I asked the guys over at DigitalRev.com to help me out with a test that I wanted to run – we took two memory cards, a more expensive “well known” brand and a more budget “lesser known” branded CF card and ran them up in real world conditions along side each other to see how they performed.

First, I took the aData card along with me to a night at the Jazz Cafe to photograph a soul singer for Blues&Soul magazine. I wanted to get the job done and couldn’t afford to have any issues, so I figured that with this new card I’d have no trouble. I popped the card into my camera before the gig and formatted it a couple of times, took a few shots and formatted it again. I photographed the gig, checking my display from time to time to see that the images were recording OK and that my focus was as on as a 3″ screen will tell me. Arriving home, I imported the images into Lightroom from the new memory card that I was using and this is what I found…

You can see above that the selected image is missing some information. This is sometimes caused by the card not being able to take all the data that you’re pushing to it from your camera and spitting some onto the floor (basically) This most likely happened when I reeled off a whole lot of shots during one very active part of their performance and the card just wasn’t up to the task.

So, let’s compare the two cards that I was shooting with; The card that caused the failure above was an aData “speedy” 16GB card, It is priced as a budget card at £49.55 and every other time that I’ve used it since this incident it has performed just fine, but I will not use it “when it matters” I shoot with a Canon 5DMk2 and I pretty much always shoot in full resolution RAW a lot of the time in burst mode, so that’s around 3 – 4 images per second (more like 2 -3 in RAW) at about 23MB per file, so a good solid amount of data charging through your camera and onto the CF card. The other card that I was using for this little speed test was the SanDisk Extreme IV 16GB. It’s rated at “45MBps” I used the SanDisk last night when photographing an American R&B singer, Ginuwine, a fast paced concert full of squealing teenagers, and am very happy to report that the SanDisk happily stood and delivered.

I ran basic “full load” test with my 5DMk2 whereby I placed the camera into burst mode in the RAW setting and held the shutter release down until the card could take no more, the aData lasted a whole 12 images while the SanDisk ate it up and kept going and going and.. going! If you want to know how fast your card is or how many images you will fit on it, there’s a handy table over here

This little test doens’t mean that if you’ve purchased an aData card that you’ve got a lemon, it just means that if you use a cheap memory card when it matters, there is more chance that something will go horribly wrong! It is true, you do get what you pay for…

Luckily on this occassion, I didn’t like any images form my  CF card failure inducing burst during Nate’s performance, so no bother.

One other aspect of this test that you should take into account is that with bigger memory cards coming down in price, you’re going to buy them and put more images on the one card, or if you will “more eggs in one basket” I will always only shoot one concert (three songs, no flash!) and then upload, and format my cards.

Big thanks to the guys at DigitalRev for helping us out with the testing for this mini review.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Memory Cards – Get what you pay for!

ioSafe Solo 500 GB Fireproof and Waterproof External Hard Drive with 1 Year Data Recovery Service

• 500GB
• Fireproof!
• Waterproof!
• Comes with “data recovery service”

Are you seeing some differences between this little (big!) guy and your average external disk drive?

ioSafe Solo 500GB

“The rugged desktop ioSafe Solo hard drive brings disaster protection to a price range that everyone can afford. With capacities from 500GB to 1.5TB, the ioSafe Solo can safely protect precious digital family photo albums, MP3 music libraries and days of video memories. For business, the ioSafe Solo hard drive is a great way to protect customer databases or to secure regulated information including patient records (HIPAA, Sox, etc) or credit card information (PCI regulated). Businesses use the Solo hard drive as a backup and storage device, no longer worrying about data loss from moving computer tapes and files offsite. Like other ioSafe disk drives or storage systems, the Solo hard drive is for Mac or PC and uses patented technology including FloSafe air flow cooling, HydroSafe waterproof barriers and the DataCast fire safe insulation”

Competition Details

The competition finishes on October the 8th, after which time we’ll vote on a winner (an ioSafe / dPS team effort!) and the winner will be announced on October 10th (or thereabouts) in the dPS forums!

To enter, you need to go to the ioSafe website HERE and find out how hot and how long the ioSafe 500gb drive can stay fireproof for! Then you need to head back into the dPS Forums, Sign up HERE and then pop into the competitions section and fill in the ioSafe competition details! – Simple!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

WIN this Hard Drive – ioSafe and dPS team up to give you space!

