Ottawa Studios Photography Blog

Apple iMovie Rant

2010-12-28T22:04:00.001-08:00

One would think that getting
Video from your iPhone 4 into iMovie would be a snap; however, for the uninitiated it's a total nightmare.

You'd assume that it would simply be a matter of plugging in your phone, firing up iMovie, and importing the video directly - nope. In fact, what the procedure seems to be is that you import it into iPhoto, then re-import it from there into iMovie, which of course makes another copy of the video file. Can you drag and drop the video file between the two applications? No. Can you drag the video file from the iPhoto library in Finder? Nope - you can't even look at these files in finder directly without doing a work-around and accessing the file location from within iPhoto... and if you manage that, you still can't drag and drop the file to import.

Finally I discovered a way to get around this silliness. You open up the Image Capture application which recognizes your plugged-in iPhone contents and allows you to actually import video to a folder of your choosing. Then you can import it into iMovie from there... as a video file is clearly an image that I want to capture... not a series of images at 30fps that I have already captured. That just makes perfect sense and is totally intuitive - not.

- Posted from my iPhone

Photography Retrospective 1999-2009 — A Decade of Change

2010-04-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

There are few mature vertical markets that have undergone such significant change in a single decade as that of photography. This, of course, is a result of the impact of the digital revolution. Despite the fact that the Charged Coupled Device, or CCD was invented in 1969 (for which Canadian inventor Willard Boyle was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics), and is responsible for digital photography’s birth, it wasn’t until this past decade that widespread consumer adoption of the digital platform fuelled so radical a reformation in the industry.

1999 marked the serious entry of Nikon into the digital realm, having produced the D1, their first professional digital camera. Until then Kodak had essentially owned the consumer digital imaging space, offering several models including the 2.1 megapixel DC280 which I personally purchased that year. I remember taking it along on a trip to Thailand and seeing the astonished and delighted expressions of all – Thais and tourists alike – when they were able to immediately view a snapshot on the LCD display... and delete the unwanted with no cost beyond battery life. I remember thinking at the time that this, like its Polaroid predecessor, was going to change photography – I just didn’t realize how all-encompassing that transformation was going to be. Once Nikon and Canon entered the digital fray however, it was pretty much game over for Kodak who now sees their market share diminish annually; its stock price, nearing $80 at the start of the decade now hovers around the $5 mark.

Once completely dominant in the world of photography, Kodak has been an unlucky casualty of the digital shift. On July 22 this year, it announced it would discontinue its heretofore wildly popular Kodachrome colour film, which enjoyed a 74 year production run. It’s fairly safe to say, that film, for the consumer at least, is dead. While still in use by some professionals in medium and large format cameras, even these are under serious pressure from digital competition and will soon face the inevitable.

It’s not just film manufacturers that have faced extinction in this dynamic climate; processing labs, once ubiquitous, have undergone a steady decline and forced consolidation in favour of big-box, high volume retailers or large internet based concerns. Even these are under pressure from home-based printing solutions that are both relatively inexpensive, and of a quality rivalling professional output.

Further gloom is being experienced by professional photographers who have seen their incomes dramatically decline and profiles diminish as a flood of new ‘pros’ enter a field now awash in hacks and fly-by-night enthusiasts. The problem is similar to the impact rap and digital sampling had on the music industry: lowering the barrier to entry to such a degree that anyone could participate; and success became less based on talent than luck and marketing. The digital photography revolution has ushered in an era where the barrier to entry is so low that anyone who can click a shutter seems to feel they should go pro. For most, this means selling images on microstock sites for pennies and polluting the market with so-so product, sold at such a low cost as to make the thought of earning a full-time income from photography a laughable proposition, and the title ‘Photographer’ virtually meaningless. The end result is an environment of “good enough” photography, and the gradual decline of the art form toward the current embrace of the adequate.

Of course, there’s also lots of good news associated with the advent of digital – photography has never been as popular as it is today, and the big winners are consumers and camera manufacturers. The former enjoy decent quality, immediate photographic results without having to learn the fundamentals of the craft, or having to apply situational formulae to in order to obtain a good exposure. The latter giddily release new models on an extremely aggressive production cycle in an attempt to satisfy a seemingly insatiable demand – keeping their shareholders extremely happy. As an example, Canon’s stock (aside from the sharp dip it took along with the rest of the market at the end of last year) has soared over the past decade and has more than doubled in price over the last 52 weeks.

