tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15931632701213441992024-02-19T11:52:14.317-05:00FACzen Tech TipsPhotography Tips, Techniques and LinksGlenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-45289998833898107652015-04-07T17:50:00.002-04:002015-06-04T17:58:15.680-04:00Exporting Images from LightroomWhy is the concept of sizing or setting the aspect ratio of images for print so difficult for some people to grasp? I don't get it. So here's an attempt to address the issue in a way that might help people understand it better.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Pixels-per-inch or Dots-per-inch</span></i></b><br />
<br />
This comes up <b>OVER</b> and <b>OVER</b> and <b>OVER</b> again and people do not understand it.<br />
<br />
The pixels-per-inch (ppi) box is only useful to people who specify their image sizes in INCHES and not in pixels. If you tell Lightroom (or Photoshop or any other program) that you want a picture to be 10 inches wide and 300 ppi, that means you are telling it to give you a 3000 pixel wide image. If you want you can do that, but you could also tell it you want to print a 100 inch wide image at 30 ppi and you'll get EXACTLY THE SAME IMAGE. <b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">Or you could just tell it to give you a 3000 pixel wide image and it doesn't matter what you put in the ppi box!</span></i></b> Here:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O60FkOtPvVsmkOI74IfbiA34DffyIjd5i-J-0GGHKJ9wEIXqHa0rXznOwnHPChm7pvJfRrZqzVErKn50-zYsiQHhpH_FplBmyf8b5GV0tv2dBk8qoq9amzc46Uu9y_PXWRG0pV7QQ7KI/s1600/bird1ppi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O60FkOtPvVsmkOI74IfbiA34DffyIjd5i-J-0GGHKJ9wEIXqHa0rXznOwnHPChm7pvJfRrZqzVErKn50-zYsiQHhpH_FplBmyf8b5GV0tv2dBk8qoq9amzc46Uu9y_PXWRG0pV7QQ7KI/s640/bird1ppi.jpg" width="510" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH9qZkZncWVlG-p-h-5faoVKT6rdT405VGcX94VWabGWL5taeOoijTXaoPJKfgAWUWRL8G3IFZl_GB-DNa7FIIGe7uyYOmdG3ojfVvn4wp4UXJWuCW9X_KlDgoDSpZozeAN8BNK8I8VA3k/s1600/bird1000ppi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH9qZkZncWVlG-p-h-5faoVKT6rdT405VGcX94VWabGWL5taeOoijTXaoPJKfgAWUWRL8G3IFZl_GB-DNa7FIIGe7uyYOmdG3ojfVvn4wp4UXJWuCW9X_KlDgoDSpZozeAN8BNK8I8VA3k/s640/bird1000ppi.jpg" width="510" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #cc0000;">One of these images is 819 pixels x 1024 pixels at 1 (yes, that's ONE) ppi. The other one is 819 pixels x 1024 pixels at 1,000 ppi. Can you tell which is which? No you can't. <u>THEY'RE THE SAME.</u> Keep reading...</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>Added after the fact</b>: This post is getting a LOT of hits because this question seems to come up a lot on Facebook. Both the Aspect Ratio and the Print Resolution questions. If you find this useful, please consider clicking the donation request at the bottom – purely optional but it would help! At least, I would ask you to subscribe to my newsletter (it's free and you can unsubscribe with one click if you must). <b><a href="http://www.photography.to/subscribe.htm" target="_blank">Here's the link</a></b> </i></span> </blockquote>
<br />
<b>Now let's look at the ASPECT RATIO</b>, or in plain English, the SHAPE of the picture.<br />
<br />
Suppose this is the original picture:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8idOi6RWVFWpAaOb6MfmVM7nHqvL0i0o54QY2pzuURZ73_LIKGBsJubU8CIzED3uJwGBaNHKP9DdknT1J4Yn1MQVD1t6XHT_VZHVfjjNXpr_QX-iPRWsp4pwiSCJB0FC3CpHTbR-3xpr/s1600/owl2x3-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8idOi6RWVFWpAaOb6MfmVM7nHqvL0i0o54QY2pzuURZ73_LIKGBsJubU8CIzED3uJwGBaNHKP9DdknT1J4Yn1MQVD1t6XHT_VZHVfjjNXpr_QX-iPRWsp4pwiSCJB0FC3CpHTbR-3xpr/s1600/owl2x3-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This image is copyrighted and the property of the author. If you want to use it for any purpose whatsoever, you need written permission. <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">Email me.</a></u></b> If you want a print, I'd be happy to accommodate you at a very reasonable price. Please don't rip it off.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's ASPECT RATIO (that's the technical term: maybe it's easier to understand the word "SHAPE") is 2:3. What does that mean?<br />
<br />
For every 2 units high, it is 3 units wide. When it came out of the camera it was 4912 pixels high x 7360 pixels wide. That's out of a D800 so it's 36 million pixels if you multiply it out. If it came out of an old D70 it would be 2000 x 3008 pixels: only 6 Megapixels, but exactly the same shape — 2:3<b><span style="color: red;">*</span></b>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="color: red;">*</span></b> for all intents and purposes. I know neither one is EXACTLY 2:3 but we're splitting hairs here.</i></blockquote>
A Canon 60D has a resolution of 3456 x 5184 pixels. Do the math: guess what the shape of the image is? That's right, 2:3. Pretty standard in the DSLR world. Your camera might be different but let's go with this example.<br />
<br />
OK, what if you wanted to print this picture without cutting ("cropping") anything off the height or the width of the image? What shape would the paper you're printing on have to be?<br />
<br />
If you said 2:3 then you're staying with me! Can you think of some examples of paper that is that ratio? Look at this list:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>4" x 6" (10 cm x 15 cm)</li>
<li>5" x 7" (12.5 cm x 17.5 cm)</li>
<li>8" x 10" (20 cm x 25 cm)</li>
<li>8" x 12" (and so on...)</li>
<li>11" x 14" </li>
<li>12" x 12"</li>
<li>16" x 20"</li>
<li>16" x 24"</li>
<li>20" x 30"</li>
</ul>
<br />
Which ones are the right shape? Do the math, I'll wait right here...<br />
<br />
If you said the 4x6, the 8x12, the 16x24 and the 20x30, now you're cooking!<br />
<br />
So what happens if you try to print that picture on an square piece of paper, say 12"x12", for example. One of three things:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>the image can completely fill the paper, but some of the width will get cut off. In other words, you're printing the full 12" height, but there's only room for 12" of width so the other six inches are going to get cut off (remember your picture is 2:3 shape, so if it's 12" high it's going to be 18" wide).</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPx7pVHeplYb2MQFwznla167Bn9YAG86eaEm-Mt_F_dJxsq_gxES5J_Wpj9rNJMtfdTHYNVxLsDdchfNs5vamETzAI-MCDhFe2sWAzF_KeWNqsNBrmhi7u_RD4dW97lAiHNoGwCbb5lFFe/s1600/owlsquare-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPx7pVHeplYb2MQFwznla167Bn9YAG86eaEm-Mt_F_dJxsq_gxES5J_Wpj9rNJMtfdTHYNVxLsDdchfNs5vamETzAI-MCDhFe2sWAzF_KeWNqsNBrmhi7u_RD4dW97lAiHNoGwCbb5lFFe/s1600/owlsquare-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<li>you can squeeze the 18" width of the picture into the 12" width of the paper, but then you'd be squeezing the height too, so the height will only be 8" high and there'll be a 2" band of unprinted paper above and below the picture, or</li>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE4Bu_AMePHSLV2pcRQpC1RSXqk9HylJDp3j-m9JjlewrwbqLSBFjvKkO-VYToQINPM_NTUE24EtpRv9mhluTdfMzb4mGB3uwApGBaOeAoXDQ_rrs8eE49_zXrFdyR8a8TJTuP6QV0Z9M9/s1600/owlsquare-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE4Bu_AMePHSLV2pcRQpC1RSXqk9HylJDp3j-m9JjlewrwbqLSBFjvKkO-VYToQINPM_NTUE24EtpRv9mhluTdfMzb4mGB3uwApGBaOeAoXDQ_rrs8eE49_zXrFdyR8a8TJTuP6QV0Z9M9/s1600/owlsquare-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<li>you can squeeze the width of the picture without changing the height, but this distorts your picture (you'd have to get fancy in Photoshop to do this, though)</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnsNDKKMcR2vm0is9jZqIU4x2liVPkkqS3Ac8IKEQxEPK-2UI0ZRYClY5v8MzolSgS54cRCJX1G9B8ui-duZA74WXCsFBvCMSw-Myivjswcaru3zBiaCTjzFenp_KZ6MN_kszf3KOXqMfF/s1600/owlsquare-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnsNDKKMcR2vm0is9jZqIU4x2liVPkkqS3Ac8IKEQxEPK-2UI0ZRYClY5v8MzolSgS54cRCJX1G9B8ui-duZA74WXCsFBvCMSw-Myivjswcaru3zBiaCTjzFenp_KZ6MN_kszf3KOXqMfF/s1600/owlsquare-4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
Get it? So it's your choice how you want the image to be printed (nobody ever uses the third choice), with some stuff getting cut off or with some unprinted paper. Make sense?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So what should you do to make the picture fit the paper? It's up to you, of course. Chances are it isn't going to get cropped the way you like it by the printer, so you should decide in advance and change the shape of the picture to match the shape of the paper. That's called "CROPPING" and you do that in Lightroom in the Develop module. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Bqy9S5TLBq9FgyWJFWJbLoMcFi2jYeuRl8W-uc12_6KA4M637lzjolwZ0oGsyFblIuhV-UmQ7Wy_VQuGfh6Ikoz7nr0uj-sFHaBlDugUXTyRPUDfxtWgIHFulPZ30rqaw_lxonidq5jl/s1600/capture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Bqy9S5TLBq9FgyWJFWJbLoMcFi2jYeuRl8W-uc12_6KA4M637lzjolwZ0oGsyFblIuhV-UmQ7Wy_VQuGfh6Ikoz7nr0uj-sFHaBlDugUXTyRPUDfxtWgIHFulPZ30rqaw_lxonidq5jl/s1600/capture1.jpg" width="446" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
The red arrow shows you where to click to get the crop tool. The blue arrow shows where to click to get the dropdown menu that you see with the different shapes </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
So do the math – it's basic grade 4 arithmetic – and figure out what aspect ratio you want. If you don't see it there, you can click "Enter Custom" and put in your own numbers, so if you want your own special size, that's where you can do it.<b><span style="color: red;">**</span></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="color: red;">**</span></b> This isn't limited to printing, you know. For example, the shape of the header at the top of this blog is 1280 x 350 pixels. If you look closely at the list, you'll see "3.657 x 1" which is that shape. You don't actually have to do the math, you could just enter 1280 x 350 and Lightroom will do it for you!</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>Added Later:</b></i><br />
<blockquote>
<i><b>A good workflow practice in Lightroom would be to create a "Virtual Copy" of the image if you're going to produce different crop shapes. Then work your magic on that copy without affecting your original. You can't rename the virtual copy without renaming the original but you can put something in the "Copy Name" field in the metadata, like "square version" so that you can search for it later. </b></i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Summary:</span></i></b><br />
<br />
So now you should understand why, when you try to print your 2:3 ratio picture on a piece of 5x7 paper, some of it is getting cut off. The only way to prevent that is to print it like the second example above. Or you can decide to cut it off wherever YOU want by cropping in Lightroom. So far so good?<br />
<br />
<b>Now let's look at RESOLUTION.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
You're probably looking at this article on a computer screen (OK, maybe on a tablet or phone, but let's go with the easy example!)<br />
<br />
When you set up your computer, you chose the screen resolution (or, let's face it, you accepted whatever you got when it came home from the store). Depending on what kind or shape of monitor you have, you might have selected 640x480 pixels (if you did, you're older than me. And trust me, I'm OLD!). Or 1600x900. Or 1280x1024. Or some other number. My 26" Samsung monitor is set for 1920x1050 pixels.<br />
<br />
Now just to confuse you further, my "26-inch" monitor is really only 23½" wide. The 26" is a diagonal measurement. But let's divide that 1920 pixels into 23½", we get about 81 pixels per inch. The universal standard for computer monitors and the Internet is 72 pixels per inch but who's counting? Close enough.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>You could quibble with me and tell me you have a fancy 'Retina' display or a giant monitor, or a $500 video card that lets you see 4000 pixels on your screen but hey...</i></blockquote>
Now go to the top of this article and read what I said about the resolution of the owl picture as it came out of my camera. Wow. 7360x4912 pixels! If I tried to look at every pixel of that on my computer, it would be dripping out of my monitor and down both sides of my tabletop! So guess what? I CAN'T look at them all. I can only squeeze them into the 1920 pixels (wide) that are available to me.<br />
<br />
OK, now go find a magnifying glass. I'll wait right here. Are you back? Now look really closely at your computer screen. See how it looks like a bunch of little square dots? Those are called pixels.<br />
<br />
So if I want to output a picture for use online or just to be viewed on a computer or tablet, I don't need it to be any bigger than about 2000 pixels (wide). Otherwise it's a waste anyway, you can't see the in-between ones. Since you probably aren't looking at any pictures at the full width of your monitor, even that big is a waste. Make them smaller!<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Facebook is special. They have some nasty compression algorithms that mess up pictures. If you research it, you'll find that the best size to make a picture, to optimize how it looks on Facebook, is 2048 pixels. Don't even think of asking why.</i></blockquote>
Your computer is smart. You don't have to tell it how many pixels per inch to make the picture, that's determined by the computer and the monitor. Even if you tell it you want 10,000 pixels per inch it can't do it! It's going to change it to 72 ppi (Pixels per inch) for you. The important thing for you to decide is how many pixels (wide, for example) you want the image to be. Half a screen width is about 800 pixels. What about if you only output your picture at 200 pixels wide, and then tried to blow it up to full-screen (your browser can do it, for instance)? Then it's going to look all unsharp and fuzzy because there's not enough information to exactly light up all of the pixels. Get it?<br />
<br />
So if you're outputting a picture for the internet, somewhere between 800 and 2000 pixels is best. Of course the bigger you make it, the bigger the image file size becomes, the slower it is to load, etc. Your call...<br />
<br />
I choose to make my pictures 1280 pixels wide for this blog. Here's what my settings look like in the Lightroom export module:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYnUid8TDMk59bnihE81gTtCjQcMO7haepofN-8hfZeOWzgMs6HWZUjXHnGhPP9IuVB_gcCTeaN28U_FyVGPmzNChLAzfvqtyr0Qfu9VPpfPsplHmEibdTQWd-q7RhjTFNKpUgm5E5xtF/s1600/capture2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYnUid8TDMk59bnihE81gTtCjQcMO7haepofN-8hfZeOWzgMs6HWZUjXHnGhPP9IuVB_gcCTeaN28U_FyVGPmzNChLAzfvqtyr0Qfu9VPpfPsplHmEibdTQWd-q7RhjTFNKpUgm5E5xtF/s1600/capture2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
The internet, and your computer monitor, all work in the sRGB colour space. If you set it to something else, your colours are going to look funny. And generally you're going to want JPEG image files, the internet likes them the best. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Understand that your files inside Lightroom are probably not going to be that size. For that matter, they won't necessarily be JPEG's, they may not be in that colour space... they're your NEGATIVES. You need to EXPORT the pictures from Lightroom to use them for anything, and this is where you get to tell it what kind of files, what size, etc.<br />
<br />
<b>Now what about for printing?</b><br />
<br />
Go get your magnifying glass and a photographic print. Do you see a bunch of little pixels? (If you do, you're not looking at a photo print, you're looking at something reproduced on a printing press, not an inkjet or giclée printer). Your printer has a bunch of little nozzles that spray ink on the paper but in a really teeny-tiny pattern. Some of the better ones might spray up to 1400 ink dots per inch! (DPI stands for "DOTS per inch". PPI is "PIXELS per inch". One's for ink, the other for screens).<br />
<br />
I'm not going to get into how the ink spreads as it soaks into the paper, or how it blends together with nearby dots. Suffice it to say: the universal standard for not being able to see the little individual dots is 300 DPI. Some people use 240 DPI, some use 360... but let's call it 300 to be safe. If you have less information than that the in-between dots are going to take on an average value, not the right value, so your picture will get fuzzy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYx8SACH3aFgYOL1unxrwpXrnLs5IvhpSsSXeW7GBefy4QnRm16kf0wATepY7PvCrtUVLLr_HfSJVgkHV_jyzA9paBIPEbrJu3KeNi-7oNKNcTLv4GCjhaqL8A_KSH6OfziDP78okZ8QB/s1600/teenyowl-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYx8SACH3aFgYOL1unxrwpXrnLs5IvhpSsSXeW7GBefy4QnRm16kf0wATepY7PvCrtUVLLr_HfSJVgkHV_jyzA9paBIPEbrJu3KeNi-7oNKNcTLv4GCjhaqL8A_KSH6OfziDP78okZ8QB/s1600/teenyowl-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here's the same owl shot but I saved it at only 128 pixels wide then blew it up. The same thing happens if you don't have enough pixels to print! And you need a lot more for printing than you do for displaying on-screen! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Doing the arithmetic, if you want a sharp 8x10 print, you are going to need 300x8 dots by 300x10 dots, or 2400x3000 pixels. For a 16x20, double that. For a 20x30, you need 6000x9000 dots. That's more than most cameras can do but Adobe, who makes Lightroom and Photoshop, and a bunch of other companies know how to intelligently upsize your pictures. The person who REALLY knows how is the company that you're sending your images to print! Always ask them what they want when your image is undersized.<br />
<br />
Where were we... by now, you understand that the really important number is how many pixels (or dots) your picture contains. Just like your monitor, that printer will change the number of dots per inch to whatever it has available. If you give it only 1500 dots and you ask for a 10" print, you're only going to get 150 dots per inch (which surprisingly, isn't bad most of the time!).<br />
<br />
If you give them too many pixels, don't worry! The printer is smart (not necessarily the person pushing the buttons, the machine!) and it will figure out what to do with the in-between ones, just like your monitor does if you give it an oversized picture. The files might be too big, though!<br />
<br />
Why does Lightroom have that dreaded resolution box I marked with an "X" above? It's for people who would prefer to output pictures of a certain size in inches (or cm) and then you have to tell it how many pixels per inch to render. If you do the math yourself, and specify the image size in pixels, that box doesn't matter.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqStoyb-Fq2vCZI8Q4GMy-qu3Z9Pt4H6uEozyrBi6ddG-hxxB1yQEcY4j7E4Ar4xxXKec4EPjqGYfeEExAGzhVxNdAr21phPweK7gr4kwiuQfSh4ddhGiHEvhs63w5rFYLL0HY4eA8crOq/s1600/capture3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqStoyb-Fq2vCZI8Q4GMy-qu3Z9Pt4H6uEozyrBi6ddG-hxxB1yQEcY4j7E4Ar4xxXKec4EPjqGYfeEExAGzhVxNdAr21phPweK7gr4kwiuQfSh4ddhGiHEvhs63w5rFYLL0HY4eA8crOq/s1600/capture3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here's one of my typical settings for going to print (it does 14" on the long side at 300ppi). Note that most printers like JPEG/sRGB as well, but talk to your print shop!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So get in the habit of figuring out how many pixels or dots you want. Let the computer do the rest. Or, choose the size of the picture you want in inches (or cm) and tell it 72 ppi for screen or 300 ppi for printing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>BIG SUMMARY.</i></b></span><br />
<br />
In Lightroom, first choose what <b>SHAPE</b> you want the image to be using the crop tool in the Develop module. Next choose what <b>SIZE</b> it should be in pixels wide x pixels high, using 72 ppi for use on screen or 300 ppi for use in print in order to make your calculations.<br />
<br />
If you're going to be printing different sizes and shapes, it's probably smart to create separate output files for each version and <i>virtual copy</i> is one way of doing that and staying organized.<br />
<br />
Make sense?<br />
<br />
Check out my weekly blog, The Faczen Image! Click the "Newsletter" button if you want to be kept up to date. Try it. I dare you.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSoQbufsQWDN-Lb73G2BF9_8mH5anOHBJxdXZVIdYa-hj-U3aq9yqPsnuZaBOa1jYuPgtlosIe2yykX5_YEAKG7eHIhWdkylM7zozxuaLAg3c8rxyHb8MH4e1_TKGTODsNDmvZDu-RAKeI/s1600/blogbutton.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-388685359344745362015-03-04T01:36:00.000-05:002015-03-04T02:00:54.810-05:00Lightroom Performance and Previews<i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This article was written in response to a request from the Admins on the Facebook "Lightroom Q&A" group. </span></b></i><br />
<hr />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If you appreciate the effort, please have a look at my <b><u><a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">main weekly blog</a></u></b> which contains my "sporadic musings and compelling images" as well as photography and post-processing tips and techniques. All designed to give you ideas! By hitting the "Newsletter" button at upper right on the blog, you'll get an email note when a new post appears, as well as free access to my eBooks and other resources.</span></i></blockquote>
<hr />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Note: I use Lightroom 5 (version 5.7 at this writing) and Photoshop CC 2014. Some of these functions also work in earlier versions of the programs. I run on a PC, not a Mac but they're almost the same in Lightroom.</i></span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lightroom sometimes appears to respond and process images slowly. Some of that is due to your preview settings, which you can change to match your needs and available hardware.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right after importing new images, people sometimes complain that when Lightroom opens a RAW file, first it looks sharp, then it looks ugly for a while, then it gets sharp again, especially when viewing the image larger than grid view. What's happening?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That exact sequence really only happens on newly imported files, where Lightroom hasn't yet had time to generate the standard previews. First thing you see is the JPEG view that is embedded into the RAW file by your camera. That gives way to the unprocessed RAW file while Lightroom churns away in the background to generate the 1:1 preview. Finally you'll see the image in all its glory, including edits you've made inside Lightroom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You may also see a delay in seeing this full quality image when you view an image in a larger view (like Loupe, or in the Develop module, or especially when you zoom in to a 100% view). Again, Lightroom needs the 1:1 preview and may ask you to wait while it's being generated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Importing new images</b></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the process of importing new images, Lightroom's overall performance might appear to be slow because it's working in the background, using computer resources. One of those things is generating the full 1:1 preview you use whenever you zoom in on an image. You can improve that performance by delaying when that happens (you can do that at any time from </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Library → Previews in the main top menu)</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Here's what the upper right corner of your LR screen looks like just before you tell it to start importing:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjnjxTO2q8U9aXAZhjAJPClYn26Unwvf_mcwfWzRPecAfdAjTlq1rw4hXaH74VLBHDa66mkKxXcwT3_R_KBwa0R1dv_9bls_B7F7bRoEhQnkaEyC-RIuGEbWX8DHebldGt9o1W86av5uO9/s1600/import1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjnjxTO2q8U9aXAZhjAJPClYn26Unwvf_mcwfWzRPecAfdAjTlq1rw4hXaH74VLBHDa66mkKxXcwT3_R_KBwa0R1dv_9bls_B7F7bRoEhQnkaEyC-RIuGEbWX8DHebldGt9o1W86av5uO9/s1600/import1.jpg" height="431" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You have four options here. These are the settings I use. I always make a second copy of all images to a different hard drive – in this case the internal drive in the computer (the originals are stored on an external drive). I want Smart Previews for all my images so I can edit them when that external drive that contains the actual images is not plugged into the computer. I don't tell it to block suspected duplicates because in my workflow, I format all my camera memory cards after the pictures are safely imported: if I forget, that's my problem!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-okia8OHWEc4hs70Pj5ipRivNn2Ld1SqkYpwPpgaaEKP_GgZSmpqAR42B-eeTRr8gNUflJB_SCzIzmnU-kMXgYPu3aOvPgSxnZfSkyH8VqFhdknTvgn55E6cNHOpVvWM2azH-59bSZ8HJ/s1600/import-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-okia8OHWEc4hs70Pj5ipRivNn2Ld1SqkYpwPpgaaEKP_GgZSmpqAR42B-eeTRr8gNUflJB_SCzIzmnU-kMXgYPu3aOvPgSxnZfSkyH8VqFhdknTvgn55E6cNHOpVvWM2azH-59bSZ8HJ/s1600/import-2.jpg" height="452" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I tell Lightroom to build 1:1 previews for all images during the import process. If I wanted to make importing faster, I would select "Minimal" previews or one of the lesser sizes. But I don't shoot NFL football games where I only have minutes to process and cull thousands of images during halftime. When I do an import, I generally plug the card into the computer, start it going, then pour myself a cup of coffee (or something stronger!) and give it time to get it done. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hard Drive Space</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now let's look at what those 1:1 preview files look like.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Previews take up some hard drive space. But not that much, in the grand scheme of things! Remember that Lightroom is just a glorified database: it does NOT contain your actual images, just pointers to tell it where to look for them, just like that card file in the old public library tells you which shelf to look for when seeking a specific book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PLXGs0KzLk2yPPLwXL9ddJlM05OKSHDZXxg1fk1gW2YE1_mQ0OrMX-ETLR-X4QwLNs3ecsX3bn2yBHVZZzJlQFEicsepHbZEcBewQ46DQatKmsMipIP4HK799CU0Kxe0aPiUNqYoAl0r/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PLXGs0KzLk2yPPLwXL9ddJlM05OKSHDZXxg1fk1gW2YE1_mQ0OrMX-ETLR-X4QwLNs3ecsX3bn2yBHVZZzJlQFEicsepHbZEcBewQ46DQatKmsMipIP4HK799CU0Kxe0aPiUNqYoAl0r/s1600/Untitled.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This Lightroom Catalog is my main one. It contains 63,423 images as I write this, many of which are 40 Mp giant RAW files from my D800 (not that it matters what size the images are to the catalog!). If you ever want to know WHERE your LR catalog is, you can bring this dialog up by clicking "Catalog Settings" on the "Edit" menu in the Nav bar at top left (may be a bit different on a Mac). So I have almost 3 Tb of images (3000 Gb) all listed in a 2.47 Gb ".lrcat" file in my internal hard drive.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8iptdZMXJNk9ih156cxiIDQeVeCJg9QFOGY3P5IBTANCrwp2p7Hctwp7UC4J0_wCTX9Vj6U3WOsYZK7a4n_Ttt9ukWtI9If7dj-pFWNVxe3FHlQ7cOqRL7_gJOdGIHEYQdoRXd9bZQ7R2/s1600/folder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8iptdZMXJNk9ih156cxiIDQeVeCJg9QFOGY3P5IBTANCrwp2p7Hctwp7UC4J0_wCTX9Vj6U3WOsYZK7a4n_Ttt9ukWtI9If7dj-pFWNVxe3FHlQ7cOqRL7_gJOdGIHEYQdoRXd9bZQ7R2/s1600/folder.jpg" height="540" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't want to stray too far off-topic here but this is a screenshot of my catalog folder on the hard drive. The Lightroom catalog itself is 2.5 Gb. When you're backing it up (or copying it elsewhere) THAT is the file you need to copy. The two .lrdata preview files are not important to back up, Lightroom will regenerate those. The Catalog Preview file is relatively big: 13 Gb in this case. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now my Catalog Previews file is <b>ONLY </b>13 Gb because I've chosen to manage its size. If I had full 1:1 previews from all 63,000 images it would be much bigger. Here's where you manage that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGetTzSUrfVM-PaWe1bli3juvnwW4arznCyVgyJrEKcwAWuwUs9NU8qLT9tBEB8wRc_ZWDvEaTz1SloBjOTIZYsIDaJKeIqdqLkQU0dB0izQrmy87p-6MhsR2JeWyKLb6PnCr971OIXK1/s1600/Untitled-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGetTzSUrfVM-PaWe1bli3juvnwW4arznCyVgyJrEKcwAWuwUs9NU8qLT9tBEB8wRc_ZWDvEaTz1SloBjOTIZYsIDaJKeIqdqLkQU0dB0izQrmy87p-6MhsR2JeWyKLb6PnCr971OIXK1/s1600/Untitled-1.jpg" height="462" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the same place as before (Edit → Catalog Settings), open the "File Handling" tab. You have three choices you can make about your previews. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first line is about the SIZE of the preview.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWY_HNYXxH1ceD9SMd_n61pXeckPl1cY0QY5JM3OfEpP5guxwQhlupWS9u-ly5mZiN7xuqDrfgjwe7sDmC8ENLT4ZGi64HTulMeAMl0plHoBrqWJa2PBoQJ8oLzydTTtSooqXAMLRPBVFc/s1600/Untitled-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWY_HNYXxH1ceD9SMd_n61pXeckPl1cY0QY5JM3OfEpP5guxwQhlupWS9u-ly5mZiN7xuqDrfgjwe7sDmC8ENLT4ZGi64HTulMeAMl0plHoBrqWJa2PBoQJ8oLzydTTtSooqXAMLRPBVFc/s1600/Untitled-2.jpg" height="454" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My biggest monitor is set to 1920x1080 pixels. I chose a preview size so I could see ALL of those pixels, so just larger than the screen. If you have a lower resolution monitor, you don't need the preview to be that big. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can also choose the preview quality. I find "Medium" to be good enough for me. Remember, you're not changing the image, just how you view it onscreen when you zoom in to edit. When I do a really fine edit, I switch to Photoshop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Now here's the big space saver</b>. You get to decide how long the huge 1:1 previews stay on your computer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3A5OMd_OIhlixySOgHJlACu4FwIH0cC-kNt0gbHSGt2I4IyCacauBTsA-0e-ykv6z7G88boWfVCIfYpkDYVr8qZ6UdtOVqKSYGVIvG1-X0BsyvtWOVLQ3Y2LvXHKklI7MQWNF-SF0yL3r/s1600/Untitled-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3A5OMd_OIhlixySOgHJlACu4FwIH0cC-kNt0gbHSGt2I4IyCacauBTsA-0e-ykv6z7G88boWfVCIfYpkDYVr8qZ6UdtOVqKSYGVIvG1-X0BsyvtWOVLQ3Y2LvXHKklI7MQWNF-SF0yL3r/s1600/Untitled-3.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my case, I decided I don't need the 1:1 previews instantly available on images I'm not currently working on. So I tell Lightroom to discard them after one week. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Performance</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you click on an image in Loupe view or Full Screen, or in the Develop or Print or Slideshow or Web module, and especially when you zoom in, Lightroom needs that 1:1 preview. So it takes some time to generate it if you have discarded it. Once it has, it'll keep it around as long as you've told it to in the above menu.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Adobe has a resource page if you want to read more on this subject. It's here: <b><u><a href="https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html">https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/optimize-performance-lightroom.html</a></u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To summarize: </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have tons of hard drive space, go ahead and keep your 1:1 previews forever. If you have limited RAM or CPU speed, you may want to hold off generating them immediately on import. Lightroom can churn away in the background if you tell it to (Library → Previews from the main top menu) or when you decide to look closely at an image. It all depends on your hardware resources and your workflow requirements.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>Does that make sense?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Please take a moment to visit my weekly blog. <b><span style="color: red;">I dare you.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0EJ42H1OHg5e7RmoaMx-Sbq1QtVn74nuUuWTxTGO-azoH4_dpaR8v7jcS4uCacPhQrjyZEX-d2YUOIglR5zL8htXuihqQzS-LhFj-mqAct2Is8-9gouvw1obuq6t8sJ-BadOA7CWvKyeq/s1600/blogbutton.gif" height="80" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— 30 —</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-32987468166093289052014-12-22T17:06:00.000-05:002015-02-01T14:02:29.315-05:00Black and White images on Black Backgrounds<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Black and White images on Black Backgrounds</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A while ago, a British photographer by the name of Antony Northcutt posted some images of black-and-white flowers on a black background. They were outstanding and I wanted to learn how to do that. Fortunately he had written an eBook documenting his technique, which I bought and studied.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pablo Picasso said that a “<i>good artist copies; a great artist steals</i>”. Don’t take it literally — the great artist uses the work of others as an inspiration, builds on it and makes it his own. I loved Northcutt’s work but not only did I change his technique but also the result as well. It inspired me to create something my own and I hope this does the same for you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I love about Photoshop is that there are a million ways to do anything. That means that everyone’s approach is going to be different! In this short tutorial, I’ll show you my workflow and some of the thinking behind it, to give you some ideas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> This deals with making black and white images of flowers (or other subjects!) on black backgrounds. The key points are subject choice, selection, background rendering, and toning including non-destructive dodging and burning. I edit in Photoshop CC 2014 but most of this works in earlier versions as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Please click on any image to view it full-screen.</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaDXxwqgXTV4wQ4uv-F6Ojjy-xC3n-Og3SroliCG3o_Jg5XbgvGd9aWWqDqP_gBMAo3oh8vweh5P2OvNrJBBV7ycc8LbxdERYd7uUvpzKEEa7FBZXmu-SsiX-cuUsK-udPlnWQEgLZ-Urn/s1600/01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaDXxwqgXTV4wQ4uv-F6Ojjy-xC3n-Og3SroliCG3o_Jg5XbgvGd9aWWqDqP_gBMAo3oh8vweh5P2OvNrJBBV7ycc8LbxdERYd7uUvpzKEEa7FBZXmu-SsiX-cuUsK-udPlnWQEgLZ-Urn/s1600/01.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The original image (note: these images are all screen captures). I chose this image for this tutorial because it would help illustrate my techniques, not because it's a particularly strong artistic image!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Choosing the Subject </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s my weak suit. I don’t have that great an eye. I’m looking for repetitive patterns and not-too-fine details. Flowers are easier because they’re created that way! But they don’t all work, and flora with fine textured edges elude me. Because we’re doing black and white and removing the background, you can choose subjects without too much regard for background. I’m looking for something big enough to fill most of the frame because I don’t want to have to crop too much. And with soft lighting because I want to save those deep blacks for the background.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I take the picture, I expose for the subject because the background is going to be removed anyway. I want the broadest possible tonal range so of course I shoot in RAW. Sometimes I’ll bracket exposures because colours can fool you and occasionally I might blend exposures in an HDR program as well. The key is to watch your histogram and make sure you don’t blow out the highlights.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>This works well on Portraits too!