In the past, zooming in on iPhone images led to disappointing results because it just an enlarged low resolution photograph, kinda like zooming past 100% in Photoshop or past 1:1 in Lightroom. When you sync a high pixel count image to an iPhone, iTunes “optimizes” images for the phone by lowering the pixel count and re-saving a unique JPEG for the phone. This process can lower the image quality and sharpness significantly thus many pros have been disappointed with image viewing on previous iPhones. It felt low resolution to begin with and even worse when zoomed.

With the release of iOS4 came a new iTunes image optimization routine designed to improve image viewing especially on the iPhone 4. From my tests it appears that iOS 4 now stores images at 1920×1280 pixels with a medium amount of JPEG compression. If images are even just slightly larger than this pixel count iTunes will resample images which results in a loss of image sharpness. If images are lower than this pixel count they will appear pixelated when you zoom in on them.

For photo geeks wanting to get the very best image quality on their iPhone 4, I suggest preparing your images at no greater than 1920×1280 pixels with high screen sharpening. The resolution as defined in ppi is irrelevant since the pixel count is the only thing that matters on the iPhone. I normally cringe at excessive sharpening but I find high sharpening to be quite agreeable in this situation. If you are exporting images from Lightroom, for example, the Export dialog should look something like this:

You can either sync this folder of images to the phone directly in iTunes or you can drag them to an iPhoto album. Either way it will re-save them as a new JPEG. I’ve suggested saving an initial JPEG at the 100% quality level so that when it’s re-JPEGed by iTunes artifacting won’t be a problem.

Understanding the iPhone’s image viewing behavior
You can zoom into an image on the iPhone by double clicking on the image itself. You might have noticed that when zooming in on an image viewed while the phone is in the vertical position, the image appears sharper than zooming in on an image viewed while the phone is in the horizontal position. Ever noticed that? Try it right now if you haven’t seen this. Zooming while the phone is in the vertical position zooms to 1:1 or 100% where every pixel in the file is represented by one pixel in the display. Zooming while the phone is in the horizontal position zooms past 1:1/100% which results in a bigger but less sharp image. Rotating the phone while zoomed in doesn’t change the viewing ratio so be sure to test this by activating the zoom while in one orientation and then the other.

For optimal image viewing, be sure to zoom in while the phone is in the vertical orientation. Rotate for horizontal viewing after zooming, if appropriate. Geeks will appreciate how much better images look when zoomed in this manner. The common consumer will not, but if you’re reading my blog you’re probably not the common consumer.

One final observation is that the iPhone anti-aliases the “fit to screen” image you initially see prior to zooming, but *doesn’t* anti-alias the same image once you zoom back out. So after zooming out on an image you might notice some jagged edges that you hadn’t seen before – that’s normal.

What about the iPad?
I hadn’t done exhaustive testing on the iPad yet, but Apple engineers tell me that images are resized to 2048×1536 (twice that of the iPad’s 1024×768 pixel count). Since the perception of image sharpening is tied to the resolution in ppi of the display (not the pixel count) a lower sharpening amount is recommended for the iPad’s 132ppi display relative to sharpening for the iPhone4’s 326ppi display.

Update (7-21-10)
I had some good email conversations with two Apple engineers today because of this article. I was able to get these suggestions to the ear of the guy in charge of image resizing:

1) Incorporate a “Bicubic Sharper” interpolation method when optimizing images for idevices to maintain image sharpness. The current use of bicubic definitely degrade image sharpness.
2) Set the zoom to zoom to 1:1 when the device is in either vertical or horizontal orientation. The fact that the zoom is currently greater than 1:1 when the device is in the horizontal position is undesirable.
3) Restore the antialiased “fit to screen” version when an image is zoomed back out.

We’ll have to wait for iOS5 to see what improvements are in store. If Apple were to implement those tweaks they’d really be on top of their game, and everyone’s images would benefit.

The last image in the above group titled “Liberty’s Final Hour” was a one hour exposure taken from 9:30pm to 10:30pm May 17th. I’ve also compiled a time lapse video of this final hour plus a half hour after closing time during which people shuffled out and the lights and fans were turned off.

Before I begin, I should say that I get my hands on a huge variety of printers in my work traveling around as a color and workflow consultant. Not only do I own Canon, Epson and HP printers in my own studio where I print my artwork that I show in galleries, I oversee a large base of clients all over the world that use everything from Durst silver halide printers to 20 foot wide Scitex solvent printers. I’d like to think I’m in a decent position to have a bird’s eye perspective of the industry as a whole and I strive to be as unbiased as I can with my observations. I choose to appreciate the differences between different products and try to avoid the type of brand loyalty that seems so common in our industry.

New inkset improves gamut substantially
The most significant improvement with these printers lies in Canon’s new Lucia EX inkset that increases the color gamut by about 20%. All 12 of Canon’s inks are newly formulated with smaller pigment particles and increased polymer encapsulation. The smaller pigment particles reduce reflection scatter which, in turn, increases saturation. The polymer encapsulation increases media adhesion and provides impressive scratch resistance. The polymer encapsulation also decreases gloss differential, bronzing and helps maintain precise, small dots that don’t bleed on paper.

x100 versus x300 gamut comparison on Canson Photographique Baryta paper

High Precision Photographs Option
This option implements a new advanced screening method and changes the order that the inks are laid down. By putting the light inks down after darker inks, color saturation is increased and gloss differential is reduced even further. This involves very complicated processing that slows the printing process. Small type and fine graphic lines become extremely sharp with this option due to increase dot placement accuracy. Printing with this mode doubles printing times but, even so, the x300 printers are faster than Epson x880 and Z3200 printers on their highest settings. This mode also places the head closer to the paper surface which potentially makes it problematic with papers that don’t lie perfectly flat. This is definitely an option for geeks with high resolution cameras and fine image detail and not for the masses wanting to do basic printing. The “High Precision Photographs” mode is available as a checkbox in the driver and via the “Highest (Max. No. of Passes)” mode in the printing plug-in.