I have been a Lightroom user for many years and was more than happy with the level of control I had over my imagery. There is one fundamental function missing though. Tethering. What is tethering? Rather than recording your imagery to your memory card in your camera, you connect your camera to your computer and the images record directly to your computer via a piece of software. The Pro version of Capture One combines the Raw processing work flow with the ability to tether.

Shooting Tethered

A majority of photographers will head out with their camera kit, armed with a bag full of memory cards and take their photos and when they get home download their images to their computer and view them from there. LCD screens are getting bigger, brighter and more accurate these days, but still for critical work, apart from looking at your histogram to make sure you aren’t blowing out the highlights or bogging in the shadows it’s not a fail-safe option. Some may say that digital photography and shooting in RAW has made photographers a little lazy as most imagery can be altered or fixed easily in RAW processing. We’ll leave that can of worms closed for now though.

Prior to using Capture One Pro 4, as a Canon user when I wanted to tether, I connected my 1Ds MKIII to my 17” MacBook Pro and used the supplied Canon EOS Utility software, which was ok to a point. It’s quite basic and I found that if I shot too fast, the software couldn’t keep up and would crash. This would result in me losing precious imagery. I can’t stress how unimpressed I was in losing what I thought was going to be the shot of the day on one occasion. I could play a little with the curves as I went along, but the control over my imagery was very limited.

Capture One 4 Pro

So what are my options when I want to tether? Sadly, there are very few. So apart from the free software that comes with my Canon, Capture One Pro seems like a natural choice to make. As I mentioned earlier, it’s pretty much the industry standard as it is compatible with PhaseOne backs which accommodates the Hasselblad users and is also compatible with just about every Nikon and Canon digital camera available, including some of the newer ones such as the Canon 5D MK II and the Nikon D3X. Considering it covers many cameras across the Medium format and SLR format, it alleviates any photographer having to learn multiple applications.

As Capture On Pro tethers and does my RAW processing workflow, will I then be shelving Lightroom? Is there a need for both? Let’s look in more detail.

A great addition in version 4 of Capture One Pro is the ability to work on JPEG and TIFF files with all of the tools in the program, all as non-destructive editing. This is obviously something that Lightroom and Aperture users have been enjoying for some time.

Capture One Pro does a very good job of handling file importing. You can select the location you want to copy your files to, as well as create a backup copy. The meta-data tagging is unfortunately very simplistic only giving you Copyright and Caption fields. This lack of key-wording or tagging function I feel is a disappointing omission from its features. My work-flow revolves around tagging and key-wording. I’d never be able to find any of my imagery otherwise!

Capture One Pro also includes Albums, which are pretty much the same as Collections in Lightroom or Albums in Aperture. They make virtual copies of your images and can include images from multiple folders. Where Capture One Pro differs is that albums are tied to a specific session and not a global album that will always be there.

The image editing of Capture One Pro is extensive. It breaks it down into logical groupings that can be easily toggled between. The Quick panel gives you access to the most commonly used adjustments – white balance, exposure, and high dynamic range adjustments for highlight and shadow adjustment. There are also a number of styles available which are preset adjustments to modify your images.

The Histogram display is probably one the best around. Gives a great visual representation of what’s going on. A neat function is the Skin Tone adjustments panel. It works in a similar way to the white balance adjustment, but rather than neutralising an image based on the selection, the Skin Tone adjustment lets you pre-select a color value to adjust to, making it easy to exactly match a colour as needed.

Exposure, Curves and Levels are as you would expect them to be and work very well. Lens Correction can only be used when working with RAW images. These controls allow you to correct for chromatic aberrations, fringing, vignetting, barrel distortion and other lens problems.

There is no denying that Capture One Pro 4 is jam packed full of features. However, for me, it’s not going to be the only piece of software I will need. The exclusion of keywording is one that I would find difficult to work without. As far the editing tasks, particularly with RAW images, the output quality is certainly up there and perhaps even slightly better than what I have seen come out of Lightroom or Aperture. The batch processing option is good, but again doesn’t set itself apart from its rivals.

Where it really excels for me is the tethering. Its ability to download imagery straight from my camera is far more powerful and stable than that of the Canon software. In saying that, on a live shoot, I tried to shoot very quickly to see what it would do, and it did seem like Capture One Pro actually missed out a few frames which was alarming. This is potentially a case of me not being familiar enough with the software. The layout of the features is pretty good, but I still found myself getting a little lost at times. Perhaps again this is a symptom of being a Lightroom user for so long. Despite this being a fabulous package, I personally can’t see myself using anything more than the tethering function as the key-wording omission is too big an issue for me. At USD$399.00 (€299.00) it’s not cheap. But if you are not that fussed about the key-wording and you are looking for a one stop application that will process your RAW files, have a great editing suite and also tether, then its worth the extra money and you need look no further.

