I was recently experimenting with Windows 7 Beta, but decided to revert back to XP. Why? My CD ROM burning software (Roxio Creator) didn’t work! Also I didn’t think there was that much value in the new version of the OS, considering I’m eventually switching over to a mac desktop. Why buy something into I won’t need in a few months? Anyway, so back to XP.

I decided not to use the x64 bit version of XP, because I was never able to get a fully functional version of iTunes on XP x64. So back to XP, this time 32bit. Once I reinstalled, I came across a familiar annoyance that I had forgotten about quite awhile ago:

If you store your images in Adobe’s .DNG (Digital Negative) format, and you are using Windows XP, you might have been annoyed when you found that thumbnails of the images don’t automatically appear in windows explorer. For some reason, which is beyond me, thumbnails are not generated automatically. Adobe released a codec for thumbnailing .dng files, but it only works on Vista, and doesn’t work on x64 bit systems. So the codec wouldn’t work for me.

I had previously found a solution after a bit of googling and searching through a lot of lame sites for $29.99 software for generating thumbnails, I re-found this site:

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/nef-windows-xp-sp2.html

Which shows you the simple fix for adding thumbnails to XP. Just save the registry file to your desktop, then double click, and you are done!

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For a limited time only!

Great things come in threes, so we are introducing three new print packages. You don’t need to be a dancer to take advantage of these packages, they are good on any gallery on our website. Simply add the photos to your shopping cart, and you will receive the discount when you check out.

Please note, these cannot be combined with any other offer, however you will always be given the offer that save you the most money.

The “Solo” Package: $20
PACKAGE VALUE: $35.00
SAVINGS: $15.00
- Any Three (3) 4×6 Prints
- Any One (1) 6×9 Print

The “Grand Jeté” Package: $45
PACKAGE VALUE: $70.00
SAVINGS: $25.00
- Any Four (4) 4×6 Prints
- Any Three (3) 6×9 Prints
- Any Two (2) 8×12 Prints
- Any One (1) 11×14 Print

The “Triple Pirouette” Package $110.00
PACKAGE VALUE: $165.00
SAVINGS: $55.00

Choose Ten (10) 4×6 Prints
Choose Three (3) 6×9 Prints
Choose Two (2) 8×12 Prints
Choose One (1) 10×15 Print

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For quite some time I’ve believed that you should NEVER clean the sensor on your DSLR camera. Everything I read seemed to indicate that any attempts to get some of that dust of the inside of the camera would invariably leave the camera broken and useless. Another piece of electronic junk. An iBrick.

When I got back from the Burning Man festival this summer, the cameras were coated with that magical playa pixie dust, inside and out. So I had a problem. I didn’t want to send the camera in for cleaning right away, but I also didn’t want to sully the sensor any more than it already was.

Instead of freaking out, I decided to work with it, and let some of that dust fall into the light.

When you stop a camera down to really tight aperatures (say, f22) the tiny spots of dust on the sensor become very clear and sharp, and you can see them very distinctly on a finished image. This happens because everything from the the edge of the sensor all the way to infinity is in focus when you have the lens stopped down.

At the same time, setting your camera to f22 has another affect. In normal indoor lighting, it means you have to expose the film longer (or sensor) to light for a longer period of time, because less light is actually getting in the camera.

If you are hand holding the camera, that means that there will be a little bit of blur movement from you own body moving, and at the same time, the subject will blur more if they are moving.

I wanted to play with these ideas a little bit in my work. I wanted to find out if what made an image beautiful was really the amount of sharpness and lack of dust…or was it something else?

So I did find that a dust camera could create some interesting an beautiful effects that you just cant get with a clean camera.

And just recently I came across this wonderful article about sensor cleaning on thedigitalpicture.com, and decided to give it a try. It worked fine with both my 20d and my 30d.

So there you have it! If your camera is dusty, there is no need to clean it right away…you might come away with some interesting photos if you use it! On the other hand, if you want to clean the camera yourself, it is possible even though it is often not recommended.

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The rest of the photos are here:

http://prints.goodlux.com/g/2008_09_15_liss_fain_dance_at_yerba_buena_center

Categories: dance
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More photos are here:

http://prints.goodlux.com/g/2008_05_10_rhythm_room_kids_portraits

Categories: photoshoots, portraits
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