December 2, 2007

1

Gavin Seim, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow

Making a great photograph… Again!

tennis-senior.jpgAs photographers we often find ourselves with a static creativity. Think of it as a photographic stasis. Whatever it is we shoot, nature, commercial, weddings, portraits, sports etc. We find a way of doing something that feels comfortable and works, so we stick with it. The key is not to get caught in the center of that stasis and stay there. Keep the old tricks, then make even better one’s ALL THE TIME!

I don’t care if you’ve been a photographer for fifty years. The day you think you know all the tricks in the book, you need to start over with the ABC’s. After I’ve been doing this for that long, I hope I don’t have to be reminded of it. Maybe your a budding pro who needs more tricks in the bag. Either way it pays to step back and think simple. To get us thinking, I’m going to refrain from rambling on about this, and just give five of my own ideas for keeping ourselves with great shots, and keeping that bag of tricks from growing mold. You can add your favorites to the comments as well.

  • 5. Use those old stand by techniques, You bet, you liked them for a reason, and you know you’ll have something great when you use them.
  • 4. Go into each shoot like it’s something new! Even if if you think it isn’t, you can make it just that.
  • 3. Take those same proven techniques and change them. Just because it ain’t broke does not mean it can’t be fixed
  • 2. Get moving! That’s right stop standing there looking like King Kong with a camera! Run, jump, get higher up, get lower down, just stop being lazy and go get that shot!
  • 1. Laugh. Yep it’s probably our best creative tool and maybe the most underused. Have fun, laugh, make your clients laugh, laugh at your work, whatever it takes. Just make it fun.
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November 27, 2007

4

Gavin Seim, lightroom, news, ProPhotoShow, Software

Power Workflow Lightroom Presets from Gavin

gavins lightroom presets

I just launched a huge Lightroom presets collection over at seimeffects.com. The set has over 50 cool presets in, covering everything in the workflow process from corrections to sassy creative color effects in a very broad variety.

If your looking for a good set of creative presets then check out power workflow presets. This set has been months in the making and has some killer effects. If you like Lightroom you’ll like Power Workflow, and there’s also a video over there that shows them in action. Check it out.

Update… The issue we were having with the site seem to be resolved. All links should work now. If you have further problems feel free to contact.

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November 17, 2007

0

ProPhotoShow

Lightroom 1.3 update

lightroom logoLooks like adobe sent out the latest update to Lightroom. 1.3 for Mac or Win (a free update for LR owners) is now available on Adobe’s website.

It’s primarily a Camera Raw support update, and also gives compatibility for Leopard users.

Heres what John Knack said about the update on his blog…
Lightroom 1.3 improves compatibility with Mac OS X Leopard, fixes some bugs, and adds an option to render 1:1 previews during import.  New cameras supported in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and the DNG Converter include the following: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, Canon PowerShot G9, Nikon D3, Nikon D300, Olympus E-3, Olympus SP-560 UZ, and Panasonic DMC-L10.  The applications also now support the sRAW format produced by the Canon 1D Mk III, 1Ds Mk III, and 40D.

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November 17, 2007

0

Gavin Seim, news, ProPhotoShow

It's not a Podcast… It's a Broadcast!!!

It’s a BROADCAST everyone.
For the past year or so tech guru’s have been debating about what to call these internet shows that we produce. Podcast is a pretty bad name because it infers that the program is related directly to ipods, and it’s also an unknown word for many.

  • Scenario of you talking to a friend. (note that this a a simulation and people (especially girls) may still think your nerdy and uncool, even though you do a broadcast)

Yes I’m pretty in to technology. I also do a podcast about it.
What Friend is Thinking… What the heck is a podcast??? must be some little group of friends that he talks to.

Maybe this would be better.

Yes I’m in to technology, and I also do a weekly broadcast about it.
What friend is thinking… Cool this guy must be on his toes and have something going.

So what does Webster say??

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November 15, 2007

9

Gavin Seim, HDR Photography, Lighting, PPS Photography Tips, ProPhotoShow

How To Make An HDR Portrait. Behind The Scenes:

~ Check out Gavin’s 3 day HDR workshop coming Fall 2009. More details here.

So you’ve probably heard about HDR photography, and you may be wondering what you can do with it and why it’s so cool.
By Gavin Seim: This is not a short article but it will explain a lot about HDR photography and why its so amazing. Today we’re going to talk about the editing techniques I used to create “Look To The Wind” the bride on the beach image that you probably have heard mentioned on Pro Photo Show, and maybe seen on the net. Also below are some additional links for things relevant to HDR.

Link Resources>>

HDR is a method of taking multiple images and combining them in a high dynamic range file. Lets say you take three images of the exact same scene, at various exposure levels. Standard images are only around 8 bits each, basically meaning that their ability to correctly expose dark scenes while keeping bright scenes from getting overexposed is limited.

So to make an HDR you might take one image that’s underexposed, one image over, and one with correct exposure. Then using software you can combine the shadow and highlight details from all the images into a single image is called an HDR, It’s the combined bits of these images, and is usually a 32 bit image when converted. What does 32bit mean to you? It means it can contain far more light. Even though the actual resolution of the image is not increased the details inside it are much higher. The HDR Photography technique is most often done with nature or still life images, but I have been doing extensive experimenting with this technique in portraits as well with good results, as we’ll see today.

hdr example

So lets look at an example. In this image I took three shots of the bride on the beach using continuous shooting mode with auto exposure bracketing. This along with a model holding as still as possible, and a fairly wide angle scene made “Look To The Wind” Possible possible (click for a larger version) You can read more about HDR portrait techniques in my HDR portrait article.

There a a few ways to take the three images and make an HDR from them. First take your images in unedited raw form. You could do it with jpegs, but raw will give you the best results. Don’t correct the raw files before converting to HDR. There is a very basic tool in Photoshop for converting the images called Merge To HDR (File/Automate/Merge To HDR) This allows you to select you images, and it will combine them into and 32 bit image. You then can use tools to adjust the levels, and curves of the image mix to try and get a good result.

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