High Precision Photographs mode as found in driver and printing plug-in

New buttons on printer and improved menu navigation
The new printers now have dedicated “load” “feed” and “cut” buttons which is nice. The printer’s screen uses the same B&W LCD as before but the user interface of the menu has been redesigned for more intuitive ease of use.

printer interface with new buttons

improved scratch resistance, lowered bronzing and lowered gloss differential
Canon claims that their scratch resistance is now far better than the other brands. From my testing this appears to be true but it should be noted that the paper itself also has an influence on scratch resistance. Matte surface cotton rag papers, for example, all have incredibly fragile surfaces regardless of the ink that lies on top of it. The increased polymer encapsulation further reduces the already low amounts of bronzing and gloss differential found in the previous inkset. While the improvements in scratch resistance are significant, it’s my feeling that gloss differential and bronzing are not important issues like they were a few years ago. See the photo of these tests and my conclusions in the “Comparison to the competition” section near the end of this review.

Custom media
The Media Configuration Tool for the new printers allows users to add custom media types that show up in the printer driver, printing plug-ins and on the printer itself. These custom media types include total ink limit values, media thickness, head height, vacuum strength and cutting preference. The process of setting up a new paper type is very easy and once completed you’ll see something like “Scott’s Fiber Base Paper” added to the list of media found in the drivers, plug-ins and on the printer itself. Of course, you’ll probably want to name your custom media types “Canson Photographique Baryta”, “Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta” or as needed.

Even better than this is the ability to download media configuration files and ICC profiles direct from paper companies that use the preferences that they have determined to be optimal for their paper. For example, Moab/Legion Paper company has released their MCT files at http://moabpaper.com/icc-profiles-downloads/canon/ The Media Configuration Tool will not allow older printers to add custom media types. This new feature only works with the x300 printers. Unfortunately MCT files made for the 8300 don’t work with the 63×0 and visa versa – each require unique files.

Being able to add a media type with the name of your choice and have that show up in the driver, plug-in and on the printer is great. Users can also choose to hide the media types they don’t utilize (in the driver, plugin, and at the printer console), which makes for tidy, short, customized media lists.

media menu with custom papers as seen from the driver

Despite these improvements, I look forward to the day when we can stick a new piece of paper into the printer and have the printer itself determine the optimal total ink limits and linearizations based on actual measurements from the media. Those of us that have been doing this for years with high-end RIPs see the limitations to Canon’s, Epson’s and even HP’s custom media approach, but also recognize the simplicity of their solutions.

Advantages to using the Photoshop Printing Plug-in
If you haven’t used Canon’s Printing Plug-in, you’re really missing out as it significantly streamlines the whole printing workflow. Printing with the plug-in simplifies things by showing everything in one dialog box and unlike the traditional print method, it always remembers the previously used settings. The custom page sizes are easy to use and the roll paper preview shows your image exactly as it will come out of the printer so there is never any question as to what the final orientation will be. The plug-in has includes a variable (0-500) print sharpening feature that, like Lightroom’s print sharpening feature, sharpens images at their final print size and resolution. The plug-in also allows for extremely long print lengths that exceed the capabilities of drivers and many popular RIPs. Surprisingly, the soft proofing in the driver is superior to Photoshop’s. Canon’s plug-in does a better job displaying images as they will appear when printed, particularly when it comes to delicate shadow detail. Mac users will also appreciate the fact that the plug-in is immune to the Colorsync issues we’ve been struggling with in recent years. The plug-in makes Photoshop’s printing method (with all of it’s different dialog boxes) look pretty antiquated. Canon users love the Plug-in!

Changes with the new Photoshop Printing Plug-in
The Plug-in has always used it’s own CMM (Color Management Module) which is responsible for the improved soft proofing and lack of Black Point Compensation with the Relative Colorimetric intent that some have complained about in the past. For the x300 printers, the plug-in let’s you choose to use the AdobeCMM if you like and utilize their Black Point Compensation for the Relative Colorimetric intent. The plug-in now allows for press proofing complete with paper simulation if you choose. The Plug-in uses Canon’s internally developed rendering engine (instead of relying upon the operating systems rendering engine). Canon’s rendering engine is very fast and is supposed to have some advantages when it comes to fine lines and patterns. With it your images will get to the printer faster so it can start printing with minimal delay. It’s notable that Mac 10.6 and newer printer drivers can also use Canon’s rendering engine by checking the “Fast Graphic Process” checkbox. It’s poorly named but super fast – I see no reason not to use it. Version 4 ICC profiles are no longer supported unless the Adobe CMM is installed. Lastly, the annoying dialog that shows up when you exit the plugin (“Are you sure you want to quit?”) can now be permanently dismissed.

dismissible close dialog (a small thing I know)

Improved internal media settings, linearization and round trip values
Canon has developed iterative techniques for developing the media linearization LUTs that are built into each media setting. Color geeks that perform round trip exercises (in GamutVision, ColorThink, Monaco Profiler, etc) will find the Delta E results to be closer to 0.40 rather than the 0.60-0.70 results we used to see with the previous generation. This translates into smoother gradations and profiles that don’t have to work as hard to get optimal results. Because of this, I’m seeing the smoothest Bill Atkinson 1729 targets and granger rainbows that I’ve even seen off of any printer.

Using new inks and print heads in older printers
In the past, users of Canon’s older printers have been able to install Canon’s newer inks and print heads without any repercussions. All users had to do was flush out their old inks using the “Move Printer” function, pull the plastic teeth on the new cartridges and install them normally. While the new x300 cartridges can physically fit and be installed in the same way, Canon discourages people from doing so because the new ink formulation with finer pigment particles and increased polymer will clog older head designs. The new PF-05 heads found in the new x300 printers are custom tailed for these new inks and aren’t compatible with the older printers.

