Apple's Preview application is a terrific all-purpose imaging program that comes loaded free on every Mac. It's perfect for reading PDFs, but I've talked before about its many photographer-friendly features, such as in The Simplest of All Raw Converters.

I have more of these tricks up my sleeve, and one that I want to show you today is how to use this application as a quick previewer of how an image will print on various ink/paper stock combinations.

All you have to do is drag your photo onto Preview to open it, go to Tools > Assign Profile, and pick the printer/paper combination you want to preview (obviously you will have to have ICC profiles loaded on your Mac). You can toggle back and forth between the original shot and the adjusted profile shot using the CMD-Z / SHIFT CMD-Z keystroke combinations.

Keep in mind that your monitor has to be calibrated in order for this exercise to be valuable. But it's a great way to take a quick look at how an image should print (more or less) with a certain printer and paper, even if you're not hooked up to that printer at the time.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, The Digital Story

To help celebrate the 1.0 release of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, the Lightroom Adventure Team has released a beautiful 800x600 slideshow with soundtrack. The 4:40 presentation includes photos from a variety of Adventure photographers, complete with piano music by Kevin MacLeod. This presentation is a healthy 16 MBs, so you might have to wait a minute or two for the download to complete. (I initially had "fast start" enabled, but it broke when I added the ID3 tags.)

Speaking of preparing the movie, it was actually a bit of a challenge for Mikkel Aaland and me to create using Lightroom. The problem was that you can only export slideshows to PDF out of Lightroom, so we had to overcome that in order to create this presentation. Mikkel has just blogged an interesting write up about how we accomplished this in his post titled, A Lightroom QuickTime Slideshow. Yes, QuickTime!. If you're using Lightroom, you might want to take a peek at what he has to say.

You can download the Lightroom Adventure Slideshow here.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, Lightroom Adventure, The Digital Story

ExpoDisc Custom White Balance -- Simply Better Color. Simply Better Pictures. Visit www.expodisc.com

The latest version of iView Media Pro continues Mac support (Universal Binary even) and adds Vista compatibility. Features and fixes include updated Nikon libraries for compatibility with Nikon D80/D40 camera files, corrected issues with some .XMP sidecars not being recognized (Win), and fixed a problem where preferences might not be displayed correctly (Mac). You can read the version history (PDF) for more details.

I think Microsoft is doing a good job of moving the application forward for both Mac and Windows users. If you're looking for a solid Digital Asset Manager (DAM) for photos and other media, this application is definitely worth investigating. You can download a 21-day trial if you want to take a peek.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, The Digital Story

I was driving by the Sebastopol Lagoon the other morning right after the rain had stopped. I've always had a soft spot for how the big puffy clouds reflect in the still pools of the Lagoon, accented by stately trees and a variety of vibrant green plant life.

I found a good vista point and captured about 30 frames. I was thinking that one of these might make a nice 13 x 19 inch enlargement. Unfortunately, I made a bonehead mistake by shooting the series with the white balance set on “custom” from the night before. Fortunately, I record in Raw, so I was able to correct the blunder quickly during post production in Aperture.

I began my path to redemption by selecting the “Daylight” white balance preset that I had created previously in the Adjustments HUD, then applied it to the first image in the series. With the photo still selected, I used Shift-CMD-C to copy my adjustment. Then I selected the other images in the series and used Shift-CMD-V to add the Daylight white balance setting to them.

Within just minutes, I had corrected an otherwise disasterous mistake that would have ruined my day back in the “Jpeg/destructive editing” dark years. Now I'm off to the printer to see how these shots look on paper.

PS: You can learn more about Aperture by checking out the Lynda.com training video I authored with Scott Bourne titled, Aperture 1.5: Beyond the Basics.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, The Digital Story

You'd think that I'd be crazy-excited about a new compact camera that has 7 megapixel resolution, a 10X optical lens, and high definition video capture. And to some degree, I am impressed with the just-announced Canon PowerShot TX1.

This device fits in your shirt pocket, yet can record full-motion video (to an SD card) and shoot 7 megapixel still shots. And like a dedicated video recorder, you can zoom the lens during capture -- something that many still cameras don't allow you to do in movie mode. And how about that 39-390mm optical zoom in a camera the size of a deck of cards? Wow. That is impressive. The TX1 is also Vista certified right out of the box, in addition to being Mac OS X 10.4 compatible.

But it has two major shortcomings that will keep me from purchasing it. First, if you can record stunning high-definition video (1280 x 720 @ 30fps), but have to use an onboard microphone for the audio, what are you really gaining? The image is only half of the equation in movie making, and until camera manufacturers provide us with a microphone jack so we can record equally impressive audio, we can't use these devices instead of a camcorder.

Also, I'm totally mystified by Canon's insistence on using the AVI Motion JPEG WAVE format for video instead of some flavor of MPEG. Using the AVI format, you get a whopping 13 minutes of continuous movie recording at 1280x720 resolution on a 4GB memory card. If Canon were to switch to an advanced MPEG format, they could quadruple capture time for the same amount of storage space.

