From Shutter to Submission: Digital Outdoor Photography

From Shutter to Submission: Digital Outdoor Photography The future is here, and it is digital. The debate on whether or not to switch to digital is over. www.michaelfurtman.com Battling Confusion the Digital Learning Curve The analog world was simple you just chose film brand and ISO speed, and let the lab do the rest! The digital world is full of new terms, most of which are poorly defined or understood. There s still the misunderstanding that a digital image isn t a real photo, or that somehow digital photography is easier, or that it is cheating. Just as many editors as photographers are confused! 1

Digital Photography A Smart Business Decision! Digital photography will allow you to burn up hundreds of frames to capture moving subjects, and experiment on difficult lighting, such as backlit subjects. The end results are more and better photos, and hopefully, more sales! Film vs. Digital Cost Comparison 400 Frames; Fujichrome pro film purchased in bulk, and Fuji processing, equals 27.5 cents per frame; 400 frames = $110.00. Digital? Nothing but your time. Compact flash cards are infinitely reusable. 2

Camera Requirements At least 5 megapixels; 6 plus megapixels will do nearly anything 35 mm film will do; 8 or more is even better; SLR with interchangeable lenses; For action, more FPS the better; bigger write buffer the better; Why not point-and-shoot digital? slow start-up time; limited to built-in lens; slow focusing; fewer FPS; often apply in-camera manipulation (sharpening, etc.) Upside to Digital vastly reduced costs; the ability to review your photos during the shoot to make sure you ve gotten the subjects you need; to see if you ve gotten the exposure, focus, etc., correct; the ability to easily transfer them to a computer for enhancement; no more lost, damaged negatives or slides. more rapid sales -- no more overnight shipping; editors can quickly review low rez samples via email or web. 3

Other Advantages No chemical waste; no canisters or other packaging waste. Digital images are ready to use multiple applications. Incredible learning tool; you will become a better photographer! No more file cabinets full of slides! Downside to Digital? A need to be computer savvy, and have decent computer skills and equipment. If you are afraid of computers, by all means, stick with film. 4

What Makes Digital Different? White balance; Theoretically, if white balance is correct, all other colors in the scene are correct too. Histogram;Gives a visual graph of your photo s exposure. Variable ISO; Your film speed. Unless shooting under artificial lighting, I ve found that the auto white balance setting works just fine. ISO Settings Yippee! Being able to change ISO settings is perhaps one of the greatest differences between shooting film and shooting digitally. With film, you were stuck with one film speed, unless willing to change film in the middle of the role. WARNING shooting in the idiot proof (full auto) mode in most digital cameras lets the camera select the ISO. Learn to shoot in the Creative Modes (Program, Av, Tv, etc.) so that you have control of your camera! 5

Advantages to ISO shift Use slower lenses. Adapt quickly to changing light. Tripod not as necessary because you can bump up the ISO to achieve hand-holdable shutter speeds. Superb tool for action photography because you can achieve fast shutter speeds in just about all light conditions. But just like higher speed film having more grain, high digital ISO introduces noise but less so than does film, and it is somewhat removable in Photoshop. Reviewing Your Photo One of the biggest advantages of digital photography is the ability to instantly review your photo for sharpness, exposure, etc. Use it! Learn from it! 6

Histograms Virtually every digital camera, from the simplest point-and-shoot to the most sophisticated digital SLR has the ability to display a histogram directly, or superimposed upon the image just taken. On most cameras the histogram display takes place on the rear LCD screen. It is your MOST important photographic tool, and one of digital photography s biggest advantages! Image File Types Digital cameras usually store the image as a JPEG file, or a RAW file, or both simultaneously. Both JPEG and camera RAW files are means of compressing the data to take less space on your flash card. A six megapixel camera produces an uncompressed file of about 18 megabytes in size. A RAW file will be compressed to about 6 Mb, while a JPEG file will be about 2 Mb. 7

RAW Files Pro and Con RAW files are proprietary; can t be viewed by common image software, including Windows. Advantages to RAW: RAW files are unprocessed files; RAW files are lossless; Considered a digital negative that allows a large range of manipulation. Disadvantages to RAW: Fewer shots per compact flash card (file size is larger) and fewer shots per burst (camera must pause longer to write to the flash card); Clunky to work with on the computer; Take up larger amounts of storage space on computer hard drives or on removable storage (CD, DVD). JPEG Pro and Con Pro: many more images (up to 4x) per flash card while shooting; much faster write time to flash card during action photography; universally viewable in just about any image viewer, and in Windows. Con: some image data lost in initial compression; not as much latitude for manipulation in the computer; data supposedly continues to be lost each time you open and close the image on the computer. 8

