Raw Converter Basics
skip to min 2 HERE

CS3 raw
a little dry HERE
and HERE

MULTIMEDIA SHOOTER IS BACK ON FEED YOUR BRAIN!!!!!!!!!


BRIAN STORM WILL BE ON CAMPUS ON THURSDAY MAKE SURE YOU SEE HIM SPEAK AND CHECK OUT NEW STUFF ON MEDIASTORM


in case you did not get this email from David:

Brian Storm, president of Mediastorm and MU alum, will be on campus this
Thursday. He will be making a presentation to the Reynolds Journalism
Institute at noon - but we, the photojournalism community, will also have an
opportunity to work with him directly. That will be Thursday from 10 a.m. -
11:30 a.m. In Tucker Forum.

Probably in an ideal world we would have longer with Brian. In an ideal
world we might see his presentation before having our Q&A session with him -
but this is still an incredible opportunity to have a discussion with a
(THE) leading producer of multimedia storytelling.

So, I ask that you put this on your calendar. I ask also that you spend some
time on http://www.mediastorm.org to acquaint yourself with some of the
projects there. As you will see, he has a wide repertoire of approaches to
online storytelling; he's taking some chances; he has clearly thought deeply
about what is effective use of still photography, audio, video.

So, let's come up with some good questions for Brian. See you then.

David R.

Just some ideas to become a better photographer even outside the studio you should be thinking about these things all the time
You should be able to deconstruct the light used by others.
Reverse Engineering Other Shooters'Light
heres a list of questions to start with
Keep a "Lighting File" great idea

FLASH IT!!!!!!!!
ONE MORE TIME..............STROBIST

RAW
Unlike JPEG and TIFF, RAW is not an abbreviation but literally means "raw" as in "unprocessed". A RAW file contains the original image information as it comes off the sensor before in-camera processing so you can do that processing afterwards.In addition, many of the camera settings which were applied to the raw data can be undone when using the RAW processing software. For instance, sharpening, white balance, levels and color adjustments can be undone and recalculated based on the raw data. Also, because RAW has 12 bits of available data, you are able to extract shadow and highlight detail which would have been lost in the 8 bits/channel JPEG or TIFF format. Raw isn’t one single thing. Rather, it’s a general term for a variety of proprietary file formats—such as Canon’s .CRW and .CR2, Minolta’s .MRW, Olympus’ .ORF, and the various flavors of Nikon’s .NEF, for example—that share important common features. To understand the nature of digital raw captures, you first need to know a bit about how those cameras that shoot raw actually capture images.


WHITE BALANCE:
GLOBAL CORRECTION TO SPECIFIC





It is best to correct for white balance problems at your first.Exposure adjusts the overall image brightness, with a greater effect in the high values. Decrease Exposure to darken the image; increase Exposure to brighten the image. The values are in increments equivalent to f‑stops. An adjustment of +1.50 is similar to widening the aperture 1‑1/2 stops. Similarly, an adjustment of ‑1.50 is similar to reducing the aperture 1‑1/2 stops. (Use Recovery to bring highlight values down.)

Recovery
Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to white.
Fill Light
Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is similar to using the shadows portion of the Photoshop Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects Shadow/Highlight effect.
Blacks
Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the impression of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with much less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is similar to using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.
Brightness
Adjusts the brightness or darkness of the image, much as the Exposure property does. However, instead of clipping the image in the highlights or shadows, Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the right. Often, the best way to use this control is to set the overall tonal scale by first setting Exposure, Recovery, and Blacks; then set Brightness. Large Brightness adjustments can affect shadow or highlight clipping, so you may want to readjust the Exposure, Recovery, or Blacks property after adjusting Brightness.
Contrast
Increases or decreases image contrast, mainly affecting midtones. When you increase contrast, the middle-to-dark image areas become darker, and the middle-to-light image areas become lighter. Generally, you use the Contrast property to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Blacks, and Brightness values.
Source: Adobe Resource Center

It's important at this point to understand how gels work. Gels are optical filters that act by absorbing certain wavelengths (colors) and transmitting others freely. A CTB gel transmits blue frequencies but absorbs red, orange, and yellow frequencies. A gel works by removing certain colors. It's a common misconception that gels add color to the light. Gels can't add color. If the desired frequency isn't present in the light in the first place, or is present in low amplitude, a gel won't add more of the color. The sodium vapor lights used in parking lots, for example, emit only a narrow frequency of orangish light. Placing a CTB gel over one of these will not produce blue light; it will absorb the orange and pass almost no light.


Ah, but what about the rooms that have florescent overheads, tungsten lamps and big, daylight windows?


What you have to do is to choose your dominant light color and go with it. keep in mind that tungsten and daylight mix much better than do florescent and everything else.

Each fluorescent tube transmits a different range of colors depending on the age and composition of the tube. Generally, it transmits light in the yellowish green range.

Furthermore, it's a pulsating light source. It's regulated by alternating current (60 cycles per second in the U.S.). This means any shutter exposure faster than 1/50th is still unpredictable after all other variables are removed.

TTL

Can TTL Metering be Fooled?
You bet, even with the new flash matrix technology!But be aware that the camera's meters are still looking for 18% gray even in flash exposure. White or black subjects can throw the metering off and cause bad exposures. Size of the subject and placement in the frame can likewise cause exposure problems. The drawbacks with each flash unit and camera body when it comes to exposure will be covered under the appropriate sections. Just be aware that you, the photographer, still must be in charge and that all this technology is still only a tool and not the final word on exposure perfection