Digitizing your Slides and Negatives

NOTE : Photos are appearing fine on Safari.  Other browsers are rebelling.

This post is meant to inspire you.  Using a Digital SLR with Macro Lens and Strobe to copy slides and Negatives is perhaps the fastest way to get your film based images onto your hard drive.  It is considerably faster than using a Digital Slide Scanner.  Resolution of the image is likely to be higher than a scanner since you are using a DSLR.

Assemble the parts shown above into a configuration that make sense for your camera model.  DO NOT use a cheap optical slide duplicator from E-Bay, because you will not be satisfied with the results.  The package below is ready to copy, just add a strobe.

Here is one configuration using a camera mounted strobe shooting into a white reflector.  You can use a strobe extension cord and shoot directly into the lens as an alternate setup.  That is the one I use.  I dedicated a "clamp lamp" as a focusing light as shown.  You can keep it on when the strobe fires.

Set your camera on Manual and experiment with exposures, bracketing exposures until you are satisfied with the results.

Once you are set up, you should be able to shoot three exposures within 30 seconds.  Don't forget to dust your slides and negatives.

At the beginning I said inspire you.  If you are still unsure about the process and want detailed instruction, check out my one-on-one, on-line / over the phone Seminar.

Creativity Seminar Book Recommendations

I am giving a presentation on CREATIVITY in U/W Photography on Saturday at the Beneath The Sea Conference at the Meadowlands.

 The link to the handout for the seminar is here.

A lot of it is inspired by one of my mentors, the late great Galen Rowell, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.  I will be recommending these books:

Galen Rowell's Inner Game of Outdoor Photography

The first third of the book is worth its weight in gold.  While some is based back in the film era, this is absolutely the best thing I have read on being a photographer.











 Galen Rowell's Vision: The Art of Adventure Photography

An earlier companion volume to the one above.  Also has tons of nuggets compiled from his time as a columnist at Outdoor Photographer magazine.

















Henri Cartier-Bresson Photographer: A compendium of the great master of the "Decisive Moment."

Adorama Specials for March 7th.

Click here for the Adorama Specials for March 7th.

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Photoshop Auto Save - Electric Iris Trial Update

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On Feb 27, ONE WEEK AGO, this space posted a wish list for Adobe Product Bug Fixes and Feature updates. 

Part of that mentioned a trial for a product I was using, PsdAutosSaver by ElectricIris.com.  I just got a notice that my ONE MONTH TRIAL has expired.  No problem but that is incorrect. It has only been one week.   Bug in the programming.  I was opening a photo from Lightroom to edit in Photoshop on my Mac and Photoshop crashed after getting the error message from Electric Iris.  I sent a crash report to Adobe and Apple.

I re-did the same sequence and Photoshop crashed again after getting the same warning from Electric Iris.  Being the sharp knife in the drawer that I am, I trashed the PsdAutosSaver program and VOILA, problem fixed.  Bug in the program.  I wasn't about to buy the program to continue to do the Alpha testing for the company gratis.

In the week that I was allowed to try PsdAutosSaver, the results were inconsistent.  Sometimes it saved a backup copy, sometimes it didn't.  If I worked on JPG, it would create a HUGE .PSD file that did not show my changes, so it does not do what I had hoped it would do.   If you are using Lightroom, backup files are automatically saved because when opening Photoshop from Lightroom,  it creates a duplicate file, leaving the original untouched.

Adobe, I still want an adjustable Automatic Autosave feature that allows me to set the timer from 1 minute to 30 minutes.  Default version is set to ON at 10 minutes.  Preference to adjust the timing or turn off if the Autosave becomes a pain.

Photo Rescue Using Photoshop Curves

Sometimes, shooting circumstances are just not ideal.  Case in point, shooting a singing Humpback Whale.  It is not every day that you get to do this.  If you find a singing whale at all, it is likely to be very deep and you will probably be snorkelling, not using SCUBA. There was no option to handoff the camera to free diving champion Tanya Streeter.   Here is the shot and it needs rescue.

The tones are muted because it breaks every rule in the book: 1. far away from the subject, 2. shooting down, 3. not using strobes, but they would be ineffective at that distance anyway.

Here is the multi-step fix.
NOTE: it is helpful to have a good understanding of using the LEVELS command first.  Recommended resource: Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider.

















