Ted Dillard

gossip: Sony a900 25-Megapixel DSLR?

2008-06-30T15:17:00.004-04:00

from a Gizmodo post.

...just me, spreading rumors.

diversions: the scooter and the frog

2008-06-30T09:14:00.002-04:00

We got the scooter running this weekend. It's name is Crazy Frog. Here's why, it sounds like this:

Tricks and Tips, and windsurfing

2008-06-30T06:31:00.001-04:00

A brief word about “Tricks and Tips”. I hate ‘em. No, seriously.

Tricks and tips are more about “see what I can do” than creating a solid, professional working process. (I’m even having issues with the word “workflow” lately, because it’s become such a catchphrase.)

There is a place for learning little things that can, integrated into a coherent process, speed that and simplify it, and this is what we need to focus on. Start by building a framework for your process, and, as you’ve probably figured out, the framework I’ve decided is the best for me is the “Layers/Masks” strategy. I am getting fairly strident about it now, because, as the Smart Object workflow shows, it is a basic structure which is not destructive, as “archival” as is possible, and is so flexible and powerful I have yet to find an application where I can’t use it.

Now, show me a tip, or a trick, (like, for example, copying Smart Filter layers perhaps. or setting up Keyboard Shortcuts) that speeds and amps my processing within that framework and I’m listening, but so often the “Tips and Tricks” approach does just the opposite- it sends you down a rabbit hole that forces you to abandon a good, well thought-out and proven strategy for the sake of, well, what feels like a gimmick. The best examples I can give you are some of the sharpening processes that people tout with almost religious fervor.

I remember this surfer/windsurfer who was just incredible, Doug Peacock. His favorite spot was “The Zone”, a crosshatch of currents and winds in Buzzards Bay that looked more like the churn in a washing machine than the ocean. (“…I didn’t see you in The Zone on Saturday, Doug.” “You weren’t looking UP!”, says Doug.) This guy who thought he was a lot better than he really was had a new move, and Doug’s comment was, “Tricks are for kids”, and folks, I think of that comment every time I go to one of those seminars, or read one of those books.

Show me a professional structure, and then give me something that can make it better. Tricks are for kids.

Copying Smart Filter Layers

2008-06-29T11:07:00.009-04:00

We’ve seen a few examples where we need to make a filter on another layer, pretty much the same as one we’ve already made. The good news is we can just copy existing Smart Filters in much the same way we copy other things in Layers. But, like in other little features of Smart Objects, there are a few new twists you have to watch out for. Here’s an example.

I’m going to open a file, and run through my usual procedure of building my working Smart Object layers.

Let’s keep it simple. I’m going to “burn” down the iris, and the eyelashes a bit here, so I’ve gone in and made the adjustment and masked it for just those parts.

Now I want to get it ready to print, so I size it and do my Unsharp Masking adjustments remembering to turn the images above the “source” image off.

Next, I have my problem. There are some areas of the Smart Filter I made that are going to get covered up by the “burn” layer above it. The "burn" layer isn't going to get sharpened by the layer below it, so I need to make another Unsharp Masking layer, probably just like the one I just did, to plug into that "burn" layer. Here’s how I can do it. This is what I’m starting with- a “burn” layer with the Unsharp Mask Smart Filter turned off (the “eye” on the Unsharp Mask is clicked, to de-activate it, thus not showing the “eye” anymore.)

Go back to the “source” layer and click on the Unsharp Mask Smart Filter. Hold down “Option”, click that baby and drag it to the “burn” layer, and drop it right on he (de-activated) Smart Filter. Snap! You’ve added a copied Smart Filter layer, exactly the same, from your “source” layer.

Note that there are two “Unsharp Mask” layers, and one is de-activated (no “eye”). You can actually go ahead and delete that to keep things neat if you want.

One important, really small detail. Make sure, when you start, the thing you’ve turned off (in your target layer) is the filter itself, NOT the thing that says “Smart Filters”. Look again at the figure. The “eye” is there, next to the “Smart Filters”, but not next to the Unsharp Mask. This will help keep things straight, because it adds a new filter that has the eye, and shows the old one that is turned off. (If you turn off the “eye” next to the Smart Filters thing, then it will add the filter, but activate ALL the layers. Just a bit confusing.)

