Passenger Zone

No parking between signs .. hotel guests with big bags approaching. Handle with care!

Shot outside the hotel the out-of-towners in Automattic stayed in while in San Francisco!

Don’t forget the exhibit in Mallow I mentioned in my gallery update starts tonight. I gave it a plug on ocaoimh.ie too so hopefully we’ll see a healthy number of visitors.

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200s

First RAW converter to support Canon 40D?

I received an email yesterday from Bibble Labs. They’ve updated their very popular raw converter to support the Canon 40D. Could they be the first to market with that support? I don’t know, but the new version is free for existing users and it’s a simple upgrade.

Go try out the time limited trial version if you’re itching to play with your new camera’s RAW files!

Here’s the change log for this release:

Added support for Canon 40D, including sRaw and Tethering.
Added support for Pentax K100D Super
Added support for Fujifilm FinePix E550
Changed Chroma-sub sampling to 1:1 for jpegs > 85 quality
Fixed memory leak causing crash when working with many Olympus files.
Fixed issue with window position not being remembered when it was stretched across two monitors
Fixed issue with images from repaired Canon 350D not being recognized
Fixed issue with trailing white space in a rename string causing a warning dialog to appear
Tweaked Oly 410/510 color profile and default tone curve. (Be sure to purge your cache and reset custom WB’s)
Added extra verification before the original is deleted in Copy queues
Added Lens: Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6
Added Lens: PENTAX 70mm 2,4 Objectiv
Added Lens: Tamron 18-250mm F/3.5-6.3 AF Di-II LD

Jesus Christ still loves you

A year ago I photographed this man holding the sign saying Jesus Christ Loves You in San Francisco. Amazingly he’s still in the same spot. That’s dedication for you!

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 13mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/60s

Bull’s Tavern

The logo on his shirt, "Bull’s Tavern" caught my eye as we waited on the sidewalk for the lights to change.

This is near Union Square in San Francisco. Check out the Macy’s sign! Shopping heaven for those so addicted.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/60s

Caroline Street ESB Station

This used to be an electricity switching station for the trams that traveled around Cork city and suburbs many years ago.

This building was the location for Stanley Super 800’s Gatecrashing video many month’s ago. I still have some super shots of the interior to post. I’ll eventually get around to it.. Some time!

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/320s

Comprehensive Canon 40D overview

Roland has posted a fairly exhaustive Canon 40D review on his blog. It made the front page of WordPress.com which is where I found it. Must resist temptation …

Amazon have it in stock. Still a bit pricey but maybe after my accountant does her thing with my finances I’ll know if I can afford it!

Barry and Ann’s Wedding Party

Group shot of almost everyone who attended the wedding of Barry Owens and Ann Murphy on Saturday in Kinsale, Co. Cork. The official photographer very kindly didn’t mind when I took a few shots alongside her.

I originally decided this was going to be black and white but after consultation with my creative half (aka my wife Jacinta) I decided to post it in colour. I desaturated the image slightly and brought up the red, blue and cyan channels a bit.

If you look carefully you’ll see Barry’s brother-in-law Matt near the top of the church! Yes, that’s the sad old tosser!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/30s

Gallery and exhibit updates

I met Haydn today at Garettstown Beach where he showed me some of the prints that will be going on display in the gallery within a few weeks. Since I last mentioned this, he has moved into Kinsale and has a store right on the quay in a prime location! I’m looking forward to the opening, and taking a proper look around.

The prints were gorgeous. One was from Ryan, and the other three were mine. They’re printed on a lovely thick paper by HP printers, with a guaranteed lifetime of 150 years. It’s mind-blowing for me to think that some of my prints may well be hanging on walls long after I’m gone! More on the printers, and the gallery later.

Mallow Camera Club will be exhibiting in Mallow Town Library from this week for a short period. Prints are for sale, and all proceeds go to the “Niall Mellon Township Trust” who build houses in South Africa. One of the members is heading out there with the trust. My shot of Brendan O’Carroll will be on display there, and for sale of course.

Mannix and Culhane

Mannix and Culhanne on Washington St, Cork.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera DMC-FZ5
Focal length 6mm
ISO 80
Shutter speed 1/400s

Shih Tzu and the Ball

Shih Tzu dogs love to play ball! We only found this out after a dog trainer came to the house and “ruffled his fur” a bit and in the process Oscar became a lot more relaxed.

Now he adores playing ball and even one mention of, “where’s the ball?” and his tail wags and he looks up expectantly for the ball!

This was a bit of an experiment. I’m not so sure how this will look on the web, but full screen the textures of the grass and his fur contrast nicely – rough, hard, and sharp versus soft and cloudy. Not your usual pet photo but why be boring and ordinary eh?

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 59mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s

Mulley’s guest photobloggers

Damien invited a number of Irish photobloggers to guest blog on mulley.net this week and their posts make for good reading. I’ve mentioned them all from time to time here so some may be familiar and all make for a good read.

Wonderful photos, and great reading. Damien said he asked more than 5 photobloggers so I guess the series may go on until next week!

The groomed Shih Tzu

Our pet Shih Tzu, Oscar, has been suffering under the unusual August weather. It’s actually quite warm, and his long coat is more useful for colder weather. So this morning we had him groomed and doesn’t he look cute?

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s