This review by Nathan Pask – You can find out more about Nathan at www.nathanpask.com

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Capture One 4 Pro – Review

I’m not a professional photo journalist, however, I do tend to hang around with a number of them and I know for a fact that most of them rabbit on about their work flow and how it can be a real nightmare sometimes. The idea of a photo journalist is that they take the photos that the news outlets want to see and print, stick them on their laptops as quickly as possible during or after the event and run them up in some piece of software that allows them to compare, choose, tag, edit, keyword and upload all as fast as is humanly possible. I have asked a friend and UK Press Photographer, Stephen Simpson.

what you DON'T want to happen!

Photo Mechanic

As a busy UK press photographer finding the right software to complete my work flow and get my images to the picture desk as soon as possible is a priority. I was using Apple Aperture for a number of years on my Macbook 2.5ghz Intel Core 2Duo, but as my workload increased, Aperture seemed to be holding me back. It would take a few minutes to boot up and occasionally I would get locked out whilst it rendered previews. It really did start to make the difference between getting the images to the desk quickly and not.

After asking around fellow snappers, it soon became apparent that most of them use Photo Mechanic (PM) by Camera Bits. I found myself wondering if this was a professionals secret. How had I never heard of it? I set out to investigate it as an option for processing my images.

I downloaded an evaluation copy from Camerabits.com. Their very basic website didn’t inspire confidence initially but did promise ‘The Essence of Editing’ and ‘The Ultimate Professional Work flow Tool’. It offered a ‘fast and easy to use image browser’ It also had a comprehensive manual within the support documents which proved invaluable as I stumbled my way through the initial hours of use.

The first thing I noticed was the speed at which the program opens, upon clicking on the icon in the Dock it opens within seconds. In the first instance I opened a folder from within my pictures folder and was very impressed at the speed at which it displayed the images I had chosen. Photo Mechanic has a very simple, yet increasingly familiar, interface. Folders are listed on the left of the screen, with a large main central window in which to view your thumbnails and images. The uncluttered top toolbar has no more than five tools, no silly symbols or clutter but words that make it very clear what instruction you wish to be carried out.

Photo Mechanic

Further investigation found a very comprehensive set of preferences, and setting up folders and directories for your image catalogue is relatively easy. The interestingly named ‘ingest’ function is completely customisable, allowing for the same preferences to be set for all incoming images. You can even add general captions at the point of ‘ingestion’

Photo Mechanic - Captioning

Once the images are ingested there is a very quick and slick set of shortcuts, sorting and most importantly captioning options available to you. The beauty of the interface is that you can start working on the first images before the card has even finished ingesting. I tend to favour the tagging function as I zoom through the images to be edited, I then use the copy function to keep the chosen images in a new directory. These are the images I then edit and caption all from within PM. I think it is important to point out that Photo Mechanic is not an editing platform but does allow direct editing in your favourite editing platform, in my case Photoshop.

Photo mechanic - Tagging

Once cropped and tweaked in your editor, PM comes into its own with the easy to use captioning interface. You can save captions before the shoot, which can then be pulled back and added to your edited images, allowing for very speedy results. You can copy and paste captions simply from groups of images and, most importantly, you can add frequently used metadata at the click of a button.

Once you are happy with your images you can then start sizing and sending them to the desk with the built in FTP client or email.

I use Photo Mechanic for a very specific purpose, essentially editing and captioning images which need to be moved quickly onto picture desks. With this in mind, it is a professional piece of kit and does exactly what it should, without any fuss. It’s quick and simple to use, has very quickly become an essential part of my workflow, and sits very comfortably inside my bag.

THIS NEWS JUST IN – Camera Bits Announces Educational Discounts on New Licenses and Upgrades for Photo Mechanic Browser and Workflow Software (Thanks, Vanessa!)

