Photography.ca

Photography forum image of the month December 2011

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:43:39 +0000

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.

The Peace Bridge - At Last! by JAS_Photo

This month’s choice is (click to see the larger version of this image) The Peace Bridge – At Last! by JAS_Photo

I chose this image for several reasons:

1 – Composition – This is a very strong composition and the bridge itself acts as a fantastic leading line. It guides our eye beautifully into the image. In addition, aside from the shape of the bridge itself, there are also other “mini-shapes” in the bridge itself as well as all around the image. These other mini-shapes add a lot of interest to the image.

2 – Tones and post processing – The bridge itself is selectively coloured in this image and I like that very much in this case. I feel it works and offers a new take on what is likely a heavily photographed piece of infra-structure. For me it suggests ‘something new’ being introduced into a city. The desaturation of the background compliments the bridge and really makes the bridge pop.

3 – Story and perspective – This bridge is still a work in progress and we can see a crane in the background that suggests this. We see the bridge “moving” toward the background which suggests to me something new being introduced to something older. The angle or perspective from which the image was taken was very well chosen to suggest this story.

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 JAS_Photo for creating this wonderful image!

103 – Photography umbrella for rain and snow

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:11:54 +0000

Photography podcast #103 talks about a wet weather photography umbrella contraption that I recently put together. Basically it’s a GIANT golf umbrella and a sling.
I’ve been shooting a lot in the rain and snow lately and sometimes you need to have both hands free. This umbrella contraption allows you to keep both hands on the camera and works well in heavy rain or snow so long as it’s not too windy.

This giant 68" double canopy Gustbuster golf umbrella in a sling gives you close to 30 inches of dry shooting when it's not too windy.

A close-up of the sling I purchased from brellabag.com - It's pricey at $30. but works well when the sling is loaded with heavier items like a long lens or bottle of water.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
- Golftown.com
- Gustbuster umbrellas
- Brellabag.com
- Podcast #88 – Rain photography
- “Lights” is our regular forum assignment for December
- Ugly ducklings – looking for beauty in everything is our level 2 assignment for December

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Thanks to cartman75, Benny and Gale who posted blog comments 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.

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Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

Photography forum image of the month November 2011

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:54:04 +0000

Fight Club! by Lizardqing

This month’s choice is (click to see the larger version of this image) Fight Club! by Lizardqing

I chose this image for several reasons:

1 – Timing/Decisive moment. You gotta have a quick trigger finger to catch a moment like this or you will miss it. We’ve all missed fab opportunities like this, or misframed opportunities like this; good on Lizardquing for this fab capture.

2 – Composition – I really like the composition here. It is especially impressive given the speed needed to catch this image. I really like the faun at the right side as well as the position of the trees.

3 – Exposure/lighting/colour – Exposure looks very good here and could easily have been missed given the lighting. Good choice of shutter-speed to keep things fairly sharp but still reveal motion in the deers’ front legs. Lovely colour palette as well. The lighting is wonderful in this image, good on Lizardqing for being there early enough to capture.

Congrats again Lizardqing for capturing this wonderful moment!

102 – Layering images with interesting elements

admin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:43:59 +0000

Photography podcast #102 discusses layering your photographs with interesting elements. This involves serious attention to the overall composition of every frame that you take.
If you are taking a shot of a mountain for example, there’s always more to the shot than just the mountain. When you are aware of what’s around the mountain and take the time to “layer” the image with interesting elements, the composition as a whole gets much stronger. We also touch on how to refine those “layered elements” in post processing.

Athabaska River Reflecting Pools at Sunrise by Marko Kulik - Banff National Park - Alberta, Canada. As you can see this shot is about more than just the mountain which is in the background. The foreground, midground and background "layered" elements all contribute to the overall composition in this scene.

Sometimes you feel like a nut - Image by Lisa Couldwell. Even scenes using larger apertures benefit from "layered elements". Here, Lisa focuses on the nut medallion but the tire in the background is a repeating shape that adds interest to the image. The diagonal lines in the image help to guide your eye. The composition here is very deliberate.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
- Improving boring landscapes
- Images that compliment SONG titles or Book titles is our regular forum assignment for November
- Intentional camera movement is our level 2 assignment for November

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

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

Thanks to Scorpio_e, Melissa Dorner, Josh G, Mathias, Avital Pinnick, Henry. b, and Jill bayer who posted blog comments 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.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

Photography forum image of the month October 2011

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:54:34 +0000

Autumn Web by Richard

This month’s choice is (click to see the larger version of this image) Autumn Web by Richard

I chose this image for several reasons:

1 – Planning and execution – This striking image is the result of planning, it didn’t “just happen” and it wasn’t a quick snap. The lighting, comp and post-processing are all well thought out here. The result is a striking moody fall image.

2 – Composition – details – postprocessing – Lovely rendered details like the spider as well as the spider’s web all contribute to the composition here. Spider is framed nicely between the red leaves and against the backlight. The postprocessing including the vignette and possible selective sharpening are guiding our eyes thoughtfully without distractions.

3 – Lighting – Mood – Backlighting is a challenging light to deal with, but Richard balances it well with off camera flash. The end result is an image with a lovely mood that would likely have felt too dark without the added light.

4 – Selective focus – A wide aperture is well used here to get the dreamy background bokeh. It adds another ‘layer’ to the image.

Congrats again Richard for creating this striking image!

101 – Moving your camera during the exposure – Interview with Michael Orton

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:51:52 +0000

Photography podcast #101 features an interview with one of my favorite photographers, fine art photographer Michael Orton. In this podcast we talk about deliberately moving your camera during the exposure. Normally, this is FORBIDDEN and you do everything in your power to keep the camera as still as possible while shooting. But Michael has a very unique way of seeing and has again broken the rules. He has created a unique and fabulous new portfolio of one-of-a-kind abstract landscape images, by way of compound camera movements that I now refer to as Orton Compound Camera Movements or OCCM. This podcast discusses deliberate camera movements for creative effect.

