Canon 600mm f/4.0 IS
My first results with the Canon 600mm lens were a large disappointment not due to the lens but due to my lack of experience with the super telephoto class of lens. With a little research I discovered that much of what I thought I knew about obtaining sharp images was no longer appropriate.
While a very sturdy tripod is a must with these heavyweights ( the lens itself weighs almost 12 pounds), I found the traditional ball head to be a less than satisfactory attachment of lens to tripod. More on this subject is available on my post about Wimeberly heads.
The biggest surprise of all is instead of detaching myself from the lens/camera with a cable release to get the sharpest images, I had to get used to the super-telephoto” drape” … hanging my left arm over the top of the lens while releasing the shutter with my trigger finger. The drape is important in dampening vibrations that can degrade image quality when using these long focal length lenses.
I shoot a lot of images of birds in flight. Picking them up in the viewfinder can be a real challenge at these focal lengths because the field of view is so narrow. I had to adapt to a both eyes open approach to help in picking up the subject.
Last, while in the field I have noted many photographers covering these “great white” lenses with camouflage. I have discussed this with Canon technical reps and they tell me that the white coating is to assist in heat dissipation on hot sunny days. Covering the lens is contrary to good use and good image quality.
Posted 1 year, 5 months ago at 8:24 am. Add a comment
In conversations with my students and browsing the Internet, I find an abundance of worshippers who believe the holy grail of ink jet media is the one with the widest gamut. Choosing the very greatest gamut and forsaking all other considerations is certainly a choice that one can make and perhaps someday compromises will not have to be made when setting sights on this goal.
I personally like the look and feel of fine art media for many of my prints and don’t want to avoid using it for the sake of greater gamut. It is true that the gamut is an inherent property of the media for a given ink set and printer and there is nothing you can do to materially increase it. That does not mean that you must accept the “flat” look or “lack of punch” that is often associated with the fine art media.
I have discussed this with many printers. They send their image to one of the wide gamut photographic papers and to a fine art paper and are terribly disappointed in the results on the fine art media. This is an unrealistic comparison because the fine art media will definitely “:dumb down” the look of the print. It simply accepts ink differently. So there are two things going on in the fine art print, the smaller gamut and the distinctly different inking properties. I believe these two are lumped into one when the fine art media is dismissed out of hand.
There is a solution, and of course it does entail some more effort. The solution is to use the soft-proofing capabilities of Photoshop and to make further adjustments to your image before printing. These adjustments are specifically to accommodate the media you are printing to. While you are not improving the gamut of the media, you can return the “punch” that you saw on your monitor to the print. My experience is that soft-proof adjustments for photographic media are usually minor but for fine art media they can be extensive.
For me, I will give up a little gamut in my images for the look and feel of the fine art media. It is a compromise that I am willing to make. Perhaps down the road, it will not be necessary and I can have the widest gamut of all media.
Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 9:39 am. Add a comment
The class “Intermediate Photoshop Techniques” scheduled for tonight has fallen victim to the “Northeaster”. The class has been recheduled for March 16th from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. See you all there!
Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 5:50 pm. Add a comment
| March 11, 2009 |
| 9:00 am | to | 4:00 pm |
| March 18, 2009 |
| 9:00 am | to | 4:00 pm |
| March 25, 2009 |
| 9:00 am | to | 4:00 pm |
THREE RIVERS COMMUNITY COLLEGE:
Prerequisite: Moderate Windows experience.
Books purchased through bookstore.
This course assumes students have no prior knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop will be used to provide a thorough understanding of the basic construction of digital images. Setting
of Photoshop, Adobe Bridge and Adobe RAW processor preferences will be included and the default workspaces of each of the program elements will be used. Adobe Bridge will be used to upload images to the computer and to review, rate and label images. Bridge will also be used to catalog images for quick fast retrieval. The student will learn how to make contact sheets of images and create “picture packages” for printing. Basic digital image adjustments including cropping, tonal range adjustments, color correction and sharpening will be included.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago at 6:41 am. Add a comment