…is what I am shooting today.
As always, flash is key to a lot of my images.
Tav Malhotra Invitational…
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Author Archives: Michael Willems
Adobe again
I am helping a client re-install Lightroom 6 on a new laptop. NOT EASY! In fact Adobe is doing everything to make it well nigh impossible to not go to Lightroom Creative Cloud version.
Try to find LR 6 on the web site. And try to find a download file so you do not need to buy a new license when you buy a new laptop. I have been trying for a day. In vain, so far. In the past, you would download a trial version. Today, there no longer seems to be a trial version of Adobe 6.
And Lightroom perpetual license 6, as they call it, is not going to be updated, and it is slowly dying anyway. Look what Adobe’s web site says today, for example:
- Due to an API behavior change introduced by Facebook, the Facebook publish service will no longer work in Lightroom 6 with a perpetual liscense [sic]. See this tech note for more details.
Also, the updater (from 6.13 to 6.14) shows this:
This sort of thing is what gives corporations a bad name. Awful corporate behaviour! Adobe, your commitment to killing LR6 an updating us al to a version where we pay every single month for the rest of our lives is noted. Your stock price reflects it; but there is such a thing as karma. As soon as there is an alternative, I expect a lot of people will go to it.
Meanwhile, I found an old .DMG I still had. I’ll use that. No thanks to Adobe.
iPhoning
Even when using an iPhone, you need to know stuff in order to take the best photos.
Like this one here (click to see it large):
Here’s Five Tips for this type of iPhone photo.
- Focus, if needed, by tapping the screen on the object you want to focus on.
- Adjust exposure as needed by dragging up or down on the screen at that point.
- For a macro shot like this, actually back off a little and crop the photo later. This is a key point.
- And most importantly, add plenty of light. This needs to be non-direct light. I prefer outside, but out of direct sunlight.
- Finally, adjust your crop and white balance, and anything else needed, afterward, by clicking on EDIT.
Enjoy!
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Flare.
Sometimes, you will experience lens flare, a lowering of contrast due to incoming bright light. Like here, from a recent event:
You can’t do much about this: it will happen especially with longer lenses and lenses prone to it.
What you can do is minimise it and its effects. Here’s how:
- Remove any protection filter that your lens has on it. These make flare worse.
- Ensure that the lens is totally clean.
- Use the lens hood your lens came with.
- In addition, shield your lens from incoming backlight with your hand if you can.
- Position yourself so as to minimise incoming backlight. As you can see in the photo, this is not always possible.
- Avoid overexposing.
- In Lightroom afterward, use “remove chromatic aberration” in the lens correction section of the Develop module.
If you follow those tips, you have done all you can!
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Have you always wanted to be able to shoot pro images? Well… a short course can get you to an amazingly professional level. And for just one week, all personalized individual or group training, at your location or at mine, or via the Internet using Google Hangouts, is $60 per hour instead of $100 per hour – that’s 40% off!
This offer is valid only until 4 May, but you can prepay now for later training. Take advantage if this opportunity and kick start your craft: Contact me today to book.