It’s never been easier to share images with friends and family and free online storage options abound. Given this, and the snap-happy, instant messaging environment in which we live, you’d think historians would be certain our legacy would be well preserved for future generations. In fact, the opposite may be closer to the truth.

Historically, scholars have gained much of what we know about what it was to actually live in times past from the documented personal interactions and imagery preserved from the period. In the digital age, all this information is locked up inside computers which are susceptible to hardware failures, user error, upgrades, missed backups, viruses, malware, lost passwords and general neglect. Photos and email aren’t often printed, and less thought is given to their preservation should they be – ‘hey, I can just print another copy if necessary’. Aside from this, when a loved one passes on, is care generally taken to preserve their digital assets? Do family members even know where these assets reside? Unlikely. Until our society begins to globally adopt responsible data retention methods we may find that from an intimate historical perspective, our generation will have become a bit of a black hole.

On the other hand, this past decade has ushered in so many innovations as applies to photography it would be difficult to enumerate them all. Many of these are simply gimmicks designed to sell cameras rather than improve photography; however, some have been extremely beneficial to the craft. Counted among these would be high ISO, low noise sensors that allow you to capture clear images in low-light conditions; super-accurate auto white balance, giving consumers one less variable to have to consider when taking a shot; RAW digital negative format, which provides greater latitude in exposure handling after the fact; and even face recognition software, permitting the novice to nail focus on the desired subject matter despite a potential higher contrast object being in the frame which might otherwise draw the camera’s attention.

These innovations merely graze the surface of what is being developed at present. Will our future hold higher dynamic range sensors? High-def video capture as a standard feature on DSLRs? Built-in cellular uplink of images to online services via Bluetooth integration with your smartphone? Stay tuned – you know whatever it turns out to be, we’ll be covering it here.

Managing Your Photographs

2010-04-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

In the last few issues, we’ve been exploring what’s important to consider when buying a new digital SLR camera, and subsequently reviewed the Nikon D5000 with these elements in mind.
Once you’ve made your purchase however, you’ll most likely soon find yourself with hundreds, if not thousands of photos littering your hard drive. Given they’re so easy to shoot, and cost next to nothing to save, you’ll inevitably soon discover your image collection has become unwieldy if you haven’t taken appropriate steps and applied tools in support of its management.

Where’s Aunt Harriet?!

One of the major problems with digital photography is that most people save everything, and nothing is more frustrating to an aspiring photographer than being unable to find a treasured image as a result of clutter – “I know it’s here somewhere!” Once your collection reaches a certain scale, you are unable to simply scan through thumbnails in order to find what you’re looking for; it would simply take too long and definitely strain your eyes and patience.
Over the years, I’ve developed a strategy – or workflow – to combat this which has saved me considerable sums in Aspirin expenses. Here it is in a nutshell:

Copy images from compact flash cards to the PC and store in a directory specific to the subject matter – don’t delete them from the cards at this point.
Backup all RAW files to DVD or CD depending on data volume; label and file away – preferably off-site (backups stored at home won’t help you in the event of a fire).
Import photos into your image management software and apply basic keywords which relate to all images being catalogued (don’t have software that does this? Read on.)
Quickly evaluate each image and cull those that have technical issues (out-of-focus, motion blur etc.)
Re-evaluate the remainder and assign a rating of 1 to 5 stars for each: Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, and Exceptional. Be BRUTAL here in your evaluation; very few of my images are 4 and 5 stars. Three star photographs are well exposed, have good composition, and relatively interesting subject matter.
Delete everything less than three stars – if you have done the previous step well, this will include a lot of images. Nobody needs to see 10 photos of the same subject matter with slight variations; pick the best one or two and toss the rest.
Back up the remaining photos to an external hard drive
Format compact flash cards
Apply specific metadata to each image – more on this below
Start the developing process working backwards from 5 star images through 3.
Export finished images to JPG and upload to online data centre. This protects all finished work in the event of a fire while keeping file sizes small and still retaining the digital negative off-site on DVD.
Perform a timed and automatic backup of processed files to external hard drive daily. The free software, Cobian Backup works like a charm for this.

While it might be more thorough than you would normally use in a non-studio environment, this process ensures all your data is safe, you don’t have a ton of less than optimal images to work on, and you crank out your best images first.

Metadata to the Rescue!

