Archive for the ‘Software’ Category
Posted on August 28, 2008 - by admin
Lessons in DSLR Workflow with Lightroom and Photoshop
Jerry Courvoisier has a new book focused on the current buzzword in photography post-production: workflow. There are quite a few books focused on either Lightroom or Photoshop, not so many on the overall workflow involving both.
Loaded with tips and techniques from a seasoned photographer, including a pre-shoot checklist for camera settings, Courvoisier delivers a digital workflow system that allows you to spend less time at your computer and more time behind the camera capturing great images.
-Amazon Editorial Review
Lightroom (and Aperture) are amazingly capable, but inevitably you’ll still be making the trip into Photoshop. This book will probably help. ( I’ll let you know soon, as I’m addicted to software, and books on software.)
You can check out the book here…
h/t PhotographyBLOG
Posted on August 22, 2008 - by Patrick
Snapture: Iphone App That Improves Camera Functionality
While I find the iPhone’s camera to be essentially worthless (possible to get a focused picture?) the default camera app shipping with the iPhone is even worse.
Enter Snapture, which promises to take your iPhone camera experience to the next level. Features include:
- QuickView thumbnail stack
- QuickView thumbnail enlarge
- QuickView delete
- EasyCapture
- QuickAccess
- Geotagging
- Color modes
- Multishot
- Delay timer
- Level aid
- Gesture zoom
- Auto-rotation
- Image size
- Touch zone
- Quiet mode
Yes that all sounds very cool, and if you check the youtube above you’ll see that it also looks pretty good too. There is, of course, a catch. Right now it only works on jailbroken iPhones. But once Snapture gains access to Apple’s (hurry please) camera frameworks via SDK they do plan to make it available in the app store.
Check out Snapture at their site…
Posted on August 21, 2008 - by Patrick
David Pogue shows you what Microsoft’s Photosynth Can Do.
While we’re peeved that there’s no Mac support, yet, I’m still very interested in today’s release of Photosynth and right on cue the NYT’s David Pogue has and article and video with a bit more on this application that takes your photos (lots of them) and converts them into an interactive, three dimensional panorama.
Personally I’m going to try this using VMware’s fusion, but for now check out Pogue’s walkthrough here.
Posted on August 21, 2008 - by Patrick
Photosynth Creates Cinematic, Interactive, 3D Panoramas of Your Photos
Very Cool.
Imagine being able to share the places and things you love using the cinematic quality of a movie, the control of a video game, and the mind-blowing detail of the real world. With nothing more than a bunch of photos, Photosynth creates an amazing new experience.
Photosynth requires an application download and a browser plugin both available for free here.
How it works:
Photosynth is a potent mixture of two independent breakthroughs: the ability to reconstruct the scene or object from a bunch of flat photographs, and the technology to bring that experience to virtually anyone over the Internet.
Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point the photos were taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos.
Providing that experience requires viewing a LOT of data though—much more than you generally get at any one time by surfing someone’s photo album on the web. That’s where our Seadragon™ technology comes in: delivering just the pixels you need, exactly when you need them. It allows you to browse through dozens of 5, 10, or 100(!) megapixel photos effortlessly, without fiddling with a bunch of thumbnails and waiting around for everything to load.
The demos are very cool, although…it practically guarantees reshooting so many locations, Oh and one huge catch: Windows only right now.
Also Lightroom/Aperture plugin yet?
and HDR Photosynth anyone?
Posted on August 20, 2008 - by Patrick
Adobe Lightroom 2 Reviews You’ll Want to Read
If you’re on the fence about upgrading to Lightroom 2, get off the fence and make the $99 purchase. The improvements to library module, tighter integration with Photoshop CS3, and the addition of local adjustments, and one of my favorites, the grad filter, all make it more than worth the cost. It isn’t quite perfect, but it is getting pretty close:
Lightroom 2.0 is the first program that I simply love using from a workflow, tagging, and “they thought of everything” standpoint; and its speed is unmatched. Adobe has added a plug-in color profile system that addresses one of my main gripes with Lightroom 1.0 and Adobe Camera RAW, but we’re still just a little short of reaching the grail.
