Astrophotography

If you are fascinated in Astrophotography and how they do it, wired.com has a great article of how Rogelio Bernal Andreo does his Astrophotography. He walks you a quick tutorial of how it's done and the equipment that he uses to make his fantastic images of the stars. Here is the link to Wired.com article "The Making of a Mind-Blowing Space Photo".

My attempts have never show the results that Andreo has produced. The closest celestial body to earth is the only thing I can get a good image from in space.

Fractalius for Mac

Jumping Spider Fractalius
Originally uploaded by Goshinsky

This is not my photo I borrowed it for another Flickr users. I use a Mac, so I can't create my own.

A few months back I put up a little post called Fractalius… It hasn’t received a lot of attention, but it has seen its share of web traffic.

In a nutshell it was about my frustration with Redfield who creates this fractalius plug-in. If you haven’t seen this plug in take a look on the internet. Go to Google or your favorite search engine and type in Fractalius images.

Redfield has stated in thier FAQ, that the plug-in is not supported on for a Mac, and nor do they ever plan on making a plug-in for Mac.

I have noticed an increased amount of traffic to my blog posting over the past few months. After going back through the searches that have led readers to the post and 90% have been from “Fractalius for Mac”.

If you ask me I think that Redfield is missing a crucial market. The Apple Mac user is basically a graphic user, and since this is a graphics image plug-in, I think it would be only natural to have this unusual plug-in available for the Mac OS platform.

I know, I am not the only Mac user that thinks this way. After linking to other sites from the links queried on my blog, I found an on-line petition. This petition is for all those Mac user being discriminated against by Redfield Plug-in. This petition is for all those Mac users that have said “Enough, I want my Fractalius Plug-in”.

Here is the link to the Fractalius for Mac OSX petition.

Do yourself a favor sign the petition above. Do me a favor a sign the petition. Do it for your mom, your dog, your fish or your spider . Sign the petition, sign it for any reason on earth just sign it, so we all can enjoy that little plug-in.

Action!...

My life through actions. Actually it’s my life through Photoshop CS3 Actions. Earlier this week while I was furiously trying to catch up on all the photography blogs I follow, I found a tutorial by wildlife photographer Moose Peterson.

The tutorial is how to create a poster action in Photoshop for a web page. The first few times I tried creating the action I had a few hiccups. Then when I got the hang of creating an action, I felt more confident to create and work on my own. I took his action and put my own spin on it.

It really is a process of trial and error. Unfortunately I discovered you really have to double check your work. Once the action is created and you find a mistake… It is a pain in the arse to correct one line-action. I find that it is better to scrap the whole action and start over. I have managed to shorten a few steps because I have had to redo a few more than once.

If you don’t know how to use or create actions, take the time and learn. Once they are created, you spend less time in Photoshop and more time creating more productive stuff.

Above and below are examples of the poster and picture frame actions I created in the past few days. If you have any question about actions or how I created mine drop me a note and I will do my best to explain what I learned.

Lets Bokeh...

In the world of Depth of Field lives the little town of Bokeh… No just kidding. The term bokeh used in photography comes from the Japanese word boke a noun form of bokeru.

Bokeh - is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. Different lens bokeh produces different aesthetic qualities in out-of-focus backgrounds, which are often used to reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject.

I use a couple different lenses to achieve Bokeh. The lens that works the best is the Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. The 50mm lens allows me to have the greatest versatility with a great range of aperture range. Te other two lenses are the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 and my 80-200mm f/2.8. All these lenses achieve a great depth of field and much defined bokeh. But the best is still my inexpensive 50mm f1.8.

Another way I create bokeh is artificially in CS3. Sometime if I want to have a subject pop out of the background or my depth of field isn’t shallow for the effect I create the same effect using lens blur or Gaussian blur in layers.

Here are three examples.

Shot with shallow depth of field f/6.3.

The same image with an artificial lens blur layered over the image.

This is also the same image with layer mask, to allow the center of the picture to be clear.

To be Continued...

The Wordle Around Me

The Wordle Around Me, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

It was a slow day at work today (Oct. 3). While I was sitting at my desk, I remembered a conversation I was having with Magellan. She asked me if I had ever used Wordle? I said that had not, but I knew what the program was…

While I was sitting at my desk I thought It would take a stab at Wordle. I thought it would be interesting to take all the tags that I have used in Flickr, Zoomr, SmugMug, Photosig and all the blogs I had contributed in the past year.

This is what I came up with, and I titled it “The Wordle Around Me”.

I did the blending of the two wordle.com pages in PS CS3 along with combining the shot Magellan took of me in Alcatraz Island, San Francisco. I did all the PS work on my flight from Oakland, CA to San Diego, CA

Lightroom® Too...

As everyone knows in the photography community Tuesday was the big release of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2. I have spent the last few days poking, prodding and testing the new software. I still haven’t completed my under-the-hood check-out, but so far I like what I see.

