Happenings from M.D. Shivers

Vincent totally articulates what I think about the subject. I went digital six years ago, and it's been a long and interesting road. I've been able to shoot thousands and thousands of photos and a lot of times they get lost in my archive. But I have been using Aperture for about two and half years now and it has really allowed me to process and edit the new, but also visit the past very quickly. I've found some old gems that I totally missed at the time, but have become some of my best work. I never delete and my library is about 400gb now.

Have a read a Vincent Laforet's blog has some great thoughts about if you should delete your photos. He is a world renowned photography and just recently got back from shooting the Olympics.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

play me a melody, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

I recently got a Canon G9 as a little pocket camera, so I could shoot high quality pictures, but not have to carry my DSLR around with all the lenses and bags. I've been wanting to be able to have something discreet, but also something that can shoot RAW and can use my existing camera flashes. The G9 so far has been a really great camera. It's 12.1 megapixel chip with 6x lens, with an ISO range of 80-1600 and F-stop starting at 2.8 has been great. The micro-mode works wonders and beats out my big camera (20D). Also with the 12.1 megapixel and RAW mode, I can crop and do all sorts of stuff with the image and still have a high quality output.
To edit in RAW, you will need CS3, Lightroom 1.5 or Aperture 2.0. Or you can use the Canon software that comes with it.
It has a pretty high frame rate (obviously nowhere near my 20D, but still very fast. It's got movie mode, and panorama mode which already have come in handy.
so I defiantly recommend this little camera as your road warrior or the camera that you want to have without the difficulties of lugging around all your gear. I plan to take it with me on my trip to Chicago, and will be leaving the 20D at home to rest. I have used the G2 for several years too, and the G9 is a different beast. Smaller, sleeker and the controls are much more professional. So if you have a DSLR and are looking for a small compact full functional camera- this is the one.

This picture was taken with the Canon G9 in RAW mode with external 430ex flash. Post process in Aperture 2.0

Posted by Michael Shivers at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

growth, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

i processed this about a month ago and totally forgot about it. as you can see, the photo a day thing has gone astray. I've been taking the photos for January, but I missed about three days. It's not that it's hard to take a photo a day, (well it's not easy) but the harder part is downloading, processing and then uploading to flickr. That to me is a long process. I don't really want to post junk to flickr anyway, I'd rather post stuff that I like and enjoy. That's just who I am.
So I am officially out of the photo a day for the year thingy. It didn't really push me artistically, and I got more frustrated with it as time went on. But I may try to do the thursday picture that Utata hosts or something to that degree.
What I do plan though is posting more photos to flickr and print more off. I need to see my own work in some way... so I can grow from that.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

another face, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

January 6th, 2008
So this picture a day thing is not as easy as I thought. Yes I have taken one everyday so far, but I really like editing the photos and playing with color and texture and all that jazz. But doing it everyday is drag. Well it's a drag when you are short on time and trying to make time for a little side project like that. So yes, I am continuing, but won't be posting each photo each day.. for now. I may change my mind and just snap away and then post.
I took this photo because I realized I don't have that many of me. I'm usually behind the camera and I'd figure I would break out the tripod and the remote control.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 5th, 1959 newspaper, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

January 5th, 2008
Over the holiday's I worked in my work shed. There was some newspaper that was stuffed in the cracks between the window and the wall. It was to block any extra wind I guess, but I didn't think that it was doing a good job. So I took the newspaper out to fill the gaps. I figured it would be maybe ten years old. Nope- how about 49 years old! Pleasantly surprised.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

reflections, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

today we were packing up the christmas tree and all the orniments. my little one was happyily taking one apart and as I was picking the pieces up, I noticed the great reflection from it.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 09:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

the world keeps spinning, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

starting the new year with a new spin. Hope to have some new and exciting stuff on flickr and my website. blogging,photos and videos. At least that's one of my goals for '08 :)
The last half of '07 was crazy busy, so I've slipped from posting photos. I've been taking them, just only visible in my little world.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

reaching out to life, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago while in Flordia. It is just amazing to see her grow and explore. Every day is something new. Either words or movements or both at the same time!

Posted by Michael Shivers at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Someone on a flickr forum asked a question about how Aperture handles RAW files and if it was possible to send RAW files for RAW processing to another program. Also another question raised was comparing the two different programs in how they handle RAW processing.

