Lepp Institute: Printing & Mounting on Canvas Weekend Seminar

No equipment review this time as I spent the weekend at Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging in Los Osos, California, which is right next to Morro Bay. Lepp Institute at http://www.leppphoto.com/ was created by George Lepp and is now owned and run by Victoria and Hal Schmitt (yup, two 't's) in concert with George. And this weekend, at my personal request, Hal & Victoria had their first canvas printing & stretching class. They have had several previous canvas classes taught by other instructors but they have done so much canvas work at the Institute for themselves and clients that they have become quite adept ... and for this first class in this new area they have simply outdone themselves. This is an image of the Digital Classroom taken from the instructors podium.

If you are interested in becoming familiar with the mysteries of printing on canvas and subsequent preparation and mounting on stretcher bars, this is a course for you, and they have several of these weekend wonders already on their schedule due to high demand. Hal & Victoria start with image optimization (in Photoshop) and work with you all the way out through gallery wrap expansion of your images including test prints on real canvas. The techniques and insights and experiences they share will save you days and weeks of heartache and problems ... they have had this experience for you! Below is the studio/canvas mounting area.

After test prints, you will make one or more "real" print images on canvas and then learn how to prep your images for stretching ... these images, prepared as "PremeirArt Nouveau Fine Art Prints" are true Giclee (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gicl%C3%A9e) prints and are simply stunning. We did both hand and machine stretching.

Now I've got to put in a word for Victoria ... several of the prints had some serious defects due to scanning ... one was covered in dust and hairs ... others picked up detritus during preparation ... Victoria stepped in with Photoshop and her fine paint brush and showed how to correct errors and problems. She is a real artist but is ever so modest (everyone who deals with Hal is modest, of course!)

So, after hands on learning about PremierArt Eco Print Shield application we all proceeded to prepare an image (or two), hand stretch and complete the process. I did my famous KISS performance collage (see below) and will be giving it to Wayne Hurte, my boss at the Chumash Casino Resort for his Condo renovation. In addition there were beautiful images of stored boats on a lake, a raptor, a gnarly old tree, a mother's portrait, a beach and others printed at this seminar, both color and Black-and-White (you would not believe how amazing B&W canvas prints are.)

If you either want to knock the socks off your photography friends or sell your work as fine art Giclee, you really need to make the time and effort to attend this class. It is under $500 (at this time) and you walk out with at least one canvas image that would retail for $450. There has never been such a bang-for-the-buck class in digital photography! You can read the Lepp Institute blog entry: Welcome to the Lepp Institute Blog: Canvas Printing and Finishing Workshop

I'm going to end this by saying that I am about to register for their weekend November 1-2, 2008, class which will be about shooting wineries and vineyards. And I have promised to attend a set of the weekend seminars for Photoshop so that I will finally get converted from my beloved PhotoImpact, sigh! :-)

Be Safe!

Dwight

Equipment Review: 1h - Battery Power for 580EX II

I learned the hard way that those four AA batteries in a 580EX don't last very long, particularly if you use rechargeable batteries which I do and you are shooting not only maximum power every shot, but using high speed sync as well, on a football field at night in the rain! High speed sync is another discussion, but it involves multiple flashes for each exposure. And running out of battery power for your flash makes you look rather lame, sigh. Fortunately there are a few alternatives. One option is to simply carry extra AA batteries in your pocket (which I was doing the night I discovered how fast they run out.) It can also be a bit of a problem reloading them in the 580EX due to a poor battery door design. I have since bought a 580EX II which makes better use of batteries and has a much improved battery door.


Perhaps a better, though pricey alternative, is a Canon CP-E4 Compact Battery Pack, at about $155. It comes with a nice black canvas case that slips into your pocket or onto your belt or you can use the screw adapter and put it on the bottom of your camera. It is fairly lightweight and professional looking. I used its predecessor, the CP-E3, and now use the CP-E4 which has better weather seals and is designed for use with the 580EX II although it is backward compatible.

I next discovered that even an additional eight AA's, which is what the CP-E4 holds, doesn't always do the trick, especially if you have two events back-to-back or just haven't charged them up since the last gig. Again, this may have a lot to do with using rechargeables, although I really like the 2000 mAh Radio Shack NiMH batteries that I use exclusively these days. Luckily I discovered the Canon CPM-E4, a pricey (again) plastic battery holder for the CP-E4. It is what holds the batteries inside the battery pack and can be purchased separately for around $42 each ... not cheap, but invaluable.

So, until very recently, I carried a CP-E4 with eight batteries and had two CPM-E4's in my case with charged batteries. I marked each CPM-E4 with a number, 1-3 (you can see the "3" in the image above, written with a Sharpy), and traded them into the CP-E4 always in order and charged the last used holder. Never had a problem. But two notes: (1) the 580EX II will use power from all 12 batteries, so the four in the flash itself will be drained as quickly as the others unless you set the option to use only the external battery pack for flash power and the four internal batteries to drive the flash logic [This is C.Fn-12 set to 1], and (2) you need to carry extra batteries for the internal power because if the internal batteries run out, even switching the option to use power from all batteries will not work as the 580EX [II] won't run with its internal batteries discharged ... this was one of the ways I found out how useful the battery tester mentioned below can be ... I thought my 580EX had died because I knew the CP-E3 I was using had good batteries but the unit wasn't working. I just happened to decide to test ALL the batteries and the internal set was totally discharged. I had a spare set in my Pelican case (you cannot have too many spare batteries!), popped them in and all was right with the world.


One more significant lesson: you never know when a battery may go bad ... and one bad battery in the barrel can be a disaster! So, you also need a way to check your batteries ... which will also save you from discarding or recharging batteries that are really OK! I picked up, and love, my Radio Shack battery tester. There have been a number of times that I was sure I had bad batteries when it was something else! And I have been able to locate a bad battery in a set and replace it ... saving a lot of blood pressure. So this is an essential, small, lightweight and soul satisfying item that should be in your bag (or Pelican Case.) It is Radio Shack Model: 22-93 Catalog #: 22-093 and is under $7 ... sweet!

Next time, what I am using now!

Be Safe,

Dwight

I'm Still Here!

I know it's been several weeks since I posted, but as I say again and again, every time I get started here I am overtaken by events. I will continue my equipment reviews, which will now include new equipment I have purchased such the Bowens Explorer 1500 battery powered generator and various Sun Bounce gear. At the moment I up to my ass in alligators with projects sprouting up everywhere and just not enough time.

I would urge you to go to my website and look at my Glamor Project to see some of the things I am struggling with at the moment.

Be Safe!

Dwight