Product Review: Alien Skin’s Exposure 3 Plug-In

July 20, 2010 By PictureSoup 1 Comment

By Diane Berkenfeld

Alien Skin Software’s Exposure 3 plug-in lets you turn your digital images into the photographs you took yesteryear. Sorta. What the plug-in does, is,picture-soup.com new gear announcement exposure 3 simulate film—an extensive library of accurate film properties, both color and B&W. In addition to the film simulation, the software offers the added creativity of simulating Lo-Fi and vintage effects. Don’t have a Holga or plastic toy camera but wish you could have taken a certain photo with one? No worries, just run the image through Exposure 3 and you can turn your crisp, perfect image into the toy-camera output of your dreams.

Get Technical

The computer I tested Exposure 3 on is a Macbook Pro with an Intel Core Duo Processor, Mac OS 10.6.3 with 2 Gigs of RAM.

The Exposure 3 plug-in can be used with Photoshop CS5 or Lightroom 3. I’ve found it works faster when using it from within Photoshop than launching it as an external editor for Lightroom. Exposure 3 offers 64-bit support for Photoshop CS5 on both the Mac and PC.

If you choose to run it through Lightroom 2 or 3, you don’t need to have Photoshop on the computer to run the plug-in, however I think that most pro photographers reading this review have Photoshop. Exposure 3 is also compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4, Adobe Lightroom 2, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or later, and Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X3.

Alien Skin suggests Microsoft Windows users have at least a Pentium 4 processor or compatible and Windows XP SP3 or later. Apple Macintosh users must have an Intel processor and Mac OS X 10.5 or later. A monitor with 1024×768 resolution or greater is required.

Whether your workflow includes Lightroom or Photoshop, Exposure 3 offers multiple ways to alter your images without being destructive to the files. In Lightroom you can choose to edit a copy or edit a copy with Lightroom adjustments, in addition to editing the image file. In Photoshop, the software can render effects on a duplicate layer instead of the original; or be used as a Smart Filter.

The company has also improved the user interface in this iteration of Exposure. Once you launch the plug-in, you choose either color or B&W. Although not clocked with a stopwatch, I did notice previews were quicker than previous versions of the software. And because there are so many settings you can choose from, I found myself looking at the preview of one particular setting and if I didn’t like it, I immediately clicked the next one as soon as the preview was complete. I never found myself waiting for the previews before I was ready to move onto the next one.

exposure 3 screenshot for picture-soup.com review

Screenshot of the Exposure 3 plug-in launched from Photoshop CS5 on a Mac, showing a split screen. The settings listing shows the film types/Lo-Fi camera effects; further tweaking can be done by clicking on color, focus, tone, grain and age, after choosing a film simulation. Photograph © Diane Berkenfeld.

Get Creative

In addition to all of the technical improvements ‘under the hood’ so to speak, Alien Skin has added the simulation of Lo-Fi toy cameras, aging effects and more vintage films like Technicolor and old Kodachrome, in addition to other film types, toning and aging settings.

picture-soup.com image for exposure 3 review

(top left) Original image of a recording studio's sound board; (top right) Fuji Sensia low light cross process; (bottom left) Fuji Neopan 1600 dust and scratches; (bottom right) vignette soft Agfa APX 100. Photograph © Diane Berkenfeld.

If you’re looking to replicate the look of one of your favorite films, odds are you’ll find what you’re looking for in Exposure 3. There are 500 presets you can choose from. But if you want to use a certain film look as a stepping stone to a more unique look, you can do that too, because the plug-in lets you make numerous tweaks to the settings provided, and it allows you to save presets too.

As much as you may spend hours restoring images that came from a scratched print, neg. or slide, it would take you only mere seconds to add dust and scratches, or realistically fade colors to age a digital image using Exposure 3.

shots of water for picture-soup.com review of exposure 3

(top left) Original image of marshes and the far shore reflected in the water; (top right) Bleach bypass; (bottom left) EPP cross process; (bottom right) Lomo Fujifilm cross process. Photograph © Diane Berkenfeld.

What makes Exposure 3 such a great plug-in is the fact that Alien Skin has put in a lot of work to make sure the film simulations are realistic. When I shot film, I loved the look of big grain in B&W and used to shoot Kodak Tmax 3200; with regards to color, I’d shoot Fujifilm chrome film because I loved the warmth of the final images. Now I can take my digital images and give them the “look” of those films. For discontinued films, like Kodachrome, which will cease being processed by the end of the year, this means a lot. [For more on Kodachrome's film and processing discontinuation, click here —Ed.] Oh, and being able to take a photograph handheld, at whatever exposure ambient lighting allows, then simulate Kodachrome 25 or another extremely slow film sounds like a better prospect than having to wait for exactly the right moment—not to mention lugging a tripod, and perhaps using a cable release. I won’t even go into trying to find a lab that will cross-process your film without charging you an-arm-and-a-leg. Even a film-lover like myself has to admit that digital does have its advantages.

Exposure 3 sells for $249, upgrade from any version for $99.

Go to www.alienskin.com for more information.

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Software Review: Adobe InDesign CS5

July 11, 2010 By Toni McQuilken 1 Comment

A look at what’s newindesign cs5 box for toni mcquilken article for picture-soup.com

Article by Toni McQuilken. Artwork by Gannon Ruddy.

There are several new features in Adobe InDesign CS5 that photographers who do any kind of layout work are going to be incredibly excited about. Here are a few of the top features that will make you want to rush out and upgrade.

