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Archive for April, 2019

Canon could put continuous LED lights inside pop-up flash units according to patent application

15 Apr

Canon is looking into putting continuous LED lights into the pop-up flash of its cameras, according a recent patent application.

Japanese patent application 2019-056787 (translated) details how Canon could put continuous LED lights inside the pop-up flash alongside the conventional xenon tubes used for still photography. This combo would not only provide a modeling light function, but also serve as a continuous lighting source for video.

An illustration from the patent application highlights the LED lights (part 15) attached to the heat-dissipating substrate (part 16a), which would then be reflected off the aluminum substrate (part 14) through the fresnel lens (part 11) at the front of the flash unit.

According to the patent text, the LED array would lay flat at the bottom part of the flash housing with the diodes facing upwards. When turned on, the LED light is then reflected off a specialized aluminum substrate through the fresnel lens on the front of the flash unit. This arrangement not only allows space for the standard Xenon tube to operate, but also helps to dissipate the intense heat the LEDs will put out when used for extended periods of time. Canon does note, however, that the exact arrangement is still ‘flexible’ to account for any overheating and alignment issues.

A profile shot of the flash unit showing the LED lights (part 15) attached to the heat-dissipating substrate (part 16), which would then be reflected off the aluminum substrate (part 14) through the fresnel lens (part 11, 11a) at the front of the flash unit.

Canon also addresses the spread of light from the LED units, saying it can narrow or widen the spread of light through alteration of the fresnel lens and limiting the throw of the LEDs, but notes it also has to balance the throw of the xenon tube as well.

An illustration showing the pop-up unit open (left) and closed (right). Note the illustration shows a DSLR, not a mirrorless camera, although that could be because Canon hadn’t yet launched the EOS R at the time of this patent application’s development and didn’t want to give away any hints.

As with all patent applications and patents, there’s no way of knowing whether or not this technology will make it into future cameras, but it’s interesting to see what Canon is cooking up behind the scenes regardless.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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CP+ 2019 Olympus Interview: Micro Four Thirds can be appreciated in almost all photographic fields

15 Apr
[L-R] Toshi Terada and Shigemi Sugimoto, pictured at the CP+ 2019 show in Yokohama

We spoke to Olympus at the CP+ trade show in Yokohama, Japan, shortly after the announcement of the OM-D E-M1X. We spoke to Shigemi Sugimoto: Executive Officer, Head of Imaging Business Unit and our old friend Toshi Terada: General Manager, Global Marketing Department, Imaging Business Unit.

We discussed a range of topics, from the company’s new camera to its overall ambitions for Micro Four Thirds.

Please note that this interview was conducted partly via an interpreter, and has been edited for clarity and flow.

What’s the response to E-M1X been like?

We’ve been holding touch-and-try events in many places and have received a lot of very positive feedback from customers. Pre-sales orders are at expected levels and we have had a good start worldwide.

The E-M1X is a model that requires a lot of consideration before users make a purchase, so we believe the users will read many reviews and learn about benefits of E-M1X before buying.

I’ve attended some touch and try events and I was very pleased to see so many customers at these events. We’re also been getting positive feedback from professional photographers.

Some people may feel that the E-M1X is big for a Micro Four Thirds system. However, the feedback we’re getting from customers that have actually tried the product is that it has changed their view. So we hope people will pick up our product and try it.

Who is the E-M1X it aimed at?

It’s a part of our professional line, along with E-M1 Mark II. One of the user groups we’re targeting is professional photographers, but also the high-level amateur, the enthusiast: they make up much of our target audience, along with the professionals.

Do you think there is significant demand for sub full-frame professional cameras?

Having received feedback from professional photographers, we feel that Micro Four Thirds’ benefits of being compact and lightweight can be appreciated in almost all photographic fields.

We feel that Micro Four Thirds’ benefits of being compact and lightweight can be appreciated in almost all photographic fields

Actually, we are seeing that there are many photographers who started using the Micro Four Thirds as their second camera, are going on to use it as their main camera.

How would you like the ‘X’ line to evolve? (and how will it need to evolve?)

As a part of the professional series with E-M1 Mark II, we will evolve the basic performance and continue to offer innovative features. Also the E-M1X line-up will further improve the level of operability and reliability.

The OM-D E-M1 II continues alongside the E-M1X as part of Olympus’s products for professional and enthusiast photographers.

How did you choose the subject-types for the subject detection/recognition AF?

Initially, we’ve chosen those three subjects that are really difficult to track by yourself, without any help, just using the single point or even using the group target area. They’re really hard to chase, with a fast-moving subject.

We also chose subjects where you need pinpoint focus – the kind of moving subject where it’s really hard to focus precisely on one specific point, for example to focus on the rider’s helmet rather than just to detect a motor bike. That’s the kind of subject where it’s most helpful to have subject detection.

If you get feedback from users, how difficult is it to train the system to recognize a new subject?

At the moment we have three specific subjects that can be detected automatically and we’re also looking to enhance the range of subjects, the types of subject. That is, if we can manage it using the current hardware, of course: at some point there is a limitation to the hardware. Also, subject detection maybe not be effective for every subject.

We have prioritized the other subjects we could look at: I cannot tell you specific subject names but, as I said, the benefit of subject detection is pinpoint autofocus, [in situations] where we should focus on a specific point. And the kind of subject that’s not easy to chase – that’s the kind of subject we should select in future.

In a lot of other brands’ systems, the machine learning efforts have mainly concentrated on human subjects. Do you feel your system is already good enough at this?

Humans are the most important subject for many photographers. We have face and eye detection already, of course. We know it’s possible to improve those kinds of detection, though, so we feel we should somehow improve [our cameras’ performance] in the future.

Could you imagine a time where we might see different subject recognition modes in different models?

This is one possibility: to choose which type of product should have what kind of subject tracking.

We are just launching that kind of new technology, so we should listen to the market to find out how they are using it, or what kind of demand they are looking for. Depending on feedback from market we can consider how to implement this kind of function in a future model.

The Micro Four Thirds system is fairly comprehensive, where are the gaps in your lens lineup right now?

Our lens roadmap has been well received by customers. We have more plans for the future, and we will continue to listen to our customers’ requirements.

What kinds of lenses are your professional customers asking for?

The high resolution of our lenses continues to satisfy professional customers, therefore we will continue building compact, high resolution lenses.

The 150-400mm F4.5 TC 1.25x IS PRO is going to launched in 2020: providing a level of reach that’s difficult to match in such a compact form.

We plan to launch several lenses every year and, of course, there will be releases of lenses before the 150-400mm PRO launch in 2020. So, please look out for a more information about our forthcoming product releases.

How much demand are you seeing for video features in your cameras?

As you may recognize, the demand of video capability is increasing. We are, of course, trying to catch up that kind of technology. Videographers are seeing our potential in terms of superb image stabilization performance in a compact and lightweight package.

Our stance for video is not changed: our products are stills-based cameras that also can capture video. We’re not a pioneer in video technology but we know it’s become a necessary technology for photographers, and we have heard from videographers saying they see the benefits of our powerful image stabilization and lightweight system for their video recording. So we’re working to offer a unique video capability for these videographers as well as for photographers who record video.

What effect, if any, do you see HDR displays having on photography?

If that kind of display is getting popular in the market, then maybe we should consider our output take advantage of that display character.

If performance of current displays makes it worthwhile, to have some other kind of the gamma, perhaps Log character, then why not? It’s just a different kind of Raw development, effectively. We can process images to suit the current display technology or for printing or we can process for a wider DR display: it’s really flexible.

