brainstorms

Wednesday March 22, 2006

long before photoshop and gimp...

there was gerard's digital darkroom with pico/popi...

[digital darkroom is likely trademarked, and not by its originator, gerard... sigh.]

Thursday March 16, 2006

photoshop velvia

this is quite neat: digital velvia.
[good for most of my d70 nature images that look as dull as old kodachrome...]

[updated fuji.atn containing the action for cs, one direct channel mix and another with adjustment layer. these days i prefer the latter]

[gimp 2.x: filters->colors->channel mixer... same results.]

Tuesday February 21, 2006

maybe time to retire my 105 micro nikkor...

ah, nikon [finally] announced a replacement for the 1990 work-horse af-d micro-nikkor 105mm f/2.8. af-s vr micro-nikkor 105mm f/2.8g if-ed looks very good on spec. i suppose vr is not a big surprise; proper macro technique [ie. sturdy tripod, focusing rail, mirror lock, remote release] for that extra bit of sharpness may be too much work for most photogs...

[image: dwarf warrior miniature detail, d70, micro-nikkor 105mm f/2.8 af-d]

[interesting thing: this is a very special lens not crippled for dx sensors. i see it as a not-so-subtle clue for future pro-grade nikon DLSRs with full-size sensors...]

Wednesday February 15, 2006

guru portraits [images]

portraits of some good friends from the turn of the millenium.

nikon 801s with fuji reala. nikkor 85mm f/1.8 AF-D.

[note: these images may not be used without my permission.]

Friday February 03, 2006

nikon d200 and flushing photoshop raw

since getting a nikon d200, it became painfully clear that photoshop is no longer a reasonable environment for my image processing/workflow. not surprisingly d200 support is only found in ps raw 3.3 beta [dpreview blurb] which only works with photoshop cs2. at the cost of another dslr body, ps cs2 is just not an option just to get d200 raw support and minor handful of new features. there are several good ways out of this situation:

• bibble: this is one of the best tools in the industry [eg. review] for raw conversion and image workflow; i now have bibble pro 4.5b, which supports d200 and tethered shooting. it also comes with an excellent plugin that works with photoshop 7 and cs.

• apple aperture: i would really like to work with this, but i need a new imac first. sigh.

• adobe lightroom: i will take a look at this carefully soon. i have noted all the pump and glowing support [eg. first look & primer] found in adobe-friendly places; so far my impressions could be summarized with a brief shrug. how will it be priced, and how many full priced new versions a year? i will be very weary of getting locked with adobe again.

• a new raw plugin: i started working on an alternate plugin to adobe raw. the fun part is that i get to play with beyer interpolation and other details of raw conversion, which will come handy for another, more important project.

Sunday January 22, 2006

supporting wikimedia

i have now submitted my public domain documentary graffiti images [see looking at walls] to wikimedia as "toronto wall art". my support goal for 2006 is to release one thousand good images to wikimedia.

Monday December 26, 2005

found inside a shoebox [more images]

more assorted images [not really stored in shoeboxes] from the past.

nikon f4 and f5. fuji velvia (iso 40) and velvia 100.
various nikon lenses eg. micro nikkor 105mm f/2.8 AF-D, nikkor 20-35mm f/2.8 AF-D, nikkor 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 AF-D.

Thursday December 15, 2005

found inside a shoebox [images]

assorted images [not really stored in shoeboxes] from the past: an abandoned house in new brunswick, a restored house in istanbul's sogukcesme street, shadow of a street lamp in the french quarter [new orleans], a maple tree in autumn near sun markham offices (9 exposures).

nikon 801s, f100, f4. fuji velvia @ iso 40 and provia 100.
various nikon lenses eg. micro nikkor 70-180 f/4.5-5.6 AF-D, nikkor 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 AF-D.

