Digital Imaging (Part IV)

The Digital Darkroom (Part 2a)

Today we’ll discuss the term photoshopped, and the software program Photoshop from Adobe for which the term was created sometimes a reference almost to seem as a byword.

What is Post Processing? Weather film or digital, the image that is in front of the lens will be different than the image on the screen or paper. Film had the ability to capture light burn, known as exposure, and through post chemical processing the image that was captured could be manipulated based on the chemicals used, or the amount of time that the film is exposed to the chemicals crossed with the type of chemicals the film was to be made out of.

All these things went together to produce a final image, change any part of this triangle and you change the image.

Let’s go digital. Photoshop has become the premier tool for post processing the digital image. Monday I wrote about the digital sensor. Completely simplified, there is a whole lot more that goes into producing a digital image. Consider this, each square is represented by a series of one’s and zeros. Those numbers don’t sound very interesting to look at. Compare these two images below, I would much rather look at the image on the right.

   

The limitations of the digital color spectrum compared to what our God given eyes can see through the visible light spectrum, is quite drastic and may probably never be truly reproduced, because of this we will never be able to capture what was truly there. Photography is, has been, and will always be, a representation of what was.

This is where we briefly delve into the photoshoped image, created by none the less Photoshop. The software is designed to take what is on the right after the camera’s computer processor (which I have not discussed) takes the numbers converts it into something similar to the mountains in what is called a RAW image. Or a digital negative.

Photo editing software has the ability to tweak or change each square as individually or as a whole, by color, saturation, luminance or hue. Photoshop specifically can add, hide, move or completely take away the pixels to create a fake scene by using effects in much the same way I compiled this document in Microsoft word, I took a few images from one place, an image from another, changed the font size and even placed some in bold.

Leonardo painted the Sistine Chapel by hand with a brush, he mixed colors and changed the perspective, photoshop isn’t new, it’s just different. And its here to stay.

Tomorrow I will compare Ansell Adams images with a few of my own using Lightroom 5. I’ll show you how he did it in the same way that I do it.    

Digital Imaging (Part III)

The Digital Darkroom (Part I)

The above image was made on 35mm film then scaned into a digital image 

from the negative and finally post processed in Lightroom 5 to correct the

deterioration that is comon with film, now the photo looks closer to the 

original image on the day it was shot. 

Photoshopped, an ugly word to some but an art to others. No matter what your take is on seeing a fake image created in Photoshop by Adobe software. You should probably get use to it because these kind of images are here to stay. One thing for sure, Photoshop is a much needed program.

In the earlier days of film, to display an image on photo paper the film had to undergo a process of chemicals and exposure to light. This process could be done in a lab or at home, in a Darkroom.

Long gone are the days of those red lights and the stench of chemicals that could be detected around the whole block. Not to mention the creeps and horror films that came along with them.

Why do we need Photoshop? Well that is not a short answer, but I’ll try to make it simple. If you read Part I then you know a little about how the image is made. Once the image has been captured then before we can sell it or put it out for display it needs to undergo a processing stage to produce an image that is pleasing to the eye. Most iPhones, and cell phones have software in them to aid in this process, however it is minimal and anything more than the small image that these camera’s tend to capture will become distorted the larger the image is made.

 credit Johnny Tores 

This image was shot and processed from an iPhone, notice the lack of detail.

Also pay attention to the fake look compared to the other two images in this 

post, all things are not created equal.

 photographed by Brad Tucker, Kevin Queen post processing

This image was shot digital and post processed in Lightroom 5 to give an vignetting effect, and ajust a change to the 

exposure to allow a washed out aging look. Friday we'll discuss how this is possible without changing the image. Because this image wasn't "photoshopped" you would never know if I hadn't told you.

While there are many software options for the post processing of digital images, I want to take a look at two. Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom by the same company. While the same each have a drastic different approach to the way an image can be post processed.

Tomorrow I will compare the two programs and Friday I will talk about the way an image is post processed in Lightroom and why doing this isn’t considered cheating or creating a fake image. That answer can be found in the life of Ansell Adams long before digital imaging. 

