Friday, November 6, 2009

Blog Blog

KEN POSNEY: DAILY POST

10 QUICK and EASY Ways to Improve Your Photography
RIGHT NOW!

View this 14 page document packed with career-saving information. Just sign-up now as a TPG Member.
What's Inside:
  1. Read “Fast Track Photographer” by Dane Sanders: A summary of Dane's book is on our Training Site
  2. Promote and Network
  3. Constantly improve your portfolio
  4. Biography
  5. Survey, Listen and ask for Referrals
  6. Professional Web Site
  7. Attend Workshops
  8. Facebook Tips
  9. Be a Professional and Set the Standard
  10. Promoting YOU and Customer Service
Lindsey and Peter Mason Wedding
Ha'ena, Kaua'i










BLACK STAR RISING
Ask the Photo Business Coach: Beate Chelette
Editor’s note: Black Star Rising is pleased to introduce a new series of video blog posts, “Ask the Photo Business Coach,” featuring Beate Chelette. The high-energy entrepreneur and former Corbis executive has been profiled twice on this blog, once while with Corbis and again after leaving the company. Today, she is a successful consultant and author. (more…)

DANE SANDERS
Custom Tasty Treats Sweet and Saucy Shop

KEN ROCKWELL
NEW: Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AF-D Review

MIKE LARSON
Ireland... The story begins...
After flying out of New Orleans, through ORD to LHR, I Just arrived in Ireland, its 45 degrees out & rainy, I rented (hired, as they say here) a car and was traveling and exploring down Irish roads that reminded me of the chronicles of Narnia, as when they were in the forests along winding narrow roads with walls of green trees at dusk as the wind blew. Outside I could smell fires as the houses looked so warm inside! The farther I got away from Dublin, the more country-esq the landscape looked. As the sun faded the green grass turned to grey and after praying to find the house, no number address out here, just a ranch name on a street in a town. If found it!

Now we sit by the fireplace warming up over some tea as I get to know the family and we chat about the wedding tomorrow. Its amazing to hear the culture of the Irish, how they do things and what they talk about. I'm excited for tomorrow! Castles churches and green countryside's!
I know some of these people, they know me from a Wedding I shot in Italy last year, Martina, the beautiful bride had some friends who wanted the images for their wedding, just what she had. It makes such a difference to have my couples already know they are in for a big treat, and a great experience. There's no icebreaker needed! Just fun, and an amazingly beautiful day. I'll totally be posting amazing shots tomorrow!...
Photo of the Day
Fix My Photo – Fixing Color

Funny Face Photo Invites: Two-Faced, In a Good Way

Inspiration Board for Brides

TIM GREY (Digital Darkroom Questions)
Today's Question:
Do you have a preference between Unsharp Mask and Smart Sharpen when it comes to sharpening images for print?

Tim's Answer:
I do have a preference, and that preference has actually changed in the not-too-distant past. When the Smart Sharpen filter was first added to Photoshop CS2, I didn't warm up to it immediately. There's no question it had some great new features (specifically, the ability to mitigate sharpening individually for the highlight or shadow areas of the image), but it lacked a Threshold setting, and that was a major issue for me. You see, Threshold is key in terms of being able to "hold back" the sharpening from relatively smooth areas of the image, to ensure those areas remain smooth (a clear sky is a good example of such a situation).

I knew from the information Adobe provided that Smart Sharpen really was "smart" in this regard, but I had misgivings. But after much more testing with a wide variety of images, I've become convinced that the algorithms behind Smart Sharpen really are smarter than Unsharp Mask (I suppose this shouldn't have been any great surprise considering the name of the new filter). So, to answer your question, there's no question in my mind now that Smart Sharpen is the better filter for sharpening your images, and is the one I recommend most highly. I'm quite impressed with just how smart it can be, demonstrating a certain degree of self-control that in most cases will protect the image from the halos that are common with excessive sharpening.