Considering these limitations, I’ve started using my iPhone as a sketching pad preceding the act of “hauling” out the big gear when I think the composition might be important. Sketching can be loosely defined as a preview of the possibilities. Perspective and framing is just one advantage of sketching.

With the explosion of smart phone applications that mimic what post processing software can do for with our DSLR files, now not only do I use it for composition, but also for sketching what a close up, panoramic or high dynamic range (HDR) image might look like. I would have never thought my little phone could become such a valuable tool for my serious photo work!

Even the default camera that comes with the phone is fairly rudimentary and I’ve found third party apps that control exposure and focus (among other things) much better at these basic camera functions. ProCamera by Jens Daengen is my first choice for capturing any image on my phone.

All of us close up photographers using our DSLR camera’s know what kind of time and energy it takes to set up and shoot a macro shot whether the composition ultimately works or not. We’ll, why not try one with the phone first to see if you even like it?  Unfortunately, the lens won’t allow you to focus as close as a true macro lens or extension tubes will. The subject will not be sharp after hitting the shutter, but all you’re looking for is the sketch to see if the composition is worth your time…awesome!

HDR software has also created a buzz in the photo world, and now with your iPhone and Pro HDR by eyeApps LLC, we can now capture and render highlight and shadow detail from high contrast scenes by processing more than one exposure. It’s a common occurrence shooting landscape scenes or building interiors with outside views. Pro HDR is the app that can accomplish this and the results are surprisingly good, but not without significant limitations. Higher contrast scenes require a broader range of exposures than the app will allow to create a realistic interpretation. And the jpeg file format won’t produce great results compared to the image quality captured with a raw file on your DLSR and processed with a computer application like HDRSoft’s Photomatix.

A panoramic perspective is a blast to shoot and process and the merged files are capable of producing big beautiful wall prints. The workflow also requires patience, time in the field to set up and capture, and merging all the files on the computer requires time and energy. It’s worth it if the scene is good, but sometimes after all of that we realize the final output isn’t worth the high cost of printing and displaying it “big.” With the simplistic setup, capture and processing capabilities using a pano phone app like Autostitch by Cloudburst Research, we can now sketch it first to see what the possibilities are like from our DSLR. What an enormous time saver!

So the next time your on the way out the door to do some serious photography with your beloved DSLR, don’t forget your little phone camera and do a little sketching!

I will be teaching at our upcoming Photo Weekends in Cheyenne, WY  in May and in Missoula, MT in October.

You can also join me for one of these Workshops in 2013:
Basic Photography – Cheyenne, Wyoming
Basic Photography – Missoula, Montana
Death Valley National Park – Stovepipe Wells, California
Flash Photography – Missoula, Montana
Grand Teton National Park – Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Remember the old adage that “knowledge is power?” If you spend ten minutes per day looking at images from those who have truly mastered the art of landscape photography, wedding photography, macro photography, etc., then your own photographic skills will rise. Spend ten more minutes each day reading an article or watching a video tutorial from someone at the top of their craft, and your ability to craft a compelling image will skyrocket.

It’s easy for me to suggest that a few minutes of research time each day is all that it will take for you to become a better photographer. I am comfortable dishing out this advice because it matches my own personal experience and because I see it repeated again and again amongst the students who attend my photography workshops. Until recently though it was hard for me to point to a single website where I can consistently find the best photos, the most informative articles, and the most inspirational video tutorials.

In the past, I had to bounce all over the web to put in my twenty minutes of daily photographic research time. I used to jump from site to site, or blog to blog, each day to find my daily inspiration, but now Google+ acts as my central hub for contemporary photographic inspiration. Unlike other social sharing platforms, Google+ is designed to foster meaningful conversations between individuals who share similar interests. As a learning tool Google+ is the place to be right now for those with a serious interest in photography.

Reading, Sharing, Creating

It helps to draw distinctions between three distinct types of online social activities to understand the value of a social layer like Google+ as a learning tool. On a social network you can:

• consume content from others.

• pass along things that you found engaging or that your peers shared with you.

• distribute your own original content.

For serious photographers the breakdown of activity looks like this:

• viewing images from inspiring contemporary photographers.

• re-sharing and commenting on content that you the find compelling.

• posting and sharing your own images, videos and articles with the world.

It is up to you to choose which type of activity best suits your needs each day. There is no rule that says you must add something into the information stream everyday. I know a lot of aspiring photographers who do not want to share anything of their own yet but who are delighted to watch a daily stream of incredible images from the world’s best artists. For these photographers consuming photographic knowledge, without adding anything of their own into the pool, is an excellent use of their daily research time.

I know other photography students who delight in sparking up meaningful conversations with those who inspire them. For these artists just watching what others share online does not provide enough engagement. These students have questions that they want answered by those who inspire them. On a friendly open network it is possible to interact with anyone if you are polite and if your questions / comments add something of value to the collective conversation.

Finally, there are photographers like me who feel the need to share my work with the entire network. I share images, videos and words with the hope that my content will inspire or inform someone else. When someone posts a good question or an insightful comment on one of my posts, I feel compelled to answer it.

Sharing inspiring content supports my mission as a photography instructor, but there is no rule that says I must post something of my own making everyday. There is no rule that says I must answer every comment immediately. I do what I can to add something meaningful to the collective stream of information, but when I have nothing to say, I am happy to just sit back and absorb inspiration from others.

That’s my advice for those just dipping their toes into the Google+ pool. When you are new here, find some sources of inspiration and then sit back and watch what they do for a few weeks. Spend some time tracking down the artists whose images, and words, speak to you first.

As your comfort level with this social tool rises you might begin to ask questions and add comments to the posts that you find particularly insightful. If your comfort level with this public forum reaches the point where you feel the need to distribute your own work, then please leap into the social sharing game with both feet. But when you are getting started here, there is nothing wrong with just using Google+ as a source of daily inspiration without sharing a single word of your own.