In the case of video footage the data file becomes larger to accommodate the dynamic range, but in stills it’s easier. In still photography the dynamic range is defined by the image sensor [so the information is already in the Raw file]. It’s a kind Raw development challenge, we’d just need to optimize the algorithm.

We are a very R&D-orientated company: we focus on the technology which is necessary for photographers

We will keep looking at the standards and the level of performance of these displays: if we find we need to optimize for the display, why not? It all depends on whether there’s a market for this kind of display, whether it’s worth developing.

We have our own perspective because we’re a camera and lens maker. For consumer electronics manufacturers, who are also making monitors, there might also be an element of marketing strategy.

As you know, we are a very R&D-orientated company: we focus on the technology which is necessary. We’re not from the marketing world, so we can look at these technologies solely from the perspective of whether they’re valuable for photographers.

How will you reassure fans of smaller, lighter cameras? Is there still interest?

As you know, the E-M1X is a new product line for offering the benefit of a compact and lightweight system for users that require an integrated battery grip for telephoto shooting such as wildlife.

The E-M5 line is important: we can reassure users we are planning a successor model.

We can’t give you the details of future models today, but we can say that we will continue with current lineup strategy and successor models will be coming. We’d like to mention that the E-M5 line is an important product category for middle users: we can reassure users we are planning to introduce a successor model.

What advantages can you offer by using a smaller sensor (compared with those who’ve rushed to full frame)? Small/fast readout/easier to stabilize?

The Olympus ILC system has been defined by the benefits of being compact and lightweight, right back to the time of the film camera. We will continue to offer the same benefit while focusing on Micro Four Thirds, this means our brand offers a single mount system for all customers, which makes it to easily understand and can be used for a long time with confidence.

The OM-D E-M5 II demonstrates the company’s ability to make small, capable cameras with excellent handling

A single Interchangeable lens camera system offering high image quality, will continue to evolve as a system, to provide the significant values of compact and lightweight, high resolving power and image stabilization that full-frame cameras cannot offer.

We consider our strengths to be that our cameras are compact and lightweight. High resolution power (means resolution lens) and also image stabilization as you know. Across our entire product lineup we are always looking to enhance these core technologies.

What are the benefits to offering everything from entry-level to pro-level in a single system?

It means to upgrade the customer doesn’t need to change everything. You can keep using the lenses, of course. Also, if we change the [sensor] format size all sorts of things change. The aspect ratio might change, the depth-of-field changes, the effect of focal length changes: the angle-of-view is different – it’s complicated.

A single format system means don’t worry about that kind of thing. Your existing experience can be carried over to the next model.

Which types of photographer/photography benefit most from balance of size/Image Quality that Micro Four Thirds offers?

We believe that all types of photographers will benefit from shooting with Micro Four Thirds. The value of compact and lightweight system offers photographers greater freedom in shooting across many fields.

For example in landscape or bird shooting, users traditionally have to shoot from a fixed point, using a tripod. However, our system offers new shooting styles such as handheld telephoto shooting thanks to its compact and lightweight system together with strong IS. In this way our system is expanding the photography shooting range for cameras.

Will the Digital Imaging division always be a small part of Olympus’s overall business, or do you hope it might one day rival the medical division?

Olympus has three business domains: Medical, Scientific Solutions and Imaging. Through these, Olympus is contributing to the society by ‘Making people’s lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling’. The role of the Imaging business is to make people’s lives more fulfilling through our products, mainly cameras and lenses including related services. We would like to deliver the joy of capturing and expressing special moments through photography to as many people as possible.

Also, the imaging business is contributing as a technology driver regardless of its business size, in terms of the advanced digital technologies, Low-cost production and design technologies, and Mobile technologies.

Editor’s note:

Olympus is one of the few companies not currently expanding into a new mirrorless format. Given how expensive it is to develop a wholly new system and how much competition there now is (in a market segment whose potential size is still unknown) this is understandable.

The decision leaves Olympus in a position where it needs to clearly communicate the appeal of its system: cameras that can’t necessarily match the image quality of larger systems but that can be smaller and lighter, as a trade-off, and this was a recurring feature of our conversation. The use of a smaller sensor is also part of how Olympus is able to offer the ridiculously good image stabilization in the E-M1X and, potentially, more video-capable models in future.

Mr Sugimoto is right to say that the E-M1X makes a lot more sense once you’ve held it

The thing I was surprised wasn’t mentioned more was how extensive the Micro Four Thirds lens lineup is. As the originator of the modern mirrorless system, Olympus has comfortably the most extensive lens lineup for this style of camera. Of course the quandary is: once you have a lens lineup that stretched from consumer zooms to a trio of F1.2 primes, what else do you do, if the message of small and light isn’t reaching a wide enough audience?

Mr Sugimoto is right to say that the E-M1X makes a lot more sense once you’ve held it: it may look like a massive pro-sports DSLR but is well judged so that it’s big enough to feel comfortable with a large lens on it, but small enough to offer something distinct from the likes of the big twin-grip Canons and Nikons.

Personally, though, the thing that stood out was the confirmation that the company is working on a third-generation of E-M5. I consider the original version to have been the first genuinely great mirrorless camera and think it’s the perfect type of camera to take advantage of the Micro Four Thirds lens range.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Samyang announces new 85mm AF F-mount lens and its first two Z-mount lenses

15 Apr

Samyang has released a new lens for Nikon F-mount systems and two new lenses for Nikon Z-mount systems: the AF 85mm F1.4 F, the MF 14mm F2.8 Z and the MF 85mm F1.4 Z.

Samyang AF 85mm F1.4 F

As the name suggests, the AF 85mm F1.4 F is a weather sealed autofocus lens made for Nikon F-mount camera systems. Its optical construction consists of nine elements in seven groups with one hybrid aspherical element and it features a nine-blade aperture diaphragm. The front filter thread measures in at 77mm and it measures in at 74.5mm / 2.93in long, 88mm / 3.46in in diameter and weighs 480g / 1.06lbs

The Samyang AF 85mm F1.4 F isn’t currently listed on B&H or Adorama at the time of posting this, but the Sony E-mount version retails for $ 699, so the F-mount version should be around that price point when it does become available.

Samyang MF 14mm F2.8 Z

The first of the Z-mount offerings is the MF 14mm F2.8 Z. This manual focus lens is constructed of 14 elements in 10 groups and includes one aspherical element, one hybrid aspherical element, two extra-low dispersion elements and three high refraction elements. It features a six-blade aperture diaphragm, has a minimum focusing distance of 28cm / 0.92ft, weighs 810g / 1.79lbs and measures in at 124.1mm / 4.89in long by 87mm / 3.43in in diameter.

The Samyang MF 14mm F2.8 Z UMC is currently available for pre-order on Adorama for $ 499.

Samyang MF 85mm F1.4 Z

Last up is the MF 85mm F1.4 Z, a manual focus lens for Nikon Z-mount camera systems. The lens is constructed of nine elements in seven groups, including one hybrid aspherical element. It features an eight-blade aperture diaphragm, has a minimum focusing distance of 1m / 3.3ft and has a 72mm front filter thread. On the measurements, it comes in at 102.7mm / 4.04in long, 78.0mm / 3.07in in diameter and weighs 740g / 1.63lbs.

The Samyang MF 85mm F1.4 Z UMC is currently available for pre-order on Adorama for $ 399.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Snapshot from a Life of Paddling Photographer

15 Apr

8 hours in front of a computer. Processing pictures and video clips, describing, keywording and submitting to stock agencies. 4pm: My computer is busy uploading videos and I am driving into the Poudre Canyon. Here I am in my field […]
paddling with a camera

 
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Mastering Color Series – The Psychology and Evolution of the Color BLUE and its use in Photography

15 Apr

The post Mastering Color Series – The Psychology and Evolution of the Color BLUE and its use in Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.

