The Big Fudd...

I have been a long time fan of the Fudrucker's hamburger chain. I have dined at the original Fuddruckers in San Antonio not to far from the airport. I was disappointed a number of years ago when the Fuddruckers in Grand Rapids closed (it we eventually replaced with a Carraba's with is another fav of mine) so when ever I am flying through the Detroit Airport, I try to stop by the Fuddruckers in Concourse C. The problem is that there is usually a line out into the concourse and I don't have enough time between flights. So the other day on my way to White Plains NY after getting off the airplane, I looked down the concourse and saw no line at Fud's, this was a good sign... So I thought. 

Walking into the eatery, I noticed there were no cashiers but three kiosks. Ok, at first I thought this looked efficient.

Now I have always liked the 1/3 pounder with the pumped melted cheese on it. This option was not available as there was not a cheese pump in sight. For 0.75 more I could get cheese on my hamburger. After a number of options on the Kiosk, I was finally able to get a drink for $2.75.

The kiosk accepted a credit card and if you wanted to pay cash, you had to pay the non-existent cashier. So I became the invisible man waiting at the cashier station. It was not until my burger was ready and the gal behind the counter was keeling out FIFTY... NUMBER FIFTY! After I got her attention that I was at the cash register holding up a ticket and cash and not the food delivery counter did she realize I wanted to pay cash. In all actuality, I probably could have just picked up the burger and she would not have been the wiser. At least that way I would have gotten my money's worth.

So she took my money and turned away. I had to get her attention again so she could give me a cup to with she grabbed a cup and sat it upside down onto of the kiosk. Am glad we have antibodies to fight off germs as I am sure that was not the most sterile of surfaces.

Obviously there were plenty of seats available so I found one in the corner to consume on of the biggest culinary disappointments in my life. 

I could go into great detail here describing the pathetic looking burger but suffice it to say, I will not be returning to this Fuddruckers EVER! If given the opportunity I may attempt a run at a regular retail store but never in a terminal.

Fuddruckers... You may only have one more opportunity to impress.


Take care all... Doug

Ding Dong The Droid is Dead

I have been waiting at least four years for this time that day in October when I was able to get an iPhone. Surviving the Blackberry Pearl and then a first generation Android, I was finally rewarded with a smart phone that lacks the clunkiness of Microsoft... Err, well, it might just as well be. Google will eventually get it but the software exceeded the sorry Gen 1 of the Droid. The folks in Cupertino CA have something going when they can release a new product in an old form factor hand have it so sucessful. I am talking of the iPhone 4S. It is the same shape and feel as the iPhone 4 but all new insides.

This is not going to be a post on how much I like my iPhone 4S but rather a review of one of the iPhone Apps.

TrueHDR is an App that worked ok with the iPhone 4 but when Apple changed the sensor to handle light a little better in the 4S and added the fifth optic element something happened. In a good way. When you start the app you get to choose how you are going to control the app.

• Auto Capture will take three exposures and work its magic. 
• SemiAuto Capture waits for you to select to locations in the screen. One for highlights and one for shadows. The you press the shutter button and the app takes two exposures based on your selection and then works its magic.
• Manual Capture is for the real control freak and really does little to enhance the usability of the app. You select a highlight area and click the shutter, then a shadow area and again you must click the shutter. Seams like a waste of time, but like I say, it can appease the control freak.

I like to use the SemiAuto Capture option and is what the following images are an example of. Excuse the fact that I am simply using my hotel room for the example but it serves the purpose for this post.

Here you can see the two locations in the image that I have selected to be used for the highlights and shadows of the HDR. When the camera shutter is pressed it will make two different exposures based on the selection I made.

Here it has taken both exposures and is waiting for the second one to display. When you press the Merge button, the app goes to work keeping you abreast of its progress with the following screen.

Once both images have been merged you are presented with four sliders to tweak the image. Here again there is not much to do here except for the previously mentioned control freak.

The sliders are self explanitory. At the bottom are some options which include some Fx presets. The presets available are Sepia, Retro, Retro-II, Mono, XPro RedShift, and Vingnette. You can select any of the presets and if yo decide you don't like any of the just click on the last selected and it goes back to the original merged file. Once a preset is selected you can also go back and make adjustments with the sliders by selecting the little slider icon at the bottom.

When you his the save button you really don't get to see the finished image but rather you have to exit the app and go to your camera roll to see the finished product. Here is a comparison between the iPhone 4S and the 4S camera after the TrueHDR processing.