Other details

• Operation is a little quieter than the previous generation.
• The printer’s menu and desktop printer spooler now display the remaining time needed for each print.
• Ink tracking now reports with accuracy to 1/1000th of a milliliter.
• When loading sheets, the printer figures out the paper size instead of asking.
• Gigabit Ethernet built into all models.
• New roll adapters accommodate both 2″ and 3″ rolls.
• 8300 and 6350 models include a hard drive which aides spooling and stores jobs for workstation-free reprinting.
• The printers remember the last three papers loaded and present them for quick selection when loading paper.
• New PF-05 heads are more affordable (~US$450), have more precise dot placement and produce cleaner lines, text and photographic detail.
• The chassis has increased rigidity which reduces vibration and allows for more accurate carriage placement.

prints made for evaluation and comparison

Comparison to the competition
I’ve been doing lots of side-by-side tests on the Canon 8300, Epson 9900 and HP Z3200 printers over the past two months and love all of them for different reasons. Canon and Epson are clearly running neck and neck with the pinnacle printer technologies in their x300 and x900 printers. These printers have a larger gamut and better dot placement than HP’s Z3200, and the Canon x100 and Epson x880 and x700 printers that are also available. The x300 and x900 printers are the fastest large format printers out there, have the most sophisticated screening technology and the largest color gamuts. They are clearly the top choice for demanding fine art printmakers. Overall their color gamuts are very, very similar. Epson’s HDR inks provide slightly greater saturation in many of the lighter colors, but the Lucia EX gamut is larger when we examine some of the deep, darker tones. Dark magentas and purples are particularly advantageous on the new Canon printers, and the night photographer in me lights up when I see these results. Depending on the type of imagery you work with you might find one to be preferable over another but we’re really being nit-picky here – Canon’s Lucia EX and Epson’s HDR inksets are very similar and are clearly the best on the market today.

Although I compared gamut differences on a variety of fiber base, RC, and cotton rag papers, I’ve chosen to use Canson’s Photographique Baryta paper for all of the illustrations in this section. Here are some gamut renderings from the Canon 8300, Epson 9900 and HP Z3200 printers on this paper.

highlight gamut comparison

midtone gamut comparison

shadow gamut comparison

Below are the profiling targets printed on Canson’s Photographique Baryta from the Canon 8300 (left), Epson 9900 (middle) and HP Z3200 (right). Although it’s not particularly important, I like to note how smoothly some printers reproduce this target.

profiling targets prior to scratch test

My informal tests suggest that Canon’s latest inks have the best in class bronzing, gloss differential and scratch resistance. What was really surprising was how disappointing HP’s Z3200 inkset faied in these tests regardless of the presence of their gloss optimizer. I’ve photographed the three targets catching window glare so as to illustrate differences in gloss differential and bronzing. For the scratch resistance test I’ve simply laid the prints as you see them and dragged the back of my fingernails across all three prints several times.

gloss differential and bronzing comparison

scratch resistance comparison

Epson’s x900 printers have a surprisingly quiet operation and an elegant color LCD display. Epson’s straight through printing path allows for thick media and excellent cut sheet handling that’s superior to Canon’s handling with a curved path. Canon’s printing plug-in streamlines the printing workflow from Photoshop, the driver has built in nesting and layout capability and the on-board calibration process ensures dead-on consistency over time. Canon models with a hard drive allow for job storage and reprinting without resending files from a computer. I’m told that preliminary testing suggests that Canon’s newest inkset will have very similar longevity and lightfast ratings as compared to their previous inkset (which fared better than Epson’s but not quite as good as HP’s). Some Epson x900 users continue to struggle with clogging, ink cartridge chip recognition and minor quality issues on their printers while there have been almost no x300 Canon printer problems to date (albeit, these printers haven’t been out long).

While Epson provides excellent profiles for all of their media and clearly labeled media settings, Canon doesn’t provide profiles for all of their media and the media options themselves can be confusing as they don’t match the names of the available media. Demanding printmakers using Canon printers should plan on determining optimal media settings and making custom profiles for all the papers they use. On the other hand, Epson now requires users to adjust the Color Density slider in the Paper Configuration area of the driver to achieve optimal results with their profiles on several media types. So I think both parties could simplify the process for a new user wanting to achieve superb results. It would be nice if each manufacturer provided clearly labeled media options, excellent profiles for all of their own media and the ability to add custom media all without extra fiddling and research. In my opinion, these printers are currently for advanced users that have the knowledge and patience for this research, fiddling and custom profile creation. For the most demanding printmakers, the results will be worth it.

HP clearly does the best job providing clearly named media types, custom media types and custom profiles on-board. This is truly something Epson and Canon could learn from and is a huge ease-of-use advantage for HP. Should HP release a faster, refined printer with an inkset to match Canon’s Lucia EX and Epson’s HDR inksets, they could have a winner on their hands.

Canon x300/Epson x900/HP Z3200 US street pricing after rebates is currently $2500/$3600/$2900 for the 24″ and $3700/$5350/$4400 for the 44″ versions. Epson sometimes offer rebates that drives their pricing down – they currently aren’t offering rebates this month. Obviously there is no clear winner here, just healthy competition and a strong drive toward print excellence.

Summary
Canon’s new x300 printers aren’t just the same old printer with a new inkset. Everywhere you look, from the buttons on the front of the printer, the display, menus, print heads, chassis, driver options, plug-in options, and improved final print quality, you’ll find lots of refinements. Casual users may not see big differences in their prints but demanding printmakers with loupes, experienced eyes and difficult images to reproduce will appreciate a range of improvements. With these affordable and solid printers, Canon is going head-to-head with Epson for the best fine art printing technology on the market.

Austin American-Statesman photographer Jay Janner recently made this portrait of Dan in his Driftwood, TX studio – the first of it’s kind in front of Dan’s handcrafted photo booth in his Driftwood, Texas studio.

FLYP magazine published a great article on his work and career. Highly recommended viewing. Included in the article are two videos where he talks about his devotion to photography and what makes a great portrait.

If you haven’t already I’d encourage you to spend some time at Dan’s website. Better yet, order his book Periodical Photographs from Aperture.

All of these displays use an LED backlit lightsource, IPS LCD panels and eco-conscious materials. These first two technologies are crucial for demanding professionals. The LED lightsource provides consistency across the screen, a boost in color gamut, power savings, lower heat generation and can achieve the lower luminance (brightness) levels that print professionals need. The IPS LCD panel provides a wide viewing angle so that the viewer doesn’t experience the density shifting that’s become so common with laptop and most LCD displays today that use the less expensive TN LCD panel technology. A lot of companies (like Samsung and Dell) used to offer good value IPS displays before the recession but have since lowered the quality of their displays by abandoning IPS technology. Interestingly enough, Apple (and to a lesser extent NEC) is one of the only companies that’s currently increasing the quality of their displays while lowering their pricing.