As one of the three primary colors in traditional colour theory and the RGB colour model, blue’s greatest impact is in its capacity to convey strong emotion. Painter Vincent van Gogh once said “I never get tired of the blue sky”, his fascination proving integral to many of his most famous paintings. In this article, we’ll have a detailed look at the history of blue in visual arts and what it means for your photography.

The psychology of blue

Color has a profound effect on our psychology. Rayleigh scattering, an optical phenomenon that causes the sea and sky to appear blue, forges a psychological association between the color blue and the perceived qualities of blue in nature. For example, the ancient duality of the sea and the sky generates a visual relationship between blue and impressions of consistency and trust. Blue’s associations with water tie it to cleanliness and refreshment but also tears. Consequently, a person experiencing sadness is said to be feeling blue.

The cool light of winter and the blue tint of ice draws connections between blue and the cold. Clear blue skies have become synonymous with happiness, relaxation and tranquility. The blue tint of daylight helps regulate our circadian rhythms. Blue also lowers stress levels, stimulating calm. This has practical applications; hospitals are often painted in shades of blue to help ease patient anxiety. Additionally, many medications are dispensed in blue pill form.

Blue is believed to symbolize the male gender in the Western cultures – though this hasn’t always been the case. In China, blue manifests itself as a color of healing, relaxation and immortality. In countries like Turkey, Greece and Albania, blue is said to repel evil. Hindu tradition associates blue with Krishna, a deity that embodies love, virtue and divinity. Furthermore, in German, Swedish and Norwegian languages, a naive person is said to look upon the world with a blue eye.

Jodhpur – the blue city of India.

The evolution of the color blue

Egyptian blue

Egyptian blue is considered to be the first synthetic pigment. Produced by the ancient Egyptians from around 2,200 BC, Egyptian blue was made from a mixture of ground limestone, sand and a copper-containing mineral (like azurite or malachite). The mixture was heated up to 1650°F, producing an opaque blue glass. The glass was then crushed and combined with thickening agents for application.

Associated with the River Nile and the sky, ancient Egyptians used Egyptian blue to paint murals, statues and ceramics. Eventually, Egyptian blue spread to the Near East, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Roman Empire. Egyptian blue’s usage continued throughout the Late and Greco-Roman periods. However, the pigment died out in the 4th century AD, when the recipe for its manufacture was lost.

Ultramarine

Lapis lazuli first appeared as a pigment in 6th to 7th century AD paintings in Afghanistani Zoroastrian and Buddhist temples. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Italian traders shipped the pigment to Europe. There, it was called ultramarine or ultramarinus (meaning beyond the sea in Latin).

For centuries, the cost of ultramarine pigment rivaled the price of gold. Subsequently, artists used ultramarine in only the most imperative aspects of a painting. This judicious application culminated in associations between the color blue and status.

Ultramarine remained almost prohibitively expensive until an artificial process was discovered in 1828 by Jean Baptiste Guimet. Commercial production of the synthetic ultramarine had commenced by 1830, and became known as French ultramarine.

Cobalt blue

In the 8th and 9th centuries, cobalt blue was used to color porcelain and jewelry in China. An alumina-based version of cobalt blue was later discovered by the French chemist, Louis Jacques Thénard in 1802. Commercial production of the pigment began in France in 1807.

Lightfast, stable and compatible with other pigments, Impressionists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet readily adopted cobalt blue as an alternative to pricey ultramarine. Post-Impressionists such as Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne also made use of cobalt blue. According to the Musee d’Orsay, van Gogh used a combination of Prussian blue, cobalt and ultramarine to create the nighttime hues of Starry Night Over the Rhone. Van Gogh himself stated that “cobalt is a divine color and there is nothing so beautiful for creating atmosphere…”

Cerulean

Cerulean is a Latin word which translates as sky blue. Originally composed of cobalt magnesium stannate, cerulean was refined by a process developed in 1805 by Andreas Höpfner in Germany. Cerulean wasn’t sold as an artist’s pigment until 1860 by Rowney and Company. When it did become available, however, the color, ranging between azure and dark sky blue, proved popular among artists.

In 1999, Pantone released a statement declaring Cerulean Blue as the color for the millennium. Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, stated that “…cerulean blue could bring on a certain peace because it reminds you of time spent outdoors, on a beach, near the water…in addition, it makes the unknown a little less frightening because the sky…is a constant…that’s the dependability factor of blue.”

Lisa Herbert, vice president, corporate communications worldwide, Pantone Inc., went on to say “our studies show that blue is the leading favorite color…regardless of culture, gender or geographic origin….[in the] U.S. [and] Europe and Asia as well. We’ve chosen cerulean blue as the official color for the millennium because of its mass appeal.”

Cerulean is the Latin word for sky blue

Prussian blue

Prussian blue was apparently discovered by accident. Around 1706, pigment and dye producer Johann Jacob Diesbach was mixing crushed cochineal insects, iron sulfate and potash to create cochineal red lake. Unbeknownst to him, the potash he used was contaminated with animal blood. The resulting concoction turned out to be the first modern synthetic pigment, a rich, dark blue that was quickly recognized for its artistic applications.

Inexpensive, easily produced, non-toxic, and intensely colored, Prussian blue spread throughout the art world. Pieter van der Werff’s The Entombment of Christ is the oldest known example of Prussian blue in an artwork. Other early examples include Antoine Watteau’s Pilgrimage to Cythera and paintings produced in Berlin in 1710 by Antoine Pesne.

Japanese woodblock artist Katsushika Hokusai used Prussian blue (as well as indigo dye) to create the Great Wave off Kanagawa. In 1842, English scientist and astronomer Sir John Herschel’s experimentations with Prussian blue led to the invention of the cyanotype.

International Klein blue

International Klein Blue (IKB) is a deep blue hue developed by French artist Yves Klein and Edouard Adam, a Parisian art paint supplier. Klein suspended his favorite ultramarine pigment in a matte, synthetic resin binder made of petroleum extracts. This allowed the rich blue hue to be applied without the loss of vibrancy. Single-colored canvases as well as elaborate performative undertakings were underpinned by Klein’s extensive use of the brilliant IKB.

YInMn blue

Much like Prussian blue, YlnMn (pronounced Yin Min) blue was discovered by accident. In 2009 at Oregon State University, Professor Mas Subramanian and his then-graduate student Andrew E. Smith were investigating new materials for making electronics. The pair were experimenting with the properties of manganese oxide by heating it to approximately 2000 °F. What emerged from the furnace however, was a striking blue compound.  Named after its chemical makeup of yttrium, indium, and manganese, YlnMn blue pigment was released for commercial use in June 2016. According to paint company Derivan YlnMn blue is “non-toxic with excellent archival attributes”.

Blue in visual arts

Ancient art to the Renaissance

Blue is an enduring presence throughout art history. Ancient Egyptians decorated murals and tombs with shades of blue. The walls of Roman villas in Pompeii had frescoes of blue skies. Greek artists used blue as a background colour behind the friezes on Greek temples and to colour the beards of statues.

Dark blue was widely used in the decoration of churches in the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine art depicted Christ and the Virgin Mary dressed in dark blue or purple. Elaborate dark blue and turquoise tiles were used to decorate mosques and palaces from Spain to Central Asia.

