Archive for October, 2009
Here is another photograph on El Mirage with my first muse Justin W. Adamson. June 2008. This was part of my “Rebel Without a Cause” editorial for AXN June 2008. Justin was the cover model and we were allocated 6 spreads inside featuring RUFSKIN denim. The original editorial spread was in color, but for this entry, I made it a BW image.
Photomatix is really fun! I wonder if I would ever incorporate this “look” into my magazine work. We’ll see. 
I never read software manuals–it shows how easy and intuitive the user interface is. I first do a rough run where I “memorize” what settings does what at certain settings and the rest I allowed my calculative and experimental mind to roam free.
Wheeeee! Fun, fun, fun!
This is the home of Zaw and Chit in the backyard. They never use it.
I want to take a moment of your time to virtually appear before you all humbled and let you know that I appreciate your visits to my blog. It has always been my goal to help (teach) others because when I teach someone, I learn more about the subject. Thank you for the steady visits. I also enjoy receiving feedback and thoughts towards any of the posts. You can reach me via that contact page: http://blog.ronaldntan.com/contacting-ronald-n-tan/. I may not reply to all of your messages, but I do read and reflect on your shared thoughts.
I wish you all a resplendent and restful weekend.
In health,
Ron
Here is a quick update on my project with the SPCA. It is official. They’ve accepted my project. SO HAPPY!!!
THIS POST HAS BEEN RE-EDITED 25TH OCTOBER 2009.
Here is a pseudo-tone mapping tutorial. My 8-Bit layered TIFF file zipped. You’ll see my original corrected image, tone-mapped image, and the final image as I intended.
1) Grab my file located here:
2) Buy or download for trial Photomatix PRO: http://www.hdrsoft.com/
3) Enjoy!
In this tutorial, you’ll go from this image: (Starting image–provided). I attached this image to show how the starting image looks like. A lot of folks would stop here, but if you want to take your images to another level of dramatics, read on!
Chit-Chit. CaptureOne PRO 4.8.3. "+0 EV"
Tone-Mapped via Photomatix PRO:
Here are the Photomatix PRO settings: Detail Enhancer only.
Pseudo HDR / Tone-Mapping Part
1. Download the 0EV, -1EV, +1EV file of Chit-Chit here: Chit-Chit_0EV_-1EV_+1EV.zip
2. Make an HDR image and apply the Detail Enhancer settings from the above screen capture. You should now have an image that looks like mine (Chit-Chit Tone-mapped).
3. Correct the lens distortion via the Distort –> Lens Correction Filter in Photoshop.
4. From this, you can in any direction you wish. If you get good results, send a web-sized version to me via the contact page. I am curious what goodies you cook up!
5. Here is my version: Chit-Chit-102209-009_3_4_5HDRI_tonemapped_Tutorial.zip
I am very happy with 1&1 Hosting. I’ve been with them since 2007. During the interim, I left them and tried BluHost, but did not like the interface and the inability to change DNS settings on my own domain, e.g. CNAME records or MX Records. I went back to 1&1 and I’ve been with them since.
Last week, I heard something about The Fat Cow hosting and wanted to try them out. I signed up via their promotion: 3.67/month billed annually 44 USD. There isn’t an exact link and I think it changes often. You can Google, “Fat Cow Coupon” or “Fat Cow Promotion” to arrive at the coupon. This was an internal coupon and if you ask their Live Support, they will tell you that none exists.
BOTTOM LINE: They won’t refund you in full even if you cancel within their 30-day money back guarantee! When invoking their 30-day money back guarantee, I only got back 29 USD. The FatCow ate my 15 bucks! I could have bought myself some Chicken Soltani Persian food with that.
Registrar Transfer Difficulties: During this very short trial. I also wanted to transfer my ronaldntan.com domain over to the Cow for convenience like, pop.ronaldntan.com or smtp.ronaldntan.com or controlpanel.ronaldntan.com, etc. When you transfer your domain over to FatCow, they will charge you extra (20 USD I think) + domain privacy @ 8.99/year (optional).
What irritated me was that, my domain NEVER got transferred over to FatCow and during that time, my site was down and could not receive any messages to my domain email. I had to route (reply) from my backup Gmail account to important messages that are flagged Todo or messages from my editors.
I never got to use their hosting, I did not get to transfer my files onto their space because the FTP wasn’t working. FTP only works when a successful domain transfer occurs.
Advertising Agency: Madre, Buenos Aires Argentina
Creative Director: Rafaek D’ Alvia
Art Directors: Lorena Olivieri, Matias Mendez
Photographer: Zoren Gold & Minori ( Mi-zo )
Producer: Macarena Summers
Market: US Hispanic Market
I learnt that my muse Nathan shot for the Dasani campaign with photographers Zoren Gold and Minori. I found this image on the web.
I found the above image from: http://www.mi-zo.com/2009/commerce/D_01.html
I dreamt that one day in the near future, I’ll get to shoot campaigns like this. Until then, one step at a time.
Here is a thought or photography tip to some starting out.
It is always good to set the proper or “near-right” white balance at RAW capture. This is accomplished via using a Gretag McBeth Color Checker card or those “Grey Cards” you can purchase at photography retailers.
When you don’t have them, try to find something “grey” or neutral in the same lighting situation and/or distance as your subject.
When I was shooting Chit-Chit, I did not want to go back and get my color checker card. So, I looked for something neutral in the vicinity and similar lighting as Chit-Chit. I found these rubber mats for the dog house.
Here is screen shot of the original RAW capture and the white balance corrected. I also corrected and enhanced the contrast to give that initial, “Oomph!”
If you’re using any RAW converter software, call up your “white balance tool” and try to find RGB areas that are near equal in value on the grey/”neutral” reference image. For my reference image, I got 7750K with Tint = 7. I applied those settings over and you can see the before and after. It made a HUGE difference in image perception and mood.
IMPORTANT!
Leo Lam: May I add a suggestion? “The monitor must be calibrated for this method to work, otherwise, make sure you use a grey card (like the Gretag Macbeth or WhiBal) for white balance”. Without calibration, any “fine tuning” at the end is futile…
If there isn’t any “grey” or neutral objects in the scene, Chit-Chit has some grey patches of fur that could be used as starting guide and later fine-tune in photoshop. The purpose of white balancing is showing to people that what’s naturally “white” appears as white. If you look in the uncorrected image, Chit-Chit’s white stripe on her chest appeared grey.
You can play with the white balance setting to your heart’s content in RAW, but I like to be technical and scientific. Every shoot I do has some sort of neutral grey or reference image.
HAPPY WHITE-BALANCING!
I recommended the following retouchers whom I am proud to consider them as my creative colleagues.
Retouchers (In Alphabetical Order):
photographer
los angeles, san francisco, mens fashion, beauty, portraiture
m. +1 916 599 8956
representation
t +1 951 295 2565
f +1 951 2799552
roxanne dauer