Real Life Consequences of Railroad Photography Dangers

I've been writing about the dangers of photography, videography and filming on, at or near railroad tracks for some time. In my recent article, “Update: Photographing near the railroad — Don't!!!” I included the example of the death of Sarah Jones, about what can and has gone wrong when people film on railroad tracks without the permission and cooperation of the railroad.

On February 20, 2014, during the filming of the movie “Midnight Rider” after two trains passed their filming location near Doctortown, GA, USA, the film crew setup to shoot a “dream sequence” on a railroad trestle over the Altamaha River.

Soon, a third train, which wasn't expected, came chugging across the bridge over the river connecting to the trestle. The crew had less than a minute to clear the trestle. It wasn't enough time, and as a result, second camera assistant, Sarah Jones, was killed by the train.

A giant in photographic gear innovation and invention has died: Paul C. Buff

Paul C. Buff, one of photography's greatest inventors and innovators passed away this week at the age of 78.

He lived through the depression era where his philosophy of life was formed. For decades Buff, an American, had been one of photography's most amazing lighting innovators, not only for photographers, but for filmmakers and videographers alike. Buff formed his company, Paul C. Buff, Inc. in 1980 as a research company.

Buff was a long time inventor and engineer. Some called him a visionary inventor. Prior to entering the photography lighting design and manufacturing world, he had been an audio recording studio owner, with many gold records. That business evolved into designing and manufacturing professional audio equipment. To this day Buff still remains widely recognized in the audio community for his savvy, innovation and success, especially with his high quality computerized recording console technologies. He worked with such music industry luminaries as Frank Zappa, Ray Dolby, The Beatles, Carol King and many others in the field.

Update: Photographing near the railroad — Don't!!!

I've been writing about the problem of photographers and videographers, amateurs and professionals alike, working at, on or near railroad tracks and yards for a long time, without the permission and the cooperation of the railroad. Too often, they're putting themselves and others unwittingly in serious jeopardy by the way they are conducting themselves.

Just last September, you might have read my article, “Photographing trains…Stay off the Tracks!!!”

Unfortunately, my articles, and those of colleagues haven't had enough of an effect. Photographers, videographers, and sometimes those being photographed or videod, continue to die needlessly while making images or videos at, on or near railroad tracks.

Printing your travel photos: PPI vs. DPI

While these days, most travelers display their photos online instead of in the photo albums of the past, many travelers still print more than a few images to keep and show off their travel memories. Some even hang prints of their travels on the walls of their home.

Unfortunately, many travelers, like other photographers, are often confused about sizing their images for printing because countless photographers incorrectly use the terms, PPI (pixels per inch) and DPI (dots per inch) interchangeably.

PPI and DPI are not at all the same, and they are independent of each other.

Six tips from Ansel Adams for making your travel photos

Ansel Adams, the great American photographer and environmentalist died more than 30 years ago, however, people viewing his work for the first time or even for the thousandth time still are wowed, often blown away by his images.

While known for his amazing landscape photographs, he was also a major innovator of systems and techniques. Along with Fred Archer, Adams developed the Zone System for determining optimal exposures. He worked as a long time consultant to Polaroid, and unknown to many, made thousands of photographs using the Polaroid system.

While Adams died in 1984, about a decade before the digital camera was generally commercially available, with the Apple QuickTake and the Kodak DC40, I believe he would have, at the least, seriously experimented with them and would have likely embraced their use.

OS Support for Next Version of Lightroom (Lightroom 6)

Yesterday, Adobe released their announcement, “Update on OS Support for Next Version of Lightroom.”

The announcement about the upcoming release of one of the most popular image editing programs for amateur and professional photographers alike, Lightroom 6, is going to make some photographers, those with older computers and older versions of Microsoft Windows, including the 32bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8.X as well as MAC users on OS X Lion (10.7) or older upset, because they won't be able to run the new Lightroom when it's released.

Nikon begins taking D750 returns for free flare banding fix

If you own a Nikon D750, by now you've probably read about the confirmed reports that many D750 owners have a problem with lens flare in images, under specific conditions, due to the D750 itself. At certain angles, an ugly dark band shows up across the top of images, separating lens flare from the edge of the frame.

On December 29, 2014 Nikon acknowledged the problem and stated they were working on it. Then on January 9th, Nikon announced they planned to offer free D750 inspection and servicing, including all shipping costs, of the D750's light-shielding components and would adjust, as necessary, the AF sensor position which apparently is the major cause of the dark banding problem.

The reports of Windows 7 death have been greatly exaggerated

Mark Twain didn't say it, but he might have, had he been alive today, “The reports of Windows 7 death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Yes, yesterday, January 13, 2015, Microsoft ended Windows 7 “mainstream support,” but the deliberate fear-mongering by too many publications to increase readership is outrageous. The authors of those articles do, or at least should know better.

Those articles are confusing the public, including legions of photographers successfully using the operating system, implying Windows 7 has just entered the same graveyard as Windows XP.

Nikon announces free repairs for D750 flare banding problem

If you're a Nikon user, you might have been following the stories about the confirmed reports that D750 owners have been reporting about a problem with lens flare in images, under specific conditions, due to the D750 itself. At certain angles, an ugly dark band shows up across the top of images, separating lens flare from the edge of the frame.

On December 29th, Nikon acknowledged the problem and stated they were working on it. This morning Nikon announced that starting at the end of the month, they will inspect and service at no cost D750's light-shielding components and adjust the AF sensor position. (See story update below.)