RichC | July 21, 2017
While learning a little bit more about the improved camera on the iPhone7+ (was the reason I opted for the "plus" was the camera), I tested the macro and zoom features while shooting a video of my "Little Praying Friend." It has been vastly improved over the iPhone 5 in several areas … particularly stabilization […]
RichC | May 31, 2017
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RichC | April 16, 2017
With the buds and flowers popping this Easter weekend around Cincinnati, a sunny morning was a great opportunity to put the lesser used prime lens on my new Four Thirds Lumix GX8 camera. The 14-140 stabilized zoom is usually on my camera for convenience, but today I suspect the slightly faster f1.7 prime lens might be sharper […]
RichC | April 8, 2017
As happens every year, a "not so bright" woodpecker decides to wake us up by pecking on our chimney cap. The noise resonates down the flue and can be pretty loud in the house. Crazy Woody! But since I’ve been wanting to experiment with my relatively new Lumix GX8 and long lens (a 100-300mm zoom), […]
RichC | February 28, 2017
While eating lunch today I was tinkering with my Lumix GX8 camera to play with depth-of-field and sandwiching images (see Photoshop technique in old post). In a low light macro situation there isn’t a way to keep items in front and back sharp enough to read … so in some cases, sandwiching two images is […]
RichC | February 25, 2017
Last night while posting about the shockingly mild February 2017 and “hinting” at the front rolling in, the change came. Nothing major, but definitely not 77 degree! After the sunrise, the gray sky move from west to east brought a late morning snow shower just to remind me that it is still winter — put […]
RichC | February 5, 2017
Homing pigeons were outfitted with lightweight cameras in WWI with time-delayed shutters for aerial reconnaissance photography, likely the first "drones." They were used very effective as messenger pigeons prior to wireless radio and effectively in communicating behind enemy lines in World War II. Interestingly the Swiss Army continued they military pigeons until it was disbanded […]
RichC | December 19, 2016
Admittedly I’m proud of my kids and enjoy seeing them living their lives … especially when a few of my interests rise to the top. In Taylor’s case, he has expand on our mutual interest in backpacking and photography on his trip to Hawaii last month. Memory Road: In 7th grade I had an […]
RichC | November 26, 2016
No visits to the mall, stores or even online shopping for me on Black Friday, but I have started the process of looking for a new camera "system" to replace my aging DSLR. With my first granddaughter on the way, it might be time to get back to my roots and revisit my old hobby […]
RichC | November 12, 2016
Photo credit: Xiaolong Guo
RichC | September 20, 2016
Here’s a last minute blog filler for those who have ever (or might) hit their fingers when hammering in a small nail or tack. For years I’ve used needle-nose pliers to hold the nail, but since we have a bunch of extra "bag clips" (it is what we primarily use clothespins for) laying around, I […]
RichC | August 20, 2016
An aside … I spent my formative years engrossed in photography, back before it was digital and when "souping" film in a darkroom. Nowadays 90% of what I take is on a smartphone due to the simplicity and recent improvements in quality. Still, the best photographic images come from a quality lens and large sensor […]
RichC | February 9, 2016
A bit of overnight snow freshened the air, quieted the surroundings and made the morning commutes in southwest Ohio a little more interesting. Although I tweaked the early morning backyard photo since is was still dark (click photo for larger), I enjoyed remembering what it was like to work in tonal photography – it has […]
RichC | December 2, 2015
Thought these were great links: Here are 30 of the best sites where you can learn as an individual or connect your team to professional and personal development: 1. TED Talks: Ted is all about ideas worth spreading TED’s tagline is “ideas worth spreading.” usually A video collection of sin the form of short, powerful […]
RichC | May 27, 2015
Brenda and I finally watched the Clint Eastwood directed movie about Navy Seal Chris Kyle titled American Sniper this Memorial Day weekend. It was worth the price of a DVD purchase, although I’m not sure emotionally I’ll want to see it again. The movie left me with gut wrenching sorrow and little solace that the […]
RichC | April 2, 2015
One would think with a nisus to reflect on the good ol’ days more than I should … and as a long time photography buff (had my first darkroom when I was in 7th grade!) … that I would have been one of the first to participate in the Throwback Thursday trend? Nope … slow […]
RichC | June 25, 2014
click for short OneDrive slideshow or a video interview below As someone who loves the ocean and has enjoyed photography since I set up my first darkroom in 7th grade, Surf Photographer Clark Little has the greatest job in the world … or maybe the "surf is just bluer on the other side of the […]
RichC | June 13, 2014
It will soon be time to replace the battery in my iPhone 5, and rather than drive to the Apple store and pay them the $80 to do it, it might be worth spending a few dollars on a tool kit and a battery in order to replace it myself. Wish me luck.