JPEG Myths While the first disadvantage (JPEG compression is lossy ) is true, I ve printed many images from both the JPEG and from the RAW file, and can tell no difference. The data lost is apparently irrelevant to the final product. And if the human eye can t see it (which is what we re ultimately shooting for), then do we really need it? Second, many of us have been shooting slide (transparency) film for years; Slide film has very little exposure latitude so most of us have gotten pretty doggone good at getting it right; Plenty of Photoshop fiddling latitude in a JPEG image as long as the exposure is within 2 stops of correct. Biggest JPEG Myth of ALL That JPEGs degrade (lose information) each time you open them. Simply opening or displaying a JPEG image does not harm the image in any way. Saving a JPEG repeatedly during the same editing session (without ever closing the image) will not accumulate a loss in quality. If you manipulate the image, and save it as a new JPEG file (new name), some, but very little, data is lost. In fact, if you save a JPEG file that is only 2Mb in size as a TIFF, which is a lossless, uncompressed file, the thing actually decompresses to 18 M again! 9

Why Not RAW? If you shoot very few images, RAW may be the perfect solution. The disadvantages of RAW are considerably less if you are working with just a few files. Also, as camera buffers get larger and faster, RAW becomes more practical for action photography. The biggest downside to RAW is that initial editing (evaluating the day s shoot) is much slower. Shoot fifty or a hundred frames, and your time on the computer is two to four times longer than editing the same number of JPEG images. Some Recent Advancements Adobe has introduced a new, universal RAW file format --.DNG, and is pushing camera manufacturers to adopt it. Microsoft is incorporating RAW support into its next generation Windows operating system, due out mid- 2006 Photoshop CS2 now has exposure correction for JPEG images, something previously limited to RAW. JPEG2000, a lossless JPEG compression, is gaining some support. 10

Understanding Pixels Digital images are made up square dots called pixels. Each pixel represents the color of a small part of an image. Pixels don t get further apart from each other when you enlarge the image they just get bigger, and the image gets jagged. Pixels form an image sort of like pieces of a mosaic. Too few, spread over too large a physical print size, and you end up seeing the pixels. They are in effect the equivalent of the grain found in silver-based films. The more pixels you have in an image the smoother the image will appear AT A PARTICULAR SIZE. For instance, the same scene shot with a 3 megapixel camera, and with an 8 megapixel camera, printed at a small size (say 3 x 5 inches) will look equally sharp. But that image won t reproduce well at 11 x 14 from the 3 mp camera, but will look great from the 8 mp camera. PPI and DPI PPI (Pixels per Inch) and DPI (Dots per Inch) are frequently used interchangeably by pros and amateurs alike. scanners, digital cameras and computer monitors are all measured in PPI; printers are measured in DPI. Which resolution setting should I choose when I take a picture? It depends on what you re going to do with it, but I recommend always shooting at the camera s highest resolution setting. You can always downsize the image for uses other than print. 11

Understanding Resolution Resolution refers to the density of pixels in an image. It is a measurement of height x width at a certain pixel density (also known as pixels per inch/ppi). But digital images have no real absolute size or resolution only a certain number of pixels in each dimension. Change the PHYSICAL size of the outputted print, and the resolution changes. 12

Understanding Resolution, Part 2 Adjusting an image's resolution, or its size in inches, has no effect on the actual pixels. This is called scaling. This is simply designating the resolution to print at, if and when the image is printed. Imagine an image as a cup of coffee. In a mug, it is about three inches across (a small photographic print). Spill the same amount on your desk, and it now is two feet across (a big photo print). Same coffee different dimensions. But in the mug, the coffee is dark brown and looks nice (high resolution). Spilled, it gets thin and no longer looks as rich (low resolution). Somewhere in-between is a resolution that will give you the biggest puddle of coffee that will still retain its rich, good looks. So change the output dimensions (print dimensions) and the resolution (number of pixels per inch) goes up, or down, depending upon which way you re going. Physical Print Dimensions 13

