Photography.ca » photography

136 — Lube up your Old Filters

Marko Kulik — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 13:03:03 +0000

Photography podcast #136 talks about creating dreamy images by placing Vaseline or petroleum jelly on an old UV filter attached to your lens. By doing this you are often able to create dreamy, impressionistic images. The procedure is simple; take an OLD UV filter (because removing the vaseline from the filter after use might damage its coating) and screw it onto a lens. Then place a wee bit of petroleum jelly (just a bit goes a long way) on your finger and apply it to the front of the UV filter. Take a few images and see what you get. Play with the level and position of the blur by removing some Vaseline or moving it around with your finger.

It goes without saying that you need to do this carefully so as not to allow the Vaseline to touch your camera or lens. The Vaseline should only be on the front of the filter. When you’re done shooting, remove the filter immediately and place it in a plastic bag. Then clean it (I just used regular dish soap) when you get home. If you have a few wet wipes along with a dry cloth (to thoroughly wipe your finger between moving the vaseline around and touching the shutter release button) and an extra plastic bag or two, you should have no problem doing this.

Feel free to add to the conversation by leaving a comment or sharing/liking this post in some way.

Click the player at the end of this post to listen to (or download) this 9.5 minute podcast.

Here are some of the photographs I was able to make with this technique;

Crossing Ducks — Lafontaine Park Montreal — Image shot with a 50mm lens using a UV filter coated with petroleum jelly

Dreamy Carmy — Laurier Park Montreal — Vaseline in front of an old polarizing filter

Lily pads — In this series of images I took a straight shot and then 2 vaseline shots over the UV filter. You can see how completely different the 2 vaseline images look from one another. This difference is simply due to the quantity and position/pattern of the Vaseline on the filter

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Exhibition and Film on Impressionism and Photography (Lorin’s comment from podcast 135)
Pictorial Composition and the Critical Judgement of Pictures by Henry Rankin Poore

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

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

Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred — Thanks Lorin Duckman, Dave Johnson and Jane Chesebrough! Thanks for all the support emails and welcome to all the new members of the photography.ca forum!

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

126 — 6 Tips to Improve the Edges of Your Photos

Marko Kulik — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:57:38 +0000

Photography podcast #126 discusses the importance of the four edges of your photographs. They are seriously important and paying attention to them will improve your photography. The podcast offers up 6 (actually a few more than 6) practical tips on how to improve the edges of your photographs.

Thanks to The Camera Store (The largest camera store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) for sponsoring the Photography.ca podcast.

A sneak peek to one of the 6 tips which is useful to photographers of all levels is to check out the work of master painters. They knew about the edges, about the overall composition, and the rules of composition. Those rules directly apply to photography. This famous painting below done by Rembrandt shows dark edges all around which is of course no accident. He did it all the time. Notice where your eye ends up in the painting; on the wave at left and this too is no accident. When we can apply some of these principles to photography, our images almost always improve.

1633 — Rembrandt (1606–1669) Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee.

Talk about how edges can add interest! This image by Selena Rhodes Scofield from our forum is framed in an extremely creative way and the unusual perspective just adds to the visual interest. In addition, both the seagull’s neck and its wing are creating interesting positive and negative shapes as they intersect with the edges and the rest of the image. Being on the lookout for these shapes is another way to spicify your photography.

seagull 3 by Selena Rhodes Scofield

Of course when you want to break guidelines, you break them whenever you want to. Just be aware that you are doing so. In this image below, Canadian Master photographer and teacher Freeman Patterson does just that.

From his book Photography and the Art of Seeing he wrote: “I saw this elderly lady as passing away from me and my world, so I photographed her through a window clouded by reflections and curtains. The shallow depth of field, which throws the reflections and curtains out of focus, creates a sense of the surreal and the unknown. The hand of the woman’s friend appears in the lower right corner. By all traditional standards of composition, the hand should not be there because it looks amputated. Yet it seems strangely appropriate, representing support that may be needed in the present, while at the same time adding to the impression of the world dissolving”

Photograph by Freeman Patterson from The Art of Seeing.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Photography and the Art of Seeing by Freeman Patterson. If you can only afford one photography book this year, buy this one.
Composition Basics by oopoomoo

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 as well to Don Crasco and Daniel Cybulskie who posted comments directly on the blog. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board.

