April 16, 2008

11

Gavin Seim, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow

When Art Becomes Trash!

I get sick of lousy work being called art. “Look ma I’m an artist”

art-not.jpg

So what is art, and what is trash? I’m not just talking photography here,I’m talking about all art. Some will say I’m being harsh here, but sometimes a little crankinesses helps us be more realistic. The above image took me longer to save an upload than it did to convert it from photo to funky! Am I a better artist now?

Ever looked at a piece that was touted as art and said “That’s Really Stupid”? If not stop by a gallery some time. You’ve probably also seen other so called artists gather round and say “WOW that’s so moving” All this time guys like us look on and think… “Am I Missing Something Here”

Anyone can say their an artist, but that doesn’t make them one. There is some truth to the statement that “Beauty in is the eye of the beholder” but it can easily be noted that art is sometimes an excuse for shotty workmanship.

VIEWER… “what’s with this pictures where half the guys head is out of the frame, and he’s sucking on his big toe, or is that a coke bottle! PHOTOGRAPHER/PAINTER… That’s my artistic interpretation.

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March 25, 2008

7

Gavin Seim, photoshop, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow, Software

Phoro File Degradation. Saving & Destructive Edits Tested

JPEG, TIFF, PSD, Successive Save, Save As, and more.

by Gavin Seim. Updated 11/11. There’s often confusion about what makes a JPEG and other files degrade, so I thought I would so a few a real world test. First let me say that simply copying, or viewing a file does NOT cause any degradation as people sometimes believe. If you copy and paste a file it’s simply a bit for bit cop. There’s no loss because nothing has been altered.

When you open, and then re-save a file is when things usually change. Even if you save at the highest quality JPEG settings you have still re-compressed that file when you save again. Unless or course your using an uncompressed file format to start with (TIFF for example). But even then there can be some quality loss version after version.

So how bad is a file damaged each time you successively save it. Well lets just say you should keep your originals. I’m not saying we can’t make revision copies (or file generations as I refer to them). But we should be aware. Below we’re going to look at the same image submitted to various torturous conditions and you can then judge for yourself.

These image are 700px. Click any image to see it at that resolution, or download all the images to compare them. Images that were opened and saved with “Save As” rather than “Save” commands are noted as such. If you want to join the discussion beyond comments here is the forum topic on this.

Original File
Original File.
open/save/close/100x
JPEG / Open / Save / Close / 100x -- Here I simply opened the file and saved it again 100 times. No pixel edits were done to the image, I just made a type layer and then deleted it so that PS would allow me to save. Apparently PS could tell that no pixels were edited and did not overwrite the unchanged pixels. Minimal or no degradation here.

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March 21, 2008

30

Gavin Seim, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow

Lightroom Tip: Install & Manage Presets Like A FANATIC

by Gavin Seim. Updated 01/2010:

Most of us use and love Adobe Lightroom. One of my favorite features is presets. One click WOW & workflow for our photo’s. I even make some very popular preset collections that I sell over on Seim Effects.

So there’s a couple of ways to install Lightroom presets and today I’m gonna show you both, including the guru method. I’m talking about develop presets, but it should be noted that these methods are essentially the same with any user preset, such as print presets, gallery presets etc. If your installing brush presets see this article. Also, I’m using a Mac, but the same process will work on Windows.

How to install lightroom presets
Start by going into the Develop Module (shortcut D) On the left panel you'll see your presets.

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March 18, 2008

3

Gavin Seim, news, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow

Photographers Legal Rights. What Can You Shoot & Where

As a photographer in the USA I’ve had more than one instance of people trying to bully me because I had a pro level camera. The worst offenders have been security guards.

If you’ve ever been in the situation you know what I mean, and if not you should be prepared. You get treated like your a criminal, they threaten to take away your gear etc.

Of course of you are standing on private property you can be asked to leave and are required to do so, but DID YOU KNOW that in most cases even a police officer can’t take away your camera without a court order? After some hassles I decided to look into it some years back, and there’s even a book called The Legal Handbook for Photographers that I picked up. It goes in depth into these issues, but if you just want the basics heres some places to start.

Photojojo just wrote a great article outlining photographer rights so check it out here. Most of the info info came from a lawyer named Bert Krages who wrote the afore mentioned book. He also has a PDF called The Photographers Right that outlines the basic rights. I suggest you downland that and keep in in your bag should you ever have a confrontation.

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March 8, 2008

4

Canon, Gavin Seim, news, Nikon, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow

The Future Of ISO & Noise

Nikon D3By Gavin Seim — Will the need for flash start to fade and noiseless high ISO cameras surface? Will sensors become so sensitive that they can actually make a scene clearer than what it is, such as removing fog when desired? Will they soon be able to see through objects, and interpret what’s on the other side?

We digital photographers live in an ISO sensitive world. It used to be that ISO 800 was high, 1600 was really noisy, and 3200… Well, could you even shoot that high?

The megapixel race is no longer a huge factor in a pro camera purchase, and now the attention has rightly turned to ISO and noise. In the early digital days a high ISO, or long exposure would quickly get filled with noise. Today we have two major brands. Canon, who though they are getting better noise to ISO ratio’s, their ISO settings have seriously fallen behind of their biggest competition Nikon.

With a Canon you can shoot at ISO 1600, and expand out to 3200, and on the 1D MK III you can go up to 6400. Nikon’s latest on the other hand goes to 6400 and well beyond. On the Nikon D3 there’s even an ISO 25,600. No that’s not a typo, and though there’s certainly a fair bit of noise at that level it’s clear that Nikon has taken a step ahead in terms of ISO. This article is really not about who’s better however since this is simply a race of brands that will ultimately benefit all consumers. The real item of note is these advancements could change the way we do photography.

Pretty soon we may not have to worry about noise, and we can start changing the ISO level to change exposure instead of shutter or aperture. Here’s an article comparing the noise on the 5d, and the D3. Also heres a post on beckers blog where he run the D3 through the paces.

Now the battle of brands will rage on, but the question is with noise getting lower and lower, and ISO getting higher and higher where is it all going? Noise levels are getting so high that the cameras have almost night vision capabilities! All I know is this. I love the flexibility of high ISO, and the fact that we have heavy competition in the field means we’ll be getting better technolighy sooner.

What do you think? Your comments below!

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