One of the things that stand out is the layout. In the develop module is where I have seen the biggest layout change. Most of the tools i.e. crop, red eye adjustments are now in the left menu bar. Before they were positioned under the image workspace.

Also, a major new item is the ability to make adjustments to localized areas of a photograph vs. the entire photo. You can also burn a dodge your images. Previous this was not a feature of Lightroom® I, only in Adobe® Photoshop®.

Side Bar…

Tuesday, I spoke to Thomas Hawk (Flickr) of the infamous Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection. We discussed the new Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2. Thomas has been a big user of Adobe® Bridge®. Over the year he has a developed a great workflow in Bridge® that has work very well for him. In a previous conversation month back, I asked if he was using Lightroom® I? He had said he tested the software, and that Bridge was a better fit for his workflow.

However, Tuesday produced a different response from Thomas Hawk. He said he really liked the new Lightroom® 2, and was going to start using this Photo management software, now instead of Adobe® Bridge®.

Thomas Hawk has put up his own review of the new software which you can read it here. Click… Here. I will check back with him at a later date to see how he still feels about Lightroom® 2 or find out if he has gone back to Adobe® Bridge®. “The Proof is in the Pudding”.

That’s it for me. Have a nice weekend. Keep you focus sharp and you lens clean.

Lightroom 2

Today Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software released. It has been a highly anticipated release of a very popular photo management and editing software.

In April 2008 Adobe Labs released the BETA for Lightroom 2. According to the information released by Adobe over 130,000 copies were downloaded.

I did not download the BETA version, so do not have any fist hand experience on the software. However, I am an avid user of the first version of Lightroom. I think it is a great tool. Most of my images posted to this blog and others have been adjusted with only the Adobe Lightroom software. For photography work flow and management, I don’t think there is better software out on the market. For features of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 Click… Here.

Check out the upgrade comparison chart Lightroom 1 vs. Lightroom 2. Click… Here
Check out Matt Kloskowski blog, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips for additional information and news. Click… Here.

Fractalius...

It's another day...

Yes, that’s right I am here to explain the whole Redfield Fractalius Filter plug-in frustration. Ever since I had seen some of these images I had been drawn to them. It’s like HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. I just think they are fantastic if done well.

So all the photographers that have submitted these fractalius picture I have contacted asking what this program was or how did they do that. One photag finally responded that it was a Photoshop plug-in.

Now my search is on for this funky plug-in. He didn’t say who it was made by nor did he say what it was. It was by chance that I saw an image on flickr that I was steered into the right discussion that told me the name “Fractalius”. Better yet they told me who made it and the web site Redfield Plug-ins at Redfieldplugins.com.

The filter plug-in was going to cast me $39.90 for the latest version. I had my credit card out and I was ready to purchase… and then the world was ripped from below my feet. My hopes and dreams all feel apart.

I looked for the MAC versioin download. I couldn’t find it. I saw the Windows user download, but nothing for MAC. So it browsed the FAQ. Right there in black and white was my answer.
______________________________________________________
Have you any plans to release Redfield Plug-ins for Mac OS?

Sorry, we regret that we do not have any plans to port our plug-ins to the Mac OS.
______________________________________________________

What the %#@$... Riken, Raken, Friken, Fraken… Sis boom bah! Bugs Bunny, Bugs Bunny Rah! Rah! Rah!.

What a shame. Magellan and I over a year ago had been yanked over to the MAC family. We decided to go MAC because we got tired of all the deadly viruses, pop up’s and phising without a permit.

I have on PC with Windows XP on it, but it only has Photoshop CS. I could see spending the $40 clams on the MAC, not on an outdated XP with old CS.

What a bummer. Why can’t everyone just get along in the software world. I just don’t understand.

I have posted an UPDATE/FOLLOW UP to this post you can find it here: Fractalius for Mac Apr. 1 2009

Jump to:
Fractalius Flickr Group

FREE... My favorite four letter word.

A few days, weeks or at least some time ago, I wrote about Adobe’s Photoshop Express. The FREE online but slim photo editing program. I say slim, because it is light on features.

Today I have a new FREE photo editing program for everyone to ponder. It is called INFANVIEW. The Irfanview team doesn’t call it an editing program the call it a “Graphic Viewer”. However it does give the user organization, preview thumbnail options.

It also supports a plethora of different formats to many to list, so here is the link to peek at for yourself. From what I understand that the latest version will support .RAW files. For me that is huge, to be able to open and edit RAW files without having to use Lightroom or Bridge or another expensive program.

IRFANVIEW also supports a ginormous amount of Plug-ins. This link will take you to the plug-ins page that can be downloaded.

** ACHTUNG**
This program is only allowed used on PC’s with Windows (whatever) OS. Unfortunately the MAC family is S.O.L. It’s really never a balanced playing field. Don’t even get me started on the software conspiracy of SourApple and Microhoo. Their is a great plug-in filter for sale by Redfield that does Fractalius. I will leave that for another day.

