The Byrata Papers
Harman was the first to announce a Byrata paper (Fb Al Gloss). A good review of this paper is here. A lot of home and professional printers including myself switched to using this exclusively. The paper is very reminiscent of the Ilford B&W Traditional Darkroom paper and is great for both Color and B&W prints especially toned prints. This paper was soon followed by Ilford’s Gold Fibre Silk and more recently by Hahnemuhle. A very good review of the 3 Byrata papers can be found here.
This post is not about comparing them again. This is about my experience on using these papers on the HP B9180 printer.
ACR Calibration for Lightroom - Part 4
The way Adobe is thinking about this, this may be the last part in the ACR series. The previous part can be read here.
With the announcement of DNG Profiles, Adobe may have finally closed the loop on the need for calibration aspects of ACR for most people. Purists may still need to tweak this, but so far - i am quite happy and the results are actually very good. Read more
Some changes to the site…
If you have been a regular or have ever visited this site before, you must have noticed some new changes to the site. Especially the new site design.
I know that a significant number of folks that read my blog, do so via RSS feeds/readers. I myself use one and rarely go to people’s sites directly. That said, i was kinda bored seeing the same images and layout.
A few may know that this blog uses Wordpress (WP) and changing a theme in WP is quite simple actually - However, I had customized the original theme to the point that i liked the layout (single page with no sidebars etc. and changing it was not a matter of simply changing it. It would have broken a number of things (especially posts). Read more
Thoughts for the week…
Well, its been a while since i updated the blog. Several things have happened since my last update, and i felt i needed to write them, or else i would forget about it.
- I have a new exhibition coming up. Read all about it here. The preparations to get the pictures to an exhibit requires a lot of planning. For starters, this was the first time, i cut my own mats, printed the images myself & framed them. It takes a lot of time and effort.
- I am currently listening to “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. If you haven’t read this yet, do it. Now. It is very important to know and understand how to prioritize your things. Especially when it comes to dealing with your photography and family and work life balance.
- I just finished reading a book called “How to grow as a Photographer” by Tony Luna. This is a must read for all artists and photographers. Read more
The D700 Decision guide for D300 users
As many of you know, Nikon announced a new Prosumer (Pro consumer? what the heck is that?) Full frame camera - The D700. The first thing i said to myself was “Shit” - my new D300 is already obsolete. I was all planning on selling it while it is still fetching good price (~ $1500). Read more
Thoughts for the week…
Disclaimer: Nikon’s quality of cameras is still good - don’t get me wrong. My D300 is excellent. However, i am sure i could as well get the similar quality of images in a Canon 40D/5D or Olympus or Sony or a Pentax cameras these days. There is nothing special about Nikon anymore is what i am getting at. The below is my vent on the bleak future of Nikon DSLRs.
Pretty soon, Nikon may very well announce a new camera. It may be Nikon’s answer to Canon’s 5D. In the near future, we may also hear a companion to D3 as well (may be a 25MP D3). I am sure the decision for Nikon to chase competition and switch sensor technologies was a good one. With all these chasing around - i am sad that Nikon has forgotten those of us who like the camera for its ergonomics and emphasis to quality first - The only reason for which i got one.
HDR Processing notes
Warning: This post is not about how to take HDR and process them. If you are looking for a basic or advanced primer on HDR processing - I would like to refer you to Christian’s Blochi’s HDR book, Dan Burkholder’s Workshops or Trey Ratcliff’s excellent and free definitive guide for HDR processing.
This post is about what these people dont mention in their books/videos/tutorials and such. This post is about my personal experience in processing HDR images and my own tidbits.
Most people use Photomatix - this is a given. However, Photomatix is no magic tool that makes HDR automatically. What most of these experts dont say is all the other tools and techniques they use besides Photomatix to make their HDRs.
Lets cut to the chase - Some claim not to use anything else actually, and I don’t believe it. Therefore this post. Read more
That damn workflow again…
Well, i have written about Workflow a number of times here , here and here.
So, why again? Well - Like all other things, “time” changes things. So is my workflow. I process more volume of images from my photo shoots, and process images differently (HDRs, Panos etc). Read more
Trip report - What worked and what didnt.
I recently traveled to India, and carried with me a lot of gear. Here is a quick report on that.
I carried all of the following camera equipment in one Think tank Ultra light backpack:
- D300 camera, Sigma 10-20mm, Nikon 35-70 f2.8, Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VR, Nikon 85mm f1.4
- Canon G9, Lensbaby, Expodisc, Singh Ray Vari-ND filter, Wolverine 40GB backup
- Chargers, ebay Triggers, SB-600, Macbook, Batteries, Cleaning solutions, CF & SD cards
- Plug adapters, Extension cords, iPod Touch, Lacrosse BC-900 charger, 3 sets of NiMh batteries
- Lexar CF/SD reader, Flashlight, Rain cover for camera & TTP, Phottix remote camera release
- Markins Q3 ballhead, Lenshoods for 70-200, 10-20 & 35-70 lenses
Yes! all of these equipment fit very comfortably into one TTP Ultra Light bag. It was very heavy to carry around and weighted a ton, but i think i could have squeezed in more if required (I actually carried back a Canon 10-22mm lens in addition to all the other stuff (A funny thing happened on the way back. The Customs officer in Mumbai, when inspecting the bag under X-ray, asked for a manual inspection of the bag, and specifically pointed out to the Canon lens for a hand inspection. I guess the X-Ray machine somehow identified that all the other lenses are Nikon mount and this one somehow did not belong there.) Read more
Photographic Growth
My LR database shows that i took about 8900 images in 2007 and am already up to 5000 this year (In 2006, it was about 2000 and the images i shot before 2006 are not all in LR - so, i don’t know exactly how many images i shot before this time). Of course, i now shoot HDRs, so this number does not indicate unique images. My 3 star images for the year are slightly over 1000, of which my “Green” 3 star images are just over 200. Read more
Translator
By N2H Popular posts
- The making of the blurb book
- ACR calibration for Lightroom - Part 3
- Lightroom Camera Calibration
- HDR Processing notes
- Lightroom vs. Capture One
- The D700 Decision guide for D300 users
- Trip report - What worked and what didnt.
- D300: Exposure, Matrix metering & Dynamic Range
- D300 ACR calibration
- That damn workflow again...
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