When you want to discover new shortcuts and ways to make your workflow solid and secure, these are some great online resources.
• tv.adobe.com/product/lightroom
• blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal
• tv.adobe.com/channel/photography/photo-management
By Chris Bross, Data Recovery Engineer for DriveSavers
With the advent of digital photography and flash memory, a whole new set of potential problems has evolved for photographers. DriveSavers Data Recovery Engineer, Chris Bross, has assembled the following list of tips for how to handle flash memory cards properly and help prevent potential loss of precious photographs.
BACK UP YOUR IMAGES! Protect yourself and your irreplaceable images by backing up onto CD/DVDs, tapes, online storage or an external hard drive. This will help guard against data loss when (not if) your hard drive crashes unexpectedly.
TRANSFER YOUR PHOTOS. Copy the image files from the camera’s flash memory to a computer’s hard drive a soon as you can. We recommend not deleting images or reformatting the memory card while it is still in the camera. Wait until all photos are transferred and verified.
FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS. Take care when removing flash memory from the camera or card reader. Avoid deleting or corrupting images by using the eject command on the computer or moving the card icon from the desktop to the trash/recycle bin before physically removing the card.
VERIFY THE TRANSFER. Open the images on the hard drive before reformatting the card.
MAKE MORE THAN ONE COPY. Back up your backup media and keep a duplicate offsite in a secure location.
PROTECT YOUR FLASH MEMORY CARDS. Use the plastic holder when carrying them around. Simple static buildup can zap the card and make it unreadable. There are other dangers as well, such as breaking a card in our pocket or putting the card, along with your clothing, in the wash.
REPLACE YOUR FLASH MEMORY CARDS. Typically, flash memory cards can be used about 1,000 times before they start to wear out.
AVOID EXTREME TEMPERATURES. Heat, cold and humidity can wreak havoc with digital equipment, especially flash memory.
By Don Chick, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
The new Sigma APO 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM lens with its 10X zoom range is one impressive lens. Sigma pitches this lens as the “all-in-one” dream lens, especially for nature photographers. It’s also suitable for landscape photography and has enough zoom for photographing wildlife. I have to agree with Sigma.
This lens is designed for full-frame DSLRs, but also functions with cameras with APSC- size sensors. Using the 50mm setting (a 35mm focal-length equivalent to 80mm on my Canon 40D), I photographed a nuthatch in a tree (Figure 1). As you would expect, it’s tough to even find the bird in the image. Zooming to the telephoto end of the range, 500mm (the equivalent of 800mm on my Canon 40D), I was able to capture the nuthatch in great detail (Figure 2).
Figure 1. ©Don Chick
Figure 2. ©Don Chick
Continue reading "Review: Sigma APO 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 DG HSM Lens" »
Educational materials for children’s photographers are a common sight these days and with good reason … there seems to be big business in showcasing the in’s and out’s of this specialty in photography. With so many photographers opening up shop, an equal number of established pros are getting in on the teaching game. It can be tough to know where to turn for good, solid, usable information.
I’ve seen some good, some bad (ok, awful) and some overpriced educational materials. I have heard horror stories about poorly produced DVDs and instructional materials. I admit I may be particularly picky as I do some teaching as well, and I'm particular when it comes to my business and the art and skill involved with photographing children. When you adheres to stringent rules about your own work and what you produce, you tend to be equally hard on others.
“Inside Contemporary Children's Photography” with Tamara Lackey displays impressive quality. Once you begin, you are immediately sucked into Tamara’s world. Her speaking style is effervescent, friendly and instructional. This DVD is unique, in my opinion, because it’s filmed in an infomercial-like style; it’s the very why of how this DVD pulls you in and keeps you watching. Who can resist a good infomercial? Not me!
Though I was a bit leery to review a photo-education DVD because there’s so much out there that falls short, I’ve only heard good things about Tamara Lackey’s presentations, so I was excited to see what she had to share. Being confident in my own business and experience children’s photography, I was doubtful that I’d get anything new out of watching it. On this point, I was wrong because she gave some great tips.
Continue reading "Review: "Inside Contemporary Children's Photography"" »
By Stan Sholik
Photographers actively involved in high dynamic range (HDR) imaging often use different HDR programs for different images since each program has its own algorithm for tone mapping the multiple exposures into an image. Many of these programs are complex and non-intuitive and don’t accurately portray the final image until processing is complete.
HDR PhotoStudio from Unified Color Technologies, LLC, was different, offering a more intuitive and user-friendly approach. Unified Color has replaced that program with a much-improved one, HDR Expose, which is suitable for HDR beginners and advanced users alike.
The user interface in Expose has undergone major revisions from the PhotoStudio version, and all for the better. It now boasts the visual styling of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Apple Aperture and other imaging programs, although the keyboard shortcuts are generally different. HDR Expose allows the export of source images from Lightroom and Aperture directly to the program. And when you have completed your HDR composite, Expose exports the image back to whichever program you used to send them for processing.
But the biggest change and the greatest improvement lies in the addition of a Brightness Histogram at the top of the Tool Panel. The Brightness Histogram displays not only the tonal distribution of the entire 32-bit image, but also, with a lighter toned gray region, the section of the curve that will display in the final image.
This is the final result of combining five exposures in HDR Expose and going for a “natural” look. The exposures were bracketed one stop apart. No exposure even came close to having the balance of foreground and sky exposure that is present in this final image. ©Stan Sholik
By Dawn Tacker
Images by Mark Pawlyszyn
Whether your do your own printing or task that to a competent lab, Greener Photography recommends using natural fiber paper in place of traditional RC/silver halide paper for printmaking as a greener option. Read more about that in our Greener Photographic Prints article. But which natural fiber paper to choose? One important factor to consider: the use of OBAs, or optical brightening agents.