The NEC MultiSync PA241W display includes internal 14bit 3D LUT calibration hardware, a matte surface and a 4 year warranty that the Cinema Displays do not. NEC displays are not compatible with 3rd party calibration packages like Color Eyes Display Pro and instead require the $280 NEC SpectraView calibration system that’s sold separately. Apple’s LED Cinema Displays have built in speakers, camera and laptop power connections that lead to less clutter on the desktop. Both brands include an internal USB hub and several USB ports for convenience. Apple hasn’t actually announced the 27-30″ LED Cinema Display but it’s widely expected to come to market within the next few months. The already announced NEC MultiSync PA241W is expected to start shipping in the US in a few weeks.

Calibration
We can’t talk about high quality displays without also talking about calibration. After all, any display isn’t going to perform as desired until it’s calibrated to match the lighting in the environment that the user’s eye has chromatically adapted to. A well calibrated display will show white as matching paper white. When viewing a white Photoshop document, for example, it shouldn’t look cooler (bluer) or brighter than a white piece of paper as viewed a few feet away. Customizing the white point color temp and luminance setting via display calibration software to match print viewing or ambient lighting is a must. While the NEC has to be calibrated with NEC’s excellent Spectraview calibration package, I recommend Color Eyes Display Pro for calibrating displays that don’t come with calibration hardware (like the Cinema Displays). Color Eyes Display Pro’s iterative calibration process does such an impressive job smoothing out gradations that you won’t miss the calibration hardware that far more expensive displays include.

Commentary
A lot of people, (myself included) have had a knee-jerk reaction to Apple’s highly reflective glossy displays. I have to say – it’s really not that bad – especially if you have excellent, well placed lighting in your work environment. If the display makes you think about improving your lighting that’s not such a bad thing. After all, it wasn’t that long ago when we all worked behind glass faced monitors. I’m seeing a number of demanding clients using Apple’s new LED displays and, reflectiveness aside, they all have great things to say about them. I too have put them to the test and found that they perform admirably. Better than the previous generation for sure.

Photographers use lenses and display prints behind “museum” glass that have highly effective antiglare coatings. If Apple were to bring the same antiglare, museum glass coatings to their Cinema Displays, the cycle would be complete. Glassless, matte surfaced displays have become a regular option for MacbookPros so it’s not out of the question that they might come out with glassless matte surface LED Cinema Displays. Apple does have options for lowering the reflectivity on their Cinema Displays and I look forward to seeing what solutions they come out with in the future. This is definitely something to watch, and the existing 24″ LED display and 27″ iMac are both pretty nice in the meantime for the price.

As long as we’re talking about Apple’s “Pro” products, I think Compact Flash card readers should be built into these Cinema Displays, as well as MacBookPros and MacPros. Professionals, after all, use Compact Flash cards, not the consumer oriented SD cards found in smaller cameras.

Don’t get me wrong, I love expensive Eizo, Barco, and Quato displays (and NEC’s other displays). My clients and I have enjoyed them for years. But not only do most of their displays use the older CCFL backlit technology, the cost difference just doesn’t justify the difference in quality like it used to. Imagemakers like myself have to ask if the difference in cost might be better spent, say, on a new lens or printing equipment.

Update (7-27-10)
As expected, Apple just announced the 27″ LED Cinema Display for $999 and lowered the price of the 24″ LED Cinema Display to $799. For those on lower budget, the Viewsonic VP2365wb 23″ is an IPS 1920 x 1080 DVI display that performs surprisingly well for $300.

]]> http://www.on-sight.com/2010/04/20/texas-love-bus-print-program/feed/ 0 http://www.on-sight.com/2010/03/22/lightroom-3-beta-2-released/ http://www.on-sight.com/2010/03/22/lightroom-3-beta-2-released/#comments Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:22:41 +0000 Scott Martin http://www.on-sight.com/?p=1479 LR3beta2 is out! Here are some noteworthy points:

• • Speed is greatly improved.
• • Importing has been improved and refined.
• • Tethering for popular Nikon and Canon cameras is now supported.
• • Watermarking is improved (although still not ideal).
• • Luminance Noise Reduction has been added to complement the new demosaicing and color noise algorithms.
• • New Vignette styles.
• • Adjustment Brush and Gradient tools can now be stacked to strengthen the effect.
• • New Print Layout capabilities with Rotate to fit and Rotate Cell options.
• • Video files can now be imported from DSLRs along with still images.
• • The X key conveniently toggles the orientation in the crop tool.
• • Perspective Control and Soft Proofing are not in this beta (but are in development for future release).
• • While LR3beta1 catalogs can be updated for use in LR3beta2, LR2 catalogs still cannot be. This is after all, a beta release that is not intended, nor recommended for production work.

Commentary
The biggest thing for my own workflow is the speed and overall responsiveness of this release, which is better than any 1.x or 2.x  release. When I upgraded to the 21mp Canon 5Dmark2 I’ve been frustrated with the responsiveness of Lightroom ever since – until now. It’s pretty hard to go back to 2.6 for production work. On high resolution 20+ megapixel files, LR3beta2 is far, far faster – sometimes more than 20 times faster when lots of localized adjustments are used.

The second biggest thing for me about this release is the Luminance noise reduction. Luminance noise reduction used to be something to avoid in LR 1 and 2 because it would blur an image and it’s detail. Luminance noise reduction in LR3beta2 maintains image detail nicely while smoothing out Luminance noise. For those that want a little “film grain” in their images and prints the new Grain too lets you do just that with controls for grain size and roughness. With these new controls I’m finding that I can take noisy high ISO images, smooth out the noise without loosing detail and get a more desirable result by adding grain if I so desire. IMO, Lightroom now offers more control than any other RAW software, in this aspect.

