dballance
dballance's JournalThanks for this month's photo contest - HDR
I was a bit pissy when I first saw the contest about HDR because I'd never played with that sort of thing in my camera and software. I didn't even know it existed.
Then when I went about researching HDR and followed up by dragging my tri-pod out and getting exposures I was really happy I had to learn something new.
Anyone know of a "reliable" fire & water-proof safe for media?
Like most people these days I archive my photos/videos and my docs etc. on DVD (soon to be Blu-Ray).
Is there a fire safe out there that actually works? I checked consumer's reports and just did general google. This one from SentrySafe http://www.amazon.com/SentrySafe-QA0110-Fire-Safe-Waterproof-Storage/dp/B001F7HPMS keeps popping up.
Other background. I've tried the online backups - too slow given my connection speed. Yes, I'm kind of just thinking about stashing my backups at a friend's house in return for doing the same for them. That's off-site storage but a pain to maintain.
I was listening to NPR this morning. They had a photographer on as their guest.
It was fun to listen to NPR. Yeps, I'm such a liberal lefty.
It was fun to listen to a professional photographer. He admitted that luck had a lot to do with his great pictures.
I take tons of photos and I hope one of them will be special. I hope luck will grant me a time and place for a great picture. 
Filing System/Photo Management Suggestions?
So how does one file photos and get back to them easily these days? I started out just creating folders by broad subjects like Family, Landscapes and so on an then folders by date under those. It just takes forever to find a photo though.
I see stuff on the web about Lightroom and other software. Anyone have experience and suggestions they'd like to share. Inexpensive and simple is good. I guess at a minimum I should be able to tag people, places and keywords for search.
On Edit: I'm primarily a MAC user.
Can anyone reccommend a good English translation of the Qur'an?
I'm a curious type of person and I like to be educated. I have read the Bible, the Book of Morman and yet haven't read the Qur'an or the Vedas. As a student of life I think I should read both of the latter among other things.
I went online to the Kindle store and there were so many versions of an English translation of the Qur'an I didn't know which one to pick. Reviews on many of them claimed some bias by the translator of the particular version.
Is there a recommended version I should choose? It's okay if it's not downloadable I can pick it up at a bookstore I'm sure. And any study guides/commentaries that are useful would be nice too.
Thanks!
Profile Information
Name: DaveGender: Male
Hometown: Gallatin, TN
Home country: USA
Current location: Portland, OR
Member since: Mon Nov 6, 2006, 03:59 PM
Number of posts: 5,756