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Breaking the Four-Minute Mile
By Ron Leach,
Publisher
We recently
returned from the 2006 PMA Convention and Trade Show in Orlando, FL—the
largest annual international trade show in our industry. With over 600
exhibitors, 20,000 attendees, and more than 200 educational sessions,
this four-day event is pretty much a “must see” for everyone
in the imaging business.
As always, an abundance of new software and hardware technologies were
introduced at PMA, as well as even a few film-related products. Perhaps
the most striking trend this year was the accelerating reduction in the
prices of entry-level digital SLRs from a number of manufacturers. With
several digital SLR kits (a body and a zoom lens) priced under $600, photographers
can now step up to the versatility of digital SLR photography for less
than the cost of last year’s full-featured, fixed-lens “prosumer”
cameras.
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 DCF
Full Spectrum
Does It Bridge The Gap Between RGB And The Eye?
by George Schaub
According
to the folks at Tribeca Imaging Laboratories (TIL), digital cameras
(and I might add many types of film) “can’t see purple.”
They go on to say, “The digital color model generates a limited
spectrum. Any user can confirm this by simply pointing a camera at
a deep blue or purple object and comparing the colors on the camera’s
LCD or computer screen to the original subject.”
While those of us who have tried to photograph chrysanthemums on film
in the past know about this purple thing, the TIL crew decided to
do something about it. They conducted years of research and came to
the conclusion that the issue is not camera specific. Indeed, they
concluded that the limited spectrum response was common to all digital
cameras, dubbing digital color “universally inaccurate.”
Their response is the DCF Full Spectrum plug-in for Adobe’s
Photoshop, which works on both Mac and PC platforms. They claim that
by using DCF Full Spectrum in Default mode that the photographer will
get the most accurate possible colors from digital images, shot in
sRGB or Adobe RGB.
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 Histograms
in Levels: Diagnostic Tool and Quick Fix in One
by George Schaub
While some images demand lots of time to get right after exposure,
some require just a quick move of a slider to reveal all their potential
color and tonal quality. Of course, you can always go in and refine
the image after the initial fix, but laying a good foundation for
further work is always the best course. In this quick web how-to we’ll
explore one of the easiest and most efficient ways to get exposure
and often color and contrast right in one easy step.
This
technique has been called “filling the gamut” and it uses
a tool available in both full Photoshop and Elements called Levels.
When you open Levels (either from Image>Adjust or Layer>New
Adjustment Layer>Levels) you get a Histogram with three sliders
underneath it. A Histogram is a graphic representation of the tonal
values in the image. The left side is the darker values, and the slider
on the left is called the Black Point slider; in the center is the
medium tonal values, with a Gray slider; and on the right are the
highlights, with the White point slider. The way you manipulate these
sliders is key to image control.
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Vote!
At
the recent PMA Show both Canon and HP introduced pigment-ink desktop
printers, joining Epson in that arena. From what you understand as the
difference between dye-based and pigment inkjet printers, will you make
the choice on your next inkjet printer based upon the ink type it uses?
Please comment briefly on the features you look for in a desktop photo
printer. |
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March 28, 2006
In
This eNewsletter:
I wanted to give you a Coming Attraction of our June, 2006 Shutterbug
issue. It’s filled with new products, trends and technology from
the recent PMA Show in Orlando, FL. This is the biggest photo/imaging
trade show in the US, and we had a team of reporters covering every facet
of the event. We have reports on new digital SLRs, lenses, scanners, printers,
lighting, film and our ever-popular “Weird and Wonderful”,
products only a photographer could love.
