Alright so here comes two shots from yesterday. Not only is it two shots – They’re taken with different cameras  – SD14 and DP2. Now, not only are they taken with different cameras they’re developed using different softwares too – jaij! ACR for the SD14 image (came out better) and SPP for the DP2 image (came out more thick).. I used my Elinchrom quadra for this and well, it was so easy to use and setup – weather was really tricky but for these staying in the shadows helped. :)

Alright, I just got my umbrella replaced (got a one that didn’t fit and HAD to buy Elinchrom’s own – which is four times more expensive). grrr. Alright so I took some test pictures in my kitchen today – to see how good it could do with low power (there is two connections and the second one will give 8W to 135W – and that’s very cool for indoor use) – so here’s a before and after shot:

Original <– Do this!

And below you see the setup (you don’t see the power pack but you have it on the first picture in this post) – And power is not very high, remember I’m shooting wide open here at 2.8 just the way I like it and that’s not easy with any flash really. I guess it’s set at 2.2 – 60W output or something.. Not sure, not recorded in the exif. ;) All images taken with the Sigma DP2. Oh, you’re all so surprised! All pictures developed using ACR. ;)

Original <– Not a bad idea!

With a little shorter shutter speed you get a slightly more flashy look, but still nice I think – perhaps because Linn is who she is! (she’s a bit flashy too you know).. Also I use the same technique with this flash as I did back with the “club photos” -  without a meeter you do need to take more shots to get good light. It does take time. Think I will get myself a little light meeter too. hmm..

Oh, and a last one of Linn posing like a movie star! (or kungfu panda or whatever) :D – Oh and here you also see the flash in action without umbrella or anything. It’s tiny!

After much playing to fully understand ACR I realized that I better call Bob. Bob is not only a good friend of mine, he’s also a very good photographer and designer. In this video he’s showing us (me) how to start with a picture in ACR to get the best possible result. The picture is also availible as RAW so that you can play along. Download RAW now! (right click and save as)

Presented in 1280×720 HD and is best viewed in full screen and HD mode. Enjoy!

Go to my youtube channel to play in HD (too big for my blog).

Here’s the RAW file used in the movie: Right click and select save as. This is a naked RAW and might be read as some text junk. 

Alright, this is my very first public test of ACR 5.4 and as you will hear this is a test done in realtime! Which also means that whatever I say might have a different solution. I have never been a fan of how Adobe reads any of my Sigma raw files (with Lightroom or ACR) and I thought that perhaps this time would be different. I saw many comparisons made over at the dpreview Sigma forum but none of them really sticked (whatever that means).

So I selected a random shot from yesterday, a 6s exposure done in evening just before sunset, you will see how I develop in SPP (might give you a few clues to how things are done my way) and you will see what I do in ACR in order to really make a mess. ;)

This movie is uploaded with a very very carefully compressed x264 codec (open source) so that gamma info is correct and uploaded with 1280×720 to youtube – I’m corny as usual but you can live with that!