PhotoWalkPro

Protecting Your Images with a Watermark

Jeff — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:08:46 +0000

I got a call yesterday from a buddy who was asking if I knew of a way to protect jpeg images on a disc so that they couldn’t be printed. I knew where he was going with this. He wanted to deliver proofs to a client but didn’t want to give the client the ability to just use the images to make their own prints or even copy them without compensation.

The truth is, I really didn’t know of any method except to make an auto-playing slideshow. My other suggestion was to put a transparent watermark on the images before handing them off to the client. The transparent watermark is not so obtrusive that it gets in the way of viewing the image, but it does supply enough of a deterrent that you wouldn’t want to make prints from the image. To make things even better, a simple action can be made to create the watermark and then turned into a droplet. The droplet can be placed on the desktop and all you have to do is drag and drop a folder onto it and it will automatically run the action on all of the images in the folder. You could also use the droplet in Lightroom as part of your export process (check out this video from my friend Julianne Kost to see how to use droplets in Lightroom).

Here’s a quick video that will run you through the process. This isn’t the only way to do this, it’s just the way that I found works best for me. If you have a different method, please share it in the comment section.

By the way, this video looks even better when played full screen.

Here’s what the final image looks like after the watermark is applied. Make sure you click on it to see a larger version.

Happy Veteran’s Day

Jeff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:14:49 +0000

Help Portrait

Just a few quick items for your consideration today. First is a little follow-up from Scott Kelby’s post yesterday about Help-Portrait. I had heard about the project some time ago but today I followed up and actually took some time to visit the Help-Portrait site and found a group of for Northern VA. I have registered for the group and hopefully will be able to attend the meeting that is scheduled for this Thursday night at 7:30pm at Ballston Common Mall in the Food Court (by the Chick-fil-A) in Arlington. On the agenda is discussion about what organization(s) to work with for the event on Dec. 12. I was pleased to see a couple of photographers in the group that I already know and I encourage my other photog friends in the area to join in and help out in this very worthwhile cause. Here’s the link to the Northern VA / Washington DC page.

Another Photographer’s Rights Dust Up

I saw this last night and I have mixed views on the incident. The photographer who runs the blog Discarted had a little bit of a run in with some LA Sheriffs Deputies last week in the metro station as he photographed some turnstiles. On the one hand, the deputy in the video (yes, the whole thing is on video) was a little full of himself and seemed to be trying to flex his terrorism crimefighter muscles. On the other hand, I have a ton of respect for anyone that puts on a uniform and will put themselves in harms way to protect me. I understand the importance of standing up for photographer’s rights but there also needs to be an understanding that law enforcement officers have to deal with more stress and danger in a single day than many folks face in a lifetime. Somewhere in the middle is the way this should have been handled by both parties. But that’s just my opinion. Check out the video to decide for yourself.

FotoWeekDC

This weekend marked the start of FotoWeekDC, a festival founded in 2008 to celebrate the power of photography. Last year’s festival drew in about 20,000 people and this year’s promises to be even bigger. There are tons of events planned for the week including exhibitions, lectures, workshops, gallery showings, a tech pavilion, and more. To find out all the details on this weeks events make sure you head to the official website. But hurry, FotoWeek ends on November 17th.

Thanks

Finally today I would like to take a moment to say thank you to all of the men and women who have formerly or are currently serving in my nation’s armed forces. You sacrifice and service for your country is greatly appreciated. Bless you and your families!

My Readers are Awesome

Jeff — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:02:29 +0000

After writing about my desire to add a second line in my ID Plate in Lightroom I received a suggestion from blog reader Andy Klafter. He wondered if I had tried pressing Option-Return to get a new line of text in the edit box. The truth is that I hadn’t but as soon as I got back to my Mac I quickly fired up Lightroom and pulled up the edit window for the Identity Plate and then tried Andy’s suggestion. To my surprise and delight, the cursor moved underneath the current line of text and allowed me to type another line. I just love learning new stuff!

