Greetings!

[costumbres]

Hello all. Well this is a two person interest. Andrew (the boy friend) has been a D&Der for a decade or so... and well when we started dating I was converted (that sounds like a good word to use). That was about 2 years ago, now we both live in Guatemala, where I was born and raised, and well he's the gringo that lives in my house.

I'm a photography professor at a University here, and he and I work on web design and well since summer vacation is just around the corner (don't tell me otherwise, I see the calendar it has to be around the corner) we're creating a world for it.

Ok then... have a good one and never forget to bring a towel.

Monique & Andrew

[NeonKnight]

Welcome to the guild

What software are you using or planning on using?

Please post up any versions you have for us.

[Steel General]

Welcome Aboard to you both!

[costumbres]

Thanks!

Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign for the Type (I'm a bit of a Type freak). Andrew wants to put it in Flash to make more of a interactive website thing for the group... after working on the map of the world I'm starting to like the idea more and more.
Let see... if we do make it into a video clip of sorts I'll play around with After Effects..
So yea.. we're almost done.. Props to Ascension!!!!!

Monique

[Ascension]

Thanks and welcome to you both.

[ravells]

You're a photography professor! Welcome to the Guild...I've recently got back into photography after many years and am having a lot of fun with my D90....oh wait, this is supposed to be about maps.....but can I ask you little secret questions about photography as and when?

Seriously, welcome here to you and Andrew and you already know all the software, so it's just a question of posting up your maps!

all the best

ravs

[costumbres]

Ask away! I love talking shop!
I've posted a map in the works... already walked away for around 1 hour and there's a ton of changes I want to make.
Thanks for the welcome!!!!
Monique & Andrew

[ravells]

If your offering!!!

I've always wondered about colour gamut (I don't even know what a 'gamut' is) and how it works with digital cameras. My Nikon has an sRGB setting and an Adobe setting. I do tend to use PS to tweak most of my photos. Is it best that I use the adobe setting? What's the difference?

My other question is about photomatix...I have CS2 which has an HDR option but is photomatix worth paying for in terms of better results?

Finally - histograms: what does an RGB histogram really tell you in practical terms? I just use the combined one which can tell me if my highlights or shadows are clipped or my picture is too contrasty, but I'm just wondering how to 'interpret' an RGB histogram in a practical way.

Cheers!

[costumbres]

Ok, sorry it took so long to answer back, I came back from work and was a bit obsessed in making the map work...

So a gamut is simple "more possible colors".
Now. I know that professional photographers like to use ADOBE RGB because of the "color gamut” but most monitors can't show those colors. So if you’re sticking to screen presentation use sRGB, it has a lower color gamut.

Oh man, I wouldn't... if it were me editing my images all I would really want to get is the best printer out there so that the color gamut of the images actually translates to print. All I really see it doing is helping you edit a "bracketed" image (an image that has been shot with three different exposures so that the sum of all three = good exposure) What I would do is save my money and get the better printer (and really good printing paper).
Some people love it others say it's "just one more thing to make me lazy" ...

Ok. Histograms.

The thing to remember is that the way PS works when editing photographs, is that it wants to be in a wet lab. It uses the same basic principle as a color darkroom. So the way I always look at it is the "carving" of light of the hole image. The red histogram is going to show you where red stands in the image, what light carved it out, where in your image the carving of that red light changed.

Looking at color film (as well as the way levels and curves are seen in Photoshop) work with the principle of adding and subtracting one type of light.. light of a particular color. So if you just imagine having a piece of color film:

AAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAA

What happens is that light carves out places where the colors (or mix of colors) can create an accurate reproduction of whatever it is your taking a picture of. Histograms are that carving. Letting you know how much of red is in the shadow, highlights, etc.
Never use the histogram to edit color! EVER!
Always use curves. If you feel the need to use histogram only use it when your setting up your highlights and your shadows, after that only use curves.

Hope this helps!

Monique

[Redrobes]

Hi Monique and Andrew, you two sound like some real hoopy froods...

Welcome and nice post about the color gamuts.

If you feel like waving the Guatemalan flag then pop a pin on the world map - link in my sig.