Marc Benton dot Com

10 Year Milestone

Fellow photoblogger and online friend Jason D Moore recently achieved two milestones on his site.  First was his 1000th post followed a few weeks later with the celebration of his 7th anniversary of his site.

After seeing Jason’s Facebook status on his 7th year, it got me thinking about my time online.  Thanks to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine I pulled up my first site that used my old URL mbenton.com (which now redirects here).  It appears I just passed my 10th anniversary online.

My first entry was dated 9/6/1999:

Wecome to my website. Please be patient while I find the time to work on it. In the next few months I expect to build a site that hopefully will become a usable resource for Software Engineers. Topics I am most interested in are XML, Java, JavaScript, HTML, UML, and CMM procedures.
Please check back soon.
marc…

Here’s a screenshot of the original site:

In 1999 Wordpress, Movable Type and other blogging and CMS solutions were nonexistent.  This site was lovingly built by hand with my trusty windows VI emulator (Lemmy).  Lots of tables, no CSS.  Surprisingly though I had little cross browser issues.

The purpose of my original site was quite honestly to grab some acreage on the internet and stake my name out there.  Looking back now I realize I did not have a focus on what I wanted to accomplish.  Due to this my updates were slow.  I did have some good resources such as software language guides on the site, some of which I still use at times today such as the color index page.  Overall though it was not a resource that would keep people coming back.

One direct benefit of hosting and building my own site was an increase of my own knowledge that could be brought to bear in my professional life.  At the time I was a government contractor supporting the USMC.  DoD code then was still mostly client/server using C, C++ and some Java. Web technology was the new frontier.  I’m happy to say my teams helped blaze the trail by implementing XML and HTML in much of our software baselines and helped to set the stage for improved data sharing between USMC and service intelligence systems.  Much of this success was due to our own personal uses of these technologies in our private lives.

Just over two years ago I relaunched with Movable Type and a new focus on social media.  Also about that time my wife and I rediscovered photography and my postings about this subject gradually increased.  Eventually I switched to Wordpress and rebranded as a photoblog.  Today I feel better about my online presence than I ever have before.  I still have times of slow updates due to work schedule but I am becoming more consistent.  Its all about focus and finding one that reflects your passion.  Digital photography is mine.

I congratulate Jason on his seven years.  He’s shown focus and consistency for quite some time.  While I may say I’ve been online for 10 years, when I compare my efforts against Jason’s or some of my other favorite photobloggers its more like 2 years.  Here’s hoping 10 years from now we’re all still here with fresh and relevant content with our new holographic blog posts (possibly a new Wordpress plugin???).

Tags: anniversary, blog, Digital Photography, focus, jason d moore, online, Personal, website

My Daughter’s Work

Today I’m posting a couple of shots my daughter took on our night outing into DC this week.  I’m very proud of what she was able to do with as little experience with a DSLR that she has.  Just think of what she could do if she practiced.

Do me a favor and show her some encouragement by leaving her a comment here or click the image and leaving one on her Flickr page.  Thanks!

Tags: Digital Photography

More Tilt Shift Fun

While looking over my bookmarks I noticed one that I haven’t visited in awhile, tiltshiftmaker.com. I don’t believe I’ve been back here since my post about it in January.

If you haven’t seen this site you need to go look right now. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a tiltshift lens this site gives you that functionality for free. Just upload your image, make any tweeks you want and download your new tiltshifted image.

I went looking through my past month’s shots to see if any were a good subject for this treatment.

Here’s a view of Hershey, PA from the Hershey Hotel.  Panoramic shots with buildings, people or vehicles make the perfect photos for this effect.

For more ideas and to see other images like this visit the Tilt Shift Flickr group.

Tags: Digital Photography, Hershey Pennsylvania, The Hershey Company, tiltshift, tiltshift photography

Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk – Old Town Alexandria – Update 1

We’re less than two weeks before our big Worldwide Photowalk. Time for me to get busy and give some updates.

