A Bit of Self Promotion

Whilst I cringed at the ongoing tidal wave of "look-at-me" self-promotion on today's social media, I will begin reusing facebook with a bit of self-promotion. Infact I'll also promote my next PhotoWalk, here and on Instagram as well.

Next PhotoWalk :: In Memories of Trees   Meet at Madeline's Cafe Jells Park on Saturday 23rd July at 10am. Register through mga (click on the photo to reach the link)

So sorry folks if you haven't heard from me in while, and now you are getting the same promotional stuff from three sources. Such is social media life!

Social Media when it isn't very social

 

People are prisoners of their phones,
that's why they are called cell phones.

I'm really not qualified to deliver this rant, because I hardly use social media anymore. I'd just like too. I'm totally over all the hassles I keep getting into.  Facebook has recently started showing that I am logged in all the time (and I'm not). Which made me suspect that I was being hacked. Simple I thought! I could change my password or at worst close the account. Trouble is I can't log into Facebook, it won't let me, especially from the forgot password option. Generally it just wanted me to download apps to my phone, from which I had deleted the Facebook app two years ago. I can see my Facebook stream on a browser and others can as well. I had set up the account using the convenient OAuth authentication protocol via my Gmail account. Perhaps I could fix the issue from there? No! Also there is big a catch 22 in my logic, if I can't log in I can't delete the account. Or can I perhaps email support at Facebook. Ok get real, that's pointless!!!!

The other strange thing is I get notifications to my gmail about status messages and posts of my "friends" (I don't recognize all of them). The more I looked the harder it is to believe. What is going on, is someone or something just teasing me?

About three weeks ago I was also not able to post to either of my instagram accounts, and my phone seemed to always be a day behind what it was showing when compared to accessing the same stream on a computer via a browser. I was able to log in and therefore changed my passwords, to no avail. I then went through my followers and saw a few with just one post and flagged as private accounts and not anyone I recognized, so I blocked and deleted them then, A day later I could post again. Were these two things related or is Instagram turning into an unreliable mess like its big sister? Who knows! 

At least I can post on Instagram if I want now.

Emboldened by this success I followed one of the notification links in my Gmail, ignored the request to download any app to my phone and got to my Facebook stream (but not logged in). I tried logging in (no Oath option, in fact nothing). But I felt my phone vibrate and there was a message that looked a lot like a two-factor authentication message with a code/ This is puzzling but when I looked at my browser, I had logged in. Amazing! So I immediately changed my password, no problems. I logged out and was able to log in again. Very strange. I also looked through my friend requests and messages (dozens & dozens). Sorry folks I haven't been ignoring you. There were about a dozen friend requests from people I don't recognize so I deleted them rather than confirm. All good but it still looked like I was still continually on-line even though I logged out. Perhaps someone is teasing me afterall.

An hour or so later I seem to be off line. Hopefully I can get back to using social media to keep in contact with my friends and groups.

PS The caption on my bitmojie cartoon at the top of the post came from a cartoon I saw on Facebook as I was wading through the issues above. However, when I went back to find it so I could acknowledge the source and I can't find it. Damn you Facebook!

Time for an update

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of the subscription model for software. In theory they deliver to you the most up-to-date versions of the software continuously. However, this really has not been the case in practise (at least so far), You just have to look at adobe who got into the very ..very ....very (there should be more very's but you'd probably stop reading) profitable subscription model a decade ago. Over the first 10 years if you paid the subscription for different bits of their software you would have paid twice to three times more than if you had just bought the software outright and three upgrades within that10 years. What's more they had not upgraded that much. 

Now however, Adobe are becoming more competitive in terms of new upgrades and modules because of the number of alternative products. Also the alternative products quickly learned to offer both purchase outright (with upgrade under 50% of the original purchase price) or subscription,

Anyway the idea of waiting three years, two or three upgrades, has worked well for me. Unless of course the new upgrade has feature(s) I really need. I also like the option that I can download the new version as a trial, with all the new features active to test out.

