PixelatedImage Blog

Well folks, time for the weekly roundup. Starting with Deke McClelland’s 100 photoshop tips in 5 minutes video. It’s mostly keyboard shortcuts, so don’t be looking for killer techniques, but it’s pretty funny and you’re bound to learn a few things if you’re good at listening fast.

Since we’re talking about Deke, you should check out You Suck At Photoshop which is rumoured to be done by Deke. There’re several of these videos. As education it works ok - you might learn a thing or two - but as performance art/satire it’s damn funny. And it’s crude and might border on offensive if you’re the type who doesn’t get satire for what it is, or just have more delicate ears than some. You’ve been warned.

While we’re on the topic of funny, have you heard of the IYP Photography Contest? You heard, it the IYP. International Year of the Potato World Photography Contest. I couldn’t make this up if I tried. Link HERE. It’s actually pretty serious and the prizes reflect that. But who can resist a jab at something so quirky? In 2004, there was an International Year of Rice contest too - see the winner’s gallery HERE.

Less funny is the introduction of the new Nikon D700 this week, a new SB-900 strobe, and two new PC/shift-tilt lenses. See Scott Kelby’s blog for details and links HERE. It’s getting hard to be Canon fanboy these days. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth investing in both systems. Starting with a D-700, a 24-70/2.8 VR (or whatever the Nikon lens equivalent is), and a few SB-900’s is starting to look pretty fine. Joe McNally is not doing much to help with this - see his recent blog post HERE.

I got Peterson’s Understanding Shutter Speed in the mail this week and took some time to read it yesterday. It’s not a big book, so the read was quick. I think as book reviews go there are two questions - did the book do what the author set out to do? and did I get anything out of it? The rest are secondary. I assume the answer to the first is yes; this is not a book with a complicated premise. The second, well, yes and no.

I think that, if new shooters can be persuaded to put down their camera long enough to pick up a book, being reminded of the effects of shutter speed on the aesthetics of an image is a good thing and this book does that. The photos illustrate the book well, though they aren’t generally inspiring. If your local library has it, it’s a rental. Or a nice gift for someone starting out. But if you’ve got one book to buy and read, I can think of meatier ones out of which you’ll glean much more, like Freeman’s The Photographer’s Eye.

Finally, a quote:

All my photographs are about meetings and about coups de foudre - love at first site. To do that type of photography one must wipe the canvas clean to prepare for chance encounters, be open and aware to such moments, otherwise it becomes cliche - already seen and expected.
-Edouart Boubat

Have a great weekend. To my American readers, have a great July 4th. Shoot what you love, love what you shoot.

I suspect the democratic nature of photography - the fact that anyone can pick up a camera and begin making photographs without the kind of talent or training needed to be, say, a painter - is what is responsible for some of the best and worst of this art. The best because it puts it into the hands of children and absolute amateurs and allows nearly immediate intuitive expression. The worst because that same quality also encourages the notion that no training is needed. With the accessibility of excellent digital cameras suddenly everyone is a photographer.

And there’s the rub. Photography, for all its accessibility remains a visual means of expression - a language - and without the knowledge of the alphabet, vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, we’re wildly babbling away. Oh, we’re talking alright, we just aren’t saying anything.

I’ve preached on this before, the need for visual literacy, but this time I want to point you to two books that are exceptional guides to even the professional. Some of us would rather lick the dust off our sensor with a wet tongue than read a book, I get that. But until there’s a way to absorb this by osmosis, we may just have to suck it up.

The first book is one I’ve pointed to before. Freeman Patterson’s Photography and the Art of Seeing.

The second is Michael Freeman’s The Photographer’s Eye. When I first mentionned Freeman’s book I got a number of comments/emails confirming my suspicions - this is a truly excellent book. The premise of The Photographer’s Eye is that the way you compose a photograph influences how someone sees it, and from that premise Freeman digs into the hows and whys of composition in a substantial way. This is a meaty book and you’ll probably have to read it with pen and highlighter in hand. Some pages I’ve had to read twice just to get the gist. But at the end of the day, if we’re looking to hone our craft, this will take us closer to powerful images than all the gear reviews and pithy little blog articles we spend so much time amusing ourselves with.

