Curves
1970-01-01 00:59:59
The last few days worth of blog posts have been about pretty "heavy' ideas. I'm worn out from it! I need a few days of simpler stuff. Compositional elements. OK, that can get pretty involved as well, but at least one doesn't have to get overly philosophical. And to get deeper into the elements of composition I can strongly recommend a look at some of Gloria Hopkins' excellent articles here, here, here, and here. By the way, more about Gloria next week. But for now, the word of the day is "curves'. I think the curved line is one of the most elegant of compositional elements and there are many ways of having it presented within an image.Nature's Curves
Copyright Howard Grill As opposed to the more linear aspects of composition, I find that the presence of smooth and gentle curves can add or accentuate the feeling of peace in an image, as opposed to harsh lines and diagonals that can sometimes be used to add tension. I find it very intriguing that certain graph
Can Photographers See What Others Don't?
1970-01-01 00:59:59
With all the snow we have been having here recently, I have made an interesting observation which makes me wonder how very different photographers might be from the rest of the world (said only somewhat tongue in cheek). For many, many years I saw snow as white. At that time, I had already put down my camera for several decades in order to pursue career training. Several years ago, when I finally had the opportunity to rekindle my prior interest in photography, it soon became very apparent that snow, while white, often appeared to have color casts on the slide film that I was shooting at the time. The color cast on the snow depended on such factors as weather conditions and sky color, the specific location of the snow (in sun or in shade), or what color object was nearby. At the current time, odd as it may seem, I believe I have started to train myself to see at least some of these casts before taking the photograph. This is particularly true in the early morning when the s
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, Others
It's All In Your Head
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I'm a "head case"….at least I find that I do a good bit of photography in my head! I mentioned in yesterday's post that my wife gave me the "what have you been drinking look' when I asked her if she could see a blue color cast to the snow. Well, in reality, I really do know what she was thinking at the time, and it was along the lines of "you're doing photography in your head again, aren't you?" Often, most of us who pursue photography with a passion have other careers or professions that limit the amount of time we can devote to the photographic arts. We need to make compromises. George Barr, in his blog, made an extremely eloquent post entitled Career, Family, and Photography that is well worth reading in this regard. However, at the same time that we know we must make compromises, we also know that one can't expect to go out and slip right into the groove of composing great images when it's been some time since we last picked up a camera.
LensWork: A Journal, Not A Magazine
1970-01-01 00:59:59
If you have a passion for photography, or, for that matter, any artistic medium, and do not read LensWork magazine, I would highly recommend that you stop reading this post for a moment (yes, it's that important :>) and visit this page of the LensWork website instead.....but please do come back! LensWork is a magazine (actually, journal sounds like a better word, as a magazine sounds like something you throw away, and you won't) that deals purely with the creative aspects of photography. What you won't find: Equipment reviews How-to articles Technique articles AdvertisementsWhat you will find: Articles about creativity and the creative process Wonderful black and white photographic portfolios (usually three or four per issue) Cutting humor (c'mon, you know it's there….Bill Jay's endnotes, what a great way
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, Magazine
The Trouble With Tribbles.....I Mean Trillium, Part 1
