Stephen Grote Photography

Photographers and graphic designers should rejoice. There is now an easier way to print a portfolio or book of personal work that does not cost a fortune. Do hand made books look and feel great? Yes, they do. Do we have the hours and money it takes to produce them, not always. Blurb.com offers a way to present your images, designs and text in book form at a very reasonable cost. They have templates to make the design easy, but for the more advanced designer blurb allows you to create your own template. The cost starts at $12.95 and works up from there, but for the most part it will range in the $35 to $60 price bracket for a hard back 4-color book. The price they print hardcover books is cheaper than what it costs me to replace one set of inkjet printer cartridges or buy a single box of high quality fine art printing paper. That is a far cry from the $600 plus price bracket we have been playing in and the print quality is amazingly good, especially if you abide by the rules of 300 ppi images at proper publishing size and use some measure of monitor color correction (colorimeter or spectrophotometer).

You can make different versions of the book, or make different books. Now you can afford to spend the extra time working on creative enterprises instead of struggling with the technical production work. That is no means an excuse not to learn the technical aspects of color correction and printing photography, but it is a often a better way to use your time and still produce quality work. You can have each book printed one copy at a time as needed or sell them in their online store - both are time savers.

Everyone has those days when they fail to pay attention to what they are doing and hit “yes” to the seemingly arbitrary dialog box. The files are deleted, gone forever. Maybe not, I have good news that there are several software products out there to help you recover deleted files. And for all you photographers out there, most of these products work on various media including compact flash and SD memory as well as hard drives.

Object Rescue offers three products geared toward various file types. The one I see used the most is Photo Rescue Pro.

Data Rescue a good all around solution that is cross platform for PC and MAC users.

Photos Recovery

Iolo Technologies offers Search and Recovery.

PC Tools has File Recover.

Runtime Software has GetDataBack.

GetData Software Development has Recover My Files

The bad news is that products like these have been around for years, just not highly publicly marketed. This is how so much data gets stolen or reutilized from computers that are given away, thrown away, stolen and/or sold. This is my plea for everyone to get a hard drive scrubber to help protect you from people looking for information when you throw a hard drive away or donate an older computer to your favorite charity.

Iolo Technologies offers Drive Scrubber

Acronis touts their Drive Cleanser

White Canyon has Wipe Drive

And last but not least… made for the legal world… there is Evidence Eliminator.

I’d also like to put in a plug for the new encryption products and password protection products on the market, which are becoming increasingly important for mobile computer users. The encryption products listed below are software solutions, but hard drive manufacturers are starting to offer encryption algorithms in some of their later model hard drives.

Password Depot

KeePass free and Open Source

Fiberlink

PGP - Pretty Good Privacy encryption

PointSec encryption

A lot of people are interested in getting great prints from inkjet printers. One of the most important factors is the media used (or what surface you decide to print on). There are three basic choices: glossy, semi-gloss (similar surfaces are pearl or luster) or matt. Glossy surfaces offer the most contrast while matt surfaces give the least contrast. Some glossy surfaces such as the metallic offerings even give a sense of depth in the photograph. Inkjet printers, proper printing profiles and consistent workflow also play a major roles in producing quality prints.

I personally prefer a semi-gloss or matte surface printing paper for most of my work. What it really boils down to for me is that there is no annoying glare on the image (especially from overhead lighting), the feel of the paper (I love the texture, weight and overall feel of the paper as I turn the prints) and the ability to capture the essence of the photograph. I have also noted that there is generally less metamarism (color shifts when viewed in different light sources) on matte papers. We all have to make up our own minds by printing our images on several different media to see what works best for us. I am giving several recommendations on media and printers as starting points. Remember that every paper and printer combination will yield a slightly different result, partly because printer manufacturers have substantially different ink formulations and ink sets. To learn more about printing please see the Digital Darkroom class in the Courses section and read some of the handouts. I’d also like to put in a plug for Dry Creek Photo for their great digital photographic resources.

Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Bright White 310

Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308

Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Satin 310

William Turner 310

Bergger PN32 Smooth Photo Rag

Bergger PN32 Fine Art Smooth

Epson Smooth Fine Art

Epson Velvet Fine Art

Epson Enhanced Matte or Heavyweight Matte

Epson Semi-Gloss

Epson Luster

Ilford Smooth Pearl - 50% cheaper than the Epson Luster or Epson Semi-Gloss, but beware of metamarism (color shifts in different lighting conditions)

Oriental Graphica Fiber Double Weight 320

Moab Entrada Fine Art Bright 300

Moab Kayenta Bright White 205

Innova Photo Smooth Cotton 215 or 315

Innova Photo FibaPrint Ultra Smooth

For printing photographs the lead is currently held by Epson, closely followed by Canon and HP. I highly suggest that if you plan to print a lot then you strongly consider a 17-inch wide printer (considered a large format printer) that has larger ink vessels. The printer manufacturers make their money on ink refills and the price of the printer is quickly recovered by not having to continually feed the printer ink. Larger format printers are also made better (tighter manufacturer tolerance on quality control) and have more professional features for print head alignment, print head cleaning, paper feeds, etc.

