My procrastination
I have been meaning to write this post for a while….
Like everyone else, I have many strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is procrastination[1]. Some things, like housework, are tasks that most people put off if possible, but I also have trouble with important things, like marketing my photography. I really do need someone to give me a kick in the pants once in a while…
I had a meeting with a personal coach recently, and I think that could be what I need, the only problem is that I am not quite sure how I would pay for her services… At an introductory meeting she gave me an overview of planning. She had some great ideas that I can do on my own, if I don’t procrastinate….
- Someone I met recently said that is a trait of Aries. Whether you believe in astrology or not, I do have a habit of starting a lot of things and loosing energy part way through…↵
Playfair Park
Happy Mothers Day…
The weather today was a bit overcast with sporadic rain. Perfect day to take photos of flowers…
Playfair Park in Saanich is always accomodating. so I grabbed my macro and tripod…
Playfair Park
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Of course a macro lens will let you get closer to your subject, but as you get closer, the technical and artistic challenges get harder, however the results can be quite rewarding…
Cropped street view
Never put anything on the Internet unless you want to learn something….
I put up a street photo earlier today and instantly got feedback. The thing is, I agree, in large part, with what was said. Here is a crop of the earlier image….
Cropped version
It cuts out some clutter, and puts more emphasis on the two women. The story is a little more focused now.
I guess the take away is that street photography is very much about pulling pertinent stories from our everyday life. There is lots happening around us all the time. Open your eyes and observe…..
Fairy Lake
This is a more abstract image taken at Fairy Lake. I kind of like the abstract surreal property of it…
Victoria to Duncan, the long way…
If you live on Vancouver Island, you know that there is only one way to drive from Victoria to Duncan, except there isn’t…
If you like driving, you can continue up past Sooke, and almost to Port Renfrew where there there is a road that cuts across the island to Cowichan Lake. The road is paved all the way, and it is a great drive. Most of the road is only two lane, but there was almost no traffic, so that was not an issue. For the most part, the road is easy to read, and the really slow corners are marked (except for a couple I hit a bit faster than I wanted to. Thank goodness for sticky tires)
A silver ribbon of tarmac
The route is very well marked so you won’t get lost, but there are a few places that are a bit rough. No potholes, but some bumps in the road. If you have really low ground clearance you may have to pay attention.
This is probably the worst section of the road. No center line for a few Km and a little bumpy.
Yes the road was wet today…
The weather today was a bit mixed. When I stopped in Jordan River to take a few photos, the sky opened up and I did get a bit soaked. Later the sun came out and provided some great light.
I have to make this a more regular drive. It was fun
MadArters
Yes I am a Mad Artist. In fact I have hooked up with a number of other mad artists through a meetup site to create our own show. We are currently working on publicity and we have a website (www.madarters.ca) www.madarters.ca
Our purpose for creating this show was to learn what is involved on putting on a show. It is also a chance to show (and hopefully sell) some of our work. The nice thing about working with a group of creative people is that everyone has skills to bring.
Homage to Group f64
OK, that is a little pretentious on my part[1], but I would like your opinion on this image. Is it worth working on? I am not sure yet…
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And my image…
As a follow up to my last post, here is one of the images I took that night…
unretouched night shot… I may have to see what I can do with this…
My old Camera
I gave my older DSLR to my daughter[1] so she can learn more about photography. I thought I could teach her what I know, but when we went out last weekend, it was me who was learning from her creativity.
I won’t say I was in a rut, more like a groove, but going out with someone who still has a fresh eye, and no preconceptions on what will or will not work, was very refreshing. My daughter was trying things I would otherwise have not bothered with. While we were in Goldstream Park, she was experimenting with angles, points of view, and even subject matter that I would not normally give a second thought. Of course many, if not most of the images did not work, but a few stood out and I may have to go back and try to refine her approach.
One of my daughter’s images of car lights
Later that night, we set up a tripod by the highway so she could record car light trails. I haven’t thought of doing that for years, but it gave me the freedom to experiment.
So the take away lesson is twofold. First, let go of your preconceptions and experiment. The second, and possibly more important lesson is that you can (and should) learn something from any and everyone.
