After a month of working on it during the evenings and weekends the new blog design is live. I’m going over the site page by page, checking all the images, links, etc. but if you find any problems I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know on my Contact page.

I didn’t actually create the design myself but started with the Creative Folio template which is based on the Bootstrap responsive framework. So far, I’ve been very pleased with the template. The Bootstrap framework provides automatic resizing and layout so that visitors viewing the site on any size screen or mobile device will have a good experience. My testing on my iPad, my Android phone and my wife’s iPhone has shown that the layout adapts nicely to the different size screens. If you’re reading this on a PC you can get an idea of how this works by changing the width of your browser window.

I did find a problem with the Elastislide JavaScript plugin that was included with the template. When I tested the site on my mobile devices I discovered that you can’t scroll up or down while dragging on content that is enclosed within an Elastislide section. You can see the problem if you go to the Creative Folio Live Preview page. Scroll down to the Blog Updates section on a mobile device and then touch any of the photos there and attempt to drag up or down. It doesn’t work. I ended up replacing the Elastislide plugin with the Woothemes FlexSlider. The version in the link in the previous section is for a commercial WordPress plugin. There is also a free version which is what I used but that requires some coding.

As I mentioned in my previous post about the redesign, the Creative Folio template is not a WordPress theme. That means that a lot of work is needed to create a theme based on the template and that’s what I’ve spent the last month doing in my spare time. The good news is that the CF template is WordPress-friendly. That is to say that the design includes all the types of pages that you need in a normal WordPress theme. The template also includes other modern website features like a jQuery image slider, nice menus and a nice header and footer.

Let me know if you have any questions about WordPress themes, in general, or this redesign in particular.

The post Redesign is Live appeared first on The Photo Performance.

My two Amaryllis plants are blooming so I took advantage of the opportunity to capture some images of their large, showy flowers. I’ve had these plants for several years and they just keep getting bigger and better every year.  Each year I shoot some photos but the image quality has often left me somewhat disappointed. So, this year I decided to pay close attention to detail and it paid off as I was pretty happy with the above shot.

One thing that made a big difference was the use of a reflector. I had just purchased a Lastolite reflector and was looking for a chance to try it out. As it happened, I only had to go out my front door. My first attempt using the reflector has sold me on it. In the past, I’ve been shooting the amaryllis mostly with natural light. Of course, when the sun is out the shadows can be harsh. And when it’s not the colors lose a little something. I’ve tried using fill flash but either my technique leaves something to be desired or it’s been the wrong solution. But the effect of using the reflector was wonderful. I was able to add a nice glow and soften the shadows. And the extra light meant that I could use a faster shutter speed. I was using a tripod but with a light breeze there can still be some motion of the flower.

The final element was paying close attention to the focus and depth of field. I made several groups of captures, checking after each sequence to see what I was getting. By the third round I had some keepers.

The post-processing on this image was minimal:

1. A slight curves adjustment to recover some detail in the highlights
2. A light tonal contrast adjustment in Color Efex Pro
3. A bit of structure added to the anthers on the stamen

The post The Amaryllis are Blooming appeared first on The Photo Performance.

I recently had a great time at a four-day photography workshop at Santa Fe Photography Workshops in New Mexico. I’ve been shooting for a long time and have the basics of exposure, focus and other technical concerns down pretty well but I knew I needed some help with composition. That’s why I signed up for their Composition and Light in Outdoor Photography workshop with Bill Ellzey. The workshop description says it is about “seeing, and seeing deeply. It’s about developing your awareness to composition and to light.” That’s just what I was looking for and I feel like I got a big boost in my ability to do those things.

We began on Wednesday morning with a talk by instructor Bill Ellzey on the basics of composition in which he showed examples of his own work that beautifully illustrated the principles. We also looked at each student’s “portfolio” of six or seven images and Bill gave thoughtful, sensitive and helpful critiques. We had some time that afternoon for a hands-on explanation of equipment and Q & A. On Wednesday evening there was a slideshow and talk by the four instructors who were all leading classes that week at Santa Fe Photography Workshops. We saw examples of some great work and heard from these very accomplished photographers which included Bill Ellzey, Michael Clark, Cig Harvey and David Robin.

