Wednesday at the Studio
Welcome
March. Already.
Yesterday we attended a Russian festival - our
daughter was performing a dance as a showcase for EBT
- the artistic director is from Russia and danced for
the Bolshoi - so her roots are deep in the Russian
community here in Seattle. This was a short
performance, to a Chopin piece, mostly to inspire the
crowd to send their Russian girls/boys to learn to
dance at EBT.
She did a great job. Here is a picture from that
piece...
Here is another EBT dancer doing a more modern
piece...
Printing
I just found out I'll be traveling again next week. I
had plans to do a studio shoot with Viktoria
(artistic director of EBT) next week, but it looks
like I'll have to postpone it for another week. March
is already jam packed with scheduled shoots, travel
and a mix of other important happenings. Wait, its
March? Wow.
I spent a few hours in the studio yesterday and
captured a few images I'm quite happy with.
Lightroom Freebies
I found a nice tutorial on printing in Lightroom from
Matt at the APLRKT blog...
I use Lightroom to print most of my personal and client work to an Epson inkjet. At times, however, its nice to have a lab to print your stuff to. I've used WHCC and had mixed results - output has been great, but they did nail me with a 5 day delay before Christmas that really hurt my deliver before Christmas goal.
Exploration can be Good
Here are a few Lightroom things I've run across in
the past few days:
-
Adobe Lightroom - Getting Started (PDF) - Available in Low (5.4 MB) and High (64 MB) resoultion files
-
Free Develop Presets - a selection of links to various free Lightroom develop presets (I have not looked at all of these yet, so YMMV)
-
Web Galleries - a Horizontal Scroll web gallery from Sean McCormack. These are quite the rage...
In Mind
Sometimes you need to step outside what you are doing
and play with something. Here is a small series of
pictures from last year that were shot with a bad
lens. On purpose.
I ordered this knock-off Leica lens from a russian
seller about 6 or 7 years ago. It wasn't the right
lens (I had ordered a collapsible 50) and the first
roll thru demonstrated a big problem - a lens element
had come unattached somehow and was causing havoc. I
was nothing less than thrilled. There was no way it
was going back.
I've used this lens a few times, but never been very
serious about exploring what it can do. Last year, as
part of a dance project with Ballet Bellevue, I put
that lens on and shot some dance pictures as part of
the larger project. I've done likewise several times
over the past year, but the results never really
seemed to fit into the larger set - they didn't feel
like they belonged.
Today I saw them in Lightroom as I was browsing. A
few tweaks and I was very happy. Here are a few...
An interesting effect - and they work great in color. I especially like the middle photo - I'm drawn to vertical compositions these days (80% of my shots are vertical for some reason) and this one works for me. Time to dig out that Fed lens... Cheers!
Speaking of Dance
Lightroom is an 80-95% solution for photographers.
Most of the time, you can import, tag, edit and
output your images right from Lightroom and forgo the
multi-app shuffle that was so prevalent before 2007.
However, there are times when you need to do some
heavier lifting (read: compositing, local corrections
such as dodge/burn, HDR, Panoramas etc.). Most
realize that Photoshop CS3 is an indispensable tool
for this type of work, and many photographers who
have Lightroom also have Photoshop (and many came
from Bridge/Photoshop to Lightroom).
Photoshop CS3 gives you an extra set of tools that I
find sometimes useful in a small percentage of my
work. Thankfully, Lightroom has a few options for
round-tripping your images from Lightroom to
Photoshop and back and it looks like George Jardine
(our pro evangelist and podcaster extraordinaire) has
posted another tutorial that covers the "Edit in
Photoshop" workflow. Highly recommended.
This tutorial can be downloaded from his iDisk
at:
http://idisk.mac.com/george_jardine-Public?view=web
You can also subscribe to it in iTunes. Just search for Lightroom in Apple's podcast directory.
Lightroom Podcast
I ran across a post by Joe McNally, a well known
photographer, talks about his affinity for dance
photography.
