Canvas Prints...The Good and the Ugly

With the Ashtabula Covered Bridge Festival coming up in
October, I decided to make a switch on my display. Instead
of carrying 25 to 30 framed prints, which was heavy, bulky
and not to mentioned proned to scratches no matter how careful
I was, I was changing to canvas.

The canvas prints would be larger, but I'd only need half as
many. That meant more space in my suv. Plus the canvas prints
were a whole lot lighter.

Always looking for the best deal, here are the companies I
tried and my thoughts.




CVS (http://www.cvsphoto.com/home.aspx) - F+

My first online order went great. They had free shipping to
the store. Had my 24x36 within the week. The print itself
looked great.

After that, it all went downhill.

I received an email offering 50% off all their canvas prints
by a certain date. This was great for me cause the expiration
date was one day later than my payday and I could basically get
two prints for the price of one.

A few days later I received another email from CVS, offering 40%,
but this was for everything. I didn't pay no mind to that.

When it came time to order my next set of canvas prints, I entered
the code for the 50%. The site didn't accept it. What the site did
accept was the 40%. I figured 40% off of something is better than 0%.

I still thought they should honor their 50%. So I wrote to their customer
service. Two weeks went by, not a peep. So I posted my problem on CVS'
Facebook page.

Their response was for me to call them. Excuse me? Call them? How about
you return and answer my email?

Then it got worse.

When I went to their photo part of the web site, I was greeted to a message
saying that the 3rd party company they use for credit card processing was
hacked.

They never sent a warning to their customers, no news on the event. Basically
I found this out by accident.

Normally when sites get hacked, they're back up in a few days, if not sooner.
A month later, they're STILL down.

Again, I posted on their Facebook page if they had an estimate on when they
might be back up. They refused to answer my question. Instead they danced
around it by saying they appreciate my patience...huh...and they're working
on it.

Well, you keep working on it and I'll take my business elsewhere.



Easy Canvas Prints (www.easycanvasprints.com) - C

This company offered 60% off their prints. So a 24x36 was around $103 (vs the
industry average of about $150) for a 3/4 frame. BTW, if you offer 60% off
all the time, I don't consider that a sale.

I decided to try them next.

Their ordering process is buggy, at best. The only thing that went right was
me choosing what size I wanted.

The next screen is the image upload and where it fell apart.

The text says the file limit is 20mb. So I uploaded a 24x36 at 10mb.
The preview screen on the right told me my upload was to big, it had to be,
get this, under 50mb....uh, which one is it guys?

After downsizing my image multiple times and getting the same response, I wrote
to their customer service.

Unlike CVS, at least these guys wrote back. Unfortunately to get my image uploaded,
I had to jump thru hoops which included a link to upload larger files. That just
didn't make sense. If your original upload screen can't handle a 5mb file, but the
link you sent me does, why not swap the two?

No thanks. I didn't want to go thru that every time I had to place an order.

I'd give this company a C. The price is right. The site is easy to navigate. They're
customer service cares about you. Its just their upload doesn't work.



Photography.com - C+

Oh boy, what a bunch of losers.

I found these guys in Outdoor Photography magazine. They were offering buy 1 print,
get 3 free. Great! Nope.

First, you had to buy a coupon for the price of the first piece. No problem, except
the largest they went was 20x30. Minor problem, but hey, for 3 free, why not?

On their site they mention it takes 5 to 10 business days to process your order. That's
pretty long in this age, but again, I keep telling myself, I'm getting four prints
for the price of one. Plus, surely it wouldn't actually take THAT long, right? Wrong!

Twelve business days later I wrote their customer service wondering on the status. They
wrote back within 24 hours. Unfortunately, they don't read what they write. Cause they
gave me the same excuse...5 to 10 business days. Hello! Its been 12 days!

So as soon as I get my prints...bye bye to these guys.

Would I ever be happy?

Yes!

In fact, the company I'm going to write about next...they've fulfilled two of my orders,
all coming from India compared to 0 from www.photography.com.