The next morning we were up before dawn for a sunrise photo shoot at a nearby location which featured interesting desert rock formations. Throughout the morning Bill circulated among the ten class participants answering questions and offering suggestions. Later that morning we moved to another location which featured a landscape of red rocks and other mineral colors in the hills. That afternoon we were back at the school’s digital lab which is beautifully equipped with Mac Pros and high-end Epson printers. We imported our photos into Lightroom and processed them with help, as needed, from Bill and his two assistants. I previously looked at Lightroom and had decided that I preferred to stick with Bridge and Photoshop for my workflow. But since then, V4 has been released and now V5 is in beta. Bill Ellzey and the folks at Santa Fe Photography Workshops are enthusiastic Lightroom users so I’m going to have a look at the Lightroom beta and will be posting my findings here in the next month or two.

On Friday we were up before dawn again for another sunrise shoot, this time at nearby Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. Here we saw more fantastic-looking rock formations as we progressed up the Slot Canyon Trail. As before, Bill circulated, providing advice and assistance. That afternoon we were back at the digital lab for more processing. That evening there was a sunset shoot followed by a group dinner but I couldn’t make it because my wife and a friend had arrived in town.

Next morning, Saturday, we were back at the digital lab for more processing with assistance from Bill and the two helpful assistants. Each student selected about seven or eight photos from the previous few days which we then discussed as a group. From those, about five or six of each student’s top images were chosen to be shown that night at a dinner at the El Dorado Hotel. The SFPW staff assembled a delightful video slideshow with music from the photos taken by our class as well as the other three classes happening that week. Much of the work I saw that evening was of professional caliber.

All in all, I had a great time at the workshop and got just what I had hoped for. There were a few problems including a failed hard disk which meant that Bill was missing some of his instructional materials. Also, I felt that the pacing of the classroom instruction could have been better. At times, things moved slowly and we could have packed more in if the pacing had been better organized. As it was, the days were long, with activities planned for sunrise until after sunset on Thursday and Friday. I appreciate that SFPW wants to give good value but for me those days were just too long so I opted out of the evening photo shoots. But overall I had a great time and learned a lot. And the food provided by Santa Fe Photographic Workshops was terrific and there was always plenty of it.

The post Composition and Light Workshop appeared first on The Photo Performance.

screenshot of new Photo Performance design based on the Creative Folio template

I’m in the process of redesigning this blog and I wanted to include some notes here on the redesign process. I selected the Creative Folio template from {wrap}bootstrap because I like the design and because it’s built on the Bootstrap framework. Bootstrap provides a foundation for building responsive websites. “Responsive” means that the page design automatically adapts to different size devices from phones to tablets to widescreen desktop displays. You can see how that works by clicking the Creative Folio link above, then clicking the Live Preview button and changing the width of your browser window. Assuming that you’re on a desktop PC or laptop with a medium size to large screen you will be able to see the page layout changing as you increase or decrease the width of your browser window. Because so many people are accessing websites today from different devices it’s important to provide a good experience for visitors regardless of what type or size of device they are using.

This blog runs on WordPress which means that its design can be changed relatively easily by changing themes. However, the Creative Folio template is not a WordPress theme. It’s a set of sample pages which implement the design and provide a set of HTML, JavaScript and CSS components for building a website. So, I’m in the process of creating a WordPress theme based on the Creative Folio template. As it turns out, that’s not a job for the faint of heart. I’m a software developer by profession so it’s a task that I’m able to handle but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone without experience building websites from scratch.

A nice thing about the Creative Folio template is that it not only features an attractive, adaptive web design but it also provides a set of pre-selected jQuery components that are useful for photographers. The disadvantage is that there is no documentation and sometimes things don’t work. For example, the template uses the prettyPhoto and Elastislide jQuery plugins which offer nice viewing options for images. Unfortunately, the two don’t always play well together and it took me half a day of low-level debugging to fix the problem. The template, priced at $15, is cheap but there are no instructions and no support so if you’re interested in one of the {wrap}bootstrap templates you need to be prepared to tackle any problems on your own.

