Lets the feathers fly

Its the 20th Jazz Festival at Inverloch and the street parade is getting a little bigger but has some of the more the colourful local muscians bringing up the rear with someell loved traditional tunes pumps out with great passion. It may be very hot but the jazz was cool.

Photographing the dawn

Photogrsphing the dawn, originally uploaded by imageo.

As the first rays appear the beach was already full of joggers and dog wakers, and photographers!

Semi-Abstract Collage

Semi abstract patterns of reflections on the water surface whilst looking at my shadow below the pier  Created in Picasa's collage tool

What happened to the Aperture Ring?

My first SLR camera was a Pentax Spotmatic, which was a pretty revolutionary camera at the time, I got mine in 1969, because it had a built in lightmeter. You set the aperture with the lens ring and then you could rotate the shutter speed dial until the arm on the lightmeter visible on the right hand side of the through the lens viewfinder, was centered. If the speeds where too slow or two fast you could adjust the apeture ring. It was very easy to use and worked really well. I love it. A later camera body, also a Pentax,introduced me to aperture priority on a large mode dial. It allowed you to select an aperture and the camera itself choosing the shutter speed. More magic, particularly if you wanted control over depth of field.Over the past decade, or so, the separate appeture ring has disappeared off most lens. I suspect a lot of people haven’t even notice! Before we figure out what can be done without the aperture ring we should first look at -

What is Aperture?

Aperture is a measure of the size of the opening within the lens that controls the amount of light that reaches the film or sensor. It is usually given is a strange sounding unit f-stop

f-stop = focal length * diameter of opening

The strange sequence of numbers it is quoted in f/1.4 (f/2) f2,8 (f/4) f/5.6 (f8) f/11 (f/16) f/22 might make more sense when you realize that all are approximate multiples of √2(the square root of 2) and the amount of light reaching the sensor is proportional to the area of light on the sensor (ie πr²) Thus each f-stop is equivalent to doubling or halving the light. The bracketed numbers in the sequence above are the half stops.The lower F-stops let in more light and give you a faster shutter speed for your best exposure. Its as simple as that.
In most camera the size of the opening is controlled by a bit of clever mechanism, usually called the diaphragm, where a set of thin blades are pivoted, connected around the a ring shape and sprung in such a way that as the ring is rotated the blades expose a larger or smaller gap in the center.  This was the reason why the aperture control was on the lens (just at or behind the convergence point of the lens, Today most DSLR lenses have the same style of blade diaphragm but the control for setting the diaphragm opening is on the camera body, perhaps in a menu, perhaps as a separate wheel or disc. So you should find you are able to control the aperture setting even if your lens doesn’t have a ring to adjust it.
The Aperture setting is also one of the main factors in determining depth of field. the smaller the opening through which the light passes the greater the range of objects in your scene that will be crisply in focus on the sensor. This is why many camerphones with tiny lenses seem to have almost infinite focus. Whereas the larger openings (lower f-stop) will reduce the range of focus to a narrow band. Portrait photographers often use this to blur out distraction backgrounds but have the face just in focus

PhotoFriday :: Mornings

For PhotoFriday‘s topic mornings

PhotoProject :: Photographing your Art Works

I have seen and read a lot about how to photography your art and/or why you shouldn’t. Most of it seems wrong to me, or at least all overly complicated. There is really no reason that your should not be able to get very good results, even with a mobile phone

Keep it Simple but Precise.

