In fact he published a book titled The Unguarded Moment in 2009, ten years after the brilliant Portraits published in 1999 (a must-have for portrait photographers).

Steve McCurry is of course best known for his “Afghan Girl” photograph, the beautiful Afghan girl with the stunning green eyes and a piercing gaze. After the photograph gained worldwide recognition when it was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine, several attempts were made by McCurry to identify the girl during the 1990s. However the identity of the “Afghan Girl” would remain unknown for over 17 years.

In 2002 a National Geographic team travelled to Afghanistan and finally located the girl in a remote region of Afghanistan. She was identified as Sharbat Gula and determined to be around the age of 30, which means she was around the age of 12 when the picture was made. Incredibly Gula had not seen her own famous portrait until it was shown to her in 2003.

In this five minute video clip Steve McCurry talks about how he created the photograph and shows some of the few outtakes from what was a relatively short photo session:

In recognition of Sharbat Gula (“Afghan Girl”), National Geographic set up the Afghan Girls Fund, a charitable organization with the goal of educating Afghan girls and young women. In 2008, the scope of the fund was broadened to include boys and the name was changed to Afghan Children’s Fund.

You can donate to the fund by visiting this link: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/donate/afghan-childrens-fund.html

In many cases you can add a touch of sophistication to your monochrome images by adding some subtle toning. Often toning your monochrome images can also help you emphasize a particular mood or feeling in your images. This four-part series on advanced toning will show you how.

Using the Duotone Presets

Start with a Grayscale image and then do Image Mode>Duotone (note that your image will need to be 8 bits/Channel for the Duotone menu to be available to select).

Photoshop comes with a set of ready-made duotone, tritone and quadtone recipe files. These can all be loaded for use on your grayscale images. To apply one of these recipes to your image, click on the Custom pop-up menu in the Duotones dialog box and select any of th pre-mixed colour recipes. There are some excellent examples that can be used to mimic warm, cold or vintage photographic papers.

The unusual curve shapes that you will see in many of the ready-made recipe files give you a very good idea of how to control the colour distribution. The heart example below was created using a vivid orange for the third colour, although you would not think so looking at the final result.

Using the Duotone Presets

Below you can see the before and after example as well as details of the ready-made recipe chosen for this example which includes the vivid orange colour as the third colour.

Click on the Custom pop-up menu to select your recipe

Fine Tuning a Preset Duotone Recipe

Most problems using the duotone method occur if you let all inks (colours) run into the shadow areas, giving heavy prints with encroaching blacks. The following tritone example was created using three ink colours: black, aqua and gold.

Tritone recipe with the ink colours black, aqua and gold

Here is the grayscale image after the above tritone recipe has been applied to it:

Image after tritone with black, aqua and gold (before curve adjustments)

Looking at this image it seems a little bit ‘heavy’ overall but with some small curve adjustments to each of the three ink colours we should be able to achieve a slightly ‘lighter’ print with better tone distribution. Here we go.

Step 1: Changing the Black Curve

To minimise the presence of black in the image, the black ink was pulled down in the darker midtones to lessen their overall effect.

The darker midtones of the black were lessened

Step 2: Changing the Aqua Curve

To continue on the path of making this print feel ‘lighter’ we took about 10% aqua ink out of the darkest tones.

Some of the aqua tone was taken out of the darkest tones

Step 3: Changing the Gold Curve

Finally the midtones in the golden ink were also pulled down to lessen the overall golden tone effect in the image.

The midtones of the gold colour were pulled back a little

Once each of the above three small curve adjustments have been applied you can now see the before and after results.

Tritone recipe before and after individual curve adjustments

Voila! The difference is quite subtle, but if you look carefully at the two versions above you should be able to notice that the ‘after’ version feels less ‘heavy’ and particularly when you look in the shadow areas.

More Resources

If you’re looking for a great resource on learning more about digital photography and Adobe Photoshop in general, then check out Vincent Bockaert’s The 123 of Digital Imaging which has impressed even Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.

You can also check out the great Adobe Photoshop tutorials available at Lynda.com for more resources.

Finally I can also personally recommend many of the excellent courses at BetterPhoto.com. When I was starting out in photography I took 8 of the courses including a one with specialised training in Photoshop. Check them out.

The How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

In some ways it was as if my mind had just gone blank. All ideas had vanished into thin air, gone, unretrievable. I guess that just goes to show the power of always carrying a notebook with you so you can write down your ideas as they come to mind or re-visit them when you need to!

Probably the heat was getting to me. We’ve had soaring temperatures between 30-40 degree celcius all week here in Sydney.

Lunch and a cool drink to the rescue and my mind blank lead to an idea – one that had to do with the mind funny enough: what happens in your mind just before you click the shutter?

For many beginning photographers the answer to this question is often technically related. Are my settings right for a correct exposure? Is my shutter speed fast enough to shoot hand-held? What ISO should I be using?

For more experienced photographers thoughts are usually more focused on the design of the image and capturing the right moment. If he would just look directly at her that would complete the story. When the sun clears the top of those clouds the light will be perfect. What happens if I move a bit closer? The railing creates a nice lead-in to my subject.

Photo by Orin Zebest

If you’re like many photographers, though, what happens in your mind just before you click the shutter are often subconscious thoughts that gets little or no attention at all. That’s allright, but only if you’ve arrived to that stage through a conscious process. Stay with me and I’ll try to explain. 

It can often lead to improved results if you become more aware of your thoughts in those critical moments just before you click the shutter. After all what happens in your mind just before you click the shutter will directly impact on the image you capture a second or two later.

Asking yourself some simple questions before you click the shutter can help take your images to a new level.

So in this post I really want to encourage you to think about what you think about before you click the shutter. Did you catch that? It’s a bit like metadata (data about data). Think about what you think about before you click the shutter. In other words next time you’re out shooting try to pay attention to the moments just before you press the shutter and record your own thoughts.

Photo by eyesore9

Ideally you want to reach a situation where the technical stuff becomes second nature and your thoughts concentrate entirely on the design of your image and capturing the moment. That said, it’s actually good for beginning photographers to think some technical thoughts before pressing the shutter because that’s exactly what helps make the technical considerations second nature in the long run.

Some people might even have a short mental checklist that they run through just before they click the shutter.

Here’s some ideas to questions you can ask yourself in the moments before you click the shutter to help propel your photography forward. Hopefully some of these questions can inspire you to create your own mental checklist before you click the shutter. Pick and choose from the list, and feel free to add your own questions too.

• What story do I want to tell?
• Why am I taking this picture?
• What’s the visual focal point in this picture?
• Who or what is the ‘star’ in this picture?
• Where do I want my viewers eye to go to in this picture?
• Are there any distracting elements in the frame?
• Are all four edges of my viewfinder clear?
• Is my horizon line straight?
• Do I want a horizon line in this shot?
• Is my background the way I want it?
• Am I close enough?
• What is my main source of light?
• Is the light falling on my subject the way I want it?
• What other perspectives could I shoot this subject from?
• Should I shoot this horizontal or vertical?
• How can I improve this composition?
• How can I simplify this composition?

Now, you may think “how on earth am I going to ask and answer all of those questions (or even half of them) in a second or two before I press the shutter?”

Good point – but in time a lot of this goes on intuitively.

Don’t underestimate the power of your brain. Think about when your learned to ride a bike or drive a car for the first time. You had to think about each action (keeping the balance, signalling, changing gears, changing lanes etc.) but with experience it becomes intuitive and second nature. Chances are you even learned to ride your bike without keeping your hands on the handlebar! It’s much the same with a lot of the above questions.

Over time you learn to internalize many of the above questions, but to do so you need to become aware and conscious of them in the first place. Once this happens your intuition will start to take over and great photography is the product of great intuition. So make it a habit to run through some essential questions suitable to your genre of photography.

The above list is by no means exhaustive, so feel free to pick and choose and add your own questions.

Have you got a mental checklist you run through before clicking the shutter? What happens in your mind just before you click the shutter? Have you got some questions of routine checks to add to the above?

Street photographers typically react to situations and usually have no specific subject matter in mind as they set out to make photographs. Street photography is very much about life in general and usually don’t involve the concept of visualising photographs in advance of taking them. I use words like ‘typically’ and ‘usually’ as some street photographers may happen upon a scene with a certain play of light and shadow for example, and then stake out that scene until something happens. That something is often some sort of human element in the scene. In fact some people will argue that human presence is a prerequisite in street photography.

What is Street Photography?

Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of a scene. It’s therefore up to the photographer to place emphasis on the selection of what elements to include and exclude from the composition – and of course this has to happen in a split second. It is not generally accepted to edit the contents of a street photograph – such as editing out a discarded coke can in Photoshop in post-processing.

What is Street Photography?

Most people will agree that for a street photograph to be successful the scene has to move the photographer in some way. If it moves the photographer – and if the photographer is skilled at capturing the decisive moment – there is a good chance it will also move the viewer.

Effective street photography is about telling a story in a single frame, not simply recording what was there at a particular time and in a specific place.

