Online based Chimento Gallery located in Stowe, Vermont have started up a blog where my work is being featured as part of the first entry. You can visit it here. There's also a link at the end of the blog that directs you to my storefront for purchase. Rest of the artists will be provided with the same opportunity.
There are 13 of us sharing the gallery with mixed mediums. Very exciting!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Digital Workflow
**Before I start I'm going to assume you already are familiar with both Lightroom and Photoshop. I will not go in depth explaining the two programs nor their tools. Any questions please feel free to either leave a comment or email me at nadia.cheema@gmail.com.**
I'm repeatedly asked what's my digital workflow when it comes to processing my images. Well... for me it all depends on the job. Depending on the type of client hiring you you may not need to do much processing if it's a straight forward shoot OR quite a bit in both the shoot and the processing for composition or adding an extra level of creativity. I'm not shy in admitting I do use Photoshop do give my work a little 'umph' in terms of creativity. Adding textures, additional backgrounds or color tone changes. Mind you I do try to get as much as I can during the shoot. I don't use Photoshop to 'fix' or 'correct' any bad photographs I'd ever take. I only use it as a digital tool as an additive. I don't even like to process the skin too much. I like a bit of texture left on the skin.... more realistic.
Two programs that I use the most alongside each other are Adobe's Lightroom and Photoshop. My initial processing starts in Lighroom. I import, sort, tag, categorize and basic processing all in Lightroom. Basic contrast, sharpening, white balance correction...etc. I do as much as I feel I need to in Lightroom first and then if I find that I need to do further work I'll export the picture internally through Lightroom into Photoshop. The two programs do read each other so the internal export function (ctrl+E or cmd+E) will allow the photograph to open right into Photoshop. If it's a RAW file that you are going to be working on continuously then it will maintain that property in Photoshop if you export it as a Smart Object from Lightroom. This function exists in Photoshop CS3 and CS4. By exporting it as a smart object the background layer (the very first one in Photoshop) maintains a flexibility of sorts. If you find that the exposure is too low or that the contrast is too high you can just double click on that background layer and it will open the image in Adobe's Raw Converter program. It's a very smart thing that Adobe has now allowed in it's more recent versions of Photoshop. Mind you, you don't have to export it as a Smart Object. It's just a good option to keep in mind if you find you like to tweak and would like to retain that flexibility. I general just export the image from Lightroom into Photoshop directly minus the smart object function. Since I don't do any heavy processing on my images not much tweaking is required.
The most time spent in processing for me is the dodging and burning. That's the one thing I like having control on and, of course, the one thing that has always existed in photography. Both in traditional and digital darkroom. There are various methods and tutorials out on the web that you can read through and try out. What I don't recommend is using the actual dodge and burn tool in Photoshop straight onto the image. If you are going to do that that make a duplicate of the image and place that duplicate in Luminosity mode, which can be found under the Blending options tool. Try to always maintain a non-destructive approach when working on anything in Photoshop. This way if you'd like to redo or omit any changes you can easily take care of that by working with that particular layer in the file. Another way of being able to dodge and burn in Photoshop is by setting a blank layer into Softlight mode in the Blending options tool and 'painting' in with a brush using the black and white paint in the color palette. Just play around with the opacity for different levels of strength and effect.
Now in regards to different types of clients... if it's a wedding client I'll do all the work in Lightroom because the batch process is much faster and I can apply presets to all of the chosen images very quickly. If it's creative/commercial/portraiture work I'll go further into Photoshop for skin retouching and further tweaking using dodging and burning. You can do skin retouching in Lightroom by using the mask tool and reducing the Clarity, but I still prefer working in Photoshop for that. It's my comfort zone and I'm quite happy with that.
Next program that I will be playing around with come January is Phase One's Capture One program. It is something I should and want to become familiar with. I've been doing some extensive reading on it and will now take on the practical route and experiment with it. I make it a habit of reading up on programs and such first before I decide to really muck around with it. It's not mandatory, but for me I find I'm able to feel a familiarity of sorts before diving into an unknown territory. Especially since it is going to be taking up my personal time (which means very little sleep!) so if it is something that will guarantee slower processing in full on turtle mode or is known to be buggy then I won't bother with it. Once I've had an opportunity to really become acquainted with the software I will update and provide examples. Until then Lightroom and Photoshop it is...
OH and btw... Happy New Year everyone!!!
I'm repeatedly asked what's my digital workflow when it comes to processing my images. Well... for me it all depends on the job. Depending on the type of client hiring you you may not need to do much processing if it's a straight forward shoot OR quite a bit in both the shoot and the processing for composition or adding an extra level of creativity. I'm not shy in admitting I do use Photoshop do give my work a little 'umph' in terms of creativity. Adding textures, additional backgrounds or color tone changes. Mind you I do try to get as much as I can during the shoot. I don't use Photoshop to 'fix' or 'correct' any bad photographs I'd ever take. I only use it as a digital tool as an additive. I don't even like to process the skin too much. I like a bit of texture left on the skin.... more realistic.