… and then she really started getting creative…
- Actually I LOANED her my old Fuji S2… Since my new camera came with a 24-85 lens, I also loaned her my 35-70 and 24mm. These are both very good lenses, but they are both older then she is (and she is quickly coming up to her 17th birthday)↵
My New D600
This review will be broken into two parts, this one on the camera and and the article following on image quality.
I bought myself a new Nikon D600 last Thursday, and this weekend is the first time I have been able to “play” with it. There is lots to learn with this camera, the owners manual is the size of a small novel (and yes that is only the English). For these reasons, this will be an evolving review as I learn more….
Of course the first thing I did after I bought my camera was to charge the battery. I wish the charger displayed the battery level, but that is not a big deal, as the camera seems to be accurate (no I have not killed a charge yet, but I am not one for taking thousands of images on a shoot). Once I got home from work, I started reading the manual. The manual will take a couple of reads before I learn everything, but a quick browse gave me an idea of some of the things I wanted to customize. Since I am coming from a much older and simpler camera, I probably have more to learn than someone upgrading from a more recent model. I am not one for gadgets on my cameras…
Out taking photos, the camera handles well. Honestly I don’t think it feels as good as my old Fuji S2-Pro, but that might just be a familiarity thing. I know build quality is better on the D600. The viewfinder is nice and bright, and seems to show everything you really need. One feature I did not think about was live view. When shooting at an unusual angle, I did not have to contort to see through the viewfinder to compose. Again, I prefer using the viewfinder, but the live view was a help for a couple of shots.
One thing I did not like was the remote release. The cord can be plugged in backwards. It takes a very little extra effort, and I am afraid it could break some contacts or something. I will have to mark the plug somehow (I am thinking of a dot of bright red nail polish). I will also need to figure out a way to mount the release to the tripod. I tend to leave the camera on the tripod and carry it over my shoulder. If I leave the remote plugged it, it swings. In other words, it is not a well designed remote. There is available a wireless remote, but having used those in the past, I’m not a big fan…
When I got home to download the images I was in for another surprise. My Linux computer recognized the raw files fine, however my windows machine did not. A download from Nikon enabled me to see thumbnails, but that was about it. Lightroom 4 recognized the files, but Photoshop CS5 did not. Contrary to what seems like most photographers, I don’t really like Lightroom, and I don’t see a real need to update to Photoshop CS6. Thank goodness Digikam understands the files. I do miss some of the controls and ease of ACR, but I can work around that. I will have to figure out a workflow…
Back to the camera though, Image quality is amazing. I could get very good images with my old Fuji, but I felt like I was pushing it right up to, and even past, what it could provide. I often had to work pretty hard to get what I wanted. With the D600, I get the feeling I have room to spare. The image files just keep going, amazing detail, tons of dynamic range, and very malleable.
Of course the camera is new, and I have to justify the cost, but I think as I learn the D600, it will prove to be a versatile tool.
100th Post
Wow, this is my 100th post on this website.
Well, this is the 100th post since I upgraded my system a couple of years ago….
Straight Photography
rst observation about the title, There is no such thing as a straight photograph!
There seems to be a group of people who insist that an image cannot be “Photoshopped” or manipulated in any way for it to be called a Photograph. Of course we need to limit our definition of manipulate so that it excludes things like cropping a small section of reality, or the technical aspects of recording light signals[1], but lets leave that aside for now. The raw recorded signal must be processed into an image. The settings for this conversion may be set by the camera engineers, or it may be set by more advanced photographers, but there are still choices made.
But even leaving all that aside as a given (we will assume the engineers and photographers are able, and willing to reproduce the recorded light as something resembling what most people would call reality[2]). I argue that more can be expressed if you give yourself a little leeway. Most of my photos are not blatantly manipulated, and many people do not realize how much work really goes into making the photos look “realistic”.
No I don’t always like some of the “airbrushed” images in fashion magazines, and there are many artists who use the art of manipulation to express their work, but EVERY photo can use some post processing to get the best (and most realistic[2]…) image.
