The Digital Photo Guy

Meetup at Wild Animal Park – July 24

The park is open until 7PM during the summer. My wife and I recently visited in the late afternoon and found the critters are still active. Many flowers are also still in bloom. By 5PM, the crowd is thinning out, the rugrats are tuckered out and the critters aren’t quite as stressed by the hordes. Some were getting to par-tayy! I was able to see parts of the park I hadn’t seen in years because, for the first time in a while, I wasn’t leading a WAP Photoshoot Workshop. 

If you’d like to join me for a Photo Meetup at the park, I plan to return on Sunday, July 24 at 5PM. Although the park officially closes at 7PM, people were straggling out at 7:30. I’m told the lions aren’t released until 8PM so it’s not necessary to rush out at 7PM.

To get the best photos, you’ll need a fast lens (f/2.8 or greater) with IS/VR/VC/AS/LOL and/or a tripod/monopod. The light falls quickly in the evening and you’ll need all the shutter speed you can get. If your dSLR has objectionable noise at high ISO, this is an opportunity to practice your noise reduction skills in PS, PSE or LR. Some of the new tools are downright amazing.

Webinar Learning Series

On Wednesday, July 20 at 7PM Pacific Time, I’ve scheduled another $3 Webinar, this time on USM (Unsharp Mask,) the “go to” tool for sharpening in PS, PSE and LR. To read more details and register, click this LINK. As always, if you can’t make the webinar, access to the video will be available later for $5.

The next Webinar Learning Series after this will cover noise reduction tools and techniques.

Wrap You Mind Around USM

USM (Unsharp Mask) has been the “go-to” tool for sharpening in most advanced photo editing tools (Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, etc) for many years. I’m not positive but I believe USM was in Photoshop version 1 (hard to believe that was 1988.)

USM has its roots in the film era when an unsharp mask would be created by hand to add contrast to edges and enhance perceived sharpness. Can you imagine using an X-acto knife to tediously cut out edges where you want to add sharpening? That required patience and skill far beyond what most photographers have or are willing to learn. The width of the edge determined the amount of sharpness.

When USM was introduced to the digital world, photographers thought they had died and gone to heaven. But, as time progressed, people started seeing the shortcomings of USM and new technologies started to evolve. However, USM has withstood the test of time and remains a mainstay in the digital photographer’s toolkit.

Knowing how and when to use USM is an important skill for digital photographers. A full class on USM would take hours if not days but you can get your mind around the basic concepts in this 30 minute webinar. For just $3 and 30 minutes of your time, learn how to apply USM to make your photos look their best. Click HERE to register.

The Heartache of Furry Buddies

My buddy, Alf, has been with us for 21 years. I first saw her at an animal shelter in San Diego while waiting for my car to be serviced. The shelter was nearby so I walked over to see what was happening.

All the cats had plastic collars except Alf. A worker told me no one wanted to collar her because she was a “biter.” I could tell she was feisty. All the other kittens looked shy and withdrawn but Alf came right up to the front of the cage and said, “Hey you. Yeah, you, the dumb looking one! Get me outta here.” I knew right away that she and I would get along well. That was 1991.

Alf has been slowing down for several years. I’ve always known she would leave us someday but it will still hard when that day comes. Yesterday, she suffered a series of seizures and couldn’t stand. Today, she had more seizures and kept falling while trying to eat. I’m told cats aren’t in pain when experiencing seizures but I’d feel better if Alf could confirm that for me.

I’m sure I’ll have to make the hard decision soon to release Alf from her worn out body. I hope I do the right thing. I don’t want to wait too long and have her suffer but, neither do I want to do it too soon and lose some more time with my cantankerous, obnoxious, geriatric buddy.

Non-destructive Editing

Lightroom is basically ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) on steroids. The same engine that runs ACR also runs LR. One of the coolest things about LR and ACR is that all adjustments are non-destructive.

What does non-destructive mean, you ask? I’m glad you asked. Non-destructive means none of the changes are baked into the original image. Imagine an oven with an ”Undo” button. If you overcook your steak, just hit “Undo” and the steak is back to it’s original raw state. Nothing in LR or ACR is ever final, just re-open the file and hit “Undo.”

