Digital Darkroom

Many people tend to associate JPEGs with poor quality. However, when a JPEG has poor quality, it's the result of the format being used incorrectly, not a flaw in the format itself. Used properly, JPEG can and will produce a file that cannot be distinguished from any other format.

The main advantage of JPEG is clearly its superior compression. An RGB image...

In this article I'm going to show you how combining two software programs and one plug-in can make your life easier and your workflow faster. As a bonus (see sidebar), I'm going to show you a way to handle dodging and burning that is nondestructive to your files. First up, we've got a family portrait with 16 people to retouch. That sounds like an hour's...

For most photographers being able to switch from color to black and white with a few simple mouse clicks is one of the most powerful aspects of digital imaging. With digital you no longer need to pick color or black and white before taking the photo, as was the case when film was king. Now after color capture the decision to convert to monochrome can be made easily at the...

This article is for those of you who color correct and adjust your image files to attain what looks like an ideal photograph on screen, but whose prints don't match that perfect screen image. Of all the challenges and disappointments digital photographers express to me in e-mails I receive almost daily, matching screen to print is the most common. It is also the most...

One of the most frequent questions I'm asked is about the proper, or "best," way to sharpen images for printing or web use. Almost everyone has struggled with getting this right. Software has improved greatly over the past couple of years, both within Adobe's Photoshop, which recently added the Smart Sharpen filter, and with third-party tools like...

Custom designed for camera gear, comfort, mobile Internet access, and that go-anywhere performance, pros Roger L. Johnson and Brad Perks now use the PhotoMobile for photographic assignments, executive portrait sessions on location, and mobile photo services coast to coast.

Johnson's ideas took flight during a trip through the Rocky Mountains with Perks. They...

It seems to me that if a photo enthusiast spends $1000 for a digital camera it is a serious investment that carries an expectation of getting high-quality photographic print results. However, all digital cameras, even the more expensive digital SLRs, come out of the box set to the maker's default mode to save images in JPEG format. This, however, only reproduces a fraction...