first results 21mm

[rose_duclos]

Now that my camera has been cleaned/fixed - I can now use my new lenses that

hadn't been tried out.

 

I'm also attempting to use the photoshop elements program for doing edits -

during the first meeting of digital photography class - on friday - the teacher

spent a lot of time focusing on CS3 - but said that if we had Elements or

Lightroom at home, they would give some of the same basic features as CS3.

 

I have an older version of Elements (vs. 2) - and, it seems to look similar to

what I saw on the school version of cs3 - so, tried it out.

 

here are a few of the results from today's photo-effort.

 

Model: Papi (cat) with Dell laptop<div></div>

[rose_duclos]

another one - closer up...<div></div>

[rose_duclos]

or _ a real pose?<div></div>

[rose_duclos]

and finally - Just because Papi deserves a close-up... :)<div></div>

[ronald_moravec1]

Jay Arriach`s tutorials will serve you well.

 

In the end, Elements 2 is too basic. It`s biggest limitation is working in 8 bit only which

makes spotty areas when doing certain things. It does not handle raw files and Elements

does not support layer masking.

 

Elements 6 is a worthwhile upgrade.

[michael_kuhne]

Rose, why did you need any photoshop just to have photos of your cat?

 

Looks like the 21mm is serving well. It is especially good as a walk around lens, but this shows its versatility.

[michael_kuhne]

BTW try your new 43 Limited for the cat closeups too and see how that goes by comparison.

[mountainvisions]

I'd be interested if you explained what you did in photoshop? I think Mike was sort of asking that too (i think).

[michael_kuhne]

Right Justin. And the necessity of it.

[michael_kuhne]

I did notice right away that there is a different color cast with the first photo, compared with the others and assumed this was from natural lighting from a window and shooting the others at a later/earlier time in the day??

[mc2imaging]

Nobody noticed the last one is B&W? I figured that was an exercise in PSE.

 

Will PSE do adjustment layers?

[michael_kuhne]

I could never figure out this "layer" business. a photo cannot have a "layer" because it is 2 dimensional. A cake can have a layer. A photo can have an overlay of another image on top of it. I presume that misnomer is it??

[michael_kuhne]

Yes, grey cat and grey wall, but I should have noticed change in color of collar.

[rose_duclos]

funny thing is - I used the auto color feature - and, it pulled in the grey - but the wall is actually more a cream color. the silver lap top has a white rim. and the cat has lots of white on her.

 

Now, I was shooting the picture indoors - but set it for outdoor lighting because the room seemed bright enough, and I didn't have any lights on. But, the after affect - without doing the auto color fix - was more yellow toned.

 

I still need to learn a lot more about how to judge what lighting it is - when shooting indoors.

 

elements 2 does have some sort of layer effects - but I haven't learned how to use it yet. I'm hoping that the teacher will explain it so well in CS3 that it will cross over to every other layering software I ever need to use after this.

 

and - I took all the pictures at the same time - around 11? or noon.

 

As to why I need any type of p.s. - well, aren't You supposed to use a program on everything? - I thought that was the rule with digital photography. Must Use program - the more expensive the program the better - and even if there seems to be nothing wrong with the picture, you must do something to it - even turn it b&w - just to say you're some amazingly talented techno geek type. ;)

 

Seriously - I signed up for a digital photography class - and the first night - all he had us do was sit in front of a computer and talk about raw, jpg, tiff - and taking the best picture you can, so you don't have to play around as much with the computer... but still - it was 3 hours of talking what CS does. (it was kinda' boring.)

 

But probably that's because he got to a few simple fixes - talked about levels and cropping. - there wasn't anything to exciting, yet - nothing that I couldn't have done in Picassa.

[rose_duclos]

and - one more thing - the computers in class - macs. UGH! hate macs. they never seem to do what I want them to, and what would be wrong with showing all the screens open on the same window? ... this disappearing window - is such a security issue. I almost left class with my email still open.

 

Give me a pc any day. 12 weeks of mac - UGH!

[dogbert]

I've been using Elements 2 for about 4 years. It has plenty of power and it does support layer masking. It's biggest weakness is that it does not suppport curves, though a freeware pluggin for this can be downloaded from earthboundlight.

 

Rose I am not sure what is going on with your shots but they look quite soft to me.

 

That said I think your instincts on software are right. The best shots should need little if any correction on computer. To produce publishable quality stuff you need to get it 99 per cent right in the camera, with just a little bit of whitebalance, levels, curves, saturation and sharpening tweaking to finish off and make the shot "pop".

 

Its wrong to believe you can just shoot any old crap and then fix it with $600 worth of CS3 afterwards. While CS3 and elements provide heap of functionality, a lot of this is intened for graphic design use, not to correct inherently bad photos.

[mcmanamey]

all the screens open in the same window? ummmm.... we do....

what OS is the school running? What's a disappearing window? you have to tell em to go

away. Anywho, as far as not doing what you want - try thinking of the most simple way a

computer could something, and that's how the mac works.

 

here's one for my wish list: a great deal on a 14mm prime. I sure didn't think I needed one

until our Christmas Eve photo drive. Because we have a 35, I'm not sure what's to be gained

by getting a 21mm, but I'm starting to think 14mm is the next toy on the list!

[mcmanamey]

OH - and amen to do it in the freaking camera! and by that I mean, don't count on PS or

any program to save your shots, make em cool, or even to save a bad one!

