The Phoblographer

The Manfrotto Q5 tripod head was designed for photographers and videographers alike, i.e. the HDSLR crowd. Though I’m not typically a tripod user, I admit that tripods like the 755CX3 have their uses: such as for recording videos for the site. After receiving two Q5 units, the staff and I put the head and 755CX3 package to the test primarily in video shoots.

And the findings were a bit surprising.

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Tons of photography sites are built in Flash. I would almost venture to say that most are.  Although building any site but most specifically a photography site this way makes little sense and less sense all the time, I see them every day. My only explanation beyond people not knowing is that it’s self propelled at this point – as in “everyone else is doing it” syndrome. Well here are a few reasons to consider other options when building your photography site.
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Each week, the staff of The Phoblographer will be issuing you new challenges. Since we are a resource of tips and techniques, we decided that it is now time to put your photographic brains to use. This week, we are challenging you to go out there and shoot photos utilizing the Rule of Thirds in your composition to create more visually interesting images. We’d ask that you use our guide to help you.

We’ll also ask you to add those images to our Flickr Group with the tag, “The-Phoblographer-Rule-of-Thirds” Here are some tips on how to get the best out of Flickr while you’re at it. In one week, we will have a posting featuring a round up of these photos. When that challenge ends, we’ll start a new one and the process will continue.

And here are a couple of recent postings to help give you inspiration to start:

How to Photograph Coffee Like a Pro

Shooting a Reflected Portrait Using Your Surroundings

On Using Your Environment as a Tripod

Understanding Light: Intensity Vs Quality

What’s the Best Method to Autofocus: Center or Outer Point?

Changing the Quality of Light Outdoors

Every now and again, I’m sent random but potentially cool products for review. The 500GB Memorex Slimdriveappeared on my front stoop a couple of weeks ago and I began the testing. After getting through packaging that reminded me of trying to pry an elevator door open with your bare hands combined with examining a man’s prostate, the kit comprised of a simple but elegant hard drive with a very small USB cable.

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Remember that event I shot with the Leica M9 and 35mm F2.5 Summarit and then how I stated that it was easiest for me to just convert the files to black and white because of the high ISO? Well I was bored one night and felt like editing some photos in Lightroom 3 Beta to hone my editing skills. The files from that event were chosen and edited. Originally, I had stated that the M9 files are not as versatile as the Canon 5D Mk II‘s. While that statement still stands, the files are versatile enough to the point where some editing was able to save them to be published in color. The gallery and findings are after the jump.

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Here it is. Thanks to the kind folks over at Fotocare in NYC for this. My Hands-on review with the camera is here. I’m not able to post the original here, the file is way too large. I’ll try to see what I can do in the future.

Edit: As time went on, this posting received many hits. Because of that, B&H offers the camera with the 35-90mm F4.5 lens, body only, and as a complete kit.