Grade for photography.com? C+. At least I was able to order from them. It'll just be
nice to get the prints before 2016.



Canvas Champ - http://www.canvaschamp.com/ - A++++++++++

This company I actually found by accident. I was reading some old discussions on an
art fair site and saw this site mentioned.

The company is in the United States, but they print and ship from India. Don't let that
scare you. In my two orders I've placed so far, they've both been at my doorstep in less
than a week!

The first shock I got was their prices. A 24x36 canvas with a 3/4 frame was $44...yes...$44!
I can't tell you how many times I looked at their site to make sure I wasn't misreading
something. They do offer finishing for only about $5. Still, compared to the lowest price
I've found to date? This price was unbelievable.

Before I placed a big order, I was going to try out one first.

Their ordering from start to finish was a breeze! I had no problems whatsoever. Shipping?
Try around $10...from India (UPS)!

I figured I'd see my canvas in 2-3 weeks. I was shocked to get a UPS tracking number...the
next day!

From ordering to my home...less than a week. I think it took me longer to remove all the
tape from the box, it was packaged that well.

The canvas itself was simply perfect.

I found my company!

I placed a second order for four more 24x36 canvas prints. Just like the first order, it'll
be in my living room within 7 days.

Grade? A+ baby!

Changes!

Besides the change from winter to spring, there's also a change in
equipment for me.

First, this winter weather was brutal for me bird wise. The temps were
so cold I didn't get one photo this year, a first for me. So as you can
probably imagine, I've by anxiously waiting for this warmer weather!

Second, my equipment changes...I'm finally saying goodbye to the
two pieces of equipment I've had since 2007, when I started in
bird photography.

1. Gitzo 1327 Tripod. Even after all these years, the Gitzo I have is
    still great, but the legs were getting tougher and tougher to work.
    Even after a periodic disassembling of the legs, it just reached the
    end, not to mention finding parts harder and harder.

    So what did I buy? An Induro CT304 carbon fiber tripod. The tripod
    was first recommended by Denise Ippolito. With the tripod costing
    half as much as a Gitzo, I bought the CT304.

    The only negative of the tripod is the feet. They were made for pavement.
    For under $12 I bought some replacement spike feet. I used a regular
    wrench to replace the feet.

    Other than that, it looks like a great tripod. It's also smaller and lighter
    than my Gitzo. I can't wait to use it in the field.

2. The planets finally lined up and I said good bye to my NON IS 600.
    I sold my Canon 300 2.8 giving me the funds toward an IS 600. The
    600 is a version 1, but its still a heck of a great lens.

    I have to admit, I am going to miss my NON IS 600. It helped me take
    a lot of great pictures and prove to people you don't need IS to create
    a great image. What I'm not going to miss is the weight of almost 16
    pounds!!

Ooops...forgot the big news

I was just reading my last blog and discovered I forgot to follow up
on my big news!

As of September, my photography is officially a business!

I am now Doug West Photography, LLC.

Bird photography will always be my primary objective, but I wanted
to open up the possibility of making more money by offering other
photography services, so I figured this was a good time to do it.

Big Announcement Coming!

I have a BIG announcement coming, hopefully by mid to late September.
The timing is perfect because of the Ashtabula Covered Bridge Festival
I'll be at during the second weekend of October.

All I can say is, this is something I've wanted for such a very long, long
time.

Pedal to the Point 2014...Branching Out

On August 2, 2014 I volunteered to photograph my workplace team, Team MMO
(Medical Mutual of Ohio) as the cycled 75 miles from Brunswick High School
to Sandusky High School.

I decided that the place to setup so I could have the best opportunity to capture
as many team members as possible was outside of the lunch stop at the Lorain
County JVS in Oberlin, OH.

To make sure I didn't miss anything, I arrived at 7am. The first cyclist came
down the road at about 8am. Soon after, the first of the Medical Mutual Team
arrived.

