Image of Model Sarah Muldorfer, "Elegance" 2009 © D Saffir
Off To Pasadena, Enter PPC/PPA Print Competition
art
Jim Goldstein’s Survey of Social Media Use by Photographers, 2009
Photography by Blind and Partially Sighted People
This is a video, somewhat journalistic, very evocative. I can’t possibly add anything here, so I encourage you to follow this link: Photography by Blind People.
New Post On Studio Portrait Lighting – Glamour
I have a new post up on the SCV Center for Photography blog.
Studio lighting can be quite simple, or complex. Beginner or seasoned pro, lighting can be a matter of personal style, equipment on hand, time constraints, or other factors.
I recently photographed Sarah Muldorfer, a model from our area at the SCV Center for Photography. We had started out with a multi-light, high-key setup. Once that was completed, I wanted to switch to a simpler look that emphasized her elegant dress, long hair, and long limbs….
Eyes retouched - model Sarah Muldorfer
to read more, follow this.
Quotations About Photography – Can You Add One?
“One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’d be stricken blind.” — Dorothea Lange
“You don’t have to sort of enhance reality. There is nothing stranger than truth.” — Annie Leibovitz
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” Albert Einstein
“I found the best light in the dark.” – Arturo Macias
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams
Reflections
“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” – Ansel Adams
“You are lucky if you take one, maybe two good pictures in a year.” – Thomas Hoepker
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. – Scott Adams
“Creativity is the ability to give the world something it didn’t know it was missing” – Daniel Pink
Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.- Ansel Adams
I can look at a fine art photograph and sometimes I can hear music.- Ansel Adams
The negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score, and the print the performance.- Ansel Adams
A good photograph is knowing where to stand.- Ansel Adams
Early Morning, West of Mono Lake
I am always surprised when I see several cameras, a gaggle on lenses, filters, meters, et cetera, rattling around in a soft bag with a complement of refuse and dust. Sometimes the professional is the worst offender!- Ansel Adams
There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.- Ansel Adams
If you want reality take the bus.- David LaChapelle
The sheer ease with which we can produce a superficial image often leads to creative disaster.- Ansel Adams
If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.- Richard Avedon
Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.- Edward Weston
A Ming vase can be well-designed and well-made and is beautiful for that reason alone. I don’t think this can be true for photography. Unless there is something a little incomplete and a little strange, it will simply look like a copy of something pretty. We won’t take an interest in it.- John Loengard
One photo out of focus is a mistake, ten photos out of focus are an experimentation, one hundred photo out of focus are a style.- Author Unknown
A true photograph interprets a moment. It’s that interpretation that makes that photograph unique. -Robert Ash
A. Ask yourself this question: What does this image need that it can get only from me?
B. Get closer to the subject, both literally and figuratively; no one else will do it quite how you do it.
C. Don’t fill your image with so much content that there is then too little room for yourself. – Ted Dayton
“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” – Diane Arbus
Creating Deep Black Backgrounds for Your Images
Written by guest author, Ron Brewer
A dark background can draw the viewer’s attention into an image, and create a dramatic effect that is unique and compelling. Subtleties of lighting in the foreground or mid-ground, for example, become more noticeable and have great impact on the “feeling” of the image.
The easiest, quickest way to create a black background for your image is to make it happen in-camera and not in post-production work (such as in Photoshop).
A Dark Background Adds Dramatic Impact © R Brewer
Setup
Shoot in a dimly lit room. Use a light source that falls only on the subject. The speedlight (flash) you use in your camera’s hotshoe will work fine for this, but you will want to take it off-camera to create this effect. A remote trigger is best.
And if you don’t have a speedlight, don’t fear. You can even use a flashlight (more on this is a later post).
The first method you could use involves use of a black piece of material in the background of the shot. Place the background at least 4-6 feet behind the subject. Keep the light that is on your subject from illuminating the background, so it stays dark in the image.
