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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Photography, Health, and Resolutions

I was going to publish this earlier, but decided to almost wait for New Year's Day 2015 as an idea for a New Year's Resolution - and the resolution is to start a journey to a healthier life.  Whatever time or day or year it is, the best time to start this is always "NOW."  See below for the reasons.  What should the resolution be?  To spend 10 minutes, 15 minutes, half an hour, or whatever amount of time you have in order to do this each day - research nutrition and health.  If you're getting an immunization, Google the name of the immunization along with the words "package insert" and read the insert (it will list the side effects, ingredients, and whether there is proof it works).  For example, enter "flu shot package insert" and go to the .PDF file listings.  Know the possible side effects of any drug you are taking, and figure out which is worse - the problem you are taking it for, or the drug's side effects.  Learn about healthy nutrition and supplements.  Make 2015 and beyond the road to health.  Remember, before making any changes in any drugs you are taking or lifestyle changes you are making, to consult with your health practitioner.  Preferably one who is knowledgeable about diet, nutrition, and supplements.

My road to health started with the book, "Hunza Health Secrets for Long Life and Happiness."

Yes, there is a tie in to photography:  when you are being photographed, health is extremely important to the outcome of the photos.  After all, if you're not feeling well, you may be depressed about your health, have low energy, be pale, have skin problems, or any number of other things.  It will show in your eyes and on your face and in your photos.  Post processing can help the results, but it can't bring the life back into your eyes, and it can't improve your health!

Here are health rankings - for longevity, according to the United Nations, the U.S. is ranked 40th in the world and according to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), we are ranked 34th (out of either 193 or 198 countries listed respectively).  The CIA ranks us at 51st.  For health care systems, the U.S. ranked number 1 for expenditures, but 38th for health by the W.H.O., out of 190 countries.

Here is a chart showing rankings of 11 countries.  The U.S. is 11th.

TCFchart

All the reasons for this are too complex to go into here.  You may be thinking, well we're living longer than we did 100 years ago, but two reasons for this are less childhood deaths (which used to really lower the average age), and the use of more sterile conditions.

Why aren't we living healthier?  Well, a lot of problems started happening around the same time as a lot of changes were made to our way of living.  GMO foods were introduced, many mandatory vaccinations were added, fluoride was added to our drinking water (imagine if you took medicine like you take fluoride - with everyone ingesting different amounts depending on their lifestyle), prescription drugs started to be advertised on TV (only legal in U.S. and New Zealand), and chemicals and pesticides were added to our food.  Next, add growth hormones and antibiotics fed to the animals we eat.  Plus environmental toxins we are exposed to.  Not to mention (oops, I just did) a poor diet, overeating and being overweight.  I'm sure there are many more reasons (stress is a big one), but you probably get the idea.  Too many variables to know for sure which item is responsible for which malady.

What are some of things that have happened around the same time as all the above have been introduced?  Autism rates, obesity, and diabetes have skyrocketed.  To counteract these problems, doctors give you drugs which may be worse than the problem you are taking them for (officially, 106,000 people die each year from properly prescribed prescription drugs; unofficially, that may be much higher as many deaths are attributed to other things that may have been caused by these drugs).

What about cancer?  I keep hearing in the news that things are improving.  But seeing all the people dying from cancer (including friends and family), it doesn't seem the media reports are right.  A good friend of mine died from breast cancer, my father died from lung cancer, and several others I know have cancer.  Most recently, L. Stephen Coles, M.D., PhD,, founder of Research Gerontology Group at UCLA, died from pancreatic cancer.  So I did some research and found that the only drop in cancer rates since 1950 corresponded to the same drop in rates of people smoking.  Discounting that change, the rate would have actually  gone up.  They tell us in the media that survival time after diagnosis is longer, so there is progress.  Unfortunately, what they fail to tell us is the diagnosis is being made sooner, but your life is not extended past the point where it would have been.  And, of course, they highlight the few successes.  Natural remedies that might work, or that have helped some people, you can't get or won't hear about.  If you have cancer, why aren't you allowed to try whatever you want?  It's amazing that 45 years ago we landed men on the moon, we recently landed a satellite on a comet, we've figured out the human genome, and we have more powerful computers than ever, but still haven't made progress with a cure for cancer.

What can you do?  If you value your health, do what they say in investing - do your due diligence, aka research.  Talk to not only your doctor, but other health practitioners.  Use the internet.  Eat healthy, which means mostly organic, whole foods.  Check labels.  If you don't know what it is, don't eat it.  Do not drink soft drinks.  Stay away from sugar and artificial sweeteners.  Exercise and take the right supplements (these will be somewhat different for each person).  Avoid environmental toxins as much as possible.  Keep in mind that when you start doing these things, your problems won't go away overnight.  It takes time.  You might even feel worse initially.