Photo by Chris JL

The term “the decisive moment” was of course coined by French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson who helped develop street photography as a style or genre.

Cartier-Bresson was an early adopter of the 35mm format and a master of candid photography. You can learn more about Cartier-Bresson in the excellent documentary The Impassioned Eye which is available on DVD. I personally own the DVD and enjoy watching it as a source of inspiration and as a wonderful biography on one of the most influential photographers of the last century.

Street photography generally involves getting close to people – and often within their comfort zones. This means the photographer often becomes part of the scene rather than a distant observer. It also means shooting with wide lenses; usually nothing longer than 50mm. Consequently some street photographers prefer shooting in places like crowded streets in big cities, fairs, carnivals, parades or even on a busy ferry or bus.

Photo by sketchy record

Street Photography Shooting Techniques

How you shoot on the street is of course a matter of personal choice, but some shooting techniques might work better than others.

Here are some tips and tricks on how to shoot successful street photographs:

• Don’t be sneaky and don’t try to hide your cameras.
• If someone objects to having their picture taken, don’t take it.
• If someone turns away as you’re about to photograph, respect their privacy and refrain from shooting.
• Don’t lurk around in the background with a long lens as this will often be interpreted with scepticism and suspicion.
• Participate in the scene rather than be a voyeur.
• For more candid pictures try to blend in with the crowds and be subtle in your camera movements. Don’t constantly put your camera to your eye. Instead relax and put your camera down and just be one of the many people on the street. Then raise your camera when you are one or two seconds away from the shot you want. Click the shutter a couple of times, and then put your camera down again. If you get noticed, smile.
• Embrace the fear and shoot through it. Even more experienced street photographers have fears about being yelled at, chased down the street or worse. While this fear may subside over the years, it will probably never disappear completely. Acknowledge it and make a conscious decision to embrace the fear and shoot through it.
• Travel light. All you need is a camera body and a few lenses and film or memory cards.
• Don’t carry your shiny new high-tech camera bag out on the street. Instead carry your gear in a more casual shoulder bag or messenger-style bag.
• Leave the khaki-50-pockets-photographers-vest at home and wear simple and relaxed clothing. Dress like the people you’re photographing.
• Switch to manual focus, estimate the distance to your subject and pre-set your focus. This way you’re ready to shoot and frame when an interesting moment happens.
• Pre-set your focus and ‘shoot from the hip’. You don’t necessarily have to bring your camera to your eyes to capture a moment.
• Keep shooting ‘through the moment’. You want to capture that decisive split second of a moment, so keep shooting as events unfold.
• Smile, smile, and smile some more. A smile can defuse most negative situations you might find yourself in.

Photo by Joe Holmes

Street photography might not be for everyone, but it is a style of photography that can teach you a lot about composition in photography along with the significance of freezing a moment in time.

For more resources on street photography you can also check out books like Street Photography Now and Street Photography: From Atget to Cartier-Bresson or you could simply immerse yourself and study the photographs in Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer.

Next Step?

Head out on the street and start taking pictures!

In many cases you can add a touch of sophistication to your monochrome images by adding some subtle toning. Often toning your monochrome images can also help you emphasize a particular mood or feeling in your images. This four-part series on advanced toning will show you how.

One of the more sophisticated ways to tone an image digitally is to use the Duotone Image Mode option available in Photoshop. While it’s fairly sophisticated, it’s actually not very difficult to use, so stick with me through this tutorial. In fact I think this post looks a lot longer than it will actually take you to apply this technique.

Often duotones are used in the lithographic printing industry to reproduce high quality monochrome images. For example, to mimic the look of an original monochrome photographic print which might have been printed on warmtone paper or finished with chemical toners, book designers rely on special litho inks. This approach is often preferred over the traditional CMYK process when producing a coffee table quality monograph.

However, duotone mode digital images can also be printed out by most good desktop inkjet printers, so the process don’t have to be limited to litho output only. What makes toning in this way interesting is the ability to work with a personal swatch of colours, manipulating each in up to 10 different tonal sectors (see more about this at the bottom of this post).

Steel Study - Before and After

In this example we will apply a ‘steely blue’ tone using the duotone image mode in an effort to add some mood to the image.

Using the Duotone Image Mode

Start with a Grayscale image and then do Image Mode>Duotone (note that your image will need to be 8 bits/Channel for the Duotone menu to be available to select).

In the duotone dialog box black is set as the default first ink colour next to ‘Ink 1′ and there will be a blank box next to ‘Ink 2′ (or it might show the ink colour you used last time you did applied duotone).

Selecting Your Colour

Clicking in the blank box next to ‘Ink 2′ will reveal the Colour Picker where you can choose your second colour, or you can click on ‘Custom’ and select a Pantone Solid Coated colour such as the Pantone 279 C which I have chosen for this example where I’m aiming for a ‘steely blue’.

Loading the Colour

Once you have selected your second colour Photoshop immediately updates your image (behind the dialog box) showing the effect your colour choice creates and loads the colour into the dialog box.

Changing the Depth of Colour

Next you can choose to click on the small curve graph to the left of the ink colour square. Like the traditional ‘Curves’ controls, pulling or pushing the straight line will darken or lighten the second colour you have chosen (blue in this example).

In this example I have chosen to slightly lighten the darker blue tones by pulling the top part of the curve down a little bit, and I have also slightly darkened the lighter blue tones by pushing the lower part of the curve up a little bit.

Steel Study - Before toning

Steel Study - After toning

Know the Dutone Curves Dialog Box

Printing ink is expressed in percentage terms and in the ‘Duotone Curves’ dialog box, the normal grayscale range of 0-255 is converted to a 0-100% scale. The graph is divided into 10 sectors with each square represeting a 10% step in tone.

The line graph is straight by default with highlights bottom left and shadows top right. You can manipulate the colour by clicking anchor points on the curve and moving them as you would with the tradition ‘Curves’ dialog box.

By pushing the curve into the yellow zone, this will darken the colour and pulling it into the white zone will lighten it. If you want to remove an anchor point, just press the delete key.

You can also choose to leave curve as it is and simply type new values in the boxes next to each of the 10 percentage sectors and watch the curve change shape and your image changing in colour. If you think of these 0-100 percentage values representing 10 tonal zones from highlight to shadow, you can see the huge creative scope for tone manipulation.

More Resources

If you’re looking for a great resource on learning more about digital photography and Adobe Photoshop in general, then check out Vincent Bockaert’s The 123 of Digital Imaging which has impressed even Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.

You can also check out the great Adobe Photoshop tutorials available at Lynda.com for more resources.

Finally I can also personally recommend many of the excellent courses at BetterPhoto.com. When I was starting out in photography I took 8 of the courses including a one with specialised training in Photoshop. Check them out.

The How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

The best time to shoot a landscape is 15-30 minutes before sunrise to 30-60 minutes after and the same time frame at sunset. It’s called the “magic hour”, because that’s when you get the soft, warm light that makes great pictures. Yes, you can take landscape pictures at other times, but it will be more difficult to get the kind of shot you want.

So, now you know that you’ll be getting up before dawn & will always be late for dinner. That’s the life of a landscape shooter, so you’d better get used to it. 

Another rule is to always use a tripod. You’ll see shooters out early in the morning hand-holding their cameras. What they don’t know, however, is that when they look at their photos at 100%, they’ll probably be blurry. 

I know that because I used to think I could hand-hold my camera better than I really can. Once I started looking at my photos at 100%, I realized I was wrong. 

When shooting landscapes, you should always shoot in either manual or aperture priority, so you can control the depth of field. In most cases, you’ll want everything in focus from the foreground to infinity. 

Using f/8 or f/11 will usually accomplish this, depending on where you focus in the scene and on your lens. Each lens has a sweet spot for focus. If you use your lens often enough you’ll discover what this is. Once you do, you’ll start getting better pictures. Normally, the best way to ensure focus of the foreground mid-ground and background is by focusing 1/3 of the way into the scene. If you’re using a good lens and a good tripod the entire scene should be in focus. 

A wide angle lens, such as a 12-24mm is great for shooting landscapes. I personally use a 16-35, which is wide enough for my purposes. Just remember, though, that a 16-35 lens, with a 1.6 factor on a Canon camera becomes a 26-56mm lens. Be sure to keep that in mind when you’re shopping for lenses. If you shoot Nikon the factor is 1.5.

When you’re shooting landscapes, include something interesting  in the foreground to show perspective. A wide angle lens is great for this because you can get close to the subject in the foreground & still have the entire scene in focus. Here is an example:

Yellowstone Landscape by Carolyn Fox

I added the rock to the foreground to show the viewer the expanse of the Yellowstone landscape.

No matter what you’re shooting, remember that a good picture always tells a story.

Carolyn has a Blurb book out titled “Killer Tips for Better Pics” which you can purchase by going to her website which is: http://www.foxdenimages.com

You can be taking the most amazing pictures with the world’s best camera, but if no one knows about you and your images (your brand), then all the time you have invested into photography is without much purpose.

photo credit: thom?

