TWiP #142 – Telling a Digital Story


This week: It looks like Adobe's Creative Suite 5 is imminent, Aperture revs while Lightroom gets less noisy, and an interview with Richard Harrington.

Hosts: Frederick Van JohnsonAlex Lindsay, and Derrick Story

NEWS & DISCUSSION

Adobe Announces Release Date of Creative Suite 5
On April 12th, Adobe will release more details on the availability of CS5. Check out this video which demonstrates the new content-aware fill feature – rumored to be included in Photoshop CS5. Alex, Derrick and Fred also discuss the recent updates to Aperture 3 and Lightroom 3 Beta 2.

Sandisk to Begin Shipping 32GB MicroSDHC Card
SanDisk will begin shipping the world's highest-capacity removable memory card for mobile phones – the 32 gigabyte microSDHC card.

Eye-Fi Introduces Connect X2 & Explore X2
Eye-Fi has announced the addition of two wireless SD cards in to its X2 line-up of memory cards. The 4GB Connect X2 and 8GB Explore X2 both feature the Endless Memory Mode first seen in the RAW-compatible Pro X2 card. They also share its class 6 (6MB/s ) transfer speeds and high-speed 802.11n Wi-Fi. In addition, the Explore card uses location data from nearby WiFi points to geotag images.

INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD HARRINGTON

This week, Fred interviews Richard Harrington, CEO of RHED Pixel to talk about the growing challenges facing media creators today. Fred and Richard also discuss his new book & DVD – project “From Still to Motion“, Richard's experiences at Photoshop World, and recent changes to Aperture & Lightroom. You can keep up with Richard via his blog or on Twitter. He also has a Facebook page devoted to shooting video with your DSLR. You can also download a sample chapter from his new book on PeachPit's website.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

Question #1
Robert Wlodarczyk asks: My family is going to Poland for 5 weeks this summer to visit family. My wife and I being avid photographers, we want to take our camera gear with us. This includes a carbon fiber tripod, Really Right Stuff ball head, 5D Mark II, and 3 lenses. Since my wife will be traveling a few weeks sooner than I will, she wants to have the gear there before I arrive so she can use it. The natural choice would be to carry on some of the gear as we've done in the past. However since she will be traveling with our 2.5 yr old son, the carry-on will contain stuff predominantly for him, and since she will need to chase him around she doesn't want to have the worry of carrying the camera gear with her. I've heard Alex talk about shipping before, so we've looked into this but a fully insured package to Poland is about $1000 via UPS. We were shocked. Putting the gear in a checked bag is not something I want to do since I'm afraid it will get stolen or damaged. What recommendations does the TWiP crew have in this situation? We don't really want to spend $1000 on shipping.

Derrick: Don't spend a $1000 to ship your gear. Even though it's UPS, shipping gear to another country could be introducing another problem into your trip. Find a way to get it all into a checked bag. I agree that you don't want to check your camera gear but you can check any items that aren't as value able (e.g. cables, chargers, etc). Check the carry-on requirements for where you are traveling.

Alex: Make sure that you insure all of your gear. If you do check your gear, you can use cable ties to make it more difficult to get into your bags.

Question #2
Eric So asks: My question is related to Lightroom presets. I have a handful of presets that I love to use, but the problem I find is that they don't always work with an entire set. Sometimes the images get blown out or are way too darn that you can't even see the affects of them. Would love your input as to why this happens.

Fred: Your photos are taken over a range of exposures and the presets apply a set of predefined exposure adjustments. They do not look at the data in the image to decide where those sliders should go – they are just applied across the board. Conversely, the presets in Aperture make adjustments based upon the exposure in the image.

Question #3
Sydney Tran writes: While I know that the “best” camera is the one you always have with you, please share your recommendation on a “similar but non-leica” (too rich for my blood) street photography camera. I am looking for a digital, fast, discreet, raw capturing, and with a view finder camera. What would you recommend?

Derrick: The Olympus EPL1 is great street camera. It doesn't have an optical viewfinder however. It's compact, it shoots RAW, and I've shot up to ISO 3200 with it and have been happy with it. I also like the Canon S90.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

Alex: Panavision's iPhone application – PanaScout

Derrick: Olympus EPL1 micro 4/3 camera

Frederick: Lightroom 3 Beta 2

WRAP UP

Derrick Story – www.thedigitalstory.com or www.twitter.com/Derrick_Story

Frederick Van Johnsonwww.frederickvan.com or www.twitter.com/frederickvan

Alex Lindsay – www.pixelcorps.tv or www.twitter.com/alexlindsay

CREDITS

Bandwidth provided by Cachefly. Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro

Show producer Aaron Mahler at www.halfpress.com or www.twitter.com/halfpress

Show notes by Bruce Clarke at www.momentsindigital.com or www.twitter.com/bruceclarke

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Image courtesy: San Jose Public Library