Photography forum image of the month – Feb. 2010

Every month on our photography forum members nominate images that they like. Then at the end of the month I choose an excellent image and talk about why it rocks. The photo I choose is not necessarily the best one of the month. I’ve come to realize it’s not really logical to pit images from totally different genres against each other. That’s why there are categories in photo contests. I just choose a photo that has extremely strong elements that we can learn from.

Message delivered by Michaelaw - Click for a larger version

This month’s choice Message delivered is by Michaelaw.

I chose this image for several reasons.

First off look at the great mood Michaelaw has created here. This is no accident; it’s a product of Michael’s attention to the the lighting. This mood helps create the story that ‘makes’ this shot. What IS the story? That’s up to the viewer, it’s helped by the title, but there is a story here. The bottle is without a classic paper message in it, it’s empty save for some water. Who sent it, why? Maybe the beer bottle itself IS the message – “hey I’m on a bender; that’s my message”. Maybe the shot is really about the environment and Man’s lack of concern over it. But there IS a story here, you just have to choose it for yourself.

Compositionally I like this very much. The curved patterned formations in the sand add interest to the shot. The diagonal slant of the bottle with specular edge highlights really give my eye something to cling to. The focus also works very well for me here and I’m digging the background blur. My eye is skillfully guided along the bottle toward the slanted water level collected at the bottom. At bottom of the bottle we see the sun’s reflection and it grabs you.

Exposure is handled very well here with a good range of tones and excellent highlight control.

For all these reasons, this is my choice for image of the month.

Since we all have opinions, some members may disagree with my choice. That’s cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to further critique the image. The purpose here is to suggest strong elements in the photo that we may learn from.

Congrats again Michaelaw for creating this beautiful image!

I’d also like to include these 2 images as honourable mentions as they also came so so close to being picked.

Behind the mask by Chantelle

Day 3 – Banff  by casil403

Tags: fine art photography, image of the month, photography

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• Photography forum image of the month – Jan. 2010
• February 2010 forum assignment – Photography and Song Titles
• What’s Up With Darwin Wiggett?

Let your skills rock the everyday scene

As admin of a growing photography website I look at a good 20-100 photographs most days of the week. The quality of work that I look at (both on our site and other websites) normally ranges from photography enthusiast to pro.

One of the things that separates amateurs from advanced amateurs/pros is the ability to create the image rather than waiting for something spectacular to happen or finding it through serendipity. Getting to this level involves 3 key things that are 100% attainable with a few months of regular practice.

1 – You need to understand basic exposure.
2 – You need to understand basic composition
3 – You need to understand basic lighting.

A person that practices all 3 of these things can create great shots from otherwise mundane scenes. IF they are waiting for something to happen (like waiting for great outdoor light),  they make sure they are waiting at the right time.

Sunset landing by Michael Wollen - Click to see larger version.

The image above by forum member michaelaw (real name Michael Wollen ) is a great example. How many times have we looked up at the sky to watch a plane land in the distance. Likely many times. It’s a common scene. Some might even call it banal. But take a look at THIS image. It is carefully crafted – NO accidents here.

Look at the beautiful light in the sky. Michael waited for this light. Look at the position of the plane in the sky. Michael waited to freeze the plane in that exact spot. Look at the landing pad at the lower part of the image, look at the foliage and shimmering water in the immediate foreground. They are there on purpose. They are there, because Michael put them there. Because Michael put them there at the right time,  in the right place, and exposed the image correctly – This photograph sings and is a pleasure to look at.

Practice the 3 basics listed above and you too will be armed with the skills needed to create great photography from commonplace scenes.

Tags: photography

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78 – Winter photography gear

Photography podcast #78 talks about how to enjoy winter photography. Many photographers avoid shooting in the winter because  it’s too cold and they feel uncomfortable. What a huge mistake. There are so many spectacular winter scenes to photograph and the cold can be tamed with the right gear. The majority of the podcast is dedicated to how to keep your entire body warm on a cold winter day. We talk about shooting at different levels of coldness including very cold temperatures like -20 degrees C (-4 degrees F) and colder. We also touch on tips like avoiding condensation and preserving battery power.