So, I have to view the new PowerShot TX1 as a potentially impressive still camera (10x optical with 7 megapixel resolution) that also records movies. But as a state of the art hybrid, it comes up short for me.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, product review, The Digital Story

ExpoDisc Custom White Balance -- Simply Better Color. Simply Better Pictures. Visit www.expodisc.com

Want to hear the latest about digital photography software from Scott Bourne, Alex Lindsay, Colleen Wheeler, and Derrick Story? Then tune-in to the latest episode of the iLifeZone. Find out Derrick's top three features for Lightroom and Aperture, discover why Colleen still uses Adobe Bridge, and learn which of these interfaces Scott likes the best. It's all there in another lively episode of the iLifeZone.

You can subscribe to the iLifeZone via iTunes Music Store.

Technorati Tags: iLifeZone

Sometimes people don't install great software, such as the new Adobe Camera Raw Plug-In 3.7, because they're not exactly sure how. Even though you know you could look it up, other tasks seem to come first.

When Adobe released the 1.0 version of Photoshop Lightroom, they also posted Camera Raw Update 3.7. If you haven't done so already, this is an important plug-in for your to add to Photoshop. By doing so, you get an improved Camera Raw workspace, the latest camera support including the Nikon D40 and Pentax K10D, plus compatibility with Lightroom.

There are two ways you can update Camera Raw. Open Photoshop CS and use the Update Tool in the Help menu. Or you can download it and place it in the File Formats folder yourself. The file path is:

Hard Disc > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Plug-Ins > CS2 > File Formats

Regardless of which method you use, I highly recommend this update for Raw shooters. You can find out more by opening the Read Me file. And if you have Photoshop CS loaded on a Windows machine, you can download that version here.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, The Digital Story

In Podcast 69, I talked about what's in my camera bag. One of the things I mentioned during the show was that I wanted to know what you're packing these days when you go out for a shoot. Virtual camera club member, Anthony Watson, took me up on the offer, and here's what he has to say.

"I like your idea of having 'application specific' photo bags," says Anthony. "Some day I will do that. In the meantime, I have most everything in one bag as follows:"

• Nikon D70 body
• Sigma 50/2.8 macro lens (from my N70)
• Sigma 24-70/2.8 (also from my N70, now you know why I chose a D70)
• Sigma 70-300/4-5.6 (again, from my N70)
• Vivitar ring flash (for the macro lens)
• Nikon SB800 flash (my favorite purchase so far)
• Cokin filter system
• Cokin circular polarizer
• Cokin 2 stop hard gradient filter
• Lens pen
• Rocket blaster (thanks for the suggestion on one of your early podcasts!)
• Batteries, batteries, and more batteries
• 2 SanDisk 2GB CF cards

"This setup seems to cover just about all of my needs. I wish I had a macro lens somewhere between 85 and 135 - hopefully someday."

Tell us what you have in your camera bag. Just write a few words about your packing philosophy and add the contents list. Go to the Submissions page for contact information.

Technorati Tags: gadgets, The Digital Story

With the official release of Lightroom 1.0, it's a good time to take a look at the respective strengths of both offerings from Adobe and Apple. Along those lines, something kind of fun is brewing on the O'Reilly Digital Media site. On the Inside Aperture blog, Micah Walter is field testing both Aperture and Lightroom on a real shoot, and posting his findings daily for this week. His first post, Aperture vs. Lightroom: Let the Games Begin, sets the stage on location in the West Indies.

Over on Inside Lightroom, Michael Clark is conducting a similar comparison, and has posted his first round of thoughts in A Comparison: Adobe Lightroom vs. Apple Aperture. Both Micah and Michael are working photographers with good technical chops. I think they will handle this comparison with skill and fairness.

If you're weighing the pros and cons between these two applications, you might want to follow what these guys have to say.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, The Digital Story

If you thought you had to pay $1,000 or more for a 13 x 19 inch printer that produced gallery quality images on a variety of stocks, you're wrong. The HP B9180 is available for around $500, and you get a top quality machine for that money.

I've been testing the B9180 for a couple months, and I'm impressed with its output, the variety of excellent paper stocks available for it, the archival permanence of its output, and the closed loop color calibration system for consistent color. Here is a list of its strengths and weaknesses that I compiled over the months.

Pros

• Outstanding color and B&W output
• Densitometric closed loop color calibration system for consistent output
• Excellent paper stocks for fine art printing
• Impressive 200+ year archival rating with HP inks and paper
• Easy to use Photoshop Pro Printer plug-in
• No cartridge swapping for different paper stocks
• Rugged construction that feels durable with user-replaceable print heads
• Convenient ink level LCD indicator on outside of unit
• Large capacity 28cc ink cartridges for long life
• Always ready to print thanks to auto printhead monitoring system
• Both USB 2.0 and Ethernet connectivity built right in
• Very competitive price: as low as $510 US

Cons

• No roll paper adapter
• Temperamental manual paper feed when using the Specialty Media Tray
• Paper and ink hard to find at standard retail outlets; often must order online
• Certain types of paper jams force you to restart the printer and wait a long time to resume work

The HP Pro B9180 Inkjet Printer is an ideal "first serious" photo printer. It produces gallery-quality output up to 13 by 19 inches, is well-designed, is very affordable (around $500 US with a set of inks and sample paper), and reasonable to maintain. Photographers ready to move up to gallery-quality output at home or in the studio should take a close look at this unit.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, The Digital Story