This week, Scott Wyden Kivowitz kicked things off, giving us three photography challenges to do while we’re at home. Then, Bryan Esler had an interview with Adobe’s Sharad Mangalick, talking about the state of Lightroom.
Lauri Novak told us how to create opportunity through mistakes, while Andrew Ford walked us through the benefits of monitor calibration. Julie Powell told us how to fix portrait blemishes in less than 30 seconds, and finally, Vanelli talked with metal printing expert Mirza Izic.
Challenge your photography skills while stuck at home - Sure we are mostly stuck at home during this pandemic, doing our part to stay healthy and let the medical professionals and scientists find a way to fight the virus. But that does not mean your photography skills have to suffer. If you challenge yourself once a day or even once a week, by completing a task of some sort, that will be good for your creative mind. That is why I have put together three simple challenges for you. You can take as little or as much time as you want to complete them. But when you do, be sure to share the results with us on the Photofocus Flickr or Facebook groups! I’ll also have more challenges to come; be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more. Apple macro challenge Grab a macro lens if you have one, but if you do not then grab whatever lens you have. Position the apple however you want and photograph it. Make some edits and then share it with the world. Try to be creative with composition or placement or lighting. Hashtag: #applechallenge Handheld challenge Grab your longest lens and put it on your camera. If your camera or lens has image stabilizer or vibration reduction, then turn it on. Photograph an object from a long distance, at the longest focal length your lens offers. Keep the ISO low so you rely on your steadiness and the stabilizer. Then bump the ISO up and photograph the same object with better shutter speed. This challenge will help you learn about your limitations with long lengths and shutter speeds as well as the benefits of good exposure. Hashtag: #handheldchallenge Odd angle challenge While you’re stuck at home and unable to go to many places, try a new photo challenge to work on your photography skills. In this video, I challenge you to use an odd angle and capture something unique with your camera and super-wide lens. Ideally, you need something wider than 20mm (if you’re using a full-frame sensor) in order to do this challenge. Lead photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash
Exclusive: Discussing a pro workflow for Adobe Lightroom - I’ve long been intrigued by the Adobe Lightroom product. While it’s often seen as the younger brother to its sibling, Lightroom Classic, “new” Lightroom does a great job of editing photos. Couple that with its online sync capabilities and mobile camera capture functions, and you really have a product that can be a great solution for a lot of photographers. Despite this, over the years it’s gotten a bad rap. There are some things that, especially for pros, provide challenges. Having all your photos in the cloud seems like a great idea, until you have terabytes upon terabytes of data, as many pros have. I had the privilege of sitting down with Sharad Mangalick, senior product manager on Adobe’s Digital Imaging team. We talked about the state of Lightroom and some techniques that pros can utilize in the app. The state of Lightroom and photography The latest major version of Adobe Lightroom was released at Adobe MAX in November 2019. It brought such features as guided tutorials and interactive edits, advanced export options and more. Since then Adobe has added a few other features and improvements, including direct import on iOS devices and sharing improvements. With Adobe MAX moved online this year, many have been wondering how Adobe will handle the next major version of Lightroom and its other Creative Cloud products. While Mangalick couldn’t give any specifics of what to expect, he was very excited in terms of what’s coming down the pipeline. “From a product perspective in terms of what we’ve built, what we’ve shipped or what we’ve got in the pipeline, it’s looking very positive,” he said. “So that keeps me really excited because I’m always focused on, you know, what are we building? How can we improve photographers’ lives through photography, through the software we build?” During COVID-19 Mangalick said that it was hard for him to speculate on how COVID-19 was impacting Adobe as a whole, but did mention that he’s seen a lot of positivity around photography in general during the crisis. “One of the things that really caught me off guard in a positive way is just the kind of outpouring of how some photographers help other photographers. How can people use their photography to raise money for causes or to help other people in need? In this time of crisis, what are the opportunities? What are the positive things out there? It’s been really nice to see. “I think there’s a lot of things for photographers and creative people to really latch on to personally in this time period. In these times, you can’t control what’s going on in the world. But you can control. how creative you are.” Can Lightroom work for pros? As I mentioned above, one of the biggest complaints about the “new” Lightroom is its lack of local storage options. But if you really dive into the program and see the advantages of cloud storage, you can make it work. “It’s something that we hear quite a bit, and there’s a couple aspects of it,” said Mangalick. “One, there are more plans that people can purchase to have more storage. The other option is that we offer Lightroom Classic, which is primarily local. “One of the reasons that we have Classic versus Lightroom is because of these distinctions between use cases and needs. We have options in Lightroom, if you go to Local Storage [in Preferences], we have options. These are in addition to syncing to the cloud. The fundamental kind of truth of your imagery with Lightroom is, in the cloud vs. locally.” While Lightroom might be a perfect option for those traveling or away from their desks often, it’s obviously not perfect for everyone. That said, if you’re creative with using it, you might find yourself being able to work with the system. For instance, Lightroom offers an option to store original versions of photos on an external drive, which is in addition to syncing to the cloud. You can also store individual albums locally. “It doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of, ‘I’ve got too much storage locally that I can’t fit into my account.’ It’s more of a, ‘I want to have a copy locally, maybe I’ve got my own local backup in addition to what I’m doing.'” And when you do get close to hitting your storage cap, you’ll receive warnings at both 80% and 90% of your storage being filled. But even if you run out of space, edits to existing photos will continue to be synced. “When you hit your limit, we’ll continue to sync the edits between images that you’ve already put into the cloud. Sync is not closed at that point. It’s just closed for new images coming into the system,” said Mangalick. “We want to have the images that are already there [continue to sync]. We want them to be fully always in sync, so that I can leave and I can go in my phone and, everything that I did here is automatically reflected on my phone. That’s always going to be the case.” When you finally do run out of space, you’re still able to add images to the app — they just are only locally viewable. “The risk there is you don’t have a copy of it in the cloud. It’s kind of on you. There’s a risk with this, and that’s why we don’t necessarily recommend it as a long-term solution. But in the short term, as long as you’re tidy and understand the risk, it’s totally fine.” Other pro-centric features Printing Adobe added printing through White House Custom Color at Adobe MAX, but the program still lacks the ability to print locally. “We look at it as, that’s a way that we can satisfy the need to print in one way. There is still the need to print locally. And it’s one of those areas we’re looking at in our time frame,” said Mangalick. He did mention that for now, opening the image
How to deal with portrait blemishes in less than 30 seconds - Are you one of those portrait photographers who want to get in and get out real quick when it comes to editing? Not everyone wants to spend hours cleaning up blemishes in an image. Sure, to get that perfect magazine spray-painted effect you can go all in, but in general, you capture it great in-camera and fix blemishes while editing. With a little help from Photoshop and Luminar 4, you can do just that. Quick cleanup Open your image in Photoshop and make a duplicate image. Grab your Spot Healing Brush and quickly remove the biggest of the problem areas. Why Photoshop? I don’t really like the Healing tool in Luminar, and I honestly think Photoshop is much quicker and easier to use for this. Using the brilliance of Luminar’s AI Skin Enhancer Now from Photoshop open the image in Luminar (Filter > Skylum Software> Luminar 4), and open the Portraits panel. From there you can quickly, effortlessly and realistically smooth skin and remove shine, while also removing some skin blemishes. Sadly it doesn’t remove all, hence the super-quick cleanup in Photoshop beforehand. Bring your face to life Now jump into the AI Portrait Enhancer panel and adjust as required. Here you can make your subject’s eyes pop, remove redeye, whiten eyes and teeth (just a touch), and finally use the Eye Enhancer and remove dark circles. All with just a few sliders. Such an improvement and it only took 30 seconds, here let me give you a live demonstration. Before and after If you’re looking for a super easy and quick way to get rid of portrait blemishes and take your portraits to the next level, the Photoshop-Luminar combo is a great way to start. Don’t have Luminar 4 yet? Click here to get our bundle of free Looks, skies and online training — and save 42% off the retail price!
InFocus Interview Show: How to get the most out of metal printing with industry expert Mirza Izic - My guest is the general manager of the premiere metal printing and project management company Image Wizards, Mirza Izic. Mirza has a unique task not just managing the company but also creating educational content teaching how to get the most out of metal printing. Topics includes proper setup, proofing, black and white printing and how to upload large files. Save on your first metal print with Image Wizards! Our friends over at Image Wizards want you to experience the magic of metal prints. Just go to imagewizards.com and enter the coupon PHOTOFOCUS15 and you’ll save 15% off your first metal print. There’s also more on printing from Image Wizards — be sure to check out their website. Be sure to let us know if you have any thoughts or questions in the comments section. We do our best to answer all questions in a timely manner. You can be the next guest on our podcast Do you have an idea for a topic or want to hear from your favorite photographer or influencer in our industry? Send an email to Vanelli at [email protected] with the subject line of INFOCUS INTERVIEW IDEA. Then write a brief description of your topic or idea. If you are recommending someone, please include their name, contact information and state if you would like to be a guest host. Thanks for listening! This InFocus Interview Show episode is brought to you by our partners, Lume Cube and Drobo. If you like these InFocus Interviews, please consider supporting them and sharing these links with your friends!
