10 May 2010, Posted by admin in Blog, Photog Help Blog, 2 Comments

New Lessons To Be Learned

Things have started!

05 Oct 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Featured, 0 Comments

Camera Dilemma

Hard to get work done with a broke camera.

12 Sep 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Reviews, 0 Comments

Bean, The Anti-Vegetable

The little bean.

01 Jul 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Plog, 0 Comments

How We Celebrate!

The weekend before my birthday, Jeff and I met my parents in Palm Coast. My mom never gave us the address to where we were staying, just kept saying “either a Microtel or someplace like that”. We drove there, called for directions and we pulled into this place that had restaurants and shops. After walking in and being told to “Hurry up!” by my parents, because “a maid let us look at a room for a few minutes, so we need to be quick.” I started to think to myself, “What in the world is going on and WHERE is the toilet?!”

Walked into the room and saw lots of streamers and a balloon! We were fooled! My parents had rented this nice condo for the weekend, with these wonderful beds, a flat screen tv and a kitchen!

After it sank in, I started realizing that I was sweating like crazy. Why? Because the air conditioner wasn’t working!

Two hours, a few phone calls to the owner and a walk around the area, the a/c guy finally came out to tell us that there was nothing he could do until MONDAY! (Remember..this was Friday!) Mom confirmed with the owners that we were going to get everything cleaned up and looking exactly how it was and that we would be staying else where. So we then got a room and went to dinner at a wonderful place in Palm Coast called Bourbon Street Bar and Grille.

Saturday rolls around and we head to St. Augustine for the day. On the way there we passed through the intersection where our accident took place five and a half years ago. I had a little mental breakdown and then I was fine. I hadn’t seen where it happened since that night, so it was a little shocking and lots of memories came flooding back.

Mom, Dad, Jeff and I had a WONDERFUL lunch at the Spanish Bakery right off of St. George Street. It was THE reason I wanted to go into St. Augustine! That made my entire weekend and I’m already wanting to go back and enjoy more lovely food from there.

Saturday night, Mom and I did some shopping and then we all went out to dinner.. Dad however realized that he had left his credit card somewhere. THANKFULLY it was traced back to the restaurant we ate at on Friday and they still had it.

Sunday we went out for breakfast, after we found Dad’s keys (which he left sitting in the hotel room when we checked out!), plus we then spent 20 minutes looking for the Denny’s that was RIGHT across the street from the hotel! After breakfast/lunch, we went to the beach to get some pictures!

No less than craziness happens when my family goes some place. And the weekend before my birthday was no let down! That weekend made me realize all over again how much I love my parents and how thankful I am to have them and spend time with them. (The craziness is just an added bonus!)

Thanks Mom and Dad!! (aka Whodi and Father Unit!!)

26 Jun 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Reviews, 0 Comments

Griffin Clarifi iphone Case

A couple of weeks ago, my old iphone case started to crack. Though I did love the case and it held up quite well for a while, I didn’t want the same case again (bor-ring!).

After a couple of different trips to the Apple store, I decided on a somewhat new case. The Griffin Clarifi.

Griffin Clarifi iPhone Case from Kelly Walker on Vimeo.

It does what any other iphone case SHOULD do – protects it from my small slippery hands. And it keeps the back from not getting all scratched up. The bottom portion of the case slides over to meet/lock with the top 3/4 of the case. It’s not as “easy” as snapping the case on and going. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not difficult at ALL to put on, but I think it protects it a bit better with how the case covers everything. My only complaint when I was putting on the case was that it started to mess up and bubble my iphone screen protector. (I didn’t put on the screen protector that came with it because I like having the matte finish.) Now that the case is on and has been on for a couple of weeks, I’m still not real happy with what it did to my screen protector. There weren’t any bubbles or anything before this case.

On to what makes this case so great.

You can get quite close to things without them being blurry!

The little tiny lens that is built into the case that can go over the camera. What is this lens for? Well, it’s to help with close-up/macro pictures. As of this moment, the lens is still a little difficult to move back and forth with ease, but I’d rather it be like that than sliding all over the place.

L. Ring as close as you can get without being blurry
R. Ring up close with the macro lens

(Same distance, without/with macro lens)

——

I did a ‘survey’ on twitter and out of the 850 people that follow me, 3 answered:
“What do you look for in a case?” The answers – protection of my phone, functionality, and whatever I can find. All fine answers.. Is there that ONE “must have” that your case has to pass the test before you’ll even consider buying it.

My “must have” is a “must not be” – my case must not be silcone, or anything that dirt will stick to. That just drives me crazy. Also, I don’t want anything bulky. I like being able to put my phone in my pocket. Which means, I also don’t want a belt clip.

11 Jun 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Plog, 0 Comments

Torture

Since Jeff and I will be watching the game from outside the Amway Arena tonight… I am now torturing myself with pictures from when we went to game 4 LAST time. Tear.

I’ll be yelling at f’n Kobe and everyone else from, well, somewhere not in the O-rena! (Unless someone falls deadly ill and can’t go to the game *cough*Justin*cough*)

Other pictures from Game 4 of Orlando Magic vs Cleveland Cavs can be found on flickr.