Michael Orton is a fine art photography pioneer. First he created Orton Imagery, AKA the Orton effect some 30ish years ago. This technique has been used by tens of thousands of photographers and has become so popular that Adobe Elements 10 now features an action called the Orton Effect. I’d bet hard that Michael’s technique involving compound camera movements also develops a cult-like following in the years to come. Thanks so much Michael!

: Awakening by Michael Orton – The abstract painterly feel to this image was created IN CAMERA by using OCCM (Orton’s compound camera movements).

: Michael Orton at ‘Work’ – Image by Marko Kulik

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
- Michael Orton Photography
- Michael Orton’s feature on Photography.ca
- 67 – Orton Imagery – The Orton Effect – Interview with Michael Orton and Darwin Wiggett – Podcast #67
- Photographing Creative Landscapes by Michael Orton: Simple Tools for Artistic Images and Enhanced Creativity

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

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

Thanks to Patrick, Bambi and Glenn Euloth who posted blog comments 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.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

100 – Shoot in any light

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:38:29 +0000

Photography podcast #100 celebrates our 100th photography podcast and focuses on the tag line of the podcast which is ‘keep on shooting’ in any light.

I’d like to take this moment to thank all our listeners! Your support and encouragement during these past 100 episodes has been awesome. Thanks for all the feedback, all the comments and all the contributions. Special thanks as well to all the guests that have shared their knowledge so freely. More interviews are planned for the future.

In this podcast I offer up tips on how to shoot in any light so long as it suits the subject.

: I shot this image at about 2pm. The light that most of the ducks were resting in was bright and harsh. Had I shot this duck in that direct light, the shadows would have been too harsh. This particular duck though was resting under a shelter that softened the light and the soft light suited this subject far better and holds details in the blacks and the whites. Straight shot – No flash was used here.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
- How to photograph with hard light – Podcast #97
- Rain photography – Podcast #88
- Studio lighting for beginners – Podcast #33
- September’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Yellow
- September’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Macros of any kind

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

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

Thanks to Rob vE, Rich, Anuj, Photo art cafe and Best who posted blog comments 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.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

Mois De La Photo in Montreal 2011 – First Impressions

admin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:25:11 +0000

This Saturday I spent about 3-4 hours going to different exhibitions that make up Mois De La Photo (Photo Month) in Montreal. I’m not fond of writing about things I don’t like, I MUCH prefer to select a few things that I do like and write about those.

I was disappointed in the work that I saw overall. I saw about 8-10 exhibitions and I won’t name them. It wasn’t because the work was bad or anything, it just was not my cup of tea. Almost everything I saw was dark-themed, abstract, overly-intellectualized, and WAY too experimental imo. I have nothing against experimental, but imagine if 99% of everything you heard at the Montreal Jazz fest was experimental….it would suck for most people. People expect festivals that they go to, to somewhat represent their idea of what the festival is about. Of the 8 Exhibitions, 3 of them had videos…Video is not photography. I DO have an open mind BTW; I guess I just would have liked even a teeny representation of the work that I saw to be similar to the fine art photography that I like to see.

So at the end of the day, I guess my issue is with the Title, “Mois de la photo”. Such a conventional title, it makes you think you will be seeing ‘some’ conventional photography. You will not (as far as I can tell from my sample). I’d much rather they title the thing Experimental photo Month.

Of the 8 exhibitions I saw, the only one I liked a bit was The Dead by Jack Burman. Large prints of dead people preserved in formaldehyde. Not trying to be facetious here, but Burman’s exhibition was one of the most concrete, and “accessible” ones. You know full well what you are looking at.

: Image from ‘The Dead’ by Jack Burman

Photography forum image of the month August 2011

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:49:47 +0000

My Little Friend by Wicked Dark

This Month’s choice is (click to see the large version of this image) My Little Friend by Wicked Dark.

I chose this image for several reasons:

Sharpness – It’s difficult to get this level of sharpness when doing macro work and the sharpness on the crawler here is wonderful and very striking! On the opposite end the background out of focus elements also work well to isolate the primary subject.

Composition – All eyes are on the bug here and this is due to good composition with almost no distractions. The curved part of the crawler is well seen due to the comp and the diagonal branch at right act as a frame and helps keep our eyes on the most important element.

Colour/Lighting – The image busts with colour due to shooting in softer light along with some (likely) processing to enhance the greens.

Congrats again Wicked Dark for capturing this striking crawler.

99 – Controlling brightness in photography

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:33:02 +0000

Photography podcast #99 discusses how to control brightness in your images. Our eye tends to follow or rest upon bright objects in a photograph and very often these objects or elements are not the focal point of the image thus causing our eyes to wander.

Controlling the brighter elements in a scene takes some planning during shooting, and some work in post-processing but ultimately your images will be stronger. You’ll also have way more control over the final image where you the creator of the image guide the viewer’s eye purposefully.

Brightness is well controlled in this image. Along with compositional curves, part of what makes this image work is that other bright elements in the scene are not competing with the bride. All eyes are on her as she makes her entrance. Image by Dominic Fuizzotto

Image by Richard Sparey - This lovely image of delicious pears suffers slightly from what I call weak edges. This causes our eye to wander out of the frame. It's more noticeable on printed white paper or on a pure white background.

The same image with the edges burnt in (darkened) quite a bit to show the effect. This helps keep our eyes from wandering. Thanks to Richard for allowing me to use this image.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
- August’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Numbers – Photograph something with a number
- August’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Creating counterpoints
- Brightness problems and distracting elements – Podcast #44
- Neutral density filters and graduated ND filters – Interview with Darwin Wiggett – Podcast #77
- Dominic Fuizzotto Photography
- Richard Sparey Photography

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

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

Thanks to forum members Northstone, Scorpio_e, Howard J, Yisehaq, Bill Sorensen and useakme who posted blog comments 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.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

Photography forum image of the month July 2011

admin — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:30:48 +0000

Today's Calla Lillies by Ernst Ulrich-Schafer

This month’s choice is Today’s Calla Lillies by Ernst Ulrich-Schafer.