Where Can I Find The Most Inspiring Photographers On The Google+ Network?

In the Google+ world, subscribing to someone’s news feed is called “following” or “circling.” When you add someone into one of your circles you are telling the platform that you want the ability see anything that this person publicly posts. When I tell Google+ that I want to circle an inspiring artist like my colleague Tim Cooper, it is a one-way street. Circling Tim does not force him to follow me back nor does it expose any of my private information to him.

So the big question becomes “who should I follow here?” Fortunately there are three ways to find great sources of inspiration on the Google+ network. Each method has its own unique value and all are worth exploring.

Option 1: Join A Community That Shares Your Interests

Joining a Google+ community is a great way to see photographs from artists all over the world. Google+ communities are a great place to discover new and interesting people. Most communities are open to anyone and they are a great way to find those with whom you share a particular interest. I am active in the Photoshop and Lightroom Users Community, the Landscape Photography Community, and the National Parks Community because these match my interests.

After you join a Community, spend a few days or weeks just watching the information stream. Whenever you see particularly inspiring work, check out the poster’s Google+ profile page. If you like what you see on their profile page and in their photo galleries, then consider adding them to one of your circles. Also consider adding the community moderators to your circles. Often community moderators are experts in their field and these are generally friendly people with a real interest in knowledge sharing.

Free advice about online communities: Please mind your manners and don’t share too much personal information. Remember that communities are meant to foster open conversation. When posting, or commenting, within a community be very polite. Be friendly. Be nice to others. If you are rude the community, moderators will kick you out. If your Google+ behavior is really abusive, then you can get yourself banished from the whole network.

Option 2: Use A Shared Circle To Find New Sources of Inspiration

Circles are a way to group together those that you follow on Google+. You can control the frequency of posts that you receive from different types of people by organizing your contacts into circles. I have built a circle for members of my family, for example, and I have set the frequency setting way up so that I will automatically see everything that my loved ones post on my homepage.

Circles are a great organizational tool but they serve a second purpose, too. Circles can also be shared publicly. This is one of my favorite features on Google+. Thanks to circle sharing, you can add this collection of my forty favorite Google+ photographers into your news stream in a single click! Forty+ Photographers Whose Posts Consistently Inspire Me On Google+

Note: This link will not take you to my shared circle unless you are currently logged into your Google+ account.

Option 3: Build Your Own Circles

Connecting with the right folks is a continual process. I add new sources of inspiration to my circles everyday. Communities and someone else’s shared circle are just starting points. Eventually everyone uses the “”Find People” button to track down other friends, family members and additional sources of inspiration.

When you use the Find People button, Google+ uses the data that you have entered in your profile, and the list of who you have already circled, to suggest new contacts. If you are a GMail user, then the Find People tool will also search through your GMail address book to see if any of your email contacts are also active on this network. I don’t use the Find People box everyday, but when I hear about an artist or read an insightful article online, I often pop open this box to see if the content’s creator is also sharing work publicly here on Google+.

One last tip: “plus mentions.” Adding the +symbol and then a contacts name creates a hyperlink to another Google+ users profile page. Whenever I share content from another Google+ photographer, or talk about a colleague’s work, I try to add a plus mention that leads to them.

By adding this link I am making it easier for someone who reads my post to find out more about this photographer and if desired to add them into one of their circles. Using plus mentions, I can give credit to my sources and make it easy for those who follow me to connect with someone else that I think they might also want to follow.

Learn More About Google+

I hope that you found this guide useful. I hope that this advice makes it easier for you to start out your Google+ experience with the right connections. If you liked this article then please click here to find me on Google+.

Additional Resources

• Introduction to Google+
• How To Set Up Your Google+ Account
• Connecting Adobe Photoshop Lightroom with Google+
• What The Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us
• Google+ For Photographers

I will be teaching several sessions of our Lightroom for Photographers workshop in 2013. I’d love to have you join me in one of these locations:

Lightroom for Photographers – San Antonio, Texas (5/9—5/12)
Lightroom for Photographers – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (5/30—6/2)
Lightroom for Photographers – Chicago, Illinois (6/6—6/9)
Lightroom for Photographers – Cedar Rapids, Iowa (7/25—7/28)
Lightroom for Photographers – Nashville, Tennessee (8/1—8/4)
Lightroom for Photographers – Wichita, Kansas (8/8—8/11)
Lightroom for Photographers – Duluth, Minnesota (9/5—9/8)

Many users do not understand that each version of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom application is a unique stand-alone entity. Installing Photoshop Lightroom 4 does not automatically erase, remove or modify an older version of this software from your computer. Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial will ease the transition for existing Photoshop Lightroom users.

Step 1: Back Everything Up

Upgrading to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 should not harm your computer or your photographs. The odds that something will go tragically wrong are very slim, but it is always a good idea to create a complete backup of your entire system before undertaking any major software change.

Step 2: Download the Latest Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Installer Package

Life will be easier if you start the upgrade process with the most recent version of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 software installer package. Installing an older version (Lightroom 4.0, 4.1, or 4.2) will do you no harm, but you are not getting the most up-to-date product.

There are two ways that you might have acquired the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 installer package. Option 1: you downloaded the Lightroom 4 installer package from Adobe’s website via the Internet. This is the recommended method. If you received the installer package from Adobe’s website then you are ready to proceed with the installation process!

Option 2: you purchased the Lightroom 4 software in a box with a DVD. If your installer is on the official factory DVD then sadly you are not ready to proceed. You are not ready to begin the installation process because that DVD is not the latest dot version of the Lightroom software. The days of boxed software installers are passing away.

