Moose’s Print Lab

Printing is such a fun thing to do. Sharing your photographs is such an important thing to do. Printing is a win win and I would like to help you do more of it. So I created a new page that with time, if I hear from folks, I’ll expand it. Hope it help!

What, No Blog Today?

You guys crack me up! I’ve been jumping like a mad man from one fire to another, the blessing of being busy with business to which we are very thankful for. Last night, rather then having time to get today’s blog postings up, I was writing and updating Moose Camera Bag which was only a year behind (yikes, and still not finsihed). Then my plans went out the window today when I realized I only had two of my three classes for Photoshop World ready to send out (and they are do, now). My Dang, I Want to be a Wildlife Photographer and The Art of Aviation classes were all done. But my Blessing of the Pixel I hadn’t even started. So, rather then write a blog, I’m creating teaching content, writing recipes and creating screen captures for the workbook for next spring. Have a great weekend, make a click or two and then share them!

PS…I’ve received a whole bunch of emails asking where we’re going for the PreCon. As always, the location won’t be announced until Photoshop World but I can tell you, I’m incredibly excited about this one. NO ONE has ever done this shoot before which means we’re not heading to the mall or monument. Hotdogs, big time fun!

Moose’s Realistic HDR

I’ve been flooded with emails and phone calls asking about how I do “realistic” HDR. Keep in mind, it starts and ends at the camera. I don’t have a video, yet, for that part on my site (you can find them at Kelby Training) but I do have a video for processing an image in Photomatix Pro. Now the video is a little old (on the to do list) but the basics are all there for you.

What I can do though is provide you my settings for realistic HDR for Photomatix Pro. Simply click on this link to download Moose Basics and then install them in the Preset Folder under HDR and then click on Moose Basics under the Your Presets in Photomatix Pro. I hope this helps folks but just keep in mind two very important things with HDR, it starts in the camera (which means not ever photo should be HDR just because you can) and is finished in Photoshop. Now like usual, understand I’m doing this my way which is more then likely not the right way. You, the photographer and communicator must as yourself real simply, “Does this work for my photography or not?” If it does, great, if not, that is perfectly fine too!

Nik Software Black Friday Promotion

I just received this email from Nik…how cool is this?!

Happy holidays! we’re running our annual Black Friday/Cyber Monday special for our direct customers. The promotional pricing shown below runs from 11/23 – 11/28. Use promo code – moose

Dates and time:

* 11/23/11 at 9am PST to 11/28/11 12 am PST

Promo detail:

* 20% off individual Nik Software products
* $100 off Complete Collection for Lightroom and Aperture
* $200 of Complete Collection Ultimate Edition

Now you can have this power in your photo finishing!

Image Wizards – Better than Christmas!

Sending off an image to Image Wizards and then seeing their box being delivered is just like Christmas! The quality of their workmanship is such that when I send images out for printing for clients (like this image) and I have it drop shipped right to the client. I don’t need to check the prints, never have and have had nothing but rave reviews from those who have received them. To make this all happen there are a few steps that I do to assure this level of quality I want to share with you.

The most important step happens when you go click. Maximum quality starts when you click the camera and then you need to continue that through the finishing. What you see here is the basics that I do for all my printing. After I do all my finishing, the file is saved and put in a folder far away from where I can goof it up in the printing process. I want to protect my original file with all its layer for the future so I have those layers to make subtle changes to reflect new technology. So with a copy of that file, the first thing I do is flatten it. I then Sharpen for Content then Size for Output and then Sharpen for Output. Last thing I do is Soft Proof it. Going on metal I use the Epson 4900 Premium Luster Profile for soft proofing. In this case, a simple Vibrance Layer and Darkening Layer of the sky was all that was required to get the image really close to the profile. I have really made this very simplistic, there is a little more to it then that but you can easily search the rest out with simple web searches. Well excuse me, I have to upload the file because I can’t wait for the delivery. I’m having a print made for me!

It Starts in 2 Hours!

Yeah baby, Nik Webinar time again and this time we’re focusing in on B&W! This is not just step by step Nik pluggin class, but a one hour discussion on how to see the image below and know when you went click, you have the image above. If that thought process intrigues you, stop reading and click here. It’s Free!

Explore to Learn, Learn to Improve, Improve to Teach

I grew up with a father who always called himself a mec-a-nec. To everyone else, that would be a mechanic but he was never satisfied with just fixing something, we wanted to know how it worked and if he could improve upon it. He was very good at it and he was always delighted to pass that on to others. And that wasn’t even his trade or profession, that was what simply made him happy. There is no doubt he passed that along to me. I love to take things apart, see how they work and then see if in reassembling I can improve it. And if it works, I share with others (if it don’t work, bye-bye). I was reminded of a great quote today from T.J. Watson, “The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.” That’s me all over!

So my good friend and aviation mentor Richard calls me up and asks if I’d like to head to Fallon NAS and Top Gun School to shoot for the day. I’ve never been to this local and I’m not all that good with current military inventory but I knew that I had nothing to loose and everything to gain. The one thing I didn’t think we would encounter this day was snow! Gray aircraft on gray tarmac with gray skies put my in a gray mood. I had a blast and the photography was great fun, but capturing the image that would encapsulate that I didn’t feel was happening.

