alan_d1

In certain situations, the LS still throws the subject's shadow on to the back wall. Most of the time, the shadow is reduced enough not to attract unwanted distraction in the image. If you look for it, it's there.

I like my Newton bracket and keep it on the camera despite having the LS.

Alan

Jose,

The current PS-CS2/ACR steals the spotlight from the rest. Any RAW converter can claim some superior function or quality over ACR. But none has the overall balance of quality and functionality that ACR offers. Combine that with the Bridge module, you have a super efficient workflow from digital content management to final output that's hard to beat.

Just a �2 from an ex die hard C1-Pro user.

Regards,

Alan

I've read that this bracket is more suitable for the paparazzi crowd for a couple of reasons:

- The flash element being more aligned with the film (or CMOS) plan, it would lit the subject more evenly and captures the features behind those sheer see through dress much more effectively.

- The comact size fits the hectic and physical shooting style of chasing celebs.

- Many photos I saw in pictures shoot portrait orientation with the shutter button flipped to the bottom side.

- These guys never have the camera mounted on a tripod.

Comes to think of it, if I can train myself to flip down instead of the normal way for portrait orientation, and have a second body for the formal stuffs, this bracket would make a great foundation for a hot PJ/candid shot set up.

Regards,

Alan

This may be a liitle late, but you can use for future event. set the flash metering from evaluative to average via the Custom Function menu. I got more consistent result with this mode.

Regards,

Alan

Hi Pedro,

Just a friendly caution from me. Your abreviation of the word Japanese may offend some reader out there. Just a thought.

Regards,

Alan

Noise at high ISO setting and slow response in real world performance rendered the Kodak the "Unrecommendable" status by one reputable reviewer. I forgot the source, though. It was a comparison between the 1D2 and the DCS.

Regards,

There are a couple basic principles to keep in mind when shooting with E-TTL flash:

- Shutter speed determines the background exposure.

- The E-TTL systems determines the subject exposure.

- The light /dark value under the active focus point affect the E-TTL metering.

I just want to mention a few things you can try in addition to the excellent advises you've already gotten from the other posters:

- Shoot in Av mode so you can control the DOF.

- Use higher ISO.

- Use the Exposure Compensation feature to control the background EV.

- Use the flash FEC to control the flash amount on the subject.

- Use a tripod.

- Watch the histogram and the preview, you should get exactly what you want after a few test shots.

Chuck Westfall stated that Canon has no plan to bring the black DRebel to the US.

Regards,

Here are links to some photos taken with the 300D using either the kit lens or the Tamron 28-75mm XR Di lens. The kit lens photos have fill in flash with the shutter dragged between 1/15 to 1/30 for the ambient light. The Tamron shots are handheld at ISO1600 no flash. The aperture of f2.8 really helped in capturing the clean images of the performers.

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4175628&a=31171163&f=

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4175628&a=31174743&f=

Regards,

Alan

Hi Scott,

The actual lightinng set up depends in the seating configuration. However, this is what I see at some pro-shops and labs:

- Use full spectrum neon lights at perimeter walls or directly above/behind the monitors for basic lighting. The neon tubes should be installed to be an indirect light source. A diffused light source provide better viewing of both the CRT and printed materials. The full spectrum neon light generates less heat (which is great for computer lab), has the correct light spectrum, and being used by many professional graphic srevice providers.

- Use a monitor visor to cut glare and preserve the CRT's contrast/luminance.

- Install a print viewing box with a color corrected light source or an OTT light at the workstation. This light provides higher light intensity for critical viewing of printed graphics.

- Install a non-reflective/neutral colored covering material on the walls.

- Calibrate the monitors monthly is about the best thing you can do to prolong the monitor's life, ensure what you see is what you print, and reduce the external lighting factor.

Regards,

Alan

You should have some idea what the settings are so you can experiment and get good results. The gist of sharpening is to increase contrast of light and dark pixels at the edges. By doing so, we preceive an increase of sharpness in the image. The settings of USM are...

AMOUNT: The amount of contrast to be increase.

RADIUS: The amount of pixels surrounding the edges to be included in the process.

THRESHOLD: The level of difference in light/dark value of involved pixels. For example, a threshold of 5 means you want only those pixels that have at least 5 times the brightness difference between each other to be used in the process.

Try starting out with a large AMOUNT of sharpening (80-300). Confine the process to the edge by setting RADIUS to~0.9-2 (you DO NOT need more than 3). Set the threshold to around 5 to protect solid areas, higher for skin complexion in protraits. Like other poster have said, each picture and final output require a different setting. CMYK publishing requires the most sharpening, next is photo printing, and last is web publishing.

My favorite sharpening method to prepare my images for photo printer is as follow:

- Prepare & retouch the image.

- Stamp visible to a new layer (create a new layer and press Sh+Ctl+Alt+E)

- Desaturate the Layer.*

- Apply Hi-Pass filter (1 to 3 works for me, experiment with your setting)

- Change layer blend mode to Overlay or Softlight.

- Create an action for the above steps (for a very mild sharpening)

- Run this action on any image requiring sharpening.

I like this process for the following reasons:

- The process is non-destructive to the image.

- You can stack the action for more sharpening.

- You can reduce the fill % for less sharpening.

- A combination of the above should give you the precise amount of sharpening that you want.

- You can select a copy of any of the R/G/B channel for the Overlay layer.

- You can use mask for fine tuning on the Overlay layer.

I usually copy & paste the red channel(*) into the Overlay layer. It has the least detail on skin complexion but plenty of other hard edges for the Hi-Pass filter to pick up.

Regards,

Alan