Sharpening Tips.

[okidoki]

Hello, just found this oasis for us S2 nerds...

Kind of new to the digital photography world.

Many questions to be answered, I'll start with these:

I am interested in getting into wedding photography.
Naturally I would like to get the best out of my camera without spending hours infront of the computer. What settings would you suggest to me to run a test, I thought that I would take shots outside in the shadow, inside with available light.

Am I better of doing a batch sharpening in photoshop? Or should I get used to the settings the camera has to offer?

The ideal for me would be to be able to download to the computer, roatate what's needed and create a preview webpage for my future clients to view...

Too much in my head to put down in a thread like this, perhaps you know of links or tips pages you could forward me to... and as I mentioned, what settings should I use for my test???

Your advice is much apreciated.

And if you are a wedding photographer in the Los Angeles area and would consider a pupil / assistant / second photographer during weekends please drop me a line.

Many thanks.

Timo

[Swampy]

Welcome Timo! The questions you ask have probably already been answered for the most part, I'm just being incredibly lazy today though, so someone else may answer, but remember, this forum by default really only shows you about the the last 30 days. Go to the bottom and select a longer period. Do a bunch of reading here. There's ALL kinds of tips, info, test shots with different lenses. The search capability here works really well, so most definitely do some searching on some of the subjects you're looking for.

Too big of a lunch, I'm going to lock my office door and take a nap. haha.

I'm not too far from you, although I don't do weddings... From near El Toro...

[Tom Nolle]

Probably an early question you'll need to answer is what format you'll shoot in. Shooting in JPG gives you the simplest worlflow (you can set to sharpen in camera) and you can use the "Save for Web" feature of Photoshop to build a very quick gallery for people to select from. The downside is that there is less control over JPG images.

If you shoot in RAW format and use the Fuji EX converter you have considerable control over white balance, exposure, etc. You also have a much more complex workflow to deal with. What you *may* want to consider is shooting in RAW with the camera set to sharpen normally, color normal, white balance AUTO and then extract the JPGs using the utility that comes with the EX converter. You can then post these for people to select from. You can then convert the RAW images of only the shots someone selects and do a more careful processing of those.

Tom

[okidoki]

I think I will shoot JPEG's.
Must run some sort of test to see if the camera settings are the ones to use.
Or if there is a smart way to batch in PS.

Thanks for your reply.

Timo

[Tom Nolle]

There's a lot of books and other work on batching in Photoshop, but the basic idea is to first record an action of sharpening. You start recording, then open a sample image, run your sharpen process and anything else you want to do as a standard, set "save as" to save it, and stop recording. You can then use the Automate>Batch command in the file menu to select the directory you want to read from, where you want to save back, and what action (presumably the one you just created!) that you want to run. When you start, it runs the action on each file in the selected directory, saving the result where you chose.

Tom

[Tom V]

Really practice and test a lot. Make sure you understand the camera 100% and can anticipate the results everytime.

There is a lot to learn. I have been a professional photographer since 1980, used cameras from 35mm motion, Hassy SWC, to 11x14 view, reel-to-reel 1/2" video, digital cameras since 1997, and have had my S2 for over a year. I still keep my S2 manual on my desk or in my camera bag.

Understand the light balance, jpg compression, battery usage and management, histogram, how sharpening works, image size vs file size, how switching from continous to single frame shooting can change the way preview and postview work, TTL at different distances and subjects works (it is not as foolproof as it is supposed to be), the digital focal length factor, dynamic focusing, etc.

Do all this before you shoot a wedding. You cannot reshoot a wedding. You cannot risk making a mistake because you didin't understand the camera. Be professional, and understand the craft and tools before you hang the shingle out. Be serious about it, and you can make seriously good images, and charge serious money.

Practice
Read
Learn
Practice
Read
Learn

[CaptJR]

Originally posted by Tom Voegeli
Understand the light balance, jpg compression, battery usage and management, histogram, how sharpening works, image size vs file size, how switching from continous to single frame shooting can change the way preview and postview work, TTL at different distances and subjects works (it is not as foolproof as it is supposed to be), the digital focal length factor, dynamic focusing, etc.

woo, wooo, woo. I was doing fine and then my mind said, 'what was that about continuouse and single frame in the middle of that paragraph?'. I really don't remember reading about that in the book. Is there a quick answer to what you meant there Tom?

JR

[Swampy]

In continuous mode, If you have Preview selected, it will flash up the last picture in the "series" but only for a second, instead of leaving it up on the screen. You won't see any of the previous pictures either, but they will all be saved - Can't preview them all, only the last one.

If you have Postview selected in continuous mode, it will do the same thing basically. Save them all, and show you the last one, but only for a second - it will clear the screen itself.

[Tom V]

If you are shooting away in CONTINOUS mode with PREVIEW or PREVIEW WITH HISTOGRAM, your camera will automatically record the image whether or not you choose to. If you switch to SINGLE FRAME MODE, your camera will stop automatically recording the image(s) unless you press the SAVE FILE button.

All this is fine and in the manual (although spread around). It becomes a problem when you get used to the camera recording everything automatically in CONTINUOUS & PREVIEW. It becomes a problem when you switch to SINGLE FRAME advance and don't realize that the camera is going to stop automatically recording. Who would think that changing the "frame advance rate" could affect whether the camera records or not.

I had been happily shooting in CONTINUOUS and had the camera set to PREVIEW for a number of days without problem. I went in the studio and because I was using strobes that take a while to recycle, switched the camera to SINGLE frame advance. Suddenly, without warning, I found that nothing was being recorded.

In short, when the camera is set to CONTINUOUS, the camera behaves as if it were in POSTVIEW, regardless of your actual setting.

[okidoki]

hm...

So, you guys use the post / preview function.

- Is this for one frame only to see if you are "in the neigborhood" of a 100% exposure?
- Or do you do it continuosly?

Personally I've only used it once, it took away "the moments" too much and was too "distracting" both for me and the subject...
Maybe I should go back and start using it...
I have never used continuous shooting either, why do you guys use that???

Sooo much new stuff to learn...

It sounds like I never held a camera doesn't it...

:)

Timo

[Tom Nolle]

Different strokes, as they say!

I never use the preview function because I normally shoot wildlife or "spur of the moment" situations and since I shoot multiple shots I can't take the time to look at previews. Same with voice memo. What I do is to hit "play" when I have a shot that I have time to review; that will give you the last image you took. I also record voice memos when I can to remind me of where I am and what I'm shooting (all geysers in Yellowstone look alike!).

You have to review the settings and options and pick a combination that suits how you're going to use the camera. If settings become an impediment to shooting what you want to shoot, you're doing something wrong. Otherwise, anything goes.

Tom