Puppy Farms

[[off-topic alert]]

I know this mainly a photographic blog, but hopefully you will forgive me this small divergence.

Smudge, who is one of our two cocker-spaniels, was rescued from a puppy farm nearly a year ago. Puppy farms are really horrible places that make battery farming look pleasant. "Rescued" doesn't mean that she was removed from the place by force, but rather that a dog rescue organisation had managed to convince the puppy farmer to hand over any "used" or "worn-out" dogs, rather than shoot them or club them to death.

When we got her, she was little more than skin and bones - because feeding her well would have reduced profits. Huge lumps of her coat were bald and she was terrified of human contact.

Please sign this petition (and forward on to anyone else you think would sign).
We need to stop this evil trade, and the horrendous treatment of dogs like Smudge.

Thank you for reading

[[/Off Topic Alert]]


To bring this (kind of) on topic, here is a picture of smudge as she is now; fighting fit, with a glossy coat and slightly less fear of people...oh and a cracking Clement Freud impression.

Smudge: Canon 20D 17-85EFS
(Click to view large)

The shot was taken in the garden on a bright sunny day. To achieve the black background effect I simply painted it in in Photoshop and applied a levels adjustment so that the black points in the coat matched the black I was using.

I got the idea for this technique from The Ephotozine Guide to Great Photography, highly recommended and full of inspiring photographs.

Digital Workflow Article (Part2)

So I have finally got round to completing part 2 of my articles documenting my digital workflow.

To be honest this part is a bit messy as very little of it is automated...and that is not a good thing if you ask me. I am hoping that as the year progresses I will move to either Adobe Lightroom or the new version of Capture One as both seem to offer the possibility of a more automated workflow.

The idea of having the workflow as articles is that I can update them as my workflows improve, the ultimate goal being that I only have to make the "Creative" decisions i.e. should this be in B&W ?, how about a crop? etc. The software should automate everything else: file locations, keywording, backups,etc.

Soon I will start work on part 3 which deals with presentation: prints, websites and web galleries. The final part will deal with archiving.

Understanding the Abstract

Abstract images are an area that I find an increasing attraction to, photography has always been a combination of art and craft and whilst I find the craft side interesting I find the real driver for me to be the artistic side and abstract work is the very epitome of this.

The whole idea of abstract photography is a bit strange really, as according to Wikkipedia: "Abstract art is now generally understood to mean art that does not depict objects in the natural world". How can a "straight" photograph ever depict objects that are not in the natural world?

Yes we can manipulate our images using digital (or traditional) techniques to render something different to what the film/sensor captured, but is producing the abstract possible with a camera alone? To be honest probably not!

Sometimes I like to use the term extract as I really can't put it better than Ansel Adams when he said:

I prefer the term extract over abstract, since I cannot change the optical realities but only manage them

Though when does a extract become an abstract image? Well my own personal definition of abstract is when you show an image to someone and the reaction you get is something along the lines of "I like that...what is it" or when you feel an overwhelming urge to put some explanation saying what it is when you display the picture.

The problem with abstract art/photography for a lot of viewers is in simply understanding it. Landscapes are easier on the viewer as they can appreciate the capture of a sense of place and time. Viewing a good landscape is essentially a passive activity and the same applies for most other areas of photography.

The abstract, however, makes demands on the viewer.."what is it?" or "do I like this?" and these demands can often put a lot of viewers off as they feel they don't understand the image or they are not sure how they are supposed to react to the image.

The trick with taking and understanding abstract work is to ask yourself "how do I feel about this?". Do the shapes and textures remind you of something? stir emotions? upset or even just amuse you. The same applies to taking them in the first place, as you look through the viewfinder what does the scene say to you?

If you find yourself just taking pictures "by the numbers" and not engaging with your subject then that is the time to ask yourself why you are taking the shot in the first place. But if you feel an emotion when you press the shutter release you are at least halfway to transmitting the emotion to the final print.

Belief; Canon 20D 17-85EFS
(Click to view large)

As an example I give you this image taken last Friday whilst sticking to my new years resolution. this is a small detail from the Salvation Army headquarters between St.Paul's and the millennium bridge. its an interesting building and I have photographed it many times yet never been happy with the results.

This time whilst looking for detail I noticed this cross embedded in a canopy over the door-way. A small detail that I doubt anyone but me and the architect would know is there. I'm not religious but I do have a lot of time for the Salvation Army and as I viewed the simple symbol of the cross it seemed to me to sum up the power of a belief that had built the very building I was trying to capture.

Does it work as an image? Well that is up to you, the viewer, to decide.

Shadows and Highlights

Its funny how some commonly used terms are so rarely actually defined. For a forthcoming blog, I was trying to find a link on the new-fangled world wide web thingy to explain the term "Shadow Detail". Well I couldn't find a definition of the term anywhere, so I decided to write one myself!

It may not be exactly right, for all I know, but it's the definition I use:

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One of the things photographers are always banging on about is "shadows" and "highlights". Now I may be a bit dim but when I started photography I couldn't work out how you knew which bits were the shadows, if you couldn't see the light source & direction.

Well it turns out that by "shadows" & "highlights" they are referring to the dark stuff & the light stuff. In a black and white photo the ultimate shadow is pure black and the ultimate highlight pure white. The area between is cunningly known as the "mid-tones".