Photographic Printers (InkJet)

Epson 1280 - up to 13-inches

Epson 2400 - up to 13-inches

Epson R1800 - up to 13-inches

Epson 3800 - up to 17-inches

Epson 4800 - up to 17-inches

Canon PIXMA 9500 - up to 17-inches

Canon PROGRAF iPF5000 - up to 17-inches

HP DesignJet 90 - up to 18-inches

HP DesignJet 130 - up to 24-inches

HP PhotoSmart Pro B9180 - up to 13-inches

Recommended places for buying photographic supplies, photographic printers and/or inkjet papers are:

Calumet Photographic - several stores around the U.S. and starting to catch on in Europe

LexJet

InkJet Mall

Freestyle

B&H – low prices, but the service is debatable, great store in New York City

If you intend to rent a vehicle (car, truck, SUV, motorcycle, ect.) in a country outside your own, you will probably be asked to provide your country driver’s license and an international driver’s license. The license is fairly easy to get, it just requires a little time to go to the local AAA (American Automobile Association) location or AATA (American Automobile Touring Association) office. At a minimum you will be asked to show your current driver’s license with at least a year until expiration, two 2-inch by 2-inch passport sized pictures and a pay a small fee to obtain a valid International Driver’s License.

Please check out the following sites for more information and PDF forms.

Remember to ask about vehicle renters insurance, safety requirements, country driving requirements and driving laws as well as driving etiquette when driving outside your own country.

United States Department of State

National Transportation Library

AAA (American Automobile Association)

I can only answer for Unites States citizens as I am not aware of the process for other countries. United States passports can be applied for at any United States Postal Service (USPS) branch. The postal service has released the following press release regarding passports.

“The cost of a passport at the Post Office is based on the age of the applicant and includes the passport and Department of State processing fee. For those 16-years and older, the charge is $97. Anyone younger than 16 years is charged $82. The U.S. Department of State recommends allowing at least six weeks for passport processing. Passport applications must be made in person at a participating Post Office. Applications cannot be made online.

Those choosing the Postal Service to apply for a passport have one more added benefit: photos can be taken in many Post Offices offering the passport service. When applying for a passport, customers must present proof of U.S. citizenship (a birth certificate or previous passport) and proof of identification (previous passport, driver’s license, military identification card).

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 requires that by Jan. 8, 2007, travelers by air or sea to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be required to have a valid, U.S. passport.

Passport applications can be made at 5,300 Passport Acceptance Locations in Post Offices around the country. A complete list may be found at http://www.usps.com/passport. ”

Another good passport link is the United States Department of State where all the federal guidelines are outlined and explained.

Forms for passports are available on both sites as PDF downloads.

The AAA (American Automobile Association) offers world wide travel planning services, passport services, international driving permit services, etc. If I am correct, you get a set of passport pictures free with membership.

Some places such as Kinkos/FedEx and Wal-Mart offer picture service for passports on a walk-in basis. Expect to pay around $8 per 2-inch by 2-inch instant passport picture.

When I teach I require my students to keep a Journal. It is a good practice to write, draw, scribble, cut and paste, etc. to put those personal and/or creative thoughts down in a place where they may be retrieved later. Plus, it is a good idea to make a practice of brainstorming and keeping the ideas for later projects. You never know when you may need an idea… and you may have already had it.

Journals can be personal… to the point of a diary. Or they can be code like DiVinci. Or they can be a place to store ideas. And they can be all of the above which is the approach I promote.

Listed below are some examples of other creatives posting their ideas, thoughts and personal laundry for everyone to see.

Live Journal (Secrets)

Post Secret

Max Pam - also see “Indian Ocean Journals”

Bill Burke - “I like to Take Picture”, “And They Shall Cast Out Deamons”, “Mine Fields”, etc.

Dan Eldon

Sam Abell

Peter Beard

Duane Michals

Nan Golden… sorry, no link

And more recently… Annie Liebowitz

Color Correction is a large part of being a photographer. It crosses over into many other fields as well (graphic design/graphic arts, gaming, etc.). I am a huge proponent of having everyone color correct their computer monitor for the best possible output and most color consistency across platforms (between computers no matter what the brand, make or model). It makes a big difference in the everyday use of your computer, a difference that is hardly noticeable until you start using the color correction profiles.

