McGillveray Studios

Having read dozens of books on photography over the years I have a variety of concepts in my mind. Having to many concepts and not a real understanding can result. Having no formal teacher student training can take a long time to understand some basic things, which can slow you down. I found this book looking through Amazon’s photography listings one day. Do I ever wish I found it sooner. It has been out for awhile, it’s in it’s 3rd revision. Any book that has been through 3 revisions has to be a seller for some good reason.

This book does not give you lighting set ups to remember, with maps and diagrams. It gives you an understanding of how light works. Light is light. It does not mater if it light in your studio or day light. Light acts in only so many ways, and we all know how it acts as we have been observing light since birth. It teaches step by step how to look at the subject and decide how best to light it. You do not have maps and diagrams in mind, but how to create for yourself  the best lighting.

This book has put a lot of concepts from other books together so now I have a far better understanding of how light works.

If you have any want to raise your knowledge of photography, pro or amateur, get this book. It is for you.

See it here at Amazon.ca

The Roselawn Motel in Wolfville, NS

Every once in a while you find a place you just like. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Such is with the Roselawn Motel in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Wolfville is the home of Acadia University, and makes this an interesting place to be.

The Roselawn is not layed out in a row like most motels, but separate cabins and multi room units. The units are scattered around in rows and some randomly, giving a homey atmosphere. There is a swimming pool, a tennis court, and a slide and swings for the kids, so there is something for all. The staff is very friendly and helpful, giving you answers to your questions about the area. They even have a clock calculator for the tides of the Bay of Fundy in the office.  One little thing that was neat is that you get two packages each of regular and decaff coffee. Good idea as I bet most people only use one, but you have two if you want. Probably does not cost them much more. The coffee makers have a clock built in so you can set it to have your coffee ready when you wake. They only charge for the number of people staying, I was traveling alone so payed $85 a night with 2 people it is $95, the first time I got a break for that. They have WiFi, a laundromat,barbecues and all the usual stuff.

Get there early to get a room though as most rooms are rented by the month.

Yes I would recommend this place to a friend.

Here is a Link to there web site.

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Photogenic Posing Table and Stool

A review of the Photogenic Posing Table and Stool. After picking it up from the post office I found that the table top was broken. Instead of paying to ship it back to Vistec I fixed the table with glue and nails, better than new. The sets were simply thrown in a cardboard box and shipped out the door. Photogenic shame on you. You think you would have learned to pack  box after 100 years of manufacturing that you brag about.

The stuff is built of steel and is strong. Well watch the review below.
Update: In the video the table was very stiff to raise the level. Upon investigation it was found that the tiny air hole at the low end of the table column was plugged.

The previous post I did the pictures  with Essential HDR and this is an older picture done with Photomatix 3. The image alignment is much improved in Photomatix 3 over version 2 and works very well. This was done in Exposure Blending mode, which is a lot like Fast Tone Balancer in Essential HDR. Photomatix has more sliders and options for tonemapping, but Essential HDR is simple. Essential HDR claims it produces less artifacts in smooth and out of focus areas. I know that this a bit unfair as this pic is vertical and the others are horizontal, but I like this older pic. I have other small HDR Photomatix pics in a previous post. Then there are Essential HDR examples in this post. Which is better? I really don’t know. What do you think?

This photo was taken with a Cannon 5D 70-200L IS UCM with -2, 0, +2 f/stops on a tripod.

A new HDR tone mapping program just has been released. This program called Essential HDR is very quick and easy to use. It will align and process RAW files right out of the camera and get the colour balance right. There is 2 tone-mapping algorithms, one called Fast Tone Balancer and one called Detail Reveler. This program has only a few sliders for tone mapping, but they work, making creating HDR images very easy. You also get the usual colour balance, brightness and contrast sliders. I gave a little sharpening and a little contrast boost to these quick examples in Lightroom after exporting the images as a .tiff files. There is a 30% discount for the first 1000 buyers and of this writing the discount is still good, but it has been selling since I think the July 18, so hurry. That makes the price only $49 USD.

See also this post about comparing Essential HDR and Photomatix, with a Photomatix example.

This image was created using 3 files -2, 0, +2  f/stops using the Fast Tone Balancer.

This image was created using 3 files -2, 0, +2  f/stops using the Detail Reveler.

This image was created using 3 files -2, 0, +2  f/stops using the Fast Tone Balancer.

This image was created using 3 files -2, 0, +2  f/stops using the Detail Reveler.

All these pictures were taken hand held with a Cannon 40D, 6 frames/sec. You can see this program can align the images properly. I recommend this program. Get it before the price goes up!

Here is the LINK

x-rite recently purchased both Gretag MacBeth and Pantone with colormunki being the first output of this coming together of these outfits. It is a real spectrophotometer for at least a 3rd the price of anything available in the past. Hoary for new technology. This device works as it claims and does it well. It even has a calibration patch built right in so no patches to look for.

I used a Spyder for 4 years and upgraded as the price was right, and it profiles printers and projectors. (I do not own a projector) It is 10 times faster than the Spyder and seems to be more accurate. I use it on both my PC and laptop. Scanning for print profiles is a quick and easy 2 step process that produces good results. You can even optimise the printer profiles. Place an image in the software, such a as an image with skin tones, print the resulting color patches, and optimise skin tones. An image with greens will optimise green, blue will optimise blues, etc. You can have profiles for different scenes.

Don’t forget, when profiling a printer, you are profiling a printer, paper, and ink combination. If you change one of these you need another profile. You need a profile for each paper you use as each paper is different in ink absorption and colour.