The most important step in the above, beyond getting rid of the extraneous at the outset, is adding good metadata to your image files. What’s metadata? It’s simply information relating to your photo including keywords, captions, copyright info, shot specifics, camera id and the like. While a ton of metadata is generally inserted into each file by your camera; it’s the additional info subsequently entered manually which can really make life easier. With appropriate attention paid to metadata when storing and cataloguing photos, I’d be able to find all photos of Aunt Harriet, from her trip to Venice, in which she was wearing funny glasses, shot at a shallow depth-of-field, with an 85mm lens, on a particular Tuesday, in the morning... instantly.
The problem is, most people are too busy to add all this info to their images and as a result, end up with what amounts to an enormous digital shoebox chock full of disordered photographs.

The Software Solution

Recently, Adobe sent me an evaluation copy of their Photoshop Elements 8, which I have to say I was a little sceptical about after reading the specs and attending the pre-release press conference. There seemed to have been a lot of work put into making the cataloguing feature as easy and automated as possible while still maintaining flexibility and non-obtrusiveness.
To this end, they included what to me would be pure genius – if it worked: automatic face recognition and tagging. To test it, I dragged a keyword-stripped folder of family photos into the application and promptly imported them. I scrolled around while the Photoshop Elements updated thumbnails... seemed to be working ok. As I perused the interface, a little box appeared around a head in one of the shots, asking ‘Who is this?’. It wasn’t in-your-face demanding, and didn’t get in the way of what I was doing. Curious, I entered ‘Grace’, the name of my 3 year old niece. It then asked me if I wanted to identify more people.
A few minutes later, after telling the application who was who from a small sample, it went through the rest of the photos, identifying nearly 100% accurately all other images of that person and asking me if any of them weren’t correct. Easily correcting the two the program had misidentified, I now found all my images in that folder had metadata which included all the names of everyone depicted in each. I could simply click on the ‘Grace’ keyword and all photos in which she was featured would display immediately.
When I imported some more photos, the application stayed out of my way while I worked until there was a pause in the action. It then identified another shot of asking ‘Is this Grace?’. It was, and as a result of a click was instantly tagged as such. I next created an event tag for ‘Christmas’ and dragged it to all the selected images for that occasion in one shot. Easy.
Not only that, but with ‘Smart Albums’ I created a photo album that will automatically update each time I add an image which meets particular criteria, in this case, Grace at Christmas. That way I’ll be able to instantly see all photos of her at this festive time over the years as she grows up.
Yet another great feature which will save time in cataloguing your photos is the ‘Auto-Analyzer’ which adds smart tags to your photos such as Blurred, Low Contrast, Low Quality, Shaky, Too Dark etc. This way you can quickly identify and get rid of unwanted photos. Other automatic tags identify content in the images: two faces, long shot, small group, and so on – all searchable and very handy. You can even record and add audio captions!
While the application isn’t perfect (it once amusingly asked me to identify someone’s butt for instance), I have to say I am amazed at how good it is, and I haven’t even touched on any of the powerful photo editing features. For that, you’ll have to wait for a future article.
All in all, I have to say however that Adobe Premiere Elements 8, at $79.99 USD (after $20 rebate) would be a steal at twice the price for the cataloguing feature alone.

Originally published as article authored by Ray Richards, TechKnow Magazine.

The Nikon D5000 Full Review

2009-11-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

Over the past two months we’ve been exploring various aspects of what to look for in purchasing your very first digital SLR camera. With so many models on the market aimed squarely at the budding enthusiast, I thought it best to review one of these for the publication.

To this end I contacted Nikon, who were kind enough to send me the D5000 – an upper entry level camera which when paired with the higher-end kit lens (the 18-105mm f/3.5-4.5 they additionally included), retails at approximately $1139.99 CAD.

The Basic Specs
• Sensor: 12.9 megapixel DX format (1.5 crop factor) CMOS
• Frame Rate: 4 images per second with a buffer of 7 RAW images or 25 JPG fine
• Viewfinder: 95% frame coverage
• LCD: 2.7” TFT LCD display with 100% frame coverage and Live View capability
• Video Modes: 1280x720, 640x424, 320x216 – all at 24 frames per second
• ISO range: 200-3200 native with 100-6400 expanded range (HI & LO) available
• Metering: Matrix, Centre Weighted, and Spot are supported.
• Focus Points: 11
• Outputs & Storage: SD Card, High Speed USB, HDMI Video

First Impressions
Upon opening the box, I was quite surprised, being now used to Nikon’s pro bodies, with how small the D5000 is. At 12.7x10.4x8cm, the camera is fairly well matched with the 18-105, but when I popped a pro lens like the 28-70mm f/2.8 on, it was quite strange looking indeed. They say good things come in small packages however; so I tried not to pass judgement on this characteristic alone – though it’s true that it took some getting used to when shooting.

