These are trying times for professional photographers, but it's a great time to be an amateur. Many years ago, I was a professional photographer. Until a couple of years ago, a good friend of mine was a professional photographer. He closed the studio when he looked at the calendar for the coming year and saw only one wedding scheduled. So the title of this piece is "This is THE best time in history for photography", but that doesn't mean that this is the best time in history for photographers. Far from it.
As my photographer friend said, the price of admission for wedding photography is low. Anybody with a camera is free to become a "wedding photographer" and it seems that everyone with a camera has done just that.
A few photographers command $10,000 or more for a wedding and they're doing just fine photographing the weddings of the 1%. But for photographers such as my friend, not so much. The truth is that most people can't tell the difference between an artist with a camera and a guy who just points the camera and clicks the shutter button. Unfortunately, no small number of professional photographers are in that second category.
So it's a great time for photography, but not such a great time for photographers. Computers tend to do that. Thirty years ago, I worked with typographers, but then the computer made it possible for me to typeset my own publications. Except for high-end typography shops, typographers are out of business. The same is true for photographers. A few artists (or those who can pose as artists) remain.
Enough gloom and doom, though. If you're interested in photography as a professional or an amateur, this is an astoundingly great time to be alive and applications such as OnOne's Perfect Photo Suite 9 are one of the reasons that this is so.
Perfect Photo Suite can work as a plug-in for Lightroom and Photoshop, but it also works as a standalone application. The application can generally work with raw files, too, and will convert them to either TIFF or Photoshop format files to work on them.
To ensure that original files are not modified, Perfect Photo Suite will create a new layer for any Photoshop files that you edit.
Here's a kitty at The Wilds. Although the image is fine as is, a bit of additional contrast and color saturation would be welcome.
Here's the result.
Click any of the smaller images for a full-size view.
Press Esc to dismiss the larger image.
This is an armadillo at The Wilds. The day was overcast and, as a result, the armadillo's amazing shell lacks detail.
I used Perfect Photo Suite's Enhance function to examine several possible modifications.
The HDR effect looked like it might be a good choice for this image ...
... and it is. The little armadillo looks much more interesting this way.
Sometimes an enticing image appears, you grab a camera and click the shutter, and the result is ... well, not exactly perfect.
Chloe Cat noticed that I had left my WOSU Public Media shopping bag on the floor and thought that it would be a good place to sit. The light isn't very good on the floor, so when I grabbed a camera and took the picture, the camera selected an ISO of 3200, a shutter speed of 1/13th of a second, and an aperture of f/4.
The ISO is high enough that some noise is going to be present and the shutter speed is low enough that motion blur will be a concern.
But my primary concern is that Labatt Blue carton in the background. Chloe Cat doesn't want people to think that she drinks Canadian beer, so I opened the image in Perfect Photo Suite's Layers panel and used the erase function.
No more beer in the background!
Chrominance noise is the next problem I wanted to address with this image. Be sure to click these images to see the larger version where there noise is more visible.
This is the image with no noise reduction applied.
Here I have applied Perfect Photo Suite's maximum noise reduction.
This softens the image slightly, but it also removes the noise.
And then there's the shutter speed. I'm pretty good about holding a camera steady, but 1/13th of a second is slow and 61mm is the film equivalent of about 95mm. Using the standard rule of thumb, the slowest hand-held speed should be about 1/100th of a second.
In other words, I would expect some motion blur and it's apparent in this image.
Perfect Photo Suite offers a fix focus function, which is primarily a contrast boost.
It does help, though, as this image shows.
For the final step. I wanted to blur the background with the bokeh effect.
Painting the filter on allows me to specify exactly which areas are in focus and which are out of focus.
Because this image was a Photoshop PSD file, the modifications are on a separate layer and the original is untouched.
And here's the final image. Perfect? No, but as a snapshot it's substantially improved ...
You're going to hear more about this feature in a later program after I've had time to work with it more. The Portrait function looks like it offers the ability to substantially improve close-up photos of people.
It won't grow hair on people who don't have any, but it will brighten the eyes and add contrast. It can reduce or remove wrinkles. Also, if the subject's teeth are visible, brightening can be applied to them.
OnOne Portrait selected the eyes and I pushed whitening and contrast up a bit.
Compare the eyes in this image to the previous view. I applied slightly more whitening and contrast boost than I would normally use to make the effect more visible.
