So, yours truly finally got himself an iPhone, the brand spanking new iPhone 4s which features quite an impressive 8-megapixel camera with a f/2.4 aperture, certainly impressive for what is essentially a mobile phone (OK sure, the iPhone is a lot more than just a phone but you get my drift).

If you are interested in seeing what the camera in the new iPhone 4s is capable of, you can check out this article over at www.funkyspacemonkey.com where you can also see how the iPhone camera has improved with each new iteration over time. It is quite amazing stuff.

Day 1: “Piazza”

Anyway. I know, I know, I’m sometimes a late adapter of new technology. It takes me a while sometimes to join the latest craze. In fact the shop assistant in the local Telstra shop smiled when he saw my old Palm Treo and said with what seemed like a hint of genuine pity in his voice “I haven’t seen a Palm phone for years…” Oh well, oh well, but I’m glad I jumped on the iPhone band-wagon. In fact it was the best smart phone offer in the shop compared to brands like HTC, Samsung, Nokia etc.

Day 2: “Flight in the clouds”

Of course I had also noticed all the hype about Instagram which also attracted me to the iPhone as a choice for my new camera phone since Instagram currently only works with the iPhone (as of November 2011), with no news on when the app might become available on other platforms. Instagram seemed like a fun and easy way to share pictures with other iPhoneographers.

Instagram

So I downloaded the free Instagram app as soon as I got out of the store (well, second after the awesome Endomondo sports app so I could track my walk back home from the store and see how many calories I had burned) and I was up and running with Instagram in no time (it’s great to receive a phone that works and is 50% charged straight out of the box).

Day 3: “Patina”

For those of you who might have been sitting on the fence with regards to Instagram, I can say that my initial impressions of Instagram are quite positive. The app is very simple, easy and fun to use which is probably core to the incredible success it has enjoyed since being developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.

Day 4: "Turner"

Instagram comes packed with 16 different filters (or effects if you will) in addition to the normal setting if you don’t want to mess with your image, but just share it via Instagram. The filters will add a lomo/retro/vintage look to your images, and you also have the ability to switch on/off some cool border effects (though you only get one choice of border effect per filter).

In a matter of a few seconds you can transform the look and feel of your pictures and share it with your friends and followers on Instagram as well as on several other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr.

It’s simple, easy and quick! Some people have referred to Instagram as “Lomo and Twitter meets photos” which is quite descriptive to a certain extent.

Day 5: "Silo"

While you can happily play around with Instagram on its own, I was soon curious to explore other apps and within a few hours I had also downloaded PS Express by Adobe, Pano by Debacle Software, CrossProcess and ShakeItPhoto by Banana Camera Co., LightTrac by Rivolu Pte Ltd, Snapseed by NIK Software, PhotoForge2 by GhostBird Software and Instant110 by youthhr.

Day 6: “Happy Halloween”

One still needs to be careful not to become lazy and compromise on the fundamentals of good image design though. Yes, Instagram and all the hundreds (if not thousands) of other cool photo apps can work wonders on your images and transform somewhat ordinary images to good, cool-looking images. However your results will still always be better if you look for good compositions, beautiful light and interesting subjects.

The iPhone is definitely a great tool to help you exercise your vision on a daily basis. In fact I started my first ‘one photo a day for a year’ project the day after I got the phone and I’ve been going for a week now (see the seven images in this post). I have considered a year-long daily photo project for a while now, and with the iPhone and the ease of sharing the results via Instagram, it seems like a somewhat easier commitment to make (though no doubt still a challenge to find new images every day).

Day 7: "Green, Brick and Red"

At the end of the day the best camera is the one that is with you and chances are that your iPhone (or other mobile camera phone) is going to be with you more often than most other cameras. So make sure to use it as a tool to exercise your vision on a daily basis!

If you want to follow my “365 Project” you can see daily images at www.folkeandersen.tumblr.com (from 26 October and 365 days forward) or follow me on Instagram: @folkeandersen.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Chasing Reflections by Eli Reinholdtsen
• Vision Is Better. Free the Mind, Free the Camera.
• Desde Mi Ventana / From My Window

If you like making great natural light portraits Steve McCurry is clearly one of the great masters to study. He is a master at capturing the unguarded moment and showing us the soul of his subjects.

In fact he published a book titled The Unguarded Moment in 2009, ten years after the brilliant Portraits published in 1999 (a must-have for portrait photographers).

Steve McCurry is of course best known for his “Afghan Girl” photograph, the beautiful Afghan girl with the stunning green eyes and a piercing gaze. After the photograph gained worldwide recognition when it was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine, several attempts were made by McCurry to identify the girl during the 1990s. However the identity of the “Afghan Girl” would remain unknown for over 17 years.

In 2002 a National Geographic team travelled to Afghanistan and finally located the girl in a remote region of Afghanistan. She was identified as Sharbat Gula and determined to be around the age of 30, which means she was around the age of 12 when the picture was made. Incredibly Gula had not seen her own famous portrait until it was shown to her in 2003.

In this five minute video clip Steve McCurry talks about how he created the photograph and shows some of the few outtakes from what was a relatively short photo session:

In recognition of Sharbat Gula (“Afghan Girl”), National Geographic set up the Afghan Girls Fund, a charitable organization with the goal of educating Afghan girls and young women. In 2008, the scope of the fund was broadened to include boys and the name was changed to Afghan Children’s Fund.

You can donate to the fund by visiting this link: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/donate/afghan-childrens-fund.html

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• The Life of a Photograph
• Hear It From the Man Himself
• Tony Sweet Nature Portfolio

Calling on all Shutterbugs!

I have some exciting news to share with you today.

Over the past many months a creative film crew headed by Kate McIntyre and Dave Collins have been planning and filming a new comedy web TV series about photography.

This new web TV series is set to invade the world of photography when Shutterbugs debuts on the 27th September.

At the set of Shutterbugs

The show is set in Melbourne’s creative heart, Fitzroy. Shutterbugs centres on analogue photographer Chloe and her socialite best friend Samantha. Together they get into trouble as they trespass, steal and bend the truth during their various photography exploits. Trying to keep them under control is Isaac, an OCD portrait photographer who secretly harbours a crush on Chloe. Rounding out the crew are unhinged video blogger Bo and malicious time-lapse specialist Trent, who takes joy in tormenting the others.

Chloe on Brunswick Street

The show follows the gang as they undertake crazy and dangerous adventures, all in the name of taking a good photo.

From the analogue to the high-tech, DSLRs to phones, if it takes a photo then it’s part of the world of Shutterbugs.

The Shutterbugs Gang

The internet has become a breeding ground where photography communities can thrive and writer / director Dave Collins is keen to provide something unique to this audience and says:

“The internet is great for letting us upload photos to the world as well as discussing and critiquing the photos we take through blogs and photo sharing sites, but until now there hasn’t been a fictional series catering just for photographers.”

Watching Trent's time-lapse video

Whilst the cast and crew of Shutterbugs are photography fanatics, they’re also wrangling the talent of some photography professionals and obsessives. Each week on the website, a guest photographer will pay homage to the current episode by providing a unique set of photos inspired by that week’s action, and also discuss their photography practice, tips, and insights into their creations for Shutterbugs in a video interview.

“We set out to make a series that understands photographers and mimics the passion that people have for capturing the perfect photo, but the series is also a really good comedy that non-photographers can enjoy as well.” Collins says.

The Shutterbugs web series launches on the 27th September and new episodes will be airing every Tuesday.

The series can be seen at www.shutterbugs.tv and is entirely web-based, so you can tune in from anywhere in the world. So be sure to mark your calendar with a big fat X on the 27th September.

Here is a little promo video:

Enjoy and have fun!

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This image was submitted by Jaci from USA.

It was taken with a Kodak EasyShare M753 on its black and white setting. There was no editing done to the shot although Jaci points out that she thinks she might try to lighten the area around her eyes eventually.

Original image by Jaci

When I look at this picture the first thoughts that come to my mind are thoughts of lovely warm summers and a child’s innocence and beauty.

Clearly it’s a warm summer day judging by what the girl is wearing and how comfortable she looks. She is certainly also radiating beauty and innocence in this capture by Jaci.

Now that I am father of two beautiful girls myself (which has happened after I started this blog) I also connect with this picture as a parent. I know it sounds corny, but once you have experienced the birth of your own child and it’s first few years of life, you look at other children differently as well and particularly children of similar age to your own.

In the case of Jaci’s daughter here who is 3, she is the same age as my own oldest daughter, so there is a very instant connection to the subject for me as the viewer of the image. Perhaps that makes my view of the image slightly biased.

In terms of composition the subject is placed very much in the center of the frame which breaks with the rule of thirds and it works beautifully in my opinion.

Subject is centered in the frame

There is slight diagonal line to the subject’s body which seems to balance the centered composition and gives the image the dynamic that it needs for this composition. The flow of the dress and its diagonal lines also supports this idea and brings energy to the image.

The picnic rug gives us a clue about the setting and why the girl is sitting at this spot – the result of a nice summer outing with mum and dad perhaps.