You owe it to your craft to read - and study - this book. Highly recommended. I’ll be re-reading this again over the coming weeks, once just wasn’t enough.

When I was in the throes of falling in love with photography, a young man looking for something to be good at, some way to express myself, my mother gave me two great gifts. The first was the Pentax Spotmatic, and not the camera I thought I wanted/needed to begin my illustrious journey in imaging. The second was a copy of Freeman Patterson’s Photography and the Art of Seeing. That Spotmatic is long retired, though I have another sitting on my desk as a reminder of my roots and my first-love. The book is long gone, probably disappeared in the chaos of one of many moves during college years, but yesterday I bought another copy and it’s sitting here now, not far from my Spotmatic. You know you’re getting older when you get nostalgic about these things.

I’m not writing this as a trip down memory lane; I’m pretty sure you don’t care that much. I wanted to encourage you to consider two things.

1. Go back to the beginning and recall what drew you to this art to begin with - what was it that you loved so much about photography that you’d commit to spending so much money on glass, metal, film, or all the digital detritus that litters the path to imaging these days? Do you still feel it? If not, it’s time to grope your way back to that, to rediscover the joy of seeing in new ways, expressing yourself in new forms.

2. Read Patterson’s book. It’s on it’s way to becoming a classic and many of us wouldn’t give it a second look. There are no pictures of shiny gear. There is not a single discussion of which camera or lens is better. The photographs in it do not move me the way they once did. But the exercises Patterson discusses, the concepts surrounding learning to see, are not just theory - they are absolutely critical.

Re-reading this book has been more than sentimentality, it’s been a reminder of the very first lessons I ever had in photography. If you read here often I assume it’s for more than just the cute little buttons at the head of each post (in fact, more than likely it’s despite the buttons! Deal with it.) I assume you get something from what I write. In some ways you’re reading the 20-year distillation of my original experience with this book. It’s what started me on the path of nurturing the artist and not just allowing the geek to run amok. If you have a chance, go to the source material and read, absorb, Patterson’s Photography and The Art of Seeing.

“It is incumbent upon you to make sure you are getting what you want at the moment you take the picture. It would be best for you to spend more time thinking of the quality of your pictures and less time thinking about the quality of your pixels. The parameters of your vision are more important than the expertise you have with levels and curves or whatever you get involved with after you take the picture….I wish you to see not how clever you can be, but how observant you can be.”

Jay Maisel from the Afterword in Welcome To Oz, Vincent Versace

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” - Elliott Erwitt

“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson

I’m not a Taoist, in fact my worldview is founded on pretty different principles, but reading Philippe L. Gross and S.I.Shapiro’s The Tao of Photography: Seeing Beyond Seeing (on Amazon.com HERE.) was a really beautiful experience. I’ve committed in 2008 to pursue the Why of photography and where I pursue the How I want it to be in relation only to the Why. The Tao of Photography is a window into a world of seeing and photographing that is intuitional, spontaneous, harmonious, and intentionally integrated with the worldview of the authors.

The book is full of wonderful quotes from luminaries like Henri Cartier-Bresson, and some strong photographs, and as much as it is based on Taoist philosophy it doesn’t require one to be a Taoist to appreciate at least much of what is written.

If you are a very analytical person and you tend towards the technical, this might be exactly what you need to balance that side with the more artistic/intuitive side of yourself (it’s in there, dig deep, you’ll find it.) Photography is too often reduced to a technical experience, Gross and Shapiro remind us it can be a means of seeing, and seeing a means of living.

I liked this book more than I expected and it’s already been marked up extensively with my highlighter and marginalia.

I still recommend Pattersons’ Photography and The Art of Seeing as a first exploration of this topic, as it’s a little more accessible and requires less wading through the weltenshauung. Still, this book about receptivity is a refreshing one. Highly recommended.

Aspiring humanitarian photographers will want to look into NEED - The Humanitarian Magazine. This is a first class magazine with excellent photography and a strong focus. It’s not filled with ads, just great stories and great images and a really elegant layout. If you’re looking for inspiration, this is it. Subscriptions start around $30 depending on where you live. There’s also a package with the subscription and the first 4 issues, all starting at $50.00

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Aspiring environmental or conservationist shooters should be aware of E Magazine. It’s been out a good while longer than NEED Magazine and looks like a solid resource for people like my friend Nick Hall who shoots this kind of thing.

