Why Multimedia Is the Future of Photography

[by Jay Kinghorn]

As the mobile phone begins to replace the television and personal computer as the primary screen for interfacing with the Internet, and print continues to decline in popularity, this shift will impact the way photographers create photographs. While a two-page magazine spread can contain a rich array of subtle tones and fine details, the relatively low resolution screen of a computer or a mobile device cannot. To have impact on a small screen, a photograph must be tightly composed, cleanly lit and catch the viewer’s attention immediately.

Unfortunately, these small screens remove much of the subtlety that makes photography such a powerful medium. To bypass the limitations of the small screen, my guess is photographers will adapt to the technological limitations of mobile screens by using a series of images to tell a story, instead of relying on a single, all-encompassing photo.

Photographers who take time to rethink their compositions, lighting and visual storytelling options will be better suited to succeed in all mediums, regardless of the twists and turns technology throws at us.

Computational Photography

[by Jay Kinghorn]

As we close the book on the first decade of the 21st century and look forward to the next 10 years, computational photography looks to make the greatest technological impact on the craft of photography as we know it.

Computational photography is a broad, if imprecise, term most often used for any imaging techniques that expand upon the normal capabilities of a digital camera. Common examples are High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos or panoramas, the outcomes of which are digital photographs that could not have been taken by a traditional camera. Less established technologies allow a photographer to set focus and depth of field on their computer instead of in-camera.

Most examples of computational photography use multiple images to enhance the quality, or flexibility of a single image. For example, when using a high ISO setting in low light, a camera will automatically capture a quick burst of images. The image processing software (either on-camera or on the computer) compares the content of the images, separating detail from image noise. The noise is discarded and the detail preserved. Other techniques still in the lab use still photos taken at regular points during a video clip to improve the detail, tonal range and quality of video footage, or allow an artist to relight a scene in post-processing to tease out hidden detail.

These technological improvements should be embraced as they come to light, because they will allow photographers to capture, create and publish photos in new and even more compelling ways. While the tools of the future of photography are important, ultimately it’s the creativity and artistry that’s applied to them that will help people tell stories that continue to move, engage and inform.

Looking forward, a photographer’s ability to exploit new opportunities and assimilate new technologies into their workflow will be a defining characteristic of the future of photography. The profession of photography will be less about being a technician and more about being a visual artist fluent in the language of color, shape line and light who communicates across mediums with greater facility than any technician ever could.

Blogs and Your Business

[by Jay Kinghorn]

About six months ago I began blogging regularly and I can safely say it has become one of my best business planning tools. When establishing an audience online, you are constantly striving to provide that audience with meaningful, thoughtful, useful information. In turn, you’re committing yourself to thinking deeply about your craft and staying ahead of the information curve. This thought process is incredibly valuable as it helps you clearly articulate what your business’ role is in your field and the value you bring to your clients.

Perhaps more important, it helps you constantly see your business from the client’s perspective, which can only help you provide better, more targeted services.

It’s helpful to answer these questions when planning your blog presence and the unique content you’ll bring to your clients.
- What information does my audience need?
- How can I provide that information?
- What is my true expertise and how can I use it to help clients?

If you haven’t already answered these questions about your business, then this is a better time than ever to start.

Some of the practices I employ when writing blogs:

1) Passing on an interesting news article or link: Don’t just recycle it and send it out just as it came in. Instead, reference the article and put it in a context that applies to my readers and what it means to them professionally.

2) Original works: Try to address challenges you know your audience faces. If you are writing about something of interest to you, tie in why it’s important to your readers.

3) Blog often. There are so many blogs out there. Don’t just expect your readers to stay with you just because you’re there. They will stay only if you regularly provide interesting, useful information.

4) Gather data on the success of your blog posts through analytics. This will give you insight into what your readers find interesting and helpful.

Writing your blog thoughtfully and with your clients in mind will reap big rewards. You’ll be able to clearly articulate your business purpose and produce better better work for your clients, because you’ll have a better handle on what your clients need and want.

For a great recent article on blog posts, read this from problogger.

Five Boosts for your Photoshop Workflow

[by Jay Kinghorn]

Much of my consulting and training work with clients results in a faster, more consistent workflow and more time in my clients’ days. Below is a list of seven things you can do to speed up your image processing and take control of your workflow.

