09.20.06

The Great Escape

Posted in uncategorized, Digital Imaging at 6:00 am by Administrator

Like many photographers, I occasionally find myself totally immersed with being creative in Photoshop. You might say it’s a diversion or an escape from the day-to-day routine of duty, work and/or stresses. Photoshop is a very powerful software program in many respects. I thought I would share one of my time saving tips for anyone who likes to test the limits of the power of Photoshop.
 
Many of the features, filters and scripts in Photoshop require a great deal of computer memory and ram when executing commands. Especially when working with multiple images or large image files of 200mb or more. If at any time you apply a command that seems to take forever to complete, you can abort the process by hitting the “escape” key. This is especially helpful if you applied something by mistake or batch processing files and you need to stop.
 
   Dale

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08.26.06

Editing In Adobe Camera Raw

Posted in uncategorized, Digital Imaging at 12:18 pm by Administrator

Whether I am out doing a nature shoot or an event such as a wedding or portrait session, I generally arrive home with at least several hundred digital files. When I first began shooting in digital 6 years ago, I was faced with the big question…”Do I shoot in jpeg or raw file format”? Although my results with both formats were similar, I determined very quickly that I would commit to capturing images in raw format to maintain the highest quality and flexibility possible. I knew this would require a little more work editing and processing images, but as a professional, I believe quality has top priority over saving time using what I call the “Digital Polaroid”. 

Once I have all my images downloaded into the computer its time to edit using Adobe Camera Raw. This program has enough features to cover more the 90% of the editing process, which nearly eliminates using Photoshop altogether. Some of these features are not always apparent on the screen, so I thought I would share one with you.   

One of the steps in editing pictures is to trash any that were unsuccessful and eliminate any that will not be saved or used. You can delete these images right inside the Camera Raw window. With the thumbnail selected, press the ‘delete’ key on the keyboard. A red ‘X’ will appear on the image, marking it for deletion. This will send that file to the trash bin when you click ‘done’ or ‘save’. If you change your mind to keep the file, pressing the delete key again will unmark it.

How does the saying go…”There’s more the meets the eye” in Adobe Camera Raw.      

            Dale Kincaid

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08.15.06

Starting Over: F12

Posted in uncategorized, Digital Imaging at 8:00 am by Administrator

I spend a great deal of time working with creative techniques to enhance pictures or convert them into one of my “Artistic Expressions”. This is sometimes referred to as playing with pictures, which is the term I prefer to call it since I generally do this during my free time. Whether you are testing out a new technique, working with a picture or playing; often we get to a point where we determine the results are not what we want. We take a deep breath, sigh, and decide to start over.
 
One method of starting over is clicking in the history pallet either to a point that was previously saved or at the very top where the picture was first opened. A quick and fun way to go back to the very beginning is to hit the F12 key. That will “revert” the picture back to its original state. You can find the revert command in the file menu. Using the F12 key will add this step to the history instead of erasing it, which can be an advantage in some situations.
 
Wouldn’t it be nice if life had an F12 key.
 
      Dale 

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08.11.06

Time Out

Posted in uncategorized, Digital Imaging at 10:00 am by Administrator

I have been enjoying some time off from shooting events over the past couple of weeks. It’s sort of a “time out” from devoting many hours of processing and working with massive numbers of images and files. I work very hard until I get tired. And then I rest. So, this has been a good “time out” for me to rest and work on some of my own personal projects. One of these projects that I am very excited about is “Artistic Expressions”: creating a work of art from a photograph. The concept is not new, but rarely offered as an alternative to just a standard print. Partly because of the time involved in creating these, whereas the value of that time often becomes uncompensatory. Now there’s a new word to add to spell-checker.    I want to provide clients with something special. Something they will absolutely love and treasure for many years to come. My idea was to develop a variety of artistic styles to apply to a photograph, thus giving a choice that is appealing to them. The challenge is to create a process that is repeatable, yet maintain a unique quality to each work of art. The next challenge is my choice to remain true to my photography by preserving the photographic quality of the print.      

 

Preparations are underway to rollout a new addition on my web site to introduce the “Artistic Expressions” and show some samples of my work. I thought I would post a sneak preview of a favorite of mine.

 

The bouquet is an important part of any wedding and truly provides a precious memory as an “Artistic Expression”.      Dale 

 

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