The last pack of prints goes on the courier this morning. It has been a huge year this for me so I would like thank all those photographers who trusted Evoke with their IRIS prints. Mixing in a couple of Q sets we started printing IRIS work in May. Since then 370 prints have been delivered and 180 matted. The framer was working double shifts in the last week to get them all through.

As always, things don’t often go exactly to plan. The logistics managing and delivering so many prints is a challenge. We are a fine art print shop and care and quality are what we work on. So volumes like this test the systems to the max. But I think all the prints went to the correct homes? There are a couple still in transit as I write this.

Thank you to those patient people who suffered from the matt board disaster. The distributor finally admitted that a batch of foam core used as the backing board was faulty, and some had been shipped out to our framer. Of course they have no idea which ones. This caused a week of excitement as matts were falling of the back!!! If anyone still has one of these it is not difficult to stick them down but we can only apologize for the hassles it has caused. Russian Roulette! I am bringing a tape gun with me to Rotorua “just in case”.

The good news is that there are hundreds of amazing prints to see at the IRIS awards next week. I am lucky enough to see a lot of them up close ahead of time and it is such a thrill to be the one taking them off the printed. Thank you to those people. And good luck!

Say hi if you see me there, especially if we have not met. My memory for names is atrocious but it’s nice to log away faces.

And a big thanks to the team at Papakura Picture Framers.

A lot of the time people ask what is the best way to send files for printing. And there are few items that relate to this so we will try to address them one by one.

Working with Photoshop we recommend using 16 bit at all times. It is easy to demonstrate that details are lost when you make adjustments to an 8 bit file in Photoshop. It is harder to prove that everyone can see the difference in the final print but we recommend that starting with the best information results in a better print.

Even if you start with a JPG file, converting this to 16 bit in Photoshop will increase the quality of adjustments made to the file. In fact if the PSD is still layered you can convert to 16 bit after you have made all the changes because Photoshop re calculates all the layers.

To change an existing file to 16 bit simple use the Photoshop menu “Image” then “Mode” and then click 16 bits/channel. (Note that 32 bits is entirely different and you should not use this unless you are doing HDR).

But of course everyone is shooting RAW now right. RAW files offer the highest quality conversions for editing and provide a huge latitude for adjustment after the image is captured. Unless you are shooting high numbers of images say for weddings or sports and need to save disk space or conversion time shooting RAW is the way to go.

So, to set up Camera Raw so that it opens your RAW files in 16 bit you need to configure it for each camera. To do this simple open your RAW in Bridge or Photoshop so that the Camera Raw dialog appears. In these examples both AdobeRGB and ProPhoto RGB profiles are used. Either is fine, you are limited if you leave the profile as sRGB which has a smaller colour range.

At the bottom of this dialog you will see some blue underlined text like

Adobe RGB (1998); 16bit; 3280 by 4928 (16.2MP); 360 ppi

Clicking on this text will bring up the settings which you can configure for all RAW files for this camera. Adjust the settings to look like the ones below.
Note that you will need to set this for each camera that you use as Camera Raw remembers them separately.

If you use Lightroom you can export any file, including PSD files from within Lightroom and the settings below will work. If you don’t use Lightroom you will need to export a flattened TIFF file to upload to us. It is important so that you do not lose your precious layers and edits when you do this.

So if you have your Photoshop file currently open, save it to make sure your latest changes are saved. Or open up the file you wish make a copy of.

Then use the menus to save a new copy of the file. The easiest way is to select ‘File” “Save As”

The garish red markers show the items you need to change, or check are set correctly.

Change the file type to TIFF

Click the “Save As a Copy” check box

UNCHECK the layers check box. This will flatten your image in this new copy to make the file smaller for upload.

And leave the profile tick box selected

Change the name to something you understand and can relate back to the original file. You might say change “File1.psd”  into “File1-Print.tif” for instance.

For Lightroom we need to edit the preferences for sending files to Photoshop and for when we export images. For the Photoshop settings open Lightroom and using the menu select “Edit” and “Preferences”. Then click on the “External Editing” tab and set the values for ‘Edit in Photoshop’ like the image below. (Click to enlarge).

Lastly we need an Export profile that creates a 16 bit TIFF file ready to upload.

From the Library module select any image and press the export button. This will load the Lightroom export settings dialog. Carefully set all the values on right to match the image below.

Once that is done you can click “Add” at the bottom left to create a preset so that the values are available quickly next time.

Once that is done you can export the image and upload it to Evoke for printing.

You can send multiple files through our Hightail upload service. The link to this can be found on our upload page.

http://evokestudio.co.nz/upload/

I spent last weekend in Tokoroa watching model jets zip around the sky. There were many highlights including a Russian helicopter firing rockets down the runway!

Click the link  for a slide show and to see the rest of the images. Slideshow

We send a lot of prints around the country and recently started buying in bulk. Our original supplier for small numbers turned it over to us.

These are not the NZIPP hard cases but the PSNZ specified ones. They take about nine 16×20 inch matted prints. We use them to deliver the IRIS awards, Q and PSNZ  prints.

They are $12 each incl GST each (plus freight) or you can arrange to collect them from our Studio (by appointment please).

If you would like some just email us or fill in the form on the contact page. Once we receive payment we will ship them right away.

At the 2013 INFOCUS conference we saw the Phototex fabric based, self adhesive print media and Evoke has been trialing it since then.
This material has a smooth canvas like finish and adheres to almost any surface without leaving a mark.
Basically it acts like a huge printable post-it note. And just like post-it you can remove it and put it some place else.

Perfect for rental homes, or business functions where the venue will not permit any fixtures.

You could completely theme out a wedding or party venue without leaving a single mark. And retain the prints to place in a new location.

Priced the same as a standard photo print. A great product for a hundred uses.

This is a detailed description of Jamie DeMarco’s setup of Capture One for tethered shooting.
Including fine tuning the colour balance and profile for his d800e.

Click to read his blog post

Over the last couple of months I have been part of a couple of shoots with a collection of artists. Franc Starr has been leading this venture to raise money for the Child Cancer Foundation. The shoots included the combined talents of designers, makeup and hair, as well as the photographers, and created imagery to support and promote the fashion show. The show on the 24th of November will showcase the various talents of the contributing artists and ticket sales will raise the money to give to CCF.

Facebook Link for CREATIVE COLLABORATION FASHION FOR CHARITY

Proudly supporting the Child Cancer Foundation NZ

Tickets on sale now from TICKETDIRECT:

Here are some of my images from the shoots. Each of the locations were provided free of charge by the businesses.

Each shoot was pretty much rapid fire with several models and photographers working together for between 5 and 20 minutes at a time.

 
Slide Show

This last weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Zen Garden in Whitford.
The festival is timed to align with the cherry blossom but weather plays a big part in deciding when the blossoms will appear. Even after a weeks postponement the trees did not deliver their best.
But this did not diminish the enjoyment of the day. The festival includes demonstrations of various arts including drums, archery and sword play. And combined with a collection of food stalls offering a range of food and drink we could not help but have a great day.

See more of my images from the day in the following slideshow.

Click for Slideshow

Another image the the Forest series. Drew tries out the new Phase One IQ260 Camera system.

Read the story on Drew’s Blog.

Some very useful tips here for users of any camera system.