I chose this image for several reasons:

Composition – Composition here is very pleasing to the eye! Diagonal stems from bottom left guide the eye to the focal point of the image which are the flowers’ interiors. The shapes of the flowers themselves are wonderful and wonderfully placed in the image. The flowers even create quite an interesting negative space due the contrast against a black background.

Lighting and Post-processing – Lovely lighting here shows off the flowers very well. The lighting is softish but doesn’t look oversoft. Shadows are well controlled here with the deepest blacks being the background itself. This helps the flowers “pop” big-time against that background. Post-processing is also well done here with lovely details in the whites. If I have one nit, I’d nix the black frame as this changes the overall perspective of the flowers making them look smaller. That said, I know Ernst put it there 100% on purpose and it works for him.

Tonal quality – I really like the monochrome (light sepia to my eye) quality of this image. Monochrome really helps show off the strong shapes of these flowers, as well as give them a nostalgic feel.

Congrats again Ernst Ulrich-Schafer for creating this wonderful image!

Watch Your Backgrounds by Kristen Smith

admin — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:53:57 +0000

Watching what is going on in the background is useful advice, not only for cops in urban shoot-outs, but also for close up and macro photographers. Because bokeh and depth of field are such prominent aspects of these types of shots, you really have to watch the background to make sure it complements your subject and doesn’t compete with it. Sometimes I get so focused on the subject itself that the background just fades away. And because often times a subject is far away from the background, things just don’t get noticed.

With this shot, I was so intensely involved with the flowers that I didn’t really “see” my backpack which was about 4 feet away and clearly in view. I really needed to stop and look at the whole scene, but I didn’t. Sometimes it can take a few minutes to settle into the groove and start practicing good habits and by the time I got diligent, it was too late for this one.

Photograph by Kristen Smith

In addition to watching the far background, keep an eye out for stray items close to the subject that might distract the eye. So many times I get my pictures home only to find some annoying leaf, pine needle or branch. Ugh. I find that using Live View not only makes taking the photo easier, but gives you a 2D image to look at right away. Many times I catch bad compositional elements this way. Check out this series of shots that illustrate how I cleaned up my shot –

Photograph by Kristen Smith

Hmm that background doesn’t do the flower any favors, does it? I need to make the flower really pop out of the bokeh, not just sit there in it. That stump has got to go. Luckily at this magnification and perspective, very small movements make for very big changes.

Photograph by Kristen Smith

I barely moved my camera, but the difference in background works so much better. But this time I notice two things – one, there’s a lot of light playing the backdrop and I have to time the shot right so that it is more uniform back there and there aren’t any hot spots to detract from the flowers, two, there are a few stray pine needles and that leaf in the bottom right isn’t contributing anything good. I pluck those out of the way and lo and behold there’s moss under that leaf and when I judge the light to be the best – Presto!

Photograph by Kristen Smith

So as you can see, the process can take a few steps to get a useable image. The key is to develop good habits.

Stop and look at the whole scene, background and foreground and evaluate each aspect including the light if it’s variable
Remove distracting things like sticks and leaves
Change camera position for more harmonious backgrounds and foregrounds
Use Live View to see how the 3D translates to 2D

Hopefully this helps you in the field the next time you’re doing close-up and macro work. Got any to share? Feel free to log in to the Photography.ca forum and start a thread.

For more of Kristen’s outdoor photography and other articles visit wickeddarkphotography.com

Vintage photograph of the day

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:03:14 +0000

Today’s image of the day is called Hand on Door from the Somnambulist series by master fine art American photographer Ralph Gibson; it was shot in 1968. Many of Gibson’s most famous photographs are high contrast images, and this high contrast has become part of his signature style. Gibson’s photographs were created through meticulous film developing (by Gibson himself) and printing.

What attracts me to this and many other Gibson images is the strong sense of story and the very striking graphic quality of the image.

Hand on Door from the Somnambulist series by Ralph Gibson - 1968

Photography forum image of the month June 2011

admin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:41:03 +0000

Flower Picking at Astbury Mere by Richard

This month’s choice is Flower Picking at Astbury Mere by Richard

I chose this image for several reasons:

Gesture/Mood – The overall ‘gesture’ is beautifully captured in this image. Richard captured his daughter in mid-step while walking through nature playing with a leaf and a flower. It feels as though she may have been daydreaming; in fact the whole image has a daydreamy quality due in good part to the ‘gesture’ and wonderful backlighting.

Post-Processing – The (PP) post-processing here works very well to support the image. I really like the vignetting all around the girl as it emphasizes the girl’s walk through a field of flowers and sunshine.

Selective focus – Shallow depth of field is classically used to have the girl stand out against the dreamy background.

Lighting/exposure – Backlighting was well chosen here as the light is quite harsh but the image doesn’t have a very harsh feel. The girl’s face looks well exposed and appears comfortable and natural because the sun is not blasting it directly. The specular highlights on the hair, hand and around the clothing are wonderful warm accents and do not distract.

Congrats again Richard for seeing and capturing this wonderful photo!

98 – 3 reasons you SHOULD crop photos

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:36:40 +0000

Photography podcast #98 talks about why it’s OK to crop photos.
Many photographers on the Net and throughout Photography’s history seem to be against cropping and in this podcast I explain why I am NOT one of them.

Guerrillero Heroico by Alberto Korda - The cropped photograph of Che Guevara is one of the most recognizable photos on planet earth. Although the original is still a strong photograph, unlikely it would have become the icon it is without the crop.

Pablo Picasso by Arnold Newman - Arnold Newman was a strong believer in doing whatever worked to improve his photographs. This obviously included cropping out about 65% of this very famous portrait.

Igor Stravinsky by Arnold Newman - Most people would agree that the cropped version of this photograph is much stronger. In this case, less is WAY more in this unusual but extremely effective crop.

Woman at the Door by Marko Kulik - This crop is unconventional and deliberate but I feel it helps the image and that's the only reason it's there.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
July’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum – My city OR my country
July’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Creative use of my country’s flag

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

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

Thanks to forum members Jimmy, Scorpio_e, and Brendan who posted blog comments 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.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

Backgrounds Matter Dammit

admin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:37:33 +0000

One of the things that separates newbie photographers from experienced photographers is the ability to see beyond the foreground or main subject. Most photographers that are starting out forget that 2 dimensional photos had multiple planes (foreground, midground and background) before the shutter release button was clicked. This is especially true of street photography.