At the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe, blue played a less significant role to that of other colors. However, in the 12th century, painters in Italy and greater Europe were instructed by the Roman Catholic Church to paint the robes of the Virgin Mary with ultramarine, the newest and most expensive pigment at the time. The Virgin Mother’s updated wardrobe resulted in blue being associated with holiness, humility and virtue.

During the Renaissance, artists began to paint the world as it was seen in real life, mixing blue hues with lead white paint to articulate shadows and highlights. In Titian’s Noli me Tangere and Bacchus and Ariadne, different shades of blue are layered to cultivate depth and tension. In another example, Raphael’s Madonna of the Meadow depicts Mary wearing a deep blue mantle set against a red dress, a striking contrast against a background populated with brown and light blue hues.

Rococo to contemporary art

The Rococo art movement depicted mythology and light-hearted portrayals of upper-class domestic life with pastel blue skies and rich blue furnishings. Romanticism used blue predominantly to convey drama in the heavens, and Impressionists like Claude Monet used blue to investigate light and movement in both natural and artificial landscapes.

Emphasizing strong colour over the representational, Fauvist Henri Matisse’s figures in Dance circle naked under an open blue sky. Expressionist van Gogh’s seminal Starry Night, conveys the night sky in active blues and yellows. Cubist Pablo Picasso’s extensive use of Prussian blue defined his Blue Period while Surrealists adopted blue to simultaneously orientate and disorientate the viewer.

From the 20th century artists began to free themselves from the confines of the literal. As a result, artists looked to color as a tool to channel emotion. Exemplified in abstract expressionism, Jackson Pollock‘s Blue Poles, is made up of chaotic strands of blacks, greens, oranges, whites, yellows and grays tempered by nine vertical blue lines. Mark Rothko experimented extensively with blue, as did Barnett Newman, both artists using color as a device to transcend the confines of the canvas. And Helen Frankenthaler‘s stained blues emphasize both the flattening and dimensionality of space.

With the arrival of modern technologies and materials, contemporary examples of blue in art are rich and varied. Roger Hiorns’ crystalline Seizure, transformed space with color, light and chemistry. Katharina Fritsch’s Hahn/Cock plays with our sense of scale and relationship to animals. And Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror, Blue challenges our perceptions of an urban environment, re-imagining the landscape through the lens of a large, blue concave mirror.

Blue in photography

Birthed from nature and art, blue’s associations play a critical role in conveying the nature of the photographic image. Luigi Ghirri explored the relationship between shape and space by incorporating large fields of blue sky into his imagery. Color pioneer Martin Parr makes use of rich blues to create a surreal juxtaposition between subject, object and nature. Bill Henson uses blue hues to cultivate experiential photographic dramas. David Burdeny photographs precision landscapes, using blue to illustrate the materiality of his abstract vistas. While Gregory Crewdson and Didier Massard both use blue to signal time, place and atmosphere throughout their imagery.

The color blue has other applications in photography too. Occurring just after sunset and just before sunrise, the blue hour is a period when the sun drops below the horizon and residual sunlight takes on a blue hue. Valued for its soft quality of light, blue hour is popular with portrait and landscape photographers. In addition, blue filters (applied on-camera or in post production) are used in black and white photography to increase the appearance of mist and haze.

Conclusion

Yves Klein once said “blue has no dimensions, it is beyond dimensions”. Over history, blue has communicated the ineffable, transcending colour and touching on our spirituality and sense of self. Associated with nature, calm, reverence, purity, trust and sorrow, blue embodies the visual weight of emotion and human experience.

Have you used blue in your photography? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below.

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mastering color series - Blue

The post Mastering Color Series – The Psychology and Evolution of the Color BLUE and its use in Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Megan Kennedy.


Digital Photography School

 
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Review: DJI Mavic 2 Zoom

14 Apr

The post Review: DJI Mavic 2 Zoom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

Photography is an ever evolving medium. New gear, new technology and new ways of seeing the world make it an extremely exciting time to be a photographer right now.

Over the last year or so I’ve become more and more interested in aerial photography and getting new perspectives for my work. And wouldn’t you know it, DJI just released another brand new tool for aerial photography in August of 2018. So when I had the opportunity to test it out, I didn’t hesitate. I give you…

…wait for it…

…the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom.

dji-mavic-2-zoom-digital-photography-school-adam-welch

Out of the box

Sleek, compact and understated; that’s how I would describe the appearance of the Mavic 2 Zoom. DJI has chosen a color scheme that should be familiar to those who have experienced the previous model upon which they have based the Mavic 2 Zoom upon – the Mavic Pro. The drone itself is dark gray with a silver belly and matching silver accents. You’ll notice that while the overall lines have been maintained, the Mavic 2 Zoom is a completely different animal when compared to its predecessor.

dji-mavic-2-zoom-digital-photography-school-adam-welch

dji-mavic-2-zoom-digital-photography-school-adam-welch

dji-mavic-2-zoom-digital-photography-school-adam-welch

The gimbal cover of the Mavic 2 has also been updated to protect the camera during transport. While easy to remove, I have to admit reattaching the gimbal cover was slightly confusing the first time I attempted it. Luckily, DJI has included a quick diagram to help with this.

dji-mavic-2-zoom-gimbal-digital-photography-school-adam-welch

Who knows, maybe it was just me being clumsy? In any case, once you get the hang of the new gimbal cover, reattaching it becomes essentially like riding a bike.

The Mavic 2 Zoom has incorporated a set of legitimate landing and take-off lights to aid in low-light situations when the bottom-facing obstacle sensors may have difficulty discerning where the ground may be. Speaking of sensors, DJI has enhanced the Mavic 2 Zoom with Omnidirectional Obstacle Sensing technology (more on that later) for side, front and rear obstacle avoidance. These sensors are readily visible throughout the breadth of the aircraft yet somehow the body of the drone doesn’t appear overly cluttered.

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The controller for the Mavic 2 Zoom has received a light makeover as well. I was happy to see the addition of the fantastic “stow and go” joysticks present on the Mavic AIR controller to this new iteration of Mavic controllers. When not in use, the joysticks can be packed away beneath the folding wings of the controller.

This makes stashing your controller in your bag much easier and less likely to snag or less ideally, break.

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Shown with joysticks attached

Most of the contact surfaces are rubberized, and the controller feels great even when using a larger smartphone like my Samsung S8 Active.

Speaking of phones, an incredibly cool feature of the Mavic 2 Zoom controller is that it charges your phone should your phone’s battery level drop to below 40% during flight. How cool is that?

Thanks for having our backs, DJI.

With that said, you will almost certainly need to remove your phone case (should you have one) to make everything fit within the controller. Of course, you might not have to, but keep that in mind before you fly.

Another feature, albeit possibly not as overtly impressive for some as it was to me, is the addition of an integrated charging cable built right into the included battery charger.

This controller is also identical and interchangeable with the controller for the Mavic 2 Zoom

This enables the user to always have a way to charge their controllers should they misplace or not have another cable to charge the controller.

With the introductions complete, let’s get down to business and see how well the Mavic 2 Zoom performs in the air.

Flight performance

In comparison to the Mavic Pro, it’s safe to say that DJI has improved virtually every area of flight performance in the Mavic 2 Zoom. They have increased the maximum speed and the overall flight time and distance capability. Even though descent/ascent speeds have remained the same as the Mavic Pro (impressive in its own right), it’s easy to see that the Mavic 2 Zoom is very much an upgrade in terms of its ability to fly further faster and with more confidence.