It really doesn’t matter weather you will be taking the photo with a very basic point and shoot camera, a smart phone or an expensive DSLR camera. There are a few basics you need to understand to get a clear, well exposed and undistorted image. Firstly you need to make sure that the art work is well lit by even light. inside that means on a wall opposite a decent sized window and out of direct light. If outside it may be better in the shade or waiting for an overcast day. If you want to use artificial lighting make sure you understand the next section. It is important that the artwork is normal (at right angles) to the axis of the camera lens. This gives the photo the best opportunity of everything being sharply in focus and avoids much of the possible distortion. Hanging or taping the work to the wall and setting your camera on a tripod of nearby bench can help you get this right. The camera should be pointing straight at the art work not pointing up or down. I have a nifty little level that plugs into my flash hot-shoe which makes checking the alignments very easy. The autofocus mechanism of most cameras are very reliable these days especially when you are pointing at a single subject in one plane. so I would suggest you go with auto focus, usually that requires half pressing the shutter key. The other important aspect about keeping the image clear is avoiding camera movement as you take the photo. If you have your camera on a tripod or sitting on a form service is is best to use the cameras timer. If you have to hold the camera try using the fastest shutter speed (better than 1/60 seconds). The next step is upload your photos to your computer, but leave the camera and art work set up. Whilst you can preview the photo on the LCD panel on the camera back you will be able to check details better on a larger screen. If something needs to be change everything is still set up.
There is a tendency to get as close as possible to the artwork and use the zoom in to get a wider angle view, However this can distort the edges of your work (they start to look curved) and introduce depth of field issue so that while the centre of the work is in focus the edges are not. Step back a bit use and no zoom or just a little zoom in (rather than out), or better still use the prime (single focal length usually 50mm) lens are this will be the least distorted. If the side of your art work diverge you are probably not alighted with the centre of the artwork and at right angle to it. It the sides diverge out and up you viewing angle is to low. If they diverge out and down you are to high, move the camera down a little Obviously curved edges you will be too close.
Normally it is best to photograph your art without a frame (unlike my example here) and it the art work is framed behind glass you will have to deal with the problem of reflections. The can generally be avoided by angling the light source. If you are using natural light that might mean angle the artwork against the wall, but remember to also tilt the camera so the axis of the lens is at right angle to the art works surface. If you are using artificial light use two but angled at 45degrees to the art work.

Strive for Accurate Colour

Colour is probably the area that most people stumble when photographing art. The auto exposure in cameras is trying to expose everything to an average grey, art work is usually move vivid and vibrant. Colour calibrated screens are not going to help if you have the white balance wrong. White balance is an attempt to make surethat parts of your subject that are white or close to white are also white in the photo. The temperature of light is quiet deep issues, and I will skip the theory here and just comment that different light sources (particularly artificial lights) can introduce significant colour casts into a photo. Most modern cameras do have white balance settings, typically marked sunny, overcast/cloudy, Incandescant, tungsten etc according to the light source some go further and allow you to adjust by the colour temperature (specified in digress Kelvin) of your lights (better brands of flash and strobe lights will give you these temperatures). If you suspect colour matching issues it will be best to do some test shots, such as including a colour wheel in the picture and look at these photos after you have loaded viewed them on your computer screen. Leave your camera set up and if necessary, make an adjustment, take a new photo, upload it and look at it. Once you are happy remove your colour test and take the final Image.
Cameras, computer screen, and projectors and printers are not capable of reproducing the full dynamic range of light our eyes are capable of seeing. Again this a deep topic and I wont cover it here, but adding a tiny amount of contrast and saturation in post processing may help lift the colours, but keep the image looking natural, particularly for smaller thumbnails of the work.
One final bit advice of colours, is for those that want to reproduce their work as a smaller thumbnail on a website for sale. Don’t get to carried away with colour management as it likely to make your photo image look dull when the viewed on typical users screens. When you want to prompt your art on the net have a look at your photo on a variety of screens and devices (for example colour calibrated images can look very dowdy on apples new retina screen which get a lot of their appeal from their rendering of saturated colours). If you are photographing your image to have it reproduced, such as printed on canvas or art paper (or even sold via Red Bubble etc) then of course colour calibration becomes very important.

Do Not Over Post Process

Whilst it is unlikely that you will want to “publish” your photo un-edited it is wise to consider that also keeping the post processing as simple as possible with  also be import. The key steps being crop the image to the edges of your work (that normally means don’t have boarders showing), perhaps some white balance adjustment (its better done in the camera, see above), a light tweaking of contrast (raising the contrast just a little) and possibly a very little lifting of colour saturation. However be retrained, some of the “zany” filters in phone apps and the filters on web album sites can go too far and ruin an otherwise honest photo of your art, moving any of the sliders too far to the right, in photoshop, lightroom, iphoto and picasa can also undo your good work,  If there are blemishes (like dust stops) retouch them out, but do not try and retouch things in the art work. Finally consider the size to export (small thumbnails for a web site or full size, high resolution for a canvas print). You don’t need elaborate software for these steps (for example Picasa, free to download, will do all these steps) or alternatively you can look at on-line apps like Aviary.

“Da Vagues”, pastel sketch on craftboard prepared with gesso and acrylic background paint. 20 by 45cm.

The following video, from YouTube, by does go through most of theses steps is a straightforward easy to follow tutorial by Tyler Stalman, of SatchiOnline.