The gray skies is pretty much a done deal. I could go HDR wack land and get some sort of grunge thing happening but…. So then what can be done with the other gray elements in the frame? What can I do in post to make them F/A-18s look more, impressive? Using Photoshop and Layers, the learning can continue with the safety net that if anything fails I can simply delete the layer or at worse, simply not save anything. First was to create an empty layer and remove those elements in the background that prevented the F/A-18 from not merging into the background. I shot the image wanting it to appear that there were aircraft all the way to the horizon. I make a selection to protect the planes, reverse that selection and with the Clone Tool make background elements disappear.

That wast the hardest part. Next I simply called up OnOne Software’s Perfect Photo and applied Just Enough Darkness, Polarizer and Tint with Clean Whites (seriously, those are the filter names) and with one click apply (this is 5.5) and that’s it! And it turned out OK, I didn’t delete the file and a print of it isn’t hanging on my wall, it has sold once so that’s not too bad. But that’s not where the story ends.

How did I know to take this photo, arrange the elements that way I did and finishing tools to use in post? I played, I clicked on things and looked at the results. I take notes and those items crossed out, well we don’t go there again. Those that remain are played with more and those that are starred, they get committed to memory. Now OnOne Software has introduced 6.0 and I will be receiving my copy today (can’t wait) and just like Nik’s CEP 4, I will have to figure out what’s new, how it works, how to apply it and eventually share. I am often asked where do I find the time to do this? I am fortunate that the folks at OnOne and Nik take the time to educate me on what’s new and how it came to be. Being my father’s son, that’s important. From there I sit down in the evening, grab any ol file and start applying, thinking and looking at the possibilities. And I really don’t know any other way, it’s just the way I’m wired.

Nik B&W Webinar Oct 7

Yeah baby, Nik Webinar time again and this time we’re focusing in on B&W! This is not just step by step Nik pluggin class, but a one hour discussion on how to see the image below and know when you went click, you have the image above. If that thought process intrigues you, stop reading and click here. It’s Free!

The Problem with CEP4

The problem I have with Nik’s CEP4 is now I wonder what it would do to images I’ve already processed. That, “I wonder what this would look like” itis. Well, I succumbed to it and went to some 2008 images.(raising fist in the air) Damn you CEP4!!!!!

I hate this, a simple pass of Detail Enhancer and …..now what do I do?

then again I find treasures like this, makes one happy long winter nights are coming

Not Just a Tease

I perhaps shouldn’t have used the word “tease” in my Nik video since many seem to have latched on to that (except your Laura). Aviation photography doesn’t wait for great light, planes fly when pilots feel like flying so if you want that photo, there are times when you have suckie light. Rare Bear was taking off for a test flight and I wanted the shot so I made it. I made it knowing that when I went click, it wouldn’t be finished. The shadow under the wings would be dark and the cloud detail missing. I also knew that in less then 30sec with Nik’s CEP 4, I would have all that information back and a finished photo. All of this planning was done at the camera with some being finished in the computer. So don’t get stuck on the word “tease” in my video. What’s there are real tools I use everyday to bring out the drama you see here.

And If That’s Not Enough Nik

Yeah baby, Nik Webinar time again! Can’t wait, had a great time at the last one. It “sells” out fast so register…now! Go, now, stop reading, click here and go!! What am I talking about? Black n White baby!

Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 Smokes!!!!

The Herd

I was asked A LOT at Photoshop World what drives do I use for my digital library. I think it was because Buffalo had a booth for the first time at PSW. I have used Buffalo HD & NAS since day one. This is the current “herd” in the “Rabbit hutch” in the office and represents 64TB of storage (and if you look closely you can see a 1TB external that is the backup for my computer). They run on a Raid 5 which means if a HD goes bad in a unit (and they do), I simply pull out the HD and slap in a new one (and I have a complete BU set as well). I have never, never lost one file with this system! In fact, I hand down my “old” Buffalo NAS to Jake who is running 6 2TB & 4TB Buffalo NAS units. Buffalo had in their booth a 24TB box and I’ll be writing in the future more on this. And before I get a ton of emails, no, I have no offsite storage. Yes, I know the world says I should. No, I still don’t have it. But I do love my Buffalos, they just work.

“Highnoon Light Just Won’t Go Away!”

A very typical email just came in with a photographic problem that has been around since day 1. “Highnoon light just won’t go away and I’ve got to make the photograph. What do I do?” Tim wrote. I can tell it’s summer because these kinds of emails come in constantly because we have so much “highnoon light.” The problem is the quality of the light, what is simply referred to as “hard” light (can’t recognize hard light, look at the edge of shadows. If it’s a hard line between shadow and light, it’s hard light.) Breaking this down, it means that the exposure range between the shadows and the highlights is huge, often so big we loose detail in one or the other. You have a small subject, you can change this with a simple diffusion flat or flash or both. But you start to get a big subject or one not physically close and these options are no longer options. Add to the mix working alone and fast, and you have to make do with what’s at hand.