Thursday November 24, 2005

gimp notes on converting color images to b/w

a recent comment on my previous entry about b/w conversion prompted me to revisit the topic. i was wrong about gimp not having lab conversion; in 2.2, it is a part of image decomposition which also conveniently converts channels to layers. gimp also has a channel mixer as a part of the filter suite, but it may as well not exist. no serious photographer i know of would waste their time trying to mix colors [or monochrome] with a postage-stamp sized preview. [i know this will be fixed with 2.4] why is this not a part of the color tools? [this brings up the topic of gimp workflow and functional organization. it is very hard to argue against fifteen years of photoshop use. if gimp is to be a competitive choice for photographers, graphic designers and comic book colorists, it has to somehow address their photoshop work habits or offer very good reasons why they should change those habits.]

b/w conversion of this image was done with gimp, using lab mode decomposition. i have deleted unnecessary layers, and applied levels and curves to the luminance layer. [i tried but gave up channel mixer technique with monochrome.]

i have not yet looked around for any script-fu to do b/w conversion.

Friday October 28, 2005

nikon d200 sighting...

finally, there are some sightings of nikon's canon 20d killer. this is a result of [perhaps] some careless web site management, or a purposeful leak of d200, to encourage blog entries such as this one. in any case, this looks like the kind of prosumer body [right kind of control placements and ergonomics very familiar from f100 et al. and a mid-level 10.2 mp] i can live with despite its half-size "dx" sensor. [until i end up with a full-size sensor body, nikon or canon, whichever comes first, that is.] even the 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 vr zoom lens mounted on this body looks like a very good lens to own. perhaps this will slow down the migration to high-end canon bodies...

nov 1, 2005 it is finally here. wow. for many nikonites, this is a dream that came true. [on the downside, i am assuming this body will also use [illegally] encrypted white-balance NEF as in d2x, but not sure.]

[some nikonites have been referring to that half-size "dx" format sensor as "standard" which i find rather silly; the only thing standard about it is the practice of utilizing cheaper, easier to manufacture sensors and pretending that its deficiencies [like size: remember the aps-c, format everyone hated?] are now strengths. oh look, i can make half-recognizable images with a coke-bottle lens thanks to all that fov crop. good grief!]

Thursday October 20, 2005

aperture...

i will have to put in an order for aperture right away. it seems to me that this may well be the most important piece of post production software for photographers since the arrival of serious DSLRs. [i am also looking for any excuse to get off of the clumsy photoshop raw processing of my images.]

impressionist optic: notes on a lensbaby

i recently obtained a lensbaby 2.0. this is an unusual bit of optic that produces high degree of blurring for impressionistic, ethereal results. here are my field notes and some images i made with a nikon d70. [this is not a thorough review; i have not tested the lens in a disciplined way with various aperture discs and compared to other optics. i also have not looked for color fringing and other aberrations due to high refractive index. i have used it with film, but do not have the results yet]

quick summary: for some photographers, this is an expensive, tiltable alternative to a spare daylight filter and some lip balm. [i have seen stunning images made that way] it is less messy, but harder to control, harder to focus, no metering. pretty out-of-focus highlights. not very sharp. in its simplicity, it does have a certain photo-geek charm; it is fun, and students will probably love it.

• essentially a finger-focused mini bellows unit: a lens attached to a short bit of flexible ribbed tubing that can expand and contract (accordion) and bend. metal parts appear to be machined aircraft-grade aluminum alloy.
• focal length appears to be around 50-60mm. fixed interchangeable apertures f/2.0 [f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8]. [close focus tbd]
• even though iris/leaf diaphragms have been around for nearly a century, lensbaby will have none of it; f/stop is controlled by dropping a circular disc into the lens cup. this disc floats in front of the lens with the help of three little magnets. there is one advantage to these discs: since apertures are perfectly circular, out-of-focus highlights will also be nicely round and pleasing to the eye.
• maintaining a good focus is difficult. remember that you are propping and adjusting the optics with your fingers to get it to focus and stay focused, and also trying to keep the camera steady. in other words, you need steady hands, strong fingers and good light for fast shutter speeds. if you have the camera on a tripod with a flexible ball-head (i use a manfrotto 222 for this sort of thing. i will soon move to a 322RC2), you have a better chance of getting a good image, but obviously this restricts movement. i think a monopod would be ideal for this.

