Some colleagues and myself wandered around in the park during lunchtime earlier this week, and I took my recently purchased Canon EF 35mm f/2 lens.
Although we are well into winter, some of the trees are still showing plenty of autumn colours.

Canon EOS 50D, 35mm f/2 @35mm, 1/200 sec, f/5, ISO100

Another photo from a recent trip to Adelaide, a panning shot of a bus early one morning.

This was taken with the only lens I took to Adelaide (and Sydney) a Canon EF 35mm f/2 prime lens that I recently won on eBay. So far, I've been happy with the results from this lens, and am intending to write a review of it in the near future.

bus blur

Adelaide, South Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 35mm f/2 @35mm, 1/15 sec, f/8, ISO100

Last week, I spent a couple of days in Adelaide for work. While walking from my hotel to a customer's office one morning, I had my camera out, and took some photos.

Rundle Mall is an interesting place to walk, with some unique features.
There's a huge pair of mirror balls 4m high, officially called "The Spheres", but more commonly known as the "Rundle Mall Balls" or "Mall's Balls".

Rundle Mall Balls

Rundle Mall, Adelaide, South Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 35mm f/2 @35mm, 1/100 sec, f/5, ISO320

Earlier today, Phottix announced the release of a new wireless flash trigger, called the Phottix Atlas.

The features of the Atlas include:

• each unit is a transceiver, and can function as a receiver or a transmitter
• can be used to trigger remote flashes or studio lights
• range of upto 100 metres
• supports sync speeds upto 1/250 second
• can trigger flashes via built-in female hotshoe, 3.5mm socket or 6.3mm socket
• compatible with PocketWizards
• can also be used as a wireless shutter release
• uses two AA batteries

I haven't been able to get my hands on an Atlas yet, but based on my experience with other Phottix accessories, I would expect the Atlas to be of comparable high quality build, with reliable triggering.


For more details on the Phottix Atlas, check out these links:

• Phottix Atlas press release
• Strobist on the Atlas
• Charles Verghese's Atlas review
• buy the Phottix Atlas

After recently reading about levitating photos on redbubble.com, I wanted to give it a try.
This afternoon, I pulled out my camera, tripod, and Plato remote shutter release, rounded up a couple of my kids, and had some fun in the back yard.

Let me know what you think of the "grungy" look I used in post-processing,

self-portrait

back yard at home, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @24mm, 1/125 sec, f/4.5, ISO200

Taken from Bradley's Head, I like this view of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge lit up, as the last sunlight fades in the sky shortly after sunset.

Opera House and Harbour Bridge after dusk

Bradley's Head, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 50mm f/1.8 @50mm, 30 sec, f/9, ISO100

This photo was taken with the nifty-fifty lens (Canon 50mm f/1.8), a lens that is always fun to use, and typically provides sharp results.

A reader recently posted a comment on one of my earlier posts, saying he couldn't get his Phottix Aster (PT-V4) wireless flash trigger to trigger a flash when using his Canon 450D in liveview mode.

While I have done a lot of off-camera flash photography, I had never tried triggering a flash with my Canon 50D in liveview mode, and had no idea if there were any limitations.



Armed with my Canon 50D, a Canon 580EX flash, a few wireless flash triggers, and some PC sync cables, I did some testing in liveview mode.

Here are the results:

50D with Phottix Tetra wireless flash trigger	fails to trigger flash
50D with Phottix Aster wireless flash trigger	fails to trigger flash
flash directly connected to 50D pc sync socket	fails to trigger flash
50D with 580EX flash on hotshoe	successfully triggers flash
50D with Canon ST-E2 on hotshoe	successfully triggers flash

A quick look in the 50D manual provides some insight. It says the following about Silent Shooting mode when using liveview: In other words, with a Canon flash on the hotshoe, the camera will automatically change the Silent Shooting mode to "[Disable]" to ensure it can fire the flash. However, if a non-Canon device is attached to the camera (ie, a third-party flash trigger, or a PC sync cable), the camera will fail to trigger the flash if the Silent Shooting mode is not set to "[Disable]".

On the Canon 50D, "Silent Shooting" mode can be set in the "Live View function settings" menu.
After changing the Silent Shooting mode to "[Disable]", the 50D could successfully trigger a flash with the Phottix Tetra and the Phottix Aster while in liveview mode.

The third annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk is happening on Saturday 24 July 2010, and walker registrations opened yesterday.

Last year, over 32,000 people in over 900 locations around the globe participated - so now is the time to mark your diary for Saturday 24 July, and register for a photo walk.

A photowalk is a great way to walk around with other photographers, share tips and tricks, talk about gear, techniques and more, make new friends, and take photos. There is no requirement to have an expensive camera - anyone with a camera can participate.
For more info on the Worldwide Photo Walk, have a look at the FAQ, and for more info on photowalking have a look at Jeff Revell's Guide to Photowalking.

The timeline is as follows:

• May 24: Registration open for previous walk leaders
• June 1: New leader and walker registration opens
• July 24: PHOTO WALK!
• July 31: Deadline for submitting contest photos
• August 7: Deadline for local winner selections
• August 14: Grand Prize, Top 10 Honorable Mentions, and People's Choice winners announced

(Yes, that's right - there are prizes for photos taken on a photowalk on the day, if you chose to upload them for entry into the competition. You can see last year's winning photos here.)

Have a look at the Worldwide Photo Walk website to see if there is already a walk planned for your area, and sign up. There is no cost to participate in a walk on the day.

Each walk is limited to 50 people - and last year, there was only one walk in Perth, but this year there are already two walks registered for Perth (here and here).
Alternatively, you can sign up as a leader and plan a photo walk yourself on 24 July.