ID Plate with one line of text

The ID Plate Editor

After moving the text to a 2nd line with Option-Return

After moving the text to a 2nd line

Sadly though, my delight turned to a bit of disappointment when I found that I really wasn’t any better off than before for the following reason. Although I was able to add the second line, there is no way to format the text beyond changing the size and font style of the second line. The big problem is that Adobe has not included any way to actually edit the attributes of the text. There is no way to center justify the text or adjust the spacing between the lines of text or the kerning (the space between the letters).

The lack of these controls really makes having the ability to add the second line of text a little anticlimactic. I’m sure I will find a use for it but it won’t truly be useful as an ID plate until I can exert a little more control over the actual styling of the text used for the plate. I still want to give props to Andy though for dropping the Option-Return nugget on me and giving me another option to play with in Lightroom. Of course if someone knows a way to solve my kerning or justify problem I would love to hear about it.

Weekend Thoughts Reviewed

Jeff — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:12:14 +0000

Birthday Thank You -

Before I get into today’s post I wanted to give my thanks to each and every one of you that took the time to wish me a happy birthday on Friday and throughout the weekend. I was overwhelmed by all the well wishes that people made either in the comments for Friday’s “No Blog” post, Facebook, and Twitter. It wasn’t one of those monumental birthdays but it was a good one. Thanks again for making it so special. Now on to some random thoughts from this past weekend.

Lightroom Beta 3 -

I finally had some time to sit down and spend a little time with the new Lightroom 3 Beta and I thought I would share some random thoughts on Adobe’s newest offering. First, I know it’s beta, and maybe it’s just me but I find that it is running slower on my Mac than Ver. 2.5. I have loaded about 650 images into the catalog and it just seems to me that the response time for browsing thumbnails and moving between modules is a little slow.

One thing that I do really like, although it took a little getting used to, is the new import interface. A lot of the things that I was used to have been moved to panels on the side, like adding keywords, but overall it does seem to be a great improvement. I would like to see a way to add photos to a collection during import instead of having to wait until they are loaded in the Library. It would save a lot of time if I could make my collections as I import my images.

The Develop module is still the best way I know to quickly improve the look of my images and I really like the improved vignetting. I find it interesting that they now see it as an effect instead of just a bi-product of Lens Correction. I’m not completely sold on the new noise reduction but I think it will get even better once the luminance option is activated (it is grayed out at present).

I have yet to do much work in the other modules but I do know that the one thing that I wanted in the Print Module is still not there… multi-line identity plates. Yup, I really want to add more than one line of text in the identity plate but I still have to live with the single line of text that has been around since the first version of Lightroom. It would also be nice if there were centering buttons for the plate like the newly added watermark feature. It is just a beta so maybe they can squeeze that in before it goes to final. As for the rest of the program, I will continue to explore the features and compare and contrast to see if it will warrant my hard earned money once the official version is finally shipped. More on this in the months to come.

Trek-Tech and Black Rapid -

I’m not sure if you caught the comment from Scott Niesen of Trek-Tech the other day on my post about modifying my Rapid-R Strap but he dropped an interesting little nugget. According to Scott, Trek-Tech is currently working with Black Rapid, makers of the Rapid-R Trap, on “a killer combo for Trekpods and the R-Strap”. He also said that he would keep us posted so I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

The Big Picture Shows Us The Days of the Dead -

One of my favorite news websites is the Boston Globe’s The Big Picture. It is a truly visual delivery of current news stories delivered in a “picture is worth a thousand words” format. This weekend I spent some time catching up on some of the latest feature stories and I just loved the Days of the Dead story from November 2nd. The collection of photographs covered the multitude of celebrations that celebrate and remember the dead, from Halloween to All Souls Day to Day of the Dead. I especially enjoyed the White House Halloween photos with the first lady dressed as a cat with Chewbacca and the Storm Trooper in the background. I’m sure there is a good caption in there somewhere. Check it out and see what you think.

That’s all for today. I hope you have a great start to your work week.

No Blog Birthday

Jeff — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:05:39 +0000

Photo by Jessica N. Diamond

Hi Everyone. Today is my birthday so I am giving myself a no blog birthday present. I have lots of stuff planned for next week so I hope you enjoy your weekend and check back Monday for a full week of bloginess.