However from a compositional viewpoint I wish the picnic rug was either folded out a bit more or not there at all. As it is now it is “merging” slightly with the girls dress and it complicates the idea of nice simple lines a little bit.

It looks like there are some clipped highlights as well as shadows without details but that doesn’t bother me at all. In fact I think there’s quite a pleasing range of tones in the image, or perhaps rather quite a pleasing contrast between light and dark.

The photo looks unposed and I think Jaci has captured a beautiful candid moment here. The unposed nature of the photo also rhymes really well with the beautiful natural setting. This could very well have been a matter of pressing the shutter at just the right time. Moments a often fleeting and that’s where still photography can have its powerful impact.

Improving the Image?

Now, if I start looking at how I could improve this image there are only really a few minor details that come my mind.

I would like to see if I could separate the subject a bit more from the background tonally and then remove a few bright distractions in the grass as well as the flower bud just above her head. In addition to this I have darkened the bottom two corners a tiny bit as well.

Notes for improving the image

My main effort to separate the subject from the background comes from a few local Curves adjustments that have lightened up the subject’s face and upper body. I have also followed Jaci’s own suggestion and lightened the area just around the eyes a little bit also via a local Curves adjustment layer.

As you will see from the before and after comparison below the changes are quite quite subtle, but they all work in tandem to strengthen the overall impact of the photograph.

Before and After

There are of course other things you could consider as well such as perhaps toning the image slightly. If I went down this path I would probably choose a warm tone to enchance the idea of warm summers. You could also consider applying a soft effect for a more dreamy look.

However I like the image as a straight black and white and all in all I think Jaci has come away with a winner. She can be both proud and happy to have captured such a wonderful moment of her daughter. Well done!

Final image

Thank you to Jaci for submitting this image to the free image critique at Photography 24/7.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• The Magic of Black and White
• August Snaps 31 August
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This is the fourth and final post in a four-part series on how to do advanced toning of your monochrome images. The techniques shown in this series are all done using Photoshop CS4.

In many cases you can add a touch of sophistication to your monochrome images by adding some subtle toning. Often toning your monochrome images can also help you emphasize a particular mood or feeling in your images. This four-part series on advanced toning will show you how.

Using the Duotone Presets

Start with a Grayscale image and then do Image Mode>Duotone (note that your image will need to be 8 bits/Channel for the Duotone menu to be available to select).

Photoshop comes with a set of ready-made duotone, tritone and quadtone recipe files. These can all be loaded for use on your grayscale images. To apply one of these recipes to your image, click on the Custom pop-up menu in the Duotones dialog box and select any of th pre-mixed colour recipes. There are some excellent examples that can be used to mimic warm, cold or vintage photographic papers.

The unusual curve shapes that you will see in many of the ready-made recipe files give you a very good idea of how to control the colour distribution. The heart example below was created using a vivid orange for the third colour, although you would not think so looking at the final result.

Using the Duotone Presets

Below you can see the before and after example as well as details of the ready-made recipe chosen for this example which includes the vivid orange colour as the third colour.

Click on the Custom pop-up menu to select your recipe

Fine Tuning a Preset Duotone Recipe

Most problems using the duotone method occur if you let all inks (colours) run into the shadow areas, giving heavy prints with encroaching blacks. The following tritone example was created using three ink colours: black, aqua and gold.

Tritone recipe with the ink colours black, aqua and gold

Here is the grayscale image after the above tritone recipe has been applied to it:

Image after tritone with black, aqua and gold (before curve adjustments)

Looking at this image it seems a little bit ‘heavy’ overall but with some small curve adjustments to each of the three ink colours we should be able to achieve a slightly ‘lighter’ print with better tone distribution. Here we go.

Step 1: Changing the Black Curve

To minimise the presence of black in the image, the black ink was pulled down in the darker midtones to lessen their overall effect.

The darker midtones of the black were lessened

Step 2: Changing the Aqua Curve

To continue on the path of making this print feel ‘lighter’ we took about 10% aqua ink out of the darkest tones.

Some of the aqua tone was taken out of the darkest tones

Step 3: Changing the Gold Curve

Finally the midtones in the golden ink were also pulled down to lessen the overall golden tone effect in the image.

The midtones of the gold colour were pulled back a little

Once each of the above three small curve adjustments have been applied you can now see the before and after results.

Tritone recipe before and after individual curve adjustments

Voila! The difference is quite subtle, but if you look carefully at the two versions above you should be able to notice that the ‘after’ version feels less ‘heavy’ and particularly when you look in the shadow areas.

More Resources

If you’re looking for a great resource on learning more about digital photography and Adobe Photoshop in general, then check out Vincent Bockaert’s The 123 of Digital Imaging which has impressed even Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.

You can also check out the great Adobe Photoshop tutorials available at Lynda.com for more resources.

Finally I can also personally recommend many of the excellent courses at BetterPhoto.com. When I was starting out in photography I took 8 of the courses including a one with specialised training in Photoshop. Check them out.

The How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

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• Before and After: Laura
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I was feeling incredibly uninspired today. My mind was racing all over the place. I was unable to concentrate on one particular idea for any length of time.

In some ways it was as if my mind had just gone blank. All ideas had vanished into thin air, gone, unretrievable. I guess that just goes to show the power of always carrying a notebook with you so you can write down your ideas as they come to mind or re-visit them when you need to!

Probably the heat was getting to me. We’ve had soaring temperatures between 30-40 degree celcius all week here in Sydney.

Lunch and a cool drink to the rescue and my mind blank lead to an idea – one that had to do with the mind funny enough: what happens in your mind just before you click the shutter?

For many beginning photographers the answer to this question is often technically related. Are my settings right for a correct exposure? Is my shutter speed fast enough to shoot hand-held? What ISO should I be using?

For more experienced photographers thoughts are usually more focused on the design of the image and capturing the right moment. If he would just look directly at her that would complete the story. When the sun clears the top of those clouds the light will be perfect. What happens if I move a bit closer? The railing creates a nice lead-in to my subject.

Photo by Orin Zebest

If you’re like many photographers, though, what happens in your mind just before you click the shutter are often subconscious thoughts that gets little or no attention at all. That’s allright, but only if you’ve arrived to that stage through a conscious process. Stay with me and I’ll try to explain. 

It can often lead to improved results if you become more aware of your thoughts in those critical moments just before you click the shutter. After all what happens in your mind just before you click the shutter will directly impact on the image you capture a second or two later.

Asking yourself some simple questions before you click the shutter can help take your images to a new level.

So in this post I really want to encourage you to think about what you think about before you click the shutter. Did you catch that? It’s a bit like metadata (data about data). Think about what you think about before you click the shutter. In other words next time you’re out shooting try to pay attention to the moments just before you press the shutter and record your own thoughts.

Photo by eyesore9

Ideally you want to reach a situation where the technical stuff becomes second nature and your thoughts concentrate entirely on the design of your image and capturing the moment. That said, it’s actually good for beginning photographers to think some technical thoughts before pressing the shutter because that’s exactly what helps make the technical considerations second nature in the long run.

Some people might even have a short mental checklist that they run through just before they click the shutter.

Here’s some ideas to questions you can ask yourself in the moments before you click the shutter to help propel your photography forward. Hopefully some of these questions can inspire you to create your own mental checklist before you click the shutter. Pick and choose from the list, and feel free to add your own questions too.

• What story do I want to tell?
• Why am I taking this picture?
• What’s the visual focal point in this picture?
• Who or what is the ‘star’ in this picture?
• Where do I want my viewers eye to go to in this picture?
• Are there any distracting elements in the frame?
• Are all four edges of my viewfinder clear?
• Is my horizon line straight?
• Do I want a horizon line in this shot?
• Is my background the way I want it?
• Am I close enough?
• What is my main source of light?
• Is the light falling on my subject the way I want it?
• What other perspectives could I shoot this subject from?
• Should I shoot this horizontal or vertical?
• How can I improve this composition?
• How can I simplify this composition?

Now, you may think “how on earth am I going to ask and answer all of those questions (or even half of them) in a second or two before I press the shutter?”

Good point – but in time a lot of this goes on intuitively.

Don’t underestimate the power of your brain. Think about when your learned to ride a bike or drive a car for the first time. You had to think about each action (keeping the balance, signalling, changing gears, changing lanes etc.) but with experience it becomes intuitive and second nature. Chances are you even learned to ride your bike without keeping your hands on the handlebar! It’s much the same with a lot of the above questions.

Over time you learn to internalize many of the above questions, but to do so you need to become aware and conscious of them in the first place. Once this happens your intuition will start to take over and great photography is the product of great intuition. So make it a habit to run through some essential questions suitable to your genre of photography.

The above list is by no means exhaustive, so feel free to pick and choose and add your own questions.

Have you got a mental checklist you run through before clicking the shutter? What happens in your mind just before you click the shutter? Have you got some questions of routine checks to add to the above?

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• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part Four
• What is Street Photography?
• Shooting Landscapes – Guest Post by Carolyn Fox

Street photography often means somewhat different things to different photographers, but in essence street photography involves wandering the streets and making photographs of daily life as it unfolds before your eyes and camera. 

