93 – Black and white photography – qualities that make good bw images

January 31, 2011 By 6 Comments

Photography podcast #93 is based on a thread in our photography forum by member asnow where he asks about the qualities make a good black and white photo. A number of other forum members help answer the question and I offer up some personal opinions as well. One‚piece‚of good advice involves learning to see in black and white using a digital camera. Most digital cameras can capture the image in colour but SHOW it to you on your camera’s screen in black and white. This allows you to learn how coloured tones under a given light look in black and white. (Look up the word monochrome in your camera’s instruction manual for instructions on how to do this). Live view is also fantastic as it shows you how the scene will look in BW even before you click the shutter. (Many thanks to asnow, raven4ns, Wicked Dark and Andrew for their contributions to the thread and podcast.)

Snow Tracks - Marko Kulik

Snow Tracks - Marko Kulik

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

The Zone System – Wikipedia | The Zone system on Luminious landscape
Wicked Dark’s article Black and White 101
Emotion is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Backlighting is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum
If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( ‚ A ‚ T ‚) G m ail ‚Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

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 kawarthabob, and kat‚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. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

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. |Subscribe with iTunes |Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader |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.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: Photographs, Photography podcasts, Photography tips, podcasting Tagged With: , ,

Vintage photo of the day Jan. 17, 2011

January 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The vintage photo of the day is from the series Portugal by Master Czech photographer Josef Koudelka and was taken in 1976. Koudelka is well known for his work photographing Gypsies in Slovakia and Romania as well as capturing the daily‚interactions‚of people from many different (mostly) European countries.

Joseph Koudelka - Portugal - 1976

Joseph Koudelka - Portugal - 1976

What attracts us to this image is the sense of story combined with brilliant composition. I don’t know what the story is here but it’s a drama. Older man waits in background with a shadowed profile overlooking a private conversation. The woman is smiling in profile, perhaps trying to soothe or coax the young girl, and the child is concerned. What is happening to her? For me, this scene is filled with tension.

Compositionally, this image is a master-class. Angular lines add to the tension in the image. Triangles (our eyes love‚triangles) are everywhere . Corners, angled light rays, noses, table ends, knee bends, elbows are just a few of the triangles that we see. Look harder and you’ll see more of them…it’s no accident that they are there. Even the interaction (both obvious and subtle) between the 3‚individuals‚is triangular. Some fine black and white printing with a rich assortment of tones further‚adds to this image’s impact.

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Photo of the day Jan. 13, 2011

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Winter is a great time to capture black and whites because most of the colours are covered in snow. ‚It’s also a great time to shoot lines and patterns for the same reason; the lack of colour emphasizes their forms. The lines, angles and contrast caught my eye when I spotted this bench and I was happy to have the G11 with me. This was a tricky shot because it was later in the day (less light) and I was holding ‚a loaf of bread and a pie in the other hand as I shot this. While this was on the screen I knew that I’d likely prefer the shot if it were flipped as it would make it more abstract.

Bench Lines - ‚© Marko Kulik

Bench Lines - ‚© Marko Kulik

Filed Under: Photo of the day, Photographs, Photography blog entries Tagged With: ,

92 – My damn lenses keep vignetting – solving vignetting problems

January 10, 2011 By 4 Comments

Photography podcast #92 talks about solving vignetting which is the unwanted darkening around the edges or corners in your photographs. We talk about 2-3 very common reasons why even professional lenses that cost a fortune, STILL suffer from vignetting in certain cases. ‚We also talk about why many people never notice the vignetting in their photographs even though it’s often there.

Mechanical or filter vignetting

This is mechanical vignetting of a shot of the sky on my F2.8 24mm wide angle lens and is due to too many filters in front of the lens. Shot at left at F2.8. Stopping down to F 5.6 (right shot) ‚helps slightly. A better solution here is to simply use less filters, or wider ones.

