You probably noticed a number of e-book reviews on this blog. I love reading. To be honest, I probably love reading even more than taking pictures. I buy almost every e-book available on subject of photography and consume it on spot.

The introduction of the years ago e-books allowed me the instant download. I could read them on my computer. Not very convenient. Then- on the iPhone- small screen, but I could already move out of my desk into living room sofa. And then came the iPad. It was the end of the paper.. well, almost anything, for me. I stopped printing papers to read for work. I moved all my magazine subscriptions into virtual world of Zinio. I started buying some “real books” as electronic versions. I stopped borrowing the paper books from library- I signed up for a number of electronic services. And on top of it all- more and more e-books are landing in my iBooks library.

I thought there is no way back for me printed media. I saw no advantage. The portability, accessibility, price of electronic was unbeatable.

Until one thing hit me today. None of the e-books, from Craft & Vision or any other site, can I get ever from the local library for free. Sometimes, you don’t want to pay the price, even of $5. You want to read the book, return it, and feel no need to ever go back. I found the huge disadvantage in what I thought is the perfect new reality. If the e-book ever replace the hard copies, and more and more people will go into self-publishing, the availability of the written knowledge will decrease. To those who will afford. Even the small, but still the price.

How about you? Are you embracing the new electronic world? Do you enjoy or despise it? Why?

I do have thousands of images from the various air-shows. I not always have time even to sort through them before next air-show happens in the season. I typically just post one or two the most memorable images shortly after the show.

I decided to have a day on the blog for those images. It will force me to go through those catalogs more often (these are only images I do not store in my main, single Lightroom catalog). I will have to spend time weekly browse them, reject those not meeting quality criteria (sharpness, cut off elements) and chose some more picks, which would otherwise get forgotten.

Today’s image is from the warbirds performance. They have a good showing at Oshkosh AirVenture, so seeing so many of them in the air at the same time is quite impressive. This is when you need wide angle lens in the air show photography. But right after that, you will want to zoom in on the
details and show the precision of the formation in your image.

“Photo nuts and post” is third in the Digital Photography School series of “Photo nuts and …” books by Neill Creek ment to introduce beginners into world of digital photography. “Photo nuts and bolts” teaches the reader the mindful use of camera and all its buttons, while recently reviewed on blog “Photo nuts and shots” shows compositional and creative techniques to improve overall feel of photographs.

“Photo nuts and post” is written to show beginning photographers the need of post-processing techniques, not intended to manipulate the photo beyond the recognition, but to present it as its best. The author is not taking a stand in post-processing discussion, just introduces the really basic techniques and mentions few more advanced like panorama or HDR.

“Photo nuts and post” contains 110 pages of theory and tips, combined with side by side presentation of before and after images to prove just what a difference simple corrections make in improving the photos. The e-book is also accompanied by 8 videos.

What will you find in the “Photo nuts and post”:
- introduction to digital image, with explanation of terms like metadata, histogram, color spaces, RAW format. You might find that boring at first, but it will help you understand the whole need and idea of post processing.
- very interesting and needed chapter on workflow, with suggestions on organization of photographs, backup, editing.
- explanation of global and local adjustment tools, and what effects can be achieved with either of those. There is no specific software described in the e-book, and although screenshots are from Lightroom, similar tools can be found in Aperture and many other software packages.
- practical examples on post-processing the example photos, including portrait, environmental portrait, landscape. You can either read the description of steps in the e-book or watch the process happening in fron tof your eyes on the video. Hint for the author- it would be helpful to have videos titled on the site, to easier find the particular clip.
- solutions to many popular photographic problems, like blown highlights, noise, chromatic aberrations, vignette, skewed horizon. This is an important chapter, because many of so called “problems” might be considered creative tools. The authors discusses several photographic myths here to help you make informed decision on what is acceptable and what disqualifies the image.
- preparing photos for output, especially optimizing for web sites, including watermarking.

