Welcome to the week that was on Photofocus! This time, Bryan Esler explained why two Drobos are better than one, Mike Hagen discussed dissonance (whatever that is) in outdoor photography, Julie Powell showed how to make condensation on glassware for still life photos, I interviewed Skylum Chief Technology Officer Dima Sytnik on why he replaces skies in his photos and Bryan finished with a “not-to-worry”piece on Square Studio. We had a great week. Hope you did too!
Creating redundancy with two Drobos - As someone who’s had a Drobo for the past several years — first with a four-bay version and more recently a 5D3 — I was intrigued when I was offered the opportunity to receive a Drobo 5C for review. The 5D3 has served me well, with zero problems. It’s fast, and I love that it’s Thunderbolt 3 compatible with my new MacBook Pro. The 5C, on the other hand, is already proving its worth, serving to be a great backup device to my primary 5D3. Why have two Drobos? This is a question I asked myself. But I quickly realized that it’s a good idea to have multiple copies of something, and then some additional copies even after that. By having a 5C as my backup device, I know I would be getting a system that would secure my photographs and video files for the long run. One Drobo is my working drive, while the other is my backup. Not wanting to spend an arm and a leg on new drives for my 5C, I decided to upgrade a few of the drives in my 5D3, as that would be my primary drive where my files would ultimately live. I ordered three Seagate IronWolf 6TB NAS hard drives, which have faster 7200 RPM speeds, and used those for the 5D3, along with one of my older drives. I then took out three of my existing Western Digital Red 6TB drives, and put those aside for the 5C. Switching up the 5D3 The downside to swapping out drives with the 5D3 is you have to do it one at a time. Each new drive has to remap with the data on the remaining drives before you can replace another drive. The upside is during this process, all of your data is still available. So I took out one drive at a time, and replaced it with one of my newer drives. You’ll be met with red error lights on the device and in Drobo Dashboard, as well as an error notification at the bottom of Drobo Dashboard explaining a drive has been removed. You can obviously ignore these. Note that when you add in a hard drive to a Drobo unit, it will format the drive, so make sure you don’t have valuable anything on it! During this process, Drobo will remap the data on your new hard drive, meaning I had to go through the process three times, one for each new drive. Drobo Dashboard will display a progress bar telling you how long it will take for the drive to be remapped. It’s all automatic, and starts as soon as you enter your new hard drive into the Drobo unit. The entire process took about 36 hours to complete; the time depends on how big the hard drive is and how much data you have (the more data, the longer it takes). Once my three new drives were remapped, the 5D3 was basically set to go. From there, I plugged in my 5C. Using existing drives with the 5C As I mentioned above, I took three of my Western Digital Red 6TB drives out of my 5D3, so I could put them into my 5C, this time all at once. But when I first did it, I was met with errors in Drobo Dashboard saying my drives weren’t recognized or formatted correctly. It’s then that I realized I would need to manually format the drives. To do this, I double-clicked on the 5C, then went to the Tools menu and clicked on “Erase & Factory Reset.” Because my drives in my 5C once lived in my 5D3, I wanted to make sure that the drives were fresh and that Drobo Dashboard saw them as new. This can be a scary thing to click, but note that the 5C at that moment is an empty box. There’s no data that lives on it. Just to ease my mind, I ejected my 5D3 from my computer before starting the process. Once that step completed, I clicked “Format.” From there it asked me to complete a few steps. I got to choose what to name my 5C (I went with “Drobo Backup”), and it then asked me how I wanted to format the drives (HFS+ was the only option presented). The formatting took a few minutes but then was ready to go. My empty shell remained, but it was a working empty shell! Cloning my 5D3 to 5C I knew from back in my I.T. days that Carbon Copy Cloner would do exactly what I needed in terms of syncing the 5D3 to the 5C. While it had been years since I used it back in college, I went ahead and downloaded it the 30-day trial. It was very easy to set up. I was able to create a Task Plan that setup my computer to make a copy of the 5D3 on a daily basis. In the advanced settings, I made sure to run the task overnight, so it wouldn’t disturb my workflow. I also made sure to check that the task should be run as soon as the devices get reconnected; handy in case of a vacation, or the power outages that Michigan ice storms often provide. I also setup email notifications, so I could be alerted in case of any errors. While I rarely don’t have my laptop with me, there’s the occasional time where I’ll travel to visit family and will leave my work behind. So it’s good to know what I’m walking into while I return. Luckily, I’ve not received a single error yet. Then I let it run. It took several hours — again, you might want to run this overnight — but after the initial backup, it takes merely a minute or two to complete (depending on how many new files you have). My 5C (known as Drobo Backup) now sits in Drobo Dashboard and my macOS Finder just like any other drive. I know
