June 2008 Archives

Richard Truesdell

Also go to Richard Truesdell.

I don't have anything on car photography on photokaboom.com.

Got any good websites about car photography?

Jim

Car Photography for Dummies by Richard Truesdell

"The sloppiness is especially baffling when the purpose of the photograph in question is to sell the car, but photos taken for ads on eBay and Craigslist are far from immune to terrible photography.

You'd think sellers would want to make their cars look good, wouldn't you?"

Jen Dunnaway

Here are two fascinating articles on perception.

Perhaps only ten percent of what we see is perceived, and the rest is added by the brain.

Jim

Corbis

Get Out of Your Own Way by Robert Lee Hotz

Fishing in the stream of consciousness, researchers now can detect our intentions and predict our choices before we are aware of them ourselves.

The brain, they have found, appears to make up its mind 10 seconds before we become conscious of a decision -- an eternity at the speed of thought.

Robert Lee Hotz

Gerald Slota

The Itch by Atul Gawande

A new scientific understanding of perception has emerged in the past few decades, and it has overturned classical, centuries-long beliefs about how our brains work—though it has apparently not penetrated the medical world yet.

Atul Gawande

Jason Tozer

Jason Tozer - Planet Tozer: How He Did It

Our recent post on photographer Jason Tozer's images of bubbles prompted a fair few calls of "how did he do that?"

Well, we were in his studio on the day of the shoot and can reveal all here...

Mark

Edgar Martins

Edgar Martins - Topologies by Rosecrans Baldwin

I have always found photography to be a highly inadequate medium for communicating ideas--a subject and object of lack, if you like.

However, it is this dissatisfaction with the medium that spurs me on to find a new visual language to work with, and, I suppose, a new vocabulary from which to derive my glossary of life.

Edgar Martins

Elliott Erwitt

Also go to Elliott Erwitt.

Jim

Elliot Erwitt's exhibition at HackelBury Fine Art, London

She was nice, smart, kind of amusing, and very approachable.

Not a bimbo at all.

Elliott Erwitt

International Center of Photography — Getty Images

Also go to Weegee.

Jim

Crime Was Weegee's Oyster by John Strausbaugh

On the north side of Broome Street, between the Bowery and Elizabeth Street, you can stand where a dead guy once lay.

Of course in New York City you can stand on lots of spots where dead people once lay.

There are, after all, "eight million stories in the naked city," as the narrator of "The Naked City," the 1948 film noir classic, intoned.

But as Andrew Izzo sprawled on this sidewalk on the Lower East Side in 1942, Arthur Fellig, one of the city's most famous photographers, took his picture.

John Strausbaugh

Arthur H. Bleich

Black & White Printing, Part 2 by Arthur H. Bleich (PDF)

Irving Penn

Also go to Irving Penn.

Jim

Irving Penn - "Close Encounters" by Judith Turner-Yamamoto (PDF)

Jon Canfield

Nik Software Viveza Review by Jon Canfield

Viveza does one thing, and aims to do it very well - make it easy to work on specific areas of an image without worrying about selecting and masking chores.

Jon Canfield

Anthony Karen

Also go to Anthony Karen.

Jim

Inside Access: A Photographer Captures Taboo Subjects

"I've been doing this for years.

You have no idea how long it takes to get in these organizations," Karen says.

NPR

Erik Tomasson

Also go to Erik Tomasson.

Jim

Dancing With Light: The Photography of Erik Tomasson by Jerry Currier

Erik Tomasson is the resident photographer for the San Francisco Ballet.

His photographs of dancers and the dances they perform are regularly featured in the Ballet's program magazine, as well as numerous advertisements in other publications, on city buses, and billboards.

Jerry Currier

Randal Ford

Also go to Randal Ford.

Jim

Rockwell Revisited by Simon Wakelin

"It was definitely intended on my part because all of Rockwell's work is in great detail," says Ford.

"What gives these photographs a two-dimensional quality is the depth of field—everything's in focus, and you're not necessarily used to seeing that.

It's something that I try to create myself because I think it's a cool look and it feels right.

I think it's almost surreal when you look at an image that's so sharp throughout the frame."

Simon Wakelin

Red River Paper

Green Papers: A Review of Three Options for Environmentally Friendly Print Making by Carl Battreall

The production of photography has never been an environmentally friendly process.

Photographers have often balanced the massive resource demands of the medium by using their images to champion environmental and social causes.

Carl Battreall

Richard Bernabe

Also go to Richard Bernabe.

Jim

It Doesn't Take a Brain Surgeon... by Richard Bernabe

But when it comes to photography and the creative process, I keenly embrace using the principles of a concept called brain function lateralization.

Richard Bernabe

George D. Lepp & Kathryn Vincent Lepp

Also go to George D. Lepp & Kathryn Vincent Lepp.

Jim

Unlimited Depth Of Field by George D. Lepp And Kathryn Vincent Lepp

Now another new program, Helicon Focus, has removed the limits to depth of field in photography.

