Pizza Night and Big Announcement

Hi all, well the inaugural Blog party pizza night was last night and we had a great crowd turn up to chow down on some mighty fine pizzas. I want to thank everyone for coming and making it a fun night. It was good to see everyone again and Mark really enjoyed meeting you all too. It is just the start of all the adventures. Hope you can come to the True North Rotto workshop as it is going to be a hell of a day out. Will post the details of this special day this week, for those of you who came last night and want to book a spot on the boat for the 26th of January let Mark know, he will direct you to the Northstar girls who will take your booking. For those of you who couldn’t make it last night the deal is this, a day cruise on True North to Rotto, 4 speakers including Tony Hewitt, Nick Rains, Glen Cowins and myself, lunch with the chance there will be a heli on board to take some aerial pics. We will get off on to the beach, take a few sunset pics then get back on for a slow cruise back to Freo by 8pm. It is going to be magic. There are probably only 80 spots left so get in quick. Oh and the price, $250 per person. Now that is a bargain. Drinks and Heli flights are extra as you would expect.
Anyway here are some pics from last night. Cheers

Shades does work

Hi guys, see Ben’s post on the discussion about Shades. It does work if you use it right. I knew if Les Walkling recommended it it would be worthwhile. The guy is a genius and those who doubt him just need to go to one of his workshops. He is god when it comes to colour management. You better believe it.

I would love to get him back for another workshop, hands up those who would be keen to come along.

Thanks to Ben from Team Digital for showing us the light or should that be showing us how to dim the light

Photomatix 3.2

Another attempt at photomatix. This time there was only one image but processed with different exposures in camera raw. These different images were then put through the Detail Enhancer. It is a pretty cool way to create a HDR look with only one image.

Shades for imacs

Benny from Team Digital told me about some freeware you can get for your imacs that allows you to set a much lower brightness level so they can be used in a correct colour workflow. Have a look at the TD blog here It comes endorsed by the great Les Walkling so it must be good.

more macro tests

This is a bottle of plonk that was lying around at the studio/jam room. One of Michaels musical muts left this bottle of sherry for me to sticky tape a flower to it. Shot the label and merged it with another pic. Cut out with Fluid mask 3. This time I did get some green reflection from the backdrop. Have to work a solution for that. Not a brilliant compilation but was more to show off the macro capabilities and the 7D. Below is a crop to show this is a pretty sharp lens. I like it!!!

7D and 100mm Macro Test

Benny at Team Digital was kind enough to loan us a 7D and the new 100mm Macro so I thought I would give it a crack. I shot this image against a new green backdrop that I purchased from the boys at Team Digital, my first green screen shots. It was a piece of cake cutting this out in Fluid Mask 3 and now I can drop it on to any backdrop I like. I was super impressed with both camera and lens even though I shot this in jpeg. It would be better again in RAW with that ability to tweak to a higher degree. The 7D felt good to use and was not a big jump from the 5d. Now I am not an expert on the camera after only playing with it for 30 mins but all indications so far are pretty good. Here is a view of the setup in my studio.

Baron Gorge

This was the result of 5 images blended in photomatix 3.2 and then tweaked in photoshop. I don’t know why I use this program as I like to crunch the blacks and that goes against what photomatix does, to give you detail in those blacks. I think this program must work better with higher contrast scenes. Still it is fun mucking around with it. If anyone out there has some brilliant tips on how best to use this program share it with us all. Lets see some of your best pics produced with it.

Back to the Backlog

I am slowly getting my life back after some of the workshops and big jobs are finishing up. I have decided to go back to processing images from my trip to the Eastern States. This one of Magnetic Island was run through Photomatix 3.2 and ended up ok. I had some serious issues with some weird pixels in the highlights. Had to pull out all my photoshop tricks to put this one through to the next level. I used Noise Ninja, Gaussian blurs, motion blurs, lots of layer adjustments, mid tone contrast tricks the whole lot. Probably the hardest I have worked for a long time. Still some issues to sort out but that will have to be for another day.

Off to Port Hedland tomorrow to run a 2 day photoshop workshop. If it goes well I might do a similar workshop in Perth or some other exotic location.

Don’t forget the pizza night at Marks place on Friday the 6th. If you want to come you need to email him mark@northstarcruises.com.au. He has a special announcement to make you won’t want to miss. It may already be full, he will let you know.