With A brightly lit piece of coal on a sheet of white paper, the coal is the shadows, the paper is the highlights and if the light casts a grey shadow onto paper then that could be a mid-tone. How dark a highlight has to be before it becomes a mid-tone, and how dark a mid-tone has to be before it becomes a shadow...who knows!

The middle right-hand side contains the shadows,
the chrome is a highlight and some of the wood is a mid-tone.
(Click to view large)

Shadow Detail

Now one of the things photographers like to go on about a lot is "shadow detail", this is where you can see details in the darkest areas of your photograph, as opposed to the area just appearing as pure black. Generally, shadow detail is a good thing as it adds realism and depth to the image.

It is often possible to recover lost shadow detail in Photoshop though it is usually best to avoid losing it in the first place by correctly exposing the image.

Highlights

At the other extreme are the highlights, these are the brightest areas of your picture. At the extreme end you have pure white, which is fine if you wanted bright white, if not these are "burnt out" highlights. The problem with burnt out highlights is that they contain no information,at all and no amount of tweaking and adjustment in Photoshop will get them back.

ND Grad filters are often used to avoid burning out the sky in landscape photography, alternatives involve blending bracketed exposures in photoshop or another package.

Getting the exposure of a shot right is often a balance between blocking up the shadows and burning out the highlights. Generally its best to err on the side of blocking up the shadows rather than over-cooking the highlights.



Why not checkout my crash guide to exposure or this highly recommended book.

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If you have a better definition of these terms, I would love to hear them. Please comment or drop me an email.

In the City

So I know you are all wondering if I am sticking to my new years resolution. Well so far I am two weeks in and I haven't fallen off the wagon.

The first Friday was a baptism of fire, well a baptism of overcast skies and rain really. A miserable grey day led to me wandering around The Barbican studying the patterns and shapes in the grey concrete blocks. Eventually I wandered over to The Citypoint building which I never fail to find interesting with its roller-coaster curves and unusual shapes.

This shot is an attempt to capture some of the feel of the building in an abstract way.

Canon 20D & 17-85 EFS
(Click to view large)

A week later and things had brightened up a bit so I headed for Canary Wharf and its brutally modern landscape of tower blocks and under-used docks.

The environs of Canary Wharf have been photographed so many times that everywhere you look is a photographic cliché. So I elected to use my lensbaby2 which never fails to give an unusual view of a scene. The lensbabies manual focusing and sweet spot you can move around the frame make for a very rich and involving way of making pictures.

I ended up at the base of One Canada Square, by the clocks that were really only placed there to give photographers something to shoot. Yet still the magic of the lensbaby provided a new interpretation of the scene.

Canon 20D & LensBaby 2

(Click to view large)

The thing I like about this shot is that I would never have thought of this as a shot I took. Its so far removed from my usual style that it surprises even me.

So, so far I am keeping to my resolution and stretching the boundaries of my work and making pictures that I like. So I reckon it's working.

Local.Live.com

I was just looking at my house on the Microsoft version of Google Earth: Local.live.com. When I noticed that the incredibly detailed aerial photos managed to capture a child's balloon floating in the sky above our street.

I just thought it was pretty cool:

The Balloon is at the top middle of the shot and my house is at the bottom.
(Click the image to enlarge)

Beginners guide to Photoshop Layers (Part 2) - Creating a border effect

So now we understand that layers work like clear acetate and can be stacked on top of each other, what uses can we find for them? Well in this example we will create a simple frame around our picture for display on a website. First open an image file that deserves a frame.

Create a new layer
We have already learnt about creating a new layer in the previous lesson. So lets add one now by clicking on the new layer icon or selecting Layer>new>layer from the menus. By default this new layer will be called "Layer 1".

Unlock the base layer
We want to place this layer underneath the background layer, but as the background layer is locked, we need to first unlock it. Once it is unlocked it becomes "layer 0". Now we are ready to get creative.

Slide the new layer under the picture layer
We want our picture to sit on the new empty layer (layer 1) . to do this we need to change the layer order by sliding layer 1 under layer 0 in the layers pallet so that it looks like this:

If we go back to the idea of layers being sheets of acetate then the ones at the top of the palette are at the top of the stack. So it doesn't matter what I paint onto layer 1 - you won't see it as it is hidden by layer 0.



Resize the canvas
So now we need to create some space round our image for the border. Select Image>Canvas size from the menu.
First select relative, this means the numbers are in addition to the to the current document size.
Then enter the size of border you require and click OK.

There can be quite a bit of trial and error with this so try out different numbers and if you don't like the size simply select Edit>Undo and try again.

In my case I have opted for a 4cm border all round the picture.


So now your image appears surrounded by an area of empty transparent space (the chequerboard pattern means its transparent).



Fill with colour
So, that's not too bad if we are printing onto paper, as the transparent stuff will come out white. But in this case we want a black border.

First make sure that the bottom layer is selected then chose Edit>Fill and select Black in the top drop-down box. Click OK and we get a nice black border round our image.


Add a layer style
Now I think it would look better with a small white line separating the border from the picture. to do this, we first select the image layer (layer 0) and then select Layer>Layer Style>Stroke from the menu.
Select the position as inside and then chose the colour and width you prefer. If preview is clicked you should be able to see the changes straight away.

You can do the same thing with layer 1 as well if you like, which gives us the final effect.







Next time, in part 3, I'll show how layers can help making "exposure" adjustments easy.