lostfx

Hi, guys!

 

What do you think about this notebook? It seems pretty decent for

running Photoshop CS2, since it has AMD Turion. I mean to use it only

as a portable solution.

 

DD

Hi, Guys!

 

I have a problem and I don't know what to do about it.

I have a flash website. When I import JPEG picture (that looks great

by itself ) to my Flash website, it automatically degrades the

quality. Is there any way how to prevent this from happening?

In other words, when I look at the picture thru the website, the

quality degrades. It looks like being recompressed at lower quality

settings.

 

Thank you.

 

DD

Yes, get the KVM cable or KVM switch. I even heard that there is a one that can be programmed based on the key combination on your keyboard, but don't ask me for exact model number. I just heard of it from the friend of mine, who is running 3 computers on 3 monitors in multimon setup, but he uses regular KVM switch.

 

DD

Thank you guys. I will try your tips. I was really strugling yesterday with my photos where I had pretty decent skin tone and contrast and once I converted the picture to JPEG, it totally degraded the quality. And as you mentioned, it applies to Black and White pictures, they completely lost the depth.

 

Dusan

Hi, guys!

 

I have a problem. Here is what I do. I open a picture in RAW thru ACR

and after all the corrections I open it in Photoshop as a JPEG or

TIFF with sRGB colorspace (16 bit). After all editing is done in

Photoshop I want to save it for Web. So I go Save for web... and then

it happens. Even the quality is 100%, the colors are not so vibrant

and picture looses its brisk. It gets flat. Do you know why is this

happening? Why in Photoshop it looks great and after saving it as

JPEG, the colors fade even it is in the same sRGB color space? Is

there a better JPEG converter?

 

Thank you.

 

Dusan

Andy you got it with that Video card. The Matrox is uselesly too pricey and I don't want to write here all my trouble stories that I had to go thru when I got it and start installing it. It was just nightmare.

Hi, Morrie!

 

I've got Matrox P750 and I think the card is little bit too expensive for what it can do. I would rather get any similar card from let's say nVidia with 2 DVI outputs and S-video output and buy more RAM memory. Also I'm not a big fun of AMD processors. I read an article where guy did a research and found AMD are the best for graphics but in all tests the above AMD performed worse than Intel with HT technology. Also in terms of RAID, it is good to have RAID 0 for scratch disk but better RAID 1 for all important data. And get a good Power Supply. People are not paying too much attention to it, but it is one of the very important thing when it comes to stability.

Eric, I was referencing to the book called Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Paperback).

But which program? Will it work with RAW images as well?

 

Thanks.

 

DD

Thanks guys for your input. To me it sounds also little bit rudiculous. For a piece of plastic ask almost $200 CAD. (77mm)

Hi, guys!

 

Did anybody try ExpoDisc White Balance? www.expodisc.com

 

What do you think about it?

 

Dusan

Hi, guys!

 

I was little bit dissapointed when I read about adjusting the colors

in Adobe Camera RAW converter. I thought that I would shoot somebody

holding Gretag Macbeth color checker and then just I will somehow

tell Raw converter, which color is which and it will automatically

correct the picture and save that profile. However, it is a really

complicated process with sampling each color and then make sure that

sampled RGB numbers are matching close enough the number

representation of each color of RGB and Gray thru adjsuting Exposure,

Contrast, brigthness, etc....

 

Is there any way, how you just simply tell Photoshop or ACR that

these are the colors to use?

 

Thanks.

Hi, guys!

 

I'm just wondering if any of you are shooting your assigments

(especially weddings) with the adjusted processing parameters or just

keep them all at 0 and post-process them in PS as required. I mean

the settings where you can set the contrast, sharpness, saturation,

color tone. Do these settings affect the picture quality when

shooting in RAW as well?

Can you please look at the gallery and give me your opinion about these several pictures? http://creativemotiondesign.com/cmdv3/clients/111/index.php

 

I noticed that they need more correcting done, especially that Black & White Bride and Groom.

 

I have more to put up there, I just want to hear your opinion about a contrast and saturation.

Hi, guys!

 

How do you process your images so they look good on web? I mean

typical user doesn't have his monitor calibrated. Pictures that look

great on my calibrated monitor, may show up as over (too light) or

under exposed (too dark) on client's monitor and may discourage him

from contacting me. How do you deal with this fact? Is there some

general rule of thumb when saving pictures for web?

 

Thank you.

Thanks guys a lot. In regards to Wedding forum. I know that I posted couple of questions to Wedding forum that are not really intended for wedding work, but it is the most frequent forum here. I mean you got tons of responses immediatelly.