Skylum CTO Dima Sytnik on replacing skies - “The point to our software is to make a much more powerful and unique editing experience. To make awesome results much easier and to bring the results that people before were not even able to expect.” – Dima Sytnik Dima Sytnik is one of the founders of Skylum (previously known as MacPhun) and its Chief Technology Officer. During a brief conversation on Skype, I asked him what moved the development team to build a sophisticated sky replacement engine. “I had a lot of nice images but I never shared them because the skies were really boring or the lighting difference was very bad. Like these photos of New York I was really happy with the light but the sky was boring — completely dull.” Replacing skies changes everything Dima continues, “But with this new technology I was able to breathe new life into my photos. It was just brilliant! I enjoyed revisiting all of my images that were previously very bad. I didn’t even try to edit them. I was really impressed with how I can go from mediocre image to awesome image because of relighting. And thanks to other smart filters that are being put into Luminar 4. I can turn my daylight photos into beautiful sunset photos with nice clouds. It’s really WOW!” Sky replacement is hard When asked what the toughest challenge to overcome in replacing skies Dima described it and the solution. “Sky replacement is a very complex task. One of the challenges was to make the AI work with transparent and semi-transparent objects. We solved the problem so you won’t have to use masking or brushes. If there is a slight inconsistency, it’s easy to adjust with one or two sliders. Because it’s AI, we automatically find the horizon and the top of the sky; you can use any sky that you have. There will be guidelines on choosing the best skies for a scene when Luminar [4] ships. “This means you really should get out your old photos and play around with different skies. In Photoshop it’s very hard to play around and get the best sky. You have to look trough Lightroom and try different skies again and again.” The photo below is of a tree and the sky captured with it. Instagram! Dima proves his point when he says, “With Luminar 4 you browse those skies asking ‘Is this good? Is this one good?’ Then boom! You can replace them. This is an area where people can try their artistic side again. I really like this feature, especially on my images. I had lots of skylines that I would not show because the sky was plain. Now I can pick a sky and replace it quickly. Basically, I have to use this superpower before it was released to improve my Instagram photos.” More features? During our talk, I asked Dima if there were any other new features he wanted to share. He didn’t answer the question directly. I can’t help but conjecture — and this speculation is mine and mine alone — that there are many exciting, time-saving editing enhancements to be announced in the not too distant future. As they used to say on television before Netflix, stay tuned!
Why Square Photo Studio won’t hurt professional photographers - You may have heard earlier this week that payment platform Square is getting into the photography business. More importantly, it has launched a service called Square Photo Studio, to help small businesses have professional-looking photographs on their commerce websites. Square Photo Studio uses robotic cameras to take photographs at various angles. Pictures are available in two packages — three photos for $9.95 or an interactive 360 photo for $29.95 for each product. Photographs are available within 14 days of the product being sent to Square. But here’s why it won’t make a dent in terms of the photography market. It is limiting One of the biggest issues with Square’s offering is the dimension and weight limits they are able to photograph. From Square: “The maximum size we’re able to accommodate is 84 inches in combined length and girth — meaning the length of the longest side plus the distance around the thickest part of your object can’t exceed 84 inches — and no more than 20 pounds in weight. “For example, if your product is a vase that’s 60 inches tall and 30 inches around its widest part, that’s 90 inches in combined length and girth, and would not be eligible for the service as it exceeds our maximum size of 84 inches.” Sure, that might work great if you’re a small retailer like a coffee shop looking to sell bags of coffee locally. But if you have something larger or heavier, you’re out of luck. And if one or two of your products can’t be photographed, do you really want to have to deal with multiple companies just to photograph your products? In addition to the specs that they require, there’s also a biggie missing. Square is not offering lifestyle photographs. All of the photographs it provides are on white backgrounds. Which is great for certain use cases, but most businesses also want to have at least a few photos in their product in use in order for their potential customers to see common use scenarios. There’s no personal touch The thing about automated, robotic processes like Square Photo Studio is the client has very little input over what happens. The client basically sends in the product, gives some direction and Square photographs it. Period. That means there’s no way to meet a photographer to discuss your vision in advance of the photoshoot. There’s no way to give immediate feedback or ask for small adjustments quickly. There’s no way to rush delivery of photos. Square’s clients aren’t your clients … yet You’re probably pretty familiar with Square, and maybe you’ve even used them to process payments from your photography clients. But Square is clearly going after the small startup business that can’t afford to pay a lot for pictures and doesn’t want to think about hiring a photographer. Where Square can potentially hurt photographers is with the pricing structure they offer. Paying $10 for a few photos of each product is very, very cheap. But you have to remember Square’s startup clientele here and realize that those company’s budgets are most likely low in terms of marketing and advertising. Chances are, once the business establishes itself on more firm footing, they’ll be banging on your doors wanting a more personal experience with more diversity for their photography. They’ll see the light. And when they do, you should welcome them with open arms.