I should tell you up front—I love this new release. It’s a joy to use, and it actually makes layout fun. The project I’m currently working on is near and dear to my heart—my wedding invitations. My fiancé and I are creating them ourselves with his artwork and my skills at layout and design, and the new InDesign has made it a fun process instead of a frustrating one. I’ll take you through a few of the features I love about it, and how I used them to create what I think (but I’m admittedly biased) turned out to be some pretty amazing invitations.

toni mcquilken image for indesign cs5 review for picture-soup.com

Content Grabber. Drag an image around within it's frame to adjust the crop on the fly. No more jumping back into Photoshop just to make a small adjustment to part of the image. When you grab the center of the image now, the frame itself won't move—only the image within it. Original art © Gannon Ruddy.

The first one is small, but powerful—the ability to drag an image around within it’s frame to adjust the crop on the fly. No more jumping back into Photoshop just to make a small adjustment about what part of the image is viable. Called Content Grabber, when you grab the center of the image now, the frame itself won’t move—only the image within it. This was a helpful feature as I was moving around and placing the images in our invitations. I set up the bounding boxes and got the rough design done early; then, as the art was finished, I was able to bring it into InDesign and adjust it to get the exact part of the shot I wanted. Adobe didn’t leave it at that, however. Instead of having to wait until you’ve released the image to see what will be visible and what’s been cropped, a preview will show you exactly what’s still in the frame as well as a grayed-out preview of the portion that will be hidden from view.

toni mcquilken indesign example for picture-soup.com article

Live Corner Effects. Drag the tool to adjust the corners to get a rounded (default) effect, or press Alt/Option click on any of the yellow handles to scroll through the other corner effects. The default action is to do all four corners simultaneously, by the same amount for a balanced look. Hold down the shift key, to work on a single corner at a time. Original art © Gannon Ruddy.

Another nice addition to InDesign in this version is the ability to do custom shapes to the corners of images, again, without having to go into Photoshop to create the effect. Now, when you click on an image, a new yellow handle will appear in addition to the usual tools. Called Live Corner Effects, by dragging the tool you can adjust the corners to get a rounded (which is the default) effect, or you can Alt/Option click any of the yellow handles to scroll through the other effects built into the software. Once you’ve chosen one, you can adjust it to get exactly the look you’re going for. The default action is to do all four corners simultaneously, by the same amount for a balanced look. However, by holding down the shift key, you can work on a single corner at a time.

rotating example for toni mcquilken indesign review for picture-soup.com

Rotating. Now, when you have an image selected, move your cursor to any of the corners, and a new rotate symbol will appear. Click and hold, and you can rotate the image as much or as little as necessary. Original art © Gannon Ruddy.

Again, in an effort to make repetitive tasks easier and faster, rotating is another feature that was tweaked. And it was the one feature I used the most in the creation of the invitations. Now, when you have an image selected, move your cursor to any of the corners, and a new rotate symbol will appear. Click and hold, and you can rotate the image as much or as little as necessary. Instead of going with a straight invitation style, ours are folded, with each flap folding out to reveal a new piece of art. In order to get the front and inside to flow correctly, there was a lot of rotating and adjusting. The ability to just grab and tweak instead of having to change tools and go through a process to get the angles I wanted was a huge plus in my book.

Auto-Fit is another new feature I used quite a bit in the invitation creation. Auto-Fit allows you to automatically scale an image to fit the frame, instead of having to do it manually. The scanned artwork came in as massive files that I didn’t want to shrink in Photoshop because I plan to use the same art in other stationary throughout the wedding. The ability to re-size my art in the layout, based on the frames I had preset, was a godsend, and saved me more time than I care to contemplate. To use it, turn it on in the Control Panel, then Shift-Drag the image to the size you ultimately want it to fit. Instead of just adjusting the frame, this will automatically set the picture to the same size and shape as the new frame.

On the production side, the Mini-Bridge is a fantastic new way to get quick access to all of your assets. It’s a little mini browser right in InDesign that allows you to find the art you want and quickly get it placed. It allows you to compare images and assets within InDesign instead of having to go out of the program and into your file browser. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when you’re in the middle of a project, it’s a huge time saver. I kept it open with the folder where my art for the wedding is stored not only for the invitations, but for all my stationary, so I could see at a glance which pieces I had ready to go, which ones I was still waiting to get the final versions for, and which ones had been used in any individual project.

toni mcquilken indesign article for picture-soup.com

Mini-Bridge. The mini-bridge lets you view and access your assets within InDesign. Original art © Gannon Ruddy.

Another big win on the production side that’s not quite as noticeable or flashy is that Adobe took advantage of newer technologies and processors to export PDFs in the background. Especially on more complex projects, the ability to have InDesign exporting while you continue to work in the program on another layout is one of those time-savers you didn’t even realize was sucking so many minutes away from your day.

One of the nice parts about making edits in InDesign instead of going back and forth into Photoshop to get the same effect is that the original image remains untouched. The size, shape, resolution and any other changes made in the layout will allow you to get the look and feel you want without damaging or changing the originals. As I mentioned, we plan to use all of the art in more than one application, from wedding programs to table place cards to the thank-you notes, and all of these will be different sizes, require different angles, and would be a nightmare to keep track of if I had to create a different version of each piece of art for every use.

There are quite a few more new features that make layout much easier, faster and more efficient. Adobe has stayed with it’s pattern of making only minor changes in even-numbered releases, but in the odd-numbered versions, like the current one, they pack it full of new features and tweaks designed to really change the way you work. You owe it to yourself to at least take a look at the new version, and try it out if you can; since it’s packed with tools you’re going to enjoy using.

For more information, go to www.adobe.com.

toni mcquilken headshot• Toni McQuilken has been covering the print and graphics industry for the past 10 years. She is also an avid photographer who can be found with her camera out and about on Long Island most weekends. Check out her website at www.tonimcquilken.com to see more of her writing.