Street photographers typically react to situations and usually have no specific subject matter in mind as they set out to make photographs. Street photography is very much about life in general and usually don’t involve the concept of visualising photographs in advance of taking them. I use words like ‘typically’ and ‘usually’ as some street photographers may happen upon a scene with a certain play of light and shadow for example, and then stake out that scene until something happens. That something is often some sort of human element in the scene. In fact some people will argue that human presence is a prerequisite in street photography.

What is Street Photography?

Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of a scene. It’s therefore up to the photographer to place emphasis on the selection of what elements to include and exclude from the composition – and of course this has to happen in a split second. It is not generally accepted to edit the contents of a street photograph – such as editing out a discarded coke can in Photoshop in post-processing.

What is Street Photography?

Most people will agree that for a street photograph to be successful the scene has to move the photographer in some way. If it moves the photographer – and if the photographer is skilled at capturing the decisive moment – there is a good chance it will also move the viewer.

Effective street photography is about telling a story in a single frame, not simply recording what was there at a particular time and in a specific place.

Photo by Chris JL

The term “the decisive moment” was of course coined by French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson who helped develop street photography as a style or genre.

Cartier-Bresson was an early adopter of the 35mm format and a master of candid photography. You can learn more about Cartier-Bresson in the excellent documentary The Impassioned Eye which is available on DVD. I personally own the DVD and enjoy watching it as a source of inspiration and as a wonderful biography on one of the most influential photographers of the last century.

Street photography generally involves getting close to people – and often within their comfort zones. This means the photographer often becomes part of the scene rather than a distant observer. It also means shooting with wide lenses; usually nothing longer than 50mm. Consequently some street photographers prefer shooting in places like crowded streets in big cities, fairs, carnivals, parades or even on a busy ferry or bus.

Photo by sketchy record

Street Photography Shooting Techniques

How you shoot on the street is of course a matter of personal choice, but some shooting techniques might work better than others.

Here are some tips and tricks on how to shoot successful street photographs:

• Don’t be sneaky and don’t try to hide your cameras.
• If someone objects to having their picture taken, don’t take it.
• If someone turns away as you’re about to photograph, respect their privacy and refrain from shooting.
• Don’t lurk around in the background with a long lens as this will often be interpreted with scepticism and suspicion.
• Participate in the scene rather than be a voyeur.
• For more candid pictures try to blend in with the crowds and be subtle in your camera movements. Don’t constantly put your camera to your eye. Instead relax and put your camera down and just be one of the many people on the street. Then raise your camera when you are one or two seconds away from the shot you want. Click the shutter a couple of times, and then put your camera down again. If you get noticed, smile.
• Embrace the fear and shoot through it. Even more experienced street photographers have fears about being yelled at, chased down the street or worse. While this fear may subside over the years, it will probably never disappear completely. Acknowledge it and make a conscious decision to embrace the fear and shoot through it.
• Travel light. All you need is a camera body and a few lenses and film or memory cards.
• Don’t carry your shiny new high-tech camera bag out on the street. Instead carry your gear in a more casual shoulder bag or messenger-style bag.
• Leave the khaki-50-pockets-photographers-vest at home and wear simple and relaxed clothing. Dress like the people you’re photographing.
• Switch to manual focus, estimate the distance to your subject and pre-set your focus. This way you’re ready to shoot and frame when an interesting moment happens.
• Pre-set your focus and ‘shoot from the hip’. You don’t necessarily have to bring your camera to your eyes to capture a moment.
• Keep shooting ‘through the moment’. You want to capture that decisive split second of a moment, so keep shooting as events unfold.
• Smile, smile, and smile some more. A smile can defuse most negative situations you might find yourself in.

Photo by Joe Holmes

Street photography might not be for everyone, but it is a style of photography that can teach you a lot about composition in photography along with the significance of freezing a moment in time.

For more resources on street photography you can also check out books like Street Photography Now and Street Photography: From Atget to Cartier-Bresson or you could simply immerse yourself and study the photographs in Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer.

Next Step?

Head out on the street and start taking pictures!

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• Shooting Landscapes – Guest Post by Carolyn Fox
• Chasing Reflections by Eli Reinholdtsen
• How to Photograph Water in Motion

G’day everyone and Happy New Year from Sydney, Australia!

I hope you had a good Christmas and that Santa was good to you. Hopefully Santa put one of two photographic gifts under the tree for you this year?

Speaking of photographic gifts, I’ve been busy with a new project which I’ve been working on in what little spare time I have in between juggling work, photography, blogging and family. I hope to be able to reveal a lot more about this new project in a a few weeks time. For now it’s still work-in-progress.

Today is of course good a time to reflect on the year that passed and 2010 was a great year for Photography 24/7 with over 15,000 people visiting the website from 129 different countries. I’d like to thank all of you who has supported Photography 24/7 in this past year. Your support is much appreciated. Keep linking to us, keep telling your friends about us…

photo credit: Wiborg

We’re still only a very small site though and you can help by spreading the word about Photography 24/7. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. You may even want to send your friends a good ol’ email and tell them to subscribe to our RSS feed. Feeling extra social? Go ahead and join the Photography 24/7 Flickr Group and share some of your photos (and your photo will be rotated on the Photography 24/7 website).

If you like a post use the big social buttons at the bottom of each article and let people know.

So What Was Popular on Photography 24/7 in 2010?

As I was looking at the visitor statistics today for this post, I also took a little peek at what articles had been read the most times in 2010. So here is a quick little top list of the most read articles in 2010:

1. Two Basic Steps to Promote Yourself as a Photographer

2. Choosing Your Photography Portfolio Website

3. Split Toning a JPEG File in Photoshop CS4 in Three Easy Steps

4. How To Photograph Silhouttes

5. André Kertész: The Polaroids

6. How to Do Polaroid Emulsion Lifts

7. The Top Five Best Books on Composition in Photography

8. The Impossible Project Reveals New Monochrome Instant Film For Polaroid Cameras

9. National Geographic Photographer Bruce Dale: 30 Years of BAD Pictures

10. Sally Mann Revisited

Not surprisingly some of the ‘how-to’ articles have been popular, but I’m also really pleased to see that my review of The Polaroids is on the list along with my recommendation of Sally Mann’s awesome DVD What Remains.

New Year’s Resolutions

One of the most powerful things you can do with any resolution or goal you’d like to set for yourself is to write them down, so here are my New Year’s resolutions (goals) for 2010:

1. Organise my life to have more time for family and photography (a work-in-progress).

2. Keep my desk and workspace clutter-free!

3. Write at least 100 new articles for Photography 24/7.

4. Write at least 50 articles for Black and White Photo Magazine.

5. Shoot a lot more film and start developing my own B&W film at home.

6. Attract more submissions to QwertyPics.

7. Launch PhotoMoti.

8. Shoot at least two new personal fine art projects – one of them on black and white film.

9. Weigh in on the scales at 78kgs.

10. Ask at least one stranger if I can take their photo.

So there you have it – I’ve put myself out there. That’s my New Year’s resolutions for 2011.

What are yours?

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This is the third post in a four-part series on how to do advanced toning of your monochrome images. The techniques shown in this series are all done using Photoshop CS4.

In many cases you can add a touch of sophistication to your monochrome images by adding some subtle toning. Often toning your monochrome images can also help you emphasize a particular mood or feeling in your images. This four-part series on advanced toning will show you how.

One of the more sophisticated ways to tone an image digitally is to use the Duotone Image Mode option available in Photoshop. While it’s fairly sophisticated, it’s actually not very difficult to use, so stick with me through this tutorial. In fact I think this post looks a lot longer than it will actually take you to apply this technique.

Often duotones are used in the lithographic printing industry to reproduce high quality monochrome images. For example, to mimic the look of an original monochrome photographic print which might have been printed on warmtone paper or finished with chemical toners, book designers rely on special litho inks. This approach is often preferred over the traditional CMYK process when producing a coffee table quality monograph.

However, duotone mode digital images can also be printed out by most good desktop inkjet printers, so the process don’t have to be limited to litho output only. What makes toning in this way interesting is the ability to work with a personal swatch of colours, manipulating each in up to 10 different tonal sectors (see more about this at the bottom of this post).

Steel Study - Before and After

In this example we will apply a ‘steely blue’ tone using the duotone image mode in an effort to add some mood to the image.

Using the Duotone Image Mode

Start with a Grayscale image and then do Image Mode>Duotone (note that your image will need to be 8 bits/Channel for the Duotone menu to be available to select).

In the duotone dialog box black is set as the default first ink colour next to ‘Ink 1′ and there will be a blank box next to ‘Ink 2′ (or it might show the ink colour you used last time you did applied duotone).

Selecting Your Colour

Clicking in the blank box next to ‘Ink 2′ will reveal the Colour Picker where you can choose your second colour, or you can click on ‘Custom’ and select a Pantone Solid Coated colour such as the Pantone 279 C which I have chosen for this example where I’m aiming for a ‘steely blue’.