A few general thoughts come out from the pages of “Photo nuts and post”. First- only practice will get you proficient in use of all the slides. Probably the very first images will be overdone, before you get a feel for what looks best. Secondly, each of the tools can be used as much to correct the flaw as to create a new, interesting effect. Thus- practice and experiment.

What “Photo nuts and post” is NOT:
- it is not a software specific guide, showing you how to use described tools. If you are not familiar with any post-processing software, including Lightroom, you will need another manual. Depending on your expectations, it is an advantage as much as a disadvantage of the e-book.

In summary, “Photo nuts and post” is a great introductory e-book, showing the need of basic post-production techniques to photographers at all levels. It wil help you to move from just uploading your photos straight from camera to phot-sharing website to create images with “wow” factor in just few clicks.

Use the special introductory offer to get “Photo nuts and post” for only $19.99. Just click the button below!

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The sunset was spectacular, with those low hanging clouds, letting themselves be just touched by the red light of the setting sun. The waterfall crated by the waters flowing from higher situated Lake McBride into Coralville Lake provided focal point for this image. The two things made this image. One, it is an HDR, which allows to preserve detail both in the water and the colorful sky, regardless large difference in the brightness of both. Second, sometimes it is worth to tale landscape in the portrait orientation. Not my idea, this time, although I knew the horizontal orientation was just not working, it was husband who thought that turning the camera will help. And it did.

Coincidentally, there just was a post on LightStalking about just that – “Composition: When to Landscape a Portrait and Vice Versa”. Check it out!

I settled for the shot of the orange slice on the glass of water. The point of intersection of the slice and glass is where the thirds cross, which makes image appropriate for the challenge. But what I really like here are the bright colors in this image and the fresh feel to it.

The “Before & After” series is a combination of two things. It is for readers to learn a technique and take a critical look at one of their images and utilize the technique to improve it. For me, it is a chance to revisit some of my old images and improve on them now, with more experience in both shooting and post-processing.
Sometimes the images for “Before & After” pop up when I open my Lightroom catalog and accidentally move some early images. Sometimes, when I happen to open an old blog post, while searching through blog. And quite often, it comes from looking at the prints. I am not printing many of my images, but the State Fair contest entries are hanging all over my house, home and work office. I often stare at them, thinking about something else, when the idea sparks. It was the case with the Boats, and it is the case with todays image.
The older the image, the easier it is to fix. And to understand why the entry was not successful.
The “Owl butterfly” is a nice image. I like the texture on it. I like the mood, and the simple dark background. But I totally cannot understand why would I leave this white distracting branch on the top. It is not adding anything to the story, and cannot be fix easier. I didn’t even had to use Content-Aware Fill or even Cloning in Photoshop. With black background, I just used Local Adjustment Brush with Exposure at the minimum setting. And cropped square for more impact, something cannot be done in a contest entry, which needs to be 11×14.

Winter seems to be almost over here, again. The snow is slowly melting, and the small patches left will probably be gone by weekend, in those barely around freezing temperatures and sun already higher in the sky. Although it was really cold and unpleasant, I am glad I went out this past Sunday to take few winter pics.

This is one of my favorites from the day. I enjoy how sharp and crisp the branches of the fir tree turned out, the texture created by overlying needles. I like the touch of bright color in branches themselves. And how they are covered in something which looks like snow at some angles, and you see it is ice at others.

I have a new cat at home. The second one. The first one, Ace, was featured several times on blog. Since, he grew to run the moment he sees me with camera in my hands. But he is overall not a big fan of me. The story is totally different with Torie. She doesn’t mind camera at all. She also follows me wherever I go in the house to sleep on my knees and be scratched on the head. As Ace, she renders beautifully in both color and black and white, with her rich patterns.

Now, I have used to post far more images from my iPhone. I stopped when the noise in those images started to bother me too much. But I noticed recently I am using my iPhone more and more as camera again. For example, many of my husband and I images we send home are taken with iPhone. They are simply good enough.

So now, when I am sitting on the sofa, Torie sleeping on the blanket on my laps, I am snapping a picture, or two, with my iPhone. I hope those I chose on the blog today are a bit better then your average pet snapshots. I tried.