-Peace

Same Blog, Different Name

Shifting Perspective with the Lens Correction Filter

Jeff — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:08:44 +0000

I really like this photo of the Petronas Towers except for the fact that my wide angle lens and camera angle made for some really bad perspective shifting. It’s not easy to photograph one of the World’s tallest buildings from a fairly close distance so I had to tilt my camera up to get all of the towers in. This tilting of the camera makes the tops of the buildings look as if they get smaller and are tilting in towards the middle. Normally I would try and use the perspective adjustment in the Free Transform tool but today I tried using the Lens Correction Filter. It offers some different ways of fixing perspective shift and I like the grid overlay for getting everything lined up just right. Check out the video to see how I transformed the shot above into the one you see below.

One From the Mailbag

Jeff — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:04:51 +0000

I was reading an email that I had received from someone that had purchased my Canon 50D: From Snapshots to Great Shots book and they asked me a great question. How do you know what F-Stop to start with? This is actually a pretty common question and it’s one that I heard several times over the past couple of weeks while teaching a photography class in Malaysia. The truth is that there is no simple answer. A lot of the decision depends on other factors that go in to determining an appropriate exposure setting like; What is the best ISO for the scene? Do I need to use a fast shutter speed because I am going to be hand-holding my camera? How much light do I have to work with? and on and on.

Depending on the subject you are shooting, you will want to vary the amount of depth of field in your image. Remember that there is only one plane of focus but the depth of field will render a range of acceptable focus depending on the selection of the aperture. This also has a lot to do with your distance to the subject and the length of the lens. Wide angle lenses have a greater apparent depth of field due to the wide angle of view, which makes everything look smaller and thus sharper. Remember that everything looks sharper and more in focus when it’s smaller, which is why I always tell people to zoom in on their LCD screens. Everything looks great on a 3″ screen. A longer lens will offer a more narrow field of view and make everything look larger. Long lenses can also produce a more narrow depth of field than wide angle lenses.

So with all of these things to consider, where does one start? Well, you could start with your sharpest aperture setting. This will usually be one of the f-stops in the middle of the range of available f-stops for your lens. It is also referred to as the sweet spot and it’s usually somewhere around f/8 or f/11. This doesn’t mean that you should always shoot at f/8. For example, if I am shooting a landscape or panorama, I will try to use a smaller f-stop (f/16 or 22) to get a greater apparent depth of field from near to infinity.

If I’m shooting a portrait, I will tend to go the other direction by selecting a larger aperture opening (f/4 or 5.6) so I can narrow the depth of field and place more emphasis on my subject while blurring distracting background objects.

It’s possible to see the effects of your aperture setting as it relates to depth of field by using your camera’s Depth of Field Preview button. Most lenses do not close their aperture down until the moment the photo is captured. This is done so that you have the brightest possible view in your viewfinder. When pressed, the DOF Preview button will close the lens down to the selected f-stop and will allow you to actually see how much depth of field you are getting at the chosen f-stop. It also makes the image in the viewfinder appear darker at smaller f-stops due to the lower amount of light coming in through the lens when it is stopped down. Note that not all cameras have a DOF Preview button so consult your owner’s manual.

While the DOF Preview is a good starting point, the only way to really determine just what the proper f-stop should be is through experience. Sometimes it’s a good idea to shoot at multiple f-stops just to see which one you like the best. Over time you will develop an eye for what will look good with a lot of depth of field and what would look better with just a little. From that point you will be able to adjust the other camera settings to get just the look you are after.

See, I told you it wasn’t simple, but with practice, it will get easier.

For a little more on Depth Of Field, check out my post on Hyper Focal Distance.

My Black Rapid-R Strap Modification

Jeff — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:05:50 +0000

I really love my Black Rapid R-Strap. It’s the perfect accessory for shooting on the go. The strap offers much more comfort when walking around with my camera and makes it super accessible when I want to grab a quick shot. There is one problem that I have found when using it though and that is when I want to transition between using the strap and setting my camera up on a tripod for some late-night or HDR shooting. See, normally the Rapid-R has a great little attachment for clipping the strap to the camera called the Fasten-R2. It’s a d-ring with a rubber spacer that keeps it snugly mounted to the camera by the tripod mounting socket. This also means that I have to remove the Fasten-R2 whenever I want to mount the camera to the tripod. It’s not a big thing but it does sort of interrupt the flow of things.