Let’s face it, we don’t always know what we want of a photo the first time we review it. At first, we may think it looks fine as-is but later, after a second look, decide we want to convert it to black & white or change the crop or increase the contrast or make any number of other changes. With non-destructive edits, the original is just a click away.

Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts Are Da Bomb

I’ve been using LR since ver. 1 but never tried to integrate it into my workflow because I didn’t want to lose my investment in Photoshop. When one invests effort into learning something, one doesn’t want to change unless the new thing offers a clear advantage. It’s the old, “Don’t confuse me with facts, I’ve got my mind made up!” mindset. I was of that mindset until LR 3 was released last year. Now, I’m a LR convert and, like ex-smokers, I can be a PITA to non-believers.

Two things are needed for LR to work for you. First, you have to be a photographer. By that, I mean someone engaged in the art of photography, not a snapshooter. Second, it helps if you’re trying to organize and enhance your photos, not cut, clone, add, delete or otherwise move pixels. Read this MMT for more details.

If, however, you fall into that small percentage of photographers who simply want to enhance already good photos, LR3 keyboard shortcuts can make your post processing even easier and faster.

Even better, LR has a shortcut that brings up content specific keyboard shortcuts. In other words, if you’re in the Library Module and press Control + / (Mac – Command + /) a pop-up window appears with keyboard shortcuts for the Library Module. If you’re in the Develop Module, the pop-up display shortcuts specific to the Develop Module. This helps you learn the shortcuts much more quickly than a dog-eared, coffee stained “cheat sheet” on your desk, somewhere!

Twitpic Rips-Off Your Photos

Do you use Twitpic to post photos to Twitter? If so, you’re giving them “a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content.” In other words, they can do whatever they want with the photos, video or any other content in perpetuity. Yes, they retain your work even if you remove them from the Twitpic site. How do you like them apples! (LINK to story)

I avoid Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other forms of STD (socially transmitted dreck,) but I’m concerned my photos will be posted by someone else and become the property of Twitpic. If you’re an artist, you might want to ensure all your work is copyrighted.

The fastest, easiest way to apply a copyright notice to all your photo is to enter the info in the Copyright Info page of your camera. Most prosumer quality dSLRs have a menu for entering the owner’s name and copyright info directly into the camera’s IPTC fields. If your camera doesn’t have such a function, be sure to use the Metadata function in most photo editing programs to automatically enter the info as you process the images.

Keep in mind, you can’t collect damages unless you’ve registered your photos with the Copyright Office. Copyright automatically confers as soon as you press the shutter release but without it being registered, the best you’ll get is a removal of the infringing use.

Microsoft LifeCam Studio Improves Video

After nearly 10 years, my ancient Intel CS430 VGA webcam has finally been retired. As a replacement, I installed a Microsoft LifeCam Studio 1080p HD cam with an integrated microphone. Don’t ask me what all that means, I just know that the image is clearer and sharper. This camera has autofocus so I don’t have to hold objects at an exact distance and it has better white balance.

In the screen captures above, the left is from the old Intel webcam while the right is from the new Microsoft HD webcam. As you can see, the resolution is vastly improved with the new webcam. With the Canon 7D on a tripod, the MS cam image would be sharp enough to read the screen.

Of course, there’s always a downside to everything and this is no exception. The video is so clear and the autofocus is so accurate that it captures every wrinkle on my face. For viewers of my webinars, the advantage is that you’ll be able to see demos like my dSLR sensor cleaning webinar much more clearly.

Sweet Home 3D Makes Quick Work of Home Design

Not exactly photography related but I’ve been using a free program called Sweet Home 3D to draw plans for for some extensive remodeling we’ve started in our Arizona home. Whether you’re just rearranging furniture in your home or knocking down walls, SH3D will make the planning stages much easier for you.

The program is pretty much drag ‘n drop. To create walls, simply click “Create Walls,” place the cursor at the start and drag to the end. If you want to change directions, click once to anchor the wall, if you want to end the wall. click twice. You want furniture? Just find what you want in an extensive library and drag it into position in your newly created room. You want Shaker instead of Contemporary Motel? There are scads of free libraries offering hundreds of different shapes and styles.