A few weeks ago we had a meetup with some people from the MPix group. We had an absolute blast, and Steph and I taught quite a few classes. We had some great models who were brave enough to get into lake Erie (the water was 43 degrees! BRRR!!!)

Thanks again to Chris Baldwin of Graham River Productions and MPix for their generous donations for the print competion.

Check out the forums if you haven't been there. Lots of great people! http://community.mpix.com If you're not doing anything in January of 2010, come join us on the MPix cruise! Lots of great stops in the Bahamas, beautiful tropical weather, and of course, a few photography lessons along the way! Don't worry though - it's not ALL work....
(Check out the forums for details - http://community.mpix.com/forums/t/68396.aspx

Enjoy!

Episode 5

Keep your batteries fresh for your business.

To download filezilla (free!) click here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla

Episode 2: Exposure Compensation

I've been working with Chris Baldwin of Graham River Productions to create a tutorial series. I'll be posting these every day.

Hope you enjoy it! If you have any suggestions, topics you'd like to see, or just a comment, post it below!

Shan

I have some new things in store for my blog - photography tips.

Chris Baldwin of Graham River Productions is working with me in producing some top notch video tutorials. I have lots of topics in mind, ranging from camera basics to flash (always a popular topic).

Keep an eye out for the video clips!

To start off, here's a common question I see on photography forums:

DPI and Resolution

I see people ask all the time what DPI they should set their high resolution images at. With printer resolutions achieving 2400DPI and higher, the old printing standard of 300DPI, many cameras have a default DPI of 72, it's not surprising that there is so much confusion surrounding this issue.


First off, we should start with a definition. DPI, or Dots Per Inch, is a number which tells how many pixels or dots can be printed in a single row, 1 inch long. Technically, it is only applicable when printed. To keep things simple, we will use DPI (dots per inch) and PPI (pixels per inch or points per inch) interchangeably.

The human eye can see detail at about 250-300 DPI, so even under close scrutiny, any print with at least this much information will look "photo quality" - meaning there won't be any noticeable quality issues from any viewing distance.

For the following examples, let's assume a 4MP (4,000,000 pixel) square image. This gives us 2000x2000 pixels of information.

If we wanted to print this image as a 2" x 2" print, we would have 1000DPI (2000 pixels / 2 inches). Obviously, no problem.

If we print it as a 4"x4" print, we would have 500DPI (2000px / 4"). Again, no problem.

If we print it as an 8"x8" print, we would end up with 250DPI (2000px / 8"). We're close to the low end of what the human eye can see, but for the most part, we can assume this would print just fine.

Let's say we want a wall print - a 20"x20". Now we're down to 100DPI (2000px / 20"). This may or may not be acceptable.

How so?

Because of the viewing distance. A 2x2, 4x4, or even an 8x8 print will usually be held by hand, resulting in a viewing distance of 1 to 2 feet. A wall print, on the other hand, will usually be viewed from a distance of 3 to 5 feet. Since the viewer won't be as close to the image, the human eye won't be able to see the details as easily as the smaller prints.

This is evident in billboards. These huge format prints are regularly printed at 10 to 25 dots per inch. Since the viewing distance is several hundred feet, the image appears perfectly smooth.

So, back to the original question - what DPI should be set?

The simple answer: It doesn't matter. When I crop an image, I usually leave the DPI setting blank. Rather than discard existing information, or have software try to "create" information, I simply send the full sized image to be printed.

If you're a bride, groom, or client, here's the easy way to tell if you are receiving the full sized (often mistakenly called high-resolution) images. Ignore the file size (as high quality full sized JPGs can range from less than 1MB to over 15MB) and ignore the DPI number. What you're looking for is the pixel count (the image size). Take the width and multiply it by the height - that will tell you what size file you have.

2000X3000 pixels = 6MP
2336X3504 pixels = 8.2MP
2592X3888 pixels = 10.1MP
2912X4368 pixels = 12.7 MP

If you use photoshop, you may see a number in the bottom left corner that shows 3x the image size. This is because the image is a composite of three layers - Red, Green, and Blue. A 6MP image will show 18MP in photoshop.

I hope this helps clear things up about DPI!

Lots more to come, with video!

Shan

Last weekend we took a little personal time off to take the boys down to Disney World. This is Ian's second trip, and Christian's first. We stayed at Disney's Beach Club Resort - a really cool place with a sand bottom pool! Ian thought that was just sooo cool! LOL

I just wanted to share some pictures and a few stories behind them. We had a blast!

One of the Disney photographers saw me carrying Steph's new baby - the 1DmIII (along with the new 70-200 2.8L IS lens). He was tapping his fingers together, and asked if it was a 5D (held his hand up and motioned "5?" I shook my head and held up just 1 finger. He practically giggled! I love fellow photo nerds! LOL). Steph said he could hold it if he'd take a picture for us! Christian, of course, is more interested in the show going on in front of the castle!
(from left to right - Grandma, Opa, Oma, Steph, me, and in the stroller, Christian, and Ian)

The boys got to meet Timone and Rafiki from the Lion King. Ian thought it was cool, Christian just wanted to pet Rafiki!

Ian loved the "giant disco ball" at Epcot. Here's just a fun shot of him being cool!

Christian is our serious child. Opa now calls him "Winston Churchhill" because he's always looking so serious!
Tickle time!
We rode the ferry in one day. It's a neat experience. Useless fact: The Seven Seas Lagoon (the lake in front of the Magic Kingdom) is manmade, and took 3 years to excavate. When we rode the bus from the resort in, the lake actually has a bridge over the road! (It's not really a tunnel - really crazy!)
Even the maintenance crews get into the fun! LOL
These guys were really good - like a Stomp! performance. They had a drum set made completely out of plastic flower pots and garbage can lids.
The Air Force Thunderbirds did a fly over Disney while we were there. Steph brought out the big guns - her 70-200 lens, cranked up the FPS to max, and ran Av mode to get the fastest shutter speed. She got some great shots of these guys!


Just another shot of Spaceship Earth (the giant disco ball, as Ian puts it!)
Ian got to drive the Indy Raceway cars with Opa. He was so excited!
Of course, on Saturday, the rain came and didn't let up at all. We still stuck it out, and toward the end, we just let Ian take his shoes off and splash through all the puddles. He loved it!
Christian has a new game - he puts his binky in my mouth and tries to take it back. It's quite funny, and he just laughs and laughs!
He absolutely REFUSED to admit defeat! We'd try to lay him back, but he'd pull on the stroller and sit right back up again. We even had a crowd watching him, it was so cute. Steph caught this as his binky fell out of his mouth (look between his knees - that's in mid-air! ROFL)
Here's a video:
I'm not sleepy!!!



Just a parting shot of Cinderella's Castle with the storm clouds rolling in.

All in all, it was a great time. Steph and I even got to have a date night! Oma and Opa watched the boys (they were fast asleep anyway) and it felt great to get our batteries recharged. The next few months are extremely packed, with some big events, lots of fun stuff, and even more things to share with you. More to come!

Shan