Here's a 2-minute training video from OnOne. It explains two of the key features dealing with the subject's eyes and mouth.
I used two cameras during this review, a Canon 60D SLR and a Samsung NX500. The OnOne website states that the SRW raw format created by the Samsung camera is acceptable and initially that appears to be the case ...
... but then the thumbnail images are removed and opening the file results in a low resolution file that's not usable.
Users of Adobe Lightroom can choose to open an image in Perfect Photo Suite and the same is true for Adobe Camera Raw, so I don't see this as significant problem.
OnOne notes that users of cameras that aren't compatible with the current version although the Perfect Photo Suite documentation states that they are should contact the company to arrange for a free upgrade to Perfect Photo Suite 10, which will be released in the fall.
Until then, just open the image in Camera Raw or Lightroom and then choose to edit it in Perfect Photo Suite. As an alternative, many cameras include software that will convert the raw image to TIFF. Once you've done that, you can open the TIFF in Perfect Photo Suite.
Perfect Photo Suite is an outstanding addition to your digital photography toolboxOnOne's Perfect Photo Suite can be used as a standalone application as well as serving as a Photoshop or Lightroom plug-in. Seven applications are included in the suite for $80. The regular price on the website is shown as $150 and it's unclear if the lower price is permanent or a limited-time sale. Each of the individual applications sells for $30 (regularly $60), so if you'll use at least 3 of the individual applications, buying the suite is the right choice.
Additional details are available on the OnOne Software site.
Occasionally I talk about free applications. Many free programs are utilities, small applications that do a single job. Filezilla, the FTP application, for example, or the IrfanView image viewer. Larger applications include the Chrome and Firefox browsers, Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail client, and the Calibre e-book manager. But if you want a huge free application, consider Linux.
Talking about Linux during the week in which Microsoft will start upgrading Windows computers to version 10 may seem odd. Although I believe that Microsoft has the best and most versatile version of Windows ever with Windows 10, mistakes (perceived or real) with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have even non-geeks interested in what else is out there.
What else is out there includes Apple's OS X, but Apple hardware is considerably more expensive than hardware than runs Windows or Linux. One problem with Linux has been the large number of distributions. IT professionals can figure out which one is right for them and install it, but just plain users haven't had such an easy task. Even friendly distributions such as Ubuntu usually require considerable effort to make sound systems and video hardware operational. If only somebody would make a Linux distribution that just installed and worked.
Well, it seems that somebody has.
I recently ran across Elementary OS, which is based on the Ubuntu distribution, and I decided to install it on an old notebook computer -- one that isn't eligible for a Windows 10 upgrade.
It's old and it's not very powerful: Just a dual-core CPU at 2.26GHz. Only 3GB of RAM (32-bit systems can use only a total of 4GB). By today's standards, a tiny 250GB hard drive.
I downloaded Elementary OS, burned the ISO file to a DVD (it's too large to fit on a CD), booted the old notebook from the DVD, and installed the operating system.
The first thing I noticed was that the sound system worked. Then I noticed that mouse worked, the system was able to obtain a Wi-Fi connection, and the screen resolution was correct. These are often trouble points that cause people who are just trying Linux to run, screaming, back to Windows.
Whether you're a candidate for Linux on a desktop or notebook computer depends on how you use the computer. If you use a computer for e-mail, website browsing, spreadsheets, and letters, go for it.
On the other hand, if you depend on specific Microsoft applications or applications that don't have Linux versions, beware. Those who need to work with a Microsoft Exchange Server will need to stick with Outlook and, therefore, with Windows. Those who depend on Adobe's Creative Cloud applications have two choices: Windows or Apple's OS X. It might be possible to run Creative Cloud on a Linux machine by enabling WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator), but I've never been able to recommend that option.
As with most Linux distributions, Elementary OS includes a Software Center that makes finding and installing applications easy.
After starting the operating system for the first time and allowing the latest operating system updates to install, I visited the Software Center to install Filezilla, Firefox, Chrome, LastPass, and Libre Office. Those applications, when combined with applications that come with the operating system, were sufficient for me to have a fully operational computer in less than an hour.
Elementary OS's user interface is more like Apple's OS X than Microsoft's Windows.
Applications has 2 views. This one simply shows all applications in alphabetical order.