All this is a long way around saying I was happy to update from ON1 Photo RAW 2020 to ON1 Photo RAW 2022.5, not just for the new resize feature (which is great) but it makes a big difference for me and multi-image panorama. I also find the export a processed image nicer/

Not that the 2020 version was bad, it was slower, particularly on the export) and didn't do a such great job when the dynamic range across the whole panorama is large (The result from the 2022 version is shown above)

A puzzling cloud at Inverlock

 I made the ABC weather last night with a photo of an unusual cloud. It appeared to be a regular puffy cumulous rising high into the sky BUT it was chopped in a series of segments, perhaps strata might be a better term. I could not figure out what might cause this.? Hence sending it into the weather and perhaps an explanation (there was none)

Thanks to Steve Keyes aka Sandyfeet.Photography for the TV screen Capture

It wasn't till later as I was processing this ultra wide multi-image panorama taken shortly after the above photo that I realized I was tricked by the perspective. The puffy clouds were actually very flat, at the same height but different distances from me.

The morale(s) of the story are stay inquisitive, always be ready to take a photo (or two!) and don't forget to hashtag your photos on social media.

preDawn Warm & Cool

I'm up in FNQ (Far north Queensland) enjoyng it, So little time and no reason to blog (otherthan its overcast & raining). before I travelled north I wtshe some of the sessions on B&H's recent Optix conference, and Stop motion phtography caught my interest. There was a lngthy list of gear (its was B&H running it after all) and I though I've gott most of that, perhaps I need to read up a bit about the intervalometer, perhaps not.

I have a great view to the east out over the coral sea, So it was back to early morning getting up. At least its not cold. In case you've never tried it, a dark to light stop motion is a challenge, But I like a challenge.

The earlt starts can be rewarded in other ways. Even when They are just glimpses.

Don't Worry, Stay Happy Taking Photographs

 Go figure I'm a keen photographer, but not really into Stories or Reels, bit over all the ads popping up on YouTube and definitely not in into Facebook or Tik Tok. I set up this blog primarily to share what I was discovering about digital photography. So, what happened?

My suspicion is the rise of social media has gobbled up original content, and used it to keep you watching so they can charge advertisers (and they make squillions). The actual creatives get lost in the millions of copycat wanna-bees and if they receive anything it's a pittance. See my post about Danny Gregory's recent essay.

Really unfortunately we the viewers of social media gets suck into the black hole of the death scroll, picking up the photo to look at social media way too often, swiping and swipe again without really paying attention, not properly looking, swiping and swiping some more. At the end you don't feel refresh, you are more likely to feel frustrated or depressed. As Adam of Firstman Photography points out you are much better off spending the time actually out photographing, getting the benefit of exercise and being out in the real world, perhaps even nature.

It worth watching to the end because Adam gives some very heart-felt encouragement for those of us with a deep passion for and care about photography to stick in there

Well am I doing anything about it! YES

You can make the change too. It's easy to put down your phone and pick up your camera (or click on a different icon/app on your smartphone, phones can be good cameras too).

Ok what about sharing your photos? That will be an upcoming post (soon but not exactly sure when),

Getting a starburst effect

My attempt on the photowalk to demonstrate how to get a starburst effect really just showed I needed to clean my lens. BUT here is what I wanted to show. If your camera can stop down the lens to a small aperture (a high f number such as F22) do that. It is then a very small hole for the light to come through. Then find a place that the strong sun light (even though it was overcast) is peeking through (such as a gap in the branches of the silhouetted tree). It's that easy.

Remember to change the F stop back after taking the photo to avoid the diffraction (allowing you to get the starburst effect), causing problems in your normal photos.

What happens when you separately photograph White, Grey & Black Sheets

 

It's a simple question.

What happens if you take a white sheet A grey Sheet and a Black sheet and photograph them separately. 

Fill the veiwfinder with just a single colour.

If you have trouble focusing, you can move the center of the viewfinder to the edge and half press the shutter button. Don't push it all the way and move back into the center of the sheet and full press the shutter button.