The forecast was for thunderstorms, but in the beginning, the day started fine
with partly to mostly sunny skies. I didn't think of it, but I should've asked
somebody to drop me off a can of soda after their lunch, cause after 4 hours,
I did get a little thirsty :)

My equipment was simple...my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV and the Canon 70-200
F2.8 lens. I ended up snapping off over 1700 images! I would've gone over 2000
if the storms didn't roll in at the end.

At first when I started to shoot, I was starting at 200 and zooming out to 70, kind
of the same thing I do when photographing birds in flight as they come closer.
But I learned I had better success just picking a spot and shooting at 70mm.

The only hiccup I had was when my lens stopped focusing. I was panicking,
wondering how this could happen all of a sudden. Turns out while I was zooming
in and out, I accidentally turned the AF switch off on my lens. Ooops. Hey, at
least it was my fault and not the lens :)

Everyone that rode thru was so friendly, waving, giving me the thumbs up.
If I knew this was going to be such a success, I would've promoted this, but hey,
next year, cause I really want to do this again.

After shooting for 3 hours on the ground, I decided to get up and shoot the other
direction as the cyclists were leaving lunch. My plan was to shoot until noon, but
with the thunderstorm clouds coming in, the wind gusting and temps dropping by
at least 15 degrees, I decided to call it a day.

In all, I captured at least 30-40 of Team MMO. If I had that extra hour, I'm sure I
would've got a lot more. As far as the other cyclists? Its hard to tell how many different
individuals I got, but if I had to take a wild guess...300-400.

To view the other cyclists that participated in this event, visit my other web site at:
http://dougwestphotography.zenfolio.com/

Busy...Busy

Last week I visited Brandywine Falls for the first time. This was
almost my first time trying to photograph waterfalls. I was there
for about an hour and came away with a few images I really liked.

I used my 24-105 lens for all of the shooting. I also brought my
Neutral Density filters, but it turned out I didn't need them. The
early morning found the sun behind the clouds, so my exposures
were manageable. I was using anywhere between 1 to 8 seconds
for my shutter speeds.

This week it'll probably seem like I'll be in my SUV more than
anything.

On Friday (8/1) I'll be traveling across the county to the Carisle
Reservation Nature Center to take my framed images down. This
drive takes me about an hour to get there.

After that, I have to drive all the way back to Euclid and hang those
same images back up at the Euclid Public Library, which is where
they'll stay for the whole month of August.

The Euclid showing is a little extra special this time cause its the
first time I've back since the library gave me my first opportunity
to show my work back in 2007. So its kind of like a homecoming
for me.

Returning to Euclid also made me realize how far I've come as a
bird photographer. What I had hung back in 2007 probably would've
ended up in the trash in 2014.

Then Saturday morning I have to get up at the crack of down and
photograph my company friends as they compete in the Pedal to
the Point. I'll be at the side of the road for a couple of hours in Oberlin
and then head to Sandusky to photograph them even more as they
cross the finish line. I might even be there on Sunday at the finish
line. Of course all of this depends on the weather.

I'm also planning my return to the Ashtabula Covered Bridge Festival
after a 3 year absence.

This return will also be big for me. I was always in the Grange Building.
The Grange Building had its own stalls and shelving. So setup was easy.
The building was also crowded, but some times to crowded in a way
that people couldn't admire my work. Normally only about 3 people could
get into my stall at a time, which meant a lot of people passing by.

This year I'm in the Commercial Building and will have my own 10x10
space. Right now I'm planning on how to best set up for that with a
combination of tables and art panels.

The Stinkers and the Keepers

After a day of shooting, the fun really starts...the time
to decide what images to keep and what images to delete.

When that time has come I use two programs, both from the
company Breezesys. They are Downloader Pro and BreezeBrowswer.

When setup correctly, DownloaderPro will automatically copy
my images from the CF card to a directory. All I have to do
is specify a job code. The job code is my description of the
images I just shot. For example it might contain the date of
the shoot and the place. All of that information is then appended
to the actual file name.

Now it comes time to review, which I use BreezeBrowswer. This
app is great because it allows me to view the images in full
screen via slideshow while marking my favorites. At the end,
anything that isn't marked, gets deleted.

