Our First Class

Okay. You are now my favorite students at least until next Wednesday which, as we all know, is really going to be a Monday. So goes higher education.
Let's see what I hope to have communicated last Wednesday night.

Subject #1.
General Digital Camera review to mainstream all students covering menus and the settings included within.

Subject #2.
In light of the ever falling price of hard drive space:
Always capture at the highest quality that your camera will allow.
This will include: Adobe RGB 1998 (not sRGB), RAW (not jpg), lowest ISO, and an appropriate white balance (never Auto).

Subject #3.
UPDIG recommended minimum for photo graduates to know.

ICC color management.
Color spaces have names like such as Adobe RGB, sRGB, Pro Photo and CMYK and are usually determined by the final output. Know the benefits and limits of these color spaces is a must. Cameras, monitors and printers (both ours and commercial printers) use ICC profiles to keep equal colors and levels equal to all others.

Monitor calibration.
We did a good job using my X-rite ColorMunki hardware and software to profile the overhead projector. Next class I will have the profile on my computer and the projector will look as good as it can.
The problem with digital files is that it may look different on every computer's monitor.
Therefore, we must calibrate our monitor with a professional calibrate software/hardware so that our monitor will look the same as anyone who calibrates their monitor as well. All professional calibrate software/hardware no matter who makes it, should make a monitor look the same. A monitor that is properly profiled is called a "soft proof".

Color Space.
We briefly reviewed color spaces like Adobe RGB, sRGB, SWOP, CMYK and ProPhoto. Most labs require sRGB now, and we must do extra work on our files to make them look great in that color space.

File Formats.
Such as RAW (yea!) Tiff, PSD and jpg.

Naming Files.
Okay, I brushed over this pretty quickly...

Resolution.
Is totally dependent upon the final output of your file. To be safe, we always capture at the highest quality and cut the files size according to the final usage demand. Websites require 72 dpi for fast response. Editorial pages and commercial projects require 300 dpi.

Sharpening.
This one too is dependent upon the final output and the saying "less is more" certainly applies here.

Metadata.
There are different forms that metadata takes.
Camera metadata (EXIF) is written at the time of capture and can include things like ISO, f/stop, shutter speed, lens length and sometimes image capture location.
User written metadata (IPTC) is added upon importation into a program such as Lightroom and can include authorship and copyright information.
Keyword metadata is user created and useful when searching for a certain file.


File delivery.
We discussed FTP, DVD's CD's Hard Drives and Thumb Drives. All of these are acceptable methods of file delivery.

Guide Prints and Proofs.

Archiving.
I discussed my own 3X archiving method of DVD, 1TB drive and 2TB drive.

Digital Image Workflow.

Subject #4.
Review of a typical digital shoot using a digital camera, card reader, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.

Well that's all I can remember.
Communication is the key! Email me, call me, text me or face-book me.
Never let a question go unanswered. After 35 years in this business, I should know that answer but if not, I'll know where to go for the answer.
See you the Wednesday after next.
Bill