Great website and resource for Lightroom
Julieanne Kost. Senior Digital Imaging Evangelist, Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe Lightroom tutorials.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
My Favorite Audience Questions
Question #1 Which lens..
bigdogmn73 writes: I've got a Canon 50d and I'm most likely going to get either a 7d or wait for the Mark II replacement. If I stick with the 7D and I'm looking for a good portrait lens would you go 50mm 1.2, 85mm 1.2 or 35mm 1.4? I have the 50mm 1.8, but based on your comments I almost think the 85 is the way to go, but I'm thinking it's way too long on a crap sensor camera. So would you go 50mm 1.2 or 35mm 1.4? Or would you go 24-70 2.8? Also are you going to do a video on the compar
Creative Outlet Images Response: Good question, one of the better ones lately. The crop factor on all your cameras that you are looking at except the 5d replacement have a 1.6 crop factor. I think the 85 is going to be way to long, but if you shot outdoors mainly or have a long inside space to use it might work out. I really like my 50mm but it can be tricky to use with moving subjects. I think I would recommend looking at the 24-70mm in your case. If you plan to do a lot of night shoots then consider the 50.
Wine, wine, wine
One of my all time favorite white wines. Its consistently good and not too expensive.
La Crema Chardonnary
Monday, June 20, 2011
Do you use your Cell phone as an alarm clock?
Like many people I'm using my cell phone for a lot of things. Its just so convient, you usually always have it around. It does a lot of stuff... Really productive things like watching my YouTube subscriptions and seeing whether charliejamemes video avatar pic is actually in the video... It never is.. Anyway, I use my cell as an alarm clock. I'm nervous about cell phone radiation next to my head while i sleep though with all the reports coming out that wireless could likely cause cancer.
So here is the tip if you use your cell phone as an alarm. Turn the airplane mode on. The alarm will still ring but it won't take calls or get on 3G or your wireless network.
If you have to receive calls while using it as an alarm, place it across the room away from you. Never can be to careful.
So here is the tip if you use your cell phone as an alarm. Turn the airplane mode on. The alarm will still ring but it won't take calls or get on 3G or your wireless network.
If you have to receive calls while using it as an alarm, place it across the room away from you. Never can be to careful.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Why this photographer is not jumping on the SSD bandwagon..yet
Solid State Drives (SSDs) or more simply larger flash storage devices seem to be en vogue now. Apple is using them in their Macbook Pro's and lots of tech articles are written about them, etc. SSDs are known to speed up your system boot, they are quiet, and are known for overall speediness. They seem to be a good technology, but.. 2 reasons put me off the drives so far: This first is that the drives are grossly expense for their size. My second reason is the size.
It appears that Intel has a 600 gb version for all of $1200. Yikes, no thanks for now. I could barely put my Lightroom photo tree on the drive and I'm certain that in 3-4 years it would be $100 or less for the same size. As much as I hear technically positive things for SSDs I have to hold back due to that price.
It appears that Intel has a 600 gb version for all of $1200. Yikes, no thanks for now. I could barely put my Lightroom photo tree on the drive and I'm certain that in 3-4 years it would be $100 or less for the same size. As much as I hear technically positive things for SSDs I have to hold back due to that price.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wacom Intous 4 Model PTK-640 - Frozen
I recently had a problem with my new Intous 4 device in which is was clearly powered by the USB, but the stylus and pad failed to do anything with trying to write on it. After unplugging the USB several times to no success I went to Start | All Programs | Wacom Tablet | Tablet Preference File Utility | Remove All User Preferences. For some reason this reboot the tablet and all the LEDs and controls lit up immediately on the device. It begin working again after this.
My system: Windows 7 Professional
Wacom Driver = 6.1.5-3
My system: Windows 7 Professional
Wacom Driver = 6.1.5-3
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Durability of DSLRs & Traveling with Kids and Your Gear
I'm here in Maui Hawaii this week I've had some terrifying days with my gear. Of course personal and family safety is always first but I've experienced some things this week that will charge then way I pack and protect my gear.
When I'm traveling light I tend to travel with my Kelty backpack, which I've done a video on if you follow my YouTube channel. This backpack holds a lot of gear and is very durable and collapsable which is why I like it. However it doesn't protect the gear very well, due to it not having internal compartments for photo gear.