Creating condensation on glasses, bottles and cans - Don’t you just love a frosty glass of something cool and refreshing on a hot day? Nothing looks quite as cool and refreshing as an ice-cold glass with that wonderful condensation running down the side. Sure there are lots of ways to artificially create this quickly, but for my money, I love working with the real thing, and it does not take that much time to create. How to set it up This really is not all that hard. If you want a can of soft drink or beer, for instance, run the can under tap water and place it in the freezer, but be careful not to let it freeze completely and bulge the can. Bottles can be run under water too, but be careful not to get the paper wrapper too wet or damaged. Personally, I prefer working with a glass or Mason jar, as there are no stickers or labels. I run it under the tap and then place it straight in the freezer. Once it has been there a while, you may need to break the seal, where it may have partially frozen to the shelf and then fill the glass with ice cubes. This will help keep the glass icy cold. Do not pull out of the freezer until right before you are about to shoot — have everything in your scene set up and use a “practice” glass for checking lighting, focus, etc. Additionally, try not to use your bare hands as they can leave fingerprints, where the warmth from your skin starts to melt the frost on the surface. Create the condensation If your ambient temperature is warm enough, you will get condensation happening within a minute or so. If it needs a little help, blow over the area with a straw or hold warm hands close, but not against the glass. Placing your glass in the sunshine will also make it happen much faster. The downside Once the condensation starts, get snapping, as it does not last long. This is the real downside of working with real condensation — it just doesn’t last very long. Try having a backup glass in the freezer that you can switch out if needed. Alternatively, if you find you really need more time, you can mix glycerin 50/50 with water in a spray bottle, and spray that on your glass. This can add some extra condensation, however, I feel it does not seem to drip quite the same.
Creating visual dissonance in outdoor and travel photography - One of my favorite things to do in photography is finding patterns. Like most people, I am drawn to patterns, textures and repetition. As fascinating as patterns and textures can be on their own, photographs of these elements are invariably improved when a pattern or texture is interrupted by something unexpected. Visual dissonance I commonly refer to the technique of breaking up textures and patterns as visual dissonance. This dissonance is the tension caused in the viewer when what they expect to see is broken by something they actually see. For example, if someone is viewing an image with a repeating pattern and then sees something that causes that pattern to be broken it causes visual dissonance. They are expecting to see the pattern repeat continuously throughout the scene, but then notice something different that causes them to do a double-take. When it comes down to it, most viewers will stop and stare at your image just a little longer if there’s something in the image that is different from everything else in the scene. Therefore, breaking patterns and shapes with unanticipated elements is an excellent tool for photographers to employ in their visual tool kit. I recently took a photo trip through southern Nevada and Utah where I photographed some of the most beautiful landscapes in the USA. During this trip, I searched for a few examples of ways to create visual dissonance by breaking up patterns and textures. Below are four techniques I used that you might also find helpful in your own photography. Four techniques to create visual dissonance 1. Add a person to a patterned landscape Adding a human element to a large scene with repeating patterns is a great photographic approach. In the images below, I used people to break up the pattern while providing an interesting visual element. In each case, the human provides a sense of scale and breaks up the scene to add more visual dynamism. 2. Add a contrasting color element The sandstone throughout southern Utah is beautiful in its own right. However, I’ve found that breaking up the pattern/texture with contrasting elements creates a more powerful image. In the case of this example, a large area of sandstone had thousands of small rocks strewed across the surface. I found three that were arranged in a simple pattern and photographed them against the sandstone base. 3. Using patterns and texture to lead the viewer’s eyes into the scene In the image below, I used texture and pattern to help guide the viewer’s eyes into the scene. This is a common technique for landscape photographers that can work as well for street and travel photography when you want to lead the viewer to an interesting element of the scene. 4. Change the direction of patterns Look for natural changes in the direction of patterns. In this example from Bryce Canyon National Park, I found a series of hoodoos that were all oriented vertically in the landscape and included them in a composition with other canyon walls oriented to the left and right. Breaking up the direction is another great approach for interrupting patterns in your imagery. My hope is these tips are useful for you and help inspire your photography. I’d love to see your images, so leave a comment down below with some of your images or a link to where I can find them. Thanks for reading!
