Up the river without a viewfinder

[WIT]

Tired of the same old perspective with vacation photos? One way to make your cruise photos more interesting is to use some of those new features you paid for when you got that latest camera. The first and most obvious new feature everyone should use more often is that ‘TV screen thing’ they put on the back of your camera, the LCD.

 

To demonstrate using the LCD instead of the optical viewfinder, I have labeled some shots from my recent Budapest-Prague Christmas Markets cruise with codes that explain how the camera was held as I looked at the LCD. My camera has NO viewfinder at all. You can see these at

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/billwitowski/AmadeusDanubeChristmasMarkts

 

Some of these shots would be impossible without using the LCD, and all did use only the LCD. Here are the code descriptions for my 62 Budapest/Prague LCD-only photos:

 

RHT - Right Hand Tripod. This is the aiming position all the TV cops use when they must enter an insecure location. Do any of them hold their weapon next to their eyeballs? No, it’s right elbow firm against rib cage, left hand grabs right wrist to firm up the triangle, right hand takes the shot.

 

RHE - Right Hand Extended. Not as stable as RHT, but at times you must extend to get the shot, just trust what you see in the LCD

 

HOP - Held on Pole. Use your stick, cane, crutch, or trekking pole to stabilize shot.

 

HOK - Held on knee. Occasionally the only available shot is low and to the side, like a bus aisle.

 

HAW - Held at Waist.

 

2H - Two-handed, elbows firm at sides for stability.

 

HOH - Held Over Head.

 

Has anyone else used one of these ‘new-fangled’ features to take a different cruise photo? I’d like to see your discovery and learn from it before I take my next cruise in April.

[Buckland]

Hi Wit,

 

Great photos, I especially like the slit in the skirt! I've tried some of those techniques - they work well. You may want to have a look at Picasa - it's photo editing software from Google. Just go to the home page of Google and click on "More". You'll see it near the bottom on the right hand side. It's probably one of the best bits of software I've used. You can STRAIGHTEN your photos - no matter how big they are - even panoramics! The red eye correction is really cool too. I noticed that a couple of you pics could use some straightening - I'm sure you love it. I have edited more than 90% of my shots with this program - it's great - and it's FREE!

 

No, I'm not getting paid for this..

 

Buck

[npphotog]

Hello WIT -

 

GT PH - Great Photos

 

NC - Nice Composition

 

GDF - Good Framing

 

KUTGW - Keep up the good work

 

Wi - Willard

[WIT]

Thanks for the encouragement, Buck! Picassa is a wonderful tool (been using it for a few years) and I enjoy hearing from someone as they discover all it's neat (hard to believe it's free) features. My favorite lately is it's ability to accept and edit labels - I was able to label photos kept from each day on my laptop, so I arrived home knowing a bit about each photo. WIT

 

Wil - THX fr yr inpt!

[agabbymama]

WOW! I'm impressed. Very nice pictures, I especially liked the ones in Hungary. I've been twice and have some really nice shots too.

 

I have a Kodak digital, but I rarely use it. I prefer my film camera. I can't see the LCD without my glasses on, but don't need the glasses for anything other than reading up close, so the idea of seeing what you are taking doesn't work for me. I still have to wait until I get home and put them on the computer. Then I don't think I save anything to print them on my printer. And I like to put them in photo albums, I don't use the computer or TV to view the pics. But my camera says the LCD uses twice as much battery time as using the viewfinder anyway.

 

But I did enjoy looking at your photos with the labels. Happy travels.:p

[WIT]

Buck - You were absolutely right about straightening some of those photos. I looked over the album, cranked up Picassa and 5 minutes later uploaded seven straightened photos to the webalbum listed in my opening post for this thread.

 

I expected to see both the old and straightened photos but Picassa automatically removed the original. The ones I straightened were:

 

Store Window Esztegom

Depraved Life

Nuremburg Christmas

River & CK

Slit Skirt

Lit tower CK

Concrete Spiral to Restaurant

 

A few other photos contain lines that require you to choose so I did. Thanks for the suggestion and the opportunity to show how easy it is to work with Picassa.

[WIT]

agabbymoma: I would very much appreciate learning more about your experiences in Hungary. We recently decided to return to Budapest next fall to cruise the Danube East to the Black Sea on the Amadeus Allegro. I am sure we will arrive early to further explore Hungary so your suggestions could help a lot. Last December we arrived a day early for our Budapest-Prague Christmas Markets cruise and stayed at the Hilton in the Castle District next to St.Mathias and Fishermen's Bastion (had a great meal of duick and venison across the street at 'Apetito'). The next day we did a bus tour with local guide of three towns in the Danube Bend region: Esztegom, Visogrod, and Szentendre. En route we enjoyed driving past the large Roman ruins at Aquincum and still remember the local Hungarian lunch we had just outside Esztegom: a 'Kiraly style' meat platter of goose liver, pork tenderloin, marinated steak, chicken breast, and cheese-stuffed thuringer wrapped with bacon on top of a bead of vegetables and rice! With two big 20 oz. Krusovice beers the bill was 6350HUF or about $8 each. We couldn’t finish it. Before boarding our cruise the next day we bus-toured the two cities and stopped at the Christmas market at Vorosmaty Square where we had espresso and sacer torte at Cafe Gerbaud.

 

We would have liked to have tried one of the many thermal baths and more of the local culture. If you were me and had two days in Budapest where would you go and what would you do?

 

Regarding cameras, I also sometimes have problems seeing the LCD in bright sunlight - even when setting it to High Intensity. I've used hats to shade the LCD, but what works best for me is a sticky-note. It's easy to move/remove - it creates just enough shade where I can see the LCD in the sun. But I understand that the LCD even when visible is much smaller than a 4x6 photo when printed.

