May 2014 (Part 3 of 3, Mount Athos)

The next monastery was the largest and richest on Holy Mount Athos.  I don't know if the word "rich" or "money" is compatible with religion, but this is what we were told about the monastery.  Please note that the monastery has a guard post on the road from Karyes, where the guard checks the visitor names against his list and their permits or "diamonitiria".  I don't know why, but it seems that in this monastery there are a lot of Cypriot visitors.  The monastery was very big with huge buildings and a lot of monks, but it was also very tidy and clean (like every monastery we went, the surrounding paths and rivers are a different story).  We were put in a room with three other guys from Cyprus, nice guys, we had a lot of fun for one day with them and we laughed a lot.  

May 2014 (Part 2 of 3, Mount Athos)

The following morning we had an early rise to catch the bus to Ouranoupolis where we would then take the ferryboat to Dafni, then the bus to Karyes and finally one of the mini busses to Megisti Lavra Monastery.  The morning resembled something coming out of a fairy tale with pink clouds and blue skies as the sun slowly found its way above the mountains.  Almost everyone was sleeping in the bus (or was sleepy like us), but from time to time there were voices talking about that spectacular morning.

May 2014 (Part 1 of 3 Meteora and Thessaloniki)

A couple of months ago I returned from a trip to Meteora and Holy Mount Athos and it was only a few weeks ago when I finished processing my shots.  I came home with over 2.500 photos shot in 9 days, and I estimated I was shooting one shot every 3.5 minutes excluding the time I went to sleep!  It's a large amount of data and some of the photos are not good, some of them are going to be merged together for panoramas or exposure blending.  Basically I was walking with the camera in my hands and my lens on my backpack almost all the time, except when I was getting really tired and giving up for the day (and even then, I occasionally regretted not going out to shoot some more).

500px, a good idea turning bad?

500px is one of the top photo communities today and a place where good photographs are always plenty and eye catching.  I am not sure how you can learn photographic techniques from this community, as it is up to the photographers to share their ways and it is not so chat-friendly to discuss on line with the creators.  That would require enormous processing strength and bandwidth as there are many registered users.  You can actually learn something from their blog, or their new "ISO" site, but generally speaking information is very scarce.

Lucius river, a dreamy forest path in Arcadia

It was high noon when we decided to go for a photo trip with a friend of mine around the region.  Clouds were present and we feared for rainfall, but there was something pushing us to make that trip anyway.  Finally we decided to go a little further this time and we drove about an hour north to Arcadia region having occasionally drops of rain in the way and hoping that the weather would allow us to see and photograph the beautiful surroundings near Lucius river.  At first, we arrived at the place where Ancient Gortys was located with some ruins of exposed ancient structures lying among green wet grass.  It had just rained and the rocks were all shining around, but we knew that we had to walk by the river to truly admire it's beauty.

Canon Recalls to Repair PowerShot SX50 HS Digital Cameras

Recall Summary

Name of product: Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Digital Cameras
Hazard:

A chemical used in the rubber part of the viewfinders on the camera can cause skin or eye irritation or an allergic reaction to the user. 

Tragic Lantern's GPS Auto-off feature in action. Thoughts...

Remember the previous post about Tragic Lantern's GPS Auto off feature?  Well it works, but is geotagging your photos worth it?  Well, yes and no.  Since GPS drains the battery very quickly it is up to you to estimate when and how to use your GPS features.  If you ask me now, I would probably plan to use GPS tagging for the first couple of photos in every session and then turn it off completely for the rest.

Adobe Camera Raw 8.4 and Lightroom 5.4 out!

Camera Raw 8.4 is now available as a final release for Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CC. New features include: new preview controls, red eye correction for pets and updates to Local Corrections. This version also has bug fixes, support for new cameras and new lenses.

Lightroom 5.4 is also now on Adobe.com and available through the update mechanism in the application. It provides support for Lightroom mobile, additional camera raw support, lens profile support and fixes bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom.  

Tragic Lantern (Branch for Canon 6D) to implement GPS-Auto-Off feature

One of Canon's 6D flaws is that the integrated GPS feature drains the battery if you don't remember to turn it off in every single session or when the camera is not used.  You can have the camera turned off, but the GPS still drains the battery as it was not related to camera operation at all.  Well back in December I purchased an EOS 6D and kept finding my battery drained within days of use, something that did not happen with my EOS 60D that uses the same battery type.

