Craig's Blog on Digital Photography

Photoshop CS4 Details Announced

2008-09-23T23:04:00.000-06:00

In case you've been in the high country or elsewhere isolated from 21st Century society, Adobe have announced the details of the next version of Photoshop. As usual, Martin Evening and others have posted excellent overviews of the new features at PhotoshopNews.com I think that this will be an essential upgrade for anyone who uses Photoshop regularly.

Sensor Dust!

2008-09-13T14:45:00.000-06:00

"What are all of these spots on my print? I've cleaned my lens; so they're not from there!"

These are probably spots from dust on your sensor. This is the bane of digital photographers who change lenses. Even the newer cameras like the Canon 40D are susceptible to this despite their built-in "sensor cleaning" routines that vibrate the sensor. The newer cameras also often have special coatings on the sensor that are supposed to prevent the dust from sticking to the sensor. I've found that I still get dust sticking to the sensor despite all of these things.

I keep my sensor clean with a 3-step attack. I put the camera into sensor cleaning mode and try these in order until I've cleaned the sensor. After each step, I shoot something with an even tonality like the blue sky or a gray card or an ExpoDisc or similar or look at the sensor with a lighted magnifier designed for that purpose.

1. Move the dust by blowing it with a Giottos Rocket Air Blower. I have the large size because when I got it, that was the only size available. Now, I'd probably get a smaller one. Also, I might just get everything I need, including the blower directly from VisibleDust.com. (See next items)
   Small: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/388983-REG/Giottos_AA1920_Rocket_Air_Blower_.html
   Medium: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/318545-REG/Giottos_AA1910_Rocket_Air_Blower_.html
   Large: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/259157-REG/Giottos_AA1900_Rocket_Air_Blower_.html

2. If I still have dust spots, I use an "Arctic Butterfly" from Visible Dust. This is not something I'd do while in a place like Antelope Canyon. I'd do it at home or while in the car with windows closed. I bought mine directly from VisibleDust.com. However, B&H are now carrying it, too.
   http://www.visibledust.com/

3. When the previous two tries fail, the only alternative is to use something that's designed to clean the sensor by touching it. There are several products that claim to be able to do this without damaging the sensor. However, I've chosen to go with VisibleDust because they were the first to offer such products and because they continue to have a good reputation. Their swabs are different sizes. You should choose the ones that are for the sensor size in your camera. I have

Also, a lighted magnifier is a good thing to have in your toolkit. Again, I recommend the one from VisibleDust. If you order directly from VisibleDust, remember that because they're a Canadian company, their prices are in Canadian dollars.

Here's my "bottom line" on the sensor dust problem. Get everything you need directly from VisibleDust.com.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography

2008-09-11T15:00:00.001-06:00

HDR photography is "the latest thing"; but I've been doing it for more than three years. I've posted the handout for the presentation I give to camera clubs about it in my "Public Folder". If you want to learn even more about HDR photography, join one of my field workshops in Arizona.

Lightroom 2 Intro

2008-08-29T13:30:00.000-06:00

As strong as Lightroom v1.4 was, the Adobe team has made an even better program. The sidebars and tabs have been re-ordered in a more logical manner than in v1. Of course, this causes some disorientation for experienced users. For me, though, this lasted only a short time. Here're my short takes on the two modules that are most important to me.

Library Module

The addition of "Smart Collections" has made it easier for me to see where I need to work. John Beardsworth's workflow template is phenomenal. Of course, I've made some changes to it. I may even post my version in my Public Files folder in a few weeks after I've fine-tuned it. Keyword sets are handy, too. I've been taking an online course about using the Lensbaby 3G for outdoor and landscape photography from Tony Sweet through BetterPhoto.com. I've made a keyword set that contains the f-stops for the aperture rings supplied for the Lensbaby. Of course, being able to put the correct keyword on a photo depends on my having taken notes while shooting. Argh! :-p

Develop Module

An even greater number of useful features have been added to the Develop Module. Of course, all presets made for v1 work with v2. For me, the most important new feature is called the "Adjustment Brush". This lets me make selective adjustments to specific areas of an image. It's superior to Photoshop for this because it's non-destructive, as usual. There is a small problem with it, though. It's very processor-intensive. I haven't looked at the "Graduated Filter" much, yet. However, I think it'll be very useful and will let me leave my glass graduated neutral density filters home.