Nick Alpin Photography

SlideShowPro for Adobe Lightroom

You can now export SlideShowPro content directly from Adobe Lightroom… brilliant! This is great for providing clients a proof gallery. Go check it out:
http://slideshowpro.net/products/slideshowpro/slideshowpro_for_lightroom

Lightroom and Leopard issues

After upgrading to Mac OS X Leopard, I noticed some issues in Adobe Lightroom while importing images. After a quick Google search I found a workaround and other info at Lightroom Journal.

Now if all the other software developers would do the same…

Alien Bees ABR800

I recently purchased the Alien Bees ABR800 ringflash. From what I understand, it’s the best value in the market in regard to ringlflashes. Other models go for quite a bit more and are unwieldly. I’m personally a fan of Alien Bees and have had great success with their products, so I was happy to go with them on this piece of gear.

I’ll start off with my gripes. The construction, mainly the base of the unit, doesn’t feel incredibly sturdy. It’s made out of hard plastic which isn’t uncommon, but it’s slightly awkward. There are two mounting options: 1) on a light stand using a standard type of swivel mount, or 2) mounting on a tripod. The unit comes with a thread on the bottom which a quick-release plate can be screwed into. Forward/backward and vertical adjustments are made by slightly twisting a knob which increases/decreases pressure. When I first twisted the vertical control knob, there was a bit of resistance, twisting more cracked it. I tried using epoxy with no luck. Twisting with pliars worked but was unacceptable in the longterm. An email to Alien Bees brought a replacement very quickly, for free. Their service is second to none.

Now for the good stuff. The light is very very nice. With or without the optional moon unit (essentially a softbox), the light is brilliant. It’s taking me a bit to get used to but that’s the case with any new gear. I can’t expand too much on it since I’ve had it for only a week, but I’m looking forward to experimenting outdoors with the ABR800 and Vagabond battery pack. I’m confident this will take my images to a new level, and beyond.

Update
This post apparently appears often in Google searches for the ABR800 battery. If you’re looking for information or a replacement: http://www.alienbees.com/battery.html

Through The Viewfinder (TTV)

I’ve been experimenting with a new (to me) technique called Through The Viewfinder. I first came across this on flickr. This was some months ago, but after attempting to build my own ‘contraption’, I gave up.

More recently, I rediscovered the technique and decided to go for it. My reasons for being so interested are 1) I could make use of my old film cameras without the cost of film and processing, 2) that vintagy/worn look is fantastic, and 3) instant gratification. Film is a bummer to use since it takes days to get film to, have film processed by and photos picked up from my local lab.

So below is an image of my first attempt as well as a number of links. All of the information, tricks and tips are already out there. The only thing unique to my technique may be my gear, Nikon D70 with a Quantaray 50mm macro lens. Apparently Quantaray is a rebranded name used by Ritz, but I can’t recall the original brand.

Resources:
Through the Viewfinder: A Tutorial 
through-the-viewfinder.blogspot.com (on hiatus)

Flickr groups:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/throughtheviewfinder/
flickr.com/groups/ground_glass
flickr.com/groups/squareformat

Flickr tags:
‘ttv’: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=ttv&w=all
‘throughtheviewfinder’: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=throughtheviewfinder&m=text

Digital Infrared Photography Tutorial

InfraRed photography has become quite popular. I’ve heard it referred to as a fad, which I disagree with. Previously with film photography many techniques were incredibly difficult or not possible at all. Now, with the digital darkroom, many many things are possible, and that’s a good thing.

I’ve personally been experimenting with IR and HDR techniques to break out of a creative funk. Viewing things in a different light (pun intended) has helped tremendously. This has not only helped me creatively and technically but also philosophically. Exploring the Central Florida area has done wonders for my internal dialogue.

Below is an image taken this weekend at Fort Christmas, Fl on a beautiful sunny day. The skies were clear aside from the vapour trails. I only had a few minutes to shoot as this part of the park was due to close, hence the poor composition. I’ve been asked on various occassions on the settings I use, so I’ll provide some essential tips and links to other resources which give a bit more info.

The above image was shot with a Nikon D70 with a Hoya R72 filter. I left on the Hoya UV filter, but I’m not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing to do. I also have a Cokin 007 IR filter but haven’t experimented much with it… yet.

The most essential step is to get a custom white balance setting, this will help you get rid of that red hue which is common for IR images. Walk over to a patch of sun lit grass, set your camera to aperture priority (I use f8 or so) and focus on the grass. Switch to manual focus, set your camera to measure custom white balance, attach your filter and shoot the grass. Make sure you shoot with filter on. This step was the source of my frustrtation for some time until a fellow flickr user gave some tips.

After you have your custom white balance setting, remove the filter, change to auto focus (if you desire), mount the camera on a tripod and frame your shot. Once you have everything how you like, switch back to manual focus, attach your filter and shoot. At this point experimentation is key, because depending on the intensity of the sun, your shot may require +1 or +2 exposure compensation. Review your images on the LCD and look out for hot spots. It’s very difficult to go back and post process an image with areas that are totally white. Underexposing may result in noisy images, so play around with bracketing, it won’t hurt.

After you’re done shooting and are back at the computer, open your image in Photoshop. I shoot RAW but don’t tweak the image in Camera Raw. Instead I just open the image and apply basic steps (for which I’ve created an action):

1. Duplicate the first layer (just in case)
2. On the duplicate layer, do Auto Levels
3. Create a Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer and swap the Red/Blue values which would be Red(Red-0%, Blue-100%) and Blue (Red-100%, Blue 0%)
4. Create a Curves Adjustment Layer and adjust your shadows/highlights to taste
5. Create a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer and adjust contrast to taste

Every image is different, so each one will take a bit of tweaking. Now, here are a few links which will get you on your way or fill in the blanks from the above info:

Digital Infrared Photography with the D70 (link)
Infrared basics for digital photographers (link)
Infrared photography with a digital camera (link)
Shooting Infrared with digital cameras (link)

Leave questions or suggestions in the comments.