Landscape photography is a genre intended to show different spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic.

Many landscape photographers show little or no human activity in their photos, striving to attain pure, unsullied landscapes that are devoid of human influence, using instead subjects such as strongly defined landforms, weather, and ambient light. Despite this, there is no pure or absolute definition of what makes a landscape in photography, as such it has become a very broad term, encompassing urban, industrial, macro and nature photography. A beach full of parasols and sunbathers can be a landscape photo, but so can the view through an electron microscope, which shows a different type of landscape. Waterfalls, and mountains are especially popular in classic landscape photography, often calling for Large Format cameras and neutral density or polarizing filters. Though many photographs are inspired by traditional landscape painting, the term in photography is very broad, most places and things can be photographed as a landscape, a kitchen, a lamp, a wall, or even the human body can be turned into a rolling vista by a skilled photographer.

Landscapes are often created with such tools as a pinhole camera, or a large format camera and tripod, usually with a wide angle lenses (24 mm and 35 mm are especially popular). Many serious photographers use medium or large format systems to record as much detail as possible, although the vast majority of landscapes shot today are from digital SLRs and compact cameras.

Landscape photography has become a valuable tool to inspire environmental stewardship. Capturing the beauty of unspoiled places serves to bring dwindling wilderness areas into the public eye. Many noted landscape photographers provide images to environmental protection organizations. Noted organizations use professional and amateur photographers’ work to further the preservation cause. Notable landscape photographers include Ansel Adams, Bill Brandt, and Edward Weston.

wikipedia.org

There’s something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery.
Stefan Kanfer

artist: Peter Nidzgorski, source: this isn’t happiness, tumblr via ffffound

photography: Steven Klein, source: Calvin Klein Underwear ad 2009, models:Eva Mendes & Jamie Dornan

photography: Elle Arden, Source: Black and White Zebra with Black Background

source: google, model: James Dean

source: Friends of Type via ffffound

source: k (1 of 11) en Flickr: ¡Intercambio de fotos!

source: google

photography: Ansel Adams, location: Grand Tetons, Wyoming

model: my grandaddy

source: google

source: google, model: Jimi Hendrix

photography: silja Magg, source: Women Management, model: Katarina Ivanovska

photography: Heidi Slimane, source: FormFiftyFive – Design inspiration from around the world

source: Hubble’s Black and White View of the Universe

source: google

photography: Peter Lindbergh, souce: Numero

source: Ampersanderson via ffffound

photography: Ansel Adams

photography: Allan Rostron

Source: High Society (1956), model: Grace Kelly

photography: David Byun, source: W Korea April 2009, stylist: Yahaira Familia

source: Japanese Numero April 2008

photography: Hugh Morton 1982, model: Jim Braddock  UNC vs Villanova

model: Ray Charles

models: Kennedy family

source: google

source: v-mag model: Naomi Campbell

source: NY daily news, model: Jesse Owens at 36′ Berlin olympics

source: google

photography: Mario Testino, source: German Vogue June 08

photography: Mario Testino, model: Naomi Campbell

photography: Otto Rogge, source: Ocean, Ottophoto

photography: Karim Sadli model: Abbey Lee

source: Beatles

photography: Robert Longos source: “Men in the Cities” series – 1980s via Ryan’s Facebook,

source: Boston Ballet

photography: Raffee, source: Kid in the Park via Raffee

source: Bright Idea Brilliantly Delivered on the Behance Network via ffffound

model: Filippa Hamilton

source: shuttle launch

source: Sand Dunes, Izismile

source: Ralph Waldo Emerson via 30+ Pieces of Inspiring, Funny and Interesting Advice – My Modern Metropolis

"Cyclamen", Digital Photograph.

Dennis Littleworth

6:30 a.m-10 p.m.