 

Now to White Balance. There are about 3-4 ways I'm aware of of getting White Balance. Now, which one is the best?

 

1.) You photograph the gray card (on location) so it fills whole frame, and then use that picture for Custom White Balance in your camera.

 

2.) You shoot on location but ask a person to hold gray card in front of him when taking a firt picture. So you can post process in PS.

 

3.) You attach a special ring to your lens that should give you accurate gray reading. I think this works similar to filing the whole frame with gray card. But I just heard that something like this exists.

 

4.) You do all the adjustments in ACR. So you pick the point that represents 18% gray and then adjust everything according to.

 

So what is the best method? What about GretagMacbeth color checker?

 

 

Dusan

Hi, guys!

 

I'm looking for this kind of portable kit for myself. What from the list below would you recommend the most for the wedding work? I mean I like Dynalite deluxe wedding kit. Can you also mount soft boxes instead of umbrelas on these lights?

 

Wedding - Portrait Package Systems

Each system includes a heavy duty carry case, model #0673LW.

 

M53DT-PS (1) M500XL-(3) 1015 kit w/ stands $1,779.00

 

M52BT-PS (1) M500XL-(2) 1015 kit w/ stands $1,439.00

 

 

Monolight Packages

 

UNIJRG-PS1 UNI400JR / Jackrabbit / JR-UNI Kit $999.00

 

UNI250-LW2 Dual UNI250R Kit w/ stands & umbrellas $1599.00

 

UNI400-LW2 Dual UNI400JR kit w/stands & umbrellas $1799.00

 

UNIJR-LW2 Dual UNI400JR &Jackrabbit Pkg w/ stands & umbrellas $2399.00

 

 

Thanks.

 

DD

So, I don't have to shoot 18% GrayCard everytime the lighting conditions change to adjust for WB in camera, right?

Just leave it on Auto WB and Shoot RAW only or RAW + JPEG. Correct? Then when using PSCS2 in adobe camera raw converter, use 16 bit with Adobe RGB with 16bit. Correct?

 

Thank you.

 

Dusan

Should I leave then the Camera White Balance on Auto? Also should I convert to 8 bit or 16 bit?

 

Thanks.

 

DD

When I set my Canon 20D to shoot in RAW mode only, I don't have to

worry about Color Space (Adobe RGB vs. sRGB) as well as for Custom

White Balance since these can be adjusted later on in RAW conversion

software (or in Photoshop CS2). Correct?

 

Dusan

The other thing is that when shooting low light situations with high ISO like 1600 or 3200 to decrease noise, I usually overexpose the image somewhere between +1 to +2 stops. That means decreasing the shutter speed (if working in AV mode). At full aperture opening f/2.8 compared to f/4.0, I could get higher shutter speed for 24-70 f/2.8 that would eliminate camera shake as well as subject motion blur. Canon should produce 24-105 f/2.8 IS USM and the problem would be solved. :-)

 

Dusan

Michael, please try it out and let us know what is your experience. The main purpose for me will be for PJ style in low light environment without flash if possible to capture the atmosphere.

 

Dusan

So if I'm getting this correctly after your post:

 

If using the 24-70 at 24mm f/2.8, 1/30 sec., ISO 800 on a relatively slow moving subject...then yes.

 

- Yes you mean because without IS, shutter speed should be equal or higher than 1/24 secs so with 1/30 secs is the slowest speed for this lens at 24mm to avoid camera shake. Correct?

 

 

If using the 24-70 at 24mm f/2.8, 1/8 sec., ISO800 on a still/posed subject...then no. I'd rather have the 24-105 at f/4, 1/4 sec., and ISO 800. Maybe even 1/2 sec, ISO 400.

 

- Because with IS ON you can go 2 - 3 stops down in shutter speed and still avoid camera shake? Correct?

 

Dusan

Jake Holt, thanks for your input. Just yesterday I had an issue, where pictures captured by my 20D in Adobe RGB mode (being manually adjusted for saturation in PS as well) saved for web were showing poor colors compared to original image. I was wondering that it has to do something with Adobe RGB vs sRGB.

Personally after reading so many posts here, it looks like 24-105 f/4.0 is the winner, but when I'm thinking about it it looks like 24-70 f/2.8 seems better. Why? Because opening aperture to f/2.8 I can get faster shutter speed, which should eliminate both camera shake as well as subject motion blur, instead of 24-105 f/4.0 with IS ON I will elliminate camera shake only. Am I understanding this correctly?