Photo Inspiration Thursday: The Lonely Pixel
Last week I shared with you a process for Using Textures with Photos on a shot of the Eiffel Tower I took a couple of years ago. It’s a style that I haven’t used that often but has really drawn me in and provided a great deal of creative energy for me.
When I was going through my comments recently, weeding out the spam, I found a comment that seemed legit but was picked up by the filters. I visited the site that was included and was really taken by the imagery that I was presented with by an art photographer that uses this technique perfectly in her work.
Guest Post: Stop! You are NOT a Photographer! – by Kevin Halliburton
Let's Blog!
First off, I want to thank Jason for investing the years it has taken to build this invaluable blog and for risking it all on me for a day. It feels like someone just handed me the keys to their priceless sports car and told me to have fun, so thanks Jason, buckle up!
You are not a photographer. You are a story teller. When that sinks in it will transform your work.
Reverse lighting engineers aside, (you know who you are) most people are drawn to an image by its story line, not the perfectly executed technique.
That’s an easy thing to forget, and the more gear you add the harder it is to remember. The photographer’s job is rarely to create a technically perfect reproduction of a scene but rather to illustrate a compelling story as clearly as possible.
Photographer Highlight: Stephen Zeller
Through the recent Walk4Hearing Silent Auction, I became aware of San Diego based photographer Stephen Zeller. He’s got some great work over there in under the categories of portrait, family, engagement, event and commercial photography.
He has a very definitive style that is clean, classy, and unique, and it’s definitely worth a look.
Stephen is also an avid blogger writing about images, news, reviews, and pretty much everything photography related over at his blog Stephen’s Photography Tips. Check him out!
The World of Stock Photography
I’ve been looking into what it takes to get into the stock photography market lately and have found a good place to start.
Awhile back I came across a post by Photoshop & Photography Blogroll member Scott Eccleston of Weekly Photography Tips about an interview he’d listened to about stock photographer extraordinaire Richard Legg. I haven’t delved deep enough, yet, into the vast collection of posts he has on the subject but I think it’s a great resource, not only for stock but for your photography as a whole.
Richard has a whole section of tips and tutorials as well that shows you his lighting setups and explains the descisions he makes to get the results he’s looking for. It’s really insightful and inspirational. Go check him out!
Another resource Scott shared in a related post about microstock photography was an interview he saw with stock photographer Nicole Young where she talks about her experiences as a contributor to iStock Photo.
Have any of you ventured into the world of stock photography? What have you learned? Have any suggestions/tips/warnings that you can share? Where do you contribute your images? How has it worked out for you?
Digital Photographer Highlight: Karl Bratby
A few weeks ago I was introduced to the work of Nottingham wedding photographer Karl Bratby. There are a number of excellent wedding photographers out there and I love seeing their work because it brings me back to my own wedding and the joys that I felt. It’s the same with Karl’s.
Karl runs the blog iLifephotoblog which, in his own words is where he:
specializes in capturing relaxed portraits, amazing details and real moments in time, oh and don’t forget the romance…. we do all this for some of the coolest brides and grooms on the planet.
[It] is an archive of my personal and professional life, it features images from the weddings i shoot, the portraits i photograph and the friends and family that mean so much to me.
It is easy to get bored with a certain photographic subject because it is so easy to feel like you’re seeing the same things over and over again. One of the things I noticed right off with iLife and Karl’s style is that he is able to really bring out the personality of the couple through the shots but he is able to combine all the elements of composition, lighting, texture, contrast, moment, and pose to tell a story that is unique to each couple with whom he works.
I am always impressed with photographers, of any type, who are able to make each shot more than just a photo, each expression and pose really say something, and weave into each image a sense of timelessness. And Karl does that very well.
Nicely done!
Graduation Photo
Last weekend we celebrated with my sister-in-law, Sarah, as she graduated from high school. I’m still working on processing the shots but thought I would share this one from the day – note: like I said in Monday’s post, I’m not a portrait photographer but even more so, I’m not an event photographer.
With tomorrow’s post I will announce the winner of the June Photo Contest and let you know how you can enter to win a really cool prize for the July Photo Contest!
Workflow Friday: Michael Palmer
For this week’s Photoshop Workflow Friday post we get a look inside a recent HDR project from DC-area photographer, Mike Palmer.
(click to enlarge)
I shot all images RAW with a D200 w/ 24-120 VR Nikkor , I shot Aperture priority, bracketed, 3 shots, hand held at f3.5. I overlapped the pano 20 percent for each shot.
Imported the .NEF’s into Lightroom. I selected the series (3 x how many in the pano) I was going to batch processes in Photomatix, created a new folder in LR and put the images in the folder. Started photomatx, did a batch of that folder at 3 images, and walked away. So how do I get the look? These are the setting I used. If you use Photmatix, you know they a a bit over the top, but I went to a HDR seminar by Chris Alvanas at CDIA and he is the one who turned me on to this. He was also the guy that was in Nikon World Magazine for HDR and the cover for Shutterbug.
After they batch processed in Photomatix Pro ,the tonemapped .Jpegs would be plaed in a new folder, I synced the folder in LR, and the tonemapped .Jpegs would import into LR. Select (Ctrl-click) the .Jpegs and right click, Merge to Pano in Photoshop. Ctrl-Shift-E to merge layers, Crop, Curve, Sharpen (unsharp mask Amt 185, Radius 1, Threshold 5-10), add letterbox effect in canvas (Alt-Ctrl-C). Save and export for the blog at 2000 wide 72dpi.
Bottom Line, Its FUN, I do not carry a tripod everywhere, and I think the water came out really cool in the process, very angry. Try it yourself and have some fun… If I was not clear (not the first time) or you have a question, feel free to email me Michael@mpalmerphotography.com.
Check out some Mike’s other HDR shots from this series:
Thanks Mike!
