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Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Tips & Tricks
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Free Webinars for Photographers in November from X-Rite

X-Rite Photo Marketing just announced its schedule of November 2012 Webinars, developed to address specific color management topics and designed to appeal to both professional and serious amateur photographers. Webinar attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions of the live trainers.

Landscape photography editing with Photoshop“This month’s webinars provide color management tips not only for photographers but videographers as well,” said Mark Rezzonico, vice president, X-Rite Photo Marketing. “From learning about professional color management applications for video as well as still photography to creating images with amazing colors or gorgeous landscapes, one of X-Rite’s November webinars is sure to provide the expert advice and education that photographers need.”

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST, Professional Monitor Calibration for Still & Video: As more still photographers move into videography with DSLR cameras the need for color management solutions specific to those output environments has become obvious. X-Rite’s i1Profiler software now includes video presets for popular video formats including NTSC, PAL-SECAM, and Rec. 709. The introduction last year of the new i1Display Pro colorimeter combined with these presets in i1Profiler makes the X-Rite i1Display Pro the perfect solution for calibrating and profiling monitors for video editing and output. When i1Display Pro is combined with X-Rite ColorCheckers the combination provides a capture to output solution for video editing that allows exceptional control over white balance in any scene. This brief webinar will review how to access and utilize the video presets in i1Profiler software and will briefly look at use of ColorCheckers in the video footage as a visual reference. For those shooting, editing, and preparing video for output this webinar will provide the insight into X-Rite color management solutions that can streamline color control in video.

To register for this webinar at 10 a.m. EST, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/897514314
To register for this webinar at 1 p.m. EST, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/337121170

Thursday, Nov. 8, 3 p.m. EDT and 7 p.m. EST, Simply Amazing Color. Take control of your monitor, printer and camera: The ColorMunki Family of color management solutions provides advanced control for a photographer’s digital workflow. This webinar will review the individual ColorMunki solutions including software demonstrations and discussions of how each solution is used. From monitor and projector to printer and camera, the ColorMunki family provides choices and solutions for any photographer’s needs.  All options are small and portable for travel. This live webinar gives users the opportunity to ask questions and understand each solution in detail so they can make the right decision on what ColorMunki family solution is for them. Attendees will enjoy special discounts.

To register for this webinar at 3 p.m. EST, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/702231450
To register for this webinar at 7 p.m. EST, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/718015994   

Thursday, Nov. 15, 11 a.m. EST and 1 p.m. EST, Landscape Editing and Enhancements with Photoshop CS6: During this hour-long webinar featuring professional photographer Joe Brady, attendees will learn how to enhance landscape images using Adobe Photoshop. In this free webinar Joe Brady will share some of his favorite techniques and processes to bring out the beauty in landscape photography. There are times when photographing landscapes when the weather and atmosphere just doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. During this session, Joe will share his workflow, decision-making process and enhancement techniques to bring life into image files that just don’t match the beauty and spirit of the scene the way the photographer envisioned it. Following a short discussion about workstation color and calibration, Joe will show attendees step-by-step Photoshop edits that they can put to work right away to bring life and drama back into their landscape images. Topics that will be covered include:

  • Monitor color for consistent results
  • Image edits from minor to major
  • Using Adobe Camera RAW, even with JPEGs
  • Exposure, contrast and light shaping
  • Global and local color adjustments
  • Compositing new skies
  • Composition
  • Removing unwanted elements from an image
  • Image sharpening options
  • Preparing files for printing

To register for this webinar at 11 a.m. EST, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/959824538 �
To register for this webinar at 1 p.m. EST, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/734153922

For more information on all X-Rite Photo webinars visit the Webinar page found under the Learning section on XritePhoto.com. All webinars are also archived for online viewing any time.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in News & Trends, Tips & Tricks
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Upcoming Landscape Photography Webinars from X-Rite

X-Rite Photo Marketing announces its schedule of July 2012 Webinars that have been developed for photographers to gain new confidence and learn quick, easy and powerful ways to enhance Free webinar on landscape photographytheir color workflow and improve their landscape photography. Webinar attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions of the live trainers.

Tuesday, July 24, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET
Landscape Image Edits and Enhancements in Lightroom 4: Adobe’s new Lightroom 4 offers new options for editing and output that make this a must-have upgrade for Lightroom users. In this free webinar, Professional Photographer Joe Brady will explore both basic and advanced image editing techniques in this new update. During this session, he’ll focus on the new editing capabilities offered in this upgrade. (In future sessions, Joe Brady will explore the new modules and Lightroom file organization.)

One of the new additions to Lightroom 4 is its ability to soft-proof. Now users can choose their printer profile and see what effects it will have on the printed image. This makes monitor profiling and accurate printer profiles an important feature of Lightroom 4’s workflow.