Read it here
I liked this part here best:
"Put a dancer in front of my lens, and Joe be happy
monkey. I feel a real affinity for dancers, actually,
because, just like photographers, they are hard
working, creative and underpaid."
Dance Photography
Dance is something I got sucked into a few years ago
when my daughter started pirouetting her way across
the marley.
She had been talking about it since she could talk
and she was pretty sure of herself. She spent most of
those early years in a tutu or some form of
ballet-related costume. Here is a picture of her at
her two-year old birthday party, appropriately
garbed.
My wife had danced as a child, and was still doing so
when I met her in 1991. I loved picking her up after
her dance classes, although I was much to silly to go
in and actually watch. It took a few more years to
develop a taste for it myself. When we moved to the
Seattle area, my wife went off on a quest to find a
studio that could teach our budding dancer. She
didn't want a
rinky-dink dance studio in the
strip mall
- you know the kind that teach ballet, hip hop, jazz,
clogging and every other dance under the sun - all
with the inherent cuteness, but with mediocrity at
the center. She wanted something more, although the
idea of PNB (the giant gorilla of the area) was a bit
overwhelming. So she stumbled across a small studio
in Bellevue that had an interesting pedigree - a
small studio, very intimate, with an artistic
director who had danced at the Bolshoi (the big
gorilla of the world). It was small, unassuming, and
mostly run by volunteers and people who cared about
dance. And better yet, Viktoria (the artistic
director) was just what we were looking for- someone
with real training and connections that could really
make a difference if Chloe decided dance was for her.
So Chloe started at 4 years of age - on her birthday
no less. I took pictures of her, here and there, but
never was able to get the access or the time to do
more. As Chloe grew, it became more important to her.
Happily, this little ballet studio was really focused
on performances (even if they couldn't publicize them
very well) and Chloe began racking up the stage time.
And solos. She was in heaven. At some point, my wife
approached me about doing a bit more with the studio
(she was on the board of directors by then) and after
some negotiations, I started shooting weekly
sessions. First with my daughter's class and then
with the rest of the classes. It was inspiring,
beautiful and enjoyable. I'm very happy with the
results of that year long project. You can see this
work here:
Well, as you know, things can go awry. Soon after I
stared my project, Viktoria and that little studio
had a schism. Silly stuff really, but it mainly
focused around respect. So she left to form her own
studio. We decided that, while we loved that little
studio, that we really needed to follow Viktoria as
she was able to provide the training Chloe needed. So
we did. And that was the birth of
Emerald Ballet
Theatre.
The new studio has grown over the past year. I've
done a lot of work for them and have enjoyed
myself even more. My work has become an important
part of the studio - from the walls, to the
website, to the posters and advertising. That and
I'm there a fair amount and have gotten to know
many of the dancers. Its great to know these
beautiful girls and see them developing their
talent and at the same time providing a wonderful
little community for my daughter. She loves it and
is up to 8 hours a week. Seriously. We are so
proud of her and her accomplishments. You can see
the work here:
We still miss the old studio. There was some wonderful people there, and it was a sad day for us to leave, but it was the right decision. EBT is growing and I'm loving the work I do in the dance studio. If you have some time, explore the galleries linked to above. Cheers!
EBT Images
George Jardine has posted another in his excellent
series of Adobe Lightroom podcasts - this time in a
very though provoking interview with Gregory Heisler.
Its a highly recommended listen. Gregory, who I have
the pleasure of meeting a few years back at a
Seth Resnick
workshop,
discusses a broad range of topics (from gaining
one's own style to his digital conversion) and I'm
sure it will resonate highly with working
photographers who have had to face this
reshuffling of the deck.
You can subscribe to the podcast or by searching for it in iTune's podcast directory. George's podcast is a wealth of knowledge - containing information on Lightroom techniques, discussions with industry insiders, Lightroom team members and working photographers as they talk of their art. It is a great, free resource for getting to know your craft.