@ Aperture handling sending RAW files to another program,

Yes, Aperture automatically handles all the RAW settings. When you open it with another program, you have to convert it to another file format. It can't send a native RAW file to another program. So you can't use ACR to change the settings of your RAW file inside Aperture. You could open the original file inside Finder, change your settings in ACR or Lightroom and then save it as another file format. ACR or Lightroom also doesn't let you edit RAW and save changes to that RAW file and then send the RAW file to another program. RAW conversion only happens once when you need to export the file. You can keep the original RAW with adjustments but it has to live in the native program that you editied with. (ACR,Lightroom,Aperture).

Hopefully in the future these programs can export RAW to another program and be able to reimport RAW.

hopefully this makes since :)

@ comparing ACR/Lightroom with Apeture Raw settings:

I have all three and I really enjoy Aperture's interface and auto tools. But when I need to get a specific look, I have to send it to photoshop.
One thing I love about Lightroom is the presets for adjusting RAW. It seems to be way advanced from Aperture and there are several settings that Apeture doesn't have. There are several websites now that you can download these presets for free or a small price. Excellent.

I am very happy with Apeture and it's file management and interface. But i really like Lightroom's RAW settings and presets. Guess I'll be using both and making sure Apeture mangages my files.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I stumbled across this site the other day. The company xRez has built a buisnees around extreme resolution panoramic pictures. On their website they have examples and you can zoom in and and out. I've never seen anything like it and really blew my socks off. They use a Canon MarkII 16mp camerea and they take thousands of shots and put them all together. One file is about 3gig's so it's pretty heafty.

But check it out for yourself. It's awesome. xRez

Posted by Michael Shivers at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

reflections pass by, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

Taken during last weekend's trip to the mountains, this photo struck a cord with me. The symbolism here is that I took this photo and the raw version really didn't come out the way I wanted. But after some tweaks and work, it came out better than I imagined .

Posted by Michael Shivers at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

fill 'er up, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

this past weekend we took a trip up to the mountains in North Carolina. It was one of those times where you are just dying to get out of the city. Seems to be a recurrent theme lately. But the mountains were excellent. So quiet that my ears rang. I've got some more pictures coming of weekend so stay tuned :)

This photo is in Rosman NC, at a antique shop right on the river. We have to drive by it to go to the National Park, or to my favorite restaurant in Bervard.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

still farming, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

I was able to take a quick trip out to the country and see the ol' kicking group. I have quickly forgotten how pretty the country side of Georgia can be. I'm going to make a trip back soon, and spend all day taking photos. Its great to get away from the city hustle.

As on flickr, I've gotten a little frustrated with it lately. I feel that I am limiting what I am posting because I am trying to think about what everyone would like to see. And that just isn't fun. So I am going back to what I want to post. so the next few photos are some fam shots that i took a few weeks ago.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lake Geneva, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

Lake Geneva (Lac Laman) in crisp day. This is taken from Montreux, Switzerland looking across Lake Geneva towards France. You can rent boats, go swimming and take long walks along the lake. The lake was formed by thousands of years of glaciers melting from the Rhone Valley.

One of my favorite things to do is get a Turkish Kabab and sit on the side drinking a Denner. :)

Posted by Michael Shivers at 05:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

living with fresh air, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

This chalet just signifies a lot to me. First it was my brother's home for a long time and second I spent lots of holidays here. third waking up and seeing this view in the morning will just really make you humble. and for me really demonstrate that there is a God and that he is creative and that he finds natural beauty a good thing.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 09:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

sunrise over the alps, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

over the weekend, i've had some time to go through a lot of my photos that I have taken in Switzerland, France and Italy last March. I took over 4,000 pictures so needless to say I have forgotten about some of the photos.

I've been shooting mainly RAW now since last June, but last March I was shooting JPEG/RAW together. I was a bit intimitdated about RAW and it just took up so much space on the memory cards. I would go out and easy shoot 200+ pictures in an afternoon. I had just recently purchased my Canon 20D, and really couldn't afford several other cards.

But I have found that working with JPG's can be pretty easy too. Some of the coloring is already set for you and you don't have to do as much work when editing. I have realized though that I can't edit in JPG and save as JPG for my final photo. It is just way too much loss in data and quality. So I'll usually work and save in PSD, and if I am uploading to FLICKR or sending to a client for review, I'll save it as a 8bit JPG.

Anyway, this is photo is shot in JPG and edited. I tweaked the color a little and fixed the exposure. All in all it came out pretty good.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

still here, originally uploaded by mdshivers.

I've been driving by this dump for about 6 months now... always telling myself that I should take some pictures of this place before they bulldoze it. Well they haven't and I finally got around to it. The neighborhood really doesn't like people taking pictures of the place.... so a quick and go job.

Posted by Michael Shivers at 06:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)