Homer’s Coffee House
7126 W. 80th St.
Overland Park, KS
913.381.6022

Hours: 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Runs through: Nov. 30

Artist’s site: http://www.dejavyou.com
Gallery site: http://www.homerscoffeehouse.com

The process of digitally enhancing photographs is not without controversy. Is it just another possible tool in an artist’s kit, or a sacreligious alteration of the real?”

Dennis Littleworth, whose photography is on display this month at Homer’s Coffee House in Downtown Overland Park, comes down squarely on the pro-Photoshop side – so much so that the retired business executive went back to school to learn Web design, graphic design and digital post–processing.

One must master not only the skills and techniques required to properly capture a compelling image in the camera, he writes. One must also master the post-processing skills, that bring the image to life.  Since the lens simply cannot capture what the human eye can see, it is in the post-processing that one can re-create what the brain and eye perceived at the time the image was captured. In the past this was accomplished in the darkroom, where the light in the image was dodged and  burned, the image was cropped and more.  Ansel Adams said,  “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.”

Today the darkroom consists of digital tools that not only replicate the old darkroom as far as manipulating the light, today’s tools are capable of far, far more — enabling the photographer to become a “digital artist.”

Littleworth, who shares the Homer’s space this month with watercolorist Bess Duston, backs up his assertions with his work. Littleworth’s photographs — such as Cyclamen, pictured above — are artfully composed and fairly drip with light and bright color, whether he’s capturing scenes from nature or images from his travels, most recently to Hawai’i.

(Speaking of travel, albeit over a shorter distance, a two-block foot trek west on 80th street today — between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., that is — will bring you to more of Littleworth’s work at Images Gallery.)

Whether one agrees or not with Littleworth’s stance on digital alteration, he does raise interesting questions about perception, memory and why it’s so hard to capture what one really sees. And while those questions might not be answerable in the span of one fall Saturday, Littleworth’s colorful, engaging work — and a cup of coffee — will make mulling them an enjoyable experience.

Postproduzione si, postproduzione no…

Quante appassionate discussioni sull’opportunità o meno di intervenire sulle immagini digitali. Da una parte i puristi del “non si tocca nulla”, dall’altra gli smanettoni. 

E’ curioso, ma secondo me, la diatriba ha poco senso.

La postroduzione è sempre esistita e la questione eventualmente non sta negli aspetti tecnologici ma nella “misura”, nella capacità di trovare il giusto limite oltre il quale non andare.

A parte il fatto che anche in molte altre forme d’arte  si può parlare tranquillamente di postproduzione, e senza problemi di tabù (pensiamo alla musica, al cinema ma anche alla stessa pittura), comunque la fotografia ha avuto fino dai suoi albori nel processo dell’immagine una sua caratteristica peculiare.

Non è forse postproduzione lo sviluppo del negativo ?
E che dire della stampa ? Della scelta della carta e del trattamento ? Mai sentito parlare di “sviluppo selettivo” ?

Quante variabili poteva controllare il fotografo in camera oscura e poi in fase di stampa ? Molte. davvero molte.
Ansel Adams ci scrisse un intero libro “The Print”.

L’immagine sopra è un documento interessante.
Si tratta dello schizzo di istruzioni di esposizione con cui Richard Avendon istruiva il suo “stampatore”.

In inglese suona curioso e stranamente tecnologico :  ”Avedon’s instructions to his printer”

[Image from : http://claytoncubitt.tumblr.com/]

Recently I picked up two photography magazines, Emerging Photographer and PDNedu, I got to reading them, and I find their content quite interesting.  While both of these magazines have sponsorship from a camera brand which compete with the brand I buy into (namely Canon), I still find its content relevant and applicable to any photographer.  Certainly the advertising in each magazine may have more advertising from its respective sponsor, and sure, the people writing the articles may or may not use equipment produced by the sponsor, this doesn’t diminish the fact that ultimately, it’s not all about one brand being better than another, it’s about how the person uses a particular piece of equipment.