OBAs are used to make paper look more uniform, and more white. But at what cost? As OBAs break down, their effects do as well—and they don't break down uniformly. A paper that is made unnaturally white through the use of OBAs will start to yellow—it is a matter of the paper returning to its "natural" color. However, when OBAs break down they can cause irregular yellowing. OBAs call into question the longevity of a photographic print—what good is a lightfast rating of 200 years if your print will yellow sooner than that? The greenest options for printing are also those that will withstand the test of time.
What's a photographer to do? To avoid color shifts and yellowing of your fine art prints, chose papers with zero or very low levels of OBAs. How do you find out if your paper has OBAs? Check out the manufacturer's website, and look for information on OBA content. Click on "Continue reading 'Reexamining the Greener Print'" to find our list of a few examples of papers that have zero-to-low levels of OBAs:
A custom viewfinder mask to save time and money
By Don Chick, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
Every now and then you encounter a product that falls into the category of “nice to have,” but for one reason or another, it just doesn’t make your priority list. Initially for me, a custom viewfinder mask was such a product. I could see the reason to own one and the potential value, but higher priorities and price kept me from making the investment of $195. Boy, was I wrong to delay!
Now that I have a custom viewfinder mask from ViewfinderMasks in my camera, I am convinced that it is one of those must-have products that will make your post-production life easier and pay for itself in both time and money.
A custom viewfinder mask helps because a DSLR, or 35mm camera creates a 3:2 ratio image area, which translates to 4x6 or 8x12 image formats, while most professional portrait photographers print 4x5 or 8x10 images using a 4:5 ratio. The composition and cropping problem happens when you fill the frame with your 8x12 subject (Figure 1) and attempt to print the image on 8x10 media.
Figure 1: Composing your image without a viewfinder mask,
you tend to fill the frame with your subject …
Part of the image must be cropped off at one or both ends (Figure 2). It is especially difficult to create a pleasing portrait when some of the head and body has to be cropped and the frame is filled mostly with the subject’s face.
Figure 2: … but when you print, you have to crop one or both ends. Images ©Don Chick
By Betsy Finn, Cr.Photog., CPP
You might be familiar with SimpleViewer already. The SimpleViewer product family is the brainchild of web developer Felix Turner of Airtight Interactive and offers user-friendly Flash galleries that you can download and use for free (or upgrade to the Pro version for more features). I'm familiar with the free versions, and I wanted to find out if the added Pro Features, or svManager, might be worth it in the long run.
First off, let me do a run through of all the SimpleViewer products. Then I’ll discuss the benefits of the Pro options and dig a little deeper into using svManager.
SimpleViewer, TiltViewer, AutoViewer, and PostcardViewer are all Flash image-viewing galleries (templates of a kind). Each one has a slightly different feel and look, but all are designed with simplicity in mind. svManager is an interface that allows you to easily create galleries with any of the four gallery templates.
SimpleViewer
From September 21 to 26, 2010, all the leading names in the international photography and imaging sector will be represented at the 31st Photokina. In the halls of the Cologne exhibition grounds, the “who's who” of the international photo and imaging sector will once again present the entire spectrum of products and services in the areas of modern image technology and image applications for consumers and professionals.
If you plan to attend, representatives and organizers of the event offer the following tips to make the most of your travel and Photokina experience.
Flights: Book your flight early enough. Best rates are available when you book before Early August. Economy class tickets from the East Coast should start with $ 800. Fly into Frankfurt – Germany’s largest and most centrally located airport. Most major cities in the US service direct flights to Frankfurt. The airport has its own train station. Take a high speed “ICE train” which will reach Cologne in 58 minutes – trains race safely along the “Autobahn” and leave even the fastest cars behind. Alternatively you might also consider flying into Duesseldorf and take the RE trains to Cologne. Use discount offers available to North American attendees of Photokina. From September 14 - October 3, 2010, discounted air fares are available to Photokina attendees at lufthansa.com in the Meetings and Events portal by using event code "DEAPQ". The German Railway (DB) offers discounted train rides to Cologne. Tickets can be purchased at photokina-cologne.com or by calling +49 1805-311153 and mentioning Photokina.
Continue reading "How to Prepare for Photokina - Sept. 21-26" »
The word couture is usually associated with fashion, but not anymore. Harvest Pro, the California-based wide-format printer that’s been producing museum quality Giclée prints for more than two decades has turned their sights to the photo industry. Harvest Couture will offer photographers the ability to offer truly unique photographic art pieces to their clients, by printing photographs on acrylic and metal.
Three substrates will be offered: acrylic with hand laid silver leaf, acrylic with white ink printing, and metal with white backgrounds. Out of these three different materials, come four possible ways to print. They currently offer four sizes: 20x30, 24x36, 30x40, and 40x60 inches. Custom printing is possible up to 4x8 feet, and the smallest the company will print is 16x24 inches.
According to Jenny Coulston, Pro Photo Curator for Harvest Couture, these sizes are better for photography. “We do believe if you’re going to do it, do it at least as a 20x30. At that size the images feel like an art piece,” she says. The biggest issue for the company is showing off the end result to prospective customers, because the printing processes create a one-of-a-kind photograph. When you view these prints, slightly altering your viewing angle can change the way the image looks.
Coulston says photographers can have multiple-piece editions created or one-offs.
This 40x60-inch print on metal hangs in the Wedding Sales Room at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, Calif. ©Kathleen Clark Photography
Continue reading "Harvest Couture, for Clients with Stylish Taste" »
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