Stephen Johnson

Clive Nichols Pettifers Masterclass 19th September 2017

pettifersTuesday 19th September 2017
Pettifers, Lower Wardington, Banbury
10am to 4pm

Clive is pleased to announce that he has secured two workshops at one of the country’s leading gardens, Pettifers, in the lovely Oxfordshire village of Wardington. Owned by renowned plants woman Gina Price, this idyllic English garden is crammed full of choice plants.

The day will begin with a talk on garden and flower photography by Clive. After a break for lunch with wine and refreshments, the day will continue with practical sessions in the garden. Clive is a very experienced teacher who will guide you through the techniques that have made him into one of the world’s leading flower and garden photographers. All levels of knowledge & experience are welcome.

Tickets cost £100 (non-refundable)
Maximum capacity 20 places

Click on the book now button below to book a place or places on the September Masterclass
(Don’t worry if don’t have a Paypal account you can select “Checkout as Guest” and pay by card)




Software – tools (and nothing else)

Stephen’s Zenith E film camera from a time before imaging software

Its so easy to get lost in the various processes in photography and imaging. Both equipment and software can demand attention, its best however to not let this distract from the most important thing…

I thought I would set out my ideas about some of the software tools I use and perhaps explain why I I will never be an ambassador for or owe allegiance to a particular software company.

Here at Copyrightimage I use a variety of licensed software from many sources.

I view a piece of imaging software as a tool to aid in the development and production of images. I appreciate the efforts of the software developers at Adobe, Phase One, Photo Mechanic and others to make the best tools possible. However its important to remember that software evolves and companies change and disappear, in the end the only lasting things are the images you produce.

For this reason I favour software that supports open standards in file types, metadata and colour management. I’m much less keen on propriety parametric software that locks in any changes to the images that would be lost if they were to be discontinued. For example (and despite being one of the richest companies in the world) Apple left their Aperture users high and dry in 2014.

The main lesson from the demise of Kodak is that no company, no matter how big is immune from the changing landscape, especially when the rate of change increases.

In these days of declining returns from Stock Photo Agencies and other photographic income streams I find that the most effective way to speed up and reduce the cost of my services comes from combining the best elements of each piece of software into a custom workflow. Listed below are the current major pieces of software I use in each category of imaging workflow. This software and workflow will change as the market does but the one thing that will remain central to my focus: The Images themselves.

click to enlarge:

 

 

 

 

Video capture breakdown, current state of the market 2016

Tom Fletcher and Gary Adcock have compiled a PDF breakdown of current state of the art video cameras across multiple brands and containing lots of useful information. You can download the PDF here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8uBU7GdVMLMU2FJczdERE9uYUk/view?usp=sharing

Read more

Screen Calibrator

I could economise on most of the equipment I use and not lose too much but the one thing I would never compromise on is a good quality colorimeter to calibrate and profile my monitors.
The Xrite i1 Display Pro is my preferred device for doing this. If you only buy one thing in the colour management sphere – buy a good quality monitor calibrator like this.

Affiliate link:

Buy here

Room Lighting

Working in controlled lighting conditions is an important component in colour management. I work in a room that has blackout blinds at the windows. With the blinds up its a beautiful room especially with the sun shining in and highlighting the dust.

When I’m working the blinds are down I get rid of all the variable light that may distract me or adjust my light sensitivity and I can read the colour and tone on the monitor with great consistency, whether it is night or day.

Blackout blinds don’t need to be black – and they are readily available from local blind suppliers.

I have 2 GRAFILITE lights in the room, they are placed behind my Monitor and light up the white painted wall at the rear. This colour correct lighting provides a soft wash of light that is lower in brightness than my monitor so allows my eyes to correctly adjust to the white point of the monitor.

There is no direct light other than the monitor so this soft wash of light is very restful on the eyes.

If you cannot justify a light booth for judging prints then its good to know that these lights are also suitable for viewing prints.

Source:
ColourConfidence (UK)

Monitor Calibration Settings

Having a good colourimeter or photospectrometer to calibrate and profile your screen is essential to good colour management.

The specific standards and settings used will vary depending on the nature of the job and whether the images are destined for screen, exhibition print or repro.

At Copyrightimage I have calibrated and profiled my screen to multiple targets using Eizo ColorNavigator software. This allows me to quickly switch the monitor profile to match the nature of the job in hand and allows me a better colour and tone preview of the image as it will be used.

Click to see my different monitor profile targets:

Software configuration

Colour management is a process that has may parts. An important part is software configuration.

At Copyrightimage I set my colour management based on the individual job and its requirements, eg if for book or magazine use the location and specific CMYK process used.

Your settings will differ from mine depending on the specifications of the job.

My most common European Photoshop settings are defined below (click to enlarge):

 

Printer Profiling

In order to make accurate printer profiles for soft and hard proofing as well as getting the most from my printers I use the xRite i1 Publish Pro 2 system based around a high quality Photospectrometer.

Sources:
ColourConfidence (UK)
Amazon (US)    Amazon (UK)