Canon, Nikon, and Sony (as well as other great brands) produce excellent equipment, but one has to know how to use one’s equipment to get the best results.  If you gave an excellent photographer three equivalent cameras all produced by different companies, and I looked at an image taken by each camera, I wouldn’t be able to tell a difference, because this one photographer has a certain style, and this style certainly wouldn’t change if s/he were to use a different camera.  The three cameras would essentially function the same, and produce pretty much the same results.  Assuming they use auto white balance, the whites could be balanced differently in each image, this doesn’t take away from one’s shooting style.  Besides, the photographer likely has an understanding of an editing program, and thus would bring the white balance into line, as well as make other changes to fit their particular style.

I’ll use another example:  We all know Ansel Adams made some amazing photographs.  How often do you hear someone bragging about what company made the camera Adams used?  Next to zero.  Sure, somebody might know which company made it, but that bit of information is completely irrelevant to the fact that Adams made some excellent photographs.  The techniques of image production Adams used are the keys to what made his photographs truly great, rather than a certain company’s camera making the photographs great.

My point is, the war between Canon and Nikon users (as well as with other brands) is ultimately pointless.  Yes, Canon, Nikon, etc. make excellent equipment; but that doesn’t matter.  What truly matters is whether you can produce great images.  I’ll leave you with these three quotes I like from Ansel Adams: “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs,” “You don’t take a photograph, you make it,” and “The most important part of a camera is the twelve inches behind the viewfinder.”

Your photography friend, Andrew.

Sept 14, 2009 6 minutes to midnight.

8:15am…Drop off my son at first day of Kindergarten…with Mama and the baby along for the ride of course…get to work early, park on sidewalk in front of the shop (because I can), stroller out, baby out, girls off for a run, keys, door, alarm, office light, list ready…bank, post, Garibaldi Graphics…STOP!  Did I hear that?  What was that?  Did the reno workers in the suite upstairs drop something through one of the four new holes they’ve drilled in my open concept ceiling?  Or is it….no…yes, it is, “Drip!” the one thing that can put an end to any perfectly planned and functioning day, water.

Move everything, bucket too big for the corner, use the cut off pop bottle we use for filling the mop pale because it fits in the sink, wipe, move, there it is, “Drip, plop!”  Call the neighbors upstairs, call the strata manager, call the emergency number and suddenly 8:30 something has faded to 10:00am and nothing is done, time to open the shop. 

Meanwhile, moving piles of boxes away from the drip and counting cash bring reality back to the forefront.  10:00 something, still not open, run boxes upstairs to storage, no time to chat with strata guy whose daughter started kindergarten today too, meet the girls back from their run, trade keys, doors open, DVD, music, lights (already on), TV, open for business.

The drips stop and in the ensuing chaos my office has shifted fully to one side of the room, the side with my desk of course, and the “OCD” of unmentioned childhood instinctively turns on the nesting gene (either that or the excess estrogen father’s generate when a baby is born…it’s true) that leads to sorting, tossing recycling and/or re-use-it centering every item on my IKEA Expedit shelving unit of timeless design. 

 I pile old Skate, Surf and Snow Magazines on the Pique Newspaper rack outside in a new enviro concept – ‘Free-use-it’, buyer’s guides, notes, paper, more paper and some other paper I should never have printed to recycle, a broken bike tool to trash, a bag of old banners, doubles of other tools I have never used, old phones and calculators to Re-use-it, and finally, when the smoke clears…mop the floor and I’m ready to get to work.  (This took most of the day by the way…not too many customers on mid shoulder season chilly rain, cloud, sun days.)  And then I found it; the October 2007 Masters of Design Issue of Fast Company Magazine I bought at YVR on my first independent business flight and think to myself, By Design…this all happened by design.

The statement, “by Design” has a god-like sense of perfection.  “By Design”…like it has always been or better yet like it was meant to be.