PhotoFriday :: Familiar Faces

This a very last minute submittal for PhotoFriday‘s topic Familiar Faces



I did envisage this process earlier this week, but seemed never have enough time to create my collage. The image above is actually a very simple multi-exposure overlay (using picassa collage feature) of the 8 some what different photos of me that cover about a 6 years period. they are simply aligned using the eyes. It strikes me the result is eerily like a portrait painting.

So what’s in Creative Cloud?

I had signed up for a web presentation of adobe’s creative cloud, BUT I was late and got lost in the Facebook frontend (probably because I am not a facebook member) AND the twitter feed (#hashtag #createnow) was a bit incomprehensible. HOWEVER I am interested in the ideas of creative cloud, a kind of low-ish fee monthly rental that gives you access to the latest and greatest software, tools, and knowledge of how to use them. If you are a struggling creative type, or student, and can’t (or don’t want to) fork out the very larger sums of cash to access the adobe tools (they are particularly expensive here in Australia) then this service is likely to be of great relevance. In addition to providing all the adobe creative software aa downloadable apps (this give the impression you are running them in “the cloud” but in reality you are downloading the applications and running them on your PC or MAC you don’t have to be on-line to use them) you also get 20GB of cloud storage, and access to a broad range of tutorial. If you can visualise an amazing project you should be able to get it up and working in a fraction of the time it might have taken before and better still you will only have had to pay for a few monthly rentals fees. I think this is pretty brave, but sensible, marketing from adobe.

So far this podcast from TV.Adobe is the best summary for a new potential user of what creative cloud is and how you might use it and getting started.

Another Sand Goddess

Its the seventh day in a row the temperature has been over 30, so It was a perfect day for the beach and low with low tide close to midday was also a perfect day to rake another sand goddess. This one is based on one of the PRB Goddesses by Burne-Jones, with a profile portrait rather than front on view, this makes it quiet a challenge to “see” the image from the right place.


View 18/02/2013 10:50am sand goddess in a larger map

PhotoProject :: Waves Diptych 1

 

PaintProject :: Waves Diptych 2

 
Waves interpreted in acrylic paint

PhotoProject :: Birds in Flight Series (revisited)

Its been a while since I series of the Pacific Gulls, down on the beach. previously I used a series of 5 and cropped to the 4:3 format, focussed in the birds themselves. Here I am experimenting with a stronger 2:1 cropping allowing a bit more context as part of a larger picture in time.

PhotoFriday :: The Body

For PhotoFriday‘s topic The Body

I originally just wanted to photograph something a little different for this topic and my camera body was perfect but then I had the “bad idea” of making a simple stop motion movie using my artist’s manikin. This gave me an opportunity to experiment a bit more in Corel’s VideoStudio, and its upload to YouTube is a pleasure to use.

Do I really need another App?

I got a notification via google+ (which I must admit I seldom look at anymore) that +colby brown hade updated his list of 20 apps every photography should have. It’s good reading, it’s worth a look. I. decided to try Pixlr Express, from Autodesk, the AutoCAD & Sketchbook folk, who also wrote Pixlr-o-matic, which I did have installed for quiet a while.. The magic word was FREE download and it is impressive, having all the basic tools you might need to spruce up a photo before uploading it including a cool localized retouch tool. There are heaps of effect overlays and frames but sadly the controls are a bit small for my screen and my older eyes so I’m not totally convinced I’ll be using a lot. Both Aviary & Photoshop Express being much easy for me to read and use with my fat fingers. Still I think I’ll leave it on the phone for a while. My phone is becoming old, is locked back at android version 2.2.1 (by Telstra) and doesn’t have a lot of space 1.86Gb, so any apps I don’t use for 2-3 months end up getting deleted,

Such is life, but I have no plans to change phones.