Creating opportunity with mistakes and experiments in photography - Experiments and mistakes aren’t always that different. It’s all in what you do with them. Has this happened to you? You go out, take some shots, look at your screen and think oh no! You either forgot to change your settings or somehow something got pushed or dialed into the wrong setting for what you’re doing and you didn’t realize it. Luckily we’re typically photographing with digital cameras when this happens. Don’t delete mistakes in-camera Our first instinct is to just delete the crap from the card before you even upload it to look at it, save space on our memory card to shoot with and move on. Even though I knew there were several images that were very dark just by looking at the back of my camera, I didn’t delete anything directly from the camera. Then again, I never delete anything directly from the camera. Why? You never know what you can recover from an image that doesn’t look so great on that little screen. Seriously, it’s too hard to tell what you really have until you upload it to view on a larger monitor. Also, sometimes you find something that you can get really creative with. Maybe it’s not a great image but it can be used as a texture, background or color overlay Digital images are very forgiving and software is our friend Whether you shoot in JPEG or RAW, the amount of information in our digital files allows us to recover images that would have otherwise been unusable. Shooting in RAW gives us more digital information to work with but there is still some leeway in our JPEG files as well. Try it. Take an underexposed image and see what you can do with it. Yes, this works better with images that have been underexposed but even if you have overexposed images, there are still ways to make them work as images or art. Make mistakes work for your other images In this particular case, I caught what was wrong after three shots and fixed it. When I uploaded the images though I really liked the dark shot and decided to experiment with it. I tried different presets in Lightroom Classic and settled on one that gave it this deep red color and made some tweaks from there. It made the normally green hostas look otherworldly. As I went through the other images, I grabbed two other hosta photos that were better exposed and recreated the dark exposure and post-processing I used on the initial underexposed image. Never say never Yes, I know, we are more often than not after the perfectly composed, exposed and setup shot. I get that. Sometimes things happen — we don’t prepare, we grab our camera and forget to change the settings, we are in a hurry or don’t want to miss whatever it is that is going on so we just start clicking the shutter. Remember shooting film and forgetting that you didn’t load the camera? It happens. Just know that you can still possibly create a workable image or just get really artsy and creative to make something else out of it.
When colors go bad, the first fix is monitor calibration - Over time, the colors that monitors produce can change ever so subtly. Yes, even LED monitors. It is easier to recognize on multiple monitor setups since you have a direct comparison. Whether viewing on my Apple LED monitors at my workstation or my Dell LED monitors at home (all set to the same color display profile), facial tones now look different shades on all the monitors as the years have gone by. When colors start to go bad, you can’t be 100% certain about what you are retouching or color correcting. If your monitor isn’t producing accurate results, then there could be a fine line between someone’s face going from a ghostlike white to reddish sunburn appearance. What about if you are working with a team of designers on different monitors and then exporting files to a print vendor? With so many variables at play, you can see how poor color representation in just one part of the process can have a big effect. Some people have told me that their audience doesn’t calibrate their monitor, so what does it matter? While that is true, there is a wide range of how uncalibrated monitors display images. They can be too bright, too dark, too warm or too cool. Therefore, it is even more important that your image be perfect so that you can fall right in the middle of all those variables. You took the time to take the perfect shot, so you should ensure that your viewer sees those perfect colors the way you did. This begins with proper monitor calibration to minimize guesswork. Monitor calibration is easier than you think Color profiles can be confusing. Like most people, you’re probably thinking that monitor calibration is a tedious, difficult, or time-consuming process. This is no longer the case with current technology. My tool of choice is the Datacolor SpyderX Elite, which I was provided for review. It checks all the boxes: It’s easy to use, fast at calibration and provides accurate results. How easy is it? Once you turn on your monitor (have it on for at least 30 minutes, disable auto features, and reset to default settings), download and install the Datacolor software using the information provided in Datacolor box. Then, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3! First, plug in the SpyderX Pro or SpyderX Elite into a powered USB port on your computer and remove the lens cap. Second, hang the SpyderX Pro or SpyderX Elite over your monitor. Use the lens cap that is attached to the USB cable as a counterweight. The software guides you, as shown below. Third, you calibrate! The software walks you through the calibration steps and provides help on any features you may have questions on. That’s it! It took me less than four minutes to calibrate and match BOTH of my Dell monitors at home. That’s right — with this system, you can calibrate multiple monitors. When calibration is finished, you can toggle between the uncalibrated and calibrated results. I was able to see the subtle red adjustment in my main monitor and the secondary monitor was greatly improved to match the main monitor. Why does it work so well? I believe the SpyderX to be accurate because of their lens-based color engine technology. I’m no engineer, but the sensors seem to have a greater light sensitivity which can offer more precise screen color, shadow detail and white balance calibration. What makes the SpyderX Elite so elite? The SpyderX Pro is a great tool for the serious user. The SpyderX Elite, three years in the making, expands upon this by offering extra features of interest to professional photographers or videographers seeking advanced calibration. You’ll get more tools for greater analysis of display quality. You’ll also be able to calibrate an array of devices, such as projectors, and be able to perform display matching across multiple different devices. As a videographer, I appreciate the video calibration targets. Finally, one of my favorite Elite features is the visual fine tuning for side-by-side display matching. When colors go bad, turn to monitor calibration to keep your perfect images looking perfect throughout your entire workflow.
