kirpi on "Micro and macro"

kirpi — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:58:57 +0000

A growing list of tutorials for macro photography fans can be found at this page
http://www.kirpi.it/Photo/List-of-best-tutorials-to-learn-creative-macro-photography

kirpi on "Micro and macro"

kirpi — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:34:49 +0000

Photomicrography reveals details which can’t be seen with the naked eye, whereas macro photography is more of a simple close-up approach.
If you ask, then probably you could be interested in the latter, which is attainable with just common camera bodies and regular lenses, there included point-and-shoot cameras. In order to shoot photomicrography pictures, instead, you are supposed to use special devices such as microscopes.

I think that you should check this list of essential tutorials to get started with macro photography http://www.kirpi.it/Photo/Macro-photography#tutorials
You will discover a lot of hints, tips and advice, as well as other related articles and stunning images for your inspiration.

Daniela on "Motion blur"

Daniela — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:21:20 +0000

Thanks for your valuable advice. You gave me some good ideas and directions, tricks I did not know!

Annina Trepin on "Micro and macro"

Annina Trepin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:53:28 +0000

What is the difference between photomicrography and macrophotography?

kirpi on "Motion blur"

kirpi — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:39:01 +0000

Blurring a moving subject is even too easy :-)
It is closely related to shutter speed. Eight times out of then you get what you want (or what you don't want :-) just by setting a slow shutter speed and shooting straight.
Mind not to move your camera, or the background will be blurred as well.

There are some creative variations to this basic approach. One of these is to use a strobe and freeze your subject just before closing the shutter. This particular way of shooting is known as second-curtain slow syncing.
Look at this picture:

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/rorymunro/3396107820/]

The blurred subject is very effective in giving a sense of speed, while the crisp image of the same subject renders all the details.

Of course also panning can be coupled with the above "slow sync" approach, and this is an example:

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/staipale/3937396051/]

You get:

details (with a flash)
slight subject movement (with a slow shutter speed)
blurred background (by panning your camera)

All on the same photograph.

Don't be afraid to experiment!

Daniela on "Motion blur"

Daniela — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:52:41 +0000

What if I want to give the opposite effect of blurring the baby?

Tanja on "How to watermark images?"

Tanja — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:19:23 +0000

It might be illuminating to look at some watermarked pictures.
There are really hundreds of different ways to approach the matter.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/squareoflife/4052732573/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ollyfarrell/436882757/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidepictures/764497278/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/orangeacid/2849626022/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2bleg/3547141747/

Which way would you suggest?

kirpi on "How to watermark images?"

kirpi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:52:43 +0000

Watermarks can be useful to protect from theft, inform about copyright data, and also expose your name or drive people to your own website.
But visible watermarks over photographs are disturbing. Really.

What about the idea of adding your watermark in a framed image?
I think it is fine.

As for really protecting shared images, you'd better adopt steganography.

kirpi on "Old film"

kirpi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:22:54 +0000

Latent images on film do degrade, definitely.
Nonetheless, there is no standard reply to your question. It all much depends on many variables: kind of film (B/W, color, slide,...), speed (Iso number), quality (professional versus consumer), storage temperature, and more...
All in all I am personally confident that you will get usable results from that film.
On the average, you can expect a drop in contrast and some veil: tell your story to the processing lab, as they can help with an ad hoc chemical baths service.

Good luck :-)

Zuzu on "Old film"

Zuzu — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:56:12 +0000

Hello everybody,
I found a roll of exposed film left inside my old camera, yesterday. I think I used it last some 5 years ago. It remained inside my wardrobe closed in a box. If I develop it, can I see something? So, I don't want to pay processing for nothing. I wonder how long is possible to conservate film without developing?
Thank you!

Soon

Zuzu

Tanja on "DxO"

Tanja — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:54:57 +0000

Version 6 is now available for free testing, although Mac users should wait until early 2010 and Canon PowerShot G11 owners even more, I'm afraid.
Good news nonetheless!

kirpi on "Motion blur"

kirpi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:25:42 +0000

Motion blur is not necessarily evil. Instead, it can be used to convey a positive feeling at times.
One of the best approach is to set a moderately fast shutter speed, and then follow your subject. Do not be afraid to move while following the kid: walk, run, swing, pan your camera, do whatever you can to keep your subject steady within the frame.
Such panning will result in an acceptable level of sharpness for your subject, whereas all the rest of the image will appear severely blurred.
Look at this example:

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/psycho-pics/3620435065/]

Remember that sharpness is not a value in itself.
Look at the girl's face: you do not need to get every single hair sharp and crisp. Joy and emotion are clearly visible on her smile and that is the good point.

Today, digital photography has an advantage over film: you can carelessly shoot even hundreds of photos and then just keep the ones that comes out fine, without thinking of possible costs.

Daniela on "Motion blur"

Daniela — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:21:54 +0000

I'm photographing my lively kids. How to avoid motion blur?

kirpi on "Shooting at newspapers"

kirpi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:42:34 +0000

This is a case where DxO software can help a lot.

Lisa on "How to post my images to this forum"

Lisa — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:29:55 +0000

Testing large picture resize:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/1450305677/

Evita on "How to watermark images?"

