The only way to make this a Digital related Post is to include the Meta-Data from the camera that took these pics! Here it is: Sony DSC p100 / f2.8 /100 ISO/ 7.9 mm focal length.
Last day of vacation :(
Click Pic for Larger Image!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Ketchup Head Monster Terrorizes Teens!
Friday, August 10, 2007
Canon Responds to Mark III Autofocus Concerns
This will be the worlds shortest Vacation Post!
Head on over to Rob Galbraith's site to read the updated ( now infamous ) article on the Canon EOS 1D Mark III and it's AF problems. With the newly updated firmware ( Ver. 1.1.0 ) installed, the guys at DPI look for improvements / fixes for the problems experienced in their last round of tests. Also, the Engineers at Canon Inc. have responded to and promised an investigation into the problematic autofocus issues experienced by the testing team at Rob Galbraith DPI.
Check it out.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Eliminating Chromatic Aberration... The Easy Way
- Definition :
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"In optics, chromatic aberration is caused by a lens having a different refractive index for different wavelengths of light (the dispersion of the lens). The term "purple fringing" is commonly used in photography, although not all purple fringing can be attributed to chromatic aberration.
Longitudinal and lateral chromatic aberration of a lens is seen as "fringes" of color around the image, because each color in the optical spectrum cannot be focused at a single common point on the optical axis."
- Now a definition for the rest of us:
"Chromatic Aberration - The Red Green and Purple Fringies in your images that let every one know you shot the picture with a Digital Camera! "
OK! The majority of you have probably paid for some fancy expensive software to help you wrangle all those Red, Green and Purple Fringies out of your pics; And that is just fine. But I personally have found that using one of these ' wonder - programs ' to completely remove Chromatic Aberration can sometimes damage the quality of an image. Usually the damage is seen in the smallest detail areas or highlights, and can be accompanied by an overall reduction in apparent sharpness. This is not always the case and depends greatly on how much C.A. you are trying to get rid of in each image. My preference is to bag the 3rd party software and the Adobe Raw slider game for a simpler 'Down and Dirty' method that works every time! Give this quick method a try.
Here we go :
- Convert your Raw File to the 16 Bit Tiff Format as you normally would, concentrating on overall image quality with no regard for the occasional offending Fringies. This should give you the best overall image quality and sharpness.
- Open the image in Photoshop and Create 2 new layers ( Command J, Command J on a PC ) above the Background ( original ) Layer.
- Click on the eye in the ( Top Layer ) Palette Box and remove the Top Layer from view.
- Highlight the middle layer and open the Saturation Command Box. You can do this from the Drop Down menu at the top of the page or create an Adjustment Layer from the Palette ( Proper Way ) Box.
- Completely de - saturate the middle layer. Your middle layer is now a grey scale image.
- Returning to the Top Layer, highlight the box and re - click the Eye Symbol to visualize the untouched, full color Top Layer.
- At the bottom of the Palette Box click the Layer Mask Symbol ( 2nd from the right ) and create a layer mask ( You are still on the Top Layer )
- Reset your Foreground / Background settings by clicking on the D key on your keyboard. You should now have the foreground as Black and the Background as White. If they are reversed, hit the X key on your keyboard and they will reverse. You are now ready to pull some colorless grey scale back thru the troubled areas with a med hard edged brush set to 60 - 100 percent opacity.
- To access the Brush tool, hit the B key and check the opacity and hardness settings.
- Make the brush as small as possible for the offending areas.
- Trace over the Chromatic Aberration and watch the grey scale blend away or completely cover the Fringies. It goes without saying that you should be doing all of this at 200 percent or greater.
- When you have blended or covered all the areas that you feel are necessary, you should reduce the image view to 100 percent and take a look at your work. You will be amazed at how well this method eliminates the C.A. without affecting any of the overall image.
- Save your image as a PSD ( Photoshop Document / with layers ) and make a duplicate. The duplicate copy can be flattened, renamed and saved as a final image. The PSD can be safely stored away, just in case you need to go back and remove any areas that you might have missed.