If you look closely at that official Adobe DVD you will see that it says “Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.0 installer.” Installing from this disk will do you no harm but the installer package that it contains is no longer up-to-date. There have been at least three .x updates to the Lightroom 4 program since that boxed DVD was pressed and packaged.

The serial number that Adobe supplied within the boxed packaging is very important so please don’t throw it out, but the software on your DVD is out of date. Save yourself the hassle of installing Lightroom 4.0 and then needing to download a dot update and leave the DVD alone.

Rather than installing the upgrade package on the DVD, please visit Adobe.com and download the latest version of the Lightroom 4.x installer. You can download either the 30-day free trial version of Lightroom 4 or you can download the latest program update installer. Both download options are identical, and the free trial or the updated installer will work just fine. After the software is installed you can key in your serial number no matter how or when you purchased the product.

Step 3: Install the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Application

Once you have the latest version of the Lightroom 4 installer package, you are ready to install the Photoshop Lightroom 4 application. You will need to launch the installer package that you downloaded from Adobe.com and let it do its thing.

During the upgrade process you will need to agree to Adobe’s End User Licensing Agreement and you may need to give the installer permission to add new information to your hard drive. If the installer asks for guidance be sure that you install the Lightroom 4 application on your internal hard drive. Apple users should install the program into their internal Macintosh HD > Applications Folder. Most Windows users will want to install the Lightroom 4.exe into the Programs Folder on their C: drive.

Installing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 from David Marx on Vimeo.

Step 4: Upgrade your Older Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Catalog to the new Lightroom 4 Format

Once the new software has been successfully installed you should find a new Photoshop Lightroom 4 alias (Mac) or shortcut (PC) on your desktop. Double-clicking this icon will launch the application and give you the opportunity to key in your serial number.

Now Lightroom 4 needs to upgrade a copy of your older Lightroom Catalog(s) into the new Lightroom 4 format. If you do not upgrade an old Catalog then you will start all over with a blank database and an empty image index. The software needs to know where your old Lightroom 3 or 2 Catalog is currently stored. If your old Catalog is stored on an external hard drive, then make sure that this disk is online and available to your computer. Once you have helped the program locate your old Lightroom Catalog (your old .lrcat file), then Lightroom 4 will automatically make a copy of your old index and attempt to covert the new copy into the Lightroom 4 format.

The Adobe engineers have been quite careful here. Upgrading an existing Lightroom version 3 or older Catalog does not alter the old .lrcat file. Lightroom 4 always makes a copy of your older .lrcat file at this phase of the upgrade process so that you can go back to using an older version of the program should any trouble occur. To distinguish between the old version of your Catalog and the new one Lightroom appends “-2,” or “-3” etc., onto the end of your existing Catalog’s file name.

Once the Catalog upgrade process is complete you could go back and manually delete your older .lrcat files. I would urge you not to delete anything, though, until you are completely convinced that Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is working well and until you are sure that you are deleting the right .lrcat file. Leaving a copy of your old Lightroom 3 Catalog on your hard drive will do you no harm. Lightroom Catalog files take up very little disk space and having your old Catalog might be useful if you encounter unforeseen troubles.

Upgrading an Older Lightroom Catalog into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 from David Marx on Vimeo.

Step 5: Set Your Preferences

Once you have successfully upgraded your old Catalog into the Lightroom 4 format, you should immediately visit your Preferences Menus. The upgrade process is not complete until you set your Lightroom 4 Preferences! In the Preferences > General Tab, please tell the program to load your upgraded Catalog as the new default.

Failure to complete this step often creates confusion. Users who skip this phase of the process are often asked to upgrade their old Lightroom Catalogs again. Those who skip this critical step often complain that Lightroom 4 repeatedly asks to upgrade their old Catalog and eventually these users create a complete mess of needless extra .lrcat files.

While you are in the Preferences Menu, look through all the tabs and the Catalog Settings Menus to make sure that you have properly configured Lightroom 4 to suit your workflow.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Preferences Menu Setup from David Marx on Vimeo.

Step 6: Back Everything Up Again

If the upgrade process worked properly, you should now have access to all of the images and features that were in your older Lightroom Catalog. If everything worked you should have all of your old information plus the exciting new tools and modules that Lightroom 4 brings to the game. A clever photographer will take this opportunity to make yet another complete system backup so that they are ready if disaster strikes.

Conclusion

That’s the whole process. If all goes well it generally takes less than an hour to move from an older version up to Lightroom 4. The tools that Lightroom 4 offer are totally worth the effort. Once the upgrade is complete and you are confident in your backup plans, the fun of cutting edge image management and post-processing begins!

I will be teaching several sessions of our Lightroom for Photographers workshop in 2013. I’d love to have you join me in one of these locations:

Lightroom for Photographers – San Antonio, Texas (5/9—5/12)
Lightroom for Photographers – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (5/30—6/2)
Lightroom for Photographers – Chicago, Illinois (6/6—6/9)
Lightroom for Photographers – Cedar Rapids, Iowa (7/25—7/28)
Lightroom for Photographers – Nashville, Tennessee (8/1—8/4)
Lightroom for Photographers – Wichita, Kansas (8/8—8/11)
Lightroom for Photographers – Duluth, Minnesota (9/5—9/8)

Most modern digital SLR cameras can record new images either as unprocessed raw files or as processed jpeg images. Raw files from a Canon brand camera use the .cr2 file extension. Raw files from a Nikon brand camera are tagged with the .nef extension. Olympus digital cameras save their raw data in the .oly format.

The list of camera specific file extensions goes on and on because each different manufacturer has their own style of raw sensor data. All jpeg images, on the other hand, use the common .jpg extension. Unlike the camera specific formats jpeg is a universal standard.