-Ars Technica
To help walk you through the numerous improvements, additions, the good, and the bad, you’ll want to check out the following:
-Feature walkthrough with Ian Lyons of Lightroom-News
Posted on August 17, 2008 - by Patrick
Canon 5D Replacement
Updated (for clarity)
The New York Herald is running this story which points to a “leak” rumor in the DPR forums. The post featured the following specifications:
- Will be announced Monday, September 8, 2008
- MSRP: $2,399.95 (SSP: $2,199.95), body only
- 16MP FF sensor
- 6 FPS
- Max ISO 25,600 (for what it’s worth…it’s more for marketing)
- Full weather sealing
- VGA-resolution display (from same supplier Sony uses for their new Handycams, except in 4:3 aspect ratio here)
- Pop-up flash
- Anti-dust features
- NO Live View
- NO pro AF from 1D (although all points are cross-type)
- NO video mode whatsoever (silliest rumor I’ve ever heard)
- NO compatibility with EF-S lenses (physically impossible anyway)
- NO electronic crop mode for faster shot rate
- NO HDMI-out
- NO UDMA CF suppor
and guaranteed by the original poster at DPR at “105%” .
An alert commenter pointed out to the Herald that these specs were just rumors from a forum to which the Herald “admin” replies:
Thank you for your comment. While we are not a tech blog, we do take our cameras seriously, and our sources confirm the information that dpreview released regarding the Canon 5D Mark II. We also consider dpreview.com a reliable source in this regard. Thank you.
One can only wonder who their sources maybe, but interesting none the less.
Posted on August 14, 2008 - by Patrick
Photocalc: iPhone app for Photographers
{ Photocalc }
via Gadget Lab
PhotoCalc is a utility for iPhone and iPod for photographers to calculate exposure reciprocation, depth of field, and flash exposure.
Sounds Cool.
Adair Systems’ Photocalc is an iPhone app that functions as a photographers utility to calculate exposure, DOF, flash exposure, and includes a reference and glossary section describing such things as the zone system, and even a sunrise/sunset calendar. Features include:
- Exposure Reciprocation calculator
- Depth of Field and Hyper-focal Distance calculator
- Flash Exposure calculator
- Sunrise/sunset/solar noon calculator
- Reference section with glossary, and reference documents
- Configurable to English or Metric units
- Configurable to use half or third stops
- Comprehensive camera database for Depth of Field calculations
- Saves position, so it’s easy to switch in and out
All of this for the low price of $3, which isn’t bad for an iPhone App.
Posted on August 5, 2008 - by Patrick
Aperture 2 Extras page
I come to grow quite fond of Aperture 2, which reminds me…
I’m working on some image comparison between the various imaging program. I’ve taken one sample and run it through the default options in lightroom, aperture, and nx2. In addition there’s going to be a comparison between camera mode presets in lightroom and nx2. The results are pretty interesting and mildly suprising. I’ll try to get that up tonight or tomorrow.
Posted on July 31, 2008 - by Patrick
Future of photoshop
One of the best things about workflow programs such as Lightroom and Aperture is the ease of use for the photographer to make a series of adjustments to an image in a methodical way. Both feature develop, or adjustment panels that quite prominently feature the key issues addressing the image you work on. Image too dark? Adjust exposure. Need a little punch to your photograph? Adjust vibrancy. That’s the way most of us are used to working now, and for the most part, we like it.
Then there’s photoshop.
Open an image in photoshop and the user is faced with the unknown. Your image sits in an open desert of neutral gray waiting for you to decide where to take it. You have to think of all the options, and going back and forth between those options isn’t an easy task.
But imagine if you could put your favorite controls togeather, a “develop panel” of your own making, into Photoshop. Well, good news. That’s where we’re headed.
Over at Nack’s blog via Underexposed the product for manager for photoshop talks about:
To achieve that goal, Photoshop’s interface will become more open-ended and even programmable, he said.
“You’ll see some of the things we’ve learned about Lightroom–making things browsable and less modal–come into Photoshop,” Nack said. In other words, it’ll be easier to shift Photoshop from one task to another.
Using the Flash that’s built into the creative suite users will be able to:
create and share their own Photoshop control panels written in Adobe’s Flash programming language, Nack added. “Our goal is to make it possible for expert users to reconfigure the environment on a task-by-task basis and share those workspaces with other people. You don’t have to write code. You can knock together an interface and make it sharable.”
Photoshop is many things to many people, but it would be nice to make it specifically a “photographers tool” for photographers when so desired. Also think about how cool it would be to be able to download Photographer “X” ’s workspace and plug in your own additions. This is definitely a step in an exciting direction.
Posted on July 30, 2008 - by Patrick
Lightroom Grad Filter presets
{ Sean McCormack's grad filter presets for LR 2.0 }
Very cool.
Sean McCormack has released a set of 70 (!) grad presets for Lightroom 2.0. The filters cover landscape and portrait work in hard and soft variations. In additition they come in 3 colors ND, blue, and tobacco, in 1, 2, and 3 stops. They aren’t free, but for €5.00 ($7.98 as of today) you’ll:
- save yourself alot of time
- have excellent starting points
- be able to scroll over presets to see instant results in the preview
Worth it in my book. You can get Sean’s grad filter presets here.