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Photo Mechanic by Camera Bits : Review

Nikon D300s

I have to say, the new Nikon D300s is a very nice looking camera, with its “new” auto focus whilst shooting HD (720p) video, a faster 7 frame-per-second continuous shooting speed and a 51 point autofocus system all pushing back to the 12.3Megapixel CMOS sensor. Feature packed this camera is, and, I guess we will see given time if it is that match for the Canon 5D Mk2 (My current baby) This Nikon D300s is targetting serious amateurs and professionals that want to take a bit of video from time to time, a wedding photographer perhaps, or… well, anyone! I remember when I first heard about the HD video on the “new breed” digital SLR camera’s and thought to myself “I’ll never use that” well, I have and I have to say it is stunning… I’m sure the quality from the Nikon will be up to par.

Mr. Nikon with the 70-200 Lens

The text below here is the press release from Nikon USA, It is jam packed full of technical info and numbers for you to drool over! As I said, Nikon, If you’d like to get in touch and swap out my Canon gear for a pair of your new shooters – you know how to find me!

PRESS RELEASE – Nikon D300s Images

NIKON D300s REVITALIZES THE STANDARD AND MEASURE OF AGILE, PRO-LEVEL DX-FORMAT D-SLR DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE

MELVILLE, N.Y. (July 30, 2009) – Today, Nikon announced the D300s digital SLR, combining professional-level performance with agility and enhanced D-Movie capabilities to deliver a new benchmark for creative versatility. Engineered to leverage proven Nikon technologies, including a 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor and 51-point autofocus system; the addition of HD video capture; and faster 7 frame-per-second (fps) continuous shooting, the Nikon D300s balances form factor, performance, versatility and reliability for serious photo enthusiasts and professionals.

The D300s retains the photographer-friendly features of the critically acclaimed D300, while enhancing speed, versatility, and agility of the DX-format for a wide variety of photographers, including advanced enthusiasts, wedding shooters and photojournalists. The D300s can record HD video clips and high fidelity audio with an external stereo microphone input, offering users a D-SLR with full multimedia capabilities. Dual card slots afford users the ability to seamlessly record stills and video to one CompactFlash™ (CF) and one Secure Digital™ (SD) card separately, while one-button Live View, a new Quiet Shutter Release mode and Active D-Lighting bracketing help users to capture stunning images like never before.

“Today’s photographer demands excellence and value from high-performance digital SLRs – and the Nikon D300s delivers,” said Edward Fasano, general manager for Marketing, SLR System Products at Nikon, Inc. “It’s no secret that more photographers need to gather multimedia content. In addition to proven technologies, such as the 51-point autofocus (AF) system and 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor, we are more than confident that the D300s’ HD movie mode, along with a host of additional performance enhancements, will broaden the appeal of the camera to those seeking exceptional still image quality and video versatility.”

The Benchmark of Speed, Performance and Reliability
Whether on the front lines of spot news or behind the scenes at a spring wedding, users of the D300s can record HD video clips at 720p resolution with a smooth cinematic 24 fps rate. In addition, the D300s also records high fidelity audio—either with the convenient built-in microphone or by using the external stereo microphone input. Photographers can trim video length on the fly and apply Picture Controls to video, modifying the tone and color. Additionally, users can autofocus while recording video, using contrast detect AF, and do so while composing on the D300s’ bright three-inch 920,000-dot LCD screen.

Nikon’s applauded AF system, with 51 high density focus points, performs even faster and more accurately on the new D300s. The Multi-CAM 3500DX AF module uses 15 cross type sensors to provide unparalleled focus performance across the frame. The D300s offers multiple focus modes, including single-point AF mode, and a dynamic-area AF mode, where users can select from nine, 21 or 51 AF points with 3D tracking. Additionally, the added Face Detection System lets users instantly zoom in on a human face in playback mode on the high-resolution LCD monitor to check critical focus.

The Nikon exclusive and newly-accelerated Scene Recognition System (SRS) further refines Nikon’s AF performance and light metering. In conjunction with the 3D Color Matrix Metering II system, the SRS uses precise color and brightness information from the 1,005-pixel RGB sensor to propel AF, auto exposure, i-TTL flash control and auto white balance to unprecedented accuracy.

The renowned 12.3-megapixel DX-format CMOS image sensor in the D300s delivers extraordinary image quality and low noise throughout the entire ISO sensitivity range from 200 to 3200 (Lo-1 at 100 and 6400 at Hi-1). The D300s captures image data using 14 bit A/D conversion, processed through a 16-bit pipeline for optimal performance, resulting in images with sharp details and smooth tonal gradations.