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

A Good Day by Michael Orton

Marko Kulik — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 11:47:10 +0000

Today was one of those days. After 35 years of carrying a camera I consider myself fortunate indeed to have experienced some of these days, when everything seems to align, the weather, the light, the season, the location, and let’s not forget, the photographer. After all, without the act of making the decision to set out, nothing will be created. While working in the stock photo business my workflow was quite different from today . My goal was to create marketable concept images and I would research locations to shoot specific images. I would have to place myself in the right location, at the right time with the best light which was not always easy. Remarkably I did have some of ” those days ” back then, but not like the ones that have occurred since I became immersed in ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) these last years. I have an intimate knowledge of the landscape within a close distance from home and can almost visualize before setting out the likelihood of there being the type of subject matter that will feed my imagination. And of course the more I explore the more data I have to draw from. With ICM the required “raw material”, unlike making a conventional photograph, is not a specific object or recognizable scene, but rather the starting point, like a piece of clay , shapeless until forged and formed into shape. This is the essence of working in this fashion. It has little to do with the actual technique of moving the camera and everything to do with how you can imagine and explore that which is the starting point, the raw material.

Today is a late fall day. Leaves had been falling for weeks, morning mists were beginning to appear, skies were a patchy blue. If I’m lucky this time of year lasts a few weeks. I love working when there are spaces in the trees and the branches contrast with the interspersed leaves. I set out to walk the edge of a river not far away. There are a variety of trees, bushes and growth, with logs, large and small stones lining the shoreline. (And the salmon are running ) I made many more than the four images shown, but these I selected because they were made standing in almost the same spot.

“A Good Day” — Image 1 by Michael Orton

Image one is the light reflected off of the leaves of a small bush , which I rendered into hundreds of shards of light with a fast camera movement and short shutter speed. When viewed at full size this image has remarkable complexity and blending . The bush was a short distance to my left.

“A Good Day” — Image 2 by Michael Orton

Image two is simply fallen leaves on a spread of medium sized round stones with the sand washed from between them. They are in the shade , and the blue comes from the reflected blue of the sky. The sky had some clouds which occasionally gave me overcast light. - 1/2 second with what I refer to as medium camera movement speed , using a somewhat oblique line and changing focal length during exposure. When I move my camera most often I do not swivel from a fixed point but move it in a similar fashion to a movie camera on a track. These stones and leaves where just to my right.

“A Good Day” — Image 3 by Michael Orton

Image three is looking across the river . You can see the sandy embankment rendered as a softened wash while the trees and their reflection remain somewhat recognizable. I used an extended oval motion at 2 seconds to retain the vertical lines.

“A Good Day” — Image 4 by Michael Orton

Image four is, yes wait for it, a photograph, and was taken standing in exactly the same spot as # 3 . Sometimes you just take what you are given and make the best of it. I took the polarizer and ND filter off, kneeled down and scooped this image from the surface of the river.The intricate, jagged lines of the reflected trees and a hint blue from the sky were to good to pass up. Handheld at 1/125.

So yes it was a good day. One that I wish every photographer could experience, because when you do, it will fuel your passion . This is what keeps us looking.

The video ” A Walk In The Palm Grove ” on our website is another good example of what can be created at one location.

There is no substitute for seeing… Michael

The preceding article is copyrighted and written by Canadian fine art landscape photographer Michael Orton. You can see more of his work at michaelortonphotography.com

Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal — Photo Month in Montreal

Marko Kulik — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 15:18:54 +0000

Every two years, Montreal, Quebec, Canada features a major, month-long major contemporary photography festival called Le mois de la photo à Montréal. This year’s festival runs from September 5 — October 5, 2013 and features 25 photography exhibitions in different parts of the city.

This year the theme of the festival is Drone — The automated image and it is guest curated by Paul Wombell. I’ve been going to this festival pretty much since it started and the exhibitions are almost always laden with experimental (less conventional) photography and themes that require reflection. If you’re looking for more conventional photography (beautiful landscapes, still lifes, street photography) you normally won’t find it at this festival.

