written by: Tom PersingerIn the past two articles we’ve explored the possibilities of a simple and straightforward DIY (do-it-yourself) large format camera system. We’ve considered optics and camera design, discussing the information necessary to build effective lenses and simple, one shot hyper-focal box cameras. In this article I’d like to introduce you to the use of orthochromatic lithography film in a large format camera as a unique and interesting alternative to conventional black and white sheet film. There are several reasons to try “lith” film for creating in-camera negatives. Chief among them might be cost. A quick comparison shows that a sheet of Read more »
written by: Steve AnchellThere is almost nothing more gratifying to a photographer than to see their work in print. Due to the cost of publication, prior to online digital publishing it was necessary to print a minimum of 2,000 books, and most photographers opted for an even lower cost/per book print run of 5,000, with an initial investment of $20-50K. Today it is easier than ever to publish your work, and more than that, it can be printed on demand. I am going to introduce you to the rudiments of building a book using Adobe Lightroom (LR), one of the easiest programs I Read more »
written by: Roger CicalaWe all use lenses every day. But most of us don’t really know much about them. In fact, most of us don’t even know what it is we don’t know. Here are a few facts that you may find interesting, useful, or amusing. They probably won’t make you a better photographer, but may help you avoid some bad shots or other frustrations. Wide-Aperture Lenses May Have Focus Shift A lot of you already know this one, but if you don’t, read on! Wide-aperture lenses, particularly prime lenses of f/1.4 or f/1.8 may focus very accurately wide open, but if you Read more »
written by: Peter TelloneStyles come and go in everything, even photography. The latest style for black and white seems to be a very high contrast model. The method I want to demonstrate harkens back to a different time, a time when total tonality was king. No I don’t want to live in the past and even though giving an image a wide tonal range might take its cues from the past, it also allows you to use tonality for artistic purpose. Figure 1 In the past when I did my black and white conversions I believed that preserving the luminance (Lightness) of the Read more »
written by: David SaffirA short time ago I was shooting images for my fine art portfolio in the Eastern Sierra Mountains of California. This article describes the main steps of the process from start to finish, from making a successful capture to an outline of fundamentals of raw processing and image editing. Note the flat lighting. The sun was setting to camera left. Clouds were passing overhead, creating changes in brightness, and at times letting some directional light through. The photographer on the left (me) is using a Hasselblad H-series camera with a Phase One back; the photographer on the right (Rick Russell) Read more »
written by: Steve AnchellThis article is about making your LR experience more productive using some of the lesser known techniques and shortcuts. Software is the conduit by which digital photographers create their images. As such, it is good to have access to as many software tools as possible, onOne Perfect Layers, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, Mediachance Dynamic-Photo HDR, Alien Skin Snap Art, and of course, the mother of all digital imaging software, Adobe Photoshop. Even so, I have often said the only software a digital photographer needs is Adobe Lightroom. If you have this one piece of software you can do any Read more »
written by: Dan BurkholderHave you noticed? Photographers are combining images in all sorts of new ways. They use HDR (High Dynamic Range) to combine bracketed exposures, stitch wide panoramas with overlapping images, and shoot multiple images of a scene, changing the focus between each exposure to increase depth of field… this technique is called focus stacking. Lens aperture is commonly used to control depth of field (DOF). In this article, I’m going to explore ways to monstrously increase DOF for landscape or macro photography using focus stacking. If you’ve dallied in HDR imaging you know that shooting a bracketed series of images−from light Read more »
written by: Tom PersingerThe origins of the modern camera predate the birth of photography by over a thousand years. It can be traced back to the Ancient Chinese and Greeks both of whom used the camera obscura to project images into large, dark chambers that people could enter. Once inside they were treated to a magical and fabulous display: the outside world projected upside down and backward on the wall opposing the aperture. A number of important historical thinkers have examined and written about the device: Aristotle, Alhazen, Freiberg, Descarte, Kepler and many others. Notably, in the 13th Century English philosopher and Franciscan Read more »
written by: David SaffirA teacher of mine once told me “nothing matters except your book” –referring of course, to my portfolio. Photographers use portfolios for self-promotion, to share a story or point of view, to help create a body of work, or to establish or reinforce professional identity. The range of options in portfolio design and presentation makes for a number of choices—format, size, paper type, books, boxes, albums, printing processes and more. Other considerations: Budget? How much time to invest? Can new work be added, or can old work easily deleted? How do I pitch my work to different audiences? In this Read more »
written by: Steve DreyerAs a photographer you strive to get it “right” at the time of image capture, so that you have little or even no work to do in post-processing. But there are times when it’s just not possible to technically achieve your vision in the field. Let’s say you want to draw the viewer’s eye to a person, objects or areas in the image by using depth of field techniques. You can create the field of focus by using aperture priority and a large (low number) f-stop with sharp focus on the object you want to stand out. Focus on the Read more »