I fired it up, and glancing down to view the current settings noticed that there was no top LCD display. This was somewhat mitigated by the articulated rear screen however, which features an innovative, crisp 230,000 dot TFT panel that tilts and swivels. It certainly facilitates some tricky shots, as you can put the camera in places you mightn’t otherwise be able, yet still see the image preview on the screen.
This model clearly targets those who are graduating from point-and-shoot, and used to holding their camera at arm’s length to compose shots on the LCD versus using the viewfinder. This is of course the absolute worst way to attempt to capture sharp images, but the camera design apparently seeks to ease the transition between framing methods.

Some of the shooting information I would like to see (metering method, shooting mode, shots taken etc.) while looking through the viewfinder is instead displayed on the rear screen – though certainly the essentials are indeed available and provide more than enough info for most people. Unfortunately, the LCD also has the annoying habit of activating (for a variety of reasons as you adjust the controls) and spilling light into your eye while trying to compose an image through the viewfinder. You quickly get used to turning this off however, so ultimately it isn’t much of a bother.

The shutter has a soft, yet pleasing sound and the response of the camera seems fairly snappy for its class. The unit even has a feature I wish was present in Nikon’s pro line-up: an automatic sensor cleaner that activates upon start-up and shut-down. Nothing is more annoying than having to clone out dust bunnies on every shot in Photoshop, or more nerve-wracking than trying to clean your own sensor and potentially damaging it.

Default Settings
Before I take a camera out in the field for any reason, I ensure to first zero the controls. This entails setting the ISO to its native value, in this case 200, setting white balance to auto, removing any dialled in exposure compensation, selecting my most frequent shooting mode (aperture), and choosing a reasonable aperture that will serve if I have to take a quick snap. Obviously, when I start shooting, I make adjustments based on lighting conditions and subject matter; however, there are few things more irritating to a photographer than arriving on-scene, having to take a shot immediately, and discovering that you’ve botched the image by failing to realize that some of your settings from the previous shoot were still active.
In the D5000’s case, there were numerous additional settings that I would have to change from the default in order that I might have the exposure latitude that a photographer, versus a holiday snapper, would require. I switched from JPG standard to RAW, sRGB to Adobe RGB (the Adobe RGB colour space has a wider gamut), Active Auto D-Lighting to off (D-Lighting helps maintain shadow and highlight detail in scenes with high contrast, but I like to have full control over my camera and activate a D-Lighting mode only when necessary), and auto-area focus mode to single point, enabling me to select exactly where I want the focus of the image to be instead of having the camera make this decision for me.

The D5000 in Action
I spent two weeks with this camera in variety of settings, and after becoming accustomed to its quirks, can honestly say this little machine is quite impressive. The auto white balance is excellent, often leaving one less thing to adjust – a relief for most learning photographers. Noise at high ISOs is well controlled and will render cleaner images than even the last generation of Nikon pro bodies at these settings. This is great news for natural light photographers who often find themselves shooting indoors. Colours seem a little saturated and images more pre-sharpened than I am used to; however, this clearly points to the fact that the camera is aimed at a market with less experience at RAW processing, and designed to produce useable images right out of the camera.

The supplied 18-105mm f/3.5-4.5 kit lens features vibration reduction technology is a fine performer in its class. Barrel and pincushion distortion is relatively well controlled at the extremes of its range though the unit does seem prone to chromatic aberration (purple fringing in high contrast areas of images). Given the low cost however ($379.99 retail when purchased separately), I was surprised by how well it rendered most images.
Video performance on the other hand, is less impressive. While the D5000 makes a good first DSLR from a still image perspective; it won’t replace dedicated video cameras any time soon. The lack of autofocus once the video has started recording, no external microphone jack, and the appearance of image banding while recording fast moving objects or when rapidly panning, limits its utility fairly significantly. However, the D5000 allows you to take advantage of the prime reason you’d want to capture video on a DSLR beyond simple convenience: access to professional lenses. So, if you choose your shots carefully and piece them together later in a video editor like the new Adobe Premiere Elements 8, you can achieve some excellent results.