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Product Review: Digital Anarchy's Beauty Box Photo Plug-in

June 1, 2010 By PictureSoup 3 Comments

By Diane Berkenfeld

Digital Anarchy today released a new skin retouching program for still images, Beauty Box Photo. A Photoshop plug-in, Beauty Box Photo is compatible with Photoshop CS5 and earlier versions. The software is a follow-up to the company’s popular video retouching tool for After Effects CS5.

Beauty Box Photo skin retouching software automatically identifies skin tones and creates an intelligent mask that limits the smoothing effect to skin areas while keeping facial details sharp. You can use the software for batch processing too, which really helps speed up your workflow.

In Use Review

I had the opportunity to review a beta version of Digital Anarchy’s Beauty Box Photo, using it with Photoshop CS4, and love the software. It has the power of high priced programs, yet the GUI or graphic user interface is simple to navigate and easy to use.

One of the great features of Beauty Box Photo is that it provides subtle yet visible retouching. Whether you use the automatic retouching or manually tweak the settings, the skin smoothing is subtle, so your portrait subjects look normal—skin does not look plastic or over-retouched. Pore structures and wrinkles are visible but softened.

(l. to r.) Screenshot showing 100% view before, and after. Photo © Diane Berkenfeld.

I found that the automatic mask did a wonderful job of masking the skin tone, not just on a face, but shoulders, arms—all visible skin in a photograph. You can very easily tweak the mask too, if necessary. Once you have the mask, you can fine tune the skin smoothing to your liking.

(l. to r.) Final portrait, and screenshot of the Beauty Box Photo mask. Photo © Diane Berkenfeld.

The software lets you take up to three snapshots of different amounts of smoothing, and you can toggle between each of them to choose which looks the best, and then apply that one. I personally would have liked to see a before/after button instead—although to the software’s credit, it lets you see up to three different settings which is more than a simple before/after or split screen would provide.

When it comes to retouching, sometimes less is better, meaning that Beauty Box does what it says it does—providing powerful skin smoothing without going overboard. And it is not overwhelming to use, like some software programs can be. This is great for the non-techie photographer or beginner digital imager.

The software is also very intuitive. I tested it out with a portrait of a 6 month old, a 4 year old and a 30-something. Each time the automatic settings provided a pretty good starting point. Less smoothing for the kids and more for the 30-something. Although I did tweak the settings, most folks would probably be happy with the program completely running on auto.

(l. to r.) Close-up view of the original non-retouched image (file open in Photoshop), and after (image in Beauty Box Photo's dialog window), using the automatic settings of Beauty Box Photo. Note the smoothing of the baby's blotchy red skin on his cheek. Photo © Diane Berkenfeld.

I definitely see Beauty Box as an addition to my retouching workflow. It makes it really easy to smooth skin for a pleasing look while leaving the skin looking realistic.

The photographs of the baby and child were for an actual job I was working on. I originally used a Photoshop action on the portraits, which while smoothing the skin also added a soft-focus glow that really was overboard for these images. The Beauty Box Photo skin smoothing was perfect—just enough to smooth out blotchy skin without overkill.

Beauty Box Photo works in Photoshop versions 7.0–CS5 and Photoshop Elements versions 6–9; on the Macintosh, running on OS 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6; and on Windows, the software supports Windows XP Home, Windows XP Pro, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit and Windows 7. In the next few months, Digital Anarchy will have a version compatible with Apple Aperture, and in the future (date tbd) with Adobe Lightroom.

Beauty Box is regularly priced at USD $99. The product is on sale for $79 through June 21, 2010.

For more information, to try out demo filters and view samples, go to www.digitalanarchy.com.

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Product Review: Foto Fashionista's My Foto Vest for Ladies

May 16, 2010 By PictureSoup 3 Comments

By Diane Berkenfeld

I am a woman with a camera—a professional photographer.

When shooting personal projects or working on location, I don’t always want to carry a camera bag, nor do I always want to have a gear belt full of pouches that resembles Batman or Robin’s utility belts. Thanks to fellow photographer Marla Holden, I won’t have to do that anymore. That’s because Marla decided to design a photo vest for women.

The vests fit a woman’s shape, unlike the baggy, oversized photojournalist’s vests that have been available for men for years. Marla’s company, Foto Fashionista, offers female photographers a more fashionable choice for carrying necessities while shooting, the My Foto Vest, in four styles: Nantucket Stripe, Casual Friday Khaki, Saturday Blue Jeans, and Midnight Denim. The vests are made of comfortable cotton materials, and are machine washable. They’re available in small, medium, large and x-large.

One of the great features of My Foto Vest is that the back is made of a stretchable lace, so it breathes. A zipper lets you wear the vest closed or open. On the inside of the vest, you’ll find pockets that are made of a stretchy neoprene-like material. The right side features five pockets, one for a pen, and four more to hold accessories. The left side has two pockets for accessories, with three smaller pockets to hold media cards higher up near your shoulder.

Pockets are stretchable. The My Foto Vest is comfortable to wear even when you've got the pockets full and the vest zippered closed.

Photo accessories, such as a light meter, flash, lens caps, filters, white balance devices (i.e. Spydercube), extra batteries, and more will easily fit in the pockets. So will a cellphone, keys, ID and money, or a small wallet. I like that when wearing a Foto Fashionista vest, I don’t have to stuff everything in my pant’s pockets. This is important, because, except for denim jeans, not all pants have pockets that are large enough, or shaped correctly to safely hold much of anything. I would like to be able to fit a lens in the vest, and wasn’t able to with the lenses than I own. The material that makes up the pockets is stretchy, but I couldn’t get the lenses to pass through the seams at the top of the pockets—which also speaks to the durability of the vests’ construction.

