cotarr's photostream  

Hi, Welcome to my Flickr page.

A photo a day, that's my goal. I'm on an endless journey, at every turn, something new to new to try, new techniques to learn.



On July 1, 2007, I discovered Flickr. Desipte my fragmented and confused approach to uploading, I finally figured it out. The speed and performance of their database and tools is totally amazing! In surfing Flickr, I've been surprised by some of the best nature photography that I've ever seen. Here is an example of other peoples photos that I consider a favorite. The quality and content of other people's work makes be feel like a beginner. This next link will take you to some of my own favorite photos.

I got my first camera in 1965 at age 10, and I started with black and white 127 roll film using an Ansco Cadet II. By age 13, I had a small darkroom setup in our basement. I worked all summer delivering newspapers to buy a used, very old, Exa 35mm camera. The Exa was a SLR, but instead of a prisim view finder, it had a downward viewing ground glass view finder. Later was a Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL 35mm SLR and a Bogen enlarger for the darkroom. During high school, I was on the yearbook staff, and I was able to use some of the school's equipment. During the 1980's, photos were mostly family, and I really enjoyed my small Kodak Disc camera. Despite the tiny negatives and lower resolution, it was very small, and I could take it everywhere in my shirt pocket. I have over 4500 uploads of scanned film on flickr, although many are limited to family access.

I bought my first digital camera in 1997, which allowed same day internet photo sharing. It was a Kodak DC-25 with a maximum resolution of 493 x 373. I thought that it was amazing, ...well..., until the first 640 x 480 cameras came out. At the time, I had an 800x600 computer monitor, so 640x480 was perfect for sharing photos on my web page. Today, when people see these older photos, they comment: 'I can't click larger, are these thumbnails?'

About 2001, I picked up my first modern digital camera. It was an Olympus C2100UZ which was my first camera with a 10x optical zoom, image stabilization, electronic viewfinder. Working with the 2100 probably had the biggest impact on developing my digital photography style. I loved that camera, producing over 3500 flickr photos. In 2006 I replaced it with a very similar Leica V-Lux 1 12X zoom point and shoot. More recently, returning to my SLR film roots, I've been using an Olympus E-P2 which is an interchangeable lens camera in micro four thirds format.

Although i find DSLR type cameras to be is lot of fun, these days, about 9 out 10 of my photos are taken with my Leica D-Lux 4. It is a high end point and shoot, small enough to fit into my pocket, fully manual with RAW format. Since kodak moments are often discovered unexpectedly, I often hear, 'Oh, I wish I had my camera', as I pull out the 4 to capture the moment.

When a photo needed a tweek, most of my early editing was done using various versions of PaintShopPro from 3.3 to XI (liking PSP-8 best). In 2008, I made the jump to Photoshop CS3 (Now CS5). It took a while to learn photoshop, but think that I am OK with basic photo editing now. My favorite plug-ins: Topaz Denoise, Topaz Detail.

My suggestions: Take many duplicates of each shot keeping only the best, find a small camera that fits in your pocket/purse, use RAW (uncompressed) format, edit every picture, calibrate your computer monitor, being careful with the color temperature of lights in the room where you are editing and most importantly don't be afraid to experiment.

If you have not tried the Flickr API interface, it's can be a lot of fun. With the API you can write your own software to manage your Flickr photos. I wrote a small program in Visual C++ to generate some of my photo sets, such as my Top 60 Most Interesting set. If you know a little programming, give it a try. Otherwise you can surf the flickr app garden and try other peoples apps. It add's another dimension to the fun on Flickr.

My Flickr photos are protected by copyright and may not be used without permission.