http://spotstudio.com Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:13:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I had a chance to do another large banner project for the YMCA. This time it's for a 13x17ft rear-lit sign to hang on the corner of their newly remodeled building in downtown Dallas. The last banner job was going to be viewed from close enough that I decided to ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/11/just-a-little-retouching/ My son plays tuba in a rock band that's been practicing at the studio for the last few weeks. I thought it might be fun to shoot some pictures at one of their rehearsals. I didn't want to spend a lot of time setting up lights and wondered what I ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/10/one-big-light/ Like most people, I love fireworks. And like all of you, I love taking pictures. So at least once a year I find myself with camera in hand, trying to capture some interesting photos of explosions in the sky. Last Saturday night my wife and I met some other couples ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/07/playing-with-fire-works/ In my bio I mention that I got involved in the motion picture special effects area of motion control for a while. What I built was a large Cartesian (XYZ) robot that could fly a camera around a 9x14 foot area. When I moved into the Spot last year I ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/07/gantry-robot-for-sale/ I was invited to speak to the Dallas Camera Club last night. I was really amazed to see almost 60 people attending the meeting. The DCC has been around for 75 years and has a very active calendar of meetings, competitions and field trips.They are a great group. I spent about ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/06/panoramas-at-the-dallas-camera-club/ Well, here's a product I didn't know existed but was happy to find. About a year ago I built a new machine for the studio, mostly to run Lightroom. I like Lightroom and want to love it, but have had speed problems with it since day one. So I built ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/06/gefen-dvi-detective/ I have a collection of toy and cheap cameras that I started about 30 years ago. My rule for the first couple of years was that I would't spend more than a dollar. Sometimes I would find 5 or 6 at a thrift store. Then my family started looking for ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/06/moldy-cameras/ I've had an Epson 7600 for a few years and always thought of it as a big machine with an appetite for ink and a producer of impressive big prints. Up to 24" wide by any length. Boy, have I had to recalibrate that thinking! I just got through shooting ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/05/really-big-prints/ I needed something higher resolution than my D300 for the big banner project. I've been a Nikon user forever so was leaning toward the D3x, since it would give me twice the resolution of my D300 plus a full size sensor and lower noise. I also considered the Canon 5D ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/04/my-nikon-d3x-experience/ I wanted to be able to use my laptop tethered while shooting. I looked into a couple of commercial laptop trays, but they were kind of overkill. I used an extra Bogen Magic Arm and some plywood to make a usable platform. I cut a piece of 1/2" plywood slightly ... http://spotstudio.com/2009/04/laptop-tripod-tray/