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Ff91C5AkPmHwo-ZHSV8X_BmFNy9YAiEipmZ2bG1A7_sEkO0KOJrA4i13rYJXZQnAvi18zWchhB0VcV3XGFHaFpJayhiiA2VsrXHAFF_zZQXroSdQxzBBAkgbAVUjQBK9YrFC7I4_h8Hc/s1600/concentration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Ff91C5AkPmHwo-ZHSV8X_BmFNy9YAiEipmZ2bG1A7_sEkO0KOJrA4i13rYJXZQnAvi18zWchhB0VcV3XGFHaFpJayhiiA2VsrXHAFF_zZQXroSdQxzBBAkgbAVUjQBK9YrFC7I4_h8Hc/s1600/concentration.jpg" height="640" width="464" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Initial Processing </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m a Lightroom fan. But the toolbox in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw are identical so use whichever one you’re most comfortable with. I find it easy to surf through the images, switching from colour to black and white and back again, to help visualize what will work best. Sometimes I’ll crop at this stage, because I know what I’m shooting for anyway. I personally like square images for this approach. At first, my goal is to tone the image so that I have details at both ends – dark and light. Again, ignore the background and just look at the subject! I will be toning in more detail later, so this is just a “rough cut”. Now you’re ready to export to Photoshop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXl6b6UlQmaJHFq3qetUEt3MjXPKxg9HB-jJuo5HFSqvExOuZLx4RBm1-EvbPLOFjofRNIzaaqg8PdL7L2zYW40CytjPuxMikEixeNQPchyphenhyphenSTOSZA_sWBprvk5tyx-19v6YARBvte9BSY/s1600/02.jpg" height="422" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Another reason to crop at this point is to reduce the file size. As you add layers in Photoshop, you increase the file size exponentially: working with a full-frame image from a D800 as I do, you can get above 1Gb really quickly! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtXl6b6UlQmaJHFq3qetUEt3MjXPKxg9HB-jJuo5HFSqvExOuZLx4RBm1-EvbPLOFjofRNIzaaqg8PdL7L2zYW40CytjPuxMikEixeNQPchyphenhyphenSTOSZA_sWBprvk5tyx-19v6YARBvte9BSY/s1600/02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once there, my very first step is ALWAYS to hit Ctrl-J, Cmd-J on a Mac, to duplicate the background layer. I want to leave the original layer intact in case I want to go back, and I don’t want to rule out reducing opacity or changing blend modes on the working layer(s). Turn off visibility of the background layer. The next step can be the tough one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Making the Selection </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Again there are a number of ways to skin this cat. For me, one of the simplest is the Quick Selection Tool, followed by Refine Edge. My goal here is to get all of the flower, I can finesse the edges later. Another easy tool to use is <b><u><a href="http://www.topazlabs.com/505-0-1-69.html" target="_blank">Topaz Remask</a></u></b>. Make sure you get it all. If you select too much you can erase it later, but it’s much harder to add something you missed. Using Refine Edge, you can now clean up the edges of your selection. This isn’t a workshop on how to do that: suffice it to say, the simpler the flower, the easier it is. A lacy subject with complicated edges can be very challenging!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTT-22Z5fH8dqq9iRqeGVO951WSBqJYzDjY58GQyhfbGjkVpq3uhr_qTc8kDNomfR_QqOhG70ogWe4KV1yAOvwRqm1yRRcEb4wr7kybwm0oX4w4bSe_SGay4hKP1iNjO_xuPzRUf_bhHa/s1600/03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyTT-22Z5fH8dqq9iRqeGVO951WSBqJYzDjY58GQyhfbGjkVpq3uhr_qTc8kDNomfR_QqOhG70ogWe4KV1yAOvwRqm1yRRcEb4wr7kybwm0oX4w4bSe_SGay4hKP1iNjO_xuPzRUf_bhHa/s1600/03.jpg" height="356" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now once it’s selected, ctrl-J (cmd-J) works a little differently: it copies your selection only onto a fresh layer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Making a black background </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve seen this done a number of ways, but I’m in favour of the KISS principle. Northcutt had you select the layer underneath, create an exposure adjustment layer, slide the exposure down as far as it will go, and you have an almost-black background. There’s one advantage to that method: if you want to keep some vestiges of what was around the subject in the final image. But the problem is, you won’t get a pure black. That makes a huge difference when you go to print. But every artist and every image is different!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s my simple technique: </span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Create a new layer. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fill it with black (alt-backspace on PC, option-delete on Mac). </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Slide the new layer underneath your selection layer. </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’re done.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0KBc7Wwys4XjxBR4glmeP09Fjjj0pFrt8A0suiaGLhd_QNN1ED4E6zyOe1s08p48wkP6uZ5bRXTbfNSjnoCYcaAIT9lmdgmBUAJMtu7_HoZOuLnEtaq-oIANRue4iMDFhnolXrdcRwLyu/s1600/04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0KBc7Wwys4XjxBR4glmeP09Fjjj0pFrt8A0suiaGLhd_QNN1ED4E6zyOe1s08p48wkP6uZ5bRXTbfNSjnoCYcaAIT9lmdgmBUAJMtu7_HoZOuLnEtaq-oIANRue4iMDFhnolXrdcRwLyu/s1600/04.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now it’s time for a little cleanup. You can go into your selection layer and use the eraser tool, but if you make a mistake, it’s hard to go back. Instead, add a mask on the layer and paint on the mask. Anything painted in black will reveal the layer underneath, anything painted in white will hide it – and it’s easy to go back and forth (the “X” key switches the foreground and background colours). Depending on how fussy you are, this can take a few moments, or hours!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>Sidebar</b>: "Do as I say, not as I do"! Mea Culpa: when I did this image, it was more about creating this tutorial than a final image so I took some shortcuts. Trust me, it's much better to use a mask because you can fine tune right down to the pixel level. And I would not consider doing this kind of editing without my Wacom tablet and stylus. If you're reading this and you don't have one, it's time to go shopping (<b><u><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00EN27SHY/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=B00EN27SHY&linkCode=as2&tag=tfi04-20" target="_blank">Amazon Canada</a></u></b> or <b><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EN27SHY/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00EN27SHY&linkCode=as2&tag=tfi0d-20&linkId=WFXZNJS4OBGICRDX" target="_blank">Amazon US</a></u></b>).</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Black and White Conversion </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You could leave your image in colour. You’re the artist! But I like black and white for this, and, well, I’m the artist today! Again, there are lots of ways to approach this. Before we do…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At this point I give up my totally non-destructive approach. I keep everything I’ve done up to now separate so I could go back if I want to, but I personally find it easier to work on a combined layer at this point. So I “Stamp” a fresh combined layer on top of the others, without deleting them. You do that with “Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E” (Cmd-Option-Shift-E). That takes a lot of fingers and I do it often, so I’ve programmed that into my Wacom tablet on a single hotkey. You can make a keyboard shortcut for it too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Sidebar</b>: You’ve done a bunch of work. Save often as you go along. Save it once early, then just hit ctrl-S (Cmd-S) when you think of it and you’re saving it again. Save it as a .PSD file to preserve all your layers. </span></i></blockquote>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcZ_cXqn8dJwGTsLWFm7FB6CFc_REG2_DsvoGuf6iy8Xy6B9GMRWkqcjYgluoiTZOQBhI3-oHtpZimcUYxpQy1lsh_ydPTyGMkAodWhpYnfn3gKE3XgzDl9OUg0DB2SurQDRUeFbvML_f/s1600/05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcZ_cXqn8dJwGTsLWFm7FB6CFc_REG2_DsvoGuf6iy8Xy6B9GMRWkqcjYgluoiTZOQBhI3-oHtpZimcUYxpQy1lsh_ydPTyGMkAodWhpYnfn3gKE3XgzDl9OUg0DB2SurQDRUeFbvML_f/s1600/05.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">OK now for the black and white. You could just go up in the menu and change the whole thing to greyscale. <i>Boooh</i>. No control! In the layers pallet, create a black-and-white adjustment layer. Now you have a bunch of sliders that let you choose what happens to each colour in the original. Play. This is where the artist in you starts to come out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8Yxwxp1D5l8PRwbWzRpSZnnK4W3c39HYkU8pjz1zOMUFFQDp3PxLM0gsGUpBZJKG8OywqoP_M0eG3lQIfzSqnYnmDOV2kUOP-izIIg_GmJKDi-UZYKcRB4jXHJ8PnlD2M_feD83Ikhs2/s1600/06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8Yxwxp1D5l8PRwbWzRpSZnnK4W3c39HYkU8pjz1zOMUFFQDp3PxLM0gsGUpBZJKG8OywqoP_M0eG3lQIfzSqnYnmDOV2kUOP-izIIg_GmJKDi-UZYKcRB4jXHJ8PnlD2M_feD83Ikhs2/s1600/06.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sometimes I’ll use an outside plugin program called Google (Nik) Silver Efex Pro 2 for the conversion. It does much the same thing except you get much more control. Topaz also makes a similar program called “BW Effects”. These are great for adding multiple levels of control.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Sidebar</b>: There are other plugins and techniques that you might want to consider using. Topaz Clarity. Adding detail and sharpening with a hi-pass layer. InFocus. DFine. Viveza. It’s your call… (<b><u><a href="http://www.topazlabs.com/505-0-1-69.html" target="_blank">Here's the link</a></u></b> to Topaz Labs)</span></i> </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Toning your image </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have two more steps in my workflow to make the image jump out at you. One of them is toning the image using Curves, the other one is to dodge and burn certain areas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5nwaKEY8SVXFQp4_VEabwAreumtDJxiKEJjdZuIWTcQZfnq4Ie3t7fVsNY5DBqWjZwDEeoDFsTg3Op7ZoAZld8qnUMSyHMxPKIhLBRE08Y9pv7i30PETUJelKShsXq1weH7cV6-kTyex3/s1600/07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5nwaKEY8SVXFQp4_VEabwAreumtDJxiKEJjdZuIWTcQZfnq4Ie3t7fVsNY5DBqWjZwDEeoDFsTg3Op7ZoAZld8qnUMSyHMxPKIhLBRE08Y9pv7i30PETUJelKShsXq1weH7cV6-kTyex3/s1600/07.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I’ll next add a curves adjustment layer which adjusts the overall toning of the image. Make the curve “S”-shaped if you want more contrast. Pull specific spots to re-tone specific densities. Now I'm going to “Stamp” another fresh layer because I want to do a non-destructive dodge and burn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0VGT5EaYL_P-TTD9-1Bo2K2WsZsIWTQHrKJMPKuOQhRE4PN5MutvH-gm89VPlUdOzBoX7DHTVvoRECdTTanQOupZdYyRQ3aAQ3s4IvFdsbxeT2kr9qXPho3rRvrpYQrkY02ZPBf8CUlDJ/s1600/08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0VGT5EaYL_P-TTD9-1Bo2K2WsZsIWTQHrKJMPKuOQhRE4PN5MutvH-gm89VPlUdOzBoX7DHTVvoRECdTTanQOupZdYyRQ3aAQ3s4IvFdsbxeT2kr9qXPho3rRvrpYQrkY02ZPBf8CUlDJ/s1600/08.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The dodge and burn trick:</b> create a new layer and fill it with 50% gray. Change the blend mode to “overlay”. In this mode, 50% grey has absolutely zero effect on your image. But if you paint in black on this layer, it darkens, or “burns in” what’s underneath it. If you paint white, it lightens it, or dodges what’s underneath. I usually choose a soft brush, turn the opacity down (sometimes really, really low, like 10%!) and I paint. If you paint over the same spot, it gets darker (or lighter). The “X” key switches back and forth. Make a mistake? Switch colours. Or just fill the whole layer with grey again and start over!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkJaQN5JX7_CAvSEtUTveEAxtIuh3XZ_aNF2mCUKbUCUIBa05enCvskWU-KZRwxIM2lZc5TjdA9ImVBDNxFiGBJEIYqZfEz12ubh0aoOwp3CxvTxBl7dUZ1CrBTHWHLrQfrJ-3vVKB-BE/s1600/09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkJaQN5JX7_CAvSEtUTveEAxtIuh3XZ_aNF2mCUKbUCUIBa05enCvskWU-KZRwxIM2lZc5TjdA9ImVBDNxFiGBJEIYqZfEz12ubh0aoOwp3CxvTxBl7dUZ1CrBTHWHLrQfrJ-3vVKB-BE/s1600/09.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a rule of thumb, I burn in the dark things and textures to make them stronger, and dodge the light things to make them soft. In this case, I also used some local sharpening to bring out the water droplets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkQbvGlqCWcUPyvp8XnAJeshYX4aM18k8zwcGc1wz562s-KpynvQa5kH2MQTjOq4FrlxDKDING46crrpzyl4Pr6t4E8FqZvtDHGpGvCJrY8nXQc46zjNlqELccFO6uQR3xX5YD_SA0DG4t/s1600/10.jpg" height="358" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This is what the dodge/burn layer looked like on its own after I was finished painting.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Almost done! </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSO-F-aQjWi9xyRXU9w_HlPhLv_3pLbZln6rvQK4a5D2WQzXrowURJoF8XSJ4MRqo8QTdeKVLakkJQWVKglb3YJcPLDwZPaLfMdTZpvxZuLYSfPSNND_Rt8m-GNQp41QZgbX1Xql-LADrm/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSO-F-aQjWi9xyRXU9w_HlPhLv_3pLbZln6rvQK4a5D2WQzXrowURJoF8XSJ4MRqo8QTdeKVLakkJQWVKglb3YJcPLDwZPaLfMdTZpvxZuLYSfPSNND_Rt8m-GNQp41QZgbX1Xql-LADrm/s1600/11.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I added a hi-pass sharpening layer (much the same technique as the Dodge/Burn layer. "Overlay" blend mode, the Hi-pass filter is under "others" in Photoshop, I typically use a value of 4 px). I did a little more dodging and burning. In the sample image, I had included a stem, which I wanted out of focus. I used an iris blur, but it caught the edges of the flower so I added a mask and painted out the areas I didn’t want blurred. Then I decided I did want something other than pure black in the background, so I made a new layer, opened it in <b><u><a href="http://www.topazlabs.com/505-0-1-69.html" target="_blank">Topaz Impression</a></u></b>, masked the flower edges then masked the interior to retain all the detail. Done!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZREQKXeGWI9734824_ORjArvQbp_efA-8h91-QYL9lup3YgeW08x5n8ox6Bce3M93Pg00Bcjzbq-HnukQtamwGxJepzaiIBeXkOKte_zJA2IlXgxQAMhIaq7QHIHHvWQ95Dt_KUq9HMx1/s1600/13.jpg" height="358" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
At first, I just masked the edges of the flower so they would remain crisp. But as I looked at it more closely, I decided I also wanted the textures in the flower to stand out, so I continued painting on the mask as you see below. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZREQKXeGWI9734824_ORjArvQbp_efA-8h91-QYL9lup3YgeW08x5n8ox6Bce3M93Pg00Bcjzbq-HnukQtamwGxJepzaiIBeXkOKte_zJA2IlXgxQAMhIaq7QHIHHvWQ95Dt_KUq9HMx1/s1600/13.jpg" imageanchor="1"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbG4oGMvv4dLSQ6fUB7Hnex_QPIP2OkBRfU_CklaIKmFkSUqmPNeGC_rkVQYKxOhqtY_Ri85tzPTQxaLKfvI6ter2H4tUsRhwpDqPnPj0c8um0rNvxx0dFdmELBXr8cqJtPCCHI378T9w7/s1600/14.jpg" height="360" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
I was trying to remember which preset I used in <b><u><a href="http://www.topazlabs.com/505-0-1-69.html" target="_blank">Topaz Impression</a></u></b>. I think, "Georgia O'Keeffe I" but I'm not sure. That's why you should name your layers as you go along! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbG4oGMvv4dLSQ6fUB7Hnex_QPIP2OkBRfU_CklaIKmFkSUqmPNeGC_rkVQYKxOhqtY_Ri85tzPTQxaLKfvI6ter2H4tUsRhwpDqPnPj0c8um0rNvxx0dFdmELBXr8cqJtPCCHI378T9w7/s1600/14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you want to see what the image looks like matted in a frame, increase the canvas size, fill it with white, draw a keyline and add your signature!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYaO7lKCCMGTsR0AH5vl8cIqw9vOTyxUk88Yv52fH-LpZaYj6dIUSlPlradCrfco_Dz3zbzpCpnmdXy5QCCn1qKW4bOq9hGGEa_PGzroR5F1xFQIq-C70kSYgiyIqgTPqtljb1BehyphenhyphenZ-aM/s1600/orange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYaO7lKCCMGTsR0AH5vl8cIqw9vOTyxUk88Yv52fH-LpZaYj6dIUSlPlradCrfco_Dz3zbzpCpnmdXy5QCCn1qKW4bOq9hGGEa_PGzroR5F1xFQIq-C70kSYgiyIqgTPqtljb1BehyphenhyphenZ-aM/s1600/orange.jpg" height="640" width="580" /></span></a></div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Summary </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The key here is to select a subject with great tonality and texture, but not too much complexity. Visualize it in black and white. Put it on a pure black background, then enhance it with the traditional darkroom tools now translated into Photoshop. Pay attention to detail and your results will be outstanding.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJo3reUhYoDCzciRx1BSI29YyasHOeuBRlcAJp-v352s2ONz48CD0CaV2bo6NYcvr57G-c9IDl79Hc1iTmpt_KbeLxmR0G0rd4-DkkEsCcfOxhh2sbH7_T4rjLW824C33VNIJO_WZydgQ/s1600/sunflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJo3reUhYoDCzciRx1BSI29YyasHOeuBRlcAJp-v352s2ONz48CD0CaV2bo6NYcvr57G-c9IDl79Hc1iTmpt_KbeLxmR0G0rd4-DkkEsCcfOxhh2sbH7_T4rjLW824C33VNIJO_WZydgQ/s1600/sunflower.jpg" height="640" width="580" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here's another image for your viewing pleasure. I used much the same series of techniques and finished it with both <b><u><a href="http://www.topazlabs.com/505-0-1-69.html" target="_blank">Topaz Glow</a></u></b> and <b><u><a href="http://www.topazlabs.com/505-0-1-69.html" target="_blank">Topaz Impression</a></u></b>. This was made from a small section of a larger image; the selection of the flower was somewhat more difficult due to its complexity. The grey background around it is the version I use in Social Media or my <b><u><a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">normal weekly blog</a></u></b>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Online resources: </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u><a href="http://www.antonynorthcutt.com/" target="_blank">Antony Northcutt eBook</a></u></b> </span><br />
<b><u><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ftpsP4UZHQ" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Non-destructive dodging/burning</span></a></u></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interested in doing a workshop on this or another topic? Please contact me <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">by email</a></u></b> or visit my website at <b><u><a href="http://www.photography.to/">www.photography.to</a></u></b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimX55W6JfYog41A8WrJCnDKq7SZonVbcjm9bFhxrXLXGTSO2fbkB8lLX0wvDy9wDYwx-mINlb9Yv7UanYnYb2FXmurNsID_qTQQFoeTf0DHUAcDkISDJwlnGHaiagl8qXXJlr8-hO7KAQk/s1600/Legible+Signature+3.jpg" height="66" width="200" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— 30 —</span></div>
</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-62244999112032248902014-10-12T11:55:00.000-04:002014-10-12T12:04:03.804-04:00Planning or accident?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many of the readers of my regular blog are not photographers (they're people who like my photos and hopefully will contact me to say they want to buy one!). The ones who ARE photographers are usually not as heavily into post-processing as I am. However this is directed at those who make pictures.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good pictures can happen by accident. No question. But sometimes you can help the process along by pre-planning and attention to detail.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been preaching about many things, in my courses, in my newspaper columns, in my blog and in club sessions and outings. You know, "work the scene", "know your equipment" (my famous "RTFM" comment), "it's all about the light", "don't use automatic", "envision what you want the image to look like".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are others out there who insist you can't get a good image without thousands of dollars of lighting equipment, fancy lenses and cameras... (OK, I do have a D800 but a D70 would have made this shot. Even a Canon would. Maybe. {insert smiley face here}).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm a planner. I don't expect that everyone is and sometimes it's a detriment: I spend a lot of time thinking about what I'm doing and I lose spontaneity. "Everything in moderation", so maybe some of this will rub off. In this case, I want to go behind the scenes and tell you a bit about the thinking that went into the making of this image.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2WvqzdPz_MgZK34re0ZogQCTuoF04KYeEGrduolZtLiLQ6tbQ0XZA3xUiIcyGIGU1WaE2pbnL-F9OI2fFE49qYaCvNqviSL7gATlYLjKYAQmwZ8B5nB1x29yE2iZiYCkQ9_rrx16QzGM/s1600/blacksmith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2WvqzdPz_MgZK34re0ZogQCTuoF04KYeEGrduolZtLiLQ6tbQ0XZA3xUiIcyGIGU1WaE2pbnL-F9OI2fFE49qYaCvNqviSL7gATlYLjKYAQmwZ8B5nB1x29yE2iZiYCkQ9_rrx16QzGM/s1600/blacksmith.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Steve Hill is the Curator of the Haliburton Highlands Museum and like his predecessor (whom I met in 2008), he likes to play "blacksmith" for his adoring public.There's a Blacksmith shop in the old Homestead exhibition at the museum. The camera club arranged that Steve would be there that day, so this was all planned and he knew he was there to be a model. Nothing candid about this shot, but he wasn't directed to stand 'just so' and do certain things. Click on the image to blow it up.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I heard we were going there for a shoot, I had already envisioned the picture I wanted. Not exactly, of course, but back in 2008 I had taken some shots of his predecessor, Tom, in the same shop and I had great success with using off-camera flash fill. I planned to do it again. The hardware setup, for those who want to know, was a Nikon SB600 speedlight with a Gary Fong diffuser attached, fired remotely by using "commander" mode in the D800 camera. Lens was my mid-range 24-120 and I shot handheld at 40mm. Although I tried the 70-200 it was too far away to get the angle I wanted and to include the window.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I thought I needed to have the window in the shot. It was a light source, of course, but I needed to anchor where the light was coming from and I put the flash on the same side, the left, to match it. I stepped to the left (sorry if I got in other photographers' way!) to get the composition right, with Steve not blocking the window. I needed the vertical orientation to include the anvil, his face, the window...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's important to understand that when you're mixing flash and ambient light, the shutter speed controls the ambient and you control the amount of flash fill with the aperture (assuming you don't fiddle with the ISO). In this case, though, I used the built-in electronics, the camera told the flash how much output to use by measuring the light through the lens (TTL) during the shot. So I had to use "Flash Compensation" to adjust that. The point is, the shutter speed makes no difference to the flash since the burst of light is so much faster.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The ideal way to do this is to shoot some test images without the flash, to get the levels right, then add it in. That's what I did, and I dialed the flash back to -1ev, so it wasn't acting as the main light source. The end exposure here was 1/30 second at f/8, ISO 200. The speed was a bit slow, I probably should have opened a stop or popped the ISO up to get 1/60 but it worked. VR on the lens helps. I locked the aperture at f/8 to get a comfortable depth of field and besides, it's the sweet spot for that lens. Actually, good thing I did, because it was the right speed for the sparks coming off the anvil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I actually thought about all this stuff before going out to shoot: I made sure I had the flash and diffuser with me, and the right lens, a tripod (which I ended up not using for this shot). I knew I wanted commander mode, that I would be dialing the flash back and would measure the ambient light before the shot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I made a couple of mistakes. Two that could have been disastrous and in fact, caused me to only get a couple of usable shots. (1) I had been shooting brackets before and forgot to turn it off. So many of my frames were not exposed correctly and it took me a few minutes to figure out why. (2) Would you believe I left my memory card at home in the computer? All I had in the camera was a 4Gb CF card and I only discovered this later when I tried to take some other pictures and couldn't. The camera said it could only hold 30 images, in fact it held 90 before giving up. (3) I didn't get the right lighting on Steve's beard. Then I forgot about it and I was lucky it worked out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Post-Processing.</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I got home (and struggled to upload the pictures, I can't find my CF card reader), I zeroed in on this one frame. Here's what it looked like before I did anything to it, except cropping and straightening it up a bit:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdIzINJeDEwVbyhda9AVFbSF7pKJpCckAF1yGMVq3AAQFiCO26mA2NwLIfFnXxc-oWk0Ssqp_PnzXyPFf7qMUxEMau1DL_MtVnThc3ZlSgy3OvL2Vmtnirrv-jO_OjJ9E0IF13aTJATU/s1600/blacksmithraw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdIzINJeDEwVbyhda9AVFbSF7pKJpCckAF1yGMVq3AAQFiCO26mA2NwLIfFnXxc-oWk0Ssqp_PnzXyPFf7qMUxEMau1DL_MtVnThc3ZlSgy3OvL2Vmtnirrv-jO_OjJ9E0IF13aTJATU/s1600/blacksmithraw.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I didn't really need to do too much to it. I tweaked it a bit in Lightroom, I wanted to take the clarity back a little bit to soften it and adjust the white clipping so nothing was blown out, and I added a bit of dark vignetting to keep the eye in the image. Now over to Photoshop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My first action in Photoshop is almost always to hit ctrl-J and duplicate the background layer. Two reasons: I want to preserve my original image in case I decide to go back to it and I may want to blend all or part of it into the finished image. In this case, I also knew I wanted to treat Steve and the background separately, so the next thing I did was to make a selection of him, the anvil and sparks, and copy them onto a separate layer. Now I could tweak the lighting on his face and eye, add some sharpening to the beard. Like I said, it didn't need much. The joys of getting it right in camera!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now the background. I cheated. I tried a few tricks, like motion blur, adding texture... even Topaz Simplify. In the end, I opened it in Topaz Impression and looked at a few sample styles. I immediately loved the "Impasto 1" preset, unmodified. However, as I mentioned earlier, the result was a bit too strong so I reduced the opacity of that layer to let the original show through a bit. And the layer with Steve on it is not at full opacity either, to help blend it in with the rest of the image.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I turned the layer with Steve and the anvil on it back on. I corrected a few edge issues and lightened up the anvil, and saved it. Done, except for my "BlogFrame" which is how I like to show my images online. I had written a short Photoshop Action to make that happen: it put a grey frame and dropshadow around the image, prepared a text layer for the title and a separate layer where I could stamp on my signature. Two minutes later: finished.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what's the message here? I've written up what I thought about and what I did from the initial concept to the finished image. Did I need a fancy 36 Megapixel D800 DSLR to make this shot? No. Pretty well all of the Nikons since the D70 have had all the capability I needed. Did I need a $2000 fast lens? No, I shot at f/8, with one of the least expensive lenses I own (this is an original 24-120, I got it back with my D70 in 2006, everyone says it's the worst lens Nikon ever made. Right.). Did I need a high-tech TTL Nikon Speedlight? Well, it helped. I could have done this with a reflector instead. I did need something to bounce light in from the front. Could you do this with a point-and-shoot camera? Nah...although it could be done by a really experienced photographer with virtually anything.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a small aside, using commander mode and a remote flash is tricky. You need to practice that in advance so you know how: when I first got there, the remote wasn't triggering. It only took me a minute to realize that although the camera was set up right, the flash sensor wasn't activated. You need to know your equipment. RTFM.</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is about the process. Hopefully it gives you, the reader, an idea about how I created a successful picture, from planning to execution. Maybe you'll use some of these ideas in your future shoots.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— 30 —</span></div>
<br />Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-35711173478680367002014-05-10T11:32:00.000-04:002014-05-10T12:17:15.933-04:00Workflow TipsI thought I'd share a couple of workflow tips for my photographer friends.<br />
<br />
I don't have to do high speed editing like a sports photographer might. I generally don't import thousands of images at a time, but I might do a couple of hundred. This is just a quick overview of my process and I've highlighted a few of the things I think about. This is not a detailed explanation, it takes too long to write that and I don't want to put anyone to sleep. Just some things to think about.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">1. Import</span></i></b><br />
I put the memory card in the reader and I have the computer set up to automatically open Lightroom. The import dialog appears, and I've written a preset called "D800 import" that automatically sets up some parameters: where the images are saved, where the second copy (backup) is saved (on a different drive), it adds my copyright info in the metadata, and some really basic settings like sharpening, clarity, vibrance, camera profile, lens correction, etc. I can always change those but most RAW files need something to make them look ok on import. Click "Go" and depending how many images, get a coffee.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">2. Flag Status</span></i></b><br />
The D800 gives you huge files. I don't necessarily want to keep them all and some of them are certainly worth prioritizing for the next step in the editing cycle. I blow them up to full size on the big monitor and go through the whole batch, hitting "X" for reject, "P" for pick or just skipping them if I'm not sure. Pictures I want to work on first, I'll hit "6" (puts an "Edit Now" flag on them) and really good ones I'll mark with a 3- or 4- or very rarely a 5-star rating. I also use "7" on series' of bracketed pictures I will want to merge to HDR.<br />
<br />
Next step is the hard-hearted click on ctrl-backspace to permanently delete all the rejected photos from disk. These are pictures you're NEVER EVER going to want to see again.<br />
<br />
This whole thing is really a quick process, assuming I've taken that few minutes to let Lightroom generate the previews before I start. 200 images, maybe 10 minutes.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">3. Keywording</span></i></b><br />
This is a good time to do it. These are all potential keepers, and if you ever want to find them again... you can do them quickly in batches and add more later.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">4. Editing</span></i></b><br />
I'm not going into detail here. Each picture needs a different treatment. Sometimes you want to do some common edits, especially if a number of pictures are going to be merged together, as an HDR for instance, or all themed to work together for some other reason. Lightroom lets you sync edits across a number of images.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
I do everything I can in Lightroom, then export selected images to edit in Photoshop. I use plug-ins a lot: if nothing else they save orders-of-magnitude of time instead of working blindly in Photoshop. My go-to plugins are from Topaz and Nik. I have the full suites from both of those manufacturers. Here are the links:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><a href="http://www.topazlabs.com/aff/idevaffiliate.php?id=505" target="_blank">Topaz</a></u></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><a href="https://www.google.com/nikcollection/" target="_blank">Nik</a></u></b></div>
<br />
<b>Step 1</b> once an image is imported to Photoshop: Ctrl-J duplicates the layer so I have the original to fall back on any time I want to. <b>Step 2</b> is usually a hi-pass sharpening layer (blend mode to overlay, radius 4px is my go-to setting). The rest varies from image to image. <b>Step 3: </b>Blow the image up onscreen to at least 100% and go around it to find whatever else needs fixing. There's always something!<br />
<br />
Once I get back to Lightroom, that's when I crop and straighten (I may have done a preliminary crop before exporting to Photoshop). Final touchup, and as Ansel Adams used to say, a picture isn't finished until the edges are darkened a bit. A really useful tool is the new radial filter in Lightroom that you can use to really make the subject pop.<br />
<br />
For display on my blog or on Social Media, I often like to build a shadow frame like the one below. I created an action to do that in Photoshop with one click, then I enter the caption, my signature and tweak it as I see fit before saving it as a separate file. I don't want to overwrite my original. <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">Contact me</a></u></b> if you want a copy of the action (works in CC or CS6)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-A-ktN9nx851HuTFEoXP9kjoDl2wUCu-tO_fJoUw0MgVd961nfsiGVO0puEXKxZ8sEIVYKxuphweBdR_QmB3ZkMYetpbUZnJBp1ODOsxzoY-LcQcBE-C5GkXveWiMI98bAfGxOcKc3iH/s1600/wildwater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-A-ktN9nx851HuTFEoXP9kjoDl2wUCu-tO_fJoUw0MgVd961nfsiGVO0puEXKxZ8sEIVYKxuphweBdR_QmB3ZkMYetpbUZnJBp1ODOsxzoY-LcQcBE-C5GkXveWiMI98bAfGxOcKc3iH/s1600/wildwater.jpg" height="640" width="464" /></a></div>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">5. Exporting</span></i></b></div>
<div>
You do understand that everything I've done up to now is creating the source file, the "negative" as you will, that I archive. What I do with them next depends: are they for use on social media? My blog? For sale as a fine art print? Wallpaper? For the media (newspaper)? You need to export Jpegs for that. So that's what I do next, but only when I want to use them for something. There's no need to save the exported files back into Lightroom: I can always make them again from the source files. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I set up a bunch of export presets that say where the file should be stored, what it's called, how big it is, whether there's a watermark, etc. Once you've made the preset, it's 'select the preset' then one click to export as many files as you want!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">6. Backup</span></i></b></div>
<div>
I have Lightroom set to make a backup of the catalog whenever I exit the program. The backup goes on a different drive from the original (you know why. If you need me to tell you why, sell your computer and buy a box of pencils). Do it religiously. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In my workflow, I sync my external drive where the main images are, to one or two other external drives. The keepers also go on another one which is stored off-site. I do that every month, on the first. Only then do I delete the original backup images I made when I imported them. And I keep a month's worth anyway. You need a backup plan...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><i>Is this the world's greatest workflow?</i></b> No, of course not. Should you do it exactly like this? No. Did this give you some idea about how you might treat your own work? I hope so!<br />
<br />
Be sure to visit my <b><u><a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">regular weekly blog</a></u></b>, interesting images and ramblings from the Highlands! Click the "Newsletter" button (or <b><u><a href="http://www.photography.to/subscribe.htm" target="_blank">here</a></u></b>) for a weekly heads-up about what's on the newest posting.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-41294780972508037952014-04-28T18:05:00.000-04:002014-04-28T18:05:00.729-04:00Shooting StarsThe Lyrids meteor shower got me interested in shooting stars again. I wanted to catch a meteor! I've been through somewhat of a learning curve, although I've shot stars before. I thought I would save some of you some hassle, and give you some ideas at the same time. These are some random thoughts on the subject, some quick answers and some pitfalls to avoid.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Click on any image to blow it up. I made them all about 1200 pixels wide.</i></div>
