Color Theory

Color - Theory, Workshop  Comment
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Color theory can help describe what is perceived more precisely. It offers a language that is shared and reasonably precise. Color theory can help make perception more precise. Language encodes thought and a more precise and nuanced language can lead to more sensitive perception. Color theory can help analyze what makes some color relationships particularly successful and what makes others less successful. It illuminates the dynamic interactions between the elements of color, which can be used to guide decisions in selecting and adjusting color relationships.
Color theory is best used to inform color choices rather than to make them. Theory lays a foundation for exploration (guiding inquiry toward areas with greater potential and away from areas with less potential). It is not a substitute for discovery. Jazz musicians Keith Jarrett and Theolonius Monk mastered music theory, but even they were surprised by their most original compositions; their compositions were informed and empowered by theory but not determined by it. Theory is the sum of what we know, but it does not contain what we do not yet know. It can prime conditions for a breakthrough, but it cannot make one. It can be used to empower a unique or authentic sensibility, but it is not a substitute for one.
Find out more in the current issue of Digital Photo Pro.
Find out more in my color theory ebooks.

NEC Monitors

Tools  Comment
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How much time do you spend looking at a monitor? A lot. Right? So investing in a high quality monitor makes good sense, even for everyday use. If you work with digital images on a regular basis and want to produce great color you know just how important using a high quality monitor is for getting the best results. NEC’s new LCD 90 series are exceptionally high quality monitors. I hesitated to recommend any LCD monitor – until I used these. Now my NEC monitors are the ones I trust most in my studio.
Will Hollingworth (Senior Manager – Product Development for NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc. www.necdisplay.com) offers a number of insightful answers about NEC and monitors.
JP     I hear the average digital photographer spends thousands (or even tens of thousands) of dollars on cameras and lenses but only a few hundred dollars on monitors. And they spend an average of 15-40% of their time behind the lens and 40-80% of their time in front of a monitor. So, how important is a monitor?
WH    It doesn’t make much sense to make a huge investment in camera hardware and then skimp on a monitor of questionable performance … Read More

Solux Lighting

Tools  Comment
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For the photographer light is important from start to finish – capture, editing, printing, and display. Solux offers products designed to give you the highest quality viewing light at surprisingly affordable rates. How much does high quality viewing light affect the way you see things? Dramatically! Recently, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris France joined the list of SoLux users that include the National Gallery of Art, the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Gugenheim and many other museums, galleries and homes. In every case they had to see it to believe it. Once they did, they’ve never looked back (or in any other light). The same thing happened to me; now I only use Solux lighting. See it and you’ll believe it too. (Check out my review and their website for more information.)
Phil Bradfield, PHD, VP-Tailored Lighting Inc. (Solux), provides a number of insightful answers about light and Solux products.
JP    So, there  are three things that are critical in evaluating light. Amount (lux), temperature (Kelvin degrees), and spectral distribution (smooth or spikey).  Solux offers a variety of choices. Help us understand what they are and how to choose between them.
PB    Excellent question JP.  These are very common lighting terms that are important to understand … Read More

Kids

Creativity  Comment
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Kids do the most creative things. My seven year old son asked for the big box my new Epson 9900 printer arrived in. He spent the next half hour quietly working in the gallery. Then he invited my wife to come have her picture made. He’d cut a small flap in one side of the box and put a seat on the inside, got a stack of blank cards, and a box of crayons. Led by the hand, she sat inside. He looked through the flap – and drew her portrait. On the outside of the box he wrote “photo booth”. We just don’t have the heart to take it down. We smile every time we look at it. Want to be more creative? Spend more time with kids. And spend more time being childlike.
Check out my Creativity and Field workshops here.
Check out my Digital Printing workshops here.
Check out the Epson Print Academy here.

Syl Arena – Lessons I Didn't Learn in Photo School

Creativity, Photographers  Comment
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Syl Arena recently wrote a great guest blog entry on Scott Kelby’s PhotoshopInsider.com. The topics list alone is a good touchstone. If you know this stuff, it’s a nice reminder. If you don’t know this stuff, you need to. It’s good food for thought.
1. If you can’t be remarkable, be memorable.
2. You are NOT defined by your photo gear or your computer’s operating system.
3. Powerful photographs touch people at a depth they don’t anticipate.
4. You have to let your images go out into the world without you.
5. Cross-pollinate with photographers and other creatives.
6. Photography slices time. Photography gathers time.
7. Learning to create photographs that “look” like your world should be only a milestone – not the destination.
8. “Coopetition” is a new business model that’s here to stay.
9. Wars have been fought to protect your copyrights.
10. Your photographs have value. Don’t give them away.
11. Your photographs have value. Give them away.
12. Resist the temptation to become a pro photographer.
Read the rest of the post here.
Check out more from Syl at Pixsylated.
And stay tuned for more. Syl actually wrote 48 topics, which he plans to follow up on.