The third most significant development for my own workflow is the grain tool. I make a fair amount of 60×96 and 36×60 inch prints and I find that adding noise (and increasing localized contrast) makes these prints more desirable. I’ve been groaning as I render the files to a  TIFF so I can goto Photoshop and add this noise. With LR3’s new grain tool, I can now add the grain and print directly from Lightroom. One less reason to goto Photoshop and suffer with huge files – whew. What’s more is that I can save grain presets for each of these print sizes in Lightroom and quickly apply them, or not, depending on the print size I’m working with.

Ian Lyons’ has a review at Computer Darkroom

You can download the new beta at: the Adobe Labs Lightroom 3 Beta2 page.

Checkout Adobe’s video demonstrating the new features in LR3beta2.

Parametric workflows, like those available through Adobe Lightroom, Express Digital Darkroom and Apple Aperture are clearly the way of the future and offer huge productivity advantages over one-image-at-a-time, pixel editing workflows like Photoshop’s. While photographers switch to parametric applications, Photoshop will continue to be an excellent application for non-photographers like designers, architects, 3D professionals, etc.

Happy birthday Photoshop, you have been great. Let’s take a fun ride down memory lane. But let’s not reminisce and look to the past for too long. Let’s stay focused on the future, which for most photographers, lies elsewhere. The future is great – and it’s all parametric.

Update: The iPad background image is licensed from RIchard Misrach. (via Mark Menjivar)

Update: See this in-depth article about the image and Misrach at ARTINFO

People often ask “what makes the stars go in circles?” when they see this image. The answer is simple: the Earth’s rotation. Star trails are one of the many phenomenal aspects of night photography that we cannot experience with our eyes during the moment. Interested in night photography? Consider joining Lance Keimig and I at one of our night photography workshops in West Texas or California.

This workshop will have both field and classroom instruction. We will be in the classroom each day from noon until we leave for the field before sunset. When out in the field, participants can stay out shooting as long as they, or their camera’s batteries, hold out. In the classroom, we’ll critique and develop our work as well as study the work of historical and contemporary night photographers. We will examine a parametric workflow using the latest tools for night photography, from high quality digital image capture, RAW file processing, image stacking and HDR imaging. Light painting, multi-hour exposures, film technology, color management and equipment recommendations will all be discussed. Because this workshop has two instructors, each participant will get lots of attention. Participants should expect to share some of their images for review, as the goal of this workshop is to enjoy the creative process and be inspired to make great images.

Night Photography Book

A copy of Night Photography: Finding your way in the dark (by Lance Keimig with Scott Martin, 2010 Focal Press) is included in this workshop. The 240 page book combines a wealth of information from our 15 years of teaching night and digital photography workshops. The book also includes contributions from Dan Burkholder, Shawn Peterson, Christian Waeber, Steve Harper, Tom and Troy Paiva and others. In this book you’ll find history, theory, and lots of practical instruction on technique, all illustrated with clear, concise examples, diagrams and charts that reinforce the text, plus inspiring color and black and white images from the author and other luminaries in the field.

Target Audience

This workshop is specifically for digital photographers who want to learn night photography techniques. Night photography beginners who have a sound understanding of basic photography principles, advanced amateurs, and seasoned professionals looking for a fresh approach will all benefit from this workshop. Newcomers and workshop alumni will both be catered to, as much of the material and approach will be new this year. Participants will leave this workshop with the knowledge they need to photograph at night by natural and artificial light, and how to optimize their files for printing.

About the instructors

Lance Keimig is a Massachusetts based photographer and educator who specializes in night photography. Lance studied Night Photography with Steve Harper at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University in the late ‘80s and cofounded The Nocturnes Night Photography Workshops with Tim Baskerville in 1997.  His new book, Night Photography: Finding your way in the Dark will be published in August 2010. Lance’s prints are held in numerous public and private collections including The Boston Public Library, The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA, Fidelity Investments, and many other corporate collections. He has been teaching photography workshops for over 12 years and this will be his 6th workshop at Mono Lake.

Scott Martin is the owner of Onsight digital imaging, which is a capture-to-print training and consulting business that helps digital imaging professionals optimize their workflows for quality and efficiency. Scott works on location with photographers, pro labs, artists, designers, prepress professionals and software developers perfecting the techniques and color management needed for top notch work. Scott holds the first ever known degree in Digital Photographic Imaging, is an Adobe Certified Photoshop Expert, and serves on the board of the Texas Photographic Society. His grand format fine art prints are shown in galleries and included in many public and private collections. He has been teaching photography workshops for over 15 years and this will be his 3rd workshop at Mono Lake.

Getting There

The Eastern Sierra is isolated. The closest major airport is Reno, NV-140 miles away. Driving from Reno is about 2 1/2 hours. San Francisco is about a 5 hour drive through Yosemite National Park, and Los Angeles is about 6 hours away by car. It’s well worth the effort to get there. If you are interested in carpooling or sharing a rental car from Reno or the Bay Area, let us know, and we will try to connect you with someone.

Accommodations

Workshop participants stay at nearby resorts, hotels or campgrounds in or near Lee Vining. We recommend the El Mono Inn or Murphey’s Motel in Lee Vining. Links to other hotels in town, as well as general information about the area can be found at the Mono Lake website. Plan to arrive on or before the 22nd, and checking out on or after the 26th, and the workshop begins at noon on the 22nd. As everyone will be very tired after staying up each night, we encourage everyone to have a day of rest after the workshop before heading back home. Participants are responsible for booking their own accomodations. We have reserved all available rooms at Murpheys, and several at The El Mono for the workshop. The accommodations in town are almost full already, so you will need to request one of the rooms reserved for the workshop when you register, or reserve a something independently as soon as you confirm your spot in the workshop.

Meals

Morning coffee is at the wonderful Latte Da Cafe at the El Mono Hotel. They serve up homemade muffins and strong coffee to get us off on the right foot each day. If you need a bigger breakfast, there’s always Nicely’s, an old fashioned coffee shop. There are a couple of markets in Lee Vining if you prefer to picnic, but most people eat at the fabulous Whoa Nelly Cafe at the The Tioga Gas Mart in Lee Vining. Sounds strange, but this place serves excellent food – everything from omelets, gourmet pizza, and barbecue, to fish tacos, seared tuna, and herb crusted pork loin!