Loading the Colour

Once you have selected your second colour Photoshop immediately updates your image (behind the dialog box) showing the effect your colour choice creates and loads the colour into the dialog box.

Changing the Depth of Colour

Next you can choose to click on the small curve graph to the left of the ink colour square. Like the traditional ‘Curves’ controls, pulling or pushing the straight line will darken or lighten the second colour you have chosen (blue in this example).

In this example I have chosen to slightly lighten the darker blue tones by pulling the top part of the curve down a little bit, and I have also slightly darkened the lighter blue tones by pushing the lower part of the curve up a little bit.

Steel Study - Before toning

Steel Study - After toning

Know the Dutone Curves Dialog Box

Printing ink is expressed in percentage terms and in the ‘Duotone Curves’ dialog box, the normal grayscale range of 0-255 is converted to a 0-100% scale. The graph is divided into 10 sectors with each square represeting a 10% step in tone.

The line graph is straight by default with highlights bottom left and shadows top right. You can manipulate the colour by clicking anchor points on the curve and moving them as you would with the tradition ‘Curves’ dialog box.

By pushing the curve into the yellow zone, this will darken the colour and pulling it into the white zone will lighten it. If you want to remove an anchor point, just press the delete key.

You can also choose to leave curve as it is and simply type new values in the boxes next to each of the 10 percentage sectors and watch the curve change shape and your image changing in colour. If you think of these 0-100 percentage values representing 10 tonal zones from highlight to shadow, you can see the huge creative scope for tone manipulation.

More Resources

If you’re looking for a great resource on learning more about digital photography and Adobe Photoshop in general, then check out Vincent Bockaert’s The 123 of Digital Imaging which has impressed even Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.

You can also check out the great Adobe Photoshop tutorials available at Lynda.com for more resources.

Finally I can also personally recommend many of the excellent courses at BetterPhoto.com. When I was starting out in photography I took 8 of the courses including a one with specialised training in Photoshop. Check them out.

The How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part Two
• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part One
• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part Four

One of the most important marketing tools for photographers today is a well-designed photography portfolio website (see also Two Basic Steps to Promote Yourself as a Photographer).

You can be taking the most amazing pictures with the world’s best camera, but if no one knows about you and your images (your brand), then all the time you have invested into photography is without much purpose.

photo credit: thom?

Establishing your presence online is one of the most powerful ways to get your work seen.

Whether your goal is to sell fine art prints, stock images or perhaps promote yourself as a portrait photographer, a good photography portfolio website is vital to promote yourself and your photography.

So how should you go about creating your photography portfolio website? Good question. I have been around the block on this one.

• I have used HTML-based photography templates.
• I have built and designed my own photography website from scratch in HTML code.
• I have run my own photoblog.
• I have used a Flash-based website.

In fact I have now come full circle by changing back to a HTML-based photography template again.

Recently I quit my Flash-based website and signed up for a Photoshelter account. I will explain why I chose Photoshelter for my personal photography portfolio website at the end of this post.

Considerations to Make

In my opinion the first consideration you’ll need to make is how much time you want to spend on creating your website. While setting out to build your own website can be a lot of fun, it can also be very time consuming. By contrast you can literally be up and running in 5 minutes with a great looking website by choosing a template-based website.

If you decide to build and design your own website, Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 is probably the leading web design software on the market today (November 2010). If you have little or no coding experience consider getting Dreamweaver CS5: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland or Dreamweaver CS5 For Dummies by Janine Warner.

If you decide coding is not for you, the next consideration to make is how much flexibility of design a template-based website offers you and does it meet your requirements?

There is nothing worse than ending up with a template-based website only to discover that you can’t change and tweak it the way you want.

It is therefore also a good idea to check if you can sign up for a free trial period which allows you to “test drive” the website before you open your wallet.

Here is a quick list of things to consider before deciding on how to create your website:

• Overall appearance
• Flexibility of design
• Blogging capability
• E-commerce functionality
• Print services
• Storage space
• Password protected client area
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Cost and fee structure
• Free trials and cancellation policy

Comparison of Four Photography Portfolio Websites

When I decided to quit my Flash-based website I considered four different template based photography portfolio websites; Zenfolio, SmugMug, PhotoShelter and Photocrati.

As I already mentioned above I ended up choosing PhotoShelter for my personal photography portfolio website.

I decided to compare the four photography portfolio websites and here is how I scored them on the various considerations I made:

SmugMug and Zenfolio represents excellent value for money and are both solutions which are very rich in features.

PhotoShelter is a slightly more expensive option. It’s also very feature rich and at the same time very focused on helping photographers with their search engine optimization. It also comes with a very good e-commerce solution.

Photocrati is a WordPress-based solution offering a stylish way to display your work and blog about it at the same time. However it does not come with as many of the features included in the above solutions.

Why I Chose PhotoShelter

I decided to quit my Flash-based website primarily because it offered me no e-commerce options to sell my work. It was also a fairly expensive solution at around US$600 per year. PhotoShelter’s standard plan costs US$329 per year in comparison.

It also weighed into my decision that my Flash-based website was quite slow in loading up (around 15-20 seconds) whereas my new PhotoShelter website loads up in less than 5 seconds. I had several visitors commenting on the slow nature of the Flash-based website and Google Analytics indicated that many visitors abandoned their visit as a result of the slow loading of the Flash-based website.

While I think Flash-based websites are often much more stylish than HTML-based websites, some of the points mentioned above are quite important to the success of your website. Likewise search engine optimization (SEO) of your website is also an important consideration when you’re weighing up a Flash-based website against a HTML-based website.

The PhotoShelter website

OK, to the point now – why PhotoShelter? Well, it’s probably easiest to list the reasons, so here is a list of my main reasons for choosing PhotoShelter:

• PhotoShelter offers professional, good looking websites with just enough customization options for my needs.
• I can very easily switch themes at no cost if I wish to get a new “look” after a while.
• In my 14 days $1 trial period I directly interacted with PhotoShelter’s CEO Allen Murabayashi through their community forum inquiring about a small design change for the Crisp theme which was then implemented only a few weeks later along with a string of other improvements (some of which had been on the cards for a while).
• PhotoShelter’s e-commerce solution is very good and incredibly flexible which was an important factor for me.
• I have the ability to use my own domain name.
• PhotoShelter is very focused on helping photographers with their search engine optimization (SEO) and this is evident throughout the entire solution that they offer. I think this shows that they “care”.
• I like the fact that PhotoShelter’s product is aimed at “serious photographers”.
• PhotoShelter’s help documentation is excellent.
• PhotoShelter also works as an archive for my most important photos.
• The product is constantly evolving, but it also seems to me (from reading the forums) that new changes are not implemented without having been thought through with careful attention to detail on all levels.
• The online community of serious photographers associated with PhotoShelter is huge and very supportive.

You can see my PhotoShelter website at www.folkeandersen.com (please note my site is still work in progress at the time this post is published)

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Are You Photoblogging?
• Two Basic Steps to Promote Yourself as a Photographer

The Craft & Vision team has released yet another beautifully designed eBook today. Close To Home (Finding Great Photographs in Your Own Backyard) is the latest in the Craft & Vision eBook line-up.

This inspiring ebook by Stuart Sipahigil is about the challenges of finding the extraordinary in what we’ve come to see as mundane. Taking great photographs does not require traveling to an exotic place. By digging a little deeper and seeing things around you more clearly you can reinvigorate your photography and find new images in familiar territory.

Through practical insights and creative exercises you’ll discover that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

This ebook provides photographers of all levels with the tools and encouragement you need to help you get out of the ruts we all fall into. Your city, your neighborhood, and even your backyard are all full of opportunities for great photographs. Close to Home is 37 spreads of photographs, insights, and exercises that will inspire as you develop your own craft.

“Close to Home” is available (along with lots of other great titles) from the Craft & Vision website for just $5.

For a limited time only Craft & Vision has a special offer on PDFs: for the first five days only, if you use the promotional code HOME4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of Close to Home for only $4 OR use the code HOME20 to get 20% off when you buy five or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes start at 1:00am PST, October 28, 2010 and expire at 11:59pm PST November 1, 2010.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Chasing Reflections by Eli Reinholdtsen
• VENICE
• Ten Ways to Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear

I have always enjoyed viewing good minimalist photographs.

Minimalist photography is a truly beautiful genre and many people might be surprised about how difficult it actually is to capture a successful minimalist image that works.

It’s certainly not as easy as a good minimalist photograph leads you to believe!

Minimalist photography emphasizes simplicity and objectivity and in essence minimalism is where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.

Phaidon has a good book on minimalism if you’re interested to learn more about minimalism as an art form.

For now, though, it’s time to sit back and enjoy these 15 fine flickr examples of minimalism in photography.

photo credit: andrewpaulcarr

photo credit: Giara

photo credit: Christopher Keach

photo credit: DorteF

photo credit: Brian Keathley

photo credit: christheobscure

photo credit: arnoKath

photo credit: Dirk Dallas

photo credit: Minimal Stuff

photo credit: Joe_Andrews

photo credit: Vix Walker

photo credit: Dr Max

photo credit: Iván Cabrera

photo credit: L.Bö

photo credit: lrargerich

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• At Home: “24-3″
• At Home: “Angle the Handle”
• At Home: “The Parallelogram”

Mon Dieu! Usually I enjoy every day, I think we should, but really I wouldn’t have minded doing a time warp that had skipped the last 5-6 weeks altogether.