I perform a couple of rounds of culling. The first round I delete
the obvious out of focus shots. If the images aren't sharp now,
they're not going to be sharp later. The second round is where
I pay attention to the technical side. If the image has a bad
head turn, bad background...anything that I'm 100% positive I
can't fix in Photoshop gets trashed.

The final round is usually marking the images that I think are
the best of the best. These will be the ones I'll give the most
attention to since they could end up in a frame or something.
The second best images if you will, are my backups, to be used
when I might need more down the road.

If I'm lucky, I'll have around 80-100 keepers out of a couple
hundred that were deleted. Now you hopefully understand better,
hopefully, why I'm so picky in the field (from my earlier blog).
I don't know about you, but I'd rather go thru 300 or 400 images
vs 1000-1500 images. Yikes!

After all of that I then move my remaining images to their own
directory. Me, I have a folder for each place I've visited. Then
that folder is broken down by year, then by RAW, TIF and JPG folders.

I know it might be hard to delete an image, especially if you've fallen
in love with the species. But this is where you have to separate yourself
from the others. You have to remove emotion out of the equation. I'd
rather see one great bird photo vs 10 below par images.

North Chagrin Reservation - Lost Cause

I think it was last year, at about the same time this year actually, I wrote
about how North Chagrin Reservation was going down hill.

A year later, it not only has gone hill, it's freaking dead.

Let's start with Sunset Pond. Today I'd call it Sunset Pit. The water level
is low. It's filled with mud and algae. I know if I was a duck, I wouldn't
want to swim in that crap. Oh wait, they don't. You see, once famous for
their Wood ducks, I counted one. Mallards? I counted 0. In fact, the only
animal I saw in the mud pit was a bunch of Geese.

Now we move toward the back where the feeders are. Well, I think there
are feeders. I say that because the grass and weeds are so high, if Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar stepped in there, you wouldn't be able to see him. He'd
disappear.

Somewhere in that high grass are beautiful perches. Heck, there's even a
pond. But it's all hidden now. It's like that area has been abandoned.

Can't they even afford a weed whacker?


I keep bringing this up, but it's obvious nobody cares.

Whoever this somebody else, he's probably sitting behind a desk in
his air conditioned office reading a magazine gathering a paycheck
while ignoring what's happening (or should I say not happening) outside
his window.

Zones

After a morning of photographing lots and lots of Baltimore
and Orchard Orioles, the one photographer next to me remarked
how he snapped off 800 images. Then he asked me. I told him
around 300. He was surprised to find out I pulled the trigger
for that low of a number.

How? Why?

Simple. I shoot in what I call photography zones. Basically
I have two zones...

1. Shoot Zone. Anything that flies or lands in this zone I know
   for 100% fact will be a keeper because the sun is at the
   right angle and my foreground and background are perfect.
   Of course an image could still get deleted due to lack of
   sharpness, head angle, etc.

2. No Shoot Zone. I don't care how rare a bird might be, if it
   lands in this zone, I don't snap the trigger. The reasons are
   pretty much the opposite of above...the background could be
   cluttered, the sun angle wrong, etc.

I determine these zones as soon as I've established my shooting
position. Through the viewfinder I'm determining what will and
what will not make a good shot (I'm also taking test shots to
determine exposure).

What are the advantage? Two that I can think of.

1. Less culling and more time. For every bad shot I don't take in
   the field, that's one less image I have to review after I get
   home. When you're talking about hundreds of images, that's a lot
   of time I'm saving...time that can be used toward my keepers.


2. Less lens travel, increased chances of success. Since I know my
   zones, there's no need for me to be swinging my lens left/right,
   up/down, etc. I can focus on one area. This increases my success
   tremendously because there's little to no wasted time of trying
   to acquire the image, focus and change any needed exposure settings.
   So while the photographer next to me is capturing a bird buried
   deep in branches of a tree, I'm capturing something right in front
   of me.




I also don't turn my shutter into a machine gun. I still shoot on high
speed, but my average bursts are 3, with the most being 5. I can do this
because I've gotten to the point where I can predict what the bird's
behavior is going to be.


