LensWork Daily

Memories of India by Annu Palakunnathu Matthew

Memories of India by Annu Palakunnathu Matthew

From Memories of India by Annu Palakunnathu Matthew
From LensWork #28
© 2000 Annu Palakunnathu Matthew. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Commentary
One of the continual dances that I see in photography is the interplay between the big picture and the small details. The title of this portfolio, Memories of India, tells us the big picture. In the photograph above, however, it is the small details that attract our attention — and make this a successful photograph. The luminescent glow of her toenails, the jewelry, the graphic print on her garment, and of course the powerful gesture of her foot descending into the water — it is all these details that keep our eye moving through the photograph and our mind engaged in trying to understand the moment. From the content of the photograph itself, we know nothing about memories nor even that this would be India. The dance begins. The big picture informs the details, and the details inform the big picture.

I'll go one step further and propose that the way of thinking I'm describing as a dance can be a pretty good editing tool for any project. I've used this on ever so many occasions when trying to decide if a photograph adds enough to the project to be included or if it should be excised in the editing process. The title of the project and the introductory text are often the two components that set the stage; the individual images and details therein are what bring life to the play. Each photograph in the project needs to add to the total. It's even better if it adds uniquely to the total.

And then, there is the contribution made by the title of the photograph. The title of this photograph is Mothers' Feet. This bit of detailed information in the form of the image title adds so much meaning when understood in the context of the project title. We can almost feel our minds flipping back and forth between detail and context, context and detail. That is the dance.

With your indulgence, I'll go even one step further and propose that this is precisely how so many photographic projects fail. Either the context (think title and introduction) is too broad or too narrow to successfully allow the individual photographs to provide the detail that completes the project. Or, the context is ideally set, but the photographs are too vague, too unrelated, to uninformative to complete the project. Dancing is a delicate balance that requires more than just knowledge of the steps; it's grace and movement, gesture and timing, an artful interplay between partners that is fragile and easily broken should either misstep. This analogy applies perfectly to photographic projects as well.

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our back issues — print (while still available) and our PDFs for computer, iPad, Android, and other devices. Plus, bonus audio commentary about this image is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

What We Do

What We Do

From an email I received this morning from Doug Ethridge (alumnus from LensWork #96), I just have to share the following quote. I want all of you to print this out and stick it up on your refrigerator, your computer monitor, your bathroom mirror, or wherever you keep such inspirational snippets of wisdom and motivation. This is a keeper:

It is so true that more often than not, we set out on a mission and end up making images that are different than we anticipated. That is the beauty of art, isn't it. Seeing, thinking, responding, testing, failing — and then seeing glimmers of success. All in the hope that we can make an image that is not of something, but about something.

Beautifully stated and so true.

Brooks' books on photography and the creative process are available in print from Lulu.com, and as eBooks for Kindle or EPUB readers. As one of the membership benefits, these eBooks are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online via download.

Wacom Howcome?

Wacom Howcome?

Time for a true confession. I've owned a Wacom tablet ever since I purchased my first version of Photoshop and Fractal Painter. From time to time, I get excited about using it only to find I should really upgrade to the newest tablet. I'm now on my third one — an Intuos 3 — and for the life of me I can't think of a single thing I've ever done with it other than play around just enough to see that it has some sort of potential. I need help.

What are you doing with your Wacom tablet that is indispensible and makes it your tool of choice?

Any suggestions that would move this from a toy with potential to a tool with serious value? I need to start using it habitually for something important or unplug it and liberate the USB port it is currently occupying.

Folders in Lightroom

Folders in Lightroom

I have diligently tried to keep this technology section of LensWork Daily from deteriorating into a series of complaints about technology. It's easy to be frustrated, but it doesn't do any of us any good for me to complain about it unless there are solutions that can be offered. However, I'm going to break form and complain about one of the most frustrating aspects of Lightroom. I had hoped this might be resolved in the upgrade to Lightroom 4. Unfortunately, the frustration still exists.