- A digital camera translates light signals into electrical impulses (There are university courses just on this aspect). A digital sensor sends these impulses either straight to a memory card, or to a processing engine. Even if we go back to film, the light signals were translated into chemical “impulses”. These “impulses” (for want of a better term) are translated into something resembling an image, so even before we leave the camera, there is no such thing as “Straight Photography”↵
- And the rabbit hole goes deeper…. What is reality? Fuji made a fortune on film by “enhancing” reality. No one in their right mind would call the old Velvia film “realistic”, but it was very appealing, and many people preferred the “hyper-reality”↵
- rst observation about the title, There is no such thing as a straight photograph!
There seems to be a group of people who insist that an image cannot be “Photoshopped” or manipulated in any way for it to be called a Photograph. Of course we need to limit our definition of manipulate so that it excludes things like cropping a small section of reality, or the technical aspects of recording light signals[1], but lets leave that aside for now. The raw recorded signal must be processed into an image. The settings for this conversion may be set by the camera engineers, or it may be set by more advanced photographers, but there are still choices made.
But even leaving all that aside as a given (we will assume the engineers and photographers are able, and willing to reproduce the recorded light as something resembling what most people would call reality[2]). I argue that more can be expressed if you give yourself a little leeway. Most of my photos are not blatantly manipulated, and many people do not realize how much work really goes into making the photos look “realistic”.
No I don’t always like some of the “airbrushed” images in fashion magazines, and there are many artists who use the art of manipulation to express their work, but EVERY photo can use some post processing to get the best (and most realistic[2]…) image.
Web Pages
I came across someone asking for help for his website. He has lofty goals, but I think he has bitten off a bit more than he can chew. I will come back to this in a bit…
Whenever I talk to someone who wants to start a small business, I ask a few basic questions:
1) What makes your business unique?
Too often the answer is either, “People will come to me because I am great” or “I am the only one selling this exact product”. No business is without competition, and there are good people everywhere (admittedly, there are “bad” people out there too). There may be no one selling widget “A”, but widget “B” does 99% of the same stuff, and it costs half as much.
A related answer is, “I will do it better than any competition.” This is a tough one, because you are fighting a real uphill battle. First you need to define “better” then you need to determine if enough other people will agree that this is in fact batter. Finally you need to hope that your competition, with their established customers and “business momentum”[1] will not learn or implement your new better way.
2) What are you really selling?
This is the old sizzle and steak sales adage[2]. Know what problem you are solving for your customers. And possibly more important, are there enough people with this problem to become potential customers.
It is surprising how many business owners don’t really know what they are selling…
This brings me back to the website I started with. This person wanted:
(Note: typos corrected)
Now I don’t want to be too hard on this person, but….
To add to the problems, the person (and no I will not add a link so I don’t embarrass the web developer more than I have to) is trying to create a site to appeal to visual people, yet he still seems to be struggling with the basic layout of his site, as evidenced by this screen shot:
Sorry, but before you can start marketing you need to get a product. If your purpose is to learn HTML and CSS, that is great, but if you want to attract people, maybe it would be worth taking a shortcut with Drupal, WordPress, or some other content management system.
EDIT: I originally found this site while at school, where the network is quite locked down. Viewing the site on a more open network looks a lot better, but it is still not really appealing to it’s target market. And of course, since the site doesn’t degrade well, if anyone were to look at it from work, or on an under powered tablet, the impression would be pretty bad…
- Yes I just made up the term “business momentum” I define it as the comfort customers have in staying with an established company, or conversely, the reluctance customers have in changing companies.↵
- Sales people will say that people don’t buy things, they buy solutions to their problems. If someone is hungry (the problem) they don’t want a slab of dead cow (the steak) they want the aroma, the flavour, and the feeling of satisfaction after eating a meal (the sizzle). Of course this analogy breaks down if you are talking to a vegetarian….;)↵
retouching
In one of the LinkedIn groups I follow, Davesh asked for help with this image taken with, I am guessing, a cell phone camera with a dirty lens:
with a couple of minutes in Photoshop (or any other retouching program)
I found the original a bit pasty an flat, in addition to the light flare from the dirty lens, so the first step was an overall contrast and saturation adjustment.
Next I tackled the faces covered with flare. I simply made another curves adjustment layer, matched the tone of the “flared” area to the unflared area, then masked off everywhere else.