  • Dimensions Folded: 214×91×84 mm (length×width×height)
  • Dimensions Unfolded: 322×242×84 mm (length×width×height) with 354mm at diagonal
  • Weight: 1.99 lbs(905g) with battery and propellers attached
  • Maximum flight time: 31 minutes at constant 15.5 mph(25 kph)
  • Maximum hover time: 29 minutes(no wind)
  • Operating temperatures: 14° F to 104° F(-10°C to 40°C)
  • Maximum speed: 44.7 mph(72 kph) (S-mode)
  • Maximum ascent speed: 5 m/s (S-mode), 4 m/s (P-mode)
  • Maximum descent speed: 3 m/s (S-mode), 3 m/s (P-mode)
  • Maximum altitude: 19,685ft above sea level (6000m)

The Mavic 2 Zoom is about 2g lighter in total weight but all other performance statistics regarding speed, dimensions and flight are precisely the same as the new DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone. In fact, it’s safe to say that the Mavic 2 Zoom and Mavic 2 Pro use the same drone body. The only difference being their respective camera systems.

Don’t believe me?

Here is the Mavic 2 and Mavic 2 Zoom side by side. If you can’t tell, why should I?

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In flight, the Mavic 2 Zoom is nimble with great response time. The propellers have been redesigned to make them quieter when compared to the Mavic Pro. Unfortunately, this also means that the propellers are not interchangeable between the two aircraft. So, you won’t be able to buy a set of Mavic 2 props to quiet down your older Mavic. Sorry folks.

Acceleration is quite impressive, with stops being not overly abrupt. Of course, many of these observations depend on how you have the responsiveness of your controller configured. Speaking of that, DJI has placed the three main flight modes for the Mavic 2 Zoom on the right side of the controller. These modes are Tripod (T), Positioning (P) and Sport (S).

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When in T-mode, the speed of the drone becomes greatly reduced as well as the acceleration and deceleration making it great for slow and controlled pans. Also, all of the Mavic 2 Zoom’s Omnidirectional Obstacle sensors are enabled.

P-mode could be called the “standard” flight mode. In P-mode, all of the Intelligent Flight modes are available.

Lastly, we have blazing-fast S-mode. In sport mode, all obstacle avoidance is disabled which means you’re entirely on your own. The fun part? The Mavic 2 Zoom can then hit a top speed of nearly 45mph (72.4kph). The Mavic 2 Zoom can also allow the pilot to select from pre-programmed intelligent flight modes which are great for obtaining footage that would otherwise be difficult for the average user.

Intelligent Flight Modes

  • ActiveTrack 2.0(with improved 3D subject tracking) Capable of identifying up to 16 subjects and track 1
  • Cinematic Mode (dampens the drone’s movements for increased stability) Softens the breaking period for increased video smoothness
  • Hyperlapse Moves the drone through out the acquisition of time lapses
  • QuickShots (outlined below)
  • Points Of Interest (POI 2.0) Allows the user to choose a subject and instruct the drone to keep it in frame based on a predetermined altitude and speed while circling
  • Waypoint Navigation The Mavic 2 Zoom will fly to a series of locations chosen on the map
  • Tap-to-Fly Select a map area and the drone will automatically fly to that spot

QuickShot Intelligent Flight Modes

  • Dolly Zoom An interesting cinematic zoom effect…Hitchcock style
  • Asteroid Essentially contorts your scene into spherical illusion
  • Boomerang The drone will fly in an ellipse around the subject and automatically start and stop filming in the same place
  • Rocket The Mavic 2 Zoom will take off vertically with the camera flowing your subject
  • Circle Enables the drone to fly in a circle around the subject at a predetermined altitude and distance
  • Dronie Pre-programmed upward flight with the drone moving backward all the while tracking the subject
  • Helix The drone will upward and away while maintaining view of your subject

Zoom Zoom

If you’re like me, then I figure you’re extremely interested in the camera of the Mavic 2 Zoom. After all, unless you just like flying a drone around the sky (which is fun too), the real reason you’re doing it all is to get awesome aerial photos and videos.

The elephant in the room is, of course, the zoom feature which is the Mavic 2 Zoom’s namesake. It has a 2x optical zoom plus an additional digital zoom capability (which DJI reports being lossless) when shooting video in FHD 1080p. DJI also reports the Mavic 2 Zoom to be capable of producing images with 13-stops of dynamic range. That’s impressive.

Here’s a rundown of the major camera features from the DJI website:

  • Sensor: 12MP 1/2.3″ CMOS
  • Focal Length: 35 mm equivalent of 24-48 mm
  • Maximum Aperture: f/2.8 (24 mm) – f/3.8 (48 mm)
  • Shutter Speed Range: 8–1/8000s
  • ISO Range: 100-3200 for video, 100-1600 (auto) 100-3200 (manual) for photo
  • Internal Memory Storage: 8GB
  • Image Formats: JPEG / DNG (RAW)
  • Video Formats: MP4 / MOV (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, HEVC/H.265)
  • Video Resolution: 4K: 3840×2160 24/25/30p
    2.7K: 2688×1512 24/25/30/48/50/60p
    FHD: 1920×1080 24/25/30/48/50/60/120p

The camera of the Mavic 2 Zoom also incorporates some flashy new in-camera functionalities. It’s “Super Resolution” feature is incredibly interesting. It is essentially an onboard image stitching tool which can create images with a total resolution of approximately 48MP.

Not only that, but the Mavic 2 Zoom also sports DJI’s new “Hyperlight” mode for increasing image quality during extremely lowlight flights.

Here are a few test images made with the Mavic 2 Zoom.

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To give a better understanding of what that 24-48mm focal length actually brings you in terms of zoom capability, here are two frames for comparison. The first shot at 24mm….

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24mm at f/2.8

…and the second at 48mm

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48mm at f/3.8

Why not two more? Each one is a 1-second exposure which speaks to the stabilization of that 3-axis gimbal.

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24mm at f/2.8

Then zooming in to 48mm on that tower the distance.

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48mm at f/3.8

I feel it’s worth mentioning that those last two nighttime images were made in a well-known and open area with the drone constantly in site. Be extremely cautious should you operate any aircraft in dark conditions.

Lastly, here is a quick bit of video footage shot using the Mavic 2 Zoom and a few of its features.

Final thoughts on the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom

The ability to zoom with the camera of the Mavic 2 Zoom adds in a new flavor of excitement to an already exciting drone. The aerobatics of the DJI’s latest entry to the Mavic lineup is impressive for any drone. Especially one marketed as a “consumer grade” aircraft.

With a camera capable of all sorts of high-end feats of imagery, it’s hard to draw the line between consumer and professional performance. From the Intelligent Flight features to the increased flight time and speed, refined obstacle avoidance system and compact form factor, the Mavic 2 Zoom is very much a welcome breath of fresh air to the aerial photography and videography community. Not only does it produce excellent still images and video, but the overall experience of operating this little aircraft is an absolutely enjoyable experience.

Have you used the Mavic 2 Zoom yet? Let us know in the comments how you like it and how it compares to any other drones you might have piloted.

 

review of the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom Drone

The post Review: DJI Mavic 2 Zoom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.


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Is the Canon EOS RP right for you?

14 Apr

Is the Canon EOS RP right for you?

We’ve put the wraps on our full review of Canon’s EOS RP, where we look at its image quality, autofocus and more. But is it the right camera for you, and the style of photography you enjoy? Taking the RP into account as a whole, here’s how we think it stacks up for these common photographic use-cases.