Express yourself...

Looking for a way to edit you photos, but you don’t want to spend a fortune on Photoshop? Well adobe has an online solution. In March Adobe released Photoshop Express. In its current state Photoshop Express is in Beta.

If you are looking for a full featured photo editing program like Photoshop CS you are going to be a little disappointed. Come on, did you really think Adobe was going to give the milk away for free, nope you are going to have to buy the cow. However Photoshop Express is a slick program all web based and has some cool features i.e. Slideshows.

Photoshop Express enables you to:
Download and Discuss

• Try the Photoshop Express beta now
• Discuss Photoshop Express in the forums
• Adobe Photoshop Express
• Online learning center



• Upload and store up to 2GB of photos. Fix photos with options including Crop & Rotate, Auto Correct, Exposure, Sharpen, Touchup, and Red-Eye Removal.
• Make your photos stand out with effects and enhancements including Pop Color, Hue, Black & White, Tint, Sketch, Distort, and Soft Focus.
• Show off your photos in My Gallery, where you can create customized displays and let visitors play and interact with them.
• Upload your photos on Photoshop Express to your blog or Facebook page.
  

You can now link Photoshop Express with your flickr, picassa, facebook and photobucket accounts. Check it out and download it for free. Adobe Photoshop Express.

My Gallery

Stitches...

Photo by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2008

Have you ever wondered how photographers take those great panoramic photographs? It is done a couple of ways. One way is to use an ultra wide angle lens like a FishEye lens. Nikon has a 10.5mm f2.8 lens, if positioned correctly (right in the middle) you will eliminate a considerable amount of curvature at the edges. Also you can purchase a special designed camera with a lens that rotates around the camera's rear nodal point.

Another way is to take a series of images and stitch them together with software. These pictures can be taken either in portrait or landscape aspect. Images are captured by panning the camera left to right.

c.1851. Photographed by Martin Behrman National Park Service employee

A few things need to be done first in order for these images to turn out exactly the way you saw it through the lens.

1. Use a Tripod. Not only will this help keep your image stable it will help to keep the camera on a constant focal plane.
2. Keep the Aperture and Shutter speeds settings constant. For example I take a light meter reading of the subject I want to photograph. The reading is Aperture 11f and the shutter speed is 1/250 sec. Keep these settings set for every frame of the pano.
3. Also I would overlap the images by 10% to 20% from frame to frame. This maybe the single most important step. I will explain why in a moment.
4. Use a remote trigger. This will help eliminate camera shake, and help keep the image from getting blurry by bumping the camera. Especially in low light settings.

After you have taken the images you wanted now comes the software to stitch these images together. This requires a program that is made specifically for this purpose.

Photo by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2008

Many programs are available to stitch these images together. Some are available online and others are provided in stand alone software. I prefer stand alone software. I use Photoshop not only for my post production adjustment, but it also comes with a great panoramic stitching feature. Photoshop is not cheap. Luckily I only had to purchase the upgrades. I very inexpensive stand alone version is made by ArcSoft Panorama Maker priced around $40.00. All this program does is stitching images for panoramics.

Five years ago, I first tried this technique with Photoshop 7.0. My first attempts didn’t turn out that great. I didn’t have a tripod, didn’t know about keeping the aperture and shutter speed constant. Plus my camera wasn’t the greatest at the time.

My next version of Photoshop, Photoshop CS worked better. Then came CS2 which I never used. However, towards the end of last year I discovered a little secret, Photoshop CS3. The program itself isn’t a secret, but the stitching function had been updated. In this newest version of Photoshop, they totally revamped and improved the stitching abilities for panoramics.

According to what I have read, most of the previous steps I mentioned above, do not need to be exact. However, Adobe insists that step three is a must. The overlapping is what makes this software perform its magic, and create nearly perfect panoramic images.

I still perform all the steps above. I feel that if I can do it right in the camera first, then I don’t need to spend much time in post production. Plus the stitching feature processes panoramics that much better.

Photo by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2008

Dumpr What...!

A few weeks ago I told you about a cool new website slide.com. I showed you an example of it with some images I took while in Half Moon Bay.

Today I have another great website Dumpr.net. I have been playing around with the musuem page, and came up with some really great ideas and images. I created this museum looking image within seconds. It is easy to use and you will be very entertained by the results.

I shot this image of a Mayan woman and her child in Antigua, Guatemala. I could see this image up in an Art Gallery. Personally it looked better then some of the photographs I viewed a few weeks ago at the S.F.M.O.M.A.

Technology… What a Concept!

In another blog that I read it had a new slide show feature that I really liked. I liked it so much I had to have it and use it. It comes from a Web 2.0 application at slide.com. It is very easy to use and best of all it will automatically give you the proper html code to add to almost any website. I used the Blogger feature to automatically add this slide show to my blog. Man… I love technology!

The Characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Photos by: Kirk Howard Copyright© 2007