All Forum Comments
Comment by ChrisA posted on My Lunch Today with Pentax at 19/06/2007 - 22:12
Quote:
All I am getting at is it would be nice for the camera to have an higher inbuilt sharpening level so we can let the camera do the work for us.
It's got one, you doofus All I am getting at is it would be nice for the camera to have an higher inbuilt sharpening level so we can let the camera do the work for us.
Is this a piss-take, or have you really not had a poke around in the menu and found the sharpness/contrast/saturation settings???
If you haven't, then bend over and George will administer a good thrashing as only he can.
Comment by ChrisA posted on My Lunch Today with Pentax at 19/06/2007 - 21:37
Quote:
Blah Blah Blah there i go again on about sharpness I must be paranoid
Nice one Pete. Just as George's blood pressure was coming down again...Blah Blah Blah there i go again on about sharpness I must be paranoid
Have you found the menu options where you can crank up the JPEG sharpness, contrast and saturation, BTW?
Quote:
But sometimes I take the perfect shot and just want to print as is without messing.
This is the new Pete, isn't it...But sometimes I take the perfect shot and just want to print as is without messing.
Can't quite get used to him
Comment by ChrisA posted on My Lunch Today with Pentax at 19/06/2007 - 20:46
Quote:
Especially since the title of this thread wasn't in any way misleading!
It was also posted (just about) in the right forum.Especially since the title of this thread wasn't in any way misleading!
I think Ben is as much a genius at self-promotion as he is a photographer.
And good luck to him; in his game, he needs to be.
Comment by ChrisA posted on My Lunch Today with Pentax at 19/06/2007 - 20:38
Quote:
I use Picasa - mostly to create Albums and gift CDs
I haven't looked too much into the sharpening of Picasa, but you might find it's a High Pass Sharpen (which is often nicer than a USM). A quick outline in PSE:
* Flatten the image into one layer
* Duplicate the layer (you now have two copies)
* Run the Filter / Other / High Pass
* Pick a value that just shows the detail appearing (everything else will be grey)
* Click OK
* Desaturate the layer (Ctrl-Shift-U... I think!)
* Change the Layer's blend mode from "Normal" to "Overlay" (or "Soft Light" for a softer effect)
* Adjust the Layer opacity to suit.
(I like to use this before outputting a web image - a High Pass radius of something like 0.7 to 0.9 and Overlay mode works a treat!)
Interestingly, if you INVERT the grey layer it becomes a "High Pass Soften" which can be useful too!
HTH!
Matt
It helps very much. That's great - very subtle indeed, and very much the sort of thing I was looking for. Not a technique I'd come across. And pretty easy to do too.I use Picasa - mostly to create Albums and gift CDs
I haven't looked too much into the sharpening of Picasa, but you might find it's a High Pass Sharpen (which is often nicer than a USM). A quick outline in PSE:
* Flatten the image into one layer
* Duplicate the layer (you now have two copies)
* Run the Filter / Other / High Pass
* Pick a value that just shows the detail appearing (everything else will be grey)
* Click OK
* Desaturate the layer (Ctrl-Shift-U... I think!)
* Change the Layer's blend mode from "Normal" to "Overlay" (or "Soft Light" for a softer effect)
* Adjust the Layer opacity to suit.
(I like to use this before outputting a web image - a High Pass radius of something like 0.7 to 0.9 and Overlay mode works a treat!)
Interestingly, if you INVERT the grey layer it becomes a "High Pass Soften" which can be useful too!
HTH!
Matt
Thank you!
Comment by ChrisA posted on Sharpening in Picasa at 25/06/2007 - 15:03
I've found Picasa to be an extremely convenient and easy to use tool for organising photos and carrying out simple edits.
I've found, in some cases, its sharpening (one pass, not more - a second one is usually horrible) to give a very subtle, yet to my eyes, pleasing result that so far, despite much experimentation, I simply cannot reproduce with USM settings in Elements 5.
Its 'Fill Light' function, while having nothing at all in the way of adjustments other than the one slider, often brightens up the frame in a way that leaves the colours subjectively very fresh, and again I haven't been able to achieve the same thing in Elements.
And it's a real pain on the occasions I need to use features that Picasa doesn't have, to have to swap between the apps.
I don't doubt that it's just my inexperience with Elements, but if anyone happens to know how to closely approximate these effects in Elements, I'd be grateful for some pointers.
I've found, in some cases, its sharpening (one pass, not more - a second one is usually horrible) to give a very subtle, yet to my eyes, pleasing result that so far, despite much experimentation, I simply cannot reproduce with USM settings in Elements 5.
Its 'Fill Light' function, while having nothing at all in the way of adjustments other than the one slider, often brightens up the frame in a way that leaves the colours subjectively very fresh, and again I haven't been able to achieve the same thing in Elements.