Whether your goal is to sell fine art prints, stock images or perhaps promote yourself as a portrait photographer, a good photography portfolio website is vital to promote yourself and your photography.

So how should you go about creating your photography portfolio website? Good question. I have been around the block on this one.

• I have used HTML-based photography templates.
• I have built and designed my own photography website from scratch in HTML code.
• I have run my own photoblog.
• I have used a Flash-based website.

In fact I have now come full circle by changing back to a HTML-based photography template again.

Recently I quit my Flash-based website and signed up for a Photoshelter account. I will explain why I chose Photoshelter for my personal photography portfolio website at the end of this post.

Considerations to Make

In my opinion the first consideration you’ll need to make is how much time you want to spend on creating your website. While setting out to build your own website can be a lot of fun, it can also be very time consuming. By contrast you can literally be up and running in 5 minutes with a great looking website by choosing a template-based website.

If you decide to build and design your own website, Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 is probably the leading web design software on the market today (November 2010). If you have little or no coding experience consider getting Dreamweaver CS5: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland or Dreamweaver CS5 For Dummies by Janine Warner.

If you decide coding is not for you, the next consideration to make is how much flexibility of design a template-based website offers you and does it meet your requirements?

There is nothing worse than ending up with a template-based website only to discover that you can’t change and tweak it the way you want.

It is therefore also a good idea to check if you can sign up for a free trial period which allows you to “test drive” the website before you open your wallet.

Here is a quick list of things to consider before deciding on how to create your website:

• Overall appearance
• Flexibility of design
• Blogging capability
• E-commerce functionality
• Print services
• Storage space
• Password protected client area
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Cost and fee structure
• Free trials and cancellation policy

Comparison of Four Photography Portfolio Websites

When I decided to quit my Flash-based website I considered four different template based photography portfolio websites; Zenfolio, SmugMug, PhotoShelter and Photocrati.

As I already mentioned above I ended up choosing PhotoShelter for my personal photography portfolio website.

I decided to compare the four photography portfolio websites and here is how I scored them on the various considerations I made:

SmugMug and Zenfolio represents excellent value for money and are both solutions which are very rich in features.

PhotoShelter is a slightly more expensive option. It’s also very feature rich and at the same time very focused on helping photographers with their search engine optimization. It also comes with a very good e-commerce solution.

Photocrati is a WordPress-based solution offering a stylish way to display your work and blog about it at the same time. However it does not come with as many of the features included in the above solutions.

Why I Chose PhotoShelter

I decided to quit my Flash-based website primarily because it offered me no e-commerce options to sell my work. It was also a fairly expensive solution at around US$600 per year. PhotoShelter’s standard plan costs US$329 per year in comparison.

It also weighed into my decision that my Flash-based website was quite slow in loading up (around 15-20 seconds) whereas my new PhotoShelter website loads up in less than 5 seconds. I had several visitors commenting on the slow nature of the Flash-based website and Google Analytics indicated that many visitors abandoned their visit as a result of the slow loading of the Flash-based website.

While I think Flash-based websites are often much more stylish than HTML-based websites, some of the points mentioned above are quite important to the success of your website. Likewise search engine optimization (SEO) of your website is also an important consideration when you’re weighing up a Flash-based website against a HTML-based website.

The PhotoShelter website

OK, to the point now – why PhotoShelter? Well, it’s probably easiest to list the reasons, so here is a list of my main reasons for choosing PhotoShelter:

• PhotoShelter offers professional, good looking websites with just enough customization options for my needs.
• I can very easily switch themes at no cost if I wish to get a new “look” after a while.
• In my 14 days $1 trial period I directly interacted with PhotoShelter’s CEO Allen Murabayashi through their community forum inquiring about a small design change for the Crisp theme which was then implemented only a few weeks later along with a string of other improvements (some of which had been on the cards for a while).
• PhotoShelter’s e-commerce solution is very good and incredibly flexible which was an important factor for me.
• I have the ability to use my own domain name.
• PhotoShelter is very focused on helping photographers with their search engine optimization (SEO) and this is evident throughout the entire solution that they offer. I think this shows that they “care”.
• I like the fact that PhotoShelter’s product is aimed at “serious photographers”.
• PhotoShelter’s help documentation is excellent.
• PhotoShelter also works as an archive for my most important photos.
• The product is constantly evolving, but it also seems to me (from reading the forums) that new changes are not implemented without having been thought through with careful attention to detail on all levels.
• The online community of serious photographers associated with PhotoShelter is huge and very supportive.

You can see my PhotoShelter website at www.folkeandersen.com (please note my site is still work in progress at the time this post is published)

This inspiring ebook by Stuart Sipahigil is about the challenges of finding the extraordinary in what we’ve come to see as mundane. Taking great photographs does not require traveling to an exotic place. By digging a little deeper and seeing things around you more clearly you can reinvigorate your photography and find new images in familiar territory.

Through practical insights and creative exercises you’ll discover that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

This ebook provides photographers of all levels with the tools and encouragement you need to help you get out of the ruts we all fall into. Your city, your neighborhood, and even your backyard are all full of opportunities for great photographs. Close to Home is 37 spreads of photographs, insights, and exercises that will inspire as you develop your own craft.

“Close to Home” is available (along with lots of other great titles) from the Craft & Vision website for just $5.

For a limited time only Craft & Vision has a special offer on PDFs: for the first five days only, if you use the promotional code HOME4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of Close to Home for only $4 OR use the code HOME20 to get 20% off when you buy five or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes start at 1:00am PST, October 28, 2010 and expire at 11:59pm PST November 1, 2010.

Minimalist photography is a truly beautiful genre and many people might be surprised about how difficult it actually is to capture a successful minimalist image that works.

It’s certainly not as easy as a good minimalist photograph leads you to believe!

Minimalist photography emphasizes simplicity and objectivity and in essence minimalism is where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.

Phaidon has a good book on minimalism if you’re interested to learn more about minimalism as an art form.

For now, though, it’s time to sit back and enjoy these 15 fine flickr examples of minimalism in photography.

photo credit: andrewpaulcarr

photo credit: Giara

photo credit: Christopher Keach

photo credit: DorteF

photo credit: Brian Keathley

photo credit: christheobscure

photo credit: arnoKath

photo credit: Dirk Dallas

photo credit: Minimal Stuff

photo credit: Joe_Andrews

photo credit: Vix Walker

photo credit: Dr Max

photo credit: Iván Cabrera

photo credit: L.Bö

photo credit: lrargerich

In many cases you can add a touch of sophistication to your monochrome images by adding some subtle toning. Often toning your monochrome images can also help you emphasize a particular mood or feeling in your images. This four-part series on advanced toning will show you how.

Starting Point

If you are starting out with a full colour image and you want to apply a digital toning effect you should make sure to convert your source image to a black and white (or desaturated) image in the RGB colour mode before you start. There are several ways you can do this but the most straight forward way is to simply drain away all colour by going through the menus Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to ensure the result stays in the RGB colour mode.

Using the Colour Balance Controls

Compared to the toning we did in Part One of this series the results you can achieve by using Photoshop CS4′s Colour Balance controls are more sophisticated. In darkroom terms, this technique somewhat replicates printing a black and white negative onto colour paper using the enlarger’s colour filters.

Toning the Midtones

There are two ways you can get to the Colour Balance controls dialog window. You can go through the menu via Image>Adjustments>Colour Balance or you can select Colour Balance in the adjustments panel by clicking the icon that looks like two scales (as shown below).

The advantage by going through the adjustments panel is that the colour balance will be applied as an adjustment layer and therefore is non-destructive to your original image.

In the Colour Balance dialog window you’ll notice the familiar Cyan to Red, Magenta to Green and Yellow to Blue opposites.

To tone the midtones simply move the sliders around until you achieve the desired tone effect in your image, but be sure to keep the Midtones and Preserve Luminosity buttons checked for best result. In my example image further below I toned my Midtones with -20 Cyan and +10 Blue.

Toning the Highlights

You can apply a different colour to the highlight and shadow areas too by checking their respective buttons and then moving the sliders accordingly. To create a colour in the highlights I used +5 Red and -20 Yellow in my example below.

As with most post-processing work it’s a matter of ‘seasoning to taste’ and in the case of toning it’s a good idea to avoid saturated colours and be careful about not making the image too ‘heavy’, as shadows can clog up relatively easy during printing.

Here is an example of an original monochrome image and the split-toned result:

As you can see from the example above I have achieved a split-toned effect by adding Cyan and Blue to the Midtones and then adding a little bit of Red as well as Yellow to the Highlights.

I hope you enjoyed this second instalment on how to do advanced toning in Photoshop CS4.

More Resources

If you’re looking for a great resource on learning more about digital photography and Adobe Photoshop in general, then check out Vincent Bockaert’s The 123 of Digital Imaging which has impressed even Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.

You can also check out the great Adobe Photoshop tutorials available at Lynda.com for more resources.

