digital questions

[jody_garcia]

I will be returning back to the event & wedding business sometime

this year. I am bascially set up for film, (EOS3-7N-Rebel G) but I

am looking into digital. With film I know I can expose the film,

send it out for process & proofs, and load a proof album. With the

exception of the cost of the film and film processing what is the

major advantages of using digital? How do you do the proofs? and how

much time to you need to spend in Photoshop before presenting final

prints? I quess what I am asking is if I know my lab can provide me

with decent proofs and prints from my negs will I be able to get the

same results handing them a memory card?

[Ed_Ingold]

If you shoot consistently and accurately, there's no reason you need to do a lot of processing on digital images. However, its often better if you do.

 

It's best to underexpose with digital, to avoid blowing highlights. It's easy to lighten the images. If you're consistent, you can record a batch automation action to fix up your images, including white balance, exposure and anything else you can do in photoshop. As with film, it's often better to be consistent than to be right (whatever right is).

 

In general, you will want to at least transfer your images from card to disc, and take the disc to the processor. If you shoot in JPEG or TIFF mode, the processor can take the card directly, or even images copied to a disc, with or without processing. If you shoot in RAW mode, you will have to convert the images to TIFF or JPEG (preferred) first. Again, this conversion can be a batch process.

[jonathon]

...this could be an interesting topic! In order to weigh up the costs I think you first need to put a value on your time. Then you can compare the time in Photoshop against the film costs. Also remember that there is an initial outlay for Photoshop, a decent PC and other hardware. So going through your questions:<br>

1) Proofs: I know Marc prints out contact sheets on an Epson inkjet, but I quite like getting 6x4s done and presenting them in a box. They can write notes on the back, lay them out on a table etc.<br>

2) How much time: Once you understand a little how Photoshop works, you should do around 100 shots per hour to a good proof quality. Some people just run an action to convert RAW to jpg with auto levels and they're done after culling out the duds. But if you spend a little more time looking at each one quickly and applying any fixes, I think 100/hr. You will get a fair bit quicker as you know what you like. Better proofs take more time so people's tradeoffs will vary.<br>

3) the lab: this is part of the time issue. Labs aren't that great (generally) of making good proofs straight out of camera, in part because people now have so much control of the image themselves that their standards have been raised. If you were a very consistent shooter, you could shoot in jpg as opposed to RAW, set up your camera to the levels of saturation and contrast you like, and theoretically get quite good proofs from the lab. Labs generally won't print from RAW (at least in my area). This means people generally shoot RAW, do some post processing (especially with colour matching their monitor and the lab's printer), burn a CD of jpgs, drop that off to their favourite lab and get excellent output.

[andrew_kendall]

I simply have not got enough experience, but I would have thought that digital has the advantage of being able to offer immediate presentation, not with proofs, but via monitors, either a laptop, TV or 42" plasma screen hired for the evening. A constant slideshow running in some reception ante-room. There must be photographers who do this, surely. Apologies for going off at a tangent.

[fotografz]

All I can do is share on going experiences with clients.

 

When I switched from 4X6 proofs to providing 13X19 contact sheets of a DVDs contents,

client feedback was very positive. This way the images never got out of

order, select proofs were never removed or lost by relatives, and it was extremely easy to

locate a desired image because the images are organized on the sheet in the order they

were shot during the wedding day. Each image has the progressive number under it with a

designation prefix which tells me what camera was used.

 

For those who sell prints afterwards, such a "Contact Sheet" provides images big enough

for clients to select from, but not big enough to copy on their own. In addition, one can

leave all images in their RAW Updated form and a contact sheet can be made without

converting a single image to Tiff or J-peg file formats ... because the PSCS allows a Contact

Sheet II to be made directly from RAW files opened in the Browser.

 

Here is what our basic package looks like. There are 5 DVDs/CD-ROMS accompanying the

contact sheets. 2 DVDs contain 260 corrected, high resolution Tiffs as a master. There is 1

CD-ROM with all images reduced to J-Pegs for prints up to 8X10 and internet reduction.

Another CD-ROM has all J-Peg images converted to B&W. A 5th DVD has an "iMovie" slide

show with music using 100+ images that can be played on a computer or the client's TV.

 

IMO, this is a modern approach that today's more computer savvy, DVD player owning,

client responds to well. They love looking at the images on a big TV screen, and the

visual/music presentation rips their heart out ; -)<div></div>

[jonathon]

Marc, niiiice. So what happens then? Do you sit around with a client pick the best images and go back to make up a magazine style album, or sometimes are the proofs and disks the final product?

[fotografz]

This one above is the completed contract package the client chose. They may exercise the

option to secure an album later. If they do, I can print and assemble it, or we can send it

off to someone like Forbeyon. In either case, I pick the images for the album.

[rich_taylor____mequon__wi]

Marc,

 

Are the images that are converted to b&w (for the CD-ROM)individually converted with channels or do use a grayscale conversion? If individually converted, how much time does that for 260 images?

 

BTW, thanks for sharing your ideas. It is very valuable.

[fotografz]

Rich, I have a inexpensive program called "Picture The Batch" that does it all in minutes. I

convert just 3 or 4 different shots and hit the B&W button. I then look at those and refine

the adjustments, then do all 200 + conversions in the background while I do something

else.

[movingex]

Do you use some type of royalty free music or do you use music from known artists from a

CD that you purchased from a music store like Virgin Records?

 

Thanks!

[fotografz]

In my business there are outlets for using royality free libraries. You have to pay for the

search time, but I then add them to my own library.