Fort Worth Skyline

Earlier this year I drove down to Fort Worth to get some skyline images. These were taken various shutter speeds. The first image was taken at f/11, 6s, ISO100. I decided to convert this to Black and White.

Fort Worth Skyline - Black and White

The second image was taken at f/22, 30s, ISO100. I especially like the lights of the plane crossing the skyline.

Fort Worth Skyline

The final image was taken at f/8, 4s, ISO100. I decided to zoom during the exposure. A different look.

Fort Worth Skyline - Zooming

A Try at Black & White

I wanted to give a shot at a black and white image. I got some images a couple of years ago of a storm heading my way across Lake Lewisville and figured that might make a good candidate for a B&W. The image was taken with my Canon 450D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens, 1/5s, f/25, ISO400.

What I really wanted was to emphasize those storm clouds. First I made a few adjustments in Lightroom and brought it in to Photoshop. In Photoshop I used Nik Dfine 2.0 to eliminate some noise. Next I used Nik Viveza 2 get the image closer to what I wanted it to look like in color. Then I used Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 to get it into a Black and White image. Once out of there, all the dust spots really showed up. I cleaned those up and pulled it into Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0 optimized for display.

Storm in B&W

I’m not sure it’s exactly what I’m looking for. With practice I’m sure I’ll get much better.

Huey Lewis and the News / Joe Cocker

Last night I got to see Huey Lewis and the News followed by Joe Cocker. They both put on an amazing show. I took a few photographs with my Motorola Atrix but most are blurry with faces totally blown out.

Joe Cocker’s sax player was on the side, camera in hand, when he wasn’t playing. I kept wishing I was there beside him with my Canon. Some day …

Canon 7d fixed


In the middle of a motocross shoot my Canon 7d died with the dreaded ERR 40. I’ve had the camera for a year and a half but the battery grip was new. I tried all of the suggestions to clear the error but no luck.

I looked inside the battery compartment and noticed the contacts were dimpled where ever the grip had a pin to make contact with it, some more than others. I think it’s possible at least one of the contacts may have shorted through to the next layer which appears to be a power or ground layer.

 


I sent the camera and the grip to Canon for repair. To my surprise, I got the repair at no charge even though the camera is out of warranty. The details stated that “the power supply assembly had shorted the unit” and the “power supply assembly was replaced”. They examined the grip and found no problems.

I got the camera and grip back this afternoon, error gone. Removed the grip and still see indentations, not sure if it’s the same board or not. I haven’t had a chance to take any photographs yet. I hope I have no repeat of this problem.

Thanks to Canon repair in Irvine CA for a quick turnaround.

Hello world!

This is my first post on sandymcanally.com. I don’t know where this site will take me but I’m sure I’ll enjoy the journey. If anyone has any suggestions on ways to improve my site or my photography, please let me know. I am always wanting to learn and get better.