Press Command + M (Mac) / CTRL + M (Win)  in Photoshop (NOTE: Photoshop Elements does not have this tool).  This is the initial Histogram:

Drag the control points to fix the Black Point and White Point at either end.  The result is shown below.

Click OK to "register" this initial correction.  The Photo will look like this and much improved.

Reopen Curves by pressing Command + M (Mac) / CTRL + M (Win).

"Finess" the control line by first adding one control point and SLOWLY experiment by dragging the line up or down and around for the darker tones, on the left until the picture looks better.  Add another control point for the lighter tone on the left and SLOWLY drag up and down and around.  The result is the S-Curve shown.

In the photo at this point, the Suns rays are more visible and the contrast is better, and you can better see the clumps of coral on the bottom over 150 feet away and the white tail flukes are closer to the true white tint.   Click OK to register the changes.

Now for the final touch, reopen Curves.  This time, Click on the Channels dropdown box and select blue since the predominant color is blue.

The BLUE channel shows severe deficiency in the shadows and darker tones.  So slide the black point to the right until the photo is improved. 

This shows Histogram after correction.   Click OK and save your work.  At this point you could work on the RED and GREEN Channels but they are inconsequential in this particular photo as those parts of the spectrum are naturally filtered out by the depth of the water.

The final rescued photo of the singing fifty-five foot whale.  Worth the work!

Catch us at the BENEATH THE SEA conference at the Meadowlands Expo Center.  We are presenting the seminar on the Humpback Whales of the Silver Banks on March 26th at 2pm.

Click here to see more of my underwater favorites.
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DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURES WANTED: Easy e-mailing of Photos

This may be out there somewhere but not on any of my Canon cameras.  Seems to be available on Smart Phones but not real cameras.  Let's face it, Digital Cameras are designed by engineers governed by their Marketing Department Masters.  Not photographers, the end users.  There is an inherent problem with this.  Case in point: Downloading pictures and emailing them.

WANTED: 
A BUTTON on the back of a camera, not yet another godforsaken menu-pick.  The new button, universal among manufacturers,  when pushed, transfers the photo DISPLAYED on the back of the camera to the DESIGNATED or AUTOMATIC EMAIL bucket on the computer designated on setup via WiFi.  The photo is in 6" x6" dimensions to accommodate 4x6 in vertical or horizontal jpg and 72 dpi resolution, not the "full RAW FILE monty."  Option to include Copyright and Watermark info if desired.

WHY?

Digital Photography is a hassel.  "If you want pictures,  shoot film.  If you want work, shoot digital."  - John Ares

Current process:
1. Take the card out of the camera
2. Locate and connect card reader to computer with the correct functioning slot for the card.
3. Insert card
4. Wait for Lightroom or other software to recognize card
5. Go through endless dialogs to download photo including setting up new folder with correct name and important Metadata, manually designating presets to "work automatically."
6. Wait up to 30 minutes while entire card is downloaded.
7.  Select photos.
8.  Export the photos
9.  Select the correct EXPORT dialog preset from a list.
10. Send files
11.  Log into Email and select photos and send.
12.  Endure interruptions encouraging upgrades for security and the photo software by Adobe.  The upgrades now include the latest camera models from native manufacturers like Nikon and Canon denied to Adobe and they had to spend time and resources to reverse engineer.  Great business models.  NOT.  Lets grow up folks! 

Just remember, this 12 Step Program explained in Marketing's Powerpoint presentation is for our benefit and makes life "easier, better, saves time & money."

ADOBE LIGHTROOM, BRIDGE AND PHOTOSHOP ISSUES

Adobe has some serious bugs and performance issue in their flagship programs.  Providing feedback to them formally is a pain and always goes unacknowledged except for the user forums where comments go on forever it seems without resolution.  I had a clipboard issue that was one example recently.  I still get e-mails.


In any case, I am posting this in the hope that ADOBE actually trolls and finds this.  There are a lot of fixes needed on the MAC Versions.  Adobe needs to employ more programmers than lawyers!


Make your voices heard.  You are not alone.

LIGHTROOM

DEVELOP
SERIOUS Develop commands like Tone and Crop are still unstable and frequently reset on their own.