Total number of pixels did not change New Dimensions New Resolution up from 180 ppi Uncheck Adding Pixels To increase image resolution, you can interpolate, but it should generally be limited to a doubling of the file size (say from 6 Mb to 12 Mb). A lot depends upon the quality of the original image, and the intended use of the image. After-market interpolation programs are available Genuine Fractals, etc. I use Fred Miranda s Stair Interpolation Pro, a Photoshop plug-in, that increases ppi in graduated stair-steps which yields excellent results. But just about every image editing program such as Photoshop has its own built in interpolation feature. Some are better than others! Interpolation adds pixels to your image. This increases file size, and also allows you to print at a larger physical size. It should not be done to images you are submitting to a publisher. If it needs interpolation to fill their needs, then they ll want to do it themselves. 14

To interpolate an image in Photoshop, check the Constrain Proportions and Resample Image boxes. and select Bicubic interpolation from the drop-down menu. When you change the Resolution (below, set at 180 ppi) to a higher number, the Pixel Dimensions at the top of this menu will change. You are adding pixels. Original Resolution In this instance, I increased the output resolution to 300 ppi. But the number of pixels did change. New Resolution Notice that the Document Size (physical print size) did not change. 15

And Finally If an editor tells you he or she wants a high resolution image, choke back your exasperation and ask them at what size? Editors: Asking for a 300 ppi image, without expressing dimensions, is like asking for 2 x 4 lumber without specifying a length! Even a 3 megapixel camera produces high resolution images just at a smaller printed size. The maximum output size, without interpolating (adding pixels) is determined by the total number of pixels in the image. That s why a six megapixel camera is better than a three, and eight is better than six. Remember resolution is a combination of Width x Height x Pixels Per Inch. It is three dimensional!!! A TIFF file made from a JPEG is no better than the JPEG. It only wastes space! There is no such thing (right now) as a low resolution RAW file! By definition, a RAW file is unprocessed. To change a RAW file s resolution, it needs to be saved in some other format (jpeg, tiff). Resolution for Print LPI (Lines per inch) refers to the way commercial offset printing reproduces images the way your photos will likely be reproduced if your market is magazines: PPI for offset printing should be 1.5 to 2 times the print press s LPI. Glossy magazines are typically printed at 175 LPI, so your image should contain at least 263 PPI (175 x 1.5 = 263). A nice round number for almost all uses is 300 PPI but AGAIN at a particular H x W. If you re making prints, the most suggested PPI is 300, but I ve found that images originating from digital cameras reproduce beautifully at 180 240 PPI. Do not confuse image resolution (input) in Photoshop with printer resolution (output). They do not directly correlate to one another. Though your image is set at 240-300ppi, you will print that image at a setting of either 720 dpi to 1440 dpi. The numbers 720 and 1440 do not refer to the size of the image file. These numbers refer to how many "dots" of ink are placed on the paper per square inch of space. 16

How I Do It I usually shoot in JPEG. I never re-save the original file. It is my digital negative. I save the manipulated image as a new JPEG. If you can t finish the manipulation in one session, you can always save it as a TIFF file, or a Photoshop file (PSD), so no compression takes place. If an editor insists, I ll send TIFF files. You can easily make TIFFS from JPEGs. I ll also know that the editor is confused, since a TIFF image is no better than a JPEG! In a perfect world, we send JPEGs back and forth between photographer and editor because they are much more compact. Photo editors could then convert them to TIFF during the layout process to insure integrity. Workflow download the images to your computer; review them, edit them (delete the crap!); categorize them (fish in a fish folder, ducks in another); tweak them in an image editor (Photoshop, etc.); save them as a new file; archive them (make copies on CD, DVD, or on a second hard drive). 17

Downloading What s to know? Well, I strongly suggest that you rename your images either as you re downloading, or immediately after, before editing. Give your files a new prefix that is descriptive, so that you can tell the subject of the image just by seeing its name. IMG_1234.jpg tells you nothing. But WOLF_1234.jpg does. Or use acronyms. For instance, in my system, BWDM_1234.jpg stands for Birds,Waterfowl, Ducks, Mallards. DownloaderPro Handy little program allows you to rename, caption, set ppi, embed color profile (argb, etc.) and losslessly rotate images at time of download plus much more. Free trial version ($29.95 to purchase) at www.breezesys.com. 18