  • Travel
  • Family & moments
  • Lifestyle & people
  • Landscape
  • Sports & Wildlife
  • Candid and street
  • Formal Portraits
  • Video

Travel

The compact size of Canon’s EOS RP may tempt you into picking one up as a travel camera – certainly, it’s smaller in size than many of Canon’s own DSLR cameras with smaller sensors. However, there’s only one native lens (and a few when using the adapter) that will allow you to really retain this compactness. The RF 35mm F1.8 Macro is an excellent and reasonably affordable option, and adapting the likes of Canon’s EF 50mm F1.8 STM, 40mm F2.8 STM and 24mm F2.8 IS USM would allow you to build a reasonably sized travel kit of primes.

What we’re really waiting for is a native-mount kit zoom of some sort that doesn’t break the bank, and won’t break your back. The RF 24-105mm F4L isn’t necessarily a huge lens (though it offers a hugely flexible zoom range), but cheap and cheerful it ain’t.

Canon’s excellent RF 24-105mm F4L IS is a little on the bulky side for the RP, but does provide an flexible zoom range.

There are some other niceties as well that will appeal to travelers, including attractive out-of-camera JPEGs, plus a provision to process Raw files in-camera. This means you’re less likely to need a laptop with you, if all you want is to just get some files off to social media using the camera’s wireless connection. Battery life isn’t great, but the RP will charge over its USB-C port. On the downside, if you like to mix stills and video in your travels, the RP won’t be of much help for the latter – if you have a reasonably modern smartphone, chances are its 4K video will be leagues ahead of what the Canon is capable of in most lighting conditions.

Photo by Richard Butler

Family & Moments

The RP’s small size (again, with the right lens), relatively simple interface and solid Auto and scene modes make it a promising camera for capturing family and friends. The camera’s Dual Pixel autofocus system has actually improved over the more expensive R, and allows for ‘Pupil Detection’ during continuous focusing. This will make it easier to capture candid moments with perfect focus. On the other hand, with a bulkier zoom lens, the RP’s size grows considerably, making it less likely you’ll snag it as you run out the door to a picnic or a football (soccer) match.

USB-C charging means it’s a simple affair to keep the battery topped up when you inevitably misplace the dedicated battery charger. This is also handy since you’ll probably want to browse the attractive JPEGs on the camera and send a few off to your phone to share, all of which will shorten the already not-too-great battery life.

Lastly, and this will become a theme in this article, it’s probably best to just use your phone if you’re looking to capture video. However, if you are looking to occasionally capture footage of Timmy’s school play from the back of the room, the hefty crop that ‘zooms-in’ your field of view when shooting 4K might actually come in handy.

Photo by Carey Rose

Lifestyle & People

Let’s come right out and say that blurring your backgrounds into oblivion is certainly easier with a full-frame sensor, but really isn’t the end-all, be-all of photography. But there’s a reason tech companies are spending millions of dollars to imitate the look: the ability to obscure distractions may be a benefit for photographers that don’t always have complete control over their surroundings.

With the right wide-aperture lenses (especially if you want to use the monstrous and beautiful RF 50mm F1.2), the Canon EOS RP will give you excellent subject separation that is just more difficult to achieve on smaller sensors, plus Pupil Detection helps ensure you can achieve critical focus at those very wide apertures.

On the other hand – and there’s always another hand – the RP’s full-frame sensor is going to be just a little noisier than its full-frame peers, particularly if you shoot Raw images and want to post-process. This may limit your ability to shoot in very high-contrast or harsh lighting conditions.

Photo by Richard Butler

Landscape

The EOS RP will do fine service as a landscape camera, in a pinch. It’s relatively small and therefore easy to pack, is fairly well-built (but not extensively weather-sealed), and has reasonably large control points to make it easier to use with gloves. The articulating touchscreen is great for working on a tripod, and charging over USB-C somewhat mitigates the middling battery life. Plus, with the EF adapter, you gain access to a vast array of Canon lenses that range from affordable to exotic, to help you get just the angle you need out in the wilderness (or in the middle of the city, as above).

However, we again come back to the EOS RP’s full-frame sensor. While 26MP of resolution is plenty for most people and most prints, the design of the sensor in the RP introduces far more electronic noise into your images than most other contemporary full-framers. This isn’t a problem if you primarily use JPEGs, but those who want to manipulate Raw files may find noise in shadow areas to be problematic.

Photo by Carey Rose

Sports and Wildlife

Yes, I know, the above bird is made of metal and is notably not moving. Simply put, with a burst speed of four frames per second with continuous autofocus, the EOS RP just isn’t one of our top picks for this demanding use-case. For sure, careful and experienced users will get plenty of keepers from it, and you can adapt those lovely white telephoto lenses that helped make Canon famous at sporting events the world over. Even the autofocus tracking mode is impressively sticky, turning in a much better performance than the older 6D Mark II that shares a sensor with the RP.

But the slower burst rate means you may have a harder time capturing just the right moment, and though the viewfinder doesn’t ‘black out’ between shots per se, it does pause noticeably with each shot taken: even in its slower ‘tracking priority’ mode, which is somewhere between one and two frames per second. Lastly, if you want to position your AF point yourself over your subjects, you need to use the four-way controller (which is slow) or the touchscreen (which can be imprecise with your eye to the finder). A joystick or an option to speed up the four-way controller would be welcome.

Photo by Carey Rose

Candid & street

For those wandering the streets of an unfamiliar city and looking to document their surroundings, the EOS RP again makes a fine option… in a pinch. The flip-out articulating screen encourages waist-level shooting, but makes for a wider – and more conspicuous – overall package than a screen that simply tilts. And you’ll need to pay careful attention to lens selection to keep the overall size of the package down.

The EOS RP also has a fairly quiet shutter, which is great for those looking to avoid attracting to much attention. Unfortunately, while there is a completely silent electronic shutter option, the read-out speed of the sensor – how quickly it can scan the scene in front of you – is very slow, meaning you’ll almost certainly get rolling shutter artifacts, showing up as slanted verticals in your images. You also get limited control over your exposure in that mode.

Photo by Carey Rose

Formal Portraits

The EOS RP now comes with pupil detection autofocus while in Servo mode, meaning that if you or your subject move slightly (we humans have to breathe, after all), the camera should be able to maintain critical focus – even when shooting at very wide apertures. This, coupled with Canon’s pleasing color in JPEGs, means that you should get great results right out-of-camera. As we’ve been mentioning, Raw shooting will give you more noise than many other options, but if you’re shooting with studio strobes and controlling your lighting carefully, you should be fine.

The one caveat is that the RP’s pupil detection isn’t best-in-class. Your subject’s face has to take up a significant portion of the frame for it to work, or else it will fall back on general face detection, which could miss the precise focus you’re looking for. Lastly, there are no native portrait RF lenses on the market yet (they’re coming), but in the meantime, you can adapt a wide range of excellent and affordable EF lens options.

Photo by Richard Butler

Video

Simply put, we would not recommend the EOS RP for anything but occasional, casual video capture. The crop-in while shooting in 4K makes it very difficult to shoot anything wide-angle, you don’t get Dual Pixel AF and you end up with footage that’s worse quality than many cameras that have smaller APS-C sensors. Switch down to 1080p and you get your wide-angle back as well as excellent autofocus, but the quality is merely so-so and you don’t have an option to shoot at 24 frames per second, only 30. The 4K footage is only offered at 24p, so it’s essentially impossible to inter-cut the two video formats if you so desired.* Lastly, the rolling shutter effect is, well, extreme on the RP in 4K, which could ruin all types of footage if you’re not careful.