- First off thank you to everyone that has signed up to attend our event in Alexandria on July 18th as part of the Scott Kelby WorldWide Photowalk. The number of walkers across the globe has just surpassed 20,000 on over 1,000 walks.  I’m really looking forward to spending time with old friends and meeting a number of new local photographers. Plus seeing the images you capture on our route is a bennie.

- Our event has filled up the 50 available slots. If you’d like to be added to the waiting list then please let me know. In case no room becomes available there are a number of other walks in the DC area that can be found on the Worldwide Photowalk map.

- Speaking of the route, I walked it a couple of weeks ago to check it out and I think we have a good one.  Not too long or too short with plenty of interesting subjects along the way.  You can get a preview of it here (not too many spoilers, just a teaser).

- While the joy of meeting new photographers, taking and sharing photos with them, and getting some exercise in is enough for most of us, there is the added bonus of prizes.  I get the dubious honor of selecting one photo from our group to represent us in the final judging by Scott and his crew.  Each walk winner will receive a copy of Scott’s upcoming The Digital Photography Book, Volume 3.  The big winner’s list of prizes can be found here.  Once I get some insight into the judging criteria that Scott will use I’ll let you know as I’ll try to use the same.

- Scott and crew are working on the process of uploading our images after the walk.  While the final process has not been published there is a short video on being prepared when the time comes.

In case you can’t watch or do not have audio here’s the major points:
– Photos will be uploaded to the Worldwide Photowalk page instead of a Flickr group like last year.
– There will be a Lightroom export plugin available for uploading.  If you do not have Lightroom a link to the trial version can be found on the Worldwide Photowalk homepage.
– You will also have the option to upload directly on the site using your login.
– IMPORTANT – Before the big day make sure you have your correct login and password.  If you have any problem remembering your login please let me know by sending me the email address you registered with.  For forgotten passwords there is a link you can use on the login page.
– Our city id for the photowalk is “alexandria-va-usa”.  Remember this as it’s use will be explained in an upcoming video.

- Don’t forget to order your Official Worldwide PhotoWalk T-Shirt, which supports the Springs of Hope Kenya Orphanage.  I’ve ordered and received mine. They look great.

- If you’re feeling social, feel free to connect with me on Twitter at @marcbenton, on Facebook, and Flickr.  BTW, the official Twitter Hashtag is #SKphoto. Please use this tag when tweeting about our Photo Walk.

- Lastly, please let me know if you cannot make the walk.  We have a few people on the waiting list that can fill in any open slots.  On the other hand, even though the photowalk contest is only open to registered walkers, feel free to bring others with you such as children or a friend or two.  I would ask that you let me know if you plan to bring more so that we can be prepared. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list then please let me know.

Tags: #SKphoto, Alexandria, Digital Photography, Hope Kenya Orphanage, Old Town Alexandria, Scott Kelby, Virginia, Worldwide Photowalk

4th of July Fireworks Photography Tips

Its that time of year again for picnics baskets, sunscreen, your favorite iced beverage, cameras on tripods, and the smell of gunpowder wafting through the air.  While those are the good things about the 4th of July, remember there are a few challenges that will likely crop up.  Challenges such as huge crowds, not being able to find a good unobstructed view of the show, traffic, and the sudden realization that shooting fireworks is hard.  Luckily with a little preparation these issues can be avoided.

Last year was my first attempt at photographing fireworks on a 4th of July.  The images in this post were all taken with my then go to camera, the Canon Powershot S5IS point and shoot.  I’ve upgraded twice since then and really looking forward to this year’s shows.  We’re still have not decided where we will go to see fireworks this year but after a little research I’ve found that we have plenty of options.

Just like last year I’ve reviewed my RSS feeds and conducted a few searches of my own to review best practices for shooting fireworks along with the best places to view them in the local area.  It would be selfish of me not to share my findings with you.

Pick your spot. Pick the fireworks display you plan to attend early.  Before the holiday take a trip there and scout the viewing locations.  This will save you precious time when you arrive before the show.  Try to find a place with an unobstructed view, level for a tripod, and with the background/foreground objects you like.  If you’re really lucky your spot will be near the exit routes.