Last step was to darken the background. Again I used a curves layer with a mask to control what was adjusted.
As a final last step, I was not happy with a couple of the faces, so I touched them up a bit more.
All in all, it took me much longer to write this description than to retouch the photo. Yes I could fix the photo quite a bit more. There is a lot of fine tuning I could do, but sometimes a quick “down and dirty” job is good enough…
PS. One of the responses in the above discussion mentioned that the background light is distracting. I agree, but removing it with the clone tool for example was a bit more work than I was willing to put into the image. Another poster had a better suggestion anyway, just crop off the top… makes a better composition anyway…
Watch for updates
I had a look over my gallery today and realized it needs some love. I will be reorganizing, updating and purging items over the next little while. I will also be fixing search terms to make it easier to find items. Quality over quantity.
technical info after the break…
Goldstream in the fall
I went to Goldstream Park today. The leaves are starting to change, and the morning light was pretty good.
Because the park is I’m a narrow valley, the sun doesn’t really appear until 9 or 10 o’clock. The nice thing about that, other than I can sleep in, is that there is a long twilight. Then, when the sun does come up, the light is very directional. The trees cause very distinct patches of sun and shade.
When a spider web is backlit, there is a photographers law that you have to stop and take a photo……
Old Photos
I randomly came across this image I had taken last year. At the time I put it in my rejects pile. One of the problems with the image was lack of sharpness, but the biggest issue was that I could not figure out how to make it work as an image.
As it happened, I came across this image shortly after meeting a graphic designer named Boo. Although she is just getting back into photography, her work has a gritty style I like. It seems to work well for this image. It also hides some of the flaws in the original capture. I have not printed it yet, but I like the story it is trying to tell. A little bit more tweaking and it may end up in my portfolio…
Art
Yesterday (Sunday) a couple of friends and I went to the Victoria Art Gallery. One of the shows was William Kurelek, an amazing artist. His images are all about telling a story. Lots of detail, lots going on, some humour, lots of emotion.
In other words it was a very good show. Especially as Emily Carr was also on display as a very interesting comparison. That is why I like art, there are many different ways of expressing your th
Good art gone bad
Came across this link today.
A case of good intentions causing irreparable damage. I came across the link as an example of why you should always hire a professional, rather than let your neighours kid do it[1]…..
- The original link was in regards to illustration, but the same example could be used for photography, or indeed any professional service.↵
Mercedes Gullwing
Not too subtle, yet look again, and it has a few surprises…
Not sure what to title it though. Maybe “Mirrorcedes”.
Back up!!!*
After my web host was hacked I am now back up….
What a pain. It is amazing how we depend on the internet. In my case, this site has ego status, but I also use an egroupware installation for my personal calendar, to do list, and more. I felt pretty helpless and out of touch for a bit there….
*Luckily I did just do a back up of my site, so even if there would have been an issue, I probably would not lose any information. It would just be a royal pain to restore everything….
Job searching
One of the most frustrating undertakings must be looking for work. It is also one of the most universal banes of living in western society. Whether you are an employee or are self employed, at some point you have to look for work.
This is made more difficult because very few of us get any real instruction on how to look for work. One of the reasons I took my schooling from a small private school, is the support for a job search. Jeanine is great. She has had a very diverse career, and for me at least, she gives some very good insights.
When Office Depot pulled out of Canada, I was a little unprepared. My resume was not up to scratch, and did not really represent me. In fact, when I went to talk to an employment counsellor, I was told outright that it was a poor resume. OK, so how do I improve it? That is where someone like Jeanine is invaluable.
I think of it this way, I may know how to build a chair, but I would rather get someone who does it for a living who knows what they are doing…
Bright Colours
Wow, looking at the post below, the colours are pretty electric. Part of that is the bright sun playing off of expensive paint jobs. Part of that is my doing.
I like the aesthetic of cars. They are fun to take photos of, but at the same time, it is difficult to get something that has at least a little artistic flair. I have been playing with a new concept for a while. I have been taking details of cars and playing with them in Photoshop. The image below is largely a work in progress as I write this. (the image may change as I update the original) but I like where it is going….
No this is not the real front end of a car.