DNG & Lightroom News
Minnestoa!
Happy Birthday Lightroom!
One year ago we shipped version 1.0 of Lightroom.
Since then we've had 3 releases and added some major
new features - all for free. February 19th apparently
has an interesting pedigree, as discussed on
Photoshopnews.com...
Tom Hogarty also covers this on the Lightroom blog. As a follow up to my earlier discussion of the benefits of DNG, it looks like Tom also posted an interesting article here that I'd missed.
More Screensavers
I'm in Minnesota this week for work. It is *freezing*
outside! I forget how cold it can get. I like to walk
to the office in the morning and its quite a reminder
of my childhood in Canada.
Feels like, indeed. On the Lightroom front, there is
a new Lightroom book for professional photographers.
I have not had a chance to read it yet, but it might
be interesting. Drop me a line if you have read it.
Here is a review:
Lightroom for Professional
Photographers
Here
is are a few pictures from the recent past:
EBT Screensaver Available
I've added two new screensavers to the
download
page. These new screensavers contain 20 images each
and are a great way to appreciate fine fotography and
save your LCD from ghosting at the same time.
Screensaver 1 - Black & White
The first is a compilation of my black and white
work.
Gallery.
Screensaver 1 - Color
The
second is a compilation of my color work.
Gallery
Each screensaver runs in demo mode until registered. Registering the screensaver costs a mere $10 and will open the screensaver to display all 20 images. Sadly, these screensavers are currently Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and Vista compatible only. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a decent, affordable Mac screensaver application. Hopefully that will change soon, but until then...
Client Work & Updates for EBT
I've added a screensaver of EBT images to the
download
page.
Emerald Ballet Theatre - Screensaver 1
This screensaver is Windows only (sorry Mac people - there isn't a good screensaver creation tool for the Mac that I could find - and yes I'm a Mac person) and is about 72 MB in size. The screensaver is shareware - it will show only 5 images until you register it. After registration you'll see a selection of EBT images - for a total of 150 images in all. Many of these images have been on display at EBT, used in the studio's marketing and publicity materials and online in our EBT galleries. Registration is only $10 and will brighten any monitor. All proceeds from your screensaver purchase go directly to EBT. There are options to buy a downloadable copy, or for those who recoil at a 72 MB download, you can purchase a CD version for the same cost (plus a nominal shipping charge). Thanks.
New Emerald Ballet Theatre Galleries
Spent the morning retouching and printing a series of
pictures for a client, and wanted to share some of
the results here...
I also spent yesterday printing out a grouping of 11x14 images to hang at Emerald Ballet Theatre. This will be my first hanging of color work at the studio - all taken from the two new galleries (galleries 15 and 16 respectively) posted yesterday. Peruse them if you get a chance, and if you are EBT, make sure to take a look at the new prints I'll be hanging today. Cheers!
Lightroom Tutorials
I've posted two new
Emerald Ballet
Theatre
galleries to my portfolio pages.
These two galleries encompass about 60 new images in
total. You'll notice that there are an increasing
number of color images as of late. I've been moving
toward some color interpretations lately - and I've
been enjoying the results.
Please peruse these two galleries and enjoy.
Danced & Infared
Adobe has a wealth of online Lightroom tutorials for
your educational pleasure. Tutorials are a great way
to either get into a new piece of software or a way
to inspire those already using it by showing them
best practices from the experts.
For the new user:
For the existing user looking to hone his
understanding of the program:
There are plenty of other resources at the Photoshop LIghtroom Design Center. Have a look if you are interested in "uppin' your lightroom game", as it were...
Speaking of Learning and Lightroom, I should I remind you, if you are in the Greater Seattle area, you can take advantage of having yours truly custom tailor a Lightroom solution for your specific workflow at a very affordable price.
More from the Studio
Another picture as I sort thru some images shot
before all my traveling adventures...
Sean McCormack (from
Lightroom
News)
has a great article on creating Infrared
photography in Lightroom.