I didn’t manage to write a single entry for the blog, let alone make any new photographs.

After going through a period of extreme stress in August my immune system decided to let its guard down and I ran head on into not only one, but two very nasty viruses at the end of August which saw me bedridden with prolonged fever, lack of appetite, night sweats and extreme fatique for almost three weeks. At first I just thought it was a very persistent influenza, but a blood test proved otherwise.

My liver and blood index figures were off the chart and doctors warned me that I could be in bed for as long as six weeks provided there were no complications! As if boxing with these viruses wasn’t enough, I also contracted pneumonia and was diagnosed with a partly collapsed lung.

For a while it felt as if I was 72 and not 36.

Unfortunately this whole drama also meant that I wasn’t able to catch up with Mike from Phowto who was in Sydney at the end of August which I really regretted, but it just wasn’t possible.

It is only now, about five weeks later, that my energy levels are starting to return to somewhat more normal levels, so now it’s time to catch up!

Now, there may very well be several things I have missed in recent weeks, but here is at least a brief list of noteworthy highlights from recent weeks (make yourself a good cup of coffee, this post is going to be a little lengthy):

• Canon Announces Powershot G12
• Fuji Announces a Beauty
• New DVD by Tony Sweet: Flower Photography Artistry
• Photocrati Releases New WordPress “Super Theme”
• The Impossible Project Reduces Shipping Costs
• Journey Through Java

Canon Announces Powershot G12

A couple of weeks ago Canon unveiled their successor to the Powershot G11.

I have been a fan of Canon’s very successful G-series line for a while now and have been shooting quite extensively with the Canon Powershot G9. My August Snaps series was shot entirely with the G9.

Most of the G12′s key features remain the same from the G11, however Canon has added some nice improvements to make the Canon Powershot G12 stand out.

Some of the main improvements include their newer Hybrid IS system (adapted from the S95) which compensates for both shift and angular camera movement, in-camera HDR mode, plus an addition of a new front dial which provides quick and convenient access to settings during shooting. Partcularly noteworthy is also the addition of 720p HD recording which makes this camera quite an afforable and attractive video camera.

Fuji Announces a Beauty

In an industry that cranks out new camera models at a very fast pace, I don’t often pay a lot of attention to these announcements, but this one made me look twice. It’s sure to turn a lot of heads!

Inspired by the beauty and form of classic cameras from the past, the Fuji X100 combines all the latest technical digital innovations in a beautiful, traditional chassis which oozes class and prestige. The ergonomics of the design offer the perfect balance between compact convenience and user-friendly operation.

The camera is styled like a film rangefinder camera, with a leathery covering surrounding the body and a magnesium alloy top and base plate. Reports from people who has handled this camera also states that while this is a truly compact camera, it’s also remarkably heavy – an indication of a well-built, quality camera.

The new Fuji X100 is a high-grade digital compact camera based around an APS-C CMOS sensor, a Fujinon 23mm f/2 fixed focal length lens (equivalent to a 35mm f/2 in 35mm terms) and a newly developed Hybrid Viewfinder.

So what on earth is a Hybrid Viewfinder? Well, apparently it’s an optical viewfinder (OVF) and an electronic viewfinder (EVF) combined into one. Talk about the best of both worlds! Notice the little lever with the red mark at the upper left of the lens in the picture above? This lever allows you to switch between the OVF and the EVF. For more details about this new type of viewfinder watch the video below.

The Fuji FinePix X100 is aimed at the professional photographer or keen enthusiast looking for exceptional quality pictures from a compact camera. It is designed to appeal to the millions of DSLR users who need a slim back-up camera for high quality in-fill shots when the use of a bigger SLR system is either inconvenient or impractical. I’d imagine that this camera will also appeal to quite a lot of street photographers. In fact this where I would see this camera fit into my camera collection.

And if I haven’t quite convinced you that you really must have another camera, perhaps take a look at this video and your knees might become even softer!

Oh boy, oh girl. You’d have to agree that this camera is one heck of a temptation! The Fuji Finepix X100 is due for commercial release in early 2011.

Enough said already…

New DVD by Tony Sweet: Flower Photography Artistry

I’m a big fan of Tony Sweet and his photography. He is also a great teacher and instructor.

Flower photography is one of Tony’s specialities and now he has released a brand new DVD titled Flower Photography Artistry.

In this DVD Tony demonstrates many techniques from the traditional to more creative options that has given his flower images such a distinctive look. You will follow along in a private workshop as Tony shoots in the field at Longwood Gardens, then takes you back into his studio for a demonstration on some of his favorite post-processing techniques. Finally, Tony reviews an extensive gallery images, discussing the methods he used to achieve some of his favorite flower photographs.

Tony Sweet also teaches some excellent online photo classes over at BetterPhoto.com which I can highly recommend. When I first started out in photography I attended 8 different classes over at BetterPhoto.com and they all helped propel my photography forward. Check them out.

Photocrati Releases New WordPress “Super Theme”

Just updated and with the price dropped to just $79 the folks over at Photocrati has released what does look like quite a “Super Theme” for any photographer who might not already have a website, gallery or blog. In fact in this new Super Theme from Photocrati gives you all three in one package which means you will get a website, gallery and a blog all in the one place. As such this new theme may also be of interest if you’re looking at bundling your web presence into one place.

Of course Photocrati offers all the bells and whistles with the theme such as great SEO, customization options, theme options, easy set-up etc. You can watch this little video to learn more about the Photocrati “Super Theme”:

What’s also to like about Photocrati is that The Photocrati Fund gives $5000 grants to emerging photographers working on important humanitarian and environmental projects.

The Impossible Project Reduces Shipping Costs

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a big admirer of the challenge that The Impossible Project has taken on, but less of an admirer of how they seem to have hyped what I regard to have been ‘too-early-to-market-products’ through clever marketing, and even less of an admirer of their shipping costs!

For more details see my somewhat critical article Is The Impossible Project Shrouding a Mediocre Product in Clever Marketing? where Jay also made some interesting and detailed comments today. I found it particularly interesting to read Jay’s comment on the new PX70 colour material.

However with regards to the shipping costs there are some good news for Impossible fans. The Impossible Project has lowered their shipping costs on small shipments within the USA and Europe making it somewhat more reasonable to buy a couple of packs of film.

Sadly, if one wants to buy a pack of Impossible film for shipment to Australia you still have to fork up US$50 in shipping (even for just one or two packs!)

Journey Through Java

The good people over at Craft & Vision have released yet another great eBook – this one by travel/documentary photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich.

Journey Through Java is the fifth in The Print & The Process series.

Mitchell Kanashkevich is a curious world wanderer and a travel/documentary photographer who works passionately and skillfully to create exceptional images of some of the most amazing places in the world.

This eBook is built around a series of images from his journey around East Java, predominantly Ijen Crater, Mount Bromo and the Island of Madura. By exploring the idea of photographing in iconic/famous places Mitchell delves into the heart of what it takes to find your own voice and story. He’ll unpack the processes behind his creative decisions and he doesn’t shy away from practical topics; such as natural lighting, off-camera flash in a softbox, and choosing the right angles. Mitchell doesn’t stop there. He goes beyond surface-level impressions and shares his insights into how to create deep and meaningful photographs.

Journey Through Java – The Print & The Process is 46 spreads of photographs and insights that will inspire as you develop your own craft. The downloadable PDF sells for the usual “crazy” Craft & Vision price of just US$5.

Pheeeewww, allright I think that was all for tonight. Hopefully I’ve caught up and hopefully all of the above is not all old news to you.

I’ll be resuming the “How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4″ series in the next two posts, so stay tuned.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Nikon S1000pj with Built-in Projector!
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This is the second post in a four-part series on how to do advanced toning of your monochrome images. The techniques shown in this series are all done using Photoshop CS4.

In many cases you can add a touch of sophistication to your monochrome images by adding some subtle toning. Often toning your monochrome images can also help you emphasize a particular mood or feeling in your images. This four-part series on advanced toning will show you how.

Starting Point

If you are starting out with a full colour image and you want to apply a digital toning effect you should make sure to convert your source image to a black and white (or desaturated) image in the RGB colour mode before you start. There are several ways you can do this but the most straight forward way is to simply drain away all colour by going through the menus Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to ensure the result stays in the RGB colour mode.

Using the Colour Balance Controls

Compared to the toning we did in Part One of this series the results you can achieve by using Photoshop CS4′s Colour Balance controls are more sophisticated. In darkroom terms, this technique somewhat replicates printing a black and white negative onto colour paper using the enlarger’s colour filters.

Toning the Midtones

There are two ways you can get to the Colour Balance controls dialog window. You can go through the menu via Image>Adjustments>Colour Balance or you can select Colour Balance in the adjustments panel by clicking the icon that looks like two scales (as shown below).

