Some clouds over Astir Beach in Vouliagmeni and great light create ideal photo conditions for the iPhone 4.

Astir Beach iPhone 4 Photos is a post from: iPhone 4 Photos
All content Copyright © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis. All rights reserved.
Contact mail: iPhone (at) yorgo.net

Calibrate and recover a Maximum of Data

The purpose of this exercise is not to reach a final result but to prepare the image for editing and post-editing. When calibrating, we try to correct systematic shortcomings of our camera. When we edit, we try to drive a maximum of data out of our image, namely because the camera delivers jpeg files which compress away quite some data of which some can be recovered.

Once we have the best possible set of data, we can apply filters and presets with a foreseeable result.

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler

The Original

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler original

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler original

Edited Version

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler edited

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler edited

BW Version

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler edited bw

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler edited bw

Post-edited Version

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler post-edited

Photo © 2010 Ute Schaedler post-edited

Enjoy!

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke

A somewhat more difficult sample in the sense that this image is not ideal for calibrating because of the color range and because it’s zoomed (114 mm in 35 mm equivalent). The image is therefore not at maximum sharpness or detail.

However, it’s a nice bird, worthwhile to spend some time on .

The Original

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke as shot

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke as shot

Edited Version

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited

Edited Version 2

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited 2

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited 2

Edited Version 3

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited 3

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke edited 3

Post-edited Version

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke post-edited

Photo © 2010 Bianca Gubalke post-edited

No comment, let the yellow bird tweet!

More later.

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Image Editing made Transparent

Tomorrow, our call we will focused on Image Editing. For this exercise we need one photograph in original format as shot.

Preparation for the call

I order to be able to advise call participants individually, I would like to ask you to select your image (can be most anything, landscape, monument, animal, flower, portrait) from your collection and attach it to an email and send it to my email at yorgo(at)yorgo.net. Please make sure you send a photo as shot without any editing, cropping or clipping or filtering. Don’t even add Lightroom camera calibration filters.

Please send a shot which has been taken without zooming. In the worst case just set your cam on automatic and take a shot out of your next window without zooming and send that one.

The earlier you send your picture, the bigger the chance that we will have time to edit it and to help you with presets or filters which may serve your camera calibration and ’standard filtering’ for quickly develop and edit your pictures.

Sample:

Recco Italy Image

Recco Italy Photo

Recco Italy Photo © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

Recco Italy Image

Recco Italy Photo © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

Recco Italy Image Black and White

Recco Italy Image Black and White © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

Recco Italy Image Post-edited

Recco Italy Image © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis

Image 1: as shot and delivered by the camera.

Image 2: basic editing – rotate the picture as the horizon was not horizontal and the verticals bend to the left side; a global vitamin pack gets the pic up to speed. As this is a heavily zoomed image, the sharpness and details cannot be recovered as should. That’s why we would like to get a image without zoom.

Image 3: Black and white version of version 2.

Image 4: Some post-editing to remove crane and construction works. This post editing job can be done much better: in this case I just blew in 3 strokes with the content aware healing brush from Photoshop CS5 – this takes exactly 3 seconds!

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Testing HDR Imaging with Lightroom 3

High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDR) is a ” set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods” (Wikipedia).

The below exercise is a simple test, using only two images with different exposures.

Image 1 – Balux Glyfada

Balux Glyfada 1

Balux Glyfada 1

The image has been taken inside a room exposing it to feature the colors of the interior. As you can see, the consequence of properly exposing the interior leads to over exposed areas, namely on the table and then all over the background where we basically see only white.

Image 2

Balux Glyfada 2

Balux Glyfada 2

The interior is underexposed, however the background or the exterior area shows colors and details as the metering is set to render a clear image in the background.

The HDR Image created in Lightroom 3

Glyfada Balux HDR

Glyfada Balux HDR

After the merger we end up with a nice compromise which can be adjusted in post editing. Lightroom did a good job on the background as wel as on the table where we get now some of the blueish shine as a reflection from the external tones.

HDR Image post-edited

Balux Glyfada edited

Balux Glyfada edited

For the purpose of this test I have just darkened the tonal range of the highlights a bit to see a real contrast to the previous image.

Conclusion

HDR imaging has become an easy task with Lightroom 3, even for beginners. The difference between the first and the last photo is simply smashing. The ability to edit HDR in Lightroom with just a few mouse-clicks will help many amateurs to get a more professional look to pictures featuring interiors.

Of course it’s also a great feature for night photography or anywhere where improved dynamic range cannot be reached with just one shot.

