Seeing colours for the first time: Why everyone using Lightroom should switch from ACR 4.4

While catching up on my photo news this evening I came across an article at Inside Lightroom that caught my attention: Adobe Camera Raw profiling.

Like many photographers who make the jump from Jpeg digital photography to RAW shooting I have for a long time enjoyed the extra flexibility that the RAW file format provides, especially when it comes to adjusting white balance and squeezing that extra half a stop of tonality from a blown out wedding dress. However (and this is a BIG however) until today I had never really taken seriously the drawbacks of RAW image editing especially one tiny crucial detail: Camera Profiles. Adobe camera raw in both Photoshop and Lightroom has to interpret the colour information from the RAW files it receives from your camera, such as Nikons .NEF's and Canons CR2's. By default Lightroom and Photoshop will interpret these based on the Adobe Camera Raw plugin's own profile calibrations ACR 2.4 or ACR 4.4 (and more recently for Photoshop CS4 owners the ACR 5.2 update, which can be found HERE) .

Having previously ignored these settings and oblivious to the comments of other Lightroom users who complained of dull oranges and muddy skin tones, I have for the longest time processed my Canon Raw files using the Lightroom 2 default calibration of ACR 4.4. From this point on however I will never make this mistake again. Out of curiosity I downloaded Adobes Beta camera profiles that they rolled out ahead of Lightroom 2.2. Using ACR4.4 as a base I compared a .CR2 file with the new beta profiles. The results where quite shocking to me, as the 100% crop comparison image below demonstrates:

*ACR 4.4 on the left and Camera Standard Beta 2 on the right*

The blacks are blacker and the red and orange tones are vibrant and more saturated purely as a result of using a correct camera profile when managing these RAW files noise also seems to be reduced. Needless to say I will be editing all my images with suitable profiles from now on and will not overlook this incredibly important stage in my digital work flow any longer.

*Taken from a 100% crop of the same image this clip clearly shows the difference in black levels and saturation when using the Camera Standard beta 2 calibration*

For a better look at the differences these profiles can make take a look at this blog post at Jao's Photo Blog

Another Product Shot...

This weekend I decided to have another go at my Xbox 360 controller. Exactly the same lighting, different composition and a nice simple background in Photoshop. Sometimes its worth going back to old projects with fresh eyes to see how you tackle them with the benefit of hindsight. You can view the original effort and tutorial HERE.

* This image retains the authors copy right, not for commercial use without express permission.*

Mini Project: Xbox Controller Promo: Taking Mark George's Advice.

Last week I was lucky enough to receive a lecture from top photographic agent Mark George. One of the key factors Mark discussed regarding making the transition from lowly student to successful professional is practice. Mark encouraged us all to immerse ourselves totally in the craft of picture taking, a sentiment echoed by Chase Jarvis in a recent post on his own blog. Fellow photographer and friend Tom Hole has an in depth look at Marks Lecture at The Photography Student Blog we worth a read for any aspiring photographer looking to make it.

Mark really impressed the idea that style develops as a result of constant practice and that by engaging in self-driven study, taking photos everyday, a photographer gains a sensitivity to the world through the viewfinder and can work towards the pictures we all wish we could take (such as these by Vincent Laforet). So on this note yesterday ,while waiting for my colour negatives to develop, I decided to act on this advice and set myself a mini still-life project.

I set off that morning with a vague urge to shoot a product shot and so on leaving the house grabbed the nearest electronic gadget i could muster: the lowly wireless Xbox 360 controller.

Given the objects nice matte off white surface and bold primary coloured elements I decided to shoot a high-key set up. I started by placing a light box on a table beneath the controller with a green gel to add a slight colour accent to the edges of the controller. I added a bit of diffusion to the gel with a large piece of polished opaque perspex. This produced the following result:

When I was happy with this high key backdrop I started to think about the fill light. I didn't want any harsh shadows so I picked a small soft box and placed it above and slightly back from the light box, filling in the controllers top surface from top center. This allowed to a slight soft shadow around the details on the controller buttons making them appear more three-dimensional. The key light was set to one stop brighter than the light box. Illustrated below:


My first test shots showed a few problem areas to be addressed. First of all the shiny plastic of the D-Pad was showing a distracting reflection. This was solved by adding a white flag just above the camera lens which blocked the reflection:









The next problem to address was that the LED lights on the controller where being totally overpowered by the studio lights. In order to bring the LEDs into the exposure i adjusted the shutter speed of the camera from 1/125 sec to 1 second, the huge difference in exposure was not a problem regarding ambient light leakage as the studio was pitch black save for the modeling lights. This adjustment really made the shot and gave the object some life. For more info on this technique check out this excellent product lighting tutorial from Lighting Essentials.