Have a great day.
How to be Creative & More Henry Coe
Lightroom Previews & Henry Coe State Park
A Photo Editor
today gives us a one point summary on how to be
creative. Amen Brother.
A case in point: an interesting take on Oscar
celebrities from the New York Times Magazine (also
from APE)...
Finally, here is a larger gallery from my Henry Coe
Trip, including a series of landscape photographs
(something I don't do much of) that capture some of
the special beauty found in that great California
State Park.
Have a great day.
Supplication and DNG
On the personal work front, I got back from San Jose
yesterday (early as it turns out - I managed to get
standby on a flight 6 hours before I was expected -
which makes for a happy wife) and just started going
thru my pictures from a weekend backpacking in
Henry Coe State Park.
Henry Coe State Park is an
wonderful place, located less than an hour from
the Bay Area and consisting of more than 80
thousand acres of prime wilderness. I've been
backpacking and hiking there since 2000 when I
discovered it, and its come to be one of my
favorite places to get away from the bustle of
Silicon Valley.
The sad thing is, the Governor of that great state is
proposing to shutter Henry Coe (along with 48 other state
parks) as a cost saving measure. It really
saddens me when we have billions of dollars to
fight unnecessary wars and yet we can't adequately
fund our state parks. Henry Coe really does not
get used like it should by the nearby residents -
people in that blighted place tend to sit in front
of their bloody computers instead of getting
outside and communing with nature. Its nice,
because you get the park to yourself, but its also
sad for obvious reasons.
So I really made an effort to get there after my
weeks work and was richly rewarded. Henry Coe hiking
is characterized by ups and downs. Mostly ups. The
views are epic - rolling hills, old trees, expansive
meadows and sweeping ridge-lines. The trails are
punishing on the weak - they generally go straight up
and down, as if switchbacks were anathema to those
who settled the area.
Here are a few pictures from the trip that capture
some of this majesty (gallery to come):
As an aside, I just put 8 more GB of Ram in my Mac. Yowsza! What an upgrade.
Liam
Just another day in the development of Lightroom...
Ok, so it was just a setup - a joke if you will -
playing on the funny relationship designers and their
engineering counterparts go thru daily to bring you
good (and sometimes not so good) software.
Moving on to the question of DNG.
I get asked that a lot by photographers wondering why
they should convert their proprietary raw files to
Adobe's DNG standard. The answer is fairly easy: its
free, its open and its archival. I convert all
pictures (well at least the ones not coming native
DNG from my M8) to DNG as part of the import process
in Lightroom. It takes a bit of extra time, but it
ensures your pictures will be readable in the future,
which is the reason many important workflow gurus
suggest likewise. On the Adobe Creative Suite podcast
this week, Terry White covers this "To DNG or not to
DNG" question...
So, in short, convert to DNG and be happy. Its self-contained, its archival and it saves you space, and if you are smart and do it as you import images, the process is automatic.
Photoshop Elements -> CS3 for $299
Note the blue dye and soccer paraphernalia - he was done to the nines in support of his brother.
In related news, we found
out this week that my oldest son Aidan moved up to
the B team for U-12, which makes him the only boy to
move from the C team up. He's super proud and super
excited to get going with a new season. We are a bit
sad to be moving to a new team in some ways - we had
a great experience with the previous group of
kids/parents - and they will be missed.
So to all you BU-12 Blue people, congrats and thanks
for a great season. Good luck with 2008.
Portraits
Found on the Photography Bay blog.
Must be taken care of
thru the Adobe store. The offer expires
2/29/08. Pretty good deal if you need Photoshop
CS3 (a great upgrade to an already great program).
And yes, you need Lightroom as well. It makes you
faster, smarter and more organized.
Creative Dance
I ran into an interesting 3 part discussion on the Epic Edits blog regarding Image Management - the author talks about Lightroom and other image management tools.
My wife got a new haircut this past weekend, and
before I left, I had a chance to shoot a few
pictures...