<br />
We'll talk about how I captured and made these three images, totally different techniques.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLl4lK3ixryXAJuCSTbKgcSSfH5F-0BXoVU1S-lOf3d1IS4vkGW3hV6uXi-_R9HqOhY23WOkVf5nXxZ-UiFaXDlORwlICKC5pVYsJu5PeAo0Ex3wyuDpqm8D_-llhUi2HaECFMGrCda441/s1600/milky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLl4lK3ixryXAJuCSTbKgcSSfH5F-0BXoVU1S-lOf3d1IS4vkGW3hV6uXi-_R9HqOhY23WOkVf5nXxZ-UiFaXDlORwlICKC5pVYsJu5PeAo0Ex3wyuDpqm8D_-llhUi2HaECFMGrCda441/s1600/milky.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Nikon D600, Nikkor 17-35mm lens at 17mm, 30 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 2500</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGr35evwn2DmXfJZD6zv8OzmfIOytoQNyy4bs-Pwq9nmPM6KdYJFpCaRoXVsarnGx4nqymHCFMjbH5-iB4BKSYucv5-xtSwlnZGAjtvwXgI5Zwe9Gk19KxHznIxTYnsL84oGsL5o0jWDDo/s1600/meteor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGr35evwn2DmXfJZD6zv8OzmfIOytoQNyy4bs-Pwq9nmPM6KdYJFpCaRoXVsarnGx4nqymHCFMjbH5-iB4BKSYucv5-xtSwlnZGAjtvwXgI5Zwe9Gk19KxHznIxTYnsL84oGsL5o0jWDDo/s1600/meteor.jpg" height="356" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Nikon D800, Nikkor 17-35mm lens at 17mm, 30 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 800.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQLWJLajuPE51sqFv9f-QezW_FwgrsA9NMRUmMVHgie5zGMTj_bSwnzTkex_kR92SJ2DC3tdp0c2d_GHBK3yDXGNyanGIaeVR1Aa5rt_4DZSKnB_IuopOHPBvMmV9DG7kYybtsB5irmMz/s1600/magical-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQLWJLajuPE51sqFv9f-QezW_FwgrsA9NMRUmMVHgie5zGMTj_bSwnzTkex_kR92SJ2DC3tdp0c2d_GHBK3yDXGNyanGIaeVR1Aa5rt_4DZSKnB_IuopOHPBvMmV9DG7kYybtsB5irmMz/s1600/magical-4.jpg" height="474" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Same exposure: Nikon D800, Nikkor 17-35mm lens at 17mm, 30 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 800. But I merged over 50 frames in StarStaX.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
First of all, what equipment do you need? A camera with an appropriate lens, a tripod, and optionally but really important (especially for the 3rd shot), a remote cable release that locks. At the risk of restating the obvious, here's what you need to do:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Find a spot where you have a relatively unobstructed view of the sky and where it's dark</li>
<li>Dark means, well, DARK. In all three of those pictures, less so in the first one, there's light pollution in the sky. No, folks, that's not the vestiges of the sunset, those last two pictures were shot after midnight and the light in the sky is from the little town of Minden, Ontario, more than 10 km away.</li>
<li>Put the camera on the tripod. Before you do, focus it to infinity (it's best to know in advance where infinity really is, in relation to that "∞" mark on your lens). Make sure you turn off autofocusing, VR or IS or whatever your camera maker calls it, and switch to Manual exposure. Turn OFF "Long Exposure Noise Reduction" (Lightroom, Photoshop and a myriad of plug-ins do it better). Point it at the sky.</li>
<li>Attach your cable release. If you don't have one, you'll want to use the self timer in the camera to give it time to settle down before taking the shot. That won't work for the third shot above.</li>
<li>Crank your ISO up to 4000 or so, shutter speed to about 10 seconds and aperture as big as your lens allows, and shoot a test shot. This isn't a keeper, it's a quick way to see if you've focused correctly, if the camera is level (the D800 has a built-in artificial horizon that really helps!) and if the composition is what you want. Move it around until you're happy.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
If you want to shoot a static star field like the first image, you need to remember that, well, the earth moves. The distance that the star moves in your picture depends on how long the shutter is open and the focal length of your lens. The longer the telephoto, the more it seems to move. So a wide angle works best.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>There's a little magic formula, called the "Rule of 600". Divide 600 by your focal length: example, a 50mm lens will give you "12" as the answer. But remember that if you have a cropped sensor, you need to divide that by the crop factor (around 1.5?) so that means 8 seconds. If your shutter is open longer than that, when you blow up the picture you will see star trails.</b></blockquote>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWs-EVG32eIXVkvLbseqvslyoj0vKcL42oCExkFdwPmx_XWuSouQpQma_PR3IvXeZeCYJJEK9BDB8SNe3f-zp-zgy25JJjpXDCjsaSxGtX_5XrqyxV5jXnjAVm_e53XXyVGtCpAusJDCM/s1600/foreground.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWs-EVG32eIXVkvLbseqvslyoj0vKcL42oCExkFdwPmx_XWuSouQpQma_PR3IvXeZeCYJJEK9BDB8SNe3f-zp-zgy25JJjpXDCjsaSxGtX_5XrqyxV5jXnjAVm_e53XXyVGtCpAusJDCM/s1600/foreground.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
It's good to have something in the foreground. Here I painted the trees with a small flashlight while the shutter was open. I think the bright star is Venus, and the cluster above it is the Pleiades (did you know the Subaru logo is based on them?). D300, 12mm, 30 seconds at f/4, ISO 1600.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If you don't have a big aperture lens, here's where you're going to get in trouble: you're going to have to crank that ISO up really high to get a good exposure! Here's a starting point:<br />
<br />
<b><i>Aperture = f/2.8, Shutter Speed = 30 seconds, ISO = 1600</i></b>. I'm sure you can do the arithmetic for your combination. See why that f/5.6, 55-105mm lens is going to get you in trouble?<br />
<br />
I underexposed the second shot because I didn't want as many stars. Also there was more ambient light in that direction.<br />
<br />
If you want to catch a meteor, you need infinite patience (or incredible luck!).<br />
<br />
Here's what you need that locking cable release for. Whatever shutter speed you select, click the cable release and lock it. It will keep shooting pictures, one after another, until you unlock it. Go inside where it's warm, pour yourself a coffee (or a scotch), relax and come back later.<br />
<br />
I set up the camera behind the house for about 40 minutes, doing a sequence of 30 second exposures which I later blended together in Photoshop (the technique is to stack multiple layers with "Lighten" blend mode. I did it in batches of 10 until I got all 74 images done). No meteors. But I did see 3 things in the images:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6MNMVEMJyUbp9KUJWVK-pUdhsRW-G8l8I_lCfT0ilucGBGFyrmFKNEkH1GUtsbFDqKx3jMtckG5d2cOh0AyyUAbllHZ30XCEX8ZKwUdY04FrhF6QMAzSjiUSliIjpvOcn1xt0jqn7IGc/s1600/satellite-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6MNMVEMJyUbp9KUJWVK-pUdhsRW-G8l8I_lCfT0ilucGBGFyrmFKNEkH1GUtsbFDqKx3jMtckG5d2cOh0AyyUAbllHZ30XCEX8ZKwUdY04FrhF6QMAzSjiUSliIjpvOcn1xt0jqn7IGc/s1600/satellite-4.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><br />
This image is 2 frames merged together. According to what I read, this matches the profile of a satellite. The middle is brighter because the sun reflected off a brighter part of the rotating satellite at that point. I was pointing roughly NorthEast which is consistent with the sun setting behind me. The image was shot at 9:53 pm, about 2 hours after sunset.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5F2YReUhZQs5XxSdFyAC2dhwKuvEGcXrKc4VjGO_o5KGMncGE6GnTfmm-w-maeY97CqaxOs7-Odk2e_m03QvvHLVO2YScBdL9tvYL35UW17xdZLcZusMBKNK2uckMuNT3BM9FvW1psak/s1600/satellite-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5F2YReUhZQs5XxSdFyAC2dhwKuvEGcXrKc4VjGO_o5KGMncGE6GnTfmm-w-maeY97CqaxOs7-Odk2e_m03QvvHLVO2YScBdL9tvYL35UW17xdZLcZusMBKNK2uckMuNT3BM9FvW1psak/s1600/satellite-5.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><br />
There are 4 merged frames in this image. The big streak is clearly an airplane, you can see the regular red flashing light and it's a dual trace. There's another really fine trace that I think was possibly another satellite. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Here's what happens when you merge those images together.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVopzioC2JpMxGJb5YhyphenhyphengBMelfBcyqDQl1VljtZ5mE_d7SB7tHCYa4ry7W58U0OJbydiLN8GdlDgbgq6QNJDAz9HMqXcFPHep1bLlkZCL4dSSXCzJAaJLsceXsKMyvDglDEwZceZ_rB_A/s1600/satellite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVopzioC2JpMxGJb5YhyphenhyphengBMelfBcyqDQl1VljtZ5mE_d7SB7tHCYa4ry7W58U0OJbydiLN8GdlDgbgq6QNJDAz9HMqXcFPHep1bLlkZCL4dSSXCzJAaJLsceXsKMyvDglDEwZceZ_rB_A/s1600/satellite.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><br />
This is the full merge of all 74 images. Pretty, but not what I was hoping for. Too many stars. You can't even see the second satellite. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-L4Lw83XefxUkqd-1a_vv94kzchyphenhyphen8c37M2n4Z8mrJ-WDbjc5FknawvqYt5oPUAPF-u9D3cO6NNSJrC4Xgqc1LcdOc40G0mRg8MzQIEXsNVfdt4C-7e8b13lplWxy2fjkWIcr2y3ESNo/s1600/StarStaX__FAC4717-1280simplify.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-L4Lw83XefxUkqd-1a_vv94kzchyphenhyphen8c37M2n4Z8mrJ-WDbjc5FknawvqYt5oPUAPF-u9D3cO6NNSJrC4Xgqc1LcdOc40G0mRg8MzQIEXsNVfdt4C-7e8b13lplWxy2fjkWIcr2y3ESNo/s1600/StarStaX__FAC4717-1280simplify.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><br />
Trying to solve the "too many stars" issue. I first reduced the exposure of the individual frames by one full stop, then dragged down the highlights and blacks even more. I exported the images as jpegs (6000px wide) and used StarStaX<b><span style="color: red;">*</span></b> to combine them. Still not enough, I opened it in Photoshop and used Topaz Simplify. This is a "work in process". As soon as I find the right formula, I'll share it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>*</b></span> StarStax is a freestanding program that works on all platforms. It's job is to automate stacking those images to make star trail shots. You could do a lot of it in Photoshop manually (as I did at the beginning) but StarStaX has some utilities to smooth the transition by filling in gaps (haven't figured that out yet!). It's FREEWARE and you can get it at <b><u><a href="http://www.markus-enzweiler.de/software/software.html">http://www.markus-enzweiler.de/software/software.html</a></u></b>. Besides, after you export the images to Jpeg, it's a couple of keystrokes to do the comp, all at once, unlike the 45 minutes I took to do it in Photoshop earlier.<br />
<br />
Here's a shot that failed.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXSkUq_aJFPwsSfyIEJl5480RMDajataEqfS2HV3dll7oWxBqCG8gdsmDp5K8a8LuJwiFzbES4abeyvdWuSQRD9vOChXPdEbdPtsedEQ_ZrQ1MrMEb6YO-qYm5ksIcrDxtFrYOtIn_Bu_X/s1600/starstaxfail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXSkUq_aJFPwsSfyIEJl5480RMDajataEqfS2HV3dll7oWxBqCG8gdsmDp5K8a8LuJwiFzbES4abeyvdWuSQRD9vOChXPdEbdPtsedEQ_ZrQ1MrMEb6YO-qYm5ksIcrDxtFrYOtIn_Bu_X/s1600/starstaxfail.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Same settings, but only 30 exposures. I got tired, and wanted to do the car shot at the top, so I interrupted the sequence. 15 minutes is not enough with a wide angle lens. PS: when I go back to redo this, I'm going vertical. Imagine the reflections of the stars in the water!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The other way of doing star trails is one long exposure. But noise is generated by your sensor when it's under power (especially when it's hot), so the quality seems to be better by merging shorter exposures. That said, you can control the exposure more traditionally.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_hvuQvA2hKU5aYEFDygfKoF0mJD1krbbeeLzGf8CIPS0RkFFsz8zfrP0DSBSs1_vaLTTjX50-TYrMgbTEW8Wtm0ZAFAjt2_LXJfLvO3IIzzGXMOJU53T5mWu7DbMDnuu4Q4Z2JGieFd9R/s1600/long.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_hvuQvA2hKU5aYEFDygfKoF0mJD1krbbeeLzGf8CIPS0RkFFsz8zfrP0DSBSs1_vaLTTjX50-TYrMgbTEW8Wtm0ZAFAjt2_LXJfLvO3IIzzGXMOJU53T5mWu7DbMDnuu4Q4Z2JGieFd9R/s1600/long.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
D300, 12mm lens at f/5.6, ISO 100, 6,130 seconds (102 minutes).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqC9owDUYTUMESzOwJ2oac7rgdUxPxReU5vOO9gsd5Uw501bOOClNK-o9-sC9Cm0bzxQ0uiHr6VbQVc8wXtCpk9-iOY2EYiVPs133p9OSfKOi5Nlf06cTK4Re1MdMyMMda3f0pt9TWs8ug/s1600/long2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqC9owDUYTUMESzOwJ2oac7rgdUxPxReU5vOO9gsd5Uw501bOOClNK-o9-sC9Cm0bzxQ0uiHr6VbQVc8wXtCpk9-iOY2EYiVPs133p9OSfKOi5Nlf06cTK4Re1MdMyMMda3f0pt9TWs8ug/s1600/long2.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
D800, 1850 seconds (30 minutes) at f/2.8, 17mm, ISO 100 </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The second shot at the top? OK, I'll admit it. <b><i>The meteor was created in Photoshop</i></b>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Use a black layer and a small soft brush loaded with white. Click where the tail should be, hold "Shift" and click where the head should be (keep it horizontal, you can rotate it later). This works best with a Wacom tablet, make it pressure sensitive. Now double the size of the brush, turn the opacity down to half, and paint in the head. Add a touch of Gaussian Blur or it'll just look like a Q-tip! Practice makes perfect!</b></blockquote>
<br />
Now the third shot: the car. I did all the things I said above; several quick test shots at high ISO to evaluate the focus and composition, one of the test shots showed an ugly shadow on the ground (the light on the car was from a mercury vapour street light about 400 m away, the only light around! But the camera/tripod cast an ugly shadow), so I had to recompose. I got into the car after setting things in motion, in order to trigger the interior lights for a frame or 2. Too bright. So I edited those out in the computer and turned on my iPhone while I was in the car.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvFjVs4P7w0tuVNuE0Av5DsqVtxiB47kzGt42kHfoLUf0644JL5BhnpTAqGvVNhtNpuWjl7FPYvS5VL3k0Ca1DDOuqpacl3__vt-wvPAnmVo7uNhY_XUmDO-Y2fqGiwvDk3yEIhI14xtKL/s1600/magical-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvFjVs4P7w0tuVNuE0Av5DsqVtxiB47kzGt42kHfoLUf0644JL5BhnpTAqGvVNhtNpuWjl7FPYvS5VL3k0Ca1DDOuqpacl3__vt-wvPAnmVo7uNhY_XUmDO-Y2fqGiwvDk3yEIhI14xtKL/s1600/magical-4.jpg" height="474" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here's the picture again. It'll blow up if you click on it. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
To prepare the images for StarStaX, I opened one in Lightroom, took the exposure down a full stop (too many stars), added highlights and darkened the blacks, added contrast and clarity. then synced all of the changes to the other images. I edited about 12 of the 54 images in Photoshop to get rid of two airplanes and three passing cars (the airplanes were easy: healing brush. The cars were tougher, big soft layer masks, 'darken' blend mode). Then I exported the 54 jpegs to a folder and dragged them into StarStaX.<br />
<br />
I'm new to StarStaX so I haven't figured the "gap fill mode" properly yet. But when I omitted the bad frames (cars) it left gaps in the star trails, so I fixed them and put them back in. I ticked "comet mode" which is really cool. Once done: too many stars! So I added a layer of Topaz Simplify BuzSim at about 50% opacity to control how many stars in the image.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
So the above was a rambling mess. I threw all kinds of random stuff at you. But if you go back and read it again, I'll bet it'll save you some time in your star-shooting learning curve!<br />
<br />
If you want to do a workshop on this, I'm happy to oblige. We'll spend some time going over the theory, get you set up, then go out and shoot. Then we can come back (next day, not the same night!) and do some computer magic. Very reasonable price. <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">Contact me</a></u></b>!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-41103226642633958072014-01-30T11:49:00.000-05:002014-01-30T11:54:36.000-05:00Amazing amount of Metadata!I wanted to see the shutter count on my new D800 – information which I know is captured in the Metadata by the camera but which you normally can't see – so I opened a Metadata editing program to read it. I was struck, as I always am, by the sheer amount of information recorded by the camera whenever you press the shutter.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've barely set up this camera yet (it's a factory refurb, by the way. Nikon said it had 594 shutter actuations when I got it). Copyright info isn't in yet, the clock's off by an hour, colour space & filename not yet set (actually, I just spent the last 30 minutes doing that stuff but it wasn't set when I shot this image).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I use a free Metadata editor program called <b>PhotoME</b> that's available at <b><u><a href="http://www.photome.de/" target="_blank">this</a></u></b> website. Each camera stores different information. For instance, Canon cameras don't seem to record the shutter count. Still it shows an impressive array of information!<br />
<br />
Here's the metadata for the following image.<br />
<br />
In fact this image is a JPEG rendering of the original RAW file listed, without any modification other than conversion, resize and watermark.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcQNX_mkBWuUrUQkOnDM_oBtodA-SCzD8zfbUy44Z7B536KRxS493pM76g3U3yI_48vq-1luZHnRadOtrhpOmaTcIl01AwQa7ENU2pGqScAcGn7YExs2rNj3CdtNQ17T4iwLxCUc4f1IW/s1600/latteraw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcQNX_mkBWuUrUQkOnDM_oBtodA-SCzD8zfbUy44Z7B536KRxS493pM76g3U3yI_48vq-1luZHnRadOtrhpOmaTcIl01AwQa7ENU2pGqScAcGn7YExs2rNj3CdtNQ17T4iwLxCUc4f1IW/s1600/latteraw.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
By the way, check out the noise in this unedited image. Would you believe it was shot at ISO 6400?<br />
<br />
An edited version of this image (actually the next frame) is on <b><u><a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">my regular weekly blog</a></u></b>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ PhotoME ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PhotoME version:</td>
<td>0.8ß2 (Build 891)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ Overview ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>File name:</td>
<td>K:\FACZEN photos main files\2014\2014-01\2014-01-29\DSC_2065.NEF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>File type:</td>
<td>Nikon Camera RAW</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>File size:</td>
<td>47,801.6 KB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Creation date:</td>
<td>1/29/2014 22:44</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Last modification:</td>
<td>1/29/2014 22:44</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Make:</td>
<td>NIKON CORPORATION</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Camera:</td>
<td>NIKON D800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lens:</td>
<td>AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 24-120mm F3.5-5.6G IF-ED</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Software:</td>
<td>Ver.1.02</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dimension:</td>
<td>7424 x 4924 px (36.6 MP, 3:2)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Focal length:</td>
<td>120 mm (equiv. 120 mm)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aperture:</td>
<td>F8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exposure time:</td>
<td>1/8"</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ISO speed rating:</td>
<td>6400/39°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Program:</td>
<td>Aperture priority</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Metering Mode:</td>
<td>Pattern</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>White Balance:</td>
<td>AUTO1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Focus Mode:</td>
<td>AF-S</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image Stabilizer:</td>
<td>On</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Noise Reduction:</td>
<td>Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Flash:</td>
<td>Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ Image ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New subfile type:</td>
<td>Reduced-resolution image data</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image width:</td>
<td>160 px</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image height:</td>
<td>120 px</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of bits per component:</td>
<td>8, 8, 8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Compression scheme:</td>
<td>uncompressed</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Pixel scheme:</td>
<td>RGB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Manufacturer:</td>
<td>NIKON CORPORATION</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image input equipment model:</td>
<td>NIKON D800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image data location:</td>
<td>0x0001E6A8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Orientation of image:</td>
<td>90° CW (left/bottom)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of components:</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of rows per strip:</td>
<td>120 rows</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bytes per compressed strip:</td>
<td>57600 bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in width direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in height direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image data arrangement:</td>
<td>Chunky Format (Interleaved)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Unit of X and Y resolution:</td>
<td>inch</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Software:</td>
<td>Ver.1.02</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>File change date and time:</td>
<td>2014-01-29 22:44:10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Person who created the image:</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SubIFD Pointer:</td>
<td>0x0002C7A8, 0x0002C820, 0x0002C904</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Pair of black and white reference values:</td>
<td>[0, 255, 0, 255, 0, 255]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Copyright holder:</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exif IFD Pointer:</td>
<td>0x00000668</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GPS IFD Pointer:</td>
<td>0x0001E694</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Date and time of original data generation:</td>
<td>2014-01-29 22:44:10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>TIFF/EP Standard ID:</td>
<td>1.0.0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ Additional Image Data (1) ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New subfile type:</td>
<td>Reduced-resolution image data</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Compression scheme:</td>
<td>JPEG (old-style)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in width direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in height direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Unit of X and Y resolution:</td>
<td>inch</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Offset to JPEG SOI:</td>
<td>0x0010EC00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bytes of JPEG data:</td>
<td>3551893 bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Y and C positioning:</td>
<td>Co-Sited</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ Additional Image Data (2) ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New subfile type:</td>
<td>Not set</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image width:</td>
<td>7424 px</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image height:</td>
<td>4924 px</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of bits per component:</td>
<td>14</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Compression scheme:</td>
<td>Nikon NEF Compressed</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Pixel scheme:</td>
<td>CFA (Color Filter Matrix)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image data location:</td>
<td>0x00472000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of components:</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Number of rows per strip:</td>
<td>4924 rows</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bytes per compressed strip:</td>
<td>44287554 bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in width direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in height direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image data arrangement:</td>
<td>Chunky Format (Interleaved)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Unit of X and Y resolution:</td>
<td>inch</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CFA Repeat Pattern Dimension:</td>
<td>Horizontal repeat pixel unit: 2, Vertical repeat pixel unit: 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CFA Pattern 2:</td>
<td>[Red, Green], [Green, Blue]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sensing method:</td>
<td>One-chip color area sensor</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ Additional Image Data (3) ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New subfile type:</td>
<td>Reduced-resolution image data</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Compression scheme:</td>
<td>JPEG (old-style)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in width direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in height direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Unit of X and Y resolution:</td>
<td>inch</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Offset to JPEG SOI:</td>
<td>0x0002CA00</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bytes of JPEG data:</td>
<td>926205 bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Y and C positioning:</td>
<td>Co-Sited</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ Camera ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exposure time:</td>
<td>1/8"</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>F number:</td>
<td>F8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exposure program:</td>
<td>Aperture priority</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ISO speed rating:</td>
<td>6400/39°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (8830):</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Date and time of original data generation:</td>
<td>2014-01-29 22:44:10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Date and time of digital data generation:</td>
<td>2014-01-29 22:44:10</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exposure bias:</td>
<td>±0 EV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Maximum lens aperture:</td>
<td>5 Av (F5.6)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Metering mode:</td>
<td>Pattern</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Light source:</td>
<td>Unknown</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Flash:</td>
<td>Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lens focal length:</td>
<td>120 mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Manufacturer notes:</td>
<td>0x00000888</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>User comment:</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>DateTime subseconds:</td>
<td>0.5"</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>DateTimeOriginal subseconds:</td>
<td>0.5"</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>DateTimeDigitized subseconds:</td>
<td>0.5"</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sensing method:</td>
<td>One-chip color area sensor</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>File source:</td>
<td>Digital Camera</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Scene type:</td>
<td>A directly photographed image</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CFA pattern:</td>
<td>[Red, Green], [Green, Blue]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Custom image processing:</td>
<td>Normal process</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exposure mode:</td>
<td>Auto exposure</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>White balance:</td>
<td>Auto</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Digital zoom ratio:</td>
<td>Digital zoom was not used</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Focal length in 35 mm film:</td>
<td>120 mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Scene capture type:</td>
<td>Standard</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Gain control:</td>
<td>High gain up</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Contrast:</td>
<td>Normal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Saturation:</td>
<td>Normal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sharpness:</td>
<td>Normal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Subject distance range:</td>
<td>Unknown</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ GPS ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GPS tag version:</td>
<td>Version 2.3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ Manufacturer notes ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>MakerNote Version:</td>
<td>Version 2.1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ISO:</td>
<td>6400/39°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Quality:</td>
<td>RAW</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>White Balance:</td>
<td>AUTO1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Focus Mode:</td>
<td>AF-S</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Flash Setting:</td>
<td>None</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Flash Type:</td>
<td>None</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>White Balance Fine Tune:</td>
<td>±0, ±0?</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>White Balance Red/Blue:</td>
<td>1.32421875, 2.5546875, 1, 1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Program Shift:</td>
<td>±0 EV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exposure Difference:</td>
<td>±0 EV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Preview IFD Pointer:</td>
<td>0x00005A06</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Flash Exposure Compensation:</td>
<td>±0 EV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ISO Setting:</td>
<td>100/21°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0017):</td>
<td>1.6.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Flash Exposure Bracket Value:</td>
<td>±0 EV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exposure Bracket Value:</td>
<td>±0 EV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hi-Speed Crop:</td>
<td>Off (7424x4924 cropped to 7424x4924 at pixel 0, 0)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (001C):</td>
<td>1.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Serial Number:</td>
<td>5011113</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Color Space:</td>
<td>sRGB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>VR Info Version:</td>
<td>1.0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Vibration Reduction:</td>
<td>On</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (001F):</td>
<td>1 (On?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Active D-Lighting:</td>
<td>Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Picture Control Version:</td>
<td>1.0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Picture Control Name:</td>
<td>STANDARD</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Picture Control Base:</td>
<td>STANDARD</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Picture Control Adjust:</td>
<td>Default Settings</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Picture Control Quick Adjust:</td>
<td>±0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sharpness:</td>
<td>+3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Contrast:</td>
<td>±0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Brightness:</td>
<td>±0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Saturation:</td>
<td>±0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hue Adjustment:</td>
<td>±0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Filter Effect:</td>
<td>not set</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Toning Effect:</td>
<td>not set</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Toning Saturation:</td>
<td>Not set</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Time Zone:</td>
<td>UTC -5:00 (New York, Toronto, Lima)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Daylight Saving Time:</td>
<td>On</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Date Format:</td>
<td>Day/month/year</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ISO:</td>
<td>6400/39°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ISO Expansion:</td>
<td>Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ISO (2):</td>
<td>100/21°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ISO Expansion (2):</td>
<td>Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Vignette Control:</td>
<td>Normal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Distortion Info Version:</td>
<td>1.0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Auto Distortion Control:</td>
<td>Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lens Type:</td>
<td>D, G, VR</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lens:</td>
<td>24-120mm F3.5-5.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Flash Mode:</td>
<td>Did Not Fire</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Shooting Mode:</td>
<td>Continuous, Unused long exp. NR slowdown</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Auto Bracket Release:</td>
<td>Auto Release</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lens F-Stops:</td>
<td>5.33</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Shot Info Version:</td>
<td>2.2.2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RAW Compression:</td>
<td>Lossless</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Noise Reduction:</td>
<td>Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Color Balance Version:</td>
<td>2.1.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lens Data Version:</td>
<td>2.0.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Used Lens:</td>
<td>AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 24-120mm F3.5-5.6G IF-ED</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Exit Pupil Position:</td>
<td>93.1 mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AF Aperture:</td>
<td>F5.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>16</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Focus Position:</td>
<td>0x11</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>64</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Focus Distance:</td>
<td>0.67 m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Focal Length:</td>
<td>119.9 mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lens ID Number:</td>
<td>120</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lens F-Stops:</td>
<td>5.33</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Min Focal Length:</td>
<td>24.5 mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Max Focal Length:</td>
<td>119.9 mm</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Max Aperture At Min Focal:</td>
<td>F3.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Max Aperture At Max Focal:</td>
<td>F5.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>MCU Version:</td>
<td>124</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Effective Max Aperture:</td>
<td>F5.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>22</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>109</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>28</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>106</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (0098):</td>
<td>F1.1?</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RAW Image Center:</td>
<td>x = 3712, y = 2462</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Retouch History:</td>
<td>None</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (00A3):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (00A4):</td>
<td>3.0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="color: red;"><strong>Shutter Count:</strong></span></td>
