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DIGITAL,
FILE USAGE AND THE FUTURE - PAUL KAY
Paul
is now very firmly involved in the 'digital revolution' but
it took some time to get there. When Nikon's D1X camera was
launched, by various means he managed to find the money and
bought one. Although he used this camera for a couple of years
and sold many images taken on it, he was not overly impressed
either by the image quality or the versatility.
The
turning point come when he realised he was relying on TIFF
images and using his shiny digital toy exactly like a film
camera. The D1X is a 5 mega pixel camera and he felt the images
were no better than 35mm film, even after shooting a great
many pictures. Then, he bought an even shinier new toy - the
S2 Pro - and everything started to come together. This was
because he started to use it underwater at about the same
time as Adobe produced the RAW plug-in for Photoshop 7. Paul
discovered that shooting on RAW then using Photoshop's RAW
file converter really started to change things. Now Paul's
firm view is that the key to digital photography is the correct
use of software and his advice is to buy good software and
learn to use it properly. With digital, unlike film, you con
shoot and shoot without worrying about film costs. Sometimes
this can lead to photographers taking less care about the
subject matter end relying on software to make the images
look good. For this reason and others, some people consider
digital photography to be 'cheating' with the manipulation
that can be applied to the image file. However, Paul considers
manipulation end what he would class as optimisation to be
very different things. Optimisation is a global function whereas
manipulation usually takes piece on only part of a file, and
manipulation can be applied to film just as much as digital
images.
Paul
also considers using JPG format on a digital SLR to be equivalent
to having a Ferreri and driving it at 30mph! For Paul, RAW
is definitely better. Another criticism heard about digital
is that the highlights can burn out, but Paul firmly believes
things are getting better all the time particularly with more
and more sophisticated software which is so vital.
Photoshop
CS (Creative Suite), the latest version from Adobe, can do
just about everything you are likely to need. The file browser
is particularly useful and will now read RAW files. Many,
many things can be adjusted with this software including lighting,
exposure, etc. You can run at 16 bits/channel, edit the image
then move to 8 bits/channel. It makes the pictures Paul shot
as TIFF files with the D1X look very inadequate indeed.
As
to locations, Paul recently visited the Canary Islands and
was impressed by the amount of marine life including masses
of groupers end moray eels, also by how tame and photogenic
the creatures were. Paul also ventured to the Beagle Channel
at Tierre del Fuego, Argentine. Interestingly, apart from
the giant kelp, it was very reminiscent of beautiful Loch
Fyne in Scotland. Everything was bigger and just slightly
different in an indefinable way, but fundamentally the same,
which is somewhat disconcerting when you have travelled so
for!
But
Paul's favourite trip this year was to the Outer Hebrides.
He was 'playing' with a 12-24mm zoom on the S2 Pro varying
between TTL and manual with the additional fun of a large
Subtronic f lashgun with which he was very impressed. The
12-24 without a diopter is also good above water. As for as
equipment capability goes, Fuji is the only digital SLR with
TTL so in that sense is equivalent to film.
Paul also tried some comparative macro work with the S2 Pro
off the coast of Ireland. He luckily came across an inconvenienced
anglerfish as an ideal subject, it could not move due to the
lunch protruding from its mouth and still in the process of
being slowly swallowed. A dark subject with a light background,
it came out very well on the S2 and Paul has found the S2
to be good for straight portraits - looking at the LCD display
is good for composition but not exposure which is where the
histogram proves invaluable.
To
the future, Paul believes digital success depends largely
on the RAW file and using software like Photoshop CS to 'process'
your image. Adobe are now trying to introduce a standard RAW
f ile, which effectively converts RAW to a RAW "tandard'.
Paul avers "the near future is probably RAW".
Paul concluded with the following statement:
"At
the end of the day it is the image that matters, not the technology.
Although I now use an 11.1 mega pixel Canon for above and
below water, the technology will not be new in 5 years time
and at the end of the day the 'perfect' image is what we are
all striving for, whatever equipment we use to achieve it."
Reproduced
from in focus 80 (Winter
2004)
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