I just got the following message on my Windows 7 Professional (32 bit) notebook whenever I tried to update my Adobe Software:

The update server is not responding, which means it might be offline at the moment, or the Internet or firewall settings may be incorrect.  Please try again later.

Der Aktualisierungsserver antwortet nicht, weil er möglicherweise offline ist oder falsche Internet- bzw. Firewall-Einstellungen verwendet werden. Bitte wiederholen Sie den Vorgang später.

It didn't matter whether I was trying to search for Adobe Reader, Lightroom 3.0 or Photoshop CS5 updates.

By internet searches I discovered that the issue is probably related to Wifi network drivers (and must have been known to Adobe for years). I installed an UMTS USB stick recently so this could have been the "trigger". But uninstalling the UMTS access software and even disabling the standard Wifi driver didn't help.

What DID help was to create a new user with administrative rights. Using this user I could update all my Adobe Applications. My initial user still couldn't connect to the update server. So I finally "gave up" and renamed the users so that the new user is now my "standard" user ...

I'm very pleased with my Lastolite EzyBox Softbox that includes a solid flash holder for my compact flash. In an ideal world they would also offer a matching Beauty Dish but so far I haven't found any. Time to do-it-yourself! ;)

This isn't a step-by-step guide because you'll likely won't get the same parts.

As you see the salad bowl is the main ingredient! ;)

And here is one of the results of my salad bowl-test shoot ... ;)
(Thx to knybte!)

If you've got any questions feel free to ask!

I had Photoshop CS4, CS5 and Lightroom 3.2RC (all 64 Bit) installed on Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit. At first I had a CS4 / CS5 side-by-side installation but decided to be brave and try to get rid of the old version. Deinstalled Photoshop CS4 and suddenly Lightroom couldn't edit / HDR ... in Photoshop.

Luckily this registry hack reenabled the complete Lightroom / Photoshop integration.
  
I'm happy that I don't have to reinstall Photoshop CS5. But still this is something Adobe should have fixed some time ago ... Not everyone feels comfortable with registry edits.

All in all I'm a big fan of the new Microsoft Outlook 2010. I like the new file menu and the ribbons. It also seems to be running more stable with my large pst file.

One "feature" that just took me a little while to find out ... I regulary need to export part of my calendar so that I can inform my customers when I did what for them. In new Outlook 2010 I found the functionality not under File - Calendar save but under File - Open - Import. Since my Google searches didn't help me I thought I put this info up here ... ;)

For years I have been using a hardware-calibrated monitor and printer. One thing that had been missing in my color managed workflow was a way to calibrate the images coming from my camera. A gray-card did help a little to get a better white-balance ...

Since last week I'm using the x-rite ColorChecker Passport. Handy enough to take with you everywhere it comes with a stand-alone software and a lightroom plug-in to create multiple Color Profiles for your camera on the fly. No longer any color guessing! It also includes a gray target to custom set the in-camera white-balance for better previews.

The difference is most striking in large color spaces like ProPhoto but also shows in sRGB (see below).

x-rite ColorChecker Passport bei amazon.de

Today I wanted to automate some image processing steps requiring the use of a photoshop action. Therefore I created a Adobe Photoshop CS4 droplet to be called by the Lightroom 3 Beta 2 Export.

But regardless how I changed my Photoshop action (and regenerated the droplet) nothing visible happened (Photoshop opened but nothing more). After I read on the web that at least one other poor soul has had the same problem I took the possiblity into account that it could be a compatibilty problem with my Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit.

Well, after changing the compatiblity settings for the droplet exe to Windows XP SP3 and checking "Execute as Administrator" the droplet was suddenly useable.

PS: Installed Adobe Photoshop CS5 yesterday so hopefully this problem is one of the past for me ... ;)

Different photographic communities that I'm uploading images to have different requirements for image sizes. So I've had to create several versions of my images to upload for some time. Since some steps like sharpening have to be done at the final resolution this had been relatively time consuming in the past (especially because of selective layer masks); and things didn't get better with larger image sizes from my Canon 5D Mark II because careful resizing is even more important when coming from very high pixel counts.

