Digital Help
Q&A For Digital Photography Page 2

Finding And Choosing Digital Photo Printer Services Online
Q. How do I go about getting set up with uploading pictures for prints--4x6, 8x10, etc. Does Shutterbug offer this service?
Bob Smith

A.
Shutterbug magazine does not offer a digital file printing service directly; however, the magazine and our website at www.shutterbug.com contains advertisements from a number of print service providers from which you can select.

I am sorry that I cannot pick out one or two and recommend them specifically, as I have not made a comprehensive test survey of these services myself. My advice is to visit some of the websites offering digital photo print services and select one or more and give them a try. Or you can log onto our Shutterbug website and go to the Forum and post a question asking for reader recommended printing services, and I'm sure you will get a number of photo print service recommendations.

In addition, if you want a large selection to choose from, I did a Google search looking for digital print services and came up with 10 pages of references. Just go to www.google.com and in the search box type in "digital photo print services."

A "Digital" Lens Question
Q. Maybe you can answer a couple of questions. My brother who knows a little about photography, but not that much, brought up two statements and now I wish to know if they are true. He stated that Hasselblad still hand grinds their lenses. Is this so, and do any camera manufacturers still do this? The next thing was that they are making lenses that digitally enhance images before the image even hits the sensor. I believe he is confused, and that there are just lenses that are now being made to compensate for digital cameras.
John Muoio

A.
Hasselblad does not make lenses. Their lenses are manufactured by one of the world's most modern and largest lens manufacturers, Zeiss. All modern lenses are made with high-precision machines because their designs involve from 6-15 glass elements that must match and align precisely to very tight tolerances.

Lenses made for digital SLR cameras are made to the same optical specifications and functional properties as lenses for film cameras, although they may have differing focal lengths to accommodate the differing area sizes of digital sensor chips.

Image Bit Depth: Use It Or Lose It
Q. What happens if you take a TIFF image file that has been saved as 8 bit and re-save it as 16 bit? Do you get the same results as if you are making color and exposure adjustments to an 8-bit file? Dumb question, I know, but I'm just curious as to what you might say.
Randy

A.
There's no advantage, as the loss of information is irretrievable when you change from 16 bit to 8 bit. However, as long as an original 48-bit file is open you can revert to the original file's bit depth because the information is held in RAM until the image file is closed. Converting a file from 8 bit to 16 bit does not gain any information, of course, but I've found it does help when running some processes, like increasing image size by interpolation, as it seems to produce a smoother result.

When People Pictures Need Model Releases
Q. First of all, thanks for a great magazine! I have a photo that I took at Disneyland that I want to enter in your Fill Flash contest and the photo has a profile of a couple of teen-age kids. I guess if you were one of their friends or family you would probably recognize them. My question: Is that what is considered a recognizable person and do I need a model release or permission of some kind to use the picture? I have read that a recognizable person is someone who is in the public eye, like an actor, or athlete, or someone in public office, things of that nature. I also contacted Disney and they said I can use images that I took in the park for a contest.
Dave Lake

A.
You answered your own question when you said that family and friends would recognize them. A model release is required to publish a photograph of any person who can be recognized as such and identified by anyone. The only common exceptions involve news events and the publication of photographs as news. Just because a person is a publicly recognizable figure does not preclude their privacy, and pictures of them not as part of a newsworthy event cannot strictly be published without permission. However, when such a person steps out on the street that can, in the opinion of some, constitute a news event. It's a sticky dilemma.

The pictures you took at Disneyland, if published, could be a problem, and without a release from the subjects most publications will not publish the pictures.

(Editor's Note: Agreed. We will not knowingly publish images of "recognizable" people without a model release. This goes especially for minors and children. We do get model releases with many of the images submitted for Picture This!)

Choosing A Video Card For Digital Photography Computing
Q. In a recent article you talked about "special high-performance professional video cards." Have you reviewed these cards for Windows users in past issues?
Jim McCaffery

A.
Ten years ago there were a dozen or more brands of video cards, but consolidation has reduced the number of moderate cost, high-performance cards to about three. The only one I recommend for Photoshop support is the ATI Radeon 9000 series, although in the past I used Matrox Millennium video cards with good success.

ANNOUNCEMENT:
I am pleased to announce a new Bonus Edition adding five chapters to my eBook DIGITAL DARKROOM RESOURCE CD. The CD now contains 21 chapters totaling 266 pages in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format, providing easy-to-read text and large high-quality illustration. The CD is available for $20 plus $2 shipping and handling (US Mail if available). Ordering is as simple as sending a check or money order for $22 made out to me, David B. Brooks, and mailed to PO Box 2830, Lompoc, CA 93438.

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