Podcast - Interview with Miksang photographer Michael Wood

Miksang Podcast with Michael Wood

Michael Wood recently did an interview about Miksang with Paul Giguere, the
host of 'Thoughts on Photography', a web site that contains lots of
great interviews and articles that revolve around the notion of, as
Paul puts it, 'Living a Photographic Life'

Click on the 'POD' Icon, or on 'direct download'

Damian

Sable Island shipwreck

In January while on Sable Island I came across a shipwreck that was exposed albeit for a week or so. I took quite a few photos but didn't seem to be able to capture a strong relationship between the sea and the wreck. I really wanted this because the sea is of course the reason for the shipwreck being there. I also wanted to capture a sense of 'spookiness' since I felt that while walking around the wreck. Imagining the sea men that died as the ship hit the island.

Anyway, to get that shot I used a slow shutter speed at dusk with the camera positioned on top of a dune. Here is the result. Damian

Caught in the act!

Well, this place has been quiet for some time! To break you out of hibernation, here is a shot of a melting icicle. Taken with my new Christmas toy (Pentax K-20D) and my trusty 50mm/f1.7 prime lens, it's a crop of a somewhat larger image. The falling droplet manages to focus the background surprisingly well:


If you rotate the picture, you should be able to make out the barn (immediately to the right) and the house (off to the distance).

I have some other interesting icicle shots, but I'll save them for another day.

Adobe software resource sites

Hello all,

This is a short post. Late last year a friend told me about these Adobe resource sites for learning PS and other Adobe software. Thought I would post them so you can have a look.

1. http://www.layersmagazine.com

2. http://www.lynda.com

Damian

My return from Sable Island

So I came back from the Island on Friday (23rd Jan) after a 4 week trip. The trip was very good and great for photographs. Lots of great light, extreme weather (wind, snow, rain, blizzards, cold). And best of all I was very much in the right mood to take advantage of it all. Posted a couple of images below and hope to post more. Damian

CS4

Hi
I recently - like, 2 days ago - purchased CS4 upgrade from CS.

First impressions are very favourable. It seems to run faster, and the Bridge function - which was a real trimmed down affair in CS - is much quicker too. It has some nice neat tweaks and interface changes, and a greater level of control with some of the filters etc. Very early days, so have hardly scratched the surface of the new version. Being 3 full versions on from CS, I'm guessing that there's a lot more to discover.

The best bit is Adobe Camera Raw, version 5.0. I recall using Camera Raw with an older version of Photoshop (v6) and enjoyed the fact that it's fully integrated. I think I need to get a good book on Adobe Camera Raw.

Any recommendations for ACR and CS4 books?

Cheers
Ivan

If only it were this easy...

I found this image last year on flickr, and it made me chuckle. NOT my image, but I kind of wish it were...

Ivan

A view on composite images

Happy New Year, fellow "Critical Light"ers. Hope 2009 is great for you all.

I came across this interesting article on Tim Grey's blog, that Damian put me on to last year. It deals with the issue of composite vs straight images. I found myself agreeing with the sentiments expressed, and can see that I apply a similar philosophy, albeit in a much more straight photographic way, when I sometimes "meddle" with images.

Ivan

[Extract from the article]

A big part of the discussion among those spending time in front of this image in the PCNW Gallery involved speculation about whether it was a "straight" photograph, or if it was a composite of multiple images. What I found so cool about the photo is that it is completely possible that it could be a single image. There was nothing about it that couldn’t have really been as it appeared for a single instant. And yet I figured it had to be a composite. I actually felt guilty for making this assumption, so I was relieved when I contacted the photographer and confirmed it was indeed a composite.

I asked Julie about her perspective on creating such an image photographically, in the context of some people feeling that creating such a composite was "cheating" (a notion I don’t agree with, by the way). Here’s how Julie described her work:

"When I describe my work I sometimes talk about my husband who writes fiction, and how he works. He’s always borrowing from real life, and then changing certain details or the context of them for the sake of the story. But in a way, his work tells the truth about life in way that writing it exactly as it happened wouldn’t be able to. So, I guess that’s they way I’m trying to work visually."

I think this is such an apt description for her work and her approach to photography. I’d be the first to admit that there are situations (such as photojournalism) where creating an invented scene isn’t appropriate. But in most cases I really feel that photography is art, and thus deserves to have he same freedoms of creativity found in any other art form. In other words, creating such a composition is an incredible expression, and one that should be applauded.

Lomo style

Happy New Year to you all!

Surprised to be the first to post this year...

I love Lomo style photos and keep meaning to get myself a camera.

I thought I'd try to emulate the effect, and with a little web tutorial came up with this after a little experimenting.

Curious for your thoughts?

To New York and Beyond!

As I write this I am waiting for my flight to New York. We are going for 5 days (until Boxing Day) and then two days after I get back I am off to Sable Island for work. So I would imagine that I will not be on the blog until February when I return.

I have my camera with me so hopefully I will capture some decent New York images for the blog.

See you all then,...

Damian 

Something from the Market

I always have my camera with me when I am selling at the market and am always looking. So I saw this. The girl was walking around with this brilliant yellwo scarf and the green cat grass. The contrast was startling to me. Then she came over to my table and POW...I took her down.