The advantage by going through the adjustments panel is that the colour balance will be applied as an adjustment layer and therefore is non-destructive to your original image.

In the Colour Balance dialog window you’ll notice the familiar Cyan to Red, Magenta to Green and Yellow to Blue opposites.

To tone the midtones simply move the sliders around until you achieve the desired tone effect in your image, but be sure to keep the Midtones and Preserve Luminosity buttons checked for best result. In my example image further below I toned my Midtones with -20 Cyan and +10 Blue.

Toning the Highlights

You can apply a different colour to the highlight and shadow areas too by checking their respective buttons and then moving the sliders accordingly. To create a colour in the highlights I used +5 Red and -20 Yellow in my example below.

As with most post-processing work it’s a matter of ‘seasoning to taste’ and in the case of toning it’s a good idea to avoid saturated colours and be careful about not making the image too ‘heavy’, as shadows can clog up relatively easy during printing.

Here is an example of an original monochrome image and the split-toned result:

As you can see from the example above I have achieved a split-toned effect by adding Cyan and Blue to the Midtones and then adding a little bit of Red as well as Yellow to the Highlights.

I hope you enjoyed this second instalment on how to do advanced toning in Photoshop CS4.

More Resources

If you’re looking for a great resource on learning more about digital photography and Adobe Photoshop in general, then check out Vincent Bockaert’s The 123 of Digital Imaging which has impressed even Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.

You can also check out the great Adobe Photoshop tutorials available at Lynda.com for more resources.

Finally I can also personally recommend many of the excellent courses at BetterPhoto.com. When I was starting out in photography I took 8 of the courses including a one with specialised training in Photoshop. Check them out.

The How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part Three
• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part One
• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part Four

This post is the first in a four-part series of posts on how to do advanced toning of your monochrome images. The techniques shown in this series are all done using Photoshop CS4.

In many cases you can add a touch of sophistication to your monochrome images by adding some subtle toning. Often toning your monochrome images can also help you emphasize a particular mood or feeling in your images. This four-part series on advanced toning will show you how.

Starting Point

If you are starting out with a full colour image and you want to apply a digital toning effect you should make sure to convert your source image to a black and white (or desaturated) image in the RGB colour mode before you start. There are several ways you can do this but the most straight forward way is to simply drain away all colour by going through the menus Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to ensure the result stays in the RGB colour mode.

Using Photoshop CS4′s Variations Dialog Box

Found under Image>Adjustments>Variations (as shown below), the Variations preview window displays your image as a colour ring-around.

You’ll see your image in the centre box in its original state, surrounded by six colour variations, with a lighter and darker version on the right hand side (see the dialog box window below).

In the top right of the dialog box you’ll notice a slider for increasing or decreasing the ‘volume’ of your change. You can start out by pulling this slider all the way to the right (towards Coarse) to first get a good idea of the colours you’re working with. Then I would recommend that you pull the slider back all the way to the left (towards Fine) which is probably the best place to start in order not to over do the effect. You can always increase the ‘volume’ later if you think it’s needed.

Also notice in the top right of the dialog box how you can choose between toning the Shadows, Midtones, Highlights or Saturation of your image. The midtones are selected by default, but I suggest you experiment with what the other choices look like as well.

Click on any colour variation that looks good and watch it affect the centre image. For example if you click ‘More Cyan’ Photoshop will add the selected amount (Fine to Coarse) of cyan toning your image. If you click on ‘More Cyan’ again Photoshop will apply another increment of toning to your image.

You can apply as many adjustments as you like and if you go too far, just click on the ‘Original’ in the top left area of the dialog box to revert to your starting point.

This way of toning your images is probably one of the easiest and quickest way to achieve a nice over all toning of your images. The results you can achieve can look very nice though some people may argue the effect lacks the depth you can achieve by chemical toning in the darkroom.

Here is an example of an original monochrome image and three different toning results of the same image:

More Resources

If you’re looking for a great resource on learning more about digital photography and Adobe Photoshop in general, then check out Vincent Bockaert’s The 123 of Digital Imaging which has impressed even Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.

You can also check out the great Adobe Photoshop tutorials available at Lynda.com for more resources.

Finally I can also personally recommend many of the excellent courses at BetterPhoto.com. When I was starting out in photography I took 8 of the courses including a one with specialised training in Photoshop. Check them out.

The How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part Three
• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part Two
• How to do Advanced Toning in Photoshop CS4 – Part Four

“There are 1440 minutes in a day. In these minutes photographers capture a moment. These moments make up a day which lasts forever.”

This was the introduction to a recent exhibition held at the State Library of New South Wales where I have also had the pleasure to give a presentation of some of my own photography.

You can watch the five Sydney Morning Herald photographers behind the exhibition talk about their craft in these five separate and excellent videos giving a glimse into what it’s like to be a working newspaper photographer today.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Joel Sartore

In March 2010, as part of the Mardi Gras festival in Sydney, Australia, more than 5000 people stripped down for the official shot by the American photographer Spencer Tunick.

Tunick said the aim was to create a human base for the Sydney Opera House, but an article in the Sydney Morning Herald today discusses whether Tunick was successful or not, with suggestions it looks more like a pizza base, or a carpet of crushed prawns or shrimps.

People lining up for the Spencer Tunick shot at Sydney Opera House

Successful or not what’s somewhat more surprising to me is the number of people who find the Sydney Opera House shot more gimmick than art. As of the time and date of this post 44% out 7,207 people voted the shot more gimmick than art according to an online interactive poll published in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

I must admit I’m among the 44%. What about you?

What do you think of Spencer Tunick’s photography?

If you missed the Opera House shot here is a brief video from the morning of the shoot:

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Ooops! Sorry, there are no related articles yet…

The team at Craft & Vision has released a new eBook and this one I’ve really been looking forward to with great anticipation!

I have reviewed some of the previous releases from Craft & Vision over the past couple of months in these posts:

• Ten Ways to Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear
• Vision Is Better. Free the Mind, Free the Camera.
• The Magic of Black and White
• VENICE

The Craft & Vision eBooks are fantastic because they represent such awesome value at just $5 each for beautifully designed eBooks. And if you buy around the release dates of new books you can usually pick up a 20% discount making them just $4 each (you can hardly buy a large latte for that kind of money!)

The new photography eBook released today is the third in the series ‘The Print & The Process’ and is titled Chasing Reflections by Eli Reinholdtsen.

Eli Reinholdtsen is a creative photographer who, through her unique and skillful approach to reflections, captures moments and juxtapositions that are truly an art form at its finest.

Reinholdtsen digs deep and shares tangible ways to scout, setup, and shoot complex and magical photographs that push the envelope of visual poetry. Her playful descriptions aren’t shy of digging deep into the techniques required to capture movement, timing and contrast.

Quiet frankly this book is almost worth its price just for the cover shot!

It’s an amazing photograph. It’s the type of image you can come back to again and again and it sets the tone for the rest of the book.

As the title indicates this book is all about reflections. I must admit I personally have a soft spot for reflection images. Therefore I’ve also looked forward to this release and I wasn’t disappointed.

The book is divided into the following sections:

• Introduction (The Premise)
• Photographs – 37 pages with one reflection image per page (The Print)
• Subjects, technique and tips (The Process)
• Thumbnails of each of image including technical settings and a brief of discussion of how each image was created.

Overall the 37 reflection photographs included in this book are dazzling and above all very inspiring. As with any large body of work though, you’re likely to like some of the images better than others, particularly because Reinholdtsen spoils us with such a varied selection of images.

Personally I think the selection of images could have been edited just a tiny bit tighter with two or three images letting the rest of the group down a little bit. When that’s said though I still find the overwhelming majority of the images incredibly inspiring and very well executed. As you’ll learn if you buy the book, some of these images have taken hours if not days to plan requiring a good amount of patience.

“I can walk around town for days on end with my camera. If I find a good backdrop with great light I can easily wait for an hour or so for the ‘right’ person to pass by and complete the image” Reinholdtsen writes.

In ‘The Process’ section of the book Reinholdtsen discusses her creative process and generously shares tips and techniques on how you can create powerful reflection images including topics like:

• Combining images
• Good light for reflection images (this one might surprise you)
• Mannequins and posters
• Layering technique
• Depth of field
• Angle of shooting
• Focus issues

You’ll also learn how the human form is a very powerful element in reflection images. For someone who tends to often leave the human form out of my images, this was an important lesson in itself. I find myself drawn to many of the images in this book where there is a strong presence of the human form.

I find this book to be an excellent – and very inspiring – resource on reflection images specifically. It’s a book I know I’ll return to again and again for inspiration.

You’ll notice that many of the images in Chasing Reflections are images where Reinholdtsen takes you on a small visual journey. The layered information contained in many of the images means that you can spend quite a bit of time with each image and discover new details or connections each time you return to an image. This is what is particularly wonderful about so many of Reinholdtsen’s images in this eBook.

At just $5 there really isn’t too much else to say than buy it. You won’t be disappointed!

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Once in a while you stumble upon stories that seem almost too good to be true. This is one such story. And at the center of it all is the grand master of landscape photography himself, the legendary American photographer Ansel Adams.