Finally I can also personally recommend many of the excellent courses at BetterPhoto.com. When I was starting out in photography I took 8 of the courses including a one with specialised training in Photoshop. Check them out.

The How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

In many cases you can add a touch of sophistication to your monochrome images by adding some subtle toning. Often toning your monochrome images can also help you emphasize a particular mood or feeling in your images. This four-part series on advanced toning will show you how.

Starting Point

If you are starting out with a full colour image and you want to apply a digital toning effect you should make sure to convert your source image to a black and white (or desaturated) image in the RGB colour mode before you start. There are several ways you can do this but the most straight forward way is to simply drain away all colour by going through the menus Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to ensure the result stays in the RGB colour mode.

Using Photoshop CS4′s Variations Dialog Box

Found under Image>Adjustments>Variations (as shown below), the Variations preview window displays your image as a colour ring-around.

You’ll see your image in the centre box in its original state, surrounded by six colour variations, with a lighter and darker version on the right hand side (see the dialog box window below).

In the top right of the dialog box you’ll notice a slider for increasing or decreasing the ‘volume’ of your change. You can start out by pulling this slider all the way to the right (towards Coarse) to first get a good idea of the colours you’re working with. Then I would recommend that you pull the slider back all the way to the left (towards Fine) which is probably the best place to start in order not to over do the effect. You can always increase the ‘volume’ later if you think it’s needed.

Also notice in the top right of the dialog box how you can choose between toning the Shadows, Midtones, Highlights or Saturation of your image. The midtones are selected by default, but I suggest you experiment with what the other choices look like as well.

Click on any colour variation that looks good and watch it affect the centre image. For example if you click ‘More Cyan’ Photoshop will add the selected amount (Fine to Coarse) of cyan toning your image. If you click on ‘More Cyan’ again Photoshop will apply another increment of toning to your image.

You can apply as many adjustments as you like and if you go too far, just click on the ‘Original’ in the top left area of the dialog box to revert to your starting point.

This way of toning your images is probably one of the easiest and quickest way to achieve a nice over all toning of your images. The results you can achieve can look very nice though some people may argue the effect lacks the depth you can achieve by chemical toning in the darkroom.

Here is an example of an original monochrome image and three different toning results of the same image:

More Resources

If you’re looking for a great resource on learning more about digital photography and Adobe Photoshop in general, then check out Vincent Bockaert’s The 123 of Digital Imaging which has impressed even Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.

You can also check out the great Adobe Photoshop tutorials available at Lynda.com for more resources.

Finally I can also personally recommend many of the excellent courses at BetterPhoto.com. When I was starting out in photography I took 8 of the courses including a one with specialised training in Photoshop. Check them out.

The How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

I have reviewed some of the previous releases from Craft & Vision over the past couple of months in these posts:

• Ten Ways to Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear
• Vision Is Better. Free the Mind, Free the Camera.
• The Magic of Black and White
• VENICE

The Craft & Vision eBooks are fantastic because they represent such awesome value at just $5 each for beautifully designed eBooks. And if you buy around the release dates of new books you can usually pick up a 20% discount making them just $4 each (you can hardly buy a large latte for that kind of money!)

The new photography eBook released today is the third in the series ‘The Print & The Process’ and is titled Chasing Reflections by Eli Reinholdtsen.

Eli Reinholdtsen is a creative photographer who, through her unique and skillful approach to reflections, captures moments and juxtapositions that are truly an art form at its finest.

Reinholdtsen digs deep and shares tangible ways to scout, setup, and shoot complex and magical photographs that push the envelope of visual poetry. Her playful descriptions aren’t shy of digging deep into the techniques required to capture movement, timing and contrast.

Quiet frankly this book is almost worth its price just for the cover shot!

It’s an amazing photograph. It’s the type of image you can come back to again and again and it sets the tone for the rest of the book.

As the title indicates this book is all about reflections. I must admit I personally have a soft spot for reflection images. Therefore I’ve also looked forward to this release and I wasn’t disappointed.

The book is divided into the following sections:

• Introduction (The Premise)
• Photographs – 37 pages with one reflection image per page (The Print)
• Subjects, technique and tips (The Process)
• Thumbnails of each of image including technical settings and a brief of discussion of how each image was created.

Overall the 37 reflection photographs included in this book are dazzling and above all very inspiring. As with any large body of work though, you’re likely to like some of the images better than others, particularly because Reinholdtsen spoils us with such a varied selection of images.

Personally I think the selection of images could have been edited just a tiny bit tighter with two or three images letting the rest of the group down a little bit. When that’s said though I still find the overwhelming majority of the images incredibly inspiring and very well executed. As you’ll learn if you buy the book, some of these images have taken hours if not days to plan requiring a good amount of patience.

“I can walk around town for days on end with my camera. If I find a good backdrop with great light I can easily wait for an hour or so for the ‘right’ person to pass by and complete the image” Reinholdtsen writes.

In ‘The Process’ section of the book Reinholdtsen discusses her creative process and generously shares tips and techniques on how you can create powerful reflection images including topics like:

• Combining images
• Good light for reflection images (this one might surprise you)
• Mannequins and posters
• Layering technique
• Depth of field
• Angle of shooting
• Focus issues

You’ll also learn how the human form is a very powerful element in reflection images. For someone who tends to often leave the human form out of my images, this was an important lesson in itself. I find myself drawn to many of the images in this book where there is a strong presence of the human form.

I find this book to be an excellent – and very inspiring – resource on reflection images specifically. It’s a book I know I’ll return to again and again for inspiration.

You’ll notice that many of the images in Chasing Reflections are images where Reinholdtsen takes you on a small visual journey. The layered information contained in many of the images means that you can spend quite a bit of time with each image and discover new details or connections each time you return to an image. This is what is particularly wonderful about so many of Reinholdtsen’s images in this eBook.

At just $5 there really isn’t too much else to say than buy it. You won’t be disappointed!

It all started in a small garage in Fresno, Southern California in year 2000. Rick Norsigian was attending a garage sale looking for antiques when he noticed two old boxes in the garage. He opened them and pulled out some old glass negatives with black and white landscape photographs.

“As a young man, I worked at Yosemite quite a bit. So, right away I recognized it as Yosemite” Norsigian said.

He decided to buy the glass negatives and started negotiating with the seller, finally negotiating the price down from US$70 to US$45 for the two boxes. The owner told Norsigian he had bought them in the 1940s at a warehouse salvage in Los Angeles.

In Glacier National Park, Montana. Photo by Ansel Adams.

Rick Norsigian kept the two old boxes under his pool table for two years before he realized the photos may be Ansel Adams photographs. This is when he started doing some more research. After four years he had done enough research to realize the plates could be valuable, so he decided to move them from under his pool table and placed them in a bank vault.

This proved to be a very wise decision.

Now the glass negatives have been authenticated and are valued at $US200 million, Norsigian has told a press conference.

Several experts, including a former FBI agent and a U.S. attorney, “came to the conclusion that, based on the evidence which was overwhelming, that no reasonable person would have any doubt that these, in fact, were the long-lost images of Ansel Adams,” Arnold Peter said, the lawyer who led the effort to authenticate that the negatives were made by the man known as the father of American photography.

Michael Nattenberg and Marcel Matley, two independent handwriting experts have stated that handwriting on the envelopes in which the negatives were found belonged to Adams’s wife, Virginia.

George Wright, a meteorological expert, has concluded that one of the pictures found in the Norsigian negatives was taken on the same day and time as one of Adams’s more famous images.

Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park. Photo by Ansel Adams.

Ansel Adams died in 1984, and was believed to have lost many of his negatives in a 1937 darkroom fire. It is estimate that the blaze destroyed as many as 5,000 negatives, and many of the negatives had never been developed into photographs.

Ansel Adams was one of the foremost nature photographers of his era, known for his images of the American west, especially Yosemite National Park.

Norsigian, who is 64, still works for the Fresno school system, but may retire this year putting a family high on the list of priorities after the valuation of his garage sale buy.

He’s not spoken with the man who sold him the two boxes a decade ago.

“If he’s still around, I’m afraid he may come looking for me” Norsigian said in an interview with CNN.

Books by Ansel Adams

Water in motion is a very popular subject and one that is constantly changing which makes it fun to photograph. Some might consider soft, silky water effects a bit of a cliché, but call it a cliché or not, it’s still a beautiful visual effect that often creates a certain mood in your photographs.

That’s especially true when it comes to slowing down the shutter speed enough to capture the soft movement you see in many flowing water mages.

But how slow is slow enough? To blur flowing or falling water, it’s a good starting point to set your shutter speed around 1/8th of a second and then work your way down to around half a second, and even all the way down to one full second or two. Longer exposure times increase the slow-motion effect.

Photographing water, however, is not really an exact science so it always a good idea to experiment and see which effect you like best.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

So how can you slow down your shutter speed?