Image by thoughton

Thoughton, a member of our fine art photography forum recently uploaded a gorgeous set of travel photos where the backgrounds share equal or greater importance to the foreground or the main focal point. In some of the images the background IS the focal point.

Part of the skill here is of course anticipation, desire and patience. Sometimes we can spot a great street background but we need to hunt down (sounds better and less boring than ‘wait for’) a foreground subject to complete the scene.

Image by thoughton

Click to see the photo thread that contains thoughton’s whole set in a larger size.

Happy hunting

Gaia Nudes – Workshop w/ Darwin Wiggett & Samantha Chrysanthou

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:28:45 +0000

Good friend to Photography.ca Darwin Wiggett is offering a workshop (about 1/2 hour west of Calgary, Alberta) on August 12-14, 2011 on how to shoot landscape nude photography, called Gaia Nudes. Darwin is a fabulous photographer and teacher so it’s my pleasure to help spread the word. Read on if you are interested in learning how to shoot nudes with Darwin and Samantha. As always, Darwin only works with small groups so spots fill up fast.

Q: What is Gaia Nudes?

A: Gaia Nudes is the name of our project for photographing artistic nudes in the landscape. As landscape shooters, we have an appreciation for natural beauty. Melding the human form into the landscape seemed a fun and challenging way to merge our appreciation of the landscape with recognition of the beauty inherent in the natural human form. The results of our work are showcased on our website, www.gaianudes.com.

Q: As you say, you are primarily nature and landscape shooters; how did you come to develop this website and concept behind Gaia Nudes?

A: Well, there are many, many wonderful landscape scenics out there online, in magazines and in other forms of publications. There are also a lot of pictures of nude or naked people online: just try searching for quality, fine art nude photography and you are inundated with what is often just soft porn! We realized that there are much fewer examples of images that combine a well-composed landscape with an artistic interpretation of the human form. We thought this would be a challenging yet rewarding way to broaden our skills as photographers.

Q: How is Gaia Nudes different from say, boudoir or glamour nude photography?

It really boils down to one key word: sex. Fine art nude photography is not there to sell a sexual idea. Sure, there is intimacy and sensuality in fine art nude landscape images, but we are appealing to these sensibilities more than we are appealing to people’s interest in sex. Boudoir photography is as its name implies: shot in a private, intimate setting with props such as sexy clothing, mood lighting, makeup and provocative postures. The emphasis is on the physical desirability of the person being photographed rather than on a general aesthetic appreciation of the figure. Glamour nudes sell sex packaged up with fashion. Both are respectable forms of expression, but they are not what Gaia Nudes is about. A Gaia Nudes shoot may show the fragility of the body when exposed to the elements, it may be a story in the contrast in textures, or it may highlight the parallel forms of the human body and its echo in the line of a tree, hillside or jagged rock.

When we are out photographing with our models, we are all having fun. We laugh at our mistakes, spin creative ideas off each other, and experiment with poses that connect the body to the landscape. It’s a physical and mental workout!

Q: Why would other photographers be interested in this area of photography?

We have heard many times from our workshop participants that they are ‘in a rut’ or bored with their photography. For shooters looking for a challenge, photographing nudes outdoors brings into play many skills and challenges, forcing photographers who think of themselves as ‘people’ shooters or ‘nature’ shooters to think outside of the box. If you enjoy photographing beauty in any form, then you would be interested in this kind of photography!

As well, because we have avoided the need to ‘sell sex’, the photographer has a much wider range of emotion and story to work with. By freeing the shooter and the model from the boudoir or bedroom, we’ve freed them to work together to channel original and unique expressions or stories.

Q: What do you look for in a landscape for a Gaia Nudes model shoot?

Good question! We look for a landscape that has a bit of mobility in terms of it can support more than one pose or idea. Ideally, a landscape that has several features of interest, such as some open land, rolling hills, some forest, perhaps some rocky terrain…. Practically speaking, we need land features that are capable of supporting safely both photographer and model (so no swamps, willow thickets or scree slopes!). Privacy is also critical so both model and photographer can concentrate. The landscape should also be something that we would photograph for its own sake. Too often when a photographer takes a model outdoors for nude work, the landscape gets short shift and is relegated to a few sticks or a rocky waterfall. We want both nature and the model to be appreciated since their stories are interwoven.

Q: What do you look for in models?

There are a few characteristics that are critical. The most important is attitude. We are seeking a fun and rewarding experience for both model and photographer, so a person with a positive attitude and a willingness to get a bit dirty or work a little harder for the shot are critical. In terms of physical characteristics, we look for a slim, fit and healthy body that looks natural. The camera appreciates models who can elongate their limbs and carry an elegant line from head to toe. We love yogis, dancers, and gymnasts for this form of work. The model should have a good kinesthetic awareness and an ability to understand a direction from the photographer so that he or she can translate a verbal suggestion into a pose. This is definitely a talent! We avoid models that are too muscular, too endowed (remember, we’re not selling sex!) or disproportional. We don’t have height requirements, we aren’t gender-biased, and we don’t really care about the model’s facial beauty since we’re not selling glamour, fashion or boudoir.

Q: Describe a typical shoot.

This is one area where we are landscape shooters, through and through! We start early (just after sunrise is best) and work in the lovely early morning light for a couple of hours. We usually break for midday both for health (heatstroke, anyone?) and then resume in the long, golden light of the evening. Each session is usually about three hours long. Both of us work one model and encourage suggestions or ideas from the model as well as each other. We rarely use supplemental light, but sometimes we share holding a reflector to brighten parts of the model’s body.

Q: What are some of the challenges and rewards of this form of photography?

