Shoutout to the PPA!

A big thanks to the Professional Photographers Association of MA, and all the folks who came to hear me talk about Smart Object RAW processing!

Pick up Smart Object Pipeline or Black and White Pipeline here, from Digital Silver Imaging right in Belmont, MA. You can also pick up any of the NIK software tools we mentioned, that all work as Smart Filters in the workflow, from DSI as well, by clicking this link.



And, as promised, here's a little refresher on how to use the Brush tool with Masks and Layers- easy once you know it, sometimes a little confusing to learn... heck. I took me 6 tries and about a year.

Part 1- the Setup



Part 2- Making the adjustment and controlling the Mask



...and, as promised, the Leadership Lessons from Dancing Shirtless Guy.

Photoshop and Photography- NYT

OK, kids... Here's a really interesting post by David Pogue of the NYT that says, simply and elegantly, what I've been saying all along about "trusting" photographs, the impact of Photoshop on photographic credibility, like that...

The thing is, though, this isn't necessarily an open-and-shut case. Ms. Leuchter's editorial points out that photography has never been strictly a "capture reality" art form. It's never been limited to reproducing what the eye sees.

From the very beginning, photographers have set up their shots, posed people and adjusted brightness and contrast in the development process. So although you may think that some line has been crossed, it might not be so easy to specify exactly where that line sits.

Here's a list of things people do to and for photographs, ranging from the innocent and traditional to the dangerously artificial. If you were running a photography contest, at what point would you draw the line and say "That's not photography anymore?"

Read more here.

Capture One gets an Update, H2H scoops DPR (again)

I'll be running the tests today, but the big news in my book is the Spotting Tool. Look for my comments later today here, at H2H.

Q/A- a little about my books, Photography, computers and art

I recently got a few questions- here are my answers.

Is your series intended to be, in effect, a building of skill or can they be taken on at anytime the need presents? Would you recommend that I get the Colour Pipeline book before I delve into the B&W?

The Pipeline books grew out of "The Pixel Institute", a series of workshops I put together starting in '01 or so to get photographers who were moving from film to digital to do so correctly. A big problem then was that these guys needed to produce high quality images immediately, to work digital into their "product" as fast as possible to be able to pay off the massive investment and to keep their businesses moving forward. Consequently it is a "hit the ground running, and start on the right foot" approach, and you'll probably notice a good deal of reference to film and darkroom concepts- both because that's what they were coming from, and that's where I came from too. So yes, RAW shooting, using Layers and Masks, and ultimately Smart Objects is the focus of the books, simply because it is the way, well, one way, a professional needs to work. The RAW Pipeline is probably the best to start with, and B/W Pipeline certainly if you are interested in B/W. Color PL is more an attempt to explain Color Management in a way that the "gatekeepers" haven't really been able to- not only how it works, but how to use it. Smart Object PL is really where it's happening if you want to go exclusive SO workflow.

And, what is your usual workflow? Aperature? Lightroom? CS4? PS 7.0? Picasa? (just kidding on that last one)

I use Photoshop CS4 exclusively for my own work, but I'm trained (Apple certified) in Aperture (hate it) Lightroom, C1Pro, and I know a bunch of other processors. I use CS4 pretty much because I use Smart Object RAW workflow almost exclusively- it's the only system that uses SO, but I need to know the rest of that stuff to do what I do. (I'm doing a full-day training on Tuesday in Phila. on C1Pro, for example).

Most hobbyists dare not venture into RAW...

On what "hobbyists" are doing... photography has always had a vast range of skills and interest levels. I've never really cared what anyone uses, just what works for me. (You may have remembered that particularly endearing trait about me... heh. ) There is a huge array of really powerful stuff out there, even iPhoto, on the Apple side, has sophisticated image adjustments, and it comes installed on any Mac now. Adobe Elements is a great consumer solution, too. The point is, photography is accessible to an absolutely astronomical number of people now, and it's one of the most exciting aspects of digital imaging. Not only can everyone take a picture now, (often with their phone) but they can manipulate it and publish it effortlessly.

And I know you use/love Mac products, I don't. Macs, for me, are artist's tools for people who just want their computers to work so they can...

Windows/Apple? Senseless, pointless conversation. First, if I had a nickel for every person who's told me what you just said, I'd... well, you know. But do yourself a favor, and don't limit your tool set by identifying yourself with some brand. I have switched to Apple for the simple reason that the systems I support are almost entirely Apple based. I continued to use Apple because I enjoy the system. As far as the perception of which system is for what- the notion that Windows is for business and Mac is for creatives is as outmoded as, well, film. And, for the record, I've been on Windows since 3.1, and continue to work with it, again, because I have to. I've also built more systems than I can remember. And I know the Apple system just as well... just ripped my wife's Powerbook past the Logic Board to replace her DC/Sound card as a matter of fact. I'm pretty much as well-qualified on the Apple IT end of it and service side as any of the Apple techs I've worked with- with the exception of about 2 of them... who walk on water... So, I think I know what I'm talking about.

