Backup Backup Backup.

How-To 2 Responses »
Dec 302008

I thought I should wirte a quick post on the importance of backing up your files and photos from your computer. I’m writing this from an internet cafe, the hard drive from my computer has terminally failed for the second time in less that 12 months.

Hard disks are mechanical, all mechanical things will eventually fail, theres no question of that. Its just a matter of time. When will they fail? For the most part you can never tell, but they will, trust me.

Now, im not panicking about this, I am very careful about backing up my files so I know that I haven’t lost anything. My primary drive in my computer is backed up automatically every hour by Time Machine which is the program built into OSX 10 (leopard) on the mac. All my digital photos are stored on external drives and they are stored redundantly with identical copies on two seperate 1TB dives. As a further precaussion I also put select files on an internet storage facility to cover myself against something like a house fire that would take out all of my drives.

If you do not backup up your files you will lose them eventually. It might be next week or it might be in 10 years but give it time and it will happen. It`s not all doom and glom though, with the price of hard disk space falling through the floor now though there is no excuse not to backup your files. 1TB drives are available for $100 and 1TB holds a lot of photos. With the invention of storage robots such as the Drobo there is just no excuse. It couldnt be simplar to make your files redundant these days. Raid systems from companies such as LaCie take care of everything for you and the Drobo system is even upgradeable so you can just keep adding more and more storage to it as required. My current external drives are nearly full and I will be testing out the drobo system soon i think.

If you are reading this and thinking ` oooh I have been meaning to backup up my files for a long time` I urge you to stop reading right now and do just that. One day you will kick yourself if you don`t.

I`m taking this opportunity to upgrade my computer system too but when i`m fully back online in a couple of days time expect an update about my trip to Vancouver last week to shoot with Poorboyz productions.

Happy new year!!

Posted by Dan Carr at 11:12 pm Tagged with: , ,

5DMKII - Quick video test

Uncategorized 2 Responses »
Dec 212008

The snow has been falling in Vancouver, and that means its time to shoot urban!  I took a break from shooting stills yesterday though to film for a couple of minutes with my 5DMKII to see just what sort of video you can get with fast moving subjects and panning.  I think I have a lot to learn about video if i’m to put it to good use.  As usual, pointing a camera at a snowy scene provides less than stellar results from autoexposure mechanisms.  Snow is typically rendered 2/3 of a stop or more underexposed as the camera exposes it for a neutral grey instead of white.  If you are shooting stills you can just shoot on manual but the video on the 5DMKII doesnt allow this so generous application fo the exposure compensation dial is in order, with hindsight i might have been a touch heavy handed with this example…. but I did learn something.  The exposure compensation dial in movie mode seems to adjust the ISO setting and not the shutter speed or the aperture.  I haven’t figured out if this is the same in all situations yet though. Click here to view the HD version.


5dMKII test from Dan Carr on Vimeo.
To me it looks like the shutter speed it picked for this shot was too slow?  It was very dark , far far darker than this video would have you believe.  The sun was long below the horizon.  But I haven’t found a way yet to check what shutter speed was used after you have shot it.  I think the results would have been far better in brighter light.  Perhaps I will give it another try next week.

Posted by Dan Carr at 11:38 pm

How to make a sequence in Photoshop.

Uncategorized, video 6 Responses »
Dec 152008

I get asked this question every week so I have finally got round to making a tutorial video about it.


Photoshop Tutorial :: How to make a sequence from Dan Carr on Vimeo.

Posted by Dan Carr at 12:12 am Tagged with: , , , ,

UpDown Magazine feature and portfolio

Published No Responses »
Dec 142008

A couple of months ago I was interviewed by a writer from the UpDown Magazine.  A Canadian magazine available in Montreal,Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary areas that explores the arts and culture of life on the snow. 

These were the photos that were also featured in the magazine:

Posted by Dan Carr at 2:33 pm Tagged with: , , ,

First shoot with 5D Mark II !

5d Mark II 1 Response »
Dec 102008

Last week a new camera arrived the day before a big shoot for a large pharmaceutical company.  I’m not one for going out and shooting test cards and greyscales and all that kind of stuff.  I simply like to test my gear in the situations that I normally find myself. Draw from this what you will then, it is not intended as any sort of review on this camera, there are plenty of those popping up daily on the web.  This is simply a few example shots from my shoot last week, and a few initial thoughts on the camera.

The shoot was to take place in Whistler, BC.  It was of a snowboarder and there was a very specific shot list given to me by the client.  Easy right?  No……  Unfortunately Whistler, normally one of the premiere ski and snowboad destinations in the world, has been hit with some fairly warm weather lately.  Instead of fresh snow and endless terrain, we were left with sheet ice and only a couple of runs open in the whole resort.  Time to apply some creative thinking and some interesting lighting to detract from the far from perfect snow conditions……

This shot was lit with an Elinchrom Ranger at full power coming from the left held up high by my assistant who was wearing a backpack containing the ranger kit.  The Ranger’s 1200 W/S let me shoot right into the sun and turn what was an icy, bleak looking day into something dramatic.  We did a couple of takes on this but this was the first one, and probably my favorite one.  Then we moved onto some portrait stuff and a bit more action at the end of the day when the clouds started to look cool.

If you click here you can see a 100% crop from one of the portrait shots to give you an idea of just how big the photos are from a 21 megapixel shot!

