Photographing NCAA Tournament Men's Basketball

HDR driving home

HDR driving home, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

testing onOne PhotoTools 2.6

testing onOne PhotoTools 2.6, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

PhotoVision Calibration Target vs Expo Disc

Yesterday I read a long forum post where a couple of folks were debating the virtues of both of these tools, the PhotoVision Calibration Target and the Expo Disc. 

I own both tools but I largely use the PhotoVision Calibration Target.


Both sides of the argument were making some sense (to me anyway) so I thought I do my own tests. I know I did this a while back but wanted to redo this as I did not recall the original results.

So I put my Canon 7D/24-105mm on a tripod tethered to Lightroom. Using a 3 light setup with a 36" octa as the main, a 30" brolly box and 20 degree grid spot as an accent light. Having metered my setup with my flash meter I know the correct exposure is f/5.6 ISO 100 at 1/125 shutter speed. So let's see what the White Balance tools say.

First photographed the PhotoVision Calibration Target at f/5.6. Here is the result:

As you can see from the histogram this is pretty much what I expected to see. A perfect exposure. I sometimes like to underexpose a tad so I re-shot the target at f/6.3:

Again about what I expected to see. Next I shot several Expo Disc images:

 What I found was that in order to get a center spike I had to open up to f/5, which would over expose my image. Not what I want to do.

Here are the results of both tools shot at f/5.6, the LR settings on both images are identical except for WB which was based on the respective tool:

PhotoVision Calibration Target

Expo Disc

The skin tone is slightly off here.


I guess I'll be staying with the PhotoVision Calibration Target. I suppose I may have done something incorrect in my test here but if so someone will have to point it out to me, as I don't see it. I'll upload these files to my Flickr site if anyone wants to see the full size image. If you have comments or questions please post them.

Crockettville02: Blog Post_110318

Will Crockett is getting ready to create a new work space at home. Check it out.

tree climber (NIK SEP2)

tree climber (NIK SEP2), originally uploaded by Music Man5.

Policy change at Music Man5 Photos

If you visited Music Man5 Photos website over the weekend you may have noticed this "Note all event galleries will only be online for 30 days, so place your orders right away."

What this means is that most galleries will on be visible for 30 days. After 30 days have passed these galleries of photos will still be on my website but will only be accessable by direct link. A direct link would be a post on one of the blogs or if you were invited to a specific event and provided with an event link (like this:

http://www.musicman5photos.com/event/Marching-Ironmen-Band-Camp ).

At some point events will have an expiration date also but for now they do not. More on that when it happens. 

What you need to remember is that once a photo gallery goes up for an event (party, concert, play, rehearsal, competition or sporting event) you have 30 calendar days to place your order. 

Thanks. As always, if you have questions just let me know. 

Mark 

Pontiac -Topaz Detail

Pontiac -Topaz Detail, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

Ps CS5 and SEP test

Ps CS5 and SEP test, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

Another Photoshop CS5 and plug-in test. This time I tested NIK's Silver Efex Pro 2 (which I really love by the way).

Lighting for Beauty and Glamour

Check out Christopher Grey's latest video!!

Lighting for Beauty and Glamour from A440LIVE.TV on Vimeo.

teleconverter shot

20110314_50D_43523, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

This was taken with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM and the Canon 2x Teleconverter. Hand held at 400mm.

time to upgrade?

time to upgrade?, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

Adobe is offering a pretty good deal to Elements owners to step up to CS5. I don't use Elements a lot but I do use it. I wonder if I should upgrade now or not. Thoughts?

lawnmower in B/W

lawnmower in B/W, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

Manfrotto 327RC2 Pro Mag Joystick Ball Head

Manfrotto 327RC2 Pro Mag Joystick Ball Head, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

This is one cool ball head. So much easier to work with.

PPA: See the Difference

2010 Marching Ironmen

2010 Marching Ironmen, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

NCHS Marching Band Ironman of the Year!!!

NCHS Marching Band Ironman of the Year!!!, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

Awards party for the NCHS Marching Ironmen

Awards party for the NCHS Marching Ironmen, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

Finally closed the loop on controlling my color!!

Since I'm so happy with my color today let me share a couple of other things.

Your monitors image quality is very important. About six months or so ago I upgraded to the LaCie 324 (one Will Crockett recommends) from a Dell monitor and wow what a difference that made. Check out Will's recommendations here and over at www.shootsmarter.com. Here is a video by Will discussing monitors.

Next I picked up the ColorChecker Passport. The 2nd side of the perfect color triangle is The X-rite ColorChecker Passport! Click Here to see a short video about the ColorChecker Passport.

Now I have closed the loop (completed the triangle or whatever) and created an accurate profile for my monitor!! Now I can create accurate skin tones in my images, something I had been struggling with. I purchased the X-Rite EyeOne Display 2 profiler. Here is a link to a Will Crockett video talking about the important of profiling your monitor and how easy it is to do it.  

If I remember I'll post a before and after image a little later. 

X-Rite EODIS2 Eye-One Display 2 

 

X-Rite ColorChecker Passport 

 

LaCie 324i 24" LCD Monitor, Pro Calibration, 10 Bit P-IPS Panel, 102% NTSC, 98% AdobeRGB, Display Port, DVI-D, HDMI, Component