Rewind to the 70’s.  I remember as a kid coloring with a pencil, light, dark, shadowy shades of grey that created the impossible imaginationscape of a child.  The pencil, by design, was the infinite; it was simplicity and complete purity.  It still is.  Like Ansel Adams seeking perfection in black and white in his darkroom (if you haven’t seen his autobiography find it), I knew at 4 or 5 or maybe 6 that I had vision…that the picture I was drawing had the potential of purpose and intent, that the picture was there to tell ‘you’ how ‘I’ see, how I feel.  Emotion; there is something so simple and yet seemingly so impossible to capture.  Adams said anyone can take a picture.  10% is being in the right place at the right time but the other 90% was developing the image to help people see what he saw.  By design there is so much more to art and design than we see firsthand after the creation is complete. 

I bought the magazine amidst one of the most physically creative times.  After the better part 17 years working the seam for fortune 500 retailers I was about to demolish the core of a 14 year old photo shop, built by a guy who laid the tiles on the floor by hand himself, and literally build my first business from the ground up (or ceiling down as the case turned out).   With the mastery of seasoned builders (my sister and my brother in law) in a week, just 7 days, by design, my design was there.  (Yes, 7 days…sound familiar? Ha, ha!)

By design the hand of god graces the Sistene Chapel and now 500 more years of history meet to bridge heaven and sky at the point where their fingers touch.  Someone said, “Surfing big waves is too thrilling to be an egocentric thing.”  It is so true…the same can be said for design because in the moment, in the rapture of the creation, in bringing the vision to life simply nothing else exists.  Not time or tide, nor any other conscious thought, pride or motivation, or even being for that matter…there you are alone and complete. 

Less is more…so much more.  When we let the experience create the invisible, the impossible, the rest will follow by design.

Esperance Beach Landscape Prints

Feeling inspired today to try my hand at a Black and White image. While I do not attempt to do many Black and Whites especially of a beach setting, I felt like giving it a go today. Why well 3 reasons …. Ansel Adams, John Sexton and G Dan Mitchell.

So how do those photographers start me on a path to this image. Well G Dan Mitchell put up an image today of a spot I photographed last year in Yosemite National Park only his was Black & White. I saw his image on my morning rounds of photographers and what they have been up to and thought wow that is so cool. Well one thing led to another and next thing I am looking through John Sextons few images online and thinking damn his use of light and texture is amazing. I met John briefly at Mono Lake with his wife and again just outside of Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite National Park. After looking through some of Johns and G Dans Black & Whites I ended up I guess where all landscape photographers end up when looking at Black & White photographs Ansel Adams … So that was my inspiration for the day. Thanks gentlemen

Why did I then choose a Esperance Beach shot for the Black & White today, when I have plenty of Yosemite images to choose from … Only my screwed up backward thinking logic knows. I had this set of 3 images stitched for a while now but never liked the color version no matter what I did, so I guess that had something to do with it …

Anyway enough ranting about thoughts inspiration and my work day, most of you folks just want to see pics …. so pics it is …

I am not sure if this works or not, I thought about going heavier in the black contrast department and then thought nah screw that I kinda like the grey tone with the blue filter  … so thats what you get Oh one last thing …. I did wait round for a larger wave to hit the end rock, but do you think it wanted to play the game … nope so I was left with a tiny splash, better than no splash I guess.

Recently we took a trip to Monument Valley in Arizona and I made what I thought then were some pretty good photos.

But, when I got home I saw this photo of Monument Valley taken by Ansel Adams.

Adams didn’t do much color work because he thought, correctly, that the technical tools did not yet exist for him to express himself the way he could in black and white.  With the advent of digital photography and computers that has changed.  Nevertheless, Adams didn’t do much color photography so I thought there might still be western landscapes that he had not already done and done better than anybody else.  But no, wherever you go, whatever you shoot, Ansel Adams has already been there, signed the guest book, and photographed the place better than anybody else.

So, when I saw this photo, I decided the best thing I do for my camera was put the poor thing out of its misery by taking it out in the backyard and shooting  it. . . .