Shot with my great and most beloved fixed 50mm, 1.4 lens...

D

A couple of Venetian images

Both of these were taken in 2004 using my old Nikon Coolpix. Crap camera - although it did do RAW - but somewhere as beautiful as this can be captured with a disposable camera and still look good.

They were both early morning, before the crowds. I like the one of the shadows under the arches, with the solo figure walking away. Also, I tried to get a new take on the tired theme of Venetian gondolas. Did I succeed?

Ivan

Just a little something...

Well, not much to offer this week. Shot this while in St John's, Nfld during the summer. Its kind of fun with the plant pots and the broken pot and the various fun colours, typical of houses here. Lots of lines up and down.

Damian

Dolomite Flower Meadow - Part 2

I posted the sister image to this quite a while ago, but I found this one - which is portrait rather than landscape format - while browsing my back catalogue. I think I prefer this one to the landscape image.

Comments?

Ivan

A Venetian "Before and After"

This one is quite radical, and from the days (about 4 years ago) when I used to make really big changes to images, including new skies, colour temperature, adding/removing elements. I don't really do that these days, but I do like the change from the original to the manipulated image in this before and after.

Below is the original. It was taken at/near sunrise, so it's nice and quiet, few boats and NO tourists. But, the feel was cold and not what I pictured in my mind.



The manipulated image has a new sky, selected with the characteristics to match (i.e. light coming from the right direction etc). The buildings and water were warmed up to match, and then the two carefully put together using layers and layer masks. Took a bit of time, but I think the effect is quite convincing. I wanted an almost painting-type of quality, as I thought it went well with the classical scene.



Thoughts welcome as ever

Ivan

More night shots...

Ventured out again a few evening ago with a Cambridge chum (not Gareth). My friend, Bob, has a new Nikon D300 - man that camera has great high ISO sensitivity and low noise. Awesome. Make the 450D look a bit shit, actually, in that regard, but I was able to get both shots below at ISO 200-400, 30" exposure, f8-9. I have also just got a remote control, so I can move to bulb (i.e. >30s) exposures with mirror lock up, so hopefully I can swap high ISO performance for longer exposures at lower ISO...

Anyway - here are my shots:

The first is looking from Garrett Hostel Bridge towards Trinity Bridge. It was a long exposure (30"), and I may have overcooked it a bit, but there's nice softness on the water, and check out the movement of the tree on the left. It was quite blowy, which has captured a nice effect, I think. What you don't get from this is quite how dark it was - it was very dark, and I only managed to focus by setting one of the focal points to a distant light, then recomposing and pressing the shutter (2 second delay, mirror lock up and then 30" exposure).



The next image is Cambridge's newest attraction. It's the so-called "Chronophage" (time-eater) clock, which forms the corner of the newly refurbished Corpus Christi college. See here or here for more details.



I took this from across the street, with the telephoto on a tripod. I wanted to get the whole thing in the shot, and avoid reflections too. I'll revisit this to get some detail shots sometime also. As it moves, a long exposure led to some very blurry shots, and the beastie couldn't be seen. So, I went for about 1/20 second exposure, to get a mostly-frozen image, and capture it as it looks, backlit in eerie blue. Interestingly (geekily), the shutter speed can be verified, since the second "hand" LEDs do one revolution per second, and there are 3 of them illuminated in the shot, 3/60 = 1/20. Also, note the time - 10:45pm, just before we headed to the nearby Eagle pub for last orders.

Ivan

Now for something a little different...

A few months ago I received permission to spend hours in our local natural history museum photographing bird eggs. Bird eggs have amazing intricate patterns, and they are of different sizes and shapes. Anyway, here are three eggs from a guillemot (seabird for those who are not ornithologically gifted). They are pointed so that they don't roll out of the cliff nest but rather spin on their axis.

Anyway, I shot the eggs using a tripod and some lighting with the eggs on either a white or black mat. I used photoshop to remove the background and create a pure white (255,255,255) or pure black (0,0,0) background. I have lots of images to work through but thought I would share one with you. Damian

On The Road - Mile 2,226

This picture is a crop of a larger shot of the Mexico's Gulf. I burned the blacks to remove the sea. I also wanted to have a minimalism feeling. The lines of the clouds are supposed to give a feeling of movement, the shot being a part of the "On The Road" series.



Here is the original shot :

Aya Sophia Lights

Taken at the Aya Sophia (Hagia Sophia) in Istanbul.

Playing with my new 50mm prime lens. As you'd expect it was very limited light in the interior of the building.

I was drawn to the curlicue lights, the bulbs and that not all were working. Again, I liked the very tight depth of field from the prime lens.

I don't mind the slight lens flare...

What do you think?

f/1.6 1/80sec ISO200

Roots On Venice Beach

Taken 11am on a very bright sunny morning on Venice Beach, LA.

A four piece blues band were busking and I could get in quite close. Liked this shot with the focus as the drummer's hat and the Roots logo. The more obvious shot was the classic look of the vocalist, however I liked dropping him out through the depth of field...

I think it works well in mono.

f/5.6 1/640 ISO200

Comments?