<td><span style="color: red;"><strong>608</strong></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Multi Exposure Data Version:</td>
<td>1.0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Multi Exposure Mode:</td>
<td>Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Multi Exposure Shots:</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Multi Exposure Auto Gain:</td>
<td>Off</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>High ISO Noise Reduction:</td>
<td>Normal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AF Info Version:</td>
<td>1.0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (00B7):</td>
<td>0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AF Area Mode:</td>
<td>Single-point AF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (00B7):</td>
<td>0x0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Auto Focus:</td>
<td>On</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>??? (00B7):</td>
<td>1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>File Informations Version:</td>
<td>1.0.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Directory Number:</td>
<td>954</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>File Number:</td>
<td>2065</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><b>[ Nikon Preview ]</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Compression scheme:</td>
<td>JPEG (old-style)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in width direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Image resolution in height direction:</td>
<td>300 dpi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Unit of X and Y resolution:</td>
<td>inch</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Offset to JPEG SOI:</td>
<td>0x00005A72</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bytes of JPEG data:</td>
<td>99215 bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Y and C positioning:</td>
<td>Co-Sited</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-11645138096783333962013-12-25T12:55:00.000-05:002013-12-25T13:19:40.499-05:00Resizing and uploading imagesThis post is intended for members of the <b><u><a href="http://www.highlandscameraclub.ca/" target="_blank">Haliburton Highlands Camera Club</a></u></b>. One reason for being in a club is to be able to share your work with others. Another is to participate in competitions or workshops in order to improve your photography skills. In both cases, you often have to upload images, either to the web, to Facebook, or to a specific site such as a gallery or a forum. In most of those cases, the site has limitations as to the size of the image. Here are a few step-by-step examples of how to resize your images, to format them so that they look good online, and how to upload them.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>This looks long and complicated. It is long, I tried to cover all the bases, but each section gives you the easy way to do what you need to do, and then a more detailed explanation of WHY if you want it.</i></b></blockquote>
<hr />
<br />
<br />
I use several different programs depending on the task. If you use one that I haven't mentioned, this may be of limited use to you, but perhaps it will put you on the right track.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Why do you need to resize your images?</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Short answer: "BECAUSE".</span></b></blockquote>
<br />
There are a several reasons.<br />
<ul>
<li>A photo taken by a modern digital camera can be HUGE. Even the latest round of SmartPhones have 41Mp sensors: each photo could be 50 megabytes in size! That takes up a lot of room on the server, it takes forever to upload it, and people trying to download it use up a lot of bandwidth just to see your picture. </li>
<li>For similar reasons, some sites have limitations on the maximum size they will accept. Most of the forums are like that: for example, TIF (The Imaging Forum) has a limit of 800 pixels wide. </li>
<li>Some sites will allow you to upload huge pictures, then they will reduce the size that they display. FaceBook and SmugMug come to mind. In the case of Facebook, it's well known that the methods they use to reduce your picture to a reasonable size will degrade the picture, both the colour and the resolution, and introduce 'artifacts' that weren't in the original picture.</li>
<li>If you're trying to view a picture on your computer, most monitors are only capable of displaying between 1000 and 2000 pixels wide. So a full-screen image on the biggest monitor is going to be less than that. The same thing is true of projectors, which might be used to evaluate your images. And finally,</li>
<li>If you upload a full-resolution image, people might be able to steal it and make prints from it or sell it, or claim that it is their own. If you put up a reduced size, it's not printable.</li>
</ul>
On the other side, you may have cropped an image so that it's TOO small. There are ways to UP-size images but when you do that, you are letting the computer "interpolate" or guess what the missing pixels should look like, and that often leads to ugly results.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">What size do you want your images to be?</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Short answer: depends what you're trying to do with it.</span></b></blockquote>
<hr />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>Here and there you're going to see boxes that let you choose the resolution. You might see numbers like "240 pixels/inch" or "300 pixels/inch" or "72 pixels per inch". Generally the resolution doesn't matter at all. The device you're sending it to will decide. Unless you want your picture to be a certain size in inches, like you would when you print. Multiply the number of inches by the number of pixels/inch and it will tell you how many pixels you need. Work in pixels, not inches.</i></b></blockquote>
<hr />
<br />
<b>For uploading to the internet:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Normal images should fit inside a frame that's 800 pixels wide and 600 pixels high. </li>
<li>Large images should fit inside a frame that's 1280 pixels wide and 1024 pixels high.</li>
<li>Facebook will give you sharper images if you use 2048 or 960 pixels on the long side (height or width). Don't ask why. It will resize it anyway to fit in its framework.</li>
</ul>
<b>For viewing on your monitor</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Most monitors show only 72 dots per inch. So if you make your images fit inside 1280 pixels wide by 1024 images high you'll have a picture that's 18" wide and 14" high. Big enough?</li>
<li>iPads have higher resolution. Go for 2048 pixels on the long side. (New iPads might be even higher, but I don't know, I don't have one!)</li>
</ul>
<b>For submitting for competitions or evaluation</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Our projector likes images that are 1280 pixels wide by 1024 pixels high. Don't exceed these dimensions.</li>
<li>Of course your picture might be very wide or very tall: remember to keep the maximum dimension inside that frame.</li>
</ul>
<b>For printing</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Printers work best around 300 dots per inch. So to make an 8x10 print, you need about <br />2400 x 3000 pixels.</li>
<li>Most people can't tell the difference if you have only 200 dots per inch. So 1600 x 2000 pixels might be enough.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">How do you resize images?</span></i></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That depends on what software you're using. Pretty well all of them have that capability, so if you're using one I don't mention here, hopefully you will be able to figure it out.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Photoshop Elements</span></i></b></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Short answer: </span><i>Go to Image → Resize → Image Size. Make sure "Resample Image" is selected. Change the number of pixels in the "width" or the "height" boxes to whatever you want. Press "OK". "Save As..." and give it a new name ending in '.jpg'.</i></b><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></b></blockquote>
I only have an older version (10) of Elements, so your screen might look a little different if you have a newer one. It should be very similar, though. If you have an image open, go to the "Image" menu, drag down to "Resize" and over to "Image Size". You can also use a keyboard shortcut, on Windows machines it's Ctrl-Alt-I, on Mac it's Opt-Cmd-I. In both cases, you hold down the modifier keys (ctrl, alt, etc) and touch the "I" key. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYu8tUj6MdONf1RFcSw4OFaC4A8MOmJ9fGJ3Ha68g5jhCe0Ky3hsnFS2jZOGLwDMeljfHEzWhDqyfHiCqx5jVqq5tFCpgUE5k1zKsJbtUu9ScU8JFEIoKyHitLWIqdQSD8pjwYy4PBaXJC/s1600/resize1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYu8tUj6MdONf1RFcSw4OFaC4A8MOmJ9fGJ3Ha68g5jhCe0Ky3hsnFS2jZOGLwDMeljfHEzWhDqyfHiCqx5jVqq5tFCpgUE5k1zKsJbtUu9ScU8JFEIoKyHitLWIqdQSD8pjwYy4PBaXJC/s640/resize1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
The image I have open here is 6000 px wide by 4000 px high. You'd think that's "ONLY" 24 megabytes, but what you don't know is that there are several layers in this shot and it's over 250 Mb! If you tried to upload it, just 4 pictures this size would be a full Gigabyte! Besides, it's the wrong format. Keep reading!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />
Now when you open the dialog box, you'll see a window like this:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdVFEClZeAICwgvoq6xUujOKYgZg3zcT-yzEJkEA-cdFO2H3rsMqSCu6tqtXsbyqoNRJuezilriYMkXxH1eIVYsjEg0T4tkKAiwF-GDPYsYgzKpzRj2LYAvduEoeUyE9WR6IEEU2PxtBNl/s1600/resize2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdVFEClZeAICwgvoq6xUujOKYgZg3zcT-yzEJkEA-cdFO2H3rsMqSCu6tqtXsbyqoNRJuezilriYMkXxH1eIVYsjEg0T4tkKAiwF-GDPYsYgzKpzRj2LYAvduEoeUyE9WR6IEEU2PxtBNl/s640/resize2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
First thing you need to do is to put a tick mark under "Resample Image" at the bottom. That will activate the pixel dimensions in the upper circle. What that does is to tell Elements you want to change the actual number of pixels in the picture. Now if you go into that upper box (where it says "6003" and change that to "1280" it will automatically change the height of the picture to 853 px (where it now says "4001"). What's going on?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<hr />
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>The original picture has a certain "aspect ratio": in this case, it's about 3x2. That means that the height is 2/3 of the width and you want to keep it that way, or it will get distorted! That symbol on the right side of the box shows that you are locking those two values together, and that's what the "Constrain Proportions" tickbox is about.</i></b></blockquote>
</div>
<hr />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Elements is designed for people who just want to do regular prints, so it gives a default resolution and size for printing. That "240 pixels/inch" number that you see under resolution is for that. You can safely ignore that box, in fact the whole "document size" area if you're just resizing in order to upload your image.<br />
<br />
If you click "OK" at this point, suddenly the picture looks really small on your screen! Well that's because it IS smaller than it was. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZuKJF2zo5duE6ueWfIFWiAp1W490xYONiISJh1L8UJAve9aoU6Wg2ZioGKdsP5rOci97iUAtR7I6jDfy7NYEbxSU9Puugzvkfc8gnCSFQXcq27yL-sYPUC1KoHRceKNbNCeSZLrVWLFVB/s1600/resize3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZuKJF2zo5duE6ueWfIFWiAp1W490xYONiISJh1L8UJAve9aoU6Wg2ZioGKdsP5rOci97iUAtR7I6jDfy7NYEbxSU9Puugzvkfc8gnCSFQXcq27yL-sYPUC1KoHRceKNbNCeSZLrVWLFVB/s320/resize3.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Just click the "Fit Screen" button at the top (or use the keyboard shortcut "Ctrl-0" or "Cmd-0" (that's a ZERO not the letter OH ) to look at it full size. In this example, I've reduced a 250Mb image down to 11 Mb and I defy you to see a difference on your screen!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Next step is to save your image in a format that can be uploaded on the web. BE CAREFUL HERE. If your original image was a JPEG, and if you just click "Save", you will erase your full sized image and write over it with the little version! You need to give it a new name so that your original image will be untouched. Select "SAVE AS" in the menu, not "SAVE".</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjain_c83uFKgdGYUH7wv4BhFrYK7AK0noywT9lCvvHrcCihTYowgcKRZrnMzrafvaq-EJs5A3PQexK-wg2Uvsw1dOmj3UHybnDBbNf7jaA36isJu295VowBEfMm-22h8khKmAi3c7wE2c/s1600/resize4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjain_c83uFKgdGYUH7wv4BhFrYK7AK0noywT9lCvvHrcCihTYowgcKRZrnMzrafvaq-EJs5A3PQexK-wg2Uvsw1dOmj3UHybnDBbNf7jaA36isJu295VowBEfMm-22h8khKmAi3c7wE2c/s640/resize4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This dialog box will open. You need to do two things: first, select "JPEG" as your file type (green arrow) and then give it a new name (I would call this one 'redumbrella'. I try not to put spaces in the filename when I'm putting an image up online). </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After you do these things and click "Save", you will have stored the picture on your hard drive, ready to be uploaded.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>Note: It took me MUCH longer to type this than it does for you to do it. Two steps: resize the image and save it under a new name. Make sense?</i></b></blockquote>
<div>
Now here's the same technique for Photoshop (CS, or CC or...)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Photoshop</i></span></b></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Short answer: </span><i>Go to Image → Image Size. Make sure the width and height are showing in pixels, not inches or cm. Change the number of pixels in the "width" or the "height" boxes to whatever you want. Press "OK". </i></b><b><i>"Save As..." and give it a new name ending in '.jpg'.</i></b></blockquote>
Ready for this? It's EXACTLY THE SAME AS ELEMENTS. The dialog boxes look a little different, but the functions are the same. These programs were written by the same people!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggl9yzzOKE3LxCBWDa8Oy4vy70Q29Su_EyisMj7VG-Y1X5bXB97lDGVvkJp3m5Sa1Xi9SWGJZKV5ojJopugoYXxLWObY9NlLoCtqMTJu8B4BETnGyUzjj5dFICjSL-cn45vFoY_tpfKTfu/s1600/resize5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggl9yzzOKE3LxCBWDa8Oy4vy70Q29Su_EyisMj7VG-Y1X5bXB97lDGVvkJp3m5Sa1Xi9SWGJZKV5ojJopugoYXxLWObY9NlLoCtqMTJu8B4BETnGyUzjj5dFICjSL-cn45vFoY_tpfKTfu/s640/resize5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Just go into the width box and type in 1280. Then when you click "OK" the image will be small, so click "Fill Screen" or "Fit Screen". Note that the box to the right of the Width box has to say "PIXELS", not INCHES. If it says "Inches", you're going to try to make your picture 1,280 inches wide, or over 10 feet wide! Not good! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div>
The dialog for saving the picture is EXACTLY the same as it was in Elements. OK?</div>
<div>
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lightroom</span></i></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Short answer: </span><i>Go to File → Export. Tell it where to put the picture. Make sure "resize to fit" is selected and the width and height are showing in pixels, not inches or cm. Change the number of pixels in the "width" or the "height" boxes to whatever you want. Make sure the file settings are "Jpeg" and "sRGB". Click "Export".</i></b></blockquote>
This one's a little different. Lightroom is a program designed to catalog and store your original files, no matter what kind of images they are. Sort of like storing negatives in the old days. So to output a picture, you want to EXPORT it. And normally you wouldn't store the exported image in your Lightroom Catalog, just the same way you wouldn't store a print in your negative file in the old days.<br />
<br />
OK, so when you have a picture selected onscreen in Lightroom, choose "Export" from the file menu.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFHJB8axUeOkU5VqOp8uIt8T0Bzaf55uD29gU89AnxVft4q9FQhJUqIFrkzvJugbdXgYFuxSMvDFG9fi7dflqcdFtMlM6KfU43Qe8CB_wi7VuT0pSkVqCIlBWue1oudCcx8mi-4KJe6c1/s1600/resize6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFHJB8axUeOkU5VqOp8uIt8T0Bzaf55uD29gU89AnxVft4q9FQhJUqIFrkzvJugbdXgYFuxSMvDFG9fi7dflqcdFtMlM6KfU43Qe8CB_wi7VuT0pSkVqCIlBWue1oudCcx8mi-4KJe6c1/s400/resize6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
A new dialog box will open. Now if you haven't created a bunch of custom presets (if you're reading this, you probably haven't!), you can ignore the whole left side.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWqQTIzzyC2vQH73FQywNFXaIBJ2_5tqOXavGzPMTpd-txB8i6spBXQQhTMqPt4tvU7vhairLTi721pZoc8ECzLUQGnEZvUVljx8OhJbFDPdqFtUXaC9v4V8D9ipmGghQEl1p_p-U_E1g/s1600/resize7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWqQTIzzyC2vQH73FQywNFXaIBJ2_5tqOXavGzPMTpd-txB8i6spBXQQhTMqPt4tvU7vhairLTi721pZoc8ECzLUQGnEZvUVljx8OhJbFDPdqFtUXaC9v4V8D9ipmGghQEl1p_p-U_E1g/s640/resize7.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Notice where it says "Export One File" at the top? If you had selected 100 files, you could export them ALL with one keystroke! That's a lesson for another day! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZDGQIXg23VLECSzgbsXlsahCtBkKD4m4EVNhXN10L99wLqVECt7AoAUyS8cGVskXqZ916qVoOinxXKX0M2pesN317JcsCupx_kOSZDMEvf-gi4zA2xagEm1NuJUy8Dr6toNQX1XK9-nR/s1600/resize8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="616" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZDGQIXg23VLECSzgbsXlsahCtBkKD4m4EVNhXN10L99wLqVECt7AoAUyS8cGVskXqZ916qVoOinxXKX0M2pesN317JcsCupx_kOSZDMEvf-gi4zA2xagEm1NuJUy8Dr6toNQX1XK9-nR/s640/resize8.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
If you scroll down, this is the rest of the dialog box </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
What you want to do is tell Lightroom<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>where to put the file</li>
<li>what to call it</li>
<li>what kind of file it is</li>
<li>what size it should be...</li>
<li>...and a bunch of other stuff that's not important here and the subject of another lesson.</li>
</ul>
<div>
So the first two are obvious. Store it wherever you want, call it whatever. The third one is important: you want it to be a JPEG. And make the quality around 80%, you won't be able to tell the difference and it'll be much smaller. Type in the size you want. If you choose "Width and Height" here, you need to put in both numbers. What you're doing is defining a frame to fit the picture in and how it fills the frame depends on its shape. In the example we've been working on, I've used 1280 x 1024 pixels. In the screenshot above, 800 x 600 pixels is keyed in. Click "OK" and you're done!<br />
<br />
In Lightroom you can save these preferences so that next time they'll already be in there and you just have to click "Export".</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">What about uploading?</span></i></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now you have this newly created, resized picture on your hard drive, how do you get it up on the internet?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Again that depends what you're doing with it and what programs you have in your computer. Let's take the simple ones first.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Short Answer: </span><i>these are ALL short answers. There are so many different programs and systems out there! If you're confused, especially if you're an HHCC member, <u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">get in touch</a></u> and we'll see what we can do.</i> </b></blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">FaceBook, Google+, Smugmug</span></i></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When you open any of those sites, they have simple uploaders in place. You can either drag the picture into the dialog, or you can browse for it on your computer and then click "Open" and it will be automatically done for you. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisxGa606b-IsjEahTCpnVi4Aw8o1a2x0i7DLEHFywrZaaRzkG4lEzazgg65SIsvw3QL3eCe1nJTg8Xyx4Br3hyT_l0tW_bfurpAIjOjRkaixT80_gaCO9bMNTxhXgfnSWUsB10zPUjFlmR/s1600/resize9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisxGa606b-IsjEahTCpnVi4Aw8o1a2x0i7DLEHFywrZaaRzkG4lEzazgg65SIsvw3QL3eCe1nJTg8Xyx4Br3hyT_l0tW_bfurpAIjOjRkaixT80_gaCO9bMNTxhXgfnSWUsB10zPUjFlmR/s200/resize9.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjuxM43itheRaiooYiSv24PZdpc8xY8uLm8kZjfjabLTSEfPthupAo20Q_SWBD-WjT7awGxXgbQsWyxSsebY2zWevHQmkigAF-HbAma1lCiceK-K5GmaVJ9wXBlLT9LqFuqcB5Jg1Cy_c4/s1600/resize10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjuxM43itheRaiooYiSv24PZdpc8xY8uLm8kZjfjabLTSEfPthupAo20Q_SWBD-WjT7awGxXgbQsWyxSsebY2zWevHQmkigAF-HbAma1lCiceK-K5GmaVJ9wXBlLT9LqFuqcB5Jg1Cy_c4/s320/resize10.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswbfPUOTy4CHPSa9ZUrdra0MRKex0jg9_QhEwKtuMe9Kc1vUyJTqB9GHBle2pdOzzM4PknfveI7vP4AwHHKyeJD82C2Hs-7oFvtthA_cNw26gXDL1ODldE8gIyVACuEMLEB5I8FrXWdCz/s1600/resize11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswbfPUOTy4CHPSa9ZUrdra0MRKex0jg9_QhEwKtuMe9Kc1vUyJTqB9GHBle2pdOzzM4PknfveI7vP4AwHHKyeJD82C2Hs-7oFvtthA_cNw26gXDL1ODldE8gIyVACuEMLEB5I8FrXWdCz/s320/resize11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Simple stuff.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>FlickR or other picture sites</b></span><br />
<br />
I dunno. I don't use them. Probably just as simple.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Your own webspace</b></span><br />
<br />
If you have your own webspace, you know that's a place where you can upload pages or images or whatever kinds of files for other people to access.<br />
<br />
I have my own websites. Generally the Internet Service Provider (ISP) who is hosting your site will tell you how to upload files: it's usually through a mechanism called "File Transfer Protocol" or FTP. There are lots of FTP programs out there.<br />
<br />
Details on how to do that are for another day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Forums, like TIF</b></span><br />
<br />
Most of the forums use the same software. When you join a forum, you will find sticky instructions on how to upload to it in their FAQ section.<br />
<br />
Basically there are two ways to get an image into a forum:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Upload it to the forum server itself. They don't usually like that (but they tolerate it), especially if your image takes up a lot of space.</li>
<li>Upload it to your own webspace, then put a link to where the picture is in the forum post. That's the preferred way</li>
<li>Most forums have a limitation of 800 pixels wide x 600 pixels high as a maximum.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-30335628619095832342013-11-03T10:57:00.001-05:002013-11-03T21:46:37.052-05:00Temporary Photoshop Fix for unsupported camerasAdobe hasn't yet updated Lightroom or Photoshop to support my new D610. So I can't import any of my RAW files to either program. I researched a temporary fix.<br />
<br />
Note: This may not work in principle for other cameras. It works for the D610 because the RAW files are almost identical with the D600. Down the road, a similar fix might work with other cameras but you have to figure out what to try.<br />
<br />
What you need to do is to rename the camera model in the EXIF data in the RAW file (in my case, they are ".NEF" files). To do that, you have to run a program to edit the metadata.<br />
<br />
Note: this is for Windows 7. I'm sure Windows 8 is similar, but I'm also sure the Mac is different. There is a Mac version but I'm not going to try to tell you how to use it.<br />
<br />
Here's what you have to do:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Get exiftool.exe</li>
<li>Upload the pictures from your camera to your computer</li>
<li>Run exiftool on the whole batch of pictures. Has to be run from a command prompt.</li>
</ol>
<div>
You'll end up with files that you can now import into Lightroom or open in ACR.</div>
<br />
<br />
OK, here's how. This may look long, but just do it step-by-step.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Download <exiftool.exe>. There are Windows, Mac and Linux versions all here:<br /><b><a href="http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/">http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/</a></b></li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40oegGq3STSa12A6TqYzTXzdDkxQq_5aYDzg2lPNugVzNc7_nZhE3S3SBy8mUU9Nf3J_M1Dmq4Wlyv_xZMLoXLt0IMwYeoNB3Q-rj4jObiF4dwT5-oyiMBKxDByx6XHMNSCDOH753umX9/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40oegGq3STSa12A6TqYzTXzdDkxQq_5aYDzg2lPNugVzNc7_nZhE3S3SBy8mUU9Nf3J_M1Dmq4Wlyv_xZMLoXLt0IMwYeoNB3Q-rj4jObiF4dwT5-oyiMBKxDByx6XHMNSCDOH753umX9/s400/Capture.JPG" width="315" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>You have to unzip it and put it somewhere you can find it. For me, the easiest place was on the Desktop.</li>
<li>The filename is "exiftool(-k).exe". The "(-k)" will keep the window open when you run it from the command prompt, which you need to do if you're going to use the program just to view the exif data for an image (what the program is really for!). So right-click it and make a second copy on the desktop, then rename the copy to "exiftool.exe" so you can use it more easily to rename the camera model in a batch of files.</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtB9uKxQvl40mKiGnWtkJMfVJY-UW8QgsEUue_TbqTggW11jeDwmT0BY5s_ATMIYSk9rsHYC98njBjgxrt-0CoCKf87LdNcvetzycJF5XQvo0Fz0UKhZgcZFjHKikc0q2W36nkJ5083Oe_/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtB9uKxQvl40mKiGnWtkJMfVJY-UW8QgsEUue_TbqTggW11jeDwmT0BY5s_ATMIYSk9rsHYC98njBjgxrt-0CoCKf87LdNcvetzycJF5XQvo0Fz0UKhZgcZFjHKikc0q2W36nkJ5083Oe_/s1600/Capture.JPG" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>To run the program, you have to do it from the command prompt window. Click the Windows Start Menu icon (the beachball in the lower left corner) and type the word "command" in the search box. The first item that should come up is "Command Prompt". Click it. A black window will open up.</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32ojsELxDtbjvsSDjz3rGTHfhoemNOHrRM_ZHFrKhRRymlGEgv2HQ5cBsFGOQSJf7e5esV7XsK75POqXEVgIA-bufJmBMe46tuOlYnp69G6ZDCZOVSzbWximYTYJ41xw1fwDRgEk9P1wj/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32ojsELxDtbjvsSDjz3rGTHfhoemNOHrRM_ZHFrKhRRymlGEgv2HQ5cBsFGOQSJf7e5esV7XsK75POqXEVgIA-bufJmBMe46tuOlYnp69G6ZDCZOVSzbWximYTYJ41xw1fwDRgEk9P1wj/s400/Capture.JPG" width="265" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8u_OnL577J8PCI_ZdUzitOu1cp__ObzYy_EEimivalS3vJTSYhLLbm28tKxySEKXUSC988oMHNg1o2Ri6aHR-WUiIM7Jo-FofaBC_q2VuhyAKrqJ6m_DrzLMtHaf3pj7kBwKDT4Mr1fCz/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8u_OnL577J8PCI_ZdUzitOu1cp__ObzYy_EEimivalS3vJTSYhLLbm28tKxySEKXUSC988oMHNg1o2Ri6aHR-WUiIM7Jo-FofaBC_q2VuhyAKrqJ6m_DrzLMtHaf3pj7kBwKDT4Mr1fCz/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>To run exiftool from the command prompt, you have to type the entire path, both to where the program is and to where the files are. To avoid having to do that every time, I decided to save the entire command in a text file so I could just cut and paste it into the command window. </li>
<li>As it stands, the default command window doesn't allow you to simply cut and paste into it. Make it happen by right-clicking in the bar at the top of the black window, select "properties" and turn on QuickEdit Mode in the options window. That should be sticky.</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikJqxD1qBhU5Gw1kxEgrizz0fDeWhUYwmsdNR0uH-XOa6KZXSJ9HEKdQXiYEr7ASFbdxNjRhSteneWMptIEPhI-YX-pIdyI7uUA4IU_9-fYZUXd7w-ocSl30qfTfhyx22s-KP8jrNG22_/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhikJqxD1qBhU5Gw1kxEgrizz0fDeWhUYwmsdNR0uH-XOa6KZXSJ9HEKdQXiYEr7ASFbdxNjRhSteneWMptIEPhI-YX-pIdyI7uUA4IU_9-fYZUXd7w-ocSl30qfTfhyx22s-KP8jrNG22_/s640/Capture.JPG" width="562" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HCUIkJYQjBTsPolWv8jhqP-ULh7X8A9kPEUXqNuTr9DifMKwvSMsodhNMoDtMZHDUbjzrZ3UfzJfmIofmxAD_Kkg5J_pKEzDCdstdFOSRyhcqF5DA2zDw09x5vQkSAHFfaY31bznwZ6o/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HCUIkJYQjBTsPolWv8jhqP-ULh7X8A9kPEUXqNuTr9DifMKwvSMsodhNMoDtMZHDUbjzrZ3UfzJfmIofmxAD_Kkg5J_pKEzDCdstdFOSRyhcqF5DA2zDw09x5vQkSAHFfaY31bznwZ6o/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>A word about importing the files to the computer. Since my auto-import to Lightroom doesn't work on these files, I connected the SD card, viewed the files, and dragged the entire subfolder called 100ND610 (inside the DCIM folder on the SD card) to the desktop. After I import to Lightroom (including copying the files to where they're supposed to be), I can simply delete this folder. It's always the same name, so I don't have to retype the command line each time.</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-4i1P9mVmLlqycDAzHQF23nADs5QmYmsC1NmmQ80xOEEcdZkk53sPJQCIWQbx8gHYA8XMENHszGYlw8UKcC60GKYnJaygO4dC7ZTmTH49VMEBxyjYh1-qD7mU6erGt8gJ7-zBdfvjOjs/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-4i1P9mVmLlqycDAzHQF23nADs5QmYmsC1NmmQ80xOEEcdZkk53sPJQCIWQbx8gHYA8XMENHszGYlw8UKcC60GKYnJaygO4dC7ZTmTH49VMEBxyjYh1-qD7mU6erGt8gJ7-zBdfvjOjs/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>I opened Notepad and I typed in the following (of course replace the CAPS areas with your own info):<br /><b style="font-style: italic;">C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\Desktop\exiftool.exe -model="NIKON D600" C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\Desktop\FOLDER-WHERE-THE-PICTURES-ARE\*.nef</b><br />Note that this command is continuous, all on one line. Blogger has split it to fit the window.<br /><br />In my case, the exact command was <b><i>C:\Users\Glenn\Desktop\exiftool.exe -model="NIKON D600" C:\Users\Glenn\Desktop\100ND610\*.nef</i></b></li>
<li>Copy that from your notepad file (I saved the notepad file as "using exiftool.txt" on my desktop) and paste it into the command window. To paste into this window, you DON'T use ctrl-V, you simply right-click anywhere in the black window. Once it's there, click to run it.</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZAapUjJlhY0d2FzMiXBrEhA_Zz2EIl9NO5Yups-7P1n0kHEqHS8QGSKD8lZpfKlXAmCEby9MCEES_X4Rx0Qf1_X4EDtgZgnOVrlq7fwHBvcwnSfcjtHW6H1CaF5jHPVhqiX4gJn-3e73E/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZAapUjJlhY0d2FzMiXBrEhA_Zz2EIl9NO5Yups-7P1n0kHEqHS8QGSKD8lZpfKlXAmCEby9MCEES_X4Rx0Qf1_X4EDtgZgnOVrlq7fwHBvcwnSfcjtHW6H1CaF5jHPVhqiX4gJn-3e73E/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>If you have multiple files, it will take a minute of clicking and whirring before it's done. Then it will tell you, "x files have been changed".</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>Update: Open the window with the files in it before running the program. You can watch its progress! I just did about 100 files and it took about 5 minutes. I thought it was stuck until I opened it and saw it going through the files.</i></b></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Now you can open Lightroom and use your usual import workflow, but your source files are the ones in the folder on the desktop, not on the SD card.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Phew! They don't make it easy, do they?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
BONUS: you can view the metadata for any pictures by simply dragging and dropping the image file on top of the exiftool icon! Use the one with the (-k) in it so it will stay open for you to read it. You will be blown away by the amount of information your camera collects. Your shutter count will be about halfway down the list, by the way. This should work for ANY picture file, ANY camera.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjav2eTppZ8Mq_xJVWyGRw5uW6mvgzZyzlYI9A2zVG2IzH7FAhyphenhyphenKii3vojk60l57_BKawqnf2Zi89Cxk8qauK39gsDVq63u-J1olAEnT8ba3SZXtRamBl0wdUbblRZZBSZiTrZAfKZY1iAC/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjav2eTppZ8Mq_xJVWyGRw5uW6mvgzZyzlYI9A2zVG2IzH7FAhyphenhyphenKii3vojk60l57_BKawqnf2Zi89Cxk8qauK39gsDVq63u-J1olAEnT8ba3SZXtRamBl0wdUbblRZZBSZiTrZAfKZY1iAC/s400/Capture.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Ex9CYHnrfQMsLijq8Wk_NBAdwcjcKWiF1wOyO_qndPEXN27TDCB2UBUO4ju4NVRFpRNAjd6gQvqbTE7lx3OfQiFdm_ui9otQJMZFHEhZ1tiVU4F0GGz5jT78Zga43OiCZH1sSUwMTWwM/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Ex9CYHnrfQMsLijq8Wk_NBAdwcjcKWiF1wOyO_qndPEXN27TDCB2UBUO4ju4NVRFpRNAjd6gQvqbTE7lx3OfQiFdm_ui9otQJMZFHEhZ1tiVU4F0GGz5jT78Zga43OiCZH1sSUwMTWwM/s400/Capture.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>Update: It seems most cameras do NOT show the shutter count in the EXIF. I tried several others and heard from readers who couldn't find it.</i></b></blockquote>
<br />
So that's how I did it. Good Luck!<br />
<br />
* If you liked this post, please share it, by clicking the "+1" below or "Like" on FaceBook. Please visit my regular weekly blog at http://www.faczen.blogspot.com and sign up for the free weekly newsletter. Don't worry, you can unsubscribe with one click if you want to (but you won't want to!)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5n6NZ3eNzIgBYUYwppp-7U-tFWE7q71_2eW6qphthIKh0CuVUx2kx9qosmvLElIvWe43ZyLXvTBcSsR-Ool86LiU2viZe1IPY8WoSwcW2fEO_O0cqKUJQYa43dEoPaBcBFHEh0oMTAKT/s1600/legible-signature-3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5n6NZ3eNzIgBYUYwppp-7U-tFWE7q71_2eW6qphthIKh0CuVUx2kx9qosmvLElIvWe43ZyLXvTBcSsR-Ool86LiU2viZe1IPY8WoSwcW2fEO_O0cqKUJQYa43dEoPaBcBFHEh0oMTAKT/s1600/legible-signature-3.gif" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-42604065799640524102013-05-29T11:04:00.000-04:002013-05-29T11:39:26.717-04:00The making of a printable imageMy friend George is new to Photoshop. He has a great eye and judging by the pictures he takes, he must have a really good camera! I sent him an image a couple of days ago and he asked me how I did it. So when I wrote my reply, I thought it might be instructive to write it up for others, and document it a bit with screen captures.<br />
<br />
If you're expecting a really hotshot tutorial, you're going to be disappointed. I didn't do anything really fancy. Just what I consider a reasonable workflow in Photoshop. I'll try to explain why I did what I did as I go along, but sometimes I don't really know why! So here goes nothing!<br />
<br />
To start with, here's the FINAL picture. You can click on it to see it full-screen.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7AJV6I55ivCbd5x9N_6HxP_8M_V_49mgalZaEjH34LRUHCKHqHRXrvY_AY2uIUnwMo0lPtemzAthXWXlXQ88G1HuCuAeygGWVLYEdcmPCDdVxt_kUzU5YiRFnTkjxYM53u8SLQWCnqkp1/s1600/bigyellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7AJV6I55ivCbd5x9N_6HxP_8M_V_49mgalZaEjH34LRUHCKHqHRXrvY_AY2uIUnwMo0lPtemzAthXWXlXQ88G1HuCuAeygGWVLYEdcmPCDdVxt_kUzU5YiRFnTkjxYM53u8SLQWCnqkp1/s640/bigyellow.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry about the ugly watermark. You do what you have to do in the Blog world. In this case it's not very obtrusive because it's outside the image area.The signature is there, though, because this is a limited edition print and it gives me a chance to show how I made it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Step 1: the capture</span></i></b><br />
This motorcycle was parked in front of the Red Umbrella Inn across the road. I had a DSLR course student and we wandered over to do some shots and I said, in a teaching moment, "take 15 pictures of that bike and make them all different". While she was doing that, I did too, except I already had in mind what I wanted to get. Here's the bike in the original image, untouched:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7BrrrEnYOLCWZYkMUbxnPjfEiuCPca9lVVooUsujQAysnPt0tPOmALCojmsf50A8-6z-l0f_eYjEa5T5p1eba7ya7cZ-vXhHBwn8fsD7EHlGkn-oMGqtIiH8jFB4qTJm_p7m55X0OIR9F/s1600/bike1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7BrrrEnYOLCWZYkMUbxnPjfEiuCPca9lVVooUsujQAysnPt0tPOmALCojmsf50A8-6z-l0f_eYjEa5T5p1eba7ya7cZ-vXhHBwn8fsD7EHlGkn-oMGqtIiH8jFB4qTJm_p7m55X0OIR9F/s640/bike1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
These are all screen captures, by the way, so I'm not sure of the image quality </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
