I found this fascinating article today:

Still Life/portraiture in a Studio Setting

Saturday 25th April

An introduction to using digital SLRs manually followed by a workshop that will explore the potential effects that can be achieved with studio lighting, backdrops and tripods.


SLR Cameras On Location

Saturday 9th May – Off site session

A photo-shoot on location at Aberystwyth sea front. The class will involve manual control of exposure to capture the character of the environment and its inhabitants.


Photoshop Editing and Printing

Saturday 16th May

A Digi-Lab session involving more advanced Photoshop editing tools, turning photos captured from the workshops into print-ready images.


Tutor Julian Ruddock

Saturdays 2 – 5pm

Cost £17 (£13 concessions) per session plus the cost of any materials used

Each class is a self-contained unit enabling you to come to one or all of them depending on which ones suit your level / interests

Run by experienced teacher Julian Ruddock, these sessions are designed to give you all the skills you need to start using your computer for image editing and getting the best out of your digital camera.

To book places, please contact the Box Office on 01970 623232 or email artstaff[A T]aber.ac.uk.

If you need further information, please contact 01970 622888, email rls[A T]aber.ac.uk or cxs[A T]aber.ac.uk

As discussed in Retouching Tools & Composing Collages Using Photoshop Flickr has a great array of tools and features, but did you know todays digital photos contain EXIF data, What is EXIF data? I hear you say, here is a breif explanation:

Almost all new digital cameras save JPEG (jpg) files with EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) data. Camera settings and scene information are recorded by the camera into the image file. Examples of stored information are shutter speed, date and time, focal length, exposure compensation, metering pattern and if a flash was used.

Source: Digicamhelp.

Example of EXIF data:
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 4
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 10 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

File Size: 3.6 MB
File Type: JPEG
MIME Type: image/jpeg
Image Width: 3827
Image Height: 2551
Encoding Process: Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample: 8
Color Components: 3
X-Resolution: 240 dpi
Y-Resolution: 240 dpi
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Date and Time (Modified): 2009:01:29 18:23:26
Exposure Program: Manual
Date and Time (Original): 2009:01:29 15:59:04.00Z
Date and Time (Digitized): 2009:01:29 15:59:04
Max Aperture Value: 4.0
Metering Mode: Spot
Sub Sec Time: 00
Sub Sec Time Original: 00
Sub Sec Time Digitized: 00
Color Space: Unknown (-1)
Focal Plane X-Resolution: 4438.35616438356 dpi
Focal Plane Y-Resolution: 4445.96912521441 dpi
Custom Rendered: Normal
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Compression: JPEG (old-style)
Global Angle: 30
Global Altitude: 30
Copyright Flag: False
Photoshop Quality: 12
Photoshop Format: Standard
Progressive Scans: 3 Scans
XMPToolkit: Adobe XMP Core 4.1-c036 46.276720, Mon Feb 19 2007 22:40:08
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Rating: 0
Metadata Date: 2009:01:29 18:23:26Z
Creator Tool: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Lens: 10-20mm
Image Number: 0
Flash Compensation: 0
Raw File Name: IMG_1728.CR2
White Balance: As Shot
Temperature: 5250
Tint: -5
Shadows: 5
Brightness: +50
Contrast: +50
Saturation: 0
Sharpness: 25
Luminance Smoothing: 0
Color Noise Reduction: 25
Chromatic Aberration R: 0
Chromatic Aberration B: 0
Vignette Amount: 0
Shadow Tint: 0
Red Hue: 0
Red Saturation: 0
Green Hue: 0
Green Saturation: 0
Blue Hue: 0
Blue Saturation: 0
Fill Light: 20
Vibrance: +20
Highlight Recovery: 100
Clarity: 0
Defringe: 0
Hue Adjustment Red: 0
Hue Adjustment Orange: 0
Hue Adjustment Yellow: 0
Hue Adjustment Green: 0
Hue Adjustment Aqua: 0
Hue Adjustment Blue: 0
Hue Adjustment Purple: 0
Hue Adjustment Magenta: 0
Saturation Adjustment Red: 0
Saturation Adjustment Orange: 0
Saturation Adjustment Yellow: 0
Saturation Adjustment Green: 0
Saturation Adjustment Aqua: 0
Saturation Adjustment Blue: 0
Saturation Adjustment Purple: 0
Saturation Adjustment Magenta: 0
Luminance Adjustment Red: 0
Luminance Adjustment Orange: 0
Luminance Adjustment Yellow: 0
Luminance Adjustment Green: 0
Luminance Adjustment Aqua: 0
Luminance Adjustment Blue: 0
Luminance Adjustment Purple: 0
Luminance Adjustment Magenta: 0
Split Toning Shadow Hue: 0
Split Toning Shadow Saturation: 0
Split Toning Highlight Hue: 0
Split Toning Highlight Saturation: 0
Split Toning Balance: 0
Parametric Shadows: 0
Parametric Darks: 0
Parametric Lights: 0
Parametric Highlights: 0
Parametric Shadow Split: 25
Parametric Midtone Split: 50
Parametric Highlight Split: 75
Sharpen Radius: +1.0
Sharpen Detail: 25
Sharpen Edge Masking: 0
Post Crop Vignette Amount: 0
Convert To Grayscale: False
Tone Curve Name: Medium Contrast
Camera Profile: ACR 4.4
Has Settings: True
Has Crop: False
Already Applied: True
Tone Curve: 0, 0
Sidecar For Extension: CR2
Color Mode: 3
ICCProfile Name: Adobe RGB (1998)
Format: image/jpeg
Color Transform: YCbCr
Flash Return: No return detection
Flash Mode: Off
Flash Function: False
Flash Red Eye Mode: False

This information can be really handy, lets say you take a fantastic picture and sometime in the future you would like to use the same settings, its not always easy to remember. Viewing the EXIF data you can easily recall the following settings such as shutter speed, date and time, focal length, exposure compensation, metering pattern and if a flash was used.

Have you digital photo's of Aberystwyth? Why not upload them to Flickr and join the fun at Aberystwyth Online Photography Flickr Group.

Related Links: Archives January 2009
Retouching Tools & Composing Collages Using Photoshop
Aberystwyth Online Photography Flickr Group
Wales Online Photography Flickr Group

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