I don't know about you, but I'm sold. If you want to enhance the already fantastic camera iPhone 4S, I can not more highly recommend TrueHDR for your iPhone Apps collection

That will do it for me today. Take care... Doug

Go Big or Don't Go at All

That is a popular statement for a number of topics. When it comes to men and their televisions it is most appropriate. This past March we were kicking around the idea of going somewhere warm for our vacation but we knew we would be dong more traveling in the next couple of months. With that thought, we decided to put some money into the house. More specifically our family room needed some updated furniture and a move to flat screen TV. So the search began. Would it be a 42 inch, 47, 50, 55, or 60 inch? How about technology, did we want Plasma, LCD, or the new LED units. Then there is the refresh rate... 60 Hz, 120, 240, or the newest 480 Hz models. So much to think about. Then other factor was going to be price. How could I find the very best TV and have someone pay me for it. Yes!

Ok, so that might be a little unrealistic. Being somewhat computer savvy, I know the faster a processor is, the better the computer. You would think this applies to television technology. Well it does and doesn't. Before I get ahead of myself I will admit that we had decided on the Visio 55 inch 480 Hz LED unit. It was on the cart and in checkout at Costco when my debit card crashed. It was a Saturday late afternoon and I had made some purchases on it earlier in the day. Those and the TV hit the card limiter. I headed home to get a check as Costco does not take credit cards (I really didn't want to go that route anyhow). Driving back to Costco we decided to take one last look at Best Buy. I have had very little luck with Best Buy sales people regarding the level of knowledge they have on hat they sell. But alas I ran into the exception. The whole 480 Hz thing is at this point a marketing thing and not true 480 Hz refresh technology. I found out that most bargain 240 Hz units are really 120's that have been double sampled. Without going into the nuts and bolts, it is misleading the public and marginally legal marketing. I though it was odd that Visio was the only manufacturer that had a 480 Hz set. That should have been a light bulb at he get go.

The crazy thing about this diversion into Best Buy was that there was an LG (one of my leading contenders all along) 55 inch true 240 Hz LED set that was an open box item. Not only that, it had been returned within the 30 day return that Best Buy offers. I asked the salesman two questions, why the return and how long had it been on the shelf. He said the gentleman wanted the newest Samsung which was unavailable when he purchased the LG. When the Samsung became available he brought the LG back. The unit had been on the shelf for three days.

So here I have it, last years top of the line 55 inch LG for less than half the original cost, or pay more for the Visio. That my friends is called a no-brainer.

Yes LG, Life's Good... Doug

LIVE! On the Web... It's The GRID

At 12:30 P.M. today there was a new kid on the block... Or should I say kids. Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski, two of the three original Photoshop Guys (yes Dave Cross is still around) have once again put together what I think will be a very successful program that will air every week. Yes I did say air as in a live broadcast... Only not  a TV broadcast, a Web broadcast. Ok so you say this is nothing new! Well yes and no. The basis for the broadcast is a talk-show format (only without the couch). Todays guest was West Coast Photographer Jeremy Cowart which is to say he photographs much of Hollywood.

The program is topical in that they have a specific topic they are looking at for the day but all three had their iPads on looking at Tweets from viewers.

A couple of todays topics were the use of the iPad as a portfolio and the use of video on the current round of DSLR cameras.

Jeremy uses bot asa a comercial photographer and had a really good point about print work. The ability to spread many prints on a table is much easier for a client to scan over than flipping through pages on the iPad. On the other hand, portrait and wedding photographers find it a great tool to show a client their initial images. I can vouch for that myself. Last saturday I shot an all day event of teenagers performing various activities from solos, dramas, to musical instruments. The next day I was able to show some of the images to people and it generated a good bit of interest including the question, "How can I buy prints of these?" YES, thats what I want to hear.

As far as the DSLR/video topic went, an online poll was taken during the broadcast that reveals the following:

Clearly if this is a representation of photographers around the country, Nikon and Canon have missed the mark. Personally I have played with it but have not incorporated it into any sales work. At this point it will not be a marketing tool or sales option but may be incorporated as a value added piece.

So back to the show. The Grid is a light, entertaining, and makes an hour just fly buy. I would encourage any photographic enthusiast to tune in at 12:30 P.M. EST on mondays to have a listen. You can catch The Grid at www.kelbytv.com/thegrid or you can eventually catch it as podcast at http://kelbytv.com/kelby-tv-shows/ or on iTunes.

Good, Info and entertaining.

Cya... Doug

Voice to Text

Trying some new technology can sometimes be cumbersome, if not over slightly daunting. I am working with a voice recorder to input MacSpeach Scribe on the Mac that will translate it to the written word. I can basically dictate the blog posting and the software will translate it into words so I will have to see how that will work. One of the items that you must get used to when using the recorder is to enunciate your words much better and much more consistent. You must also include the punctuation, and any or other format that you need to have the translator set in the final product. Another item that will take some getting used to is the concentration it takes to not only dictate and formulate your words, but also insert the punctuation while advancing the thought that you have in your mind regarding the dictation. It might seem easier to write it down first, but that would be somewhat defeating the purpose of having the audio recording allowing the software to translate the voice. It would just be easier to type it into the computer, and let the post go as to is.

