12 Jan 09 Alien Skin – Bokeh
Hi
After a long time working on our main site we are back with review. Alien Skin has provided us with their collection of professional photoshop plugins and we will start reviewing them in the next few week. It takes that long we they have a lot and are very, very good so we want to grill them 
I have started to have a first look at Bokeh which I wanted to use for one of my own photos. The photo “Life Goes By” is a nice photo (see below) but the man isn’t really standing out due to the big depth-of-field and That is what Bokeh does best.
Having never worked with the plug-in before I had first a look at the videos on the Alien Skin website and saw how easy it is altering an image with this software. The steps I took where:
1. Selecting the man with the “quick selecting” tool in Photoshop
2. Create a channel mask of the selection
3. Used a Gaussian blur for the edges of the selection
4. Opened the Bokeh plug-in
5. Selected a 20% Nikon 105mm 2.8 prefix
6. Selected Bokeh – selection – plane
7. and altered the top part of the images
8. Save the work the plug-in had done
9. Opened the plug-in again and repeated step 6
10. but now altered the bottom part of the images
11. saved my work
This all was around 15 minutes work and I hope you agree that it has improved the image a lot.
Our first impression: This plugin is its money worth
The Team
Tags: Alien Skin, Bokeh, photoshop, Plugin
08 Jan 09 New website
Hi,
As you can see there is not mucj happening lately but we are putting all our effort in the creation of the new photo student website which we hope to launch in two weeks. Have a preview at http://test.thephotostudent.com
The team
Tags: new website
28 Oct 08 Adobe Creative Suite 4
It is in! Yes I got the new Adobe creative suite 4 on a education license from Adobe. The process was without any problems and accepted on the letter I got from the institute. This alone has paid for the the total course. As I am also in development, my main profession, I opted for the Creative Suite which gives me: InDesign CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illistrator CS4, Flash CS4 professional, Dreamweaver CS4, Fireworks CS4, Acrobat 9 Pro, Adobe Bridge CS4 and some additional programs like device central and version Cue. As an addition you get a instruction DVD which is really a commercial DVD dor Linda.com.
Get yourself in there with your proof of being a student and work with the latest tools.
Happy shooting
Tags: Acrobat 9 pro, adobe, Bridge CS4, cs4, Dreamweaver CS4, Fireworks CS4, flash cs 4 pro, Illistrator cs4, Indesign CS4, photoshop cs4
20 Oct 08 Travel photography (module 3)
I finally had the time to finish this module and thought it was a difficult on. The module assignment brief is: You are a photographer and as been ask to take 5 images of a tourist attraction for the local tourist board.
I had a try at it before and although I liked the pictures my tutor didn’t as the light wasn’t optimal and parts where in the shadow or full sum, so I did them over (he didn’t assigned them yet so it was OK)
As last time I have taken Alnwick Gardens as the tourist attraction but now tried to show the diversity it can bring, from its massive fountain to its calming lanes.
First the fountain and the main building in the background. This shows, I think, the complexity of the fountain.
Here we see a playground for the children with play JCB’s with the fountain in the background and this shows the size of it, plus that families can have fun here even if it is in the Autumn.
This is one of the many galleries which, when you walk through them gives surprising views.
The architecture and lay-out of the gardens gives good opportunities to the photographer and everybody finds different angles.
With surprising view of the many water-features.
and last but not least a visit should end in the famous tree house with its restaurant.
Now waiting for the tutor to access.
Happy shooting
Tags: alnwick, alnwick garden, autumn, britain, british, children, day out, england, family, fountain, garden, grand-parents, green, JCB, leaves, northumberland, parents, people, professional photography course, professional photography diploma, the photo student, water
13 Oct 08 The new photoshop CS4
Hello,
Just a quick update. I have tried to get the new Photoshop CS4 from adobe under a student license and they are recognize the professional photography course. This means that you can get your adobe software from very low prices. I have pre-ordered the adobe create suite 4 premium, which have a full license price of £1.467.58, for £276,12 which is 19% of the shop price!!!
Ask for an proof of student from the professional photography course and order at : https://store2.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?store=OLS-EDU-UK&event=displayCatalog&catalogOID=1781053
And the course has already paid for itself.
Happy shooting
Tags: adobe, cs4, photoshop, professional photography course, professional photography diploma, the photo student
06 Oct 08 Module 3: Travel photography
Working on this course gives me more pleasure then expected. The modules are well set-out and go across a lot of different subjects. Did we do in the last module photographing a restaurant in module 3 we are looking into travel photography. In my mind that was only for the lucky one who got to travel around the world and not something for us mortals.
Was I wrong The module gives a clear view on what to look for and what magazines are looking for. It touches the rule of thirds, what you need in your bag and even how to get free holidays, something my wife loved. The assignment for this module is to find a popular landmark in your area and take images for the local tourist board to spice-out their brochure.
As I am living in Alnwick with two big tourist attractions within walking distance from my house I was lucky. We have Alnwick Castle, which I have photographed so many times, and Alnwick Gardens. Both draw a lot of attention from tourist in the area. I choose for Alnwick Gardens as I think that would be more of a challenge. Yesterday was the perfect day, sun-shine! which doesn’t happen much this year and mend blue sky, people looking happy, the ultimate way to take those kind of images. So my wife and I of to the Gardens and whilst she was sitting in the sun I was around shooting. I haven’t got the images in a smaller format for this blog yet but you can see them at: http://www.photography-theovanstratum.com. I have send my assignment in and now waiting for the tutor.