G. D. Lepp & K. V. Lepp

George Lepp

The photographs in the article were done by George Lepp.

Jim

Shoot Like Ansel Adams With 35mm D-SLRs by Adam Crawford

Today's digital SLR with a tilt-shift lens can emulate the view camera in many ways.

The film plane, or the camera's image sensor, is always stationary and not adjustable like the 4x5 view camera; however, most of what Adams was able to achieve can be emulated with today's modern high-tech gear by using these perspective-control lenses or tilt-shift lenses.

Adam Crawford

Sean Hodge

Inspiration: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging by Sean Hodge

HDR images are composed of multiple shots that each capture a greater or lesser range of light.

Typically these images are composed of a darker image, a medium range, and a lighter image.

HDR combines these shots into a final image that has a broader range of light to dark.

Often, the results are striking, visually rich, and full of details.

Let's take a look at some great HDR images, tutorials on how to create HDR, and articles that explain this popular technique.

Sean Hodge

The Walk to Paradise Garden, W. Eugene Smith

Also go to W. Eugene Smith.

Jim

Nuts & Bolts [W. Eugene Smith] by Bill Pierce

About once a week someone says to me, "If Gene Smith was around, he would be the master of Photoshop."

It's true.

W. Eugene Smith didn't think the making of a photograph stopped right after you pushed the shutter button.

The print was important to him.

Bill Pierce

Kenneth Jarecke

Also go to Kenneth Jarecke.

Jim

Kenneth Jarecke - The Life of a Teenage Cowboy

squatchman

Sunset Photography - Five Simple Tips For Beginners by Andrew Goodall

Sunsets and sunrises are an inspirational subject for any photographer.

In fact, a good sunset photo is often the reason many people become interested in nature photography.

You don't need to have a great camera or professional training; almost anyone with a camera can take great sunset photos.

Andrew Goodall

Adam Pash

Five Best Photo Sharing Web Sites by Adam Pash

On Tuesday we asked you to tell us your favorite photo sharing web site, and today we're back with the five most popular answers.

Hit the jump for the low-down on the five best photo sharing tools the web has to offer, then cast your vote for the site you like best.

Adam Pash

Toby Melville

For more quotes, go to Quotes and Quotes.

Jim

A picture is worth a thousand words, but... by Toby Melville

'A picture is worth a thousand words'....or so the saying goes.

But sometimes authors, journalists, commentators, philosophers and heck, on occasions, even snappers, describe photography and the picture-taking process with a memorable phrase or succinct saying.

Toby Melville/p>

Rick Sammon

This is a great review of techniques.

Also go to Rick Sammon.

Jim

Photographing People Outdoors by Rick Sammon

Freezing or blurring is your choice.

Think carefully about which effect to use to capture a subject.

In the case of this young baseball player, freezing the action was the only way to go, in my mind anyway.

Rick Sammon

X-Rite

The MSRP is $499.

Also go to ColorMunki Photo at X-Rite.

Jim

X-Rite ColorMunki Photo - Review by Keith Cooper

I sometimes see people on forums say it's [color management] not really needed.

If you value the quality (and consistency) of your final results then this is just plain wrong.

Keith Cooper

Scientific American

Digital Forensics Photo Tampering Throughout History

This nearly iconic portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln's head and the body of Southern politician, John Calhoun.

Scientific American

Steve Bedell

Also go to Steve Bedell.

Jim

Get It Right... In The Camera; ...And Save On "Post"-Processing Time by Steve Bedell

Like most photographers, I like to play around and constantly explore Photoshop.

But I'm a businessman, too, so I need to be careful about how much time I spend in front of the computer.

The more time I spend there, the less I have for taking photos and marketing my services, and that's where I make money.

So I've always adopted the philosophy of getting it right in the camera, even before Photoshop was born.

With that in mind, let's see how we can get beautiful files that require little or no manipulation after the shoot.

Steve Bedell

Red River Paper

Cost of Inkjet Printing Report v1

This report addresses concerns and arguments about the true cost of ink in desktop photo printing.

Using the Epson R2400 and Epson R1900, we conducted a series of print tests to determine how much ink is used in a full coverage 8"x10" print.

From that figure we extrapolated ink usage per square inch.

The objective is to share a realistic cost per print vision with inkjet users.

The choice to pursue photo inkjet printing is in the end an individual economic choice.

Red River Paper

Elinor Moses

Summerscapes: Stunt Book, 1920 by Jessica Helfand

She was young and she was beautiful and she was 18 years old.

Her name was Elinor Moses and she was the daughter of a Los Angeles business tycoon.

Her long-ago scrapbook — titled "Stunt Book" — is a marvel: visually eclectic, at once somber and goofy, an extraordinary time capsule.

Jessica Helfand

National Endowment for the Humanities

"The Clarity of Things" by John Updike

It was my idea, invited to give the 2008 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, to use some of these forty works, with others, to pose the question, "What is American about American art?"

