New Image – Inhalation 29

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I often find the same compositional strategies, patterns, subjects and themes resurface in our work. Sometimes the ideas from two different images merge into a new one. I pay close attention to these visual bridges as they help me understand the both the similarities and differences between individual images and series.
In Inhalation 29 two series (Inhalation and Suffusion) cross-pollinate.
For more on this read my ebook Combination.
The exposures for this image were made in Iceland.
Learn about my Iceland digital photography workshops here.

Join Our Greenland Workshop Pre-Announce List

Destination - Greenland, Workshop  Comment
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Seth Resnick and I are organizing a new Arctic (Iceland, Greenland, and Spitsbergen) digital photography workshop/cruise during the end of August or early September 2012. Our itinerary will be similar to this voyage but customized to maximize photographic opportunities. Geothermals, glaciers, fjiords, icebergs, whales, walrus, and polar bear are only a few of the trip’s highlights. Creativity, exposure, workflow, and post-processing are only a few of the topics presented.
Our Antarctica 2011 digital photography workshop sold out fast!
You can be among the first to reserve a space and get your choice of cabins by requesting to be placed on our pre-announce list.
Simply email info@johnpaulcaponigro.com.
Your contact information will remain confidential.
We’ll alert you with more information as soon as details become firm.
Stay tuned here for more.

New Images – Inhalation V Diptych

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I recently produced these two images Inhalation VA & B while completing the long-standing series.
I only use the same source materials in composites when I want there to be a strong connection between the separate images. I like to produce serial images, where a change in state is displayed between the separate frames. I like the sense of disappearance between these two frames. And I like that even though an empty space is left by the absence of the ice, the space left behind is still very full.
More than one picture is required to produce a body of work. The separate images within it reinforce each other. I sometimes find the same is true of individual images within a series.
When does a situation benefit from multiple images and serial images? It’s a guiding question I hold with me wherever I go.
The source images for this image were exposed at Jokulsarlon during my annual Iceland workshop.
Find out about my Iceland digital photography workshops here.
Find more images here.
Find my books here.

My Top 12 Images Of 2010

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Reflection XLII

Reflection XLII

Reflection XLVII

Reflection XLVII

Reflection XXXIX

Reflection XXXIX

Reflection XXV

Reflection XXV

 
Reflection XLV

Reflection XLV

Reflection XXVI

Reflection XXVI

Correspondence - Nocturne - LI

Correspondence – Nocturne – LI

Correspondence XLV - Nocturne

Correspondence XLV – Nocturne

Correspondence XXXXVI - Nocturne

Correspondence XXXXVI – Nocturne

Correspondence XXXV - Nocturne

Correspondence XXXV – Nocturne

Correspondence - Nocturne LII

Correspondence – Nocturne LII

Condensation CX - Prelude

Condensation CX – Prelude

This is a selection of my top 12 images of all time. This selection doesn’t reflect sales, publication, or activities on the web. It simply reflects my opinion. Click on the titles to find out more about each image.
Geography
Antarctica, California, Iceland, South America, Utah.
Process
I practiced my typical 80% composite and 20% straight. Can you tell which is which? I hope it’s not obvious and that during this guessing game you begin to look more closely at looking.
Concepts
Light reveals and interacts with surfaces, which both reveal and conceal, sometimes doing both simultaneously. What the viewer sees depends as much on the context (physical location and moment in time) as his or her mental state (education, emotion, intent, awareness).
Magnificent Moment
The time I spent exploring the Great Salt Lake in Utah, several years before these images were completed, was a particularly intense time emotionally for me, some of I hope is reflected in these images and some of which I hope remains personal. The magnificent moment was inside.

View more of my Annual Top 12 Selections here.

View more images in my ebooks here.

View my full Works here.

View my Series videos here.

View new images in my newsletter Collectors Alert.

