Every now and then I'm reminded that these are still the early days of digital. I thought of that again this week as I worked with different RAW conversion packages.

Continue reading "RAW Issues" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 07:03 PM | Permalink

I've had a few conversations with photographers recently about lenses not performing up to expectations concerning sharpness of photos. In the past I've always looked to the age of a lens and the design (consumer-grade or pro?). Now, though, I'm starting to think about our definition of "sharp."

Continue reading "Lenses and Sharpness" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 08:18 AM | Permalink

I'm as guilty as most people when it comes to shooting large group family pictures. I don't like to do it. The more people you've got in a photo the harder it is to make a nice photo. This year, though, I decided to fight my natural tendencies and try to make a nice group shot at Thanksgiving.

Continue reading "Less Painful Family Photos" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 09:00 AM | Permalink

The more choices we have, the harder it can be. Shoot JPEG or RAW? Upgrade Photoshop now or wait? Spend more on a faster lens or save $$? My favorite choice right now is between full-frame or cropped-frame cameras, because that choice gives me more flexibility in my photography.

Continue reading "Choice is Good" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 11:42 AM | Permalink

This past week I received an email from someone looking for help in decoding the AF settings on their camera. This is perhaps the most common, hardest to figure out group of settings on today's digital SLRs.

Continue reading "AF Settings Confusion" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 07:57 AM | Permalink

Well, it's time for a topical subject. With the fourth of July a few days away, this is a great time to go through the ins and outs of fireworks photography. I've been doing these shots for about 35 years, the most involved being the 12-exposure shot shown here that I did with a Hasselblad. It's changed a bit since those days of film, but the basics remain the same.

Continue reading "Fireworks Photography" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 05:34 PM | Permalink

I've got a bone to pick, and this is about as good a time as any (and it gives me a good excuse to use this nice photo Ed Zurga shot of me!). Does it ever seem that most people preaching workflow want to teach you the most complicated version they can come up with?

Continue reading "Masters of Workflow (?)" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 09:54 AM | Permalink

Over the last few months I've gotten numerous phone calls and emails from friends asking if they should upgrade from their Nikon D200 to the new D300. Just got two more, which made me think it would be a good blog entry.

Continue reading "Decisions, Decisions..." »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 09:16 PM | Permalink

Since the introduction of Aperture, and then Lightroom, I've been following the development of these tools that I refer to as "super browsers." Geared to solve a number of problems many people had with their workflow - especially if shooting RAW files - these program showed a lot of promise, but I had some issues with them as well. With Lightroom, it was how difficult Adobe made it to open an original RAW file from Lightroom with anything but their software. That's now changed with the release of Lightroom 1.2.

Continue reading "Kudos to Adobe" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 08:34 PM | Permalink

For nearly eight years I've been working out of a home office, and only recently has it been a comfortable experience. I've gone from sharing a spare bedroom with my wife and kids' computers to a space of my own in the basement. And thanks to the wonders of modern computer technology, it's become a great place for me to work. My wife jokingly calls it "The Command Center."

Continue reading "Command Center" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 02:17 PM | Permalink

I received a note last week from a student who was on a photo trek to Tucson with me this spring. His images look different depending on what software he's using. It's a common problem, and involves color management, or the lack of it. Todd was kind enough to let me use his note and photos for today's post.

Continue reading "Different Apps, Different Color" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 08:53 PM | Permalink

Well, it's that time of year again. Graduation time, that is. This year I was asked if I could produce a slideshow that would run during my daughter's 8th grade farewell celebration. No problem. After all, that's something I do on a regular basis.

Continue reading "Sharing Slideshows" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 08:29 AM | Permalink

I recently received an email with some quesitons concerning autofocus. I thought the question and answer might make a good blog entry.

Continue reading "Autofocus Options" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 01:30 PM | Permalink

Well, I've been running Vista Ultimate for a couple of weeks now, and so far so good. Thought I'd write a little bit more about the software I'm using and my experiences.

Continue reading "Vista, Part II" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 09:10 PM | Permalink

We regularly get questions from people about how to deal with color space choices, both in the digital SLRs we use and in our editing software. I recently received a question about using a Nikon D70 and Photoshop Elements together, and thought it would make a good blog entry.

Continue reading "Elements and Color Modes" »

Posted by Bill Durrence at 11:11 AM | Permalink

Part of my job is to stay up-to-date with changes in the field of digital photography. That includes many models of cameras, lenses, strobes, computers, operating systems, software, hard drives, printers, etc. etc. etc. As you know, that's a lot of information, so I'm always looking for better ways to accomplish that. My latest trick helps me do that during time that would otherwise be wasted..