 

My daily trip routine is to pull the photo storage card from the camera so I can pop it into a slot my small laptop where I can quickly and clearly see each photo using Picassa on the 10"x7" screen. Most photos get deleted and I label the saved ones using the laptop keyboard. We also like to have printed photo album for each trip, so when we get home we 'star' the ones we like (a Picassa feature - you just tap the space bar while viewing a picture), then click the Order Prints button and an hour later I drive to my neighborhood Walgreens where I pay 19 cents a 4x6 print. If a family member or someone wants to see more than my printed trip photos they can look at my picassaweb album.

 

Batteries are also an issue with me. An absolutely necessary extra lithium-ion battery for my Panasonic TZ-1 costs about $60, so I rationalize its cost by knowing that my storage cards each hold about 800 photos for $15 and can be wiped clean and reused. The money I have saved on 35mm film allows me to take an extravagant number of shots and just print the really good ones.

[bcrcornet]

Regarding cameras, I also sometimes have problems seeing the LCD in bright sunlight - even when setting it to High Intensity. I've used hats to shade the LCD, but what works best for me is a sticky-note. It's easy to move/remove - it creates just enough shade where I can see the LCD in the sun.

You could consider using a pop-up shade on your camera's LCD screen. Here's one example. My apologies if posting the link contravenes forum rules; I assume the moderators will delete this post if this is the case. :o

[Buckland]

Hey bcrcornet

 

Those pop-up shades are pretty cool, I would have used them had I kept my old camera. The one I have now has an LCD screen that folds away when not in use, which is the majority of the time for me as I prefer the view finder. It never fails me even in the brightest sunlight.

 

Buck

[cmthomas]

Great find bcrcoronet! Thanks for the link.

 

Clarence:)

[agabbymama]

agabbymoma: I would very much appreciate learning more about your experiences in Hungary. We recently decided to return to Budapest next fall to cruise the Danube East to the Black Sea on the Amadeus Allegro. I am sure we will arrive early to further explore Hungary so your suggestions could help a lot. Last December we arrived a day early for our Budapest-Prague Christmas Markets cruise and stayed at the Hilton in the Castle District next to St.Mathias and Fishermen's Bastion (had a great meal of duick and venison across the street at 'Apetito'). The next day we did a bus tour with local guide of three towns in the Danube Bend region: Esztegom, Visogrod, and Szentendre. En route we enjoyed driving past the large Roman ruins at Aquincum and still remember the local Hungarian lunch we had just outside Esztegom: a 'Kiraly style' meat platter of goose liver, pork tenderloin, marinated steak, chicken breast, and cheese-stuffed thuringer wrapped with bacon on top of a bead of vegetables and rice! With two big 20 oz. Krusovice beers the bill was 6350HUF or about $8 each. We couldn’t finish it. Before boarding our cruise the next day we bus-toured the two cities and stopped at the Christmas market at Vorosmaty Square where we had espresso and sacer torte at Cafe Gerbaud.

 

We would have liked to have tried one of the many thermal baths and more of the local culture. If you were me and had two days in Budapest where would you go and what would you do?

 

Regarding cameras, I also sometimes have problems seeing the LCD in bright sunlight - even when setting it to High Intensity. I've used hats to shade the LCD, but what works best for me is a sticky-note. It's easy to move/remove - it creates just enough shade where I can see the LCD in the sun. But I understand that the LCD even when visible is much smaller than a 4x6 photo when printed.

 

My daily trip routine is to pull the photo storage card from the camera so I can pop it into a slot my small laptop where I can quickly and clearly see each photo using Picassa on the 10"x7" screen. Most photos get deleted and I label the saved ones using the laptop keyboard. We also like to have printed photo album for each trip, so when we get home we 'star' the ones we like (a Picassa feature - you just tap the space bar while viewing a picture), then click the Order Prints button and an hour later I drive to my neighborhood Walgreens where I pay 19 cents a 4x6 print. If a family member or someone wants to see more than my printed trip photos they can look at my picassaweb album.

 

Batteries are also an issue with me. An absolutely necessary extra lithium-ion battery for my Panasonic TZ-1 costs about $60, so I rationalize its cost by knowing that my storage cards each hold about 800 photos for $15 and can be wiped clean and reused. The money I have saved on 35mm film allows me to take an extravagant number of shots and just print the really good ones.

 

I lucked out the first time I went to Budapest. I found a Hungarian guide that speaks English. Agnes is her name, and her website is www.tourguide.hu/ Take a look at her website. There is lots of info there. I hired her for 4 days, but we ended up together at least some part of my 7 days there. We have become good friends. My second trip to Hungary I stayed at her house and she drove us all around. We went North to the mountains for 3 days, down to Lake Balaton for 3 days(largest inland lake in Europe) to Tihany and Soffolk. We stayed at lovely little inns in the country. Did the same Danube Bend area you did. There is a nice open air museum near Szentendre that we went to. You must do the Gellert bath. There are three pools inside and the big one outside that does waves. The Hotel is so beautiful too. And you must visit Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube River right in Budapest. There are no cars allowed, so you either have to walk, or there is a bus that goes around and shows you the sights on the island. Heroes Square and Parliament are also a must. The State Opera House is another must see. We went to a concert there more to see the inside and just be able to say we went. My grandparents came from Budapest in 1905 or 1906, that was the reason for my visit. We also spent about 10 hours in the National Archives looking for their birth records, with no luck.

 

I loved the countryside and Budapest is a lovely old capitol. Wish I had more vacation time so I could go back more. Have a great trip!:p

[tommui987]

Don't take (digital camera) pictures while wearing polaroid sunglasses!

[WIT]

Agabbymoma - Thanks for the quick response about Budapest.

 

tommui987 - You are definitely right about polarized lenses and LCDs.