Use Low Light

This means shooting in overcast light, deep shade, at sunrise, sunset or twilight or perhaps even indoors creating your own flowing water.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Set a Low ISO

When it comes to slow exposures the lower your ISO setting the better. Most of the time you’ll want to set your ISO to 100 or lower if your camera features lower ISO settings.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Small Aperture

Your lens’ smallest opening (the highest f/stop number) will automatically result in the slowest possible shutter speed for the given ISO setting and lighting conditions. In Aperture Priority mode simply choose a high f/stop number. The camera’s auto-metering system will then compensate for the small aperture by lengthening the exposure time.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Neutral Density (ND) Filters

A neutral density (ND) filter cuts down the amount of light entering your lens and therefore allowing for longer exposures. But a polarizing filter also blocks some of the light entering the lens, typically with 1-1/2 to 2 stops. Used in combination these two filters can achieve quite slow shutter speeds in low light situations.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

You’ll Need Your Tripod

Long exposures require a steady camera. So you’ll need to bring your tripod when you set out to photograph water in motion. It’s also a good idea to use a cable release or the self-timer function in combination with the mirror-lock mode if you have it (not all SLRs have this latter feature).

For more details refer also to How to Prevent Camera Shake When on a Tripod.

Consider the Speed of the Water

Slower-flowing water requires longer exposures to obtain the silky smooth look while fast or cascading water can be blurred with relatively ‘fast’ shutter speeds.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Distance to the Water

The more you magnify your subject in motion (i.e. either by physically moving in closer or by zooming in tighter with a zoom lens) the easier it is to blur it. More distant scenes require much slower speeds to convey that soft-movement look. So if you’re photographing with a wide angle lens from a cliff top (like I was in the image below) and want to blur the ocean you’ll need some really slow shutter speeds to achieve a soft, smooth effect in the water.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Play

Make sure to “play” with your camera settings since the constantly changing water makes it difficult to tell exactly what you’ll get. Experimenting is key to successful water in motion images.

In other words shoot the same scene at a few different speeds and then compare the results on your monitor when you’re back home with a cup of warm coffee behind the screen.

Have fun photographing water in motion!

With over two thousand photographs published by National Geographic, Bruce Dale’s vision and creativity twice earned him the title “Magazine Photographer of the Year.”

In 1989 he was named “White House Photographer of the Year” and more recently, his innovative work with digital imaging brought him honors from the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to many other awards, one of his photographs now journeys beyond the solar system on board NASA’s Voyager Spacecraft, as testimony about planet Earth.

One of his more memorable photos involved mounting two cameras on the tail of a Lockheed TriStar jumbo jet to make spectacular views of the big jet in flight. One, a 23 second time exposure, led to a three page gatefold in the Geographic – the other a cover on the magazine.

He considers his favorite images are those serendipitous moments totally alien to the well planned picture. “I actually plan on the unplanned picture in an attempt to capture the spontaneity and mood of the moment.”

Dale left National Geographic to pursue a blend of editorial and corporate and advertising photography. His book, The American Southwest, was published by National Geographic in January of 1999.

Watch this interview with Bruce Dale where he discusses some of his more memorable photos – includng his famous jumbo jet shot – from what is a very impressive portfolio spanning 30 years.

And then for a more relaxed presentation, sit back and watch this beautiful video by Bruce Dale titled “Aurora in Winter” (if you’re in the northern hemisphere this might just cool you down a bit in the middle of a warm summer).

For more on Dale’s work take a look at his website: www.brucedale.com.

In the Selected Photos section, you’ll find links to some interesting photos and how they were made.

You can find many interesting books and DVDs published by the National Geographic. Here are some of my favourite and recommended National Geographic publications:

P.S. For a full assortment of National Geographic products you might also want to have browse through the National Geographic Store.

Now the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, has said that the British government is making street photography rights a priority in its review of anti-terrorism legislation.

This comes after several British photographer groups and advocates – including the I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! campaign – have been lobbying for photographers’ rights since broad and far-reaching anti-terrorism laws have been introduced in many countries post 9/11.

In a recent statement, May said:

“National security is the first duty of government but we are also committed to reversing the substantial erosion of civil liberties. I want a counter-terrorism regime that is proportionate, focused and transparent.”

The review will look at what counter-terrorism powers and measures could be rolled back “in order to restore the balance of civil liberties and counter-terrorism powers.”

Photo by lewishamdreamer

The review will focus on six areas – one of them being “stop and search powers in section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and the use of terrorism legislation in relation to photography,” said the British Home Secretary.

Section 44 was suspended last week. This is the controversial and broad provision that allowed authorities to stop and search anyone, and to seize property that could be used in connection with terrorism.

The I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! organization commented on their website:

“We are delighted at this news of the suspension of Section 44. We are sure photographers across the UK are looking forward to freely photographing in a public place without the being bullied by the police and corporate security guards.”

but continues:

“Unfortunately there are still a swathe of laws that police can and will still use to harass photographers, most notably Section 43, which is similar to Section 44 but requires an officer to suspect that you are a terrorist and Section 76 which makes it illegal to ‘elicit information about a police officer’ which includes photographing them.”

Here in Sydney, Australia world-renowned landscape photographer Ken Duncan is spearheading a Sydney rally to raise awareness about the eroding rights of photographers in Australia.

The details of the Sydney rally are:

Date: 29 August 2010

Time: 10:00am – 12:00 noon

Location: Near Campbells Cove on Sydney Harbour

Photographing in public places is becoming increasingly difficult post 9/11 and often means you’ll be subjecting yourself to questioning or even harassment by people in authoritative positions.

While taking pictures in public places for commercial purposes usually requires a permit is fair enough, what about taking pictures for your own personal enjoyment, personal projects, editorial purposes or simply for the sake of art and documenting life in general?

Sadly, it seems, every person who has a camera can be threatened with unjust laws and regulations these days.

Recently photographers Carlos Miller and Stretch Ledford were banned for life from the Miami-Dade Metrorail in the U.S..

Ironically the ban came after the two photographers had planned to ride the Metrorail through three stations to see if anybody would try to stop them from taking pictures of the trains.

They didn’t even make it inside the first station!

You can watch the video from their ‘metro adventure’ here or you can read Carlos Miller’s version of events on his blog or take a look at Stretch Ledford’s version of events on his blog.

Protest Rally in Sydney, Australia

Here in Sydney, Australia world-renowned landscape photographer Ken Duncan is spearheading a Sydney rally to raise awareness about the eroding rights of photographers in Australia.

You can read the Press Release about this rally below…

PHOTOGRAPHERS TO PROTEST ATTACKS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Australian photographers are losing their rights to freedom of expression. And it doesn?t matter whether they are full-time professional, part-time or strictly amateur, as every person who has a camera can be threatened with unjust laws and regulations.

“However the bureaucrats who have drafted the new regulations restricting photography have clearly forgotten that”. Mr Duncan said that landscape photographers such as Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis helped to instil a pro-conservation mindset amongst Australia?s people, while other photographers such as Max Dupain had produced iconic images that would be treasured for many decades to come. But he said that unless the draconian laws that were currently in place were not rolled back that all types of photography would be affected and that our society as a whole would be diminished as a result.

Date: 29 August 2010

Time: 10:00am – 12:00 noon

Location: Near Campbells Cove on Sydney Harbour

Photo by lewishamdreamer

How About You?

Have you ever encountered difficulties, been questioned or even harassed while photographing (or trying to photograph) in a public place?

Today David releases yet another one of his great eBooks under the Craft & Vision umbrella which is based on the premise “underpromise, overdeliver”.

duChemin’s latest release is titled VENICE (The Print & The Process) and is a monograph of over 30 photographs that duChemin created along themes of loneliness and solitude over a 5-day period in Venice in May 2010.

So the question beckons, does duChemin overdeliver again this time around?

At first glance it looks a bit ‘thin’ on content. Sure, I understand it’s a monograph, and it includes 30 really beautiful images, but do you really want to part with $5 to view 30 beautiful images in an online book format? Isn’t that what we have websites for? After all $5 buys you one or two good lattes!

However duChemin drives it all home at the end of the book where he discusses the creative process followed by a discussion of the Why and the How behind the images in the book. It’s the kind of excellent and thoughtful writing we have come to expect from David duChemin.

To me this discussion at the end of the book (in combination with the beautiful collection of images of course) is well worth the sacrifice of another couple of lattes, and so the answer to the question is “Yes, he did it again!”

In my opinion anyone can read and enjoy duChemin’s new eBook, but it has particular relevance for photographers interested in learning more about the process behind creating a group of images unified around a common theme. I can highly recommend it.

Scroll down for a three-day special offer.

Laura Burlton

Meet Laura Burlton from Houston, Texas, USA.

As you will no doubt notice from the following photos, and certainly if you explore Laura’s work in more depth, Laura loves photography and as she says herself: “Always have. Always will.” Laura’s father taught her how to use his SLR when she was just 10. A couple of years later he had to get Laura her own camera. She was smitten by photography at a young age.