 

I can't help myself, I'm going to show you some pictures from a local wedding (only)

photog. Now, normallly, I truly, honestly refrain from badmouthing any other photog to

anybody, even matt, because I know there's plenty I've done wrong. But I can't help it -

we've decided this guy falls into the "more talent than taste" category, especially when

photoshop is involved. I had to sort through 46 pages (15 pics per page) of online

portfolio to find the following three gems for your viewing... um.... pleasure.

 

I have to admit, I was rather stunned to find that he isn't showing off his "swirly" pictures -

ones that look like everybody's bodies and feet are going swirly down the toilet, with the

bride/grooms faces at the center of the whirlpool. ok, I'm not stunned. I'm kind of

saddened. Kinda makes us look a little classier, I think.<div></div>

[mcmanamey]

again - I want to make sure you know: THESE ARE NOT OURS!!!! Personally, I'd die of

embarrasment.<div></div>

[mcmanamey]

and the last one<div></div>

[mcmanamey]

In short, Rose - as long as your teacher isn't encouraging this kind of behavior from you -

then I think he's all right!

[morgan lee]

Rose, as someone who is in the market for Pentax lenses, I appreciate you giving us a preliminary report. As someone who loves cats, I appreciate the subject matter. Papi looks like quite a character. Why do they always need to "help" with computer work?

 

As far as software, CS3 is great to learn on because it is the industry standard and includes darn near everything but I think you will find out in the future you will not need something as pricey for what you specifically want to do with your photographs. Especially if you are only wanting to tweak them. There are lots of great picture editors for 1/3rd the price or even less.

[mountainvisions]

maybe I am wrong on this, but if a photo editor has layers, and blending options then it by default has "adjustment layers". What it doesn't have is masking options (sort of). So if you are doing specific edits to certain areas you will have to jump through a few hoops but the end result is similar or even the same.

 

An example of what I mean if I was usuing Elements and wanted to adjust contrast/saturation/highlight&shadow (you choose) on the sky.

 

I'd select the sky using the magnetic lasso tool, or magic selector if it's distinct from the background (sometimes haze makes the sky blend into the background, making magic selector a pain). I'd then select the + on the magic selector and select all the hues of blue (or orange or whatever the sky color is) in the sky.

 

I'd make a duplicate layer via copy (up to you whether to feather, will flock together) then I'd do my contrast adjustment (or whatever adjustment you have in mind on the sky, examples, saturation, or highlight shadow come to mind).

 

Then I can select the blending level I want to use, including the type of blend (multiply, softlight, etc), and merge them together.

 

Voila poor persons adjustment layers!!! I just saved you $600 if you're not a student or existing Adobe PS user.

 

The thing with photoshop (or digital editing in general) is there are multiple ways to get the same result. Often all are equally correct, occasionally some are better. The key, IMO, is to avoid working with hot pixels as much as possible. Now, in saying that, there is this 17 year old wiz kid who actually sells photoshop DVD tutorials, that are hard core serious editing stuff, that blows the average 30 year old PS addicts mind. This kid, oddly, uses hot pixels for most of his edits. problem with using hot pixels though is that backtracking means starting over for the most part. And if nothing else that is a good reason to use layers (or as mike calls them, overlays) vs. the base image

 

 

 

No need to thank me, just paypal me money to my email address. No amount is too small, I'll even take single peso's (american and mexican).

[andrewg_ny]

At the risk of offending any cats who might be reading this, perhaps that Dell ad should read 'so easy even a cat can use it'. Fortunately, cats are highly forgiving.

 

I imagine Rose's Mac OS complaint is that programs remain running even though you might not be able to see their main windows and Mac newbies may not notice the visual cues on the Dock, etc. In some ways the Windows Taskbar is a little more obvious about showing which programs are running.

 

I don't think all layering systems are created alike. The thing I've seen in PS adjustment layers that appears to be absent in many other programs (like Gimp, possibly PSE as well?) is that you can go back and change the adjustment on-the-fly and the layers above it will incorporate this change. For example you might have a contrast adjustment layer and a channel mixer layer. You can tweak each layer separately and repeatedly while seeing the effects of both.

 

Rose, the EXIF capture information appears to have been stripped from your images but it looks like those are all pretty soft, probably a little camera shake but possibly focussing issues as well. What shutter speed? Will you start shooting RAW? I had resisted for quite a while before I decided to take the plunge and now when I go back to JPEG I find the more limited editability of JPEGs disappointing.

 

I think there is a common misconception that 'you can always fix it on the computer'. Once somebody sees what you can do--like editing something out or compositing something from another image--then they think you can do it all the time. It usually is MUCH quicker with better results to capture it correctly the first time. It's a lot of work (and even more for people like myself with modest PS skilz) to make something look real that isn't. Who has the time to do that on every shot?

[rose_duclos]

Maria, you take such 'interesting' pictures. (just kidding)

 

One person's vision of art is different than another's but, yes - I will agree with you that the pictures you've posted above are tasteless - especially for a wedding album.

 

Justin - I shall have to read your message 5 or 6 times and try to figure what it means - with the program open in front of me. Dig. Photography class or not - it was only the first meeting - please don't think that I'm a techno-geek after 3 hours of computer discussion...

 

I am what I am, and that's all I am. ;)

 

I have a friend here at work who is really good with PHotoshop - she does layers and textures and turns portraits into peices of art. I've watched her do this once and I was amazed at how -unlike photography - it can be - taking on a look of rennaisance painting, more than photo.

 

I didn't understand a tenth of what she was doing - but it was interesting to watch.