The differences between the two formats is far more significant than just the .xxx extension. Jpeg images are not the unaltered sensor data. The jpeg file format cannot store the kind of high-bit unprocessed information that a modern digital camera creates. All jpeg images have undergone some in-camera processing and some level of color compression. Simply put, modern digital cameras create far more photographic information than the jpeg file format can handle. This graph explains some of the changes your files go through in your camera to emerge as a .jpg file.

BIT DEPTH

Bit depth is a technical term used to measure the diversity of information that a digital file can contain. For photographers, bit depth is a mathematical measure of the range of colors, or tones, that an image can display. Color digital images are made from a mix of red, green, and blue light. Mixing red and green light together produces yellow light. Combining red and blue light creates magenta light. In a digital image all of the colors in the rainbow are created through some combination of a red value, a green value and a blue value.

When the imaging experts of the 1980s established the rules for the jpeg file format they restricted this format’s bit-depth to just 8-bits of color information per RGB channel. This 8-bits of information per color channel restriction means that a jpeg image can contain a maximum of 16.7 million colors. 16.7 million colors sounds like a lot of color diversity until you compare it to the 4 trillion colors that a 16-bit file can contain! The larger bit-depth allows us to utilize a much wider range of colors.

This expanded range of color is the primary reason why raw files are always the superior starting point for serious digital photographers. Not only will the higher bit depth make raw files more colorful, it also makes them more flexible in post-processing. Converting a color image into a black and white is a perfect example of a post-processing scenario where we will need that extra flexibility.

When a full-color digital image is converted into a black and white photograph it goes from having three color channels down to using just one. When an 8-bit color image is converted into a black and white it can display only 256 shades of gray. The whole tonal range is reduced to just 256 levels of brightness.

Working with a 16-bit black and white digital image, on the other hand, gives us 65,536 shades of gray. There is a huge visual difference here. Creating realistic shadows in a black and white digital image require thousands of shades of gray. A jpeg file simply cannot contain enough information for good looking post-capture black and white conversion. To create great black and white digital images we need that wider range of tones, and the expanded flexibility, that only a raw file can provide.

Post-Processing Required

There is a catch to this advice. Working with digital camera raw files requires sophisticated image processing software. The math that the image processing software must execute is really complicated and performing these calculations requires good computer hardware. If your goal is to create top-quality photographs, then you will eventually need to master powerful image enhancement software like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and you will need to invest in a powerful computer.

If superior image quality is your ultimate goal, then these investments are totally worth it. There is a learning curve and it takes time to build up your image processing skills. But once you master the technology, once the tools make sense, then the whole digital photography process becomes more fun and rewarding if you start with a well-exposed and well-composed raw file.

David Marx will be teaching several sessions of our Lightroom for Photographers workshop in 2013. Consider joining him in one of these locations:

Lightroom for Photographers – San Antonio, Texas (5/9—5/12)
Lightroom for Photographers – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (5/30—6/2)
Lightroom for Photographers – Chicago, Illinois (6/6—6/9)
Lightroom for Photographers – Cedar Rapids, Iowa (7/25—7/28)
Lightroom for Photographers – Nashville, Tennessee (8/1—8/4)
Lightroom for Photographers – Wichita, Kansas (8/8—8/11)
Lightroom for Photographers – Duluth, Minnesota (9/5—9/8)

For a few years, I have been searching for the right social media platform to share my images, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom articles, and video tutorials. I have been seeking a place where I can get feedback on my images from a global audience. I have been searching for a social network where I can start up conversations with other photographers, discover inspiring new work, and share new Photoshop Lightroom image processing techniques. I have been on a quest to find the right place where I can publicly share what I create and absorb lessons from my peers.

As I have pursued this search, I have dabbled with Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and many more. Each of these social sharing sites caught my attention but none of these platforms offered exactly what I needed. Flickr has been my favorite photo-sharing outlet for many years, but this platform only allows its users to post photos. It’s great for photography but useless for sharing my articles and Lightroom video tutorials. Flickr, and similar sites, are great places to go looking at other people’s work but useless if you want to read, or watch, and learn.

Fortunately, my search has come to end now that Google+ is on the rise. Google+ is now the second most popular social sharing tool in the world and its impact on mass communication is just beginning. I don’t really care about the site’s global popularity. What matters to me is the way that it creates engaging conversations and opens avenues for learning amongst photographers.

In my opinion, Google+ is now the best place on the web for photographers to share their work, to form connections with other artists, and to learn inspiring new techniques. Google+ is new, but it is a mature platform created by web designers with a real interest in helping visual artists like us.

Let’s be clear: Google+ is not Facebook. Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with old friends and family members. Facebook is a good platform for connecting with people that you already know. Facebook is a good way to see snapshots of your distant nieces and nephews, and to occasionally watch someone’s funny cat video, but the platform itself is not designed to reward photographers.

The way that Facebook displays photographs is simply awful, in my opinion. There is no way for Facebook to completely hide the interface so that you can just enjoy an amazing image without any advertising or additional distractions. But the biggest problem is that Facebook is not designed to encourage public conversation.

Facebook is not designed to help you find and connect with a global audience of artists that you have never met. If I don’t know you then I should not be able to see your photos on Facebook nor should you be able to see any of mine. If I don’t know you then you should not be able to read my articles or watch my videos on Facebook.

This is the “closed social loop” idea. It’s great for staying in touch with friends and family, but it guarantees that this is the wrong platform if you are searching for inspiring work from other photographers. Facebook does me absolutely no good if I want to search for new artists and to see images from photographers that I have never met.

Google+, on the other hand, is an “open loop network” built around the concept of search. Google = Search! This is a platform for sharing ideas, and inspiring images, in a public forum. Unlike Facebook, Google+ is a great way to meet and discover new photographers, artists and thinkers without the expectation that they are your “friends.”