Winter photography gear

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Le Baron – Awesome camping/fishing store in MTL. Great products.
SSG Silk Winter Glove Liners at Amazon
Fox River Four Layer Glomitt on Amazon
Polar Ex Glomitt Fleece Mitten/Gloves – Medium-Gray
Gordini Da GORE-TEX-« Goose II Mittens Mens
Heat Max Hot Hands hh2
Lorpen Hunting Extreme Primaloft Socks on Amazon
Toe-sters battery powered foot warmers

February’s song title to photograph assignment on the Photography.ca forum

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook
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If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to JAS_photo, Micheal van der Tol,  jacklabel, Zenon5940, f8&Bthere, Bambi, Jason, and Fortytwo who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca – Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. I Subscribe with iTunes I Subscribe via RSS feed I Subscribe with Google Reader I Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast – Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: winter photography, winter photography gear

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February 2010 forum assignment – Photography and Song Titles

This month we have one of the best assignments we’ve ever had in our photography forum; images that suggest a song’s title. There are already many extremely creative and well done images in this thread. If you are still lurking on the forum but have a creative idea, now would be a great time to join. Click here to register for free.

Here’s 2 images from the thread. First one is by member Bambi – Sunrise, Sunset (Fiddler on the Roof Cast). Second one is mine; Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon and Garfunkel. Who is the cutie in the frame? That’s yours truly taken in the early seventies when the song was still popular.

Sunrise Sunset by Bambi (T. Alexander-Arab)

Hazy Shade of Winter by Marko Kulik

Tags: photography, photography assignment

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• Photography forum image of the month – Feb. 2010
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Photography forum image of the month – Jan. 2010

Every month on our photography forum members nominate images that they like. Then at the end of the month I choose an excellent image and talk about why it rocks. The photo I choose is not necessarily the best one of the month. I’ve come to realize it’s not really logical to pit images from totally different genres against each other. That’s why there are categories in photo contests. I just choose a photo that has extremely strong elements that we can learn from.

This month’s choice The Conversation is by casil403.

I chose this image for several reasons.
First and foremost, I was drawn in by the unusual angle and point of view of this shot. This angle works very well for me! I love how just above the left statue’s head the office windows are nicely lit. This gives me the feeling of a well-told story, better than the similar story told by the straight on shot seen many, many times. The story is office politics/or work talk etc.

I very much like the lines of the building’s roof and the lines created by the windows. I’m loving this interesting composition. The way that ‘roof-line’ cuts out of the scene to create an isosceles-like triangle at top left (hey I dug geometry) is fan-friggen-tastic. It adds interest to this scene and makes it dynamic.

The sky is beautifully controlled here. It adds flavour to the shot without overwhelming it in any way.

The black and white is very well controlled here and works for me with this subject matter. If I had one teeny nit, I might bring up the highlights in the statues’ faces and hand.

Thousands of people pass these statues every day and scores of tourists are likely snapping away daily… and none of them are likely to lie down on the ground or get on their knees to get this superb angle.

For all these reasons, this is my choice for image of the month.

Since we all have opinions, some members may disagree with my choice. That’s cool but THIS thread is not the place for debate over my pick, NOR is it the place to further critique the image. The purpose here is to suggest strong elements in the photo that we may learn from.

Congrats again casil403 for creating this beautiful image!

Tags: image of the month, photography

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• Photography forum image of the month – Feb. 2010
• February 2010 forum assignment – Photography and Song Titles
• What’s Up With Darwin Wiggett?

Fed Up With Fake Photography ?

Whether an image is “too” photoshopped, or overly retouched is a huge issue for both photographers and non-photographers. We’ve talked about it many times on our forum. It’s an issue for photographers because our medium is in the midst of a dramatic change. Photography has gone digital. Everyone has a digital camera. Every image is fodder for manipulation. Many photographers over-manipulate.

