Every year around this time I lock myself in a tiny room and work on the year’s photos. Triple checking my backups, moving older files  to off-site drives and making sure my Lightroom catalogs are up to date. Lightroom gives me some interesting statistics that I figured I would share, I would be interested in seeing what everyone else comes up with - if anyone else out there is geeky enough to even worry about checking such statistics..

In 2008 I shot 22,209 (18124 in 2007, a 19% increase) images totaling 217GB (131 in 2008, a 40% increase) of hard drive space.

On my 50D which was released in the beginning of October I have 5,000 images, but my workhorse 20D’s are near 7,000 a piece. My 10D is dwindling further into non-existence with 1,500 images. The Canon G9 took near 1,000 images.

My lens of choice was my 70-200 2.8 IS ‘L’ lens with over 11,000 images, that’s half of my photos. I used my 100mm 2.8 Macro lens the least with 76 images, 24-70 2.8 ‘L’ saw 3,000 images and surprisingly my 10-22mm EF-S shot 1,200 images.

My favorite aperture was 2.8 with 7,000 photos. Favorite shutter speed was 1/250 (understandable since I worked with a lot of studio and strobe this year). My favorite ISO of choice is ISO 200 at 5,600 images, 100 at 4,700 images and only 52 images using the 50D’s ISO 12800 setting. And all of those ISO 12800 images were probably just too grainy to be worth anything.

I shoot landscape more than portrait - 13,000 to 9,000. I shoot the least amount of images in the cold month of January at 66 and the most this year was in October thanks to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta trip and a wedding the weekend afterward.

Have you posted your usage statistics somewhere? Link to them below!

-J

A Look Back at: January 6th, 2007

Stop the presses - I have photographic evidence of a new type of cheating going on in motorcycle sports. Possibly bicycling, running, pole vault. But not swimming, the bubbles would be a sure giveaway.

To find out about the dirty truth about this new scandal, I beg you to read more…

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HonlPhoto Rosco Gel Kit

After trumpeting my love for the LumiQuest FXtra (LQ-121), the good people at Mack Camera sent me a HonlPhoto Gel Kit to play with.

Any gel system is going to work. We’re shining light through a color tinted piece of plastic and that’s not exactly rocket science. We’re reviewing the delivery system of placing and keeping the gel over the strobe, easy removal and changing of said gel. Nothing more, nothing less.

When I opened the HonlPhoto Gel Kit box I was quite surprised. Here is a box of 2×4″ pieces of colored plastic with velcro. It was so simple, a breath of fresh air…

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Waterfall at 1/2

A Look Back at: January 5th, 2007

Yesterday I left you with a cliffhanger that would rival most blockbuster cliffhangers. Ok, not really, but if you want a water shot to stand up and scream ‘Professional’ you’ll want this trick.

Slow shutter speed. Yep, yesterday’s image was shot at 1/60th of a second. The water was pretty much stopped dead in its tracks. What happens if we slow down the shutter speed, we get this blurred water effect that you’ve most likely seen more than a few million times in your lifetime. This image was shot at about 1/5th of a second. You’ll need a tripod, or if you’ve got something to set your camera on - Bob’s your uncle. And yes, I have an Uncle Bob.

Now I see you cranking that dial on your camera to thirty seconds, woooah there cowboy, like most things in life this effect can certainly be overdone. There is also no one set speed to get the perfect blur. Next time you are at a location like this, a waterfall, stream, ocean waves or a fountain, shoot a few test shots. See what you like. Personally I wouldn’t go slower than one second of exposure but you may be different.

-J

Staticmaster

A few days before Christmas I was given a box of ‘Antique Cameras’. All of my family and friends know that I collect antique cameras, restore them whenever possible and even go as far as repairing them to working condition when I’m totally bored.  The holidays came and went and really I had forgotten about the box of goodies, with everything else that was happening.

