A panoramic photo captures an image that is at least twice as long as high.  Usually a photograph with an aspect ratio* of 2:1 or higher would be considered a panorama. For example, 10×20 or 8×16 inch prints would be considered panoramic, with a view that is twice as wide as high.  An image that is as great as or greater than the viewing field of the human eye would be panoramic. A higher aspect ratio, of 4:1 or even 10:1 would be panoramic.

Quabin Panorama Photo

There are cameras which will create a panoramic image with a single shot. There are multiple lens and software to help create panoramic photographs as well as 360° photographic images. But for most of us, our usual still digital cameras using a standard lens along with some stitching software will be more than adequate for pano creation.

There are a number of software stitching programs on the market. One of the most popular is PTgui. (www.ptgui.com ).  Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements have Photomerge feature and does an excellent job for most panoramic stitching.  More recent versions (CS4 or better) do a much better job than earlier versions.

No matter what you use to create the final image, it is the photographic process that will determine how good your final image is.  It is possible to hand hold the camera and still create a panorama but it is much easier to use a tripod. You can purchase specific heads for your tripod to create panoramas, from the inexpensive LensPen Pananic head for about $20 to a Manfrotto Spherical Panoramic Head Kit at $650.

If you chose to forgo the expense of a special head for your tripod there are a few rules to keep in mind. If you are shooting without a tripod, try to use your body as the center point. Plant your feet firmly and turn from your waist. As with any shot, take a breath and hold it before depressing the shutter button.  If you are shooting with a tripod, it is best to level the head if you can before shooting.  The most important rule, however, is to overlap your shots by at least 1/3 of the scene you are shooting. I usually pick out a land mark in the shot about 1/3 from the edge and make that opposite edge on the next shot.

It is also important to keep the settings the same in the camera. If you have auto focus turned on be careful with the focus. It could shift based on the image and it would destroy your panorama.  You may want to shoot in Manuel Mode in order to avoid that from happening. A shift in meter reading could also make the creation difficult, although the software will do some blending of edges.

Try re-positioning yourself and trying the shot from a slightly different angle.  Take several multiple shots from different perspectives. Your first perspective might not work as expected when you start to turn the camera.  The number of shots you use to create your panorama is dependent on the scene you are shooting. I find that for a 180° shot that I will need 5-7 shots.

Creating a panorama photo is fun and rewarding. Going beyond the limits of the lens and camera opens up a whole new way of seeing through your lens. Capturing a wide view makes the scene more memorable and closer to what the “mind sees”.  Try turning the camera for a vertical shot. This will make your panorama wider and capture more of the scene. Good luck and keep shooting!

*Aspect ratio is a measure comparing width to height. Most digital cameras will produce a 3:2 aspect ratio.  The resulting print size of 4×6 or 8×12 is an example of 3:2 aspect ratio.

As a giclée printer, I often see confusion about color mode.   For this discussion I will focus on RGB and CMYK, although there are other color modes with different functions and uses.

RGB (red, green and blue) refers to the additive or “light” color process.  When these three colors of light are combined; white light results. The absence of these colors of light appears as black. This is the idea behind display devices, like your TV or Computer Monitor.

CMYK (cyan, magenta, and yellow) are subtractive colors. These colors reflect light back. Theoretically when combined the three colors should produce black. Because the resulting color is not a “pure” black, printers add black (K) to the combination resulting in CMYK.

RGB refers to light (additive) while CMYK refers to pigment, inks or paint (subtractive). Because all printers, be it inkjet, laser, or offset use the subtractive process to produce color it seems reasonable that when creating files for printing one would work in the CMYK mode. This is true for traditional color printing often called offset or 4-color process. The technology behind this printing process is to create 4 separate printing plates. Each plate was originally created by photographing the image to be printed four times using a filter for each color.  The resulting separations representing red, green and blue were then reversed to create the negatives for its color opposite.  For example red is opposite cyan on the color wheel, because cyan is the result of mixing blue and green light and the absence of red light.

Although the inkjet printers and devices that are used today by many professional printers use pigmented inks that are CMYK or variations of CMYK, the file mode format should be RGB.  This is because the files are converted by the print driver or RIP (raster image processor, fancy name for print drivers), into CMYK.  If the files are not in the RGB mode, this process still happens but sometimes with unwanted results because CMYK has a smaller color gamut.

