For a long time, I simply couldn’t find a method of RAW conversion that worked for me. I’ve tried Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw, but was always left with this ugly green/yellow tinge I simply couldn’t remove. Even after mucking around for hours, my jpegs always looked better. Non photographers can probably tune out now, this won’t be of much interest to you. :)

Everyone knows the obvious benefits of RAW (if you don’t check out the numerous web articles) so finding a method of converting from RAW that works for you is important. I’ve finally found one that I’m happy with, giving me all the great benefits of RAW, with a workflow almost as simple as working with jpegs. This method is only suitable for Canon CR2 RAW files as I’m not too sure about Nikon.

You’ll need the CD of software that came with your Canon camera and will need to install Digital Photo Professional (DPP) as well as the Canon RAW Codec. If you can’t find your disc, tough luck, Canon, for some reason, don’t believe in a freely downloadable version of the software. But keep faith, there are sneaky ways around it! You can download a REALLY old version of DPP here and then go to Canon’s website and download the updates for it here. The Canon RAW Codec can be found here (enter your camera’s information there and wait for the options to come up for the software downloads).

You’ll also need Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Bridge as well. I’m using CS3, the instructions for you might be slightly different depending on your version, but it should roughly be the same.

Ok, so this is it. It goes, Bridge -> DPP -> Photoshop

Open up Bridge and you’ll end up with a nice folder structure showing your photos and previews and EXIF data (you can move all the panels around to get something that suits you).

Note how the colours in the photos seem crummy and yellow (seriously, Soph doesn’t have Jaundice!).

You’ll need to change the File Type Associations of Bridge by going to Edit -> Preferences -> File Type Associations. Click on the little downwards arrow next to Canon Camera RAW and select “Browse”. Go to the folder in which you installed DPP and select DPPViewer. Click ok and you should get something that looks like this.

What this means is that whenever you double click on a CR2 file in Bridge, it’ll now use DPP to open it instead of Photoshop (the default action in Bridge).

So find a nice CR2 file you want to work on (no, I’m not going to send you any photos of my cute girl!) and double click. DPP should open up and you’ll see something like this (click to open full size).

Change the brightness, white balance and picture style to what you want (ideally, match the conditions you are shooting in). Also, bump up the sharpness to around 4 or 5, something which should give you a nice presharpen. Hopefully, at this point, you’ll notice that the colours in this version are truer than the CR2 version you see in Bridge. It’s subtle, but you should clearly notice the difference in the hair.

Once you’re happy with this, simply click Alt + P and the file will open up in Photoshop as a high res TIFF as below (click for full size). The export resolution of DPP can be adjusted by going to Tools -> Preferences -> General Settings -> Default Value of Output Resolution inside DPP itself. Mine is set to 300 DPI, your’s is your choice!

The file will open as a 16-bit TIFF in Photoshop and will be placed in a temporary folder until you choose to save it. Do NOT edit the image and then simply click save, it won’t work. Save the image where you want it to go first and then edit. I generally downsample my images to 8-bit before I save (unless it’s a file where those extra 8-bits become useful), simply to save drive space. I also save the files as PSDs so I can continue using Photoshop layers. You can then go and close the DPP Viewer of you want. For some reason, it doesn’t appear in the taskbar but by pressing Alt + Tab you should be able to get to it. Make sure that when you close the DPP Viewer file, you save the changes. This means that the little XMP file that gets put in your folder with the CR2 files gets modified and the next time you open the CR2 file, the software already knows what changes you made the first time.

So that’s it! It might take you 10 or 15 minutes to set up, but once you’ve got it going, it’ll hopefully be a steady and successful workflow! Feel free to make any suggestions in the comments which might make things easier or better (or point out that I’m an idiot if you’ve got a better method!).

I had set up a bit of a DIY light tent to take some product shots for my mum and I managed to convince Soph to stick her head in.

Consider this my contribution to Pretty Pink Sunday, you’ll never see another from me again. :)

Also, I hope everyone who tilts their head to the right does it to the left as well, it’s good to stretch your neck out when you sit in front of a computer all day. :)

Strobist: white backdrop wedged between 2 lounges, 1 diffuser placed on top with 580 EX @ 1/128th and 430EX @ 1/64th directly into diffuser

I went to my Ten Year High School Reunion on the weekend and I didn’t expect to have as good a time as I did. I was never the cool kid at school, in fact, I was pretty much towards the bottom of the social ladder. At the reunion, no one seemed to care about everything that had happened and who was "popular", it was like we were just a bunch of friends. I saw some people I hadn’t seen for 10 years and I regret having wasted those 10 years without hanging out with them.

It’s feels just like yesterday when school finished, and I’m starting to realise that I’m actually getting old. My parents are getting old and more frail, and it’s finally sinking in. I’m not old in terms of life, but the illusion of being young and immortal is wearing off.

Strobist: 580EX @ 1/8 into shoot through umbrella camera left, 430 EX @ 1/4 bounded off the roof camera right.