Most of all, I love Google+’s clean interface. I love the way that Google+ can display photo albums and slideshows without any advertising or sidebar distractions. Google+ is designed to display high resolution photos without user interface distractions. This is a platform that wants you to share big high-quality photos, instructional videos and concise articles. This is a platform that wants you to see great images, to learn, and to get inspired.

I believe that this is now the best place on the web for photographers to see each others work and to start sharing ideas. Google+ is the platform that you need to connect with an ever expanding pool of others who share your passions and to join in the conversation – and all that you need is a Gmail address!

If you found this article useful then please add me to one of your Circles so that you can see the images, articles, videos, and photography advice that I share online everyday. We would love to connect with you so please add the Rocky Mountain School of Photography into one of your circles too!

Knowledge is power. Google+ is a powerful tool. If you want to use this platform, well then I strongly recommend reading both of these short books. A little guidance goes a long way.

What The Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us
Google+ For Photographers

David Marx will be teaching several sessions of our Lightroom for Photographers workshop in 2013. Consider joining him in one of these locations:

Lightroom for Photographers – San Antonio, Texas (5/9—5/12)
Lightroom for Photographers – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (5/30—6/2)
Lightroom for Photographers – Chicago, Illinois (6/6—6/9)
Lightroom for Photographers – Cedar Rapids, Iowa (7/25—7/28)
Lightroom for Photographers – Nashville, Tennessee (8/1—8/4)
Lightroom for Photographers – Wichita, Kansas (8/8—8/11)
Lightroom for Photographers – Duluth, Minnesota (9/5—9/8)

First, I want to make a distinction between an office inkjet printer and a photo inkjet printer. While you can print pictures on photo paper using an office inkjet model, you will generally get better quality and longer lasting results using an inkjet printer that was specifically designed to print images. Among the advantages of a photo inkjet printer are individual ink cartridges, more paper choices (size and surface) and more permanent ink. If you already have an office inkjet, you may want to start learning the printing process with it. But when you’re ready for more control over your results, consider a dedicated photo inkjet printer.

When you go shopping for a photo inkjet printer, there are three characteristics to consider:

• Size
• Ink
• Computer connection

Size

The most fundamental question you can ask before you start shopping is: How big do I want to make my prints? You may also consider how much space you have available to set up a printer.

Size refers to the largest sheet of paper the printer can accept. If the printer uses roll paper, then size refers to the width of the roll. This characteristic effectively divides photo inkjet printers into four groups:

• Letter (8.5” x11”)
• Tabloid (13” x 19”)
• Wide format (17” x 22”)
• Floor standing (24” – 64” wide)

There are inkjet printers that make only 4×6-inch prints, but these models often cost as much or more than a letter-size printer that can make bigger images as well. So I don’t recommend 4×6-inch printers for serious photographers.

Letter (8.5”x11”) printers are an inexpensive way to get started with making your own prints. They don’t take up much space and can produce outstanding results if you don’t need anything larger than an 8×10.

Tabloid (13”x19”) printers are probably the most popular size. They allow you to make prints bigger than an 8×10, yet don’t take up too much space on a desk or table. Some have additional options such as the ability to print on roll paper (for long panoramic prints) or printable CDs or DVDs.

Wide format printers (17”x22”) can make prints up to 16×20 easily. Some models have more than one paper tray to allow easy swapping between media. Others use roll paper for less waste. But a wide format printer is just barely a desktop model. You need a big, sturdy surface to hold one of these units.

Floor standing (24” and up) printers (often called “large format” by printer manufacturers) are designed for producing large prints in large quantities. They are production level machines using rolls of paper to cut down on paper handling as well as cost. While you can print on sheets of letter-size paper with floor models, you must load the paper by hand, making the printer much less efficient to use. (Some photographers “gang print” multiple 8x10s on a larger area of paper and cut the prints apart later.) You also need a lot more physical space to set up one of these printers, which needs a special stand to support it.

Ink

Once you’ve decided on how big you want to print your images, your next choice is the type of ink the printer uses. There are two kinds: dye or pigment. Dye ink is liquid color; pigment ink has tiny solid pieces of color suspended in liquid. Dye ink has a slightly shorter expected life before fading than pigment ink does, and dye ink costs a little less than pigment ink. Historically, dye inks were able to reproduce a wider range of colors (called color gamut) than pigment inks, but this difference has largely gone away with modern ink formulas.

When you choose a printer, you’re also choosing one of these types of ink. You can’t swap dye for pigment (or vice versa) if you’re using the printer manufacturer’s inks. The nozzles that spray the ink are designed to work with either liquid or solid colors. Using pigment inks in printers with nozzles designed for dye would mean lots of clogs. (There are third-party companies that make alternative sets of ink, but again you waste ink and time switching between dye and pigment on a regular basis).

After you decide on the type of ink you prefer, you also need to decide how many different colors of ink you want. Over a decade ago, the first photo inkjet printers used only four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Today’s models usually have a minimum of six up to twelve different colors. The additional colors (such as lighter versions of cyan and magenta) help with reproducing subtle changes in tone, such as across a sunset sky, or printing more vivid hues (such as red or green). Some printer models forgo one extra color in order to include a “gloss optimizer.” This is not an ink color but a clear coat printed over the whole image to make all parts of the image equally “shiny” when printed on glossy paper.

Also consider the size of ink cartridges the printer uses. Cartridges with a larger capacity mean the ink costs less per milliliter. This is one of the advantages of the bigger printers; they usually accommodate bigger cartridges so you change them less often and the cost per print is lower. If you expect to make a lot of prints, then cartridge size should be a factor you consider.

Black & White Printing

If you intend to make black and white prints, then you want to pay special attention to the number of black inks that come with the printer. Better quality b&w prints come from using more than one black ink cartridge. Many photo inkjet printers now include two or three black inks to produce monochrome prints: black, medium gray and light gray (the names vary with the manufacturer).