Laura thinks of herself as an artist and consider photography to be just another medium. She is also a trained painter, sculptor and illustrator, so creative endeavours lie close to hear. However photography remains her primary creative pursuit. Laura’s photography has been published in various books and magazines and she has also had her work showcased in galleries in Houston, Texas where she lives and as far away as Canada, Austria and Spain.

And as you’ll discover she is of the view that “you can never have too many toy cameras!”

1. Your dad taught you to use a SLR camera when you were around the age of 10. How much, if any, has he been an influence on your photography as you developed through your childhood years? Have other people influenced your style of photography?

My dad just planted the seed. He was a keen amateur, but not as much into the art or business of it. We always had a camera around though and he loved to take photos. I still remember the old polaroid land camera my parents had, i must have been about 3 or so then. I like the magic of the image appearing after just a minute or so. I also liked the little square photos that resulted.

I have had many influences in my photography throughout the years. I think Sarah Moon was one of the first people whose work really spoke to me. It is just so ethereally beautiful.

Other people who have really helped to shape and mentor me are Amy Blakemore and Will Michels, both of whom I have had as instructors and I count as friends.

Wedding photography by Laura Burlton

2. You have used toy cameras for many years now. What sparked your interest in toy cameras and what makes them so much fun to use?

I was introduced to medium format toy cameras by Amy Blakemore. One day she brought out all kinds of different types of cameras in class and since i wanted to shoot something on bigger film and could not even contemplate purchasing a hasselblad, I bought a holga. It was the beginning of a love affair. I remember ordering it from Main Photo Workshops and then looking online at different peoples work, of which there was not too much around. David Niles had some work up that just blew my mind so I then called all over town looking to see if I could buy a holga right then and there. Found one for twice the price as I had paid online, but it was worth every single penny and I still had the other one coming. You can never have too many toy cameras! I had also been introduced to lomo cameras a few years before this and owned a few of them, but I will say my love of photography and it’s overwhelming impact on my life started the day I got that holga. Before that it was just a hobby. After, an all consuming passion.

3. Your ‘Dreams in Chalk’ series is incredibly beautiful, creative and unique. How did you come up with the idea for this series?

You know, I guess I was trying to do something with stars. First I tried cutting a bunch of them out and hanging them up with fishing line, but they kept moving….Next I decided to draw them with chalk as there was always some sidewalk chalk laying around. Then I started to get all sorts of ideas. I love fairytales and had worked with those sort of themes before and it really just made sense to draw these little vignettes. Plus, I guess it was another way to use my other artistic talents and combine them with my photography.

"Dancing on the moon" by Laura Burlton

4. You also shoot weddings and have a beautiful wedding portfolio. I can’t imagine a much more high pressure situation than shooting someone’s wedding – how do you deal with this kind of pressure? And how much do you let your clients direct you with regards to your ‘creative freedom’ on how to shoot their wedding?

I approach weddings in a totally different manner than I do my fine art work. On the one hand I try to be as artsitic as possible with the parameters given to me, but really I am there to tell someone elses story, to document the love that a couple feels for each other and the joy of a wedding celebration. I have to check my ego at the door on this one. I love to get the artistic shots, but I really also have to be true to the couple who have entrusted me to capture their day. One day I would really like to shoot half of a wedding with a holga or something, but until Texas cools down and starts having nice daytime weddings, that is not gonna be too feasable to the way I shoot holgas! I will happily travel though, so if you know some cool people who want their wedding shot with a holga in a more hospitable climate, I will gladly travel!

Wedding photography by Laura Burlton

5. If you could travel to any destination tomorrow, where would you go and what would you like to photograph?

Thats a hard one! My passion is photographing people. I think I would like to follow an old style traveling circus, preferably with a sideshow. The stranger the better. Elephant riders, contortionists, clowns… think something like a circus from the first half of the last century. That would be wonderful.

6. If one of your photographer friends was in a bit of a creative-rut and was looking for a quick fix, and you were asked to recommend a photography accessory and/or a photography book which you think could open up his or her vision, what would you suggest?

I think they should buy a holga and work on just shooting light and composition, not worrying so much about controls and the technical aspects of photography. I would also suggest they try looking at Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity By Michelle Bates. I am a contributor to the book.

[Thomas: Thank you Laura for participating in this mini profile and sharing your work.]

You can view more of Laura Burlton’s beautiful work at her website: www.lauraburlton.com and at her blog www.lauraburlton.com/blog.

The Magic of Black & White

Part one of Andew S. Gibson’s ‘The Magic of Black and White’ series is about ‘the vision’ and looks at the process of seeing and capturing in monochrome. It includes subjects like ‘The Art of Black & White’ and ‘Learning To See In Monochrome’ and focuses on the many compositional elements relating to black and white photography.

The Magic of Black and White (Vision) is an excellent introduction to black and white photography, covering a wide range of subjects and is illustrated with many of Andrew’s beautiful black and white photographs over a total of 60 pages.

It’s a great eBook which, I think, can serve as a good source of inspiration for photographers of any skill level.

The Magic of Black and White – Part Two – Craft

Part two of ‘The Magic of Black and White’ series is about ‘the craft’. This second book focuses on the craft of converting your captured image into black and white in the digital darkroom. It looks at the tools needed to turn a colour digital negative into a spectacular-looking black and white image using the software of the digital darkroom, specifically Adobe Photoshop.

‘The Magic of Black and White’ part two is a 51 page downloadable PDF.

The layout has been forced into a landscape format to make viewing on the iPad even better. Using a good PDF reader like GoodReader, this eBook retains the rich layouts found in all of the other eBooks created by Craft & Vision as well as allowing non-iPad users the same great experience they’ve always had.

The Magic of Black and White (Craft) sells for the usual and ridiculously low price of USD$5.00.

Special offer for the early bird:

For the first few days only, if you use the promotional code MAGIC4 when you checkout, you can have the latest eBook for only USD$4.00 OR you can use the code MAGIC20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more books from the Craft & Vision collection.

These codes expire at 11:59pm PST June 1, 2010 – so don’t delay!

Curated from just under 1500 photos the following 15 images by 15 different talented photographers display some absolutely beautiful abstract qualities which I hope you will enjoy.

My hope with the 15 Fine Flickr series is that you take some inspiration away from them and in this case I hope you will be inspired to go out and do some abstract photography. It’s not as easy to do successfully as some might think…

Fine Flickr by NMCIL ortiz domney

Fine Flickr by See-ming Lee

Fine Flickr by mikeyexists

Fine Flickr by David Paul Ohmer

Fine Flickr by ana loncar

Fine Flickr by future15pic

Fine Flickr by flash200

Fine Flickr by Michael in San Diego, California

Fine Flickr by Urban Hafner

Fine Flickr by NyTrate

Fine Flickr by Alan Tippins

Fine Flickr by Sarabbit

Fine Flickr by deqalb

Fine Flickr by The artist (formerly) known as Gene

Fine Flickr by Kevin Pelletier

If you would like to leave a comment to any of the above images you’re of course most welcome to do so in the comment box below, or you can click on any of the images and leave a comment directly for the photographer on their respective flickr account.

It seems ridiculous that no one had taken abstract pictures with a camera.

Hayes, who was nearly 100 years old at the time of the interview, talks about his technique and experience with the first Kodak Instamatic camera with which he used to create his abstract works.

I know nothing about photography. I had a talent for it. I didn’t know why it worked. I know what it did for me.

There’s a lot to take away from this interview (which will also make you laugh a couple of times) and if nothing else certainly just the joy of viewing some of Hayes’ excellent photographs. I hit the ‘pause’ button several times and just enjoyed looking at the photographs included in this presentation (admittedly I’m big fan of abstract photography).

Kudos to Anthony Mournian for sharing this video with us all.

Make yourself a good cup of coffee and take a seven minute coffee break. You deserve it!

Everything is beautiful if you take a photograph of it from a proper angle under the proper lighting conditions.

Eva Polak

Meet Eva Polak from Auckland in New Zealand.

Eva is passionate about impressionist photography. It is a style that seeks to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve an accurate representation. As a traditional photographer Eva first found that a really difficult concept to grasp, but when she attended a workshop called The Art of Impressionist Photography this all changed.

Eva saw images stripped of all unnecessary detail was immediately fascinated and excited, finding the images extremely evocative. Eva has since gone on to create an amazing body of work of ‘impressionist photographs’ and even teaches her own workshops about this alternative approach to traditional photography.

1. You are passionate about ‘impressionist photography’ – how did you come across this style of photography and what attracted you to it?

I was introduced to impressionist photography in October 2007. I was attending a workshop called The Art of Impressionist Photography where I saw images stripped of all unnecessary detail. Just simple shapes, textures and colours that sent my mind into a realm of wonder and discovery.

With this style of photography I feel complete freedom to explore fugitive effects of light.

2. Can you give other photographers who might want to explore this type of photography a few basic starting points? And while you shoot a variety of subjects using this technique do you find certain subjects suit this technique better than others?

This style is highly experimental, so set your camera to shutter priority mode, choose a shutter speed of 1/10s, experiment and have fun.