The challenges of this form of photography is that it is like an ‘all over’ workout: so many skills are at play! Mentally, you need creative vision to picture a concept. You need good communication skills to translate this vision to the model so that he or she can picture what you have in mind and execute your suggestions. You also need to be flexible to respond to changing poses, other’s ideas and variable weather and light conditions. There is a bit of physical exercise too. Fine art outdoor nude photography combines skills from the traditions of both portraiture and landscape photography. The rewards are increased skill levels, compelling imagery and that satisfaction you feel when you work together as a team with your model to create an amazing image.

Q: Can you provide any tips for composing the scene?

You have to work within an idea. Just plunking a person into a scene is going to look artificial. Try and think of the model as another feature of the environment. Where would this feature look best in the overall scene? Look for shapes or elements in the scene that might mirror the shape and form of the human body, or contrast with the human form. If you are really stuck, try having your model make different forms (rounded or long, arms and limbs out or close to the body) next to another distinctive element in the scene. For example, a round rock in a prairie scene might suggest a curved form on or around the rock, or you could angle for contrast and have your model in a sitting triangular pose to contrast with the rounded form of the rock.

Lens choice and point of view are also important when composing the scene. Since this is about the landscape and the model, we often use wider angle lenses and shoot further back than traditional boudoir or fashion photography.

Q: Where do you look for inspiration on how to pose models within the scene? Is communication of your vision easy or difficult?

A lot of our inspiration comes from the landscape itself. There are always interesting shapes, textures and lines in nature that you can work with. We encourage our models to come up with ideas as well since they know what their bodies are capable of doing in terms of reach, balance etc. Communication depends each time on the relationship between the photographer and the model. We try to be very clear and descriptive with our language to translate our vision in what we want the model to do. So, instead of saying, “Can you just move that arm a bit more over there?” which is a terribly uninformative way of putting it, we would be more specific: “Can you lift your right arm about 90 degrees out from your side and bend your elbow so that your right hand rests behind your right ear?”

We have also wandered across some exceptional fine art nudes in the landscape and those are also always an inspiration.

Q: What equipment do you use in the field?

We mostly use natural light as it is very beautiful and flattering to both landscape and model if you shoot in bright overcast light or when the sun is lower in the sky. We may use a reflector for some fill, and on some occasions we break out off-camera flash with a soft box for other effects.

Q: You are also both photo instructors with eBooks and workshops on offer. I understand you have an upcoming workshop on this form of fine art photography. Can you describe that for any viewers who may be interested to learn more?

We greatly enjoy teaching, so we do have some eBooks on generic photography topics, along with our business partners Jay and Varina Patel, at www.visualwilderness.com But our Gaia Nudes work is primarily on our Gaia Nudes website. We are offering a workshop this summer, in Alberta near where we live, on how to create this form of artistic photography. The workshop takes place August 12-14, 2011 on gorgeous, private ranchland in the foothills. We have several models and a very limited number of participant spots. We’ll be covering how to communicate your creative vision, compositional tips and techniques and essential equipment, and we have a Ladies Only day specially set aside for female shooters who appreciate comraderie and company in learning new forms of photography.

Darwin Wiggett and Samantha Chrysanthou are both creative and life partners. They specialize in high-quality, accessible instruction on photographic topics. Their work has been published in both national and international magazines and publications; Darwin is a regular columnist for Outdoor Photography Canada magazine. You can read more about them by visiting their websites (www.darwinwiggett.com , www.chrysalizz.smugmug.com) or their blogs (www.darwinwiggett.wordpress.com , www.samsrant.wordpress.com)

Short Photography Excursions by Ron Cardinale

Marko — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:04:57 +0000

For a lot of us, one big way we work on our photography skills is by making short excursions that may be only a few hours long or even less. These brief sojourns can help us refine our craft. There’s a famous saying that luck favors the prepared. I’ve got some favorite locations, which have changed over the years. Being familiar with them at various times of the day, various times of the year, and with different weather conditions is really helpful. Sometimes, these practice shots have had a drama that wasn’t in my mind when I left the house. This picture resulted from both preparedness and luck. (The location is in Foster City which isn’t too far south of San Francisco.)

Image by Ron Cardinale

I’ve walked the shore of this lagoon many times. On this morning, a storm was approaching from the Pacific. I had an idea of what to expect so I had my wide angle zoom with me and used it at 12mm for this shot. The luck part of it was being there at the right time to catch these dramatic clouds with unusually still water. I’d taken a few other shots around the lagoon that morning but I like this one the best because the clouds and their reflection appear to converge directly across the lagoon. Despite the calm conditions on the ground, the clouds were moving along so I didn’t have a lot of time. The converging pattern was vanishing and I could see that the clouds that were moving in weren’t as dramatic as these.

One issue with such a wide angle lens when shooting a scene with bright clouds is that the lens sees a lot of those clouds so the camera’s meter very often reduces the exposure and the shot ends-up too dark. In previous shots, I had increased the exposure but that caused the loss of too much highlight detail in the clouds. The clouds are a key part of the image so it was important to hold detail in them. For this shot, I used the camera’s normal metering. The exposure was 1/500 at f/8 with ISO 100. The resulting image was dark but it held details in the clouds except right were the sun was.

I made some adjustments later at the computer. I made a quasi HDR photo from different processings of the single raw image and also made a curves adjustment. A real HDR image sequence wasn’t feasible in this situation because the clouds were moving and the water wasn’t completely still. Have fun and keep shooting!
Read a little more from Ron Cardinale at http://roncardinale.110mb.com

97 – How to photograph with hard light

admin — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:13:34 +0000

Photography podcast #97 is a primer on how to use hard light. Hard light is trickier to use than soft light but there is NO reason to avoid using it. It just needs to be used appropriately. Part of using hard light and shadow in photography is being very aware of where the shadows will fall and changing your position or your lighting if you don’t like where they fall.

Here’s a couple of basic points when using hard light in photography:

- Hard light comes from a small light source relative to your subject. The sun IS a small light source in this respect because it is 93 million miles away from the earth.
- Hard light produces hard shadows which are good in many cases especially to reveal form.
- The farther the light source is from the subject, the HARDER the shadows.
- The farther away the light source is from the subject, the SHORTER the shadows.

