When A**holes Do Good Work
The Online Photographer: When A**holes Do Good Work
The Bruce Gilden video we linked to the other day has brought up a lot of comments, including a fair number that are strongly positive and a fair number that are strongly negative. It brings up an issue that I found myself wrestling with again just the other day: What do you do about good work done by a**holes?
Update Your Camera Firmware
Updating your camera firmware can improve things like menu navigation, bracketing options, noise reduction, high ISO performance, focusing precision, auto white balance improvements, and more. Updates to firmware can also include proper functionality with new camera accessories such as vertical grips, flash units, and lenses. And, brand new cameras will often have some “bugs” that get resolved through firmware updates (”5D’II black dots” ring any bells?).
So here’s the basic process of updating your camera firmware — it’s not hard, you just have to follow the directions given by the manufacturer. And this stuff should hold true for ALL digital cameras, not just dSLR cameras.
Ten Thousand Pictures of You
Ten Thousand Pictures of You on Vimeo
An exhilarating rollercoaster ride through the animated pictures of Sarah’s world, as she gets revenge on the man who broke her heart!
Written, Directed & Edited by Robin King
Starring Denise Hoey, David Crow, Ruth LarkinThis pixilation (stop-motion animation using real people) was made in 2006 for Screen South as part of the UK Film Council’s Digital Shorts scheme. As much as possible, it was made ‘in camera’ without digital superimposure, using thousands of printed materials.
In answer to some of the questions below and others I’ve been frequently asked:
The whole film took about a year: roughly three months each for development, prep, shoot and post – although due to the nature of the film, part of the post bled into the shoot.
The programs I used were Photoshop, Premiere 6.5 and some bespoke programs I coded myself (a 3D animatic planning program and another to smooth out some of the tracking shots). To be honest my machine and the software weren’t up to what I needed from them, and I would have a much better time of it now, with my macbookpro, FCP and a tablet…
I used a Canon Eos 350D Digital SLR to shoot, and took roughly 26,000 photos overall.
The importance of focus and quick tips on how to get it right
The importance of focus and quick tips on how to get it right | Photodoto
Focus in photography is about a lot more than simply sharpness or being able to see what you are looking at. Focus can enhance a subject by making it stand out from or blend into its surroundings, focus can draw you in, and the right focus can create an emotional connection with the viewer. No matter what style of photography you enjoy, focus can work for you or against you.
The Beauty of Urban Decay
The Beauty Of Urban Decay | Inspiration | Smashing Magazine
The city is a fantastic source of beauty and inspiration, with all the glitz and glamour glistening beneath the city lights. But there is another side of the city altogether, one rife with its own kind of allure. Across the tracks, away from the dazzle of downtown, lies a darker imagination, this one looking to grunge-ridden, dilapidated architecture for inspiration. There is a beauty that pervades this kind of urban decay and captured wonderfully through a photographer’s well-trained eye. These industrial city scenes are wonderfully dark and offer a glimpse of the weathered face beneath the city facade.
In this inspirational installment, we take a tour and show the charm of a more neglected and worn side of the city. We showcase the beauty of urban decay, a series of photos of this eroded elegance that photographers have captured brilliantly. These gorgeously grungy images have a haunting appeal, a stirring quality that radiates from within and that earned them a spot on this list.
Black and White for the Digital Era
You might think that creating black and white images in the digital age is as easy as loading your digital image in Photoshop and converting to greyscale. While that will get you a monochrome image it will be a pale imitation of the same photo shot with black and white film. But don’t despair, great black and white imagery is easy to obtain from digital images; you just need to know the best ways to process them. In this article Harold Davis goes into some of the processing methods you should be aware of.
Black and White for the Digital Era – O’Reilly Digital Media Blog
Outfit Your Camera Like a Pro
Dealzmodo Hack: Outfit Your Camera Like a Pro (Hobo)
Whether your camera is brand new or an aging holdover, you want to accessorize it, but you don’t want to pay. By now, you know the Dealzmodo Hack drill: Paying is for suckers.
For decades, photographers have engineered little tricks to get the most out of their cameras, and most of them have carried just fine over the digital divide. Here are a few, with some newer additions collected by our friends at Lifehacker.
Thanks from “Lady Nicole”
You should know by now that Nicole Palmer was conferred honorary member status at the meeting in December. She sent these words of thanks and asked that they be published here.
The year is not even 2 days old and HPS has already managed to impress me again with our new Web and Blog sites that I immediately want to take this opportunity to thank you, not only for this, but also for the great honor bestowed on me at the last meeting.
It was indeed a total surprise to receive the title of "Honorary" member, I was very touched by this.
The "Knighting" ceremony was great fun and marked the occasion with the usual touch of care, creativity and humor that this wonderful Club of ours always surrounds its members with.
I became a "serious" photographer in 1991 and have been involved with the Helderberg Club ever since, so you can guess that it is an integral part of my life and although I find our programme interesting and stimulating, the best part for me is the support and camaraderie we never fail to find at our meetings.
I would like to tell my companions that in turn their encouragement and friendship has helped me tremendously to grow in my photographic career and I am deeply thankful for everyone’s contribution and assistance along my road of creativity.
Once again I thank you all for this recognition and will do my best to live up to it.
Wishing you all a very good 2009 and may your images be perfectly composed and skillfully photoshopped.
With love from the new desk and new swivel chair of
LADY Nicole!
2009 January – Competition Winners
Here are the winners of the January competition for which the set subject was Silhouette.
Please note that only digital images are available for display.
Prints
Set Subject
- Silhouette in the Storm
Bernard Seymour-Hall - Come On, Hurry Up
JJ van Heerden - Sunset at Signal Hill
Neels Beyers
Open
- Slow Currents
Paul Hayes-Gregson - Overberg Waterfall
Nettie Warncke - Sunset at Signal Hill
Neels Beyers
Projected Images
Set Subject
- Bubble Silhouette
Michele Moss - Snow Silhouette
Bernard Seymour-Hall - Richtersveld
JJ van Heerden
Open
- Eaten Away By Wind
Neels Beyers - Ascent
Irmel Dunaiski - Reflections on Foil
Kerry Jones
Helderberg Photographic Society 