I am using a Zoom handy recorder H4n that seems to be very functional. The recording can be stopped at any time and once the thought process is continued you may continue the recording without having to start over. Being the first posting with this workflow I'm going to keep rather short you can see the picture below of the H4n. It looks very cumbersome but yet it is not. It seems very simple to operate but yet has very deep controls for multiple track recordings and so forth, clearly something that I probably will not use but the quality of the microphone was the driving force behind forcing this unit.

That do it for me today. So I'll cya later... Doug

It's like Magic

I have seen this piece of software for some time now and have been temped to buy it for a while. The issue I thought I had with the program was in their advertisements. The software is Portrait Professional Studio 9.

I don't have a complete workflow down from Lightroom or Photoshop as it will work as plug-in/external editor for wither of those. It is also a stand alone piece of software which makes it nice for files that are not in the LR database.

Regardless of where the file comes from, when the interface pulls up you are expected to provide some input to the software. Specifically gender and defining points as you can see form the five pints on the face below.

After that the software takes your to each eye/eyebrow, nose & mouth, and finally overall facial geometry. The next three images show this process.

Above is the initial estimated positions based on the relationship of the previously defined five facial anchor points. Below show the points locked down after repositioning them.

Below are the final adjustments on the periphery of the face befor the software starts to work its magic.

And now without further ado, here is what Portrait Professional Studio 9 produces right out of the gate.

Now the fun begins! along the right side isa number of controls that allow total adjustment to what the software just produce. You are able to back off or strengthen any of the adjustments that were automatically made. Here is the control panel condensed.

Here is one of the control modules expanded.

Further you can define or limit some of the objects you want to work with in the image by extending or cutting back the area to be effected by the sliders. Below is an example of the hair having been defined.

Once enhancements have been made and all is said and done, saving the image returns you to Lightroom or Photoshop.

Below is a a before and after example of an already processed image in Lightroom that made a round trip to Portrait Professional Studio 9 and back.

Overall a really nice application fro a specific function but will it ever save some time brushing here and brushing there. Ultimately I think I will use it for specific function and turn off some of the others like the eyes and mouth. I still find the adjustment brush presets I have made in Lightroom do a really good job. From a time standpoint, this application can not be beat.

Take care all... Doug

Cool Mac Tool

With all the wonders and intuitiveness of everything Apple, when you first get into the Mac world and start looking for your files and are used to the Windows File Manager it is a little daunting. I'm not saying it is a hard transition, its just different. Different in a good way in that the options you have are more readily available to you. Having said that, Finder is not the end all app for file management.

A company called Binaryage has a really nice app called TotalFinder that essentially replaces Finder on the Mac that is running Snow Leopard (OS 10.6). Rather than having open windows spread all over your desktops you can have one with all the listings tabbed. See the screenshot below.

Three of the biggest tool in TotalFinder are tabbed browsing (above) dual mode (see below) folders on top and visor which is a hot key (double key the option) that brings up a finder window regardless of where you are working.

When there are multiple tabs open the slickest way to move/copy files is to enter dual mode. I use the default command-U but you can determine your own hot key. This action connect two finder lists in what appears like a mirrored screen. This is way cool.

The folders on top option is really nice and something Windows had right in File Manager. This lists the folders grouped above the files. The only downside that I would like to see TotalFinder improve upon is to reach into the open file dialogue and get the folders on top option at that level. Oh well it still is an imperfect world.

That would be my pick of the week if I had one.


Take care all... Doug

Dust... Nasty Dust...

Don’t know where it came from, don’t know just when, but we were shooting at the beach the other day. No I did not change my lens so I don’t think it happened there. Doesn’t really matter in the end, dust is dust and dust just happens. Just had a bumper sticker thought...

Ok... Im back after a quick trip to CS5. Played with the brush tool and it is really cool. Took the 40D outside to the clear blue sky, dialed in F/22 in Av and clicked off a frame. Here it is,

The opening image was a blow up of the area. Shooting wide open these are not even noticeable but if you try to get any depth of field, it will rear it’s ugly head every time.

I pulled out the rocket and gave it a Blow... Ah... I used the air bulb cleaner to blow air on the sensor to dislodge any dust an these two spots remained. It was time to step up the action. One that have been dreading for a long time. Actually cleaning the sensor. Ug!

Off to the camera shop to pick up a sensor cleaning kit. It was $50 for them to do it or $19 for me. The Sensor SWAB is the same tool they use so how hard could it be?