Another reason for the 3 to 5 burst is the last thing I want to do is
look and stare at 10 to 15 almost identical shots, trying to determine
which one is the sharpest. That would drive me insane.


The last reason is buffer. While the guy next to me has to wait a second
or two for his buffer to clear, I'm ready to go and catch the next shot
that he'll miss.


This next image was caught on a boat of about 6 photographers. I'm
the only the got the shot because I knew what the best angle was and
by studying the Loons behavior, knew when/where he would pop out
of the water next...

I hate to brag, but I will, but every time I've entered this in a contest, it has
always placed.

I guarantee that if you try this and have the patience and resolve,
you'll gain an extra keeper or two that you would've normally missed.

My Never Ending Search for the Perfect Flight Lens

When it comes to hand holdable bird flight bird photography
I'm always looking (and evolving) for the better lens.

When I first started in bird photography my lens of choice
was the Canon 100-400. This was a very sharp and versatile
lens to use in the field.

Did I say 'sharp'? You've probably heard from the experts
who claimed this lens was soft and pretty much unusable.
Of course if you ask these 'experts' if they ever used one
the answer is usually a no. In the right hands, any lens
can be sharp, otherwise its usually operator error.

The lens was versatile because of the zoom. It was nice to
catch a bird at 100mm and zoom into 400mm as it flew in
closer.

I also used my 70-200 on the beach mainly due to the birds
were so close the shooter zoom was the best way to go.

But, as times change, so do my lenses. As I was studying
my flight shots I noticed that pretty much all of my captures
at 400mm.

So if that was the case, why not go prime? My next purchase
was the world famous Canon 400 F5.6 made famous by Arthur
Morris. Then lens was non-IS, but if you've followed my work,
my 600 is a non-IS lens and I've done pretty well with that.
After switch to the 400 I was a little worried I'd miss the
zoom action of the 100-400, but never did. I fell in love
with the 400 instantly.

Besides, if I needed anything less, I had the 70-200 and for
even more options the 1.4x. So I was covered from 70 to 400mm.

Then a few years after that Art wrote about the Canon 300mm F4
being a better alternative than the 400 F5.6.

Why better? Two reasons mostly. One is the addition of image
stabilization. The second was that by adding the 1.4x the 300
was now a 420mm, giving the photographer an extra 20mm.

Of course there are always the misinformed who complained the
lens and teleconverter combination was to slow, which was probably
due to using a consumer type of Canon and/or not knowing how to
use the settings/lens in the first place.

Never satisfied, I'm moving on again. My latest purchase is the
older version of the 300mm F2.8 lens. When this lens first came
out is was regarded as one of the sharpest. That's a good thing.
I also gain a stop of light because its a 2.8 vs 4, another good
thing.

Besides becoming my flight lens, it will also become my 600 substitute
when I don't feel like hauling 16+ pounds around. From what I've
heard from the people I actually trust, the lens works great with
the 1.4x II teleconverter and with the 2x III teleconverter.

I plan on this being my last lens for flight.

Yeah, right :)

Matthew Studebaker's Northern Ohio Song Birds Photo Tour

When I first became interested in bird photography in 2006 the one photographer that grabbed my attention was Matthew Studebaker from Art Morris. Matthew was from Cleveland so with the two of us living in the same area, I had become an instant fan and follower of his.

But, I had never photographed with him. The timing just wasn't there for me to attend one of his photo tours, until now.

I signed up for his May 7 to 10 Northern Ohio Song Birds Photo Tour. It had the advantage of being in my backyard, while still feeling like a vacation. The drive was a simple 40 minutes one way to the groups meeting place.

I was lucky enough to ride with Matthew to his favorite spots all four days. Watching him first hand on how he could pick out a single bird singing, just by driving down the road with the window open blew me away. If he heard something, he'd pull over, try his bird call and if the bird responded, we'd all get out and setup. Sure enough, that bird would appear.