This is all a shame, because the RP would handle really quite well as a stills / video hybrid. The fully articulating touchscreen makes it easy to adjust settings and tap-to-focus, there are headphone and microphone ports, and HDMI out is offered. Alas, the mediocre video quality is just too hard to ignore.

*Cameras outside North America will shoot both 4K and 1080 at 25p

The wrap-up

Hopefully, it’s apparent by now that the EOS RP, despite its shortcomings, is really a capable little camera in the right hands and for the right uses (or even in capable hands for less-suitable uses). As we stated in our full review, it’s not a camera that really gets the blood pumping based on its specifications. There are no new ‘killer features,’ no technical sensor wizardry, and it has some definite shortcomings, like its video feature set and battery life.

Despite all of this, the RP is mostly a winner for us. It’s affordable, offers great JPEGs, and with the RF 35mm F1.8 Macro – admittedly, the only affordable RF-mount lens at this time – it’s compact and fun to use. And though it’s not the most elegant of solutions, get the RP with the adapter and you’ll have access to an incredible variety of ‘cheap and cheerful’ older EF-mount glass until the RF system fills out a bit more. For now, if you’re in the market for an affordable full-frame camera, the RP seems especially well-suited to travel photography and documenting family and moments.

If you own or are looking into an EOS RP, let us know in the comments what types of photography you’re into and how the camera is working for you.

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Video: ‘The completely bonafide and entirely unfalsified history of the camera’

14 Apr

YouTube channel ‘The Royal Ocean Film Society’ by filmmaker Andrew Saladino has published a tongue-in-cheek video detailing ‘the completely bonafide and entirely unfalsified history of the camera.’ Viewers are greeted with an amusing, biting narrative about human nature and how it supposedly contributed to the creation of photography.

The Royal Ocean Film Society channel is known for its animated video essays covering a variety of topics. According to Saladino, this video was ‘partially inspired’ by the short film ‘A Lecture on Man’ from Richard Williams.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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How to Prepare Images For Publication – Part One

14 Apr

The post How to Prepare Images For Publication – Part One appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.

It is a known fact that images viewed on computer monitors don’t always match what comes out of inkjet printers. This is because the color pixels captured by digital cameras are defined quite differently than the pixels portrayed on the computer monitor and the monitor’s pixels differ quite significantly from the ink patterns that are literally sprayed onto the paper.

But even though both inkjet printers and printing presses both use CMYK inks, the images printed on inkjet printers usually don’t produce the same appearance when printed in publications. This is quite true, but why?

Color images are displayed differently on each device because the technologies for each medium use different processes; monitors (left), inkjet (middle), and halftones (right).

The answer to this mystery eludes many of today’s magazine publishers and even many publication printers. This is a problem that the digital imaging community (photographers, image editors, and pre-press operators) have struggled with for decades. Color Management Professionals (CMPs) undergo rigorous color science studies to understand how to maintain the same look in color images that are reproduced on different substrates and a variety of printing processes. Since you may want to produce your images in print, we’ll look at a synopsis of what the challenges are and some surefire ways to produce the results you’re looking for.

First and foremost, cameras and monitors capture and project color images as RGB light but all ink-based printers must convert these RGB colors into CMYK colors behind the scene! Even though you send RGB files to your inkjet printer, the printer doesn’t rely on RGB inks to produce all the colors in the prints. RGB colors are for projecting colors while CMYK colors are used to print colors.

Projected colors are always viewed in RGB while printed colors are always produced from some formulation of CMYK inks. That’s simply how color science works. Printers don’t print the RGB colors directly. While you send RGB images to your inkjet printer, it converts those colors into some form of CMYK during the printing process. Even when you send an RGB file to your eight-color printer, the base CMYK colors are augmented by slight amounts of Photo Cyan, Photo Magenta, Red, and Green colors. However, there has been one printer (the Oce´ LightJet) that produced color prints from RGB, but it didn’t use printing inks… it was a photographic printer that exposed photographic paper and film using RGB light. This printer is no longer manufactured.

Each printing process utilizes a unique pattern to express the variable tones between solid and white.

Viva le difference

The inkjet printing process is completely different from the print reproduction process. As a matter of fact, the two systems are overtly dissimilar. If your images are headed for print and you are not sure of which printing process will be utilized, you might be headed for trouble. Here’s why.

The possible surfaces for inkjet printing vary wildly and include everything from paper to wood, from metal to fabric, and on virtually every surface and texture in-between. To accommodate this range of printing applications, inkjet “inks” are liquid rather than solid, so they can be applied to varied surfaces and substrates.

Dots versus spots. The peanut butter consistency of press inks and the well-defined shapes of the halftone dots used by the printing industry differ significantly from the liquid inks and less defined “micro-dot” dithering used by the inkjet printing process.

The color spots produced by inkjet printing systems may include more than a dozen colors and are liquid to accommodate almost any surface. Printing press dots are well-defined symmetrical shapes and are much thicker consistency to accommodate the high-speed transfer to paper. Both inks are translucent because they must blend to create other colors.

The extremely small inkjet droplets appear more like a mist than a defined pattern; each pixel value (0-255) creating a metered amount of microscopic spots so small that the human eye perceives them as continuous tones. Due to the smoothness of the tones and graduations of color, inkjet images require a bit of sharpening to deliver detail (detail remember is a product of contrast, and contrast is not a natural inkjet strength).

Dot structure of halftone images (left) and color dither pattern (right).

Both the inkjet and publication systems convert the RGB (red, green, and blue) values of each pixel into equivalent CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) values before printing those colors onto paper. However, after the color conversion, the two processes take decidedly different paths to deliver ink on paper.

While printing presses use grid-based, well-defined dots that are impressed into paper surfaces, inkjet printers utilize micro-dot patterns sprayed onto surfaces. The same image may appear in several different forms during the reproduction process. Original image (far left), digital pixel (near left), printed halftone (near right) and Inkjet dither (far right)

Publications use the geometric structure of halftone dots to interpret pixel values as tonal values on paper surfaces. Each pixel produces up to four overprinted color halftone dots. These halftones dots translate darker values of each color into large dots and lighter values into smaller dots. The full range of darkest-to-lightest tones produce dots that vary in size depending on the press and paper being printed.

To avoid the visually annoying conflict that occurs when geometric grids collide (called a moire pattern), each CMYK grid pattern is set on a very carefully calculated angle. The positive advantage that inkjet images have over halftone images is that the image resolution required for inkjet prints is significantly less than the resolution required by the halftone process employed by publication images.

However, the most important issues to address with print have to do with color fidelity and tonal reproduction. The difference in the way inkjet images and publication images are prepared makes a huge difference in the way the images appear when they come out the delivery end of the process.

Inkjet printers are like ballet dancers while printing presses are more like Sumo wrestlers; not unlike chamber music versus thunder roll. One is quiet, graceful and articulate, the other noisy, violent and powerful.

The biggest difference between the two processes can be seen in the highlight and shadow areas. Inkjet inks are sprayed onto substrates through a very controlled matrix of 720-1440 spots per inch using a slow and measured inches-per-minute process. Publication presses smash ink into the paper under extreme pressure, at speeds measured in images-per-minute, translating the entire tonal range into a limited geometric matrix of just 150 variable-size dots per inch. Publication presses are huge, high-speed, rotary rubber stamps.

Inkjet printers carefully step the paper through the machine in an extremely precise manner while the printing press shows no such restraint. Presses display an amazing ability to control the placement and transfer of images in spite of the blazing speed of the process.