Continue reading "Keeping up With Changes" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 02:59 PM | Permalink

I'm sure that all of you have heard about Aperture (from Apple) and Lightroom (from Adobe). Some of you have certainly used the beta of Lightroom (now shipping the final version, with an initial price of $199). And I'm also sure that some of you have bought Aperture. For those who haven't had hands-on experience with either of them yet, the question I hear most frequently is, "What are they?" It's a good question, since I don't think even Apple and Adobe are sure what they are yet. Download tool? Image management system (with strong metadata features)? Editing package? Print and web gallery tool? All-in-one?.

Continue reading "Lightroom and Aperture" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 04:16 PM | Permalink

Bill: I've attended several of the workshops in Orlando and this last one you went over some of the photo organizers such as the Adobe Photoshop Elements Organizer, but if I remember correctly, this only gives a thumbnail of the image and does not actually say exactly where an image is located, such as on an external drive or CDs, etc. Which one(s) did you say will accomplish this more detailed organization of describing where the image is actually located? I want to use this kind consistently once I know which one to use. Thanks again.

Continue reading "Keeping Track of Images" »

Posted by Bill Durrence at 10:49 AM | Permalink

Recently I received an email from someone who was part of a workshop I taught, and thought it might make a good blog entry: "I attended your two workshops in Berkeley last week, and didn't get a chance to ask my specific question. I'm leaving for an Antarctic peninsula cruise this coming week, and any suggestions for specific settings (e.g. White Balance) to try under those unusual lighting conditions?"

Continue reading "Arctic Suggestions" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 11:49 AM | Permalink

Occasionally I write stories for Lexar's web site, in the digital photography tips section (http://lexar.com/dp/index.html). I had a note from a reader of one of those stories asking for help getting his prints sharp. He had all the right settings on the camera, and a good printer (Epson Stylus Photo R800) but still wasn't getting prints as sharp as he expected. The answer was in how he was handling his images after shooting them.

Continue reading "Sharpening" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 06:43 PM | Permalink

I had an email from a friend recently asking how I keep my files organized. With the coming of the new year, what better time to look at the system you use to manage your images and see if there might be a better way.

Continue reading "Resolve to be Organized" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 05:46 PM | Permalink

Well, here it is Christmas day, and I'm working on holiday cards. I'm not normally a procrastinator, but I always seem to be doing these at the last minute. This season, though, I'm getting it done much faster and more economically, and they look better too.

Continue reading "Holiday Cards" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 12:28 PM | Permalink

For those who've been riding the digital train for some time, the evolution of affordable desktop photo quality printing has been quite remarkable. I vividly remember the shock of seeing the first print roll off an Epson Photo Stylus printer. It almost looked like a "real" photograph. Today, with the proper printer and technique it is quite simple not just to match, but to exceed the quality of traditional wet darkroom printing.

Continue reading "When Good isn't Good Enough" »

Posted by Michael Schwarz at 08:01 AM | Permalink

I recently received an email from a participant in a workshop our company taught. It was a question we often hear that involved some of the limitations of compact cameras, and one I thought worth sharing.

Continue reading "Limitations of Compact Cameras" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 05:57 PM | Permalink

One of the secrets to finding answers in this digital world is to have trustworthy sources, whether they're web sites, magazines, books or friends. I was trying to find out what would be better - to leave my bank of external drives on all the time, or only power them up when needed. For an answer I thougth I'd try Tim Grey. Tim is well-known in digital photography for his deep knowledge of technical subjects (he's written several books and is a frequent contributor to magazines). Here's Tim's answer:

Continue reading "Hard Drives - On or Off?" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 09:30 AM | Permalink

Recently I received an email asking for help in understanding metering. "I just bought a light meter which I thought would be easier to use than I discovered."

Continue reading "Judging Exposure" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 11:45 AM | Permalink

Bill Durrence, a Blue Pixel instructor, recently received a letter from a student asking about the many photo packages available, and what tools are really needed to get the job done. Here's Bill's response:...

Continue reading "What Software's Best For Photos?" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 10:25 AM | Permalink

I often get emails from people who've attended one of our workshops, asking for a bit of help. This one was from a dad looking for some help with his son's science project involving image resolution. The answer happens to...

Continue reading "How Changing Resolution Affects Printing" »

Posted by Reed Hoffmann at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)