Category: General (Page 4 of 6)

We got some ice in Houston overnight.  As this city rarely sees wintery weather, it is ill-equipped to handle it.  As such, the city pretty much shuts down and people generally stay home.  If the city planned a little better, maybe shutting down wouldn’t have had to have been an option…   Let’s get back to the subject at hand.

I realized today that I needed some more practice with the mixer brush if I was going to get some good results on my digital project.  So, that’s what I did today and I ended up with this:

Click Image to Enlarge

Ok, I’m going to toot my own horn here and say that this is probably one of the most sophisticated pieces I’ve produced using Photoshop (aside from some logos I did a few years ago).  I got some elements of highlight and shadow, along with some shading.  I didn’t pay too much attention to elements of composition and concentrated more on the use of the mixer brush.  I think I may be getting on to something.

Here’s something a little along the lines of Rothko. What do you think?

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2011. The past year brought some changes to my style and helped deepen my thinking when it comes to photography. This new year promises to bring new opportunities for me. I will soon be pursuing some new avenues to help my work grow and become more meaningful – not only to me but hopefully all of you as well. Thanks for all your support and comments and let’s go into 2011 with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Welcome to the new home for the Rick’s Picture Corner blog.  As you can see I’ve registered the domain and moved the entire blog.  This new blog is on a WordPress engine.  While I’m not totally familiar with how it differs from Google’s Blogger service, I’m sure the adjustment period will be minimal.  The Primordial Light gallery will be coming to this domain soon as well, although I think the name will have to change with the move.  Anyway, welcome once again and I hope you enjoy what you read here.

About a month or 2 ago someone posted the following question on Facebook – “Are you a photographer or a Photoshopper? That is the question.” I asked him to define what he meant by each term and the response was that a Photoshopper was someone who used digital or analog tools to manipulate an picture to make it great, while a “professional” photographer always got the great images straight from the camera.

Of course, this started a back and forth about the definition of a “professional” – I contended that it meant one who does it for money, a point to which this person would not concede. I think he was trying to say “good” or “great” but he stuck with his original term. When I pointed out that many people use digital and/or analog tools to manipulate a picture (even such greats as Jerry Uelsmann and Ansel Adams), he still insisted that one should be able to get great images straight out of the camera.

I attempted to steer the discussion toward his shooting format, at which point he immediately cut off debate. I am of the impression that he shoots all his photos in the .jpg file format, which right there nullifies his entire argument. Jpeg photos always seem to look good when they come out of the camera because the camera itself performs processing on the image to enhance color, contrast, brightness, etc. The problem with this approach to photography is that once the camera has processed the image, that information is locked into place, which makes manipulation in the case of problems a much more difficult task.

Anyone who has worked in a dark room can attest to the fact that the entire process of printing from a negative is nearly all manipulation. You need to manipulate the exposure time on the enlarger, check the time in the developer to make sure it is not over or under developing, stop the chemical process, fix the paper, wash and then you can check to see if you need to make any adjustments to the contrast or do any burning or dodging. And this is all after you have printed test strips to narrow down the proper times needed. When it comes to color processing, a lot of time can be spent manipulating the filters on the enlarger to get the perfect color balance in a photograph. With automatic color processors you have to wait until each successive print is complete before it can be checked. Keep in mind, also, that no two shots on the same roll of film will have the same filter settings.

Even shooting the picture is mostly a process of manipulation. The shot needs to be composed above all. Even those who take nothing but snapshots perform rudimentary composition. Someone with a single lens reflex will have to think about depth of field as well. Only after the photographer has thought about the shot can the mechanics of photography (setting the aperture, shutter speed, focus, etc) be employed to capture the photograph.

Point-and-shoot digital cameras have image processors built into the camera. This gives us what it thinks is the best image (and often it’s correct, but not always). Many people with DSLR cameras also shoot in jpeg format, which uses the built-in image processor. When you shoot in RAW format, however, there is no image processing done inside the camera. The only processing that goes on is the RAW data into a format that can be read by software. It’s in RAW format that we find the ability to use software to manipulate the image’s color balance, contrast, brightness, etc to create the great images that make everyone go ‘ooooh‘. And keep in mind, these programs are tools, the biggest difference is that the photographer is processing the image in front of a computer screen rather than a dimly light room while breathing in fumes from chemicals of varying levels of toxicity.