This is the flyer for my 52 weeks exhibition. I’ll be getting them printed in the next few days so if you want me to send you one, give me a yell. :)

There will be plenty of free food and booze, and not to mention, 52 photographs of yours truly!

There will also be a bunch of blurb books for sale as well which I’ll probably make available online as well for anyone who’s interested. At the moment, it’s looking like it’ll cost somewhere near $50 or so which makes it a little expensive, but trust me, I’m not going to be making any money from it!

Most people have REALLY lame first album purchase stories! It’s normally something embarrassing like Boyz II Men or New Kids on the Block, or even Donnie and Marie Osmond if you’re a little older.

I’m going to take the moral high ground because my first album has far greater credibility. It’s arguably one of the most definitive albums of all time, Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’. I still remember handing over my hard earned cash for it back in 1993 (well after it had been released mind you!).

I learnt how to play every song on this album and even went so far as to build a Nirvana fan site! It most definitely made me look at music a different way.

So what was your first album? The lamer the better, don’t be afraid, we won’t judge. :)

Strobist: Bare 580EX @ 1/8 top right, Bare 430EX @ 1/8 far back left

Thanks to my mate Deano for helping me out on this shot, there’s no way I would have been able to manage by myself!

I remember when I was in Year 1, my class had to do a march past at some official function at my school. I was put in charge of carrying some sort of banner, not because I was the leader, but because I was about 30cm taller than all of my classmates. It just looked stupid with me in the line with the rest of them!

I’m a bit of a genetic anomaly; I’m probably 20-30cm taller than the average Sri Lankan male. I’m 6 foot 4 inches, and around 110kg meaning most people are generally physically intimidated by me. But you’ve probably realised from my 52 project that I wouldn’t hurt a fly! I might be tempted to hurt an aeroplane if I was annoyed enough though!

This photo couldn’t have happened if not for the amazingness of the Creative Commons licence and flickr user Milton CJ’s fantastic photo of the Empire State Building. Thanks Milton!

If you haven’t got a copy of this album yet (featuring my artwork!), do it NOW!

The Dawn Collective
Save A Place For Us
Green / MGM

The cover of The Dawn Collective’s Save A Place For Us draws you in and lets you ignore the old “can’t judge a book (or record) by its cover”. It shows a cluster of trees growing on a bleak hill, shot on grainy film with an almost sepia tone. It’s both unsettling and beautiful, yet strangely hopeful. The music within matches these impressions.

The music, as the press guff notes, is hard to categorise. At its core it’s indie-folk, but there are flourishes of traditional Eastern European music, splashes of jazz and streaks of progressive rock. A Russian Trilogy is bombastic, galloping and soaring like Muse. Eat, Drink, For Tomorrow We Die is a gravely singalong and A Handful Of Moments is a pleasantly off-beat country dirge, while Stop This Worry is a raucous, hysterical alternative rock track that unexpectedly veers into a lovely bridge before crashing violently into a brass section.

Producers Tim Whitten and Tony Dupé have done an exceptional job, particularly Whitten. The album has an epic, expansive feel to it. The crescendo of penultimate track The Art Of Longevity is thrilling, as strings shriek over a beat that sounds like the thundering hooves of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Save A Place For Us is not an easy album. It languished in the stereo for weeks before I really understood or even liked it. But save a place for The Dawn Collective on your album shelf. With time, this release proves itself to be a grand and glorious piece of dark, orchestral folk.

Liam Casey
Drum Media Issue 932 – November 18th 2008

BugGiRL are pretty much the most rocking brother and sister rock duo going around the world. Jack and Meg White look like they’re retirees compared to the all out rock factor that BugGiRL possess. Take a mix of AC/DC, The Divinyls and just a hint of everything good about 80s metal, and you’ve got BugGirl.

These shots were taken in a small room in a commercial/industrial complex that the band have. It was ghetto all the way with a couple of bedsheets acting as my seamless black and white backdrops.

I had my mates Rich and Mick helping me out on the day. Mick supplied the lubricant for the festivities (ie. beer) while Rich was lighting assistant #1. Thanks fellas!

These guys are just about to head into the studio to record their new album so keep an eye out for it and keep an ear out for their blistering rock shows throughout Australia and then Europe in the northern summer.

I appeared in a small article on the LA Times Technology blog after the now “world famous” Cookie Monster photo!

Check it out!

You’ll have to scroll down a bit to find me.

A bunch of Soph’s friends tease me about not being a very manly man. I don’t really take much offence because it’s mostly true. I don’t find the need to settle my differences through aggression and violence, I’m not a yob by any means and I (shock horror!) don’t drink copious amounts of beer! I’m not saying this is what defines a manly man, but you get the idea.

I’d like to think that being a gentleman is something that men can still aspire to in modern society, and I guess I’m comfortable with that aspect of my personality.

So you needn’t visualise me, in my feminine ways, this is perhaps what I would have looked like was I born a girl (or would look like if I pursued a career in cross dressing). The skinnier nose, thinner eyebrows, bigger eyes and changed jawline indeed do make me look very strange but I’m actually quite glad I wasn’t born a girl because I nearly burnt off both of my ears using Soph’s hair straightner; It’s something I hope I never have to use again!