Some companies tout four black inks but this is misleading. A few printers have two different types of the darkest black ink, one for printing on glossy papers and a second black ink for printing on matte surfaces. Some models have both photo and matte black ink cartridges loaded in the printer at the same time, the source of the “four blacks” statement. This is convenient because you don’t have to manually change the black ink when you want to print on a different kind of paper. (Note that this glossy or matte black swap applies to color prints as well.) But the printer is still using only three blacks when it makes a print.

Computer Connection

While you contemplate print size and type of ink, don’t forget to check how the printer model you’re considering connects to your computer. These days you can choose between a wired or wireless connection. All printers provide a USB connection standard. (You may have to provide your own USB cord.)

Some printers are available with wireless connectivity. If you make use of a smart phone, tablet or other mobile device and want to be able to print from them, look for compatible mobile printing technology included with the printer.

A few wide-format (17” wide paper) and floor-standing printers (24” wide paper rolls or bigger) may have an option for Firewire connections (useful if you have a Mac). More often, these large printers come with an Ethernet connection. Ethernet is a larger “pipe” that can carry more data at once, so it speeds up the process of transmitting your image file to the printer. Ethernet is most useful for networking multiple printers shared among multiple computers.

While there are many other technical specifications, such as resolution and print speed, advertised by the printer manufacturers, these numbers are difficult to use for making reliable comparisons between brands. Each company employs different methods to measure print speed or count ink droplets, so referring to these characteristics is not actually helpful. In the end, any photo inkjet printer on the market today can produce great color images that will look outstanding when displayed on your wall or in an album.

Additional Resources:
Choosing a Photo Printer by Amadou Diallo
Factors to Consider when Choosing a Small Photo-Quality Inkjet Printer by Andrew Darlow

Images from Amazon.com

Kathy Eyster will be teaching two sessions of our Basic Photography workshop in 2013. Consider joining her in one of these courses:
Basic Photography in Missoula, MT – May 4 – 10
Basic Photography in Missoula, MT – August 10 – 16
She also teaches the printing segment of our Summer Intensive course which runs June 3 – August 16, 2013

Kathy is also instructing an upcoming PHOTOfocus course on February 23-24.
Understanding the Basics of Adobe Lightroom 4

I know that drive failure is inevitable and that when a disk fails that all of the photos that it contains might vanish. The real question is not “when will my hard drive fail” but rather I need to ask myself “what steps can I take right now so that I am properly prepared for my primary hard drive’s inevitable demise?”

The experts at the American Society of Media Photographers suggest that professional photographers adopt a “3-2-1” backup strategy. They define the core goals of their robust, and redundant, strategy this way:

1. We recommend keeping at least three copies of any important file. For every photograph that is stored on your primary [working] drive we recommend keeping at least two additional copies on some other type of backup device.
2. We recommend storing these backup copies on at least two different media types to protect against different types of hazards.
3. We recommend that one copy of each file should be stored offsite and stored offline.

Moral: it takes multiple copies of your images, stored on multiple devices placed in multiple locations to truly be prepared for a major catastrophe.

After much thought, I have finally found an inexpensive solution that meets all of these goals and suits my needs. It has taken a lot of experimentation but I have finally pieced together a rock solid backup system that requires nothing more than two external hard drives, a high-speed Internet connection, and some simple software. My current backup system protects all of my digital images and it costs less than $2 per day!

Part I: Preparing the Hardware for On-site Backup

I needed to purchase a pair of new three-terabyte external hard drives for the on-site portion of my backup system. On-site here means for the backup copy that sits on my desk right next to my computer. Before I explain more about the backup system let me point out that I have been shooting digitally since 2003 and that I am currently storing almost 100,000 images on my computer’s primary [working] drive. To meet the “3-2-1” backup strategy goals I need additional copies of every one of these 100,000 digital images on my backup disks. I needed to buy a pair of three-terabyte external disks because I have already amassed a fairly large image library on my computer’s primary storage drive. If your image library is much smaller than mine then you do not need to invest in such large external disk for your backup system.

Likewise, for my backup system I saw no reason to invest in fancy RAID drives, Apple Time Capsules, or data duplication machines like the Drobo. Professionals running busy studios, or photographers with enormous image libraries, might need to invest in beefier hardware but a pair of ordinary “plain Jane” external drives are sufficient for my current backup needs. My backup drives do not need fast rotational speeds, stylish plastic housings, or the latest technological bells and whistles. There is no reason to spend extra money on eSATA, or Thunderbolt, external hard drives that are going to used solely for a backup system.

Getting the right hardware was the first step but no matter what you buy you still need to . Since I am a Mac user I needed to use Apple’s Disk Utility tool to prepare my new hard drives using the HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) file structure. Windows user will need to format their new backup drives using the NTFS file structure. Windows users working with hard drives that are larger than 2 terabytes might also need to convert their new disks to the GUID partition table before they can do anything else.

Along with formatting the new disks, I find that it helps me to keep their purpose clear in my mind if I give the new drives meaningful names. I like to give them clear names using my computer’s operating system before I begin configuring my backup software. Photographers tend to be wonderfully creative people, but simple drive names like “Backup Disk 1” and “Backup Disk 2” are all that’s required here.

Giving the new disks good names helps me to remember that these new external hard drives are for backup purposes only. These disks exist solely as a place to store additional copies of the files that l am keeping on my primary image storage disk. Hopefully, naming the disks something like “Backup Disk 1” and “Backup Disk 2” will remind me that I must never try to use these disks for any other purpose. These disks are for backup only.