Digital Imaging (Part II)

Today  I've decided to deviate from the technical and present you with a few things to gaze at. Some jaw dropping price tags on camera's and in case you didn't read part one you can get to it here Part I.


Sony Alph99 list price: $2,800.00 BODY ONLY
                           

Canon EOS 1D c list price: $12,000.00 BODY ONLY  


 

SIGMA SD1 list price: $3,300.00 BODY ONLY



Mamiya Leaf Medium Format $40,000.00 
  This last camera is a 80 megapixel medium format, it is so expensive that it comes in three parts, unlike all of the above cameras which are two. The Credo Back which houses the image sensor comes in 40, 60, and 80 megapixels. I thought I should display a couple of views since one image doesn't seem to pay tribute enough considering the price.

The back of the camera displays 1.15 million dots on the LCD screen. Impresive.

Tomorrow in Part III we'll take a look at post procesing in the 'digital darkroom'.

Digital Imaging (Part I)

In the above image from Top Right moving clockwise are three illustration that I would like to talk briefly about the first is a drawing of the different layers which are contained with in a digital imaging sensor the second is a lesser detailed image but the one with which I will be talking about to help simplify the way the sensor works. The third and bottom image is a actual sensor as a whole.

What is most interesting in the way that the sensor has evolved can be seen in the far right image. Take notice to the four layers, Red, Green, Blue, and then the Sensor. Focus on the squares, each square represents a pixel, the amount of pixels or squares on the sensor results in the detail of the final image, more squares being more detail, and the possibility of producing a larger final image.

What about the layers? To better understand how the image is produced lets go back and talk for a moment about how the original digital sensors(not pictured) where different, they being comprised of only two layers, the image sensor underneath and the color sensor above. The color sensor use to look like a checker board, one made out of three colors, a red square then a blue one then a green one.

Why the colors? Each color sensor filters out only that particular color. Think about this like a pair of sunglasses filters out the harsh UV rays but still allowing enough of  the light to still come through so we can still see.  

How does that information help? Because now that the sensor is layered it can record all at once each amount of color in the image on each square, instead of only a red color once every four squares, then a blue, and so on. This results in a much larger and more detailed image, it also allows for more accurate post processing. 

Tomorrow we'll take a less technical look at the process and I will post some examples of different gear, and a camera that cost more than a Cadillac!

Rainy Day Riddle

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring and I've got gum stuck on the bottom of my shoe. Oh what to do!

How about a some magic images! Rain seems to scare most people away from going out and taking photographs, can't say that I much blame them. I mean who wants to get their gear soaked and possibly ruined? I sure don't. So today I decided to stay in and take some trick photos.

I assure you these are not composite images, your looking right at the originals, think you can figure out how I accomplished this.
  

A Golden Egg Story

It can take so much to get just the right shot, knowing the subject matter your shooting is utmost of importance. The ability to understand your lighting situation and the limitations that come with the light setup, its all about adjustments and quick decisions on the fly. 
Patience is a must when setting up for that perfect angle of view and when trying to capture just the right point of view. Knowing your equipment inside and out becomes essential when in the field, getting things like the correct exposure, being in focus at just the right moment and having that sixth sense to capture the image you've been waiting for with precise timing and accuracy. 
All those things are what it takes to go into a wonderful photograph, to tell a story with light and composition. And then sometimes we just get lucky like this one I took here, I call it a 'golden egg'. Happy Shooting!  

Vote For Your Fav

Photo 1

Photo 2

I'm very excited to post these two photo's of the Iwo Jima Memorial, I got the images several years ago when visiting Arlington National Cemetery and Washington D.C.. It's part of my analog collection that is slowly being converted into digital images. 

Above are the same two images, they have been processes a different way, one to expose the colors and the later to underexpose the color, which brings out the detail in shadows. 

Vote for your favorite, you can leave a comment on here or go over to my Google+ page and +1 the image you most like. 

Voting will be open till Oct 1@ 6pm, the winning image I'll turn into a print which will be given away for Veterans Day in November, more details about that following. 

Also check out some more recovered analog images from Arlington on my Google+ page.