Final Thoughts
As a transitional piece of gear leading from point-and-shoot to DSLR, I think the camera achieves a fine balance, with a well thought out menu structure, good image quality, and consumer friendly features. While there are certainly some limitations – which are mostly a function of cost, other manufacturers are going to be very hard pressed indeed to match the versatility and quality of the D5000 at this price point.

Buying Your First DSLR Part II

2009-09-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Last month we began our exploration of the DSLR world by outlining some basic facts required to make an informed decision regarding your first camera purchase. We discovered megapixel count isn’t particularly important, RAW format availability on your camera is, and discussed various desirable lens attributes – noting that generally the unit offered as part of a camera kit possesses few of these.
This time around, we’ll continue our examination with an in-depth assessment of key elements to look for when making a selection from among the often dizzying array of available models.

Process of Elimination

Given this enormous assortment, one of the easiest ways to cull your list of purchase candidates is to eliminate models from all manufacturers save two: Nikon and Canon. Why? There are many reasons, but perhaps the most compelling relates to lenses.

If you recall, last month we discovered that while camera bodies come and go, lenses are forever – generally retaining their overall utility and much of their resale value. So why does that matter? Well, for starters, if you find you get serious about your new hobby, you’ll want to have access to the widest range of top-quality lenses that your camera can accommodate. Nikon and Canon have each been in business for nearly a century (Nikon founded 1917, Canon in 1937) and take pains to ensure backward compatibility in their new bodies with their legacy lens line-up, meaning you’ll have a selection of literally hundreds of compatible lenses.
If, on the other hand, you’ve purchased another brand of camera and find yourself ultimately limited in your photographic pursuits due to the availability of gear, you’ll discover that having made a significant financial investment in one brand, it’s often difficult to abandon it in favour of another.

Ask any professional photographer what make of DSLR they use and invariably they’ll reply with one of these two brands. Lens selection is certainly one of the reasons for this, but beyond that fact, while the entry-level and intermediate field is jam-packed with competitors, there are far fewer manufacturers that address the hardware needs of the professional – Nikon and Canon being preeminent among them.
So, in selecting a first DSLR from either of these companies, you’ll have a clear progression from novice to professional in terms of equipment, without having to abandon your old gear.

Non-Essential Features

Now that we’ve covered some primary purchase considerations, it’s time to delve into what specifics to look for when evaluating an individual camera.

Aside from megapixels, two features often touted as significant by camera manufacturers would be scene modes (e.g Sports, Kids, Landscape etc.) and built-in image editing. If you use these as factors in making a purchase decision, you are doing yourself a disservice.

On-board image editing is pretty useless for the majority of applications. Does it make more sense to use a canned effect in-camera and judge its rendering on the tiny LCD screen provided, or, given you are going to be processing the RAW file on your PC anyway, make editing decisions in an environment where you can properly see the photo at 1:1 scale? I think everyone can agree the latter is preferable.

Secondly, are you not buying a DSLR to give you more creative freedom and better image quality? Why then would you want the camera to make important artistic choices for you by selecting a scene mode? The only modes one really needs on a camera are Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual Mode.

Major Modes

Aperture Priority allows the photographer to select a particular f-stop in order to achieve a desired depth of field, while the on-board computer automatically selects the appropriate shutter speed to maintain a correct exposure. This is the most frequently used mode for the majority of photographers given it provides the highest degree of artistic control over the resultant image while still gaining significant benefit in terms automated exposure management by virtue of camera selected shutter speed.

Shutter Priority is the opposite of Aperture Priority in that the photographer controls the shutter speed while the camera decides what the appropriate aperture would be to achieve an accurate exposure. This mode is most often used by sports and bird photographers who want to ensure they are able to freeze the action in a frame without any motion blur... or to perhaps introduce blur depending on their artistic vision for the shot.
Manual Mode, as the name implies, gives complete control to the photographer for setting both shutter speed and aperture. This mode is most commonly used in flash photography, night shoots, studio work, and situations where the lighting conditions (e.g. extremes in dynamic range) are fooling the camera’s built-in meter and resulting in an inaccurate depiction of the scene.

What’s Really Important

Some specifics to look for which are important include things that may not be initially obvious, such as viewfinder coverage. This may come as a surprise, but the majority of consumer and prosumer level camera bodies do not show the entirety of the scene they are capturing in their viewfinders. This results in photographers capturing extraneous details in their images and making it difficult to frame the shot correctly without having to crop the file in post. Look for a camera that has decent viewfinder coverage – at the very least 95%, though higher is better.