16 May 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Featured, 0 Comments

Point (& Shoot) Your Way To Basic Photo Tips

Take a moment to read the title again..yes, these are tips. Not rules. When it comes to photography, there really aren’t any rules. You do what you feel is best, what looks best, and you’ll get what you want.
If you’re in the market to get a point and shoot digital camera, please keep these simple tips in mind.

*Make sure that the camera you’re getting has at least 7 megapixels, even though most cameras now a days are 9 or 10.

*If you’re worried about the zoom on your new camera, do NOT worry about digital zoom. The only zoom you should be concerned with is optical. Digital zoom does nothing but make your picture very pixelated when you go to print it out (which is far from a good thing).

*The camera should have a USB Port to make it easy enough to plug the camera directly into your computer or laptop.

*Memory cards,

CompactFlash (CF) and Secure Digital (SD) are the 2 most common cards that are on the market. It will be easiest to use those cards with external card readers.

*Also, when it comes to memory cards, cameras normally come with a very tiny memory card. You’ll want to get another card (I would recommend a 1 gigabyte, which you can get for around $10). If you (a) take a lot of pictures and/or (b) don’t empty the card too often, this size card or larger would be good for you.

*Make sure that the LCD screen is big enough for you to see and constantly use.
The bigger the screen, the happier you’ll  be.

Other tips to keep in mind,
not pertaining just to point & shoot cameras.

*When taking pictures make sure you fill the frame. Not all pictures follow this “rule”, which is good. But for the most part, you want the entire frame to be filled.

*Do not rely on the flash. If you can get away by not using the flash, take advantage of it! If you are outdoors, in the sunlight, turn off the flash! Most cameras have the flash to automatically be used. Check out your camera manual (you know that book that came with your camera that you never looked it!) and see how to turn it off. Most flashes can be turned off in a button press or two.

*Plus with built in flashes, unless you are close enough to your subject, the flash won’t do anything for the picture, but more than likely make it underexposed, which you do not want.

*When photographing children or pets, it’s best to get eye level. Sit on your knees, lay down on your stomach, do what you have to do. Standing over your child won’t have the right feel. Try not to shoot down at them. Don’t get me wrong, unusual angles do work! But it’s just like framing, it’s not a “rule”, just something to try to remember.

*Don’t count out camera phones. While I would never rely on my camera phone as my everyday camera, look what broke the news on the Hudson River plane crash. Yep, a camera phone. And that picture was used all over the news! You know the one..

*Always have a camera with you, you NEVER know what you’re going to see or come across. Always be ready!

What are your favorite photography tips? Are there some tips that you think should just go away forever? Do you think about it or just take a picture? Are you such a pro that things just come natural?

Thanks to Adam Wiggall for this tip:
Showing is as important as taking.

Meaning, when you have been out and taken 200 shots it is unlikely that your audience wants to see every single one of them. Be a ruthless editor and remove anything you wouldn’t hang on your wall, four shots at a slightly different angle of exactly the same thing is boring, pick the best and delete the other three.

It is tough to do, but it improves not only your photography (as you learn to not press the shutter unless you are sure), but also everyone else’s opinion of your work. Win win baby!

28 Apr 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Reviews, 0 Comments

LensGiant.com – Flash Rental

My flash has never really been all that wonderful, so I hardly ever use it. Well, I volunteered to take some pictures of Florida Governor Charlie Crist for the Orlando Job Fair and decided to try out my flash before the big day. Good thing I did, because the battery cover wasn’t fully closing, which meant the flash wasn’t charging.

Uh oh! 4 days before and now I’m all in a rush to rent a flash. My “go to” rental place here in town didn’t have a flash available at the time, so I decided to go through the links in a previous blog post about lens rental sites. Surprisingly a few of the rental places don’t rent flashes.

Thankfully, I came across LensGiant.com. They have both Canon and Nikon lens AND flashes! I ordered the Canon Speedlite 430EX II right away and picked 2 day shipping!

I ordered it on 4/13, before noon, and it shipped the same day. So it arrived, on time, on 4/15. The box arrived via FedEx very well packaged.

Included in the box with the flash was: the instruction manual for the flash, table stand, case, a copy of my order, rental guidelines/return date, checklist of what came with my order, the 3 closest FedEx locations around my area, return shipping label and a feeback form.

For an eight date rental on this flash, the amount was $21.00.
Two day shipping (including return) was $14.49.
So, my total bill for 8 days and shipping was $35.49.

Not bad when some places charge for shipping AND return shipping separate, plus some rates are more expensive.

I would highly recommend LensGiant.com. And I made sure to send my feedback form in with high ratings!
Have you used LensGiant.com? What equipment have you rented? What experience did you had? Would you use them again?

05 Feb 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Reviews, 0 Comments

Need to Rent a Lens?

To rent a lens it doesn’t matter if you are a pro or take pictures as a hobby or are going on a vacation. Renting the perfect camera lens for more than likely less than $100 for a week, what better way to get the pictures that you really want. Instead of spending $300 – $1,500 on buying the lens outright, why not rent and try them out? Think of it as test driving a car that you are thinking about purchasing.