As my use of Lightroom has deepened over time, I find my catalogs growing larger and larger. That, in itself, is not a problem. In fact it's one of Lightroom's strengths. However, my catalogs are organized into numerous folders and occasionally sub-folders. They exist that way on my hard drive and have all been imported in Lightroom using the same structure. As a result, I have hundreds of folders in my Lightroom "Folders" panel.

Most typically, I work with the images in a given folder at the beginning of any process. Obviously, the first task is to navigate to that folder so I can use the grid view to start working with the images contained therein. My frustration is in the simple task of finding these folders.

In my two primary Lightroom databases — LensWork and my personal Brooks Jensen Arts database — the folders are organized appropriate to those databases. The LensWork folders are organized alphabetically by the photographer's last name. In my personal database, folders are numbered in the sequence in which I photograph them. In LensWork, to find "Zee, Allan Bruce" I have to use the mouse and the scrollbar to move to the end of the sequence in order to find his folder. In my personal database, I have to use the mouse and the scrollbar to move to the end of the sequence to find my most recent folder. Why can't I just type "Zee" or "Frozen Ponds" to jump directly to the folder of interest?

This is even more complicated when the folder I need is not at the end of the list — e.g., "Maroccolo, Marco" or "1113 Upper Salt River Canyon." Having to manually scroll and look for something is so cumbersome that I find it hard to believe Adobe has not addressed this issue.

Adding salt to the wound, wouldn't it be logical to be able to search for the folder using the search function? Try it. Press Ctrl-F (I assume Cmd-F on a Mac) and type in a folder name. Lightroom won't find it because for some unfathomable reason it doesn't search folder names. There are lots of choices in the drop-down "Text" menu, but folder names isn't one of them.

The only option I can see is to include the folder name as a keyword in the metadata of an image. But that requires me to make those keywords and to clutter up my keyword fields with all my folder names! How silly! How hard would it be for Adobe to add the folder name as one of the searchable fields?

Okay, I'm done complaining. I suppose what I'm really hoping for is that one of you know how to do this simple task that I can't seem to accomplish. Please, I would be more than willing to look foolish if one of you can tell me how to do this. Or perhaps, I'm hoping that one of you is a decision-maker at Adobe who can fix this silly oversight.

Pictured Rocks by Curtis Hans Miller

Pictured Rocks by Curtis Hans Miller

From Pictured Rocks by Curtis Hans Miller
From LensWork Extended #94
© 2011 Curtis Hans Miller. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Commentary
Many a workshop instructor has advised beginning photographers that photography is "about light." However, physics explains in greater detail that the term "light" is actually an accumulation acronym. That is to say, there is red light, orange light, yellow light, green light, blue light — and of course all the countless wavelength energies in between. Light, or more properly "white light," is an amalgamation of all the colors of the spectrum. Perhaps it would be better to advise beginning photographers the photography is not about light but about color, or specifically the color of light.

Part of the reason this is so tricky is the incredible adaptability of our eye/brain system in perceiving what is "normal" light. It's as though our brains have an automatic white balance function that corrects what we see to a relatively normal color spectrum, regardless of the color of the light that happens to be providing the illumination. This is why colors in our living room normal and colors outdoors look normal — it's all based on our ability to adapt and make "normal" of whatever we see.

The perception of color is an incredibly complex topic that is far beyond the scope of these comments, but it is at the core of this photograph by Curtis Hans Miller. For those of you who are not familiar with the concept, this photograph exhibits what is known technically as a "split tone" technique. That is to say, the top half of the photograph has a different color treatment than the bottom half. The top half is cool in tone, slightly blue — but very slightly blue. The shore's sand and rocks in the lower half of the photograph are slightly warm — but very slightly. This split tone affect can easily be overdone, and often is. If, on the other hand, you want to see this technique done with subtle success, you need look no farther than this image from Miller's Pictured Rocks portfolio. In fact, his entire portfolio is a sensual exploration of subtle colors.

To be specific, if this photograph were of a single color balance, it would be interesting but perhaps not noteworthy. His deft use of the subtle colors, however, give this image a power to engage our eyes in a compelling way. Some might describe it as being more three-dimensional. Others might perceive it as being more sensual in a temperature sense — you can almost feel the cold in the water and the late setting sun and sand. However you interpret it, I suspect you will admit it is the coloration of this image that brings it to life. In these days of hyper-accentuated Photoshop vibrance, it's a pleasant relief to see a photographer use such subtle coloration to make photographs that rise above the norm and provide us a landscape we would like to walk into.