Good body ergonomics are key to any purchase decision – how well the camera fits in your hand, how easily you can reach the primary controls, and how readily you can access the most commonly used functions. If you often find yourself buried in on-screen menus trying to set your camera to a particular mode of operation, you’ll be missing shots. The vast majority of the most frequently used options should be accessible from the camera body itself without having to access any on-screen menu whatsoever. Your fingers should be able to find the majority of these without the assistance of your eyes as you look through the viewfinder. Add to this the availability of a vertical grip for taking portrait oriented shots without going into contortions and you’ve got your ergonomic concerns covered.

Another often overlooked specification is battery life. If you’re out in the field and line up the perfect shot, it’s not going to be much good to you if you’ve not the power to take it. Your battery should ideally provide you with a full day’s worth of shots without having to swap.

As mentioned in last month’s article, unless you’re going to be shooting outside exclusively, and always on sunny days, high ISO performance is extremely important. If your shots are a grainy mess at over ISO 400, you’re not going to be a happy camper. Take a few well exposed shots inside the store at ISO 800, then zoom in to 100% magnification and scroll around the image paying particular attention to the areas in shadow. Is the noise (graininess) tolerable? If not, time to look at another model.

Taking your time, as well as bearing the preceding points in mind while selecting the right camera for you is paramount. It can determine the difference between embarking on an expensive and frustrating experiment, or the discovery of a lifelong passion. Here’s hoping you experience the latter!

Originally published in TechKnow Magazine by columnist, Ray Richards,
September, 2009.

Adobe Releases Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements 8 Today

2009-09-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Now that the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) has been lifted, I can share with you some of the interesting features that Adobe's consumer level image and video editing applications have to offer this time around. On Sept.17, I attended a press conference in which Senior Solutions Architect, Colin Smith took us on a tour of the apps, and I have to say, despite the fact that I generally use their pro-level software, there was a lot to be impressed with.

The new image cataloging functionality in Photoshop Elements 8 featured facial recognition, enabling users to easily add meta-data to their images. Once the application knows a face, it searches for all other occurrences of it within your catalog and tentatively tags it as such. E.g.: If you identify an image as containing Sally's face, the application will go through every other image in your collection looking for similar features and ask you "Is this Sally?" to confirm additional images that it thinks depict the same person. This is a HUGE time saver for those of us who don't have all of our images properly tagged with who's in them (i.e. most of us).

Other cool features Photoshop Elements 8 is debuting include Photomerge Exposure, which allows you to take a variety of exposures of the same scene and combine them in a high dynamic range composite — but in an intuitive and easy-to-use manner that'll be no problem for your grandmother to accomplish.

Recompose allows a user to take elements out of photos, reposition items in them etc., all so quickly and easily you'll wonder why you ever learned to use the clone stamp! Well, that's a little bit of an overstatement, but it certainly does a great job for basic edits. Again, the target audience will be very pleased with this new ability.

Elements 8 also features what they're calling Quick Fix Previews which enable the user to see a variety of variations of the same image using different levels of the tool they are currently employing. For example, people don't have to understand what saturation is when they are using that tool, instead, they'll see which version looks better from the choices available and simply select that.

For Premiere Elements 8, they've added some equally impressive features, including some very cool motion-tracking functionality, Smart Trim, Smart Fix and even Instant Movie which generates an entire movie on the fly from a selection of your clips — even applying theme music, transitions and effects. Very cool indeed.

I'll be providing a complete review in an upcoming issue of TechKnow magazine; however, I figured I'd post my first impressions here. Stay tuned for the full scoop!

Photographing a Two Year Old

2009-09-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday I had the pleasure of chasing an almost two year old boy around his grandmother's house trying to get some decent images for her to give to her granddaughter as a present. Quarters were quite cramped and I didn't have the space to set up proper backdrops as there was no place to put the stands. Perhaps I'll bring some gaffer tape with me next time and just try to tape it to the ceiling — live and learn.

As a poor substitute, we set up a chair against a neutral-toned wall, a soft-box as the key light, an umbrella and reflector as a fill and a Nikon SB-800 filling in shadows from below. Then we tried to get Christopher to sit and smile for the camera so we could dial in the lighting... he thought it a better idea to throw trucks at the camera man!

Ultimately we ended up going outside and watching Chis trashing his Nana's, and her neighbor's respective gardens, tromping through them in pursuit of his soccer ball.