So should you produce files in RGB mode or CMYK mode? The answer is it depends. If your files will be sent to a printer who uses an offset or 4-color process press then you should convert your files to CMYK.  If your printer uses a digital process and prints on an inkjet printer, you should keep your files in RGB mode. If you are unsure what process your printer uses, ask.  If you want the best possible color for your image, be aware of how it will be produced.

Western Mass Tornado Photo Show Fund Raiser

So many incredible photos have been taken of this devastating event. Many photographers have felt the need to record and preserve the images of the profound change that has happened in our region. Giclée of New England, Inc Gallery will be sponsoring a Photo Show as a fund raiser for the victims of the June 1 tornado. We would also like to see before and after photos in this show. Photos of rebuilding and clean-up efforts will be welcome as well as those that document the massive destruction.

There is a $10 donation fee  for two images. You can enter as many times as you like. We will find space to hang all entries. All entry fees will be donated to the Disaster Fund at the Monson Savings Bank. Giclée of New England, Inc. will offer printing, framing or mounting of photos for this show at deeply discounted rates.  Videos can also be entered for showing.

There will be awards (prizes if we can get donations) for :

Have you signed up to be counted in NEFA’s CultureCount? NEFA (New England Foundation for the Arts) is a enormous resource for anyone in the arts in New England.  If you are an artist, run a creative business or represent a cultural nonprofit you should be counted. Click here to find out why you should be listed.  http://www.culturecount.org/public/whycreate.aspx

CultureCount is a free creative economy database.  CultureCount is a centralized source of descriptive, financial, demographic, and geographic information about cultural nonprofits, businesses, and professionals in New England.

CultureCount provides a comprehensive representation of the creative economy of New England that supports the advocacy, fundraising, cultural analysis, and policy development efforts of artists, cultural organizations, researchers, and policy makers. CultureCount users can log on to discover cultural organizations, explore their communities, and analyze economic impact.

It is important to our regional economy that those of us who are working in the Creative Economy be counted. If you are not sure if you or your business would be identified as part of the creative economy click on this link to see if you fit the definition http://www.nefa.org/sites/default/files/ResearchCreativeEconRptHighlihghts.pdf.

Last week I had the great opportunity to attend the NEFA’s (New England Foundation for the Arts) Creative Community Exchange in North Adams. This event, hosted by Mass MoCA and Berkshire Creative, focused on how development of creative spaces and creative economies has benefited towns and regions throughout New England.

The event was made up of workshops presented by cultural and creative community leaders.  The presenters focused on the successful implementation of developing the creative economy in their towns, cities or regions. With four different workshops in each session time slot, it was a difficult choice to decide which workshops to attend.

On Wednesday, May 18 the activities began with a tour of Mass MoCA lead by Joe Thompson, Director of Mass MoCA.  This was an intimate look behind the scenes.  It was wonderful to hear the story of space and exhibit development from such a knowledgeable person.

Thursday, May 19 was the start of the actual event.  A marvelous breakfast was served to attendees.  After a brief welcome we went to our chosen workshops.  The first one I attended was the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP). It was about the art challenges of a rural community and how developing the arts in Rockingham VT brought culture and economic growth to the area. The next session, Pittsfield Dept of Community Development: Downtown Renaissance was truly inspiring.  How a city of 44,000 with minimal art and culture presence was able to develop a thriving and healthy creative economy was the focus of this workshop.  After a delightful lunch, there were three more workshops. These covered developing creative partnerships and how small towns developed “Down Street” art centers.

Friday, May 20 started with another great breakfast followed by a “Spark” event designed to stimulate networking.  The workshops followed.  For the ending events an outstanding meal was provided with awards and speakers. Most notable among the speakers was  National Endowment For the Arts Chairman,  Rocco Landesman.  He is a powerful speaker with a meaningful message. His slogan, “Art Works” has inspired me.

I made several connections at this event. I hope to be able to implement some of the ideas presented in our region and I do hope to be able to attend future events of this kind. If anyone is interested in a more in depth discussion of what I learned, please phone me or send me an email and we can delve more fully into this exciting subject.