Registration

The price for the workshop is $950. Workshop alumni that have taken either of our workshops in the last two years (we know who you are) are eligible for $100 off the normal price. Transportation, lodging and meals are not included. For a workshop with two great instructors and a small number of participants, we hope you’ll find this to be an excellent value. The workshop is limited to a maximum of 16 students. To reserve your place, make a $300 deposit using the button below. Payment is due in full by July 1. If you prefer to pay by check, send Lance an email for further directions.

Use the button below to reserve your space with a $300 deposit. Your card will be charged immediately.

Once you secure your spot by paying the deposit, you will be contacted with detailed information about the workshop. Refunds, less a $50 cancellation fee are available until July 1st. After July 1st, the cancelation fee becomes $300. If the workshop is cancelled for any reason, you will receive a full refund.

All photos on this page are copyright Scott Martin, Lance Keimig and Shawn Peterson. Thank you, and we’ll see you in Mono Lake!

As a fine art photographer I know the challenges involved with making creative images while simultaneously mastering the technical aspects of workflow, exquisite printmaking and the polish of final packaging. I strive for an even balance of these qualities in my own work, and I enjoy helping others achieve better equilibrium between inspiration and presentation. Sharing my passion for photographic excellence has been driving my training business for over 16 years now.

In addition to on-location training and group workshops, I’d like to start encouraging a third option – private, one-one-one workshops in my printmaking studio. The range of printing equipment, papers, lighting, color management tools and atmosphere provides a training experience that I can’t quite bottle up and take with me to my client’s studios or location workshops.

Private training in my studio isn’t anything new for me, I’ve been offering it since 1999. But the studio has grown and matured over the years. The studio has three main areas – a digital darkroom main room for image development and small format printing making, a larger area for 60″ grand format printing, and a large warehouse area for spraying and packaging final prints. Solux, daylight, incandescent and viewing booth light allows visitors to compare prints under a variety of light sources and grasp the importance of high quality lighting. A range of the latest wide format printers up to 60 inches wide, combined with a variety of papers and media to choose from allows us to produce gorgeous prints that participants can take home with them. Spectrophotometers, colorimeters, RIP software, refreshments, an espresso machine and nearby macrobiotic vegetarian restaurant are all window dressing for this experience.

These private sessions are for intermediate and advanced photographers looking to perfect their process and final product. It’s a great opportunity to work side-by-side on your own images, discussing every aspect of the process and leave with a beautiful print. Email me with your particular needs, thoughts and requirements and I’ll prepare a customized training session for you.

Penny De La Santos, Lynn Johnson and Scott Martin are combining their talents to present a seven day intensive photography workshop in Austin, Texas overlapping with the South by Southwest Festival. Austin is located at the edge of the Texas hill country and is known for it’s live music scene, progressive atmosphere, swimming holes, green spaces and inviting South Congress neighborhood. The South by Southwest festival is a unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. This week is an ideal time to see Austin through the lens. Temperatures should be perfect ranging from the mid 50s to the mid 70s with moderate to low humidity.

This is a new kind of photography workshop that will help you shape and share the story of your mission whether that is your work, your passion, or your life. We invite you to come to Austin and learn from three photographers with 75 years of combined experience in newspaper, magazine, freelance photojournalism, documentary and fine art photography. Our world is visual. Although we are surrounded by images, using those images to clearly convey your message is a fine and complicated art form. For social organizations and non-profits, the power of your message to the outside community can make all the difference in whether you broaden your scope, building capacity that will serve donors and beneficiaries alike.

This workshop, that will include a week of photography, honest and in-depth critiques, workflow training using Adobe Lightroom, meaningful speakers and (in the tradition of Austin) fabulous food, will help anyone, whether a total beginner with a point and shoot camera or advanced photographer with a bag of lenses and experience, be a better communicator of their mission. Think of this workshop as a photographic and spiritual tune-up; a week of creativity, inspiration, reflection, and engaging discussions about photography in today’s changing media landscape.

About the instructors

Penny De Los Santos is an award winning documentary photographer known for her evocative photo essays, food, travel, and landscape photography. She has spent the past seven years photographing the Latino movement on the Texas-Mexico border which was featured in National Geographic. De Los Santos’ career launched when she was selected for the World Press Master Class in Amsterdam and a position at National Geographic. She has been a featured speaker at industry workshops and Universities nationwide. Her clients include Saveur Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Time, Latina and Texas Monthly.  She is based in Austin, Texas.

Photojournalist Lynn Johnson is known for her intense photojournalistic work. Dividing her time between assignments for National Geographic and various foundations, Johnson has traveled from Siberia to Zambia photographing celebrities like Tiger Woods, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mister Rogers and the entire Supreme Court. Her vision is subtle. She invites the viewer to find the meaning in the frame. Her shooting style is equally low key allowing her subjects to reveal themselves to the camera. The photographs she strives for are compassionate. After 30 years of practicing photography, she sees her personal work moving from that of an observer to advocate. Johnson earned a B.A. in Photojournalism from the Rochester Institute of Technology and was a Staff Photographer at The Pittsburgh Press for seven years. She is currently represented by the National Geographic Image Collection.

Scott Martin is a fine art photographer and digital photography consultant. As the founder of Onsight, he has been working with digital photography since the 1980s and has been training photographers one-on-one and leading photography workshops since the early 90s though organizations like the Texas Photography Society and the Santa Fe Photography Workshops. With full-time devotion to on-location consulting for over a decade, his experience with a wide variety of imaging equipment, papers, inks and applications allows him to consult with some of the most demanding photographers, pro labs, artists, designers and prepress professionals in the business. His classes are packed with enthusiasm and real-world suggestions.

Target audience

Professional photographers, serious amateurs and those wanting to make photography a passionate part of their lives. A working knowledge of computers and photography is required. An appetite for creative excellence is a must.