Every time I went to capture an image, wee Christopher would run up to me, grab my finger and haul me to wherever he felt I should rather be. This of course made photography a little difficult. When I wasn't being led around, Chris thought it a good idea to charge directly at the camera.

Finally, we went back inside and I set up a collapsible green screen chroma key background from Botero
and figured I'd be able to just drop any background behind Chris after extracting him using the Primatte filter in Photoshop. Well, unfortunately the space constraints again came into play as we had to deal with significant green spill on the subject. As a result, I had to spend several hours cleaning up each image.

The finished products turned out great, but with significantly more effort required than I would normally spend on a project. Moral of the story? Be prepared. Know where you're going and what the constraints are before you get there. Having a portable studio is great, but sometimes it's just time to whip out the SB-800s and capture what you can. Often it's better to just have clients come to your own space where you know what you're dealing with and can have everything dialed-in before they arrive. Next time I think I'm just going to have folks come down to the studio.

Nikon D5000 First Impressions

2009-09-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well, the new Nikon D5000 arrived today after having been dispatched me by their Canadian PR firm, in order that I might review it in my capacity as digital imaging columnist for the upcoming issue of TechKnow magazine.

Having owned Nikon camera models from the 1970s through today's, I'd characterize this unit as definitely mid-entry level. Of the four Nikons I use these days (the D3, D200, D50 and FM) its most similar to the D50 in terms of feel and function. It's a solid little camera body which I would suspect fits nicely in a woman's hand, but is a little small for mine... or perhaps I am just used to using the D3 :)

The first thing I noticed was the complete and glaring absence of a top LCD display, and the inclusion of a tilt and pivoting 2.7" rear LCD monitor which has the annoying habit (I'm certain there's a setting to correct this but this seems the default behaviour) of illuminating when I am trying to take a photo. This is of course less than ideal, as the light spill into your eyes is distracting and interferes with the image visible in your viewfinder. The LCD itself is however a bright and crisp 230,000 dot TFT device which compensates for the viewfinder's limited 95% coverage by providing 100% frame display.

This camera seems clearly aimed at the point-and-shoot crowd who are used to framing images with the LCD display while holding the camera at arms length — just about the worst method one could employ for getting sharp images. The default settings are definitely geared for the non-photographer and designed to get the uninitiated up and running as quickly as possible while still acheiving reasonable results.

The shutter has a soft, yet pleasing sound and the response of the camera seems fairly snappy (pun intended) for its class. The initial photos I've shot with the accompanying 18-105mm ƒ3.5-5.6 VR lens are a little warm and there seems to be some back focus issues (focus point was on the label and actual focus seems more to be on the spout) that I'll have to check out.

I suppose you'll have to pick up the October issue of TechKnow magazine if you want the rest of the story!

Buying Your First DSLR

2009-09-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, you’ve decided; you’re tired of the out-of-focus, motion-blurred, grainy snapshots you’ve been taking with your point-and-shoot, and are about to take the plunge – investing in a digital single lens reflex camera, or DSLR for short. The problem is, with such a dizzying array of options available, what should you be looking for? What’s important versus simply nice-to-have... and what really doesn’t matter at all?

Megapixel Myths

For years now, manufacturers have been touting megapixel count as the primary concern for would-be camera buyers. ‘Bigger is better’ they assert, even offering up 12 megapixel and higher products in the point-and-shoot arena. While there are indeed certain advantages to a higher megapixel count, such as increased crop latitude and the ability to print on larger media, there are a variety of negatives as well to take into account:

The more megapixels you pack onto a sensor, the more noise you are going to get at higher ISO settings; i.e. when light conditions aren’t ideal, your photograph will be more grainy
More megapixels means more megabytes. This results in not only more storage space required on your computer, but also slower speed when processing these images, given your machine has to deal with more data
Lower frame rate (the number of photos you can take in a sustained burst) is a result of larger files – your camera can only process so much information at a time
A steadier hand is required at lower shutter speeds with higher megapixel cameras

Aside from the negatives listed above, the advantages preceding them aren’t that great. How big do you really want to print anyway? I’ve produced 13x19” prints from a 6MP file with no discernable reduction in quality. Consider what is arguably the best DSLR on the planet at present: the Nikon D3. This nearly $6000 CAD camera body (lens not included) has only 12.1MP at its disposal; yet produces stunningly sharp 20x30” gallery prints with ease from its files. Unless you’re printing billboards, you probably don’t need more than that.

