Snapseed is a new photo editing software application for the iPad by Nik Software. Those familiar with Photoshop will recognize Nik Software as a developper of Photoshop plugins. This cool little iPad application makes use of Nik’s U Point technology. This technology allows you to drop a point on a photo and make selective adjustments. [...]
Here are photos taken at a recent outing at Mer Bleue Bog in Ottawa. This photo is made up of 3 images that were merged with Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro. To put the finishing touches on the HDR tone mapped image, the file was saved as a tiff file in Photoshop and then opened with [...]
Like many photographers these days I have been experimenting with HDR photography (see previous post). I wanted to see if I could pickup some tips by getting Trey Ratcliff’s book on the subject titled: ‘A World In HDR’. Trey and his website; StuckInCustoms.com are known as an authority on the subject of HDR photography. Unfortunately [...]
I was out catching some landscape photos of fall colors at Mer Bleue Conservation area in Ottawa. I decided that I would shoot some photos to process them as HDR. What is HDR? HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. As the name indicates, an HDR photo is a photo that has increased dynamic range compared [...]
Snapseed is a new photo editing software application for the iPad by Nik Software. Those familiar with Photoshop will recognize Nik Software as a developper of Photoshop plugins. This cool little iPad application makes use of Nik’s U Point technology. This technology allows you to drop a point on a photo and make selective adjustments. This is a powerfull, fun and easy to use application and I highly recommend it for your iPad.
If you want more information on the application, visit Nik Software.
Here are a few sample before and after photos that were processed with Snapseed.
Old car hedlight - before
Old car headlight - After processing with Snapseed
Here are photos taken at a recent outing at Mer Bleue Bog in Ottawa.
This photo is made up of 3 images that were merged with Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro. To put the finishing touches on the HDR tone mapped image, the file was saved as a tiff file in Photoshop and then opened with Adobe Camera Raw 6.3. If you’re like me and like making the bulk of your photo adjustments using Adobe Camera Raw, did you know that you can make use of all those familiar adjustments on your TIFF or JPG files as well. This is a great way to make final color/contrast adjustments to your HDR images.
Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) Tip: You can set ACR to open JPG and TIFF images and be able to make use of the same adjustments that you use against your raw files.
From Adobe Bridge, to specify Camera Raw preferences, choose Edit > Camera Raw Preferences (PC) or Adobe Bridge CS5 > Camera Raw Preferences (Mac). At the bottom of the dialog there are two menus under the JPEG and TIFF Handling headings. These two menus have the same impact on their respective files formats.
This is how the TIFF selections impact the TIFF files when doing a double-click on these files in Bridge.
Disable TIFF support: You will not be able to open TIFF files using Adobe Camera Raw. This is the default setting.
Automatiacally Open TIFF with settings: TIFF files which have previously been modified using ACR will be automatically open with ACR, and TIFF files which have not been modified with ACR will be open by Photoshop
Automatically Open all supported TIFFs: All TIFF files will be automatically open using ACR unless they contain layers in which case they will open in Photoshop.
A World In HDR
Unfortunately the book does not provide much in terms of tips and technique.
The bulk of the book (first 171 pages out of 208) is made up of a collection of HDR photos by the author with general commentary about the locations of where the photos were taken, his views on HDR photography, art, and life in general.
The remainder of the book covers what is basically the same tutorial that is available online at the author’s website: StuckInCustoms.com : HDR Tutorial – Everything you need to know about HDR Photography.
The print quality of the book does not do justice to the photos when compared to what is available online at StuckInCustoms.com either.
I can’t hide the fact that I was quite disappointed with this book. I would not recommend it for anyone wanting to learn anything more than the basics of HDR photography!
I was out catching some landscape photos of fall colors at Mer Bleue Conservation area in Ottawa. I decided that I would shoot some photos to process them as HDR.
HDR horizontal fall landscape Mer Bleue Conservation Area Ottawa
What is HDR? HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. As the name indicates, an HDR photo is a photo that has increased dynamic range compared to a regular photo. In a conventional digital photo, the sensor’s capture abilities cannot match what your eyes sees in terms of contrast ratio. Your eyes/brain can easily adjust and see the full range of information within a scene. For example, in a scene where you have part of the scene in full sunlight and part in full shade, your eyes/brain will adjust and allow you to see the part of the scene lit by the sun and also the part of the scene that is in the shade. Unfortunately you camera cannot capture that full range of information. You will have to compromise and decide between one of:
1) Exposing your image for the sunlit portion of the scene and loose information detail in the shaded portion of your scene.
2) Exposing your image for the shaded portion of the scene and loose detail in the sunlit portion of the scene.
That is where HDR processing comes to the rescue. It allows merging multiple images that were captured at different exposure settings into a single photo covering a larger dynamic range that can look more like the scene you wanted to capture.
Note that many camera models are now being released with the ability to capture in-camera HDR images. Meaning that multiple exposures are taken when you take the picture and they are processed in-camera. However the technique that is explained here can be used with any camera that allows exposure adjustments because the image processing is done on a computer.