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I think you probably have to be at least 40 years old to get the weak joke reference in the title. Well, either a ‘regular person’ over 40 or a rabid Star Trek fan. (Kirk: “Scottie, let’s get this post back on course.” Scottie: "But, Cap’n, I’m given her all she’s got.”) All right, I'm sorry, but I just couldn’t help myself.Six weeks or so left to winter.....please let it be over. Some folks just thrive out in the cold. Me, I despise it. I try to force myself to get out and photograph, but I find it exceedingly difficult to do so. Every winter I say that this is going to be the year I get out into the cold and get some really great winter images. I do go, but it ends up being only two or three times. I enjoy myself when I go, but it is exceedingly hard to motivate myself to get out there.But it is almost over, no matter what the groundhog said, and that makes my thoughts turn to the multitude of gorgeous spring wildflowers that we are blessed with here in Western P
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, Trillium
The Trouble With Trillium, Part II
1970-01-01 00:59:59
I was quite happy to get responses to yesterday’s post regarding my difficulty with taking photographs of Trilliuim that were both helpful and humorous. Today, I thought I would show a close up image of the flower and talk a little more about Trillium
in general. I think this shot really portrays the feel and shape of the flower. With the advice I got, I also hope to be able to portray them as they live in their ‘community’.TrilliumCopyright Howard Grill I will let everyone know when they finally do emerge here. It is usually at the end of March or beginning of April. I also wanted to mention an entry that I read on someone else’s blog. I would surely provide a link if I could only remember where I read it. At any rate, the post really demonstrated to me how the internet has shortened the distance between people and how it also lets us more clearly appreciate geographical differences. This particular post dealt with the author seeing someone picking a Trillium
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Fencing
2007-03-02 12:56:00
One of my son’s is a competitive fencer. Yup, that’s right….Zorro, The Three Musketeers, you got it. I knew absolutely nothing about the sport before he decided he wanted to take it up four or five years ago. At this point, he really has become quite good at it; good enough to compete on a national level. Now, generally speaking, I really am not much of a sports person (though, living in Pittsburgh, I do love those Steeler games), but, I have to say, I find fencing fascinating, graceful, and exciting. There is a good reason that the sport has been nicknamed ‘physical chess’. Because it is such an eclectic sport, at least in the USA (I understand it is much more popular and mainstream in Europe), there is a rather interesting subculture surrounding it. When I go to some of the competitions, I bring my camera. However, I am generally not looking for action shots (and besides, the lighting for such shots tends to be pretty poor). I tend to go for the abstracts and th
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G-L-O-R-I-A
2007-03-01 19:05:00
G-L-O-R-I-A, Glooooooriah…can’t you just hear Van Morrison belting out that song? Well, since I would like to intermittently post about other blogs and websites that I have enjoyed, I am going to talk about another Gloria. I just couldn’t help myself with that opening, as every time I think of her name I just can’t get that song out of my head! Well, if you don’t already know of her, let me introduce you to a different Gloria, and quite a unique one at that. Gloria Hopkins is that rare breed of person who excels in more than one artistic endeavor. She is a painter, a photographer, and a writer.I have never met Gloria in person, but you really feel as if you know her from her blog entries, which run the gamut from the artistic to the personal, and from her images. Copyright Gloria Hopkins This is one of my favorite photographs of hers, and one which won an award from Nature’s Best magazine. She has kindly given me permission to use it in this post. For me, it work
Fencing III
2007-03-04 12:58:00
A few more images from the fencing tournament that I have been posting about for the last two days. My last post has a bit more explanation about how a fencing tournament works....Copyright Howard GrillThe armorers work at fixing a foil that has malfunctioned.Copyright Howard GrillScoring is done with a combination of electronics and referees. Copyright Howard GrillFast, graceful, and exhilirating...........