So after after correcting for these factors I ended up with the image below. I brought this RAW image into Adobe Lightroom and corrected the hue of the green gel to match the green of the LED lights and made a minor brightness adjustment. Then on to Photoshop for the backdrop.


To achieve the cyan green glow gradient I imported a second virtual copy of the original file but with the hue of the green gel pushed to cyan. The left and right edges of the glow where then masked in at the bottom to add the cyan accents.


Then the background was created by masking out the to product itself and building layers of colour in the same tones as the original image using a paint brush effect pack. I added a soft white glow around the controller and using the Gaussian blur filter and a screen adjustment layer to create a soft neon glow on the background.



Finally a purple backdrop was created by making a difference layer and selecting the opposite tones to the original image and filling the backdrop with these colour, the opposite tones making the product really pop out of the image; although if I was to submit this to the client (I.E. Microsoft) I would probably submit the white backdrop version as its more in line with the current Xbox 360 branding. I finished up by flattening the image and adding a subtle unsharp mask, with a radius of 9 and a threshold of 250.

Hope you enjoyed this walk through as much as i did creating it. I hope to have a few more of my mini projects up soon.

End of term thoughts.

As part of my current commercial photography studies I have had to fulfill several technically minded briefs. These have included both mono and colour location portraiture, (utilizing both off- camera flash and ambient light respectively), 5x4 large format studio still lives, on top of studio based high and low key lighting techniques. As the end of this terms technical project approaches I thought I would look back on my first term, sharing a few of my thoughts and test images with you.

The main concerns I had when beginning this course was that the first term project itself was restricted to using film cameras and processing techniques. This was new territory for me as I've been self-taught on digital cameras until beginning the course. Initially I approached film photography like a small child poking a dead animal with a stick, It fascinated me but at the same time I didn't trust it and if I'm honest, the arrogant DSLR user inside me told me that I was above this medieval technology. I couldn't have been more wrong.


Film Photography is great and Ive learnt loads from its engaging physicality. That's not to say that I'm one of those born again art student photographers who has fallen in love with film and will never go back. 35mm film photography is dead and buried in my opinion, its fiddly, expensive and just doesn't stand up next to the current generation of digital alternatives. Medium format 120mm film photography, on the other hand, is fantastic.


The Arts institute at Bournemouth is one of the few colleges in the UK to maintain its own C41 & E6 film processing suite, which takes all the hassle out of 120 film development. This coupled with a mac suite full of Power Macs and Imacon scanners makes it possible to really get the most out of the incredible detail that can be achieved from Medium format film, and without resorting to a £30K digital back (one day...).


So, I like 120mm film; I still love digital. More importantly I feel that in taking this step into film development and printing I have a much better appreciation for many of the physical aspects of photography that I had previously glossed over, primarily due to ignorance. The use of light meters, colour balance, print quality, tonality and 'getting it right in camera' are all concepts i have really taken on board. I've really enjoyed my time on the course so far and I hope that improvements in my photography swiftly follow.

Watch this space.

Surfing at Bournemouth Pier

I was in town early today scouting a location for a shoot this weekend in an amusement arcade on Bournemouth pier. I was quickly distracted from my scouting by a the huge group of surfers who had taken to the water, keen to make the most of the unusually large swells and gorgeous sunshine.

So, I pulled out my long lens and started shooting; unfortunately I quickly ran out of memory cards, and so after a quick memory dump, brunch and a hasty hat and glove purchase ( December on the seafront is not warm Ive discovered) I headed back to the pier for the rest of the afternoon, accompanied by my photographic partner in crime Tom Hole.

Needless to say we were transfixed by the amazing talent on display and the incredible clear winter light.The Pier made the perfect vantage point to get alongside our subjects as the waves broke. The surfers themselves where great guys of all different ages and by the end of the evening I just wanted to be in the water with them. Here are a few hastily processed shots from a perfect day.