I like the ability to keep my full media cards on me. I don’t normally put shot cards in my gear bag in the event that it disappears on a shoot. My camera gear is replaceable, but the photographs I’ve taken aren’t.

Overall, I found the vest could replace a small purse, which I would find helpful on its own. If I was going out shooting with only one lens, I would definitely wear the vest instead of carrying a small camera bag. Being able to easily and comfortably carry accessories I use all the time is great. Because I shoot events, I would definitely like to see a more formal looking vest in black. Marla has said she’s working on a formal design for photographers to wear while shooting events, and I can’t wait to try it out.

MSRP of the My Foto Vest is $139.99. For more information, go to www.fotofashionista.com.

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Product Review: Photo Mechanic Software

May 12, 2010 By photomuse 1 Comment

By Kristin Reimer

With the imminent demise of a well-known photo management application I’ve endorsed since the days I embraced digital photography, it became clear I had to find a replacement. Photo Mechanic by Camera Bits in all appearances seems to be my replacement. At the present time, it is not a cataloguing solution—Camera Bits says that may change soon—but overall it’s a very user-friendly application that I use for all of my DAM workflow.

Photo Mechanic is Mac/PC compatible. System requirements are: MAC: Mac OS X 10.6.x, 10.5.8, or 10.4.11. PowerPC G4, G5 or Intel; PC: Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, or XP with Service Pack 1 – 3. Intel Pentium 3 1.2GHz, AMD Athlon 1200 or higher.

Let me go over a few available options that give strength to the Photo Mechanic program:

Download/Ingestion

Images can be imported directly into Photo Mechanic via their ingestion program, or you can open images already stored in an existing archive/folder. When using Photo Mechanic’s ingestion tool, you are given batch controls of your images, such as: adding a metadata template, renaming, and back-up.

One function I appreciate is that during ingestion you can back-up your files to a second location simultaneously. (Screen Shot 1 A) By the way, provided you have multiple card readers, you can ingest more than one card at a time. If you are an impatient person like I am, another ingest feature is that you can open a contact sheet and start viewing your images as they download.

The metadata is where Photo Mechanic really has the opportunity to strut its stuff. This is one of the things that makes it a favorite among photojournalists and stock photographers. You can easily and quickly embed metadata in your files starting here. By setting up the Stationary Pad (Screen Shot 1 B) you can create a template that will load your reoccurring data into all of your files with the press of one button. By using the IPTC editor you can go in later and fine tune specifics. You can save as many templates as is required.

Soapbox moment. If you aren’t adding metadata to your files, you should read up on the Orphan Works (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_works) bill and rethink that.

Interface

Now that your files have been ingested, let’s look at the interface. Personally I find the GUI user friendly. You can customize the window via preferences (Screen Shot 2, below).

Viewing & Sorting Images

From this main window, you can view your images as a contact sheet and by double clicking on a thumbnail, you’re brought to a larger preview, which I will explain further later. You can open new contact sheets by clicking the “+” sign (Screen Shot 3 A), adding images from either a desktop folder or directly from your card reader, if you didn’t use the ingest process. After tagging your edits with either a 5-star rating or color code (Screen Shot 3 B), you can sort them together (Screen Shot 3 C) by: color class, star rating, capture time, modification time, filename, etc. In addition, you can use the button to the right of arrangement to sort by your “selected, tagged, untagged” choices (Screen Shot 3 D).

By clicking on the icon to the left of the search field, you are given the option for the File Uploader menu (Screen Shot 3 E). This menu gives you the easy ability to upload image files directly to your account on PhotoShelter, Flickr, and SmugMug, among others. You can send original files, jpeg copies, apply a watermark, and resize all within this menu.

Right-click a thumbnail and it gives you the following handy options: Image Info (camera info), Color Class (label), Apply IPTC Stationary (another opportunity to add metadata), Edit Photo (using the image editor of your choice), Rename Photo, Copy Photo, Delete Photo, Save Photo As…, Send Photo via Email, FTP as…, Upload…, Reveal in Finder.

In addition to some of the features listed above, you also have the ability to export HTML web pages, burn images to disc, print contact sheets, and create slideshows.

Editing

Photo Mechanic makes editing through hundreds or thousands of images a breeze. One of the great things about editing within Photo Mechanic is that it will generate a jpg preview of each RAW file, so loading of the images is super quick. I’ve often been editing as the ingestion is still happening, which takes me no time at all.

When you double click on a thumbnail, it brings you to an enlarged version of your image. From this window, you have the following preferences available to you in the top menu: front/back arrows, rotate image, IPTC stationary pad (are you sensing this is important yet?), file copy options, delete, and screen view options (screen shot 4 A, below).

To the right of the screen you have your file info which contains your camera data. By clicking on the + and – signs in the top right, you can edit what information you would like to see here. You have a crop tool, a zoom button (allowing you to enlarge your image by 800%) and lastly, a histogram.

From within this window, it is very easy to navigate forward and back using the arrow buttons on your keyboard and tag each image with either a star rating or color code and speed through the folder. When finished, head back to the main GUI and arrange your tagged edit as you see fit.

From there it’s an easy right click to copy your files to another folder, ftp or email them.

IPTC Stationary Pad

I’ve mentioned it before, but let’s take a closer look at the IPTC Stationary Pad. You’ve now seen the various places this window can be accessed. See the window (screen shot 5, above) for more details. As I mentioned you can create templates for your metadata and simply apply them to a batch of images, or individual images with one button. There is a function called IPTC Snapshot which allows you the ability to copy and paste a set of metadata between files. You can access the snapshot via the lightning bolt graphic in the lower left corner; right-click function, via the edit menu or via the enlarged preview window’s upper menu “i” button.