• tilting the lens exaggerates the effects of its high refractivity. it moves the sharp area for better compositions, though focus control becomes much harder.
• the lens can be shifted [keeping the optic parallel to the sensor plane] only a very tiny bit, and i doubt this is useful.
• my preferred hand-held technique is to keep lens length and tilt as fixed as i can and slowly rock back and forth until i get sharp focus. [raindrops image was made that way.]
• this is a 35mm optic and on my other nikons [eg. fe2] large and bright viewfinders make it easier to get and keep focus. [most dslrs crippled with 16x24 sensors seem to have awful viewfinders, which makes it harder to use this optic]
• a lightmeter is necessary for film and very helpful even with a DSLR. [for some reason, decisive moments do not hang around while i experiment with the exposure.]
• this is a cute and useful optic, but just an optic. worth remembering that it is only there to help us make visual statements about things that matter to us. if we just care for the special effect, there is always photoshop.

[images: emma cheeta furball yigit. varley house lights. raindrops on smoketree leaves]

Wednesday September 28, 2005

notes on converting color images to b/w

vacuous motto: there is more than one way to do it. [dear oh dear, where did that smiley go?] the earliest opportunity for a B/W conversion [for a DSLR user] is during the raw image process. for example, in photoshop camera raw, one can pull saturation to 0, adjust exposure, contrast [etc] to taste. i have not used this much. [nikon capture editor also has a photo effects tool with black-and-white conversion.] past raw, i alternate between two techniques in photoshop: lab conversion [mode Lab color, isolate luminance channel (delete a,b) and adjust curve] for portraits, and channel mixer [select monochrome, mix r+g+b to taste] for architecture and landscape images. [i find channel mixer very difficult to control for portrait conversions. i do not know what i would use under gimp. lab mode and channel mixer are not available, but scripting it is much much easier, so i would not be surprised if there are some good script-fu ways of doing B/W conversion.]

all photoshop books have a section on B/W conversion, but not all of them cover more than the two techniques mentioned above. i like the high-contrast technique [using a gradient map] in scott kelby's the photoshop cs2 book [alas this edition seems to have dropped an interesting technique of over boosting r+g while reducing b for landscape images] and channels as layers technique in john paul caponigro's inimitable adobe photoshop master class [second edition]: the essential guide to revisioning photography.

other bits:

john paul caponigro's tutorial and photoshop conversion action is found amongst adobe's pro primers.

northlight images has an excellent reference page for converting colour images to black and white.

software: usually in the form of photoshop plugin or automation. the affordable ones seem to be photokit from pixelgenius and ConvertToBW Pro v3.0 from the imaging factory. photokit interface is dated and simple, but works fine: it includes 141 most common type of conversions. [excellent examples page shows you everything you need] converttobw filter comes with a modern interface, sliders and color response presets but will require more time to to set up a conversion library. [for now i am leaning towards photokit because it just does the job. i do not have darkroom experience, and like martin blank said, i just want the protein.]

image: a portrait of my good friend chris pilson, 1999. [chris, i hope you approve of this image] B/W conversion through luminance channel with curves. nikon 801s with nikkor 85mm f/1.8, fuji reala.

music: nicholas payton, payton's place [with guests wynton marsalis, roy hargrove, joshua redman], verve, 1998.

Thursday September 22, 2005

canon 5d

an interesting [if supported by only average imagery] canon 5d field report supports my general impression that this DLSR is the threshold [price/performance] for serious digital photography. nikon, full-size sensor d3 soon? hope springs eternal...

sometime ago [before 5d] thom hogan wrote:

The product in question doesn't have to sell in 2005. But sometime in 2005 we need to hear Nikon forcefully say "We will not allow Canon to have the full-frame, high-megapixel, high-quality DSLR market to itself."

sigh.

Monday September 19, 2005

looking at walls [images]

graffiti recently found on various toronto parking lot walls:

these images are really just documents of someone else's artwork. since my only contribution is to supply the camera and the lens, i decided to share these images without copyright, just as the original graffiti artists may have wanted. here is a tarball containing six 4x6@300dpi uncropped [tiff] images sampled above. please use them as you see fit. [and drop me a link] enjoy.