Mirror Lock Up

Mirror lock up reduces any shaking that might come from mirror slap (Ask a Pentax 67 user about mirror slap...). When I shoot with my 70-200mm, I try to use a tripod whenever I can. A tripod pretty much eliminates camera shake in my images that might have come from hand holding and it gives me more flexibility in post processing (bracketing exposure for stacking in post-processing, or bracketing focus). Tripod use implies I'm not in a hurry and as such, I might as well be using mirror lock up. It would be nice if my camera had a button to engage mirror lock up, or at least a button that was programmable to do this, but it does not.

I have found a pretty quick work around. It looks like this will work on Canon 5D MkII, 7D and 50D. These cameras have custom modes that you can set up on the exposure mode dial. In the case of the Canon 5D MkII and 7D, there are three selections you can set up. The 50D has two. I have C1 set up to shoot RAW, black and white, ISO 100 at f5.6. I have C2 set up to shoot RAW, black and white, ISO 2000 at f2.8. I have C3 set up to shoot RAW, color, ISO 100, F8.0, and mirror lock up engaged.

Figure 1 - Exposure dial Canon 5D MkII

It's pretty simple to set up actually. Set up your camera like you're going to shoot and choose the parameters you most like to use. Make sure to engage mirror lock up through the menu. Somewhere in the menu is something like "camera user setting". Choose that then choose "Register". Next choose "Mode dial :C1", "Mode dial :C2"or "Mode dial :C3". The condition the camera is in when you register settings is how the C selections will register. Voila! Set up is done. If your had mirror lock up engaged when you registered user settings, you can simply select your C selection on the exposure mode dial and you're ready to shoot with mirror lock up!

Alchemy

I've listened to "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho a couple of times. I really enjoy the story. Of course, the book can be taken on many levels. On a literal level, alchemy can be taken for the pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. The process of creating the Philosopher's Stone is a process of purification. I suppose for me, photography is about the process.  It's ongoing, never static.  Things change.  I change. 

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Step Wedge

The easy way to create a step wedge (I can do this in under a minute...)

1. Create a new photoshop document. I chose to create 8" wide by 1" tall. I chose 16 bit and 300 dpi for print resolution. (If you normally work in 8 bit, select 8 bit.) I chose 300 dpi as I usually print around that resolution. Color mode is RGB and background color is left white.
   
2. Select the gradient tool from the tool box. Edit the type of gradient. From the pull down select "foreground to background." To the left of the pull down tab select "linear gradient."
3. At the very bottom of the tool box are your foreground and background colors. Make sure they are white and black. My foreground is set to black. My background is set to white. With your gradient tool selected, place your cursor at the edge of the image, hold down shift, left click and hold, draft a line to the other edge of the image, release left click then shift. You should have a nice gradient across the image. The gradient tool is set to "foreground to background" and my foreground is black, background white. As I've dragged my cursor left to right, the gradient goes black to white. Get it?
   
4. Select Image>Adjustments>Posterize from the top menu. Enter "21" in the levels box and hit enter. You should now have a 21-step wedge. (You can select any number of levels you want, but 21 steps is works well for profiling and 8" will allow you to print many iterations of step wedges on a single sheet of letter sized paper.)
   
5. I save the filed in .PSD format. Do not convert, assign or embed any profiles

You'll notice that the steps are not equal in size. I'll discuss how to make a more "pretty" step wedge in another post.

Figure 1 - 21 Step Wedge

Simplification - One Printer Down

I gave the Epson 2000P away today. I put a "free" ad up on Craigslist and a art teacher wanted it. I also gave him stacks of Inkpress warmtone paper, my refillable ink cartridges for that printer and one of the inksets I was working with. I don't feel bad giving the stuff away - it went to a good cause and it's out of my hair. I think he's going to have a interesting time trying to figure it all out. They only teach traditional darkroom (which I think is totally cool) so his skill set is really limited to film. He was bombarding me with all kinds of questions. I wasn't trying to be obtuse, but I tried to tell him there were many ways to get to where he wanted to go. Kids are quite tech savvy and I'm sure they will be able to put it all together. So in one fell swoop I simplified my workspace a bit.

I've had quite a collection of inkjet printers going for a while. I have a couple more to decide what to do with. I've got the 2200 with UT-3D working fairly well. It took me a weekend to get a decent curve with Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, but I'm fairly happy with the prints. I've decided to go the glossy paper route for a while. I've also tried the Harmon fiber AL warmtone glossy. I'm really liking this paper. One thing I don't like about the 2200 it that is leaves pizza wheel marks on the glossy prints. I'll have to sort that out. I have to say, in general, my inkjet prints are more expressive than anything I could have produced in the darkroom. The glossy fiber papers and the UT-3D inkset are working out well. I still like the idea of shooting film, but it may be time to sell off the darkroom equipment.