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our back issues — print (while still available) and our PDFs for computer, iPad, Android, and other devices. Plus, bonus audio commentary about this image is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Recharger on Steroids

Recharger on Steroids

In this age of electronic devices, power is everything. I'm not the first one to observe that we all now manage our batteries with the kind of care we used to spend on managing our film. Film cameras without film are expensive paperweights; electronic devices without batteries are the same.

Unfortunately, along with all of our electronic devices comes an array of battery configurations, adapter plugs, chargers — all of which are available in variations that approach googolplex numbers. Nonetheless, I still have a number of devices that use good old-fashioned AA and AAA batteries. Like many of you, I've opted for the rechargeable kinds because of their obvious economic advantages as well as the consistent voltage output which is handy — and sometimes required — by today's electronic devices. For years now I've used nickel metal hydride batteries (NiMH) and the latest technology of slow discharge NiMH batteries. With these, a good charger is a prerequisite.

So, get a good charger — not one of those cheap $10 ones, but a really good one. How about one that pushes $75? No, I'm not kidding — but fortunately you don't have to pay list price for it. I have two Maha Powerex MH-C9000 AA - AAA Battery Chargers that are simply fantastic. I have no hesitation in saying this is the best battery charger ever manufactured. I suppose it would have to be in order for them to sell them for $51.97. As I say, they're not only worth it, but I purchased two of them.

Why are they so good? I'll let you read all the details for yourself at the Thomas Distributing website, but the short story is that they not only charge batteries but they recondition them, break them in, trickle charge them, do battery matching, battery forming, and… well, you can do the research yourself. The bottom line is they make rechargeable batteries perform the way we need and expect them to.

Since power management is such a critical part of our workflow these days, I found myself not even hesitating when it came to purchasing a battery charger would solve this critical problem. Well, in the spirit of true confession, I came to this conclusion the first time I was out in the field with no batteries for my flash unit because my stupid NiCad AA's were dead. I am delighted to report that that experience has never been repeated now that my AA and AAA power management is being handled by this terrific battery charger.

A Commercial-Free World

A Commercial-Free World

My mother-in-law was over last night for dinner and she brought with her an AM radio so we could listen to one of her favorite music broadcasts. The music was fun and the program interesting, but after two hours I remembered why I don't listen to AM radio any more. The static, the DJ babble, and the persistent commercials every few songs had me climbing the walls.

Probably subconsciously — okay, I confess, with at least a small component of purposeful strategy — I've managed to eliminate commercial messages from my life. The assault from the radio last night was overwhelming. You see, I don't read magazines; instead I tend to read books. No advertising. I don't watch broadcast television; instead I watch streaming video so even the television I do watch is commercial-free. I don't read the newspaper; instead I get my news via the internet, but even then I tend not to visit news website because of all the banner ads. I'd rather read content via RSS feeds.

It's impossible to live in a perfect advertising-free world, but we can strive for it as a goal. I'm close. I'm probably an odd duck about this, but I also know I'm not alone. This has me thinking . . .

I wonder what the implications are for society (and for commerce) if more and more of us are insulated from advertising like I am? Obviously, I am probably missing some useful information I might be better off to know. Be that as it may, I just can't willingly subject myself to knowledge about the upcoming bridal fair or the discounts available on muffler enhancements. That's the chief problem with advertising — so little of it has anything to do with my life!

So, I've isolated myself. Herein lies a dilemma: as a photographer and publisher, how do I connect my products with people who don't know about them if they, like me, are unwilling to allow me access to their attention via advertising? We all want an audience for our artwork, but if people don't know about it, we need to tell them. We need to advertise. It's a dilemma of sizeable proportions. In today's world with the plethora of media available to us, it's becoming easier and easier as consumers to shut it out — which means more and more difficult to get our message out. There's a lot to think about, but at the very least you may bet the farm that my strategy won't include any advertising on AM radio.