I am platform agnostic and really do not care whether you use a PC or an Apple MAC, both have their advantages. As the Adobe representative puts it… get which ever computer suits you best or you think sucks the least at the time. Most major software titles are written to have the same features and similar interface on both platforms.

The latest update in the field of color correction come at a time when consolidation of companies is the norm. Xrite announced a merger with GretagMacbeth in early 2006 and the two largest companies in the color correction field finalized everything in October 2006. A majority of the Xrite color correction solutions have been discontinued or phased out in favor of the GretagMacbeth products. Both brands are now sold under the Xrite label and are marketed by MAC (Mamiya America Corporation) or MAC Group US. MAC has a student/educator program that is arguably the best in the photographic industry. They provide incredible support for schools, students and educators as well as the professionals that buy their products.

That being said, there are other solutions you should also consider. Please take a look under the Links section under the Photography - Color Correction heading for more information and links to color correction information and product information web sites.

Correcting a monitor is fairly simple as far as the end-user process goes and the packages can be purchased for a reasonable price with a colorimeter hardware/software package. The solutions I recommend are for the amateur and professional alike. The cost ranges from $100 to approximately $400 for a monitor correction solution. The overall best monitor solution is Color Eyes by Integrated Color Corporation. A close runner-up at lower price point is the Xrite/GretagMacbeth Eye-One Display 2. The Eye-One Display LT is also a good choice, but is does not allow for dual monitors or some of the more robust features of the Display 2 unit. If you are a student or on a budget then the GretagMacbeth solutions are probably the best choice. Color Vision has a very good monitor correction solution in their Spyder2 series of products.

One caveat to doing monitor color correction is the quality of your video card and monitor. Every piece of hardware is slightly different so every profile will be different. However, some video cards and monitors and more adjustable than others. All MAC Pro and most iMac video cards support color correction (as they cater to the creative markets of photography, graphic design, etc.). All PC video cards do not support true hardware adjustments. Most upper level ATI/AMD and Nvidia video cards work well. At last look ATI (now AMD) and Nvidia supported native color correction in all their video cards over the $190 price mark. Most of the consumer level entry video cards will not do hardware level color correction. As far as monitors go, you have to be very careful when looking at the specifications. Make sure to get a minimum of 16.7 million colors supported (8-bit color level), good refresh rate of 75 or better at native resolution for LCD monitors (the resolution may vary for different sizes and different manufacturers), and the ability to adjust white point, brightness and contrast. If you have any questions or need pointing in the right direction on a video card, monitor or color correction package please feel free to contact me on the contact page of the site.

The settings most often used for color correcting monitors (now industry standards to keep everyone on the same page and make things as consistent as possible) are a color temperature of 6500 degrees kelvin and gamma of 2.2.

If you intend to do printer calibration then you have to step up to a different series of products. The only strong recommendation I can give is for the Xrite and GretagMacbeth series of products. Print calibration products require a spectrophotometer instead of a colorimeter. Print calibration requires many more mathematical algorithims and is overall a more time consuming process. It makes a huge difference in the print quality over a variety of media (papers, fabrics, etc.), but the entry price is usually around $1,000 for a mediocre solution up to $5,000+ for a top notch solution that allows control over more ink, paper and printing options.

Several people have asked about recent travels. I am happy to announce that the latest trip is from Berlin to Budapest (including a 7-day Danube river cruise on the brand new Amalagro river cruise ship) starting on April 27, 2007 and going through May 13, 2007. It is a 17-day trip that includes great sightseeing and touring as well as the opportunity to take some incredible pictures. The trip, planned through University Educational Travel (UET), takes us from Berlin to Dresden, Prague and Vienna before ending in Budapest. The heart of Europe is yours to experience. We will have good guides, a few group tours and a free time in each location to do our own shopping, photography, sightseeing, etc. Please see the links above for more information or contact me via the form on the contact page.

Travelling is something that I enjoy and I try to help others scratch their travel itch by planning trips to include all high quality hotels (nothing below 3-star), good meals when we have group meals, all travel arrangements, etc. Leave the details up to me and enjoy your vacation.

I am a photographer, history buff and an overall curious person, we will go, see and experience places off the beaten track (as well as the must see iconic sites) to make things a little more interesting and to delve into the culture of the place(s) we visit. As always, I give free photographic lessons and advice, digital or analog (film), and will help you capture the essence of the places, people and culture as we travel together.

If you are just looking for a few travel web sites or are looking for travel information please visit the Links section of the site under the Travel heading or the Travel Tips section of the site by clicking Travel at the top of the page.