Throughout the past couple of months I’ve been thinking about renting a lens, but I didn’t really know where to start. I mean, yeah, I can do some searching around online and see what places are out there. But how would I know who is good? Who has good prices? Who over charges for shipping? I never came across any place that had a list of a few of the websites in one place. (If there’s one out there, do tell!) This is where I started my “research” and wanted to share it with any others interested in photography..

To start things off, I went through all of the websites to find the same lens to compare the prices. Well, to say the least, that was a major failure. The three lens are quite close in mm and price. I will note for each website which lens it is.

– www.borrowlenses.com — Located in San Mateo, CA
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $25, Shipping is $19 for 2-Day, Local pick-up is available
Reservations can be made

– www.lensprotogo.com — Located in Acton, MA
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $55, Shipping is included
Reservations can be made up to 4 months in advance

– www.rentglass.com –Located in Kissimmee, FL
Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $21, Shipping is $13 for 1-3 Days; Local pick-up is available
Rental is based on a first come, first serve basis; Can rent 3 lenses at a time
*Side note: I e-mailed customer service about picking up a lens and got a response less than 30 minutes later. Great service!

– www.photolensrental.com — Located in San Rafael, CA
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $35, Shipping is $39.45
Lenses are on a first come, first serve basis; one lens at a time

– www.lensrental.com — Located in Cordova, TN
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8
1 week rental is $35, Shipping is $26 for 2-Day, Local pick-up is available
Reservations available
Guaranteed availability, given two weeks notice on a two-week rental
*Thanks to Will Glynn at lensrentals.com for additional information.

– www.adoramarentals.com — Located in New York, NY
Canon 60mm f/2.8 Compact Macro E-FS
1 week rental is $60/week, or $20/day
*Side note: Days in transit are included in the rental period

– www.rentmylenses.com — Located in Camden, AR
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1 week rental is $29, Shipping is $24.40
Reservations are available, See website for a “two-in-two guarantee”

– www.lensgiant.com — Located in Northville, MI
Canon 100mm EF f/2.8 Macro
8 day rental is $23, Shipping ground is free or 2-Day express is $10.37
Reservations are available

– www.prophotorental.com — Located in Denver, CO
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
7 day rental is $44.80 (at $6.40/day), 3-Day shipping is free, can upgrade to 2-day or overnight, Local pickup available
Reservations are available
4-day minimum, based on a day rate

– www.ziplens.com — Located in Brookline, MA
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1 week rental is $35, Shipping is $23 for 2-Day and $35 for Overnight, Local pickup available in Boston area
Reservations are available up to 3 months in advance
Gift certificates available

– www.cameralensrental.com — Located in Anderson, IN
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
1 week rental is $25, Shipping is $24.99 for Fed-Ex
Use code CLR and get 10% off your first order
Reservations can be made as far in advance as you want
Rent 4 lenses (doesn’t have to be at once) for a week or longer and get a 3-day rental for free, just pay the shipping and if needed longer, the difference in the rental period
*Side note: E-mailed for an “incomplete order in the database” by two different employees, within a hour of each other, both of them happened on a Sunday. Great customer e-mail service.

– www.mjlensrentals.com — Located in Wichita, KS
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
1 week rental is $56, Shipping is $31.62 USPS Priority Mail (2-3 days)
Rent as many as you want, may require a copy of your drivers license and/or security deposit
Not many different lenses available

I hope this information helps. I found it useful to gather all the information on a similiar type of lens from lots of different websites and then go from there. If you know of any lens rental sites/places that I didn’t mention please e-mail me at kelly@peglegpug.com and I will be sure to add them to any upcoming lists.

30 Jan 2009, Posted by Kelly in Blog, Reviews, 0 Comments

On the Search For…

Friday, January 30, 2009

I keep saying, “As soon as I get some extra money I’m going to rent a camera lens to try out.” Well, where is that extra money? And now that I finally picked up a shift from Disney (see previous post), I should have enough money to at least rent one for a day. Okay, maybe even a week. The problems now are: Where do I rent a lens from? And where am I going to venture out to take pictures?

The potential websites I have come across for renting DSLR camera lenses are: rentglass.com, borrowlenses.com, lensprotogo.com, photolensrental.com and lensrentals.com. I am still in the process of trying to find other sites and then I want to compare some reviews and prices. Ideally, I’d like to start renting a lens every month / every other month and do up a review on here about not only the lens, but the website I got it from (costs, shipping turnaround, packaging, etc).

As for where I will be going to take the pictures, I’ll probably just go wonder somewhere around town, whether it be one of the theme parks or a park or just some place.

I am now asking/begging for you to give me any websites you may have used before or have come across to rent camera lenses. I would love to have quite an array of places to go through over the next few months. As for places for me to go visit and take pictures, I am up for places around Florida/Central Florida area. As long as I can rip Jeff (peakarts.com & twitter.com/bananakin) away from the house for a bit, I’d like to be able to drive to the place over a weekend. So pass on any places, websites, etc. Comment below or send me an e-mail at kelly@peglegpug.com.