Two programs that I use the most alongside each other are Adobe's Lightroom and Photoshop. My initial processing starts in Lighroom. I import, sort, tag, categorize and basic processing all in Lightroom. Basic contrast, sharpening, white balance correction...etc. I do as much as I feel I need to in Lightroom first and then if I find that I need to do further work I'll export the picture internally through Lightroom into Photoshop. The two programs do read each other so the internal export function (ctrl+E or cmd+E) will allow the photograph to open right into Photoshop. If it's a RAW file that you are going to be working on continuously then it will maintain that property in Photoshop if you export it as a Smart Object from Lightroom. This function exists in Photoshop CS3 and CS4. By exporting it as a smart object the background layer (the very first one in Photoshop) maintains a flexibility of sorts. If you find that the exposure is too low or that the contrast is too high you can just double click on that background layer and it will open the image in Adobe's Raw Converter program. It's a very smart thing that Adobe has now allowed in it's more recent versions of Photoshop. Mind you, you don't have to export it as a Smart Object. It's just a good option to keep in mind if you find you like to tweak and would like to retain that flexibility. I general just export the image from Lightroom into Photoshop directly minus the smart object function. Since I don't do any heavy processing on my images not much tweaking is required.
The most time spent in processing for me is the dodging and burning. That's the one thing I like having control on and, of course, the one thing that has always existed in photography. Both in traditional and digital darkroom. There are various methods and tutorials out on the web that you can read through and try out. What I don't recommend is using the actual dodge and burn tool in Photoshop straight onto the image. If you are going to do that that make a duplicate of the image and place that duplicate in Luminosity mode, which can be found under the Blending options tool. Try to always maintain a non-destructive approach when working on anything in Photoshop. This way if you'd like to redo or omit any changes you can easily take care of that by working with that particular layer in the file. Another way of being able to dodge and burn in Photoshop is by setting a blank layer into Softlight mode in the Blending options tool and 'painting' in with a brush using the black and white paint in the color palette. Just play around with the opacity for different levels of strength and effect.
Now in regards to different types of clients... if it's a wedding client I'll do all the work in Lightroom because the batch process is much faster and I can apply presets to all of the chosen images very quickly. If it's creative/commercial/portraiture work I'll go further into Photoshop for skin retouching and further tweaking using dodging and burning. You can do skin retouching in Lightroom by using the mask tool and reducing the Clarity, but I still prefer working in Photoshop for that. It's my comfort zone and I'm quite happy with that.
Next program that I will be playing around with come January is Phase One's Capture One program. It is something I should and want to become familiar with. I've been doing some extensive reading on it and will now take on the practical route and experiment with it. I make it a habit of reading up on programs and such first before I decide to really muck around with it. It's not mandatory, but for me I find I'm able to feel a familiarity of sorts before diving into an unknown territory. Especially since it is going to be taking up my personal time (which means very little sleep!) so if it is something that will guarantee slower processing in full on turtle mode or is known to be buggy then I won't bother with it. Once I've had an opportunity to really become acquainted with the software I will update and provide examples. Until then Lightroom and Photoshop it is...
OH and btw... Happy New Year everyone!!!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Chimento Gallery - Stowe, Vermont
I am happy to announce that I've been selected to be part of a Winter Exhibition held online and hosted by Chimento Gallery located in Stowe, Vermont. The exhibit will be held for three months. You can click here to visit the gallery and view not only mine, but other artist works. There are different mediums being presented... not just photography.
They were looking for fashion photographers to take part so I submitted and was accepted. Therefore, you'll see more of my beauty work out of the 10 images that are up from my portfolio. Pictures are up for purchase on the gallery.
This is the first time I've heard of an online gallery and I have to say I find it to be a very interesting idea. Mainly allowing folks from around the world to be able to participate in something like this that will potentially be advertised internationally over the internet. A good way to utilize the net in this day in age. It's a digital world we live in so if you see good opportunities like this I say go for it!
I may not be updating my blog anytime during the holidays so I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays!! Make sure you eat well...because I know I will be.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Update: 'Help Portrait' Event
I just received an email from a fellow photographer with a link to a youtube video. Video was documented by Taffi Rosen who was also assisted by Corbin Smith.
You can watch the video here or below.
You'll catch a quick glance of me near the beginning. I'm the girl with black hair, straight bangs and... of course... wearing all black. I'm holding a colour card during a test for Struan who, incidentally, is also wearing black with a small black cap.
By the way... I do love colour :) I just can't sport too many colours on my person.
Yay!
Enjoy :)
You can watch the video here or below.
