Sofie Dittmann's Photography Blog

As soon as I got my Canon Rebel xTI, I started to almost exclusively shoot in RAW. For essentially two reasons. One, I don’t have to worry about white balance. Two, I have complete control (OK, almost complete control) over the data.

That is important to me because even though I try as much as I can to prepare a photograph, set up light sources, blah blah blah – the way I shoot is almost always dictated by what happens at that moment. My best shots are born out of spontaneity.

This spontaneity, though, means that I may have an ISO setting on the camera that is not fast enough, a shutter speed that doesn’t work etc. RAW has helped me more than once salvage a photograph which, had it been taken in JPEG, would not have been salvageable, or only after LOTS of work. If the white balance is off, I can easily correct it. If it is underexposed, I play with a few sliders.

Inevitably, a lot of times salvaging a photograph introduces noise. I have come to appreciate that, however, because it can look quite interesting as a black-and-white. Therefore, I typically convert to black-and-white in such a case, and the results have been astonishing. Alternatively, I may take a picture in a very high ISO, then convert it to black-and-white at least partially. The photograph of the wine glass was taken at ISO 1600 with no flash present, then partially left a color photography, while the rest of it was converted to black-and-white.

A good book on RAW conversion, at least to start with, is “The Art of RAW Conversion” by Uwe Steinmueller and Juergen Gulbins. Even if you buy it only for the stunning cover photograph. It gives a very nice intro into what RAW conversion is, what potentials it holds and when to use it/not to use it (for the latter, any type of photograph that requires fast camera action, such as sports photography, probably does NOT lend itself to RAW). Check it out!

Sofie Dittmann Photography General, Resource black and white, photograph, RAW conversion, still life

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843

Anybody who does web design in any serious fashion knows about Firebug, THE ultimate plugin for the Firefox browser, now available for Firefox 3. Firebug is the ONE way to quickly and efficiently diagnose style, i.e. css issues with your website. Or, how I used it, with the integration of several different freeware scripts into one serious app.

You can use it in SO many different, wonderful ways. Create mockups of a live site on the Web that might not even be yours. Play with different styles to figure out just WHY it displays in a weird way on your screen. The one time it will NOT help you is when it looks OK in Firefox, but not in IE.

Yet, who cares? I owe this tool to a friend, and I’m eager to pass it on to you. Download it here.

Sofie Dittmann Check this out!, Resource Firebug, Firefox, plug-in, web design

So, here’s the question. Do you actually save anything if you’re trying to save money, or are you just spending MORE in the end – more time, more nerves, more…

Yes, I’m still at it, trying to get three freeware apps – each GREAT in their own right – to talk to each other. AND IT’S NOT EASY. But then, I’ve always been somebody to love this kind of a challenge, so here I am, still plugging away at it.

Here’s where it stands: I have Gallery 2.3 – surprisingly successfully – embedded into Joomla 1.5. I have just now started to also embed it into WordPress. At the same time, I’m trying to literally take everything out that the makers of Gallery so painstakingly put in. I’ve removed the dates from albums, I’m not displaying the album actions and search bar. I’m basically going bare bones. Why? Because all I wanted was ONE central place to feed photographs into. And I’m getting there, with a little more tweaking.

Sometimes, though, in my darkest hours, I sit at my computer and am ready to take a hammer to it. Yes, I love a challenge. And I’ll keep at it. Maybe in a year I’ll cave in and get a smugmug account.

Sofie Dittmann OMG!, Photography General, Resource gallery 2.3 embedded, joomla 1.5, wordpress

Do you follow common “tweetiquette”? What is that, anyway?

I feel compelled to write down a few points I feel should be taken into account when posting on Twitter, regardless of how you are posting (txt, tweetdeck etc.).

1. Tell me something interesting. Give me a reason to follow you.
2. Don’t expect me to follow you if you don’t tell me something interesting.
3. I WILL block you if you are being offensive.
4. Just because other apps are feeding into your Twitter posts doesn’t mean I think they’re interesting.
5. It would be nice if you followed me once I start following you, but there’s a reason Twitter makes that one optional.

A very wise person once said something like: ” ’tis better to have followed and unfollowed, than to never have been followed at all” or something like that.

Sofie Dittmann Photography General, Resource RSS, twitter, word press

As a learn-it-yourselfer, I like those books you can follow basically like a recipe. That doesn’t mean you will be able to replicate completely what you see, but the ones I’ve purchased mostly explain well enough how people got the results they got.

“Lighting for Portrait Photography” by Steve Bavister is no exception. I wish I had been able to get his “Lighting for Still Life” book also, but it was out of print last time I checked. Maybe I ought to try Ebay for that one.

Anyway.

While, largely out of necessity, I’ve learned to photograph with natural light mostly, this book gives a good idea as to set up of light sources and likely results. Which is what I was looking for primarily. It’s also a great inspiration in terms of the photographs actually displayed as examples, and some of them are stunning.

I’m sure you can actually get if from Amazon.com still. If you’re looking for a good start on portrait lighting, this one is it!

Admin Check this out!, Photography General, Resource lighting for portrait photography, photography, portrait photography, steve bavister