At this point, I have the WordPress home page almost done and will need to then implement the blog, single post and a few other pages. It will probably take me a couple of weeks to finish that before I can go live here with the new design. In the meantime, let me know your experiences and questions about implementing WordPress themes. And, later this week I’ll be posting a write-up of my recent trip to New Mexico for a workshop at Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.

The post WordPress Theme Redesign appeared first on The Photo Performance.

Spring is in the air and with it comes the reawakening of this blog. I’ve just returned from a four-day workshop with Santa Fe Photography Workshops in New Mexico. My next post will be a trip/workshop write-up but right now I’d just like to mention that I’m working on a redesign of this blog and will be relaunching soon. I’ll have some posts about that process as well as posts on a variety of photo topics.

One of the things I’ll be doing is taking a second look at Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. The folks at Santa Fe Photography Workshops are enthusiastic Lightroom users and, as a result, I’ve been thinking about how I might streamline my workflow with it. If you read my previous post on Lightroom you’ll know that I had some objections to it in the past. But seeing how other photographers are using it in a highly efficient manner has caused me to rethink my position. I’m not sold yet but I’m willing to take a second look at the latest version.

I’ll also be posting a trip write-up of the Composition and Light workshop I did at SFPW along with some suggestions on how to develop a better feel for composition.

Watch for that and lots of other new information along with a more attractive and responsive web design during the coming weeks and months.

The post Spring Awakening appeared first on The Photo Performance.

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Photoshop Touch File Format Limitations

If you import a layered PSD file into Photoshop Touch what you get is a merged-down version of the file.  That’s disappointing because in some cases it might be nice to have the flexibility provided by having the image content separated into its various layers. But I can see the problems that would arise in trying to handle layered files. There are many different kinds of layers that can be included in a PSD file from adjustment layers to clipping masks to Smart Objects to third-party plug-ins. It would clearly be impossible for Photoshop Touch to support all the different types of layers. Adobe might have chosen to have Photoshop Touch simply ignore unrecognized layer types but even that poses a problem. First, if your image doesn’t look right what good is it? Second, PSD files can have hundreds of layers. Just trying to download such a large file could choke your network connection and Photoshop Touch. And, you have to ask what would be the scenario for needing layered PSD support? I could imagine a situation in a meeting where you might want to make some quick changes to the layers from your tablet. But beyond that sort of thing, if you already have a layered PSD file chances are that you’d want to make any further changes with the desktop version of Photoshop anyway.

No TIF Support

A more serious problem is that Photoshop Touch cannot import TIF files from the Creative Cloud. There’s really no good reason why this couldn’t be supported. The Creative Cloud could do the necessary conversion to provide the image to Photoshop Touch in a generic format like PNG. Now, you could potentially have the same problems with layers in TIF files as you do with PSD files. But, of course, the same solution would apply.

No RAW File Support

You also cannot use RAW files such as Nikon’s NEF files or Adobe’s own DNG format in Photoshop Touch. That’s unfortunate because one use case I could imagine is uploading files to the Creative Cloud while on a trip and then using your tablet to make some minimal edits and post to Facebook. Even compact cameras like the Nikon J1 and V1 are capable of outputting RAW files. You could make the argument that you need a laptop to upload the files to the cloud so if you have a laptop you probably have the full version of Photoshop and it would be easier to make your edits there. But there are cases where you might have 15 minutes in a hotel lobby or half an hour in an airport, for example, where you could pull out your tablet and make some quick edits. Or maybe you’re in an impromptu meeting with a colleague or a client. In these kinds of scenario you’re less likely to want to pull out your laptop. Or maybe you just don’t have your laptop with you.

You can’t even view RAW files within PS Touch. All you can see is a grayed-out thumbnail. Given that previews are rendered on the server there is no technical reason why you couldn’t be allowed to view them. In fact, Creative Cloud already does this to allow you to view them in a browser. So, they could very easily extend that to PS Touch.

You can, of course, go to your mobile browser on your tablet to view your RAW files. But that’s a separate operation. And it can take several minutes to get logged into the Creative Cloud from your mobile browser especially if you have a long username and a difficult password like I do. But you’re already logged in automatically from Photoshop Touch and you’re right there browsing your photos. Why not let us look at our RAW files?

