written by: David SaffirAuthor notes: After I finished my first review of the Fuji X-E1, I had felt at the time that available RAW processing software had not quite caught up with the demands of the new processor provided in that camera. And as so often happens in the digital world, things have changed again! Adobe just released Camera RAW version 7.4. Long story short, it apparently includes upgrades to processing for the Fuji’s images. I downloaded the update and reprocessed some of the flower images I had taken with the X-E1. I definitely see improvements, sharpness foremost among them. The small details Read more »
written by: David SaffirThere are quite a few ways you can edit color in Photoshop, even down to the colors of leaves on a tree. The advantages? You can target specific parts of an image for a simple color boost, change the color completely, add a color tint or color cast, improve dimensionality and more. I define selective color adjustment to also include selective color replacement. I encourage the use of Photoshop, because many of these techniques can be applied to a new layer, or an adjustment layer, or a series of layers. This gives you maximum flexibility in editing although it can Read more »
written by: David SaffirA short time ago I was shooting images for my fine art portfolio in the Eastern Sierra Mountains of California. This article describes the main steps of the process from start to finish, from making a successful capture to an outline of fundamentals of raw processing and image editing. Note the flat lighting. The sun was setting to camera left. Clouds were passing overhead, creating changes in brightness, and at times letting some directional light through. The photographer on the left (me) is using a Hasselblad H-series camera with a Phase One back; the photographer on the right (Rick Russell) Read more »
written by: David SaffirA teacher of mine once told me “nothing matters except your book” –referring of course, to my portfolio. Photographers use portfolios for self-promotion, to share a story or point of view, to help create a body of work, or to establish or reinforce professional identity. The range of options in portfolio design and presentation makes for a number of choices—format, size, paper type, books, boxes, albums, printing processes and more. Other considerations: Budget? How much time to invest? Can new work be added, or can old work easily deleted? How do I pitch my work to different audiences? In this Read more »
written by: David SaffirThis article describes managing digital image capture to achieve optimal, or at least intended, dynamic range and how to determine the most appropriate camera range settings to accomplish this. The Zone System The simplest takeaway from the oft-misunderstood Zone System, is that an image should be exposed to utilize most or all of the range from black to white, without unintended clipping of near-whites, or blocking up of near-blacks. If the image does not incorporate the full dynamic range in a scene, the photographer should have done this by intent. In digital photography, the most commonly recommended camera settings involve Read more »
Digital Negatives for Large Format Printing
written by: David SaffirI’ll always remember my first experiences in the darkroom, watching my prints come up, feeling like something magical was afoot. In recent years, I’ve frequently wished that there was an effective way to use my digital images in the darkroom, and make prints on fiber-based paper that has that special silver-based depth and luminosity. Hewlett Packard Company has developed updated technology* that makes it possible to create a “digital negative” using a digital file or film scan. That digital negative can be used in a traditional darkroom to make prints of any reasonable size. HP calls this the Large Format Read more »