This and more we will demonstrate live and exercise with the participants at this week’s Ycademy calls as an add on to the Ycademy Seminar which took place during the past week-end.

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Adobe Lightroom 3 Presets

Just 4 samples using some of my Lightroom presets for the purpose of the Ycademy Seminar.

Enjoy.

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece – Original

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece – Preset 1

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece -Preset 2

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece – Preset 3

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece

Ermoupoli Syros, Greece – Preset 4

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Lightroom 3 at Ycademy Seminar

Smashing the new Lightroom 3 from Adobe. While many features useful for the professional photographer have been improved, Adobe has also thought of hobby photographers and laymen. The new edition of Lightroom makes online publishing a Sunday walk.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Smashing namely the new slide-show function which provides a quick solution for people who have little time and great ambitions.

Here is my test run, loaded to YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=epj_xS-aiSI

Quick Lightroom 3 Slideshow Quality

Lightroom 3 lets you export slide-shows in different formats; unfortunately there is not much flexibility there and the presets are 3:2 formated. However you can get 720p and 1080p as well, producing thus a YouTube HD movie as per above.

You can also export your slides in PDF format.

The images used are 4000 x 3000 pixels. Lightroom crops and compresses and in as much as I am concerned, much of the actual quality and detail is lost. here is an excerpt of one of the pictures as it came out of the camera:

Original Excerpt

Original Excerpt

When looking through the pdf or the YouTube clip, you will easily notice the difference. The images are not crisp, nor sharp and color gradients are washed away. The pdf is better than the YouTube version which is due to the YouTube compression.

Note also the Copyright mark in the slide-show frame on YouTube: I should have used a bolder face type.

In spite of the above, I am convinced that with Lightroom 3 will be a great help in publishing for many people and save a lot of time in the work-flow related to basic web publishing.

We will experiment with Lightroom 3 at the Ycademy Online Seminar which will start in just about 3 hours.

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Clacton Airshow 2010 Images

The Clacton Airshow 2010 attracts again loads of spectators and hobby as well as professional photographers. Taking a picture is one thing, getting it to the top of Google is yet another story.

Zo Nicholas has beaten them all with the publication of her images, using a Semiomantics XO Publishing Framework.

Clacton Airshow 2010 Images on Google Top 10

The topic is still hot and there are a lot of changes on the Google Top 10 on Clacton Airshow 2010 Images.

Clacton Airshow 2010 Image

Here the first hot screen-shot I took last night:

Clacton Airshow 2010 Images on Google Top 10

Zo comes in right after the BBC and ahead of YORGOO on Google rank 2. Note at the bottom Ycademy.com on rank 10!

YORGOO Publishing Network on Google Top 10

Zo Nicholas site is hooked to the YORGOO Publishing Network and she contributes to various publications. The effect is evident: the publishing power of the network assures rapid deployment and high visibility of content.

As you saw above, 3 top 10 entries in just a few hours. However the deployment was not over at this stage.

When I looked at the issue early this morning, the face had changed:

Clacton Airshow Images on Google Top 10

A second wave shows still 3 top 10 positions with Garden Route Publishing on the number 2 spot (Garden Route Publishing has just been upgraded to the brand new Semiomantics XO Media Framework which will be released later this year).

Surprise, surprise, there comes a good old YORGOO Blaster in as well on rank 2! and finally Ycademy, this time on rank 9.

Just an hour later, this is what I get right now:

Zo Nicholas on rank 5 and YORGOO Publishing on rank 10; and I am sure it will change again during the day as the deployment is not finished yet. Also I would expect this post to become visible soon, as well as another post I loaded the Destinations Expo .

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Photo Media Stock Seminar Information

This week-ends Photo Media Seminar has a busy schedule like all Ycademy Seminars and to anticipate some of the issues I would like to invite participants to prepare the following:

Adobe Lightroom 3

We will introduce and work with Adobe Lightroom 3. There are some amazing features and improvements of the software which will make our work easier. Amongst the improvements you will  find:

1. Superior Noise Reduction
2. Support for DSLR video file formats
3. Improved Image Watermarking
4. New Image Importing Interface
5. Perspective Correction
6. Tethered shooting
7. Lens Correction
8. Improved Slide-shows with Music

and more.

Please download and install the 30 days trial version from Adobe: Click HERE.

DO NOT install unless you have attended last night’s session.

We will install and custom configure the software at tonight’s Ycademy call.