Between Dreams by Eva Polak

3. How do you stay creative and come up with new ideas or projects? Can you share some thoughts about your creative process?

I have fun, listen to music, watch movies, go to a gallery and read books. Inspiration comes from many different sources. I try to keep my mind open and spontaneously react to what’s around me.

4. You have an upcoming exhibition “Tides of Light” in Devonport, New Zealand. Can you tell us a little bit about how that came to fruition?

This is my personal journey through Auckland’s west coast, the land of ever-changing colour and light. To show the subtle moods and hidden emotions of a place where land, meets sea, meets sky, from dawn to dusk, from spring to winter.

Birch Tree by Eva Polak

5. If you could travel to any destination tomorrow, where would you go and what would you like to photograph?

Western Australia to photograph display of spring wildflowers.

6. If one of your photographer friends was in a bit of a creative-rut and was looking for a quick fix, and you were asked to recommend a photography accessory and/or a photography book which you think could open up his or her vision, what would you suggest?

To have some fun. There is also one book called The war of art: break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles by Steven Pressfield.

Land of Gentleness by Eva Polak

[Thomas: Thank you Eva for participating in this mini profile and sharing your work.]

You can view more of Eva’s work on her website: www.evapolak.com

I subscribed to the Lynda.com courses for a period of time to build up my Photoshop skills and the courses certainly propelled my somewhat limited Photoshop skills forward, so I can recommend the site from personal experience.

These video courses are simply excellent. They are detailed and follow a step by step method and you can watch them as many times you like.

When I subscribed to the course I was particularly impressed with Chris Orwig’s ‘Photoshop for Photographers’ course. Chris is an amazing teacher and a great (and very passionate) photographer. Subscribing to Lynda.com for a month or two just so you can watch Chris Orwig’s course is well worth your money if you ask me.

Chris has updated his course to include the latest version of Photoshop and I have found this little YouTube clip which is an introduction to his new Photoshop CS5 for Photographers course:

If you don’t already know about Lynda.com the site is a great place to learn about new software programs.

Check them out today.

While I have had the Soft Focus Optic for a while now, it wasn’t until today that I finally got around to make some images with this new optic.

And I can tell you that I wasn’t one bit disappointed. I’m still very much in love…

The focal length of the Soft Focus Optic is 50mm which is ideal for portraits (although you can of course use this optic for virtually any subject matter) and since I had my 21 month old daughter within arms reach, she became the subject for my ‘first impressions’ of this lens baby (pun most definitely intended!)

Contrary to the Double Glass, Single Glass, and Plastic Optics the Soft Focus Optic does not have the sweet spot of sharp focus and dramatic blur outside of that spot. The optic comes with three special soft focus multi-hole apertures that combine one large opening over the optic’s sharp center with small openings over the optic’s soft edges. This hole pattern creates a sharp underlying image with a soft overlay. This effect is shown in the image above where Laura’s hair appears fairly sharp, but there is still a lovely soft overall quality to the image. 

For me it was very much just a matter of installing the Soft Optic into the Composer (it also works with the Muse and Control Freak) and then just start shooting away. The design of the optic takes care of creating the soft focus for you, and the learning curve is therefore not as steep as with the ‘sweet spot optics’.

The image above was only my fifth out of a total of 35 images for this ‘first impressions’ article and it’s probably my favourite of them all.  Although I must say I have wondered about the somewhat uncomfortable lack of eye contact, but it leaves the image open for interpretation.

In this next image Laura started fooling around with her Teddy’s blanket, putting it over own head, so I snapped a few more and as you can see the soft focus is quite apparent.

I find the Soft Focus Optic is very easy to work with and if you shoot portraits from time to time I’m inclined to say this is a ‘must have’ in your gear bag.

I will be using the Soft Focus Optic a lot more and on a variety of subjects in the coming weeks and will be sure to share my further impressions in a couple of weeks/

Here is the Soft Focus Optic product specification:

• Focal Length: 50mm
• Multi-coated optical glass doublet
• f/2 optic with aperture disks that range from f/2.8 to f/22
• Creates images that are overall soft and diffuse
• Creates a flatter field of focus than the other Lensbaby optics. Suited for variety of soft focus applications such as portrait, landscape, urban, and botanical photography
• Magnetic disk aperture system
• Degree of softness can be controlled by changing the special apertures, or stacking them with regular Lensbaby aperture disks
• With the soft focus multi-hole apertures, bright, out-of-focus points of light take on the hole pattern’s shape.  Photographers can control this creative effect by using standard Lensbaby apertures or choosing a low contrast background

The Soft Focus Optic costs US$89.95 and can be purchased directly from the Lensbaby website.

A great picture is often a mixture of several ingredients such as beautiful light, the right moment, a particular expression, subject matter, timing, luck, being in the right place at the right time, mood, a specific combination of colour (or a wide range of tones in between black and white), personal vision AND composition.

Composition is like the foundation for a building. You need a good solid foundation to build your house on.

Good image design and a well-crafted composition, however, will not make for a great photograph in and of itself (just a like a foundation is not much of a house in and of itself) – so you will always need one or several of the other ingredients to make a great photograph.

Learning the skill of how to make an image, how to design your image by teaching yourself composition will lay the foundation for creating great and beautiful images.

Teaching yourself composition to the extent that it becomes second nature will leave you free to concentrate on the other ingredients that need to go into your image to make it great.

I therefore decided to compile a list of the top five books on photography composition on the market today.

The list has been compiled using a very complex and very secret algorithm that takes things like customer reviews, Amazon sales rank, star ratings and personal opinion into account. However I cannot reveal too much about my secret algorithm as otherwise I might have all the other top list makers calling me all the time for some insight.

The top five best books on photography composition are:

Drum roll…

#01: ‘The Photographer’s Eye’ by Michael Freeman

The Photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman

Praise for The Photographer’s Eye:

“The best book I have read on composition. This should be on every photographer’s desk, well-studied, underlined, and highlighted. I can’t recommend this one highly enough.” – David duChemin

Let me start by saying that even though I write photo books for a living (including The Joy of Digital Photography), I don’t know Michael Freeman and have never communicated with him. That said, this is easily the best composition and design book that you’ll find — and that goes for professionals as well as hobbyists. This is the first book, in fact, that I can recall that covers these topics with such depth and clarity of thought. – Jeff Wignall

#02: ‘Learning To See Creatively’ by Bryan Peterson

Learning To See Creatively by Bryan Peterson

Praise for Learnng To See Creatively:

This book is very easy to understand. There are many colorful photos with examples. As an amateur photographer who is looking to create photos this is THE book to have in your library! – Terri Bell

I bought this book to help me take better pictures. Wow… was I surprised. It has given me a whole new way to look at making pictures! – Shawn M. Herne

#03: ‘The Photograph’ by Harald Mante

The Photograph by Harald Mante

Praise for The Photograph:

This may seem to be a mutual back-scratching club, as I’m following a review by Tom Campbell, who also reviewed my own book, The Photographer’s Eye. Nevertheless, I’m compelled to say that this is the welcome return of one of the classics of composition in photography. And excellently updated and revised, too. Mante methodically and sympathetically presents an exhaustive account of the formal elements, from points and lines, through colour, to purely photographic forms such as time sequences. His painter’s training allows a refreshing and rare cross-discipline analysis. An essential read for anyone with an interest in design in photography (and any photographer SHOULD have just such an interest). – Michael Freeman (author of The Photographer’s Eye)

One of the best books I’ve read related to composition… Explained in a clear language, theory is supported by very good photos… – Manuel Vazquez Muñoz

#04: ‘Take Your Photography to the Next Level’ by George Barr

Take Your Photography To The Next Level by George Barr

Praise for Take Your Photography to the Next Level:

Wonderful book! The images and layout are excellent and the text is very readable. But most important, I feel as if the author is talking directly to me – simple, clear, friendly, and using the many images to illustrate the useful tips he is trying to convey. – Laurie

This is the perfect book for those who have technical competence but could use some help with their “eye. George does an excellent job of communicating his thought processes. It is not about camera control. It’s about capturing ones vision. It is a great read and I highly recommend it. – Mark Green

#05: ‘Creative Composition’ by Harold Davis

Creative Composition by Harold Davis

Praise for Creative Composition:

I have read dozens of books that attempt to deal with the very difficult subject of photograph composition. Many of them rely too heavily on the author telling the reader how to “look” at things differently. What this book does throughout is very different – it actually helped me “see” things with a much clearer eye. – Jeff R. Clow

I’m not a professional photographer, and don’t have that natural “eye” for photos, so I am always looking for books to at least help me technically get better photos. I really like this book because it is written in plain English and is very clear for those of us who aren’t seasoned professionals. – Barbara K. St John

I own each of the above five books and have found lots of inspiration in all of them. In fact these five books are all books that you’re likely to come back to again and again as your photography develops or when you’re just looking for a little bit of inspiration. Needless to say the photography in each of these books is breathtakingly beautiful.

Here are 10 ways to kickstart (and maintain) your creativity.

