david king
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Ben I’ve been using Photoshop it seem like forever its like the first thing I do when I get to work is start Photoshop. I think I gave Drifter some straight up on target advice. I think Aperture is a great tool for a photographer and much more focused on the tasks that most photgraphers do like select and pick images and spot and do color correction etc. I shoot and work in a high end pre-press enviroment. I do a lot of image correction and manipulation. You can blow a lot of time in Photoshop”piss your life down the drain”. Don’t get all insulted. I like the idea of using Photoshop as a image enhancer not a image creator.
Photography for me happens at the camera I might visualize or plan for something to be done in post but I try to avoid it by handling as much as I can up front.Adobes position in the market is almost a monopoly. Thats not good for anyone!
I believe this guy is a switchin over to a Mac. There is nothing wrong with Lightroom. Some people use both. I picked Aperture to invest my time and money in though. There is plenty of room in the market for both applications. I use both Macs and pcs but if I had to choose one it would be the Mac. A lot of the buzz about a product is generated by people on the take from a brand you can’t trust them totally. I am not implying anything about you Labrati but you know the people you see associated with a camera of a fly rod. I know when a fellow pro says “hey you need to check out Capture NX” he wouldn’t steer me wrong he had nothing to gain. Does Lightroom still have a free trial? If it does and Drifter thinks he might like it then he should try it. Adobe enjoys a huge position in the market and there is a plethora of “experts” getting rich trying to teach people how to piss there life down the drain in Photoshop. Aperture does the better job in my opinion of acquiring evaluating and editing images.
I’ve been in the photography business for a long time and was a early adopter of digital. You have picked a great time
I use one and its a great lens. The only downside is its pretty big. It would be nice if it were a little more compact.
Ben I think your point about learning from Graphic Artist and Art Directors is a good one. I have done mostly advertising photography and a little bit of everything else. It is a whole different world from the photography for its own sake world. It pays well though when you can get them to pay at all.
Zach, I think we are finally seeing software tools like Aperture, Lightroom, and Capture NX and filter sets like Nik ColorEfex Pro for Capture NX and Nki Viveza for Photoshop that work for photographers and help avoid BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA IN PHOTOSHOP. I don’t shoot a lot of small format I use a medium format back on a medium format and a view camera most of the time. I recently did a job where I shot maybe 100 plus images run and gun. I rated them in Aperture did some color and exposure tweaks which I lifted and stamped the settings from 1 image to the entire group under similar lighting lighting conditions output a web gallery and a set of 1/2 scale jpegs it took me maybe an hour. If I were using my Nikon I would of done the same thing in Capture NX and delivered a NEF or TIFF that I felt good about. Shooting digital you pretty much have to take responsibility for a lot of variables that you didn’t have to in the past. I use to deliver a chrome or a print and a invoice. With these programs all your editing is non distructive and you can go back and adjust things in the future. Photoshop is great software I us it every day but I strive to keep effects and enhancements as transparent as possible.
There has been a long history of manipulation in photography. I once saw a straight print of Moonrise Hernandez by Ansel Adams and it was a real eye opener. Its still one of the great pictures ever because his vision and interpretation of the subject was so great that you never really thought about what was done in the darkroom you just kind went WOW! Whether commercial or a fine art type image I would ask myself is this something I want to put my name on? Thats a pretty good test.
Having looked at the same picture on the photoblog I can see what your trying to do. Add a little more drama to the sky warm things up ad some contrast etc. For what its worth I can tell you what I think I would have done with the same image. I would have used Nikon Capture NX to work on the NEF to start with setting the black and white point first and then using the U-Point technology in Capture NX I would have made control points to lighten the foliage and bring out some blue in the sky and lighten the shadow on the guys face add some warmth using the warmth filter and brush it on at a percentage of strength that didn’t look out of key. The cool thing about NX is you have super fine control. I don’t think your picture is bad it is what was there. The issue is how can you enhance and polish the image not recreate it by heavy handed use of Photoshop.