I'm leaning to porting the UT-3D inkset to the Epson 4000. Pizza wheel mark problem will be solved - the 4000 uses a vacuum feature to hold paper in place. I can print larger prints (although my most common size is 6x9). The printer has both matte and glossy black ink installed so no need to swap cartridges - this is a very nice feature. I'll be able to work out curves for a couple matte papers and a couple gloss papers. Also can utilize roll papers. If I port the UT-3D to the 4000, I can get rid of the 2200 as well and be one more printer down.

I still have an Epson R220. I would probably put color inks back in that printer and use it for normal desktop stuff as well as small color photos. I figure if I ever wanted to print a large color image, I would just source it out.

New Cameras

All over the place. Totally looking forward to some reviews on the new Panasonic DMC-GF1

I understand that camera development is market driven, but it's about time someone came up with a camera like this. I just wonder if Canon and Nikon are going to get into the fray or wuss out and stay on the sidelines. I'd love for Canon to make a digital Canonet.

Totally loving this new Panasonic.

Clay Enos

Totally cool clip from Wired magazine. It seems the older I get, the less I like to interact with strangers. I totally need to pluck up my courage and give this a go. The image of the girl with her hair blowing up behind her rocks.

Audio Tools

Winamp is pretty cool.

I've been using winamp as my main player for a while. I've found a cool plugin called Streamripper that allows you to rip streaming audio. For example, I like to listen to KMHD on Friday nights as they have an awesome blues program. I stream their mp3 stream with winamp, start streamripper and the audio file lands on my desktop for later playback. Sweet. What I recently found is that winamp supports FLAC, "free lossless audio codec." You can rip your CDs to your computer without degradation like mp3. I'm starting to archive my CDs. I plan on making a trip to the local used music store to sell off some CDs.

Class Dismissed!

Finished with my digital arts media class!



Giving up a Saturday to take a class was hard. I didn't realize how it really makes the weekend go fast. I'd much rather be up late during the week than give up another Saturday. I signed up for what sounds like an interesting class at Rayko in San Francisco later this year. It is a digital negative to Kallitype print class. I'm stoked. I've been wanting to learn more about digital negatives and kallitype. How nice to find a class to wrap up both subjects.

Self Portrait July 2009

Olympus EP-1

My first digital camera was an Olympus. It was the C-3000 zoom. Focusing was slow. File writing was slow. It had a cool infrared wireless remote. I loved that camera. I "made do" with that camera and it was fun. I shoot mostly with Canon now, but the new EP-1 is just so cool. Maybe it's time to sell off some unused equipment and take another look at Olympus.

I think Panasonic kind of blew it with their introduction of their micro 4/3 camera. They kept the SLR-type body even though they didn't need to, which is disappointing as Panasonic has some pretty innovative/interesting point and shoot cameras. Olympus' first attempt is very cool. I think they are going to sell a lot of these.

Sweet, retro-influence with the external viewfinder.

I'm in a waiting mode though. I have to watch the money these days and another camera would not sit well with the spouse. It sounds like there are plans for another Olympus micro 4/3 camera with a viewfinder. The second generation of anything is always much better than the first. And, here's a toally cool rendering of a Panasonic concept. I think (hope) that when Olympus sells buckets of the EP-1, other camera manufacturers take notice and come up with similar offerings.

The Benefits of Education

I've enrolled in Junior College. Like many, I'm contemplating a career change. I love photography but I'm thinking more about graphic/web/print design. So I'm taking a "Digital Imaging" class to see if my interest leads anywhere.

The class is on Saturdays from 0900-1525. I was surprised at how well equipped the lab was. There was probably 25 Mac G5 computers, an Epson 4xxx series printer, an Epson 9xxx series printer and a couple flatbed scanners.

I really only use Photoshop for photo editing. I've never really started a digital file from scratch to create something artistic. Our first in class assignment was to create some abstract images utilizing complementary colors and and "triad" of colors. It was difficult for me. Even my abstracts look like landscapes. So one thing I'm working on is just playing more with the Photoshop interface and just doodling. I'm getting pretty good at making watercolor wash-like gradients.

On the web advisor for the JC, I noticed a link to student software. The site had Adobe Creative Suite Premium as well as Adobe Lightroom. I looked up the price on Adobe and the two together were almost $2,100. I got them both through the student software store for a grand total of $462... My class cost me $32. The book is $30. That's some crazy savings for taking a class that will put me further along a second career.