Tweaking Don t over-manipulate your images. Tweak the levels, contrast, saturation, etc. only minimally. Sharpen only slightly, and perform sharpening last. Go to File>Info> and caption them, and add your copyright information. Then save. Always, always, always save at the highest setting when working with JPEGs (in Photoshop, that s setting 12), unless you have a good reason not to (like preparing an image for email) and then do this only to a copy. Keep the original image untouched! Making Submissions How you submit your images depends much on your relationship with the photo editor. If you re a regular, or they ve sent out a want list, you can email low resolution samples for evaluation if they say this is OK. If you have a website, you can build a photo gallery, and direct the editor to it. In either case, once they ve made their selection, you can send the fullsized, high resolution images via CD or put them on your website for them to download. Don t email huge images unless the editor gives approval first! 19

Making Submissions, Part 2 Some editors don t like email, the internet, and wish that digital imaging had never happened. They are hands on and want to see a submission as similar to a sleeve of transparencies as possible. For these dinosaurs, I prepare a contact sheet. Most photo editing software, including Photoshop, has this feature. Don t make the images too small. Even though you ll include the images on an accompanying CD, some editors will never put the disk in their computer. They will look only at the contact sheet for evaluation purposes. Even though I do everything else in Photoshop, I use ACDsee s FotoSlate to prepare contact sheets. It allows customization, such as submission date, to whom it is going, and most importantly, captions (which come from the File>Info settings in Photoshop). It also allows you to save the contact sheets as a JPEG image, so you can easily review later which images a particular editor has seen. FotoSlate Contact Sheets 20

Archiving One of the biggest challenges is archiving your digital images. How you do it depends on how many images you shoot. If you don t shoot a lot, CDs or DVDs are probably the way to go relatively cheap, and copies are easily made. The problem with this type of storage is that it is hard to keep track of your images which disk are they on? I ve switched to using external USB (or Firewire) hard drives. I have two identical drives, and using Retrospect software, I regularly duplicate them. External hard drives can be removed easily for safe storage, and when you update your computer equipment, are easily transferred (as opposed to two internal hard drives). The advantage is that you can easily find your images using a search string, or Windows Explorer, or other image viewing software. Some Helpful Computer Tools Archive Creator: archives a group of images (Archive Set) across multiple CDs/DVDs; creates a web gallery so if the set is has 4 disks, you can view images from all 4 disks from any disk in the set. Free demo download; $40 purchase. www.yarcplus.com Downloader Pro: rename, rotate losslessly, set image ppi, embed color profile (argb, etc.) all while downloading the images. Free demo. Purchase $29.95. www.breezesys.com. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! GIVE YOUR IMAGES UNIQUE NAMES SO THEY ARE EASY TO RECOGNIZE LATER!!!!! dpmagic: allows viewing of all RAW files in Windows Explorer (with resizable thumbnails) and opens a modified version of Windows Picture Viewer for full size image evaluation, complete with histograms, etc. Speeds up RAW image work flow. Free trial. $9.95 purchase. www.dpmagic.com DupDetector: Find and delete duplicate and near duplicate images from image collections. Bit primitive in setup, but best I ve used. FREE! www.prismaticsoftware.com PC Inspector smart recovery: recovers images from corrupt flash cards, hard drives. Free. www.pcinspector.de 21

More Computer Tools Dantz Retrospect: for duplicating two or more hard drives. About $100. Often free when you purchase an external hard drive (Maxtor, for sure). ACDSee FotoSlate: what I use for contact sheets. Free trial version. $39.99 to purchase. www.acdsystems.com Neat Image: a digital program designed to reduce visible noise and grain in digital photographic images. Free trial. $30 - $80 to purchase, depending upon features. www.neatimage.com. EXCELLENT!!! Noise Ninja: another noise reduction program. Free trial. $35 - $80, depending upon features. www.picturecode.com Fredmiranda.com: a wide range of Photoshop actions and plug-ins, including his Stair Interpolation Pro, sharpening plug-ins, etc., most of which are excellent. Products run from $12 to $25. Have Some Fun! Make Some Money! Digital photography will rekindle your interest in making photos. More good photos, presented well to editors, should mean more jingle in your pockets. Take some time to learn the basics and don t wait until you have to make a submission to practice the steps I ve outlined. Nothing about digital photography or digital editing is difficult, but you do need to practice, practice, practice before you have to prepare a submission, or rely upon this new technology! Visit www.michaelfurtman.com 22