It all started in a small garage in Fresno, Southern California in year 2000. Rick Norsigian was attending a garage sale looking for antiques when he noticed two old boxes in the garage. He opened them and pulled out some old glass negatives with black and white landscape photographs.

“As a young man, I worked at Yosemite quite a bit. So, right away I recognized it as Yosemite” Norsigian said.

He decided to buy the glass negatives and started negotiating with the seller, finally negotiating the price down from US$70 to US$45 for the two boxes. The owner told Norsigian he had bought them in the 1940s at a warehouse salvage in Los Angeles.

In Glacier National Park, Montana. Photo by Ansel Adams.

Rick Norsigian kept the two old boxes under his pool table for two years before he realized the photos may be Ansel Adams photographs. This is when he started doing some more research. After four years he had done enough research to realize the plates could be valuable, so he decided to move them from under his pool table and placed them in a bank vault.

This proved to be a very wise decision.

Now the glass negatives have been authenticated and are valued at $US200 million, Norsigian has told a press conference.

Several experts, including a former FBI agent and a U.S. attorney, “came to the conclusion that, based on the evidence which was overwhelming, that no reasonable person would have any doubt that these, in fact, were the long-lost images of Ansel Adams,” Arnold Peter said, the lawyer who led the effort to authenticate that the negatives were made by the man known as the father of American photography.

Michael Nattenberg and Marcel Matley, two independent handwriting experts have stated that handwriting on the envelopes in which the negatives were found belonged to Adams’s wife, Virginia.

George Wright, a meteorological expert, has concluded that one of the pictures found in the Norsigian negatives was taken on the same day and time as one of Adams’s more famous images.

Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park. Photo by Ansel Adams.

Ansel Adams died in 1984, and was believed to have lost many of his negatives in a 1937 darkroom fire. It is estimate that the blaze destroyed as many as 5,000 negatives, and many of the negatives had never been developed into photographs.

Ansel Adams was one of the foremost nature photographers of his era, known for his images of the American west, especially Yosemite National Park.

Norsigian, who is 64, still works for the Fresno school system, but may retire this year putting a family high on the list of priorities after the valuation of his garage sale buy.

He’s not spoken with the man who sold him the two boxes a decade ago.

“If he’s still around, I’m afraid he may come looking for me” Norsigian said in an interview with CNN.

Books by Ansel Adams

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It’s been a little while since we have focused on a specific technique, so today I thought I would post this beginner’s guide on how to shoot water in motion.

Water in motion is a very popular subject and one that is constantly changing which makes it fun to photograph. Some might consider soft, silky water effects a bit of a cliché, but call it a cliché or not, it’s still a beautiful visual effect that often creates a certain mood in your photographs.

That’s especially true when it comes to slowing down the shutter speed enough to capture the soft movement you see in many flowing water mages.

But how slow is slow enough? To blur flowing or falling water, it’s a good starting point to set your shutter speed around 1/8th of a second and then work your way down to around half a second, and even all the way down to one full second or two. Longer exposure times increase the slow-motion effect.

Photographing water, however, is not really an exact science so it always a good idea to experiment and see which effect you like best.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

So how can you slow down your shutter speed?

Use Low Light

This means shooting in overcast light, deep shade, at sunrise, sunset or twilight or perhaps even indoors creating your own flowing water.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Set a Low ISO

When it comes to slow exposures the lower your ISO setting the better. Most of the time you’ll want to set your ISO to 100 or lower if your camera features lower ISO settings.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Small Aperture

Your lens’ smallest opening (the highest f/stop number) will automatically result in the slowest possible shutter speed for the given ISO setting and lighting conditions. In Aperture Priority mode simply choose a high f/stop number. The camera’s auto-metering system will then compensate for the small aperture by lengthening the exposure time.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Neutral Density (ND) Filters

A neutral density (ND) filter cuts down the amount of light entering your lens and therefore allowing for longer exposures. But a polarizing filter also blocks some of the light entering the lens, typically with 1-1/2 to 2 stops. Used in combination these two filters can achieve quite slow shutter speeds in low light situations.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

You’ll Need Your Tripod

Long exposures require a steady camera. So you’ll need to bring your tripod when you set out to photograph water in motion. It’s also a good idea to use a cable release or the self-timer function in combination with the mirror-lock mode if you have it (not all SLRs have this latter feature).

For more details refer also to How to Prevent Camera Shake When on a Tripod.

Consider the Speed of the Water

Slower-flowing water requires longer exposures to obtain the silky smooth look while fast or cascading water can be blurred with relatively ‘fast’ shutter speeds.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Distance to the Water

The more you magnify your subject in motion (i.e. either by physically moving in closer or by zooming in tighter with a zoom lens) the easier it is to blur it. More distant scenes require much slower speeds to convey that soft-movement look. So if you’re photographing with a wide angle lens from a cliff top (like I was in the image below) and want to blur the ocean you’ll need some really slow shutter speeds to achieve a soft, smooth effect in the water.

Image by Thomas Folke Andersen

Play

Make sure to “play” with your camera settings since the constantly changing water makes it difficult to tell exactly what you’ll get. Experimenting is key to successful water in motion images.

In other words shoot the same scene at a few different speeds and then compare the results on your monitor when you’re back home with a cup of warm coffee behind the screen.

Have fun photographing water in motion!

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Bruce Dale worked exclusively for National Geographic for 30 years. Bruce Dale’s assignments varied from undersea to aerial photography and from people to complex science subjects while working in over 75 countries.

With over two thousand photographs published by National Geographic, Bruce Dale’s vision and creativity twice earned him the title “Magazine Photographer of the Year.”

In 1989 he was named “White House Photographer of the Year” and more recently, his innovative work with digital imaging brought him honors from the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to many other awards, one of his photographs now journeys beyond the solar system on board NASA’s Voyager Spacecraft, as testimony about planet Earth.

One of his more memorable photos involved mounting two cameras on the tail of a Lockheed TriStar jumbo jet to make spectacular views of the big jet in flight. One, a 23 second time exposure, led to a three page gatefold in the Geographic – the other a cover on the magazine.

He considers his favorite images are those serendipitous moments totally alien to the well planned picture. “I actually plan on the unplanned picture in an attempt to capture the spontaneity and mood of the moment.”

Dale left National Geographic to pursue a blend of editorial and corporate and advertising photography. His book, The American Southwest, was published by National Geographic in January of 1999.

Watch this interview with Bruce Dale where he discusses some of his more memorable photos – includng his famous jumbo jet shot – from what is a very impressive portfolio spanning 30 years.

And then for a more relaxed presentation, sit back and watch this beautiful video by Bruce Dale titled “Aurora in Winter” (if you’re in the northern hemisphere this might just cool you down a bit in the middle of a warm summer).

For more on Dale’s work take a look at his website: www.brucedale.com.

In the Selected Photos section, you’ll find links to some interesting photos and how they were made.

You can find many interesting books and DVDs published by the National Geographic. Here are some of my favourite and recommended National Geographic publications:

P.S. For a full assortment of National Geographic products you might also want to have browse through the National Geographic Store.

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On the 7 July 2010 I wrote a post titled Attacks on Freedom of Expression which included a video detailing how photographers Carlos Miller and Stretch Ledford were banned for life from the Miami-Dade Metrorail in the U.S.

Now the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, has said that the British government is making street photography rights a priority in its review of anti-terrorism legislation.

This comes after several British photographer groups and advocates – including the I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! campaign – have been lobbying for photographers’ rights since broad and far-reaching anti-terrorism laws have been introduced in many countries post 9/11.

In a recent statement, May said:

“National security is the first duty of government but we are also committed to reversing the substantial erosion of civil liberties. I want a counter-terrorism regime that is proportionate, focused and transparent.”

The review will look at what counter-terrorism powers and measures could be rolled back “in order to restore the balance of civil liberties and counter-terrorism powers.”

Photo by lewishamdreamer

The review will focus on six areas – one of them being “stop and search powers in section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and the use of terrorism legislation in relation to photography,” said the British Home Secretary.

Section 44 was suspended last week. This is the controversial and broad provision that allowed authorities to stop and search anyone, and to seize property that could be used in connection with terrorism.

The I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! organization commented on their website:

“We are delighted at this news of the suspension of Section 44. We are sure photographers across the UK are looking forward to freely photographing in a public place without the being bullied by the police and corporate security guards.”

but continues:

“Unfortunately there are still a swathe of laws that police can and will still use to harass photographers, most notably Section 43, which is similar to Section 44 but requires an officer to suspect that you are a terrorist and Section 76 which makes it illegal to ‘elicit information about a police officer’ which includes photographing them.”

Here in Sydney, Australia world-renowned landscape photographer Ken Duncan is spearheading a Sydney rally to raise awareness about the eroding rights of photographers in Australia.

The details of the Sydney rally are:

Date: 29 August 2010

Time: 10:00am – 12:00 noon

Location: Near Campbells Cove on Sydney Harbour

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In June 2010 I decided to throw myself a photographic challenge; make photographs inside my home, every day for 30 days while trying to forget about the names or uses of everyday things and look at them simply for their visual aesthetic.

