Instruction given by Royce Bair at the
5th Digital Photography Workshop At Sea



Reference information for workshop attendees:
  1. Stock Photography
    1. Micro-Payment Stock Photo Agencies - New Paradigm Shifts in Stock Photography (an article I wrote for InkjetART.com).
    2. The two higher-end, online stock photo agencies I mentioned were Alamy.com and MyLoupe.com. Both agencies handle both royalty-free and rights-managed stock photography. Alamy takes a 35% commission on each sale (giving you a net royalty of 65%). MyLoupe takes a 25% commission on each sale (giving you a net royalty of 75%). Currently, Alamy has much more traffic (and sales) than MyLoupe.
  2. Illustrative Photography
    1. Versalite 2 Million Candlepower Spotlight - available at Wal-Mart
    2. Brinkmann Max Million II Rechargeable Spotlight - alternative to Versalite
    3. Check out Lensbabies for creative ways to increase your selective focus.
  3. Inkjet Printing
    1. Using "360 ppi" INPUT resolution for best inkjet printing (or "180 ppi" for large prints) - read the article I wrote for InkjetART.com: "RESOLUTION BASICS FOR SCANNING AND INKJET PRINTING"
    2. Here's the book binding system I showed at the workshop: Unibind - their book covers cost about $6-$7 each, and their least expensive binder is the Unibind 125 Home Series ($425). If you don't want to invest in a box of 20 book covers, and a binder, Bair Art Editions will bind your book for you at a cost of $12-$15, depending on the size of your book.
    3. Digital Image Interpolation (resampling or enlarging): If your digital image still isn't large enough to print to the size you want after setting the resolution to 360 ppi or 180 ppi, then you'll need to "resample" your image to a larger size. As I mentioned in the workshop, Photoshop's (or Adobe Elements') default "bicubic" interpolation will do a good job IF you only need to resample or enlarge the image about 5% to 10%. If you need to double, triple, or even quadruple your image size, I suggested using Genuine Fractals software. Here are some examples of the quality of Genuine Fractal interpolation verses other types of interpolation. GF software costs about $50 for their LE version, and about $160 for their regular version (the $300 "PrintPro" version is overkill for most users). Many Photoshop experts think that by re-sizing an image with Photoshop's bicubic interpolation only 5% at a time (called, "stair interpolation"), you can create a final enlargement that is equal to GF's interpolation software. Some like, Fred Miranda, think stair interpolation is even better than GF. I disagree (actually, it depends on the image --some parts of some images look better with GF, and some parts of some images look better with SI). However, stair interpolation is inexpensive (it cost you nothing but time), and it's still much better than doing it all in one bicubic resampling step. Fred Miranda has written a Photoshop actions program, called "SI Pro", that will do stair interpolation very quickly. You can buy his SI Pro plug-in for under $20, and it runs on Adobe Elements 1 and 2, Photoshop 5.5, 6.0, 7.0 and Photoshop CS (Windows version or Mac version).
    4. The Epson Online Experience: Now you can learn the digital printing secrets of the pros at home, and at your own pace. I highly recommend this $30 course --it will be the best money you've ever spent on photo education.
More information and links to come - check back often. Please keep in touch by email (royce@tssphoto.com). I'd love to hear from you. Be sure to include your name and a small JPEG photo attachment of yourself. Please include the word "workshop" in your email subject to help insure that I receive your message.