First M8 Shot

[gurtch]

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My M8 arrived Saturday, Dec 30. Yesterday I went along side our home (bay front NJ seashore), just to try it out. I made the attached shot with M8, 50mm f1.5 Carl Zeiss lens, no IR filter at f8, shutter speed unrecorded, ISO 640 (very windy, needed high shutter speed to stop motion). I'm experimenting with work flow. If anyone is interested here is what my workflow was:

Down loaded from card reader, and viewed in C1. Converted in C1 using defaults. Opened in CS for light fine tuning: adjustment layers for levels, and slight boost in saturation, slight burning of edges and corners. Applied PK capture sharpen. I usually save the file at this stage as my master image, with layers in tact. I then rename the file to include in the name the output size. In this case it is 16"x24". I flattened the file, and uprezzed in Alien Skin's "Blowup" to 16"x24" at 240 dpi. I then applied Alien Skin's grain (a small amount in mid tones, and half that amount in shadows and highlights). I then used PK sharpener output sharpen for 240 dpi inkjet glossy. Final print made on Epson Premium Glossy at 16"x24" on an Epson 7600, using Bill Atkinson's profiles. The actual print is rather spectacular, even though the image is a rather ordinary trial shot. The quality is saleable, and I think I can go to 20"x30" with the proper subject matter. I welcome comments/help/corrections regarding work flow. I must say, I really dislike C1, compared to the Canon File Viewer Utility. In the Canon program, you can create and name directories (folders) right in the program with out leaving it, then down load from the card reader directly to the new folders. In C1 I have to leave the program and create folders in Windows Explorer, then return to C1. In addition,, when I batch images and convert them in C1, I ALWAYS loose the damn images, and spend time searching to see where they ended up.

Sorry for the long post, but maybe it may help someone, and maybe someone can help me.

Regards

Dave Gurtcheff

Beach Haven NJ

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[grober]

David,

 

Welcome.

 

And, of course, searching for images on the bloddy computer is NOT what we want to do, eh?

 

I have the same problem, time after time. (It's a Windows thing.) Windows was never designed to be sensible and easy to use by we mere humans. It was designed by Gates and his lucky fellow to make them money everytime IBM sold a "personal" computer.

 

There's a crying need for an image manipulation, printing and archiving program that can be used of the "rest of us" who flat don't care for computers nor wish to spend endless hours on them doing things like searching for processed images carelessly placed by obtuse programs in hidden compartments..

 

-g

[johnwolf]

Dave,

 

Very nice image. On my screen the sky looks noisy. Maybe the saturation, sharpening, or JPG conversion?

 

I don't know C1, but with CS2 you can sharpen only selected areas (in your case the plants), and leave the relatively solid areas (sky) alone. You can do the same with the High Pass Sharpening filter.

 

Of course, what really matters is the wonderful print you've gotten from the file.

 

John

[bnelson]

Did you see this thread on C1 workflow earlier today?

 

http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/12773-raw-workflow.html

 

Bill

[gurtch]

Dave,

 

Very nice image. On my screen the sky looks noisy. Maybe the saturation, sharpening, or JPG conversion?

 

I don't know C1, but with CS2 you can sharpen only selected areas (in your case the plants), and leave the relatively solid areas (sky) alone. You can do the same with the High Pass Sharpening filter.

 

Of course, what really matters is the wonderful print you've gotten from the file.

 

John

Thanks John. The actual print, when held up close, shows a slight "grain" effect, which I added. I'm experimenting, and tend to like the effect---the images look less "plasticky", and more like a photograph.

Dave

[gurtch]

Did you see this thread on C1 workflow earlier today?

 

http://www.leica-camera-user.com/digital-forum/12773-raw-workflow.html

 

Bill

Bill I used your link. A great post by Allan. I printed it out and am saving it for future reference.

Dave

[wda]

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My M8 arrived Saturday, Dec 30. and uprezzed in Alien Skin's "Blowup" to 16"x24" at 240 dpi.

