what is the scoop?

So, where is everyone?

Black and white landscapes

Recently I have been playing around with black and white images of landscapes. Here are two that I am quite happy with...





Damian

Evolution of my photography - Conclusion

The last post in the series on the evolution of my photography has just been posted. So now the whole story is there....

Where I was
Where I went
What I found
Where I am
Conclusion

Damian

Correcting colour casts

I recently read an email post by Tim Grey on how to correct strong colour casts and thought I would demonstrate it here.

In this image one can notice a pink and green cast across two of the eggs, especially if you look at the lower righht egg. 

To remove this cast one does the following

1. Duplicate the Background and rename this layer Colour Correction

2. Ago to Filter>Blur>Average. This averages the colour values of the image and this is the colour of the cast.

3. To apply the opposite colour value to this since to remove the cast, go to Adjustments>Image>Invert.

4. Then above the Colour Correction layer apply the Blend mode 'Colour'.

5. Use the Opacity slider to adjust the strength of the blend until you have the original colour minus the cast, as shown in the image below.

Evolution of my photography

I recently presented a talk to the Contemporary Arts Society, Halifax on the evolution of my photography from when I began in the early 1990s to my present day work on Sable Island. The talk was very well received and was interesting to me too since it allowed me to see how my photography has changed and the elements that have shaped it.

This presentation will be posted on my blog, www.lidgardphotography.com/photoblog in a series of four parts over four weeks: I. where I was, II. where I went, III. what I found and IV. where I am.

Part I is online now.

Damian

Graceful gulls

This is a photograph of Greater Black-back gulls flying above a snow covered dune. There gulls are ferocious mean carnivores and will peck out the eye of seal pups, attack birds nests for eggs and chicks and go after some mammals such as rabbits. If one had this "label" in mind when photographing these birds it would surely influence the type of image produced. So, when I saw this image below, I threw out those labels and produced this image. Damian

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