Review Digital Camera World 07-24-2013

Digital Camera World

Best rolling camera bag for photographers: 6 models tested and rated Jul 23rd 2013, 23:01, by jmeyer In our quest to find the best rolling camera bag for photographers we chose 6 roller bags that can pack in plenty of gear. But which is best? Find out in our group test. Taking their design cues from aircraft carry-on luggage, the bags in this test group are specially made to cosset your camera kit with padded protection, while featuring wheels and extending handles for relaxed, rolling comfort. Indeed, think rolling bags, and you're probably thinking of keeping your treasured camera kit close to you when flying, rather than consigning it to the cargo hold. The size and weight limits for carry-on bags vary between airlines. In some cases, the maximum external dimensions are just 38x20x55cm, which puts some of these bags out of the running. With most airlines, however, it's only the Lowepro Pro Runner x350 that's likely to exceed the limit. Weight can be more of a problem. Some airlines have a limit of between 5kg and 7kg, and most of these bags weigh 4kg to 5kg even when empty. Others have no official limit, the only stipulation being that you lift the bag into an overhead compartment unaided. Best Rolling Camera Bag for Photographers: 01 CoOrdinate Ranger Price:  £109, $165 Buy it:  www.coordinategear.com Unique in the group, the CoOrdinate Ranger doesn't actually have any wheels or an extending handle. Instead, the 30x12x48cm rectangular bag is designed to fit into a standard carry-on roller bag. A bonus of this arrangement is that you can remove the bag when you reach your destination, and use it as a regular camera bag. As such, it has an adjustable-length shoulder strap, made out of seat belt webbing, which attaches via a pair of carabiners (also supplied). There are additional grab handles on the top and both sides of the bag. CoOrdinate also manufactures a Pioneer backpack, into which the Ranger is designed to fit, so you could use it as a camera backpack as well as a roller case. The backpack costs an additional £139. Verdict Pros… Works well as an insert for a regular roller bag. Cons… Lacking in strength and rigidity when used on its own. WE say… It's a neat idea, but isn't a roller bag in its own right. Score: 3/5 Best Rolling Camera Bag for Photographers: 01 CoOrdinate Ranger Best Rolling Camera Bag for Photographers: 02 Lowepro Pro Roller Lite 150 AW Best Rolling Camera Bag for Photographers: 03 Lowepro Pro Runner x350 AW Best Rolling Camera Bag for Photographers: 04 Think Tank Photo Airport 4-Sight Best Rolling Camera Bag for Photographers: 05 Tamrac Big Wheels Speedroller 1x Best Rolling Camera Bag for Photographers: 06 Manfrotto Pro VII Roller Five things to look for in a rolling camera bag READ MORE Best photo backpacks: 6 top models tested and rated 79 travel photography tips you shouldn’t leave home without Best budget tripods: 6 top models tested and rated 10 common camera mistakes every photographer makes 10 reasons why your photos aren’t sharp (and how to fix them) Photo Retouching: how to process hair like a professional Jul 23rd 2013, 10:00, by jmeyer In the latest instalment of our Raw Tuesday series on photo retouching we explain a simple technique for cutting out hair, as well as share how to get rid of roots and drop in a new background. Hair extraction is one of the most common digital portrait photography conundrums. Luckily, the Refine Edge tool feature in CS5 and CS6 offers several settings that make short work of extracting hair, so you'll quickly be trimming locks like a professional hairdresser. How to cut out hair and add a new background 01 Select the background Sometimes it's easier to select the background then invert the selection, so grab the Magic Wand tool from the Tools Panel and click on the background to begin selecting it. Hold Shift and continue clicking around it until you have a rough selection of the entire area.   02 Invert the selection Press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+I to invert the selection. Next, click Refine Edge in the Options bar. This brings up the Refine Edge dialog box. Hit F to cycle through the views until you find one that works best for your image. We've chosen the checkerboard background here.   03 Refine Edge settings It's worth experimenting with the different settings and sliders on offer as the effect they have will depend on the resolution of your image and the intricacy of your selection. In this particular case, we chose Radius 2px, Smooth 1, Feather 1.   04 Paint to refine Select the Refine Radius tool from the left of the Refine Edge dialog box, and paint around the edges to clean up the selection. Vary the brush size using with ] and [. Hold Alt to switch to the Erase Refinements tool, then paint to undo any brush strokes that go wrong.   05 Increase edge contrast When you've finished painting, you may need to increase the contrast setting to make the edge harder. We set Contrast to 25%. The Output drop-down menu at the bottom of the box gives a range of output options for your selection. Choose New Layer with Layer Mask.   06 Add a background Highlight the Background layer then click on the New Layer icon. You can drop in any background you like. We've chosen to add a simple blue tone. However,  you could choose any kind of background that you like – even one of your own. PAGE 1: How to cut out hair and add a new background PAGE 2: How to retouch hair to get rid of roots READ MORE 3 selective adjustment tools your raw files can’t live without Photoshop Levels Tool: 6 tricks all the pros use 5 creative photo editing tricks for Adobe Camera Raw Banish Bad Pictures: 9 quick fixes for common camera complaints

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