In addition, via the image menu, you can find a keywords panel where you can build a list of keywords that you use often.

In conclusion, the main things to keep in mind before purchasing this program, is that if you are looking for a program that works as a cataloguing option, this is not for you. This is also not an image editing program. Because of these omissions, I may hesitate to purchase this program by itself, however, for the price, you can’t go wrong if you are looking for a way to ingest and manage your images quickly and efficiently.

I am very fond of Photo Mechanic’s ability to copy files to two locations during ingestion as well as the speed with which the previews come up, enabling me to start editing while I am still ingesting files. Renaming files, being able to email and FTP files are also functions I used quite readily as well.

One thing I dislike (other than it’s lack of cataloging abilities) is that there is no “undo” button. I have at times applied ratings or labels only to find that there is no quick way to undo a mistake. I also find, for me, that there are too many ways to achieve the same goal. For instance, the many places you can reach the IPTC Stationary Pad; it could have been simplified just a little bit more.

Lastly, for support, the Camera Bits forum is full of information and one can often get pretty speedy replies from the developers themselves. That’s a nice personal touch to experience in this day and age.

MSRP for Camera Bits Photo Mechanic, version 4.6.3 for Mac/PC is $150. You can demo the software free for 20 days. For more information, check out www.camerabits.com.

• Upon graduating with a BFA in photography from Pratt Institute, Kristin went on to become the studio manager for the esteemed Magnum photojournalist, Elliot Erwitt. Under the tutelage of Elliott, Kristin acquired a more capacious understanding of the history of photography and of the unique and diverse contributions of those who define the field. Her work with Elliott also provided a forum from which to create and develop her own artistic style.

In 2002 Kristin founded Photomuse (www.photomuse.com), a fine art/documentary style wedding company. Kristin is an award-winning member of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA), a professional organization composed of photojournalists and wedding photographers from around the world as well as the Artistic Guild of Wedding Photography (AGWPJA) and the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers (ISPWP).

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Product Review: Canon Pixma Pro9500 Mark II printer

May 11, 2010 By celeigh Leave a Comment

By Carrie Konopacki

I recently had the opportunity to try out the Canon Pixma Pro9500 Mark II inkjet printer. I was looking forward to seeing how the printer would perform and increase my workflow productivity.

To give you a little background on myself, the first true experiences I had in the photo world began with my Canon AE-1. The ability to have complete control over your picture from start to the final print became a quick addiction. I loved my Canon. Through the digital years, I dabbled with various other makes and used your standard printers. Was this Canon going to be a “love affair rekindled?” Could be.

Printer Specs and Features

When the printer first arrived, it was very overwhelming. Lets just say you need to find ample desktop space. The printer is 26.0″(W) x 7.6″(H) x 13.9″(D). It can handle output up to 13×19-inches. My first challenge was finding the printer a workspace. With the front and rear trays open, the printer will need around a 30”x40” area. The 1.6mm steel body adds to the overwhelming appeal and speaks “rough and tough.”

After taking the printer out of the box, I just needed to install the 10 single ink cartridges: Matte Black, Photo Black, Gray, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Photo Cyan, Photo Magenta, Red, and Green. The driver now installed on a Dell Inspiron 530 Intel Core 2 Quad PC, it was finally time to print. Or in my case, select the images to test print.

The Pixma Pro9500 Mark II printer utilizes a 4800×2400 dpi FINE print head, two separate paper paths, and a new printer driver. The printer is compatible with Mac OX X v.10.2.8 to 10.5.x and PCs running Windows XP/2000/Vista/7. The printer connects to computers via USB 2.0 and direct printer ports—no FireWire and no Ethernet. The printer can output 16-bit files.

The 10-color PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II printer uses Canon’s professional Lucia brand pigment-based inks. The printer was designed to output great B&W prints as well as color. Its ink system includes gray, black and matte black cartridges for printing of monochrome photographs on both fine art paper and glossy photo paper.

The printer comes with both Windows & MAC OS X: Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, Easy-PhotoPrint EX, CD-LabelPrint and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, however most professional photographers are likely to print from whichever version of Photoshop they are using. Using the included software allows you to print directly from Photoshop and also print RAW images. These options allowed me numerous options to choose from with my inventory of prints.

Test Use

Ali. Photograph © Carrie Konopacki.

My goal was to find the most luminous, vibrant color photos and the black and white images with high levels of contrast, shadows and depth of field. And also throw in some sepia. For my printer tests, I used a variety of media, including: Canon Inkjet art & photo paper,  Fine Art paper “Museum Etching”, Fine Art paper “ Photo Rag”, Fine Art Paper, Premium Matte, Photo Paper Plus Semi Gloss, Hahnemühle Matte FineArt, Kodak Premium Photo Paper (Matte), and Kodak Photo Paper (Gloss).

Arizona Cacti. Photograph © Carrie Konopacki.

For my first print, I chose the Museum Etching media to print an image of a Cacti from a 2009 trip I took following Imaging USA. Once my enhancements were made to the image, it was time to print.

For me, the most difficult process to figure out was how to successfully operate the front feeder for the heavier and larger sized papers. After a few miss attempts and unsuccessful interpretation of the online owners manual, by sheer frustration, it became clear.

Bumblebee on Flower. Photograph © Carrie Konopacki.

I truly thought the printer had come with a malfunction. Mind you, not having used other Canon large or wide-format printers before, it took me some time to figure out exactly how the paper feed worked.