The D300s also incorporates Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED™ image processing. EXPEED image processing uses an accumulation of sophisticated Nikon intelligence and technologies to ensure impeccable quality for both still images and movies, while also achieving high-speed processing and low power consumption. When using the included EN-EL3e Li-Ion rechargeable battery, photographers can achieve as many as 950 shots under normal shooting conditions. The optional Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10 extends shooting comfort and supports three types of batteries: R6/AA-size batteries, along with Nikon’s Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3e and the EN-EL4a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery. It combines added stability with extended shooting of up to 2,950 shots*1 per charge and enables faster high-speed continuous shooting at up to 8 fps*2.

The reinforced magnesium alloy body is lightweight, ruggedly constructed and comprehensively sealed and gasketed against the elements at key points, and the shutter has been proven to a demanding 150,000 cycles. Additionally, the D300s employs the Integrated Dust Reduction System countermeasures that combat the accumulation of image-degrading particles on the optical low-pass filter.

Nikon D300s w' Battery Grip

World Class Versatility
With the D300s, Nikon introduces the ability to bracket Active D-Lighting (ADL). By localizing tone control, ADL restores shadow and highlight detail typically lost in high contrast situations, such as backlit subjects or while outdoors with strong sunlight. ADL bracketing provides users with the ability to bracket up to five frames of ADL strength to help ensure perfect contrast throughout the frame, putting an end to the guesswork behind the shot with a bride’s intricate white dress and a groom’s tuxedo in the same frame, for example.

Additionally, the D300s features two memory card slots—one CF and one SD, used simultaneously in a variety of configurations to match users’ preferences. Among the many options available, stills and video can record to separate cards or slots can be assigned for JPEG and RAW recording. The D300s offers “overflow” or “backup” modes, and when shooting D-Movie clips, it allows you to select the slot containing the card with the most available capacity. Users can also copy and paste files between cards.

Also added to the D300s is a Quiet Shutter Release mode, which substantially reduces the sound of the mirror while shooting. Quickly accessed by selecting “Q” on the release mode dial, this feature is ideal for the photographer who wishes to remain unobtrusive.

To further expand versatility, users have the ability to fine tune their images using Nikon’s Picture Controls to adjust sharpening, brightness, contrast and color hue. The D300s offers users four presets including Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome; while Landscape and Portrait settings can be downloaded from the Nikon website. While the D300s offers a versatile built-in flash with wider coverage for a 16mm lens, the camera is also compatible with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System and is capable of controlling up to two groups of remote units as a master / commander for Advanced Wireless Lighting.

System Expandability
In addition to compatibility with more than 60 NIKKOR lenses and a broad array of system accessories, the D300s will also perform well with the recently announced AF-S NIKKOR 70-200 f/2.8G ED VR II and the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 ED VR II lenses.

Price and Availability
The Nikon D300s camera body will be available at Nikon Authorized dealers beginning in late August 2009 at an estimated selling price of $1799.95.** For more information, please visit www.nikonusa.com.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Nikon D300s

Nicole Black is an English artist looking to push the boundaries and take her love of photography one step further, so, she’s started painting photos (You can get your own done) I had one done in oil pastel (Above) and the other is a water colour (Below) the results are remarkable! When I was sent my paintings, I was actually very impressed. This isn’t the first time or place you can have this done, but it’s certainly the first time I’ve ever seen someone providing this service by hand!

If this looks like something that interests you, you can find out more on the website. Your photographs can be either completed as a pencil drawing, fine liner drawing or water colour painting. The choice is entirely up to you.
All drawings will be completed on top quality water colour paper (16.5″ x 11.5″) and then posted out to your address.

This was the first time I’d seen myself painted and I was very happy with the result! A very different take on the whole choice surrounding the printing and hanging of your images! You can get yours done at www.nicoleblack.com .

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Personalizing Photographs Taken to New Heights!

It’s game day, people have come from miles around to watch the finals – there is lots of media hype and people are gagging for pictures country wide but the regular guy, Biff, is out sick – he has man flu and is in bed with a nice cup of chamomile tea. It’s a bright sunny day and you are on top of the world, the editor has met you at the ground and you have your press pass and the big bag of kit that he’s brought you from the kit room at the paper.

You’re pitch side with your two cameras and a veritable swagger of lenses… You’ve never had the chance to use this kind of gear before, but the editor tells you “If you play your cards right, son…” and you’re going to do the best you can possibly do! The final siren goes and the Cobram tigers have won the finals and the crowd goes wild! You’re off – 100 miles an hour, packing away your gear, getting your laptop out as you literally run to the press room – you’ve taken some of the best shots of your life!

