technical stuff

From time to time, some photographer friends and some “normal” friends (i.e. non-photographers) will send me pictures and ask that I make them bigger. Apparently, I do a good job. Well here’s my secret:

I’ve been using PhotoZoom Pro since version 1.0, back when it had the catchy name of “S-Spline Pro”. The software works as advertised. Unfortunately, I don’t get paid to say that, I’m just a happy user.

PhotoZoom Pro 3 [as of 12/2012, it’s up to PhotoZoom Pro 5] isn’t particularly cheap but BenVista just released a new “lighter” version called PhotoZoom Classic 3. This uses the same technology as the Pro version but it has slightly fewer features and costs less than half the price.

But I have a zillion-megapixel camera. Why do I need to up-sample?

If you can fill the frame with your subject all the time then you may not need this software. But if you need to resample after a huge crop, this software can do the job. If you need to up-size low-resolution pictures sent in from your readers or customers, then this software will be useful.

I’ve cropped images from 36 MB (12-megapixel Nikon D2X) down to less than 1/6 of the frame and then resized them back up to 36 MB with PhotoZoom Pro. Editors were none-the-wiser!

Certainly, after any large up-sampling, the final image is never as perfect as the original. But it’s garbage in, garbage out. If you start with a small, poorly-exposed, out-of-focus image, then you’ll end up with a big, poorly-exposed, out-of-focus image. This software, like all other interpolation applications, makes the photograph bigger not better. Although, sometimes bigger is better.

Earlier today, I received a panicked phone call from a photographer here in Toronto. He had lost some pictures on a memory card and had no idea what to do. His corporate client needed same-day delivery which he had promised.

This was the seventh time this year that a photographer has phoned or e-mailed asking for help to recover lost images.

Photographers, here’s the deal:

If you want to be a professional photographer, you MUST have recovery software. It’s not an option.

Data recovery software for memory cards has been available for at least eight years. There’s absolutely no excuse for not having this business-saving and face-saving software.

If you ever bought a pro memory card from Sandisk or Lexar in the past six years, (and why wouldn’t you have done this?), it came with free recovery software. But note that recovery software has to be kept up-to-date to recognize new raw formats.

Pro-level recovery software is no longer free. But it’s a cheap US $29 from PhotoRescue, which is probably the industry standard.

Today that $29 software saved an $800 job for a photographer. It also saved his reputation which is probably worth a lot more.

If you weighed a 10-lb bag of potatoes and found that it weighed only 5 lbs, would you be concerned?

If a store clerk said that a 10-lb bag of potatoes weighs 10 lbs only if you buy it in the morning, would you be confused?

Let’s talk about camera flashes, in this case, the Nikon SB-800.

I was shooting a photo today with a Nikon D3 and an SB-800 flash manually set to 1/2-power. Deciding to add more flash, I upped the flash to full power. Surprise! The flash exposure remained the same. What’s going on and where’s my light?

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