To prove this to yourself take a flashlight into the bathroom and shut off the lights. Shine the light on your finger in front of the wall. Move the light around and you will learn a ton about shadows.

Hard light demo - The image at left shows a shadow from direct hard sunlight. Moments later some very light clouds diffuse the sunlight to create a softer shadow at right. Had the sky been completely overcast (very soft light) almost no shadows would be present and this image would lose its punch and be totally boring. © Marko Kulik

Image by BzdegaPhotography - The hard light totally works in this image despite the flare.

Carmy Working by Marko Kulik - One hard light at camera left creates a shadow that adds to the gritty flavour of the shot

Their Objects by Marko Kulik - Candle light is hard light. This shot took quite a while to set up due to thinking about where the shadows would fall.

Judy Garland by George Hurrell - 1944. This striking portrait was shot 67 years ago by lighting master George Hurrell. The very dark shadows attest to the hard light used here.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
June’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Breaking the rules
June’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Creative self portraits

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

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

Thanks to forum members NorthStone, Wicked Dark, Howard J, KawarthaBob and Jonny Hotshoe who posted blog comments 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!

Photography forum image of the month May 2011

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:22:43 +0000

Lake Wall by taffy

This month’s choice is Lake Wall by taffty.

I chose this image for several reasons:

Mood – The overall mood here (which I interpret as as “ethereal”) is created by many factors including; the soft light, the composition and of course the black and white post processing. The whitish clouds reflecting in the water as well as what looks to be a really gentle surf also give you the feeling/illusion that the wall is floating on air.

Composition – The lines, curves, shapes, sub-shapes created by the lines and curves, and the use of negative space are all well used here. They please our eyes and intrigue our eyes. The curved wall-path that starts with medium/light tones in the foreground to darker at left midground leads our eye beautifully as it ‘cuts’ through the lighter tones on the left..

Exposure and post processing – Both well handled here. Even though the light is soft, reflections off the water make for a trickier exposure. Whites hold their subtle detail on my monitor and I like that. Silvery midtones in the sky (background) and immediate foreground match each other for wonderful effect.

Congrats again taffy for seeing and and creating this wonderful photo!

Fraser Island Australia by Mad Aussie

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:32:11 +0000

For the past couple of years, a few times a year, Moderator Mad Aussie (Astrovisual on Flickr) on our photography forum posts wonderful photographs of his travels though Australia. Recently Mad Aussie visited Fraser Island, Australia and posted quite a lovely variety of images. I really like the way these fab images and text are presented so I thought I’d share them with you and say thanks to Mad Aussie for sharing them with us. http://www.photography.ca/Forums/f11/come-me-day-fraser-island-14793.html

The Maheno Shipwreck by Mad Aussie (Astrovisual)

Photography forum image of the month April 2011

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 18:11:22 +0000

Repetition in Monochrome by Casil403

This month’s choice is Repetition in Monochrome by casil403.

I chose this image for several reasons:

Spotting the scene – Abstracts like this are often all around us, and the vast majority of us will never ever see them. Looking is not the same as seeing. Seeing takes longer, it takes more time and more patience. Hats off to Casil for seeing this fabulous abstract.

Composition – Even though we are not sure what we are looking at, this abstract scene is very well composed and very deliberate. Both the curved lines and the straight lines in this image intrigue and successfully guide our eye through the image. The repetitive quality of the curves and lines is also very pleasing. In case people are wondering what the abstract actually is, Casil wrote …”it’s the reflection of a soffit ceiling on a mirrored pole.”

Post processing – Black and white was an excellent choice for this scene. The lack of colour emphasizes the graphic quality of the lines and patterns that we see. The tonal quality of the scene (good representation of tones) as well as the frame around the scene suits this image extremely well.

Congrats again Casil for seeing, capturing and processing this wonderful find!

96 – Tripods for photography (the good stuff)

admin — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:56:23 +0000

Photography podcast #96 is a primer on how to buy a great tripod, what to look for in a tripod and why you should buy a great tripod. (In the longrun, if you stick with photography long enough, you will be buying a great tripod eventually anyway)

If you are serious enough about your photography that you save money to buy great lenses, then this podcast won’t scare the crap out of you.

If you are into the cheap stuff, and are more concerned about overall price versus overall quality, be afraid – be very afraid.

Tripods and heads for photography

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Tripod article by Thom Hogan – a must read
Gitzo GT2540LLVL tripod at B&H
Manfrotto 055 Tripod plus 3-Way Pan/Tilt Head w/ Quick Release at B&H
The following companies make recommended ballheads – Arca Swiss – Acratech – Really Right Stuff - Markins – Gitzo – Manfrotto
Cheaper Carbon fiber tripods by Induro – Benbo (Remember to research and TRY specific individual models)
April’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Geometric shapes
April’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum – Creative underexposure

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

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

Thanks to forum member Benny 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!

Bokeh baby! by Kristen Smith

Kristen Smith — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:09:20 +0000

Aside from the razor-sharp subject, one of the most important elements of any close-up or macro picture is bokeh. It is a funny concept that has many interpretations and is definitely one of the more subjective elements of photography. I’m not going to debate those, but I want to talk a little bit about how the deliberate use of bokeh can help strengthen your images. Before I get going though, definitely listen to this mini-podcast from Martin Bailey on how to pronounce bokeh and its etymological history and cultural meaning.

In its simplest photographic definition bokeh refers to the out of focus areas of a picture. Mostly the meaning is applied to photographs where there is a specific subject in the immediate foreground. Not always a close up or macro, but not really a landscape either where some of the photo might not be in crisp focus. Bokeh is a product of shallow depth of field which is achieved by a wide aperture relative to the length of the lens.

