Month: December 2007

Photography goals for 2008

Post author By David
Post date December 29, 2007

It’s the season for New Year’s Resolutions of course, and there’s no doubt that having goals can help direct your work for the year, and keep you focused when you lose a little motivation.Setting goals is valuable, but publicising them even more so – there’s more commitment involved in making your goals public.So here are my photography goals for the year (in no particular order):

Read a photography book a month

There’s so much I don’t know about the photography world, so I’ll be trying to plug some of the gaps with my reading this year. Some books will be aimed at improving my technique, but I’ll also read some history and criticism books, to get me some much-needed context.

Uncategorized

What Angelina Gave Brad for his Birthday

Post author By David
Post date December 27, 2007

According to State of the Art, it was a one-off super-pimped Littman 45 Single:

a unique 4×5 rangefinder built on the chassis of a Polaroid 110 that has been completely reengineered to permit both focusing and parallax-corrected viewing through a single window. Translation? It’s sort of a Leica on steroids

Sweet, if a little over-egged with an exterior described as ‘a sort of retro-futuristic homage to the early 20th-century skyscraper’. There’s no word on how much it cost, but apparently Brad Pitt’s a serious amateur photographer. About the only thing I have in common with him.

Tips/Tutorials

7 things I learned about DSLR photography this year

Post author By David
Post date December 26, 2007

It’s Christmas Day (the roast’s in the oven, Finn’s asleep and I’ve got a couple of minutes before our friends arrive). As I sit here next to my shiny new Canon 24-105mm f/4L lens – Santa was very good to me this year – I’m thinking of all the digital SLR cameras that people found under the Christmas tree today.

This time last year I didn’t have a digital SLR, and I’d just started using my film SLR again. Now I’ve had an article and photos published in national and local publications, sold prints as wedding presents and spent a huge amount of time shooting and learning.

So if you’re wondering where to start with your new camera, here are a few pointers from someone who’s on the same journey as you, just a little further along.

Reviews

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II – Prime Suspect

Post author By David
Post date December 24, 2007

It’s cheap, plastic and it wheezes. But it’s by far my favorite lens. My precious is the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens.

Eschewing such luxury developments as USM focusing or full-time manual (and don’t even think about image stabilization), this $70 lens – known variously as the ‘nifty fifty’. ‘thrifty fifty’ or ‘plastic fantastic’ – produces amazing results.

It’s in no way a pro-grade ‘L’ lens, but Canon have been working on this classic for decades – 50mm is seen as the standard focal length for 35mm film cameras – and it does one thing very well.

Personal

Shooting sick

Post author By David
Post date December 23, 2007

So I’m struck down with a pre-Christmas cold that won’t move through the accepted stages like it’s supposed to. Scratchy throat and dull ache should have turned into streaming nose and sneezefest by now, but no joy.

But we had some snow, and I ventured outside in my pyjamas and jumper to get this shot of our wall. I like finding simple semi-abstract views that have some minimalist calm to them.

With luck I’ll be well enough tomorrow for the Christmas Eve walk up Canyon Road here in Santa Fe, where people light farolitos and fires and the whole scene is gorgeous (if very dark – think I’ll bring my 28mm f/1.8 prime and hope for the best – too crowded for a tripod).

Tips/Tutorials

Color management – an intro to an intro

Post author By David
Post date December 22, 2007

I must confess to have been only vaguely aware of the wide differences in the way colours are displayed online – until recently. Or rather, I was aware of the differences from testing sites in different OS and browser combinations, but I was only vaguely concerned – Macs’ 1.8 gamma meant a difference from PC’s 2.2, and every now and again in my work as a web designer, I’d get a photo to edit that had a colour profile attached, but that was it.

And I was partly right about this – unlike the print design world, where color profiles for monitors, printers and the like are carefully controlled, and there’s a real struggle to get color matching as right as it can be, in the online world, we have to be a little more flexible.

Almost all of our audience wouldn’t know a calibrated monitor if it ate their lunch, and most browsers (the programs, not the people) are a sorry bunch that don’t support color management anyway. It’s a sRGB world, for better or worse. Or so I thought.

Links

36 Exposures Contest

Post author By David
Post date December 21, 2007

Constraints can be hugely liberating, and in this digital age many of us have forgotten what it’s like to have to weigh every shot as carefully as we might.

Enter the 36 Exposures Contest – a join venture between FILE, Coudal Partners and Flak Photo.The basic idea is to shoot a roll of film with 36 exposures, and display all the shots – no deleting or complex Photoshopping. You have to submit your ideas by January 6th, and if your concept is chosen, they’ll send you a roll of film to shoot and return to them.

All the images will be displayed in the order they were shot, and winners get some great prizes. Full details here.

Even if you’re not interested in the competition, it might be interesting to subject yourself to a bit of discipline in your photography, to see what happens when you take your time a little more.

And when I say ‘you’, I mean me, of course. I submitted my idea to the competition, so we’ll see if I get some film in the mail next month.

Moore Consulting Photography

Published in JPG Magazine Print edition

Post author By David
Post date December 21, 2007

An article of mine is featured in the latest print edition of the photography magazine, JPG, that’s just arrived in my mailbox.

The article — called ‘Prime Suspect’ — is a hymn of praise to the cheap and cheerful Canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens. They included three of my photographs to accompany the article.

JPG is a high quality print magazine available throughout the US, that has over 100,000 members contributing articles and photographs to its website. Members vote on the things they like, but an editorial panel makes the final print version.

So I’m well chuffed to have made it in. Especially as this combination of photography, journalism and the Web is an area I’m going to explore in more depth in my own big project in the New Year. More on that later, but for now, feel free to rush out and buy a copy of the mag.

Tips/Tutorials

How to use Flickr

Post author By David
Post date December 20, 2007

It’s been out a while, but I thought I’d bring this Online Photographer article to your attention, if you’ve not seen it.

Written by New York Times photographer Howard French, it outlines how he uses Flickr as a professional, and counters some of the criticism he gets from fellow pros, who argue it’s a site full of rubbish.