Last night was a great start to the SingStrong A cappella Festival in Reston, VA! There were rehearsals for the Single Singers, and the first show, the Aca-Idol contest in the evening. The Single Singers was created so that if you do not have a group to sing with during the weekend, you can join others in the same boat. Join them, and you can add your voice to all the others and maybe meet other people to join up for next year. It is a big task to put this all together with a few rehearsals before a performance on Saturday afternoon! So many strong groups competed this year, and the judging by both a cappella-celebrity judges and the crowd was close! In the end, JMU’s Note-oriety took home both the audience favorite and the overall win. Congratulations!
This will be just a quick posting today. I am packing up my gear for a weekend of shooting at SingStrong DC starting this evening. The last I heard, there were still tickets available, so come out if you want to hear some of the best a cappella groups with the proceeds from the event going to the Alzheimer’s Association.
From what I remember from previous years this is a festival geared to real creative musicians. In particular singers that are familiar with the genre. However, other musicians can find how they can fit into group singing. In addition, they have some workshops on the business of music. With this in mind, SingStrong DC is building a community around music.
For fear that I will repeat work I did previously, I am envisioning what to capture this weekend. Although I cannot foresee exactly what the event will look like, I am prepared for something new. I am hoping to try to make some different photos in addition to the other performance photos from the concerts this year. With excited performers, I hope to post updates as soon as I can. Stay tuned to see what happens!
My computer monitors are very durable! Through many moves, upgrades, and changes in operating systems, I have only use 2 monitors since starting my photography career. Last year, I upgraded from a CRT monitor to an LCD monitor, I needed on that would have the specifications to keep pace with CRT monitors for editing photos. I decided to get a refurbished IPS monitor direct from HP – the HP LP2480zx.
Editing Display
There are monitors for every budget, but like with cameras, I know that you can pay for performance. This is on the higher end for monitors, but they had a refurbished model at a discount. For photographers, this is important as having a monitor that can give you consistent color and brightness. It is important to ensure that how you view your photos on your monitor matches what your clients will receive on their prints. The monitor is a generous 24-inch widescreen that gives me plenty of room for panels for Lightroom, my main photo editing program:
Copyright TimeLine Media
This view is of the Print Module in Adobe Lightroom – I am making a collage for a blog post tomorrow. There is plenty of room to have the Lightroom Library at the bottom of the screen with plenty of room to go through the presets for prints on the left, and editing the templates with the options on the right.
Monitor Calibration
Along with the photo editing monitor, it is also important to have a monitor calibrator. Unfortunately, you cannot control how your photography is viewed online at all of your client’s workstations. You can, however, use a calibrator to ensure your monitor is profiled to be accurate locally and with printers your send files to whether they are your own, or at an outside lab. I use a discontinued product from X-rite, i1 Display 2. This calibrator scans your monitor, and the lighting surrounding your monitor, and creates a profile specific for your setup.
I have used this for over 5 years and get prints from the lab that match my Lightroom adjustments exactly for color, contrast, and brightness. It does add a step to your workflow, but I have not had any issues with having to reprint photos for color. This has saved me lots of money in reprint costs which could range from a few dollars for small prints, to hundreds of dollars for magazine-style albums! Calibrating your monitor will give you piece of mind when hitting the “Order Now” button. If you have any comments or suggestions on your color and editing workflow, let me know!