RichC | April 13, 2014
Congratulations to Katelyn and Drew on the first anniversary of their wedding day. It is hard to believe a full year has passed since their wedding. The two of them are celebrating by looking for a place to live in Minneapolis and enjoying time together. Besides normal hotel accommodations (and an inside father-daughter chuckle about […]
RichC | March 28, 2014
Will Burrard-Lucas has been at the cutting edge of African wildlife photography using his BeetleCam and now BeetleCopter Camtraptions. The above video is from a GoPro Hero 3+ … but there are some excellent stills from the BeetleCam using a DSLR after the launch of his company in January 2014. Some great innovations. Click image […]
RichC | March 27, 2014
Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of my purchasing a second-hand iPad 2, shortly after playing with my friend’s new iPad 3 (that device has been out over 2 years, not sure about my iPad2 … 4 years?). I can’t believe how much I use this tech gadget — everything from email to web surfing […]
RichC | November 2, 2013
Although video chatting isn’t for everybody, I do appreciate seeing a face and a smile when catching up with my son in North Dakota and daughter in Columbus. Skype was once my preferred method (when “Skype to phone” was free), but now between iPads, iPhones and iMacs it is easier to jump on Facetime. Katelyn […]
RichC | August 11, 2013
Thanks to Facebook, I had a chance to meet up with a friend from high school (and grad school) that I haven’t seen in 30+ years. We had a mutual love for photography and both headed in different directions after school. She married and moved to Cincinnati and I married and started life in Cleveland. […]
RichC | August 2, 2013
Disappointing to say the least. The latest device available from Freedompop (low cost/ free wireless hotspot) is the Sierra Wireless Overdrive Pro utilizing the Sprint 3G/4G WiMaxx network which I thought might be similar to their previous 4G only devices – Photon. Unfortunately the refurbished Overdrive Pros are all that impressive from the moment one […]
RichC | June 20, 2013
Karen Hutton of KarenHuttonPhotography posted a gorgeous photo from Makapu’u Lookout in Oahu, Hawaii yesterday that makes me want to return to Hawaii. (our 2006 trip) Her description was nice too: I could almost see the curvature of the earth on the horizon… it was dizzying! And wonderful, and blue, green, gorgeous and stunning. I […]
RichC | May 3, 2013
The first 50 professional wedding photos from Shuey Mills Photography have trickled in to be reviewed. I know I’m not suppose to be sharing the previews, but can’t help myself and will include two, ok THREE since they are so good (but here were a few photos from our guests – thanks for sharing on […]
RichC | April 14, 2013
The day was perfect for Katelyn and Drew’s wedding and the evening before was equally as nice for the rehearsal … and the most appreciated rehearsal dinner, hosted by the Oostra’s at Jags. I can’t speak highly enough of Barb and Randy … and Drew’s two brother’s Carson and Tyler (right); Katelyn is very blessed […]
RichC | March 24, 2013
I took advantage of a nice Saturday afternoon to open the pool before the snow started on Sunday. I’m adding water at the moment and am watching the snow at the moment … maybe I should take a swim? I’ve finally got the hang of closing with the right chemistry which makes turning things on […]
RichC | February 13, 2013
I’m on a roll in posting a few old photos and still in the reminiscing mood, so figured I’d archive a couple more black and whites. These are from my home darkroom when I started photography as a hobby in junior high school. We’re starting to pack things back in boxes again so the boring […]
RichC | November 15, 2012
In keeping with the last couple days of family and personal posts, my daughter and future son-in-law shared their engagement photo proof pages (slide show) from their recent photo session with Shuey Mill Photography. The weather on Sunday afternoon was perfect for the shoot and it helps that the two of them are photogenic. Katelyn […]
RichC | October 27, 2012
It was a cool and rainy morning as I waited to meet with a businessman from China interested in talking with me about homebuilt airplanes, and so I experimented with the new iPhone5’s panorama feature to kill some time … this time trying a close up panorama. I was more curious to see how it […]
RichC | October 3, 2012
Large-scale wet plate photography video (below). SILVER & LIGHT from Ian Ruhter / Alchemist on Vimeo.