1. Journal

Get yourself a notebook and start journaling. I use a small notebook because it is easy to carry with me wherever I go, but any notebook will do. Some people like to use bigger notebooks with lots of space on each page, but I find it limits me in always carrying it with me.

Write down your ideas, dreams, problems, visions, compositions and rambling thoughts as they come to mind. Don’t delay, because thoughts are often very fleeting.

I use the legendary Moleskine notebooks for my journal entries. I get a pocket-sized notebook which I carry with me anywhere.

2. Fresh Input

The mind needs stimulation. Your sensory input gets stored in memory. By giving your mind fresh inputs on a daily basis your memories get triggered and combined with the new input. This can help generate new ideas and new perspectives.

How do you get new input? Do something new each day. Listen to different radio stations, take a new route to work or when you walk the dog, read or borrow different books or magazines, take a stroll through a shopping centre. Keep your eyes and ears open – and taste, touch and smell things.

3. Relax and Unwind

Listen to music while lying on the floor. Sit outside in the sunshine and do nothing. Lie in the green grass and look at the clouds drift by. Take a stroll, ride your bike or go for a swim. It’s important to give yourself some down time where you can unwind and let your subconscious mind do its work. Getting new ideas in the shower or while you are driving may sound like a cliché, but it happens all the time.

Find your way back on the creative path. Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

4. Learn to Draw

Use Betty Edwards’ book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain to teach yourself to draw. It’s a wonderful book and you will learn skills applicable to problem solving and enhancing your perception of the world. In fact many of the techniques discussed in ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ applies to photography as well.

5. Associational Thinking

The mind stores information by association. The inputs described under ‘Fresh Input’ above can trigger associations.

To demonstrate associational thinking, try to write the word ‘happiness’ in the middle of a sheet of paper and draw lines radiating out from the word. Then write down your thoughts on what the concept of ‘happiness’ means to you. You can it a step further and ask other people to do the same exercise and then compare results. This exercise can be particularly useful to generate ideas for conceptual pictures.

6. Challenge Yourself

Give yourself a new challenge each week. Work on a new problem each week, explore something new with the purpose of solving it or generating ideas. Give yourself regular photo assignments. Challenge yourself to photograph something new.

You may even take on a project. I have done projects like “52 weeks, 52 photos” and August Snaps with the sole purpose of challenging myself creatively.

7. Limit Yourself

One exercise you can do today is limiting yourself to photograph in one area for a certain period of time.

Go to a location that presents a reasonable amount of photo opportunities. This could be the local playground in your area, your local park or nature reserve or perhaps even the local car park. Bring a watch and then time yourself to photograph for one hour.

Keep photographing for a full hour. Continue shooting even if you think you have exhausted all possibilities after 30 minutes. Don’t worry about ‘mistakes’ or ‘failures’ (there really is no such thing) but push yourself to go further, try new angles, low view points, high view points, tight views, wide views etc.

You’ll be surprised just how many creative and interesting images you’ll return after this exercise. Investing time in a location is one of the easiest ways for you to become more creative, to look deeper and see old elements in new ways!

Take a walk through the creative forest. Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

8. Learn a New Photoshop Technique Every Week

While Adobe Photoshop is only a tool to help refine your own personal vision, it’s still a creative tool that can help expand your creative horizon. The more you know about Photoshop, the more creative possibilities are available to you in post-processing and achieving your own personal vision. Additionally a speedy post-processing work-flow also equals less time in front of the computer and more time in the field.

An excellent ressource for Photoshop training (and lots of other software program training) is Lynda.com.

9. Study the Geniuses

You can benefit by learning from the lives, ideas and actions of the great geniuses of history. Adopt a role model – maybe Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Einstein, T. S. Eliot, Thomas Edison and find out more about them and their lives.

Photographically the geniuses of history could be (but are certainly not limited to) photographers like Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Eliot Porter, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Sudek, André Kertész, Edward Weston, Yousuf Karsh etc. etc. It can be whoever you personally admire in the history of photography.

Here are some ‘genius’ books to consider:

• Creating Minds by Howard Gardner
• The Genius in All of Us by David Schenk
• The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle
• Idea Mapping by James Nast
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

10. Create Your Own Inspiration Files

If you’re anything like me you enjoy reading photography magazines as a source of inspiration. And if you’re like me, you’re also likely to have a lot of them lying around and have hard time getting yourself to throw perfectly good magazines out.

However the reality is that it’s usually only some of the articles that interest you in each magazine and 30-40-50 percent of magazines are ads anyway. Instead of throwing good magazines out, go through them, tear out the pages and articles that interest you and organize them into files. I simply use affordable, spiral-back portfolios with 40 plastic sleeves per folder which are available from my local stationers. It reduces the clutter, gives me a number of files packed with photography and articles that interest me.

I have written a whole separate blog entry on creating inspiration files which you may wish to read as well.

So there you have it, 10 ideas to kickstart (and maintain) your creativity. However these are of course only 10 ideas out of many available.

If you have any other ideas to kickstart your creativity that you would like to share, then please feel to share and discuss these in the comments fields below.

I highly recommend ’Ten’. Save a latte and go and get it. I believe it’s still his most popular eBook to date.

However that might be about to change.

David has just released a brand new eBook titled Vision Is Better – and it’s absolutely fantastic!

I have to warn you though. You could have read this whole book already…

Over the past 5 years David duChemin has been writing about the photographic life on the Pixelated Image blog. Vision Is Better is a compilation of the 50 most popular articles from the Pixelated Image blog, covering a range of topics, all of which share one common theme – the photographic life and craft.

Becoming a better photographer is not only a matter of learning which buttons to press and in which direction to point your camera. It’s a matter of knowing why to do those things, where to look for inspiration, how to handle the distractions, and how to avoid getting sucked in by the lesser concerns.

If you like David’s writing (and it’s hard not to) and you want more of it, well then this is an awesome deal. It’s worth the money many times over. You get 116 pages for US$5.00. But it’s not about the quantity really, this book is just as big – if not bigger - on quality.

The book is beautifully designed as you can see from these excerpts. It includes 50 of David’s most inspiring articles in a great-looking offline portable format (PDF). Read it on your desktop, laptop or put it on your new iPad and read it wherever your iPad takes you… (if you have one of those fancy devices).

Vision Is Better is a 116 page downloadable PDF ebook and costs US$5.00.

A new camera strap, made for women, designed by women and decorated for women.

Or rather as Black Rapid describe it:

While maintaining the traditional “Built For Speed” design, our designers have added a sleek curve highlighted with an elegant but slight pattern accent. The RS1-W1 is the world’s first camera strap that focuses on the perfect fit for the female.

So is this a fashion meets camera gear situation? Hardly.

But in what’s a fairly male dominated industry, it’s definitely refreshing to see a product launch with a specific female twist.

Personally I think Black Rapid could have gone a step further and given their new product a better (more feminine) name than the rather technical and somewhat non-descript ‘RS1-W1′.

What’s wrong with ‘Black Rabit by Black Rapid”?

But, hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the boring, technical naming issue is one that the whole industry suffers from.

Whether the camera strap also functions in the comfortable and practical way claimed by Black Rapid, I’ll leave that for the ladies to decide.

The new camera strap is still in production and is scheduled to hit the market in the northern hemisphere summer of 2010.

You can register an email free of cost. You can start your own blog free of cost. And you can start a public photography project that brings together photographers from all over the world.

This is exactly what Eva Sáenz from Bilbao in Spain has done with her “From My Window” (Desde Mi Ventana) project.

You don’t need a big, fancy and expensive website with all the bells and whistles. All it takes is a good blend of passion, dedication, hard work and then a good idea.

And if the idea is good enough, then it will take off, become a thing of its own and evolve into some bigger. Two plus two becomes five.

I think Eva’s idea is very good, and very creative.

“From My Window” is an artistic project with a very simple, yet very interesting mission. The aim is to collect daily scenes from people around the world by means of photographs taken out of their window, in their country, their home town.

© Diego Suarez Taibo from Oviedo (Asturias, Spain)

Eva says the following about the project:

It means a new way of creation, a mind-opening experience and a proposal of connection and information exchange among the members of a global community.

Everybody has taken pictures from the window once or twice…

“From My Window” will be the result of your actions: you take the pictures, you are the protagonist.

It’s simple. Just take a photograph from your window as the outside landscape and view is shown.

From my window, why?

Because, apart from the simplicity and ease of the proposal, it contains interesting information about ourselves: our way of life, our likes or dislikes, our particular vision of things… contrasting with many others, it generates a dialogue of differences and afinities.

I really love ideas like this and I’m grateful that Eva contacted me about the project, so that I can share it with you here and encourage you to collaborate with the project.

So your photo assignment is easy:

TAKE A PICTURE FROM YOUR WINDOW AND SEND IT TO: desdemiventana2010@hotmail.com in JPG format.

The result of the project will be shown in different exhibitions.

You can find out more about the project here (click the image to go to the “From My Window” blog):