Often being an artist is a lonely occupation. A great way to meet other artists and photographers is to join a club or guild. Although all the groups are different in their procedures the local groups are open to anyone who is active in the arts or photography, depending upon the group’s focus. Many of the groups hold open submission shows or, as in the case of camera clubs, monthly competitions.

A few of the local Art Groups are The Wilbraham Art League, http://www.wilbrahamartleague.org, the Tobacco Valley, http://tvaa.steamfolk.com/web/, and the Massasoit Art Guild, http://www.massasoitartguild.com/live/ .

Some local photo groups are Springfield Photographic Society http://sps.photoclubservices.com,   Seven Hills Camera Club, http://www.sevenhillscameraclub.org ,  and the Worcester Photography Meetup Group http://photo.meetup.com/22/ .

soft proof screen shot- Art work by Joe Moynihan, used by permission

One of the most difficult colors to reproduce is a bright Azure blue (a bright mix of blue and cyan). I have tried many methods and color corrections and still have been unsuccessful in close color reproduction.   As you can see in the side by side comparison screen shot, the colors look great on the screen.  But when I print them, the inks and media drop the intensity of the blues and cyans becoming faded, muddied and flat.

 To visualize the effect of print I use a method called “soft proofing”.  I apply a soft (or visual proof) by going to the “view” menu in Photoshop and choosing “proof set-up”.  From that drop down menu I choose “custom” and then select the paper and printer profiles I have for my printer. (In this case it is Epson 9800 Dual Black inks Breathing  Color Chrome White Canvas)  The bottom screen shot shows the results on both of my test prints.  Before I even print them, I know the image on the Left will not even come close to the original despite it being closer in color on the computer screen.

 Because I have had this issue before with this color, I have managed to find a way to reproduce it coming fairly close. I usually work in RGB color mode and send all files to my printer in RGB. (Image>Mode>RGB color).  As this is the color mode of the computer and the color mode that the printer reads I always work in this mode.  However, achieving this brilliant azure blue in RGB is not possible. So I convert the color mode to Lab color and  I am able to create the correct color on screen and from the printer. Color correction can usually be done by the numbers but when it comes to colors that are out of gamut it sometimes takes intuitive reasoning and experimentation.  Don’t be afraid to experiment in Photoshop.  It is sometimes the only way to get the effect you want

Among photographers there seems to be a perpetual question about the editing process. “Is it Photoshopped or not?” seems to be the issue. The quality and clarity of the image is secondary to how the image was processed. I was recently denied admission to a juried show because the requirement that no digital photo should be edited in Photoshop beyond cropping. The fact that my images are panoramas and stitched in Photoshop made them ineligible for this show.

Where this issue seems to stem is from film, or former film photographers, who feel that to use Photoshop or other imaging software is somehow “cheating” and all the imaging should be done in camera. Of course in film, the editing was done via filter choice, film choice, and darkroom procedures. How this differs from digital editing is that it much of the processing editing was done by the photo labs and the photographer had little input, other than his/her choice of film type or lens or filters for the lens. In the past, few photographers, other than professionals had the means of darkroom editing and had to rely on the labs to get it right. By taking the darkroom editing out of their hands they somehow felt it was solely their creation and did not have to acknowledge the roll played by the lab in the creation of their work. Professional photographers often worked closely with the labs, dictating editing steps and even using airbrush experts to create their work, if unable to do their own darkroom work. Ansel Adams said “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

The fact is that digital images are all edited. When shooting in the Jpeg mode, most edits are done in camera by the camera’s software. The “preset” edits for jpeg images were developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (jpeg). People seem to be unaware that the digital camera is actually a “computer” designed for image capture. The software in the camera makes adjustments based on the parameters set by the user, and the developers of the software standards. When someone declares that they did not edit their work, but are shooting in Jpeg, they are letting someone else edit their work.

 If photographers want more control of the final output, they usually shoot in camera raw. The camera raw image is often flat and in need of adjustments. Many people who have upgraded to a DSLR camera find that they are disappointed in the outcome because they are looking at unedited photos and they are used to looking at jpegs. I can not tell you how often I have heard complaint from amateur photographers when they first shoot in camera raw that they got great photos from “the old camera” but lousy ones now.