I prefer a different method. It is called “working above the ambient” by David Hobby of Strobist fame (www.strobist.com). This method is rather easy to create indoors. It can be done outdoors, but in this case, we are going to focus on an indoor shot.
We want to eliminate the influence of ambient light in the picture. The only light you will be working with will be from the flash. Your camera’s exposure will be set so as not to pick up any ambient light, and then you will bring the power of the flash to the right setting to get a proper exposure on the subject. Sounds challenging? Experiment and it will quickly become second nature.
Image Creation
- Use a room or space that has low light
- Set your ISO to 100 or 200; at least the lowest “native” setting offered in your camera
- Set camera to manual exposure
- Set shutter speed to highest available flash sync, usually 1/125, 1/200, or 1/250
- Take a test shot without flash. Set aperture small; anywhere from f/11 to f/22. You want the result to be a completely black frame.
- Evaluate the histogram. Increase aperture size (from f/22 to f/18 for example) by steps until you start to see ambient light in the frame, and back off to the previous setting.
© R Brewer
Next, you’ll start working on lighting the subject. We’ll discuss using flash first:
- With your flash off-camera, set it to a power that is sufficient to properly expose your subject. You might start with the flash about two feet from the subject and to its side (for example, let’s say the subject is something small, like a single flower bloom). Try setting the power to 1/128 or whatever the lowest power setting is on your flash. Take the shot and check the LCD and histogram. If the shot is over exposed, then lower the power of the flash or move it farther away from the subject
- If under exposed, then up the power of the flash or move the flash either closer away until the proper exposure is achieved.
- Do not adjust the camera exposure settings or you will start recording the ambient light again. Camera exposure settings are set to remove the ambient light from the picture, not to set the exposure of the subject.
- Put another way: set the exposure for the subject by adjusting the power setting on the flash or by changing the distance between the flash and subject. In essence, you are going to adjust the amount of light on the subject until it properly exposes the subject at the exposure settings you have already set into your camera.
Setting Up For A Dark Background
(red circle is the subject)
Enhancements
- If you find that you are still getting some light on the background, then use something to block the light from hitting the background. Such items are called a “gobo” which will “cut” the light. You can even use a small piece of cardboard. Set the cardboard up close to the flash head, placing it between the flash head and the background. The light will hit the cardboard and be blocked from hitting the background.
- Using a black background in your shots will provide a unique look to your photographs. Using a black background makes the foreground colors of the subject really pop. And it guides the viewer’s eye to go straight to the main subject and not drift out of the borders.
- With practice, you’ll find that this is a very simple process which you can execute very quickly in most indoor situations. Not only is it a lot of fun, you can end up with some great pictures.
Written by Ron Brewer, January 2010 www.ronbrewerimages.com
New Gallery by April Bielefeldt
April’s published some new images via her online portfolio – take a gander at some fall foliage and other cool imges….
Workshop, Black and White Photography and Nik Silver Efex Pro for Photoshop
Workshop, Black & White Photography and Nik Silver Efex Pro For Photoshop – David Saffir instructor $79 Thursday, January 13th – 6:30pm to 9:30pm SCV Center for Photography, Santa Clarita (AND…we will be raffling off a
FREE COPY OF NIK SILVER EFEX PRO, AND…
A FREE SILVER HALIDE PRINT FROM DIGITAL SILVER IMAGING
Black and White Photography is experiencing a resurgence in interest among photographers and clients. In the past, converting digital color images to black and white was at best time consuming – and at worst a chore to be avoided. No more.
Dancers, © David Saffir
Improvements in software and printing technology make it possible to efficiently create stunning black and white images from digital color originals. It is now possible to adjust images to match different black and white film types, add special effects and toning, or create images that take you back to days gone by. We will also review printing methods that give the best results on desktop inkjet printers and some of their larger cousins.