One of the most dramatic uses of bokeh is to separate your subject from the background. Especially if the background is very busy. Rendering it smoothly out of focus makes things really pop –

Joyeuse by Kristen Smith

One of my favorite bokeh techniques is to echo the main subject exactly. Your imagination can easily fill in the missing detail because it resembles the sharp subject so much. The echo reinforces the main idea, but also gives your brain something to play with. The trick is to utilize an aperture that will simultaneously allow you to recognize the out of focus object and leave it fuzzy. I love this technique –

Vinca by Kristen Smith

I also love how bokeh can create atmosphere in a photo – mostly a gauzy, dreamy effect. It doesn’t work in all circumstances, but if you are working in the right light it is beautiful. With this kind of image, the subject most often is the bokeh itself with the sharply focused parts playing supporting roles only.

Birch by Kristen Smith

The digital age is a real help when experimenting with bokeh because you can see your shot immediately and use live view and depth of field preview to fine-tune each one. Get to know your lens by shooting objects at different apertures and focal lengths then studying the effect. Think about what kind of photo you want to make and how bokeh can emphasize your photo’s intent.

Got any good bokeh shots? Feel free to add them in comments or join the Photography.ca forum and start a thread.

For more of Kristen’s outdoor photography and other articles visit wickeddarkphotography.com

Photography forum image of the month March 2011

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:49:51 +0000

Urban Eagle by Michaelaw

This month’s choice is Urban Eagle by Michaelaw.

I chose this image for several reasons:

Story and composition – The title Urban Eagle tells it all and the awesome background imagery of a bridge and cranes make the story more compelling. Themes and subthemes abound in shots like this and I really enjoy that. The eagle is well positioned in this shot that had to be composed super-quickly. The background elements (bridge structure and cranes) are also very well placed in the shot.

Degree of difficulty – timing/decisive moment – This is no easy shot to get. The timing, (just look at the lovely frozen open-wings) the focus, and composition have to be very well synced and Michaelaw did an excellent job.

Sharpness – The bird’s feathers are really sharp and the eye looks quite sharp along with some lovely background bokeh.

Colour and post processing – Both are well controlled to create this very striking image with a lovely ‘cool’ colour palette that totally suits the image. If it were my shot I may have burned in the rear white wings a bit and dodged the face a wee bit but that’s it.

Congrats again Michaelaw for capturing this wonderful scene!

Photo Editing On The Cheap by Glenn Euloth

Glenn Euloth — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:44:54 +0000

I love photography and as much as I try to get the image right in camera when I press the shutter release there are just some times when you need adjust some overexposed bits or possibly do some custom editing to create a miniature look or selective colouring. Whatever the reason might be there will be times when you need to edit your images. A full out copy of Photoshop is more than $500. Even Photoshop Elements clocks in at $100 or so which is not super expensive but still, if I have an extra $100 I’m putting it towards a new lens or maybe that new tripod that I need.

In my last blog for Photography.ca I wrote about Picasa. Picasa does a wonderful job of basic photo editing, however, it just doesn’t cut it for anything really detailed. When I need more detailed editing capabilities I use Gimp. Gimp is a wonderful piece of software available for free use for Windows and Mac users as well as the original Unix platform. A companion product called ufRAW, also free, allows Gimp to open and edit RAW image files and since I shoot almost exclusively in RAW format it was a necessary add-on.

Gimp will do a lot more than I am capable of doing and I have still used it to do some amazing things. Like Photoshop it allows you to edit images using multiple layers, has many different filters and scripts that can change the look of your images (or parts of it) and also provides many different tools to work on your images. In this blog post I’ll edit an image and provide some screen shots to give you an idea of the capabilities of this wonderful piece of software, however, to really learn how to use it visit the tutorials page on the Gimp site.

In order to give you the broadest tour possible I will take an original image where I’ve done a fair bit of work on the image and walk you through the editing steps that I took to get it the way I wanted. Some of you out there may be much better at photo editing and so you will undoubtedly see areas where I am doing something wrong. Please feel free to comment below so I can learn more about how to do this stuff properly.

Let’s start with this photograph of a butterfly. Here’s the JPEG version created by exporting from Picasa with default settings. All things considered it’s not a horrible shot of the butterfly but the composition is kind of blah and the butterfly’s camouflage makes it difficult to see. Let’s open it in Gimp to see what we can do with this boring image.

First up, since it’s a RAW and I have ufRAW installed it automatically opens in ufRAW for me. Here I can make adjustments to the RAW image before jumping into the Gimp editor proper. For this image I’m going to make a few adjustments here so I end up in Gimp with the basics already completed. This is the general process for me.

From Picasa I right click and select Open in Gimp.
It automatically opens in ufRAW because it’s a RAW image.
I’ve clipped a few highlights 0.1% and so I adjust the black levels a touch to eliminate those.
I then adjust the curves to boost the overall exposure to where I like the image.
Using the crop/rotate/size adjust tab I select a pleasing crop which puts the butterfly on an intersection of thirds and gives him space to “fly into”. Note the grid lines allow me to do this easily.
Clicking OK transfers the image into Gimp for further editing where I adjust the colour levels and pump up the saturation on this one to give that butterfly a little more life.
Next, I’m going to do some selective colouring to really make him stand out. So, I’ll duplicate the layer so I now have two butterflies.
Change the top layer to B&W and create a layer mask that I paint through to expose the butterfly.
I switched to the colour layer and added a touch of unsharp mask to sharpen up the image.
Last, to finish it off, I add a couple of borders, first white, then black and save as a JPEG.

1 2
3 4

5 6a

6b 6c

7 8a

8b 8c

9a 9b

10a 10b

That’s it! Here’s the result:

Living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Glenn Euloth enjoys travelling on the photographic journey. Visit www.euloth.com to join him on the trip or find him on our photography forum under the nickname of Iguanasan.

95 – Larry King family portrait – Interview with Laszlo of Montreal

admin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:57:45 +0000

Photography podcast #95 features an interview with Canadian photographer Laszlo of Montreal. In this interview Laszlo talks about a recent portrait session with Larry King and his family. In an effort to illustrate how keeping it simple can yield great results, Laszlo deconstructs this photograph while talking about lighting, composition and technique.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Show us your parks is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Macro – closeup is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum
If you liked this podcast and want to write a testimonial, it’s a great way to say “Thanks” and it’s super-appreciated

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

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

Thanks to forum member Glenn Euloth (AKA Iguanasan on our forum) 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!