Yummy Coffee!
For those of you who don't already know, I am presently enjoying a blissful week of well deserved vacation down on the NC Coast. There are 7 of us, which also includes 5 teenage girls, in a 2 bedroom cottage with one bathroom and the world's smallest kitchen. This of course means that we will be eating out a lot this week and I have decided to eliminate shaving, showering and trips to the bathroom from my daily schedule. And could someone please explain to me why it is that a woman can leave every personal article of clothing hanging from every 3 dimensional surface in the bathroom, but if I leave the toilet seat up, they'll be hell to pay!
So that brings me to Yummy Coffee, my favorite daily beverage. It's not as good at the beach as it is back at my home in Cary. It might be the pre-purchased jug water from the local supermarket or maybe the generic paper towels that I have been using in place of real Coffee Filters! I kept forgetting that one item when I went to get groceries and I paid the price every morning when I brewed my first pot. However, Paper Towels as Coffee Filters do work a lot better than printer paper with really tiny holes poked thru with a push pin. You don't want to know some of the other emergency methods I have used in a pinch.
Tomorrow morning, I absolutely have to get started on the editing, processing and optimizing of 1000 + Raw files from last week's Job. Better take a trip to the Quickie Mart and get me some real Java Sifters!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Canon Zoom or Sigma ?
After a careful examination of my Google Analytics Data, it comes to my attention that there is a strong correlation between high page views and the word Canon, Canon Camera, Canon lens etc... used in the Blog Post Title. This leaves me with no other choice but to include those three words in various ways in every Blog Title. How about these ideas as Blog Post Banners.
- Happy Birthday to me... and Canon Camera
- 10 things every Photographer should know... about Canon Lenses
- Software to improve workflow...with your Canon Camera
- 15 Photographers killed in tragic tour bus accident...all Canon shooters
- Tokina's latest super zoom... it's not a Canon!
- Canon Releases New Canon Camera with Canon Lens...it's a Canon!
Now to the real subject of this post as described in the title " Canon Zoom Or Sigma?"
I really and truly intended to discuss my dilemma over picking a zoom lens for my new 12 mega pixel Canon 40D ( That one alone should guarantee at least 1000 page hits tomorrow morning! ) but the whole Google Analytics thing really got me thinking...about Canon Cameras and Canon Lenses, especially the Canon Zooms!
Now that I have assured myself a page in Photo Blog Page Hit History I can ask my friends and readers to help me with a decision on my next big lens purchase. Canon or Sigma? To IS or not to IS?
Here are the contenders:
- Sigma Zoom Telephoto 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO Macro HSM Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS / No IS ( Image Stabilization ) $889.00@B&H Photo
- Sigma Zoom Normal-Telephoto 50-150mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Autofocus Lens for Canon Digital EOS /No IS $679.00@B&H Photo
- Sigma Zoom Telephoto 100-300mm f/4 EX DG IF HSM Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS
- Sigma Zoom Telephoto 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG APO OS (Optical Stabilizer) Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS Price: $ 999.00@B&H Photo
- Sigma Telephoto 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS
No IS /USA Price: $ 399.00@B&H Photo Sigma Zoom Telephoto 120-300mm f/2.8 EX APO DG IF HSM Autofocus Lens for Canon EOS Price: $ 2,699.00- Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Autofocus Lens / No IS
USA Price: $ 1,140.00@B&H Photo - Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Image Stabilizer USM Autofocus Lens
USA Price: $ 1,699.00@B&H Photo (SHA-WING!!)
All donations will be accepted... comments or cash!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Boy I Wish I Looked That Good!
Well...maybe you do.
Here are a few quick links to some Super Bogus, heavily retouched and manipulated Glamour Photos appearing at a newsstand near you. It should really make you doubt whether there is any reality at all in those oh - so - perfect Celebrity Portraits that grace the covers of the Supermarket Tabloids. I lump the Glamour, Vogues and Men's magazines in the same pile.
- Swedish site : Ministry of Health and Social affairs
- Digital Pablo: www.digitalpablo.com/portfolio
Later...
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