I've been on Art's IPT's, with James Shadle on his boat and other places by myself. And on all of those I had a great time. But the norm was you'd pretty much be in the same spot for the morning and a second spot in the evening. Matthews? I lost count on how many different spots we stopped at. It was freaking unbelievable! I never, ever had so much fun!

The man also went out of his way to make the best perches available and to make sure everybody was happy. He'd even carry gear if he had to, including mine cause my fat butt was out of shape :) There were times he'd disappear for what seemed like 5 or 10 minutes just to find that perch.

How were the bird images? Just look at my Ohio images, pretty much from -3 to -5. I have never had so many keepers from one outing than this.

Would I recommend Matthew Studebaker for any of his upcoming tours? Does a bear shit in the woods?

Doug West - www.thebirdphotographer.com

First Place!

Found out that one of my gull images took first place in the Lake Erie Living Magazine.

I think it appears in the 2014 April edition.

I hate winter!

Well, here comes winter. In Cleveland that means my bird photography comes almost to a halt.

This is the time of year to start plans for 2014 goals and equipment upgrades.

Nickerson Beach Report

The drive to New York only took about 11 hours. I would've made it in 10 hours if it wasn't for an accident blocking two lanes of traffic. I arrived at the Best Western around 2:30pm and ran into Art Morris in the lobby. He called me Dave. Ouch!

Monday night was introduction meeting where Art and his partner Denise displayed some of their images and went over the plan for the next three days. Denise's images were pretty impressive.

As far as temperatures go, the first day was the warmest. The first day also killed me. Between the heat, being out of shape and sick, I needed help back to my car. From then I played it safe. The worse day was the third day. Morning temps were barely in the 60's and the winds were gusting up to around 30 mph.

The photography was great. Because of majority of time being under clouds, the group was pretty much out all day. There were terns, skimmers and oyster catchers everywhere.  Even with about 14 in our group, it never felt that large. With Art and Denise there, asking a question or listening for advice was never a problem.

The only major mistake I made during the trip was setting my ISO to 3200, and not knowing about it, while photographing the Sanderlings. I came out with some great images, but the noise is just to much for me.

The funnest part for me was at the pond at the end of the parking lot. In a slight rain, I think I shot a couple hundred images alone just photographing the Skimmers and Terns as they dove and bathed in the water.

Being my first time there, it was a learning experience. My plan is to return again next year and being a year wiser, come away with even more great images.

Countdown to New York

My big trip to Nickerson Beach in New York is coming up in about a week.
So with the nice weekend, I thought I'd head for the Holden Arboretum and
get one last session in. I get there at 6:30am and its closed! Normally this place
is open by sunrise, but for some reason, not today.

Oh well.

So I head for North Chagrin.

All I had was my 300 and 1.4x because all I wanted to do was walk around.
I didn't want to get bogged down with my 600 and tripod. The good news
about Chagrin is that the berries are out, which means food for our aviary
friends.

The main attraction were the Grey Catbirds. There were at least 3 or 4 of
them jumping from branch to branch singing. You can find two of my favorites
on my site under Ohio-3.

I had to leave by 8am. The forecast was for partly cloudy. I got full sun. By 8
the sun was already to harsh. But I was still happy with what I captured.

Westlake

Had a great time at the Westlake center, showing my one hour Birds are People Too presentation. 

Lens Alignment - Focus Tune

Since my lens is an old non IS 600 F4, I decided if any lens would probably need a micro adjustment, this would be the lens.

After a ton of searching I decided on the Lens Align MK II tool from Michael Tapes Design. So I ordered it and put it together in only a couple of minutes.

One of the things I quickly found out was, my eyes weren't what they use to be. I'd set everything up and it seemed the more I stared at the screen, the more I was seeing things :)

Luckily, Michael also has another product called Focus Tune. Simply, the photographer takes 4 shots at adjustments -20, -15, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10, 15, 20. Then let Focus Tune import the files and decipher what
might be the best value to use. That definitely saves my eyes :)

Everything works great except for one thing...the documentation...or more to the point, no documentation. At a minimum there should be a guide that comes with the software.