PhotoFriday :: My Environment

Indoor multi-image panorama of my studio, aka my (creative) environment

I was inspired to take this photo, because I am currently reading “A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney” by Martin Gayford and in the Chapter on Photography and drawing David Hockney points out ”…you can;t photograph the interior and get the outside as well” (one will be in silhouette and/or the other blown out. “yet … every serious photo collection … will have a group from about 1860 that show elaborate interiors with exterior views through windows”  “..in effect, these were made from several negatives – so in a way they are collages”

My plan was to light this like a movie set using spot lights and a desk lamp to bring up the interior and then just use multiple exposure, automatically chosen  by my camera, for each exposure. I held my camera vertically and zoomed in a little, to get 8 vertical exposures. I then ran them into autostich (without any exposure compensation. cropping etc). Having everything so close the parallax issues did create some artefacts (see angular mismatch in the vertical binds) which I am happy to leave unedited. Admittedly I did have to use a localised brush to “lighten and saturate” some of the view through a fly screen on the upper right of the window. Just to balance the exposures into the garden.. Whilst the joining has created a distorted perspective. I suspect Hackney himself would be the first to suggest that this actually makes the image more real and a more intimate look at my messy and yet creative environment. I guess the big question is would the purist think this is still a photo?

For PhotoFriday‘s topic My Environment

Head in the clouds

cool nectar on a hot day

cool nectar on a hot day, originally uploaded by imageo.

Just rying out a new uploader to flickr

Cresent Moon Sunset

Another Sand Goddess

Another sand ranking loosely based on one of the goddess in the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood’s painting “The MIrror of Venus”

PhotoFriday :: Sand Patterns

Sand Patterns 1, originally uploaded by imageo.

Ripple marks at low tide

For PhotoFriday‘s topic Pattern

Catch a Falling Star

Last night was a new moon and relative still. Good conditions to capture the night sky. So with a little experimentation in M for Manual on my canon, I opened it up (f4.5), set the ISO High (6400) and the exposure long (30 seconds), all on a tripod of coarse. There was a bit of cloud about but they just added to the mood. Distant car head lights on a nearby tree added to that ambience With such a high ISO and long exposure the resulting photos where littered with “digital” noise and Lightrooms RAW processor handles this well even with the luminance and colour noise sliders moved way to the right.
I did see a couple of brief shooting stars but my camera was not exposing at the time or pointed elsewhere, such is life. However as I looked in detail in Lightroom I did pick up some distinct streak which I am now fairly certain must have also been meteorites. I have seen other streak in long exposure that where a series of aligned dots, I assume these are aeroplane lights or satellite. The shooting stars/ meteorites giving a a continuous light.

Ready, Steady, Go

I like street art and particularly the more useful pieces, like seats.This one in Swanson street Melbourne is quiet fussy and busy and deep with a very busy area. I only had my mobile phone, so I started my HDR Camera+ app and waited for a group of pedestrian and a tram to go by, thinking I would have a clean shoot at the three exposures required. Well as I pushed the button the lights changed and all the folk in the background moved. Yet in the enhanced image, they are not blurred and they are in their original position in the first photo. So I need to learn a little more of the magic by which this app does its processing to get a Higher Dynamic Range.

Prodigal SD card returns

A while ago I lost an older spare SD card, it seemed to just disappeared “out of” my camera bag. Then miraculously it “reappeared” on the back lawn under the clothes line (luckily I spotted it while watering and before mowing the lawn). I can only assume it was most probably in the pocket of my clothes, went through the wash and fell out of the pocket whilst drying and sat on the lawn through 40°C plus heat and a couple of storms, I dried it off and was able to read it with no problems. Not a bad harsh environment test of the card and the case it was in.

I hasn’t been smooth sailing always for me with SD cards I have had a couple where the plastic tabs and separators around the connectors has broken off or fallen apart (and jammed in my camera!) so I’m very careful and throw out any cards that misbehave (mainly cheap noname brand ones).

Whilst on SD Cards I have found that the speed of the card makes a massive different in practice when you are using a higher end DSLR. Particularly if you are saving both RAW and jpeg version of your photos. I have been using and can recommend both the Scan disk Ultra and  Lexar Platinum II series (SDHC 60x) it’s the difference in being able to get 8 images per second or waiting more than a second between images. Only capturing in jpeg does makes things quicker (they require processing but are smaller files and therefore save quicker).

Older wallpapers available again (free download for a short time)

 

 

The gift of a 3 month pro account on flickr means some of my older (and popular) screen wallpapers are again available for free download.

Thank you Flickr

I got a nice “Merry Flickr” surprise when I logged into flickr today. A three months pro account. Ok I’m not going to go crazy and upload thousands of photos but I do appreciate it. I can also see just a few other nice updates, imprved smartphine apps and housekeeping that suggest a revitalized focus in team flickr. With all the fuss about the right to sell your photos on instagram, Flickr is probably the place to do your social (and private) photo sharing. If you already have an account go visit it, if you don’t now might be the right time to set on up.