What is important when it comes to megapixels is the ratio of them to the sensor size. What makes the D3 so impressive is that despite the huge, full-frame (23.9 x 36.0 mm) sensor it houses, the pixel count is relatively small – enabling it to produce nearly noise-free images in very low-light conditions.

Shooting in the RAW

If you’ve been using a point-and-shoot to date, you’re probably used to producing and working with JPEGs. Certainly, this image format keeps file sizes small and requires little post-processing; however, that’s pretty much where the benefits end. When moving up to a DSLR, ensure your camera supports RAW as well. RAW is a digital negative format which provides a number of advantages over JPEG:

No set white balance – if you screw up your white balance settings in-camera (say taking a photo under fluorescent light when your camera is set for daylight), you can change it to the correct value after the fact with no ill-effects
Greater latitude in exposure (i.e. higher dynamic range, or the range between highlights and shadows in your photo)
RAW is lossless – it’s what comes out of your sensor before being processed, while JPEG is a compressed, optimized version of that information resulting in data being lost which you can’t take advantage of after the fact... once it’s gone, it’s gone.
The higher available bit depth (often 12 or 14) in RAW files as compared to 8 bit JPEG images allows smoother tonal gradation, especially in shadows and highlights
RAW files can be reprocessed by new RAW converters as they become available, leading to potentially better and better results from the same image. A JPEG is a JPEG; what you see, is what you get, and every alteration can lead to a further degradation in quality.

On the other hand, the downside of RAW is that the images come out of the camera looking somewhat dull and not very crisp... they require processing. So, from a time perspective, this seems a disadvantage; however, given the greater level of control and superior end result after processing, most serious photographers feel the extra expenditure in time is well worth it.

Of course, if you have to process images, you’ll need a RAW processor. The best on the market at present (excluding camera manufacturer’s proprietary ones) include Adobe’s Camera RAW, which may be found at the heart of their Lightroom and Photoshop products, and Apple’s Aperture application. As these range between $200 and $700, it’s definitely a consideration to be factored in when purchasing a DSLR. Don’t let this dissuade you however if your budget is tight; there are also decent free RAW processors available, such as RAW Therapee (www.rawtherapee.com) which should get you up and running in no time.

Lens Lore

As you explore the world of DSLRs, you’ll come to realize that camera bodies come and go, but lenses are forever. A great lens is an investment that you’ll more than likely be able to sell for almost what you paid for it years down the line, while camera bodies rapidly decrease in value as new models become available.

When buying your first DSLR, you’ll find many salespeople urge their customers to purchase an accompanying ‘kit lens’ – often a mid-range zoom with a variable maximum aperture determined by focal length. Examples would include Nikon or Canon’s 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 which sell for under $200 separately. While the flexibility of the zoom is a great asset, these low-end lenses will soon find themselves in your junk drawer or on e-Bay given their limited utility.

Their primary weakness lies in the fact that as you zoom out, more light is required to make a good exposure; so in reduced light scenarios, you are forced to either decrease shutter speed (potentially introducing motion blur), or increase ISO (adding noise to your image). Additionally, your depth of field (the portion of the image in sharp focus) choices are reduced, limiting your artistic expression.

A good rule of thumb is in most cases to never buy any lens that doesn’t have a constant maximum aperture of f/2.8 or less. While these lenses are considerably more expensive, they’ll serve you over a lifetime. If budget is a constraint, a prime (fixed focal length) lens may be purchased for almost the same money as a kit lens, yet has the benefit of wider apertures and better glass... and you simply zoom with your feet. Great examples of this are the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8. The former is a pro lens which sells for under $400, while the latter is almost as good and retails at around $159. Cannon also has these lenses which are similarly priced though a little more expensive for the f/1.4 and a little less for the f/1.8. Not only are these lenses timeless, but they’ll actually teach you to be a better photographer as you learn to work around the limitations of fixed focal length.

Next time...

You’ll have noticed that thus far I’ve only been talking about Nikon and Canon – find out why in the next issue where we’ll continue our discussion on what you need to know when making your first DSLR purchase.

Originally published in TechKnow Magazine by columnist, Ray Richards,
August, 2009.

Our New Blog

2009-09-10T11:50:00.001-07:00

Welcome to our new photography blog! Here you'll find our latest images, along with photographic tips, tricks and techniques that will hopefully assist you in taking better pictures. Let us know what you think and what you'd like to see and we'll be certain to respond.