A few items for Sale

From Ryan Epstein

A Brand new Nikon D5000 with 18-55mm VR kit, I’m asking for $1100. Box hasn’t even been opened and camera has not been used. Call Ryan on 0430013503 or email ryan@ryanepstein.com SOLD, SOLD, SOLD

From the Mighty Tommy Putt, the man/girl in the pink feather boa

Epson 3800 A2 plus colour inkjet printer for sale. Hard used. Comes with pack of quality paper also. Pick up only – Brighton, Victoria. Investment $1500 (RRP $1995).
Call Tom on 0419 138 298 or email tom@tomputt.com

From James Knight Smith

I am selling my Canon 24-70 lens. I have had this lens for a couple of years and its in very good condition. I have the original box (not in the photo) for the lens and I’m also including the lens hood and soft lens case. I’m asking $1450.00.

Email me at jknightsmith@gmail.com if you are interested.

Mongers Lake

This is one of the images from a recent shoot with Mark, David and Greggie. We all went in different directions and all have a different spin on the same subject. I only did this up as I am working on a new tutorial for the photoshop workshop I am running in Port Hedland this weekend. It would be pretty cool to have a land yacht on this lake as it is huge.

Saturday Night Workshop

I just wanted to thank the guys who came to my gallery last night to be a part of the workflow workshop. It was a great night and managed to stagger into bed around 1am this morning. It was a great bunch, probably the best group yet!! (notice I say that about all the courses) Thanks for putting up with my rants and hope you got something to think about when next out taking photos or sitting in front of photoshop.

As we got a little stuck on the whole colour management subject I thought I would add a few notes to help ease the pain.

The aim of colour management is to maintain the same colour on all devices even though each device has a different colour gamut and the same set of numbers refer to a different colour.

In color management, an ICC profile is a set of data that characterizes a monitor, scanner, camera, printer, or a color space, according to standards set by the International Color Consortium (ICC). Profiles describe the color attributes of a particular device. A colour managed workflow uses these profiles to control colour reproduction between all the devices in the workflow. That is, they tell each device this is the colour we are looking at and they all understand each other.

A color space simply describes the range of colors, or gamut, that a camera can see, a printer can print, or a monitor can display. Editing color spaces, on the other hand, such as Adobe RGB, Dcam 3 or sRGB, are device-independent. They also determine a color range you can work in. Their design allows you to edit images in a controlled, consistent manner. I use Dcam 3 as my working colour space as it has a larger colour gamut than Adobe RGB 1998. You set your rgb colour space in photoshop, go to edit> colour settings> working spaces> RGB. This is important. I also make sure when I convert my raw files in camera raw I assign the colour space Pro Photo, then when opened in photoshop and prompted, I convert that file to the Dcam 3 colour space. Pro photo has a massive colour gamut so going from that to DCam 3 is fine even though Dcam 3 has a smaller gamut.

Easy peasy hey!!!

The Concrete Jungle

You never know when a shot will present itself. At the beginning of this week Michael and I had to go to present work in Perth to a company we have been dealing with. We had a quick tour of their new premises in the city. I thought how can people do this every day. How can they live in a totally manmade, cold, concrete nightmare. Looking out of the window I spotted an interesting view. I love shooting down on a subject and cities do make great subject matter. Still would you want to be this guy. Where is he going, what is his life like, is he a good bloke or a mongrel. Is he happy with his life. Most of all, has he seen Merv’s latest windmill pic??? I think I have my first “fine art” piece. So many questions, so much emotion, so much wonder, does anyone really know Merv??? Find out at the pizza night!!

My own Epson 9900

Well it arrived last week, my new Epson 9900. It was delivered by 4 burly blokes and they were kind enough to carry it upstairs for me. The following day Benny from Team Digital came down to help me get it running. He made some icc profiles for me and we tweaked the settings to get the best out of the machine. I must say it is bloody good, in fact it is bloody sensational. The other week I did a workshop with Les Walkling and he was raving about this machine. He showed us the colour gamut compared to the Canon and it is able to reproduce so many more colours than the ipf range. Still the old Canon has done me well but out with the old in with the new. Will do a proper review of the machine once we get it in the dedicated printing room and start using it properly.

I want to thank Epson in conjunction with Team Digital for helping me get into this machine. It has been fantastic to have the support of two great companies and I intend to wear the Epson badge with pride. Thanks again guys.