User Interface Quirks

I was disappointed to discover that there is no portrait mode editing in Photoshop Touch. When you rotate the tablet it stays in landscape orientation. End of story.

Within Photoshop Touch there doesn’t seem to be any straightforward way of forcing a resync with the Creative Cloud. It does sync automatically when you start the app but if someone changes the content on your Creative Cloud the need to resync can arise. The workaround I’ve found is to turn syncing off and then back on. That does work but it seems like there ought to be an obvious button to click for that purpose instead. On the flip side, a nice thing is that whenever you finish editing files in Photoshop Touch the changes are reflected immediately in your browser window when logged into the Creative Cloud.

Another minor annoyance is that some settings dialogs, like the Refine Edge and fx dialogs, slide up to appear at the bottom of the screen obscuring part of the image in the process. These dialogs cannot be moved so they can potentially be a problem when adjusting the settings. If you need to see a part of the image that is blocked by the dialog you’re out of luck. So far, this hasn’t actually been a problem for me in my editing. However, the dialogs do cover as much as about 13% of the image so the potential for a conflict is definitely there. A simple solution would be to allow repositioning the dialog.

When saving a project Photoshop Touch doesn’t ask you to provide a filename. It automatically saves as Untitled (or Untitled 2, 3, etc.). You can rename the project after saving is complete but this is an extra step.

For many operations Photoshop Touch uses a verb-object grammar. In other words, you choose the action first and then the object on which you want to perform the action. In most file managers it’s the opposite. For example, in the Finder or Windows Explorer you would select a file, copy it, navigate to the destination folder and then paste. Or you would drag and drop it. Not in PS Touch. Here’s the sequence of operations:

• Tap the folder icon on the toolbar and select the Move Projects menu item.
• Tap the project to be moved.
• Tap OK. (It says “Project(s) to be moved already resides in this directory.” This is another oddity. Of course, it does. Why are you telling me this?)
• Tap the folder you want to move to.
• Tap Move.

So, the process is backwards from the way most of us are using to doing things and, as far as I can tell, there is no way to avoid the odd warning message in step 3.

Exporting Photos from Photoshop Touch

Currently, there are four possible destinations for photos that you’ve edited on PS Touch:

• Your tablet’s gallery
• Facebook
• Email
• The Creative Cloud

Photoshop Touch projects are automatically saved to the Creative Cloud as you exit editing mode so that’s not really exporting, strictly speaking. And, if you don’t have an internet connection at the time of exiting the project is saved locally to your tablet and uploaded later when you do have a connection. (There’s no clue where Photoshop Touch caches your projects but it doesn’t seem there is any real need for the user to worry about this.)

If you want to share files using any of the other three methods listed above the process is pretty simple. But if you want to share anywhere else, like say, Instagram, flickr, Google +, or 500px you’re on your own. Another question in my mind is why there is no connection to Revel, Adobe’s photo sharing cloud service.

Creative Cloud Shortcomings

The biggest problem I see with the Creative Cloud is its lack of integration with the desktop apps. Right now, downloading and uploading are separate steps that you must perform within your web browser. There’s no way to browse directly from Bridge or Lightroom. Similarly, there’s no way to open or save files directly from Photoshop (desktop version). For it to be truly convenient (and for Adobe to induce people to upgrade to higher storage capacities) this kind of capability needs to be offered.

Adobe may already be planning something like this. On the Creative Cloud Team blog in May, 2012 they announced something called the Creative Cloud Connection which they describe as a “desktop client.” The specific features and functionality of this software are vague though so we’ll have to wait and see what they actually deliver.

Conclusion

At this point, I’m still trying to figure out Adobe’s target audience for Photoshop Touch.  There’s a whole lot of photo editing power here. In fact, there’s more power in Photoshop Touch than there was in Photoshop V1 on the desktop! But the limitations in file formats and getting files into and out of Photoshop Touch can be inconvenient. To avoid the need for a laptop in the field you might be able to connect your Android tablet to a card reader via USB. But, as far as I know, the iPad doesn’t support USB connections so most tablet users will still need a laptop. Given these difficulties it’s hard to see how professional photographers will get a lot of use out of Photoshop Touch. You pretty much have to have a laptop with you when on location or on the road anyway. So, why wouldn’t you just use the desktop version of Photoshop to do your edits?