Hmm, is this what you expected?

All the photos look a pretty similar grey! Is there something wrong with my camera? Well no.

So now put a small reference card in the middle of each sheet. This little card could be a photo, it just needs to contain a decent tonal range (eg from very dark to very light. Take the photos again.

These were all taken with the same camera. The only thing I did was push the shutter button once i has focussed on each sheet.

One hint is my camera is working exactly as it should. There is nothing wrong with it.

Try this out yourself. You can do it with just two sheets (eg black & white). 

If you want you can leave a polite comment explaining what's happening but I might leave my further discussion for a couple of weeks.

Have fun

Death Scrolling, Changes & Danny's Essays

 I do enjoy Danny Gregory's weekly essays (see also video below), but I am rapidly running out of patience with two things.

1) The inconsistency of the social media giants (watch for more post on that topic)

2) System upgrades that just happen when you turn on your computer or pickup the phone (I've already written a lot about my frustration with upgrades particularly window)

So where that that get me, Basically Nowhere

Which means it's time to forget them, pick up my camera or brush and listen with the occasional chuckle to Danny's take on the situation.

 

Photowalks Resuming (at last)

The lengthy covid-19 lockdowns and some personal health reasons, meant I stopped running Photowalks some time ago. I'm pleased to announce I am resuming them in conjunction with MGA (the Monash Gallery of Art). There will now be a small fee (to help cover the administration), and I encourage anyone with a camera (including phones) to come along.

Sunday June 12th. 1:00pm

Meet at Monash Gallery of Art

860 Ferntree Gully Road

Wheelers Hill, VIC 3150

Note registration is now via the mga eventbrite site or events on their web page,

The Connections Exhibition is OPEN

 

Wednesday Wanderer's Connnections Exhibition opens today at AGRA Gallery

22 artists (including me) are represented with 82 works. If you want to "Meet the Artists" you will have that opportunity on Saturday & Sunday 5/6th March; 1-4pm

Unfortunately, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi died last year. His wisdom from living through the second World War, his father being the Hungarian Ambassador in Rome at the time the communist takeover of Hungary in 1949. It is probably just my fantasy but it would have been great if he could have sat down for a quiet chat with Putin and explained the misery, tragedies, insecurities that are the toll of losing freedoms, jobs, homes, can impose on the innocent. His deep wisdom into the secret to happiness is still very relevant today. 

This is an important TED talk that Mihaly gave in back in 2008 covering the lead into how he started describing the flow experience. It is wonderful context told in a series of stories,

His book (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, will give you greats insight in the Flow State

Wednesday Wanderers and the Flow State

The wanderers began by happen-chance. Three of us started our own small plein air painting/sketching group out in the real world. Soon after Victoria began it first lock down and after a couple of rocky test, we started meeting on zoom on Wednesday at 10:00am. It was a welcome get together and we started painting a shared photo supplied by one of the participants since it was the free zoom meeting we only had 40 minutes for the session before we got cut off. Not a lot of time to carry out a watercolour painting of a scene you had not seen before.

The Watercolours Society of Victoria had purchased the Pro version of zoom and kindly allowed us to use their service so we were no longer bound by the 40 minute limit but kept the rough timing and format.

There is a Chinese proverb attributed to Lao Tzu

“If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

It is this being in the present when you are painting, that probably explains lot of the popularity of the Wanderers

Mihaly Explains [watercolour on Canvas by Norm Hanson]

I believe it has a lot to do with helping the participants slip into what the Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi identified and calls the Flow State. In which the duration of time is altered, hours pass in minutes, minutes can stretch out to seem like hours.

After interviewing many successful people for his study of the Psychology of Optimal Experience, he concluded that there were seven common experiences shared by these people. He calls these the Elements of Enjoyment

1. Confronted by a task, with a chance of completing it.
2. Be able to concentrate on the task
3. Task has a clear goal
4. Immediate Feedback
5. Could participate with a deep but effortless involvement (remove from the constraints and frustration of every day life)
6. Be enjoyable (allowing people to exercise control over the actions)
7.  Concern for self disappears (yet paradoxically the feeling of self emerges stronger after the flow is over.