Here is what happened to my gear this week. I took my 5d and a couple of lenses to the pool with my family. I always take a little risk that people will steal my gear when at the pool / beach. At some point if you want to enjoy the environment you have to move away from it. I usually try not to go to far and setup in an open place where I can see my stuff. In this process I decided to cover my backpack with a beach towel. My concealment process worked a little to well, as my 4 year old decide to run towards me and then climb on top of the "towel mound" I had created. What's a dad to do at that point? My 4 year old didn't necessarily know what I had hid. I quickly moved her off of of my creation while mentally reenacting, in slow motion, the stomping of my 5d, 85mm 1.2, sunglasses, memory cards, and whatever else I had in the bag. It was very painful to watch. Luckily nothing was damaged.
The second bad experience was at dinner where my one year old started to squirm and scream way to much. It was my turn to hold her so I put my 5d with 50mm 1.2l lens behind me on a deep chair. Unexpectedly my camera and wiggled it's way off the side of the chair and came crashing down on the cement. Everyone at the restaurant was looking at me as my expensive electronics came crashing down. Now with the kids screaming at dinner and me damaging my toys my stress level has gone critical at this point. Again amazingly nothing was damaged other than just a small paint chip on the LENS Protector. Another reason to buy a lens protector!
So my lessons learned as a dad traveling with my expensive photo gear...
1. Lens protectors on all lenses.
2. Bring extra padding or wrapping for gear such as the grey "L" lens bags.
3. Think twice about where you place you gear.
4. I'm considering looking into rubberized padding for my 5d.
I never had any of these issues until I had kids. Your mind is just elsewhere and rightly so, accidents happen, stuff breaks...plan for it.
What are your vacation gear nightmares?
Twitter = creativeoutleth
When I'm traveling light I tend to travel with my Kelty backpack, which I've done a video on if you follow my YouTube channel. This backpack holds a lot of gear and is very durable and collapsable which is why I like it. However it doesn't protect the gear very well, due to it not having internal compartments for photo gear.
Here is what happened to my gear this week. I took my 5d and a couple of lenses to the pool with my family. I always take a little risk that people will steal my gear when at the pool / beach. At some point if you want to enjoy the environment you have to move away from it. I usually try not to go to far and setup in an open place where I can see my stuff. In this process I decided to cover my backpack with a beach towel. My concealment process worked a little to well, as my 4 year old decide to run towards me and then climb on top of the "towel mound" I had created. What's a dad to do at that point? My 4 year old didn't necessarily know what I had hid. I quickly moved her off of of my creation while mentally reenacting, in slow motion, the stomping of my 5d, 85mm 1.2, sunglasses, memory cards, and whatever else I had in the bag. It was very painful to watch. Luckily nothing was damaged.
The second bad experience was at dinner where my one year old started to squirm and scream way to much. It was my turn to hold her so I put my 5d with 50mm 1.2l lens behind me on a deep chair. Unexpectedly my camera and wiggled it's way off the side of the chair and came crashing down on the cement. Everyone at the restaurant was looking at me as my expensive electronics came crashing down. Now with the kids screaming at dinner and me damaging my toys my stress level has gone critical at this point. Again amazingly nothing was damaged other than just a small paint chip on the LENS Protector. Another reason to buy a lens protector!
So my lessons learned as a dad traveling with my expensive photo gear...
1. Lens protectors on all lenses.
2. Bring extra padding or wrapping for gear such as the grey "L" lens bags.
3. Think twice about where you place you gear.
4. I'm considering looking into rubberized padding for my 5d.
I never had any of these issues until I had kids. Your mind is just elsewhere and rightly so, accidents happen, stuff breaks...plan for it.
What are your vacation gear nightmares?
Twitter = creativeoutleth
Friday, June 3, 2011
Reading Magazines on the iPad
I did this video as I really love reading magazines on the Apple iPad. I think its an under marketed feature of the device. Images and text show up amazing well and they are simple to page through.
Advantages: 1) Ease of use 2) organization (don't have a pile of magazines in your house 3)archive your magazines longer 3) awesome visuals 4) If you a print subscriber many magazine vendors give you the ipad edition for free.
Disadvantages: 1) Its difficult to find magazines in the Apple Store 2) Not all magazines have the same navigation 3) Some magazine can become to gimmicky 4) individual magazines can be expensive.
Advantages: 1) Ease of use 2) organization (don't have a pile of magazines in your house 3)archive your magazines longer 3) awesome visuals 4) If you a print subscriber many magazine vendors give you the ipad edition for free.
Disadvantages: 1) Its difficult to find magazines in the Apple Store 2) Not all magazines have the same navigation 3) Some magazine can become to gimmicky 4) individual magazines can be expensive.