Evita — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:19:37 +0000

How to watermark images, so that they do not get stolen on the internet?

kirpi on "DxO"

kirpi — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:32:22 +0000

You are probably asking about the DxO Optics Pro piece of software: well, it really is a noteworthy achievement in image enhancement.
While other utilities can do similar things (for aberrations think to PTLens for Windows or LensFix CI for the Mac; for noise think to Dfine or Noise Ninja), DxO Optics Pro has an impressive power of its own.
I suggest you download the trial version and see what DxO can do to your pictures, automatically.
If your equipment is included in the range of cameras and lenses that DxO supports, you will be amazed by your own photographs!

Andrea Sullach on "Any alternative to Photoshop?"

Andrea Sullach — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:40:20 +0000

Just to resume the original question: yes, Photoshop is surely quite ahead in front of any competitor but, as kirpi noted, unless you really need it for some reason, other software is more that good enough.
Gimp is quite fine. I agree with Lisa. There is also a USB flash drive Portable Gimp ready for download. No need to install it, and you can have it with you anywhere :-)

Andrea Sullach on "DxO"

Andrea Sullach — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:00:09 +0000

Does anybody know DxO software?

kirpi on "Any alternative to Photoshop?"

kirpi — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:58:04 +0000

As a general rule, each job requires a set a specific tools, and this is true for photography as well. So, there is no one single advice for all.

If you are overly serious about your photographs and shoot a lot of images in raw format, chances are that you will adopt Lightroom along with the complete Nik software collection. Indeed, Lightroom is expensive: you might try and download the latest Lightroom 3 beta for free (it will be disabled once the stable version is made available) or you can have fun and test the interesting blueMarine project for your workflow.

If, instead, you just want to "try and retouch" you images, I suggest you definitely start with Gimp, available under Linux, Mac and Windows, as it is the best multi-purpose, flexible and easy to approach image editing software around, with scripting capabilities and lots of plug-ins. Also, many tutorials for Photoshop can also be used with Gimp.

Although Gimp is planned to eventually work with high bit-depth and non-destructive editing, if your need is to handle images deeper than 8-bit (which is the case for black and white photographs) then CinePaint is probably a better choice right now.

Angelina on "Any alternative to Photoshop?"

Angelina — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:40:07 +0000

Why, Lisa?

Lisa on "Any alternative to Photoshop?"

Lisa — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:51:27 +0000

True there is a long list for you to choose from, but I would start with Gimp.

Andrea Sullach on "Any alternative to Photoshop?"

Andrea Sullach — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:08:16 +0000

Another one you might want give a look at is IrfanView. You can pair it with a Gimp for effectively handling your photographs.

Lisa on "Any alternative to Photoshop?"

Lisa — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:15:14 +0000

GIMP is the answer. Open-source and a whole community eager to help you. Try it!

Angelina on "Any alternative to Photoshop?"

Angelina — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:22:22 +0000

I wanted to try and retouch my images but Photoshop is very expensive!

Andrea Sullach on "Is a lens hood really useful?"

Andrea Sullach — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:05:17 +0000

Lens hoods not only reduce flare and increase contrast in images, but also physically protect the front lens from hitting other objects.

No need to say that vignetting has to be taken into account when choosing the right hood.

Tanja on "How to choose the right digital camera"

Tanja — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:56:42 +0000

The new Canon S90 seems to be quite interesting. Shoots Raw, full manual, and it's tiny!

kirpi on "Nikon D90 manual"

kirpi — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:49:06 +0000

You have a few options:

Contact you local Nikon distributors and ask them for a copy of your camera manual. It should be available and sent at no cost or just a fair price.
Find it online. You can download it from the internet.
You might otherwise want to browse the following list of Nikon D90 handbooks, many of which could prove to be sources of invaluable advices.

kirpi on "Shooting at newspapers"

kirpi — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:29:19 +0000

Cutting the pages into pieces, scanning and rebuilding the whole page digitally will take a lot of time and effort and, in case you are going to process many pages or, worse, many newspapers, you will probably feel the pain. It will be a very complicated puzzle. But the results will be surely good. Even with the cheapest scanners on the market you can have a decent quality for your scans of newspapers. Just to give an idea, please look at these color pages, which where scanned using one of the cheapest Canon scanners available some 5 years ago; such devices are good enough for general purposes.

The idea of shooting photographs instead of scanning is not a bad one, and will save you a lot of time. On the quality side, be assured that you can have quite good results, provided that you can control the light sources and place your camera on a sturdy tripod.
Lighting is the key issue here. You have to evenly light the paper surface, and light has to be sufficiently angled (45° is the standard setting) in order to avoid reflections, and has to be a mix of hard and soft light thus allowing for crisp details and an overall low contrast.
Set the aperture to an average value (say f/8 to f/11), so to obtain a not too shallow depth of field and gaining the best performance from the lens.
In case you have a prime lens available, use that; consider that a normal focal length or a slightly long lens is better than a wide angle.

Stick the newspaper page to a wall with some pieces of Blu-Tack, place your camera at some distance right in front of the paper, take care that the light hits the page properly but does not directly hit the lens (a lens shade might be appropriate).
Instead, you could alternatively lay the paper on the floor and rig your camera somewhere above it.
Mind to shoot with a remote control or a self-timer, in order not to shake the camera.
Also, double-check for focus (blow up some details on camera both at the center and at the border of the page, and check for sharpness) and exposure: you should find details both in the white paper and in the black ink areas.

Lisa on "Nikon D90 manual"

Lisa — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:39:41 +0000

I seem to have lost the manual included with my Nikon D90.
What can I do, now?