Topics that will be covered include:

  • Why monitor color is important for Lightroom 4
  •  Image edits and batch processing including
  • Global image edits
  • Local color and light adjustments with Lightroom 4’s new options
  • Retouching
  • Composition
  • Image sharpening, noise reduction and lens profiles
  • Preparing files for lab printing

To register for this webinar at 11 a.m. ET, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/998455034, and to register for this webinar at 1 p.m. ET, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/350972954

Tuesday, July 31, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET
Edit & Enhance Landscape Images in Photoshop: During this hour-long webinar featuring professional photographer Joe Brady, attendees will learn how to enhance landscape images using Adobe Photoshop. In this free webinar Joe Brady will share some of his favorite techniques and processes to bring out the beauty in landscape photography.

There are times when photographing landscapes when the conditions just don’t seem to want to cooperate. During this session, Joe will share his workflow, decision-making process and enhancement techniques to bring life into image files that don’t match the beauty and spirit of the scene the way the photographer remembered it.
Following a short discussion about workstation color and calibration, Joe will show attendees step-by-step Photoshop edits that they can put to work right away to bring life and drama back into their landscape images.

Topics that will be covered include:

  • Monitor color for consistent results
  • Image edits from minor to major
  • Using Adobe Camera RAW – even with JPEGs
  • Exposure, contrast and light shaping
  • Global and local color adjustments
  • Compositing new skies
  • Composition
  • Removing unwanted elements from an image
  • Image sharpening options
  • Preparing files for lab printing

To register for this webinar at 11 a.m. ET, visit:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/834446242, and to register for this webinar at 1 p.m. ET, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/370895866

For more information an all X-Rite Photo webinars visit the Webinar page found under the Learning section on XritePhoto.com. All webinars are also archived for online viewing any time.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles, News & Trends, Tips & Tricks
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The Basics of Astrophotography

Astrophotography camera and telescope
© 2006 Jerry Lodriguss / www.astropix.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Astrophotography is about as niche a market as you can find in photography. Though composed mainly of astronomy enthusiasts, astrophotography may have some sales potential. After all, there are few things as striking as distant galaxies and nebulas to hang on the wall in large format.

Photographing galaxies and nebulas
© 2005 Jerry Lodriguss / www.astropix.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

However, astrophotography for sale in the printing market is relatively untested and making the images is a complex, time-consuming process. Moreover, the approach to astrophotography is somewhat counterintuitive when compared to typical studio and daylight photography.

“When you make a print, the quality of the print is going to have a direct relationship to the signal-to-noise ratio in the image. If you try to print something with a low signal-to-noise ratio it will look awful. People think when you raise the ISO it makes the image noisier; it doesn’t. The noise is the same. In fact, with digital cameras, and DSLRs specifically, the noise actually goes down when you raise the ISO. The trouble is when people raise the ISO they cut the exposure so you don’t have as much signal. The overall signal-to-noise ratio goes down because you cut the signal, not because you have more noise,” explains Jerry Lodriguss, an expert in the field of astrophotography with 40 years of experience. “A lot of photography websites repeat the misconception that higher ISO means more noise when it really doesn’t. What they mean is that higher ISO means less signal. I used to be a sports photographer at the Philadelphia Inquirer and I used high ISOs every day and those images were noisy. The reason is because I had to shoot at 1/500 to stop the action. If I had shot at 1/60 it would not have been noisy, but it would have been blurry.”

Photographing nebula and galaxies
© Jerry Lodriguss / www.astropix.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Furthermore, says Lodriguss, telescopes are measured by the size of the aperture, while cameras a measured by focal length, so it can be somewhat confusing when the two are discussed in the same breath since they’re connected during the photo process. The telescope takes the place of the camera lens. A 300mm telescope is not the same as a 300mm lens, for instance, and as Lodriguss puts it, “The aperture is everything in astronomy; that’s what gathers the photons.”

Because the deep space images are so faint, it’s all about collecting photons. Moreover, cameras like Canon’s new EOS 60Da are designed to increase the sensitivity of hydrogen-alpha lines. “Once you get deep into this some of the most beautiful objects in the sky are red emission nebula. The only difference is that the long wavelength filter in front of the sensors is modified to pass more of the hydrogen alpha wavelength, which is 656 nanometers, and that wavelength is the light emitted by red emission nebula, so it makes it more suitable for astronomical purposes. Canon filters out most of that red light in their other cameras because they don’t like to see ruddy complexions in portrait photography,” says Lodigruss.

Capturing galaxies with astrophotography
© 2011 Jerry Lodriguss / www.astropix.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

You can use a “regular” camera for objects within the solar system, especially the moon, but beyond that range it’s time to find a camera, like Canon’s, that can get the most out of deep space objects.

“In astronomical photography, the quality you produce is generally in direct relationship – aside from your skill, equipment and time – to exposure time. The more exposure time collects more photons, and more photons will translate to a higher signal-to-noise ratio, and that’s the defining quality of how good the image is going to be. It’s extremely different than normal daytime photography where you have a lot of light to work with. This stuff is incredibly faint, so it’s not the kind of thing where you can shoot a couple of short exposures, which is why some of the exposures run into the hours,” explains Lodigruss. “I usually break the exposures into sub-exposures. In the days of film, we used to shoot hour-long exposures; with digital cameras you can’t do that. You break them up into a series of shorter exposures and put them together. You might shoot five or ten minute exposures and then shoot 20 or 30 of those and put them together to equal one long exposure.”