Paterson Photography Ltd.

If you have taken any of my courses you would hear me talk about Altra Battery on 3 Ave S in Lethbridge.  If you need any battery they will have it, know where to get it, or tell you if there is a better choice to use.  I have bought many batteries from them for my vehicles, camper, cameras, phones and more.  I have never once stumped them when asking a question and have gotten some GREAT information (yes I did check it out with others).

One time I had a flash battery pack rebuilt.  Was done the same day and the cost was a quarter of what the manufacture wanted to do the same thing.

They may not be the most normal people working there, but I would say they are the best for batteries at GREAT prices!

I am not going to get too in-depth in this as just about every camera book has a procedure for cleaning the sensor.  I did want to say a couple things in addition to what your books may say:

1 – DO NOT use any canned or compressed air to clean the inside or outside of your camera.  Outside the air can actually blow dirt into the camera, inside air can contain particles (very small) that will damage glass on sensors or blow mirrors out of the camera.  If you want air to use you can buy a manual blower that will do this.

2 – Be careful if you use cleaning fluid to clean your sensor.  I received this from a sensor cleaning company “Avoid using Methanol (alcohol cleaner comes under diff names such as Eclipse), this solvent may harm your sensor coating”. This is something that I did not know.

3 – Make sure that before you try cleaning your sensor that the batteries are fully charged.  Having the mirror drop as the camera shuts off will damage the mirror if you are poking around inside the camera.

Good luck and good cleaning!

I am often asked what is the best way to do correcting in Photoshop?  Just today I had a client ask a couple great questions that I thought deserved a posting on the blog.

Question: How do you do color corrections and levels in Photoshop?

Answer: I use adjustment layers whenever possible.  Why? If you use adjustment layers then save the file in PSD you can go back and see what you have done, make small adjustments from the last place that you adjusted to and finally if you get one image looking great and you have a number of others that need the same adjusting then you can drag the adjustment layers to other images.

So how do I do this?

1 – Open your image

2 – Select Adjustment layer (see picture below)

3 – Make your adjustment

4 – Select okay

5 – When done save as a PSD file so that next time you open it the layers will still be accessible and adjustable.

It is as easy as that!

I have gone to NAPA in Coaldale for years, it seems to be one of those places that driving out of the way for is well worth it.  The service is great, the help that you get is first rate and every time I have shown up there I have been treated VERY well.  I have come in with many questions and each time left with some great ideas to help me solve any problems or ideas for projects that I have been working on.  The last time I stopped in I needed a couple items, told the guy behind the counter what I was looking for and in a couple minutes had everything that I needed.

One of the things that I really like is that I am told the truth when looking for things, sometimes it is not what I want to hear (this is going to cost this much $), but when I have checked it out with others the price has been fair and the information accurate.

Over the years I would say that the service is a steady 10 out of ten.  Way to go!

This is one of those businesses that you would never expect to get exceptional service at as it is a fast food place, but for a number of years each time I have gone there, day or night, I have gotten very pleasant staff and staff that seemed to actually care.  So many times I have gone to fast food places that treated me like I was interfering with the staffs social life that it is a pleasure to go some place that treats customers like they are customers and not the enemy.

I would say that over the years they have scored a easy 9 out of 10 and many times it is a 10!