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For traveling photographers with alot of gear: Air Canada’s checked baggage policy is changing as of May 15, 2008. Check details HERE. United is changing theirs effective today, May 5th. Check details HERE. If you travel within North America, now’s the time to re-check your carrier’s policies.

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For location shooters looking to work on their lighting chops, Kirk Tuck’s new book, Minimalist Lighting, is available for pre-order on Amazon and is slated to ship on May 22nd. This looks like a great resource, though like you I’ll be waiting for a copy of my own. If I remember to do it I’ll post a review. (My record with book reviews is less than stellar. I read them voraciously but am less good at actually completing the reviews. What can I say, I get distracted.) Link HERE.

Moose Blogs A Piece of Paper
Sometimes ya just shoot nothing good, but that’s part of the process. Read this, from Moose Peterson’s blog.

Chase Jarvis Renounces Light Meters
Chase has a good post on forsaking the old hand-held light meter. Here’s the wisdom:

But one thing is for sure: don’t ever confuse all the silly little gadgets and the silly little numbers with what it means to simply and eloquently capture a moment, a scene, or the essence of a human emotion - whatever it is that truly inspires you. You’ll be much better off for it, I promise.
Read the whole thing here.

Photo-Guru Says “There is No Un-Suck Filter”
Scott Kelby on his 7-Point System. The question: Is there anything the 7-Point System can’t fix? The answer:

Absolutely. It can’t fix bad photography….The System just won’t make a bad photo good. It’ll make a decent photo better, a good photo great, and a great photo outrageous, but it can’t fix bad composition, an out-of-focus image, or a bad concept. You’re always better off getting it right in the camera. That way, you can spend less time fixing it in Photoshop and more time finishing it in Photoshop….

Did you get that? I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again and again - there is no un-suck filter. Seeing Photoshop as a finishing tool, and not a fixing tool, results in better photography. Vincent Versace talks in terms of Photoshop being an emery-board not a jackhammer, and I think that’s a helpful outlook.

Check out Kelby’s 7-Point System For Adobe Photoshop CS3 here

My limited edition monograph, The Pixelated Image, made Scott Kelby’s Top 5 List today. It’s a long list of favourites from gear to books to teachers to places. The Pixelated Image made it to his Top 5 Photography Books That Will Inspire You list. Quite an honour coming from Mr. Kelby.

This book is a collector’s item. Only 100 will ever be printed, they’re hand-signed and numbered, and they aren’t cheap. The funds I am raising from the sale of this book are going towards my Women and Children First project which is a creative funding solution to get me shooting for NGOs working in the developing world with women and orphans and vulnerable children. Lots of great groups out there need photo-resources for fund-raising and advocacy, this will help me get there for one or two of them.

More information here.

Inspiration is the intangible we all run on as creatives. It’s the in-breathing that gives us the spark, the a-ha! moment. It’s what pulls us out of those ruts. No matter how you do it, you need to be aware of what inspires you so you can pro-actively pursue it. Especially when you’re in the rut and can’t see over the sides. A year ago I wrote this post on the nature of inspiration - if you’re looking for some, give this a read.

In the mean time - comments are open - what inspires you?

One of the gifts Sharon gave me for my birthday yesterday is the Lonely Planet’s The Travel Book - this large colourful book is simply gorgeous. A page spread for every country in the world. Some interesting facts, some great photos. It’s like an atlas for people with little concern for statistics and scale maps. I saw this in Chapter’s months ago and thought what a wonderful book it is. If you’re at all inspired in your work by the photgraphs of others, this is great. Also very encouraging to flip through it and think, “you know, I can shoot this well.”

Keep your eyes open for this one, if only to browse through it at the store. I have a feeling this book with fule my wanderlust for years to come.

Pop Survey: If you could go to one country this year, which country are you itching to see? Mine is Cambodia, Vietnam is a close second and in a perfect scenario it would be both. You?