John Updike

Gina Trapani

Build Your Own Wire Photo Wall by Gina Trapani

One of the rooms in my new place has a bare white wall that was just crying out for some creative sprucing up—so armed with this previous Lifehacker post on a DIY photo wall project and a few ideas on how to modify it for my own tastes, I went ahead and created a cheap, easily-reconfigured photo wall.

For under 20 bucks, using some wire, black card stock, and mini binder clips, it's easy to create your own wire photo hanger.

Let's take a photo tour of how to get the job done.

Gina Trapani

Paul Nicklen

Also go to Paul Nicklen.

Jim

Sights and Sounds of Paul Nicklen

Steve Winter

Behind the Lens with Steve Winter by Zach Honig

This month we focus on Steve Winter, 52, a contributing photographer at National Geographic magazine since 1991.

Focusing on conservation photography, Winter's subjects have included volcanoes in Iceland, grizzly bears in Russia, and the natural history of Cuba.

The New Jersey-based photographer recently traveled to India, documenting snow leopards for his most recent National Geographic article.

While on a layover in Delhi, India, Winter took some time to share a glimpse of his life after spending three months photographing in the field.

Zach Honig

Gregory Crewdson

Small Models, Big Opportunities by Adam Makarenko

Every summer I take pictures of bees, drawn to their mysterious energy.

When the bee season ended in 2006, I wondered what I was going to take pictures of if the bees were done producing honey for the year.

I thought, "What if I created a miniature world of bees and apiaries?"

This way I would be able to continue working with the idea of bees and elaborate on my idea of bees as mythical.

Plus I could more easily create the narrative I had written about a man who discovers a lost world of bees.

Adam Makarenko

Langdon Clay

When 42nd Street Was Still Gritty by William Greiner

In 1979, photographer Langdon Clay created a meticulous panoramic of the seedy Times Square block of 42nd Street, which epitomized the grunge New York politicians were pledging to "clean up."

Originally made with an 8x10 view camera and physically spliced together into a 15-foot print, the panoramic has now been recreated digitally.

Below, friend and fellow photographer William Greiner explores Clay's original creative process and the changes that time has wrought on the street, as well as the artist.

William Greiner

Scientific American

Digital Forensics: 5 Ways to Spot a Fake Photo by Hany Farid

Composite images made of pieces from different photographs can display subtle differences in the lighting conditions under which each person or object was originally photographed.

Such discrepancies will often go unnoticed by the naked eye.

Hany Farid

Life Magazine

Also go to W. Eugene Smith - The Art of History, the current exhibit at Silverstein.

Jim

Eugene W Smith, hero of photojournalism

An obsessive in his quest for truth, W Eugene Smith once said: "I have in mind this dream of perfection."

His inability to attain this ideal left him restless, unfulfilled, addicted to drink and drugs, bankrupt, and his first wife and family destitute.

He died aged 59 with just $18 in the bank.

However, he left an enduring legacy - a vast archive of photographs, the product of a tortured, self-destructive life.

The Times

Boston Globe

The Big Picture

Gillian Bowditch

Also go to Harry Benson.

Jim

Harry Benson on his life in photography

"You know they are nasty," he says of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon.

"You know they think you are shit. I like this photograph because they look so creepy."

Harry Benson

Chutney Bannister

Surreal Line by Chutney Bannister

I'm interested in how these advertisements, specifically designed for delivering one message, can have that story completely hijacked -- often by the mere framing of a window -- creating an entirely new context.

Commuters, who are somewhat static, withdrawn, and locked in their own private routines, are oblivious to these momentary collisions.

I'm fascinated by these chance encounters, and needless to say I gave up reading on the tube after my first trip on the surreal line.

Chutney Bannister

Ed Alcock

Also go to Nan Goldin.

Jim

Nan Goldin - My camera has saved my life' by Angelique Chrisafis

Nan Goldin leads me into the bedroom of her Paris apartment, fluffs up a pillow and settles down on her bed, lighting a cigarette.

Her pink dressing gown hangs over the door of her wardrobe; there are black and white stills on the wall.

It's fitting that the legendary photographer should want us to talk in her bedroom, side by side on the patterned bedspread: long before Tracey Emin's unmade chaos, Goldin specialised in the silences of rumpled sheets.

Since the early 1970s, she has shot herself and friends in bed - having sex, sleeping, arguing and, after Aids struck, dying.

She curled up with her boyfriend Brian, and later shot a bruised self-portrait after he hit her.

Angelique Chrisafis

Lawrence Getubig

Mr. Getubig won the 2008 Yousuf Karsh Prize for this work.

There's no direct link.

Below, look in Issue 1 May 2008.

Jim

Lawrence Getubig - Action Figure Cutouts

Re-examining the fantasy genres of my childhood, I realized my hero and object of desire has . . .

Lawrence Getubig

Ctein

Have a look at over 300 articles and tutorials for Photoshop Elements.

Also go to Ctein.

Jim

Photoshop Elements 6—It's Not Just for Kids Anymore by Ctein

Elements 6 is neither a trivial nor easily dismissible program; it's a really useful image processor.

Ctein