As the “new kid” you’re stuck in a corner, full sunlight on your laptop screen – you can’t see a thing, but you do your best, you pump out fifty of your best images and do a little bit of post production on them and away they go, uploaded to the editor and every other person that you need to impress, you’ve had an amazing day… Until you get home and look at your shots again, the color is all out of whack, you’ve cropped out peoples head, there’s a streaker in one of your photos! All because you couldn’t see what you were doing! OPEN YOUR EYES!

Now, you may have a chuckle at my little tale of woe up there, but I have had this happen first hand and I have spoken to many pro photographers that would have killed for one of the new thinkTANK Pixel Sunscreen V2.0!

I was shooting the RedBull Air Race in 2008, I wasn’t press, I was staff so had almost all areas access – I had the ability to capture the pilots as they stepped out of their amazing aeroplanes right on the runway, however, as I wasn’t super sure of my ability I was shooting in RAW. I popped back across to where I had wireless access and there were no tables left to setup on, so I setup outside but every which way I turned I had some crazy glare coming from somewhere! I ended up throwing in the towel, I couldn’t see what I was doing so instead I went and watched as all the other photographers uploaded to their various press agencies.

This might not happen to you all that often, but are you prepared if it does? The thinkTANK Pixel Sunscreen V2.0 is a great little “tent” that folds up just like a reflector, I have mine with me now – I’m at Starbucks typing up my review and it’s not getting in anyone’s way. A well built tool that folds away just like a reflector and pops out when you need it, the product has openings where you would need them at the back and sides of where your laptop sits so that you can plug in your various cables, it has a rubberized non-slip base so your laptop stays where you put it and it also comes with an attachment that you can velcro on the top and literally have over your head in extremely bright conditions. There’s not much to say about the product – it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Compatible With: 12-17” laptops. 17” laptops may push out the sides slightly, but still works.

Product Includes:

• Pop out sun shield (attached)
• Removable dark cloth/head cover
• Removable clip

External Dimensions:
When Folded Flat:
14” Round Diameter x 1” (35 x 2.5 cm)

When Set Up:
14.5” W x 22” Hx 19.5” D
(37 x 56 x 49.5 cm)

Weight:
1.2 lbs. (.54kg

You can purchase the Think Tank Pixel Sunscreen V2.0 on Amazon for $69

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

thinkTANK Pixel Sunscreen V2.0 Review

In a streamlined interface and workflow, Fluid Mask 3 instantly shows key edges in the image and provides comprehensive easy to use tools that work with difficult-to-see edges and tricky areas like trees & lattices.It is reviewed here by regular contributor and professional fashion photographer, Nathan Pask of www.nathanpask.com

Our Review of Fluid Mask 3

I was asked to have a look at piece of software called Fluid Mask 3 made by Vertus. It’s essentially a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that assists in doing cutouts. I spent 18 years in the graphic design and print industry and I couldn’t even begin to think how many cutouts I have done in that time. Cutouts are generally regarded as being a fairly painstaking and a fiddly process particularly with imagery that include things like trees and hair. I was all too eager to try out any software that was going to potentially make my life easier in this department.

I have seen and used various software packages that boasted to ‘revolutionise cutouts forever’, but sadly despite having merit in some areas, they failed to completely live up to their own hype. I hadn’t used it’s predecessor FM2 before, but I had heard good things from colleagues in the past and therefore had high hopes for FM3 to be refined and developed enough to hopefully sort out all my cutout requirements.

Like any new piece of software, it takes a bit of time to get used to, and FM3 is certainly no exception. You don’t need a PhD in retouching to use it out of the box, but it is a bit of a learning curve. Despite it being married with Photoshop, the tools it uses are quite different. To help with this, they have included some step by step instructions and video tutorials on their website http://www.vertustech.com which covers the basics and then moves into complicated backgrounds and some specialist cutout tutorials for hair, trees & leaves and also even the incredibly difficult cutouts of smoke. For my own test, I chose a reasonably difficult and perhaps typical image. For the sake of the exercise, I cropped in and around the hair area. You can see my original image below right, she has plenty of fly-away hair on a neutral background. Notoriously difficult getting the detail in and around the fine hair, showing through a new background colour. After watching a few brief tutorials, I cutout my own shot (below left) in around 10 minutes, something of a record for me on an image like this I would have to say.