Tonight I got into a huge debate with my brother-in-law.  He started off by saying the following:  “I don’t consider a photographer, a photographer if they have to manipulate the photograph after they take the picture.  I consider that person an image maker.  Ansel Adams was not a photographer but an image maker because he too post processed.” After he said that comment, I got a bit defensive but decided to debate the issue instead. I don’t agree with my brother-in-law and he knows I don’t.  Simply put, photography is art and the artist is the photographer.  Post processing is part of photography both with film and digital.  Ansel Adams was a photographer and a damn good one too.  He invited us into his world and brought our attention to nature’s beauty and heightened our awareness to the Yosemite area.  I see his emotions in every picture, his passion and his love for the subject.

My brother-in-law also said “when someones takes a photograph and does nothing to it, no post processing, that is a photograph and he/she is a real photographer” I disagree.  A photographer sees a vision and captures that vision with the tools already in his/her hands, a camera.  They think about how they want the picture to look like and change the settings in the camera to show their vision.  Whether one wants to focus on the subject by widening the aperture to make the background blurry or slow the shutter speed to stop cascading waters motion, that to me, is already post processing.  As soon as you snap the camera, post processing has begun.  The first process is seeing an image, knowing how you want to capture that image, and then taking your tool, your camera, and changing the settings to capture the image.  So, a photographer is an artist and I do agree with the statement, an image maker as well.  I see the world as paintings only I don’t have a blank canvas nor can I paint very well.  A scene inspires me and with that I put my emotion, my perception into it.  I have also discovered that photography isn’t about the equipment, it’s about you.  Your camera is your tool.  A painter has a paintbrush, a photographer has a camera, both see a vision and both create that vision.

I know there are huge debates about HDR photography as well.  Everybody has their own opinion but to me, I’m just grateful there are wonderful photographers out there who inspire me everyday.  Whether they use HDR or not isn’t the issue, I like seeing their perspective, their vision.  If every photographer did the same thing, then I wouldn’t be inspired.  I love seeing variety.  It keeps photography interesting and let’s me see the world in a different light and perhaps I wouldn’t have seen it that way if it wasn’t photographed that way.

Anyways, that was my discussion tonight.  I’m still taking this HDR class and now we are on the topic of the grunge look.  Boy, I wonder what my brother-in-law will say about the grunge look when he sees the results.  The results look completely animated.  I don’t think I’ll be using HDR grunge look often but it is a tool I can use when I get inspired to do so.  I’ll post some of my grunge looking HDR photos soon.

What do you think?

W H A T : TECH CONNECT: CLOSE, ADAMS, AND CALDER

W H E N : Thursday, November 12, 2009 , 6 – 8:30PM
W H E R E : San Jose Museum of Art
M O R E :

• Alexander Calder: Color in Motion
• Ansel Adams: Early Works
• Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration
• Variations on a Theme
• SJMA INTERACTIVE
• San Jose > Downtown > Itinerary
• DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS: FREE COMMUNITY FAMILY DAY

While I was loading bikes into/onto my Jeep for my Moab trip over the weekend, I destroyed Victoria, my touchscreen phone, by placing her on the bumper and promptly slamming the hatch down on top of her. Surprisingly enough, Victoria survived the blow in one piece. Not surprisingly, 85% of her beautiful two-inch screen is now darkened by a black cloud of gloominess that is sporadically graced by a technicolor rainbow.

As I was driving to SLC today, I called Ansel Adams to find out where he wanted to meet to go photogging. At least, I tried to call him. After I finally got my French-based voice command to understand who I wanted to call, I was greeted by a woman who politely told me that no such phone number existed, would I please try again? Not being able to see the number I was calling or dial any new numbers, I was jimmy-jacked.

What I desperately needed was access to my email, something that also required a computer of some sort and an internet connection. The only place that I could think of that would provide such service was the library, so at 11:00 a.m. I drove into SLC for my first experience at the “new” city library. As a child, I spent a lot of time at city libraries but never had I noticed the extraordinary amount of homeless people that hang out at the library. They were everywhere: sleeping, eating, reading, blogging even. (Maybe.)

