Limit the images you display to a small handful of your absolute best work..

So you have one of those shooting moments where you can do no wrong.  It's compete with the proverbial planetary alignment and you come home with gigabytes of the perfect image...the same perfect image...captured over and over...on high-speed burst, at 9 frames a second.   While my first thought is that you might want to be more selective with the images you are making (know when NOT to push the shutter release), storage is cheap these days and buried in the volumes of images are subtle changes in light, expression and detail that might make the wear and tear on your camera's shutter worth it after all..

However....

You don't need to share every one of those images.  Doing so will surely numb your audience.  Remember Chevy Chase in European Vacation?  Caught in the traffic circle round-about passing Big Ben...And Parliament..

What happens when you come across a web gallery or slide presentation with all images having a sameness?  Fast forward please!  PLEASE!  Run and hide!  Quick..I'm nodding off..  am I drooling?

Edit your work with ruthless precision and display only a small portion... the absolute best stuff. 

I just shot a Sweet Sixteen party for a client.  942 images.  The first cull got that down to half the number of images.  The second cull halved it again.  I am working down to the nifty fifty to send the client and then I'll get it down to under a dirty dozen to  upload to my website.  You can look at just so many 16 year kids dancing with feather boa's, Risky Business Wayfarers and...well you get the idea.. 

There's Big Ben, and Parliament...

Lightroom 3 beta 2 - Noise Reduction dialog simply rocks!

First chance I have had for extended play with the most recent beta 2 release of Lightroom 3 was this evening..  And WOW!  The speed is dramatically improved, the image quality is significantly improved and the noise reduction sliders simply rock!!  A gentle touch of Luminance slider followed with my normal sharpening routine, using the Sharpening Masking yields a wonderfully clean shadow area.

I do have to voice my nitpick.. I don't care for the new import dialog.  Maybe time will help, but it isn't to my liking.  And I forget to unplug my iPhone when launching the Import dialog, it takes forever to open.

Holy Smokes! Now THAT's a pool!!

Another incredible image from HDR guru Trey Ratcliffe.  Head over to his website StuckinCustoms for more of his work (and the hi-res version of the image below).  Not sure what is more engaging..the calmness of the water or the enveloping blue of the walls and ceiling..   Trey offers this tidbit about the indoor pool..."Here’s a cool fact about this pool.  Part of Hearst has now been gutted so there is room for the IT department.  The IT department uses the water from this pool to cool their equipment…  wild, eh?"  

Click the image for a larger version and the story..

 

(And if you think pool is cool, check out the library...)

More iPhone apps to improve your photography!

I have found I am using the iPhone for imaging more and more these days..   No, it hasn't replaced my D3, nor will I use it for birding..  But is it a great tool for documenting lighting setups for future reference, for making an image of a shooting location that was or might be particularly rich in photo opportunities and even for an occassional portrait or location shoot.  Here are a few more apps I find particularly useful...

Hit the jump for more...  (that's the Read More link below...)

High Dynamic Range image processing - Is it getting an undeserved bad rap?

High Dynamic Range photography, or “HDR” as it’s known by those familiar with the technique is basically the process of merging various exposures of a subject into a single “merged” image.  This merged image typically contains image fine detail in the extreme highlights, mid-tones, and shadow areas.

With a light touch, the technique gives photographers the ability to capture scenes that would be impossible to capture with a single exposure. For example, balancing scenes consisting of varying daylight and incandescent light sources. The technique essentially gives photographers the ability to represent in an image the dynamic range that we’re able to capture with our eyes but typically not with our cameras.

But with great power… (More after the jump...)

A fresh look

When evaluating your images after a shooting session or correcting a photo in post processing, be sure to take frequent breaks and come back later. Looking at your work with fresh eyes will let you see problems you might have overlooked.

Maximizing the iPhone's camera with some great apps

In my eyes, Apple has hit a home run with the iPhone.  Not too long ago I would not leave home without a cell phone, a palm pilot and a USB memory stick on me.  The iPhone has rolled all these devices into one.. and.. sports a pretty good digital camera as well.

Pretty safe to say that the best camera is the one you have with you, so being able to create and edit images using the iPhone's awesome display and then instantaneously upload and share images right from the iPhone changes the way we communicate and stay in-touch.  But gone are the days of crappy thumb-nail sized camera-phone images!!  The iPhone is an awesome camera and with the addition of a few simple and inexpensive apps we can document and share moments of magic with relative ease.  Here a just a few of my current favorite iPhone apps..


Snapture from Snapture Labs 

This is a multi-function app.  It has a burst mode that allows for three images to be taken in quick succession along with a leveling aid to help you align your horizons and some decent filter effects that allow for black and white captures, sepia or creative colorizing.  But my favorite feature stacks thumbnails of the images you capture off to the side of the display so you can review them before saving.  Or just tap the Snapture logo at the top of the screen to auto save them.

Includes integration with FaceBook and Twitter
Available in the App Store for $1.99.

PhotoGene from Omer Shoor 

There has a lot of hype around the PhotoShop iphone app but I was left cold with it's lack of features.  Seemed like Adobe had to get into the app game, but did a really weak job at it.  My heart skipped a beat when I purchased PhotoGene and found a true histogram, Levels and Exposure adjustments and sharpness filters.  This is my first stop for image post processing.

It includes the most robust set of instructions and tips I have seen on any app.   Not the cheapest app for post processing of images ($2.99 in the App Store) especially when the PhotoShop app is a freebie, but it is absolutely worth the few dollars.

GorillaCam by Joby 

This app is from the makers of very useful Gorilla Pod line of portable and flexible mini-tripods.. and there is now a model that is designed specifically for the iPhone called the GorillaMobile!

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite apps! 

Like many other camera apps it has a PressAnyWhere mode that makes the entire iPhone screen a shutter release so you don't have to hunt for the tiny release button Apple includes in their camera app, but it has a host of really cool, unique and useful features..  A bubble level and grid line overlays help with keeping your images straight and the grid adheres to the compositional guide called the Rule of Thirds.  There is a Self Timer feature, the three shot burst and the continuous unlimited rapid fire capture at 1.6 frames per second.  These features work best when combined with the GorillaMobile tripod to keep the phone steady.  But my favorite feature is the Time Lapse which can be set to capture up to 200 images hands free, with an interval of from one second to two minutes between captures!

I have few more apps that I find extremely useful for capture and editing iPhone images and helping with general photography.. stop back for the next install!!