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Fencing II
2007-03-04 02:52:00
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, since I am away for the weekend at a fencing tournament with one of my sons, I thought that I would post some of the images I have been taking at the tournament in order to give people a bit of a 'flavor' of what it is like to be at an event of this sort.First, a quick disclaimer. I am away with an uncalibrated laptop, so these images are by no means adjusted...they are meant to convey an experience as opposed to an artistic statement. So, here we go:The ArmorerCopyright Howard GrillEvery tournament has an armorer present. His or her job is twofold. First, they test and authorize each piece of equipment used in the tournament to ensure that they pass very rigorous safety standards. Second, they are on site to assist in the repair of equipment that breaks or malfunctions during the bouts. WaitingCopyright Howard GrillThere tends to be significant downtime between the direct elimination bouts......waiting for your turn to fence a bout that e
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Breaking Taboos
2007-03-05 18:31:00
In a post several days ago, I was looking for assistance in taking better photographs of Trillium. In that post, I mentioned that as part of my query I was breaking a taboo by purposefully showing poorer images, the ones that I would never display, to an audience. There is even an old saying about this that goes something along the lines of “The difference between an amateur and a professional is that the professional never shows you the shots that didn’t make it”. I was thinking about this issue some more, and feel even more strongly that it can be a wise decision to show your poorer images, it just depends on the venue and purpose. For example, I would never display images that I thought didn’t quite make the cut. I would never want to make a show out of them. But I think that there is a good deal to be learned by examining these shots that ‘didn’t make it’. For one, and this is probably the most obvious reason, it gives an opportunity to request input from o
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, Taboos
Laptop vs Calibrated Desktop
2007-03-05 02:52:00
Well, I returned home safely from the fencing tournament and took a quick look at the fencing images that I had posted while away using my uncalibrated laptop. So, I see that, in actuality, they have quite a strong green cast and are somewhat underexposed....I guess that is what happens when one is away and using uncalibrated equipment. My apologies if they were a little rough to look at, I thought it would be a good idea to post them from the tournament itself.Anyway, I think I have an interesting post planned for tomorrow for any Dorothea Lange fans out there (and, really, who isn't?)!
Read more: Laptop
, Desktop
Bill Jay
2007-03-06 16:09:00
Bill Jay is a writer and educator in the field of photography. He was the founder of the Program of Photographic Studies at The University of Arizona, where he taught for 25 years. He has written extensively on the history of photography and photographic criticism. His essays are a pleasure to read and comprise, as a collection, a veritable course in photographic history. Personally, once I start reading one of his pieces, I find that I can’t put it down until I have finished it. If you are familiar with the End Notes from LensWork you also know that he has a brand of cynical humor that is second to none. This is also evident in his collection of essays. Bill has made available for download, via his website, a huge portion of his rather extensive writings. Trust me, this will keep you busy for months. The essays can be found here. While you are on his website, don’t miss his collection of portraits that he has made of other photographers. Bill, if you are o
The Patchwork Project
2007-03-07 13:14:00
One of the nice things about having a blog is that you get to ‘meet’ (internet style) some interesting folks that either write comments or e-mail you. Such was the case yesterday when Mike Bartolotta posted a comment and when we subsequently followed up with a few e-mails. Now, “Bart”, as he apparently calls himself, has defined for himself a most interesting photographic project. He currently hails from Rochester, New York. What he has done is to…….well, never mind, why don’t I just let him explain it with a quote taken directly from The Patchwork
Project
website: “The concept is quite simple. For no better reason than to take photos for the love of photography, I am setting out on a quest to capture unique and distinct images of the city of Rochester, New York. Using a map of the area, I divided the city and surrounding towns into one square mile sections. Over the nex
Luminosity
2007-03-08 20:07:00
My blog bias, if you will, has been to not focus on Photoshop techniques. However, every so often a little Photoshop tidbit or tutorial comes along that I feel is so worthwhile that it would be a shame not to share it. This is the case with a recent tutorial on luminosity masking that comes complete with downloadable Photoshop actions.First, I have to give credit to Mark Graf for finding the tutorial and posting a link to it on his blog called Notes From The Woods. His post with the specific information about the tutorial can be found here. The tutorial itself can be found here.The tutorial explains the utility and basics of luminosity masking far better than I could in a single post. The uniqueness of this particular tutorial is the included set of downloadable actions with instructions for their use. More importantly, the actions allow one to easily generate not only a standard luminosity mask, but also masks that are ‘ultra-directed’ to the brightest highlights, the darkest shad