You might be able to dress a Hippopotamus in a tutu, but you can’t expect it to pirouette. There are simply physical limitations. At production speeds, the shadow details suffer, delicate highlights tend to drop-off rather abruptly, and the middle tones print darker. The printing industry is aware of this dot gain issues and compensates for them with G7 process controls and compensation plate curves, but the beast remains a beast.

There’s a pretty good chance that both color and tonal detail will be unwittingly lost in the printing process if nominally prepared images are sent to press. Having spent many years of my career in both photo labs and the pressroom, I can assure you that detail in both the lightest portions and darkest areas (and placement of the middle tones) will need special attention to transfer all the detail on the press. Highlights get flattened, and shadows get closed more easily because of the high speeds and extreme pressures involved.

This means that images destined for print must exhibit more internal contrast in the quarter tones (between middle tones and highlights) and three-quarter tones (between middle tones and shadows as well as a slight adjustment to the middle tones to reproduce at their best. I’m sure I will hear some disagreement about this from some publishers, but as a former pressman, I know that images that do not get some special attention usually print somewhat flat.

The image on the left might look good as a print, but it would reproduce poorly on a press. The shadow areas would get even darker and lose all detail. The image on the right will darken slightly in the lower tones producing an excellent result in print. White balance is also critical in publication printing. Compensating for the unavoidable effects of the press always pays off.

There is a cardinal rule in printed publications that states that even areas of the whitest whites and darkest darks must contain dots. The only “paper white” should be specular (light reflecting from glass or chrome) and even pure black doesn’t print solid black; everything contains dots. Unlike inkjet printers, printing presses cannot hold (or print) dots smaller than 2-3% value (247). Dots smaller than this never make it onto the paper. This is why additional internal contrast is needed on both ends of the tonal range.

Photographers certainly know their way around cameras and software (Lightroom or Photoshop), and they understand color and tonality as it relates to mechanical prints. They are also accustomed to references to RGB (red, green, and blue) colors and may even understand how inkjet printers work, but very few are familiar with the behavior and limitations of huge printing presses. The analogy of ballet dancers versus Sumo wrestlers is an accurate one.

Photographers understand fine art prints and image editing software though few see their photos through the eyes of pressmen. But perhaps they should!

There is a significant difference between preparing photos for inkjet printers and preparing images for publication presses. The publication RGB-vs-CMYK conversion thing differs significantly from inkjet conversion in color gamut, image saturation, and tonal reproduction.

When an image is captured, it can potentially possess more than 4000 tones per (RGB) color. That’s a whole bunch of possible colors. But the sobering factor is that all printing processes reduce those possible 4000 tones down to a mere 256 tones per RGB color before any ink hits the paper. Obviously, the post-processing tone and color shaping of camera images are super-critical! Simply put, how the photographer shapes all that data before it is ready for print determines how much detail and clarity will get printed on the pages of the magazine.

Once again, the top picture would print great on an inkjet printer but would lose very critical detail on a press. Compensation for the unavoidable effects of the press is always advised. In Part 2 of this series, I’ll show you exactly what adjustments were made to this photo. Additional sharpening also helps compensate for the slight blurriness of the halftone process.

The old adage “start with the end in mind” comes clearly into focus here. No matter how much data is captured by the digital camera, the publication press is the ultimate arbiter of tones and colors, and deserves the loudest voice in the conversation. The color gamut of CMYK conversion is even more restricted than the basic sRGB gamut of Internet images, making this post-processing exercise perhaps the most precarious scenario of them all. If you ignore the special attention needed for magazine images, don’t expect the images to pop off the page. Ignore the press’s advice, and you’ll pay the price in both detail and color reproduction.

In the follow-up article entitled “Preparing Images for Publication Part 2,” I’ll reveal the literal “trade secrets” for producing great publication images.

 

Preparing Images for Publication - Part one

The post How to Prepare Images For Publication – Part One appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.


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A Beginners Guide to Exposure When Mixing Flash and Continuous Lights

14 Apr

The post A Beginners Guide to Exposure When Mixing Flash and Continuous Lights appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Have you ever struggled with high contrast situations? Perhaps you’ve encountered shadows so dark or big that they steal the attention from the subject? That’s because sometimes you need to add a second light to your images. However, if they are different types of light, it can be difficult. Keep reading for a beginners guide on how to expose when you’re mixing flash and continuous lights.

Taking a photograph means to capture and register the light, so understanding how to do that is key to obtaining a good result. In this tutorial, I want to talk about continuous light and flash lighting, and how you can set your exposure to register both. First, I’ll explain what I mean by these terms.

Types of lighting

Continuous lighting

Continuous light (also called constant light) is the light that is on for the entire duration of the photo. This can be natural light when you’re outside, but can also be window light when you are inside. It can also be artificial light such as a table lamp or even professional photography lighting. Basically, it ranges from the sun to a candle – as long as it is continuous.

Flash lighting

Then there is flash lighting, which is only available for a quick moment when triggered. It can be from a professional strobe light, an off-camera flash, or the flash integrated into your camera. You can use these two different lights exclusively or together to complement your lighting. You can use them to create a special ambience or to achieve a particular effect. In this tutorial, I’ll explain how you can set your exposure when you use both continuous and flash lighting in the same shot.

Mixing the lighting styles together

I want to show you a situation in which I used continuous natural light as the main light and then filled in the shadows with an off-camera flash.

This first shot I took with only sunlight coming in from a window on the left and behind the camera. The camera settings used were ISO 2OO, f/8, and 0.3 sec. It’s enough to light the bowl of fruit; however, the dark shadows it has cast on the wall are not appealing.

Photography is about representing our tridimensional world in bidimensional ways. To do this, we make use of different things. One of them is shadows because they give depth. So we don’t want to eliminate all of the shadows – we want to control how many there are, how dark they look and their direction. If I slow the shutter speed to let in more light and try to ‘fill in’ the dark shadows to soften them, it overexposes the main subject.

If I slow the shutter speed to let in more light and try to ‘fill in’ the dark shadows to soften them, it overexposes the main subject. It happens here at ISO 2OO, f/8, and 2 seconds.

Therefore, it needs another source of light from the right. You can add this light source using either another continuous light or with a flash. I did this image with ISO 200, f/8, 0.3 seconds – the same settings I used for the correct exposure using only the continuous light. This solved the problem of one set of shadows but ended up creating new ones on the opposite side, so I need to fix the exposure again.

Since the flash is just a shot of light that lasts for a fraction of a second, it doesn’t make a difference how long your shutter speed is open like it does when shooting with continuous light. You can set your shutter speed as slow as you want or as fast as the synchronization limit allows you (in my case is 1/250 sec). The flash lighting exposure needs to be regulated by the aperture.

I used ISO 200, 1 sec, f/11 for this image.

In this image, I used ISO 200, 1 sec, f/16.

If you set the shutter speed to the light coming in from the left, meaning the continuous sunlight coming from the window, and set the aperture according to the light coming from the flash on the right side, you can control the complete illumination of the scene.

Conclusion

You can decide which shadows are good to keep and which ones to fill and by how much. In summary, have an image with depth and enough information both in the highlights and the shadows to either keep as shot or post-produce to your liking.

Exposure ISO 200, 1/250, f/8

*Extra tip

As you may have noticed on the examples, every light has a different color temperature, that’s why some photos have warmer or colder tones. This is a broad topic that I can’t manage to cover in this one article, but I did want to mention it. When you’re mixing different types of lighting you may need to deal with this. Sometimes the auto-white balance of the camera does a good enough job. However, if it doesn’t, I advise you to do some more research about it.

The post A Beginners Guide to Exposure When Mixing Flash and Continuous Lights appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.


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