It’s now been 12 days since I finished my At Home project and I have had some time to live with the images.

The 30 days generated just under 1,000 images (some of which were small variations on the same subject) and I posted a daily image from the project here on the Photography 24/7 blog throughout June.

I have now edited the 30 images from June down to a more narrow selection of 12 photographs which I have also made available for sale as limited edition prints on my personal website www.folkeandersen.com.

Here is the final edit that I decided on:

Shadow of a Galaxy

zigzag

Retro Vue

Hidden Geometry

The Inscription

Artful Play

Pattern of Individuality

Hairline Crack

Splash

Beyond Beautiful

DNA

zigzag Reprise

In addition to the above images there were two other images from the project that I really liked; The Eye of the Glass and Light Sculpture.

Both of these images, however, turned into small mini series on their own and these two mini series can also be seen on my personal website www.folkeandersen.com.

You can also view my “At Home” series and the final edit in my flickr stream.

I’d love to hear your feedback – positive or negative – so don’t hesitate to leave me a comment here or over on flickr.

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• At Home: “Light Sculpture”
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It seems us photographers (professional, part-time and amateurs alike) are slowly losing our rights to the freedom of expression.

Photographing in public places is becoming increasingly difficult post 9/11 and often means you’ll be subjecting yourself to questioning or even harassment by people in authoritative positions.

While taking pictures in public places for commercial purposes usually requires a permit is fair enough, what about taking pictures for your own personal enjoyment, personal projects, editorial purposes or simply for the sake of art and documenting life in general?

Sadly, it seems, every person who has a camera can be threatened with unjust laws and regulations these days.

Recently photographers Carlos Miller and Stretch Ledford were banned for life from the Miami-Dade Metrorail in the U.S..

Ironically the ban came after the two photographers had planned to ride the Metrorail through three stations to see if anybody would try to stop them from taking pictures of the trains.

They didn’t even make it inside the first station!

You can watch the video from their ‘metro adventure’ here or you can read Carlos Miller’s version of events on his blog or take a look at Stretch Ledford’s version of events on his blog.

Protest Rally in Sydney, Australia

Here in Sydney, Australia world-renowned landscape photographer Ken Duncan is spearheading a Sydney rally to raise awareness about the eroding rights of photographers in Australia.

You can read the Press Release about this rally below…

PHOTOGRAPHERS TO PROTEST ATTACKS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Australian photographers are losing their rights to freedom of expression. And it doesn?t matter whether they are full-time professional, part-time or strictly amateur, as every person who has a camera can be threatened with unjust laws and regulations.

“However the bureaucrats who have drafted the new regulations restricting photography have clearly forgotten that”. Mr Duncan said that landscape photographers such as Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis helped to instil a pro-conservation mindset amongst Australia?s people, while other photographers such as Max Dupain had produced iconic images that would be treasured for many decades to come. But he said that unless the draconian laws that were currently in place were not rolled back that all types of photography would be affected and that our society as a whole would be diminished as a result.

Date: 29 August 2010

Time: 10:00am – 12:00 noon

Location: Near Campbells Cove on Sydney Harbour

Photo by lewishamdreamer

How About You?

Have you ever encountered difficulties, been questioned or even harassed while photographing (or trying to photograph) in a public place?

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This year the New York Institute of Photography celebrates having educated photographers for 100 years.

The New York Institute of Photography was founded in 1910 and is the world’s largest and oldest photography school. NYIP offers affordable home-study courses to students all over the world who want to learn the skills needed to make great photographs.

If you’re thinking about taking your photography to the next level then take a look at these three different courses offered by the New York Institute of Photography:

1. Complete Course in Professional Photography

In this course you can learn what it takes to become a professional photographer. NYIP will train you on both digital and film-based cameras. You’ll learn about lighting, using a darkroom and all secret techniques that the pro’s use. If you truly love photography and want to learn all about it, then this is the course for you.

2. Digital Photography Complete Course: Adobe Photoshop for Photographers

This is a complete course in digital photography and will teach you everything there is to know about Adobe Photoshop. You’ll learn how to retouch photos, post pictures on the web and how to take better digital photographs.

3. Short Course: Fundamentals of Digital Photography

If you’ve just purchased your first digital SLR or are making the switch from film to digital, this course will show you how to take great photos. Designed for the digital SLR beginner, this program will cover the basics of digital photography.

For more details about these courses you can request a free NYIP course catalogue or you can head over the NYIP website to browse for more information. I would also recommend that you visit the NYIP Student Center where you can find a long list of interviews with past NYIP students along with student success short stories.

NYIP as a Free Photography Resource

In addition to the professional photography courses offered by NYIP, you can also find a whole lot of great free photography content on the NYIP website.

The website is a great photography resource packed full with informative and instructional articles about everything from sports photography, air show photography, flower photography, macro photography and everything in between as well as more specific articles about topics like model releases, hyperfocal distance, camera cleaning etc.

For more details about NYIP and the professional courses they offer request your free NYIP course catalogue today.

Photo by onesevenone

In the interest of full disclosure please be advised that at the time of writing this post NYIP is an advertiser on the Photography 24/7 website, sponsoring a 125x125px ad space. However it should also be noted that this post has not been paid for in any way by NYIP. Photography 24/7 is also not being paid any commissions from users clicking on any of the links included in this article, nor is Photography 24/7  being paid any commissions if users buy a NYIP photography course after clicking on any of the links included in this article.

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Yesterday Makoto Kimura, President of Nikon Corporation, announced that entries for the Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 will be accepted between 1 September to 30 November 2010.

You can submit up to two images to either of the two categories – one with the theme ‘Energy’ and the other an open category.

There is a Nikon D3S digital SLR with two lenses up for grabs for the grand prize winner and with each of the two category winners receiving a Nikon D300S with flashgun and lenses. However there is a total of 53 prizes to be awarded in the contest.

So be sure to mark your calendars to remind yourself about this photo competition and get your entries in from 1 September 2010.

Entries will be judged by an impartial panel of well-known photographers currently active on the world stage.

Winners will be announced by the end of June 2011 on the Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 website.

You can find out more about the contest here.

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“Light Sculpture”

Thirty days go quickly. Today was the final day of my “At Home” project where I have been making photographs around my home every day throughout the month of June. This was all part of a self-imposed personal project designed to stimulate my own creativity. The limitation of only shooting at home amongst ordinary everyday things that you look at every day was the challenge.

Photography is like sport. You have to practice to stay on form.

Today started very, very tough. I was struggling to find subjects and images. I spent a great deal of time photographing steam from boiling water against a black background (this idea came up as I was making my tea tonight) but none of the images worked like I wanted them to.

Then I stumbled around for other subjects without much luck.

It was not until I stumbled over our spatula with holes that my creativity kicked into drive. Oh boy, what a difference a cup of peppermint tea makes! Things went from boring and uninspired, to fun and hugely inspired.

I made a total 45 images of this particular spatula with holes. I made in-focus images, out-of-focus images and several images using a combination of camera movement and a slow shutter speed. The latter images were the most fun. I love using camera movement in my images.

In fact I ended up with at least 5-6 spatula images that I really liked, and like on one of two previous occassions during this project I’m thinking about a little spin-off series from these spatula images. We’ll see…

It was a fun finish to a fun project. I have been really pleased with how this project has turned out. I look forward to perhaps editing down the 30 images to an even narrower edit.

Likewise there were also a few images that were edited out as outtakes on certain days which I never returned to. I will be re-visiting some of these images over the next few days as well.

I have definitely learned something about pushing your own creativity in the process of this project and I will share my thoughts on this in another post.

For now I will take a day or two to reflect on the project and then I will write one or two follow-up posts about the project. However first it’s time for little break for a day or two after 30 days of succesively posting.

Take care until then…

P.S. A big thank you to those of you who have followed the project and offered your comments and feedback. It has been much appreciated and has certainly contributed to being disciplined about the project. So thank you!

P.P.S. You can vote your thoughts on this project in the bottom of the sidebar to the right. Your feedback is much valued!

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“zigzag Reprise”

Today I returned to the same subject as I shot on day two of my “At Home” project.

It’s a beautiful Le Klint lamp which has been given to me by my parents, so aside from its aesthetics it also holds a certain amount of affectionate value. I grew up with this lamp and yet I still consider it contemporary.

While there are definitely similarities between this shot and the day two shot I still think there are enough differences to warrant including both in the project. In fact I think you could make 5-6 different versions of this lamp – it’s almost got enough interest for a whole little mini series of its own.

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“DNA”

Sometimes inspiration comes from the simplest of places. This shot is a detail study of my daughter’s yellow plastic comb backlit by an artificial light source which makes some of the imperfections in the plastic show up.

The pattern of small imperfections reminded me of a DNA pattern.

Only two more days left of my “At Home” project and then we will be returning to more normal ‘programming’ here at Photography 24/7.

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“Untitled”

Today is not one for many words. Today is one for sending out some thoughts of comfort into the universe and believe they will be received where they are needed.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

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