davidsmeaton.com

this probably sounds like an ego post, but it’s not intended to be … i occasionally google my name to see what pops up. as usual, there’s quite an interesting mix of sites and links to my photos, posts and other stuff.

the results show that i’m having a small impact in korea, in terms of being recognised as a photographer, and i’m also getting some notice from abroad (as acknowledged by emails and work offers i get from overseas).

top results:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidsmeaton/ (#1 google, #2 yahoo)
• http://www.davidsmeaton.com/ (#1 yahoo, #2 google)

others:

• http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Smeaton/1235201144
• http://www.trekearth.com/members/david/
• http://www.lightstalkers.org/david-smeaton
• http://photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=2190284
• http://photos.vfxy.com/photoblogs/4831
• http://www.modelmayhem.com/588835
• http://www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=57981
• http://www.mavmuse.com/musical_reviews.asp?MusicalID=116

some shouts from other sites:

• http://www.lotuseaterphotography.com/pixelpost/index.php%3fx=about
• http://www.ilovephotoblogs.com/australian-photographer-david-smeaton-may-22-2008
• http://roboseyo.blogspot.com/2008/10/back-from-damyang.html
• http://thegrandnarrative.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/deconstructing-korean-womens-changing-attitudes-to-lingerie-bikinis-and-their-bodies-in-the-2000s/
• http://www.zclyw.com/2008/11
• http://www.zenkimchi.com/FoodJournal/?p=387
• http://www.proazn.com/ProAzn_forum/computers-gaming-electronics/24519-ability-geotag-photos.html
• http://www.korea4expats.com/news-korean-hanbok-design-contest.html
• http://shelooksjustlikethatdeadgirl.blogspot.com/
• http://kissmykimchi.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html
• http://www.seoulsteves.com/2008/02/13/the-seoulsteves-wine-tasting/
• http://www.myhq.com/public/p/h/photo/
• http://www.radicalcontrapositions.com/left_flank/2008/08/12/todays-korea-photo-7/
• http://www.itwillbelikethisforever.com/

weird stuff:

• http://cq-pan.cqu.edu.au/felix-culpa/Vol-1_No-6/Three_plays.html (can’t believe this is out there!)
• http://www.engrish.com/2008/04/i-love-myself/

i’m even listed on amazon’s bookstore (and other book sites):

• http://www.amazon.com/Korea-Up-Close-Craig-White/dp/8991913180
• http://www.seoulselection.com/shopping_book_view.html?pid=1312

finally, there was that one cross cultural fight i had online about my blog, which emanated here:

• http://mannoya.egloos.com/903945 (not linking this one)

pretty cool … and it makes me very easy to find. also, i left off the list a lot of links to my name that i’d put up myself, in the form of posts and comments on other sites.

i’ve got myself a handy little device, a geometr gps unit which attaches to my nikon camera. the unit locks on to satellites and tracks my location. then, when i take a photo, the data is automatically added to the exif data.

as a result, i can locate the exact position i was standing when i took the photo, which is very cool. the device arrived from the taiwan distributor last week. i had it on my camera thursday when i went to work and tested the gps tracker out. i took a few photos and also used the gps tracker on friday when i went to seoul forest.

here’s a photo i took on thursday (exif data is available in the photo’s properties):

once i downloaded the photo to my computer, i edited it and uploaded the photo to flickr.com. flickr has an automatic mapping service thanks to their owners at yahoo. i pulled up the map and got this result:

that’s very cool. the longitude and latitude points are very precise. i recognise the area and it’s exactly where i was standing when i took the photo. the pink dot represents where i stood. the arrow is pointing in the direction of the world trade centre.

the gps unit is great, although it does take about a minute to lock its position when i first turn the device on. however, that’s not a major problem. it doesn’t seem to use much battery life, so i can leave it on while i’m walking around and it constantly updates my position.

i definitely plan on taking the tracker with me during my travels … and i’ve promised the geometr company that i’d write a review of the gps device, which will probably appear in the next week or so.

Although I love shooting in film, there are some definite advantages to digital photography. One of the coolest benefits is the ability to geotag photos.

Geotagging is, simply, the ability to add latitudinal and longitudinal data to a photograph. This data is usually captured through some kind of GPS device and can be added to the photo’s EXIF data.

For those who don’t know, EXIF data is a summary of the camera’s information for each photo. The EXIF data is stored when the photo is taken. If you view the EXIF data on your computer, you can learn many things about your photograph, including shutter speed, aperture, focal length, metering mode and a lot more. EXIF data also remembers your camera’s make and model, as well as if you’ve edited the photo and what settings you used in camera to adjust the photo (such as sharpening or extra saturation).

So, geotagging has become the latest craze in digital photography. Not only can you geotag your photo, but when you add your images to photo sharing sites like flickr.com, the site reads the geotagged information. The cool thing about this feature is that your photo is now able to be searched via its location, not just from keywords. Your photo can also be added to galleries or maps and compared to photographs taken at similar sites.

Currently, the best way to geotag photos is to carry a small GPS device with you. It requires that, later on the computer, you add the data to photos manually, or via simple software designed to port such data into photographs.