Happy shooting
Tags: alnwick, Alnwick castle, Alnwick gardens, Assignment 3, blue sky, professional photography, professional photography course, the photo student, Theo van Stratum, travel, travel photography
03 Oct 08 The legal side of photography
As a photographer you will need to have some knowledge about the legal side of photography, copyrights, model releases, tax you named it. Searching on this through the Internet I came across a little gem on this. a book written by Carolyn Wright, the Photo Attorny. It is US based but very useful for the rest of the world as well. You can read more on the Photo Attorny page of the photo student website.
Happy shooting
Tags: Carolyn wright, freelance, law, legal, photo attorny, the photo student
01 Oct 08 Studio Light kits
There is a new page on the photo student website where we have some information about the Studio Light Kits from Kenro The address is:
http://www.thephotostudent.com/kenrostudio.html
These kit are professional kit for a very reasonable price and worth looking at if you are in need of some Studio lights for your portrait or product photography.
Happy shooting
Tags: flash lights, kenro, portrait, portrait photography, product, product photography, studio lights
26 Sep 08 Colour management
One of the biggest challenges digital photographers faces is colour calibration between screen and printer. Even if you bring your photos to a professional printer you need to have the colours right.
There are several systems on the market but we have chosen to have a look at the Spyder3Studio Colour Management from Datacolor. The recommended retail price for the complete monitor and printer system is £376.94 including VAT.
Datacolor provided us with a system to test and we got the Studio in two boxes.
Spyder3Elite is the studio monitor calibration tool for professional users and is the only device in its category which is able to calibrate front projectors.
Installation:
The installation of the software is easy and works through a wizard. It took around 3 minutes to be up and running.
Calibrating your monitor:
After the software was installed we connected the spyder and started the monitor calibration. The Elite has two offers to calibrate; expert mode and through a wizard. For this test we chose the wizard which guided us through the whole calibration. After telling the software which monitor-type you have, controls available on the monitor and setting everything back to default on the monitor the tool was working. It test White, Black, Red, Green, Blue and Grey, creates a profile for your PC and monitor. This profile is loaded every time you start your PC. The whole procedure took 6 minutes and the difference in very noticeable. It was evidentthat I had my monitor settings to blue!
Printer profiling
This is my personal fear! Profiles for paper and printer combinations are scares to get. Yes there are standard profiles available, mostly made by the paper manufactures BUT they are calibrated on their printer nor yours and most of the time under perfect circumstances, which you probably dont have in your environment. Iam using Kodak Professional Paper with my Canon PI8500 printer and the profile provided by Kodak and yes in general the print is OK although mostly a little darker then the screen (this could be because my screen wasnt really calibrated). By using a tool like Spyder3Print you can create profiles for all the paper you are using on your printer.
Installation: Again very easy and quick, took around 4 minutes to be up and running.
Profiling my main paper:
The profiling is done via wizards and after asking you a little about your printer name for the basis the software prints out a colour profile reference card. This is the card you use to read the colours printed and create the profile. The tool is a spectrocolorimeter you use to read, measure, the colour block on your printer reference card.
The wizard shows the card on the screen and which colour you need to read. By putting the meter on the read point of the colour block and click the button on the meter it reads the colour, tells the wizard it has done and goes to the next colour. Depending on the depth you need for your work you have more colours to read. I used the expert mode and had 275 colours to read. The whole procedure took me an 30 minutes and the software had created a profile.
The test, is it better?
I used one of my older photos of a landscape that had always come out a little darker then the screen and printed this with the new profile through Adobe Lightroom 2.0. The result was far better then the Kodak profile and what is more: this time it wasnt darker then the screen and this is the first time that this happened to me. The photo is exact.
Is this money well spend?
I think that you should calibrate your monitor at all times because if that is wrong everything is wrong and that should be prevented. If you are delivering your own prints to customers then you must profile your printer in the right way and not depend on the standard profiles from manufacturers.
Depending on your needs Datacolor delivers several possibilities for all levels:
For the amateur user Spyder3Express which has a rrp of £67.98 incl VAT
For the enthusiasts and semi-pro users Spyder3Pro with a rrp of £104.90
For professional users Spyder3Elite at a rrp of £174.95 incl VAT
Printer profiles Spyder3Print come at £314.72 incl VAT
But if you are really dedicated to deliver top quality then go for:
Spyder3Studio which will set you back £376.94 (incl vat) but it is money well spend.
Happy shooting
Tags: Colour calibration, Colour management, Datacolor, photo, printer, Printer profiling, printing, Spyder, Spyder2Elite, Spyder3Express, Spyder3Print, Spyder3Pro, Spyder3Studio, the photo student
25 Sep 08 Restaurant Assignment
I did the first shoot at the Tower restaurant in Alnwick and that was much more difficult then I imaging. First of all I don’t have a proper wide-angel lens and that worked against me. My smallest standard lens is a 28–70mm Nikor and with the 1.5 magnification become 45 – 135 mm. This doesn’t work in assignments like this where you have to work within a very small space, but we made the best of it. I must buy a wide-angle lens 12-24 mm Tokina Pro.
This are the 9 best images, although I don’t give them as assignment yet and try the second shooting in the other restaurant. I am not really displeased with this but can do better. Especially the last image of the dining couple. The shadow is to hard because I didn’t bounce the flash enough (amateur mistake).
The front of the restaurant
The owner (Chef)
Building the plates
Puree
Duck
Sauce
The waitress
Enjoy
It was fun to do and learned a lot and not only shooting;-)
Happy shooting
Tags: alnwick, assignment 1, chef, couple, dishes, flash, plates, restaurant, tokina lens, Tokina Pro, tower, waitress, wide-angle lens