Part II: Configuring the Backup Software to Make Daily Backups

Once configured properly, it is my backup utilities job to “clone,” or “mirror,” everything that I store on my primary disk over to one of the backup drives at least once per day. Good backup software can learn that its task is to copy all of the files from my primary image storage disk over to one the new backup drives everyday. The whole process should happen without my involvement. Once configured properly, I trust my backup software to copy all of my additions, alterations, and deletions from the primary drive over to Backup Disk 1 and Backup Disk 2 automatically.

When I add new photos into my image library, I copy them from my digital camera’s memory card to my primary [working] hard drive. I do not need to copy my new photographs from the memory card to either of the backup disks. Copying the new images from the primary disk over to one of the backup disks is my backup software’s responsibility.

If I decide to enhance one of my photographs using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop CS6, or any other program then I only work on the file that is stored on my primary storage drive. If my backup software is doing its job than all of the changes that I make should be passed along to one of the backup disks automatically.

When I decide to delete a bunch of lousy photo from my image library I delete the files from my primary image storage disk. My backup software will take care of removing these images from the backup drives at the appropriate time. The critical point is that I never go and mess around with any of the files that live on Backup Disk 1, or on Backup Disk 2, using my computer’s operating system or my image enhancement software. Only my backup software is allowed to make any changes to the files that are stored on my backup disks.

What software do I trust for these tasks? For Mac users, Carbon Copy Cloner is my backup utility of choice but there are plenty of other solid options. Apple’s integrated Time Machine backup utility is a good option too for photographers working with OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion). Windows users can build reliable backups using third-party applications like Cobain Backup. There are lots of reliable backup utilities out there for every operating system. No matter what software you choose for this project, the goal–copy my files from the primary storage to a backup disk everyday–remains the same.

Part III: The Weekly Backup Drive Shuffle

Once my new external drives are properly formatted, and my backup software is all setup, I can let the software do its job. The first day I let my backup utility copy everything from the primary disk over to Backup Drive 1. The next day I disconnect Backup Disk 1 and run the backup job again only this time I tell my software to put the files on Backup Disk 2.

As soon as the second backup is complete I now have three copies of all my precious photographs! At this point, I have the original file on my primary [working] disk and an additional copy of this file on each of the backup drives. If my primary hard drive were to fail right now I would be upset but I now have multiple copies of images and photographs stored on multiple devices, so I should not lose anything!

Remember that “3-2-1” backup strategy? Well, right now I have achieved the “three copies on multiple devices” goal but if I keep all of these hard drives in my office then I am still putting my files at risk. Keeping both of my backup drives in the same room as my computer is still “putting all of my eggs in one basket” if something catastrophic were to happen to my house. To really gain some peace of mind, I need to store one of my backup drives far away from my office.

Now that I have two complete backup disks, I can start the “weekly backup drive shuffle.” In my world, Backup Disk 1 gets used for about a week and then I leave it over at a friend’s house. While Backup Disk 1 is stored at my buddy’s house I use Backup Disk 2 for my daily backups. A week or so later, I go over and drop off Backup Disk 2 and switch it out for Backup Disk 1. Switching the backup drives around each week is cheap and easy.

Storing one of my backup disks outside of the house adds an additional level of safety to my backup plans and it gives me a good excuse to go see my friends every week or so. If I wanted even more security I could pay to store the “off-site” drive in a bank’s safe deposit box. The important part is that by storing one of my backup disk outside of the house I am dramatically increasing the odds that my photos would survive a catastrophic event like a break in, a power surge or a house fire.

Episode IV: A New Hope

Online, so called “cloud” backup technology is in its infancy right now. This is a new frontier and there are still wrinkles in the system that need to be ironed out. Online backup holds tremendous promise, but it is no substitute for my pair of rotating external hard drive backup system.

The truth is that most of us do not have fast enough Internet connections to continually protect terabytes of data. Unless you have a fiber grade Internet connection then it will be
months of non-stop uploading to transfer a complete copy of your entire image library to an online backup account. Likewise, it will take weeks of non-stop downloading before you could recover a large image library from a cloud account following a major disaster unless you are fortunate enough to have a lightning fast Internet connection.

Although there are shortcoming to an online backup system I believe that cloud backup is well-worth my time and money. Continually storing one of my backup disks off-site adds a lot of protection to my backup scheme. Keeping a backup disk off-site, and offline, is good, but even with my weekly hard drive swap game there is no guarantee that my best images will survive a major natural disaster.

Fact: We live in a warming world where natural disasters grow more plentiful and more probable each year. The planet is not pleased with us and no place is truly safe from forces far beyond our control.

If a natural disaster strikes my hometown then I expect to loose my primary [working] disk and both of my backup drives. If I miraculously survive the catastrophe, and the world is not plunged into darkness, then I will eventually buy myself another computer. Following a Hurricane Sandy size disaster, I should expect that all of my current hardware will be gone but my online backups will survive.

In the end, all hardware is replaceable, but my most valuable images–those “once in a lifetime” family moments–they can never be replaced. Fortunately, companies like Mosaic Archive are making online backups for photographers easy and affordable. Mosaic even offers a “drive mail-in service” to get things started.

This is a great option. Basically, you create an account and then you ship them an external hard drive that contains copies of all your photos. They connect this external drive to their server and transfer in all of your data. Since the external drive is actual plugged into their server the photos transfer into your account at a much faster rate than they would through the Internet. In the end, you get the security of redundant cloud based storage without the need for months of continuous uploading.

In the end, what online backup really buys me is more peace of mind. It comforts me to know that even if all my local backup plans fail that my most precious images are still safely stored on multiple servers which are themselves backed up across multiple countries.

Conclusions

Is all of this completely paranoid? Yes, but the price that companies like Mosaic currently charge for online backups is so low that I think all of this is totally worth the effort. I have some photos that are of such personal value that each layer of additional protection is well worth the extra hassle and expense.