Getting ready for a show

My company is having an employee art show from June through the end of July. I'm submitting four prints.

The end in mind.

I started with what I wanted the hung images to look like. I was trying to balance the cost of materials and artistic expression. As we are also having to sign a "will not hold responsible" clause, I decided to not spend a lot of money on framing materials, particularly if my company would not cough up some dough in the event that some art is damaged. I wanted to hang 16"x20" images. I really like museum glass, but decided to skip it for this show. At ~$40 for a 16"x20" sheet, it adds up quick. I used to like wood frames but have I switched to Dick Blick Gallery Metal Frames. They are inexpensive, durable and it's easy to recycle them for other shows or switch out images around the house if/when you want a change. Add museum glass and I think they look fantastic. With matte prints, it almost looks like there's no glazing. (One of my friends tried to touch a print to see if there was glass.) I printed B&W images on Lexjet Premium Archival Matte with my Epson 4000 and MISPRO inks utilizing Quad Tone RIP. As QTR doesn't come with Lexjet profiles, I used the Ultrachome and Epson Enhanced Matte profiles, linearized them and made a few test prints to get the tones right. The image sizes are about 11"x17" on final paper size of 16"x20". I made creative frames / borders using paint and ink on paper and scanned them into photoshop. Prints are backed by acid-free foam board and placed in frame without mat. The image frame / border takes the place of the mat in terms of a visual window. The lack of a mat gives a very clean appearance in my opinion, not to mention that it saved a lot of time in framing up the prints.

Framed print ready to hang.

I had actually been planning for this show for a while. I've been attempting to get my printing work flow with an Epson 2200 and UT-3D inkset in place prior to making prints for the show. I wanted to print on glossy paper. I still have not been able to adjust photoshop curves in a way that gives me satisfactory control over print tone. It's amazing what necessity drives us to do. After fooling around with the 2200 for 2 weeks, I had a short amount of time to put together framed prints. Thus, the 2200 was abandoned (for now) and prints were made on the 4000 with QTR.

A lack of organization

I've spent the last two weeks trying to get prints together. It's been an interesting experience. I have no cohesive portfolio of images and I haven't been using tags, keywords or ratings in any of my photo organization programs. It became quickly apparent that my submission was going to be made up of disparate images. I realized that I have to get some sort of management system in place. I've installed a couple different programs to handle this task; Bibble lite, Photoshop Elements album, Picasa and the Canon software that camer with the camera. I like Bibble, but Bibble lite doesn't support the 5DMkII. Bummer. They still have not come out with Bibble 5 for commercial release. (It was supposed to be out in January 2009, slackers.) Picasa is my favorite, but it can only export as jpeg. Photoshop elements (my old version) doesn't suport RAW. The Canon software just stinks. What to do? I'm actually taking a "digital arts media" class at a local JC this summer. As a student, this qualifies me to purchase the full version of Photoshop and Lightroom at a substantial savings. I'm hopefull that Lightroom will really help me catalog and sort my images and I can move to just one system and remove the other programs. I'll probably keep Picasa for quick edits and exports to Blogger.

Some conclusions

1. I need to settle on program to organize my photos and clear the rest off my computer. Along with this, I need to go back through all my old images and add tags, keywords and ratings to make searching more efficient. This jumping between programs to browse, develop and then edit is too much. Adobe pretty much has a strangle hold on this department. I think I'll be going with lightroom and photoshop in the future.
   
2. I need to get rid of the multiple printers and inksets. As much as I like the idea of a pure carbon inkset for longevity, I don't have the skill to manipulate the software in a way to control print tones to my satisfaction. I probably need to move closer to a ready made solution for black and white printing, at least in the mean time while I develop the necessary skills.
   

The Technological Barrier.

Going Backwards
Two months ago, I bought a pack of Kentmere 5x7 glossy VC fiber paper. I printed in the darkroom for about a week. Oh how simple and easy it seemed to be to get a decent print. No lines. No pizza wheel tracks. No clogs. No funny colors. The paper itself is a joy to hold. The surface is perfect. The blacks shimmer. I haven't found the digital equivalent for this process yet.