Nikon D4s and Lexar 400x or 1000x memory card issues

CompactFlash® Memory Card check for use with Nikon D4S and D4

It has been reported that there are a small number of a specific type of  Lexar CompactFlash® memory cards that may have a problem communicating with your Nikon D4S and D4 DSLR camera. This article describes how to identify the problematic cards and what to do if you have one.

Nikon to offer D600 replacements if 'spots' continue

With regard to the issue with which multiple granular dust spots are reflected in images captured with the D600 digital SLR camera, Nikon sincerely apologizes for any concern and inconvenience suffered by D600 users, retailers, and all concerned.

Chinese government orders Nikon to stop selling D600

The Nikon D600 had a rocky introduction in 2012, with countless users noting that the camera often produces images with dust/oil spots. The company released the D610 a year later that is virtually identical to the D600, but with this issue seemingly corrected. 

Influence...

There are a lot of people a photographer should thank for inspiration, but usually he doesn’t.  There are a lot of photographers whose work is admired and sometimes copied and are never mentioned to one’s photography works.  It is inevitable for a photographer to like, admire, get frustrated, get disappointed, curse (I do that a lot!) when something in the frame is not as it should be and tries to find a way around it.  Well, this time I have to thank all those who influenced me, who confronted me in photographic arguments, who have corrected me in ways I could not have imagined at that time, and to those who just deleted me from their lives because we were incapable of discussing a constructive critique.

Evolution…

It’s been a while since our last communication and I am happy to say that my equipment upgrade is almost complete and initial tests are under evaluation.  What I always try to do with new equipment parts is to reach their limits, find the strong and week points and what I can do with it.  To my surprise I have gained a lot with this upgrade in terms of quality and performance.  In fact, this was a massive upgrade since I changed all my lenses in addition to my camera.  

Photos from 2006-2008 and RAW conversion

The search for the best RAW conversion program for the years 2006 to 2008 was a primary target and I tried to get the best amount of details without introducing too much noise into the photos.  That period, I came to a point that I had to make a decision regarding which path to take and devote my efforts to it.  I could either chose the path to learning how to frame effectively or the path to how to best extract the details out of a photo (keep in mind that I had an entry-level DSLR camera with poor lens at my disposal and a 6-megapixel sensor).  I could not follow both paths at the same time, since I could not be taught effectively from two masters the tricks (like the dogs also can't).  So, I decided to focus my efforts on extracting the best amount of details, giving value to my poor equipment by making it work more effectively.

2006 - Shaping a future

By 2006, having my first DSLR for almost a year I started making the most out of my photos by using RAW files as base. 6-megapixel JPG files were already taking my photos far more than I could take them some time ago.  New experiences demanded the urge to learn new ways of processing the results and my camera was already taking advantage of the new (for me) RAW format that proved to be an exciting area of study for the years to come (and there are still many secrets to be unlocked).  

Cape Tenaro, the southernmost point of mainland Greece

Cape Tenaro, is situated at the end of the Mani, Greece. Cape Matapan is the southernmost point of mainland Greece. It separates the Messenian Gulf in the west from the Laconian Gulf in the east.

A different journey

Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site and self-governed state in the Hellenic Republic, Athos is home to 20 stavropegial Eastern Orthodox monasteries under the direct jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople. Today Greeks commonly refer to Mount Athos as the Holy Mountain (Agion Oros). In Classical times, while the mountain was called Athos, the peninsula was called Akti.

Lambrini Photo Sessions

It’s been a while since our last communication.  I know, "busy-busy-busy" is not much of an excuse.  Some personal news: I had a hernia operation, 7.500 photos to post process, equipment upgrade plan is still in progress and various small issues that rise every now and then, but despite all that I want to share with you a previous photo session with Lambrini.

Batteries for power consuming devices (Flashes etc) and Yongnuo YN-568 EX II speedlite

I was wondering why almost all my rechargeable batteries drained after a few weeks while unused in my bag, having no clue what the reason was and how to solve it and I searched some sites, made a few questions and everything became clear to me after a few days.  I recently purchased a new powerful flash a Yongnuo YN-568 EX II which is very similar to the Canon EX-580 or Canon RT-600 if you prefer a newer comparison.  The price I paid was around 150 euros including postage fees instead of around 525 for the Canon 600 RT or 360 for the Metz 58 AF-2 or 255 for Nissin Di 866 II. 