The only thing left to do is to go back and check your sharpening levels. Remember the Rosenholtz-Sanchez effect! You’ve applied the same filter twice, on two layers, so the effect will be compounded. You can quickly check it simply by toggling the new filter on and off, and see if it’s objectionable, or, you can go in and re-open that filter and give it a poke. (If it’s a problem, Rosenholtz and I have pretty much decided it’s Sanchez’s fault. But that’s another story.)

Combining images pixel-for-pixel

2008-06-27T05:51:00.003-04:00

This is an old trick, but one that now gives you another method of adding Smart Objects as Layers. It's the old Shift+Move move.

Open two images as Smart Objects. Grab one. Hold down Shift, and, with the Move Tool slam that baby on to the other Object. Bingo. Pixel-for-pixel registration.

This is especially useful if you're trying to get to high dynamic range images (HDR) using Smart Objects and masking. Grab two exposures in Bridge, open them and process them in Camera RAW, one for the highlights, one for the shadows, bring 'em into Photoshop and Shift+Move.

badda-BING.

Setting up Camera RAW for Smart Objects

2008-06-25T05:21:00.006-04:00

We need to get to Adobe Camera RAW to set that up to open files as Smart Objects rather than standard rasterized images. To do this, just get to a RAW file and open it (preferably using Bridge). Here’s the familiar Camera RAW window. At the very bottom in the middle is what looks like a link on a website. Here’s what mine looks like:

Click it. This brings you to the Camera RAW “Workflow Options”.

Here you can specify some of the key processing preferences, specifically, the Working Color Space you’re asking Camera RAW to process to, the bit depth, pixel dimensions and resolution of your processed files. There’s also a little checkbox: “Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects”. We want to check that little guy.

You’ll notice, after you hit OK, that the “Open …” button now has changed from “Open Image” to “Open Object”. After you make your basic adjustments in the Camera RAW menus, hit this button and you’ll kick into Photoshop.

Here’s your happy workspace, with your image (now temporarily named “'filename' as Smart Object”) and your Layers Palette that you’ve set up, and the background layer with this funny little icon on the layer. THAT, my friend, is your Smart Object.

Now, whenever you open a RAW file it will go into Photoshop as a Smart Object Layer. The enormous power of this is revealed when you go and double-click that funny little icon. Go ahead. Try it. You know you want to. Bingo! What happens is you get right back to that Adobe Camera RAW window. All we really have done is set it up so we can go and edit the RAW file, and re-edit it, without having to get back out of Photoshop and start again with the original file. We now have a RAW file embedded into our Photoshop file as a layer.

Seems simple enough, this is the “nut” of the process, but, as the saying goes, “Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow”.

Lets see what this lets us do. More to come...

having nothing to do with anything photo

2008-06-23T06:32:00.004-04:00

new toy. uh, location vehicle for high gas prices? whatever, I think it's cute.

(1977 Honda NC50 "Express")

UPDATE: it RUNS!

Turning Image Capture off

2008-06-20T06:05:00.008-04:00

I really don't like automating the transfer of files from my camera cards, for a whole bunch of reasons. One very simple one is that I want to make sure it's done, and done right, and you know... "if you want something done right...".

Anyway, Image Capture is an automatic (Apple) program that starts up and wants to help you with the ominous task of copying your files from your card to the computer. Seriously. I can't do this myself? jeesh.

Turn it off. Make it stop.

Find "Image Capture" in your Applications folder. Start it up. Go to Preferences, and select "No Application". Close it.

Now, when you plug a card in, you'll just get your happy card image on the desktop.

Yay.

preview: the Color "Path"

2008-06-14T05:43:00.008-04:00

...here's a little tease for you. The Color Pipeline is built around a revelation I had one day in the wee hours of the morning... colors follow a "path" through the process of capturing, editing and printing a photograph, and if we could track that path we maybe could understand it a little better, and control the colors a little more, well, effectively.

From that idea grew the Color Pipeline... and credit is due to Joe Holmes, Nick Wheeler and Michael Oh in patiently holding my hand along the way.

This diagram grew from my original chart, pretty much scribbled on a napkin. It shows the track of colors, what happens in each step, and how the colors "connect" from one phase to the next. Kara is adding captions, and it will be a little clearer, but this is the core idea. (We're talking about making a board game of it... remember "Candyland"? ..."Colorland", maybe? stop me before I kill again!)

