Category: Tools

The Pros and Cons of Product Competition

astrophotography, Gear, Photography, Tools

Hobbies are a great way to spend money. They are also a great way to spend TOO MUCH money. Just when you’ve bought the kit you need, you discover the one more thing that will make it perfect. That is certainly true in astrophotography, which is my latest creative focus.

I decided fairly early on that I would invest in only tried and true solutions, including techniques and gear that would fully support my enjoyment of the hobby without a lot of testing or tweaking. That strategy has paid off for the three plus years of effort. But just once, last fall, I decided that I would try another approach instead. I was looking for a way to control some equipment using a tablet or my phone, and there were several options, including one that had only recently been released a few months before. The appeal of that option was versatility: a claim that the device could handle so much more than any other available option for about the same price. I decided to give that a try. Find out how it went.

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Adobe’s Puzzling February Update

Expertise, Laws, Photography, Tools

Whenever Adobe releases a new version of its photography software package components (i.e. Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop), there are typically a multitude of videos that explain the new releases and, again typically, comment on how great the new features are.

Not this time.

The bulk of videos I have watched, mostly from long running pro photographers, have described and demonstrated the features, but also offered some very puzzling or at least unexpected commentary. Find out what.

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Trying 3D Printing

Photography, Tools

Note the word “trying”. Turns out, this type of printing is not quite as simple as queuing up a file, loading a substrate and hitting print. The hardware and the “substrate”, which in this case are spools of filament, are not cheap and require a well designed project file to start, with an assembly or “slicing” plan to complete, and a printer whose temperature and mechanical settings are perfect.

I wanted to explore this because my astronomy hobby relies on being able to connect devices and hardware items to the top or sides of your telescope, in order to ensure the telescope can move freely without tangling cables or slamming into stationary detached components. I’ve ordered 3D printed items for this purpose from talented folks who designed and printed them for sale. How hard could it be to print my own? Turns out it was a lot harder than I thought.

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Budget vs. Hobbies – Finding a Balance

Life, Photography, Tools

Happy New Year all! Hope the holiday season was everything you wanted and that you received and gave everything that made your season perfect. I was actually quite ill over the holidays, struck with a seasonal flu (and maybe other bad bugs) that kept me at home for quite some time. Eventually, this becomes boring, so I turned my diminished brainpower to exploring a topic I had not explored lately: how best to balance budget and hobbies in retirement?

I actually have had a budget every year since retirement. And at the end of every year, I check it to see just how much difference it has not made to my end of year finances. I’ve decided to give it a more meaningful try for this coming year, especially since travel will be big on the agenda this year.

Budgeting has long been the mantra of financial planners who work with young investors, particularly the part about saving for retirement. But few seem to have good advice on how to manage that money after retirement. Why of course the floodgates open, no? This post is not financial advice. This post is about a few things I’ve learned about having fun responsibly in your golden years.

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The End of Photoshop – For Me

astrophotography, Photography, Tools

It happened unexpectedly, unannounced. One day I was minding my own business, reading email, and one popped into my feed. Oh, no, another ad. But this one was different. It was from that venerable king of creative editing software – Adobe. It was a reminder that my subscription for my Photography Plan would renew in a month. Ok, great. Then I saw it, at the bottom.

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Why AI is No Big Threat

Career, Life, My Community, Photography, Tools

Back in 2020, I did my first blog post on AI, commenting that while many saw its emergence as a threat, I didn’t. With the choices available to them, people like me could elect how much if any machine-learned automation might become part of our lives.

It’s five years later and I thought I would revisit that idea again, again from the perspective of a senior retiree. I do recognize that other lifestyles and financial circumstances might result in a different viewpoint, but this is mine.

Here’s how AI has impacted me in the last five years and how it might impact me in the future.

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Why Edit Your Photographs?

Artistic Ideas, Photography, Tools

Frankly, it’s a question I’ve never thought about. Ever since I starting shooting digitally, and ever since I became aware of software available to edit, I’ve edited. But I’m preparing a short talk for a group of hobbyist photographers and I’ve discovered that some of them don’t edit, have never edited and have never considered editing. I find that fascinating. We will talk more about why they don’t edit in a bit.

There is a long standing debate about in-camera skills vs. post-processing skills. From the early days of photography, and rightly so, it was decisions about framing, composition, exposure, and using natural light and shadow properly that determined the end result. I agree with that perspective and continue to refine my skills in-camera. But artists being artists, more options were discovered for adding a unique look, a mood or an effect to that end result. Today, the options can be almost endless, including AI driven editing technologies. So let’s explore that a bit further.

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When Technical Support is No Support at All

Expertise, Gear, Photography, Tools

Happy New Year all! Playing with those Christmas gifts? Here’s the story of one of mine.

Any hobby that relies on technology will eventually bring you to a point where you need to contact Technical Support. I’m pretty savvy and can solve most technical things on my own. I frankly prefer to do that, as I learn better that way how to avoid the problem next time.

I had a situation recently though that made it necessary to seek help. I purchased a piece of equipment before Christmas through my favourite telescope shop. The item was made by SkyWatcher, a reputable, well-known and trusted brand. Sadly, the item did not work at all out of the box and despite my best efforts, I could not solve the problem. So I contacted technical support, first at the shop where I purchased it, then through SkyWatcher. Here’s what happened…

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Why is Astrophotography So Popular Now?

astrophotography, Expertise, My Community, Photography, Tools

If you check the sales numbers of the top camera manufacturers worldwide over the last 15 years, you will see that sales have dropped by more than 90%. The market for traditional camera sales has clearly bottomed out, with most of us relying on our cellphones now to capture those memorable daytime visual experiences.

In contrast, the market for astrophotography is exploding, particularly in the 30-40 year age groups. Inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic, sales have skyrocketed. While still technically a niche subject, the number of companies now that offer specialized astrophotography equipment, along with the number of companies that will design and build a custom home observatory for you, is growing by leaps and bounds. There are also star parties around the world each year where enthusiasts gather to share experiences and ideas. YouTube searches for astrophotography confirm the growing interest, although there is a strange unexplained dip between 2018 and 2020.

My last blog post talked about a move away from technology to more analogue options, especially for young folk. This bucks that trend bigtime. Why?

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Letting Go of Control

Gear, Photography, Tools, Videos

Spoiler alert: I prepared this a few months ago, as you can tell from the images and clips (we are in winter here in Canada). Things have changed a bit in terms of the equipment used since this was prepared but the message is the same. Read on to the end to find out…

One of the things I have always found a bit ironic in photography is that as you become more and more proficient in the craft, you might seek out better equipment typically, and then, also typically, you TURN OFF all of the advanced automatic features of that better equipment and go “full manual”. I’ve never really understood that. Why would anyone do that?

I decided to try a totally different approach with an area of activity that is growing for me: vlogging. Instead of turning everything off, I’ve put together a basic but decent rig and turned ON all of the automatic functions I could find. I’m doing nothing manually. I think it’s working really well so far. Read on to see what I’ve done. I’ve included a few video clips as well for your entertainment.

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