Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Blog Blog

KEN POSNEY: DAILY POST

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Lindsey and Peter Mason Wedding
Ha'ena, Kaua'i











Want an Accurate Portrait of Africa? Hire Local Photographers
Hiring locals to participate in the coverage — either independently or in tandem with foreign photographers and journalists — would help. No one, after all, knows a country like a local. (more…)

Custom Tasty Treats Sweet and Saucy Shop

KEN ROCKWELL
Canon S90 and G11 Update
I've been having a blast shooting with these two cameras the past few days. What is striking about each of them is how much better they work at high ISOs than any other camera their size..

Europe Workshop Tour Images!
The European "Wedding's California Style" Workshop Tour, is going so well, after day 3, we've hit up Budapest, Vienna, Munich and now we are off to Zurich. Here are some highlights. Everyone is signing up on facebook and making comments, check out the details, tesimonials and participant images at http://www.facebook.com/mikelarsoninc many workshops have filled up, but there are a few spots left in a few cities, so check out the link to sign up for those of you photographers in Europe!

Photo of the Day

PHOTOFOCUS
Show Your Best Work
Every photographer takes bad photos. Even the big-time pros don’t get every shot perfectly composed, lit, and in-focus; it usually takes a few bad shots to get one good photo. The thing to understand is that part of becoming a great photographer means learning how to pick out your best images and knowing what to show and display for others to see.

When I choose which images of mine I want to share online I am very selective, and only show photos I am proud of and truly love. I want to focus my viewers’ attention on the photographs that I think are the best, and show them what I am fully capable of. It’s very possible to have several “great” images from any given shoot, but even out of 10 or twenty images there are still going be some that stand out and are favored over the others.

This doesn’t just apply to sharing your photographs online. If you are a portrait or wedding photographer and go through your images, pick only the very best images to show your client, even if it means trimming your “keepers” down to 50% (or more) of what you would like to have. Trust me – if you like them, then they will love them. If you were to show them every photo you take and their “favorite” happens to be one that you know is not great, would you want that photo out there to represent your work?

As photographers we are also artists, and being an artist means that we should know what looks good. So be selective and very picky about what you share – hand-pick your images and only show your best work.

PHOTOJOJO
Wedding Photos You’ll Love (Even if You Hate Wedding Photos)

STYLE ME PRETTY
Inspiration Board for Brides

TIM GREY (Digital Darkroom Questions)
Today's Question:
I have been doing a bit of reading on CS4. Adobe is enabling the user to do more and more in Camera Raw. What is your opinion of doing so many adjustments in Camera Raw that once were done in Photoshop? My concern is that adjustments done in Camera Raw can not be fine tuned later. When I do my adjustments in PS using layers and adjustment layers, I essentially have a record of what I have previously done and, if need be, I can go back and turn layers on or off or make adjustments to them. If I have done all this in Camera Raw, then, so far as I know, I do not have this flexibility and if I want to change something, I must go back to the RAW file and start from the beginning. Am I missing something?

Tim's Answer:
I don't think you're missing anything at all. My personal preference is to use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) as a tool for extracting the maximum amount of information from a RAW digital capture as possible, not to attempt to get the image looking perfect and ready to print (or otherwise share). I draw a parallel between RAW conversion and film scanning. When you scan a negative or transparency, the focus is on extracting as much information from that original as you possible can.

As a result of this approach, I don't make use of most of the features in ACR. While it is possible to return to your original RAW capture in ACR and adjust your settings (they are all nondestructive in the context of not altering your original RAW capture). You could also convert the RAW capture as a Smart Object and then access ACR to refine the settings at any time by double-clicking the Smart Object layer. However, I don't like this approach because it causes problems when, for example, you use the Clone Stamp or Healing Brush on a separate layer (which I highly recommend doing).

With most images I only adjust the Temperature, Tint, Exposure, and Blacks sliders. If an image exhibits chromatic aberration I'll fix this in ACR (even though you can also fix it later with the Lens Correction filter). If there is minor noise I might compensate for this in ACR as well (though more often I'll use Noise Ninja after converting the RAW capture).

When adjusting settings in ACR I'll focus on maximizing the amount of information in the final image, which generally translates into setting the black and white points to the point just before clipping occurs (if clipping can be avoided), holding the Alt/Option key while adjusting Exposure and Blacks to see where the clipping occurs and refining the adjustments as needed.