Users who have only a few applications may prefer this method. Currently, this computer has 3 pages worth of applications. Right-clicking any of the icons allows the user to pin the application to the Menu Bar.
As the number of installed applications grows, the view with categories may be the better choice.
Libre Office Writer looks and works a lot like an old version of Microsoft Word. This could be a plus for those who don't like the ribbon interface.
One worthwhile feature that Libre Office has added is apparent when the user selects New from the menu. Even if you're in Writer, you're offered the option of creating a new document in any of the Libre Office programs.
In most cases, Libre Office can read and write files in Microsoft Office format. Problems occur only when one of the Microsoft document includes advanced features that Libre Office doesn't understand. Still, in most cases, Libre Office users will be able to edit a Microsoft document and return it to Office without a problem.
The built-in e-mail application with Elementary OS (Geary) can handle multiple accounts, but only IMAP accounts. There is no POP3 option, which seems odd.
I set up my 2 primary accounts (TechByter and Personal) using IMAP and set both collection and transmission to use encrypted connections. I could also add G-mail, Yahoo, and other e-mail accounts to the program.
And Firefox works, of course. Elementary includes a default browser (Midori) and I installed both Firefox and Chrome. I also installed a Linux version of LastPass, which installed its add-ons in both Chrome and Firefox.
Midori uses the WebKit rendering engine, which is a fork of KHTML. WebKit is also the rendering engine used by Apple Safari and Google Chrome.
The System Settings panel looks a lot like the Windows Control Panel.
If your need fit what Linux and open-source applications can provide, take a look at Elementary OS. Pay something if you want to or download for free, try it, and then contribute if you decide to keep using it.
Ten-digit dialing is becoming the norm. Central Ohio is about to join the growing list of locations where 10-digit phone numbers are required. A new area code (380) will be added to the area served by 614 as an overlay. Residents of New York, Los Angeles, and other large cities are familiar with the need to dial both the area code and the local phone number.
I'm old enough to remember 4-digit phone numbers. Until I was 5 or 6 years old, our phone number was 4626. Then it was 2-4626 for about a year. And then LYnwood-2-4626, which quickly gave way to 592-4626. All this within just a few years. And then we got an area code (513). Long after I left town, 513 was reserved for use in and around Cincinnati and my hometown got a new area code, 937.
So it's with some amusement that I hear comments such as "What a mess!!!" when people refer to the impending area code overlay in central Ohio and the associated requirement to dial 10 digits instead of just 7. Big deal. You have to dial 3 more numbers and your existing phone number stays the same.
An overlay adds another area code to the same geographic region as an existing area code. Those who have 614-area numbers will keep them. When the process is complete, local calls will require 3-digit area code and the 7-digit telephone number. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) recommends that phone users start dialing the longer numbers as of August 1, 2015, but 7-digit numbers will still work until January 30, 2016. At that time, the full 10-digit numbers are required.
No users will be assigned to the new area code until February 27, 2016.
The situation such as the one I described for what happened to my hometown's telephone numbers was once the most common method of adding new numbers, but it requires that some users change their phone numbers. Because of this inconvenience, the US Federal Communications Commission and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission established the overlay plan.
Those who have signed up for the free upgrade to Windows 10 may have noticed some activity on their computers this week as Microsoft started staging the files that will be used to perform the upgrade.
Users will still have control over when the upgrade is installed and Microsoft says that the process should take about an hour on newer computers, longer on older systems. And all bets are off if you have a slow or unreliable Internet connection.
Microsoft recently posted a list of the top questions about Windows 10, so if you're still looking for answers, take a look at the Windows 10 Q and A page.
If I buy a new PC today, can it upgrade to Windows 10? Yes, new qualified PCs can run Windows 10. Windows 10 is designed to be compatible with the Windows 8.1 laptop, tablet or desktop PCs that are for sale now. Device manufacturers make decisions about their device models and some Windows 10 features may not be available on certain devices, so be sure to check with the retailer or manufacturer for details.
How do I get a confirmation that I’ve reserved my upgrade? Just click reserve in the Get Windows 10 app and then enter your email address at the confirmation screen. You can also check your reservation status by right clicking the Get Windows 10 app or Windows icon located at the right end of the taskbar. Select “Check your upgrade status.”
The upgrades will begin on July 29th.