Pizza night @ Marks place

Hi all

I guess you have heard about the pizza night Mark and I are putting on at his place. Free Pizza, byo beer and other drinks. We have only 50 spots available to the general blogging community, all are welcome but get in early. I think 30 spots are gone already. It is just an idea to get everyone together and meet the faces behind the names. Imagine meeting Merv, that is worth every bit of free pizza you can eat. Send an email to mark@northstarcruises.com.au to let him know you want to come. The date is the 6th of November, a friday night at 7pm. He might have an extra special thing to talk about too and believe me you won’t want to miss the announcement. It is still secret squirrel stuff so don’t tell anyone else.
Cheers
CF

Firmware upgrade for the 5D2

Sydney, 20 October 2009: Canon Australia has given advance notice of an upgrade to the movie-related firmware for the EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera <http://canon.com.au/products/visual/cameras/digital_slr/eos5dmkII.aspx>  in response to user requirements for additional frame rates.

“We understand that EOS 5D Mark II users desire additional frame rates and we’re preparing a firmware update to allow the camera to shoot at both 24P and 25P,” said Chris Macleod, Brand Manager – EOS, Canon Australia. “The upgrade to 24P and 25P will broaden the usage scope for this popular camera to include cinema and broadcast and applications, respectively.”

Canon expects the firmware update to be available in the first half of 2010 and will release more details as they become available.

Speak to Ben @ Team Digital for all the goss on this update.

Great photo comp

Denis Glennon, a great Perth based photographer, has just given me the scoop on a photo comp that would be worth entering. It is called “icon Photo 09″. Have a look at the pdf for more details, it is open to amateurs and has some fantastic prizes, wish I could enter. Thanks Denis for the heads up on this one. You can see Denis’s work here at his website
iconPHOTO 09 Launched on 5 Oct 09

The new Canon 1D mark IV

Well Canon didn’t waste any time getting this new puppy out straight after the release of the hot Nikon D3s. I guess these two bad boys are competing with each other for the wedding/ sports market. I will have to have a good read of this pdf to see what it hasto offer but the initial signs are good. HD 1080p video, 16mp, and awesome hi iso performance. Don’t know about cost or anything but if you give Ben a call at Team Digital he will have all the relevant info. He things it is a “ball tearer”, I guess that means it is good, not bad in a vasectomy sense! He promised we will have one in December to try out and review so keep an eye on this blog! Check all the details on this pdf. Canon_EOS_release_201009

Just in, some of the frame rates in video mode -
1080p: 1920 x 1080 pixels at 30fps (actually 29.97fps)
1080p: 1920 x 1080 pixels at 25fps
1080p: 1920 x 1080 pixels at 24fps (actually 23.976fps)
720p: 1280 x 720 pixels at 60fps (actually 59.94fps)
720p: 1280 x 720 pixels at 50fps
SD: 640 x 480 pixels at 60fps (actually 59.94fps)
SD: 640 x 480 pixels at 50fps

holly hits Batman, it’s 300k

Thanks everyone for checking out the blog, just had a look at my stats and found I had ticked over the 300 mark. I thought I would post some of the other stats from my site;

Busiest day – 11,658
Posts – 418
Comments – 6,156
The top 4 clicks from my site to another (in order) – Stakky, Jamie Paterson, Dylan Fox and Spool photography
Top post – Hot Nikon News 12,747 views
Funniest Search Term – Tom Putt poof, Fletchers make stuff, Porn star Peter Lik
Clicks from my blog to Mervs – 380

All interesting stuff, and funny Stakky came out on top of links clicked on from my blog, must be the generation Y that no how to do all this internet stuff. I think when he turns 18 he owes me a beer, actually Stakky senior I’ll have a carton of Redback please, and not the mild either, don’t get cheap on me. I need the real deal!

Thanks for continuing to come to my blog, it has been a hoot and I have made some pretty cool friendships from it. Sounds pretty sad doesn’t it, …..how did you meet that guy?, ah off the internet!!! Yeah ok, ahh, great weather today,………

Mark Stothard has suggested we all get together for a massive pizza night at his place sometime soon to celebrate blogdom and all the cool things we love about photography, will keep you posted on that one. The poor bugger is currently in Miami, heading to Trinidad putting together a massive boat order for Austal. The guy gets around. He says he can make 45 pizzas an hour in his pizza oven. Going on his track record you would have to believe it.

Also it has only taken just over 3 months to go from 200,000 hits to 300,000 hits. Not that I’m counting!!!

Raptor

Took this the other week at the Monties. This was the second eagle we saw pluck a fish out of the ocean. In the full res version you can see the blood of the fish dripping off it’s lifeless body, well I hope it was dead. I was getting into my wildlife photography. Shot with the trusty 400mm, love that lens.

Dampier Salt

Even in the ugliest industrial wasteland there is beauty. I’m not talking about Karratha either, that is still ugly!! These salt ponds from the air are breathtaking.