Vintage photo of the day March 17, 2011

admin — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:23:26 +0000

Today’s image of the day is called Stairs of Montmartre, Paris by the late master Hungarian photographer Andre Kertesz, and it was shot in 1925. Kertesz is one of my all time favorite photographers and more of his work will surely be featured in the future.

Stairs of Montmartre, Paris - 1925 by Andre Kertesz

What makes this, and tons of other Kertesz images fantastic is the precise and deliberate composition. Kertesz was simply a master at guiding your eye to interesting places in the photograph. The shapes of the shadows and the position of the railings are both delightful to look at and they guide your eye perfectly toward the humans in the photo.

Kertesz was also keenly aware of all planes of focus in an image and how they work together. The connection between the foreground, midground and the background elements of this image helps to suggest a story as well as make the image graphically striking.

Graven Images – Ideas for Cemetery Photography by Kristen Smith

Kristen Smith — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:23:48 +0000

Strange as it may seem to some, I find cemeteries peaceful places and I enjoy spending time in them. I also enjoy photographing them. I’m mostly fascinated by the overall aesthetic of a cemetery, how the stones are placed, the ways they’ve shifted and changed over time, the carvings and motifs through the decades, decorative arrangements like walls and gates; it all fascinates me and I do my best to capture the essence of a graveyard whenever I shoot one.

Haunting the Obscure by Kristen Smith

There are some general guidelines you should follow when shooting burial grounds. The first thing to remember is to be respectful. These places represent lives and history and often sorrow. If there are mourners or visitors present, give them space. Don’t crash a ceremony.

Also don’t touch or move anything with respect to the graves themselves. If one is damaged or fallen over, leave it. Sometimes branches or other debris fall on monuments and I always leave those as well, unless it is photographically in the way. I also avoid climbing over anything I don’t have to like walls or gates. And I never remove anything from a gravesite and I can’t imagine doing so.

Angle of Repose by Kristen Smith

My main interest is in old cemeteries. Luckily in New England we have the oldest European cemeteries in the country and I’m never short of subjects. Whatever your particular interest is, find ways to accentuate what you find interesting. It might be particularly moving epitaphs, or artwork and common decorative motifs or maybe just finding stones of people with your name. Personally I like to show the overall structure and character of a cemetery as well as highlight some of the oldest or most interesting headstones. Decaying stones are always terrific subjects; lichen, cracks, weathering and even outright destruction can make for really interesting images.

Harriet Obscured by Kristen Smith

I will admit that after years of shooting in cemeteries it does get tougher to come up with original compositions. Sometimes approaching a grave yard in a different season helps, like winter. Sometimes it means getting there at a certain time of day so that carvings are brought up strongly with shadows. Sometimes it means finding unusual perspectives and including other things like walls and gates in my compositions. Frequently I use different post-processing techniques to bring out what I want in a photo. This doesn’t always mean black and white or sepia, but I do use them since they especially suit the older burial grounds I haunt.

Keeping Watch by Kristen Smith

So don’t be afraid to step into that cemetery near your house. Explore it respectfully, photograph it creatively and walk away with a sense of history.

Kristen Smith is a New England photographer whose cemetery work can be found in her Graven Images Gallery

Photographing Cityscapes – A City Mouse in Winter By Jacqueline A. Sheen

Jacqueline A. Sheen — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:59:51 +0000

I love to photograph the city in winter. The light is like no other time of year since the sun is always low in the sky. Long shadows crawl across the snow creating interesting lines. The light often has a subtle pinkish glow that you only see in summer at daybreak. There is a clean crispness to the air and the landscape. The bare trees and snow covered streets create a clean minimalism you don’t have in summer.

I was out wandering about with my newly purchased 8mm fisheye lens on a crisp Sunday afternoon. The temperature was hovering at minus 20 C with the bit of wind chill. It was sunny and the snow was reflecting the light back on every surface. I was in the skate park with the idea I could try out some interesting experiments with the snow covered skate domes. The new C Train overpass also runs along the edge of the park, so I thought it would work well with the lens’s distortion as well.

Urban Trek by Jacqueline A. Sheen

The problems that a cityscape photographer faces in winter are not much different than what a landscape photographer would experience. Our terrain is generally a bit smoother but it is equally as cold, so I always dress about the same as you would expect to dress if you were out in the mountains. I am usually out for a few hours at a time, so I make sure I am prepared for the weather. The advantage I have over the rugged landscape photographer is that I can find a Starbucks to warm up in pretty quickly when the going gets too cold!

If you are out in sub-zero temperatures for extended periods of time, you will have to consider how to care for your gear. I usually carry an extra battery in my pocket but so far I have not had to use it. Recently, while out on the street on a crisp day of about minus 10 C, I noticed the sun shining into one of our plus 15s that is accessible from the street. I thought it might make for an interesting shot from the inside and climbed up the stairs to go inside. Well- myself, (I wear glasses) the camera LCD screen and the lens filter all fogged up as you might expect. After a few minutes the fogginess cleared and I was able to get the shot. I am told that having a filter on the front of your lens helps keep moisture off the lens itself so you may want to consider a UV filter for that reason. Also when I come in from shooting on a cold day, I remove the memory cards from my camera, pack up the camera and lenses in the bag, then I zip it up tightly. I let everything return to room temperature for several hours before removing the gear from my bag. That way I avoid the problem of condensation on my camera and lenses. Having a well padded camera bag is useful for this reason.

For this photo, which I call “Urban Trek”, I was lining up the 8mm fisheye lens to show off the circle of street lights in the park. Someone walked into my frame and I snapped the picture. The idea of the urban trekker appealed to me. Here we have an urbanite facing the harsh cold elements surrounded by this stark bright landscape. His dress and posture further emphasize the cold temperatures as he quickly walks to his destination.

Jacqueline A. Sheen is a photographer living in Calgary Alberta, Canada. You can check out more of her work at www.jasphoto.ca and she also goes by the handle JAS_Photo on our photography forum.