Canon EOS 70D studio samples from dpreview

Here's the link for the Canon EOS 70D studio samples from the guys in dpreview.gr. Also don't miss their full review here.

source: dpreview.com

Canon EOS 100D Samples by dpreview

Here's the link for the Canon EOS 100D studio samples from the guys in dpreview.gr. Also don't miss their full review here.

source: dpreview.com

32-bit vs LR/ACR DRI vs Oloneo vs Manual Blending of all available photos, vs M.B. of 2 photos

Using 32-bit process to handle possibly all available dynamic range can either make or ruin your picture.  Sometimes it works really well, sometimes it is an awfully bad start.  Some people use their "own" process, but you really need to know what you are doing.  Manual process of all available photos as layers and selecting highlights from each photo, play with feather and blending amount is a very lengthy process.  I tried using Actions, but still needs a lot of processing. Having these in my mind, I wanted to see what a comparison between available procedures would be like.  Here are the results.  I will not say much, just compare:

Work in progress (an update)

It seems that work in progress never ends.  From the last post of this blog until now, many things have happened and many photographs were shot.  I also had some dead-days for vacations and other stuff that occupied my time and sanity.  Since this May I have traveled to Tinos Island, to Santorini, I have shot another close relative's wedding (Takis and Lambrini), spent 20 days on vacation at a place with no photo post processing ability, I have shot several model sessions one of which is not yet processed at all.  But let's start from the beginning, shall we?

The hunt for ultimate sharpness, a never-ending story...

Today as I was reading a couple of Ken Rockwell’s documents about the sharpest lens and image sharpening, an old forgotten discussion I had some years ago came to my mind.  I remember that my opinion was not accepted as plausible from my fellow photographers (I was never sure why because it seemed very reasonable) and that’s why I remembered it now.  My sentence back then sounded something like: “My camera has a 10 megapixel sensor, so my photographs should be sharp enough at 6-7 megapixels...” and before long hell unleashed :-P. 

Down Melpia of Messinia prefecture

What can one say about this place?  How cool it is at midsummer? How crystal the waters of the springs are? How good for the area it is? A visit to the place is the most important action of rejuvenation for anyone in need. Just a few kilometers from Meligala, almost lost in the upper Messinia, Melpeia village is among the few traditional places that have been left virtually untouched by the passage of time. And by that, I don't mean just technologically, but atmospherically with its picturesque and friendly occupants.

The upper monastery of Voulkanos

The upper monastery of Voulkanos is located at the top of  Mount Ithomi, built where it used to be the sanctuary of Zeus Ithomatas.  It is said that the establishment of the monastery happened by monks running away from the iconoclasts and it is currently uninhabited.  The summers it is base observatory of the area by volunteers watching out for fires.  Except that and the wake of 14th of August with the transportation of Virgin Mary icon by foot from the upper to  the lower monastery, few people visit the area throughout the year.

December 4th 2012, Snowy Parnitha

I had been planning to climb Parnitha in my car for some time then.  I had recently seen a photo of Athens in the night with all those small lights against the dark landscape and I was fascinated!  No, don't get me wrong I could say a billion other excuses why I drove up the mountain in my car, but this was what really made me wanting to drive to the spot (well not exactly to the spot).  I started Google Earth and zoomed to the location, opened some photos from around and found the one I had come across by accident.  It was a spectacular view and I knew I had to go there, so I set up my GPS on my phone and started driving, having made the time and plans from the previous day.

Architectural fever

Making a bet with myself, I set out for some architectural shots in Athens and Piraeus.  My aim was to photograph building details and convert some of them in Black and White to stress out the details and unique features of each building.  There are many impressive buildings and constructions in Athens and I had made notes of some of them when on the spot for a later photo shooting.  Well, the day when I had gathered a good number of building places had arrived and I started my walk, but using the bus when there was much distance to be covered from one place to another.

2005 Athens, Home Sunsets

You can never know when there's going to be an amazing sunset with amazing colors at an amazing place with your equipment ready for that specific 20 minutes of the day when it is neither night nor day.  Living in the capital of Greece, there are rare opportunities when you can combine all of the above while going to or returning from work.  Unless you can plan the day AND have lots of luck with the sky colors it is next to impossible (at least for Greece) to be at the perfect place the perfect time, but it can happen!