DSLR Photography – how I do it…

I am sitting in our hotel room in Greece, working on the pictures I took in the last days and recognizing that my toolset (software and hardware) has gotten somewhat complex since my first steps with digital photography a couple of years ago.

Time to make a note to myself on the stuff I am using (and how). Let’s start with the hardware:

• Canon EOS 500D (in the US this is a EOS Rebel T1i)
• Canon EF-S 18-200mm 1:3,5-5,6 IS
• Canon EF 50mm 1:1.8 II (nifty fifty – mainly for portraits)
• Hama Quick Shoot Strap
• Canon Speedlite 430EX
• A small and a full-size tripod
• Two 16GB SD cards and two batteries (I get along with this)

For Geo-Tagging I use Everytrail for iPhone and download the gpx file from their website (after upload from the iPhone). GeoSetter will put the lat/lon data into the EXIF part of the picture. The tool works smoothly, but it can be tricky to sync the time between the phone and the camera – it is a good idea to sync them beforehand. Everytrail can be a little tricky as well, esp. after a longer stay at one place… make sure it is still running an recording the location info properly from time to time. Otherwise there will be gaps (and manual edits can be a pain in the ass with a large number of pictures).

My next DSLR will definitely have a built in GPS, the iPhone tracking can only be a workaround… I hope that the Moves app will also make the tracks available as gpx files some day (since this is always running anyway – just not very frequent waypoints).

To review, sort and upload pictures, I am using Picasa for quite a while now. It has perfect integration into Google+ (ex Picasa Web) and somewhat into Facebook and Flickr. It also does some basic enhancements of the photos – like red eye removal (improved dramatically from the older versions…), add light, auto improve contrast and many creative filters. It is very seldom that I need to do further processing in gimp.

All my HDR photos are processed in Photomatix – the algorithm depends on my mood. Many RAW images also get some drastic improvement, but it takes some time to experiment.

Panoramas are stiched using Hugin, which has a usable UI now and creates pretty good results, even if you do not understand all the 1 million parameters it offers. There is a custom button available to stich right out of Picasa.

TOGAF 9 Certified

It’s official now -  I passed the exam and are allowed to carry the TOGAF 9 Certified logo!

It was quite some work to prepare for the exam and took much longer than expected, but I learned a lot about Enterprise Architecture and TOGAF as a framework and method for establishing an EA capability and doing actually architecture work.

Now I feel much more confortable discussing Enterprise Architectures with customers and can better position our solutions and products into existing environments.

I gotta look for some new goal, though…

Premium products and premium service

We are finally fixing our chairs from the dining table…

I am positive surprised that Rolf Benz actually sent us a set of replacement parts at no cost.
Sometimes premium products also have premium service – great! This feels a little like getting an iPad or iPhone repaired at Apple.

From a customer retention perspective this works out very well. I would always recommend Rolf Benz products after this positive experience…

Waze–free turn by turn navigation

…check this out!

www.waze.com (and in the AppStore)

Rigi

Trip to Rigi Kulm (from Vitznau)

Why 30 days?

Here is the guy that says you need to try new things for 30 days to make an impact:

Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days

Find his 30-day challenges here: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/type/30-days/

Find my current status here: http://runkeeper.com/user/guidooswald/profile  (add 1 day that is was not tracked with RunKeeper)

Biking to work–day 2 of 30

Looks like RunKeeper is more battery efficient than Everytrail. Despite the speed and distance announcements all the time… What´s missing is a heart rate sensor that transmits directly to the iPhone (maybe Bluetooth or so?).

Route option two…

Office -> home (road route) at EveryTrail

 

also this route along the main streets is a little shorter, its no fun biking next to the cars all the time… I’ll probably stay with the route along national bike trail No. 5…

Biking to work–day 1 of 30

Today I took the bike to work instead of train or car. Goal is to do this for 30 days now…

There is still room for improvement regarding the route I’d say…

To the office at EveryTrail

Dana's First Steps

Lucerne

Pictures from our trip to Lucerne...

Skype experiencing problems (again)

Skype crashed on all windows PCs about an hour ago… again!

At least they are working on it:
http://heartbeat.skype.com/2011/06/problems_signing_in_to_skype_f.html

Is this the influence of Microsoft already?! Hope not, I really love that service, since this is our main telephone line for all our German friends and family.

Good that the standalone Skype-Telephone still seems to work…

Wohnung Würenlos

Dana Shorts (Part 1)

...learning to walk

Rüsler

test from PicasaWeb..

iPad

just bought the brand new iPad – and I am pretty happy with it. Despite all the drawbacks in terms of missing functionality, the experience is awesome.

Unfortunately there are no iPad Apps on the German or Swiss AppStore, yet, but the Apps from the US AppStore are pretty good already (although not all relevant to Europeans…)

Now I am hoping for a new Skype App that supports the big screen and the new OS 4.0, which is due in summer, to add multitasking and some other new features…

Getting my new camcorder…

I ordered a new camcorder last week, since there will be a new actor joining, soon…

I had a long discussion with a close friend and finally decided against the Panasonic HDC-SD 707 (/ HDC-HS-700 / HDC-TM 700) and for the Sony HDR-XR550VE – which I will pick up later on.

I am really curious how the quality compares to the Panasonic, since it offers 1080/50p and has three sensors compared to one on the Sony.
The reasons for getting the Sony is the availability / price here in Switzerland and the built in GPS, which I will definitely use to geotag my videos (still looking for a solution for my Canon DSLR).

Comparison report will follow here when I had the time to properly compare the two… stay tuned!

Google Nexus One?

I am thinking of getting a Nexus One (Android based) phone when I’m over in the US in Jan…

http://gizmodo.com/5436673/leaked-nexus-one-documents-530-unlocked-180-with-t+mobile

The question is if i really want to spend 530 US$ on another mobile phone? My iPhone 3G is actually doing pretty much all I want it to and there are only few downsides with it.    I guess I need to think that over and make sure I have it physically in my hands before I buy it.

iPhone or Android?

As it looks like Google and Apple finally discovered they are competitors (and Schmidt Resigns His Seat on Apple's Board), I might have to make a decision soon if my next mobile device (I am avoiding the term phone here :) will be a new iPhone or an Android powered one.

Following the latest news about the increasing functionality and the upcoming hardware I think this might get an easy choice…

Maybe Apple should re-think its decision to ban Google apps from the iPhone (like Latitude). Google ‘power-users’ like me will go for the free and independent OS and hope that the hardware will become somewhat stylish as the iPhone.

Looking forward to be eligible for a new phone in four month…

Technorati Tags: iPhone,Android

Throwing hats…

I got the invitation for the graduation ceremony, which takes place Oct. 23rd in Munich.

Unfortunately I will be in UK the whole week and my flight back arrives in Zurich late Friday evening. I hope it will be possible to change flights and get to Munich in time (instead of Zurich). Maybe I could also leave a day early and drive to Munich on Friday… I really don’t wanna miss that event!