1) Actions: If you perform a step more than twice, automate it. Actions are simple to learn, quick to create and highly efficient. I frequently make job-specific actions to ensure consistency from file to file or job to job. Even small tasks like flattening layers or opening specific dialog boxes is faster when you assign a function key to an action. There’s nothing like processing an entire job by pressing a few keys and having Photoshop do the work for you.

2) A graphics tablet for retouching: If you perform your own retouching you owe it to yourself to invest in a graphics tablet. Not only will your retouching be more accurate, but you’ll save boatloads of time on your retouching.

3) Camera Raw Presets: Many photographers perform the same set of corrections for every camera raw file. Add five points of contrast, seven points of saturation and so forth. Save this information as either a preset or the default for each of your cameras. Better still is to create a DNG profile for your camera. These steps will apply a series of baseline changes to each raw file as they’re loaded into Adobe Camera Raw. You will likely need to perform shoot-or-scene specific corrections on top of the baseline correction, but you’re starting from a better baseline than the default settings in ACR.

4) Metadata templates: With the specter of Orphan Works legislation perpetually looming over the horizon, it pays to make sure your copyright information is stored in the metadata of every photograph in your collection. The best strategy is to enter this information early and do it automatically. Whether you use PhotoMechanic, Bridge or Lightroom for your initial edit, be sure to build, and apply, a metadata template to insert your contact and copyright photo in every image as it is downloaded to your computer.

5) Productivity plug-ins: Plug-ins can be a productivity black hole. “Hmm, should I use the mossy rock or brilliant sunrise filter on this image?” That said, productivity plugins can often remove noise, improve sharpness, enlarge images or eliminate backgrounds faster, and with better quality than doing it by hand. Here are a few of my favorites:
Noise:
- Noise Ninja

Upsizing/Enlarging:
- Genuine Fractals
- Blow Up

Cut-out/Background Removal:
- Fluid Mask

Sharpening:
- Sharpener Pro
- Photo Kit Sharpener

Be a Professional with dpBestflow

[by Jay Kinghorn]

Today, many photographers find themselves having to justify their creative fees and post-processing fees to clients. After all, it seems everybody these days has a digital SLR and a copy of Photoshop and thinks they can do it themselves. The truth is, your relationship with the client only begins with creating a compelling image. It is complete when the image is successfully reproduced in its final format.

Clients rely on you to know how to provide them with digital files that meet their technical needs and are delivered on time. With how quickly our industry is changing, you must make sure to use best practices for your digital workflow to stay organized, maximize image quality and keep clients happy.

The dpBestflow project, is a great guide to what works in digital photography workflows. Whether you need a high-level overview of best practices to compare your current system against or detailed info on a given topic like file-naming or backup systems strategies, dpBestflow puts this information right at your fingertips. Now it’s easier than ever to optimize your workflow so you can deliver creative projects to clients that meet both their creative and technical needs. Here are a few tips from dpBestflow that you can apply today.

3, 2, 1 backup strategy
Losing your images due to fire, flood, malfunction or theft would be catastrophic. Ensure  the safety of your files by storing them in at least three locations, on two different types of media with at least one copy stored off-site.

Raw Power
Use your raw image editing software to perform as many of your image corrections as possible. This gives you the best image quality and eliminates much of the need for destructive pixel editing.

Special Delivery
When delivering files to clients, be sure to include a Read Me file; a text file explaining the processes used in creating the file, including the color mode, ICC color profile, file size and image resolution, along with licensing rights and usage information.

Use an RSS Reader for Easy News Gathering

[by Jay Kinghorn]

Blogs are a tremendous source for information, ideas and insights. However, they can also be a tremendous drain on your time and productivity. If you subscribe to more than a handful of blogs or news feeds, an RSS reader like Net News Wire (Mac), FeedDemon (Windows) or Google Reader is essential to quickly sift through a large number of blogs and find the valuable posts hidden within.

An RSS reader aggregates all the unread blog posts from your favorite blogs into a single window. This allows you to quickly skim the headline of each post and read only the articles you’re most interested in. If you’re really tight for time you can flag articles, or pull them into a clippings folder for later reading.