If all of this seems like a lot of effort then please carefully consider the dismal alternatives. If you have taken no steps to prepare for the inevitable, then what will you lose when your computer crashes? What will you lose when a power surge fries all of your hard drives? What will you lose if a flood washes through your home or a tornado touches down in your neighborhood?

Could you really re-shoot your favorite pictures or are those precious moments simply irreplaceable? Are you willing to sit back and wait for those images to vanish forever? There are no guarantees in life but I believe that the time and effort that I have invested in building, and maintaining, my backup system is time well spent even if a disaster never strikes.

David Marx will be teaching several sessions of our Lightroom for Photographers workshop in 2013. Consider joining him in one of these locations:

Lightroom for Photographers – San Antonio, Texas (5/9—5/12)
Lightroom for Photographers – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (5/30—6/2)
Lightroom for Photographers – Chicago, Illinois (6/6—6/9
Lightroom for Photographers – Cedar Rapids, Iowa (7/25—7/28)
Lightroom for Photographers – Nashville, Tennessee (8/1—8/4)
Lightroom for Photographers – Wichita, Kansas (8/8—8/11)
Lightroom for Photographers – Duluth, Minnesota (9/5—9/8)

If interested in seeing David Marx live and in action, he’ll be instructing RMSP’s popular workshop Lightroom for Photographers on the Road in Overland Park, Kansas on August 16-19, 2012. Also, he’ll be co-teaching another workshop with fellow photographer/instructor extraordinaire, Doug Johnson, called Landscapes and Lightroom in Big Sky, Montana on September 15-21, 2012. To see more of his video tutorials, visit his weatlh-of-information website, www.thelightroomlab.com.

Installing Lightroom 4

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Upgrading an Older Lightroom Catalog into the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Format

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Creating a New Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Catalog

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Creating a New Folder for Image Storage (Mac OS X)

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How to Rename Your Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Catalog

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Creating an Alias for Your Lightroom Catalog (Mac O X)

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But this is not news to you, right?  All you experienced photographers who are shooting multiple images across a range of exposures in order to keep detail in shadows AND highlights in your final image are old hands with HDR.  What else new could you possibly use it for?

Because most HDR images I see appear to show a lot of detail I started wondering whether this is a feature I could exploit even when I don’t need to capture a dynamic range greater than my camera.  My question was whether an HDR image would show more detail than the properly exposed version of the same composition.

To experiment on this I took the easy way out, choosing an overcast day to get the broadest light coverage, picking a subject with lots of details, and shooting with my sharpest lens, a 50mm macro.  For my control image I exposed to get as wide a histogram as possible with no pixels blown out or blocked up.  My range of five images was +1, +2, -1, -2 stops around the control image.  Since I had the images anyway I processed them using three popular HDR tools:  Photoshop CS5’s HDR processor, Photomatix Pro, and NIK HDR Efex Pro.

Here’s the control image right out of Lightroom’s RAW to JPEG conversion with no Develop processing applied, along with its histogram:

Lots of information in this image and with a little Photoshop processing I should be able to turn it into an interesting B&W image.  But is that the best I can get from this composition?  Will more information (images) improve the detail or depth? Here are the final HDR images processed through each software package along with the control shown above.  Each HDR image is the default rendered with no changes in controls:

Photoshop CS5

Photomatix Pro

NIK HDR Efex Pr

Control

There are differences among the processors with respect to color shift and detail preservation.  The Photoshop and NIK processors clearly resulted in greater contrast, both globally and locally, whereas the Photomatix processor appeared to flatten the contrast.  With their greater contrast the Photoshop and NIK images appear to have more definition than the control but is there actually more information in the image?

I cropped down to a portion of the image where some fine details were present and examined that area on each image.

Photoshop CS5

Photomatix Pro

NIK HDR Efex Pro

Control

Compared to the Control the Photoshop and NIK images appear to have more fine detail but I believe the effect is coming from the enhanced local contrast, not more pixels of information in the image.  With a little adjusting in Photoshop, I think I could arrive at the same look for the Control, especially if I take the time to use Layers and Masks along with the Curves controls.

So, whereas HDR is very handy when your composition’s dynamic range exceeds your camera and you want an image that shows details in shadows and highlights, it doesn’t appear to bring any improvements to definition in images that are properly exposed within your camera’s dynamic range.  This shouldn’t be surprising – each image only has the pixels delivered by the camera and this particular software isn’t creating any new pixels.  Thus, improving definition in this manner can only come from increasing the contrast along edges as there is no new information being added to the image.

Having said that, all these images were the Default right out of the camera and processors.  Each of these software packages gives you control of many aspects of the image (you are shooting in RAW, right?) which can be used to accentuate or diminish elements of your image to deliver just the look you want to display.  It’s worth your time to play around with them just to get a sense of the range of flexibility you have at your fingertips to pursue your personal vision for images.

Please feel free to comment if you’ve had experience with HDR. Have you performed any of your own experiments in terms using it to improve definition in your images?

As part of our Foundation Workshops, David Marx will be teaching a series of  Lightroom for Photographers workshops in various cities across the country throughout 2012. These courses are four days long and deliver an incredible amount of information on how to make Lightoom work for you. Below is the schedule and locations for these offerings.

Sacramento, California   April 26-29, 2012
Minneapolis, Minnesota   May 17-30, 2012
Billings, Montana   June 21-24, 2012
Seattle, Washington   July 26-29, 2012
Overland Park, Kansas    August 16-19, 2012

Introducing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Version 4 Beta!

New Process Version Basic Panel Controls

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Map Module

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Video Editing

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Integrated Email Engine

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Ability to Move Multiple Folders

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Lateral Chromatic Aberration Repair

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Metadata Status Smart Filter

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New Graduated Filter Controls

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Export to PDF from Book Module

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