It may interest you to know, for example, that Windows runs, in my experience anyway, better on my Macbook using Parallels than it ever did on a Windows box...

So, I'll say it again. Do yourself a favor and learn a little about Apple, if this is the road you're going down... it's a great machine. The integration of applications, for one small example, is not only convenient and somewhat amazing, but where computing will be in 5 years- also something that by definition, guerilla computing by instinct runs away from- I totally understand it, I'm that way myself, but at some point you begin to ask yourself why you're limiting yourself. (I could tell you the story of me resisting the switch to CDs sometime... we basically didn't buy music anymore because you couldn't buy LPs... until my wife put her foot down... heh.) And, fwiw, the way my guerilla computing manifests itself is precisely by virtue of the Apple system. My entire music collection is on a cute little "iLamp" iMac (aka the "ET" version) and controllable from anywhere in the house, wirelessly, even via iPhone. I'm cutting little Youtube videos using iMovie, and shooting them with my D5000. I'm recording the sound with my Macbook and iMovie lets me publish directly to my several YouTube accounts. Rather than hacking the hardware, I'm hacking what the hardware can do... as far as hacking hardware goes, I leave that for my electric motorcycle conversion. (Maybe you haven't seen this bit of madness- www.evmc2.com)

I do have one odd question - when does photography cease to be photography? Some of the work out there is so much more that to me, it's no longer photography, but something else. Some of own your work looks like paintings.

As far as what constitutes a photograph. It's an interesting drinking question, and one we're working with in class right now- Creative Digital Techniques, at Northeastern, but ultimately not much of a concern to me. My job as an artist is to make art. I have other jobs as an author and teacher, but as a photographer, I need to explore and understand the tools so I can use them. The whole discussion on Photoshop making photography into something that people can't believe is the "truth", well, that's idiotic. The earliest photographs of war- Matthew Brady, were constructed, arranged, by the photographer, and people thought they were real. Now, people know better, and you have Photoshop to thank. The interpretation that has always been at the core of photography is just now more obvious, ironically by being visually undetectable. But back to the point. I take pictures. Let some philosopher figure out what I'm doing ten years down the road.

Step awaaaay from the coffee, Ted.

Photoshop Trivia- Merlin Lives! (easter eggs)

Airports, Routers, iBooks and Powerbooks

It started with an iBook, a G4, 14" to be specific. My son said he was dropping off the wireless network, and we did a few things to try to get it fixed, including a PRAM reset and a PMU reset. It seemed to work, but got worse, and finally we just retired the thing when he got a new MacBook Pro. Recently I did a wipe and clean OS install on the iBook, and the same thing happened, except now, it wouldn't get on at all.

To be clear, the problem was not that the Airport card wouldn't see the wireless network- it could, and the signal strength was fine. The problem was that once you got on the network, you couldn't get onto the internet.

Then, my wife's 15" G4 Powerbook had a power supply issue, and the battery tanked. After taking care of that, when I booted it up it did the exact same thing- it saw the network but wouldn't see the internet.

After searching Google eleventy million times for every variation of "airport, router, internet, powerbook" I found this thread, from TechArena: "Powerbook G4 does not connect to router".

I tried, or had tried, everything on that list, with no success, except the idea of blowing out the wireless network in the router and starting fresh. I had resisted doing that simply because the network worked fine with my Macbook, and I didn't want to mess THAT up... but the fact that these two machines could see the router- but every time I went into Network Preferences and tried to get the DHCP settings right, I got some very weird looking addresses- made me think that there had to be some issue with the communication between these specific cards and the connection between the wireless and the router itself.

I'm running the Verizon MI424WR Router, by the way. And when I plugged the ethernet cable directly into the router I got access, and good DHCP addresses. Everything pointed to something inside the router not playing nice with the wireless signal from either of these machines.

So, finally, I blew out the old wireless network and made a new one. This is a process of plugging into the router, accessing the router interface by putting the "router address" into the browser bar, and then logging in with your user and password. I turned wireless off, then closed the screen. I re-opened, then turned it on with a new name and password. I crossed my fingers.

Both machines were all better. Bingo.

dumb stuff- "waiting" gifs

I dunno. Every time I get stuck waiting I download the GIF. No, I know. It's weird. And by the way, don'tcha always love it when a message says "we appreciate your patience..."? I mean really, who say's I'm waiting patiently?

Here are some of my faves. More to come.

Shoot Profile: Roy Lockwood, Paintball, Casio and Olympus

This guy's work is amazing.



Read more about him here.

Head-2-Head Reviews publishes Hassey H4D 40 specs, scoops DP Review

Story here.

(was that bitchy of me? oh, yes. yes it was.)

Guest Post on the Gardener's Eden

Check it out! Michaela let me yabber on about how to improve your garden and flower photos... check out the rest of her site, too, there's a whole lot there- including some of the best recipes EVER!

Thanks Michaela!