When I was younger, I used to think I could eat and do whatever I wanted to enjoy myself more - you know, hamburgers, hot dogs, Coke and Pepsi and other soft drinks, candy and sweets.  If it knocked a couple of years off my life, at least I would enjoy my life more.  Then I got an ulcer (so cut out the soft drinks and packaged meats) and a few years later a nervous stomach (aka irritable bowel syndrome or I.B.S. - constant stomach aches, nausea, pain and bloating).  Thankfully I got those when I was young, because it taught me I would NOT enjoy life more by eating whatever I wanted.  So I learned about nutrition, changed my diet, added supplements and not only did those problems go away, but so did many other problems.  Some of these things took months to fade away, some took years, but they are gone.

Remember, if you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you always got.

So please do your research, don't believe TV ads for drugs, and don't ask your doctor if this or that drug is right for you.  Research it instead, read the pros and cons, and be informed.  In a future post, I'll go into some more details.

Best of Health and Happiness for 2015!

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Shortest post ever!!!  Please see my FB page for recent happenings.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Fixing Photos - AKA Post Processing - and Beauty

Depending on why you took a photo, the subject of the photo, and the technical aspects of the photo, would determine if you want or need to fix it in post processing.  If shot in RAW mode, it would almost have to be processed afterwards, but in JPG your camera will do most of the processing inside the camera (the problem with this is that some of the information about the photo is discarded).  Either way, almost all photos can be made to look better by post processing.

Some of the things that can be done include adjusting the color balance, sharpening or softening the photo, increasing or decreasing exposure, smoothing skin tones, reducing shininess, removing temporary blemishes and stray hairs, and more.  All this would be done to ensure that the subject looks like they look when at their best.  It may be used to highlight their best features, or hide or downplay their worst.  But it should still look like them.

The more you get right when capturing the photo, the less will need to be done in post processing.  If you've watched "America's Next Top Model" you've seen the transformations from before to after just from using make-up and hair changes.  With everything done right (makeup and hair, lighting, posing, proper exposure) the models end up looking like they could be on a magazine cover.  In every day life, they look like you or me.

Here is an example of a before and after photo done in post processing:


The skin tones were smoothed out, blemishes removed, the eyes were brightened just a little bit, and a little contrast was added, etc.  All were very minor changes, but I think the final effect is much more beautiful.   If you wanted to have a framed photo of yourself, which would you rather have?  Subtle changes can make a huge difference.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Paddle Tennis - Thanksgiving Day 2014

Just a short blog post today to share some Thanksgiving Day paddle tennis photos.  All were shot with a Canon 40D which has a 1.6x crop factor (multiply your lens focal length by 1.6 to get the equivalent focal length that you would get from a full frame sensor, so for example, if you have a lens that is 50mm on a full frame camera, on a Canon 40D, it will be a 80mm lens).  The photos below were shot with a 24mm - 105mm f4 lens - on the 40D it became a 38mm - 168mm zoom.  All the photos below were shot at what would be the 38mm setting or very close to it.

There have been several newer models (aka upgraded) to this camera which would have given better results, but this is my other "beach camera" now.  And it gives good quality, just not the best (mainly noisy shadows, and also what would now be considered small file size or less megapixels).  The results are below:
















These were the best and showed the most action.  As always, click on the photos to see a larger size.  If you are in a photo, and would like the full size image, let me know as they are reduced in size here for purposed of posting.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Beauty and the Beasty

Here are the beauties (photos taken by me)



and the Beasty (real photo of a fish - not taken by me!)


On a scale of ugly to beautiful, the above pictures are of pretty extreme ends of the scale.  I prefer to capture images more like the top two, not so much like the bottom one.  I will leave that for others - the war photos, the riots, and these fish.  There are always two sides to everything - if you come here, you will see the beautiful side, the fun and enjoyment, the positive.  Mostly.

Occasionally, to try to eliminate the negative, it has to be talked about.  Things like GMO's and chemicals in our food, toxins in our environment, etc.  Or we may all end up looking like that fish.  and then I'd have to capture images like that....Ugh.  What's that, you don't feel like smiling....Oh, you are smiling.

Can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving again.  Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving, and a healthy one.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Photography, Lighting, and Post Processing

As with most things, different people have different opinions.  In photography, what is the most important thing to understand?  In my opinion, assuming you've learned how to use your camera, lighting is most important.  If you're shooting people, then would come posing and composition.  I was going to say next is post processing, but you can hire someone for that.  The first three things you have to do yourself.

Lighting is too large a topic for here - there are many books only about lighting, as well as some good webinars from time to time on CreativeLive.com, as well as lots of other online resources.  The main thing is to be able to see the light and understand how it will come out in the final photo.  For example, I wanted to test my new 50mm f1.8 Nikon lens, so brought my Nikon to the beach instead of my beach camera, saw someone I knew who had just finished playing paddle tennis, and asked her if I could take a few photos.  The sun was out, it was around 2-2:30pm or so, so direct sunlight was no good (I had to diffusers or reflectors with me).  But there was a wall by the courts that was in the shade and the lighting looked good, so asked her to go there.  The results are below.