Optical vignetting

Optical vignetting on neutral subject. Shot at left is at F-5.6 focused on infinity using the 300mm end of my 28-300 zoom. Shot at right is at F-11 focused on infinity using the 300mm end of my 28-300 zoom‚and the vignetting is almost gone. Both images shot without filters of any kind. This type of vignetting can occur in some cases on almost any DSLR lens regardless of price.‚Listening‚to the podcast explains why this happens.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Cambridge in Colour article on lenses
Wider Cokin Z filter holders at B&H
Step up rings at B&H
Adapter rings at B&H
Emotion is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Backlighting is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

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 Jack Label and Sevenwords‚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. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

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. |Subscribe with iTunes |Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader |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.

Happy New Year everyone and only the best for 2011 – thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: Photographs, Photography podcasts, Photography tips, podcasting Tagged With: , ,

Vintage photo of the day Jan. 8, 2011

January 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The vintage photo of the day is called Saint-Cloud (a suburb of Paris, France) by Eugene Atget and was taken in the early 1920′s. Atget is well known for for documenting the landscape, urbanscape, parks and street scenes and of ” Old” Paris‚in the late 1800′s and early part of the twentieth century.

Saint-Cloud by Eugene Atget 1921-1922

Saint-Cloud by Eugene Atget 1921-1922

Although newer photographers might look at this image and go “meh”, there’s actually lots of interesting stuff to look at due to the careful composition. The repeating cone-shaped trees and their shadows are the focal points of the image and their shapes are somewhat repeated by the other trees in the background. Great use of leading lines and shapes created in both the positive and negative areas of this photograph make it far more intriguing than it initially seems.

The‚George‚Eastman‚house also has quite a good collection of Atget photographs for those that want to see more of this Master’s work.

http://www.geh.org/fm/atget/htmlsrc/atget_sld00001.html

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Photography forum image of the month ‚œ December 2010

January 4, 2011 By 2 Comments

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.

Golden Glitter by Donna

Golden Glitter by Donna

This month’s choice is‚Golden Glitter by Donna

I chose this image for several reasons:

Composition – I just love the composition here, it’s so pleasing to the eye. The rule of thirds is working well for me here with approximately 1/3 foreground, 1/3 midground and 1/3 background when you look horizontally. When you look vertically it’s a classic 1/3rd left and 2/3rds to the right. Some people scoff at the rule of thirds….scoff away…if the horse were centered here, the image would not be as visually interesting. The horse was likely deliberately captured in an excellent spot which is the brightest spot in the image. Our eye goes right to the horse. The water line in the midground is another interesting element.

Colour palette/tonal quality – These are WOW colours for me even though they are quite contrasty in parts of the image. The colour palette is golden warm, well balanced, and the tones are harmonious.

Lighting/exposure – This is tricky lighting which means tricky exposure and it is very well handled. The backlighting/sidelighting on the horse has just enough detail on its side to make it interesting and provide a bit of reflection in the water. The head is partially silhouetted which adds drama and grabs our eye as previously mentioned.

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 Donna for capturing this gorgeous scene!

Filed Under: Image of the month, Photographs, Photography blog entries Tagged With: ,

Photography forum image of the month – December 2010

January 4, 2011 By 2 Comments

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.

Golden Glitter by Donna

Golden Glitter by Donna

This month’s choice is Golden Glitter by Donna

I chose this image for several reasons:

Composition – I just love the composition here, it’s so pleasing to the eye. The rule of thirds is working well for me here with approximately 1/3 foreground, 1/3 midground and 1/3 background when you look horizontally. When you look vertically it’s a classic 1/3rd left and 2/3rds to the right. Some people scoff at the rule of thirds….scoff away…if the horse were centered here, the image would not be as visually interesting. The horse was likely deliberately captured in an excellent spot which is the brightest spot in the image. Our eye goes right to the horse. The water line in the midground is another interesting element.

Colour palette/tonal quality – These are WOW colours for me even though they are quite contrasty in parts of the image. The colour palette is golden warm, well balanced, and the tones are harmonious.

Lighting/exposure – This is tricky lighting which means tricky exposure and it is very well handled. The backlighting/sidelighting on the horse has just enough detail on its side to make it interesting and provide a bit of reflection in the water. The head is partially silhouetted which adds drama and grabs our eye as previously mentioned.

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 Donna for capturing this gorgeous scene!