As time ticked by, I quickly found Ansel Adam’s correct phone number and downloaded it to my phone. By the time I got in touch with Ansel Adams, I was running nearly 30 minutes late. Since Elle had unexpectedly arrived in SLC four hours early, we decided that the three of us would go on a little hike together.

Elle and I met Ansel Adams at a nearby gas station where he jumped into my Jeep for our photogging/hiking adventure which mainly consisted of driving up two canyons only to discover that the two hikes we wanted to do were closed for the season. We finally settled on a little paved walk halfway up Big Cottonwood Canyon where we spent the next 45 minutes shooting a year’s worth of pictures of rocks and water.

Hailing from the DFW area of Texas, Ansel Adams moved to Utah a year ago because, as an aspiring geologist, he loves the mountains. (And trees, but I don’t think trees have a whole lot to do with geology.) He shoots with a Nikon and shoots exclusively nature. He showed me some recent shots he’d taken that were still on his memory card and they looked pretty good on the two-inch review. Of course, nearly everything looks good when it’s only two-inches.

I’m not sure if I’ll see Ansel Adams again, partly because I’m not sure how interested I am, partly because I apparently missed yet another social cue. After dropping Ansel Adams off at his truck, Elle told me that he had made several comments about being hungry and getting food. Somehow I had managed to miss all of his comments and Ansel Adams was left without lunch.

xoxo Lorelei

Pictures from today’s excursion in the woods:

Wow, I have been really behind on my blog updates!  Here is a write-up I did for my visit to the Museum of Photographic Art, or MoPA, back in September.  This covers three different galleries:

The Photograph as Witness 

This was an interesting series because the photos were from many different artists, so the styles and methods of each piece differed from the next.  The first one that caught my eye was “Tobacco Spit” by Sally Mann.  I remember watching a video on Sally Mann in one of my art classes, and this piece certainly fit her “style” of photography.  There is a child being held in a man’s arms, and the child seems to be glowing, surrounded by the darkness of the scene.  Next was “Burning Power Station from Lebanon,” a photograph with a view of war and destruction as seen from a resort.    There was a sense of irony and apathy in this picture, and made me wonder who could ever relax in a hotel room when war is clearly visible on the horizon.  Finally, there was Don Bartletti’s “Highway Camp- Encinitas, California.”  This black and white photo was a compelling image which struck close to home for me.  It shows a group of immigrants sleeping in a dirt lot above the highway.  I think it calls to mind the living conditions we take for granted as average, middle class citizens.

http://www.carearts.org/lessons/print/1993_003_001.html 

Jo Whaley- Theater of Insects 

Jo Whaley uses a mixture of old photographs, paper materials, and small tools like cogs and wheels to bring her subject matter- insects- out of nature and into the human experience.  I really liked this gallery because I rarely ever see bugs take the center stage in an art gallery.  I like her style of blending the fragility of nature with the science and romanticism of humanity.  Her butterflies, moths and beetles become performers when pictured against a glowing moon (“Noctuid”) and bright, natural textures (“Papilio Ulysses”).  Whaley also uses found objects which have rusted and deteriorated due to the effects of time and the elements.  In fact, many of the pieces seem to be influenced by the elements- earth, air, fire and water.  There is a sense of the life cycle between two worlds- humans and nature continue to influence each other as things are born, mature, deteriorate, die.  And then the cycle begins again- much like the butterfly’s cycle of transformation. 

Ansel Adams- A Life’s Work 

The largest gallery section at MoPA was dedicated to the work of Ansel Adams.  Personally, I’m normally drawn to color photography more than black and white, but this black and white collection showed an amazing sense of depth and dimension.  His photographs were organized by location- one wall displayed photos from Manzanar, infamous for the Japanese American internment camp.  These photos were taken in 1944, and emphasize the people’s relationships to their community and environment.  