Camera Calibration

As far as I am aware of, all participants use cameras which out-put jpg format images, compared to RAW formats. We will therefore do an empirical calibration based on what we see. For this reason, we work with a few images shot with our camera as follows:

• 3 images daylight, normal conditions
• 3 images low light conditions
• 3 images flash (indoors, party, rooms,…)

Please load the pictures to a blog post or a page as wide as your column allows (for most 460 pixels).

Example before and after:

iPhone 4 Photos as shot:

Syros Ferry

Everybody knows the Vodafone red …. for my taste the above is too warm, too orange tinted.

Blue and White

Same here, the white is yellowish and the blue drifting off to a hazy warm blue.

Syros Ermoupoli

Again very warm and yellow …

I have used the above iPhone 4 Photos to create a calibration preset in Lightroom 3. Then I re-loaded the images again and applied the preset to obtain the following results:

Syros Ferry Calibrated

Purified mid tones and cooler tonal range, a bit of sharpening and the photo looks pretty much as I remember the scene.

Calibrated iPhone 4 Photo

The cooling provokes ‘blueish’ shadows … still better than yellow. The white on top of the image is closer to the real white.

Calibrated iPhone 4 Photo

Cooling helps a lot here; the countryside in the background has its real color. The walls of the buildings on the foreground are yellow in reality and dominate the color range. We are here pretty close to reality.

I have taken a similar photo with my P&S Leica V-Lux-20:

Syros with Leica V-Lux-20

You may notice that this Photo before editing is better than the edited version of the iPhone Photo … or a more zoomed version:

Ermoupoli with Leica V-Lux-20

As unreal as it may appear, these blues really stick out. However calibrating this camera, I would rather reduce the blue impact and create a preset which is less cool.

Note the church on the last image is also visible on the third iPhone Picture. The two pics have been taken from about the same location and distance. The optical zoom of the Leica provides a smashing result considering that we are talking about a camera about of the size of a box of cigarettes.

Size

You like this picture? Pretty sharp huh … that one has been taken with a credit card size Leica C-Lux-3 Point and Shoot camera. Nice details … you see all the dust and finger prints on the cam and the iPhone.

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Destinations Expo Live

Our new site “Destinations Expo” went live last night with some minimum content.

Destinations Expo Cape Town

Inspired by the Destinations Expo Cape Town which takes place these days we thought about creating a permanent Destinations Expo Online. The idea is simple: we open the site to Traveling and Tourism related business and publish selected Destinations throughout our publishing networks.

Advertising completes the content.

Destination Sea

Destinations Expo Online

We are not yet sure about the final form and shape to give the online Destination Expo; however we believe that a Destinations Expo online, sorted by Countries or Places could be an interesting approach.

The combination of the main site and customer sites will provide advertisers and customers an unequaled marketing advantage. For the time being we are testing category structures and Google response.

Destinations Expo South Africa

To start with we will test Destinations in South Africa. Thereafter we will look closer at Greece and other countries.

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Destinations Expo Branding

A little search on Google returns the following for Destinations Expo and related search terms:

Destinations Expo

The generic term, Destinations Expo returns roughly 1.6 million results; here are the Google Top 10:

Destinations Expo

Destinations Expo on Google

The South African Media site comes first under this generic terms. Note that even under this term, 2 sites of the YORGOO Publishing Network show up on Top 10.

Destinations Expo 2010 Cape Town

This seems to be the correct full name of the event we are looking at.

Destinations Expo 2010 Cape Town

Destinations Expo 2010 Cape Town on Google

Note the total absence of the Official site hosted by the South African Media Company, owners of the Expo. This site here takes ranks 1 and 2, while the YORGOO Blog and Garden Route Publishing  sit on number 7 and 8. Interestingly all tourism authority sites are beaten.

Destinations Expo 2010

This short phrase returns an interesting result as well:

Destinations Expo 2010

Destinations Expo 2010 on Google

Two of our sites make it while the key phrase is dominated by tourism oriented authority sites. The official site is completely absent again.

Destinations Expo Cape Town

Google Top 10 for Destinations Expo Cape Town shows the following:

Destinations Expo Cape Town

Destinations Expo Cape Town on Google Top 10

The official site makes it to the top while we get ranks 2 and 6. The tourism authority sites are all beaten again.

Conclusion

The Destinations Expo is not solidly branded online. I would expect to see the official site on top under all the above keywords. The local authority sites do a good job, however their SEO does not live up to the SEO standards of Semiomantics Frameworks used on all featured sites of our publishing network.

I am wondering now what a Semiomantics XO on a keyword related domain will do . Look forward to Destinations Expo our site under construction.

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