That brought up the next problem. Finding the 'correct' documentation. All I could find was the documentation for 1.0 with a note that 2.0 was being worked on. If your documentation isn't ready, don't release the software, cause that brought me to the next problem.

I was getting an error when I tried to have Focus Tune evaluate my images. I went to the web site and searched for the error. Turns out there is a 2.0 manual, but the only way I found it was via that thread
I was reading in the forum. Which as it turns out I found out I just wasted at least an hour of my time
because of new recommending settings.

Now I have to start all over again.

The tool and software, I'd give that an A. The documentation, I'll be generous and give it a D+.

North Chagrin Reservation Going Down Hill

One of the near no hit misses in my area WAS North Chagrin Reservation. For the past, oh, about two years, it's been going down hill...fast!

I was there this past Saturday and the place looked awful. It's almost like nobody knows how to use a weed eater. In the back of the Nature Center is a garden that is setup for the birds. This place use to be beautiful. There were plenty of feeders. There were plenty of perches for the birds to land. There was even a little pond.

Now, it looks like a bunch of weeds. If the perches were still there, I couldn't see them because of the weeds. So it's a safe bet the birds couldn't see them either. I counted at least one seeder on the ground. The path around the garden is gone because of the weeds. The funny part is, they have the area surrounded by a fence, as if anybody would even dare to go in there in the first place.

At the pond itself, which was known for the wood ducks, has anything but wood ducks. If you're lucky, and I do mean lucky, you might find a pair of wood ducks. Otherwise, be prepared to look at a bunch of Canadian Geese.

Hopefully the cause of all of this is due to a fired groundskeeper and everything will be tended to soon. If not, and if I worked there, I'd be embarrassed to tell anyone that.

Photoshop and the 'Cloud'

In case you haven't heard, Adobe will be offering their products via

the cloud. The one product getting the most rif is Photoshop. Basically

how it works is, no more hard copies of the software. You download

Photoshop to your hard drive. You're then charged a monthly fee to use

it. At the time of this entry, about $20 a month.

First, this isn't cloud computing even though this is the term Adobe is

using. If it was cloud, the software would be on their servers, not on

our hard drives.

If anything, it's more like leasing their software. As long as you pay,

the software will work and will be updated. Don't pay and Photoshop is deactivated. In other

words, it's kind of like activating your software for the very first

time. It goes out to the internet and your software is activated. Same

thing here, except it's doing it every 30 days for a fee.

I'm on the fence on how I'm going to proceed. Right now I'm trying a 30

day free trial. For $20 a month it makes sense up until about 2 1/2 years,

which is roughly the cost of the software itself. But after that? Paying

$20 a month for an update here or there seems expensive.

Magee Marsh

This past Friday (March 10) was the big trip to Magee Marsh. The

forecast was calling for 90% rain in Cleveland and Magee Marsh.

Not good. I ran into some sprinkles at 6am while on my way to

the meetup. Really not good.

Then, everything cleared! Actually, it cleared to much. With

the sun being out and the group arriving late in the morning,

about 10am, the light was a little harsh.

Magee Marsh was crowded! The entire parking lot was almost filled.

But the actual walk on the boardwalk wasn't that bad. I'd run into

a crowd every now and then to get a look at a special warbler,

but that's it.

The number of Warblers was decent, but the photography wasn't. Most

of the birds stayed further back in the woods. I still could've

snapped off a few, but they wouldn't have been up to my standards.

I always find it amazing on the photographers out there, with tens

of thousands of equipment and they're photographing a bird covered

by branches and horrible backgrounds.

I also got a chuckle when another photographer made a comment to me

that the only way to get a good bird photograph is by having at least

$20,000 in photography equipment.

That's why my images are published and my presentations in demand and

they're not. I understand that it's the photographer, not the equipment.

If you have $20,000 worth of equipment but still photograph into

the sun or don't even know how to read a histogram, you're just embarassing

yourself.

I came away with a few nice images which is pretty much all I was

expecting.