Tonight I pulled out the box and started going through its contents. The box wasn’t actually full of Cameras, but certainly related - Darkroom equipment. Inside was an old stainless steel 35mm developing tank with two brand new unopened stainless reels inside. In their original yellow box were two Kodak Darkroom Graduate glasses, 16 and 32oz. I opened the box and the glasses were there, intact and in perfect condition. Kodak logo and markings on the glass still very much ’stuck’ and didn’t seem to want to get rubbed off any time soon. Between the two glasses was a page from the Baltimore Evening Sun, Thursday May 23rd, 1968. Hey look at that a Safeway ad. Two Dozen Large eggs, $0.79.

Digging deeper, a Hayes K-2 Photometer with an old style power cord and plug that just beg you to plug them into a modern outlet. “I won’t burn down your house” it says, but we’re not buying it.

Another toy in is an accurate and fast reading Kahlsico analog thermometer. A Prinz hot shoe flash with a collapsible metal dish that slides out and clips to itself - It looks like a miniature satellite dish, in fact, I think E.T. used it to phone home. A bakelite Film Winder in fantastic condition (To wind your own film from bulk rolls to 35mm canisters) and a funny little plastic box on which the only thing I see is ‘Nuclear Products Company’.

Uh oh.

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Waterfall at 1/60

A Look Back at: January 4th, 2007

Photography is about standing out and more-so with the digital cameras coming out nowadays you might want to work on standing out at least more than the casual shooter (and hopefully way beyond).  Since this shot is easily taken by anyone that can jump over a rock or two everyone will have it. But you are not a casual shooter, you have already or ( if you are new to Photography) will be putting little tricks into your hat along the way to stand out. First off, I believe I was on a knee for this shot. A casual shooter - where do you think they will be shooting from? Standing eye level, that’s right.

Next, we have a nice cascade of waterfalls from top to bottom in the frame. When you read your camera manual you learned about pressing the button half-way down to lock focus and then re-compose the shot in your screen. Good for you! And your reward, is a photo with composition even if the subject you want to focus on is not dead center in the frame.

There’s ONE more thing - and you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for it.

-J

A Look Back at: January 3rd, 2004

In a dark bar down by the river on a cold January night in 2004, I meet.. The King.

The King

Me, still shooting film at the time and playing with a Casio digital camera, I was able to pop off a few shots of the jump-suited wonder by fooling my very automatic digital point and shoot camera into underexposing the photo. I turned on flash, covered the built-in flash with my finger and let the background lights expose the scene. I wonder how long the people at our table bit their tongues before they finally broke down and told me that I was covering the flash and my images would never turn out.

Noisy, dark, miserable, they converted to black and white just fine and from nothing now I have a photo of The King that the Daily Growl would put on the front page. Wait you say, wasn’t the Daily Growl the rubber newspaper chew toy for dogs? Yes, the very same.

‘Elvis’ here is the very talented Tom Connelly of thelvisman.com. Tom plays around the East Coast, Canada and in the Caribbean. Many years (and many beers) back Tom told me he’d take me as his private photographer on his next Caribbean Cruise. Tom, I’m in need of a tan, bad! Check him out if he ever comes to your area. At this writing thelvisman.com is being re-designed, so check out Tom on his MySpace page: http://is.gd/ejel.

-J

Boston Skyline

A Look Back at: January 2nd, 2007

This is a shot of the Boston Skyline, straight out of the camera. 50mm, 1/2 of a second and f/2.5 says the EXIF. It was a very cold shot as this was taken on the outside balcony of the top-most Hyatt reception room. I did not have a tripod with me so this was taken by holding the camera against a railing to help stabilize my shot.

Remember that the general guideline is to never shoot handheld slower than your focal length. For example, if you are shooting at 50mm, you should be shooting at 1/50th of a second or faster. 200mm, 1/200th of a second. 35mm and you have a better chance at a good shot since you can shoot as slow as 1/40th of a second. Of course, these are only guidelines and you should ultimately play with these and find out if you have steady hands and can shoot slower, or shaky hands and need to shoot at a higher speed.