You may or may not be able to see the wall and the bushes behind the bike. It certainly wasn't completely black. Here, I'll artificially crank up the levels so you can see it:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Fs97_18YoYG9GYRMKLCRiB0sywZ1TWzEjB5EXN-6QXk3rJc58rWpifp8JyZIAIF_wOjK3xgCiyYu2VJRfcQ1hNlzVc1jb1rx0nUBG4q7QsddiR6Q5mJ7LgX0KXtBtUfCoBysFM2B-rNu/s1600/bike2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="443" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Fs97_18YoYG9GYRMKLCRiB0sywZ1TWzEjB5EXN-6QXk3rJc58rWpifp8JyZIAIF_wOjK3xgCiyYu2VJRfcQ1hNlzVc1jb1rx0nUBG4q7QsddiR6Q5mJ7LgX0KXtBtUfCoBysFM2B-rNu/s640/bike2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
There. See it now? This is more like it looked through the viewfinder.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
When I shot the picture, I deliberately underexposed by a couple of stops (I metered on the yellow cowling, exposure compensation at -2ev, 1/4000 sec at f/2.8, ISO 100, 70mm). Don't ask why I was at f/2.8, I just was, OK?<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Step 2: Photoshop</span></i></b><br />
Unusual for me, I didn't touch the image in Lightroom after I imported it, except to set the "Pick" flag. I took it immediately into Photoshop CS6.<br />
<br />
I duplicated the layer and used curves to deepen the contrast. I also used the healing brush, content-aware-fill and the clone stamp to get rid of virtually everything below the gas tank and headlights. Then I duplicated the layer again and set the blend mode to "multiply". That darkened the blacks and made the yellow more rich.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HsqLcfrTZZVOXEjWWzp3DAdoFXT3d8XZpvkdKcOAnhhH_ZD0yEnQI-GB5h_bNcvOcvB105tVyEqMH9yXKXoODBm9eG6fqLow1xM63DjD1XF0aMn4EUdv3Qj14JQDwouNTZ177D9VAQR3/s1600/bike3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HsqLcfrTZZVOXEjWWzp3DAdoFXT3d8XZpvkdKcOAnhhH_ZD0yEnQI-GB5h_bNcvOcvB105tVyEqMH9yXKXoODBm9eG6fqLow1xM63DjD1XF0aMn4EUdv3Qj14JQDwouNTZ177D9VAQR3/s640/bike3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
That left some ugly artifacts in the headlights, so I added a layer mask to block them out. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Next step was to make it more crisp, so I ran a high pass layer. You do that by duplicating the layer and setting the blend mode to "overlay". Then choose "High Pass" from the filter list (it's under "other"). A comfortable level for me is 4 pixels, to keep the image from going over the top but YMMV.<br />
<br />
I "stamped" a new combined layer and ran content-aware-fill on a couple of highlights that I thought were distracting. But the windshield was gone, and I really needed that to balance the image. I used levels to bring it back but I masked everything else out so as not to affect it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlenRw8Q_w8qd20rkDcn4g_xXXWm2T-RJ6guSE9M4bweFniNKHWQZpxSwuJwXKlTR1moV4wGM-ZWLfSXCt17Lj9mdMgOeLHv88ROpYYLsqVh-Bu26LXwBU9Lhy7rMYdnX1QIsn-qm5gfm7/s1600/bike4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlenRw8Q_w8qd20rkDcn4g_xXXWm2T-RJ6guSE9M4bweFniNKHWQZpxSwuJwXKlTR1moV4wGM-ZWLfSXCt17Lj9mdMgOeLHv88ROpYYLsqVh-Bu26LXwBU9Lhy7rMYdnX1QIsn-qm5gfm7/s640/bike4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
It's there, but not good enough. Nothing seemed to work... </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So I decided to bite the bullet and paint it in. Using the pen tool and a Boolean curve, I traced the edge and then using a small pencil brush, stroked the path I had created. It was too strong, so I faded it back, then I used a non-destructive dodge and burn layer to soften it. You do that by creating a blank layer, fill it with 50% grey and change the blend mode to "overlay". Now everything you darken is burning and lighten is dodging, so I used soft brushes at low opacity to do that smoothly, and even a gradient to make it fade away at the top.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip7SR8LgNF4Fuu41lpDRafDuBizVFYEoAaTf0ag_tTNh_K6K8dW52WtjzVAvsgguio7UEEt60HTUqVzpPqy4U3dKTqoXQRT4ODpn5y_QyBeEReUdnhuqeie_QqScld0yMkesq4NsxCwtdK/s1600/bike5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip7SR8LgNF4Fuu41lpDRafDuBizVFYEoAaTf0ag_tTNh_K6K8dW52WtjzVAvsgguio7UEEt60HTUqVzpPqy4U3dKTqoXQRT4ODpn5y_QyBeEReUdnhuqeie_QqScld0yMkesq4NsxCwtdK/s640/bike5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
One final step. I stamped one more layer, then I ran the new plug-in, Topaz Clarity. (you can get it <a href="http://www.topazlabs.com/clarity/" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>. On sale for $29.99 until May 31/13: use the promocode "claritynew"). This allowed me to fine tune certain areas and details.<br />
<br />
Almost done. Now to prepare it for print, I did two more things. Jim sent me an action to use to prepare images for printing on his Epson 7900. It resizes the picture (my go-to size is 13x19, on a 24x18 size sheet) and puts a border around it. It also lets me insert a name for the image. And I add the signature on a new layer so that I can change its color, size and opacity without affecting the image. The final product is at the top of this post.<br />
<br />
The last thing you need to do before printing is to soft-proof the image for the printer/paper combination you're using. That's not for this little tutorial.<br />
<br />
A word about the signature. My handwriting is, well, "awful" is putting it mildly. I can't write my name legibly. So hand-signing images is a challenge. I've opted to digitally sign, but on art images, unless you're already famous, the signature has to be legible. It took me probably 500 tries to write "Springer" in a way that it was legible and looked OK. I struggled with my first name, and was never able to achieve it. In frustration, Rosa picked up my stylus and wrote the "G" for me! (actually no she didn't! I remember now that she did it with her finger on my iPad!).<br />
<br />
I created a brush in Photoshop to "stamp" my signature. Here's what you do, it's really simple. Scan in or create your signature and open it in Photoshop in black ink on a white background. Make it large enough so that it will be high quality at size: I used about 1000 pixels wide. Now from the edit menu, select "Define Brush Preset".<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgxE7Lx_HhyphenhyphengNVs-i1eQM2yGSb-jcsVYWEUpS0JZQUFfadA1FYpal31aIQZBeaek-uxAPFQ8n7IqFrnUq4BF8HCj8gBhW0Uvvw4aW2CbREbEkBX8ERx6ROiUlEQbOM8q-B8BYXN9CF1ZP/s1600/sig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgxE7Lx_HhyphenhyphengNVs-i1eQM2yGSb-jcsVYWEUpS0JZQUFfadA1FYpal31aIQZBeaek-uxAPFQ8n7IqFrnUq4BF8HCj8gBhW0Uvvw4aW2CbREbEkBX8ERx6ROiUlEQbOM8q-B8BYXN9CF1ZP/s640/sig.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Give it a name and you're done! Your new signature brush is in the list of brushes. Just select it and click wherever you want it to appear. Use a new layer and you can modify its appearance as you wish. Don't forget to save your brush set just in case you have to reload Photoshop or you want to take the brush set to another computer. You do that here:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLzrGoh3Oab_aiWzU9bRkZWX1i4ARvspx9kpSHRZ6yRPbd3bmpN9FozFivAY5-BzdHN1Y_wFQtPFXgcgfTQCmexWr8_zeVPjvRAIFst16zev5PbKdKFiTx_ccmhjpaukzIA4Oax0M2j-e/s1600/sig2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLzrGoh3Oab_aiWzU9bRkZWX1i4ARvspx9kpSHRZ6yRPbd3bmpN9FozFivAY5-BzdHN1Y_wFQtPFXgcgfTQCmexWr8_zeVPjvRAIFst16zev5PbKdKFiTx_ccmhjpaukzIA4Oax0M2j-e/s640/sig2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Summary</span></i></b><br />
I may not be done with this image. As I look at it, I wonder how much better it might be with the headlights ON. When I have some time, I might revisit it with a digital paintbrush in my hand!<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Note: as I re-read this, I notice that some of the things I did are not that simple. They are for me because I do them all the time, like "stamping" a new layer, using the pen tool, or creating a non-destructive dodge/burn layer. You can Google all this stuff, or hit help in Photoshop for more information. Work with it a few times and you'll learn how.</i></blockquote>
<br />
I hope you enjoyed this simple example. Please join the <a href="http://www.photography.to/subscribe.html" target="_blank"><b>Newsletter Update list</b></a> so I can give you a heads-up about new posts when I make them, and give you some free stuff.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-90698740718458686302013-04-13T20:10:00.000-04:002013-04-13T20:10:23.735-04:00Printing and mounting followupAs I mentioned on the <b><u><a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">FACzen Image blog</a></u></b>, I have some more research information and I've received some sample prints on 3 different media. Here's an update.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Watercolour Paper</span></i></b><br />
<br />
I ordered a 12 x 18 inch watercolour print from Posterjack of this image:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVsWmGjPU097VuqKKmHNUYgq3V9QzOSFYWHFUNtqKRj5frXrgvOPwNrhDHknJjlhvVZQcbxYUDPwqXIqmDIyQ2chPsJSO36N29woyd8pemVw0u8SGG96Tyi_s7sldneNeQke90dwNl01_/s1600/_FAC6701_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVsWmGjPU097VuqKKmHNUYgq3V9QzOSFYWHFUNtqKRj5frXrgvOPwNrhDHknJjlhvVZQcbxYUDPwqXIqmDIyQ2chPsJSO36N29woyd8pemVw0u8SGG96Tyi_s7sldneNeQke90dwNl01_/s640/_FAC6701_HDR.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />The Trent-Severn waterway, with Balsam Lake in the background. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
It is outstanding. When I pick it up, it feels like something you would find in a museum. The matte finish and smooth tonality give an entirely professional feel to the image and I would have no hesitation about asking $200 for this unframed, unmatted print. It is archival quality, with 100-year inks, and the finish is unblemished. Of course it is printed without the watermark in the corner.<br />
<br />
If you are reading this here and want a print, <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">contact me</a></u></b> and we'll talk. The price is negotiable for my readers.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Acrylic Mount</span></i></b><br />
<br />
This medium is also outstanding. I made a 12 x 36" pano of my bicycle shot, and here's an iPhone picture of the print, together with a slightly smaller lustre-finish print that I'll talk about below.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYD6RNplrc3P2LiDzC91QJyCxuNdaL1X3pktxpsmpWbfFHCNCEyOSEWI_ImHwqLR2NJ690_YZR8QLCMyd-EhZS70GDKRIUDsxWh-zO6RVxIcN_ygL3DwZqSKgTc8RnNexYycuvHy5iWHrT/s1600/acrylic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYD6RNplrc3P2LiDzC91QJyCxuNdaL1X3pktxpsmpWbfFHCNCEyOSEWI_ImHwqLR2NJ690_YZR8QLCMyd-EhZS70GDKRIUDsxWh-zO6RVxIcN_ygL3DwZqSKgTc8RnNexYycuvHy5iWHrT/s640/acrylic.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Bicycles for Rent, the Old Brickworks in Toronto. The bottom print is acrylic, the top one lustre-finish </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
When I first ripped open the shipping box with the acrylic print in it, I was initially dumbfounded. It was blue. You couldn't see the image unless you held it up to the light. I thought for a second that I had made a huge error! Then I realized that it had a protective coating on it! I peeled it off and saw the print underneath!<br />
<br />
My initial reaction was a little disappointed. I expected it to glow radioactively. It doesn't: <b>until you shine a spotlight on it!</b> The brighter the light, the more it jumps out at you! But it's interesting that it doesn't look very much different than the regular lustre-paper print above it. In the iPhone picture, I had two spotlights from my ceiling track lighting pointing at them from about 10' away. They are standard 50w halogen spots, and because they were off to the left, the lighting was stronger on that side of the image.<br />
<br />
I realize now that acrylic is a wonderful mounting medium. The ones from Posterjack come with four brushed aluminium standoff posts and hardware, and the image is pre-drilled to accept them. It will hang on the wall with a gap of about 1/2", perfect for a 3-dimensional look. It's a different, and entirely professional alternative to matting and framing a print behind glass. The manufacturing cost of a frame, especially in a custom size, would be at least as much as the cost of the acrylic print.<br />
<br />
This print is available for purchase. It is $300 for my readers and will be listed for sale at the Haliburton Home and Cottage Show for $450. <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">Contact me</a></u></b> if you're interested.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Lustre-Finish Giclée Print</span></i></b><br />
<br />
The word "Giclée" is a fancy term for "ink-jet". It implies that it's a better quality than your average desktop inkjet printer, and I would only use it to describe prints done on quality paper, with multiple pigment-based inks. The one in the picture above was done on Jim's Epson 7900 printer, on Epson Premium Lustre 260 paper. The paper comes from a 24" wide roll, and the print is just short of that width, so it's practically an 8" x 24" image.<br />
<br />
Now Jim is a master at printing. If I hadn't already given Ron the nickname "Yoda", I'd give it to Jim. He walked me through every step of preparing that image for print and didn't miss a trick. I'll be doing many more prints with him, and hopefully I have learned enough to prepare my images for him, but I know he'll tweak them anyway. For I am but a grasshopper...<br />
<br />
But I digress. This print is almost indistinguishable from the acrylic one. In fact it seems to have richer blacks but that could be the lighting. It is crisp and brilliant and would be a $150 image if I put it up for sale (<b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">let's talk</a></u></b>...). Certainly it's worthy of display and I would be framing it if I didn't have the acrylic one.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">All three of these</span></i></b> are viable, exhibition and art-print quality media. You can't do the acrylic version on a home or small shop printer, it needs huge equipment to produce it. The watercolour and the lustre-finish papers can be run with Epson machines. I might be interested in doing some printing myself: Jim made me understand that the Epson 4900 is the better machine to buy than the 3800 but I probably can't afford one right now. If someone has either of those for sale in good shape, I'd be interested. Please <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">contact me</a></u></b>.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I have a lot of work ahead of me to prepare images for the Haliburton Show. I'll be doing some canvas as well, and some smaller card-sized pictures.<br />
<br />
More to come when I learn more!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
<br />Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-21639625894162488922013-03-31T13:48:00.000-04:002013-03-31T13:48:29.582-04:00Printing and Mounting optionsThis blog post is about exploring some print media and mounting options. It's preliminary; the thought process I'm going through right now in anticipation of doing some exhibition quality printing.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>This is an open-ended post. I'm continuing to research the topic and I'd value input, either by email directly or by comment to this post. I am giving some thought to starting to do my own printing, but I'm not there yet (if anyone has a 13x19 printer that uses pigment inks like the Epson 3800 that they want to get rid of, <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">let's talk!</a></u></b>).</i></blockquote>
<br />
I don't presently do my own printing. I never have, in 50 years, except for black and white way back when. Not that I wasn't interested, it was just that I didn't have the expertise or flair for it back then, and it was important to "do it right" or not at all. I used to go out to photo labs in Montreal (the names escape me), but in the digital era I've done a few prints at MPix and <b><u><a href="http://www.bayphoto.com/" target="_blank">Bay Photo</a></u></b>, but not much else.<br />
<br />
Yes, I've used Costco for some run-of-the-mill lower end stuff and will continue to do so when quality isn't a high priority (and cost is!). Lately a friend has offered to print for me (not sure if he wants his name out there so I won't publish it). He has a large scale Epson printer, TONS of expertise and great attention to detail. He told me he needs to keep his printer busy or the ink dries out.<br />
<br />
That said, I am now at a stage where I want to have some high quality prints, both for my own display and for art images for sale. So I've been looking into some options. I've discovered that there are quite a number of national and international sources of quality printing but they're not cheap. There's also mounting considerations.<br />
<br />
I want to comment of a few of the options.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Metallic Prints</span></i></b><br />
<br />
There seems to be two schools: printing on "metallic looking paper" and printing on metal itself.<br />
<br />
I saw some real metal prints at a gallery in the distillery district a couple of weeks ago. Also at the Artist's Project show. Rosa loved them, I didn't particularly. There are no whites: white is replaced by the colour of the substrate. Just not my cuppa tea. There are shops around who will print on metal, including <b><u><a href="http://www.posterjack.ca/metalprints.php">PosterJack</a></u></b> in Toronto.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXlYDuleK7nOE6e0RwSYxmyoVlA5Ph6QsNJYP-guyi0oZqet7OwyQL_nr1EqiiNLpODr-Jjn21KaCZiO4eHECs8JzEXpRq5QdNRYGtVB1jztIA7eHBb4og7IbxWpjLOJrB1Ktcn2xb4x3q/s1600/FAC_4546.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXlYDuleK7nOE6e0RwSYxmyoVlA5Ph6QsNJYP-guyi0oZqet7OwyQL_nr1EqiiNLpODr-Jjn21KaCZiO4eHECs8JzEXpRq5QdNRYGtVB1jztIA7eHBb4og7IbxWpjLOJrB1Ktcn2xb4x3q/s640/FAC_4546.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This is the kind of image that I think might work well on metal. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I had one print made on metallic paper at Bay Photo (this is the outfit in San Francisco, I ordered it through Smugmug). I ordered their "<b><u><a href="http://www.bayphoto.com/mounting-finishing/thinwraps/index.htm">Thin Wrap</a></u></b>". The print I got was quite good, The only thing I didn't like was the way the edges didn't wrap really tightly around the backing so it doesn't appear perfectly flat.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-1Ig70LRA0q4BG1UXy0B2QZ7DqEb48i6sKWURAaX2BTHI6iArtaH9mDU3PsnSZUVQaY1CZVJg1Vg7942tXNw4P0m057VhnB_mZnpcV7nAykH1HmNe7YD6h7NYW7HRnHsJ7cnnC3oCavo1/s1600/misty+dock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-1Ig70LRA0q4BG1UXy0B2QZ7DqEb48i6sKWURAaX2BTHI6iArtaH9mDU3PsnSZUVQaY1CZVJg1Vg7942tXNw4P0m057VhnB_mZnpcV7nAykH1HmNe7YD6h7NYW7HRnHsJ7cnnC3oCavo1/s640/misty+dock.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the actual print I had made on metallic paper and thin wrap mounted. It's hanging in my bathroom so it gets all kinds of moisture issues but hasn't degraded at all, as far as I can tell. I made a mistake on the actual print, I didn't allow enough room at the bottom for the wrap so the cropping isn't correct.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Acrylic Mount</span></i></b><br />
<br />
The acrylics are astounding. When I first saw one, I think at the One-of-a-Kind show last fall, at first I thought I was looking at a backlit transparency. Blew my mind. Investigating further, I discovered there are a few places that do that, but it's not cheap. There are a couple of different processes out there. <b><u><a href="http://www.colourgenics.com/" target="_blank">Colourgenics</a></u></b> does an "acrylic face mount" where the actual print is sandwiched between two sheets of acrylic. It's very expensive: just the mounting for a 360 square inch image was quoted at $300.<br />
<br />
<b><u><a href="http://www.posterjack.ca/acrylic.php" target="_blank">Posterjack</a></u></b> quotes somewhat less, but they say that they print directly on the back of an acrylic sheet. I'm planning to run a test with them, with this image:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhnFoEVYa2ZdVWEVkrT-bN-HesLPOu7jnCnxxY6fgJV-UYPr8Ct7TfepU8nFQrJ5AoCp-kBceaJMILB4caYIwSuK3tMeFNFhRqdw5l_oUwLj9mYiwdv-0YRbc4HekrCkLBIn2FeTMrC0F/s1600/bicyclespano5400x1800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfhnFoEVYa2ZdVWEVkrT-bN-HesLPOu7jnCnxxY6fgJV-UYPr8Ct7TfepU8nFQrJ5AoCp-kBceaJMILB4caYIwSuK3tMeFNFhRqdw5l_oUwLj9mYiwdv-0YRbc4HekrCkLBIn2FeTMrC0F/s640/bicyclespano5400x1800.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
The original file is 4100 pixels wide, I've upsized it to 5400 pixels and plan to print a 12x36 pano. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The best images for acrylic mounting are highly saturated or brilliantly coloured ones, the kind of thing you would print on ultraglossy paper.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Canvas Wrap</span></i></b><br />
<br />
A lot of places — including Costco — do canvas wraps. I don't know enough yet to know the difference. I am planning to do the following image, but I think my friend is going to produce it for me:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRjZ-xK_vSdUq9vjYgyFuekwDJ4krFrAzk-QkwnJvoB5VGNeNc9zTRUiRsuFpUMfkSaKh2JXYzp8ROA_a5rWczbR5XZwBLb10e1MB3I0XTXmfnD6VPRZLLGegJ7ZTEX3-etpW1NOX-cMu7/s1600/triptych.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRjZ-xK_vSdUq9vjYgyFuekwDJ4krFrAzk-QkwnJvoB5VGNeNc9zTRUiRsuFpUMfkSaKh2JXYzp8ROA_a5rWczbR5XZwBLb10e1MB3I0XTXmfnD6VPRZLLGegJ7ZTEX3-etpW1NOX-cMu7/s640/triptych.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
It's one image, cut into 3 pieces, a "Triptych". Each piece will be 9" x 18", with the edges mirrored. This original picture was taken quite some time ago, the first week after I got my D300. I used Photoshop CS6 to do the "oil painting" effect. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another picture I'm considering for canvas is the following:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigvtTGEEHGiV-NqQTRjhf6bsYXn6-d0AeFtKKMA-uN5nHrKY50YN-KGSiqqEFJDiBznMQZSGmoGn7AgA3Jkyaz79wQm0GfvGJq6J87zJaJguvHSvzAG2ZpfPdXjAQ-Wib9kYvd-9aHnpjL/s1600/_FAC6813-Edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigvtTGEEHGiV-NqQTRjhf6bsYXn6-d0AeFtKKMA-uN5nHrKY50YN-KGSiqqEFJDiBznMQZSGmoGn7AgA3Jkyaz79wQm0GfvGJq6J87zJaJguvHSvzAG2ZpfPdXjAQ-Wib9kYvd-9aHnpjL/s640/_FAC6813-Edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Again it's a Photoshop oil painting. The difficulty here is that it was drastically cropped from a D600 image and it's only about 1600 px wide. I think I can take it to a 12x18 because the oil painting effect will negate any pixillation or artifacts, but we'll have to see.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Watercolour Paper</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b>
there are inkjet papers out
there called "watercolour papers". Again, I first saw this at the Artist's Project show. The matte finish, subtle toning and wide dynamic range makes it ideal for pastel images. It is museum quality and availabe quite heavyweight.<br />
<br />
Some candidates for watercolour paper printing:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtGy6RQj7-LUdDBYKymuV0c_MvPMI2l7QwU0yi0-LMkIOCX8bfd6_0ff9JZIsX6fTixl5GCcwgWl-d16CKHWwqULqz2Q0yl04BGSoObsRZt2t5pEIcMr_rvqOOeJ4sUfY8PiI0GNKxNom/s1600/FAC_1585.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtGy6RQj7-LUdDBYKymuV0c_MvPMI2l7QwU0yi0-LMkIOCX8bfd6_0ff9JZIsX6fTixl5GCcwgWl-d16CKHWwqULqz2Q0yl04BGSoObsRZt2t5pEIcMr_rvqOOeJ4sUfY8PiI0GNKxNom/s640/FAC_1585.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbTVxzAxXKEf6W6p-qimarIjAl1sTA99pZEN4lROMMKyiKGGNHLMVh4x77KVFTSI0NS0mWnsE75itIkoyal8koqcu6iza3p2JJ3N_d5QlKT0D1w8KPIyfyqzPqpHU3KASYSmi7LxqGPga/s1600/FAC_0152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVbTVxzAxXKEf6W6p-qimarIjAl1sTA99pZEN4lROMMKyiKGGNHLMVh4x77KVFTSI0NS0mWnsE75itIkoyal8koqcu6iza3p2JJ3N_d5QlKT0D1w8KPIyfyqzPqpHU3KASYSmi7LxqGPga/s640/FAC_0152.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNg4opkyS7Qk_Alszf0xV6wQsvN4i3lIwG9C4XJYYKkRjC_2KVLSdwnP6KzxANfVzWJAMSpOHLyJnA2vAkgGyaEbzs7AFYz3ztyJIwM9d_EBINRkaJQ5WhndFOcn7ieSZ9Ipjo6h_VS9c/s1600/_FAC6701_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNg4opkyS7Qk_Alszf0xV6wQsvN4i3lIwG9C4XJYYKkRjC_2KVLSdwnP6KzxANfVzWJAMSpOHLyJnA2vAkgGyaEbzs7AFYz3ztyJIwM9d_EBINRkaJQ5WhndFOcn7ieSZ9Ipjo6h_VS9c/s640/_FAC6701_HDR.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The primary manufacturer seems to be <b><u><a href="http://www.hahnemuhle.ca/" target="_blank">Hahnemuhle</a></u></b>. I saw samples at <b><u><a href="http://www.colourgenics.com/" target="_blank">Colourgenics</a></u></b>. It's spectacular for pastels, and has a phenomenal matte finish. I'm not sure where to buy it (I can't find the right one directly at Hahnemuhle, but Vistek lists a 50-sheet package (13x19) for $285) but if I were printing myself (and the thought is percolating in my mind), this would likely be my go-to paper.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Mounting</span></i></b><br />
<br />
As mentioned above, any prints that I have mounted now were bought that way or sent out. I do have a handheld mat cutter that has not been out of the box yet, and some sheets of mat paper and some 18x24" frames. I'd like to be able to mount prints on foam core if I can find an easy way to do so. I have the space to work in, but no equipment. Again, I'm <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">open for suggestion</a></u></b>.<br />
<br />
By the way, if you are interested in purchasing any of the above images, <b><u><a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank">please contact me!</a></u></b> Until I'm fully established in the printing game, expect introductory pricing. Now is the time!<br />
<br />Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-79498368522795233712013-01-23T18:22:00.001-05:002013-01-23T18:22:08.813-05:00Light Pucks at CostcoJust a quick heads-up: get thee over to Costco and buy these "Light Pucks" for $29.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA7RcsklpbNvyGXHo7_x64ib1AnwCyQfiSahpfC7zkEWuwCXvBCuCI9qHTV-VOl1VDvlvRGNaT_tsGQnHOU8oHkcBGwBbu3qskv8PTQ2N9mZRzZj6oYwGmuGKeI-2DNZbrMrDynr8AhQUu/s1600/pucks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA7RcsklpbNvyGXHo7_x64ib1AnwCyQfiSahpfC7zkEWuwCXvBCuCI9qHTV-VOl1VDvlvRGNaT_tsGQnHOU8oHkcBGwBbu3qskv8PTQ2N9mZRzZj6oYwGmuGKeI-2DNZbrMrDynr8AhQUu/s640/pucks.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Quick iPhone grab<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
They are about the size of a hockey puck (as the name implies), they're wireless, powered by 3 x AAA batteries, blue-white LEDs, bright and absolutely ideal for use in still-life situations like shooting in a light tent. They come with a remote control but by pressing on the light, you also turn it on.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As I write this, I haven't finished unpacking them, I just took one out to try it as you can see. And batteries are included! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAG56mxeXknuZ_66EMmQ_1H2VoEY4bJvoGI3D1hdZFL5dXJBkRb-abCRiwC99LIpNpNhp6DK3fYQ8PrtusBTxpY1Z5vgVNdtsj1b_mVHU6Wl6X0DsSzjYHgormIz21X2YsrhjO_fH6Mqj/s1600/_FAC4049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZAG56mxeXknuZ_66EMmQ_1H2VoEY4bJvoGI3D1hdZFL5dXJBkRb-abCRiwC99LIpNpNhp6DK3fYQ8PrtusBTxpY1Z5vgVNdtsj1b_mVHU6Wl6X0DsSzjYHgormIz21X2YsrhjO_fH6Mqj/s640/_FAC4049.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Test shot in the light tent with just the one Light Puck, no other light. The puck was on the camera axis, low, shining up at the clothes pin which was on the plastic sweep. The lines underneath are from the tupperware boxes holding the sweep up.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />
Imagine the nice even lighting from several of these pucks!<br />
<br />
Only $29 at Costco. They were on the end of an aisle near the household goods section. By the way, the remote control has a dimmer and timer function, it says. No wires make it really easy to place these in and around the subject!<br />
<br />
I'll add to this post after I get them all unpacked and try them out.</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-33306437271609844372013-01-16T14:43:00.000-05:002013-01-16T14:54:42.450-05:00Get yourself a Light TentToday I’m going to talk about light tents. It’s a great solution for small product photography that lets you achieve professional results with minimal effort and cost.<br />
<br />
This article is a lot longer than it needs to be. I could do it in a single phrase: <b><i>“buy a light tent, use whatever lights you have or even just daylight, pay attention to detail”</i></b>. But I hope you’ll enjoy the story and extra info that follows.<br />
<br />
There’s an old business saw: “you can have it fast, you can have it cheap, you can have it good. Now pick any two.” Basically I like doing things the easy way, I’m a cheapskate and I want professional results. Generally you can’t achieve all of those things at the same time, but that’s what I want. A light tent goes a long way towards doing that for you.<br />
<br />
I’ve had a light tent for a long time. I realized early that most good small product tabletop shots have 3 things going for them: soft, even lighting without intrusive shadows, a really clean background, and crisp focus. One way of achieving that is to invest in a brace of studio lights and light modifiers, build a stage with a custom sweep, and use a 4x5 view camera with associated stainless steel darkroom and nitrogen burst gaseous agitation system for developing consistent negatives. Another way is to put a DSLR on a tripod with a reasonable lens, get a light tent, and light it with whatever you happen to have on hand.<br />
<br />
Now you realize that when I said that, my tongue was firmly implanted in my cheek because of course you’re not going to be shooting a national corporate ad campaign for Apple™ or Coca-Cola™ with that little setup, but how many of us do that? No, what we do is put a used MP3 player up on eBay (you know; one that’s fallen from a third floor window onto a concrete sidewalk and is smashed beyond repair. You list those as “may show some signs of wear and tear”! LOL), or take a picture of your watch because you’re bored and it’s snowing outside, or have some small products to show on your online small business site.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">What is a Light Tent?</span></i></b><br />
<br />
There are various other names for it, but basically it’s a cube, made of sturdy, white translucent nylon, usually framed by springy steel. aluminium or fibreglass poles or hoops so you can fold it down for storage.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5Fl9RhyphenhyphenY-bRA5420DY_5FrCa09yr7NSlJ6P8tZeTej_omsx_p1Rpe3iZ0zl_ok1WWE7rW-fnKIsbY9bZuJ0M-WBkb6w1DXmxs75BoHMBaBhKf-4M5Cxgy8n3KU8lbtPdO6JbTJ1U7Pny/s1600/DSCN0317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5Fl9RhyphenhyphenY-bRA5420DY_5FrCa09yr7NSlJ6P8tZeTej_omsx_p1Rpe3iZ0zl_ok1WWE7rW-fnKIsbY9bZuJ0M-WBkb6w1DXmxs75BoHMBaBhKf-4M5Cxgy8n3KU8lbtPdO6JbTJ1U7Pny/s640/DSCN0317.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
The panel with the slit in it that the camera is poking through is important when you're shooting objects that show shiny reflections. More below...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
(An aside here. I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to fold my tent down into its original package, which is a saucer shaped bag about 30cm in diameter. You have to hold it “just so”, twist it “like this” and lo and behold, it folds up! Once on a weekend photoshoot, I offered a prize to whomever could fold my tent up. Kathy looked at it for a second, picked it up and within 10 seconds, handed it back to me neatly folded. I begged her to teach me. I couldn’t get it. Then Rosa said, “look on YouTube”. “Nah, it wouldn’t be there...” wanna bet? There have to be 100 videos showing you how! Finally! I got it!)<br />
<br />
When it’s open, the inside is completely white. Shine a light on one or more sides and you have a huge, even, light source. But because light filters through the sides, even putting it on a table near a window gives you great, soft illumination! You can also put a light inside it, pointed at a wall or the top, and again, a big, soft, even, shadow-free light source.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Where do you get one and how much are they?</span></i></b><br />
<br />
Google is your friend. All the photo sources carry them: B&H photo, <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B005L4JGZA/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=B005L4JGZA&linkCode=as2&tag=tfi04-20" target="_blank"><b><u>Amazon Canada</u></b></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TKCZVM/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tfi0d-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001TKCZVM" target="_blank"><b><u>Amazon USA</u></b></a>, your local camera store or... well, eBay! I bought mine on eBay, it came from Hong Kong in about 2 weeks and cost me $35 including shipping. You can get little ones even cheaper if all you shoot is small pieces of jewellery, for instance, but I bought one that was about 1m cubed. They also come big enough to shoot people in them!<br />
<br />
The stores also sell kits including light stands, floodlights, etc. As much as $1000! Whatever floats your boat.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Light Sources</span></i></b><br />
<br />
Now if you want the light to be really even, you should light up more than one side. The fact is, though, it doesn’t matter what you use for a light source. Studio strobes, remote Speedlights, continuous floodlights, or even ordinary light bulbs! You have to watch the colour temperature, of course but unless you mix them, you can easily compensate in the computer, often with one mouse click. My favourite light source is daylight from a nearby window and a single remote Speedlight. As I said, you can often get away with just one.<br />
<br />
They don’t have to be particularly bright either. You did see where I said “tripod”, right? The watch shot here was a full 10 seconds. The camera kit shot was a short exposure shot with one Speedlight.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBVc_u5eZTNvaGj9nFt4K-PbYmnLzcmmsQvBsLlx3D2XWJ1TZDxf4LXjhdmyjSkRPzEoqyFOB8_x4LNYQ34MY4HzlsH3ImbQ6fjKlT3zIy0TKXKNI9T5ipdHzCp3SVK0VHsqbE2vraGRI/s1600/_FAC3761-Edit+compare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBVc_u5eZTNvaGj9nFt4K-PbYmnLzcmmsQvBsLlx3D2XWJ1TZDxf4LXjhdmyjSkRPzEoqyFOB8_x4LNYQ34MY4HzlsH3ImbQ6fjKlT3zIy0TKXKNI9T5ipdHzCp3SVK0VHsqbE2vraGRI/s640/_FAC3761-Edit+compare.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
10 second exposure at f/8, ISO 100. Some light was from a Speedlight directly behind the subject, but most was from a flashlight shining directly on the watch, that I was waving around during the whole exposure.<br />
<br />
Here's a good question, though. <b><i>Why is the second hand visible?</i></b> It was not in one place long enough to be lit by the flashlight, but the Speedlight shouldn't have picked it up either because it was not shining on the watch face! It's a mystery to which I do not have a good answer.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_1vLDYmTvCDkKjrV9jGfupAIU19cZccgJbBU3l1LZuWU14dGpxjZLqiz7NBzIx7lsSC9bHcu7XwgGJHUHNuWs1c-qRdmxhdqyZx7e5Z06F8ZxVobrL6fxEEszGE_v07_9SVKiFQzS5mE/s1600/_FAC3269-Edit2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_1vLDYmTvCDkKjrV9jGfupAIU19cZccgJbBU3l1LZuWU14dGpxjZLqiz7NBzIx7lsSC9bHcu7XwgGJHUHNuWs1c-qRdmxhdqyZx7e5Z06F8ZxVobrL6fxEEszGE_v07_9SVKiFQzS5mE/s640/_FAC3269-Edit2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
1/125 second at f/14, ISO 400. In this case, the subject stuff was sitting directly on the white cloth sweep. I cranked the whites up in Lightroom and added some detail enhancement in Photoshop/Topaz. This D300 kit is still for sale as I write this, <a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com" target="_blank"><b>contact me</b></a> if you're interested in a great deal.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRCgm2Y4UmkD2saJNoONuEuxiuwpJQsLGH8meuxbKgIPvNmIe8bqpcBH0HnPX_tPxQi5yIeEEndGhbpK2k8lp0_ybPRPy0lXCEW3wAahJa2it_EFCmsr6r2zoB07vSt7r8LfBXrNTzNA9C/s1600/truenorth+036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRCgm2Y4UmkD2saJNoONuEuxiuwpJQsLGH8meuxbKgIPvNmIe8bqpcBH0HnPX_tPxQi5yIeEEndGhbpK2k8lp0_ybPRPy0lXCEW3wAahJa2it_EFCmsr6r2zoB07vSt7r8LfBXrNTzNA9C/s640/truenorth+036.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