Click on the image for a bigger version... and check back for the game show!

Color Pipeline first draft ready!

2008-06-12T06:15:00.006-04:00

Thanks to everyone who came to help celebrate the Raw Pipeline release! It was a great evening, and heralded some other exciting news... Color Pipeline is in it's first draft, and is a few weeks away from heading to the printer! We actually had a printed copy at the reception, thanks to the hard work of Kara Helmkamp, my editor at Lark Books (I'm a man who needs an editor).

We decided on a new cover, and this book is looking like everything I hoped it would be... a guide to "Life after Color Management", showing the "path" of color through the system, from subject, through capture and processing to the final print, showing what can be done, and how, to control the colors in a digital photograph.

Come back soon for some previews... and, of course, this means it's time to start on the next project: Smart Object Pipeline!

more diversion: Apple vs PC

2008-06-05T12:24:00.002-04:00

this show was AWEsome

diversion: Ted Airlines closes...

2008-06-04T19:37:00.005-04:00

"Ted was never anything other than a different paint job"...

...that's harsh.

(thank god I can still get the ted earflap beanie!!)

Don' Forget! June 9th Reception

2008-06-03T06:40:00.017-04:00

Don't forget, next Monday night, a Book Release Reception and a Closing for Bill Lyons' "Convergence" at the Panopticon Galllery in Kenmore Square!

Come to the Panopticon Gallery on Monday night, June 9th from 6-8 to join me in celebrating the new book! (AND the Color Pipeline... and well, a few more to come!)

Wine, cheese... good friends, AND the closing of my longtime friend Bill Lyons' show "Convergence"!

Look for Hunt Photo, just down the street a few doors, joining us too with Raw Pipeline books on hand.

Here are the deets:
June 9th (NOT a Sox night) 6-8pm
Panopticon Gallery
Inside the Hotel Commonwealth
617-267-8929
502c Commonwealth Ave,
Boston

Bills show is here, and his main site is here. The Panopticon main site is here.

I want to thank Tony Decaneas of Panopticon for his help and support of, not only this, but the whole Boston Photo community!

RSVP to ted@teddillard.com

See you there!

-Ted

site: Outcast of Originality (Chip Simons, via EP)

2008-05-26T07:02:00.006-04:00

Need a creative kick in the butt? I love this guy...

Chip Simons:

I have always strived to be original and different than everyone else. I am often asked where I come up with ideas and how I can reinvent myself over and over. I give a lot of talks so I have some pre-rehearsed lines like….

Shoot whatever you want that makes you happy and gets you excited about shooting more and more.

Don’t try to be like everyone else... think how you can be the opposite.

Change your perspective... don’t ever show me something from 5 foot 9... I know what it looks like already.

Show us something we have not seen before... and not your naked body.

Don’t be so obsessed with taking great pictures... that’s a horrible pressure to put on yourself.

Stop making sense.

The original post, complete, is here.

Chip's site is here.

on digital photography, visualization and investment

2008-05-25T09:50:00.007-04:00

I think only now we are seeing the impact of digital photography on photography... how digital photography is making a change in the timeline, in the history of photography. That impact is seen in the absolute explosion in the popularity of photography. Still, and video images too, are possible wherever there is a cell phone. ...and that is everywhere. Photographs are everywhere, publishable, shareable with the click of a mouse.

This has confirmed the fears of many photographers back in the early years of the digital revolution. There has been an overwhelming wave of really pretty mediocre, if not just bad, photography. But, there are a lot of people having a lot of fun.

As a serious photographer, however, there is a subtle, but profound effect. That is because of the process, the ease of creating an exceptionally high-quality image with a minimum investment of time, money, and effort.

Here's the thing... a friend of mine was talking to me about what it's like to shoot with an 8x10 camera. He said, "man, when you take a picture with an 8x10, you know you've taken a frikkin picture!" Well, here is my problem with that. After you've gone to the effort of setting up the camera, and making the exposure, and processing the film, if you don't think there is a good image there, then you feel like you've wasted your effort. You've invested too much in the image to see it for what it is... and that may well be just a bad image.