Filed Under: Image of the month, Photographs, Photography blog entries Tagged With: ,

Vintage photo of the day Jan. 3, 2011

January 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today’s vintage photo of the day is called The Photojournalist by Andreas Feininger and was taken in 1951. It has become an iconic portrait and the subject is photojournalist David Stock who won a photojournalism competition. Feininger shot the image‚for Life Magazine where he worked for decades.

Feininger is perhaps best known for his‚architectural‚ and street shots of New York City in the forties and fifties. This portrait does not represent Feininger’s average subject matter and yet it is amongst his most famous photographs for many good reasons.

The Photojournalist by Andreas Feininger - 1951

The Photojournalist by Andreas Feininger - 1951

What draws us to this photograph is obviously the unique way it’s presented. The Leica camera is turned to one side so that the lens and viewfinder act as the subject’s eyes. Both lenses have specular highlights which mimic the catchlights seen in portraits. In addition, the image is beautifully printed with rich blacks and whites with detail. The eye is skillfully guided to the focal points (lens and viewfinder) in this image, likely through selective dodging and burning (selective darkening and lightening of specific parts of the image). It’s the combination of technical skill and well thought out composition that make this image superb.

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Photo of the day – Dec. 30, 2010

December 30, 2010 By 2 Comments

A friend of mine is moving out of his place with a great view of Downtown Montreal in 2 days so I was lucky enough to get one last crack to shoot a night scene.  As it happens there’s also something called Spheres Polaires in town and the spheres add to the image.

Montreal Night Scene - Marko Kulik

Montreal Night Scene - Marko Kulik

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Vintage photo of the day – Dec. 27, 2010

December 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Today’s vintage photograph of the day by master photographer Ernst Haas, is titled Binoculars and it was taken in Battery Park, NY in 1952. Haas is well known for adopting colour early on in his career before many of his contemporaries. Famous Haas colour photographs include slow motion studies.

A Haas quote that I really dig is, “The best pictures differentiate themselves by nuances‚¦a tiny relationship ‚ either a harmony or a disharmony – that creates a picture.”

Binoculars by Ernst Haas - 1952

Binoculars by Ernst Haas - 1952

This photograph works on‚multiple‚levels which is likely why it works so well.
The‚binoculars‚themselves look like human faces so we are‚immediately‚attracted to that aspect. However, other elements also make this image interesting. These elements include the fence and the buildings in the background. For me, the fence, binoculars and background buildings represent the fact that ‘making it’ in New York is difficult. The fence separates you from the buildings but you can see them through the binoculars. Getting there, is a battle…but if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

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Photo of the day – Dec. 22, 2010

December 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

Because Montreal now has snow everywhere, here’s another snowy shot; this time it’s a cat.

Yesterday I was dog walking Zeusy, and a cat spotted this 7 pound terror. Zeus started barking insanely but the cat barely moved. (That’s one of the things I love about cats btw. Unlike dogs that waste their energy willy-nilly, cats will only ‘waste’ energy if they have to). All the cat did was get up from where is was resting, locked focus on the dog, and raised it’s hackles (back fur) which made its body bigger. Basically the cat was saying, “you want a piece of ‚this, come and get it, but I ain’t moving!”

And that’s what drew me to the shot. It’s the cat’s gesture that helps suggest a story.

Cat with Raised Hackles

Cat with Raised Hackles

I should also mention that after we took the shot and moved on the cat sat right back down to rest in the snow.

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Vintage photo of the day ‚œ Dec. 18, 2010

December 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The vintage photograph of the day is titled Shell by master Edward Weston and it was shot 83 years ago in 1927. Weston was well known for capturing everyday objects in unique ways and many of his everyday inanimate objects take on human body positions and gestures. Pepper No. 30 is another extremely famous Weston photo that also looks human.

One of the things that makes this photograph fabulous is the ‘gesture’ of the shell. It looks like it’s engaged in resting and normally shells aren’t ‘engaged’ in anything because they are dead. This shell however does not look dead, it looks sexy. The sharpness, composition and lighting are also superb here. Just as an FYI, Weston shot many different shells and they all tell‚different‚stories.

Shell by Edward Weston - 1927

Shell by Edward Weston - 1927

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