Location

Casa De Los Santos (click for map)
1504 Treadwell Street
Austin TX 78704

Meals

We feel that inspiring food feeds the inspired mind. Roughly half of the meals will be catered to this workshop and are included with the price of tuition. Participants will be on their own for other meals. Austin has a lot to offer in this respect and we will encourage visiting a variety of exciting nearby restaurants.

Registration

The price for the workshop is $995 plus lodging. For a workshop with three great instructors and a small number of participants, we think you’ll find this to be an excellent value. Space will be limited to 15 participants. Although this workshop is still in the planning stages, please email us if you would be interested in attending this workshop.

Accommodations

Workshop participants encouraged to stay at nearby hotels or B&B’s in Austin. We recommend the San Jose, Embassy Suites, Hyatt Regency and the Radisson which are are all nearby. Plan to arrive on or before the evening of the (TBA), and checking out on the (TBA).  The workshop begins with a dinner social at 6pm on Sunday the (TBA). Participants are responsible for booking their own accommodations..

What to bring

Workshop participants should bring their their cameras (film or digital), a tripod, and computer to develop images with (if available). An open mind, willingness to learn, hunger for great food and a great attitude.

Thank you, and we’ll see you in Austin!

“If you want a fully color managed workflow I don’t think any silver halide process will provide that” – anon

Safe to say I’ve implemented fully color managed workflows with every silver halide machine on the market. It’s totally doable and has been for many years, but unfortunately some exceptional know-how can be required. Some lab owners don’t have the patience to get there and settle with “good enough”.

“Having tried soft proofing with our Lightjet & Noritsu printers, it just doesn’t reflect what the finished print looks like” – anon

Getting an excellent screen to print match is harder than just buying a calibration package and hitting the calibrate button. Understanding which calibration package to get, the intricacies of the process and grasping the role of high quality lighting all go into this. High quality lighting is the most commonly overlooked aspect, IMO. Some brands of profiles really do allow for better print to screen matching than others. One of my long-time clients (15 years), digitalprolab.com is bold enough to have a print to screen match guarantee and supports it with on-location lighting and display calibration training for their customers.

As for profiling silver halide machines there are several unique challenges that aren’t found in other printing processes. Achieving optimal linearity prior to profiling, black point handling (which varies per profile creation software), front end integration (with products with Labtricity and DP2), machine color handling variations (different model Noritsu’s manage color differently for example), and process control are all issues to understand.

>In addition, some silver halide machines implement a Grey Component Removal (GCR)-like technology in their RGB profiles, believe it or not!! To elaborate a little; if you expose your red laser at it’s max calibrated level you get at great red without light bleeding. If you expose maximum RGB light to achieve max black there is so much light that it bleeds which results in color fringing on prints (especially with less expensive thinner papers). For this reason some manufacturers use a RGB version of GCR technology to cut back on light exposure in the shadows, but not for solid colors. This one issue has been my biggest challenge for many years now as there aren’t any profiling packages on the market that will implement this (currently). I use a technique on Noritsus where I insert my own profile and let Noritsu apply the RGB CGR on top of it.

Let’s look at achieving optimal linearity prior to profiling. One would think that you could just perform the printer’s on board calibration (linearization) process and then print your profiling target. Some machines actually have several ways of performing a calibration and some are better than others. On some machines if you perform this process several times in a row you’ll get a better calibration than it you had run it only once. These systems create curves to neutralize the grayscale and while some processes simply tweak the previously made curves, others start from scratch to make a fresh set of curves. Understanding these differences can make the difference between being able to make gorgeous, perfectly natural looking B&W prints and making disappointing ones. It’s essential that one get an excellent calibration prior to the printing of profiling targets. If an iterative profiling process is implemented it’s important to work quickly before the machine starts to drift.

Some silver halide systems calibrate for maximum black density sacrificing black neutrality, while others prioritize black neutrality over density. DIfferent profiling packages handle what I call black point handling, differently so one’s choice of profiling software can produce surprisingly different results in the shadows and blacks. ProfileMakerPro and EyeOneMatch use a relative black approach which doesn’t attempt to neutralize the blacks at all, which can be a problem for silver halide processes that have a colorful DMax. MonacoProfiler (MP) will attempt to neutralize the blacks, sometimes sacrificing density. MonacoProfiler can only go so far with this black correction so sometimes profile editing (as much as I hate it) can be in order. There is new profiling tech that isn’t to market yet that will handle this better and help avoid editing (thank goodness). For now, Monaco Profiler’s RGB profiling process the real champion for silver halide profiling. Their perceptual rending is particularly notable as it renders better skin tones than PMP/EOM’s pink skin tones, and the gray balance is a tad warmer which I found to be universally preferable. Monaco Profiler lets you choose between a 1 step or iterative 2 step profiling process and it’s important to know when which process should be used.

As for front end integration, this is where the color management handling comes in. Most of these systems rely on front end software like DP2, Labtricity, Darkroom Pro, or their own custom software to perform color management. While some newer Noritsu systems will do this internally, older Noritsu’s won’t. Putting a front end between your customers files and your silver halide machines has, for a long time, been the answer to implementing color management in a photolab. Having your customer convert their images to print space profiles in Photoshop before sending files to the lab is a lousy workaround that’s loaded with problems! So, it’s important to be familiar with these front end solutions and know when to recommend one over another.

Understanding machine color handling variations is another issue to look at. Noritsu’s have historically have two modes: QSS mode and Net Order mode. The QSS mode allows operators to stick a memory card or CD directly into the machine and make prints. While this process wasn’t color managed with ICC profiles it did implement some pretty impressive color corrections to the image with served the same purpose and worked surprisingly well. Unfortunately, checkboxes like “apply digital camera correction” often confused operators and the final results weren’t always optimal. NetOrder mode is the mode one puts the machine in when a front end package is sending files to it. NetOrder mode doesn’t alter the color at all as long as the channel corrections are zeroed out. NetOrder mode turns off color management and color correction so that the front end package (DP2, Labtricity, etc) can handle the color space transformations. Todays Noritsu’s have a new front end called EZ Controller that has it’s own ways of handling color management that I won’t go into here. Newer Noritsus can also make their own ICC profiles onsite by printing out color patches and reading them. They are pretty complex and extremely smooth profiles that include this RGB CGR tech. Although the tech usually does this, anyone can do this. They also have a second set of files that are called “profiles” that shouldn’t be confused with ICC profiles. Their real ICC color profiles don’t use the ICC or ICM extension but my NDA prevents me from saying more about them or where they are located. Noritsu understandably doesn’t want their customers hacking around and calling them for help when they mess up their system. If you haven’t worked with a newer Noritsu, you’d be impressed with how much work they’ve done recently. They have two way communication with 3rd party front end software that tells it what paper is currently loaded in the printer so that the software can select the appropriate profile. Noritsu has some “big deal” stuff in development right now that’s going to make lab-wide color management a lot easier for a lot of labs soon. And FWIW, Fuji minilabs are now just repackaged Noritsu machines.