FOR REFERENCE?

Strobist: 580EX into reflective umbrella above camera @ 1/8, 430 into shoot through umbrella below @ 1/8

The Watt Riot are an awesome rock band from Wollongong and have been around for a few years. I’ve known 3 of the band members for nearly 6 or 7 years in their various bands and have been keeping an eye out on them since they became The Watt Riot a few years ago.

We headed to an abandoned factory deep in the Southern Highlands and took a couple of hours worth of promos.

The empty spaces in this factory were amazing, if we had more time, there would have been numerous other shots taken throughout it.

I borrowed a few flashes from a mate of mine so ended up running a combination of PocketWizard triggered and Infra-red triggered flashes. It kinda got messy and I had lots of problems getting the flashes to go off consistently so that’s something that definitely needs work on my behalf! I think I had channels and master/slave things mixed up which should really teach me that I should stick to what I know instead of trying to get really fancy! :)

By a strange twist of fate, my latest self portrait, featuring the Cookie Monster, was submitted by someone to digg.com, a popular social bookmarking site. The way these sites work is people submit their links and others vote the content of the link up or down, until the most popular ones end up at the top of the list. My social bookmarking site of choice is reddit.com, the content there is more intelligent, the people less immature and generally, a more intellectually stimulating place than digg. In fact, I make an effort to read reddit everyday, just so I know what’s going on around the world.

Anyway, back to the photo. Somehow, the photo managed to get onto the front page of digg, and in around 48 hours, had amassed around 105000 views on my flickr stream. Kinda cool huh?

I had been pretty surprised and had no idea where the huge traffic was coming from; A simple check of the stats showed digg as the main source and having found the submission on digg, I read through the comments. While nearly 1100 people had “dugg” the photo (ie. vote up), nearly all of the comments were hilariously stupid! These are some of my favourites!

its funny, but it doesnt look too real

OH MY GOD
i get it it’s cookie monster.
he looks more scary in real life.
shouldn’t he be eating carrots now or something?!

I’d been a user of digg in the past (before I realised how negative and mindless it was) and using my login, I left a little note saying that it was my photo, part of my 52 week project, blah blah. You’d figure people would see it, appreciate the photo for what it was and stop being idiots, but no, the humour continued!

This remind me of my ex girlfriend… shes such a bitch.

Not that impressive. Just a tub full of jizz with a layer of cookies on top. Oh, yeah, and Cookie Monster.

I find this unsettling.

that looks like crap.

‘tarded

Thanks digg, you’ve given me a couple of days of humerous reading while also making me realise why I chose reddit! :)

Oh, me LOVE cookie!

om nom nom.

Me love lots of cookies!

om nom nom.

Me in bath. EATING COOKIE!!

om nom nom.

SEE BIG COOKIE?

Strobist: 580EX into roof, camera left. om nom nom.

COOKIE COOKIE START WITH C!

Image courtesy of january20th2009

Ok, so this is a photo/music blog, but politics is something I’m deeply interested in. The current American Presidential campaign has finally come to an end with John McCain’s concession of defeat, heralding a new era in American politics. The election of Obama is something I’m almost as pleased about as the defeat of our last Prime Minister, John “The Weasel” Howard. Congratulations to the people of the USA who now can hopefully leave hatred, division and negativity behind. I hope Obama sticks to his principles and allows the USA, and the world, to be a better, more inclusive, non-violent and safe place. If I was electing a leader, I’d want him to be a MUCH better person that me, and Obama has clearly shown that he’s smarter, more knowledgeable, more tactful, more charismatic and inspiring and a tremendously superior orator to me. So you’ve chosen well!

Anyway, I hope many of you celebrating Americans wake up with horrible sore heads from a night of partying, safe in the knowledge your country has re-earned my respect! :)

The Dandy Warhols played to a packed out Enmore Theatre tonight. I was kicked out of the venue after the 3 songs, but told I could come back in if I cloaked my camera gear (which there was no way I was going to do). So I ended up driving home in a little over an hour and in the last hour since getting home, have managed to download the the shots onto my very ill and slow computer, sort through the 120 or so photos, gently massage the best ones in photoshop, upload to flickr and finally make a blog post, possibly resulting in my most efficient performance on a gig night EVER!

Lighting was pretty spectacular with a nifty LED array at the back, but what we saw overall was mostly backlit and not much from the front, meaning lots of silhouettes and dimly lit faces.

I shot in RAW tonight for the first time in ages. I haven’t been able to find a workflow I liked for RAW and all my shots ended up yellow/green tinged. I think I’ve managed to get over this hurdle with a bit of education on the internet and the end result is not too bad!

It was great to hear some of the tracks that I’d loved when I was a bit younger back in the 90s. :)

Oh yeah, if you get to this point, can you be kind enough as to tell me where you’re all coming from? I’m kinda curious because my web traffic has doubled since around the 25th of this month, and I have no idea why, nor can I see anything in my web stats… People on RSS feeds and regulars need not apply. :)