The problem is that there is no consensus on how much manipulation is too much. Some photographers say over manipulation occurs with anything over and above basic editing (contrast and tonal control, cropping and some dodging and burning). Others say we are craftsman and that Photoshop is a tool like any other tool, so there is no limit. (Personally I don’t buy this for a second).

Certainly when you look at a photo, you often cannot tell what level of manipulation was done and nowhere is the level of manipulation revealed. Sometimes though, you can EASILY tell when an image is over-retouched or manipulated.

This is less of a big deal when you are creating a photograph for artistic reasons, but it’s damn serious when young girls want to look like models that don’t exist. The models exist of course but their images are over manipulated to the point of fraud. Impressionable girls want to look like these models hawking beauty-cream. They feel bad/sad when they can’t look like these models. Here is just one recent Newsweek article on this over-manipulation (hat tip to AcadieLibre from our forum). If this trend continues, it won’t be long till we’ll be selling anti-wrinkle cream to ten year olds or freckle remover for red headed babies.  All it will take is a couple of  before and after photos showing the ‘improvement’ in their appearances. Even babies and ten year olds want to feel ‘better’ about themselves.

But people are catching on, they are getting fed up with this manipulation/fraud/cheating. This week in London England, Conservative party leader David Cameron was blasted for a campaign election poster where he looks 20 years younger than he does. Here’s the original poster, a spoof poster and what Cameron looks like on a normal day.

Over manipulation in photography

So what say you? Are you fed up with fake photography………?  Or am I just whining because I have no Elvis hair to style?

Tags: over retouching in photography, over-manipulation in photography, photography

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77 – Neutral density filters – Graduated neutral density filters – Interview with D. Wiggett

Photography podcast #77 features an interview with Darwin Wiggett where we talk about neutral density filters and graduated neutral density filters. Darwin explains why we use these filters and how to use these filters effectively. We discuss hard edge versus soft edge, physical versus software filters, we even talk about reverse graduated neutral density filters. For newbie photographers that have just hatched, Darwin goes over polarizing filters as well.

Left - Screw on neutral density filter. Right - The Cokin system

Left - Lake with no filter. Right - Lake with polarizer and-2-stop hard edge grad. Notice how much 'poppier' this shot is. The grad reduces the sky's intensity. The polarizer adds contrast to the clouds in the sky and intensifies its colour. It also removes the water's reflections thus saturating its colours. © Darwin Wiggett

Left - Tire with Polarizer and-2-stop-hard-grad. Right - Tire with a Polarizing filter plus a 2-stop-hard-edge grad and-a 5-stop solid-ND filter. Note the movement of the foreground brush and the softness in the clouds. This was achieved by using the solid ND filter to get a slow shutter speed. © Darwin Wiggett.

The effect of a polarizer on its own. Left - No polarizing filter. Right - The polarizing filter lets you see through the water by eliminating the water's reflectivity. With the reflections removed, the colour is much more saturated. © Darwin Wiggett

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Seven Rules for Effectively Using a Polarizer
Filters, holders and vignetting: building a filter system that works with your lenses
The Terrific Triple Threat
Fields of Gold (or was that blue?) Three Camera Filters all Digital Photographers Should be Using
Filters for Outdoor Photography
January’s macro or close-up assignment on the Photography.ca forum
Cokin filters at B&H (Disclosure – Aff links – help support our site)
Singh-Ray filters at B&H
Lee filters at B&H

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook
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If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to jacklabel, AcadieLibre and Mars observer who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca – Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. I Subscribe with iTunes I Subscribe via RSS feed I Subscribe with Google Reader I Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast – Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: GND, graduated neutral density filters, ND, neutral density filters, photography, polarizing filters

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What’s Up With Darwin Wiggett?

Good friend to Photography.ca, Darwin Wiggett is offering a very reasonably priced 2 day seminar in Canmore, Alberta on April 24-25 2010.  I’m a HUGE Darwin fan and I highly recommend his work. Although I haven’t yet taken a seminar with Darwin, I expect to within the next year.