Although Le mois de la photo is a photography festival, many exhibitions will be video based and some will feature installations. I always find a few exhibitions that I really like and will report back on my faves. Feel free to check out the exhibitions here.

121 — Make Better Self Portraits

Marko Kulik — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 13:01:37 +0000

Photography podcast #121 offers up 6 tips on how to make better self portraits in photography. Making a self portrait, sometimes known as an autoportrait has a long history in photography and many past and modern photography Masters (Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe and the extremely prolific self portraitist Cindy Sherman for example) have produced fabulous self portraits. Please know in advance that we are not referring to ‘selfies’…which I rant on about for a little bit in this podcast. We are referring to self-portraits which require deliberate framing and thinking about the light, environment etc.

Thanks to The Camera Store (The largest camera store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) for sponsoring the Photography.ca podcast!

Angst — Self portrait by Marko Kulik — 2000

Self Portrait as a Parisian by Marko and Carmy — 2009

Self Portrait as a Dock Worker by Marko and Carmy — 2013

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Styrofoam heads on Google (helps with focusing the camera)
Cindy Sherman’a 2012 exhibition at MoMA

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 Royce Howland, Ken Wolter and Alvin who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as well 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.

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!

120 — How to Create Interesting Stories Through Your Photography

Marko Kulik — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:56:25 +0000

Photography podcast #120 provides tips on how to create, craft and tell more interesting stories through photography. Some of the aspects we talk about include being active with framing, hunting down the gestures and watching the edges.

I’m super-pleased to welcome The Camera Store (The largest camera store in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) as a sponsor of The Photography.ca podcast! I’ve been buying my own gear there and recommending them for a few years now, and I’m a fussy bugger when it comes to both gear and recommendations. Their customer service is simply awesome and I often find that they have the best prices in Canada. They ship all over Canada.

Both these images were taken within the same minute. The bottom image however, tells a stronger story due to the dramatic gesture of the axe in the air, the smoke coming from the side of the roof and the fireman on the right of the roof that’s facing the camera. The top image isn’t bad, but it easily loses in a poker match when it goes head to head with the bottom image.

Winter’s Meeting — I waited in a window and actively composed this scene last winter. There is a strong suggestion of story here because the person in the background appears to be waiting for the foreground woman. I clicked the shutter only when I felt the timing was right compositionally.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Long exposure images — Photography.ca forum’s regular assignment — July 2013
Macro photography — Photography.ca forum’s level 2 assignment — June 2013
Layering images with interesting elements — Photography podcast #102
Shoot in any light - Photography podcast #100

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 Ben W who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as well 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.

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!

99 — Controlling brightness in photography

Marko Kulik — 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.

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!

97 — How to photograph with hard light

Marko Kulik — 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 April 2011

Marko Kulik — Fri, 06 May 2011 18:11:22 +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.

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.

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 Casil for seeing, capturing and processing this wonderful find!

96 — Tripods for photography (the good stuff)

Marko Kulik — 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!

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

Marko Kulik — 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.

Larry King family © Laszlo of Montreal

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

Marko Kulik — 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.

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.

Photography forum image of the month February 2011

Marko Kulik — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:16:44 +0000

Junk Yard Cat by Barefoot

This month’s choice is Junk Yard Cat by Barefoot

I chose this image for several reasons:

Mood — Lighting — This image has a great mood due to the wonderful lighting. The lighting is on the low key side and it’s totally working for me here. Even though the lighting is low-keyish there’s still quite a bit of delicious shadow detail.

Good suggestion of a story — This is also related to the mood but it looks to me like this car is in an old garage or barn. The car is also way old with loads of rust but it still serves a purpose, it’s not dead yet. It serves as a potential favourite resting spot for the cat.

Subtlety — Mystery — Surprise — I love the fact that my eye did NOT go straight to the cat in this shot and this is due to the fact that the bright circular thing on top of the headlight at right is the first thing we look at. I love that. Had the cat been brighter, the shot would have been more about the cat and our eye would have gone straight for the cat. This way, we get a better surprise when we notice the cat.