And it's a real pain on the occasions I need to use features that Picasa doesn't have, to have to swap between the apps.
I don't doubt that it's just my inexperience with Elements, but if anyone happens to know how to closely approximate these effects in Elements, I'd be grateful for some pointers.
Comment by ChrisA posted on Sharpening in Picasa at 19/06/2007 - 12:21
Microsoft haters, and those that can't bear to have anything except HTML in their browser, stop reading now. Read something with 'SMC', or 'Limited' in it instead.
All others, I commend to you the brief presentation at
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129,
and the installation at
http://labs.live.com/photosynth/
(it's a tech preview, not a finished product, so don't be surprised if you have to refresh the page a couple of times before it works)
Then have a little explore.
I think it's pretty cool.
All others, I commend to you the brief presentation at
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129,
and the installation at
http://labs.live.com/photosynth/
(it's a tech preview, not a finished product, so don't be surprised if you have to refresh the page a couple of times before it works)
Then have a little explore.
I think it's pretty cool.
Comment by ChrisA posted on Photosynth at 18/06/2007 - 22:43
Quote:
Plus 4 little slave units that fit to the bottom of any flashgun and make them fire when any other flashgun (built in gun etc.) is used.
Interesting point, this, one that I had completely missed until I tried it.Plus 4 little slave units that fit to the bottom of any flashgun and make them fire when any other flashgun (built in gun etc.) is used.
Since the pre-flash on the K10D can't be switched off, AFAICS, using one of those little slave triggers with the built-in flash is completely useless - the pre-flash fires the slave, and by the time the shutter opens, the flash from the slave is long since over.
It is possible to achieve this without a P-TTL flash gun, by putting another manual gun on the hot shoe, and using that as the master to trigger the slave.
But it's a pain, since one of the nice things about the built-in is that it's very small, and therefore ideally suited to moving around with the camera (probably with the compensation set to max negative), and using the one or more flashes off camera to provide most of the light.
If only they'd put "pre-flash on/off" in the firmware.
But it would mean they'd sell fewer flashguns, so I can't see it happening, sadly.
Comment by ChrisA posted on Yet another K100d/K10d flash compatibility thread! at 26/06/2007 - 17:42
Quote:
The way I do this is to mount a small AF240Z on the hotshoe, pointed at the ceiling, and then have a 360 or 400FTZ on a flash bracket.
Is that just relying on the flash units' sensors to get the exposure right?The way I do this is to mount a small AF240Z on the hotshoe, pointed at the ceiling, and then have a 360 or 400FTZ on a flash bracket.
Comment by ChrisA posted on Yet another K100d/K10d flash compatibility thread! at 25/06/2007 - 23:28
Quote:
George to the rescue (of your pension).
There really isn't a lot of point in buying an expensive wireless flashgun, and then buying loads of wires to enable you to use it off-camera. That's what wireless is for.
If you don't want the RTF shining on the subject, deflect it with a bit of card.
If you WANT to use wires (and of course, manual flash by wire or with slave triggers is much more reliable than P-TTL), then buy any old manual flashgun for a tenth of the price. Plus, of course, the wires. Or triggers.
All excellent points, well made and taken.George to the rescue (of your pension).
There really isn't a lot of point in buying an expensive wireless flashgun, and then buying loads of wires to enable you to use it off-camera. That's what wireless is for.
If you don't want the RTF shining on the subject, deflect it with a bit of card.
If you WANT to use wires (and of course, manual flash by wire or with slave triggers is much more reliable than P-TTL), then buy any old manual flashgun for a tenth of the price. Plus, of course, the wires. Or triggers.
I suppose I'm looking for the option. If you could switch the pre-flash off on the K10D's built in, I'd use that with the trigger I picked up recently for about three quid, and fire a manual slave off camera. I expect with a bit of trial and error I'd get the exposure right.
But I also want the power... and be able to carry it around, and not have to think too hard. The big guns weigh about a pound - turn that sideways and there's a stress on the shoe that I'd rather avoid.
So a hammerhead thingy on a bracket would seem to be a reasonable option, which was why I was considering the wires.
However, it occurs to me, now that you mention all this, that I could still fire the big gun wirelessly from the built-in, with the big gun on the bracket.
So maybe I can avoid the 60 quid or so for the wire and the adapter.
Comment by ChrisA posted on Yet another K100d/K10d flash compatibility thread! at 25/06/2007 - 23:11
I won't address this subject again. It really is too boring. Pete, you were doing so well - intelligible posts, sensible questions - where did it all go wrong?
Obviously he only posted the really good ones from his recent Spanish trip, not the ones where people here have ripped them to shreds, but it's obviously gone to his head...