Process
Only photographers care about process. We lecture each other at length at how we arrived at the final image. Everybody else just wants to see the print, the Flickr page. In a couple seconds, the image content moves them or it doesn't. Trudging all day out in rain? Five hours to make a print? Who cares - the content sucks. I've been thinking more about my process. Making color prints seems easy to me. I suppose I'm not so picky with the color. The black and white inkjet prints have been very unsatisfying. Part of the problem is technological, the other is concentration. I've been hung up on equipment. I couldn't quite find the right printer. R220 is too small. 2000P too slow. Now I'm working on the 2200. Then I had to find the right ink. Went through MIS UT-FSN, Paul Roark's carbon 6 and now using MIS UT-3D. Then all I could do was print a warm tone on cold paper - I didn't know how to adjust the photoshop curves to cool down the prints. At 2:00 am, I think I'm about to make a break through with working with the curves. I've achieved a fairly neutral print and a cool print. What I really needed was a block of time to concentrate on the curves process. I'm finally getting the hang of editing curves to control print tone with UT-3D.

A small sampling of test prints.

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
I currently have four inkjet printers. I have three different inksets. I probably have about eight different papers. I would like to have one printer, one inkset, one paper. The path forward is very clear when you only have one choice (That really isn't a choice, is it? Simple. No choices, nothing to think about, just doing.) My studio has become an inkjet printer workshop. I spend more time fooling around with printers, syringes and ink and clearing clogs than I do taking, editing or printing photographs. The prints I make consist of step wedges and a standard test print. So, most of the printers need to go. Most of the papers need to go. The various inksets need to go. I think the idea printer is the 13". The 17" is nice, but I rarely make prints that large and I'm unwilling to change the 17" to a dedicated black and white printer until I'm totally comfortable with editing curves. Switching over the 17" is no small feat.

What to do
Chuck it all. Fooling around with all this equipment is laborius. I need to go out and shoot some photos...

New (Old) Printer

I've picked up a used Epson 2200 off of Craiglist. I'm slowly putting together materials needed to try out this printer for B&W. I have the printer and 2 sets of refillable cartridges with auto-reset chips (off of Ebay). The only thing I'm waiting for now is ink, which should arrive this Friday, just in time for plenty of weekend experimentation.

Just Do It

I've been trying to increase the amount I read. I read 18 books last year, none of them photography books. I decided to read more about photography this year. I've come to the conclusion that all this does is cause me to think about the things I'm interested in rather than actually doing them.

"If I only had a ______ I could _______."

Fill in the blanks with your excuses, then crush them. There is no magic bullet. The camera you have is probably good enough. (I really don't need a new 21 megapixel SLR or a new printer...but that 50mm f1.2, I need that....)

"Psychologists have attempted to explain the creative process in four stages: preparation, incubation, realisation and verification. In the first we attune ourselves to our subject and notice the possibility for an image; in the second we find a solution to the divergent problem of composition; in the third we make the image; and, finally, in the fourth verify that it met (or exceeded!) or aims. It’s vital that we delay pressing the shutter as long as possible if we want to make anything other than a pastiche of former images. We therefore need to take as long as we dare over the first two stages – obviously a fast moving subject or set of circumstance would curtail this."

- David Ward

http://www.lightandland.co.uk/
http://www.into-the-light.com/

Tmax100 + HC-110

We've finished up remodeling the bathroom. This has given me a chance to set up the enlarger in the second bathroom.

I had a bunch of film (35mm) to develop and now I get to print some. At the current moment, as I write, I'm developing Ilford HP5+ in Kodak HC-110 trying to determine a development time.

When prepping 400ml (for one roll in tank) I use 6ml HC-110 and fill beaker to 400ml.
When prepping 700ml (for two rolls in tank) I use 11ml and fill beaker to 700ml.

I've settled on the following for Tmax 100 in HC-110 dilution H (1:63)
12 minutes @ 20C.
Continuous agitation for 1st minute.
5 inversions every minute thereafter.

I'm happy with the results.

Epson R220 and MIS UT-3D

I've been printing with an Epson R220 and the MIS UT-3D inkset. Prints on Ilford Gold Fibre Silk paper are beautiful. The blaks are very deep. The prints have been turing out very nicely. It still requires some experimentation but this combo of printer, ink and paper is very nice.

I still haven't found the combo of ink and printer that I'm looking for. I like the quality I get from the R220, but being limited to a letter-size printer is frustrating. I've been hunting around for an Epson 1400. This seems like it might be the best solution right now. I can print most of the image sizes I'm interested on a printer this size. 12"x18" image size on 13"x19" paper looks lovely. And framed in an 18"x24" frame looks spectacular. If I become successful at selling prints, I'll look into a solution for a larger printer - everyone has a 13" printer. Making prints larger than 13"x19" starts to separate you from the rest of the crowd.

Prints for sale

I have a few prints for sale on my photoblog:

www.thedailyarchive.com

Carbon-6 Inkset

In my experiments with the Epson 2000P printer, I used the Carbon-6 inkset developed by Paul Roark. Bascially, it is a dilution made from the MIS Eboni ink. It is meant for printing on matte paper only.

An ink base is made from safe and readily available components: water, glycerin and Kodak Photoflo. (Photoflo is a "wetting agent" - it breaks up the surface tension of water. It is used in the last rinse step when developing film. It helps water flow off the negatives and thus reduce streaks from water impurities, etc.)

The ink base and the Eboni ink are mixed in the following manner:
K position = 100% eboni
C position = 2 parts ink base, 1 part K position ink
M position = 1 part ink base, 1 part C position ink
Light C = 1 part ink base, 1 part M position ink
Light M = 1 part ink base, 1 part light C position ink
Yellow position = 1 part ink base, 1 part light M position ink.

Easy to mix by volume. I suppose if a printer had more than 6 ink positions, you could create further dilutions. I seemed to go through the yellow position ink quickly. I was wondering if it might be better to dilute the ink even more.

The tone of the print is dependent on a couple of factors: ink drop size (based on printer), the dilution of the ink and the paper used. I tried this ink with 2 printers, the Epson R220 and 2000P. The R220 prints with a smaller drop size. The same image printed warmer on the R220 than the 2000P. Large drop = neutral, small drop = warmth. Secondly, the dilution. As the eboni gets diluted, the ink warms up. It is visible in step wedges. The black is neutral but the midtones and highlights are warm. Thirdly, paper. One of Paul's paper recommedations is Premier Art Smooth. It is amazing how this paper prints neutral and Staples prints so warm. Both paper whites are bright white in color temperature. I'm sure both are brightened with optical brighteners. (Nice snappy highlights.)

As it is relatively inexpensive, I bought a large package of Staples Matte to experiment with. This paper produces a huge split tone with carbon-6 (7 L units in the LAB measurement with the syderprint). At first, I didn't like this. I wanted neutral prints. I had ordered some Premier Art Smooth based on Paul's recommendation. The Premier prints very neutral. I realized that I liked the split of the Staples. Lexjet Sunset Fibre Matte also printed with a split, slightly less than the Staples with a little more surface texture. There will be some experimentation to try and find a paper with the print qualities you're looking for if you try this inkset.

I like the simplicity of the carbon-6. It is not adjustable. There are no curves to apply toning. The only choice you have is the paper you use. I find this lack of choices liberating. Now if I can just convince myself to pull the colors out of the 4000, I'll be making nice B&W prints soon.

FYI - Staples matte is acid free, lignin-free, wood pulp based paper (based on phone calls with Staples customer service.)

Quad Tone Rip + Printfix Pro (spyderprint)

I've pretty much given up on the Epson 2000P for black and white printing. The main reason is print speed: It is really slow. It's interesting to read back to earlier posts on the web for this printer. It was very expensive when it first came out. According to an article on Luminous Landscape, it retailed for $899. Ouch. I got it for a bargain at $30.

I plan to clean out the printer, clean out my refillable cartridges and put a nice add on Craigslist. It was a decent experiment and taught me a few things. I'll be happy to have more desk space.

I have had a running debate in my head whether or not to convert my Epson 4000 to a dedicated black and white printer. I've been fooling around with QuadTone RIP for about a week now. I have MISPRO inkset in the 4000 right now. I've been pretty happy with the inkset. Color images are a bit on the magenta side without a profile. Profiles made with Syderprint have straightened everything out. While there are work-arounds for not having a densitometer or spectrocolorimeter, the Syderprint has definitely made my life easier. It has been a great tool and I would buy it again and sooner had I known then what I know now.

Quad Tone Rip has allowed me to continue to use the full color inkset and print black and white images. The measurement tool of Spyderprint was very use in determining the ink limit of my printer and comparing between the matte black and light black inks. I remember getting frustrated fairly quickly the first time I tried QTR. I didn't have the tools to make the measurements needed to linearize the grayscale stepwedge . Syderprint solved my frustration.

The main thing I don't like about QTR is not being able to print directly from Photoshop. You have to save an image in TIFF format, close out of PS and open to print in QTR. I suppose no real biggie, but kind of cumbersome if you're trying to dial in your print. The second thing I don't really like about QTR is the lack of documentation. It comes with a user guide, but I was really dumb in the beginning and really didn't make much sense to me. It took a few readings, lots of fooling around with the interface and a healthy dose of patience.

If I do switch over the 4000 to a dedicated B&W printer, Syderprint and QTR will definitely be important tools to have.

1st print of 2009

First print of 2009.


I've been working with Quad Tone Rip, Epson 2000P and the Carbon-6 inkset. I can honestly say that this combo has produced a nice looking print.