In summary, it would appear that this person sees photography as more a mechanical activity that requires some aptitude than a creative process. In the early days photography was considered by many a mechanical activity as well, an attitude that slowly changed over many decades. While knowledge of the the mechanical aspects is important (they are important in all the visual arts), photography requires imagination and creativity in the use of the mechanics (both before and after shooting) in order to create a compelling photograph. Of course, it’s also up to the photographer to be as engaged as he or she wants to be in the process. To this I say creating a great image requires engagement from inspiration to the mounting of the final print.

What are your thoughts?

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been over 3 months since I’ve posted here. Life has a way of interrupting your progress. Let’s start from where I am right now.

This semester I’m taking Photography II once again. This time it’s with a different professor and instead of color we are shooting black and white again. This time, however, she wants me printing my work on fiber paper. I’m also being given a cursory introduction to the zone system as well as getting a chance to work with a 4×5 view camera. The view camera is definitely something I am looking forward to using.

At this point we’re almost halfway through the semester (I told you it’s been a while) and I’ve turned in the project dealing with the zone system. I won’t go into the details of the project itself but I will say I was rather amazed at some of the results I got, especially since the exposures on the different items seemed counterintuitive. I may have to look further into the concept of the zone system, but that will probably wait until after the semester is over.

Currently I am doing a project on documenting, via photographs, a dream I recently had. This is proving to be a fun little exercise since I get to use my lensbaby in giving the images a dream-like feel. The first shots were actually developed today and are being scanned as I type this. I also made 2 paper prints off the roll in class. I’m curious to see what kind of reactions I get from the other students (all the other students are in Photography I and their current project – landscapes – is nowhere near as fun). You’ll be able to see some of my work over at mt flickr page with my favorite pieces being cross-posted to Primordial Light.

Well, that’s pretty much it for now. I’ve got some work to do as the scans are almost completed. The first dream roll was shot on the reformulated Tri-X 400 film and I must say I am very impressed with the results so far. To all of you I bid you a good night.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Kim Odle to the team here at Rick’s Picture Corner. Kim hails from the great State of Texas. She is a mother of 2 with a Bachelor’s of Art in Interdisciplinary Studies from Hillsdale FWB College. Kim is currently working on her first novel (which I can’t wait to read) and, best of all, is an amateur shutter bug with an appreciation for photography.

I can’t wait to read what she has to say about photography from her own perspective.

Welcome to Rick’s Picture Corner, Kim.

I don’t know why, but a lot of times I find photos with minimalist subjects to be some of my favorites. When I see one subject in the photo it often leaves me to wonder what the artist was thinking by not including any other elements. Does he only want to convey one thing? Perhaps he or she is leaving it up to our imaginations for what the image means. Or perhaps there is a more complex relationship between the subject and the space around it. I have started to develop a little more vision for minimalist type photos.

The image above is one I took on Saturday. The vent fan is the subject. It is surrounded by negative space, in this case it’s the sky. There is a relationship between the vent fan and the air, as well all know. The wind blows, turns the fan, which in turn pulls warm air from the attic and vents it out to the sky. But the beauty is we can’t see this action. It is left to our imaginations what is actually going on. The fan was turning slighty when I pressed the shutter, but I decided to not trying to capture the motion. Here I want you to wonder if the vent fan is fulfilling its purpose.

The above image was also taken on Saturday. This is one of a pair of sandals that my puppies got their teeth into early into their lives at my house. I have no idea where the right sandal is anymore, but that’s beside the point. Here we have the one subject that, rather than be surrounded by negative space, is shown surrounded by grass. Here I wanted to show the sandal in its permanent environment as part of the outdoor dog-toy collection. The shoe itself is all but forgotten, as the puppies moved on to chewing other toys, leaving this one in solitude. But if you realize that if I hadn’t told you the story behind why this lone shoe is sitting in the grass, you could be left to wonder… did something horrible happen? Did somebody lose their shoe? Is this a testimony on the wastefullness of some people. There are a number of questions as to why it’s there and the grass, although not part of the subject, adds to the mystery of the lone shoe.

As my vision evolves I’m starting to think about the relationships between elements more and more. It’s interesting what our mind’s eye can come up with sometimes.

Any comments, suggestions, or critiques are welcome.

… comes from many sources. On Monday it was a perfect storm when my computer containing my income tax information developed issues, I contracted a cold, and I was still a couple of prints short for my digital project in Photography II. I filed for an extension, drank a lot of fluids, sweated A LOT, and stayed up until 2 am trying to get 4 suitable prints from my Epson Stylus 925. Don’t get me wrong, the 925 is a good home printer, but not good enough for a college project.