I solved that problem by using a quick-release tripod head. The quick-release mount attaches to the camera on the bottom via the tripod mounting screw. The trick is that my quick-release plate uses a d-ring to tighten the mounting screw into the camera base.

Now, I simply keep the plate attached all the time and attach it to the Rapid-R Strap with R-Strap’s clip. Then, when I want to use my tripod, I simply un-clip the strap and lock the plate into the tripod head and I’m all set for stable shooting.

It’s not a big mod but it makes all the difference when I want to quickly transition from hand-holding to tripod and back again. Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference.

The Steel Mosque – Masjid Tuanku Zainal Abidin

Jeff — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:19:41 +0000

I’ve been home for about 24 hours now but my body is so confused that it might take 24 more to get me back on track. What with the 12 hour time difference, 21 hours in the air, and a little Daylight Savings Time to boot and I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. I’ll probably crash hard sometime this afternoon but since I was up early I took the opportunity to process one of the HDR images I shot while visiting Putra Jaya in Malaysia. Putra Jaya is the home to most of the national government buildings in Malaysia. There is some controversy over how much money was spent to build everything, including a big lake and seven bridges (which wouldn’t have been needed if they hadn’t built the lake). But all that aside, it really is an amazing place with spectacular bridges, wonderful architecture, and a big, wide boulevard for national parades.

This particular image shows a view of Masjid Tuanku Zainal Abidin, otherwise known as the Steel Mosque. The view is from the main boulevard, through a giant archway. I wanted to get a direct, head-on view but there was an Indian video crew making some sort of music video or something just off to my left so I settled for this view.

So here’s the technical info on the image above. I shot a 5-image bracket with my camera set to high-speed continuous. I didn’t have my tripod with me so I just made sure that my shutter speeds were going to be fast enough to hand-hold. One thing I like to do when shooting hand-held brackets, besides having fast shutter speeds, is to set my focus point on a specific spot in the image. This helps me from drifting the camera during the exposure sequence.

Once captured, I imported the images into Lightroom and did some minor adjustments to the white balance and a little image spotting (my sensor really needs a good cleaning). From Lightroom, I exported the five images into Photoshop using the Merge to HDR command in Lightroom. I still prefer the image alignment in Photoshop over Photomatix so once the HDR image was created I saved the file as an EXR and then opened it in Photomatix Pro for some tonemapping. I tried to stay fairly light with the tonemapping settings and then saved the image as a 16-bit TIFF file. From there I imported the tonemapped image back into Lightroom where I could do the rest of my image processing (clarity, black point, vibrance, saturation, etc.) and then back to Photoshop one last time for some perspective correction and a little noise reduction in the sky areas using Nik Dfine 2.0.

It sounds like a lot of work but it really only took about 20 minutes total for the whole process. I have a lot of other images that I am looking forward to processing, like some panoramas and more HDR images. I’ll be sure to share my processing and the final images with you in the days to come.

Heading Home from KL

Jeff — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:42:24 +0000

I’m sitting here in a Kentucky Fried Chicken resturant in Petaling Jaya at about 2:15 in the afternoon, passing the time with a quick bite to eat and enjoying the free Internet access as I wait for my driver to pick me up at 4:00 for my trip to the airport. I can’t believe that 2 weeks have already come and gone since I got here. Probably because I had such a great time and met so many wonderful people. Malaysia is a wonderful mix of cultures and the Malay people that I have been working with were such gracious and kind hosts that it makes it even harder to leave. Of course I am even more excited to get back home to my family and friends to share my stories and images. One thing that always makes my trips special is being able to share them with my family and, of course you, my readers. Although I didn’t get to shoot as much as I would have wanted to, I still have a ton of images that I have not even begun to process and I look forward to sharing them with you when I begin my regular blogging schedule next week.

Before I go I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all of the wonderful people here in Malaysia that made my trip so memorable. I have made many new friends and I look forward to keeping in touch in the future. I can honestly say that I have never met a more wonderful group of people and it was an honor for me to work with each and every one of you. Your generousity and friendship will be with me always.

Now that I have finished my cheezy fries and colonel burger, I can head back to the hotel and get ready for my short 24 hour trip back home. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you next week.