I found myself drawn to “Moonrise,” which apparently is one of Adams’ most famous images.  There were many different copies of this photo, all at different exposures.  I really liked the “negative facsimile” version, which was an inversion of all the minute details.  I also liked the “Cemetery Statue and Oil Derricks” photo, taken in Long Beach, California.  I really admired the contrast between the shining, white statue in the foreground, compared to the dark, menacing oil derricks in the background.  There is the sense of past versus present, of two different cultures competing for influence in the modern world.

An example of bokeh

Veteran photographers will often tell you the chief difference between the camera and the eye is focus – your eye has a nearly unlimited depth of field, but a camera lens does not. This makes it largely impossible for a camera lens to truly capture exactly what the eye sees.

Some photographers have fought to overcome the limitations of the camera lens depth of field. Seminal photographers Minor White and Ansel Adams even formed the “f/64 club,” which took its name from the smallest lens aperture (which yields the greatest depth of field) and sought to produce images that matched what the human eye might see, at least when it came to depth of field.

Others chose to embrace the limitations of the lens, and in doing so gave birth to a type of photography known as “Boke” (often spelled Bokeh) and is pronounced “bo-keh”. Bokeh is a Japanese term that translates to roughly “become blurred or fuzzy,” (it also means “fuzzy of mind or stupid”). It’s used to describe images that have a sharply focused subject surrounded by a blurry background.

Whether you’re looking to break out of a photo rut or just interested learning something new, read on and we’ll show you how to create a Bokeh effect using your camera.

==Bokeh on the Web==

”’Note:”’ A technical explanation of what causes lens blur is beyond the scope of this page, but if you’re interested in the why and not just the how, we recommend reading through this article.

”’Tip:”’ Once you’ve mastered the art of the blur, or if you’re looking for some inspiration to get started, head over to Flickr where blur aficionados celebrate Bokeh Wednesday with new images submitted to the Bokeh Wednesday Pool.

==How To: Using the Camera ==

The “true” way to achieve selective focus is to use the manual settings of your camera and allow the lens to be its imperfect self.

The best place to start is with a very large aperture opening which will decrease the depth of field, in turn creating the out-of-focus background effect associated with boke. That means setting your camera to the lowest f-stop — depending on your lens or camera, that could be anywhere from f/1.4 to f/4.9. The lower the number, the wider the aperture opening and the less depth of field.

But blur isn’t solely a result of aperture. It is also influenced by the distance in front of and in back of the focus plane. The focus plane refers to that portion of an image which is perfectly in focus.

Let’s say you’re standing three feet away from your friend and you focus on their face. Behind them is a barn, over twenty feet away. Using a large aperture opening will limit the focus plane to your friend’s face while the barn blurs in the background.

Here’s the same effect. The focal plane is on the cattail while the background is blurred:

Cattail

The two tricks to getting a good boke image are knowing how to compose the image and what aperture to use. The best way to learn is to experiment, especially since the results will vary radically from camera to camera and even lens to lens.

All text shared under a Creative Commons License via Wired How To Wiki.

Eclectic Choices Content by Bruce Kraus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://eclecticchoices.wordpress.com/about/.

Zur Inspiration, die mir gerade fehlt, sind Fotografien von Altmeister Ansel Adams immer gut. Hier mal in Form eines virtuellen Fotobuches zum durchblättern. (via kwerfeldein)

When one thinks of the great Ansel Adams, pioneer of photography, conquerer of the minds of photographic America, one sees the shiny surfaces of black-and-white silver halide prints, glistening in the controlled light of a gallery, their complexities and shades meeting the mind’s incessant wish for tonal completeness.

One does not think color.

That’s why many will be surprised that out of his 50-year career, Adams spend 40 of them pursuing color alongside his mastered medium, and that by the time of his death had produced nearly 3,500 photographs in color.

Time did an excellent job on summing up the color works of Ansel Adams [new window], and anyone who loves his work will consider this a great if not surprising read.

[Hint: he was never happy with a single color photo he took... see why.]

