In the meantime, enjoy this capture taken with a Sigma 150-500mm on a Nikon D7000 at ISO 500, F6.3 at 1/400th second exposure. Focused manually on a sturdy tripod, disable lens vibration reduction, mirror lock-up enabled and a remote release to minimize even the slightest amount of shake.

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http://www.facebook.com/questions/182402061842376/?qa_ref=qd

Needless to say, I am still here and still working on updates. I hope to sit down tonight for a bit and cover my experience with my first time in a PPA print competition, what I learned and some tips I feel might help others do as well as I did in judging.

http://jeffsmithbooks.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/facebook-ads-for-photographers/

Luckily, I was able to see a specialist that prescribed me a much more effective eye drop that has cleared up virtually all of the symptoms. Though the virus is still there, I am less miserable and don’t look like I am possessed by demons anymore. (I’d post a picture but it is truly scary and/or disgusting to some people. Just imagine both eyes entirely blood red where it should be white.) I do still have some small pockets of inflammation in the cornea of my left eye that needs to be monitored so my vision isn’t completely in the clear yet but the new drops should also clear that up before I experience any permanent vision loss.
As an added sign or relief, the last minute holiday rush has ended so things can finally slow back to a much more normal pace and I can sit down and work on some further tests, tricks, video tutorials and posts.

Thanks for following along and have a great holiday regardless of what you celebrate!

Thanks again to all the regulars who visit, which keeps me going as well. (And I can tell the regular readers are growing in numbers too!)

In any case, less than 8 months have passed since I started the blog. I’ve made exactly 50 posts (51 including this one) and frequently think of new ideas, tutorials, tests and comparisons I plan on doing when time permits. So hang in there, this train has just started rolling.

In any case, I’m still testing the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport and will have some thoughts to share on it shortly. I’m also working on getting some other videos together for some of the current tutorials as well as some new ones. But right now, like most photographers, this is the busiest part of the year for me so spare time to sit down and work is sparse.

Lastly, have a great Thanksgiving and don’t forget the extra memory cards for those family moments! (Hopefully good ones.)

So keep on coming and I will keep the updates coming.

On that note, i did find a fantastic program for the Mac to record videos of the screen with audio and even a webcam feed if I wanted to scare the world with my ugly mug. It is called ScreenFlow from Telestream Inc. Two thumbs up for this gem of a program! (It’s a little pricey to register, which is why I will be using the demo until I can come up with the $100 fee to unlock the full version. Donations anyone?)

That is all for now.

Edit: ScreenFlow 2 is sweet! Screencasting couldn’t be easier… So I dug up the cash for the full version.

The link is in the upper right hand corner of the menu just below the Search box.

I have also added a link at the bottom of the same menu to the top posts (by hits).