Photography

Sometimes, my job totally rules. I spent a chunk of time yesterday editing wonderful photos for a new Photoshop book by Derrick Story. (No worries, dekeFaithful, this one will be a terrific compliment to Deke's work, a concentrated handbook focusing on the specific Photoshop needs of photographers.) Derrick just got back from assignment (for Apple) in Beijing, helping other photographers in the Main Press Center get their images of the events processed and posted. I've already watched Derrick overcome jetlag to regale more than one audience with the tales of his Olympic adventure. He graciously said we could show some of his photos and the stories behind them here, and I think you'll enjoy this Friday treat.

(All photos in this post are copyright ©2008 Derrick Story. Click an image to see it at higher res. No reproducing please.)

Yeah, I told you Derrick knew a thing or two about shooting fireworks. This shot was captured during the opening ceremonies. Derrick was positioned right outside the Bird's Nest with a fast 50mm f/1.4 lens. (By the way, Derrick has more photos and stories on his site, The Digital Story, so I've linked those up where appropriate.) Read more » 

Well, Deke is safely ensconsed in a broadband-challenged area of "off-the-hand" Michigan, so I can write whatever I like today without him editorally looking over my shoulder. (I think he enjoys turning the tables on me.) So I thought about running my seasonably inappropriate and infamous "How to Draw a Snowflake using InDesign" tutorial, but, instead, I'll celebrate my personal independence the way all red, white, and blue-blooded American's do this time of year here in the states, by rounding up the best advice on how to photograph fireworks.

• Over at the The Digital Story, Derrick's got a great set of basic advice for shooting your pyrotechnic celebrations. His first item? Turn off the flash: "Yes, you're going to be shooting in a dark environment, and if your camera is set to auto flash, it's going to fire. This is the last thing you want, so turn it off." This presumes you know how to turn off the flash. In fact, that's probably an even better tip: know how to control the flash on your camera before you're in the dark trying to figure it out on-the-fly. (For more sage advice on shooting in special circumstances, from airplanes to underwater to infrared, check out Derrick's book, The Digital Photography Companion.)

• Lifehacker has a terrifically illustrated list of things to remember about shooting fireworks. Here's a favorite:

Have a small light handy for checking and altering settings on the camera and tripod without having to fumble in the dark. A small red LED key chain flashlight is perfect for this task. Red light is less disruptive to your night vision than white light.  

Read more » 

No, that's not an eerie full moon rising, it's an even eerier not quite setting sun. The skies all over in Northern California are filled with smoke due to hundreds of burning wildfires. I thought it was pretty freaky I could shoot at the sun and not completely blow out highlights—or my retina. (Despite the smoke, looking through the viewfinder directly at the sun probably wasn't the most intelligent thing to do). Usually summers here in the Sacramento Valley have several days of unhealthy air, due to auto exhaust and high temperatures, but this feels worse, and downright odd.

One of the fires further north is threatening the home of one of our beloved Planet Deke colleagues. Team Deke is sending out our strongest heat-shield, fire-retardant, force-field energy to Toby and others whose homes (and persons) are threatened by the fires. The particular fire threatening Toby's homestead is one of those going entirely unmanaged. Read more » 

Deke didn't believe me the other day when I mentioned that Adobe's Flash-o-rific color-selecting gizmo, Kuler, could create a color palette based on a photograph. (Of course, now, he claims not to remember the conversation at all. It's his grueling schedule, not the Bombay Sapphire, I'm sure.)

But it's true, Deke. And relatively easy. Start at the Kuler page of Adobe Labs. Click Create at the top left, then choose Create from Photo. You can upload an image from your hard drive or from your Flickr account. Kuler has five "Moods" available for the creation of its trademark five-color theme: Colorful, Bright, Muted, Deep and Dark. Colorful seems to be the default, and you can create a Custom collection by moving any one or all of the five targets that Kuler picks to other spots on your image. Read more »