Things That Make Images Weaker

Workshop  Comment
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bad
During reviews in my workshops we discuss what keeps some images from working better and how they could be improved.
Here’s a list we compiled during my recent Iceland workshop.
Avoid these thing and make your images stronger.
Lack of Focus (Not Deliberate)
Limited Depth of Field (Not Deliberate)
Motion Blur (Not Deliberate)
Chromatic Aberation
Noise (Not Deliberate)
Posterization (Not Deliberate)
Lack of Shadow and/or Highlight Detail (Not Deliberate)
Color Contrast Between Elements Not Strong Enough
Low Contrast Light
Cropping Seems Accidental Rather Than Deliberate
Distracting Elements on the Frame
Almost Centered (Neither Centered Nor Significantly Off Center)
Too Many Competing Lines
Shapes Merge Becoming Unclear
Shapes Rendered Without Volume (Not Deliberate)
Too Busy (Complexity Lacks Structure)
Simple Subjects With No Counterpoint
Secondary Elements Distract From Primary Elements
Image Enhancements Call Attention To Themselves
Text Competing for Attention
Text Creates Unintended Commentary
Graphics (Text/Images) Not Integrated Into Image
Cliches
Insincerity
What else would you add to this list?
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Things That Make Images Stronger

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good
During reviews in my workshops we discuss images made in terms of what makes them strong and how they could be made stronger.
Here’s a list we compiled during my recent Iceland workshop.
You can use any one or more than one in combination to make your images stronger.
Form
Simplicity
Structured Complexity
Gesture
Leading Lines
Interesting Shape
Clean Shape
Deliberately Incomplete Shape
Clear Figure Ground Relationships
Overlapping Planes
Strong Recession (leading lines, overlapping planes, figure ground, color)
Texture
Pattern
Structured Fields
Minimalist Fields
Selective Focus
Archetypal or Evocative Proportion
Contrast
Clean Frame
Spaciously Placed from Frame
Touching the Frame
Cropped by Frame
Palette
Color Interest
Light
Luminosity Contrast
Hue Contrast
Saturation Contrast
Content
Significant Detail
Shows Subject’s Process
Shows Media Process
Clear Stage, Actor, Secondary Character
Action
Decisive Moment
Story
Unresolved Tension
Mystery Left to Be Solved
Emotion
Emotion of Subject
Personal Emotion
Emotional Interaction
Color Mood
Atmospheric Mood
What would you add to this list?
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Iceland 2010 – Participant Images Second Reviews

Destination - Iceland, Workshop  Comment
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Iceland2010_reviews2
We do lightning fast reviews of participant’s images in my digital photography workshops.
We discuss what works and why and what doesn’t and why not.
It’s wonderful to see how different the images are, made by individuals in the same situations using the same tools.
A lot of learning happens by simply sharing images and spontaneous responses.
Here’s a sampling of this week’s first selects during my Iceland 2010 workshop.
Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Iceland 2010 – Workshop Participant Images First Selects

Destination - Iceland, Workshop  Comment
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Iceland2010_reviews1
We do lightning fast reviews of participant’s images in my digital photography workshops.
We discuss what works and why and what doesn’t and why not.
It’s wonderful to see how different the images are, made by individuals in the same situations using the same tools.
A lot of learning happens by simply sharing images and spontaneous responses.
Here’s a sampling of this week’s first selects during my Iceland 2010 workshop.
Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Lighting Midnight At Iceland's Glacial Lagoon

Destination - Iceland, Workshop  Comment
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raggimidnightlagoon
Ragnar th Sigurdsson treated us to a midnight display of lighting techniques at Iceland’s glacial lagoon Jokullsarlon.
Multiple exposures for multiple Photoshop layers. Fantastic light. Glowing icebergs beached on black sand at tide line. Venus on horizon. Magic.
Taking artificial light into the field is just one thing we explore in our workshop. Have you ever tried it?
If you’re in Iceland, next Saturday is the annual firework display over the glacial lagoon.
Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.