I admit that this shot used multiple light sources. It didn't need to, though. This was done back when I had a full set of studio strobes and I lit both sides and the top of the tent with them. The background was a furry acrylic thing I happened to have around.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's important to be able to move the Speedlight around, so you need to get it off the hotshoe on your camera. Especially if you're shooting with just the one light, where you put it and where you aim it affects your shot tremendously.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8ylOIK7R6vhXZddJciIiqeA-XTCQNmH9btPEYeeFKXYPI0Fibpw-EwsniY_29BQajybmYhs5HDnF_mzNrDrjWwqFp62gftlbPEEZExctULi9-KP6cQmtIcU31pcvn4t3I-YSPF28WJub/s1600/_FAC3785-6up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8ylOIK7R6vhXZddJciIiqeA-XTCQNmH9btPEYeeFKXYPI0Fibpw-EwsniY_29BQajybmYhs5HDnF_mzNrDrjWwqFp62gftlbPEEZExctULi9-KP6cQmtIcU31pcvn4t3I-YSPF28WJub/s640/_FAC3785-6up.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here are 6 different exposures of my watch lit ONLY by the Speedlight, but in different spots. The reflections underneath are from the plastic sweep that I describe in the next section. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Backgrounds</span></i></b><br />
<br />
You want your subject to be evenly lit, but you also want it to be on a clean background. White, black, coloured, patterned, reflective... it’s easy to achieve all of those things with a sweep. That’s a technical term for a curved, seamless background that starts above your image frame and ends below it. Your subject can sit on it or be suspended in front of it and it can be as invisible as you want.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ0EA1G4ea9QnxdSJ2sC9qpvTx7aaGkGvSBi3_62R7LBazZAIn2NwDBheBxrlCuW-vYIRQMKZVQ1sjjlW06Qj_CkVHk7vdNtG12HIHnES7y7inuIKBjT8bTEF44C1zNIqaJVGAAK0lorz0/s1600/_FAC0543.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ0EA1G4ea9QnxdSJ2sC9qpvTx7aaGkGvSBi3_62R7LBazZAIn2NwDBheBxrlCuW-vYIRQMKZVQ1sjjlW06Qj_CkVHk7vdNtG12HIHnES7y7inuIKBjT8bTEF44C1zNIqaJVGAAK0lorz0/s640/_FAC0543.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
On a black background (obviously!). I shot this outdoors, with the light tent in the shade not in direct sunlight. I used a little flash fill to bring out some textures and details. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjSXaIJJ4lG3RqPI5c3mZ-gt8wH7E6RIFhugi9IW1AwEqtzW9cUu96ZhVcU_5yryPA1SUzKzAqZ99LH36ydzP21cyDdRNXqA5YJSc13xYEiC9hKr3A6G722BOKAaPrUWHOsldgJyN_v6H/s1600/_FAC1271.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjSXaIJJ4lG3RqPI5c3mZ-gt8wH7E6RIFhugi9IW1AwEqtzW9cUu96ZhVcU_5yryPA1SUzKzAqZ99LH36ydzP21cyDdRNXqA5YJSc13xYEiC9hKr3A6G722BOKAaPrUWHOsldgJyN_v6H/s640/_FAC1271.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here's another flower shot, same setup except a white background. I sampled the orange of the flower in Photoshop and toned the background with a tint of it. The Speedlight was in the back so I could get light shining through the petals. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Most light tents come with a few different sweeps. Mine had a white one and a black one but I used a variety of different pieces of cloth for the same purpose. The tent has little Velcro tabs you can attach the sweep to, but in a pinch, a couple of ordinary clothespins will do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfPrDI-k98RLb0Gz59AJNE8j02MIkazBh0XxmFzlhHsM2h6zmpXTzmg3fMK2aDX-qTIFVK6ZBEHXD0O0jGTECq5UaIn3b95he0M4xzP_do6bClaMYSdpJwh4WLa65IDJssc7qE6J2wiSW/s1600/lighttent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfPrDI-k98RLb0Gz59AJNE8j02MIkazBh0XxmFzlhHsM2h6zmpXTzmg3fMK2aDX-qTIFVK6ZBEHXD0O0jGTECq5UaIn3b95he0M4xzP_do6bClaMYSdpJwh4WLa65IDJssc7qE6J2wiSW/s640/lighttent.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This is that piece of plastic I describe in the text, just lying in the tent. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Remember I said I was lazy? If your background is wrinkled or dirty, you may need to spend some time in Photoshop to remove the shadows, marks and creases. So try to keep them clean and use a wrinkle-free material. Or if you strongly light the background behind your subject — which you can also do from outside the tent with another light of some description — all those things get blown away. The other extreme is to use a black background and try to shade it from the light.<br />
<br />
Sometimes you want your subject sitting on a reflective surface. That adds tremendously to the 3-dimensionality of your picture. What I did was to go to a local sign shop and had them make up a translucent, flexible piece of plastic. They used a neutral gray for me and I paid $30 for a meter-long piece. Two Velcro tabs on the top and a little stand underneath — you can make it from wooden dowels or wire hangers or even old (clean!) chopsticks, and you’re done. An even better solution: use a Tupperware™ container as a support underneath. By raising the subject up, you can now light it from below as well!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9V_SM2yWUaWBzsb_7ktG-tsqZFCim0F8S1pdbcdJ4WFHb_cbSEJKh8u-bYBpkIfgi0lZbM_kyBFcqhwqauXFSvsG6ZK_Ofa2a5IdM2petSsMR5gcmXI_iWu-dvtEDFyKAhQbw-Jf4-ir/s1600/tent1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9V_SM2yWUaWBzsb_7ktG-tsqZFCim0F8S1pdbcdJ4WFHb_cbSEJKh8u-bYBpkIfgi0lZbM_kyBFcqhwqauXFSvsG6ZK_Ofa2a5IdM2petSsMR5gcmXI_iWu-dvtEDFyKAhQbw-Jf4-ir/s400/tent1a.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
The plastic sweep is sitting on top of a Tupperware container. I put a Velcro™ strip at the very top to hold it in place. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
One thing you need to watch out for are reflections of you and your camera when shooting shiny objects. Most of the light tents come with a shoot-through panel with a slit for the lens. I can’t find mine right now but an old bedsheet and a pair of scissors should fix that in short order!<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90ix6Rw31GOxftVC6rFOvZb4fSU_vCtBpKQ3IthaBxNpbeVeDmuyQOd9oTEwEt4zJ5VltQH6H4LxIFjWb8aYSNl08QiK4tmX16WPAUTvjkEf9fHV-ZJCkOiSxvViRHOWvfnSNEjlP22WO/s1600/truenorth+038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90ix6Rw31GOxftVC6rFOvZb4fSU_vCtBpKQ3IthaBxNpbeVeDmuyQOd9oTEwEt4zJ5VltQH6H4LxIFjWb8aYSNl08QiK4tmX16WPAUTvjkEf9fHV-ZJCkOiSxvViRHOWvfnSNEjlP22WO/s640/truenorth+038.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
What happens if you shoot shiny reflective things without bothering to hang the shoot-through panel. Look at the reflection in the bowl of the spoon!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Example</span></i></b><br />
<br />
Here’s a shot I did this week because there was a competition category on the TIF forum called, “jewellery” and I didn’t have a lot of time to shoot! In fact, the competition ended at midnight that day, and I got home just before 9pm, tired after a 2-hour drive, and hadn’t yet eaten. I had to clean off the dining room table, set up the tent and shoot. I was basically done by 9:10 but I got carried away and kept going for a few minutes more because I wanted to try something.<br />
<br />
What I did was to stick the watch on my plastic background using green removable tape. I didn’t feel like changing lenses so I just used the 70-200 that was on the camera, and on a tripod, with VR turned off, I stopped down to f/8, put my Speedlight beside the tent and took a shot or two. Done. However I wanted to blow out the background, so I moved the Speedlight directly behind the tent (it still sensed the controlling flash from the pop-up) and used room light to illuminate the tent. Ugly, because the room light was tungsten.<br />
<br />
My Luminox™ watch glows in the dark. It has little radioactive Tritium capsules that are really bright, the same ones used on the night sights on a Glock™ pistol. My goal was to see them in the picture, so I didn’t want to do a lot of front illumination. So I locked the shutter open for 10 seconds, went and got a little LED flashlight that’s more daylight coloured, and waved it around at the watch. The strobe was all done doing its thing after a few milliseconds and I could play with light painting all I wanted after that.<br />
<br />
Here’s another lesson: pay attention to detail and (a) you’ll have better results and (b) you’ll have to spend less time fixing things later in the computer. This applies to all kinds of pictures, not just still life and product shots.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5GyhzJ0a8qoPxY7f0Cf5UnruBuglqLlngpamk8-tPUI4S1OqXhYmfRfRom_ZA5nzrRwF2oy1Eqiie3rl_ohsIwnjsXs8zCZj3UPKpLE7N_ZUh-cvYOQjvKu9j6istKD6UqnTL0-TqQbA/s1600/_FAC3761-Edit+compare-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5GyhzJ0a8qoPxY7f0Cf5UnruBuglqLlngpamk8-tPUI4S1OqXhYmfRfRom_ZA5nzrRwF2oy1Eqiie3rl_ohsIwnjsXs8zCZj3UPKpLE7N_ZUh-cvYOQjvKu9j6istKD6UqnTL0-TqQbA/s640/_FAC3761-Edit+compare-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Here’s a before-and-after. On the left is the original image right out of the camera, on the right, the finished shot. It took me about an hour in Photoshop and Lightroom to make the following edits:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>The watch was dirty. I should have taken a minute to clean it before shooting it. Look at the bottom of the bracelet on the right side and in the middle.</i></b></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>There was a scratch on the crystal at 11:00. I had to clone the “1’s” from the 10:00 and remove the scratch with the clone and content-aware healing brush tools.</li>
<li>There was a bit of glare at top left which I burned back and cleaned up.</li>
<li>Contrast adjustment on the little date window and I painted out some dust and dirt here and there. Not sensor dust, "dirty old watch dust".</li>
<li>I increased the saturation to bring out the colours of the light capsules, then used a masked layer in Photoshop to limit the increased saturation to those spots. I reduced the overall saturation because there was a bit of a pink glow (probably caused by the tungsten lights in my living room that intruded in the 10-second exposure).</li>
<li>The bracelet and watch weren’t completely straight. I used Puppet Warp to straighten them. I could have done even more but I figured it was good enough.</li>
<li>Background spot removal. I need to clean my sensor again... then I opened a fresh masked layer and used a Gaussian Blur to soften out any background artifacts. Again, I could have done a bit more work on this.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2guH4K6Zoje1XgmS_ZHtugVbwMefPZ7YxwGUgKxHi_IRMH1xbhRaH5fqInGiQADrr8CrFUt3gDevO1jG_LsqJtgWBiR_sQj9E5uCPcVflc_1_ZEbgZ8883XRnvKMWUeivu_21AX1U9em/s1600/_FAC3761-Edit+compare-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2guH4K6Zoje1XgmS_ZHtugVbwMefPZ7YxwGUgKxHi_IRMH1xbhRaH5fqInGiQADrr8CrFUt3gDevO1jG_LsqJtgWBiR_sQj9E5uCPcVflc_1_ZEbgZ8883XRnvKMWUeivu_21AX1U9em/s640/_FAC3761-Edit+compare-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
1:1 blowup of the image. Amazing how much detail is visible. Of course some of that is due to the excellent sensor in the D600. I shot this with the 70-200mm lens from quite far away. A macro lens would have made it spectacular. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
So the shot and setup took less than half an hour, the Photoshop stuff longer because I didn’t pay enough attention in setup, and because I was having fun playing with it!<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Something completely different!</span></i></b><br />
<br />
Here I used the light tent for a completely different purpose: I used it as a flash modifier, in other words, as a light source!<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeCyOhpG2zDCg_ETNpeaycuph0x4W1DmdDrbYWY4sC2mJgWf02rFfpax-2jI6YVgteRBSyNJCi89DF4s-_A6TCNdPI4Qqx5IoXzYYijeXaWBtTtNrKNDApGzUw8uZdXCEfVNjxlKnch0gb/s1600/topaz-7278.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeCyOhpG2zDCg_ETNpeaycuph0x4W1DmdDrbYWY4sC2mJgWf02rFfpax-2jI6YVgteRBSyNJCi89DF4s-_A6TCNdPI4Qqx5IoXzYYijeXaWBtTtNrKNDApGzUw8uZdXCEfVNjxlKnch0gb/s640/topaz-7278.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
The glowing white background that you see is my Speedlight shining through the light tent from behind. Obviously I'm not inside it. I had a silver dish reflector off to camera right that threw light on the face and the Speedlight was the ONLY illumination! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">Summary</span></i></b><br />
<br />
A light tent is a great investment. I’ve even used it as a soft backlighting source for this Avatar shot of me (one light source, my Speedlight directly behind it, and a reflector in front of me to camera right to light the face). How else can you get a custom, professional looking lighting setup that pops up in no time and costs you under $50?<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZ3W9J9YSd1lpbfXgA6GOrr9Xc2Du7vJTMmqEJ7MCUXLQm1XU8W_HdG3j9P0F83gvDGj-WF37pFLVkyHTyYpkYulLmzHHWrM9BwPzNJM22Zk2JDh2DBJv4r9IpEeozxQw6SBMglGYVPBQ/s1600/_FAC3796.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZ3W9J9YSd1lpbfXgA6GOrr9Xc2Du7vJTMmqEJ7MCUXLQm1XU8W_HdG3j9P0F83gvDGj-WF37pFLVkyHTyYpkYulLmzHHWrM9BwPzNJM22Zk2JDh2DBJv4r9IpEeozxQw6SBMglGYVPBQ/s640/_FAC3796.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
My well-used 24-120mm lens. The setup is shown in the iPhone shot a few pictures up, with the lens sitting on the sweep. The Speedlight is about level with the lens and pointing through the right hand side wall at about a 45° angle. You can see every fleck of dust, every scratch and wear mark on the lens. Not necessarily a good thing if this were a shot intended for a sales listing on eBay or Kijiji!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ieWora7aTNMnL3JWWwiPd3UbF_MlreE3VS1IVZQbspxwZYmF6Me8KGcx_aeqAcwSSriFdrDMwql4Zt5fLGt2jFgCceeTfiEb_xkF5RFgIbxOUdMN3-LFWxnrx8GSOxoOYiBX4bVH135z/s1600/_FAC3797.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ieWora7aTNMnL3JWWwiPd3UbF_MlreE3VS1IVZQbspxwZYmF6Me8KGcx_aeqAcwSSriFdrDMwql4Zt5fLGt2jFgCceeTfiEb_xkF5RFgIbxOUdMN3-LFWxnrx8GSOxoOYiBX4bVH135z/s640/_FAC3797.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
One more picture. I'm sure you're tired of looking at my watch. But this one was shot at, well, about 10:08 am using the ambient light from a west-facing window and NO flash. <b><i>I have not cleaned it up at all</i></b>: it's just as it came out of the camera, except for cropping, exposure adjustment and a little clarity tweak in Lightroom. Look at the great even lighting!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<i>I’d enjoy seeing some of your shots... send me some links and I’ll append them at the bottom of this article.</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-80268188946110312692012-12-12T13:18:00.001-05:002012-12-12T13:21:25.748-05:00Auto ISO HDR BracketingThis is about using auto-ISO to vary the exposure when shooting multiple exposures in burst mode for generating HDR's. It works.<br />
<br />
First a disclaimer: I don't believe this works with Canon cameras, but not being a Canonista, I can't try it to find out. Perhaps one of my readers can test it and post a comment here.<br />
<br />
As a second disclaimer, I've only tested this on the Nikon D600 but I have been informed that Auto-ISO has been available since the D200. Again, if someone has a D200, D7000, etc., perhaps they might try it and let us all know.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">Now a little background.</span></i></b><br />
<br />
The 'accepted' way of doing HDR's is to bracket a number of exposures around what you choose as the nominal value, and blend them using one of a variety of programs, including Nik HDR Efex Pro (my favourite), Photomatix Pro, or HDR Pro inside Photoshop (CS4/5/6).<br />
<br />
We are told that the camera should be on aperture priority (or manual, Nikon changes the shutter speed in manual, not the aperture) because when you blend images taken with different apertures, you introduce a lot of chromatic aberration and create difficulties aligning all elements of the image because of the changing depth of field. That doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't use a fixed shutter speed and vary the aperture: after all you're free to experiment however you wish and of course rules are made to be broken.<br />
<br />
Here's the problem. Suppose you're shooting a scene handheld in aperture priority with a 200mm lens and you've chosen f/8 for maximum sharpness, and a nominal ISO of 400. On a given day, the nominal shutter speed might be 1/250 sec, let's say. That means that all other things being equal, your -2EV exposure will be at 1/1000 sec but your +2EV exposure will be at 1/60 sec. Your +2EV shot is going to exhibit camera shake, even if you have VR (Canon IS). So you can't really use those settings, you're going to have to bump the ISO up a couple of stops, or open the aperture.<br />
<br />
But then you'll be bumping up against the fast limit of your shutter speed (1/2000? Varies from camera to camera).<br />
<br />
This occurred to me while I was experimenting with auto-ISO, shooting a 400mm lens. I KNOW I can't shoot sharp pictures with that lens under 1/500 sec and fiddling with aperture under varying conditions was a pain, I really wanted to set that depth of field. So I thought, "change the ISO". It works.<br />
<br />
With earlier cameras, there's a limit of how high you can go (ISO) without introducing unacceptable noise. Well, that's true on all cameras, but the D600 seems to handle it better and I've even had acceptable shots in certain conditions at ISO 6400! So I set about trying it and sure enough, it worked.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">So why not try it when shooting bracketed for HDR?</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeogjE19NZwrKQg0_hsklICMFgXJEsPRovrNbmKgd6R7yix7W3nJ29CW93oe_SIsf9uaHWdB2IJSKW-b5w7HXXesXY4TRVWlpdZBiHHlEZzhxsxwBa4Ho4N26VfEhiO64twex2blNeZU8/s1600/_FAC3096_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeogjE19NZwrKQg0_hsklICMFgXJEsPRovrNbmKgd6R7yix7W3nJ29CW93oe_SIsf9uaHWdB2IJSKW-b5w7HXXesXY4TRVWlpdZBiHHlEZzhxsxwBa4Ho4N26VfEhiO64twex2blNeZU8/s640/_FAC3096_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This is an HDR generated in Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 from 3 exposures. They were all at f/6.3, 1/160 sec, focal length 70mm. The 3 shots were at ISO 400, 1400 and 6400. The sky was still featureless, so I brought it into CS6 and used Topaz Adjust 5 to further tone the image.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In this image, I achieved the effect I was going for. Yes, there's noise in the sky, mostly introduced by Topaz when I tried to get some detail in it. I did balance some sharpening and noise reduction in Lightroom 4 in the normal course of post processing it.<br />
<br />
Here's another image:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6b4jWiNj-b6dph9x7wROdCPYUYNLXLTY0mDFBVfKY6IHyeGp9XtKjaamJ_Bv6lQOpopipTQTYUlEbzH1UlIaRiL9mAEpAPR2Oa5QEbJn-JyX91tmIcF0GC2LirtgYXgeM-oc-8RpSwxR/s1600/_FAC3093_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6b4jWiNj-b6dph9x7wROdCPYUYNLXLTY0mDFBVfKY6IHyeGp9XtKjaamJ_Bv6lQOpopipTQTYUlEbzH1UlIaRiL9mAEpAPR2Oa5QEbJn-JyX91tmIcF0GC2LirtgYXgeM-oc-8RpSwxR/s640/_FAC3093_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This restaurant was across the street from the abandoned paddle shop above. In this case, the 3 exposures were 1/160@ f/8, ISO 1100, <b><span style="color: blue;">1/250</span></b> at f/8 ISO 400 and 1/160 at f/8, ISO 4500. Why did the middle one (the -2EV shot) jump to 1/250 sec? I have no idea. Post-processing was much the same as the previous image, except I added a vignette in Lightroom. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Another feature in the D600, and again I'm not sure about other models, is the ability to set the minimum shutter speed when you turn auto-ISO on. You can also set that to "Auto", which keys the minimum shutter speed to the focal length of the lens (you can shoot slower with a shorter lens without introducing visible camera shake).<br />
<br />
I've read here and there, that you shouldn't use high ISO when doing HDR blends. Probably true, but sometimes it's better to trade off high noise for increased depth of field and a faster shutter speed. It's your call.<br />
<br />
Do I feel as though I'm using too many auto settings? Am I going back to being an amateur snapshooter? Not at all. If the Gods (I mean Nikon) didn't want high end shooters to have these capabilities, they wouldn't have built them into the D600. Furthermore, I'm making all the decisions: in this case I just want to limit the shutter speed and let the camera make changes to other settings on the fly, without having to worry about bumping up against traditional limits. I'll do more of these. Count on it.Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-60546594848037309622012-10-24T18:19:00.000-04:002012-10-24T18:24:41.254-04:00The Great Filter DebateI was drawn into the "Great Filter Debate" again today, and I decided to put a little work into finding out what other people do. Which camp are you in? Do you normally have a Skylight or UV filter on your SLR lenses?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL7RWI99ARo5a1YaI39i5dbUFxvYQRkOdqZ26KvBdHuZVKsWjiFKj4Um20wAzaW_b0j47F3OrBPyf-F3BdJmtjpy3mb4lxVMWVXJILcAUrz93nYYzXQt_qrvQgtNhKkIgq4qHbAK_ETkfx/s1600/_FAC2431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL7RWI99ARo5a1YaI39i5dbUFxvYQRkOdqZ26KvBdHuZVKsWjiFKj4Um20wAzaW_b0j47F3OrBPyf-F3BdJmtjpy3mb4lxVMWVXJILcAUrz93nYYzXQt_qrvQgtNhKkIgq4qHbAK_ETkfx/s640/_FAC2431.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens. Even though this is the older version, it's probably worth the better part of $2000 on the used market. In front of it: a B&W UV filter that cost less than $100 </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I used to mount one of these filters on the front of every lens, only taking it off when I wanted to mount other filters on the lens: a polarizing filter, a Neutral Density, etc. A few months ago, I decided to take the filters off. I still think today that it was the right decision.<br />
<br />
Why did I have it on there in the first place? Well because "EVERYONE KNOWS" that it would be cheaper to replace a $100 filter than a $2000 lens if you smash your lens into a wall or drop it on a rock. And 'way back in the film days, we were told such a filter would cut through the haze and make your landscapes crispier and contrastier, wouldn't it?<br />
<br />
One day, I was shooting something in the studio (I remember where I was and why I did it, but no other details: I admit it – I'm getting old!) and I was pointed into some back lights and I could even see the ghosts on the LCD and I took the filter off to minimize reflection and glare and, well, it did. And somehow the shot was crisper and cleaner. So I thought about it, went outside and took some shots with the 70-200 with no filter. Maybe it was my imagination, but I had the impression that FINALLY, that lens was living up to its reputation. Brilliant.<br />
<br />
I took all my UV/Skylight filters off. They haven't been back on since.<br />
<br />
The big argument is, of course, that the filter was disposable glass that would protect your lens like the crumple zone and frangible bumper on your car. Well yes, maybe: but I've been shooting for over 50 years and damned if I can remember EVER dropping a lens or banging it into anything. Even if you did, you had a lens hood on that would protect it except from a direct impact.<br />
<br />
I can see that if you're crawling through the mud in a rice paddy 2 klicks North of Ta Con airport outside of Khe Sanh, you might want to have some extra protection for your lens, but this isn't 1968 and anyway, I won't admit to having been there (just threw that in to make you think for a sec...). Or in the blowing sand on a rooftop in Fallujah. Those guys need filters on their lenses.<br />
<br />
But then again, you might be on the shores of Lake Superior on a windy November day or shooting on the beach in Cayo Coco, Cuba. Sometimes it's smart to have something between the front of your $2000 lens and the elements.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhea1e1sxzLi4n4rXR_Z56AR85mTR2cyMYMoX4ASjmmj6banLDyxK5z7GT2ZBzoccH-ACi4zMlwCbgsZxfuBi91DeO878xd6CDRWpsAk_N9nKlbUSizXwHxLzsFbNMYIG0eIcfLqwaCCUGb/s1600/cuba+469.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhea1e1sxzLi4n4rXR_Z56AR85mTR2cyMYMoX4ASjmmj6banLDyxK5z7GT2ZBzoccH-ACi4zMlwCbgsZxfuBi91DeO878xd6CDRWpsAk_N9nKlbUSizXwHxLzsFbNMYIG0eIcfLqwaCCUGb/s400/cuba+469.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEHJa-47B7l1C-34lysQqC65xn2q-CFIPVzEiF_5UKDqRj6kOMJKANIeI4v8J2JmzsIpglQ5HPRpuyHtBWJcD6MSQMmRbQi3tSQpkKcxtKq4mnQr-vTtZG6ka7UeLozzkWuxiKSEldsDL/s1600/_FAC1798a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEHJa-47B7l1C-34lysQqC65xn2q-CFIPVzEiF_5UKDqRj6kOMJKANIeI4v8J2JmzsIpglQ5HPRpuyHtBWJcD6MSQMmRbQi3tSQpkKcxtKq4mnQr-vTtZG6ka7UeLozzkWuxiKSEldsDL/s400/_FAC1798a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Similar treatments, 5 years apart! (OK, OK. I edited them today!) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This shot, on the other hand was done without the benefit of a protective filter, in the rain. Pointing up in the sky, so how can the lens not get wet?'But, folks, it's only water...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Q0OrjzyZzoqTs2Ow_eIfI5JV5hT4xil9CHROCfGz0O6pbKcHkXAEkVdNgHtEXAvnSNkB_0gmKvZE3DwYKXhNWl_bFuCa1p8cwXsdOAjcDI44dVeb3a7L3DjrWLqJbcxRtkx5aT6dA4i-/s1600/_FAC1242.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Q0OrjzyZzoqTs2Ow_eIfI5JV5hT4xil9CHROCfGz0O6pbKcHkXAEkVdNgHtEXAvnSNkB_0gmKvZE3DwYKXhNWl_bFuCa1p8cwXsdOAjcDI44dVeb3a7L3DjrWLqJbcxRtkx5aT6dA4i-/s400/_FAC1242.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This is a multi-shot composite and the soft red spots are raindrops on the lens. But I don't think the shot could have happened with a filter on. The rain would have been too much for the image.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's not as if I was dunking the camera underwater, so it was raining! How could a filter have helped? I did clean and dry the lens surface afterwards (hint: go to Walmart and buy a package of microfiber cloths. They suck up dirt, grease, dust and moisture and will not scratch or mar a surface if you're careful to keep them clean. You can machine wash them, but I don't bother: a 3-pack is only $4).<br />
<br />
Do you think this image would have come out this sharp with a filter on board?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPJQtBhPpHN7wSSf7m225_DqHGLB0ORAMXTYYMg2cw8g3jIH8NFVRLTe7k6mXhijI6oozA9CT0chwNkbZm-1QNg9XUy5drjmhWhsnVxoBH7YHqXVN1_KD-DCAu7kya05Gx6ziN7r3JFXB/s1600/_FAC1051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPJQtBhPpHN7wSSf7m225_DqHGLB0ORAMXTYYMg2cw8g3jIH8NFVRLTe7k6mXhijI6oozA9CT0chwNkbZm-1QNg9XUy5drjmhWhsnVxoBH7YHqXVN1_KD-DCAu7kya05Gx6ziN7r3JFXB/s640/_FAC1051.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Hard to say, 800 px wide. But I blew this up to 200% and it's tack sharp. Click it to blow it up. To top it off, some people think that the old 24-120 f/3.5-5.6 VR Nikkor was one of the worst lenses Nikon ever made... </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
OK, now down to the nitty-gritty. I ran a survey by the denizens of the TIF forum (I know, someone is going to say that's repetitiously redundant: "TIF" stands for "The Imaging Forum", so I just wrote "The the imaging forum forum"!) and the Richmond Hill Camera Club. As I write this, I have 28 responses, and they break down like this:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuMHh2cvI8QsM7ERu0jc5VKYeRdk96g8ku1VE4wHiZMj1pIzu3wUa1YKPIRYfihb4hN1WSVrRw94N5QBvjT5sqJV6DDyVZHdbaOlv2c8pMGrFbqfqTCv2cZSaF09A5LV5CXoQuiGwCrxgc/s1600/survey1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuMHh2cvI8QsM7ERu0jc5VKYeRdk96g8ku1VE4wHiZMj1pIzu3wUa1YKPIRYfihb4hN1WSVrRw94N5QBvjT5sqJV6DDyVZHdbaOlv2c8pMGrFbqfqTCv2cZSaF09A5LV5CXoQuiGwCrxgc/s640/survey1.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Almost right down the middle! Now of those who said they wear protection, 100% said the purpose was to protect the lens and a couple of people added that they thought the filter improved the contrast.<br />
<br />
Of the people who said No, the added detail was interesting:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AMm1LTiWzaOCMC0Yx0dD7EsAduT85Qq69_A4UZd3Dt0Tea00nlX7SZu64FQYpPzqT2i5uKP_yOys0cIFPlOQXfd-5s8APw8ss4GZMw2OpWPeo0Vg5KSeLVSExwnxMfD-kQLVSWJlBUEA/s1600/survey2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AMm1LTiWzaOCMC0Yx0dD7EsAduT85Qq69_A4UZd3Dt0Tea00nlX7SZu64FQYpPzqT2i5uKP_yOys0cIFPlOQXfd-5s8APw8ss4GZMw2OpWPeo0Vg5KSeLVSExwnxMfD-kQLVSWJlBUEA/s640/survey2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
There were several comments that accompanied this question: several said they wore filters in bad conditions, some said it was a nuisance when they wanted to use polarizing filters and one said simply, "I use the lens hood".<br />
<br />
Next question was this one:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSsznWFrMZEY-Y_-XVTFlNTpC9RTbYUhEAfHDlbbI9QzAcWtlAdBZt3Dec8cchqQyVxxSzJxGRhzvJdRKkV4boojvHQ0hXRDYfQzPLRrALFJDry7FwJwXgvw8ltZMWMI4fvfZiCuS3jgm/s1600/survey3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSsznWFrMZEY-Y_-XVTFlNTpC9RTbYUhEAfHDlbbI9QzAcWtlAdBZt3Dec8cchqQyVxxSzJxGRhzvJdRKkV4boojvHQ0hXRDYfQzPLRrALFJDry7FwJwXgvw8ltZMWMI4fvfZiCuS3jgm/s640/survey3.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I phoned Nikon. They said, "$280 for an 18-200, $370 for a 70-200". I bet a lot has to do with the size of the front element. So your exposure is NOT the $2000 value of your lens: the filter can only protect the front element. It's under $500 and as one respondent said, "that's what insurance is for".<br />
<br />
Half of the respondents or more said they were what I called "semi-pro's". Two people were full professionals, the rest amateurs.<br />
<br />
There were some interesting general comments. Two mentioned that 'someone' had dropped their camera and the UV filter took the damage ('someone'. Right). A couple reminded us to use our lens caps in the bag (and use a bag!).<br />
<br />
So I'm not hiding my opinion: no filters for me for protection except where conditions warrant. But the lenses were built to take it, it's like not taking your motorcycle out if it looks like it might be thinking of raining because it might get wet. It's up to you, it's your lens. The only directive comment I will make is if you have a $2000 lens, for heavens sake spend more than $10 on the filter if you use one: go shoot a picture through your car windshield and look at it. That's what you're doing with cheap glass.<br />
<br />
I might add a footnote or two if more interesting results show up... pop back in a while to see.<br />
<br />
PS: the survey is <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5J9KS88" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">here</span></b></a> if you haven't responded and you want to.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 — </div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-47473179992008444752012-07-04T09:23:00.002-04:002012-07-04T11:32:33.825-04:00Shooting Macro on a budgetAs long as I'm on a "budget" theme, I thought I'd continue with an approach to shooting wee little things without spending a lot of money. One approach is with a bellows attachment. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8sgFei7Y-TnNoqkuqkTpNQd1astStStrJuP_5MB6Sik8T8F06zBK0YQZJECHpQgtYX_QZGcrNWdtS4_aomOa9hSn_3x-mgpnsZP9QDFk5BfOXOJPJzaz9APvAbaa1cfZLPcGoClW3diL/s1600/bellows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8sgFei7Y-TnNoqkuqkTpNQd1astStStrJuP_5MB6Sik8T8F06zBK0YQZJECHpQgtYX_QZGcrNWdtS4_aomOa9hSn_3x-mgpnsZP9QDFk5BfOXOJPJzaz9APvAbaa1cfZLPcGoClW3diL/s640/bellows.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
I bought this one on eBay. It came from Hong Kong or Shanghai (I forget which) and cost the princely sum of $35 including shipping to Canada. The lens is an inexpensive Nikkor 28-80 f/3.5-5.6 D that I bought on Kijiji and did the deal in a Tim Horton's parking lot!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The bellows has no way to link the autofocus or aperture adjustment from the camera. So you're on manual control. The problem I had was that all of my lenses are "G" type with no aperture ring, so I had to find a "D" version. FWIW, it works better at the longer focal length because distances are REALLY short otherwise. <br />
<br />
The bellows works by increasing the distance from the back of the lens to the focal plane. The further away it is, the closer you can focus and the more you can magnify an image. But focusing is EXTREMELY critical; depth of field is measured in millimeters!<br />
<br />
Focusing with the bellows can be done 4 ways. With the setup you see above, you can<br />
<ul>
<li>use the focusing ring on the lens</li>
<li>zoom the lens, or</li>
<li>extend or contract the bellows</li>
</ul>
The fourth way is to move the whole camera/bellows/lens array closer or farther from the subject and the right way to do that is with a focusing rail. They're also available on eBay and I ordered one but it's not here yet.<br />
<br />
I did some light tent shots yesterday, sometimes using a strobe fill, sometimes not. This series was with the strobe but dialled down considerably and through the light tent to diffuse it. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAj93utHEmirQGl70wPCraL8P61xlEvVFM-LRzhKbJn3Tmw_kmN_cZBK2B2dONJSidcv1VSYKz9ktkXC_aLzfdpuYWgC3etzPWIO7KMr8hyphenhyphenu4tW7YDzPTp7LKYXLrGKmBtYGj4Y-70ES9/s1600/setuup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAj93utHEmirQGl70wPCraL8P61xlEvVFM-LRzhKbJn3Tmw_kmN_cZBK2B2dONJSidcv1VSYKz9ktkXC_aLzfdpuYWgC3etzPWIO7KMr8hyphenhyphenu4tW7YDzPTp7LKYXLrGKmBtYGj4Y-70ES9/s640/setuup.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
In this setup shot, the strobe is behind the black sweep, so it only illuminates the tent, not the subject. Sometimes I had the strobe further off to the right, but I don't have a setup shot of that.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As I said, focusing is tricky. I would focus using LiveView with the lens wide open so I could see, then carefully stop down without moving anything. Of course without autofocus or exposure adjustment with the bellows on, everything was manual. <br />
<br />
I tried doing a focus stacked sequence but it didn't work. In this case I had 8 exposures but they wouldn't blend. That will be helped by the focus rail (I hope!). If anythng moves in the frame, the layers won't merge right. This was just one image:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZRMyQD38kuIXWeCSCtgOpScFqQsQcoezEK49rIqsrboy6rYjEtKT8v_entVAsvjK2zt6GY9u4nH6WmRYcLgnHeKD3rtRh2q3jUeV4IjjfiYOlyRcqWLgabc6W4NxiSg0LgvilD55ktNDc/s1600/yellowfloweroriginal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZRMyQD38kuIXWeCSCtgOpScFqQsQcoezEK49rIqsrboy6rYjEtKT8v_entVAsvjK2zt6GY9u4nH6WmRYcLgnHeKD3rtRh2q3jUeV4IjjfiYOlyRcqWLgabc6W4NxiSg0LgvilD55ktNDc/s640/yellowfloweroriginal.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This flower is a little under an inch in diameter. The red you see in the lower left corner is a plastic bit on the A-clamp I'm using to hold the flower in place. And it's worth noting that the background is not PURE black, not even close. I dealt with that in post.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Exposure was 2 seconds at f/11, ISO 200. Why so long? As I said, I was shooting with and without flash fill and I forgot to change the setting. If the illumination was flash only, I wouldn't have to; although there's still not a lot of light when you're shooting at f/11. You can see the depth of field when you look at the stem or the furthest petals.<br />
<br />
Camera shake and movement is CRITICAL. I used the self-timer function, or Mirror-Up, and a cable release to trip the shutter. Do I have to say it was on a tripod?<br />
Here's the final image:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1p-bzIleFNxWaSe7iNe66Ne2dnYOgOF11xPvZ5I8raGYt8r7L8w3iNZ_Ms3kLvZhQhSiwZAoAI56lW5QQrhmLt0-HB0K11UZL9W74mDQLqQdGdjQeaJFtFN56xp8WYE4wYorJmj3y2fvv/s1600/yellowflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1p-bzIleFNxWaSe7iNe66Ne2dnYOgOF11xPvZ5I8raGYt8r7L8w3iNZ_Ms3kLvZhQhSiwZAoAI56lW5QQrhmLt0-HB0K11UZL9W74mDQLqQdGdjQeaJFtFN56xp8WYE4wYorJmj3y2fvv/s640/yellowflower.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Name that flower in 3 notes. I dunno, it's like a little daisy but it's yellow. I'm not a flower expert.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Now let me tell you what I did to get there.<br />