When I reviewed the online owners manual, which does give you a walk-through, with pictures and descriptive directions, I was able to figure out what to do. The front output tray needed to be placed into the feed position and paper manually fed into position from the back. Once you figure this portion out, everything else is pretty self-explanatory.

While Printing

Now that the printer was all set up, sending images to print was my next task. The printer handled anything I threw at it without any real complaints. You can even print regular documents on the printer, which I did in a pinch.

My only concern is that printing of photographs was slow.

Photo of Jake Konopacki by Herff Jones.

Using the Kodak glossy media I printed some school pictures, 2 (5×7)’s, 8 wallets, and 4 (3×5)’s in about 3 minutes. The quality was great. And the colors were representative to the true.

I was using Photoshop CS3, although I did try using Canon’s printer software to see how it would render my images. For the school images, I used the print package that was a part of the Canon Solutions menu options. Because the printer would be used by prosumers as well as pro photographers—and to see how well it printed—I didn’t use ICC profiles. The colors were spot on with the Jake’s school photos.

I did use the print screen option to make sure the picture I wanted had more of a vibrant color, with certain images.

The printer offers ICC capability, and can print both 8 bit and 16 bit images. The Pixma Pro9500, the predecessor to the Mark II was only able to print 8 bit image files.

The printer was remarkably quiet even without being in “Quiet Mode”, had great color and B&W image reproduction and was user friendly. There is also an easy one-click help button from the On-Screen Manual, which will help you diagnosis and resolve issues and/or questions.

With regards to the various papers that I used in testing the printer, I liked various ones for different prints. The goals is to make sure you like the final look on the paper you wanted, hence with the school picture, I knew the people I was handing them out to would be accustomed to glossy prints, so I used glossy media. For my cactus picture, I wanted to “soften” the look so I went with the Museum etching.

Overall, the Canon Pixma Pro9500 Mark II is a great 13-inch printer with excellent Black & White printing capabilities. The wide color range make your color prints pieces of artwork. Ink usage was within expectations of desired print quality and quantity. In addition, the quietness of the printer allows you to continue to work in the same room you are printing in with minimum distraction. I would definitely recommend this printer for those in the market.

For more information about the Canon Pixma Pro9500 Mark II printer go to the website www.usa.canon.com.

• Carrie Konopacki’s passion and expertise in photography began at the age of 16 when she took a job as a receptionist at Olan Mills Portrait Studios. From there she began a 15-year adventure as a photography professional. First as a photographer for Olan Mills, then in college, where she planned to become a photojournalist. Learning the roots behind her passion for photography, Carrie received a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. She has done freelance commercial photography as well as family portraiture. Most recently Carrie worked for Studio Photography magazine.


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Product/Service Review: Your Photo on Canvas/Pro

April 16, 2010 By PictureSoup 9 Comments

By Diane Berkenfeld

WPPI was the location for the debut of a new-to-the-photo-industry canvas printing company, who’s parent company has been in business for over 20 years, providing artists with high quality giclée and canvas printing—Your Photo on Canvas (www.yourphotooncanvas.com).

The company has a consumer facing retail website and also a pro website section where professional photographers are able to order canvas gallery wraps at wholesale prices. Pros receive custom branded product and packaging, an online order history, ICC color profiling, and quick turnaround with shipping in 2-4 days, with low, flat rate ground shipping ($9.95 per order).

The website’s pro area (www.yourphotooncanvas.com/pro) has an easy to use uploader for images and your logo. You upload your logo and the company outputs it to the back of each of the canvases you order, which is a great marketing tool for your studio. Canvas sizes range from 8×10 through 40×60 in a wide variety of shapes/sizes. Another great feature of the site is that the price list includes both the wholesale and MSRP of each size, so its easy for you to mark up your work to an appropriate amount.

Each canvas is coated with a UV protective layer that is specifically designed for the company’s combination of canvas and inks, ensuring the longevity of each print.

Image files only need to be 150 DPI, as the company has found that resolution combined with the latest RIPs allows them to produce extremely sharp prints. The file uploading system allows you to choose your image to wrap around the stretcher bars, 1.5-inches deep, or for you to choose a black border for the sides of the gallery wrap. When uploading files, the website shows you a visual of your image, so you can choose exactly what part of the image will print on the front of the gallery wrap, so you can make sure the cropping is correct before ordering.

The company also offers an affiliate program for businesses that want to offer such services to their customers.

My Photo on Canvas

diane berkenfeld picture-soup blog photo

Original image © Diane Berkenfeld

Diane Berkenfeld picturesoup blog photo on wall

An image of the canvas hanging on the wall. Although the color of the canvas print is exact to the image file, the ambient lighting has added an overall slight red cast. Photo © Diane Berkenfeld.

To be honest, I actually had an image printed via the company’s consumer facing side but the quality of the output is the same whether you’re a consumer or a professional photographer—high quality, crisp, vibrant, sharp canvas gallery wraps. When I received my canvas and opened the box, I found it to be packaged well, with a claw hanger already attached to the rear of the wrap, ready for hanging. The image looked absolutely beautiful [if I do say so myself].

I was definitely impressed with the quality and will likely be using the pro services to output canvas gallery wraps for my clients’ images.

For more information on Your Photo on Canvas, go to the website www.yourphotooncanvas.com/pro.

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Product Review: ExpoImaging's Ray Flash Ring Flash Adapter

February 4, 2010 By PictureSoup 2 Comments

By Diane Berkenfeld

The Ray Flash is an adapter that fits over the head of your DSLR’s accessory flash and turns your flash into a ring flash. The Ray Flash uses the power of your flash—redirected through the adapter’s body—onto your subject. The Ray Flash has a center diameter of 4 1/8-inches and can accommodate most professional 35mm interchangeable lenses.