I use the selective sharpener filter to increase "local contrast" (amount 15%, radius 3.5 pixel for starters) and a high pass filter (almost always radius 0.3 Pixel) in blending mode "soft light" . Layer masks allow me to apply the effects only where they are required; the selective sharpener to give the image more "pop" and "3d" look (eyes, important parts of the image close to the viewer) and the high pass filter to increase sharpness where required (eyes, hair ...)

To reduce image size I use Image > Image Size using Bicubic (best for smooth gradients) mode (I know that others recommend other Bicubic methods but this gives me the best results with my high resolution files).

To be able to change (decrease) the selective sharpener parameters during the resizing steps I use copies of my original image layer that I convert into Smart Objects.

Using File > Save For Web & Devices I convert my 16 bit Pro Photo images into 8 bit jpegs of the required file size. Convert to sRGB is always checked.

To reduce the steps required I've automated the initial resize (to 1000 x 1500 pixels), the creation of the smart object layers and the application of the filters in a Photoshop action.

Please tell me if you find this information useful and how you prepare your images for the web!

Today I ran into a localization issue when adding a new row to a .NET DataTable object that took me some time to work around. Maybe this post saves some poor soul some valuable minutes of his or her life ... ;)

For a client project I've implemented my own DataSourceView. Inside the ExecuteSelect I create a DataTable and set the Locale property explicitly to InvariantCulture. Otherwise it would normally be equal to new CultureInfo("de-DE") (German, German variant) for my system.

Later on I dynamically add to the DataColumnCollection Columns and copy the data from an object array called values filled by the SqlDataReader GetValues method into the DataTable dt Rows:

When a column is defined as having CLR type string a value of type decimal will be converted to string by Add using the locale of the current thread not the locale defined for the DataTable. So instead of my decimal 0.7 being converted into "0.7" I got "0,7" (the localized version for the German locale) – not what I expected or wanted. I worked around this issue by using a different CLR type for the DataColumn containing the decimals. Alternatively I could have temporarily changed Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture to the InvariantCulture while adding the Rows to the DataTable.

BTW – I'm using .NET Framework 3.5SP1.

Even though the sensor cleaning integrated into my Canon 5D Mark II does a good job I sometimes get sticky dust on the sensor. As you probably know it's mostly visible when using small apertures (like f/18). As a test I photograph the clear sky or a white paper sheet. I then import the image into Lightroom and increase contrast.

To get rid of it I make sure that my camera battery is full and activate the manual sensor cleaning mode. You have to be very careful not to damage the sensitive hardware.
Use the info provided here at your own risk! If you don't feel comfortable self-servicing your camera get professional help (e.g. Calumet)!

At first I use a small manual air blower (like the Visible Dust Hurricane Blower). Don't touch anything on the inside of the camera with it! Sometimes that's all what is needed.

For my first attempts at sensor cleaning I used a SpeckGrabber but beside getting rid of dust it often left some residue. I still come back to it sometimes for very sticky dust but very carefully and only before wet cleaning the sensor.

Nowadays I mainly use the VisibleDust V Swabs (get the right size for your sensor) together with a few drops of Eclipse Optic Cleaning System solution. (A FEW drops will do. More will be counterproductive!)

In most cases that should do the trick. For very dirty sensors several passes may be required. If you get tired of reassembling your lens, shooting test photos, transferring them to your computer ... you can use a product like the LensPen SensorKlear Loupe to watch the result of your cleaning immediately. (Note: The LensPen SensorKlear CCD Sensor Cleaner did NOT work well for me as it left a lot of carbon dust on my sensor. Actually I had to go to Calumet to clear my sensor afterwards – that's when I learned about the VisibleDust V Swabs and the Eclipse solution ...).

What are your sensor cleaning experiences? I'd love to hear from you!