Composition — I dig the repeating circles and lines in this image as well as the point of view from which the image was taken.

Congrats again Barefoot for seeing and capturing this wonderful scene!

94 — Turning day into night

Marko Kulik — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:32:45 +0000

Photography podcast #94 teaches how to turn day into night or late afternoon for portrait purposes. This technique is often used by wedding, fashion and portrait photographers. The goal of the technique is to make the sky look darker so that the model pops against the sky. This often adds mood and/or drama to a shot. We discuss 2 techniques; using flash and camera in manual non TTL (Through the lens) mode as well as TTL mode. We also touch on flash sync speeds.

This image looks like it was shot in the late afternoon but it was shot at 1pm. Camera mode was aperture priority using TTL flash. Exposure compensation was set to –3 on camera and +2 for the direct on camera flash. I would have taken the flash off camera for a better lighting pattern but it was minus 15 C and my model only had 5 minutes in her.

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 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

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

Thanks to kat, Wicked Dark and Shant M 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!

Photography forum image of the month January 2011

Marko Kulik — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:43:43 +0000

A snowy morning by Bambi

This month’s choice is‚A snowy morning by Bambi

I chose this image for several reasons:

Mood — This image has a wonderful mood and this mood is created by the falling snow, the snow covered branches in the foreground against the darker toned trees in the midground and of course the figure in the background. A shallower depth of field with the sharpest elements in the foreground might not have been the obvious choice for many photographers, but it is rocking this image big-time! The shutter speed catching the suspended snow is also helping the mood. The Black and white conversion is very well done, and it suits and enhances the other elements contributing to the overall mood.

Composition — Very well done here! There are ‘layers’ of interesting things for our eyes to look at starting from the foreground and continuing to the background where the focal point (the person) is. Our eye is well guided through this wintery ‘tunnel’.

Exposure/shutter speed — Both are well handled here. The shutter speed ‘freezes‚ ’ the falling snow here. A good exposure keeps the whites in check and offers up wonderful tonality with a good range of tones. If I have 1 teeny niggle I might burn in the lightest branches at top right by maybe 5%.

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 post 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 Bambi for capturing this gorgeous scene!

Photographing Cityscapes — A City Mouse Perspective by Jacqueline A. Sheen

Jacqueline A. Sheen — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:31:27 +0000

I am a city mouse; there is no getting around it. Not for me getting up in the predawn hours to drive for hours out to country vistas waiting for the perfect sunrise. No. My milieu is the city. I live uptown and love it here. I walk just about everywhere I go. I encounter interesting characters almost daily and the bustle of rush hour makes my heart flutter just a little. When I leave the city, upon returning, the moment I see the city skyline in the distance my heart races just a little with the feeling one gets when they know they will soon see an old love once again.

Calgary Cityscape by Jacqueline A. Sheen

Calgary is not a big city although it suffers a bit from urban sprawl. It sits nicely on the prairies, where the Bow River runs through it. The CPR railway also runs through the downtown core. This is a vibrant, wealthy city, that was built on a ‚“can do‚ pioneer spirit.

Calgary‚„s many skyscrapers afford some wonderful skyline photography. Because the city core runs east to west along the core, some really wonderful late day photos can be had from the western side of downtown facing east. The glass towers literally glow pink and gold. The downtown core itself is located near the riverbed in a bit of a valley, which makes for some awesome vantage points both at river level and from higher vantage points.

When photographing the city, I walk everywhere. It is not really much different than landscape photography in that respect. To see, really see what you are looking at, you have to slow down. I try to photograph the city in a way that shows off its beauty but at the same time, shows it in a way that the common commuter may not notice in their race to get downtown. Look up. Did you notice the classic art deco styling on that old building? ‚Did you see those gargoyles way high up on another?

