Tuesday on the web

black and white ferry on the potomac river Photography is often about the moment.  When I saw this ship out on the Potomac sitting in this little bubble of light, I knew I had to move fast.  This is my first frame - by my third the clouds had shifted and the ferry was in the dark. I'm in San Diego right now, writing from my lovely suite upgrade at a swanky downtown hotel (thanks U.S. Airways promotion that got me to gold status immediately!).  While here for a ship christening - cool by itself, in my book - I get to see my dad, siblings, aunt and uncle and one cousin.  The rest are off to college.  Time really does fly.

On the Web

Every week I save my favorite links from around the internet and present them here on Tuesday.  Click around and enjoy! Top 20 hottest gift ideas for photographers under $50 Well just in case you are still shopping for that photographer on your list, here is a good compilation of stuff they might enjoy unwrapping. National Geographic's Photography Contest 2010 via The Big Picture Selections from their annual photography contest. That's really all I should need to say here. Find copyright violations with a right-click in Firefox This is pretty neat if you're a stickler for this kind of thing. It's an app for Firefox that lets you search the image databases that look for matching images out there on the internets. Why people who love to dance are more likely to buy a Mac Interesting bits of stuff about how companies analyze the data they receive to get the most money out of you.  Once again I'm fascinated by statistical analysis.

The “kit”: D3, 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8

You'll have to forgive me this post because it's probably going to get very technical.  This weekend I've rented what I consider to be the "wedding kit" - a full-frame body with excellent low-noise high-ISO capacity - here the Nikon D3.  This combination of lenses totally blows me away compared with what I normally use.  I have a nickname for my regular gear, too - my "bang around" stuff.  Not that there is anything wrong with the Nikon D80.  In most cases, you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between the two cameras.  It's when things get tricky that the camera really shines.  Like here: christmas wreath on our door ISO: 3200!, 1/25 s, f/2.8, 70mm This image would probably not happen at all with my D80.  It's just too dark in my apartment hallway to get something sharp. wreath detail from the hallway 70mm and 24mm of the same scene: mm examples I walked the camera around.  It's cold out! shirlington house apartments shirlington house apartment building And yes, I can't help myself. self-portrait with the d3