Dobson Central Photography

On a recent trip out to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, the cacti all seemed to be in full bloom. Since my flower gallery has had a limited amount of photos in there for quite some time, I thought it best to expand my collection. There are all kinds of cacti in Arizona and the one thing I know about all of them is that they hurt when you get one stuck in you. Identifying their names, besides “OW”, isn’t my specialty. Flowers/plants in general, aren’t really my thing, so hopefully I’ve identified this cacti correctly. If not, please let me know. Click the photo to see a little larger version.

Here are a couple more photos from my recent visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, but of a Ferruginous Hawk . Click photos for larger versions. More info pertaining to these photos can be read in the gallery.

Here are a couple shots of a Harris Hawk from my recent visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Click for larger version.

Click to enlarge. For more info, visit this photo in Black and White gallery.

Drobo storage robot is a very cool USB connected RAID/drive array used to store backups, photos, movies, or whatever you want to use it for. Best of all, since all the drives are in an array, nothing is lost if a hard drive goes bad. As you’ll see in the video from the linked picture, replacing drives is very simple and makes it a snap for those with little or no technical expertise. It’s so simple, a caveman can…oh wait, that’s for Geico.

Say goodbye to modifying your computer with extra drives and bringing them into a RAID configuration (or whatever your setup may be). Just purchase a new hard drive that’s on sale and slap it in.

I could store a lot of photos and my backups on this one with ease.  I want one!

My wife and I recently attended the Tucson Rodeo (La Fiesta de los Vaqueros). I’ve been thinking about doing more sports photography recently and thought this might be a good start. The bull riding was what I was really interested in, however, to contain the bulls they ended up putting up railing around the bucking shoots. It was impossible to get a decent shot and not have part of the fence in every single shot. The only way to get around this would be to have a press pass and be right next to the chutes.

While the bull riding was a bust, below are some of the recent gallery posts of the ones that did make my cut. Click to enlarge any of the photos.

It’s been a while since my last update.  I haven’t had much time to get out and take some photos.  Truthfully, I haven’t been inspired in the new year yet.  I have taken photos at several family events.  Anyone who knows me, however, knows that I dislike taking snapshots and people photos, so that could be part of the lack of inspiration.

On a positive note, I did receive some money from Christmas gifts.  I turned around and purchased Gary Fong’s lightsphere.  I’ve heard great things about this, both online and from someone who actually owns two of them.  The truth is, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this product.  Of course, it sounds all great on Gary’s web site, but if it didn’t, he wouldn’t be selling any of them.  Now that I own one, I’m still on the fence about it.  I own a 580EX II strobe and I love it.  Like all flashes, it can be harsh if shot directly on a subject.  If you pull out the built in white card and angle the flash so you can bounce the strobe off of the ceiling or wall, it gives you a much natural light without the harsh lighting on your subject.  Now, here comes the lightsphere.  Built to diffuse even the harshest flash.  It does just that.  It diffuses the light and gives your subject a more natural light.  However, there are only slight differences to either using the white card and angling the flash versus using the lightsphere. 

In all honesty, I haven’t shot with the lightsphere all that much yet.  I’ve only used it indoors a few times.  I haven’t tried it outdoors in an evening or low light setting yet, but I’m guessing the end results will be pretty much the same.  If you have a decent flash with a built in white card, you can save $45 dollars and put it towards something else in my opinion, or build yourself a home-made diffuser for a couple of dollars.  The home-made version isn’t near as bulky and fits nicely in anyone’s camera bag.  Personally, I’m leaning towards returning the lightsphere and doing this myself (if it hasn’t been 30 days since my purchase).  Not because I like having a MacGyver diffuser or anything, but because it’s definitely cheaper, gives the same results and it isn’t bulky and will fit in my bag easily.

It’s not often that a photography book comes along and entices me to read it right off the bat.  Most times, I’ll purchase a book simply because I’m in the mood to read something new or get a new twist on photography, which by itself, is no easy task, since there’s only so much you can read before it all begins to repeat.  Some of my favorite photography books that I have ever read, has been an equal mix of photos and some sort of story behind each photo.  I’ve gained more knowledge from the story that went along with the photo than say, here’s how I did this scene and what equipment I used type of “how-to” books. 

A new book, “The Moment it Clicks” by Joe McNally, will be released in just a few short weeks that I’m already itching to get.  Check out the video and if you find yourself wanting it as well, you can pre-order it on Amazon.

It’s a shame that it won’t be under my Christmas tree and I’m not one of the lucky ones to have got to read it already.

For those that are interested in Canons latest 1Ds Mark III camera, this is worth watching, even with the cheesy porno music.  I’m still drooling over the excellent features.