Sites like flickr’s organizr already allow you to add geotagging data to photos as you upload them.

However geotagging has become so popular that many manufacturers are creating geotagging devices for cameras. Some devices are designed to be carried in your pocket, but sync with the time stamp on your camera to update the GPS info through support software. Other devices connect straight to your camera and add the GPS data to each photo as its taken.

The future of geotagging will definitely come through manufacturers including GPS capabilities directly into the camera. Some high end cameras already incorporate this data, but soon it’ll become a standard in digital photography.

It’s definitely worth learning to use geotagging and add GPS data to your photos. Not only will that allow you to sort your pictures based on where you took them, but it will also enable your photos to be categorized, searched, grouped and compared online, since many popular sites already have geotagging features.

Before you know it, you’ll be using sites like Google Earth to search for photos of interesting places. Although geotagging won’t improve your photography, I think it does improve the photography ‘experience’. Not only can you show people where you’ve been, but if you see a fantastic photograph, you can take note of its GPS data and go hunt for the exact same spot.

Geotagging could also be a lot of fun in other ways. It can be a great educational tool, teaching children geography skills. It could also become a great new sport, like a kind of scavenger hunt. You can challenge people to get to certain places, take a photo from a set of precise coordinates, and return with photographic evidence of each place. It could be done on a limited scale (a city) or on a wider scale (nationally or even globally).

Geotagging is definitely something to get involved in, especially while the technology is still developing.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

I heard about a photography rule called ‘Sunny f16′. It has something to do with light. What exactly is it? - Jenny, Seoul

The sunny f16 rule is a very useful guide for photographers. It’s useful because it can help you shoot without the assistance of light meters. All modern cameras have a light meter. The function of the light meter is to measure the ambient light that enters your camera. Using that light, the camera guesses the desired settings for your photo.

The light meter inside a camera isn’t perfect though. They can make mistakes when gauging the ambient light. Professional photographers and studio photographers also use hand held light meters, which are bigger and more accurate. Light meters are indispensable these days and most photographers can’t shoot without them. All ‘point and shoot’ cameras rely heavily on the light meter, because there’s no way to set the camera manually.

So, what do you do if you want to shoot without a light meter? Many older cameras don’t have light meters. Or, if the light meter is broken, then the camera is un-usable. Not exactly …

This is where sunny f16 comes in. Sunny f16 is a general guide for shooting conditions without a light meter. You can use the guide to develop good estimates for light conditions when you shoot. To set your camera using sunny f16, you need to know 3 things:

1. Your camera’s ISO (or ASA for film cameras)
2. Shutter speed
3. Aperture

Sunny f16 is an aperture of f16 with a shutter speed that is the same, or slightly higher, than your ISO. For example, if your camera’s ISO (or film ASA) is set to 200, then your shutter speed should be 1/200 or 1/250. If your ISO is 800, then your shutter speed should be 1/800 or slightly higher.

On a bright sunny day, using a low ISO combined with sunny f16 will produce very good results. There are also some useful variations on sunny f16. Try using:

f11 for slightly overcast conditions.
f8 for moderately overcast conditions.
f5.6 for heavily overcast conditions.
f4 for sunrise and sunset (or in low ambient light).

All of those aperture settings work when the ISO and shutter speed are set to the same number.

The sunny f16 rule also has a few extra advantages. Most lenses have a ’sweet spot’ between f8 and f16 where the colour and sharpness of the lens is at its best. Most lenses, even expensive ones, tend to be softer at extreme apertures.

Sunny f16 is also useful if the shooting conditions are fooling your camera’s light meter. If there’s light bouncing off glass, lots of snow, or you’re on the water, the camera will think it’s too bright and overcompensate. You can learn when the camera’s light meter has been fooled and apply sunny f16 to get a better shot.

Finally, using an aperture of f16 will give your shots a nice depth of field, which is perfect for landscape photography or shots where you want as much in focus as possible.

So get out there and learn to estimate the light settings without relying on your camera. It’ll make you a much better photographer.

Happy Shooting!

Send David a message at davidsmeaton [at] gmail [dot] com or visit his website at www.davidsmeaton.com. If you want to be a part of the weekly Photo Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/groups/seoulphotoclub).

Home-made ultra-wide medium format camera

Originally uploaded by Zaphod Beeblebrox

how crazy is this?? an aussie photographer, by the alias zaphod beeblebrox (perhaps he’s president of the universe) has built his own camera … BUILT a camera from parts and hours in a machine shop. it’s a rangefinder 6×9 super-wide camera. the camera has a rigid-body and a 47mm f/5.6  lens. the view finder is a right angle view finder, which is kick ass.

the camera design is modeled on hasselblad cameras … and even has a built in spirit level. the best part is that the camera is apparently quite sharp!

this super cool ultra wide medium format camera is a true labor of love. check out the flickr set and see some extra photos of the camera as well as some shots taken with it.

i’d never have the skill or patience to build a camera. however, i’ve heard about photographers taking old camera bodies (especially broken hasselblads) and fitting them with digital parts. that would be awesome - shoot with an old hasselblad box but produce digital images.

damn! i want one!!

posted via flickr … i love blogging directly from my flickr account!