I haven't posted for a really long time...

I've been really busy. Which is a good thing! I read Stacy's post about how

the year has gone for everyone but I never said anything. I think I had a

great year. I raised my prices waaaay up, booked fewer, but far nicer

weddings (and clients). I've also been having fun doing out of the ordinary

things for people and friends who are starting to get my name out. I did a

phtoo shoot of some horses that were being judged and it was really fun! I

also did a few things for different church groups. I also shot a ton of

Homecoming pictures last month. That was a lot of unexpected income! So

anyways, even if things don't go quite as expected I don't think that's a bad

thing at all! Here's to the new year and everyone reaching their goals and

flying by them! Oh, and here is the link to Rachel and Matt's wedding if you

want to take a peek. Cheers!!

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<a href="http://www.colleendonovan.com/userfiles/Slideshows/rachelslideshow"

>Rachel and Matt's Slideshow</a>

Colleen - sorry to be a technical fart, but can you slow down teh slideshow? seems pretty fast for my taste.

 

also, I don't want to burst your bubble, but are you uploading your files in sRBG? they look flat and seem to lack contrast IMHO...

Hi Conrad, Which profile is better to save your files as to make the contrast and colors pop? I didn't realize that saving files as sRGB was the cause of making an image flat. I have the same problem with the images on my slideshows ShowItWeb takes my beautiful bold colorful images and mades them flat and dull, but I thought it was due to the massive compression that the program does to the images.

 

Is there a better way to save the file to make the colors stand out a little better? Any insite would be greatly apperciated!

I can field this one, as it took me a long time to figure out.

 

Convert to sRGB

Then to go file->save for web

 

Then right click on the image, and select "standard window colour".

 

Then if you open the photo up in a non colour space aware program (ie Internet Explorer, irfanview), what you see will match what you see in Photoshop.

Yeah you should slow down the slideshow

Change the website, for somebody who is charging $3200 you should afford something better. I would suggest bludomain.com

 

I love your work, you are worth every peny of what you are charging.

So if you don't upload in sRGB then upload in what?

 

What i've been doing is using sRGB straight from RAW. Convert it to TIFF and then for slideshows just convert it to JPEG. What does the Save For Web function do that makes it look nicer?

Most people process RAW photos as 16 bit tiff files using a wide gamut color space such

as Adobe 1998 in order to maintain as much data as possible prior to any further steps

like printing and/or web presentation.

 

Inkjet printers generally are 8 bit, and web images have to be compressed jpgs or another

compressed format which are also 8 bit. Further more, web images need the wide gamut

color space like Adobe 1998 reduced down to a narrower color gamut like sRGB.

 

If you have tif images in one color space such as Adobe 1998, you can convert them to

sRGB. "Converting" doesn't alter what you see ( well, it does, but it's generally difficult to

see that much difference on screen ).

 

"Save for Web" does nothing except save for web. I stopped using it long ago because of

the unpredictability I saw on different sites I uploaded to. I now just select a web size and

convert larger RGB tifs to sRGB jpgs.

 

For converting a lot of images for web presentation you can use programs like the Image

Processor in PSCS2 Bridge. It will reduce any number of RAW or tiff files to jpeg

compression based on the size and quality you select, and has a box you can check to

convert all those files to sRGB. There are also other web presentation programs that

automate those tasks like the Image Processor.

So how do you accurately adjust the colors of a color space larger than is possible to see with your monitor? Or are all of you using $5000+ monitors? Which is what it costs to get a monitor that can see the complete Adobe RGB colorspace.

Hi Colleen! You rock!!!!!

 

I'm so proud of the direction you've taken your business! I'm glad you're constantly

growing and changing and doing new things.

 

A couple thoughts about sRGB and Adobe RGB: Adobe is said to have a greater color

range. HOWEVER, most small photo labs (Wolf Camera, or the 1-hours) and some

professional labs aren't setup to print with the Adobe RGB profile. If you will be providing

your clients with digital negatives, you might want to provide them with sRGB files, which

will provide more accurate color on their home printer or local photo lab.

 

Also, sRGB shouldn't be affecting your slideshow colors. The web shows sRGB files MUCH

more accurately than Adobe RGB files. Probably your slideshow software is recompressing

the files to a lower quality, which is making them a little flatter. (For a speedy-licious

slideshow, I thought they looked great! And I really like it that the photos move through

rather quickly.)

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, my WPJA friend!!!!!!!!!!

"So how do you accurately adjust the colors of a color space larger than is possible to see with your monitor? Or are all of you using $5000+ monitors? Which is what it costs to get a monitor that can see the complete Adobe RGB colorspace."

 

I think there is only one monitor in existence that has the gamut of Adobe RGB and it's expensive and not worth it IMO. After reading three color management books, using large profiles, soft proofing, converting for web and print, and all that, I've dumbed my workflow down to just using sRGB. It's a lot simpler. There aren't a lot of colors outside of the sRGB gamut for event/wedding work anyway. And if there are, you'd need to softproof in Photoshop and all that which is a pain. More people get in trouble doing it than not. Keep it simple!

