Way near the end of the manual, under the heading of Bounce Flash it states:

• The flash head can be turned upward and/or sideways.
• With bounce flash, the flash coverage is set automatically to 50mm, and the 50mm autozoom position blinks.

I originally thought the flash was broken.  It’s a good thing I didn’t go out and by that new Nissin Di622 flash… or not.

As mentioned in the video, you can submit your photos at MyShot.  Two photos are picked every month for publishing in National Geographic Magazine.

Photo by CLF

I continue to learn all that I can about the Canon 50D.  One can use the fully automatic setting, or even the creative auto setting…  Yeah, that’s not really me.  I need to know how to have full control over aperture, metering, flash, etc.

One of the things I have learned about the 50D is that the 6.3 frames a second is dependent on a number of things.  The number of photos that can be shot in succession is a function of the speed of your compact flash card; the speed at which you can shoot is decreased if you enable:

• the lighting optimizer
• strong noise correction
• potentially peripheral illumination; I will need to verify this

So, if you have a Canon 50D and are wondering why it seems to shoot so slow, try turning off some of the features.  You can always clean your pictures up in Photoshop anyway!

Photo by zAppledot

I am a big fan of using Kijiji to find used camera equipment… there’s the odd deal to be had on the site.  For example, I recently picked up Manfrotto tripod and three-way head for a little more than $100.  But….

Every once in a while, somebody sells something and has to put in the ad “I’m selling this because I’m getting that”.  All I have to say is:

1. Don’t really care what you’re buying.
2. Don’t need to know you’re selling it to buy something bigger!

Really, if there is something bigger/better than what you’re selling to be had, why would I buy your piece of junk?!

(Seriously though, Kijiji is great for finding good deals!)

Once you have EOS Utility installed and working, go and download EOSInfo.  This is a great little tool to quickly check the number of shutter actuations on the camera.  It works with almost all Canon DSLRs with the Digic III/IV processors, with the T1i being the only exception.  Knowing how many actuations your camera has recorded can allow you to plan for preventative maintenance.  A big thanks to David over at astrojargon.net for this little goodie!!

Me and the 50D

Ok, not quite Christmas… maybe early birthday.  There was such a good price on the Canon 50D over at my local Vistek store that I had to run out and get one.

This is a pretty sweet camera.  I’m too busy running around taking pictures of things to actually put any effort into this post.   Once I’ve had a good change to check out the 50D, I’ll post my impressions and my best pics.  Until then…

One of the topics that can stump a newbie is hyperfocal distance.  With the switch to digital photography, many people have forgotten or have not even learned what hyperfocal distance is.  To understand what hyperfocal distance is, you first need to understand depth of field.

When you focus your camera lens on an item, there is a zone or field in with everything is in focus.  When you stop down (make the aperture smaller / ƒ number bigger) the depth of this field becomes larger.  This depth of field can be quite small with macro or telephoto lenses; shorter lenses, like a wide angle lens, can have more depth of field.

Now that we have an understanding of depth of field, why is hyperfocal distance important?  If you like to shoot landscapes like me, this concept really comes in handy.  If you want to keep my foreground subject focused and also have the background in focus, you need to adjust my depth of field so that it extends from the foreground subject to infinity… and that in a nutshell is hyperfocal distance.

So, how do you determine distances, aperture settings, etc. to properly set the hyperfocal distance on your camera?  I’ll discuss how and provide some useful resources in Learning About Hyperfocal Distance, Part 2.

Lady Slipper Orchid

Digital Photography School has a great article on how to shoot wildflowers.  It has a eight tips on how to turn out good photos.  One tip that I have experienced first hand is to “wait for an overcast or cloudy day”.  This seems counter-intuitive, as some of the nicest, warmest photos are shot during the “golden hour“, but these bright colors can appear quite washed out in direct sunlight.

I am looking forward to using these tips this spring.  There is a natural area about 15 minutes from home that has about 16 of Alberta’s 26 species of orchids, and I have only been able to capture 2 of them.  Some of these flowers are very small, so every little advantage helps.

For more tips, check out PhotoNaturalist.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_H8TOKcfjg