The latest incarnation of Adobe’s Creative Suite, CS5, has been shipped, and is available for purchase.  A main point of interest for us at Foto Tech is the new HDR Pro feature of Photoshop CS5.  HDR Pro is an new tool that allows the user to create HDR (High Dynamic Range) images within photoshop itself.  Having not tested it personally, it seems to have potential, though tests show that HDR Pro may not be as refined as existing HDR software.  Nevertheless, HDR Pro will make a welcome addition to the feature set of Photoshop CS5.

With the new software release comes a new batch of resources to help you learn how to use it.  These include a number of  books, as well as online resources, such as the video tutorials from Lynda.com and Adobe TV.

ImageNest- Mac Printing Layout Software

ImageNest Discount Coupon:

Use this link and coupon code:
ImageNest discount 10dis

ImageNest is a software Rip for Mac printing that does printing layout and a number of other picture layout tricks very well.  ImageNest works on all printers with Mac drivers : Epson, HP, Canon, etc.  We reviewed  the first version of BlueCubit’s ImageNest here.  There  are so many new printer layout features in ImageNest 2.0, that the new printing layout features deserve  a  review.  I think this is the perfect  iPhoto printing utility.  Apple’s iPhoto printing leaves a lot to be desired, and Bluecubit gives iPhoto users the image layout tools they need for picture printing.

Product manager, Joshua Lubbers has graciously offered to give a 10% discount on all of Bluecubit’s Mac Image Layout Printing  software.

Use this link and code: ImageNest Discount Coupon Code: 10dis

ImageNest 2.0 Top 5 New Features

DNG Printing- ImageNest can easily print outstanding contact sheets from all the major file types, but it really shines for DNG printing of contact sheets.  DNG files have an adjusted JPEG file imbedded in them along with the RAW date and XMP data.  When you make edits to the RAW image in an editor such as Adobe’s Lightroom and push those edits into the DNG file, the adjustments are saved as XMP Data and A JPEG is created.  ImagNest is one of the only ways to access and print that adjusted DNG Jpeg preview.

Metedata Annotations- If your contact  sheet printing, then you likely need to print text, file numbers, names, dates, location or other metedata.  A contact sheet isn’t of much use without the information you need to access the file you or your client want to use. ImageNest allows you to print metedata on all four sides of each image in the printing layout.   Printing text metedata  in the layout is a major power feature that is useful in so many ways.

PDF Creations- Layouts aren’t just for printing, they can be saved as PDF files.  This is an absolutely killer feature of ImageNest. After spending some time creating a wonderful layout of your pictures, you can save it as a PDF.  Contact sheets with file numbers and metedata annotations can be emailed for review.  Because the layout or contact sheet is in a PDF, viewers with Adobe acrobat can put notes about the files they like on the PDF and return it to the photographer.

Image Borders (Frames)- Image frames allow you to layout pictures with borders.  The picture borders can be different  colors and widths.  Image frames are a simple way of really dressing up a print layout.  I regularly use them when  on black and white image layouts.

Soft Proofing- This is a professional  printing feature that armatures could use as well.  It’s designed to help professional photographers who need to soft proof for CMYK printers, but it’s also useful for proofing machine prints.  If your having prints made on a Fuji Frontier or Noritsu machine printer like Costo & SmugMug uses, then you need a way to check color and density before you send the SRGB  files.  The profiles for these printers are available through drycreekphoto as well as most major print vendors.  Imagenest can be used to layout images for these services too.

Those are the five major new features of ImageNest 2.0.  Version 2.0 also has a much improved interface with many improvements under the hood.    64 Bit processing is enabled, but many Mac printer drivers are not running 64Bit yet.  ImageNest is committed to speed and will likely be using CUDA multicore GPU Image processing in their next major release.

This is defiantly the simplest picture layout RIP on the market.  It’s a simple to use  Mac printing layout utility that really doesn’t have a competitor.  under the hood  ImageNest comes in a number of versions based on the size of the layout or printer.

17 Inch $199
24 Inch $399
44 Inch $599
Wide Format $799

Use this link and code for a 10% ImageNest discount:

ImageNest Discount Coupon Code: 10dis

DXO Optics has added 80 new modules.  Most noteworthy for me is the Canon 5d Mark II with the Sigma 12-24.  I really need this combination for some of my HDR Architectural Interiors.
DXO has a unique way of processing raw file and to make it really work correctly you need to download and install their modules, which are scientific characterization (Profiles) of a camera and lens combination.
DXO makes it pretty easy to fix undesirable lens characteristics, like Chromatic Aberrations, Fall off, edge sharpness, etc.
I use it to output corrected tiff flies, which I then merge to hdr images.
DXO is a pretty darn good RAW processor, but I find the workflow a bit tedious for large quantities of images, so I generally only go to DXO when I need some good lens correction for a derivative file.
DXO is a french company and I use to talk with one of their engineers over Skype. Good guys, try the demo if you haven’t.

I’ve just returned from a Photoshop World Conference(PSW) in Orlando, Florida. The conference four days of fast-paced Photoshop training. NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) produces two excellent conferences every year; one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast. For those readers who have never attended PSW, I’ll recap my trip to give you an idea of what it’s like. Read more…

ImageIngesterPro Workflow Diagram

Marc Rochkind has posted a wonderful article titled How to Back Up Your Personal Computer. I feel this is a must read for everyone who uses a computer. I’ve heard way too many stories of people losing all of their data for one reason or another. Very few users have bullet proof backup strategies, because it is more complex than most users know.

Marc is also the developer behind three very useful programs for managing image files: ImageIngester, Image Verifier, ImageReporter and SpanBurner. I’m using ImageIngester Pro and ImageVerifier, which together will cost you only $40. ImageIngester is saving us a ton of time processing files and Image Verifier is finding corruption in some of my early image files.
Marc is also very active on The DAM Forum which is Peter Krogh’s very educational Digital Asset Management forum.

It’s a shame to make a wonderful digital image and lose it. The pictures that I’ve missed or lost for one reason or another haunt me, so I have a healthy fear for the safety of every image I make. They say, “there are two kind of computer users, those who have lost data and those who WILL loose data.” At this point it’s probably more like those who have lost data and those who will loose data again, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Please post some comments on interesting ways you’ve lost data: Our most recent loss of data was from opening tiff files using Adobe Camera Raw(ACR) then saving them after adjustments. ACR opened these 17Megapixel files in 2.8Megapixel size, then we saved over the large files. We had to start over from the RAW files; two days of work down the drain.