There are two main steps in making HDR photos: Capture and Post-processing.
Smalltown rodeos are great for photography. Because they are smaller, you can get closer to the action more easily than at a larger rodeo. I went to a rodeo on a late August Sunday afternoon in St-Albert, a short drive outside Ottawa Ontario. This event was scheduled through the Rawhide Rodeo Company and was part of the St-Albert Curd Festival.
Cowgirl on the run
Although the shooting conditions looked less than ideal because it was a bit rainy. The overcast sky actually provided good even lighting as opposed to the harsh/contrasty lighting conditions of a sunny day. Less light however means shooting at higher ISOs than on a sunny day. All photos were shot with a Canon 40D with a 100-300 5.6L lens. Most photos were shot at ISOs ranging between 400-800 in order to be able to shoot at acceptable shutter speeds for this slow lens. In order to help with stability, I used a monopod. The monopod helps to get better panned shots as some of the included shots
In order to protect the camera and lens I made myself a protective cover using a large Ziploc bag and an elastic band. This worked well because the rain was quite light. As with any rain cover however, it works better when your lens is an internally focusing lens. In this case, the lens was not an internally focusing lens, so focusing caused the plastic bag to twist with focus which can prevent achieving the right focus…
One of the problems with shooting this type of event is getting a good backgroud. Using a fast shutter speed and freezing the action would mostly yield photos with a subject having very little definition with respect with the background. The subject would blend in with the background. In order to prevent having clear views of spectators as a background, I like to use a panning technique to get a relatively clear image with a blurred background.
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Canon announced the release of the Powershot S95 today. This is an updated version of the excellent Powershot S90 compact digital camera released last year. Read my S90 mini review here.
Here is a short list of new features of the S95 compared to the S90:
- 720p HD video (1280 x 720 pixels @ 24 frames per second) .
- Mini HDMI connector to connect directly to High Definition TV Monitor.
- Hybrid IS (Improved Image Stabilization technology).
- Multiple new shooting modes including a High Dynamic Range mode.
Visit the Canon website for full details: click here
I had the chance to spend a few days in PEI last weekend and took the opportunity to take a few photos. I was traveling light so I only brought my Canon PowerShot S90 point and shoot camera.
Canon PowerShot S90
A few words on the PowerShot S90; I really like this little camera. While many photographers rave about the Canon Gxx series of cameras, I find that they are compact but not truly pocket cameras as the S90 is.
Here are some of the nice features of the Canon PowerShot S90:
Being a small compact camera it is expectedly not fast enough to shoot action, flash is not powerful, etc.
The only feature that I am disappointed with is the macro focusing abilities which keeps hunting for focus.
Overall I would highly recommend this camera for someone wanting a true pocket camera with advanced features. It won’t give you the photo quality of a DSLR, but because you can carry it in your pocket at all times, it will allow you to get some shots you would otherwise miss! This is the ideal bring everywhere pocket camera for times you are not bringing along your camera bag with DSLR and lenses with you.
Here are a few sample pictures taken with the PowerShot S90 and some Photoshop/ACR processing descriptions. Unless indicated otherwise all photos captured at ISO 80:
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Join the National Association of Photoshop Professionals
NAPP is the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Become a member and you get access to Video Tutorials, Tips & Tricks to expand your Photoshop knowledge. You also get a yearly subscription to Photoshop User Magazine, published 8 times a year, which is packed with essential information related to Photoshop. Your membership also allows you to get discounts on a wide selection of Books, DVDs, Hardware, Software, Training and more.
These are just a few of the advantages of joining NAPP, to join or learn more visit www.photoshopuser.com Register now and get a 15% discount on Adobe products! Just in time to save on a Photoshop CS5 upgrade.
Photoshop CS5
Photoshop CS5 has officially been released today – April 12, 2010. It wasn’t a big secret, bits and pieces of the new features were available all over the web since the pre-announcement during the Orlando PhotoshopWorld in March.
According to many, this is one of the most significant Photoshop releases in terms of new and enhanced features in years.
Here is a list of new/enhanced features of interest to photographers compared Photoshop CS4. All listed features are based on Photoshop CS5 (does not include Photoshop CS5 Extended features)
New in Photoshop CS5
Enhanced in Photoshop CS5
References:
As always, to get great information on Photoshop, head over to the NAPP website. They have 17 videos at their free CS5 Learning Center
www.photoshopuser.com/cs5
Get a list of What’s new in Photoshop CS5 for photographers at Adobe.com
Feature comparison chart between Photoshop CS3, CS4 and CS5 at Adobe.com
Videos from AdobeTV on Photoshop CS5
You can save a few dollars on some photography magazine subscriptions through Zinio.
Zinio allows you to subscribe to magazines in electronic format and save compared to regular magazine subscription prices.
Popular Photography regular subscription price: $12.95 / Zinio $10.00 for 6 issues.
