So I picked up a new toy attachment for my camera today – a Canon WC-DC58A wide-angle lens adapter.

I had wanted one of these for a while – I always feel like my indoor photos don’t quite capture the “scope” of some of the places I’ve been.

So, when the opportunity arose, I picked one up. If you do a little searching, you’ll find that these adapters aren’t cheap – they range from $150-$175, depending on where you go. And that price shows in the packaging – the lens comes in its own protective bag, with a cover for both the front and back of the lens. It’s also quite heavy – but then again, there is quite a bit of glass in this little lens!

This fun little device screws onto the front of the Canon LA-DC58E Conversion Lens Adapter, which itself snaps onto the accessory ring around the front of the Canon Powershot S2, S3, and possibly other S-series models’ main lens. And I have to say, it looks quite impressive there!

Though, the weight of the lens makes me worried, since the conversion tube is plastic after all… but I think as long as you’re not unnecessarily rough with it, it’ll be fine.

Of course, the most important aspect of the lens is not how it looks, but how it performs! So, I had to try it out.

Fortunately, I have a very useful test subject right here – my home office. My office is quite small & narrow, so it’s a perfect place to try out some wide-angle action.

Here’s a reference shot of my office, standing in the doorway to the rest of the house:

With just the stock lens, you can’t really see much of my office at all – the view is just too narrow.

Now, here’s a picture from the exact same position, but using my new wide-angle lens adapter:

As you can see, you can… well, see a lot more of my office (except for the floor, which is dark, because the light in my office is terrible).

In the first picture, you can only just see the very edge of my computer’s monitor, while in the wide-angle shot, you can see the whole monitor (and a little bit beyond). Also, you can see the bookcase on the left-hand side, which really helps show how narrow/cramped/small my office is – something that’s lacking from the first picture (where you might think the office is much bigger, and you’re just seeing a corner of it).

There is a very slight amount of distortion around the edges of the photo, but I had to look for it, because I didn’t see it at first.

All-in-all, I’m quite pleased with the results – and I can’t wait to give it it a try someplace more exciting than my home office!

I recently went on a photo shoot with some friends up to Franconia Notch in New Hampshire’s White Mountain region. While I did come back with some very nice photos (see my Flickr album if you’re interested), I may have gone a bit overboard with trying to be “artistic.”

Or maybe not… I do rather like the effect, and we all know I love seeing my name in print, so maybe it’s not that bad.

Still, I’m just glad I was able to get that effect I’d been going after so well!

I couldn’t help but notice the other night that the full moon was out – and it was really, really bright. So bright, in fact, that I decided I could hand-hold some photos of the moon!

In retrospect, I probably still should’ve used a tripod – after all, I was taking these photos at maximum (12x) zoom. Still, the moon was SO bright that I was able to take them with a relatively fast shutter speed.

They didn’t come out too bad; although they aren’t very interesting – there was nothing near the moon for a background or foreground or whatever.

Still, I’m pleased with the way they came out.

This last one is a shot of the moon without any zoom. It’s really amazing how small the moon is – or, to put it another way, how large it seems to our easily-tricked eyes!

I spent some time the other day with my telescope and the half-moon, but didn’t get any photos – although the view was spectacular. Once I figure out how to use my camera with the scope, perhaps I’ll have something I can share here. Until then, this is the best I can give!

The latest addition to my camera gear collection has finally arrived – a circular polarizing filter! Yay!

And here it is, in all its glory.

Almost makes my little (well, medium-sized) camera look like one of those big honkin’ DSLR cameras! Maybe now I can get the “big lens” effect – where people just “assume” you’re important if you have a big camera and lens (the same way people don’t question you in certain situations if you’re carrying a clipboard – you can imagine several others).

Here it is – a 58mm circular polarizer, mounted to the end of my Canon Conversion Lens Adapter.

I knew from the beginning that my Canon PowerShot S3 IS had the ability to add accessories like this via the adapter, and that was one of the main reasons I bought it instead of a “real” DSLR (the other reason was price – at the time, there was still a big difference between the S3 and the lowest-end DSLR). Now, I know it’s always going to be a compromise with this camera – after all, I can’t actually change the lens itself; I can only “add on” to it – but hey, we all gotta make some compromises, right? (Unless you’re rich and have an unlimited budge for photography, in which case why are you here?)

I must say, I’m looking forward to trying it out! I especially can’t wait to try it on water… or, since it’s winter, some nice snow shots. Should be fun!!

First off, let me say that I am NOT that great with Adobe Photoshop. I can get by, and I know how to do some things, but I’m strictly in the “amateur” category. And when it comes to photo processing in Photoshop, I’m even worse.

So I’m always excited when I find a new trick for improving or processing photos in Photoshop (since I’d never figure it out on my own). I think I found this one over at the Digital Photography School Blog.

Here’s the technique:

1. In Photoshop, make a duplicate layer of your background (Layer > Duplicate Layer).
2. Blur the duplicate layer a bit, just enough to blur out details, but not so much that everything becomes “blobs.” You’ll have to experiment yourself with how much blur to apply; sometimes you’ll use more, sometimes less. That’s what “Undo” and “Revert” are for, after all! I use the Gaussian Blur filter. (Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur.)
3. Open up the blurred layer’s blending options (Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options) and change it from the default blending mode of “Normal” to “Overlay.”

That’s it! (Note: the menu instructions I’ve given are for Adobe Photoshop CS2, so if you have a different version, your menus may be different.)

This technique increases contrast in the photo – or so I’m told, to me it seems to increase saturation a bit, too. In any case, it adds a very nice effect to the photo – almost a “glow” I’d say.

Here are some examples of what I’ve been able to do with this technique:

This photo looked rather dull until I applied this technique to it – then, suddenly, the trees were bright and the river was dark and the stones in the foreground became more… vivid, somehow. Unfortunately I didn’t save the original so I can’t show you a comparison.

But, I do have the original of another photo, so here’s a side-by-side comparison:

And here’s the exact same image after applying the technique I just described:

As you can see, the second image really just “pops” more than the first.

Now, this technique can’t be applied willy-nilly to any photo – it does tend to really darken the dark areas of your photos, so you lose some detail – you will have to experiment with your own photos and see what “works” for you. Eventually you’ll get to the point where you can “see” which photos might look better with this effect applied.

So there you have it. Hopefully you find this technique useful!