When you shoot with a tripod, IS or use the method above, those rules go out of the window. See the sample shot, no tripod, just a shivering cold hand and camera rested against a railing. 1/2 of a second at 50mm and we’re in sharp (enough) focus. When possible, take yourself out of the equation. Stationary objects are just that, stationary. Push the camera against one of these surfaces (being sure not to scratch the camera or the surface!) and shoot away. Don’t underestimate the power of this technique!

About Look Back 365: I’ve started the Look Back 365 project to spotlight an image taken on or as close as possible to today’s date, but on this date of a previous year. I will post an image every day and just talk about it. The image may pull out an amusing back story, brainstorming for future proejects, some ‘If I had known then’ tips, or some worthwhile techniques my readers may benefit from.

A Look Back at: January 1st, 2007

Happy New Year! Make it a happy, safe and prosperous one!

The Hyatt Stairwell

I was in Boston with two friends for a wedding on New Years Eve. Right, New Years Eve, their side of the family. We arrived in Boston via Logan Airport late on December 30th, cab ride to the hotel. After a good night’s sleep we decided to go to Faneuil Hall Marketplace for lunch the next morning. I was surprised at how clean Boston is. We rode the ‘T’ which is Boston’s Metro around town I clutched my camera bag like a hawk. Here I was in a city I’ve never been to before using public transportation.. A little extra precaution would be helpful..

After a few stops and connections and rides around the Metro I was pleasantly surprised. Police presence was enough to keep visitors safe but not enough to make it seem like they were just waiting for crime to happen. Trains were packed though, on a few occasions I was stuffed into the stairwell of the train and had to let out a breath of air to suck in the gut enough for my camera bag and me to clear the doors.

That night was the wedding and reception. I had never stayed at a hotel on New Years Eve before. The hotel was completely packed. Elevators (especially to the top floor where the reception was) were scarce and we ended up taking the stairs all night. Today’s image which was taken just minutes after the strike of midnight shows the interesting stair configuration of the Hyatt in Boston. At least, they were interesting to me.

The image can be improved, look at the perspective. If I had stood in the center of the stairwell and taken my shot the perspective would have been much better. I like the other people walking ahead of me, gives the image a subject. Now that I think of it, at around that time after New Years Eve, I might have been holding onto the handrail with one hand and shooting with the other. I don’t think gravity was on my side that night.

‘First Night’ really starts on New Years Day but most everyone starts on New Years Eve. First Night is basically a local community celebration of music, arts and food. Originally started in Boston in 1976 a lot of cities have started First Night celebrations of their own.

About Look Back 365: I’ve started the Look Back 365 project to spotlight an image taken on or as close as possible to today’s date, but on this date of a previous year. I will post an image every day and just talk about it. The image may pull out an amusing back story, brainstorming for future proejects, some ‘If I had known then’ tips, or some worthwhile techniques my readers may benefit from.

Look Back 365

I love the idea of the 365 projects. Take a photo every day, take a photo of yourself every day, I’m sure there are many more out there. Sadly though, I don’t have the discipline to take a camera with me every day, sure I’ll resolve to try - but it just never seems to stick.

Here’s a project I think I might be able to pull off. Inspired partly by the 365 projects, Joe McNally’s ‘The Moment it Clicks’, and who knows what else.. Once a day, week, bi-week, month or full moon find an image on or as close as possible to the date of your posting but of a previous year. Post the image, some back story, what you would have done differently had you known now what you knew then, etc. Maybe get some useful tips or techniques out of them or at least a slightly amusing story.

For 2009 I’m going to try for a one-a-day frequency of images which may end up as a once a week update if I start boring everyone. If you have your own weblog, try it. No weblog? Do it on Flickr. We’ll be helping others and helping ourselves by wading through previous images looking for something to post. If you start posting your own Look Back 365 be sure to link to it in the comments section here!

Good luck!

-J