What you have here is a perfect example of what Tim was wanting help with. Shot around 13:00, the light is pretty nasty, hard without much character. But this is when the Unlimited Class at the Reno Air Races are saddling up to go out on the course. You want the shot, the time is now. I simply click because I know that even with this situations where the sky is bla, the underside of the wings are in deep shadow that I can, in less then 15sec, make a workable, printer, acceptable at the very least print, from this situation. Even in the limited sRGB environment of the web, you can see the improvements in the top and bottom image (top being the after). How’d I do that, and what did I do in 15sec to achieve those results?

Well, I can tell you that all I used for the processing was ACR! Whether you use LR, Bridge or PS, it’s all the same Adobe Camera Raw and you too can learn how to do it and do it just that fast. And the best part is, when you understand the process in post, you’ll know light a helluva a lot better and that can only improve your photography! So if you wanna learn that, we have the class for you! Wanna learn more….click here…or simply call WRP @760.924.8632 or 661.204.1506 to register. Dates 16/17 July & 8/9 Oct 2011 with more dates coming.

More Perfect Color for Perfectly Beautiful Moments

I have a vast respect for and admiration for JP and his photography! I’ve learned a lot from him and truly enjoy our conversations (which are way too few). And when it comes to the art of technically understanding and teaching the visual art of photography, I think there is no better. It means even more and becomes even clearer when you get to know him. This video is of course a promotion for Xrite but that doesn’t matter, it’s not what the content is saying. And that’s the beauty of JP, his teaching and photography. Check it out, the man knows what he’s talking about!

What Is The End Game?

A luxury I don’t afford myself in my wildlife photography, I sure do a with my landscape and aviation photography. My posting saying that I shoot now a days not stressing having folks in the photo brought in a whole bunch of emails. This is a perfect example of that shot a year ago at the Reno Air Races. The paint job on this F8F Bearcat “Rare Bear” in the predawn light is simply spectacular! What you see here is finishing all done in ACR and Photoshop, and a simple, single click. The only real trick was getting down and kissing the deck to make the click. That, and seeing the final photograph at the time of making the click and then following through in post.

As you can see though, seeing that final image required looking through a tug, ground crew and stuff. And I mean, a lot of stuff. I started with the big stuff when it comes to a battle plan for finishing in post. The tug on the right was easy, that was simply Content Aware fill. With a fine lasso around it, Photoshop could easily and simply make it go away. The bottom of the ladder on the left took a little more personal attention. With a selection along the wing’s edge to protect it, I used the clone tool to remove the two legs of the ladder. This leaves with the gantry on the wing to deal with.

Can you say Ctrl (Cmd) J? I use this “trick” a helluva lot and it does a killer job. I removed the gantry on the left with the wing on the right. Making a selection with the Lasso Tool of the wing on the right, I simply hit Ctrl(Cmd) J, used the Move Tool to move the selection to the left wing, Ctrl(Cmd) T to flip it horizontally and lay it into place. Create a filled Layer Mask and then with the Brush paint in the new wing section. All of this took less then two minutes to do in post.

You might be saying, “Easy for you” but anyone can do this. The main point is, don’t let the great photos slip by because there is someone in your photo. Don’t get upset and yell at them, just know your tools and make them work for you. That’s what Photoshop for Shooters is all about, seeing the photo and then using what tools you need to finish it so other can enjoy the moment you were so fortunate to experience. Believe me, if I can do it, you can do it!

And Here Endth the Lesson

What was lighting the side of the Stearman that had me moving around was this sky. It wasn’t this great when I started shooting but as you can see, it was for a few moments killer. Now here’s the photographic problem, how do you end up with this photo? Look at the light, where’s it coming from? From behind right, this is a backlit subject. If that’s the case, how can this side of the Stearman be all lit up. You might be saying “You have a big bank of flash” but then you’d say to yourself, “Moose isn’t going to work that hard.” And you’d be right, I keep is simple, easy and fun. So then….

If you “expose” for just the great sky and that is why I moved to this angle, just for the sky, what happens to the subject? It’s still cool as a silhouette but it’s not what I wanted for a final photo.

If then you expose for just the subject, you loose the whole reason why you moved to this side of the plane. And here’s the deal you can never loose site of. The light came and the light went, had this killer stuff for just a heartbeat, there wasn’t time to experiment or play, you either got it or you didn’t. You’re probably now saying, “It’s HDR but man, it sure doesn’t look like HDR!” You’d be right on both counts, it is HDR and it doesn’t look like HDR. This is a 7 image bracket assembled in Photomatix Pro and then finished in Photoshop. I’m finding in my travels that both the camera part and the finishing part is eluding photographers and I can understand why. That’s why we’ve started a new class, Photoshop for Shooters which is a helluva of a lot more then just a Photoshop class. It’s a photography class talking all about light. Once you get a handle on light, the shooting and the finishing just fall into place. If you wanna learn how to make all that work, call, now, don’t hesitate 760.924.8632! And hopefully this litl lesson will help your images take flight!

Nik Webinar Posted

I had SO much fun doing the Nik Webinar and now it’s posted. I hope it helps many of you to move your photography forward!

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