ken zirkel

I’ve been a longtime user of Adobe Lightroom, and I love it. I’ve been asked to give presentations on Lightroom at my photo club, and I sometimes use my notes from that session to share on bulletin boards on Reddit. So here it is, for my own reference: Q: How is Lightroom different from Photoshop? Photoshop [...]

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Someone on Flickr noticed that I uploaded some photos using the Sigma 50-200mm f4-5.6 DC OS HSM lens, and asked me what I thought about it. I always find it so hard to answer these kinds of questions. Obviously, a $160 lens is not going to be as sharp as an “L” lens, or as [...]

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This question comes up a lot on online forums: “I’m new to photography. What are some good subjects to photograph? How do I come up with subjects?” The short answer is shoot what interests you, shoot what you can get to. Almost any subject can become a photo project. Shoot that subject frequently, at different [...]

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I hang around a lot (too much) in online forums, and this question comes up all the time. A beginner photographer is new to the hobby and would like advice on what DSLR to choose. If you are buying new: Of course Canon and Nikon are the most popular brands; they have the lion’s share [...]

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An image of mine was recently used in a Salon.com article about distaste. Apparently broccoli wasn’t quite right, but they still used my model, who of course is  my daughter. That’s another few bucks into the college fund. Original image available here:

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I saw a print ad in American Photo magazine for Meridian Professional Imaging. The ad specifically touted their panoramic printing, so I tried them out. They have a software package that makes it really easy to order enlargements; you can set the crop and preview the results. They have 1:3 and 1:4 and other ratios [...]

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This is a theme that goes around from time to time on internet bulletin boards. Here are my thoughts at the moment: Level indicator in the viewfinder, so that I know if the camera is perfectly horizontal or vertical. Further, I want the camera angle saved in the metadata, so that I can correct for [...]

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I have four artworks in the 2010 “Save the Bay Exhibition and Sale.” Opening reception was at the Save the Bay Center, November 18.

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So, my father died last week, and I wanted to put together a photo gallery of photos of him. Digital was easy, I have everything keyworded, and a few minutes of searching came up with all my photos of him, as well as my “picks” of him, thanks to my photo organizing software. I have [...]

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Here’s one of my stock images in use, on the back of a brochure for a college.

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