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Photoshop And The Creative Process, Part 1
2007-03-09 12:41:00
I recently subscribed to CameraArts magazine without really knowing too much about the publication. A few weeks ago I received my first issue, and one of the first articles I read was an editorial authored by George DeWolfe entitled "The Master Print: The Photoshop
Medicine Show" (CameraArts, January/February 2007). After finishing the article, I immediately knew two things:i) that subscribing to the magazine was a good decision andii) that I wanted to write a blog post about that particular article.Writing about the article, however, turned out to be much more difficult than I had anticipated. The reason for this is that I have changed my opinion about it several times and, in fact, it still seems difficult for me to sort out my feelings on the topic. I actually scrapped the idea of writing this post, but have come back to it with the realization that if I have trouble sorting it out in my own mind, then it would probably be interesting to others and hopefully make for some though
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Photoshop And The Creative Process, Part II
2007-03-10 14:37:00
This is Part II of this topic. If you haven’t already had the opportunity to read Part I, I invite you to do so here. As I was thinking about this issue, the following occurred to me. Have any of these Photoshop
‘gurus’ ever claimed to be fine art photographers extraordinaire? Have they ever published fine art books of their images. For the most part, the answer to this is a resounding NO. In my mind, most don’t really claim to be fine art photographers. They are ‘software people’. The few that are fine art photographers are well worth paying close attention to. Along the same lines, is Photoshop, the software, about photography? Well, sure, but only to an extent. Adobe never claimed it was only meant for photographers. It isn’t a program for photographers; it is a program for artists, of which photographers are but one subset. It is there for graphic artists, digital artists, layout designers etc. I am not so sure that we should be complaining abo
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Non-Canon Lenses On Canon (Or Nikon) Cameras
2007-03-11 01:02:00
About a year or two ago, I wrote an article for Michael Johnston's newsletter, The 37th Frame, which ultimately morphed into The Online Photographer, about using non-Canon
lenses on Canon full frame dSLRs. The article resides on my website, as it is too long to put up as a blog post. Nonetheless, I thought that it might prove interesting to some people and thought that, as today's post, I would put up a link to it. The article can be read here.Though it specifically addresses Canon cameras, which is what I use, my understanding is that the article would be directly applicable to Nikon
cameras as well. The only exception would be that a Contax to Nikon adapter would obviously be required, as opposed to one made for adapting Contax to Canon.In addition, Joe Reifer, in his excellent blog entitled Words, wrote a review about using Olympus Zuiko lenses on full frame Canon cameras. That can be read here.
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Stumbling
2007-03-13 12:36:00
I recently ran across, well, I am not sure exactly what to call it……a toolbar, a utility, a plug-in….but whatever one calls it, it is certainly a lot of fun. “It” is StumbleUpon, which can be found here. The free software inserts into your web-browser as a toolbar and when you click on the “Stumble” button you get transported to a random website. Wait, before you run away in disgust saying that the last thing you need is a visit to a random website.......I haven’t yet told you the best part. The software is customizable so that you can have it search for specific subjects of which, yes, photography is a choice. You can limit the ‘stumbling’ to a single topic or a group of topics. So, if I tell StumbleUpon to limit itself to photography it brings me to random photography related sites. I have found lots of very cool websites that I never would have known about and which I have enjoyed visiting. Sites like this one......really, check it out.Enjoy your stumbl
When Accidents Happen
2007-03-12 12:48:00
I think photographic “accidents” usually end up being quite interesting. Though my initial response when one occurs is frequently a bit of anger, it often turns out that some accidents should be welcomed. The results are never able to be anticipated and often turn out to be a wonderful surprise. What type of accidents am I referring to? For sure, not the ones where the wind blows your tripod over or your new 25-600 f1.8 VR IS lens goes tumbling down the side of a hill. I am referring to accidents where unanticipated interference occurs. You are all set up to take a shot and a gust of wind blows the trees or flowers and you end up with an unexpected impressionistic shot. Perhaps a person walks into the frame or a boat comes along while you’re shooting a body of water. Here is an accident that occurred to me. I was on a workshop at the Oregon Coast and was photographing a lighthouse from a parking lot. The shot was nice, but probably never going to be a ‘winner’
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The LensWork Podcast
2007-03-14 13:07:00