The kit I purchased was the pre moistened swabs as they did not have the APS-C size kit. After using these though I kind of like not having to put the liquid on the swab.

The instructions in the package tells you to go one direction then the other while pressing the swab onto the sensor enough to bend the plastic stick the swab is attached to as shown below.

The dude at the camera shot said to go the same direction after flipping the swab. The key is to never use the same side of the swab twice. So I did it this way.

The result was pushing the dust to the right without lifting it off the surface. The image below is zoomed so you can see the remaining dust.

Not exactly whatI was expecting. Score one for the dust. So I decided to go the other way.

The result is below.

It cleaned it better but still... Score two for the dust. Hmmm, why don’t we try it the way the swab manufacturer says to. What a concept.

Go figure.

Well all the hype about cleaning your sensor is just that. Certainly you have to be a little carful in doing this but it is not difficult at all.

Happy days for a clean sensor.

Cya... Doug

One of CS5’s Coolest Tools

Yes you are on the right blog posting. It looks a whole lot like yesterdays. Well... It kind of is. The above image is the after and the image below is the before. In addition to yesterdays sky darkening application, today is about one of the most talked about tools in Photoshop CS5. Content Aware Fill.

In CS4 Adobe introduced Content Aware Scaling which was really cool for reframing and image to a different size format, completing pano’s, and expanding images for gallery wraps. Content Aware Fill amps that up another notch.

When I took this image there were some very bright lights illuminating the ramp as shown by my shadow in the image above. As I have only had CS5 loaded on my laptop for a couple of days, I thought it would be fitting to take Content Aware Fill for a spin.

First thing is to make a selection around the object you want to fill. The selection can be a loose lasso close to the edge as shown at right.
The Content-Aware Fill is a function of the Fill dialog found under the Edit Menu. Click the OK and let it do its thing.

I was not sure what to expect because I have heard that this function is far from perfect. In this situation it performed very well.


The expansion joint gave it a little grief but all in all I was very happy for how it performed. You can see in the image to the right, the joint was somewhat displaced. This was a small fix by selecting the disjointed line (sorry) and moved it over to the correct position.

Once it was in position a very small amount of cloning at a low opacity would touch up the fill area.

So if the tool is not the end all to our fill problems, the amount of computational processing that is going on is simply staggering. It truly creates something from nothing. Smoke and mirrors I say, smoke and mirrors!


Have another great day and take care... Doug

The Verdict Please

AFTER

BEFORE

I have blogged about this picture before and you can read the story about City Falls right here. Then why am I going over it again. Well I have had many comments about this image on how it must be an illustration, It doesn't look real, or it's a great HDR.

Yes the after image has been cropped, adjusted in Lightroom, sent to Photoshop for some adjustments and then back to Lightroom. No smoke and mirrors, just basic post production. The before image is the RAW file straight out of the camera.

I said yesterday that they are going to be short this week so that will wrap it up for today.

Take care... Doug


For more information of our photography, visit us at peekfoto.

Let the Light Shine

It's pretty late but i feel guilty for saying yesterday that I would be up today. Besides I was putting together some lighting for a shoot tomorrow and found an opportunity to do a review. I had some Westcott TD-5 spiderlites mounted on stands with softboxes for some product shooting a while back and I am going to be working with a baby on Thursday an I just find that strobes work better with the little ones. The modeling lights provide a nice subdued lighting while getting ready and the pop of the flash is so short the baby does not even flinch.

Anyhow, on my last tour I was out on the west coast and found a 1-4 adapter for the Westcott Photo Basic tungsten lights at Sammy's Camera. Two issues here. First the Photo Basics gear and then the lighting. Photo Basics is Westcott' entry level lighting equipment. It is very functional but will certainly not hold up to the riggers of active shooting. Here are a couple of images from their website.

This is the plastic light socket that hold a 500 watt tungsten bulb. This bulb gets very hot and it only took a couple of minutes working around it before it was a little irritating.

Here is the softbox and the bulb assembled which was very easy. The softbox is an umbrella and it erects with the bush of a ring that goes around the light socket. Slide a diffusion panel over the opening and you have a softbox. 

So on a Photoshop User TV episode I saw this little device (below) that screws into a light socket and then you can install four bulbs into the adapter. I had my older spiderlites from my Westcott TD-5 and

turned the Photo Basics uLite into a mini TD-5 spiderlite. Here is how the lights look inside all nice and cozy.

I have not shot anything with this setup but it will be a help with the two TD-5's I already have. It is light enough that I should be able to hang it on a Manfrotto articulating (more or less a boom stand) reflector holder for additional light in products.

Hey now it is late and I am going to head of for a good nights sleep.


Cya... Doug


For more information of our photography, visit us at peekfoto.