You'll catch a quick glance of me near the beginning. I'm the girl with black hair, straight bangs and... of course... wearing all black. I'm holding a colour card during a test for Struan who, incidentally, is also wearing black with a small black cap.
By the way... I do love colour :) I just can't sport too many colours on my person.
Yay!
Enjoy :)
Monday, December 14, 2009
'Help Portrait'
I was asked to volunteer on Saturday (December 14/09) to assist for two photographers as part of a charity event. The event was called 'Help Portrait' and it was taken place at Heron Park Community Centre, 4285 Lawrence Avenue East, Scarborough. Basically pro shooters were asked to take the time out of their busy schedule providing photographs for families who would like the opportunity to have photographs taken by professionals on a volunteer basis. I thought this was a great idea and was happy to put in my time in helping out and being part of something so humble of a gesture.
I and another assistant, Neil Van were there to assist two photographers, Struan and Yuri Dojc. It was a crazy day and we were there from 11am till about 6pm. Had to work fast and still stay organized with all the model releases and backing up of all the photographs between each session. Making sure that the memory cards were all in order, families were being looked after along with the photographers. Both Neil and I were pretty much on our toes. Struan and Yuri must have photographed about 30-35 families each. To be honest I'm not sure what the actual numbers are, but photographed a lot of families! I had two piles formed for each photographer and they were stacked pretty thick and high.
It was a great opportunity to watch pro shooters in action under an extremely fast-paced environment. Whenever I had the opportunity I would take a minute to just stand and observe. Absorbing whatever I could and taking mental notes for future reference. There were about 16 photographers there and when I had the opportunity I walked around and glanced at each studio setup within the building. It was interesting to see how each photographer liked to 'work'. Unique in their own way. So much talent in one location.
I enjoyed myself... but then again I'm a geek at heart so being able to watch and learn is something that I thrive in naturally when it's of genuine interest to me. We worked diligently, but had fun at the same time.
A new application that I ended up working with was Capture One. I've never used it before and another assistant working at a studio parallel to us was kind enough to show how to start sessions between each download of the images off the card to help keep things categorized properly. I normally work using both Lightroom and Photoshop. I have to say that I found Capture One quite easy to work with. I think I will experiment further and become familiar with it. Doesn't hurt to know multiple applications that are used digitally within the field. It's good to take some time to actually sit down and go through the program and learn it. I'm mainly self-taught in photoshop and I honestly spent hours going through tutorials online and just experimenting on my own. I eventually created my own workflow that suits my needs when it comes to retouching and editing photographs.
I wish I took some behind-the-scene shots, but honestly it was just so busy that when we did have a bit of a down time I was pretty much tired and decided to place my concentration on making sure things were kept organized.
Check out this video. It was filmed in Dallas, Texas and it provides a great example of what it was like for us on Saturday.
It was a good day overall!!
I and another assistant, Neil Van were there to assist two photographers, Struan and Yuri Dojc. It was a crazy day and we were there from 11am till about 6pm. Had to work fast and still stay organized with all the model releases and backing up of all the photographs between each session. Making sure that the memory cards were all in order, families were being looked after along with the photographers. Both Neil and I were pretty much on our toes. Struan and Yuri must have photographed about 30-35 families each. To be honest I'm not sure what the actual numbers are, but photographed a lot of families! I had two piles formed for each photographer and they were stacked pretty thick and high.
It was a great opportunity to watch pro shooters in action under an extremely fast-paced environment. Whenever I had the opportunity I would take a minute to just stand and observe. Absorbing whatever I could and taking mental notes for future reference. There were about 16 photographers there and when I had the opportunity I walked around and glanced at each studio setup within the building. It was interesting to see how each photographer liked to 'work'. Unique in their own way. So much talent in one location.
I enjoyed myself... but then again I'm a geek at heart so being able to watch and learn is something that I thrive in naturally when it's of genuine interest to me. We worked diligently, but had fun at the same time.
A new application that I ended up working with was Capture One. I've never used it before and another assistant working at a studio parallel to us was kind enough to show how to start sessions between each download of the images off the card to help keep things categorized properly. I normally work using both Lightroom and Photoshop. I have to say that I found Capture One quite easy to work with. I think I will experiment further and become familiar with it. Doesn't hurt to know multiple applications that are used digitally within the field. It's good to take some time to actually sit down and go through the program and learn it. I'm mainly self-taught in photoshop and I honestly spent hours going through tutorials online and just experimenting on my own. I eventually created my own workflow that suits my needs when it comes to retouching and editing photographs.
I wish I took some behind-the-scene shots, but honestly it was just so busy that when we did have a bit of a down time I was pretty much tired and decided to place my concentration on making sure things were kept organized.
Check out this video. It was filmed in Dallas, Texas and it provides a great example of what it was like for us on Saturday.
It was a good day overall!!
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