Brooks Jensen, the editor of LensWork magazine, puts out a wonderful podcast, usually several times a week. If you are familiar with the magazine, (and if you aren’t, see my post here) then you know what the LensWork philosophy and mission is. That same philosophy, which is to say the discussion of the creative aspects of photography, carries through to the podcast as well. Unlike some of the others I have previously reviewed, the LensWork podcasts are fairly short, usually only 3-6 minutes min length. They are quite focused and to the point. Most importantly, they are extraordinarily insightful and though provoking. In addition, Brooks has a great ‘announcer’s voice’ which is a pleasure to listen to. In short, the podcasts are simply a pleasure to hear and offer a lot to think about. If you have not yet had the chance to experience them you really owe it to yourself to check them out here. Administrative Note: I have been able to make daily entries since I start
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Photo Life
2007-03-16 13:05:00
It seems to me that there is a relative dearth of top quality photographic magazines available, at least in the US. Sure, there are plenty of magazines around for the following: relative beginners (I’m not saying these aren’t important),reading about digital/Photo
shop techniques, that serve as a forum for the presentation of advertisements, rehashing the same type of articles year in and out. However, there aren’t many that deal with the more creative, artistic side of photography. At least that is my opinion. I have already mentioned LensWork, which, again, in my opinion, is the single magazine I would subscribe to if I were limited to just one. In a prior post, I had mentioned that I recently subscribed to CameraArts. Thus far I have only received one issue, but I did enjoy it and have high hopes for future issues as well. There are two other magazines that I enjoy and strike me as worthwhile, and I though that I would mention one
Recommended Photography Magazines
2007-03-17 19:31:00
Given some of the great recommendations and comments that have been posted in response to this entry about photography magazines, I thought it would be worthwhile to put up a list, in one location, of the recommendations people have made for photography magazines worth looking into. With the title of this post being "Recommended Photography Magazines
", it will be easy for anyone to find and one that I will edit; adding further interesting recommendations as they come in.So here goes:Adiemus and Latoga recommended JPG Magazine,Chris recommended American Photo, but with some reservations,Gary recommended B&W Magazine and Photo Life,George recommended Phot'Art International and Black and White Photography, Howard recommended Photo Life, Nature's Best and has hopes for CameraArts,Mark recommended Digital PhotoPro, andEveryone recommends LensWorkI will add more to the list if people make further recommendations. Again, I would like to complile a list of photography magazines, published
Different Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Better
2007-03-18 14:59:00
Before I start this post, let me say up front that I have absolutely nothing against good contemporary photography. Though it is not what I ‘do’, I enjoy looking at the work of many photographers of this genre. However, what disturbs me a bit is the idea that goes along the lines of “how many pictures of pretty (fill in the blank) do we need?”, as if all the expressive landscapes, florals, abstracts etc that the world needs have already been taken; as if there were no talent or further individuality to be expressed by these genres. This logic then frequently leads to the idea that to be ‘good’, to be expressive, one needs to make images that are different. Fair enough, but this generally seems to translate not into ‘different viewpoint’ ,‘different message’, or ‘different way of personal expression’ but just into different, as in something that no one has taken a series of pictures of before. That, it seems to some people, can be used to define images
Swamp Oil
2007-03-21 02:35:00
It doesn't occur all that frequently that I run across something involving nature photography that I have absolutely never heard of before in any way whatsoever. Recently, on several other blogs that I read, I was drawn to some gorgeous abstract images that, as it turned out, were photographs of swamp oil. Now here was something totally new to me, so I had to read on. I also thought it would be great information to share with others who might not be familiar with it. First, though, take a look at these marvelous images by Mike Moats and Mark Graf, here and here . Reading their blog entries, one learns that the colors in the photographs are not able to be seen by the unaided eye, and that the light must be polarized in order to make the colors visible. The shapes and colors in the images are caused by swamp oil, which apparently is an oil that seeps into water from decaying plant matter. Never having heard of it, I certainly have never seen or photographed it, but it is
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Photo Marketing
2007-03-23 00:44:00
I heard something that was quite useful and interesting yesterday on Jeff Curto’s Camera Position podcast. I thought it might also be useful to others and so I am posting the information. If you have an interest in marketing your photographs, the last 13 minutes of the Camera Position podcast #46 entitled “Passion and Profession” is quite interesting. Actually, as I have mentioned previously, every Camera Position episode is worth listening to. After hearing the podcast, I was intrigued enough to purchase Mary Virginia Swanson’s book and will ultimately report back as to how useful I feel it is. To listen to the podcast go to the Camera Position website here and scroll down to Episode #46, where the file can be listened to.
