Camera Work

gnuyork said:
Isn't this like way old news? ;)

I must admit, I wasn't too keen on a cloud subscription at first, but I can see in a Pro environment that it's actually quite beneficial. Maybe not for certain Pro photographers, but there is so much more to Adobe cloud and other creatives that use the tools. Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere (I use them all professionally), etc. The fact that these apps can be used easily with each other is a bonus as well as storing files on the cloud to share with many other colleagues or clients is hugely beneficial.

I'm not a professional photographer (mainly), though I do some occasional commercial photo shoots for money, but I do use social media quite often, however I am not using any of the Cloud tools for this integration. Perhaps I should look into it. But there are many pro photographers who are doing social media, even the some of the greats you have posted links to in this thread. I don't agree with Brad's quote above at all.

I think there is a photo only package for $10 a month that includes PS and LR only. That seems very reasonable if Pro photographers don't want to "experiment" with Illustrator.

Anyway...that being said, I still gladly use LR4 because I can't stand how slow the cloud version is, or even LR5 was. LR4 is snappy and instant. I like to work fast.
Click to expand...

Yes, couple of years old, but placed here to archive it, like the entire thread. It's all a big archive, with a few comments like this one.

From the post:
" I've posted this stuff here for Archival purposes and as a heads up to those reading the technical posts."


Lots of pro software to compete with Adobe today. Capture One and Photo Mechanic combined with CS5 or similar work for many of us. Currently, I use PS for the stitching tool, little else. And, there are better stitching tools around. Adobe wants to own ALL content; Imagery and comments. Adobe was in our studio alot. I heard much of this first hand.

Edit: remembering a conversation several years back, Adobe plans to take uploaded images and comments made in their social media forum to produce teaching tools. In short, they will use your images (you gave them permission) and your comments (and time), to produce a paid teaching environment without paying anyone for content. Leverage pros to teach amateurs for free. That was the business model as I remember it. Amateurs being a much, much bigger market than pros

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_One

http://www.camerabits.com/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/connie...joins-apple-as-vp-of-technology/#6b5b080deaed
 
I've used capture ONE and I still prefer LR. And I don't think there is anything that can replace Photoshop for the way I use it, albeit less with LR these days. It's nice to have choices though.
 
gnuyork said:
I've used capture ONE and I still prefer LR. And I don't think there is anything that can replace Photoshop for the way I use it, albeit less with LR these days. It's nice to have choices though.
Click to expand...

Photo mechanic is an editing tool like, but different than. LR..

Phase One's raw converter and moire' tool are the best I've seen. But, many are attached to Adobe. I'm just not interested in dealing with a company I don't trust.
 
Continuous Light (as opposed to electronic flash light)

I'm going to try to cover this first, because it's easiest to learn from. Daylight is continuous. I'll look for some good web sites covering this. I may repeat some already cited as they cover the topic.

I'll also cover "Practicals", a term used by British Cinematographers to describe the lights you find in homes, shops and in some industry. These are lights that are removable from their fixtures. Like the light bulb or lamp you find in a desk lamp. For our purposes, the source can be in or out of frame for now. But, by definition, in frame.

Pay attention to the lights around you and in the places you visit. Note the color temperature and quality of the light. There are standards in lighting. I'm sure they may vary with the country, but, overhead lighting in schools and offices are usually of a prescribed brightness and overhead distance. Same for factories and assembly areas. Hospitals have special lighting requirements.

You can change the "quality" of the light with "modifiers". This applies to almost any light, from daylight sun to the light coming from a flashlight (torch). If you visit a lighting store or hardware store, you will find many kinds of lamps. I'll use the word "lamp" to denote the bulb and light to talk about the quality of the stuff the lamp emits.

Practicals are great, because they can be used to change the quality of light coming from a lamp fixture by simply switching out one lamp (light bulb) for another.

I thought this might be one of the last things to cover, but then thought, because they are so inexpensive, and continuous in their output, they would be easy to learn from by experience.

Many photographers, especially those using digital cameras because of their ability to amplify light, carry a sack of practicals when doing location lighting. Changing out room bulbs can completely change the quality and mood of a room's light.

The way I evaluate light quality, aside from brightness, is to look at shadows cast by objects illuminated by the light source. Are they hard, with sharp edges, or soft, with soft edges ..or so soft and filled, like a heavily white clouded sky, with almost no shadow? The other thing I do is study something illuminated by the light source. It can be an object or commonly, the palm of my hand. If you do this often, you can predict the quality of a light source from memory.

Learn about shadows: https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=2068
The terms apply to any light source that produces the shadow of an object.

Practicals .. No Film School
"Practical lights are, of course, traditionally defined as any light where the source is in frame. "
http://nofilmschool.com/2015/07/pra...actical-lighting-bring-cinematography-to-life

Stanley Kubrick, the master of practicals lighting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_w2wL29KGU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inZ_p-sTV9I


This post isn't complete. I'll edit and add to it as I have time.



x
 
Practicals and Hardware:

Soft lights (bulbs / lamps):

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-4335...id=1498418066&sr=1-2&keywords=cfl+light+bulbs

Note the bulb life and color temp. Use gloves when handling hot!
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/74523-REG/Wiko_EBW_Lamp_500.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/125470-REG/LTM_PA_901050_Leather_Gloves.html/pageID/accessory




Hard Light (bulbs / lamps)

https://www.amazon.com/Bulbrite-100...1498417952&sr=1-8&keywords=incandescent+bulbs

Fixtures:

Reflector:
https://www.amazon.com/Bayco-SL-300-Clamp-Aluminum-Reflector/dp/B007RKKEHA

The link below is to Lamps in an Edison #26 screw base (except the florescent and decorative). They are 115 Volt AC 60Hz lamps common to North America. Those with 220 Volt Mains should be able to find these locally. The chart describes the type, (frosted soft, etc.) and color temperature, in Degrees Kelvin, at the bottom.
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Lighting-Ceiling-Fans-Light-Bulbs/N-5yc1vZbmbu

Expendables:
http://www.filmtools.com/expendables.html

Gaffer Tape:
https://www.shurtape.com/products/markets?t=527&f[0]=field_product_market_list:527

http://www.filmtools.com/expendables/tapesandadhesives/cloth-tape.html


Electrical tape:
https://www.amazon.com/3M-Scotch-El...9&sr=8-4&keywords=3m+electrical+tape+super+88


Light Modifiers

These can be as simple as a white bed sheet placed over a window to soften the light passing through. Or, Kitchen Foil mounted on a piece of cardboard to act as a reflector. Lots can be done with these two items and a roll of Gaffer Tape. Many variations are possible, from a partially covered window or source to crinkled foil as opposed to flat and the more common use of a white card. There are many variations of the white card. One I use a lot is fairly inexpensive. Two 4x8' sheets of foamcore taped at one long edge to make a free standing "V". The Foamcore is black on one side and white on the other. So, folding in the opposite direction changes the V from a reflector to a large flag. I use this a lot for portrait work. It's not for outdoors, as any wind would carry it off.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foamcore






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