The images below I’ve zoomed into the hair area for a closer look. As you can see, it has retained a lot of the detail both in focus and out of focus. Blending very nicely with no real visible hard edges. The most important thing being that it looks natural and giving the impression that it was potentially shot like that on white with no really obvious tell tale signs that it has been retouched or cutout. Generally you would get some halo residue from the sky from a shot like this, but there is no evidence this at all.

I did some more tests on different images and like most pieces of software of this nature, I got mixed results. But I would probably put this down to me not quite using the right settings properly and simply getting used to the software. Given regular use, I could see this as being a huge time saving for anyone needing to do complicated cutouts. Obviously, for simple cutouts Fluid Mask 3 completely eats them up with ease. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it would cutout any image you threw at it, but from my experience, FM3 certainly would do more than other application I have used before.

The real difference that I can see over other software I have used is the intelligent edge blending of FM3. Takes a bit of trial and error, but with patience and certainly with more practice can get very pleasing results for a large proportion of images thrown at it. Works on Windows XP, Vista and Mac 10.3.9 and above. Also works on CS2 and CS3 and 4. Can also be used a stand alone software rather than a PS plug-in, but using only limited file formats. As it’s been aimed at consumers and professionals, it is of course compatible with Wacom tablets.

You will need more than loose change for the pleasure. UK£99.00 + tax + postage and US$149.00 + tax + postage. As a professional, this is a small price to pay as you would easily make your money back in a week in saved time. As a consumer, it’s stiff outlay if you’ve already spent your pennies on Adobe Creative Suite, but if you are after a great plugin that really works, this is definitely worth looking at. It’s competition, namely Photoshop Elements’ Magic Extractor, and Photoshop CS4’s Quick Selection/Refine Edge combination is formidable. But Fluid Mask 3 is certainly a much more controllable and powerful application. It hasn’t won a trophy cabinet full of awards for no reason. If you are on the fence in making the investment, you can download a 14 day trial version.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Fluid Mask 3 is certainly at the top of the tree in regards to it’s competition and is definitely worth having a rummage around their website for more information if you are after a plugin of this type.  As with anything of quality, they aren’t giving it away, but I think it’s worth the investment if you are regularly cutting out your imagery and you are looking for a product to save you time and give consistently good results on most digital images.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Fluid Mask 3 Review

It’s only $10.00 cheaper but hey, it’s an alternative! Make sure you read all the way to the bottom for my verdict! You may be surprised, considering I loved the Ray Flash SO much!

Orbis Ring Flash

The first thing I noticed with the Orbis Ring Flash was that it’s a “jam it on your flash” it has something like a plastic claw inside the base, you slide that part over your flash unit, in my case a Canon 580EX II, and it sits on top. I have to say that I really felt for my hot shoe, I don’t know why, but even more so than with the RAY Flash.. It just seemed to move around a bit more and to me, it felt like I was carrying a huge “tower of camera” I must say though, that with the flash off the camera, using my Alien Bee triggers to fire it remotely as I held it in my hand, it was fine.

You can see in the image (My ugly mug!) below that the Orbis gives off a nice even light and, by way of the catch lights in my eyes, an almost full even circle of light.

In addition, the Orbis actually flew off my flash at one point – not sure why, was being very gentle! Honest! but all in all, I’d say that the Orbis Ring Flash does exactly what it’s mean to do. And that if I were in the market for one of these types of ring flash that I’d seriously consider the Orbis.

You get another self portrait of me now, taken again with the Orbis Ring Flash, You can see that the device produces a nice even light. I realise that I don’t look happy, I was, really! This photo is taken at f8 / 1/125th at 70mm with a Canon 5D MkII and a Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L series lens.

I think I’ve scared you enough now!

I liked the Orbis and I think given that there is only $10.00 in it that I would go for it over the Ray Flash and I’ll tell you why – When you have the Ray Flash on the front of your Flash, it covers the IR sensor that your camera uses to focus in darker conditions when it has the flash unit on… With the Orbis, this is not the case. It stands straight up and out of the way.

I’d suggest that the well built Orbis Ring Flash is a FOUR star add on – I still think that as a device that’s essentially a piece of plastic, that it’s a little bit too expensive. 4/5****

Sime

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Orbis Ring Flash – Review

The topic of GPS in relation to tagging photos is one that seems to be coming up a lot these days. “Is it worth it”  “Is it beneficial” “Why would you?” Then there’s the whole privacy thing “Why would I want someone knowing where I take my photos” some people even going as far as to say “why would I GPS tag my photos, then people would know where I lived and could come and steal all my gear” …well, yes, if you’re daft enough to broadcast on the internet where you hide your pot of gold, someone will inevitably try to take it from you.