LIBRARY
ANNOYANCE: IMPORT Preset - not a default.  Must always select. Easy to forget to set.  Why not a preference? Fewer clicks are better.

SYNC
SERIOUS Synchronize is DYSFUNCTIONAL.  Major problems.  Bridge shows 102 photos.  Lightroom after SYNC shows 22.  I have NO TRUST IN THIS PROGRAM.

When Synchronizing, it shows only the new ones in the folder that were imported.  Should be an INTUITIVE button to show the entire folder contents.  ALTERNATIVE: HIGHLIGHT THE CORRECT FOLDER just synchronized in the TREE FOLDER PANE with BOLD YELLOW.  Don’t make me think about what should be obvious.

Should be an AUTO SYNC option in preferences.

Autosync is would be a nice feature.  A preference, prevents constant guessing of what updates were made.  Put a timer on and let it run at 3am.

PREFERENCE for Delete default.  DELETE from disk is not the default. Level of security should be selectable.  Fewer clicks are better.

Selections
Selections do not work properly
Selecting multiple photos and hitting the delete key, only selects one.  Must right click.  
Same with flagging picks.

To select the VIEW PICKS filter, you now need to click twice.  Clicking once does nothing

Folder structure collapses when changing or adding folder names, forcing retracing of a lot of steps.  Worse performance than 2.X

Use MAC Color Sceme on Folder Tree Structure.  I carefully color code my folders and in both Bridge and Lightroom, it is not shown.  Yet, in Photoshop, when I try to find a file, the folders open in all their relevant, colorful glory.  Surely the Mac / Adobe “Special Relationship” should allow for this to happen.

Import JPEGs and convert to DPG: don’t give me an excuse and message that it was’t done.

Add to a given collection - quick, the B key is quick collection, what is the shortcut key to add to a SPECIFIC Collection?

Need one EASY shortcut key to go to Library, not compound.  How about L.  Change L for lights out.  Lights out should be FULL SCREEN slide show without the loading delay.  Current feature is of limited use to me.

Camera Raw updates not coordinated.  Despite having Lightroom 3.3, and CS5, Adobe  Updater still thinks I am out of date.

Keywording panel is too hard to customize.  I repeatedly need to fill in only a few fields but have to scroll all over creation.  How about “Right click and use check boxes for the fields you want to see.”

Explanation of creating a hierarchy needs to be better.  I have lots of creatures with Common names and Latin names and Adobe hasn’t made my life INTUITIVELY easier here.

BRIDGE
Some Items are UN-LABEL-ABLE. Need to skip some and just remember the one that needed a label or rating.

VIEW /Sort View is a mess.  Buried many menu clicks deep, it should always be visable.  I frequently have to do sorts Ascending and Descending, by date and by filename.  Make Sort a different menu bar item and use checkboxes so we can do things quickly, not having to back in repeatedly. Fewer clicks are a good thing.

COPY TO AND MOVE TO should support longer lists of folders. ACDSee does this better, but they are flailing and uncommunicative as well.

Use MAC Color Sceme on Folder Tree Structure.  I carefully color code my folders and in both Bridge and Lightroom, it is not shown.  Yet, in Photoshop, when I try to find a file, the folders open in all their relevant, colorful glory.  Surely the Mac / Adobe “Special Relationship” should allow for this to happen.

Enable Mouse/Trackball wheel scrolling to go to next picture.

Using MAC OSX, switching to Lightroom requires going via Bridge, or other application.  Most of the time, my monitor 2 appears and not the main view.  Could be a video card issue.

PHOTOSHOP
Adjustment Brush wanted, not just in Camera Raw.  Dodge and Burn is messy and awkward.

Opening shots from BRIDGE, you can’t pre-determine where the picture will appear between two monitors.  Arbitrary and files can get buried and hidden.

INCREDIBLY, PHOTOSHOP STILL DOES NOT AUTO SAVE DOCUMENTS. Auto-update Open documents is a useless term.  AUTO SAVE OPEN DOCUMENTS is better, should be default setting.

I have NO IDEA what AUTO-UPDATE DOES.  It surely does NOT AUTO SAVE.  Deceptive name to the function. Electric Iris has a plugin (http://www.electriciris.com/psdautosaver.html) but that is not the answer for a program that just celebrated its 20th ANNIVERSARY!