I would encourage you to look into Nikon Capture NX and the Nik filters for Capture NX and the excellent instructional material available on Nikon’s site as well as at http://acmeeducational.com/versace/nx.html
Take a look at what Nikon legend behind the lens Vincent Versace is doing with NX Photoshop etc. I think he among the many digital gurus out there has a really good grip on being first a photographer and then image editor. His “Why To Book” Welcome To Oz about Photoshop was selected one of the best photo instructional books of the year.
Atlanta based Pro Kevin Ames http://www.amesphoto.com/training.html also has a great book on Photoshop and Lightroom, The Digital Photographer’s Notebook: A Pro’s Guide to Adobe Photoshop CS3, Lightroom, and Bridge. Maybe you can find something in their approach to photography that would benefit you, I did.Typical deep fried Photoshop stuff! I think it has more in common with painting than photography.
Its photography as a excuse to use Photoshop. Looks phoney, manipulated and superficial as hell to me!I found this review on Luminous Landscape about the G9. This is a pretty impressive little camera. The accessories that this person used are interesting too.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/G9-Japan.shtmlI am running Aperture 2 on a G4 Powerbook and a Dual Processor G5 desktop, both are Power PC processors. I was using 1.5.6 and 2 is noticeably faster. There are a lot of resources for training online at the Apple website and Lynda.com. The more I use it the more I like it. You can use Aperture for general rating and prep and round trip to Photoshop to fine tune your 5 star selects if they need it. The only other software that I have seen that I think is a must have is Nik Softwares U-Point Technology that is in Nikon Capture NX and the new plugin for Photoshop called Viveza. Go to Nik software and check it out the U-Point technology is awesome. http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza/usa/entry.php?view=intro/viveza_announcement.shtml
I just picked up a ZXL 8.5 4 weight. A really nice smooth and very light rod. The 8.5 5 weight is the same way. I have a 9 ‘ 6 weight Z-Axis also. I think Sage is making the best casting rods right now.
You might have a overuse injury. Use the old formula R.I.C.E. REST ICE COMPRESSION ELEVATION.
You might try some anti inflamatory’s Like Motrin or Aleeve even Asprin or Tylenol. I take Naproysn and Tylenol most days for all my lingering sportaches. If your pain persists I would see a Othopedic surgeon.
Physical therapy to strengthen your arm and shoulder might help. If things don’t get better you Doc might use X-rays or a MRI to ascertain any joint damage you might have that would require surgery. I had both my knees scoped but never anything on the shoulder although I have a torn labrum in my right shoulder.
From what I hear shoulder surgery is tough. I have had tennis elbow and casting my 8 weight can bring out a twinge of pain but it goes away with rest and drugs and I keep plugin away.
I’m not a doctor but I speak from experience. Hope you get better.Tim I with you on HDR! I I’ve used and it has a look that I don’t like its just out of key somehow.
I have seen pictures where different element were combined and the rendering was more to my liking.That is the John Holmes of lenses!!! You would feel like a BIG MAN with one of those even if it is green.
The Road By Comac McCarthy Awesome!!! Read the last paragraph you’ll never think of a brook trout the same way again!
On the lighter side, Friends On The Water
Short stories by numerous authors and excellent photography Val AtkinsonIts funny a guy told me once “a man buys a piano he owns a piano. A man buys a camera he’s a photographer”. That pretty much sums it up! There is always somebody ready to do a half ass job for next to nothing. Its been that way for a long time digital gear has just made it worse.
Technology has pretty much made photographic mediocrity accessible for everyone that has the money to buy a good DSLR etc. If your in it for the money you need to focus on business practices developeing a visual style and taking care of your clients. Take your upcoming podcast of Tibor Nehmeth, people don’t go to him because he knows how to use a camera they go to him for how he sees. Technical and visual mastery is a