Here are a few links to get you started:
Newsgator
Google Reader
Best RSS Readers

Lightroom Tip: Save Your Metadata

[By Jay Kinghorn]

Save Lightroom’s metadata back into the original files by selecting images, then, from the Metadata menu, select Save Metadata to File. Alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut Cmd+S (Mac) or CTRL-S (Win). This writes metadata into JPEG, TIFF, DNG and PSD files and writes metadata into XMP sidecar files for Camera Raw files. This helps to ensure your metadata always travels with your photos and helps you recover quickly should your Lightroom Catalog becomes corrupted.

Free As A Part of Your Business Model

As Gail Mooney pointed out, Chris Anderson’s new book “Free” is causing quite a stir. Evidenced by the lasting effect Anderson’s observations and predictions in “The Long Tail” have had on business and culture, it is likely “Free,” the idea that businesses need to think about giving things away for free via the Internet in order to make money,  is a concept that is here to stay. What is uncertain is how photographers can adapt to, and take advantage of the “Free” model. Musicians, using MySpace and other online tools, give away streaming music tracks to cultivate a larger following and sell more tickets at their next concert. Mr. Anderson provided free access to “Free” online for a limited time to generate more speaking engagements and sell more books. While these techniques are effective for their respective businesses, they do not correlate well for most photographers who are selling business to business instead of business to consumer. And, in an age where photographers are still working to communicate the value of professional photography, what would giving it away for free communicate to businesses?

Here’s an idea. I think we can all agree that giving away a photo as free stock is generally a bad idea. So, instead, give away free e-books of your latest photo project to sell limited edition copies of the book,  fine-art prints, or to serve as a powerful, yet inexpensive marketing tool. Can this “free” strategy also be successful in generating one-on-one relationships with clients—most photographers’ ultimate goal?

It remains to be seen if photojournalists and fine-art photographers will be able to use the tools of “Free” to galvanize followers of a cause or patrons of the arts to fund a book project, documentary film or traveling exhibition. Certainly the concept of “Free” will challenge the business models of not only photographers, but also the businesses comprising their primary client base.

Photoshop Quick Tip: Maximize Photoshop File Compatibility

In Photoshop’s preferences, under the File Handling tab, be sure to change the Maximize PSD and PSB File Compatibility from “Ask” to “Always.” Although this makes your file sizes larger, it ensures your layered Photoshop files will display correctly in other imaging applications like Lightroom, InDesign, Microsoft Expression Media and Extensis Portfolio.

Are Your Photos Protected?

If your studio were to catch fire right now, would your digital photos be safe? Many photographers make the mistake of backing up to two separate hard drives, only to leave both hard drives sitting on their desk. This protects against a hard drive failure, but does nothing to protect against fire, flood or theft.

To ensure you’re adequately protected, store your files in at least two physical locations. One option is to rotate a set of drives off-site, e.g. one at your studio and one at home. A second option is to use an Internet-based storage site, like .Mac, Mozy or Amazon S3 and store your photos on an industrial-strength server cloud.

Storing your entire image library on a server cloud may seem ideal, but the bandwidth needs for uploading gigabytes of photos, along with the monthly storage costs, make this prohibitive for most photographers. Still, you can use this method to upload your most valuable images along with your business correspondence, contracts and e-mail correspondence very inexpensively. Given the consequences of a catastrophic loss, off-site backups may be the most valuable and least expensive insurance policy available for your business.

What Photos Do You Really Need in Your Image Library?

After shooting digitally for many years, many photographers have amassed prodigious collections of digital photos, often surpassing 100,000 or 200,000 images. These photographers now find themselves struggling to organize, manage and backup this immense image library effectively.

Unless you’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars in an enterprise-level asset management system and server system, you’re likely to find any database program slow, unwieldy and crash-prone. All-in-one applications like Adobe Lightroom and Apple’s Aperture begin to slow with large libraries above 40-50,000 images and even dedicated asset management systems like Extensis Porfolio or Canto Cumulus struggle with 100,000 images.

Rather than investing in more robust asset management applications, ask yourself “What photos do I really need access to?” Often, by saving older jobs and outtakes to external hard drives on a regular basis, you can slim your image library considerably. This saves you money on storage space, makes photos easier to find and your image database quicker to search.