RichC | October 2, 2012
Maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to play with the panorama feature on my new iPhone 5, but decided to take a photo before digging to find the lid of the septic tank. The photo above is current October 2012 and the photo below was as we built the house in 1995 and put […]
RichC | September 26, 2012
The Internet was down for a while yesterday (might have been my network issue) and realized I could no longer tether to my Palm Pre. Now that I have the iPhone 5, I’ve lost the emergency wifi connection that had come in so handy. Hmm, next best thing was to connect my Kensington bluetooth keyboard […]
RichC | September 22, 2012
The Apple iPhone 5 camera makes for a substantial improvement over my previous smartphone’s camera and so I was anxious to experiment with image quality and play with a few of the hyped features. Since I’m upgrading from the nearly “extinct” Palm Pre, running a rooted webOS install, any modern smartphone camera would have been an […]
RichC | November 1, 2011
Kodak Playsport Zx5 macro focus testing (click for larger) While shooting some video with the Brenda’s Kodak Playsport Zx5 this past weekend I thought about the excellent autofocus camera on the new iPhone 4s and decided to test the macro focus on our my wife’s all-weather camcorder; if the lighting and distance is right, it […]
RichC | October 22, 2011
Since I go back a few years in photography (pre-digital by a few years) and did my share of dodging, burning and sandwiching with film and paper in the darkroom, I’m well aware of what photographers did to enhance photos … but here was one I must not have remembered. The Life Magazine photo during […]
RichC | July 25, 2011
Since I didn’t finish a longer winded write up last night that I had planned for this morning, I’ll just include a rather impressive Mousetrap style advertising web video below; it took a lot of creativity and work. This is our Photography-themed Rube Goldberg Machine. We hope you all enjoy the clip! Watch our video […]
RichC | July 12, 2011
In keeping with my previous theme of photography and space, my sailing acquaintance Fred Roswold currently working on his sailboat in South Africa posted his photo the June eclipse of the moon. His did a little Photoshop composite work after taking a series of shots 10-20 minutes apart. Great image Fred. The settings, for any […]
RichC | July 12, 2011
Most Internet savvy shutterbugs have seen photos or read about Trey Ratcliff, particularly those who are paying attention to High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. Trey Ratcliff has published many gorgeous photos and posted this one of the Shuttle Atlantis sitting on the launch pad the night before lift-off. (click image to left and also see […]
RichC | June 6, 2011
In a conversation with a sailing friend last week, I happened to correspond by email with an acquaintance — talented photographer and liveaboard sailor, Linda Sandbo. I wanted to highlight a link to her work on my blog … and with permission she sent me a most appreciated photograph. I wish I had half the […]
RichC | January 18, 2011
I dropped one of our juice glasses on the hardwood floors this morning and it really shattered into small shards of glass … hopefully I’ve swept up them all. I was surprised at how small the pieces were, but then that’s really not the point of this post. Really it was just an opportunity to […]
RichC | October 23, 2010
My friend Jeff and I use a shared folder on Dropbox to send files to each other and this morning he send me a short ‘portrait’ oriented video clip while on his trip to North Carolina. I chuckled when opening the file because by default it is in a “landscape” format (sideways), then wondered how […]
RichC | October 18, 2010
My friend Jeff is a very fortunate amateur photographer since he is one of the few who own a fantastic Canon 5d Mark II. Although I only had a few minutes to play with it over lunch the other day, I enjoyed tinkering with the buttons and menus (there’s a big learning curve). He has […]
RichC | February 17, 2010
Palm Pre and Pixi webOS users have been patiently waiting for the soon to be released 1.4 software OS update for their smartphones (it was expected Monday). While waiting, I spent a few minutes fidgeting with the camera on my cellphone, wondering if there will be any tweaks beyond video. Rumor has it that we’ll […]
RichC | May 1, 2009
