"Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence."--William Blake, 1790
At the unveiling of a $40,000 mural at Livermore, California's new public library, people were surprised when the artist misspelled the names of Einstein, Shakespeare, Van...
"I think it is good that books still exist, but they do make me sleepy."--Frank Zappa
One book that hopefully won't put you to sleep is entitled How I Photograph Women and is the successor to my eBook titled Everyday Glamour Photography, which just happens to be this book's subtitle. The 80-page book contains more than 100 color and black and...
As a creative medium, traditionalists may call black-and-white photographs “monochrome” while some digital imagers may prefer the more computerese “grayscale,” but there’s more to this medium than just an absence of color. One of the reasons that purists prefer “monochrome” is that it’s a more precise term that covers images created using sepia and other tones. Many digital cameras have Black and White or Sepia modes that let you capture images directly in monochrome but these photographs are really color (RGB) files without any color! If you prefer, you can capture your images in color then use any of the software I’ll introduce this month to convert that color photograph into a monochromatic one. You’ll also find a few useful hardware tools to make your photographic life a bit easier.
While some people believe the proverb below is really a curse, what’s often overlooked is that it’s part of three such phrases that includes “May you come to the attention of those in authority” and concludes with “May you find what you are looking for.” There is no doubt that we’re living in interesting times, photographically speaking. The paradigm shift that replaced film with silicon continues while spiraling off in different directions with SLRs delivering more megapixels and image quality than the Honda Accord-priced medium format digital backs of a few years ago and small chip interchangeable-lens mirrorless cameras that are more powerful than early digital SLRs. As the point-and-shoot market implodes, being replaced by ever-more competent smartphones, the paradigm shift doesn’t show any signs of abating, but as I’ve said here before, it’s not the tool that makes the image, it’s the photographer.
You don’t always need a lens to make photographs. When I was a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, our instructor Jack Wilgus had all his students make their own pinhole cameras and shoot images with them. I took the easy way out and used a Quaker Oats box and used photographic paper cut into a circle to fit the box as my capture media. My homemade camera produced round, negative images that I kidded myself into believing echoed the style of early photographs but now, as with many things photographic and not, I know better. Yet one thing remains: you don’t need a lens to make photographs. Sure, many new SLRs, such as the Olympus E-30 that I tested (April, 2009, issue of Shutterbug), have a “pinhole” filter but the camera itself uses a lens and internal software to create the look of the real thing. But shooting film in a real pinhole camera brings back that very “ah-ha” that Ernst Haas was talking about.
“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.”—Charles Kuralt
The most important secret I can share with you about travel photography is that you should not buy a new camera or lens just before leaving for Kathmandu, Machu Picchu, or even Boise. The next most essential...
"Sirius Black was and remains to this day...Harry Potter's godfather."--J.K. Rowling
When the Argentinean home of film director Francis Ford Coppola was burglarized among the missing items was his computer containing family photographs and his writings from the past 15 years, including the screenplay for Tetro, his next film. My late brother...
"Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time."--Charles M. Schulz
On October 2, 1950, the first Peanuts comic strip appeared in a daily newspaper. Coincidently, October 2nd is also my wife Mary's birthday, although she's a bit younger than Snoopy and the gang. As a lifelong Peanuts fan, it's kinda fitting that...
"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat."--Lily Tomlin
The American Customer Satisfaction Index conducted by the University of Michigan showed consumers rated their satisfaction with their computer's maker 3 percent worse than last year. Apple leads in terms of product satisfaction but its overall ranking...
"Photography is a major force in explaining man to man."--Edward Steichen
Here's a less benign quote about photography from Sean Penn: "I still think photographers should be lashed out at." The ex-Mr. Madonna goes on to say, "They should be put in a cage where you can poke them with a stick for a quarter. But not in a hostile way...
“Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end.” —Walt Disney
When I was a kid I watched Disneyland being built on Walt Disney’s TV show of the same name and so Anaheim, the location of this year’s PMA (Photo Marketing Association) Show, has always held a special place in my heart. Yet during this trip, I never saw Sleeping...
“Open your presents at Christmastime but be thankful year round for the gifts you receive.”—Lorinda Ruth Lowen
Submitted for your Secret Santa’s approval: a list of gizmos, gadgets, and gear for the digitally-minded who “have everything” but didn’t know that they really needed lots more stuff to produce that ultimate image. Use this month’s...
"...for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill." --J. R. R. Tolkien
People often ask me, "What digital camera should I buy?" They then typically ignore my advice after I answer them. A person, let's call him Steve, asks me which of two cameras to purchase. Based on his needs, I suggest...
One of the most interesting promotional items created for my long out-of-print book The Photographer’s Digital Studio was a cartoon drawn by the brilliant artist John Grimes (www.grimescartoons.com) which showed trays of developer, stop, fix, and wash with floppy disks being dipped in and out of each one. The caption: “A common mistake in digital photography.” Years ago I labored many hours in a wet darkroom to produce a composite image showing what an historic statue would look like when moved to a different location. Digital imaging software would have let me do a better job in less than an hour and I wouldn’t have had to spend time working in the dark with smelly chemicals. Part of the reason some people even ask “why digital?” is that many believe that digital imaging is somehow different than traditional photography. That’s not really true. I think there is no more difference between the two methodologies than you would find when comparing photographers working with large format view cameras to those grabbing snapshots with point-and-shoot cameras. It’s just that the tools are different and this month I’ll introduce you to some new image-processing tools.
One of the guiding philosophies for my personal work is to “have fun with photography” and that involves using image manipulation software to create either an idealized version, as in a portrait of a subject, or an interpretation of a previously captured photograph. Retouching portraits goes back to the hand-tinting Mathew Brady added to daguerreotypes delivered to his customers but in more recent times photojournalists have been fired from newspapers for applying a bit too much Photoshop on their images. The whole question of what is “too much” is fraught with contradictions: since we see the world in color, is a black-and-white photograph manipulated? Is burning and dodging or changing an image’s contrast a manipulation? Trying to find answers that everyone will agree on is enough to make you crazy so I don’t let it bother me because all I want to do is have fun with my photography. If you agree, here are some useful tools to help you do just that.
.jpg)
Digital Innovations
Site Map / Direct Links