There's an old joke about high-maintenance cars... if you spend a ton of money buying, and then maintaining a car, you're going to either believe that car is the best thing on the road, or feel like a sucker. Shooting most film cameras is much the same... after you've gone to the effort, you have a hard time dismissing it as a poor image.

Let's look at shooting with my little pocket Canon G9. I have it with me everywhere. It makes an absolutely remarkable 16x20 print. I have shot gigabytes with it since I got it, and some of the images are, well, quite good. There are two major things at play here... first, I am shooting everything and anything, pretty much at the drop of a hat. If in doubt, I shoot. Second, I edit ruthlessly.

I am not overly invested in any one image. This frees me to see the images for more what they are... and allows me to pull only the best, and set the rest aside.

After all is said and done, this is really, for me, the most significant change... I am free to explore and imagine, to try and experiment, and to see and learn, and am objective and dispassionate enough to make a good cut.

...once I have made that cut, then I get passionate.

review: ColorMunki Photo (part 4, summing up)

2008-05-25T09:36:00.004-04:00

So, finally, what do I think of the ColorMunki?

Well, I think it's a good start. It's a good start for XRite, putting together a new package that makes Color Management easier (but the printer profiles are not there yet). It's a good start for someone trying to get their system color managed with a minimal effort and equipment (but the printer profiles aren't there yet...)

The interface is the best I have seen, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them all. The display profiles are great, and, if you have a need for them, the bundled software, specifically the Photo ColorPicker, may be worth the price all by itself.

Would I run out and buy it? Not until the printer profiles look better. Unlike the Huey, this is cool AND does a good job on your display, but, honestly, when the i1 DisplayLT is selling for under $200, I can't really see the Munki being worth the $500 tag. It kind of reminds me of Aperture when it was first released. It was pricey, hard to understand, took a lot of effort to see how it fit into the puzzle of my workflow, and, it had a couple of real fatal flaws.

Maybe v2. Check back later.

Raw Pipeline SOLD OUT in Boston!

2008-05-25T09:31:00.002-04:00

wooHOO!

well that proves there are at least THREE people who bought it... ha!

Get if from Barnes and Noble... here:
Raw Pipeline (Barnes and Noble)

Book Release Party! wooHOO!

2008-05-14T05:07:00.010-04:00

The Raw Pipeline Release party is ON!

Come to the Panopticon Gallery on Monday night, June 9th from 6-8 to join me in celebrating the new book! (AND the Color Pipeline... and well, a few more to come!) Wine, cheese... good friends, AND the closing of my good friend Bill Lyons' show "Convergence"!

Here are the deets:
June 9th (NOT a Sox night) 6-8pm
Panopticon Gallery
Inside the Hotel Commonwealth
617-267-8929
502c Commonwealth Ave,
Boston

Bills show is here, and his main site is here. The Panopticon main site is here.

I want to thank Tony Decaneas of Panopticon for his help and support of, not only this, but the whole Boston Photo community!

RSVP if you could, so we can stock up: ted@teddillard.com

See you there!

-Ted

cleansing the palate: Ellison rant

2008-05-12T07:27:00.002-04:00

how about a Monday diversion? I LOVE this rant... makes me think of my buddy Nick. Just substitute the word "photographer" for the word "writer".

site: The Acadia Project

2008-05-11T07:45:00.008-04:00

OK, enough of the Munki (for now).

I wanted to share this little dream/project I had not too long ago, of organizing a photographer's retreat at Acadia (Mount Desert Island). If you've never had the chance, look at the rich history of Monhegan Island, off the coast of Maine... it has, since the turn of the century, and to this day, been an artist retreat/colony, and has a rich history of talent springing from that community. The Acadia Project is the same idea... only based out of Bar Harbor, Maine, and working around Mount Desert Island, and the Acadia National Park.

Acadia is a very special place... geographically unique on the coast of the Northeast, but also rich in a host of other features, yielding an incredible array of potential subjects for photographic study. There is so much more there than the "postcard" photos you're used to seeing.

The Acadia Project is an idea I had to get a bunch of people up there with diverse styles, but a common interest in taking digital photography to the highest level.

Please have a look at the Acadia Project, excuse the random website design, and if you're interested it pushing it a step further, use the form there to let me know.

The Acadia Project site is here.

(photo courtesy of the Acadia Nat'l Park)

review: Photo ColorPicker Overview

2008-05-11T06:19:00.005-04:00

This is a pretty clear explanation of what Photo ColorPicker is all about... from the Munki Help site.