A range of models are available so you’ll want to check the ExpoImaging website for your DSLR/flash combination to see which one will work for you. The reason behind this is that there are differences in the height of different models of flashes sitting on various camera bodies. Originally the Ray Flash was designed to work with Canon Speedlites (580EX and 580EX II) and Nikon Speedlights (SB800 and SB900) but they will work with a range of other camera/flash combinations including cameras/flashes from Olympus and Sony; as well as flashes from Metz and Sigma.

The question is, when so many camera manufacturers and some lighting equipment makers make dedicated ring flashes, why would you go with an adapter instead? Price. The price ranges start at around $225 to $400 or so for dedicated ring flashes from camera makers and companies including Sunpak and Sigma; and upwards of $1,000 to $1,800 for ring flash heads from companies like Lumedyne, DynaLite, Comet, and Elinchrom. The ring flash heads average 3,000 watt seconds (w/s) of power. And if you own a lighting system that isn’t compatible, you’re out of luck—unless you’re willing to go out and spend thousands of dollars more for a full system of lights.

But when you’re looking for portability, a smaller unit is necessary. Street price for the Ray Flash is $199. which is a less than the cost if you were going to go out and buy a dedicated ring flash. And, by design, you’re getting more versatility out of your equipment, since you can most likely use a flash you already own.

Using the Ray Flash

(l. to r.) Installing the Ray Flash on a flash is quick and easy. Just slip it on, and turn the locking mechanism (on the top of the Ray Flash) to secure the adapter to the flash.

(l.) Final image; (r.) Close-up in Adobe Lightroom. Note the distinctive Ring Light highlights in the eyes. Photos © Diane Berkenfeld.

You will lose one stop of light from your flash by using the Ray Flash adapter. Because of the design, you can still use TTL modes with the Ray Flash adapter. Depending upon your shooting situation, though, you may want to use the flash on manual instead of TTL, to compensate for the light loss. A locking mechanism secures the adapter to your flash head, so it won’t slip off. And there is no change in color temperature.

Another example of the soft lighting from the Ray Flash. Photo taken with the Ray Flash on a Sigma EF 530 DG Super flash, Nikon D300s. Photo © Diane Berkenfeld.

The lighting from a ring flash is distinctive—virtually shadowless lighting on the front of the subject with a soft halo of shadow around the edges. The further away your subject is from the background, the harsher the shadow behind the subject will be. With other lighting methods, it is usually the opposite, in that you’ll get softer shadows the further your subject is from the background.

The Ray Flash, or any ring flash for that matter is ideal for Macro photography, however you can use the Ray Flash for wider compositions such as portraits too.

I tested out the Ray Flash (model #RAC 175-2) with a Nikon D300s body, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G lens and Sigma EF 530 DG Super flash. I also decided to try it out with the Lensbaby Composer and Fisheye optic on the D300s and the Sigma flash.

Using the Ray Flash adapter is very easy, it just slips over the head of the flash. I had no problems using it, in fact, when using the Nikkor lens, I held the D300s body with my right hand, and zoomed the lens with my left. When I tried taking photographs with the Lensbaby, which was much shorter than the Nikkor, I found it a little more difficult to shoot, but not impossible. Because I was using the Fisheye optic, I could see the back of the Ray Flash adapter in the viewfinder. For the image of Mardi Gras beads (below) that I shot with the Fisheye Lensbaby, I actually liked the circular crop that I ended up with.

(l.) This image was captured with the Lensbaby Composer on a Nikon D300s, using the Fisheye optic. The black ring is the back of the Ray Flash - visible because of the Lensbaby's shallow physical size and Fisheye's wide field of view; (r.) Final cropped image, exposure adjusted slightly, bringing out the blacks. The outline around the circle was created in Photoshop. If you look really closely you can see the reflection of the Ray Flash in the highlights. Photos © Diane Berkenfeld.

If you’re looking for an economical ring flash lighting solution the Ray Flash adapter might be right for you.

For more information, go to the website www.expoimaging.com.

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Product Review: M-Rock 671 ? McKinley Photo Backpack

January 16, 2010 By PictureSoup 7 Comments

Article & Photos By Kristin Reimer

With the newly arrived M-Rock 671 McKinley bag filled with gear and packed into the truck, we set off on our expedition and drove into the wild. The temperatures were in the single digits, the blizzard blinding us as our truck veered precariously on the icy road. The rapids of the river below us was roaring. Would the McKinley’s “water resistant exterior zippers” withstand the maelstrom and protect my gear? As we made our way I had confidence my equipment was tucked away safely thanks to the reinforced interior of my new M-Rock bag.

Okay. Well, the reality of it is, coming from Brooklyn, Pennsylvania is indeed wild country and the Delaware River can get some um, well, mild rapids. And there was snow! That I was on my way for a holiday family reunion, can that be counted as an expedition?

In any event, I had the perfect opportunity to test out a new camera bag. Like many others, I love camera bags, so I was excited that this would be my first review here on Picture-Soup.com.

As a wedding photographer, I rely most heavily upon my roller bag. My typical kit consists of three camera bodies, three Speedlights, and about five lenses. I usually have a smaller bag to carry various accessories. My current bag tends to stay packed and it’s always ready to go. In the frenetic pace of the day, this bag will receive a nice beating as I rush from place to place. So when applying for the job of the Photomuse (my studio’s name) gear bag, your qualities had better be: spacious, portable, easy and strong. Good looking is always a bonus.

