Twenty-five years ago, I invested in a Nikon D1, the first “affordable” professional digital camera. Before owning the D1, I would occasionally rent Kodak digital cameras when their benefits outweighed the cost of shooting on film. As we entered the new millennium, digital photography started to surpass film in practicality for my corporate and editorial … Read more
Almost twenty years later, I’m again being asked to help with how to set up a professional photography workflow. Some context In the early noughties the move from film (I dislike the word analog) to digital photography introduced many challenges. Especially for professional photographers earning their living with the new medium. How we captured images, … Read more
Austin Kleon wrote, “…validation is for parking, not for artists.” However I’m not referring to validation as a creative. Photographers need to regularly validate their image archive to ensure it hasn’t deteriorated. A lot of things can go wrong: file corruption, bit rot, missing images and more. In ye olde days of film we could … Read more
Adobe Bridge is often overlooked as a professional multimedia browser. It works like Mac Finder and Windows File Explorer. You can view items on your computer, connected hard drives or network drives and navigate through your folder structure. However Bridge supports hundreds more file types including images, audio, PDFs, movies and more. It’s a bridge … Read more
First off, What is DNG? Well it’s not Dolce & Gabbana as a photography student once asked me. DNG (Digital NeGative) is a digital photography file format created by Adobe Systems. It contains all the data captured by cameras that offer raw format output. OK, What Is A Camera Raw File? Most of the time … Read more
Maybe that title should be “photography misunderstandings“. Digital photography gave us more opportunities, freedom and power. As with any superpower it comes with great responsibility. Assumptions can lead to the spread of misinformation. In that vein, if what follows has any errors please let me know on LinkedIn. Opening A JPEG In Photoshop Recompresses … Read more
Spring is almost here, at least for those of us in the southern hemisphere. It can be a good reminder for those in photography to do some regular cleaning. Sensor Cameras with interchangeable lenses are prone to getting dust of the sensor. The more that you change lenses increases the chance of dust. You … Read more
In the world of Digital Asset Management (DAM) there are two distinct types of programs: the File Browser and the Catalog application. Creatives and corporate clients who manage their own image collections need both. Here’s why. File Browser A File Browser can also be called an Image Browser or a Media Browser. The Mac Finder and … Read more
Last month I wrote about the 15th anniversary of the Australian Professional Digital Imaging Guidelines (APDIG). Each of my co-authors had their own reasons for volunteering to create the guidelines. For me, the obsession with digital standards began in the late 1990s. Digital vs Film When I approached existing commercial photography clients about using digital … Read more
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Australian Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines. Before 2004 there was no recommended standard for digital photography capture and delivery. At the turn of the century some professional photographers were doing more damage than good to the adoption of digital. They zealously over-sharpened, manipulated tone and colour, then delivered … Read more