Photograph With Someone Else

Creativity, Photography  Comment
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Another highlight of my recent South American Cruising Through Life workshop came on the last day. Vincent Versace (his wife Sylvia) and I (and my wife Ardie) spent the weekend in Buenos Aires. Vinnie and I got up early and went to the largest graveyard in the world (resting place of Eva Peron). Vinnie immediately started shooting a detail of a lightpost, ivy, and flowers in dappled light – typical Versace. I never would have selected the shot – typical Caponigro. So I said, “Hey Vinnie! How ’bout we shadow each other for the next hour and shoot each others’ pictures.” We had a great time seeing the same place through entirely different eyes. His tendency was to find the significant detail. My tendency was to get create an establishing shot with significant relationships. We chose different lenses. We moved differently. We moved at different paces. But most importantly, we looked differently. It was really revealing to both of us, about both ourselves and each other and ultimately about photography. We saw through each others’ eyes. Honestly, this is one of the major reasons I got into photography. Two people using the same or similar equipment make such different pictures! How does that happen? Find out! I highly recommend you find a friend to photograph with – and make each others’ pictures. Do it frequently.
Find more creativity tips here.
Find out more about Cruising Through Life here.
Find out more about Vincent Versace here.
Find out more about my upcoming workshops here.
Sign up for Insights for advance notice and discounts on upcoming workshops.

One New Idea Worth More Than A Finished Shot

Creativity  Comment
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One of the highlights of my recent South American Cruising Through Life workshop came on the first day as we flew into Santiago, Chile. Light reflected off of mountain lakes in bright rays. I’ve been fascinated by and photographed crepuscular rays descending from the sky for years now, but I’ve never seen rays like this, beaming back up into the heavens. The scene moved too fast and the airplane windows made making finished exposures too challenging. So I quickly sketched the idea. That one sketch, is worth more than a single finished exposure. One good idea can generate an entire series of images.
Find out more about Cruising Through Life here.
Find out more about Vincent Versace here.
Find out more about my Atmospheric FX ebooks here and here.
Find out more about my Atmospheric FX DVD here.
Read what one happy viewer though about my DVD Atmospheric FX here.
Find out more about my upcoming workshops here.
Sign up for Insights for advance notice and discounts on upcoming workshops.

Limits of Photography

Photography, Software - Photoshop  Comment
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During our South American Cruising Through Life workshop we saw some amazing atmospheric effects: a fabulous smoky red moonrise; a moonbow with parahelia (brighter iridescent flares at the sides); and a star so bright and low on the horizon that it cast a long line of reflection in the ocean. These experiences made a lasting impression on me. I’m sure they’ll make appearances in my work. I made exposures, but none of these phenomena could be captured adequately on a moving boat. The situation and the tools at hand didn’t make finished exposures. But I’ll make finished images from the situation, using a combination of digital photography and rendering. I look forward to the day photography is able to capture images like these in these situations directly. I’m sure this won’t stop me from continuing to render images. But it will present me with new opportunities. Until then a little invention is required.
Find out more about Cruising Through Life here.
Find out more about Vincent Versace here.
Find out more about my Atmospheric FX ebooks here and here.
Find out more about my Atmospheric FX DVD here.
Read what one happy viewer though about my DVD Atmospheric FX here.
Find out more about my upcoming workshops here.
Sign up for Insights for advance notice and discounts on upcoming workshops.

Make the Weather

Software - Photoshop, Workshop  Comment
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We had great weather on our South American Cruising Through Life workshop. Most of the tourists would agree. On the other hand the photographers might not. Only the first day and a half had much weather – fog. That’s when I got a majority of my keepers. The skies were often clear, offering only an undistinguished background of simple blue. When there were clouds they were undistinguished cumulus humilis, no cumulonimbus, no cirrus, with few sheets of stratus. The sunsets and sunrises were pretty but not distinguished. There wasn’t much wind or swell so the seas were calm. Still, I shot. I got a few quiet keepers. And a lot of raw material for composites, which will ultimately yield more dramatic results. Today, you can make the weather. Understanding the new possibilities of digital rendering opens up many new opportunities for making exposures. Once you’ve been exposed to them you’ll start seeing new possibilities.
Find out more about Cruising Through Life here.
Find out more about Vincent Versace here.
Find out more about my Atmospheric FX ebooks here and here.
Find out more about my Atmospheric FX DVD here.
Read what one happy viewer though about my DVD Atmospheric FX here.
Find out more about my upcoming workshops here.
Sign up for Insights for advance notice and discounts on upcoming workshops.