Thursday, November 30, 2006

The Creative Process

Thoughts and articles here on what good photography is and how to make it.

I've had enough of talking about gear.... and making vacuous eye candy...

I think the beginnings of good photography arise when one stops trying to show off what the camera and software are capable of and starts working on a process that focuses on a passion for a subject and the and intent of communicating an idea or feeling to the viewer in a aesthetically pleasing way.

I've created this archive as a place to expand my thoughts on this subject. More posts and links below...

In search of Quality
Quiet Times
On Craft Science and Art - Otis A Tomas - Luthier
The Ladder of Understanding
Petteri's Pontifications
Essays by Alain Briot
Article about Jay Maisel
Selecting a Subject

More discussion and links...HCSP thread.

Approach... excerpts from Magnum stories

Wear Good Shoes

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addit: march 2009.
Have been looking over my photos over the past 6-10 years. Quite an interesting process to see the change in emphasis and direction. Slowly seeing a certain style developing but still experimenting too much with different gear and techniques for this to really consolidate.

HAve been through many phases, experimenting with all sorts of techniques gear and post processing.

Now trying to be a bit more restrained and subtle in my presentation of subject matter. Looking to create photos which communicate and conjure feeling, which bring attention to the profound, quirky, awkward and clever. Steering away from in-your-face, commercial type photography, extremes of focal length, over use of DOF, overly vibrant colours, over processing. Not doing much pre-meditated shoots, but rather looking to capture serendipitous moments and quiet magical scenes.

Russell Brown - Advanced Masking Tute

Always had problems making nice masks with brushes, extract, colour range and lasso tools etc.

Here is a fantastic video tutorial by Russell Brown which cleverly uses channels to create a perfect mask.
http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/AdvancedMasking.mov

In summary..
1. Create channels adjustment layer. Click the monochrome checkbox.
2. Adjust channels for maximum contrast
3. Save merged image (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-Shift-C) as a new alpha channel in channels palette.
4. Increase contrast in alpha channel with Levels and Dodge and burn tools
5. Repeat for different parts of the image
6. Ctrl click the alpha channel icon to make it a selection
7. Ctrl shift click other channels to add them to selection
8. Click icon at bottom of channels palette to turn new added selection into a new channel.
9. Apply the new channel as a selection - ctrl click.
10. Get back to Layers and click layer mask to apply.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Perth Sunrise and Sunset times

A useful reference for planning "golden hour" photography.

Perth Sunrise and Sunset times

Friday, November 03, 2006

..

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr.

I'm getting a bit bored with my pbase gallery. I like the interaction and community at Flickr. when I get the time, I'm going to shut down the pbase galleries and move most of my image storage over to Flickr.

Here is an artice by Petteri on the merits of the Flickr photo site.

Check out my Flickr galleries HERE (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevyong/)