Big Sky
Couldn't resist this photo at the end of long photoshoot, a photo by Creative Outlet Images Photography on Flickr.
http://creativeoutletimages.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/CreativeOutletHobbie
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
In Defense of Flickr
There has been a building storm of web chatter about the decline of Flickr lately. I think it's overdone and while I have a list of gripes about Flickr, which I'll tell you about, I don't think Flickr's days are numbered just yet. Competition is good and frankly Flickr has been a little laaaazy for years.
500px, Tumblr, and Color are getting the buzz lately but are they really better than Flickr? 500px shows some promise and it looks nice, but has gaps. Tumblr?.... I'm not sure I have knowingly seen anyone's pictures other than my own...I've certainly never meandered through the site looking for random photos. Color.. Really? $40m in funding for that? Repeat..Really? What are the odds that anyone around me are going to be on that app and that I would want them to see my pics. No thanks.
So why do do I still like Flickr:
Volume of Photos: I still like Flickr as they have the widest user base which allows me to search for specific things or even locations. I always get good results in search. As a photographer hunting for locations often, Flickr is really good about showing me other pictures done at the same site.
Community: Flickr still has a good sense of community for me. People often tag and or send their photos to specific groups which brings out views and comments for a niche group. I like to collect custom pocket knives and Flickr has several groups oriented towards that. It was even easy for me to create and administer my own groups.
Easy of upload: Very simple here. Flickr gives you lots of flexibility in uploading. Flickr has a mac/windows desktop client, they have their own mobile apps, even for the iPhone and they have an open API where developers can write their own upload software, desktop, ipad, mobile. Its all there. On top of that if I don't want to tag or rename anything I can do that to. Most importantly they have several methods to upload and synch directly from Adobe Lightroom, this single factor blows it for many competitors.
Mobile: I feel they have it! There are multiple Flickr mobile apps available. FlickStackr is one of my favorites.
What I would like to see more of or where they need to fill in gaps.
Social abilities: They are just starting to introduce links to Twitter, blogs, Facebook, need more more more. I would like to see the contacts turned into more social abilities. Flickr should also just give me the direct link to my picture if I want it.
Navigation: This drives my crazy.. For everything you want to do on Flickr its alway one more button or link away from what it needs to be. Arggh. The website is very slow to use. I also want the ability to see many more pictures on screen at one time, similar to what is done in the FlickStackr application. I also want the ability to have my own organized Flickr home page or gallery. Not the current state of collections or sets. I may want to choose some images to always be the ones that people first see, not my last upload.
Keep at it Flickr and stay motivated. I think you are Yahoo's biggest asset.
My site:
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Glamour Edit - How To
Basical Glamour Edit / How-To:
1) Image capture in RAw
2) import to adobe lightoom
3) Focus on image quality corrections:
a) Correct for exposure and coloring (exposure slider, curvers, brightness, shadows, highlights)
b) Enable profile corrections for your lens that you used.
c) Tilt / Crop the photo to make it straight.
d) Reduce the noise in the photo if necessary.
4) Blemish Correction:
a) Remove skin blemishes, color patches, scars, etc with the spot remover tool.
b) Remove excess moles if that is what you want to do.
5) If you want to spend more time on the photo and get that last 10% out of the images, select edit in photoshop.
6) Edit in photoshop essentially repeating the above with emphasis on the following:
a) Eye whiteness
b) Lip and pupil color enhancement
c) Hair color
d) Large skin blemishes that were not in spot form.
7) Try a couple of creative things to see if they enhance the image such as black and white.
8) Sharpen and save.
MOre detail here: http://creativeoutletimages.blogspot.com/
1) Image capture in RAw
2) import to adobe lightoom
3) Focus on image quality corrections:
a) Correct for exposure and coloring (exposure slider, curvers, brightness, shadows, highlights)
b) Enable profile corrections for your lens that you used.
c) Tilt / Crop the photo to make it straight.
d) Reduce the noise in the photo if necessary.
4) Blemish Correction:
a) Remove skin blemishes, color patches, scars, etc with the spot remover tool.
b) Remove excess moles if that is what you want to do.
5) If you want to spend more time on the photo and get that last 10% out of the images, select edit in photoshop.
6) Edit in photoshop essentially repeating the above with emphasis on the following:
a) Eye whiteness
b) Lip and pupil color enhancement
c) Hair color
d) Large skin blemishes that were not in spot form.
7) Try a couple of creative things to see if they enhance the image such as black and white.
8) Sharpen and save.
MOre detail here: http://creativeoutletimages.blogspot.com/
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