Lightroom Tip: If You Perform Any Step Twice, Build a Preset

I know you are too busy to keep repeating tasks in your photography workflow when your programs can do it for you. That’s one of the myriad things I like about Adobe Lightroom. One of Lightroom’s great advantages is it gives you the ability to quickly create and apply presets to streamline your image processing workflow. One rule of thumb I give clients is if they perform any step within their workflow process more than twice, they should build a preset. Though simple, these presets can significantly speed up your workflow, giving you more time to spend with friends and family, market to clients, or get out and shoot.

To get you started, here are a few points in the workflow perfect for Presets.

• File Naming
• Metadata & Copyright addition
• Printing
• Web gallery creation and publishing
• Exporting
• Baseline image corrections

Vision And Art: The Biology of Seeing

Many of the corrections we make to photos, burning and dodging, and adjusting contrast or saturation, are designed to exploit quirks in our visual system. In Vision And Art: The Biology of Seeing by Margaret Livingstone, you’ll learn the biological and physiological foundations behind image sharpening, selective focus, contrast and the rule of thirds. This is an engaging and informative book written in plain english for anyone who enjoys the visual arts. In my opinion, it is mandatory reading for photographers, film makers, designers and illustrators. More than any other book, Vision and Art has helped to shape my approaches to photography and image corrections in the digital darkroom.

The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV and the Web

If you’ve been following Gail Mooney’s multimedia and video posts and are beginning to experiment with video, you’ve found that video and multimedia require different approaches than still photography. The pacing of cuts, pans or zooms through the frame, or edits in a timeline are foreign concepts to photographers. In The Lean Forward Moment, Norman Hollyn illuminates the thought processes that will drive your editorial decisions and provides a fascinating insight into the minds of movie producers, editors and directors. He uses examples from classic movies, from the Godfather to Finding Nemo to emphasize his points. Well written and insightful, this book will help you understand how to plan, execute, edit and direct multimedia and video stories.

Your Monitor: The Keystone of Your Digital Workflow

Take a moment to appreciate your monitor. It sits there quietly on your desk or on your lap, helping you make image corrections, send correspondence with clients and connects you with the world via the Web.

Of all the devices in your digital photography workflow, your monitor is the most important. It’s even more important than a fast computer, a sexy new printer or even the latest, greatest camera body. Your monitor is your window to the world, helping you judge color, exposure, saturation, sharpness and detail. For photographers printing their own work or delivering files to clients in CMYK, your monitor’s accuracy when using Photoshop’s soft proof feature can determine the success or failure of a job.

So do yourself a favor. Replace your monitor every three years. When you purchase a new monitor, buy the best monitor you can afford. Delay purchasing a new computer, if funds are tight, to buy the monitor you need to to deliver accurate files to your clients. And don’t forget to calibrate and profile it regularly!

Five Technology Trends You Should Be Watching

You can view them as threats or as opportunities, but these five trends will have an impact on you, as a professional photographer, in the not-too-distant future.

Multimedia: Perhaps the most familiar of the five trends, multimedia uses of photography are just starting to gain traction outside journalistic circles. While using photography in multimedia is nothing new, the Internet has provided a platform for photographers to use their photos in new and different ways. The result: an unprecedented opportunity for photographers to share their vision with the world.

The Mobile Web: The adoption of the mobile web was growing slowly until the iPhone appeared. Now, with the App Store, it seems every company wants to advertise their products and services on a mobile platform. The new “double-truck” is a 480×320 pixel screen. How will you adjust your photography to the new medium?

Immersive Web Sites: First there was text, then text with photos, then video; as more users connect to the Web via broadband, the visual sophistication of Web sites is increasing exponentially. Sites like Patagonia’s TinShed and the Star Trek Movie Site rely heavily on graphics for content, navigation and visual texture.

Computer Generated Imaging (CGI): We’ve already grown accustomed to seeing CGI integrated with live action in movies and now we’re seeing CGI integrated with still photography. Already, many auto companies are compositing CGI renderings of new cars with photographic background. CGI can be seen as both a cost-savings to clients and a way to achieve an impossible photograph. Whether or not photo studios will need to add green screen to their white seamless remains to be seen.

Augmented Reality: Layering, or “augmenting” computer generated imagery on top of real world objects through the use of a video or Web cam connects the virtual world with the physical world. Rather than try and explain, here are a few links to give you an idea of where this might be headed.
Toppstown AR baseball Cards
German Mini Car Ad
Lego Kiosk