I did a bit of a tweet fest prior to putting pen to paper on this one and have come up with a few scenarios in which a GPS / Camera set-up could be very useful. I even took my Jobo Photo GPS Geo Tagging Flash Shoe unit to Oxford with me on a work trip, taking photos all the way, alas – my 24 day old MacBook Pro had a hard disk failure prior to me working out my backup strategy and I lost all of the images and their associated data prior to backing them up… Quality!

• You’re a surveyor – need I say more? You take your camera out to a location that requires a bridge made (or something!) and you take photos from all of the crucial locations – with the JOBO PhotoGPS attached you don’t need to note anything down, the device captures a reading each time you release the shutter* and it is translated into a map location on your return to your computer.

• You’re a travel writer, the perfect accessory – I know exactly where I was when I took that photo! – To the point that you could even give people GPS coordinates in your travel write ups.

• Recently there was a case where a certain large organisation in England asked another certain large stock library to remove around 10,000 images that it says were taken on one or another of its many properties and therefore in breach of copyright. However, if the photographers provided GPS coordinates proving that they were either outside or above these properties, the photos were able to stay in the certain large stock library – GPS in that case could offer some form of proof. As I guess it could with photojournalism, the main factor in a photojournalists story being “the truth”

I only had the JOBO PhotoGPS for a week, but I was using it easily from the minute I placed it on my camera’s hot shoe – with a simple set of lights to tell you if you’re capturing GPS data or not. The software is also very easy to install on both mac and pc. The install process for both my mac and my pc laptop was completed in a couple of minutes with no tricky questions to answer.

Once you’ve taken your photos with the JOBO PhotoGPS unit attached to your camera, you simply upload your images to your computer, import them into the supplied software, attach your GPS unit to the computer with the supplied USB cable and the software matches the images giving you a list of exactly where your photos were taken – including surrounding attractions / facilities etc. I was actually amazed at the level of detail that you were able to see in terms of the information that the software would gather for you from the internet, based on where your images were taken.

Once you’ve matched your images, the software makes “sidecar” files for you that are imported into your photo manipulation software and then embedded in the exif data. Simples!

Sure, there are various people concerned with privacy, so if you don’t want people knowing where you live – don’t take a photo of your £7,500 plasma tv and put it on the internet with your address – common sense will tell you lots.

The only issue I had with the JOBO PhotoGPS was that it was VERY loose in my hotshoe and I nearly lost it overboard into the Thames when I was taking a photo off a bridge – I hope that this was down to it being a well used REVIEW unit, but that’s something to keep in mind.

Alternatively, You could use a GPS / Photo matching application in association with the GPS on your phone / existing GPS device for a lot less money, but then – this is an “out of the box” solution that works and works very well. There is a great comparison table on the JOBO website that points out the main differences between the regular “make shift GPS solution” and the Jobo PhotoGPS – You can see it here The main stand-out for me being the start up time… I have waited minutes for my Blackberry GPS to start, to the point that I’d rather be lost it was taking so long! ha..

Capture time: approximately 0.2 seconds
Memory capacity: around 1000 locations (build in 128MB memory)
Accuracy: 10m
Geodata: via Tele Atlas Map Material (Country, City, Street, POI)
Hot-shoe interface: Standard hot-shoe (ISO 518:2006)
Power source: Internal rechargeable120mAh cell (non user replaceable)
System Information: via 2 LED’s (System Status)
Supported file formats: JPEG, RAW with XMP Sidecar file
PC connectivity: USB2.0
Battery charging electrical source: USB2.0
Dimensions: Main unit without adapter 68 x 20 x 43 mm
Weight: 80 g
System requirements: Windows XP (SP2) and Vista (SP1), MAC available by end of 2008
Included accessories: USB cable, CD-ROM with photoGPS matching software, organizer and viewing software

I love this device, great unit, well built (unless it’s old and worn and your hotshoe lets it fall off into a river!) very easy to use and the software is very good. I give this one a 3.75 stars out of a possible 5.

1 Star off because it’s another $156.00 that you have to spend if you’ve already got a GPS device and .25 stars off for almost falling into a river! (That said, it hit the ground twice, bounced and kept working just fine)

Get the Jobo Photo GPS Geo Tagging Flash Shoe at Amazon.

Sime

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

JOBO photoGPS, A review.