My most popular photograph

I was in Banff, Alberta when I took this photograph: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rocky-mountains-on-spring-day-615715556.  When I took the photo, I thought it was just a generic mountain shot.  The lighting was harsh since it was taken at mid day.  I did not like the photo in colour.  I converted it into black and white.  I uploaded it to Shutterstock and hoped that it would be at least accepted.  It was accepted a few days later and at that point I thought it would never sell.  At all.  Today it sold 3 times.  It's sold for a grand total of 225 times since April 2017 becoming my most popular photograph ever on Shutterstock.  I have it on my own website as well if you would like to purchase it and hang it on your wall:  http://josefpittner.photos/featured/14-the-rockies-josef-pittner.html.  This photo is the reason I want to go back to Alberta as soon as possible and get more shots like this.  I do miss the mountains of Alberta.  I miss being outdoors in the Rocky mountains.  I want to go to all the national parks in Canada and the USA that are located in the west.  I believe it is my calling.

Loyalty

To family and a few friends.  I can count on one hand how many loyal friends I have.  At times I don't think I even need hands to count the amount of friends that are loyal. Today I feel like I can only count on my family and my girlfriend.  I'll pick myself up by doing some photography.  That always cheers me up. Because photography is awesome.

Review of the Sony RX10 Mark II

This bridge style camera is a really good travel camera that produces excellent pictures and 4k video. It uses the same chip as the RX100 line and the Sony FDR AX100 B 4k camcorder.  Being a bridge style camera the 24mm-200mm f2.8 is non removable.  

Yes there are two new models, the III and IV with longer lenses but they are also slower at the long end capturing less light than the f2.8 Carl Zeiss lens.  You can look at my Shutterstock profile here to see the capability of this fantastic little camera.  It's quite a bit bigger than the RX100 line of cameras but way smaller and lighter than a regular DSLR camera.  It also does not over heat when shooting in 4k mode.  It has the same 1" sensor as the RX100 line of pocket cameras.

It shoots 4k video at only 24fps or 30fps.  But at 1080p you can shoot all the way up to 960fps slow motion.  With the 20 megapixel sensor, this bridge camera takes great photos and videos.  Sony is really known for their sensors supplying other camera manufacturers.

Some pros of the camera are:

1. Great photo quality
2. Great video quality
3. Shoots 4k video
4. Shoots slow motion video
5. Light in weight
6. Very portable
7. Picture profiles for both still and videos

Some cons of the camera

1. No inter changeable lens
2. Battery life
3. Feels small in the hand

In the near future I will be upgrading to the Sony RX10 Mark IV just for the reach of the lens being a 24MM to 600MM.  Really great for those nature shots.

Still adding photos

Still going thru my photos from my trip to Arizona and I keep finding more and more photos that I like.  I'm of course adding them to my Shutterstock portfolio and my own personal website.  Arizona is certainly a beautiful state with extremely nice people.

Shooting panoramas

Did another walk around from where I work to the Museum of Canadian History.  This walk takes me about 90 to 120 minutes to complete as I stop along the way to take photos.  Today I decided to shoot some panoramas with my Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f2.8 70-200M L series lens.  I gripped the camera vertically and started shooting at 70MM.  I stitched about 8-10 vertical shots in Adobe Lightroom CC and colour corrected, removed sensor noise, corrected white balance and then posted on this blog.

I didn't get to edit many more shots as I had a few errands to run after work.  Tomorrow will be the day for editing.  Actually maybe next week as we're supposed to get sunshine till sometime next week.  I want to be outside and use my camera.  Editing is for those rainy, miserable days.

Shot this in July 2015 with the Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f2.8 17-35MM L series lens.  I think I had the lens about a month and I was still testing the lens out.  It's a great Canon lens.  

I'm editing a few photos from the past couple of years as it's raining pretty much the whole weekend. Trying a new technique in editing and re uploading the files to Shutterstock, Bigstockphoto, Alamy and Fotolia.  Most have already been accepted on Bigstockphoto so I'm just waiting for the others to catch up.  Hopefully they'll be accepted soon.

This weekend

Some people are crazy.  It's roughly plus thirty degrees celsius in Ottawa this weekend.  With the humidity, temperatures are nearing plus forty degrees celsius.  The reason I say people are crazy in Ottawa is because it's Race Weekend where people run either 2km, 5km and 10km or in some cases all three.

I was there in downtown Ottawa yesterday photographing the event.  I heard one of the announcements that they had a record number of people needing medical attention due to heat stroke and heat exhaustion.  Most of the people running wither either my age or older.  These people are going to end up with hip replacements or needing work done on their knees if not now, later in life.  But it does offer great photography.  So keep doing it you crazy people.

Algonquin Park

Heading up to Algonquin Park today.  Hope I see some nice wildlife.  Probably not, but it'll be a nice drive up and time time spending it in one of the most amazing parks in the world. And, best of all, the cameras are coming with me.  :)