The McKinley was a hopeful player. I received a large number of dividers, a removable accessory bag that could be tied around my waist if desired, in addition to multiple compartments both inside and out. I could fit a 15” laptop in a soft pouch in the bag (or an optional hydration pack for those extra special weddings!) and there was a nifty little “wire port” that would allow headphones to pass through should I decide to turn this bag into a backpack.

The McKinley was a charm to customize to my tastes. The bag seems to be constructed very well (though I lost several of the nylon zipper pulls quickly), the size was decent and I managed to get in most of my gear. Once I began to fill in the outside compartments (batteries, chargers, card wallet and cords) I found that I was pretty stuffed and use of the inside compartments would not happen.

This bag is designed to be flexible which is a great thing. Its portability is from the added trolley that you can remove and thus turn it into a backpack when desired. The removable accessory bag can further be added onto a modular belt system. The concept is brilliant. The M-Rock’s interior is fantastic, the cushioning is thick. The flaw I found in it is because the bag is not a part of the trolley, once I had it filled up, the bag itself would slip away slightly from the trolley and I could not get it to stand upright, it kept tilting forward and almost falling on top of itself. The trolley aspect needs to be more sturdy and secure to support the weight inside of the bag.

Overall, this bag wouldn’t work for me on my wedding jobs, due to the way I like to work. The quick access to the lenses is nice, but I find myself switching between camera bodies and lenses often and I like to have quick access to the entire bag’s contents by opening one zippered compartment, not multiple ones. For a travel photographer, it might be your fit. It’s flexible and tough. When you are no longer in transit, remove your trolley, slip it onto your back, slide your tripod into the bungee cords on front and head on out! You can drink from a hydration pack while hiking with it on your back and you can hook into your tunes. What a way to tune out and focus in.

For specs and more information, be sure to check out M-Rock’s website at: www.m-rock.com.

? Upon graduating with a BFA in photography from Pratt Institute, Kristin went on to become the studio manager for the esteemed Magnum photojournalist, Elliot Erwitt. Under the tutelage of Elliott, Kristin acquired a more capacious understanding of the history of photography and of the unique and diverse contributions of those who define the field. Her work with Elliott also provided a forum from which to create and develop her own artistic style.

In 2002 Kristin founded Photomuse (www.photomuse.com), a fine art/documentary style wedding company. Kristin is an award-winning member of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA), a professional organization composed of photojournalists and wedding photographers from around the world as well as the Artistic Guild of Wedding Photography (AGWPJA) and the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers (ISPWP).

Look for more articles from Kristin here on Picture-soup in the future.

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Product Review: Snaptotes Photo-Personalized Purses & Totebags

December 4, 2009 By PictureSoup 1 Comment

By Diane Berkenfeld

(l. to r.) A Snaptotes diaper bag created from portrait sitting images, and a Snaptotes clutch bag with an image from a pet photography session. All photos © Diane Berkenfeld.

Want to offer your female portrait and event clients something more unique than a print, something they can take with them wherever they go, showing off your images? [read: walking billboard.] If so, check out Snaptotes, the Durham, North Carolina-based company at www.snaptotes.com. Snaptotes makes purses, totebags and other items that are personalized by adding digital imagery. Products range from clutch and makeup bags, to satchel and bucket-shaped purses, tote bags, diaper bags, beach and workout bags, and more.

The images are made using a sublimation printing process.

Most of the bags are made out of a strong microfiber material that looks great. The beach totes are made of durable canvas. The products use high quality materials, with many featuring key fobs, feet to protect the bottoms of the bags, and plenty of interior pockets. Certain models also let you to choose a custom color interior liner.

And depending upon the model, you can have the image placed on both sides, for an additional fee.

Web-based File Uploading/Ordering

Snaptotes bags are easy to create, you simply upload your image, tweak placement if necessary, chose the lining if applicable to the style you are ordering, and they create the bag for you. It takes the company about three weeks from uploading ‘till your bag is delivered.

The company also has templates for each of their products that you can download and use for placement to make sure that no important parts of your image are cropped out.

Snaptotes asks for files to be under 5MB. Create the original image at full resolution and drop down the size of the JPG you’re uploading to the Snaptotes site. Exact file requirements are available on the company’s website.

Bags I’ve Had Made

I have had three bags made so far, a Satchel [not shown], Clutch, and Diaper bag. Each one was created with the photo(s) placed only on one side.

The Satchel has leather trim, feet, interior key fob, interior pockets and a large exterior pocket. I used a black and white image of a baby taken during a portrait sitting for this bag.

For the clutch, an image from a pet portrait sitting that was originally altered in Photoshop to look more like a painting than a photograph was used. This purse allowed for the choice of the interior lining and I chose pink, which went with the coloring of the image.

For the diaper bag, a layout was created in Photoshop using multiple images in two different sizes, color and black and white, in alternating placement. The final image was uploaded as one file.

I’ve been consistently pleased with the quality of the output of my imagery onto the Snaptotes products, as well as the overall quality of the products themselves. The company suggests that you Scotchguard the totes/purses once you receive them to further protect the printed image(s).

One of the cool things I realized when deciding upon images to use on the Snaptotes bags I ordered is that images with a little extra pizzazz looked even greater on the final product than they did on-screen. It gave me the ability to truly design one-of-a-kind pieces of usable photo art for my clients.

And the variety of the product line is large enough that there are styles that will appeal to a diverse clientele.

Although the website does sell direct to consumers, they pay full retail price, whereas professional photographers who sign up for the Snaptotes Pro Program receive wholesale pricing.

Snaptotes are a great way to add-on to sales from portrait or event photography. Check out the website www.snaptotes.com for more information and to see examples of some of the great bags that other photographers have made for their clients.

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