<br />
I took the 8 images into CS6 and tried to focus-stack them but as I said, it didn't work. So I ended up deleting all the layers except this one. Step 1 was a hi-pass filter layer to bring up the detail. After stamping a merged layer, I opened Topaz Adjust 5 (I'm sure you figured that out when you saw the results!) and used the "Psychedelic" preset. I tweaked that some, especially doing some noise reduction. Back to CS6.<br />
<br />
Now to get rid of the red bit and some of the background light spill. I created a mask and masked out the flower so it wouldn't affect the content-aware fill, and that's how I removed the extraneous bits. When I was done that step, I discarded the mask. In order to see what was going on with the background, I created a Levels adjustment layer and cranked it WAY up so I could see the mess in the background. I selected the flower and stem, and used the selection to mask the image, then filled what was left with black. After deleting the mask, a few strokes with a brush and the background was monolithic. Next I discarded the levels adjustment layer, it was only there for visibility.<br />
<br />
The new crop function in CS6 is neat: I reframed the image, adding room to the left and below and filling the added portion with the same black. Then I used the healing brush and the clone stamp tool to extend the soft focused stem to the left and up. Pretty well done, I took it back into LR4, where I tweaked the crop and added a post-crop vignette, then took out a bit more of the noise. I brought the saturation up a bit and done. <br />
<br />
Keep an eye on this blog for more: I'll add more to this tutorial as I experiment a bit more. I especially want to learn to use focus stacking and different lighting. But you can do this stuff on a budget if you want to.<br />
<br />
PS: for more images and writeups, it's probably better to subscribe to my other blog – <a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/">www.faczen.blogspot.com</a> – or drop in to see it regularly. I post there every week, whereas this one is more sporadic. For instance, the lily in the setup picture is going to be interesting but I haven't finished it yet. It will be on the <a href="http://www.faczen.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Faczen Image</a> blog.<br />
<br />Edit: I added this picture to give you an example of the scale you can achieve with the bellows. This is not cropped.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA1P3lwE6354AA5x4PP_djnfsRuYpK3o0z36A03ByZ4DoYItVrimYTUo_jAmIWzQVJQP_2EBMTg2hWO39c0NYdoJ7oOqrj3tlm59K0vqNFfeeHCjUfBbZHzXRKba8OjBBESqrguaFbPJ9b/s1600/fingerprint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA1P3lwE6354AA5x4PP_djnfsRuYpK3o0z36A03ByZ4DoYItVrimYTUo_jAmIWzQVJQP_2EBMTg2hWO39c0NYdoJ7oOqrj3tlm59K0vqNFfeeHCjUfBbZHzXRKba8OjBBESqrguaFbPJ9b/s640/fingerprint.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This is nowhere near the maximum magnification. I guess the bellows was about 1/3 of the way out, the lens was zoomed to about 70mm, I think.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-83871709504520497942012-04-13T15:05:00.000-04:002012-04-13T15:05:51.372-04:00Black Background on a Budget<strong><em><span style="color: #660000;">Background</span>:</em></strong> (pardon the pun!)<br />
A few years ago I shot at an indoor orchid show where they had set up black backgrounds (tar paper or tentest) and the pictures were great!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPfO0uXTqsqVWbx32cOuq8TQ2pQZtOUQRpy8DHXT8-ELppL6bkyJaS8IlTG31maLtDhkVKC4j_Qk9Sj4741Ry3nGvY6YdFZ29HG3e8U937lCvYNaa-vPOIK01pFdOHXgYpWLU-EGDREii/s1600/orchidring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPfO0uXTqsqVWbx32cOuq8TQ2pQZtOUQRpy8DHXT8-ELppL6bkyJaS8IlTG31maLtDhkVKC4j_Qk9Sj4741Ry3nGvY6YdFZ29HG3e8U937lCvYNaa-vPOIK01pFdOHXgYpWLU-EGDREii/s640/orchidring.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This was quite a long exposure, but at f/16 and with off-camera flash (my SB-600 handheld high and to the left). The black background was already set up there by the show organizers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I haven't shot this kind of setup recently, in fact it's about 4 years. I became interested in doing the same thing but out in the field.<br />
<br />
This article is NOT about how to light these shots, not really. It's about the backdrop. And how to do it "on the cheap". Also I'm a lazy guy and the less I have to carry with me in the field, the better.<br />
<br />
So here's a really cheap and dirty solution.<br />
<ul>
<li>Go to a fabric store and buy a square of black cloth. I bought a 1m square piece (I think it was 48"x40" actually) and it cost me $4.</li>
<li>Go to a hardware store and buy 4 little A-clamps. Sometimes you can get them in a set, but I bought loose ones for $1.99 each.</li>
</ul>
So my total expenditure was under $12 before taxes and the gas to drive to the two stores!<br />
<br />
Next step: <br />
<ul>
<li>Use a couple of the clamps to hang up the black cloth behind whatever it is you want to shoot.</li>
<li>You can also find two sticks, make them in the shape of an "X" and use the clamps to stretch your cloth over the sticks to make a black square thing.</li>
<li>I also have a pop-up reflector that came in a black bag. You can use that as the backdrop as well for small (macro) shots.</li>
</ul>
The trick is to prevent light from falling on the cloth. And try to keep it a distance away from your subject if you can so any imperfections are more likely to be out of focus (wrinkles, dirt).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG4d352XyHoJSCRIHXtpe6Z9Tj2pKq7XWwSViDonzK9N123XWeWvp3HL0ylJfbeueIWAfg7fvUEq882quRRgcvBljp12NXUM21-xCtUv0FnsqjUxlao_zw-hji3kQfIYQwBdPMhByIX5fX/s1600/_FAC8163.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG4d352XyHoJSCRIHXtpe6Z9Tj2pKq7XWwSViDonzK9N123XWeWvp3HL0ylJfbeueIWAfg7fvUEq882quRRgcvBljp12NXUM21-xCtUv0FnsqjUxlao_zw-hji3kQfIYQwBdPMhByIX5fX/s640/_FAC8163.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here's all my stuff. One black cloth, four little clamps and two sticks. They're all sitting on top of my reflector disk in its black sleeve, but you don't need that!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xG6JJqykOnOkr0dl6E08Hvb0fa7YXeVM51hsqCWX1IbPyWrixPtET3UBvcnk2aT8eKVSCP2N7dCc0tgV6hDi7K5RTUyY_F8tLgBQtqSCgEdNBCcCWMQ4Jjlai0IDFSBRUK9v7TfvTiO0/s1600/_FAC8160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xG6JJqykOnOkr0dl6E08Hvb0fa7YXeVM51hsqCWX1IbPyWrixPtET3UBvcnk2aT8eKVSCP2N7dCc0tgV6hDi7K5RTUyY_F8tLgBQtqSCgEdNBCcCWMQ4Jjlai0IDFSBRUK9v7TfvTiO0/s640/_FAC8160.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This is the setup with the cloth stretched over the sticks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDM_hMER-gK9W818BsRgXePjt990okcFWrreSJTFQAK3tF5r51mHgr_SbO9jno9YyKme94rkZlhhCr4TrfLnMux2AHIhep6MzrW22bBSJoyGDnftJGv9xKWv7AXa7AkayI9RKoWXDpq4PT/s1600/_FAC8149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDM_hMER-gK9W818BsRgXePjt990okcFWrreSJTFQAK3tF5r51mHgr_SbO9jno9YyKme94rkZlhhCr4TrfLnMux2AHIhep6MzrW22bBSJoyGDnftJGv9xKWv7AXa7AkayI9RKoWXDpq4PT/s640/_FAC8149.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here's the shooting setup for the following picture. This is my one and only (first of the year) daffodil. It was kind of droopy so I propped it up with some dead branches. Of course the camera would be on the tripod but then how could I take the picture of the setup? (I loaned my P&S to a friend who's in Israel right now. I could have used my Blackberry, I suppose...)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfQDuKAJj5F6IBt_mRs2es-exg5aidO4WXunfoyy-Uu6STx4xU9Sm-W933KNMC0mpL6mqAzi2BcDltjSuJ5jjEkXLkRI-V8U1fxf7R-_lLWs8HkrIJZjMIbKRSX8RDtAKfX-jaMdJfUlNa/s1600/_FAC8157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfQDuKAJj5F6IBt_mRs2es-exg5aidO4WXunfoyy-Uu6STx4xU9Sm-W933KNMC0mpL6mqAzi2BcDltjSuJ5jjEkXLkRI-V8U1fxf7R-_lLWs8HkrIJZjMIbKRSX8RDtAKfX-jaMdJfUlNa/s640/_FAC8157.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
This is the resulting image. I admit to doing a little work on it in post but like I said, this article is about the backdrop, not the lighting or processing. OK, as long as I'm here... I imported it to LR4 and darkened the shadows. I sharpened it and de-noised it a bit, then took it out to CS5 and added a hi-pass sharpening layer, dodged and burned here and there, cloned out some green stuff at the bottom and so on. When I came back to Lightroom, I cropped it and did a post-crop vignette. Probably 15 minutes total. 1/80 sec @f/11, ISO 400, 120mm.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now the sun was directly behind my back, close to the middle of the day. Just about the worst lighting you could imagine. So I shaded both the flower and the backdrop with my body, but I realized that I should bring some light inside the flower to enhance the stamen. I did that by laying the reflector on the ground in the sunlight and aimed it at the flower. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF4lTT21BQhdReNV_dAExD9RQoTOfq54Q9TIrFQXkh6_ZCagJsX_PvP0qnrIh1YNGy63x_WWMtBKM1n_fwZdaXRhZRkJjwxvGWNjqnVjh0A7JvcjazPW87lY9weHnprKs0ezd0A3_OoNkN/s1600/_FAC7906-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF4lTT21BQhdReNV_dAExD9RQoTOfq54Q9TIrFQXkh6_ZCagJsX_PvP0qnrIh1YNGy63x_WWMtBKM1n_fwZdaXRhZRkJjwxvGWNjqnVjh0A7JvcjazPW87lY9weHnprKs0ezd0A3_OoNkN/s640/_FAC7906-2.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
I shot this one a few days ago by simply hanging the black cloth from some branches behind the willow buds. The sun was behind and to the right; I made sure the lens was shaded by the cloth to avoid flare. 1/2000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 200mm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So that's the whole trick. These shots would probably have benefitted from some off-camera flash fill, but in a pinch you don't really need it if you can keep the backdrop in the shade.<br />
<br />
There's a good article on how to use an "invisible black backdrop" on <a href="http://glyndewisblog.com/2010/01/19/the-invisible-black-backdrop-photography-technique/" target="_blank">Glyn Dewis' blog</a> but for that you really do need flash.<br />
<br />
My whole kit is inside my folded up reflector disk bag. Easy to take with me in the field. I'll probably use a separate tripod for positioning the off-camera flash when I go out shooting trilliums next month. I'll post some pictures over on <a href="http://faczen.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">my other blog</a> when I do. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3NWEydLpXDUPZi6JEcnf7-OaEO_cFE5zc4pCMugBY_HPN4ggRQJ6gCw7pqMEyuqUpeXjxIhyVeGyZdvWmcSt-TthBkICFxztlGHbFF2txKPbOQK33l06_UuLVoy7zYqYEPZfs8s9-b_Xh/s1600/FAC_1189.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3NWEydLpXDUPZi6JEcnf7-OaEO_cFE5zc4pCMugBY_HPN4ggRQJ6gCw7pqMEyuqUpeXjxIhyVeGyZdvWmcSt-TthBkICFxztlGHbFF2txKPbOQK33l06_UuLVoy7zYqYEPZfs8s9-b_Xh/s640/FAC_1189.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Here's a red trillium I shot last year with off-camera flash but no backdrop. 1/160 @ f/8, ISO 200, 200mm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By the way, I don't normally shoot a lot of flowers and I don't even own a macro lens!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-30425170715166565092012-02-11T10:16:00.000-05:002012-02-11T10:34:30.221-05:00Posting Pictures on the NAPP Forum<span style="color: #bf9000;"><strong>Posting your pictures on the NAPP forum</strong></span><br />
<em><span style="color: #073763;"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #073763;"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #073763;"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #073763;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Note: this will likely become obsolete when the planned upgrade to the NAPP forum takes place. They may change the interface. I'll come back and comment here and try to update this article when that happens.</blockquote>
</span></em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This post is intended for NAPP members who are having difficulty posting pictures on the forum and are therefore not participating in some of the activities.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s actually quite easy to upload pictures to the NAPP forum. There are some other threads on the forum that give you various choices and methods, but here’s how I like to do it.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<ol><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Choose your picture or pictures and resize them to a maximum width of 800 pixels.</em></strong></span></li>
<strong><em>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
</em></strong>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Upload them to a site on the internet.</em></strong></span></li>
<strong><em>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
</em></strong>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Copy the link to that image</em></strong></span></li>
<strong><em>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
</em></strong>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Select the “picture” icon in the post you’re writing</em></strong></span></li>
<strong><em>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
</em></strong>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Paste the link into the field in the popup box.</em></strong></span></li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span></ol>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You’re done. Now here’s a little more detail…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<ul><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For consistency and of course file size constraints, the NAPP forum allows you to post JPEG images up to 800 pixels wide.</span></li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span></ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you’re using Lightroom, simply export with that size limitation. Mine go to a designated folder on my hard drive called, “NAPP” (creative, huh?). I also try to limit the file size to 100K but occasionally they go over that if they’re complex. In Photoshop, the best solution is usually “Save for Web and Devices” and again you can set your size limitations there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGz9JUpgkxTTvGrE8GZU22vcQtFmyedex8y4Ko3DlBl5vMNJGGHfxRB-xHH00UoFBBb-cZpocbaUNkGYnUX2R0N9Yos_zBBXOrNReYS-NpbBg3K5r3LYKTxwEdUCEYLrF0i_rx_qvqbkr/s1600/napp1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIGz9JUpgkxTTvGrE8GZU22vcQtFmyedex8y4Ko3DlBl5vMNJGGHfxRB-xHH00UoFBBb-cZpocbaUNkGYnUX2R0N9Yos_zBBXOrNReYS-NpbBg3K5r3LYKTxwEdUCEYLrF0i_rx_qvqbkr/s640/napp1.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Generally I try to name the files something simple so I can type them easily later. I also like to put a watermark on the pictures, unobtrusive, in the lower corner. It just makes me feel better.</span><br />
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMteXKbHjBnRXISjh84hRhp7Xs-W2sPV4btMfB9LF7Huh2g0cOYZWoRbhhApwZ-Gs4dwmSDve5vat2Zu9JsJLjjkyWuE_bbO2I_XAgueeUX7nycGELCxywkARqRPRT6vueW8TByJ4s39_6/s1600/napp2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="532" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMteXKbHjBnRXISjh84hRhp7Xs-W2sPV4btMfB9LF7Huh2g0cOYZWoRbhhApwZ-Gs4dwmSDve5vat2Zu9JsJLjjkyWuE_bbO2I_XAgueeUX7nycGELCxywkARqRPRT6vueW8TByJ4s39_6/s640/napp2.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<ul><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You need to have a place to put them on the internet, that you can link to. There are a ton of free places: Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket… I’ll leave that to you. But choose one where you can link to the photo, not to the page it’s on. For instance, you can put your pix up on SmugMug (if you have an account) but finding the link to that particular picture is convoluted. </span></li>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span></ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have my own website at a big web host, that allows me to FTP my files up there (I think it costs me all of $2.99 per month, for my own Domain name!): and I called the folder I put them in, (ready for this?) “NAPP”. I personally use a couple of different FTP clients, but my favourite one is something called “WinSCP” which is free, and has sticky settings which means it’s only one keystroke to get it going!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjl9CLvVl-a_cgdShc4vp1nzyMju9GnhQzwteB-P1dCCQ0oETkz0Jz5hYEUySzpyAd3dXBGYFN_0VhBIBEga_q-yGdectheNT3ByvpFPWrbUMZmQGCgL8G8QcbqanUsSLc3qWzC3Q-NSRn/s1600/napp5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjl9CLvVl-a_cgdShc4vp1nzyMju9GnhQzwteB-P1dCCQ0oETkz0Jz5hYEUySzpyAd3dXBGYFN_0VhBIBEga_q-yGdectheNT3ByvpFPWrbUMZmQGCgL8G8QcbqanUsSLc3qWzC3Q-NSRn/s640/napp5.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After I upload a picture, I’ll navigate to it so that I know I’ve typed the filename correctly and I’ll copy (ctrl-C) the URL.</span><br />
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<ul><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now I write the message I want to post on the forum. I put the cursor where I want the picture to appear (looks best with a couple of blank lines before and after it) and I click the “picture” icon in the menu bar.
A window pops open that lets me paste the URL I copied in step 3 into the field and when I hit <Enter> it automatically puts the following code in the message:
</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>[IMG]http://www.urllocation/NAPP/filename.jpg[/IMG]</em></strong>
</span></div>
<ul><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span></ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLEtf5Sy3s_sa7WwF6DYggc2rHjktDgPW16PB758mwuZieCP4UHMhP7LPaQIF_uVo6W7BMLJNY9pkAakIbhKoubtz1iTi9j_wjRd41iQZrRPWW6SvVoQIHoPGKTd_6myctSeHX64X9EpBa/s1600/napp3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLEtf5Sy3s_sa7WwF6DYggc2rHjktDgPW16PB758mwuZieCP4UHMhP7LPaQIF_uVo6W7BMLJNY9pkAakIbhKoubtz1iTi9j_wjRd41iQZrRPWW6SvVoQIHoPGKTd_6myctSeHX64X9EpBa/s640/napp3.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After I’m done, I usually like to go back and highlight that line, then click the “center” icon because I think it looks better if the picture is centered in the post.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYB6OrAc_Lq1hhy8sGQg99rcxyWR49q8c5UK9lh84aO30agu9FK9JB73s8yZuh9o8TYOE_cFsK_C1rS9eOi5ku3bX8FxIDAeiwq49IQ7lGcCxaDAcntB34ETMqsMvM2qAwPoy3uYG6hDh/s1600/napp4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYB6OrAc_Lq1hhy8sGQg99rcxyWR49q8c5UK9lh84aO30agu9FK9JB73s8yZuh9o8TYOE_cFsK_C1rS9eOi5ku3bX8FxIDAeiwq49IQ7lGcCxaDAcntB34ETMqsMvM2qAwPoy3uYG6hDh/s640/napp4.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just to make sure you got it right, click “Preview Post” before you actually publish it. It also gives you a chance to (a) correct all your typos and (b) think about deleting all the nasty things you were going to post before they actually get up there!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjg6weoNeHr_kMh_OIgHS5QwNp-6VR1YlDLt7XLAKhvRWbbEF9ZwjIHlDe2LQaWx-kRlsAi85eSk21o5y5reNMKfWb6rmWMWfQJuFi_3Jsd0HNDFkPQwiepxiucvPmrAfFmWdbQnFHrGKo/s1600/napp6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="530" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjg6weoNeHr_kMh_OIgHS5QwNp-6VR1YlDLt7XLAKhvRWbbEF9ZwjIHlDe2LQaWx-kRlsAi85eSk21o5y5reNMKfWb6rmWMWfQJuFi_3Jsd0HNDFkPQwiepxiucvPmrAfFmWdbQnFHrGKo/s640/napp6.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So that’s it. A really easy way to post images to the NAPP forum. Make sense? Any questions? Give it a shot!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">— 30 —</span></div>Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-80873998771998716642011-12-07T18:35:00.001-05:002012-10-02T17:10:11.998-04:00Approximating Line ArtThis is about approximating line art in Photoshop.<br />
<br />
Now credit where credit is due: I didn't invent either one of these methods, I found one of them in a column by Larry Becker in the Dec-11-Jan-12 issue of Photoshop User Magazine (which you get if you are a NAPP member — click <a href="http://www.photoshopuser.com/?aid=jnhlan" target="_blank"><strong><em>here</em></strong></a>) and the other one in a tutorial that I found via the forums on the NAPP site (again, — click <a href="http://www.photoshopuser.com/?aid=jnhlan" target="_blank"><strong><em>here</em></strong></a>!). The tutorial is one of several by Dee Dee Martin (Swampy) who is also a NAPP denizen. Please visit her tutorial site <a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~lpswampy/neck%20of%20the%20woods/pages/photoshop_tutorials.html" target="_blank"><strong><em>here</em></strong></a>. Her video tutorials are excellent.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #660000;">Thank you Larry and thank you Swampy</span></strong> for two great tips on using Photoshop. <br />
<br />
Some background: I wanted to do a different treatment for some images I shot the other day. I've been thinking about line art and I remembered reading something about emulating line art in Photoshop (it was the Becker article but I couldn't remember where I saw it) so I posted the question on the forum and I quickly got the two links above. Both methods work, both are brilliant and both are entirely obscure! No way I would have found them on my own! I still don't understand why they are where they are in Photoshop but why look a gift horse in the mouth? As usual there are 80 different ways to skin a cat in Photoshop!<br />
<br />
So I'm posting this here for two reasons: (1) to share what I've learned and give my readers some ideas about some new things to explore, and (2) as a convenient place to put these tips where I can find them again! One of the biggest problems with Photoshop is how complex the program is, and how easy it is to forget how to do something if you don't do it regularly. These fall in that category, especially in view of how obscure they are.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><em>So here goes:</em></strong> <br />
This was a somewhat 'nothing' image that I took at the beginning of the party I was shooting, more for testing exposure than anything else. By the way, lighting came from my SB-600 flash mounted high on a light stand, controlled remotely from my D300 in Commander Mode. I had the Gary Fong diffuser on the flash, pointed towards the ceiling mostly (although the nature of the diffuser is that it also acts as a soft direct source). The pop-up flash was set for 1 stop under just for a little fill, and white balance was set to "flash" (some of you like details, I know!)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbopsqifwBItwb6vzCQ7-iHU8O3lc_1LzvMZoixw87mKUXSo0Q-t99OnydMa7AfGaxk22IfbiM-UmgGMUZj5dnkQzGTpCLdcpsxxV4Uf907vNo66BtH48dvT-tdfsRhcDdPZ_MNxzOl3c/s1600/originalflowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNbopsqifwBItwb6vzCQ7-iHU8O3lc_1LzvMZoixw87mKUXSo0Q-t99OnydMa7AfGaxk22IfbiM-UmgGMUZj5dnkQzGTpCLdcpsxxV4Uf907vNo66BtH48dvT-tdfsRhcDdPZ_MNxzOl3c/s640/originalflowers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<em>Nikon D300/Nikkor 70-200mm @ 155mm. 1/180 sec@ f/2.8, ISO 200.</em></div>
<br />
<strong><em>First, the "Becker Method" from the magazine.</em></strong> <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47efKRRMwtO5tR6EjWNrsOGzXDYXZW_yqwvzjdlp8esJxyz1CD26mYyZega_XSoS-zU5hvazzqNkto19lLZB7CSRiuYP42jBTSwN6QDLO6H6HZFW-V7TNNN1AwvSXP8TVd2dBFakteIRM/s1600/beckermethod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47efKRRMwtO5tR6EjWNrsOGzXDYXZW_yqwvzjdlp8esJxyz1CD26mYyZega_XSoS-zU5hvazzqNkto19lLZB7CSRiuYP42jBTSwN6QDLO6H6HZFW-V7TNNN1AwvSXP8TVd2dBFakteIRM/s640/beckermethod.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
How do you do this?<br />
<br />
■ Working on a duplicate of the background layer, select Filter<strong>→</strong>Blur<strong>→</strong>Smart Blur (note: you have to be in RGB 8-bit mode or it will be greyed out)<br />
<br />
■ Change the Mode at the bottom of the popup to "Edge Only"<br />
<br />
■ Play with Radius and Threshold until you get the right 'look' you're after<br />
<br />
■ It will give you white lines on black. If you want, invert the image with Image<strong>→</strong>Adjustments<strong>→</strong>Invert (Ctrl/Cmd-I) to black on white<br />
<br />
■ Change the opacity or the blend mode (or both) of this layer to let a little colour through<br />
<br />
■ (and this is my change to Larry's method) apply a layer mask then paint on it to let more of the colour from the original through.<br />
<br />
That's what I did in the above image. I like the charcoal-like texture of the lines and the subtle pastel colours.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Now the "Swampy Method"</em></strong><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
It works like this:<br />
<br />
■ Duplicate the background layer. Change the duplicate to a monochrome grey layer with Image<strong>→</strong>Adjustments<strong>→</strong>Desaturate (Shift-Ctrl/Cmd-U)<br />
<br />
■ Duplicate the new layer and invert it to a negative with Image<strong>→</strong>Adjustments<strong>→</strong>Invert (Ctrl/Cmd-I)<br />
<br />
■ Set the blend mode of this inverted layer to "Color Dodge"<br />
<br />
■ Apply Filter<strong>→</strong>Other<strong>→</strong>Minimum and adjust the Radius slider to your liking<br />
<br />
Here's what you have at this point:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVLjv39oRyo-08KC5XIrVhUyl3HiGH3HQNtJrsn9MpQWcCiaLgY6uZBlytkVkP_saNjPC-YpmLjVHHiwOLJ9TtFBVUSVUOZpJgaOXnkNr1FqRbftHwGUd0SW5dX3C8OYBBoS1MQWWEW5Xc/s1600/_DSC0199lineart+step+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVLjv39oRyo-08KC5XIrVhUyl3HiGH3HQNtJrsn9MpQWcCiaLgY6uZBlytkVkP_saNjPC-YpmLjVHHiwOLJ9TtFBVUSVUOZpJgaOXnkNr1FqRbftHwGUd0SW5dX3C8OYBBoS1MQWWEW5Xc/s640/_DSC0199lineart+step+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
■ Merge these two new layers together (Select the top one and "Merge Down" or Ctrl/Cmd-E)<br />
<br />
You can add some colour at this point by reducing the opacity and letting the original layer leak through. You'll get something like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJLmXEb9vxuP8NKaU25GnU2XO9__vZxwwGLq4asXiY4o5fMybbA_YBd6i_JOH_H7ECyLgMcYu1niwShu6Ncnz2P_OVes69_RtNgCbnrRlJy8BLo7pDsHscj_aMteuf4jVzy1qwFCo-66X/s1600/_DSC0199lineart+step+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJLmXEb9vxuP8NKaU25GnU2XO9__vZxwwGLq4asXiY4o5fMybbA_YBd6i_JOH_H7ECyLgMcYu1niwShu6Ncnz2P_OVes69_RtNgCbnrRlJy8BLo7pDsHscj_aMteuf4jVzy1qwFCo-66X/s640/_DSC0199lineart+step+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Alternatively, you can change the blend mode to "Luminosity" before merging the layers down<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjj3JuA5ikgnRrEoheo2r59Utk4IecHqDEfsCVbMBuqV4l0lC2A2HzkdoVQKn9zPHx_SrFlkup-kbw2x41XOLAS53i3P1lnLIBdnc3n55irH06XeB3NzCaN1_xqwa-3xXfyTJZl6MNE5h/s1600/swampymethod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjj3JuA5ikgnRrEoheo2r59Utk4IecHqDEfsCVbMBuqV4l0lC2A2HzkdoVQKn9zPHx_SrFlkup-kbw2x41XOLAS53i3P1lnLIBdnc3n55irH06XeB3NzCaN1_xqwa-3xXfyTJZl6MNE5h/s640/swampymethod.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
AND play with the opacity, yielding still a different result:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKgkIvTPoH_cR1RH93Ol_7BLItUHVW7hBxkKk8r_T7-gv5lH_hH4XJFx0bjiKO-IfhYZ8NwQkVaB_6bjstdXbIY0cul8crNY6w8COQwKhPtD_JsvIldoXWEJH_GSOc056UEbX26xO4n6G/s1600/_DSC0199lineart+step+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKgkIvTPoH_cR1RH93Ol_7BLItUHVW7hBxkKk8r_T7-gv5lH_hH4XJFx0bjiKO-IfhYZ8NwQkVaB_6bjstdXbIY0cul8crNY6w8COQwKhPtD_JsvIldoXWEJH_GSOc056UEbX26xO4n6G/s640/_DSC0199lineart+step+3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
For what it's worth, every time I reduced the opacity, I found that a setting around 60% gave me the best result, but hey, it's up to you!<br />
<br />
Two different obscure approaches, both of them work!<br />
<br />
<hr />
<em><strong><span style="color: #274e13;">This PS is added in May 2012. I often find myself going back to this post to remember the keystroke sequence to do these line drawings. In the meantime, I found some other ones so I'm adding this note so I can find them all in the same place. I wish I could remember where I found this...</span></strong></em><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<em><strong><span style="color: #274e13;">Create a new layer (Ctrl-J) and change the blend mode to "Divide". Now use a blur tool: you get different results with Gaussian Blur or Box Blur or other ones I haven't discovered yet.</span></strong></em><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<hr />
<span style="color: #660000;"><i><b>Here's another method, added in October 2012: courtesy of Bonnie Glidden. This one is even easier: create a new layer, then select "Filter → Stylize → Find Edges". You're basically done! You can vary the opacity, add a black-and-white adjustment layer, etc. if you want.</b></i></span></div>
<hr />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-17691348625432051562011-12-06T18:01:00.001-05:002011-12-06T18:08:41.870-05:00Comparing HDR ProgramsI posted this also on the NAPP forums. I got interested in the different results you get from different programs. I've done these comparisons before, trying to decide which program I like better but I've concluded that it depends on the image.<br />
<br />
That said, up to now Photomatix has been my first choice but these results may change that.<br />
<br />
The goal here was to produce the image that I liked best in all three programs. I did not look at the other images while working in any program, with the exception that I knew I really wanted colourful skies when I got to the third one (P'matix). And I was not trying to MATCH the images.<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Workflow:</em></strong><br />
was to select all 5 source images (bracketed burst, 1 stop apart, RAW. I open them in the HDR program, then look through the thumbnail presets for the one closest to what I want, then I modify it with sliders until I had done the best I could. I then saved the files and exported them to CS5 for further tweaking.<br />
<br />
Once open in CS5 I created a new layer and ran a hi-pass filter. I adjusted the image with curves, then I ran DFine 2.0, sky preset which I masked back in. Next I ran Viveza 2 to increase the saturation in the sky (except the CS5 one where I had to REDUCE the saturation overall). <br />
<br />
Back to Lightroom where I tweaked a little and synced the cropping and metadata. I then exported each one as a 720 px-wide jpg for posting here.<br />
Here are the images:<br />
<br />
1. Processed in Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy6fJwCGVfrSKbGmhVafigcckThMaTBTQE_j3zfS4-RjkMtIZvHt9Sza3FNjwek-bBzL_atdjnd9ZetOqRf1YwZMfdRNdYu2JGPKORDxug2Z1YqqllJMMIIgaQAl3QPQcfVCmyWndQJjeH/s1600/2813cs5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy6fJwCGVfrSKbGmhVafigcckThMaTBTQE_j3zfS4-RjkMtIZvHt9Sza3FNjwek-bBzL_atdjnd9ZetOqRf1YwZMfdRNdYu2JGPKORDxug2Z1YqqllJMMIIgaQAl3QPQcfVCmyWndQJjeH/s640/2813cs5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />2. Processed with Nik HDR Efex Pro <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Z0lL5v3eGBvLPoiPH7u1iGS11wWlqtg4Jtp7b57Mz5ufr1FktvyMTfcWfup0fwBM4vBSA2xatf4TtfymrZYFR7ZAlPiPhItPx4wh0lODcBb7jWYrg-StMTfjcmfR8k8rAhP5Djrh_vya/s1600/2813nik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Z0lL5v3eGBvLPoiPH7u1iGS11wWlqtg4Jtp7b57Mz5ufr1FktvyMTfcWfup0fwBM4vBSA2xatf4TtfymrZYFR7ZAlPiPhItPx4wh0lODcBb7jWYrg-StMTfjcmfR8k8rAhP5Djrh_vya/s640/2813nik.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />3. Processed with Photomatix HDR Pro 4<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBlmkv7ur0ib8wnZurQ9hgBF1-vFpE_H8HGMVISmujFsZA7ljibp5zxFiZQdiJLGWwSTa89IkEE2cgrnwDrenOrJOw5kZ5IzS5Y2Jcki5DSfzZF4FVKfcXTeQ668N0p2PLL7Xh0toiFQJ/s1600/2813photomatix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBlmkv7ur0ib8wnZurQ9hgBF1-vFpE_H8HGMVISmujFsZA7ljibp5zxFiZQdiJLGWwSTa89IkEE2cgrnwDrenOrJOw5kZ5IzS5Y2Jcki5DSfzZF4FVKfcXTeQ668N0p2PLL7Xh0toiFQJ/s640/2813photomatix.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />Now remember, I was not trying to MATCH the images, just to do the best I could with a pleasant image. <br />
<br />
<strong><em>Comments: </em></strong><br />
1. On first look, CS5 HDR Pro produced a very pleasing image with lots of detail and saturation, with the least amount of effort and fiddling. But the saturation came in way too high and there's very visible chromatic aberration.<br />
<br />
2. Nik HDR Efex Pro gave me a really clean image but there was almost no colour in the clouds until i ran Viveza. Again there was some evidence of chromatic aberration but I thought the image was much smoother overall. This program gave me much more range doing details than the other two. I should take out a little colour bias from this image but didn't notice until I was posting this.<br />
<br />
3. I maxed out almost all the controls in Photomatix and still couldn't get the kind of detail and sharpness I liked and again, there was no colour in the clouds. A small hue/saturation adjustment in Photoshop gave me all the colour I wanted but really bad artifacting so I backed it out. Microsmoothing helped a lot with the noise in the sky. There was NO evidence of chromatic aberration even when I viewed the image at 200%. I ended up with lots of Halo around the trees, though.<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Conclusion:</em></strong><br />
Until I actually looked at all 3 images together, I didn't know which one I preferred. I'm not going to tell you, though, because that's subjective (well this whole thing is subjective!) and you may have a different preference. CS5 was the easiest one to use. Nik had the broadest range and lots of room left to play. Photomatix was maxed out but gave the cleanest result. <br />
<br />
I know this is a silly comparison, using just one image and subjective rather than objective adjustments and inconsistent treatment. So please file it under "For What it's Worth". <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-61151857107038639392011-12-01T10:35:00.001-05:002011-12-01T12:22:37.943-05:00ALT-NUMPAD ASCII Character shortcutsThis isn't really about photography, but I find myself using these shortcuts all the time so I thought I'd share them… <br />
<br />
I like to use properly formatted extended ASCII characters sometimes (technically they're "ANSI characters"). This post is about giving some of you some keyboard shortcuts.
<br />
<br />
Why only "some of you"? Well because I think they work on a Mac, but I'm not sure since I don't have one. I haven't found a way to use them on my iPad, and laptops without numeric keypads are a challenge as well.
<br />
<br />
I'm pretty sure this is not news to a lot of you, but there's a whole new generation out there who don't know what the extended ASCII characters are. If they want to insert a special character, well they're only familiar with the menu in the MS Office programs.
<br />
<br />
Since I have some typography background, I know, for instance, that an "ellipsis" is not just three periods in a row. I even know what an ellipsis is! If you don't, well Google is your friend!
Do you know when to use a hyphen, or an en-dash, or an em-dash? I know I don't use them exactly correctly according to the book, but I find that an em-dash — surrounded by a space on either side — makes text read better than either of the other two, in my eyes anyway.
<br />
<br />
So without further ado, here's a table of some of the special ASCII characters that I often use in my workflow. Feel free to add to the list. You can look these up <a href="http://www.irongeek.com/alt-numpad-ascii-key-combos-and-chart.html"><span style="color: #990000;"><strong>here</strong></span></a>, but it's rather a lengthy list — there are lots more characters that I don't use.
My list only includes the ones I use regularly.<br />
<br />
These characters are typed by holding down the <strong><em>alt</em></strong> key ('<strong><em>option</em></strong>' on a Mac?) and typing the 4-digit ASCII code (don't forget the extra zero) on your numeric keypad. The regular numbers at the top of your keyboard don't work. On a laptop, you need to turn on the <strong><em>numlock</em></strong> which, on my Lenovo, is done by holding down the <strong><em>fn</em></strong> key and hitting <strong><em>scroll-lock</em></strong>.