Canon 5D camera and Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L series IS USM lens with Canon 2X Extender @ 140mm. Exposure Details: 1/400 second @ f11 ISO 400

Following on from yesterday’s post here’s another image from the Murray River at Mildura where I’II be working as stills photographer on the Australian motion picture film Summer Coda during November and December 2007.

This particular image explores the notion of Day as Night where the image is exposed and/or processed in such a way to produce a result that looks like it was made at night, when it fact it was shot under bright sunlight. The idea is to produce a more abstract and/or emotive interpretation that renders the scene as the seen. It’s akin to what the master black-and-white photographer Ansel Adams described as seeing in the minds eye. It’s not so much about what you saw with your eyes (reality), but how you reproduce that subject or scene in the final image.

The above image was processed in Adobe Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

“We’ve looked at them, and they’re not Ansel Adams’ negatives,” Matthew Adams said. “I’ve heard some people build greenhouses out of glass-plate negatives. Maybe that ought to be considered in this case.”

Matthew Adams: Ansel Adams grandson

The above quote comes from an article about some alleged Ansel Adams glass plate negatives that were bought in 2000 at a garage sale. It seems that this guy Norsigian bought some negs for 45 bucks that may in fact be early Ansel Adams work that may have escaped a fire.

Now sure, there may be no real way to authenticate them but it seems from the article and the grandson’s comment that the Adams estate is miffed and afraid. Miffed that they may lose out on millions if these are authenticated, and afraid for the very same reason. They lose $$$$ and that seems to be the real issue here. It’s something that I think Ansel would have likely been ashamed of had he lived to hear it.

Sure, Ansel worked like a demon to keep money coming in. It’s always been hard to be an artist and photography is no different today than it was back when he was working. However, it seems now that the children and the “foundation” that keeps his “trademark” is more about trademark and money than they are at perhaps the “art” that their progenitor worked so hard on and loved so much.

At the very least if these cannot be authenticated they could have the decency to be nice as I am sure Ansel would have been.

Read the full story here:

Yellow Mountain, Glacier National Park, Montana, 1948

“I have yet to see — much less produce — a color photograph that fulfills my concepts of the objectives of art.”
- Ansel Adams

- – - – - – - – -

An excellent article by TIME online on the color photography of Ansel Adams – the black and white master, in color.

- – - – - – - – -

TIME article

TIME photo gallery

Did you know Ansel Adams shot in color? Well, he did, and as you might expect, the photos are stunning:

There’s more, in a new book.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

“Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation”

“To take photographs means to recognize – simultaneously and within a fraction of a second – both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one’s head, one’s eye and one’s heart on the same axis”

“We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory”

Ansel Adams

“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed”

“A good photograph is knowing where to stand”

“Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships”

http://www.brainyquote.com/

A great way to improve your photography skills is simply to look at other photographers’ work.  Take a bit of down time to search the web for some photographs that will get your artistic juices going.  Some photographs you can use to get ideas, and some just to inspire you.

Before a photo session or wedding shoot, I normally take some time to search and look at different websites of photographs related to what I will be shooting.  This not only inspires me, but gets me in the creative mindset I’d like to be in for the shoot.

You can even visit the bookstore to get some more “old school” inspiration through great artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Cindy Sherman, or Ansel Adams.  Another source of images can be from artfully shot movies such as Fight Club, Cash Back, or Juno to get ideas about framing.  Inspiration can come from so many places.  Just look for it and you will see!

The more photographs you look at, the better your eye will become.  This will improve your own discerning eye and you will notice a difference in your photography as time passes.  So take some time to sit down in front of the computer or a book and search for those awesome photographs that take your breath away!

Alfred Stieglitz - Georgia O'Keeffe

Alfred Stieglitz - Venetian Canal

Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Still #13

Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Still #21

Ansel Adams - Tetons Snake River

Ansel Adams - Jeffery Pine

Helena Bonham Carter in Fight Club

Edward Norton in Fight Club

Cash Back Film Still

Cash Back

Juno Film Still