Calgary is blessed in that the downtown core is vibrant and alive. There is an active arts community and there is much public and private funded art. The photo above shows a portion of a large sculpture that graces the sidewalk in front of one of the ‚“Oil Towers‚ downtown. It looks like a stylized dinosaur skeleton, which makes sense as all the oil reserves come from ‚“dinosaur bones‚ so to speak. Although the owners of the sculpture may not like my use of it to frame a skyscraper other than their own, when I saw the photo, the title came immediately to mind. ‚“This City was Built On Dinosaur Bones.‚

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.

Photographing Architectural Abstracts by Lisa Couldwell

Lisa Couldwell — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:15:09 +0000

Living in the downtown core of a large city with some interesting glass towers makes for great opportunities to shoot urban architectural abstracts. The beauty of this type of photography is that sometimes uncooperative weather or light can make for some great opportunities to catch building reflections. So any day I feel the need to get out for a walk, I take my camera and head downtown to see what the towers will offer up for opportunities.

I guess the most important aspect of shooting these types of subjects is the ability to look up, vertical, sideways, basically any way that gives one a different perspective. When shooting, look for interesting shapes and reflections off the glass windows of the towers. This can be anything from the reflections of the other parts of the buildings themselves, to reflections of the sky or clouds, sunlight or other buildings in the area.

Energy Plaza — Calgary, Alberta by Lisa Couldwell

If you see something that catches your eye, try turning your head, body in a way that might perhaps give you a different perspective and if you see something, get the camera ready. I usually set my Pentax into auto-bracket mode because I like to have the option of an HDR shot to play around with when I get home. Put the camera to the eye and again turn the camera, sideways, on an angle or basically any way that intensifies the abstractness of what you see through the lens. Take your time and don’t be afraid to take several versions of the shot while moving the camera and your body into different angles as you never know what may work and what may not. When composing the image in camera, I often compose lines to move on the diagonal as this moves the eye through the photo and creates a pleasing perspective. I look for symmetrical and geometric shapes when I move and photograph. I will go across the street and try from a different street corner as well. The beauty of this kind of photography is anything goes and you never know what you may end up with just by moving either a few centimeters or several feet. (Just as an FYI, sometimes you may get hassled from security people but in Canada as long as you are on a public sidewalk and not on private property you have the right to continue to photograph.)

In this image, I really was attracted to the V shaped angle of the building, vanishing perspective, symmetry, and the reflections of the other windows and the clouds. I pointed the camera straight up and tried to angle it so it was perfectly symmetrical. I then autobracketed 3 shots at exposures of +.5/0/-.5 stops, combined them into an HDR image in Photomatix, converted to BW in Silver Efex and minor touch ups in Lightroom to really bring out the cloud detail.

Lisa Couldwell is a photographer living in Calgary Alberta, Canada. You can check out more of her work in the Pentax Gallery, on fluidr,‚and on Smugmug. She also goes by the handle casil403 on our photography forum.

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

Marko Kulik — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:10:20 +0000

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

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

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!

Vintage photo of the day Jan. 17, 2011

Marko Kulik — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:12:28 +0000

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

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.

Photo of the day Jan. 13, 2011

Marko Kulik — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:25:49 +0000

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.

92 — My damn lenses keep vignetting — solving vignetting problems

Marko Kulik — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:25:03 +0000

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.

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 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

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.

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

Vintage photo of the day Jan. 8, 2011

Marko Kulik — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:47:07 +0000

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

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

Photography forum image of the month December 2010

Marko Kulik — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:09:04 +0000

Every month on ourphotography 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

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.

Congrats again Donna for capturing this gorgeous scene!

Photography forum image of the month – December 2010

Marko Kulik — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:09:04 +0000

Golden Glitter by Donna

This month’s choice is Golden Glitter by Donna

I chose this image for several reasons:

Congrats again Donna for capturing this gorgeous scene!

Vintage photo of the day Jan. 3, 2011

Marko Kulik — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:53:52 +0000

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

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.

Photo of the day – Dec. 30, 2010

Marko Kulik — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 20:35:33 +0000

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

Vintage photo of the day — Dec. 27, 2010

Marko Kulik — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 21:35:23 +0000

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

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.

Photo of the day — Dec. 22, 2010

Marko Kulik — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:12:07 +0000

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

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

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

Marko Kulik — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:16:20 +0000

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