When someone proudly declares that they did not edit their work in Photoshop, I have to wonder who did edit their photos. Did they chose not to edit because of some misinformation about the digital process and felt that letting the “Jpeg guys” do it is somehow purer or better than doing the work themselves? Or is it just a way to cover up the fact that they do not know how to use Photoshop and are trying to make this ignorance into a virtue?

Either way, you can make beautiful photos. But when the photographer takes control and does his/her own editing a true work of art can be created. Is it any less a great photo because it was edited by the artist instead of the computer software in the camera? Does doing the editing oneself make it better than relying on the software? I do not think either case is true. The image should be judged on its own merits, not how it was composed or created. It is time to end this debate and accept that some artists prefer to have control over the process while others are content to accept the image as created by the preset software. Yes, images are created in the camera and influenced by many factors. Be it lighting, composition, focus, aperture setting, shutter speed or digital editing it is the combination of factors that make a great photo. Just because many of those factors happen to be done outside the camera does not invalidate their influence on the final image. Why should artificial lighting be allowed in a juried photo for a show and brightening and contrast in Photoshop not be?

To quote Ansel Adams again, “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

Finding someone to reproduce your artwork may seem like an easy thing to do.  Google “giclée” and 20 million hits come up.  You might narrow the field down by adding your region (“giclée Western Mass” has only 27,000 hits), but the numbers are still daunting.  Finding the right printer for your artwork is like finding the right doctor or the right insurance company.  I suggest that you work with someone who, if not local, is still close enough so you can meet with them and see their operation.  As an artist you put many hours into your work.  You want to find someone who appreciates your effort, respects your work and makes you the best possible reproduction.  Asking the right questions can help you evaluate the printer. The following is a list of questions that I feel are the most important.

1. What is your back ground in printing? In art? In digital technology?
2. Are you able to give references of satisfied customers?
3. What techniques do you use for image capture, printing, finishing?
4. What products or brands do you use for printing and why do you choose those products?
5. Do you guarantee your work and do you stand behind your product?

This is not a complete list of questions but they are a starting point. You are building a relationship with your printer. You want to know and trust that individual to handle your work with professionalism and competence.  Your prints will reflect you as an artist and as a professional. Know your product. If your customers ask you about the digital or giclée process you want to be able to answer with authority and confidence.  No one expects everyone to be an expert, (that is why you go to a giclée printer) but you should be knowledgeable enough to be able to state why your giclée prints are worth the price you charge.

I have been teaching basic Photoshop Elements now for a few years. I started with Photoshop Elements 2 and now it is now PE9.  It has gone through several iterations and, although each version has had added enhancements; I have never recommended an upgrade if someone had a recent version. But this time I think PE9 is a winner and well worth the update.

 I teach Elements but work with full Photoshop CS5.  Many of the tools were just not available to Elements users and I had to find “work-a-rounds” to make Elements work the way I wanted. Now PE9 has some new enhancements that make it closer to the power of full Photoshop.  That leads us to the first reason for updating.

1. Layer Masks.  For the fist time Photoshop Elements has the ability to use layer masks.  It is the use of layers that makes Photoshop the program it is. By being able to make adjustments and add layers one is able to work in a non destructive environment and rework or make changes without changing the original.  Masks make that task easier and are critical for many Photoshop projects.
2. Enhanced features in Organizer.  Now you can upload directly to Facebook or Flickr. 
3. With Guided Effects you can get many special effects that used to take the pros hours, in just a few minutes following the step by step instructions,
4. Content Aware Spot Healing Brush. This new feature is able to analyze your image and make corrections that blend perfectly with the adjacent areas.
5. Price.  The full price of Photoshop Elements 9 is $99.  Far less that the $700 price for CS5, although higher than some other editing software products out there. But right now Adobe is offering a $20 mail-in rebate.  If you shop around you may find it discounted even more. (or use the convenient link on the right for discount from Amazon)  For all the power of Photoshop, a photo organizer, presets, and all the special features of Elements you can not go wrong.