CJD

Photo Organization

It's been a while since there was a photo entry.

We are slowly making progress. I've got the existing photo albums, which were originally generated by jAlbum, looking sort of like the Thingamablog pages. The menu at the top now points to the correct sections (yea!). Now I need to roll my sleeves up and get my Thingamablog and jAlbum templates working in concert. Lot's of html and CSS. It's getting clearer, but it will probably take me a while.

I've been struggling a bit with the Nikon D200 I got in the summer. It's a much more sophisticated camera than the D70 was and it's taking me a while to get my brain around it. My RAW conversion tool is now Nikon Capture NX as I purchased an upgrade from Nikon Capture 4.4 (which I rarely used) in August. Capture NX has gotten a lot of press both negative and positive since it's introduction in the fall. Amateur photographers seem to take to it, but professionals seem less impressed. In any event, I've been learning how to use it and generally I'm impressed. I really never came to grips with Photoshop, so the different philosophy offered by CapNX has was welcome. Post processing isn't any less time consuming, but at least I don't feel like I'm starting from scratch every time I fire it up. These two things combined have meant a lot of studying has been going on in the off hours. I'm just getting the D200 set up like I like to take photos. Websites like NikonGear, NikonCafe, d1scussion, Nikonians and dpReview have been big helps in the acquisition of knowledge. To augment those, I have purchased Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 which I'm slowly making my way through. Additionally, I bought Jason Odell's "The Photographer's Guide to Capture NX" which has been a really big help in understanding the capabilities of Capture NX. Both e-books are highly recommended.

I'm in the process of getting all my photographic workflow processes set up. Currently, I use iMatch for my Digital Asset Management (DAM). Digital Asset Management is a long term for photo organization. iMatch and I have had a love/hate relationship going since our introduction a couple of years ago. Its taken me a REALLY long time to get a grip on iMatch because the User Interface (UI) is truly user hostile. Things are scattered all over the place and the titles are not particularly intuitive. In any event, iMatch is an extremely powerful tool and there is very little that it won't do either directly or via scripting. The author is currently updating iMatch to use the latest Nikon SDK (software developers kit) which supports Nikon RAW files post processed in Capture NX. This is really cool, because I can do my edits in Capture NX and then use iMatch for organizing the NEF files. I can use the tools in iMatch to generate appropriate web albums and such from my Nikon RAW files. Cool. Can't wait until the next update of iMatch.

In combination with all this, is the integration with jAlbum and Thingamablog. My goal is to have a unified system where I can apply labels, ratings and appropriate information in iMatch, choose which photos I want to publish on my site, create suitable information to bring into jAlbum which then creates photo albums I can include nicely in Thingamablog ramblings. Wheh!

The way that pictures will be integrated here is becoming clearer thanks to Jo Hendricks-Jansen at http://eccentricgnat.com. She uses Thingamablog to do her blogging and brilliantly suggested to use Thingamablog's "Favorite Links" functionality to list pages with photo albums. Absolutely Brilliant. Now, I have to get the JAlbum templates looking more like Thingamablog (there is that CSS thing again) and I'm homefree!

Take care

Photos

Welcome to the photo page of dubea.com. I've recently become the proud owner of a Nikon D-70 digital camera. It's been a relearning experience as I was heavily into photography while I was in college. In those days I was a purist and used an Olympus OM-1 35 mm SLR. It was manual everything and I only had a couple of prime lenses.

My how things change. The D-70 is auto everything and has a 17-80 mm zoom lens. Auto focus, auto exposure, etc, etc, etc. Couple this with the added complexity of digital photography and we have quite the learning experience. Add into the mix the SB-800 TTL flash and 70-300 mm zoom I bought before Christmas and wow, information overload. I did buy a 50mm f1.8 prime with the zoom and the flash and it's like going home. Everything becomes familiar again. Walk before you run dubea. Walk before you run.

In saying all that these photos are particularly pedestrian. Nothing outstanding here. There isn't anything here that's going to astound you. This site is for me to learn. HTML, CSS, digital photography, etc. So please be kind.

Annapolis | Total images: 26 | Date added: 22.11.2004

This is from a trip I took to Annapolis on business. Here are some photos of the Severn River and surrounding countryside.

DAR | Total images: 5 | Date added: 22.11.2004

Maureen LeBlanc Gravesite DAR Commemoration.

Fall Encampment | Total images: 73 | Date added: 22.11.2004

Here are some photos I shot at Camp Salmen in Kiln, MS at the Boy Scout Fall Encampment.

French Quarter | Total images: 11 | Date added: 22.11.2004

We decided to take the new Canal Street streetcar from the beginning near City Park to the end of the line in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Here are a few of the images.

Memphis | Total images: 10 | Date added: 22.11.2004

After getting Meghan settled in her room at Ole Miss (see Oxford trip), we drove to Memphis to see the Masters of the Medici exhibition at the Phoenix. After the exhibit we walked around Beale Street a bit. Unfortunately, there isn't much in Memphis open on Sunday.

Oxford | Total images: 13 | Date added: 22.11.2004

We traveled to Oxford, MS to get Meghan settled in her dorm at Ole Miss.

Phoenix International | Total images: 20 | Date added: 22.11.2004

This is from a trip I took to Landover, MD to visit the office of Phoenix International. I was there to witness a test of the drilling equipment mounted on the back of their ROV, the Nereus II. Unfortunately, the hydraulic system on the ROV had water in it, so the test was postponed.

Phoenix International | Total images: 74 | Date added: 22.11.2004

This is from a return trip I took to Landover, MD to visit the office of Phoenix International. I was there to witness a test of the drilling equipment mounted on the back of their ROV, the Nereus II. The tests went wonderfully, and a nice clean hole was drilled in the limestone in less than an hour.

RM-300 | Total images: 18 | Date added: 22.11.2004

This is the RM-300, a machine designed and built by Ocean Dynamics, Inc. to manipulate large cable spools. I helped OD rewrite the control software over the summer of 2004.

Sunrise | Total images: 9 | Date added: 22.11.2004

A few sunrise shots taken over Lake Pontchartrain.

The Woods | Total images: 15 | Date added: 22.11.2004

Here are some pictures from my neighborhood, "The Woods" in Slidell, LA. These were taken during brief respite from a several day long rain shower in August.