The Digital Photo Guy

I produced three Video MMTs over the last 2 days which I’ll be releasing while I’m leading the Spring Desert Wildflower Photoshoot Workshops this weekend and next. There’s still time to register so sign up now. When’s the last time you went to the desert to photograph wildflowers? Here are some photos from last year.

While taking a break, I came across the following videos and thought readers would get a kick out of them. This is the perfect, non-violent yet extremely painful, costly and effective revenge against an uncaring corporate giant.

Last Song Released

Most everyone remembers a YouTube video that went viral last year about a Canadian guitarist whose Taylor guitar was broken by Unitd Airlines. The airline refused to do anything until over 50,000 people viewed the video in the first 24 hours. By the time the video finally peaked, it had been viewed over 8 million times, a PR nightmare for UAL.

In the ensuing 7 months, UAL has (ineptly) tried to mollify the artist, Dave Carroll, but never really “got it” regards customer service. Carroll reports in his last song (he promised to write 3 songs about the experience) that he still hears daily from people who have been badly treated, mistreated or simply ignored by UAL. Click to read more and see videos

Precisely Identify Neutral Gray When Adjusting Color

A number of people who attended the free Photoshop Elements webinar a few weeks ago asked me to explain in more detail how I identified an area of neutral gray when adjusting levels. I posted a video a few days ago but then realized it might be of general interest. I first learned this tip at Photoshop World. If you’re thinking of attending, it will be worth your while. I try to attend every other year.

To recap, when adjusting levels and color balance, it’s important to identify the white, black and gray points in a photo. White and black are simple (if you forgot, see my YouTube video) but 50% gray (neutral gray) is a bit trickier. This technique isn’t something you use on every photo but, when it’s important to get it right, this will usually do the trick. I say usually because you might run across a photo that doesn’t have a neutral gray area.

Of course, the easiest way to set neutral gray is to include a Gretag-Macbeth Color Checker or a gray card in the scene but that’s not always practical. Can you imagine a soccer mom running onto the field yelling, “Time out! I need my kid to hold this gray card!” On second thought, skip that, I can imagine it happening.

I used the color checker in this shot to be sure I got the color of her blouse as well as her skin tone correct in post processing.

Click to read full article

Sirocco Takes Matters into His Own Wings

Sirocco is a kakapo, an endangered flightless parrot found in New Zealand. This is one of the funniest YouTube videos I’ve seen. What does this have to do with photography? Nothing except that I first came across this video on the Outdoor Photographer site. It’s one of the few magazines to which I subscribe.

2010 Desert Wildflower Photoshoot Workshop

This year, the Desert Wildflower Photoshoot Workshop will be held at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park where there are more and better lodging choices for students. Click here for more details. As always, Canon shooters will have access to my gear to test including lenses and camera bodies.

DoF Calculator Instructions

Recently, I offered free DoF Calculators to anyone who wanted one. Some viewers couldn’t figure out how to use them so here’s a video tutorial.

If you want to make your own DoF Calculator, follow this link. Or, simply watch this site for future DoF Calculator give-aways.

Photoshop Elements 8 Released (& Rob Sheppard has the book)

Adobe has announced the release of Photoshop Elements 8 and you’re in the right place for a full explanation of all the new features. Rob Sheppard, editor of Outdoor Photographer magazine will present a 4-hour PSE webinar on November 14 that includes new features & benefits of PSE8 for Digital Photographers as explained in his new book.

As you can see, this isn’t some quick & dirty review of PSE8. This is a full scale Photoshop Elements class in just 4 hours. You will learn how to use PSE including the new features in PSE8. This class is geared toward digital SLR owners who want to turn good photos into great photos without the expense and steep learning curve of Photoshop CS4.

It’s time for another MMT and we’re still on “Back to Basics”. I was at San Diego Wild Animal Park last week with several former students to photograph butterflies in the Butterfly Jungle exhibit. If you’ve been to Butterfly Jungle, you know the light is mottled and streaked. Bright patches of sunlight cut through dark areas shaded by huge leaves and tall trees. Under such conditions, it’s imperative that you quickly and accurately add or subtract light to get the desired exposure. Exposure Compensation (EC) helps you do just that.

This MMT applies to both dSLRs and compact digicams. Every digital camera I’ve seen in the past few years has an EC control. The only difference between dSLRs and digicams is that dSLR controls tend to be somewhat standardized while digicams are less so. The worst digicam designs require you to drill down into a menu to adjust EC.

You can read the full MMT by logging in to the MMT area on the Tips & News page. To get the password for that area, please register for the site.

New Video Posted

Part 1 of a 3-part video on restoring old photos has been posted. Although the material is the same as what I presented to the Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego, I enhanced the video with call-outs and annotations. If you saw the CGSSD recording, please view the new video and leave a comment regarding your preference. If the call-outs and annotations don’t add value, I want to avoid putting in so much time and effort.

New Videos

How much interest is there for videos covering Photoshop CS2/4? If there’s enough interest, I’ll produce a few but, if there’s no interest, I don’t want to waste time. Leave a Comment if you’re interested.