posted by Tom, January 6th, 2009
“Lightroom 2.2 Camera Profiles” by Kerry Garrison of Camera Dojo addresses a problem that confuses many photographers who are getting started with post processing software: bland, flat, off-color RAW images.
The RAW image shown to you by Lightroom often does not come close to matching what you saw through the viewfinder or on your camera’s LCD. Granted the image on your LCD has been run through the camera’s processor and the point of RAW is to leave the decision making up to you, but often Lightroom does not display certain colors they way they truly appear. Kerry notes that the difference in reds between his Canon 30D and Lightroom is often the most noticeable example of this problem and I agree — the reds I see when I begin editing in Lightroom are definitely not what I saw through the viewfinder of my Canon 5D.
Lightroom 2.2 addresses this issue by providing a set of pre-packaged camera profiles that help the software see the RAW image in the way your camera intended. The results of using these camera profiles are clear as day in the example picture below. The version on the left was exported with Adobe’s ACR 3.3 profile, and the one on the right had the “Camera Standard” profile applied. As you can see, the “Camera Standard” profile did a great job of correcting the colors, most noticeably in the woman’s bright red shirt.
Kerry has also posted a video “Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Camera Profiles” which further explains the purpose of camera profiles and shows you how to apply them to your pictures.
posted by Tom, January 5th, 2009
“5 Tips For Making Great iPhone Photos” by Chase Jarvis has a few quick tips for getting better pictures out of the little camera on your Apple mobile. Some of them are pretty much common sense: hold the camera still, and avoid both fast-moving subjects and low light situations.
What really got my attention is Chase’s point #2: compose the shot with your finger on the camera button. I was completely unaware that one could hold down the shutter button on the iPhone camera. The phone does not capture the frame until you let go. This tip should do wonders for sharpness — tapping the iPhone camera’s shutter button is almost guaranteed to introduce a little bit of blur from camera shake. RTFM indeed.
posted by Tom, January 2nd, 2009
“Matt’s Surreal Edgy Effect” is a set of 4 free Adobe Lightroom presets for creating a gritty, surreal, dramatic effect in your photos. Matt notes that the final output is “HDR-looking” — this preset tries to draw a lot of range out of your pictures. The 4 different versions of this preset range in output from very light to extremely dark.
Link via “My Workflow | Part 4: Processing” by Phill Price Photography.
posted by Tom, January 2nd, 2009
Pro photographer Paul Burwell is publishing a series of “Learning Wildlife Photography” articles in the instructional category of his blog, Wild Shots. There are tutorials on lighting, composition, equipment, getting close and much more.
Paul’s tutorials are very informative, and a great resource for anyone looking to get into wildlife photography. As someone who has little experience in this field — the extent of it is shooting a few animals at the zoo — I was surprised to find that Paul uses a flash in many of his pictures. One result of doing so is making the animals look much more “alive” by putting a bit of catch light in their eyes.
Photo by mape_s used under a Creative Commons license.
posted by Tom, December 31st, 2008
“LAB Color Enhancement” is a free Adobe Photoshop action by photographer Mark J. Sebastian. Mark’s action converts your image to LAB color mode in order to work the curves, pumping up the colors to “make them pop“.
posted by Tom, December 31st, 2008
“Matt’s Bleach Bypass Presets” are two free Adobe Lightroom presets that give your photos a “Bleach Bypass” effect. According to Matt, a Bleach Bypass is “basically like putting a black and white image over a color image”. Saturation is reduced, contrast is increased and the exposure is slightly nudged up to create a bit of a “blown out” look.
Link via “My Workflow | Part 4: Processing” by Phill Price Photography.
posted by Tom, December 30th, 2008
“Monochrome Presets for Lightroom” is a set of four free black & white monochrome presets for Adobe Lightroom. The author notes that these presets are especially well suited for landscape photos:
I tested these presets on a wide range of photos. As with real life monochrome - they are best suited to landscapes. They don’t seem to work that well for people, but for scenery and landscapes they are simply awesome.
posted by Tom, December 30th, 2008
“Free Adobe Lightroom Presets by 640Pixels.com” is a set of 15 free presets for Adobe Lightroom. The collection is based on three black & white presets, for each of which there are an additional four split tone variations.
Link via “My Workflow | Part 4: Processing” by Phill Price | Photography.
posted by Tom, December 30th, 2008
Gadget accessory site USB Fever is offering three different add-on lenses for the iPhone and other devices with built-in cameras. Their lineup currently includes a wide angle lens, a 2x telephoto lens and a fish-eye lens. These optics attach to your mobile with a small magnetic ring — the adhesive side sticks to your mobile, and the magnetized faces up, ready to hold onto whichever of the three detachable lenses you choose to mount.
In addition to the iPhone, USB Fever’s portable detachable lenses work with a number of different cellphone, PDA and notebook cameras. The wide angle and telephoto lenses are $16.99 each, and the fish-eye is $19.99.
Link from “iPhone Accessories - iPhone Magnetic Mount Lenses” by Geeky Gadgets, via sandhal on FriendFeed.
posted by Tom, December 29th, 2008
“Michael Adams - Son of Ansel Adams” is a video interview with Ansel Adams’ son by Frederick Van of Adobe. Michael talks about life in Yosemite, the role he played in assisting with his father’s work, and the course of his own career.
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