PhotoWalkPro

I just love this time of year. The warm summer days offer tons of outside shooting possibilities, especially when my county fair rolls around. I spent a couple of evenings this past weekend at the fair grabbing some new photos for my next book. Each night at the Fair, there are fun attractions at the grandstand but I always like tractor pulls and demolition derby but my favorites are the rodeo and the motocross jumping.

Shooting in this environment is always challenging because the events take place in the evening so the light is always changing. Since my subjects are all moving targets, it usually means that I have to work with fast shutter speeds and, as the sun goes down, very high ISO settings. Using a fast lens is a given and I spent the majority of my time with the aperture set at f/2.8. The lighting in the arena is very poor and not very even across the entire area, which meant that my exposures were constantly fluctuating as I tracked my subjects in and out of the shadows.

Here’s a few shots from the 1500 or so that I took over the weekend. Make sure you click on the photos for a larger view.

Nikon has finally graduated from 720P video and has brought forth a new camera today that will record in 1080P. What’s really interesting is that they did it in the new D3100. I’m not sure if this is going to be replacing the D3000, which is their lowest cost consumer DSLR, but the price-point says no. Some other notable upgrades to the camera are the sensor size, ISO range, and wireless flash control. So here’s the in-depth scoop.

VIDEO -

The video resolution has finally been upped to 1920×1080 with a frame rate of 24 fps (23.976 fps). This is the only frame rate for this resolution but you can get 30 and 25 fps as well if you move down to the 720 setting. Nikon has also upped their record times to 10 minutes from 5. This will certainly make a lot of people happy since they can now record longer clips (although personally I thought 5 minutes really worked well).

RESOLUTION -

The D3100 is still using the same DX sensor size but they have upped the pixel count from 10.2 million in the D3000 to 14.2 million. That’s even more pixels than the D300s although the D300s sensor is .4mm larger in length and width. I know, .4mm doesn’t sound like much but it does make a difference when you are talking about the physical size of the pixels and how well they gather light. I’ll be interested to see just how the noise is for the D3100 at higher ISO levels, which brings me too…

HIGHER ISO -

Nikon really upped the ante on this one by raising the max ISO found in the D3000 from 3200 (using the HI-1 ISO expansion setting) to a nightstalker-like ISO 12,800. The actual ISO settings on the camera run from 100 to 3200 but can be increased to 6400 and 12800 using the ISO expansion setting. As I said before, I am really interested to see just how well Nikon was able to control noise at these high setting, especially since they are using a lot more pixels. More usually means smaller and when it comes to gathering light, smaller also means more noise.

COMMANDER MODE -

Unlike its predecessor, the D3100 has the ability to control off-camera flash units using its pop-up flash. This will work with SB-900, SB-800 (discontinued), and SB-600 flash unit. This feature has been around in the mid-level Nikon DSLRs and it is fantastic. Unlike a D3s or D3x, you don’t need to have a controller flash unit mounted to your hotshoe. Simply pop up your flash and you can control not just one, but a series of flash units. I’m really glad to see Nikon bring this feature to the entry-level cameras because it really allows photographers to explore more options in creative lighting.

That’s a highlight of some of the new features in the D3100. The MSRP for the camera is actually set $50 higher than the D5000, at $699.95. No word yet on when it will be in stores but I would look to some time in September. If you want to read more about the camera and its feature you can check out Nikon’s D3100 web page.

With August zipping by it’s time to start planning for Photoshop World – Las Vegas. If you have ever been to PSW you know what a fantastic time it is. It can also be a little overwhelming at times considering all of the classes and activities there are to choose from. Luckily the folks at NAPP have come up with something that helps bring a little order to the busy conference – the Photoshop World iPhone/iPad app. I used it for the first time this past Spring at the Orlando PSW on my iPod Touch and this time around I will be rocking the App on my iPad.

The app is newly designed for the Vegas conference and is even easier to use and packed with even more goodies. The heart of the app is the class scheduler, which let’s you choose a class for every time slot and class track.

To begin, just click on the My Schedule option to bring up the weekly calendar.

Click on an open time slot and you will be presented with every class that is scheduled for that time slot, sorted by the educational track that it falls in.

Clicking on a class let’s you see more information about the class and the instructor who is teaching it.

Click on the plus sign and you will have a new window pop that let’s you add the class to that time slot or add the entire track.

Other cool features of the app include an exhibitor list that not only tells you who will be at the Expo but also shows you which booth they are in on an Expo floor map. If you like to share your status, you can link into Facebook and Twitter and share updates and tweets right from the app. If you want to share your schedule, you can use the Bump feature that will sync your schedule with another attendee’s PSW app. You can also check out the latest news or even get the scoop on your favorite instructor.

That’s a lot of bang for the price, which by the way, is free. You can find the PSW app by searching the App Store in iTunes for Photoshop World or just click this link. See you in Vegas!

Awesome Print for a Great Cause -

My buddy Rob Jones from Towner Jones Photography is raising money for a great cause by selling a limited edition print of a WWII themed photoshoot that he had a while back. It’s a great framed and numbered print for a fantastic cause. You can read all the details on Rob’s blog.

And the winner is…

The deadline for selecting a local winner was Tuesday. While it’s always a difficult thing to select just one winner, I once again toiled through the task and selected a shot from Michael Medlock. If you participated in one of the Worldwide Photowalks you should check your leader’s page to see who they selected as a winner. You can see my selection by checking out my photowalk page. Congrats to Michael and all the other local winners. Now it’s up to Scott to sort through the 1000+ winners to find that lucky one. Good luck everyone.

Stephanie’s Blog brings back memories -

You might know Stephanie Cross from her previous gig as the News girl on Photoshop User TV. She doen’t show up on the show much anymore but that’s because she has a pretty awesome job. She gets to be Moose Peterson‘s assistant, which also means that she gets to visit some pretty amazing places. A few months ago she traveled with Moose, his wife, and a video crew from Kelby Training to one of my favorite places, Monument Valley. Steph wrote a pretty detailed accounting of their trip on her blog and I couldn’t help but think back a couple of years when Scott Kelby, Dave Moser and I made the trek out West and shot in some of the exact same places that Moose and crew were in, including the X carved in stone that points visitors to a cool view through a tree (see picture below). This isn’t just a coincidence since they hired a guide just like us. It’s really the only way to see some of the amazing sites in the park, especially since many of the roads and trails are off limits to the casual visitor. I’m really looking forward to Moose’s class on Kelby Training but until then, Stephanie’s very cool recounting of their trip will do just fine. You can check it out here.

Here’s some of my shots from the Valley. Make sure you click on them to see a larger version.

That’s it for today, have a great Thursday!