Mihaly liked to explain this in two dimensions, the challenge versus skills.

He believes you can most easily move into flow if you are aroused (but anxious) by the challenge and you take the opportunity to practise and improve your skills, or you are confident in your skill (but bored) until you get inspired by the challenge. Flow occurs when a task’s challenge is balanced with one’s skill.

A very important aspect of the Wanderers is the group dynamic. Mihaly studied and advised many sporting groups including the successful  Australian Women’s Hockey team, Australian Olympics cyclists and ice skaters. He lists these important characteristics for teams to Achieve Flow and thus improve their collective performance by achieving group flow.

1. Group empathy (including helping others to achieve their desired performance)
2. Activity has clear goal
3. Opportunity to be both autonomous and at the same time cooperating in the group.
4. Immediate feedback (both personally and shared with the team)
5. Skill required matches the difficulty of the task. Some individuals can focus on different skills 

Whilst we were not always in focused together, and seldom on all aspects. Those participating were generally focussed in the present challenge testing their skills and often reaching the flow state.  Mihaly says it is this flow that allows the enjoyment of experiencing that you are good at something while you are doing it. It didn’t matter so much if you had or had not finished or looked the same as others.

 Norm Hanson
Febraury 2022

Connecting What and Who are the Wednesday Wanderers?

 What were you doing during the lockdowns? (well assuming they are over) 

Here is something I did and we are having an exhibition, If you are in Melbourne or allowed into Victoria please come and have a look.

Wednesday Wanderers was born out of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Unable to meet or paint en plein air during strict lockdowns, three committee members from the Watercolour Society of Victoria were feeling isolated and fed up with their own four walls.  It’s easy to forget that before COVID, many people had never used or even heard of Zoom.  We used it to connect a diverse community of watercolourists interested in escaping from the pandemic blues once a week.  We adopted a quirky speed painting format that challenged our skills and fit in with the technology requirements. 

Immediately it became apparent that there was a need for something like this, as membership quickly grew.  It has enabled artists who could never have come to a real-world paint-out to spend time some enjoyable time painting together in a safe environment.  Time poor artists, artists who live far from Melbourne, housebound artists, and those caring for family members. 

 We continue to meet fortnightly now that lockdowns are presumably a thing of the past.  We now have Wanderers in many parts of Victoria, as well as New South Wales, Western Australia, and the United States.  We have become a warm, welcoming community that continues to grow.

,,, Jane Elliston

Another Sponge Tip for Watercolourists

Carting around water pods at the beach, if your sketching can be just one extra task too many. I decided to try out using a couple of pieces of foam/sponge. One to clean pigment off the brush to other to hole clean water to wet the brush.

The tropics come to Gwondanaland

  

Melbourne is famous for having 4 seasons in a day. However we seldom actually see a tropical style downpour. My Cretaceous garden has been suffer through some summer heat (and no rain) but today the rains came (about 26mm in a little over half an hour. Other parts of Melbourne had more.

Anyway my little garden, for a few moments took on the mantle of a true rainforest.

What is the Sponge for?

"CULL"ing the four letter world that photographers don't want to speak

I'm getting close to filling my 5TB disk on which I store my mastercopy of my photo library. There are almost half a millions files, a lot are jpeg & RAW pairs and there are movies as well. This actually only covers my 2010 to 2021, The 1999 to 2009 is on a differeent 1,5TB disk, Then there are 6 2TB off-site backup copies in 2 sets of 3 external usb harddrives, that I rotate every 2 months. Its becoming a bit of a production. Also i'm now faced with the isses to determine what is the most sensible way to get extra space.

1. Probably the most likley, is I'll take two of the external disks from my second offsite disks and add a third local photo library disks (I do have one USB port left) and make just one offsite set of 4 2TB disks. The surplus 2TB can become a rotating backup of the last 2 or 3 months. OK this will give me "some" headroom for at least the first part of next year.