Brooks' workshop Finding an Audience for Your Work is available on disc for $99 plus s&h. As one of the membership benefits, this workshop is available in its entirety to members of LensWork Online via streaming video.

Can I ask a favor?

Can I ask a favor?

We put a lot of effort into the free content we post here at LensWork Daily in the hopes of it making a valuable contribution to your creative process. We appreciate each and every one of you who visit regularly and add your comments to the discussions.

Of course, we'd like to see this community grow. You can help spread the word. After 20 years, we still hear regularly from people who are just discovering LensWork for the first time. We'd appreciate it if you'd tell your photographic peers and friends about LensWork Daily. For twenty years now, we've relied on word of mouth (rather than intrusive advertising and constant drum beating) to connect us to the photographic community. We've always operated on faith that there is a large community of photographers who, like us, are more interested in photographs than cameras and who are travelling a creative path as a way of life. Thanks for being part of our photographic family and thanks for helping us get the word out that there is more to fine art photography than gear-talk and equipment reviews.

Let your photographic friends know about http://daily.lenswork.com.

Thanks.

Sanctuary by Kristin Satzman

Sanctuary by Kristin Satzman

From Sanctuary by Kristin Satzman
From LensWork and LensWork Extended #57
© 2005 Kristin Satzman. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Commentary
In this image from Kristin Satzman, we have an example of a classic composition technique known as "layering." For reasons I cannot fathom, this is a technique I almost never see discussed in books on photographic composition. The so-called "Rule of Thirds," yes; the ideas of near/far, yes; depth of field, yes; perspective, edge burning, leading lines, chiaroscuro — all yes. Why layering is ignored is beyond me simply because it is such an incredibly successful compositional trick to add three dimensionality to an inherently two-dimensional medium.

Perhaps it is because successful layering is so difficult to pull off without adding visual confusion. In this image, Satzman takes advantage of two characteristics of the foreground tree that help avoid confusion: the dark trunk against the white mist in the middle of the image; and the strange underside illumination of the tree trunks in the foreground. Where does this light come from? We don't know, but we can see that it adds an interesting visual separation to the darker background behind it. What an unusual combination!

It's worth noting, also, that the foreground tree's farthest branches do begin to tonally merge with the background near the right side of the photograph. This helps hold our eye in the image as we are naturally pulled back to the center where the contrast creates the main focus of the composition. Marvelous!

It is easy to see how unsuccessful this image could be if the foreground tree trunk tonalities were reversed. If the upper branches were light, they would visually meld into the mist; if the lower parts of the trunk were dark, they would visually meld into the undergrowth. The magic of this photograph is in the fact that neither of these unfortunate tonal merges occur and instead we have this wonderful layered composition.

One other small component of this image catches my eye. In the lower left of the image, behind the tree, there appears to be a lighter area of the ground that could be a trail in the woods that curves back into the composition about half way up the left side. I'm not certain this is a trail, but it is easy to interpret it as one. With this interpretation, however, there is a draw to my eye that sweeps left to right, paralleling the foreground tree trunk itself. This doubling of the compositional movement helps make this an especially powerful image.

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our back issues — print (while still available) and our PDFs for computer, iPad, Android, and other devices. Plus, bonus audio commentary about this image is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

The Dilemma of Hi-rez Images

The Dilemma of Hi-rez Images

With the introduction of the iPad 3 and the predictable demand for higher resolution images to take advantage of its Retina display technology, there are implications relative to copyright protection that are worth considering. I think this is an issue we all need to be thinking about very carefully. This popped up in another thread, but I'd like to give it a little more focus here. As consumers and as photographers, what are your thoughts about the balance between getting your work out there to be seen and the needs to protect your copyrighted images from unauthorized use?

Should photographers downscale their images for protection — thereby making them look worse on high resolution displays? Should photographers watermark their high resolution images — thereby marring them? Should photographers just hope for the best with a wink and a nod? What are your thoughts?

Brooks' books on photography and the creative process are available in print from Lulu.com, and as eBooks for Kindle or EPUB readers. As one of the membership benefits, these eBooks are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online via download.