I shot only 10 photos, used the camera's RAW setting, at ISO 250 and at f4.  Then used LightRoom to even out the light on her face due to the bit of a shadow from her visor, and finished up with Portrait Professional.

Besides using LightRoom and Portrait Professional, I experimented with two other programs - Nikon software for their RAW images (free from Nikon, but only works with images shot with a Nikon), and the DxO Pro Optics Elite 8.5 (free from DxO - see my previous post if interesting in getting that program).  The Nikon program was almost identical in converting the RAW to JPG.  The DxO was interesting - it automatically adjusts a number of variables, sometimes making the image better, and sometimes worse, although there are sliders to adjust pretty much everything, so it will do a pretty good job.

Hope you found this helpful and informative.  And that you've had a great weekend, too.

Oh - and please comment if you would like.  Would love to get feedback.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Bad Photos, Shooting RAW (No, Not in the Raw), and Other Settings

Most digital cameras give you a choice of shooting in RAW or JPG.  And with the post-processing software, depending on what you choose will most likely affect the quality of your photos.

There are millions (billions?) of photos online (social sites, dating sites, personal sites, etc.) and many look less than optimal, to say it nicely.  Sometimes we can't see what the person or the scene really looks like due to high noise levels, poor lighting, poor focus, or any number of other problems.

So what can you do to get better results?  Well, first you need to learn how your camera works, so read (and study) the manual that came with it.  And then learn and understand the following.  What is the best ISO setting for the conditions?  What setting should you use for your camera's light meter (spot, average, center weighted)?  Same for focal points.  Then practice, practice, practice.

Why should you shoot RAW?  When you have your camera set to JPG, your camera edits your photos and whatever pixels it doesn't need, it discards.  Unfortunately, if any settings are not correct (white balance, highlights, shadows), you've lost information that may be needed to fix your photo in post processing.  If you shoot in RAW, everything is still there that you might need (unless the highlights are really blown out or the shadows totally gone).  You can adjust the white balance, and have much more leeway for shadows and highlights, contrast, color correction, etc.

RAW files are quite a bit larger because you're not throwing away information, but with storage getting larger and pretty inexpensive, that's no longer much of a problem.  Once I've processed the files, and saved them as full size JPG's, and double check them, I delete the RAW files unless I want to experiment with them.

In a recent post I gave a link to free post processing software - here it is again in case you missed it:  Free DxO Software.  I personally like LightRoom better (more controls over the final results), but some prefer the DxO, and it's free - at least version 8.

For every day beach photography (which is not planned), I use a Panasonic FZ30 in JPG mode - it does a pretty good job, but can get confused when lighting gets to be too high contrast.  And at ISO's above 100, quality drops off sharply (gets very noisy/grainy).  The following photos were shot on Sunday (Nov 9, 2014) and post processed in LightRoom - two very nice young women playing paddle tennis at Venice Beach, California.










For planned photos, I shoot in RAW and convert to JPG - the following were shot in RAW with a Canon EOS 40D (Halloween, West Hollywood, 2014):







Hope you've enjoyed this, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Halloween 2014 - West Hollywood (aka WeHo) - Plus a Bonus Link to FREE Photo Software

More photos, and a mini-review of the Carnaval.  If you can imagine it, it will probably be at the Carnaval, plus many sights you probably never could imagine.  There is the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Also the beautiful, sexy, weird, colorful, scary, and creatures of all kinds.  Real dogs and cats in costumes, as well as dog and cat costumes.  And if something has grabbed news headlines, you will see it out there - from politics to Ebola health scares.  Should you bring your children?  Keep in mind there are some very scary and some very revealing costumes.  Perhaps bring them early and leave early before things get too crazy and too crowded to move.

The costumes are great, but the people wearing them is what has made the Carnaval special - everyone having a great time, and it shows in their smiles and in their eyes (when they are not hidden by the costumes).  And that makes getting great expressions in these photos easy.

In a future post I will post my all time favorites from this and past West Hollywood Halloween Carnavals - this was the eighth one I've gone to - and the shortest for me due to the weather.





 One of several stages along the Carnaval routem on Santa Monica Blvd.  

One of my many favorites this year. 



A favorite - not because of the costumes, but because....Well, I think the photo will tell you why.


Another favorite!






















The free photo software link is supposed to be good until Jan 31, 2015, but I would grab it now, because you never know if they will discontinue it.  You will get the best results with it if you shoot in RAW mode on your camera.  I will explain why in my next post, as well as why you may not want to use RAW.  The above photos were all shot in RAW mode.  Here is the link for the free DxO Optics Elite program download:  DxO.  Enjoy, and hope you have fun playing with the program.