2. Sit down and do some serious "CULLing" of things I am never likely to reconsider. This is that really scary thing a lot of photographers or even frantic smartphone snappers, will have to face at some time. 

Why has this come about because I have and use photo mechanic and (usually) spend a bit of time when I "ingest" (load the photos from the camera card onto the computer) my photos where I in theory on load the "keepers"? The out of focus, poor composition, unfortunate expression and straight bad images always get deleted straight away.

The problem is I have come to like and use techniques that have multipled the photos I take. Particularly with the fun features on my little olympus cameras (HDR & Focus bracketting, Panoramic stitching, Burst mode and PRO capture). Also the new favoutite and automated intervalometer for stop motion. Ok I blame them, but perhaps I have become a little less dilligent and skip through these sets as I import them, not being strict enough on what gets deleted.

OK could I find and use modern software (specifically AI based system) to help me re-tackle the horrible task of reviewing and further deleting my photos. Seems it could even be an economically attractive option as well if I could get ride of perhaps 40% of my files, that could translate into 3-4 years before I have to outlay on extra disk capacity. Not sure what say two 4-5TB external harddrive (or the equivalent cloud storage) might cost but lets estimate around $150 each or $300 now. If I could find something for $100 that looks economiclly attractive.

What started this was an "offer" for AfterShot at $9.99 ( and thats probably USD$) but in my mind that seemed perfectfor my budget and I download the "free trial". It did a few good things, like  sneak preview grouping that used AI to find those images most like the ones shared on instagram and like services and was very strict with focus, Howeer a lot of its features like eyeclosed andface detect stuff didn't help me a lot also I was getting almost as many possible duplicates as I had photos (ie jpeg & raw pairs were reporting as two duplicates) and in most cases it was flagging the jpeg as the file to keep. Then I realised that the $9.99 was just per month and the discount was jut for a year if you paid up front after that it was $14.99 per month. Buying the extra disk now would be a much better option. I can see a wedding or group photographer is likley to save a lot of time. However what I am looking for is a cheap space creator. 

I do own another programs called  Corel AfterShotPro, which is a light weight RAW Editor I still use it occasionally mainly on my little HP Spectre when away from home. So one aftershot is probably enough. It does allow me to label/keyword, rank, colour code, and flag as Pick or reject but manually not via and automatic AI assisted approach.

"Exploiting" (aka Faking) Banksy? as an NFT

Here is an interesting article from The BBC about a bansky work "warning sign" being "re-created" as an NFT by its current owner. The story contain a link to the you tube below, which appears to be a spoof of the film, "exit via the gift shop". superficially its all noble sounding, a proportion of the purchase going to charity. etc...

Looking deeper it appears a lot like a not so subtle attempt to ramp up dark memories of a terrible tragedy and opportunity to get publicity and probablu a lot of money from an asset propped in a lounge room. 

At the heart of the issue is can you believe social media and the NFT market (if DAOs or truly anything organized like that truly exists). Is it actually people scamming and exploiting others? Are NFT a real long term investment. What does ownership of something that is public and anyone can "look" on line (and potentially make decent exact reproduction). We do also know Bansky doesn't really like the art investment “establishment” and has gamed them previously. Who can we believe?

Former Christie's auctioneer Charles Allsopp said the concept of buying one [NFT] made "no sense" and "people who invest in it are slight mugs".

 I'm inclined to see this as a story, parts of which (may all) might be just to ramp up sales of something virtual. I would suggest Charles Allsopp advice is worth considering. However please read the details and make up your own mind.

Return to the Old Chestnut :: Scaning Versus Photography

I have looked at the issues of the best way to get a digital copy of your art work many times. I'm still open to finding the best way, but realise there might be different solutions for different media and how the image is to be used. With watercolour possible the most difficult to find a good solution, because much of it's magic lies in it's transparent colours.

 

Now it's your turn. The above images have been capture with webcam, phone, mirrorless camera and scanner (in no particular order).

Which best shows the watercolourness? 

Which looks best?