If you’re not sure where the fireworks will be fired from, try searching Flickr for that location.  You should be able to determine a good position from shots of previous shows there.

One good tip that is especially applicable to fireworks is to watch the wind.  Last year we viewed the fireworks shot on the National Mall from the Netherland’s Carillion on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.  At first glance this appears to be the perfect spot with a panoramic view of the mall and the explosions going off over the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.  What we didn’t realize at the time though was the wind tended to blow toward us and to the right.  Due to this much of the smoke was in our shot.  This created very hazy images and obscurred the larger explosions as you can see from the photos in this post.  Trying to determine wind may be a little difficult for a new location but its worth the attempt.

During the show take a look around you at the crowd.  Consider a shot of your neighbors with the light of the rockets reflecting off their faces.

Be still. All the rules of long exposure and taking tack sharp photos apply here when it comes to keeping movement to a minimum.  A tripod is a must.  Not only will it help keep the camera steady but it will give you the added benefit of time to step away and take a few moments to enjoy the show.

To reduce any movement you may induce while triggering the shutter use a remote trigger or set the delayed timer.  Using a timer will require a little practice to ensure the shutter is activated at the moment you want.  You’ll need to work on your timing to get the proper lead time correct.  I recommend a 2 second delay, most every SLR I’ve seen has this option.

Many dSLR models have a mirror lock function, take some time to review your camera settings to find it.  This function locks the mirror in the up position until the exposure is made.  This reduces movement inside the camera during the exposure.  It may seem like overkill but its a practice that many professional photographers use.

If you’re lens or camera has image stabilization (IS) or vibration reduction (VR) then turn it off.  Why?  Scott Kelby in his The Digital Photography Book says it best:

…these VR lenses look for vibration. If they don’t find any, they’ll go looking for it, and that looking for vibration when there is absolutely none can cause (you guessed it) some small vibrations.

Even if you have a point and shoot, review the documentation to see if it has an IS/VR function.

Go manual. Many new dSLRs have a preconfigured fireworks setting.  If you are absolutely not comfortable with your the manual settings on your camera then by all means use the preconfigured one.   Last year I switched between both.

The challenge is, you can’t really practice your manual settings beforehand unless you live near a baseball stadium.  For most of us, fireworks is a once a year event.  This means the more research you can do beforehand the better.

I’ll list a few settings that I plan to use and then list a couple of sites that expand on them.  Remember though that these are recommendations for your use.

• ISO 100
• Daylight white balance
• Initial starting points will be a 2-5 second exposure at f/11 – f/16 and will modify depending on results.  I have limited experience with it but I may experiment with bulb mode.  With bulb mode and a remote trigger you can get better control.  Shoot when the rocket burst and release when the light trails start to fade.
• Focal length is a personal preference depending on what background or foreground objects you want in the shot.  I plan to use a  70-200mm 2.8L lens so will probably focus on the explosions.  That all depends on where I set up the tripod though.  If we’re back in DC this year I’m sure my wide angle will come out for a few shots.
• Review and modify.  Especially in the beginning review your shots and make adjustments as needed.

More reading. Here are a couple of good articles to read to expand your ideas on shot settings:

How to Photograph Fireworks Displays by Darren Rouse at Digital Photography School

How to Shoot Fireworks by David Muse at Photographers Alliance Workshop

Don’t forget the More Properties link on the image pages of Flickr to see the settings others have used.  Fireworks on Flickr

Have a blast! Sorry for the pun.  The 4th of July is a celebration.  Don’t spend all your time looking through the viewfinder or worrying about camera settings.  During the show take a step back and enjoy it.  Go OOOOOO and AAAHHHH with the rest of the crowd.  If you miss the shot remember it will be there next year.

Whats your favorite fireworks photography tip or article?

Tags: 4th of July, Digital Photography, Fireworks, how to photograph fireworks, how to shoot fireworks, Independence Day, July 4th, National Mall, photographing fireworks, photography tips, Scott Kelby