April 2009 Newsletter

Hello Raw Shooters

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Now for this month’s tip:
 
For April’s newsletter I invited Tamara Okoti as our guest for a short interview. Tamara is a very talented photographer here on the west coast of BC, Canada. Please check her website to see her work and interesting points of view in photography. She started out with film photography and eventually, when DSLRs got better, moved into digital. Her experience covers not only photography, but also Photoshop® and photo editing. She teaches digital photography courses at the University of Fraser Valley. Tamara also works as a Lab manager for well-known photofinishing companies, which along with her expertise in Photoshop makes her well qualified to comment on common problems and some solutions for better images. 

Ted: When did you get involved in photography and what makes it interesting for you?

Tamara: I started in photography in high school using my dad’s old manual 35mm SLR. I had a great instructor and that got me hooked. I used to spend hours in the darkroom, which I have now switched to hours in Photoshop. What makes it interesting for me is being able to catch moments that can never be repeated as well as showing the world my perspective on things. I always tell my family that if we have a house fire, the first and only items I would try to save would be all of my pictures (or at least the negs and files) – they are invaluable to me.

Ted: Have you completely moved into shooting digital or are there some benefits in film that digital can not match?

Tamara: The more I learn about digital, the less I use film, although I guess the editing part of digital imaging is sometimes the hardest part for me as it requires time I don’t always have. Sometimes it’s nice just to shoot a roll of film and have it developed in the lab. The nice thing about shooting digital is that, should I make a mistake, chances are it is something fixable on the computer, especially with RAW format shooting.

Ted: Is it true that exposure is the most important part of photography?

Tamara: Yes. If you don’t get your exposure right, it is often very difficult to make the picture look good. Even with the wonders of the digital world, a trained eye can usually tell when a photo’s exposure was/is less than perfect. That said, RAW shooting allows far greater latitude in terms of mistakes with exposure. Small mistakes are not as noticeable as they were in film format.

Ted: Can you please explain colour cast for us and tell us how to spot it?

Tamara: A colour cast is effectively when the picture's white balance is incorrect. This means that there is a significant lean towards one particular colour, which affects the whole image. For instance, a picture that looks too yellow, or maybe too blue. Colour casts which are strong make things in a photo look unreal or odd - like a skin tone that has a cyan cast can make a person look lifeless as though they are dead. Some people like a small colour cast - like making a photo slightly red or yellow to warm up the mood a little. The thing to remember with colour casts is that a little is actually a lot.


Ted: What is the easiest way to remove unwanted colour cast?

Tamara: First a person has to train their eye to see a colour cast. They are best seen when looking at areas of the image that are supposed to be white, black, or grey. Other good hints are leaves of plants and grass, and even dirt in the photo if nothing else is available. Once you can see a colour cast, you can use the RGB colour wheel to determine what colour to adjust in order to remove it. A couple ways to remove a cast are by adjusting the white balance in a Raw editor, or by using the "variations" or the "colour balance" adjustments in Photoshop.

Ted: With your extensive experience in darkroom and Lab processing and knowing all the advantages of negatives, what made you decide to go digital?

Tamara: I resisted digital for quite a while, but three things factored into my conversion.  First were the possibilities I saw in Photoshop in regards to retouching photos. Second were the trends in the photography industry: if I wanted to succeed as a photographer in this day and age, I had to get into the digital market to compete. And last was the fact that digital technologies were advancing far enough to begin being comparable to 35mm negative in terms of picture quality.

Ted: How does digital do with incorrect exposures? Does Jpeg have the same capability as RAW format for handling the exposure adjustments?

Tamara: The way a digital file behaves with a wrong exposure mainly depends on the format in which you shoot.  RAW format allows far more adjustments and latitude for correcting mistakes than Jpeg does. Generally an improperly exposed Jpeg just looks muddy if it is underexposed, or has yellow or grey blotchy areas with no detail if it is overexposed. There is not much you can do with either of those types of Jpegs, but there’s a lot you can do with the same files in RAW format.

Ted: Do you shoot in RAW or Jpeg?

Tamara: I shoot both. Jpeg is my choice when I want fast access to pictures that are not important (i.e. snapshots of family) and so that I can see thumbnails of my prints to decide which ones I want to edit quickly. I also shoot RAW because I have far more control if it turns out to be a picture I’d like to use for print or if I have made a mistake and it needs more editing. I always use RAW when I am shooting for a client, as I always want to give them the best quality possible.

Ted: In your opinion what features make RAW format better then Jpeg?

Tamara: The amount of detail and colour that you can pull out of a RAW file is one very significant benefit. The second major benefit for me (as I am human and make mistakes all the time) is the quality of image I can recover from RAW files, even ones that are improperly exposed.  The thing that sold me on RAW was a time I shot an image with a zoom lens in a dark hall and my flash didn’t fire. The jpeg looked black and I almost deleted it, but then I opened it by mistake in a RAW editor and I just decided to see what I could get. All I did was increase the exposure and brightness and the image looked as though I had never made a mistake. It completely shocked me and I’ve shot RAW ever since.

Ted: Is it fair if I say that a RAW file is basically our negative and we have almost the same amount of control in RAW that we used to have in negative?

Tamara: Yes, that would be a fair statement.

Ted: Have you ever used our services in RAW editing?

Tamara: Yes, I use your services especially when I am overloaded with work or need some special help with difficult photos.

Ted: What is your opinion about the quality and turnaround time of our services?

Tamara: Excellent. Far faster than I could do it myself, and the quality is as good or even better than I can do!

Ted: As a photography instructor for University of Fraser Valley and an experienced shooter, can you give us one or two tips regarding exposure and composition?

Tamara: Well, I guess the first thing that I would suggest (as I have worked in a printing lab for many years) is that, unlike film, your work is not over after the shutter clicks. Computer and editing knowledge is a must in this day and age, and if you would rather pass on that part of the work to someone else, make sure they do an excellent job. I would far sooner recommend a photographer whose printed work is consistently edited well, as opposed to one who has taken the very same or better pictures with poor editing (colour, density, sharpness, contrast, saturation etc…). Many customers may not notice the difference, but your final photo is your name – so make sure it is outstanding.

A second suggestion is to try stepping out of your norm and doing one of your regular shots from a different angle. Landscapes especially can be dramatically different when shot from an angle different from eye level. Angles can make or break composition.

Last, in regards to exposure and especially when cameras are stepping up ISO capabilities, you should err on the side of overexposure. When using a high ISO, it is safer to overexpose your image slightly in order to avoid digital noise as much as possible.


Ted: Thank you Tamara for a great interview and your candid insights! 

If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to visit Tamara’s website to
see some inspiring images from this talented photographer. 

Have a great month of April.  See you again in May! 

Ted and Omnilargess Team       
 

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