Save the Camera Stores

Borders and Barnes and Noble have wiped out many indie bookstores. The same thing has happened with camera stores.

It isn't so much that chain camera stores like Ritz Camera do the indies in. They're just not that big.

What really kills the indie camera shops are the Best Buys, Office Depots and Walmarts of the world. They sell much of what the indies carry.

There used to be a camera store in Palm Springs called the Camera Exchange.

Sadly, that store is gone now.

Just in case if you're looking for an indie camera shop, there are quite a few links here.

Ansel Adams - 400 Photographs Review

The book, Ansel Adams--400 Photographs edited by Andrea G. Stillman is a testament to one of the finest twentieth century photographers in the world, covers the photographer not with just a few dozen images, but with hundreds.

Did you know that Ansel Adams wanted to be a concert pianist? These types details about the artist are written about in the book, a masterpiece divided into 5 parts in chronological order.

There are rare early images that Ansel took with his father in the first part of the book. The book includes the period of "straight photography," a time when Adams moved away from the popular pictorial photography, where people likened their images to paintings. There are other parts about national parks and conservation. Blogcritics has reviewed the book and writes: "I think that Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs is an absolute must have for anyone that enjoys Ansel Adams, art work, photography, or just wants to get lost into the world of images."

The above picture is a photograph of mine (I'm Matt Bamberg, the writer and photographer of this blog). Please don't compare it to Adams' work. Thanks!

Rainbow on the Ground

Last Sunday in Southern California was a freak day of numerous rainbows--double rainbows, rainbows on the ground, full rainbows across the sky.

For more about my great photography day, go to my blog entry on wize.com.

Double Rainbow in Palm Springs

Winds, storms and rainbows came to the California desert today. I've never seen so many rainbows in one place in my life. There were even rainbows hugging the ground. These two rainbows are just off Highway 10 just inside the Palm Springs city limits.

What's a Yucca?

Where did the name "yucca" come from? Not far from Palm Springs is the Yucca Valley, a high desert area of the Mojave.

The yucca name comes from two sub species of Joshua trees (the trees you see in the picture above), the plant scientists call the Yucca brevifolia.

The Mormons named the tree after the biblical character, Joshua. The branches of the tree reminded them of Joshua praying and pointing to heaven.

You can find Joshua (or yucca) trees between 2,000 and 6,000 feet. Some grow to 40 feet.

How's That for Some Red?

Red in photography is always fun. If you can isolate the color so that the object/subject stands alone all the better. Red is hot, fire, mystery, blood, love, and all those powerful things that make up life. This particular red has a slight orange bent, making it even hotter than plain red. It almost glows when compared with the wet building and street. Red also take to light better. It's a good thing to photograph on a cloudy day.

What is Fill Light?

Image before using fill light slider in Photoshop CS3



Image after sliding fill light slider to a higher number.

Have you ever taken a picture with the sun behind you only to find it filled with dark shadow? Well, now, with Photoshop CS3 when you take your pictures in Raw format, you can lighten the foreground.

Look at the above pictures. The red line is where you slide the fill light slider to the right to lighten your foreground. As you can see, it did a pretty good job lightening the foreground at the same time as leaving the background alone.

When you try to lighten when your image is already put into Photoshop you have to play around with selection tools to get the background to stay the same. And, that's a pain.

By the way, the fill option in Camera Raw is new in Photoshop CS3