At the end of the first day a video production crew was also interviewing the snowboarder from the shoot.  The interview took place under tungsten lights in a dimly lit room.  Perfect for viewing the high iso ability of the 5DMKII.  This shot was taken at iso 2500, there is also a 100% crop from the sleeve of his shirt.  I think the quality at that iso is stunning!  As I said my aim wasn’t to test the iso, so I only shot at what I needed and that was 2500.  I think the result is pretty stunning, even the grain that is produced has a nice look to it and I don’t mind it at all.  Especially with such large files, at 21 megapixels the grain is unnoticeable when printing at smaller sizes.

Another thing that struck me was the battery life, it has been significantly improved from the original 5D.  Cold weather usually sucks the life from batteries but after a whole days shooting I wasnt even down to 50% and my spare battery never left my bag in 2 days shooting.  The screen on the back is also incredibly bright, comparing it to my 1D MKIIN it’s like night and day, I could actually see images on the back of it even in fairly bright sunlight.  Zooming in on images on the new VGA screen it is now also possible to tell if you actually nailed the focus or not.  The body of the camera also seems to be a little sturdier that the original.

Next up i’m looking forward to experimenting with the video capabilities of the camera.  Next week i’m off to Revelstoke with the Poorboyz crew for some snowmobile access backcountry skiing so I will play with that while i’m away.  Stay tuned!

Posted by Dan Carr at 3:28 pm

DEEP WINTER photo challenge

Industry News No Responses »
Dec 092008

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of receiving an invite to take part in this winter’s DEEP WINTER photo challenge, presented by Arcteryx in my home town of Whistler in British Columbia.

Myself and three other professional snow photographers will battle the elements and storms of the West coast for three days in January to put together a slide show of images to display to a crowd of 2000 people at the Chateau in Whistler.

For the last couple of years, this competition has been blessed with deep powder and stormy days.  With a bit of luck we will have the same this year and it should lead to some great shots!

Posted by Dan Carr at 12:03 am Tagged with: , , ,

Video accessories for the Canon 5D Mark II: Part 2 - Video tripod heads

5d Mark II, Gear Reviews 13 Responses »
Dec 052008

Following on from Part 1 where I took a look at some useful sound accessories for the 5DMKII, this week I’m going to be taking a look at video heads for your tripod.  For photographers out there wishing to take advantage of the video capabilities of this camera , there is no getting around the fact that you won’t be able to use your current photographic tripod head.  Normally I use a Really Right Stuff BH-40, whilst this does have a separate panning base which might be usable for panning horizontally , it would not allow any vertical panning and i think the horizontal pan would be tough without a handle.

So how does a video head differ from a photographic one and which ones are people most likely to  find useful for the 5DMKII?

A photographic ballhead is designed to be easy and quick to position in one place and then lock solid while you take your shot.  A video tripod on the other hand has 2 jobs.  It needs to lock solid should you wish to to shoot something statically but also move smoothly should you wish to shoot a panning shot horizontally or vertically.  As with photographic ballheads you can spend as much or as little money on one of these as you want.  I asked around several film guys that I know and it turned out that all of the use the exact same head, the Manfrotto 501HDV.  Further investigation showed this head to be extremely popular and surprisingly good value for around $200.  It weights 1.6kg and will hold a load of 6kg.  But 6kg is a lot more than I am going to need to hold, the 5DMKII only weighs 810 grams and I dont have any lenses that weigh 5kg!

Manfrotto offers a solution to this though….. the 701HDV.  Introduced in May 2008 as a replacement to the 701RC2, this is the most affordable true-fluid head on the market today and looks just like a shrunken 501HDV.  It has a capacity of 4kg but weighs half the weight of the 501 which is also useful if i need to carry it around as well as all of my usual photographic gear.  I ordered a 701HDV along with my 5DMKII which arrived a few days ago and  so far I have been very impressed with it.  The panning base locking knob is somewhat crude but it does the job and pans very smoothly with an easily adjustable resistance.  The vertical panning relelase is via a large knob on the side (see photo) and it locks solidly when you dont want things to move around.  Construction is also impressively solid, and feels like it will stand up admirably to the harsh environments that I use my equipment in.  A spirit level is included on the base and the panning handle is switchable to whichever side of the head is most comfortable.  All this for $170!  I’m a big fan of this head, for the price I don’t think you can beat it.  Considering the relatively light weight of the 5DMKII compared to most other video systems, I think this is the perfect solution.

For those people that are looking for a little bit more weight capacity you might want to take a look at my review for the Manfrotto 503 HDV.

701 HDV next to a 503 HDV

701 HDV next to a 503 HDV

701 HDV next to a 503 HDV

701 HDV next to a 503 HDV


Adobe Photoshop CS5

Posted by Dan Carr at 7:59 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

Photo of the week - Austin Ross

Photo of the week No Responses »
Dec 052008

This is my favorite shot from an urban trip with Theory-3 media.  For a while I struggled to find a good angle to make an interesting shot.  There was nothing on either side of the rail to use for composition and I was disappointed with the shots.  Then I decided to get right up against a wall in front if the rail….. looking better.  After a couple of shots like that it still needed something extra.  I grabbed a red gel and fitted it to my Canon 580EX flash and put it on top of my camera pointing left at the wall.  I plugged my pocketwizard trigger into the PC socket on the side of the camera and BAM there it was.  This other shot shows what the rail and the surroundings looked like.

Strobist info:

Shot with a Canon 1DMKIIN 1/250th f5.0 70mm on a 70-200 2.8L IS.  Lighting was from 3 sources.  On camera flash with red gel pointing at the wall.  Elinchrom Ranger at full power about 10ft to camera right and 2 vivitar 285s on full power at the top of the rail just off to the left hidden by the wall.

Posted by Dan Carr at 2:11 pm Tagged with:
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