<br />
<br />
(Blogger doesn't want to let me insert a table. So forgive the lack of formatting here. I used "Courier" font to maintain the spacing)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>…</strong></span> alt-0133 Ellipsis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>‘</strong></span> alt-0145 Open single smart quote</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>’</strong></span> alt-0146 Close single smart quote</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>“</strong></span> alt-0147 Open double smart quote</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>”</strong></span> alt-0148 Close double smart quote</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">•</span> alt-0149 Round Black Bullet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">■</span> alt-254 Big Square Black Bullet (no extra zero)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>–</strong></span> alt-0150 en-dash</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>—</strong></span> alt-0151 em-dash</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>™</strong></span> alt-0153 Trademark symbol</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>¢</strong></span> alt-0162 Cent symbol</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>©</strong></span> alt-0169 Copyright Symbol</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>®</strong></span> alt-0174 Registered Symbol</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>°</strong></span> alt-0176 degree Symbol</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>±</strong></span> alt-0177 plus/minus Symbol</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>²</strong></span> alt-0178 superscript "2"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>³</strong></span> alt-0179 superscript "3"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>¼</strong></span> alt-0188 one quarter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>½</strong></span> alt-0189 one half</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>¾</strong></span> alt-0190 three quarters</span><br />
<br />
The web page I linked to also suggests using one or more of these characters in a password, which would make it much more difficult to crack. But I'll leave that for the geeks among you. Oh wait, I am one…<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.faczen.com/pdf/ansi.pdf"><span style="color: #990000;"><strong>Here</strong></span></a> is a formatted .pdf of the above list for you to keep handy near your computer. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
— 30 —</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-83986681839288393932011-10-31T11:43:00.000-04:002011-10-31T11:43:05.686-04:00Two Superb LensesThis week I'm babysitting my friend's lens. We're heading up to Lake Superior for the Gales of November workshop, I'm driving up with a couple of other photographers and Ron is flying up, so I offered to take his extra stuff in the car. He cautiously gave me his "baby", his Nikon 600mm f/4 lens and told me I could 'play' with it if I wanted to. <br />
<br />
What he didn't give me was the Wimberley mount and tripod... so I was a bit limited in what I could do. That lens is heavy! And of course, with the 600mm super telephoto focal length, handholding it is a challenge. I've held a lot of rifles that weigh about the same or more (the lens is 10 lbs by itself, without the body attached) but with rifles you have a shoulder stock to help steady it to counteract the muzzle-heaviness. I have read that some people (Moose Peterson comes to mind) regularly handhold this lens. I guess I have to start lifting weights again if I were going to.<br />
<br />
So the old "1/focal length = slowest shutter speed" rule goes by the board. I cranked the ISO up enough so I was shooting at 1/1000 sec or faster, which met with some success. Most of the time, I rested the lens on top of a soft suitcase.<br />
<br />
Anyway, this is a superb piece of optics. It's not meant for shooting landscapes, it's for birds and for long distance reach-out-and-touch shots of dangerous game. So I looked for a dangerous animal to shoot and sure enough, I found one.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKd4eGCGBGG-Fd2NNHYte5AHKPk2krdza7doFUtuzduU6sjtjbAc5WWpaMKVxKEHxCk4TORqkHT_BguUKjO-Oq1Vbd-5OSyLsb3Oo-T7aYzSmiIzwkTPD164jZI6yOcNXNROUVKfM0n9Hh/s1600/cow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKd4eGCGBGG-Fd2NNHYte5AHKPk2krdza7doFUtuzduU6sjtjbAc5WWpaMKVxKEHxCk4TORqkHT_BguUKjO-Oq1Vbd-5OSyLsb3Oo-T7aYzSmiIzwkTPD164jZI6yOcNXNROUVKfM0n9Hh/s640/cow.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<em></em></div>
<em><blockquote class="tr_bq">
This wild beast had to be 1/4 mile away. This image has been post-processed, I did everything I could to sharpen and enhance it. Then I cropped it slightly just for positioning, so you're not really looking at what I saw exactly through the lens.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<br />
This next image hasn't been touched, though. Well not really: I cloned out the head of a calf on the right edge and ran Nik Sharpener (pre-sharpen RAW) but that's all. It's not even cropped. This is exactly what it looked like through the lens. I didn't even level the horizon.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-0D962_EZDuW6KMUFxvidRVk4CVWZwkz-J5fhyphenhyphenarBWNGqPe9LDII6O6Z2HhLIBNUYox3by5LAcnwviyvCTmrFDRhwPspKLApgyItie74FZ0s_0atOS0rPnAbWJlThE5KMpaZMb2JOlnIv/s1600/cows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-0D962_EZDuW6KMUFxvidRVk4CVWZwkz-J5fhyphenhyphenarBWNGqPe9LDII6O6Z2HhLIBNUYox3by5LAcnwviyvCTmrFDRhwPspKLApgyItie74FZ0s_0atOS0rPnAbWJlThE5KMpaZMb2JOlnIv/s640/cows.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<br />
My title says "TWO superb lenses". The other one is my old standby, Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR. It was like holding a helium balloon in my hands after the big guy! No weight at all! Anyway, I took a couple of comparison shots of the same scene. Here's one:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTwpDIc0piQ3bq-FzXF2MKNlvXK2usnfiwfQajcloZOl5f8bY6wxiTAFiyBZXYQgaHfWTUzFBKXOflKuVLUO6jkawzEWiwSGCop9mHDwM_rZFDwTG4gVN2fJ2C8uD9rKHn8IJ6keWucZ3/s1600/tree200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTwpDIc0piQ3bq-FzXF2MKNlvXK2usnfiwfQajcloZOl5f8bY6wxiTAFiyBZXYQgaHfWTUzFBKXOflKuVLUO6jkawzEWiwSGCop9mHDwM_rZFDwTG4gVN2fJ2C8uD9rKHn8IJ6keWucZ3/s640/tree200.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<em></em></div>
<em><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Shot at 200mm, 1/500 second at f/8, ISO 400. Nik Sharpener RAW pre-sharpening, clone out a couple of ugly houses in the background and straighten the horizon.</blockquote>
</em> <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCaRbFUUKx-GK3IbP_0qKLqRZp-T8mBWsczdaUUKzgYYEDomnlL-ECafKEY1TeF62mUnbdSudWjrFdOfxROZB9FYaaCHRaDN2P-5rH23clHex2wBfqplOASbFxBZWSRO4fDf90Iv8E7Pxg/s1600/tree600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCaRbFUUKx-GK3IbP_0qKLqRZp-T8mBWsczdaUUKzgYYEDomnlL-ECafKEY1TeF62mUnbdSudWjrFdOfxROZB9FYaaCHRaDN2P-5rH23clHex2wBfqplOASbFxBZWSRO4fDf90Iv8E7Pxg/s640/tree600.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<em></em></div>
<em><blockquote class="tr_bq">
The same tree, shot with the 600mm, 1/1600 second at f/4 handheld, ISO 400. This one has not been sharpened: I ran presharpen on it but didn't see any discernable difference, so I'm showing the original here.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<br />
So the 600 shows outstanding sharpness and contrast. You know how we say, "you can't take a bad shot with the 70-200"? That's partly because of the quality and partly because of the beautiful isolation you get with the shallow depth of field and great bokeh. I want to say the same thing about the 600: look how the tree jumps out with the shallow DOF!<br />
<br />
Here's a direct comparison:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKKhQOze5R8Wz_q2aZ2x0DMREyr470YPNb5TpkGufYZEA4rCtdbdvf_2Oc1WMv24nq97-TuuzxRQVTWkHZBSTTEi9zHXlaJytomxHjZScgbyCkkB9mCUw9AQ2BkjH9a5NmB6VO3p4aYVyc/s1600/lenscompare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKKhQOze5R8Wz_q2aZ2x0DMREyr470YPNb5TpkGufYZEA4rCtdbdvf_2Oc1WMv24nq97-TuuzxRQVTWkHZBSTTEi9zHXlaJytomxHjZScgbyCkkB9mCUw9AQ2BkjH9a5NmB6VO3p4aYVyc/s640/lenscompare.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<em></em></div>
<em><blockquote class="tr_bq">
What you have to understand is that the shot on the left is only 250 px wide after cropping. Incredible sharpness given the huge enlargement. The contrast on the 600mm shot is excellent. And look how it jumps out with the small DOF! As indicated, they're both shot at f/8.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<br />
So two wonderful lenses. It was fun comparing them.Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-44392594951400222022011-10-22T20:35:00.001-04:002011-10-23T14:33:06.502-04:00Using LensAlign to fine tune your lensesThis is an evaluation of the LensAlign MkII product, designed to help you microalign or microadjust your lens/body alignment on higher end DSLR cameras.<br />
<br />
Every manufactured product has tolerances. You might have the most precise milling machine in the world, but whatever you produce, if you're shooting for 1.00000 in, the resulting product will not be exactly that, it will be off by a small amount. So if you're a high end camera manufacturer, the fit of your lenses to your camera body might vary by a few thousands of an inch. That's enough to affect where the camera actually focuses when you press that shutter release and activate your autofocus.<br />
<br />
And it can change. Using your camera, swapping lenses, firing that shutter 50,000 times, it's going to change. If you're at all fussy about it, you're going to want to tune the alignment of your lens and camera body to give you the best possible focus. That's what the LensAlign product is for.<br />
<br />
I was given a LensAlign MkII package to evaluate. I made it clear that if I did so, my evaluation would be 100% unbiased, I would report on my experience exactly as it happened, good and bad. I have no interest in this company and/or product, and the device will be going back to them after this is complete. I was not paid in any way for this evaluation.<br />
<br />
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best, I would rate the product like this:<br />
<br />
(a) Not adjusting your lenses........... 3<br />
(b) Adjusting your lenses using a cobbled together setup with a tape measure.......... 5<br />
(c) Adjusting your lenses with the LensAlign product......... 7<br />
(d) Sending your camera and lenses in to a professional to do the job............ 9<br />
<br />
Now let me explain, then we'll get into the procedure.<br />
<br />
Most people don't have to microadjust their lenses (for the sake of saving typing, I'll just call it 'aligning lenses' from now on. It's actually 'microadjusting the alignment of a specific lens with a specific camera body by using the software in a high end DSLR'). Now why do I say that? Well because most people aren't pushing the edge of the envelope. If you want to focus precisely, you do it manually, not with the autofocus. And the only time it really matters is if you're shooting with a shallow depth of field, and you've damped out all vibration that would affect sharpness, and... you get the picture.<br />
<br />
But if you do want that expensive lens to give you the best results with that expensive camera body, well, you're going to want to take the trouble to align it. There are 3 ways to do it. Let me skip ahead to option (d) for a second. Sending it in to the factory or a service shop to do the alignment for you is the best way. When you get it back, somebody with fingers smaller than yours and eyes that work better than yours, and the skill to take apart the camera or lens if necessary, and a machine that probably cost more than your car to do the work, will have done a fine job. He'll probably have taken 2 weeks or more to do it and the bill that he hands you is not going to be trivial, but he'll do a great job.<br />
<br />
The question is, what is your time worth? It took me about 90 minutes, from start to finish, to align two lenses with my D300 body. It took me a bit longer than that when I did it a couple of years ago (September 2009. Here's <a href="http://faczen.blogspot.com/2009/09/some-camera-and-monitor-tips.html">the writeup</a>) and it cost me nothing. I put the camera on a tripod, stretched out a tape measure at an angle, and did pretty well the same thing that I did with the LensAlign product. The results were similar if less precise, but this isn't something a professional or fussy enthusiast would do. It works, though.<br />
<br />
The LensAlign product is reasonably professional. It's made of thin plastic, though, and I could see that you might have some troubles with it after repeated use. Assembly is very straightforward, even for a numnutz like me (I don't fix things. If I look at them the wrong way, they break. My aging eyes don't work as well as they used to and let's not get into arthritis in my hands...). I wanted to do it right, so I used the instruction sheet and it still took me only 5 minutes. It's designed to be disassembled so you can transport or store it in an 8x10 envelope. Here's what it looks like when you're done:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4XhLPqEbHECvRYMrW8Pnm0q62jZgkqbDutRqKirhkpIiYdLAbwFSt5wcBkiwxuZyfVQkC6fjg3t9WawciS6rLkkPq6B4doo5MBai4Se7Apoe7-084A6I9iD_Qb2m2977LdPApoX0mxNd/s1600/align2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg4XhLPqEbHECvRYMrW8Pnm0q62jZgkqbDutRqKirhkpIiYdLAbwFSt5wcBkiwxuZyfVQkC6fjg3t9WawciS6rLkkPq6B4doo5MBai4Se7Apoe7-084A6I9iD_Qb2m2977LdPApoX0mxNd/s640/align2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<em><strong><span style="color: lime;">Edit:</span></strong> This original shot was done at night in lousy lighting. I took the LensAlign outside today before putting it away, and re-shot it. You fit those 7 plastic pieces together and mount it on a tripod.</em></div>
<br />
Here's the thing. You want that target thing on the left to be parallel with your shutter plane. That way, the scale on the right is the right distance — the SAME distance — when you focus on the target. And if your focus sensor is not exactly in the middle, it doesn't matter because everything is parallel and equidistant.<br />
<br />
Here's where I had the biggest problem. Getting it parallel. If you blow up the picture, you'll see that there's a hole in that back panel, in the red dot in the centre of the circle. There's also a hole in the centre of the front target. If you align it so that you can see the back hole through the front hole, through the lens, it's parallel. Oh yeah? HOW? I figured out that if you look through the back hole and move the assembly so that you can see the lens of the camera (which is of course mounted on a second tripod), then it's lined up. But the lens is black... so I tried to fool it by taping a piece of masking tape with an "X" on it to a lens cap... I thought that worked but in the end, it was still off by a bit. You can see red through the target, but not the centre of the hole.<br />
<br /><em><strong><span style="color: lime;">Edit:</span></strong> it works MUCH better in the daylight. It helps when you can actually see the camera.</em><br />
<br />
Here's the next problem: nowhere in the package were instructions on how to do the alignment. Now I've done it before, so it wasn't hard to figure out, but why not put an instruction sheet in the box? I went to <a href="http://michaeltapesdesign.com/lensalign.html">the website</a>, and tracked down the instructions. Pretty simple: align the target and the lens, open it up all the way (the lens), shoot a picture using autofocus (remember, the target and the "0" point on the ruler are exactly the same distance away if it's parallel). Blow up the image on your LCD (nah. you're kidding, right? Use the computer, but see the paragraph below on "Tethered"). Find "microadjust" in your camera menu (they don't all have it, only the higher end ones. RTFM). Adjust it and shoot another shot. Keep doing that until you get it right.<br />
<br />
Each lens has to be done separately. In fact, a zoom lens at different focal lengths will behave differently. For me, the longest focal length was the most critical, so that's what I based the adjustment on. Here's what I got:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZvmxa_rdWbpaCjASxSH5Mjy5k5nazApfG7U9VoupInG1hzNUIH3MGU2n3Otlcjj5ZNcXrQAO_g29JCz7oO_fBLEvvkHZB8ddY9ubhO0WlBUu40JUKRNUw_kJMNGFBQ2-SJioNrCulTlRm/s1600/Lensalign+20111022-005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZvmxa_rdWbpaCjASxSH5Mjy5k5nazApfG7U9VoupInG1hzNUIH3MGU2n3Otlcjj5ZNcXrQAO_g29JCz7oO_fBLEvvkHZB8ddY9ubhO0WlBUu40JUKRNUw_kJMNGFBQ2-SJioNrCulTlRm/s640/Lensalign+20111022-005.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /> </div>
<em><blockquote>
Nikkor 70-200mm at 200mm f/2.8, unadjusted. You can see that it was forward focusing around 3 units (whatever they are) where the arrow is pointing.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-o9SeBtP4soRQ3mGa2wxE0p7B2wGLunJ8TyREzNoFGUpCNskXvUu7HamSo-NCDJfFdhi8EInk-Xnv1VcFXCJDL9K5e1g-LebAlQfiOTjCO5PSUGxQA8lW_T7v6-SCjY4fIg-3C0ehSlJ/s1600/Lensalign+20111022-014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-o9SeBtP4soRQ3mGa2wxE0p7B2wGLunJ8TyREzNoFGUpCNskXvUu7HamSo-NCDJfFdhi8EInk-Xnv1VcFXCJDL9K5e1g-LebAlQfiOTjCO5PSUGxQA8lW_T7v6-SCjY4fIg-3C0ehSlJ/s640/Lensalign+20111022-014.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /><em> </em></div>
<em><blockquote>
Nikkor 70-200mm at 200mm f/2.8 after adjustment. This is set to +12 on a scale of -20 to +20. It's still not perfect, but it's close.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPCDkgGFGp0lSIA5RfSM_sgA715xFieM4cdpeYYQEfN89AKdkDVwuWcN8Gysx4nbwK4-MUsv0sGShhkjsvR6lpT56KIkh3JXKa69LeJueDX4alTx3NDqiBM960pcefZB9K4FNWA2BYyzl/s1600/Lensalign+20111022-015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPCDkgGFGp0lSIA5RfSM_sgA715xFieM4cdpeYYQEfN89AKdkDVwuWcN8Gysx4nbwK4-MUsv0sGShhkjsvR6lpT56KIkh3JXKa69LeJueDX4alTx3NDqiBM960pcefZB9K4FNWA2BYyzl/s640/Lensalign+20111022-015.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /><em> </em></div>
<em><blockquote>
Nikkor 24-120 at 120mm, f/5.6, unadjusted. This is harder to see because the DOF is higher because it's a slower lens. The sharpest focus is around +8, backfocusing.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYH-ejPeAV6oTnzpsu8uHxUO1lWvnBMe-2Yi0pU9WeN9kBPvrrGeZI2L3RWrFvAzxxea_XGxL6X5BZ9hMcMGcTYjvpZYNqc7wcrVNUQzZHzvUB-LjqOHXJFE4amvbCJelRokAe20PaGGth/s1600/Lensalign+20111022-019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYH-ejPeAV6oTnzpsu8uHxUO1lWvnBMe-2Yi0pU9WeN9kBPvrrGeZI2L3RWrFvAzxxea_XGxL6X5BZ9hMcMGcTYjvpZYNqc7wcrVNUQzZHzvUB-LjqOHXJFE4amvbCJelRokAe20PaGGth/s640/Lensalign+20111022-019.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /> </div>
<em><blockquote>
Nikkor 24-120 at 120mm, f/5.6, after adjustment. It took much less adjustment to align this one, about -5. I probably should hav dialed in -4 or -3 to be precise.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<br />
So once you get everything set up, it's a pretty easy task — just shoot and examine and adjust, shampoo, rinse, repeat until you're done. However if you have to take the card out of the camera, load it in the computer and upload the pictures between each shot, it will take you all day. If you're doing this, you have a high end camera. Probably you can shoot tethered to the computer (here's an argument for getting Lightroom!). That's what I did:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lN1njtjU3_BEOWrMDwytYQF3t4LbyTNwjqg88fOttOF56SG52uytDBSpNH5oMydTDUZxayj8AzNcYk9774qRxqBYda4bLoBvMNWOHuHHxdpSFSib4JYVB1ZzaT4zk3AZAtqxtEV3QoO8/s1600/IMG00106-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lN1njtjU3_BEOWrMDwytYQF3t4LbyTNwjqg88fOttOF56SG52uytDBSpNH5oMydTDUZxayj8AzNcYk9774qRxqBYda4bLoBvMNWOHuHHxdpSFSib4JYVB1ZzaT4zk3AZAtqxtEV3QoO8/s400/IMG00106-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /><em> </em></div>
<em><blockquote>
No comments from the peanut gallery. Shot with my Blackberry in, like, the dark. I loaned my P&S to Rosa so that's all I had to shoot with. You can see that the camera is tethered to the laptop on the left, the target is under the floodlight that illuminates my artwork on the wall. Not the greatest lighting.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<em><span style="color: lime;"><strong>Edit:</strong></span> Here's another shot I did today in daylight with the 200mm, now properly aligned. You can also see that I got the hole in the target properly aligned with the lens so everything is parallel now.</em><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwD67oV0UE5SgwFyNQV4UZ-Oi4KdiqizUIf5MLARSIPjkcKmKMznvt2-vV3zoDxgQHjeEIX8KGDvhtQEA4I2I94jMmLUtzB9V_8OYWJsJ8NLeUAv6tawFSSky6rDgXgi3jSRjtY2F0_8lS/s1600/align.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwD67oV0UE5SgwFyNQV4UZ-Oi4KdiqizUIf5MLARSIPjkcKmKMznvt2-vV3zoDxgQHjeEIX8KGDvhtQEA4I2I94jMmLUtzB9V_8OYWJsJ8NLeUAv6tawFSSky6rDgXgi3jSRjtY2F0_8lS/s640/align.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /><br />
OK. Does the LensAlign MkII work? Yes. Is it worth the $80 list price? Again I'll say Yes, if nothing else than because it's a more professional way of doing things than laying out a tape measure. Should you own one of these? Well if you're fussy and you have a lot of money invested in cameras and lenses, then Yes. Remember I said that usage of your camera, especially if you regularly swap lenses causes things to change. When I did this two years ago, the 70-200/D300 combo needed a setting of +7. Last year after i got it back from Nikon, it went to +15. Now it's at +12. If you're a macro photographer and you're shooting focus stacks with rails, then no. If your thing is landscapes at f/11 on a tripod, then no. <br />
<br />
And that's all I have to say about that.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
— 30 —</div>Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1593163270121344199.post-58804436422343298192011-09-27T13:53:00.002-04:002011-10-03T13:29:44.111-04:00Shooting with a 10-stop Neutral Density FilterI recently got a 10-stop ND filter and wanted to share some tips about shooting with it. As time goes by and I gain more experience or get more hints from other people, I'll re-open this page and add to it. Check the version number here to see if there's new information you haven't yet read.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
This is the initial post, version 1.0 on September 27, 2011<br />
Updated: October 3, 2011 (bottom of post)<br />
<div>
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<strong><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Background:</span></strong> <br />
I had a variable (up to 10 stops) ND filter that I was really unhappy with. Not only was it extremely unsharp but also it generated a terrible interference pattern when used with my wide angle lens. The concept is interesting, because you can screw it onto the lens and change exposures just by rotating it, so you could focus, meter, compose, etc., then spin it. But the results were just too unacceptable. There are better brands available: Singh-Ray and Fader are well-thought of (the former apparently is clearly better, but pricey). But I realized that there was no real reason to use in-between values, like 6-stops or 7-stops, so I might as well go whole hog and get the 10-stop filter. <br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
I bought a B&W brand filter made in Germany, and you can get it at B&H Photo — <a href="http://mer54715.datafeedfile.com/widget_prdt_click.php?aff_num=6224&aff_net=1&type=text_link&size=na&mode=na&sku=BW110C77" target="_blank">click here</a> to access the page in their online store. This link takes you to the 77mm single coated version, you can find different sizes from there. The first thing you realize when you pick up this filter is that the build quality is superb. It's heavier than most other filters that I've had, for example.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
There are a number of tutorials around. One of them is by Scott Kelby and there's a YouTube video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_dKH2mLt0c&feature=player_embedded">here</a>. If you're reading this on an iPad, I'm sorry but it's in Flash so you may not be able to view it. As usual, Scott gets quickly right to the point and his tutorial is great, but if you're new to using these filters, you may want a bit more information, so here goes!<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
There's LOTS to think about!<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<div>
</div>
Here's what you can do with the filter, shooting fast water in the middle of the day:<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Before:</strong></span> <br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGjCmftCUo1Fl-a5AWt32tzDxmp9CnO5BrhrO3PkIxWe1Ozwkb7WGekZ2WS6SCmgECim8_rPd0zyhOr2qbMnEEUue4OS-BG8bz8s6qG7Q9CjxO8xjbE96C1PckLeY4WYQdS1vR76FMGou/s1600/river.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGjCmftCUo1Fl-a5AWt32tzDxmp9CnO5BrhrO3PkIxWe1Ozwkb7WGekZ2WS6SCmgECim8_rPd0zyhOr2qbMnEEUue4OS-BG8bz8s6qG7Q9CjxO8xjbE96C1PckLeY4WYQdS1vR76FMGou/s640/river.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
</div>
<em></em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em><blockquote>
This was shot without the filter. The exposure was 1/30 sec at f/11, ISO 100. The lens was the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8, set at 70mm.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>After:</strong></span><br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ChlDW3H7PeBpMl3lnvSX5hioos-fyZLHGl1pqboX5c9llu1kc23cEm0AC3X36yuVXBDluyXl9nsG6DBiKNQ1oh8IqE44Jo5S9pzyJLY-8GNCgP6sL8dPm3U4VkcRhdQI37h95NNgmiRE/s1600/river_nd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ChlDW3H7PeBpMl3lnvSX5hioos-fyZLHGl1pqboX5c9llu1kc23cEm0AC3X36yuVXBDluyXl9nsG6DBiKNQ1oh8IqE44Jo5S9pzyJLY-8GNCgP6sL8dPm3U4VkcRhdQI37h95NNgmiRE/s640/river_nd.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
</div>
<em></em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em><blockquote>
Exactly the same setup, except the filter was screwed on the lens. The shutter speed was now 61 seconds (I was trying for 1 minute!). This was in the middle of the day and the sun was shining brightly, by the way!</blockquote>
</em><br />
<hr />
<br />
<div>
</div>
One thing you have to realize when you shoot these kind of shots: It's not like your usual digital experience: you know, we live in a world where people complain about how long it takes to heat something up in a microwave oven! This is more like the old days, where you have to consider carefully what you're doing and go through a whole bunch of steps and a mental checklist to capture an image. It will probably take you 5 or 10 minutes just to set up the shot!<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
For those of you who remember the old days: essentially what you're going to do is set it up, compose it, take a few "Polaroids" to make sure you got it right, then finally do your image. If you're shooting long dawn or dusk shots, it could be 2 hours before you're done with just ONE shot — so make sure everything is right so you don't waste your entire time!<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<strong><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What you need:</span></strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Your camera, with a fresh battery and suitable memory card</li>
<li>A sturdy tripod</li>
<li>A cable release, preferably with a locking button</li>
<li>Your Neutral Density filter</li>
<li>Something to cover the viewfinder eyepiece to keep light from leaking in.</li>
</ul>
That last one is important (well, they all are!). Normally, your eye is blocking the viewfinder and of course exposures are shorter. Scott mentions gaffer's tape, which I don't like because I don't like leaving sticky residue on the camera. I usually just throw an opaque cloth over the camera, folded a few times. Brings back the old days shooting under the hood with a 4x5!<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
Remember also that holding the shutter open takes battery power. Don't run out in the middle, and if you have a Nikon with noise reduction, you'll have to keep it powered up for twice the length of the exposure.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
If it's windy, even a dangling camera strap can move the camera too much. Weight your tripod if you can. Do it right — you're investing a lot of time to make it right!<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<strong><span style="color: #660000;">Composition</span></strong> is up to you, but you need to think about how much of your image contains moving things (water, clouds in the sky...) and what's not moving (rocks, structures, old shipwrecks). There might be stuff that is moving that you didn't think about, such as trees, branches, leaves, grass, people... I like to try to think about the fixed, motionless things first and remember that anything that is moving is going to be soft and out of focus so it can't be the 'subject' of your image.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
Set everything up without the filter. <span style="color: #660000;"><strong>Focus</strong></span> carefully, then switch your camera to manual focus — your autofocus won't work through the filter, so the camera will hunt back and forth and maybe never find the right focus setting. <br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
Take some <span style="color: #660000;"><strong>test shots</strong></span> at the aperture you will be using to evaluate the depth of field. Use <span style="color: #660000;"><strong>Aperture-Priority</strong></span>. Also find the <span style="color: #660000;"><strong>right exposure</strong></span> for your shot. The metered setting may not be right. Note what the shutter speed is. You will need this for your starting point.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
Most modern DSLR's are set up to default to 1/3 stop per click. Assuming you haven't changed this, you will need to click 30 times when you put the filter on. That can be any combination of stopping down the aperture, decreasing the ISO and lengthening the time the shutter is open. <strong><span style="color: #660000;">30 clicks</span></strong>. Learn to count to 30 and try not to go the wrong way!<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
I find myself trying to calculate all this stuff in my head. Taxing for this tired old brain, even though I'm used to using the left half a lot! To make life easier for you, maybe this little "cheat sheet" will help. I created a .pdf file for you to download and print, it fits on both sides of a 3x5 file card which you can laminate and put in your bag. I did it in Excel, so you can also download the original spreadsheet and modify it for your own preferences. <br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.faczen.com/upload/quickreference10stopfilter.pdf">Link to the .pdf file</a>. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.faczen.com/upload/quickreference10stopfilter.xlsx">Link to the Excel spreadsheet</a>.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirgPM1LEqsU5OdiQAf41EO524tHZx8i-Z_KOmGBO2HCZ56HonJkDmxPfV-DWLa0bEs9zDxHX_mk5Y_aDGC8wB7y0tc-qUiafrnIASTqrjo0IGBiLOC_qcDnK10ThpZYnEK1dnJqZd3CRwR/s1600/quick+reference+10+stop+filter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirgPM1LEqsU5OdiQAf41EO524tHZx8i-Z_KOmGBO2HCZ56HonJkDmxPfV-DWLa0bEs9zDxHX_mk5Y_aDGC8wB7y0tc-qUiafrnIASTqrjo0IGBiLOC_qcDnK10ThpZYnEK1dnJqZd3CRwR/s640/quick+reference+10+stop+filter.jpg" width="490" /></a></div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
Now carefully spin the ND filter onto your lens. I remove any other filters — skylight, UV, polarizing — the more glass hanging on the front of your lens the more distortion, reflections, etc. can creep in. Once it's on, you can't look through it any more so make sure everything is set the way you want.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Checklist:</strong></span><br />
<ul>
<li>Focus (where you want it and on manual mode)</li>
<li>Exposure mode: MANUAL</li>
<li>Aperture set to the opening you want to use</li>
<li>Shutter speed. Use 'bulb' and a timer like a stopwatch if it's over 30 seconds</li>
<li>VR OFF if you're on the tripod (the new VR-II is supposed to be better, but why introduce hunting if you don't have to?)</li>
<li>Exposure compensation and bracketing off</li>
<li>Shutter release: use "mirror-up" or "self-timer" and a cable release to minimize any camera shake</li>
<li>Block the viewfinder to keep light from leaking in</li>
<li>Long Exposure Noise Reduction ON.</li>
</ul>
Now shoot your image. Be prepared to wait for the Noise Reduction process to complete (if you have a Nikon. Not sure how Canon does it). This should take the same amount of time as your initial exposure.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<div>
</div>
Great! I hope you get some outstanding images! You may find that you have to color correct them (long exposures turn things blue) or tweak exposures in LR or PS.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
You have not used the optimum exposure values for the fixed, non-moving components in your image. You may want to shoot them separately and merge images for the best results. In this picture, I took 5 bracketed shots without the filter, then I merged them to HDR (using Photomatix Pro), tweaked and corrected them, then I imported the long exposure image as a fresh layer, and carefully masked the layers manually.<br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUG3brfdGCqqbRdiTUmyVZ4KFj3Tk-T-06LQNqq5EGPxyCUsECauXR78vFnbyo_6_Xxrx3-7u1ODWpAKDTrXYfICKZY_V4h6w3YXOCX2CLj3-SArnzYKGpzh_JlnTkb7xElsvvvmJA9G0/s1600/river2nd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUG3brfdGCqqbRdiTUmyVZ4KFj3Tk-T-06LQNqq5EGPxyCUsECauXR78vFnbyo_6_Xxrx3-7u1ODWpAKDTrXYfICKZY_V4h6w3YXOCX2CLj3-SArnzYKGpzh_JlnTkb7xElsvvvmJA9G0/s640/river2nd.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Update: October 3, 2011<br />
<br />
I had a disappointing couple of days in Algonquin Park this weekend, focusing on using my ND filter. I learned a few things (for I am but a grasshopper...).<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I said it in my original post but I guess I didn't take it to heart: you can't use the water or any of the moving things in the image as the focal point of the image. They only enhance the composition that is already there.</li>
</ul>
My friend Dr. Ron put it succinctly and really well: you need to have something in the foreground which is sharp and not moving. The above shot is a great example of that, somewhat by accident, though. Don't just shoot fast flowing water, it's meaningless.<br />
<br />
Long exposures and milky, silky water isn't for every shot. For instance, a really fast waterfall probably looks better with much shorter exposures because you wipe out any vestiges of detail with a long exposure. Also the transition between water and fixed portions of the image have to look natural, or else it looks like you just snipped and pasted it together. Here's an example (look where the rock meets the water)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9BuIJ6RUqBPKY79k133qjv6vFgLkavYrv679dWKlWQGIVTc_oNOKlABycB3jn4pd5TK2hlcBXdwhIkTLaHn-HkRusE7qEtE8gifux0UT-Jz_NneD9lsm6HE5OjYGi_OxDMRlMwmGg8JWF/s1600/FAC_8859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9BuIJ6RUqBPKY79k133qjv6vFgLkavYrv679dWKlWQGIVTc_oNOKlABycB3jn4pd5TK2hlcBXdwhIkTLaHn-HkRusE7qEtE8gifux0UT-Jz_NneD9lsm6HE5OjYGi_OxDMRlMwmGg8JWF/s640/FAC_8859.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<em></em></div>
<em><blockquote>
By the way, long ND exposures do interesting things to the sky as well. I copied and flipped the sky and pasted it at low opacity into the water.</blockquote>
</em><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Don't skip the test exposures.</li>
</ul>
Your meter may or may not give you a proper starting exposure, depending on the settings, the lighting, the effects you're looking for. Shoot without the filter, find your starting exposure and calculate from there.<br />
<ul>
<li>Don't forget to switch all the stuff off that you have to on the camera. </li>
</ul>
More than once, I found that I forgot to switch to manual focus, and once I had 5-shot bracketing selected. Stop and think!<br />
<ul>
<li>The "cheat" sheet I created above is invaluable. </li>
</ul>
Counting clicks sucks. Especially if you also want to change apertures or ISO.<br />
<br />
<end of update #1><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="mailto:photography@faczen.com">Drop me a line</a> if you have any other comments or suggestions (or comment here). I'd love to see your results. If you found this useful and you feel like contributing to my lens fund (!), every little bit helps! I'm trying to spend more time and resources on these blogs and your encouragement will really help.<br />
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /><input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="PVAQEYWLFBP9J" /><input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_SM.gif" type="image" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /><br />
<br />
<div>
</div>
<br />
<div>
</div>
— 30 —</form>
</div>
Glenn Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096211221259559835noreply@blogger.com