Watching and archiving the hot topic and some better information as it relates to H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu is a misleading “pork” hindering name). Hopefully this pandemic will only lightly impact our population due to good planning and early information (see Google map in previous post) I do see over the top hype coming from […]
RichC | November 11, 2008
While stuck on the phone for part of the weekend trying to revive an email server for a client, a friend who was helping me asked if I still subscribed to EFAX or JFAX in order to receive and send faxes from my computer. My answer was ‘no’ since it was hard to justify another […]
RichC | April 20, 2008
Adobe has introduced their new online photo editing and sharing tool called Adobe Photoshop Express. Its is not even close to the full version of Photoshop, but it is not a bad first attempt at a online photo site with pretty good editing control. I’ve used Preloadr for Flickr photos a few times and appreciate […]
RichC | July 3, 2007
Oh I know there are plenty of great photographers and gorgeous portfolio sites available on the Internet, but Moe Witschard’s work impressed me enough to mention him. I’m planning on in including a print in my office someday … but which one? Big Timber Falls in Montana Donna Lange sent me a few photos of […]
RichC | June 26, 2007
No big deal … but this weekend’s graduation trip took me to western New York in my little diesel Volkswagen and my TDI turned the odometer over to the sixth digit … 100,000 miles. As far as modern cars go, the 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI has treated me very well. It has operated pretty much […]
RichC | June 15, 2007
As a amateur photographer and someone who enjoys improving technology, a new development coming from Eastman Kodak could provide a huge leap forward for low light photography (article link). Imagine being able to take clear and sharp photos without having to resort to flash units? Although I’d love to have it on my ‘big lens’ […]
RichC | February 16, 2007
Here are couple more photos (click for larger) while heading up Interstate 71 just south of Columbus Ohio this past week. The storm was pretty impressive as it first coated roads, trees and house with a thick coat of ice followed by snow. From Columbus south the February 13-14 front started with ice and then […]
RichC | January 3, 2007
Wow … what a beautiful sunset. (click for full size) A friend mine is in the Canadian Rockies for a week and sent this photo just to be cruel. 😉 Actually, he is staying in Canmore, Alberta with his family, enjoying skiing and taking a photography course. I assume he’ll come back with a few […]
RichC | October 31, 2006
Most cellphone cameras are just a step above a pinhole camera in my opinion and have some improving to do before they are capable taking photos in other than perfect situations. That said, I’ve enjoyed experimenting with my Palm Treo 700p‘s 1.3 megapixel camera on my PDA/Cellphone and have enjoying ‘McGyver-ing‘ ways to take slightly […]
RichC | June 12, 2006
I was passing through Akron Canton Airport (CAK) yesterday evening and enjoyed a peaceful and beautiful evening sky panorama. I wish that I would have had my ‘real’ camera, but was at least able to use my new phone. The silhouette of a Wright Brother’s airplane against the serene beauty of a setting sun offered […]
RichC | May 19, 2006
Micron Technology Inc. has built a thumbnail-sized digital sensor for pocket cameras and cell phones that will enable ‘bursts’ of up to 10 images per second at 8 megapixels according to a company press release. This is substantially higher than current sensors and according to the company will be produced next year in its facilities […]
RichC | April 20, 2006
The Tri-State Clean Fuel Network along with Ohio farm groups will be displaying the ‘SoyToy’ at the Seventeenth Cincinnati Flower Show this year. The show runs from April 22nd to April 30th this year as will span two weekends and is nationally recognized as one of the finest shows of its kind. Better Home and […]
RichC | April 16, 2006
The weather here in Cincinnati has take a sudden switch to summer this past week as both the temperature and humidity are as if it were July or August. As I left the VA Hospital complex in Dayton, Ohio I decided to drive the slowly through the cemetery and take the long way back to […]
RichC | November 23, 2005
Christmas is coming and being the ‘go to guy’ when discussing photography in my family I was asked to give an opinion on the tiny Canon Powershot Digital ELPHs. A buddy of mine just purchased the SD450 model for a ski trip to the Canadian Rockies and didn’t want to be bothered with his larger […]