Darwin has also just announced a new photo contest (The Canadian Landscape Photo Contest) on his blog where the winning image gets published in Outdoor Photography Canada.

NMP9850 - Cochrane, Alberta - Frosted tree, fence and field near Cochrane, Alberta - © Darwin Wiggett - All rights reserved.

Finally, Darwin will also be featured in our next photography podcast where he will share his insight on neutral density filters and graduated neutral density filters. This podcast should be recorded, edited and published next week so stay tuned for more Darwin.

Tags: Darwin wiggett

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76 – Point and shoot cameras – Review of Canon G11

Photography podcast #76 talks about point and shoot cameras and reviews the Canon G11. We talk about the advantages and limitations of point and shoot cameras. We also talk about the most important reason for photographers to get a point and shoot camera and that reason is NOT quality.  Finally I give a quick review of the Canon G11. I recommend this camera but I’m also brutal about its faults.

Image from Canon G11 - ISO 100, F-7.1, 1/100

Canon G11 manually focused at ISO 100 - Click to see the nice noise

Canon G11 manually focused at ISO 800 - Click to see lots of noise

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Canon G11 at B&H (Disclosure – Aff links – helps support our site)
January’s macro or close-up assignment on the Photography.ca forum

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook
My Facebook profile – Feel free to “friend” me – please just mention Photography.ca
My Twitter page – I will follow you if you follow me – Let’s connect – PLEASE email me and tell me who you are in case I don’t reciprocate because I think you are a spammer.

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Glenn Euloth (Iguanasan), Fortytwo, Crystalb, jacklabel, Bambi, JuiCe and Yisehaq who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca – Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. I Subscribe with iTunes I Subscribe via RSS feed I Subscribe with Google Reader I Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast – Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: Canon G11, point and shoot, point and shoot cameras

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Happy New Year!

Happy new year to all the photographers that read our blog and listen to the podcasts! More photography information is on its way! Feel free to connect with me through this blog or our facebook fan page or twitter!

- Join the new Photography.ca Facebook page
- Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/markokulik

All the best in 2010!

No tag for this post.

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75 – How to buy your first DSLR

Photography podcast #75 is geared toward photography enthusiasts that have not yet purchased their first DSLR camera. It encourages you to save money on your first DSLR camera body because you’ll need it for the lenses and accessories as you improve.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Canon 50D at B&H (Disclosure – Aff links – helps support our site)
Eos Rebel XSI (450D) at B&H
Nikon D3000 at B&H
Photography forum discussion on buying your first DSLR
December’s night photography assignment on the Photography.ca forum

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook
My Facebook profile – Feel free to “friend” me – please just mention Photography.ca
My Twitter page – I will follow you if you follow me – Let’s connect – PLEASE email me and tell me who you are in case I don’t reciprocate because I think you are a spammer.

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Greg Nuspel, Benny, jacklabel, Jimmy Brown, Michael Van der Tol, Aaron Hockley, raiven, Antz, Dominic, Bambi, Fortytwo, Crystalb, Yisehaq and Kent Wilson  who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca – Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. I Subscribe with iTunes I Subscribe via RSS feed I Subscribe with Google Reader I Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast – Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: Buying your first DSLR

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Adding the copyright © symbol to photos

Do you ever search for something repeadly, forgetting the “trick” to the answer you’ve already searched. This has happened to me a few times to me already when I want to add the copyright symbol © to an image.

© © © © ©

Searching on Google says just press ALT while pressing the numbers 0169, so you try it and it doesn’t work. WHY?

HERE’S THE TRICK – On my Windows machine running Vista at least, the 0169 MUST BE PRESSED FROM THE NUMBER PAD NOT the line of numbers above the letters.

Just as an FYI this © symbol by pressing ALT while pressing 0169 works in Photoshop, Word, Notepad and likely many other programs.

Tags: adding the copyright symbol, copyright symbol

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