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, Marketing
Humor
2007-03-22 00:33:00
I thought that midweek would be a good time to bring up the subject of humor in photography; something to help us make it to the weekend. A good laugh is healthy. However, when it comes to photography most people are usually pretty serious. Nonetheless, we still like to grab a shot if we see something funny. But unlike our ‘serious’ photography, most of these shots stay unseen and without an audience. I can understand why, as it would seem to detract from the ‘professionalism’ of serious artists. But we don’t have to be totally serious all the time. I was surprised that when I Googled humorous photographs I came up with tons of ‘hits’, but perusing through them I found that they were mostly all the expected rude humor or stock photo sites, where the images really weren’t all that funny. I did find this site, which was pretty funny, at least as far as statues go. When I looked through my images, I really couldn’t find all that many that were funny either.
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Celestial Nights
2007-03-25 21:37:00
Great photography shows you subjects you might well be familiar with, but presents them in a way that you hadn’t seen before; it allows you to think about things from a new perspective. In this regard the work of Edward Weston and Josef Sudek immediately come to my mind. Then there is photography that shows you things that you can’t see because of the physical limitations of the human eye. Infrared photography, astrophotography and prolonged exposures come to mind. Evaluating these type of images is a bit harder, because one has to overcome that initial ‘wow’ factor that occurs when viewing something that has previously remained invisible. But merely removing the cloak of invisiblility is not sufficient to make a photograph exceptional. One has to assess what is left when the ‘gimmick’ is removed. Are you still being shown something in a new way? Does it make you think about the image and the subject? Does it move you? Israeli photographer Neil Folberg does all
The Twin Jewels Project
2007-03-27 23:21:00
In several prior blog posts, I have talked about the importance of working on a discreet photographic project. I have been continuing to shoot, as I have for several years, in two nearby local parks (hence the name Twin Jewels
). I also mentioned that the photographic portion of my New Years resolution was to try to edit down my images from these two locations and end up with 30-40 large prints. Because I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to printing, and since I have somewhat limited free time, it can take me several weeks to bring an image from RAW format to a final print that I am happy with; one that I think expresses the feeling that I was aiming for. As the project progresses, I thought that I would post the images that I think can ‘make the cut’, with perhaps a few words about them, how I came to take them, and what I was hoping to express with them. Any comments or feedback as to the success of the images would, of course, be appreciated, and even moreso any co
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The Power Of The Still Frame
2007-03-30 22:27:00
I think it is quite interesting that even in this high tech, rapidly moving society in which we live, still images, not movies or video, seem to come to mind when we think about historic events. At least that is the case for me. As examples what I am referring to, what images come to mind when you think about the following events?The Kent State Shootings :Photo By John FiloThe Vietnam War: Photo By Eddie AdamsPhoto By Nick UtTiananmen Square:Etc, etc, etc. I think it is fascinating that while most of the world would rather go to a movie than look at still images, when asked to recall major events I think people are still most affected by single photographs. Certainly there were film clips made of all these events, but that is not what sticks in our minds. The only exception I can think of offhand is the Kennedy assasination and the Magruder film. However, the reason for that may be the subsequent use of the film as forensic evidence and its use to try to suggest second assasin
Read more: Frame
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