In case you take photos in Germany, this might be a helpful video about the legal tidbits you have to keep in mind.
Category Archives: photography
Overkill @ RockHard Festival 2015
I finally managed to upload the photos I took of Overkill performing at the RockHard Festival last year. You can find them on my own website and on my Flickr.
I have been a fan of that band for ages and was very happy to get the chance to shoot them live. Great band, great guys. Why not have a look?
My customToolsUI.txt for AfterShot Pro
One thing I love about AfterShot Pro is that you can configure the UI elements with a small textfile called “customToolsUI.txt” placed in its configuration folder (~/.AfterShotPro on Linux, whatever else on other OSes). Just for reference, here is my current file:
# the standard tab ----- Standard, Std, Histogram.ui Standard, Std, BasicTools.ui Standard, Std, com.roland65.AutoLevels Standard, Std, au.com.mindsocket.GradFilter Standard, Std, Presets.ui # the color tab ----- Color, Color, Advanced/Curves.ui Color, Color, Advanced/Exposure.ui Color, Color, SelectiveColor/SelectiveColorWidget.ui Color, Color, ColorBalance.ui Color, Color, Advanced/WhiteBalance.ui Color, Color, Advanced/ColorManagement.ui Color, Color, com.roland65.LabCurves Color, Color, com.roland65.LabTools # the tone tab ----- Tone, Tone, Advanced/Exposure.ui Tone, Tone, tin.tin.zchannelmixer Tone, Tone, com.ferdinand-paris.bez Tone, Tone, MB_Asp_Lightroom Tone, Tone, com.ferdinand-paris.mix3 Tone, Tone, com.SMP.Nuance #---- # a second tone tab ----- # all comprised of plugins ----- Tone_2, Tone_2, com.corel.BlackAndWhite Tone_2, Tone_2, com.SMP.Nostalgia Tone_2, Tone_2, com.kbarni.equalizer Tone_2, Tone_2, sph.FatToni Tone_2, Tone_2, net.sadman.aftershot.splittoni Tone_2, Tone_2, sph.SiliconBonk Tone_2, Tone_2, com.corel.equalizer # my detail tab ----- Detail, Dtl, Advanced/Sharpen.ui Detail, Dtl, sph.waveletsharpen Detail, Dtl, com.roland65.USM Detail, Dtl, com.roland65.SContrast Detail, Dtl, Advanced/RAWNoise.ui Detail, Dtl, Advanced/NoiseNinjaRegistered.ui Detail, Dtl, NoiseNinjaStandard.ui Detail, Dtl, PerfectlyClearNoise.ui Detail, Dtl, sph.waveletdenoise Detail, Dtl, Advanced/LensCorrection.ui Detail, Dtl, CAQuest Detail, Dtl, name.deindl.mdRedEyes Detail, Dtl, MirrorInvert.ui # the effects tab ----- Effects, Eff., sph.grain Effects, Eff., com.kbarni.vigne Effects, Eff., com.corel.vigne Effects, Eff., net.sadman.aftershot.typewriter Effects, Eff., tin.tin.zFrame Effects, Eff., tin.tin.zText Effects, Eff., tin.tin.zPerspector Effects, Eff., tin.tin.zShadow Effects, Eff., tin.tin.zSoften Effects, Eff., com.kbarni.grid Effects, Eff., com.kbarni.zone Effects, Eff., Grid-64 Effects, Eff., Zone-64 # the metadata tab ----- Metadata, Meta, Metadata.ui Metadata, Meta, Keywords.ui Metadata, Meta, Keywords/KeywordSets.ui
Now, if only all of the plugins were available for the 64bit version…
RAW conversion on Linux
Having been a keen user of Linux since the day I got a Laptop with Windows Me (yes, that was what made me turn my back on Microsoft forever) and being an amateur photographer can be demanding. Especially when it comes to RAW developers.
Luckily, there are more options now than ten years ago. Here is what I have installed on my system.
Every once in a while, mostly after updating my distribution, I give Darktable a try. Usually not for very long, because I simply can’t come to terms with the UI. Sorry, Darktable.
I know what you are going to say: “This program has the most cluttered UI of all time.” You are probably right. Still I think everything is rather nicely organized into various tabs and if you can actually find the tools, you can create pleasing results rather quickly. It also features some kind of batch engine, which is nice.
This one is very different. First, it began it’s life as a commercial program which was later abandoned by its creator. After years, the developer could be contacted and convinced to open the source of this beautiful photographer’s tool written in Java.
And here lies its only flaw: compared to other applications it is a tad bit slow, but it makes up in easy of use especially if you have a strong background in photography and Ansel Adams’ zone system. I like to use it for my black & white conversions mostly.
Originally created as Bibble 5 by a company called Bibble Labs, AfterShot Pro 2 is now owned by Corel. It is the only software in this list which is not opensource.
This is the tool I’m using most, probably because I’m so used to it having used its predecessors Bibble 5 and Bibble 4. I like its workflow and do most of my post-processing work in it. Only rarely I finetune the images in Gimp or LightZone.