Did I mention I missed a test for my anatomy course? Yep, I sure did. I hope the professor will cut me a break and let me make it up. My computer crash demanded my attention as I was seriously freaking out about my income taxes. There is a chance that I can pass with a ‘C’ while receiving a 0 (zero) on the test, but to do that I’m going to have to kill the final lab exam and the final course exam. Nothing like a little pressure…

At any rate, this isn’t a touchy-feely blog about my emotions, this is about my photography, so let’s get to it. It took a while to go through all the photos from Saturday. As I said, the proportion of keepers to junkers was rather low. Most of the bands used the red lights while they were on stage. This was my baptism by fire that red light is a pain in the ass to shoot. I had read about it, but this was the first time it really affected my photos. I’m not quite sure as to the physics behind it, but I do know it’s not very fun.

As for more keepers, here are a couple that were taken in the challenging red light:

Both photos are of the death metal band Hate Eternal. The person in the top photo is Erik Rutan, who is a living legend within the death metal community. The bottom photo is Jade Simonetto, of whom I know very little except that he is the drummer for Hate Eternal.

Ok, now you know who they are, let’s talk about the photos. Mr. Rutan had a 2 different colors shining on him through his set – red and yellow. This gave him a fiery presence on the stage, but oh boy was it a pain to shoot him through that. In most of the photos the yellow highlights were blown off the histogram and there was no way to recover them. Using Aperture I was able to recover some of the highlights here, but this was 1 of only 2 of Erik Rutan I was able to keep.

In Jade’s case, this one came out exactly as seen, which was really surprising. I’m guessing it had something to do with the fact that he was bathed in red light and only red light, which didn’t confuse my camera sensor. I was particularly proud of this photo since I was able to get a level of detail in the drummer than is usually possible without getting on stage.

At any rate, those were a couple of keepers from the pile of 800. Before I went to the show, I did walk around downtown Houston for a little bit and took some photos. Here is some random eye candy for you:

Downtown Houston from the west bank of Buffalo Bayou.

Cupid displaying his trophy. This is part of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Bayou Bend Collection.

A back door to an Asian food distributor in the old Warehouse District of Houston. I like this one particularly for it’s composition.

As always, comments are welcome and encouraged so as to foster my growth as a photographer.

* – By the way, “The Sharp Carousel” has moved. The new blog name is “Mark Alan” and is now in the “Other Cool Blogs” section to the right. If you are not familiar with Mark, he does some very creative and very cool self-portrait work. Check him out, you won’t be sorry.

Concert photography marks one of my more frustrating endeavors. Sometimes I get it right on and other times (more often) I fail miserably with some shots. I changed tactics with a show I did a couple of weeks ago and set my camera to burst mode.

Before I used to always take my shot in one-shot mode and then wait for my next opportunity. Needless to say with AI Servo mode that it was really easy to lose a shot if the lens was focused on something other than the performer such as the microphone stand or the neck of the guitar. I found in the Since The Flood show that using burst mode would yield me at least one good picture in a given series of shutter actuations since the AI servo focus is constantly adjusting.
That leads me to the frustration of last night. The show was at Warehouse Live in the old warehouse district of downtown Houston, TX. It’s a nice venue and it’s the first time I’ve had a chance to shoot there. I did get some good shots, but here my big issue was lighting. Some of my shots that would have really kicked butt were the worst in terms of lighting. I took a little over 800 pictures last night, but the proportion of good to bad was really low in relation to the Since The Flood show.

I’m still in the process of going through the images. Hopefully soon I’ll have some of them up on my Flickr page. Here is an example of one where my skill with the use of existing lighting resulted in a bad picture:

This is Nothing, vocalist for the band Mushroomhead. This dead-on shot resulted in a level of noise that was completely unacceptable. The problem for me was that he posed for me to take this shot and the moment was gone as he had a show to perform. I tried to lower the noise level in AKVIS Noise Buster and got this result:

The noise level dropped significantly, but this was the best I could do with the noise and still keep the detail of the shot. The blown highlights and color aberrations also would need extensive Photoshop work to make this a serviceable photograph. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed. But the best part is I got a great shot of Nothing earlier in the evening:

At any rate, I do need to get some more of these shots processed. As always, comments are welcome and encouraged so I can grow as a photographer.