We’ll take a look at different paper/media types and your choices in creating the look you want. You don’t have to be an expert in Photoshop or other image editors to benefit from this class. You don’t even need a laptop! Join us for a fun and informative evening that’s sure to take your photography skills to the next level!
Click here to register or call 661 904 2092
Special Offer, “Tools of the Trade” Workshop, Saturday January 9
Special offer:
If you attend our Tools of the Trade workshop this Saturday, and you bring a friend, you may qualify for a 25% discount for each of you.
Here’s the catch: one of you has to be a first-timer attending a session at the SCV Center for Photography.
Workshop agenda:
Designed for aspiring professionals, serious amateurs, and pros alike, this session tackles several topics important to success in today’s environment
Venue: Santa Clarita Valley Center for Photography, 28368 Constellation Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91355. Time: 9-3pm
Morning Session: Studio Planning & Set-up.
Physical Environment and Ergonomics, Lighting,
Display/Monitor Selection.
Discover the latest software and hardware the pros use to manage workflow and achieve consistent results.
Getting the Most Out of Your Inkjet Printer:
Camera to printer workflow, selecting a printer, accurate color previews, printing from image editing software,successfully wrestling those pesky printer dialogues into line, media selection, printer troubleshooting, print correction, archiving.
Lunch: on your own
Afternoon Sessions: Fine Art Printmaking
Create Fine Art and Decor Prints for other photographers and galleries. Learn price points, media types, how to work with galleries and organizations, Fine Art Reproduction, etc.
Fine Art Media for Limited Editions, Matching Media and Client Needs, Media Types for Social Photography/Commercial/Fine Art/Other Purposes Q&A & Printing. If time permits, we will make a few prints from student’s files.
Fee: $109, Please call (661) 904 – 2092
bring a friend, qualify for a 25% discount for each of you. Here’s the catch:
one of you has to be a first-timer attending a session at the SCV Center for Photography.
proceed here to the registration page
info@scvphotocenter.com
Planning for Success in 2010
I just finished a scouting trip to Joshua Tree National Park with a good friend of mine. He’s leading a group there in a couple of weeks. Haven’t spent much time together in the past few months, so it was a good chance to catch up.
Our discussions recharged my determination to develop five significant goals I will focus on in the coming year. I realize my choices may or may not be applicable to you, but I hope that this post will help you to create your own concrete, actionable goals.
1. Action Plan: I’m writing a new action plan – and learning from last year’s experiences, I will include additional concrete, measurable business goals (increasing stock/licensing sales, sales of fine art prints, and expanding my fine art reproduction business).
2. Creative People: I want to find opportunities to spend more time with creative people, get involved in their stories, projects, and dreams for the future. This is one of the best ways I know to recharge and be inspired.
3. Break Out of the Comfort Zone: I’ve already scheduled more time in the next few months for new kinds of personal photography work. I’m also going to go back to giving myself “assignments” when time permits to shake things up.
Desert Pool, Image by David Saffir
4. Get Help: just booked a project with a design consultant, who is going to help me make my blog and web site easier to use. We’re also going to improve “web visibility”: recharge indexing by the search engines of my written work and images, create more effective incoming and outgoing links, and improve the PR cycle.
5. Continuing Education: I’m particularly interested in very long exposures at night using digital capture, learning new, perhaps unconventional lighting techniques, and further expanding my skills in Photoshop and Lightroom.
Ambitious goals, but I think they are achievable. One trick I’ve learned is to put them on my calendar as part of my scheduling. In other words, make appointments with myself. Seems to work.
Finally, I have to thank all those who have helped me along in the past year. Workshop students, in particular, have a way of asking questions that challenge and inspire me to do better. Colleagues and business partners have been bringing me projects and assignments that are frequently out-of-the-box, and these help remind me to listen actively and understand.
Final note: I’ve updated my workshop schedule for 2010. You can find it via the tab at the top of this page, or use this link for the workshop schedule.
Happy New Year, and good luck to all!
David Saffir
David Saffir's Photography and Printing Blog 