Just outside of Marble Falls.

Seems that many people had less than favorable conditions for viewing the Eclipse on 10-14-2023. In Central Texas, we had absolutely perfect weather. This is my photo of the eclipse at its max coverage for my location. Unfortunately, I am about 100 miles away from the optimum view of the "ring of fire". Still, this was a good warm up for the April total eclipse, which we ARE in one of the prime locations for viewing.

(Download)

I have used a Stroboframe for years. It keeps the flash high above the camera, AND when you flip from portrait to landscape, the flash stays above the camera. No extra attachments are needed, and you can support most any flash. In the days, long ago, I would use PC cords, but more recently, I prefer the wireless connection from the camera to the flash.

I think your choices under $100 are endless. I have enjoyed the Sunpak DF3600U for a number of years. It is designed with the Nikon and Canon in mind. Before TTL came about, I used other Sunpak flashes for years.
This one is currently $36.95 at B&H. You won't be disappointed.


https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=sunpak%20df3600u&sts=ma

Unfortunately, Picasa (no longer supported or available) would do this with a simple request in the menu. All you had to do was select the images you wanted to use and click on enter. I have managed to keep Picasa active on an older computer (and I back it up regularly), and will still upload my photos to it. Picasa made maintaining my photos so easy. They are stored by a title, in chronological order, and you can even do some simple corrections; color, brightness, shadows, crop. Once this computer dies, I will truly miss Picasa.

I have the one (I actually have two) that lets you plug in multiple items, and I have a couple of the single USB-C to USB adapters. The multi adapter has USB, HDMI, SD. I'm sorry that Apple chose to eliminate all of these options from the MacBook Air, especially the SD slot. They did the same thing on the Mac desktop. It only has four USB-C connections. That means you have to have adapters for the printer, the scanner, and the back up hard drive which runs several times a day.

Thanks for the information. I was at Pensacola in 1971, and went from there to the Naval Photographic Lab on Bolling AFB. That was an intermediate step before being assigned to the White House Communications Agency.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. And that is why I said I'm probably dating myself. If you Google the line below, you'll see that moving the flash off of the camera is exactly the purpose of the original "L" Bracket.


Kaiser Folding Metal "L" Flash Bracket with Hand Strap

I may be dating myself, but I always thought of an "L" bracket as a simple way to keep the flash away from directly over the lens. My early L brackets did not allow the camera to move from horizontal to vertical while keeping the axis the same since the "L" was fixed. My next acquisition was the Stroboframe. This device DID allow the flash to be centered above the camera, and the camera could be easily moved from horizontal to vertical while maintaining the axis point. I even used the Stroboframe when I was shooting with my Hasselblad as it allowed me to keep the flash head about a foot above the camera which helped move shadows lower behind the subjects. The Stroboframe was easily attached to a tripod if necessary, and my Stroboframes even came with a hand grip which made holding it quite comfortable.

Then the next thing to teach is why you choose to move either the aperture or shutter speed to the left or right. Aperture can control depth of field, and shutter speed can control motion...stop action or create an intentional blur. Photographing a waterfall with a fast shutter speed gives the illusion of ice...not necessarily what you want.

I have been using the Giottos quick release for many years. It is still available at Amazon for less than $25 for the base and one camera plate. Extra plates are also available from B&H for around $13. It is very heavy duty and mounts with the standard 1/4 X 20 thread. Also has bubble levels for both horizontal and vertical applications.

I bought a knock-off drone from Wish over two years ago, and for the most part it has been worth the cost (around $40). It is a good learning drone, and I'm very satisfied with the purchase. BUT then came the rub. Some two years later I noticed two charges on my credit card that I did not recognize. Both were from Wish, and both were for about $45+/-. I notified the card company and they immediately reversed the charge. I contacted Wish (via email was the only way) and they acknowledged the "possible" mistake. Their tracking information even showed that the item had been delivered (to somewhere in Russia!). The credit card came back on one of the charges saying that they agreed it was a fraudulent charge and they had made the reversed entry permanent. On the other one, they came back and ask for more information. Then Wish made the charge again! I finally convinced the credit card company that these were not made by me, and they agreed. They also cancelled the card and promptly sent me a new one. Watch out what you WISH for!

Not sure what camera you are using, but some cameras have two card slots. In the case of the Nikon 7001, for example, you have an option of choosing what each card does. You can have one act as back up, you can have both record the same (JPEG/JPEG or RAW/RAW), or you can have one record JPG and the other one RAW. If the later is the choice, then which card you take to the computer is the type of file found.

I have used both canvaspeople.com and easycanvasprints.com. The printing is of good quality, and the turnaround is fast. You have to pay attention to both of their specials. Sometimes they will offer free shipping, but charge higher prices for the prints, then they will do some pretty special prices on 11 X 14 and 16 X 20s, but charge a high price for the shipping. Just look for the best deal.

I also agree that the US tends to over Photoshop. I entered a contest in the early 1970's only to be very disappointed with the judges grand prize selection. It was a photo of a tree on a hill with a bull under it. As it turned out, there were two exposures printed to be one in black and white, then copied to make a new negative. Lastly, it was reprinted on color paper with an orange filter. The result appeared to be a bull under a tree looking like the sun might be rising. To me, it didn't even appear to be in focus! I decided then that I would not bother entering any more contests, and would stick to shooting and selling what the camera saw without any gimmickry. I'm retired now, and feel like I was successful and made a good number of people happy with the results. I worked as a corporate photographer for a major oil company, and shot weddings, and events on my own time.