 

Now, please realize that browsers (outside of Safari) do NOT read embedded color profiles or know anything about them. This is a bad thing, but it's how it is. Images converted to sRGB look better not because your browser is displaying it as sRGB, but because sRGB's gamut is closer to your monitor's. So it's a must to convert to sRGB regardless. For an experiment, take the same image and save one copy as Adobe RGB and one as sRGB. Then open it with your browser and you'll see the difference. Then open them both with Photohop. In Photoshop they will look the same, since Photoshop respects color profiles, unlike browsers (except Safari).

 

I don't use "save for web" or the image processor (since it doesn't sharpen and uses bicubic whatever you have for your default). I just created a really simple action to convert an image to sRGB, size it to 600 in the long dimension, apply a USM of 150, 0.3, 0, and save. After I have all my finished files, I just run this action to create my web pics. I find that USM of 150, 0.3, 0 works pretty well for images at that size (400x600 or 600x400).

 

Bogdan

it's so good to see you again! *I think it's so funny how when someone posts it's like

seeing a friend while you're out somewhere! I just went up on 2007 prices as well.....I'm

getting a website built, *although I do love a bludomain site!* I was nervous but my first

2007 client signed on and I was soooo excited. I know I'm worth that....and funny, you are

one of the people who helped me realize that. No more giving away digital negatives for

me! They'll have to pay big time! :o)

Keep up the good work. I'd love to do homecoming stuff.... did you advertise or just word

of mouth? I love the idea!

Happy Thanksgiving Colleen! And keep posting...I for one love it when you do! Do you

have a blog?

Take Care girl! Casey

found your blog....you're on my bookmark bar, along with awesome photographs! How cool.

Slideshows are for fun. They move fast to keep the veiwers attention. Besides, after it's over you can look through the gallery at each picture for as long as you want.

Technical critique has nothing to do with emotions.. Although it is sometimes used as an outlet.

I get why you want it fast, but if you want it this fast you need a pause button so I can pause whenever I want to blink. I missed like 30%.

But they are looking good, they'll be very happy! Keep it up.

Thanks for posting.

I enjoyed your slideshow but even more so I enjoyed your enthusiam for the upcoming year. I have never posted a response to you before....but that doesnt mean that I am not familiar with your incredible work!! (stalker???) This just seemed an appropriate time to say good luck, congratulations...and job well done...very well done.

 

Corri

Hi Colleen,

 

It's good to hear from you! I loved your enthusiasm and the slide show. I didn't think it was fast. It's a slideshow! The only suggestion I can make is to program the show so the images end with thumbnails not with the replay. I find some people don't know you supposed to hit the thumbnail icon if you want to view the images. I now do it this way. Your work improved allot and it shows in your last wedding! Happy Thanksgiving! I too would like to think I am close on reaching my goals to become a successful wedding photographer. I opened my business 7 months ago, so far very lucky with great weddings and more coming next year. Except few assignments I don't shoot news anymore but do miss it. I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for helping me and others with your postings. I feel like I know you! Cheers!

Hi Collen

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

I like your slide show. I think it keeps pace with the music that you picked. Also the colors looked fine to me.

 

If you have not posted in a while you might want to read the new users agreement. Posting images to this site means you give them the right to use your images.As they see fit and for as long as they want to use them.

 

Just a little heads up.

 

Michael

 

Moderator note: Michael - that is a literal interpretation and is not correct. PN is not at all interested in using member photos.

Colleen, I noticed that the slides pretty much change on the beat, with the music. That's a cool synchronisation to have. I've never seen anyone do that before.

Well, on the accents in the music, now that I think about it. If anyone wants to be pedantic. :)

You have to remember that older folks (like me) aren't so used to the faster pace of images that younger people are used to. Mark--the transition on beats is a feature of the ShowIt slide show software, although you can do that as well with other slide show software packages, just not as easily. The ease of using motion effects is also a feature of the software. I would also suggest giving a more graceful fade out of the music when the show ends.

Might be because I have a new computer, but yes, the slideshow is WAY too fast. About a 1/4 of the pictures I didn't even see. Looks like you are really a good photographer, and the world would certainly like to see your pics, so I hope you will slow it down, and not just think people are complaining.

Hi Colleen! Nice slideshow! I did not think it was too fast at all. There are a couple of transistions that are pretty speedy, but working quite a bit with showit, thats part of the deal. You put in slideshow filler images for the quick transitions. Happy Thanksgiving!!

I'd suggest saving your files in aRGB and then converting to sRGB as needed for web and print.

 

The reason is simple.

 

Our image files should be given forward to the bride and groom with longevity in mind; that's one of the reasons they hire us.

 

It's more than possible that the future brings us software and hardware that lives and breaths a wonderful aRGB colorspace. We must pass along or have copies of the weddings we do for clients in aRGB for longevity and sRGB for current prints and web use.

hmmmm, don't you folks find that sRGB files open in IE or irfanview doesn't match sRGB files opened in Photoshop, especially subtle skin tones? If you don't believe me, try it yourself. Take a photo and make 3 versions. One with aRGB, one with sRGB, and one with sRGB->save for web->standard window colour, then open all 3 up in IE, then compare that to the aRGB file in photoshop and see which one is the dead on match.

Colleen, you rock and your work gains merrit with each new shoot.

 

Glad to hear you doing so well. May you have a great coming year filled with lots to be thankful for.

 

Best, D.