knowledge and steadiness more that I felt I could handle. 

Nikon issues firmware updates for D4 and D800/D800E

Nikon has updated the firmware of both the D4 and D800 professional DSLRs. The D4 receives updates to v1.01 for both firmware A and B, while the D800 and D800E only have B firmware v1.01. In both cases the firmware corrects minor operational glitches, including one that could cause the cameras to occasionally lock up. The updates can be downloaded from Nikon's websites.

Brightness and Contrast

Brightness and Contrast are two of the most determining aspects of photography. They are both related to exposure and light difference from dark to bright.
Brightness is an attribute of visual perception in which a source appears to be radiating or reflecting light while Contrast is the difference in visual properties that makes an object (or its representation in an image) distinguishable from other objects or/and the background. In visual perception of the real world, contrast is determined by the difference in the color and brightness of the object and other objects within the same field of view.

tips and tricks while shooting...

This section is full with some dirty tricks mostly discovered through experience. I am open to suggestions, your name will also tag the tip, so e-mail them!

Adobe launches ACR v7.1 and Lightroom v4.1 with X-Pro1 support

Lightroom 4.1 Now Available

Lightroom 4.1 is now available as a final release on Adobe.com and through the update mechanism in Lightroom 4.  The goal of this release is to provide additional camera raw support, lens profile support and address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom. 

Canon acknowledges 'light leak' in the EOS 5D Mark III

Canon has published a product advisory notice acknowledging the existence of a 'light leak' issue on the EOS 5D Mark III. Users of the camera have reported that in dark conditions, switching on the top-LCD's back-illumination or shining a light on it alters the camera's metering, suggesting light is leaking into the body and reaching the metering sensor.

Wedding of Ntina Panousi

27th of May 2012 - A Wedding And A Christening

It was one of those times when you have two church mysteries one after the other and you have to be prepared for both situations.  This time I had learned the camera's settings, but somehow I found out that I had to study the camera body some more!  Again, I had not scouted the church before, no test shots, the main photographer had lights with frequency sync, so no worries this time!

He was polite and friendly when he asked me if I was going to be a second-shooter because nobody had informed him.  I replied that I was not going to be his second shooter and he would be the prime photographer of the mysteries, I could understand he was worried about me being an obstacle, but I reassured him that I would be careful not to stand in his way.  He replied that he would try to do the same and he asked me to leave some space before his bag so he could have quick access.  The rest of the day went fine and he did as he promised, I hope I hadn't been an obstacle, too.

30 minute limit on video capture could end if WTO group gets its way

The restriction that limits video recording in digitial cameras to 30 minutes could be abolished if the World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement (ITA) is expanded. Several countries, including the USA, have begun informal talks to extend the scope of the ITA to include products that are currently subject to tariffs and duty. At present, digital cameras' video cuts off after 30 minutes to avoid them being classified as video cameras (which attract 5.4% duty into markets including Europe). If the video cameras are added to the ITA, this distinction would no longer matter. (via Nikkei)

exposure - why raw, histogram...

In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium (photographic film or image sensor) during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value (EV) and scene luminance over a specified area.

Understanding White Balance

White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. Proper camera white balance has to take into account the "color temperature" of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light. Our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources, but digital cameras often have great difficulty with auto white balance (AWB) — and can create unsightly blue, orange, or even green color casts. Understanding digital white balance can help you avoid these color casts, thereby improving your photos under a wider range of lighting conditions.

 

Adobe will fix security bug in CS5.x, having originally said CS6 was the fix

Adobe has confirmed that it will fix the security problems with Photoshop and other CS5.x packages, having originally suggested that a paid upgrade to CS6 was the only solution. The security concerns, raised by the company on May 8th, were rated as 'critical,' meaning it could 'allow malicious native-code to execute, potentially without a user being aware.' Despite this, the original solution raised in the company security bulletin was to upgrade to CS6, leaving CS5.x users vulnerable. The bulletin has now been updated.

Nikon D800 wins Camera Grand Prix 2012 award and public 'best camera' vote

D800 (Nikon)

Nikon's D800 has been awarded the prestigious Camera Grand Prix 2012 title and also won the public vote for best camera. 

Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 7.1 Release Candidate

New camera and lens profile support for Camera Raw plug-in users

Welcome to the Adobe® Photoshop® Camera Raw 7.1 plug-in release candidate on Adobe Labs. A "release candidate" label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all of our customers. The Camera Raw 7.1 update includes support for many new cameras and lens profiles. A release candidate build of DNG Convertor 7.1 is also provided.

The rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would.

photo basics

First of all, artistic skills cannot be taught, so do not get disappointed too fast. You have to learn how to "see" things rather than just watch or copy. If you take a photo and then give it to 10 people you will get 10 different interpretations and approaches meaning 10 pictures!

If you ask a photographer how to photograph things, he will certainly describe you the technical details, but he will fail to make you feel the same he felt when he released the shutter. These things are rather felt than taught. 

Full Moon has passed

09 May 2012

It’s been a while since I bought my Canon EOS 60D and I have been striving to use it effectively from the time it arrived.  I feel I must not waste it though on average shots (something that I am sure can not be avoided in the future) so I somehow want to prepare my shots in advance.  I previously owned a different class camera (a 12 Mpixel Canon EOS 450D) and whenever I felt pressure from daily issues of life and work, I took it with me and disappeared for a few hours.  This is what I plan to do in a few days, time and work permitted, since I also want to discover the new limits of my 18 Mpixel camera in combination with the high ISO value I can use (apparently up to 1600).

2002 The last shots of my analog camera

Sometime after 1993 I stopped shooting as I was very worried about what to do with my life, what job to follow and what to learn in achieving what I wanted to do. Job prospects were not good, but were much better than today. Unemployment was an a good 17,5% rate although the true rate was around 20% since most of the jobs were part-time or for specific time frame. In addition to this the time came for me to join the army for my duty, so almost two years were “lost” for my life and everything I learned before joining were not so fresh after becoming a citizen again.

1993 Getting interested

The year is 1993 and I was still getting to know the dials and buttons of my camera, I learned that the little needle inside had to be within the circle in order to achieve best exposure and I had certain limits when "strecthing it".  In order to achieve this I had to consider 3 things:

•          The aperture dial
•          The shutter speed
•          Film sensitivity

If all of the above reached the lowest allowed limit, my best chance was a flash. But one by one all of these ways had some limitations to consider.