World Backup Day??

I’m not sure what’s involved in creating an official day for anything, but it seems a few digital storage manufacturers and online backup services have gotten together and created ‘World Backup Day’, and it fell on March 31st. 

To me this seems like little more than a group marketing effort, but if it generates some open discussion and reviews of the products and services available (which seems to be the case one Twitter), then it can be looked on as a good thing. 

So for the sake of adding to the discussion, I’ll point out two products that I couldn’t be without:

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Colour or B&W?

Interested to know your thoughts… both images below are from the same RAW file, just processed differently:

Which do you prefer?

More coming soon…

Getting it done faster

Fresh from a 1-to-1 tutorial covering workflow and digital editing, I got to thinking of a few “essential” timesaving tools that I think should be budgeted for when delving into this craft. They’re all relatively cheap and will definately save a whole bunch of time.

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The President's Photographer

(flash player required)

I think this is an excellent documentary, even worth a look for those with little interest in photography. I made some observations while watching that reiterated a number of the things I’ve learned over the years since submerging myself in this craft:

• Make lots of pictures. There are two conflicting quotes in the video, but I’ll go with the more conservative figures of 20000 - 80000 images taken by the photography staff per month. That’s a lot, and you can be sure that many of them are never going to see the light of day… but taking lots of shots increases the chances of capturing what you want/need. With a little discipline, you can also learn from the images that don’t make the grade… figure out what you don’t like about them and work to avoid the same thing in future 
• Good Workflow is Essential. Self-explanatory really, but with up to 80000 images a month to process, a streamlined and consistent workflow is critical
• Get it Right In-Camera. Documentary photographers are subject to very strict limits on what ‘enhancement’ can be made to an image once it’s shot. It wouldn’t surprise me if the staff in this video were shooting JPEG instead of RAW, either way it places emphasis on getting the image right in camera so little or nothing needs to be done in post-production. White Balance, Sharpness, Exposure and crop all need to be spot-on
• Shit Happens. You’ll make mistakes, fumble and gear will fail. This is a given. What matters is how well you recover when it happens
• Be Discreet. Many people are uncomfortable in front of a camera. By becoming invisible a photographer can capture natural gesture and moments far more easily
• Carry Less Gear. The more gear you carry the less images you’re likely to capture. In this video the photographer carries two camera bodies and two lenses. Simple, and with them he can move quickly and quietly
• Invest In Good Glass. The photographers in this video were using excellent lenses (list of the ones I spotted below), but they weren’t using top-of-the-range camera bodies. The lesson here is that good lenses are the best place to spend your money, as they will outlast camera bodies. Megapixels are fairly irrelevant, as are lots of the bells and whistles on modern camera bodies, which can make them a poor investment sometimes.
  
  Camera Bodies & Accessories
   - Either Canon 7D or 5D models… neither of which cost more than €2500
   - Canon 580ExII flash on-camera
   - Lexar Compact Flash memory cards
  
  Lenses
   - Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 fisheye (I think)
   - Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM
   - Canon EF 27-70mm f/2.8 L USM
   - Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM
   - Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L USM
   - Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L USM
  
  Some observations on the lenses: Most of them are from the Canon ‘L’ range, which indicates high quality lens elements, fast autofocus and excellent build quality (dust and moisture resistant). They all have very wide apertures. With the exception of one they’re all fairly compact, thus less intimidating to those being photographed. 
  
  
• Details Tell The Story. The large sweeping images may cause the most impact, but it’s the smaller details that help convey a story and develop a larger body of cohesive work
• Print Pictures Regularly (and share them). The process of printing correctly takes time, but I find it so much more gratifying to print my favourite images rather than viewing them on screen. It evolves the image from a digital file, ones and zeros, into something real that you can touch and feel
  
  …and most importantly of all…
  
  
• Your Best Images are Still Ahead of You. Every single thing you’ve ever learned about making an image goes into making your next shot. Food for thought, eh?

More coming soon…

Review | The Power of Black & White - A Masterclass

A review of The Power of Black & White - A Masterclass, by Piet Van den Eynde… the latest ebook offering from Craft & Vision. Highly recommended reading and an absolute bargain at $5.

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Prints & Printing

I’ve made changes here recently; a new page is up-and-running which is dedicated to the sale of limited edition prints.

This venture is only in its infancy, but it’s something I hope will evolve in time. My approach is somewhat different from others - the idea is to limit the available images to a select few in a single print size, providing the buyer with premium artwork in the optimum format. 

These are certainly not going to appeal to everyone, and although I’ve set a very low price point not everyone is going to be able to afford to acquire one. Those that do make a purchase are getting a limited edition print of the highest quality. 

While I’m on the subject of printing, it’s worth pointing out that getting good results is not simply a matter of buying a high spec printer, connecting it up and hitting the print button… here are a few things you’re going to have to do in order to get the best results:

• Ensure your screen is properly calibrated. Devices such as the ColorMunki do this very well
• Once you get the image as you want it on-screen, create a copy for printing as you’ll need to make adjustments specifically for print. In Lightroom, this can be done by ‘right clicking’ on the image and selecting ‘Create Virtual Copy’. I also add the keyword ‘print’ to the copy
• Crop the virtual copy to the same aspect ratio of the paper/material you’re going to print to. For example if you’re going to print to 5 x 7 inch paper, crop the digital image to 5 x 7 selecting the portion of the image you want to see on paper. This step is required because the aspect ratio of digital camera sensors does not match common paper sizes
• Increase brightness. Computer screens have lights in them, paper doesn’t. You need to compensate for this - I generally increase brightness in Lightroom by +30 (works the same in Aperture)
• Increase sharpness. This is similar to the point above, an image will lose a lot of the sharpness you see on screen when it’s transferred to paper/canvas. I’ll generally increase sharpness until the point where the image looks WAY too sharp on screen
• Get the right ICC profiles. Every type of paper (or whatever you’re printing onto) handles inks differently, and different ink sets may react differently with each type of paper. The correct ICC profile will give an approximate preview on-screen of what the finished print will look like for the printer/paper combination you’re using. Many manufactures have profiles available to download, or you can create your own using a device such as the ColorMunki
• Even after prints are dry to the touch, most of them still release moisture, so don’t frame them right away. I let mine dry out for 24 hours, then place plain white paper over them and on a flat surface place a flat board and some weights on top for a further 24 hours. This ensures that all the moisture is released before framing and the paper is completely flat

There’s no fixed formula for the steps above, settings that work for one image won’t work as well with others, so there will always be some trial-and-error. Also, a good print starts with the original digital image, so it’s best to get the exposure and crop right in the camera rather than relying on post-processing. 

In terms of printing hardware, there is plenty to choose from. Based solely on my own experience, here are a few findings:

• The more inks the better. For best results when printing at home try and get a printer with 8-9 different inks
• Although manufacturer’s inks are extortionately expensive, they do work best. Cheap refill inks are cheap for a reason and do not come with the same guarantees of longevity as the originals do
• There are loads of companies producing high quality papers, you’re not limited by what your printer manufacturer has to offer
• When doing high quality prints, high speed is not all that important, nor are gimmicks for viewing/editing files directly on the printer
• The Epson R1900 is a bargain considering the quality it’s capable of producing

More coming soon…

• Although manufacturer’s inks are extortionately expensive, they do work best. Cheap refill inks are cheap for a reason and do not come with the same guarantees of longevity as the originals do