Process control is the last aspect to address. Silver halide machines are subject to drift due to temperature, paper and chemical variation. All of these systems have a built in calibration process that corrects for this drift but not everyone is good about knowing how often it needs to be performed. One simple process control method is to print an evaluation print immediately after profiling. I encourage labs to store this “reference print” for future comparison. If a new operator prints this same evaluation image at the interval of his or her choice, s/he can can compare it to the reference print and get a feel for that device’s drift characteristics and timeline. With this knowledge s/he can determine how often they need to calibrate the machine. With process control one can profile once, and calibrate often to maintain consistency. For those that don’t like the thought of process control, calibrating silver halide devices every 8 hours is a decent rule of thumb.

Those are some of the issues I’ve learned to address when color managing silver halide machines. As you can tell the “color management landscape” is complex here and it’s understandable why a number of labs don’t have the patience or expertise to tackle these challenges. It can be done though, and the results and print to screen matching can be fantastic. Labs can have dozens of different silver halide machines printing to different papers and color management can be implemented to manage it all automatically. Inkjet’s can also be made to match the silver halide gamuts when needed.

Knowledgeable color managed labs can accept files in any color space and will handle the print space conversation at the lab. There is a growing number of labs that are at this level and the knowledge is there to help the rest, as long as their customers request/demand it.

2 ) Ignore the midtones when adjusting Exposure and consider only the white clipping point. One must ignore the midtones as they will be adjusted via Brightness later in the workflow. If some whites are clipped at 0, option/alt drag the Exposure slider to the left until all colored pixels are removed.

3 ) Skip or be modest with Clarity. While lots of clarity creates a look that’s trendy right now, you might be surprised at how poor it can look when printed and compared to other images. I find that small prints (4×6, 8×10, etc) don’t need any clarity but larger prints (20×24, 60×94, etc) benefit from greater amounts. It’s worth considering scaling the amount of clarity with the size of a print.

4 ) In HSL, adjust Luminance first, Saturation second and Hue last. Be modest with adjustments and zoom to 1:1 looking for problems along edges.

5 ) Don’t skip correcting for Chromatic Aberration in the Detail panel! Chromatic Aberration is one of the most overlooked features yet it can easily improve the sharpness of an image in addition to removing unwanted color fringing. Hold down the Option/Alt key and look at the corners of your frame at 1:1 while adjusting chromatic aberration.

6 ) When applying a dark edge vignette, use a Post Crop vignette with a feather amount close to 80. The default feathering value of 50 is too low.

7 ) Pro users should consider making custom DNG profiles for their camera(s) with the XRite ColorChecker Passport. If not, the “Adobe Standard” is more likely than the other profiles (Camera Landscape, etc) to render pleasing results with a wider variety of images.

8 ) Develop images in Color mode before switching the treatment to Grayscale. Not only will the final grayscale product look better but the image will be ready for color printing should you decide to do so in the future. After applying a Greyscale treatment, re-adjust contrast (if necessary) and use Grayscale Mix (in the HSL panel) to simulate in front of the lens filtration (yellow filter, red filter, etc). This greyscale procedure will yield better results than a haphazard one.

9 ) Use Snapshots to save different versions of your images (ex: grayscale and color, cropping for different aspect ratios, etc). Saving snapshots with numbers is quick and can show a progression of development (when appropriate). Example: 1, 2, 3, 4color, 4grayscale, Import.

10 ) Uncheck the “Apply auto grayscale mix when converting to grayscale” checkbox in Lightroom’s preferences under the Presets tab. Auto=Yuk.

11 ) Set the background to white. You can do this by right-clicking (or control-clicking) on the background color around the image area when set to “Fit” to screen. While a white background may not be as pretty as the default dark gray, it will give you a better idea as to how an image’s highlight and mid-tone densities will appear when printed. A juxtaposition with paper white is critical. Toggle between white and dark grey if you like, but always view and adjust with a white background before printing or exporting.

12 ) Print! Image development can only be mastered by producing gorgeous prints. A lot can and will be learned along the way.

Fortune Cookie of the day: Moderation is good for all things in life, especially with clarity, saturation, vignetting and HSL adjustments.

In his own words these images are "Untouched by Mac hardware or Adobe software. It’s liberating in so many ways. For the first time we have both camera and darkroom in the palm of our hands." Dan has, at the moment, four "iPhone Artistry" workshops planned around the country that focus exclusively on iPhone based image capture and development. Visit iphoneartistry.com to see more images.

Dan is also credited for inventing the digital negative for contact printing process, pigment over platinum and pigment over gold leaf printmaking.

Ordering

For those of you in San Antonio I’d like to ask that you pick up your print at my studio Friday December 18th or by appointment. Please email me letting me know which prints you would like for me to have ready. Bring $200 cash for each print. For those out of town, email me with your order and send cash for $200 per image plus $25 for shipping and handling.

For future reference, all images are available in 4 standard print sizes: 17×22, 20×30, 36×54, 54×81. Email me for pricing and more information.

Limited Edition Portfolio Box

In addition to selling individual prints, I am making a few limited edition portfolio box sets with all 18 images.

These elegant, handmade 16×20 portfolio boxes will be availble for delivery in January for $2250 (shipped). You can place your order by sending payment (cash or check) by the end of the month. Thanks, I am very excited to be able to offer these portfolio boxes and prints this year.