And if you’re a casual photographer who wants to edit photos from your phone the complication of needing to email photos to yourself one or two at a time is a real problem. If you’re an Android user the Instant Upload feature can help a lot. But you still have limited sharing options. You can export to your Android Gallery and then share from there. But every additional step that is needed on a portable device just makes it that much less likely that you will bother.

So, I’m unclear who will be using Photoshop Touch in this initial incarnation and what kind of a workflow will be most convenient. Still, for $9.99 you’re getting a tremendous amount of image editing power so it’s hard to go wrong. And, I suspect that Adobe is already considering some of these issues. The blog post I mentioned above alludes to some issues related to those I’ve raised here. So, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see streamlined workflows coming in a future version of the Adobe Creative Cloud.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear how you are incorporating Photoshop Touch into your workflow. How do you use Photoshop Touch?

The post Adobe Creative Cloud for Photographers, Part 3 appeared first on The Photo Performance.

And I’ve got three of them all for a grand total of $1.23. It’s hard to see how they can ship them for that price.

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If you have problems viewing the video here you can also watch it on YouTube.

If you missed part 1 of this series, you can find it here. You can also find links to several Creative Cloud and Photoshop Touch resources on the part 1 page.

And check back in a couple of weeks for the third installment in this series in which I will cover the various ways of exporting from Photoshop Touch, provide more information on the limitations and quirks of Photoshop Touch and the Creative Cloud, and conclude by examining some big-picture questions that will help you decide if the Creative Cloud is right for you and, if so, how to get the most out of it.

The post Adobe Creative Cloud for Photographers, Part 2 appeared first on The Photo Performance.

I took in an exhibit of powerful black-and-white photos by W. Eugene Smith this morning at the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts. The photos in the Jazz Loft Project exhibit are a study in light and dark with most of the photos being quite dark. One of the exhibit’s iconic photos, of saxophonist Zoot Sims, is a portrait reduced to the essentials. Light areas occupy maybe 5% of the frame. Sims’ eye socket is a dark smudge but his intense concentration, along with the delicate curve of his instrument, shine through. Immediately behind Sims, almost lost in the shadows, is a woman who seems enraptured by his playing. In a photo of Thelonious Monk the only bright part of the shot is the cigarette dangling from Monk’s lips.

The exhibit alternates between street scenes shot from Smith’s fourth-floor apartment in New York and photos of notable jazz musicians who gathered in the city during the years between 1957 and 1965. In many cases, the photos are of seemingly mundane scenes yet they are imbued with a Twilight Zone feeling. In one, a man is inexplicably sitting in the middle of a street facing an oncoming, stopped car. Several men are standing around in rain coats and fedoras looking like they might have stepped out of an episode of The Untouchables.

The light-and-dark theme runs through the exhibit in a metaphorical as well as a literal sense. There is an overpowering sense of good vs. evil in a photo of a skyscraper tightly framed by what appear to be black dagger icicles descending from above. The skyscraper thrusts upward, rising toward the heavens, while the daggers closely framing the building descend threateningly downward. These same dark jagged points are used in other photos to tightly wrap (in a deadly embrace?)  people on the street below. Later, in a photo of Smith we see that the drapery in his room has been cut into pointed forms specifically for use as a framing device.

The light and dark theme pervades the exhibit, often with both elements in the frame at the same time. We see a sign that says “Funeral Designs” at a flower market. In another photo a police car suggests danger while a statue of a child in a frilly dress stands near a display of corsages at the opposite corner of the frame.

Although a foreboding feeling is ever-present in these photos W. Eugene Smith is not without a sense of humor. One image shows a woman standing by a sign which reads “No Standing, Bus Stop.” The same sign appears in another photo upside-down, reflected in a puddle. In another photo the sign is shown upside-down and in a mirror image—presumably, reflected twice.

The exhibit runs through Oct. 7, 2012 at the Museum of Photographic Arts. More info about The Jazz Loft Project; book and radio episodes.

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