Photo ColorPicker empowers you to create and share your own palettes, and synchronize them with commonly used applications. Select colors from many sources: included Munsell and PANTONE® color libraries, color measured with your ColorMunki device, and colors extracted from your images. Preview palette colors using PrintSafe. Synchronize palettes across Adobe® Photoshop®, Illustrator® & InDesign®, and QuarkXPress®. Share your palettes with others using a variety of formats.

Consider that whether you're a photographer, graphic designer, or other content creator, you are increasingly responsible for project design and content considerations, in addition to the photos that will be used. For a particular image, or set of images, you can build palettes based on colors in those images, and have related colors suggested. Then build a custom color scheme for a web site, or design layout, as a color palette, and have it synchronized with your applications. Or export the palette in a multitude of formats to share and collaborate with others.

While I'm at it, DigitalPouch is explained here:

DigitalPouch allows you to communicate and share color accurate images. Each DigitalPouch file contains images of your choice, an associated ICC profile (used to describe the colors in your images), and a lightweight, color managed viewing application. You can send DigitalPouch files to others and they can view your work color accurately by simply opening the DigitalPouch file.

review: ColorMunki Photo (part 3, other stuff)

2008-05-10T19:19:00.007-04:00

This is really cool. Not for a minute will I pretend I know much about this, but it's one of the two extras that you get with ColorMunki Photo- The Photo ColorPicker. It looks like a killer tool for looking at, understanding, and even cataloging and organizing color relationships. It certainly bears some more research. Note that it also syncs with your Lightroom or Aperture Libraries.

You also get this thing called the DigitalPouch, which I can't really see the purpose of... Looks like another Library, maybe if you're not using Appy or LR you'd use this? I think they bill it as sort of a color managed folder... I'll have to look into it more.

And, of course, you get projector profiling, not something I've spent much effort on, or had much luck with, frankly. Mostly because most projectors, even good ones, are just plain bad. (What's the expression? Polishing a turd? eeeew.) But still, a nice feature. If you have it, you can try it. Try it, you might like it.

review: ColorMunki Photo (part 2, printer)

2008-05-10T18:28:00.006-04:00

Here is a look at the process of building a printer profile with the Munki. They've done a great job walking you through every step... even including a timer to get you to let the ink dry down before you measure it.

Take a look...

This is the first target... it's very basic, measures easily and quickly...

This is great. A timer. Purists, like Bill Atkinson, will dry a test target down for almost two weeks... but the ten minutes at least keeps the ink from smearing, when you measure it.

Here's the second step... the first target is used to generate a second set of patches. These second patches allow the program to fine-tune the primary color readings, sort of like smoothing out the rough edges, mathematically.

This is the second target.

This two-phase process is trying to simplify the steps and make it faster and easier. I'm not sure, but I think it is the same process as what you get on the big HP printers, like the Z3100, with the on-board profiling (also an XRite product).

It really is a great process. I've used the old Kodak system, Monaco, and of course, i1 Match, and they keep on getting better. Back in the day, you'd be measuring a great stack of patches, and the software would error out, and you had to start over at the beginning. It, well, sucked. The Monaco Pulse was the first system that was, actually, well, kind of fun. I always liken it to agitating film... sort of soothingly repetitive. This software is clearly an evolution of that.

The only question is... can we do any better on the performance of the profiles? It's a great process, I just don't see the results. Before I come to any conclusions, I'm going to see if I can get to the bottom of these profiles, and see if it is just how they are, or if it's something I'm doing wrong.

review: The Munki print profiles

2008-05-10T14:28:00.005-04:00

on the left, the Munki. on the right, a box-stock Epson profile (Premium Gloss)

I've done it 3 times, same result... Munki profile is saturated, blocked up shadows, really yellow skin tones. What you see here is pretty close to the truth.

Sorry Munki. Not too impressed.

Color Managed printing in Leopard (Epson)

2008-05-10T10:49:00.006-04:00

OK they have changed the Epson printer drivers in Leopard, and combined the "Print Settings" and the "Color Management" windows. For assigning the profile in Photoshop, just select "Color Management" and pick "Off".

Here is the Photoshop side...

...once you hit "Print", you go to the Epson drivers: