Hands-on Review: c’t Digital Photography Magazine

A few months back I was sent Issue 7 (Spring 2012) of c’t Digital Photography magazine to review. The magazine’s tagline is “The in-depth quarterly for the photo enthusiast,” and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s a very in-depth magazine that reads almost like a series of well-written and illustrated “mini books” by people who truly know and take time to research the topics they cover. The magazine is published quarterly by Rocky Nook and is available in print form, as well as via an iPad app and Zinio.com.

Below are just a few of the topics that are covered in detail in Issue 7 with some of my comments below in quotes. You can see a full overview of the issue (and all of the issues printed to date) on the company’s website at https://www.ct-digiphoto.com, or in its entirety in low-res prior to purchase via its iPad app or on Zinio.com:

Portfolio: Martin Stranka: “An outstanding body of work by Martin Stranka, and a great Q&A with the artist.”

The Making of Times Square by Bert Monroy: “I had a chance to see the 300 inch wide (7.62 meters) Times Square backlit print at PhotoPlus Expo in NYC in 2010 that took Bert Monroy four years to produce. It was output on an Epson Stylus Pro 9900 and Epson’s DisplayTrans film. Jaw-dropping is the description I would use for the amount of detail and clarity in the image, not to mention the scale of the piece. Many short video tutorials by Bert Monroy, showing examples of how different sections came together are also on the issue’s DVD.”

Gigapixel Images: “Just an incredible overview of gigapixel photography, from double-page spreads of amazing imagery, to techniques and equipment (some affordable, and some costing as much as a car!)”

Your iPad Assistant: “A very-well written overview of a very complex topic. I’ve used an iPad as a wireless “Polaroid” and it is amazing once you have the right SD card or other wireless transfer solution, once all the right apps are downloaded, and once all the settings are properly set on the iPad.”

Pseudo DRI and Pseudo HDR: “Another incredible article that digs deep into a complex topic. I was truly amazed at how much information was included on how to get amazing detail from a single exposure. Shooting tips and specific step-by-step tutorials for the Photomatix Lightroom Plug-in and tips for using Adobe Photoshop’s CS5/CS6’s HDR tool were also covered. They even included some presets for Photomatix on the DVD, which will be welcomed by anyone who owns the application.”

Light Art Performance Photography (LAPP): “This was over-the-top amazing. If you’ve ever wondered how people create spheres of light or other amazing effects with light on film or by using digital cameras, Joerg Miedza and JanLeonardo Woellert, co-authors of the book “Painting with Light” go into detail about how it’s done, including specific information about what lights work particularly well, and how to build a “Performance Stick.” Also, the imagery in the book and in the e-book is stunning; even if you have no interest in learning the techniques, you should take a look at the images.”

System Camera Test: “I’m sure that this in-depth review of high-end and mid-range mirrorless cameras took a lot of time and effort (when you see the charts full of specs you’ll see what I mean!). I think they did a fantastic job testing these five cameras: The Nikon 1 V1, Olympus PEN E-P3, Nikon Coolpix P7100, Sony SLT-A77V and the Sony NEX 5N.”

Free RAW Processing with RawTherapee: “This was an impressive overview and tutorial of a free piece of software for converting RAW images.”

The Lightroom Workflow: “An excellent guide to getting started in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, with many tips for importing, organizing, developing, exporting and presenting your images. Lightroom 3 is used since that was the shipping version when it was written, but the vast majority of the information will pertain to Lightroom 4.”

I found something of interest in every article, and thought that the e-book alone that is on the enclosed DVD for Issue 7 entitled Painting with Light (Rocky Nook, 2011) was worth the $14.99 cover price (US/CAN) or $9.99 per issue for the iPad version. The DVD download for each specific issue is also provided when you purchase the specific issues via the magazine’s iPad edition, and according to the information on Zinio.com, “As of Issue 8, the free DVD supplied with the print edition is available for download to purchasers of the Zinio edition.”

I highly recommend c’t Digital Photography magazine and will be subscribing soon (probably to the Zinio edition, but the printed edition looked so good that I might go for the ink on paper option instead). Decisions, decisions…

Upcoming Half Day Lightroom 4 Workshop in NJ with Andrew Darlow

For more than two years I’ve been teaching photographers and other artists how to get the most from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, including editing, organizing, presenting and printing images using the application. It’s a very powerful tool, but it definitely takes time to learn, and Lightroom 4 brings with it many new features and a new processing engine.

In the upcoming weeks and months I will be teaching some Lightroom workshops in New Jersey. Here are some details and a link to more info on one of them. I will post information on some others as they get closer (my workshop/events page will generally have all of them listed):

Class Title: LIGHTROOM 4 WORKFLOWS: How to Organize, Retouch and Print Your Images

Location: duCret School of Art, Plainfield, NJ

Date: Sat. April 7, 2012
Time: 10AM-2PM

Fee: $50 ($39 for those who register by April 4)

A full description and online registration information is available here: https://lr47.eventbrite.com/

Andrew Darlow conducting a Lightroom workshop in Princeton, NJ

To show an example of what I’ll be covering, this particular image will be shown step-by-step from raw capture to the final edited image. I think it shows what’s possible when you use Lightroom’s Develop Module to recover highlight data and use the application’s selective adjustment options:

Nikon D800, 6400 ISO (Before Lightroom 4.1RC adjustments) photo © Andrew Darlow

Nikon D800, 6400 ISO (After Lightroom 4.1RC adjustments) photo © Andrew Darlow

Adobe Announces Photoshop CS6 Beta (Now Available for Download) Plus Video and Web Links

Many (including me) have been anticipating the release of Photoshop CS6, and it has officially arrived as Photoshop CS6 Beta. That means you can download it for free from this link on Adobe’s website (the download is 984 MB for the Mac OS, and 1.7 GB for Windows). There are quite a few new features, as well as a new interface (that came as quite a surprise to me, and I’m slowly getting used to it). This important note about the Beta from Adobe’s site is worth highlighting:

Photoshop CS6 beta includes all the features in Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended. Take this opportunity to try out the 3D image editing and quantitative image analysis capabilities of Photoshop Extended*, but note that—while these features will be included in the shipping version of Photoshop CS6 Extended—they will not be included in the shipping version of Photoshop CS6.

Until I have more time with the Beta, I thought I’d share some impressive videos and helpful links to more information about it. First, below is a fantastic 10 minute video by Russell Brown of Adobe, who covers six new features of PSCS6:

Next, is this page with great information (including videos and screen shots) on Photoshop CS6 Beta by Colin Smith of PhotoshopCAFE.

And last for now is NAPP’s excellent coverage of Photoshop CS6 Beta (free for members or non-members of NAPP):

What surprised me most about Photoshop CS6 Beta? The video capabilities. Russell Brown’s video shows a quick overview, and I’m guessing you’ll be surprised as well when you see what’s inside.

And while you’re learning more about Photoshop, I have a number of Lightroom 4-related workshops coming soon in New Jersey and New York City. Links for full descriptions and registration information can be found below:

Using Lightroom for Inkjet Printing and Color Management
Location: Calumet Photo, New York City – Date: Sat., March 31, 2012

Lightroom 4 Workflows: How to Organize, Retouch & Print Your Images
Location: du Cret School of the Arts (NJ) – Date: Sat., April 7, 2012