New Camera Software Bloopers

I recently came into some extra money and was able to purchase a Canon 5D Mark II, full frame camera, not to replace my trusty Rebel XT, but to keep the Rebel as a back-up. Got up early Sunday morning, not as early as one should for great sunrise light, but not too bad because there were beautiful fluffy clouds in the sky. I had taken a few test shots (insert pic here) with every lens I own, the day the camera arrived, and thought I had the operation pretty well under control. Making sure I had batteries, extra memory cards, every lens and even my little Rebel XT (couldn't leave it behind), my tripod and reflectors, I headed North on highway 395, thinking I would serendipitously find subjects to shoot. The clouds seemed to be dissipating in that direction so turned around and headed south, finding an old rusty "EAT" sign to shoot, (insert pic here) and then to the south/west on highway 178 to shoot toward an outcrop of rocks called Robbers Roost, so named because late 1800's robbers would hide in the rocks to rob the stage coach either heading West over Walker Pass or South to Los Angeles. The clouds were really huge over the Sierras, and I knew with my wide angle lens, I would get some good shots.(insert pic here) When I looked in my viewfinder, the images looked blue! White Balance is wrong! But did I have my manual with me? No. I did set the white balance earlier but for some reason, wasn't able to do it now. Then I thought, it doesn't really matter, I can fix it later in Photoshop! I continued West on 178 and stopped along the way several times, when I would spot something. It's amazing how many times I have photographed on this road but still can find something new. And sometimes I'll repeat a shot, like the green John Deere tractors with American flags that are parked near the road in a field with for sale signs attached. (insert pic here) Still can't get it right! I don't know what I'm looking for in that shot, I just know I don't have it yet. The first time I stopped to shoot there was only one tractor, now there are two. I drove up to the house to ask permission to photograph them. The owner of the ranch was very gracious and accomodating and said, "I hope you get what you think you see". Wow, I thought, that's profound! And also prohetic, because I still have not captured what I thought I saw the first time!! But I'll keep trying until they are sold!! Stopped here and there, at a wooden gate and stone wall with great light and shadows,(insert pic here) another cafe sign(insert pic here) , an old truck (love old stuff)(insert pic here) a flower or two(insert pic here) , and a metal building with interesting windows(insert pic here) . When I finally decided to call it quits, at least in that direction, it was about 11 am and the light was getting noon flat. As I headed back home, I stopped at the top of Walker Pass where the road's hairpin curve overlooks the valley with Sierras in the distance. The clouds were so fabuous, I decided to try a panorama.(insert pic here) Those were my last shots. When I got home I anxiously took out my 4 gig card, which I had filled, by the way, and proceeded to import the RAW images into Lightroom, where I could pick out the keepers and do some processing if needed, like white balance correction! After waiting what seemed like an eternity to load, I get an error message " Wrong type of file or file corrupted. Lightroom cannot import images" What? What in the !#*@ went wrong? So I tried to view them via Bridge in Photoshop. Nope, got an error there too! Oh my god, I'm thinking. Did I set something wrong in the camera? Not sure. Did I format the card correctly before using? Yes, I think so. Went outside to take a quick shot with a clean formatted card, and still got the error! Eeee gads, is the camera broken already? Did I do it? So I checked other RAW files on my system to see if Photoshop and lightroom were working. Everything else was working properly. There was nothing esle for me to try, but to call B&H where I had purchased the camera. So I tell my sad story to the technician who says, "You need to update your CS4 software to the latest that supports your new camera." What? No one told me that. It wasn't written on the outside of the box or in the operating instructions manual!! Needless to say, I was able to download the update needed to support my spanking new camera and all is well with the world. Except, I took over 140 RAW images and maybe, just maybe there are a couple worth keeping. But that's how I learn, by making mistakes and shooting!

Get ready, get set, TYPE!

Finally starting this blog, to talk about Photography and the crazy things that happen to me. This morning came to work and put my lunch away in the common refrigerator....oh good lord, my little blue Navair lunch bag was gone! I keep all my condiments in it and was just flabbergasted that someone would take it. Then I thought, did I take it home? No. Did someone throw it away, thinking it was old? I looked in the trash can, nope, not there. I looked in drawers, I mentioned it to fellow workers. Nope, no one knew. It was a mystery. Just a while later, I went to the lunch room to eat my hard boiled egg and used the salt on top of the microwave. I opened the microwave and there was my lunch bag, where I had put it, intead of the frig. Oh my. I had to tell my co-workers, I had put my lunch bag in the Microwave, not the frig.