Regards

Dave Gurtcheff

Beach Haven NJ

 

David

I feel a bit of a fraud joining your thread with no M8! However, I am interested in your use of 'Blowup'. I recently started a thread seeking user's views and got one or two interesting examples. Clearly you know what you are doing producing such large prints for sale. My need is more modest viz, upping my D2's 5mp files to A3. Would you regard Blowup as overkill for such modest enlargements? And, more difficult, would the benefit justify $200 expenditure? I would welcome you views. Thanks.

 

David

[doc_otto]

David,

 

There's a crying need for an image manipulation, printing and archiving program that can be used of the "rest of us" who flat don't care for computers nor wish to spend endless hours on them doing things like searching for processed images carelessly placed by obtuse programs in hidden compartments..

 

-g

The new Miscrosoft Vista OS will ease part of your pain. Stealing from Mac OS X and Spotlight, Vista has Instant Search, a text box at the bottom of the Start menu. As you type in the Instant Search text box, the Start menu turns into a list of every file, folder, program and e-mail message that meets your search criteria, regardless of names or folder locations. A similar search box appears at the top of every Explorer window, for quick access to documents under that folder hiarchy.

v/r Dave Otto

[Paul_S]

In C1 I have to leave the program and create folders in Windows Explorer, then return to C1. In addition,, when I batch images and convert them in C1, I ALWAYS loose the damn images, and spend time searching to see where they ended up.

 

Regards

Dave Gurtcheff

Dave,

To give yourself more fun with C1 and C1 (Windows) more credit at the same time:

- you can create subfolders from within C1

- you can download images from your memory card directly into the desired folder from within C1

- you can set a specific folder for processed images or let C1 always create a subfolder in the folder with the raw files

- you can start Windows Explorer from within C1, pointing to the process folder in case you lost track

 

Hope this helps in your appreciation of C1. I would be pleased to give you any further information in case you like to know HOW to do it...

[Guest guy_mancuso]

I have to agree with Paul here . C1 is NOT the easiest program to learn, your not going to figure it out in a day . Really it is a great program but you have to give yourself a chance to figure all the ins and out. BTW the PC version is different than the Mac version. So folks if you do have questions on C1 you should let us know if it is PC or Mac that your on. File folder setup is a completely different beast.

 

On a PC really the best course of action is download the card to the desktop and back it up to a external before you even open the folder. Also C1 you can set up a folder on a external drive for the previews also, which keeps your OS drive relatively clean from thumbnail build up. You can also automatically clean that out after a period of time. I always process my raw files within the same folder as the DNG's and name it final in a subfolder so everything stays together. But there are many choices on this

[chrism]

David

I feel a bit of a fraud joining your thread with no M8! However, I am interested in your use of 'Blowup'. I recently started a thread seeking user's views and got one or two interesting examples. Clearly you know what you are doing producing such large prints for sale. My need is more modest viz, upping my D2's 5mp files to A3. Would you regard Blowup as overkill for such modest enlargements? And, more difficult, would the benefit justify $200 expenditure? I would welcome you views. Thanks.

 

David

 

Definitely not overkill. I used it this weekend to enlarge a bunch of really nice, but very small, digicam pics my wife had taken in Kenya. They were about 7" wide in the original, so I used BlowUp to make them A4/11.75" wide, added a touch of grain and a little sharpening and they print nicely at this size. The thing to ask yourself is whether you want the printer driver to resize them, or BlowUp?

 

Welcome to the M8 club, Dave.

 

Chris

[gurtch]

Thanks again to everyone that replied and helped out. David: I think there is a trial free download of "Blowup" so you can try it.

Dave G.

[wda]

The thing to ask yourself is whether you want the printer driver to resize them, or BlowUp?

 

Welcome to the M8 club, Dave.

 

Chris

Chris, thank you.

 

I am afraid that I am not clear what you mean. Normally I resizemy images in PS CS2 and set my Epson to work with Photoshop colour management (as opposed to the printer software). I also select a paper profile which works well. I assumed Blowup did the resizing and left PS to organise the printing. Is that correct?

 

In practice I would only print up to A4 and use a lab for my bigger prints.

 

David