YOUR FIRST HOME PHOTO STUDIO

Photography can be expensive…but it doesn't necessarily have to be.
If your a pro, you more than likely need pro equipment—and it ain't cheap.
BUT
if you are an amateur, or a part-timer (maybe a graphic designer who does a handful of product shots and the odd headshot or two here and there;-) you can set up your studio with some "McGyver" ingenuity and a few bucks.

There are tons of "photo-teacher-celebrities" now on Youtube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion who have some great ideas of how to start. I personally have enjoyed the "stick-n-stones" photo studio guy, Joe Edelman with his T-8 fluorescent (pseudo kinoflo) track panels [and later LED ones btw], and many, many others.

I personally have discovered the joy of reading labels. For example, not any fluorescent tubes can be used! T8 fluorescent tubes (with their higher refresh rate, 85 or better CRI rating, and daylight color-balance  of 5800 -6200K) are best.

The SLANTED LENS offered this one up a while ago, but with several students asking how to get by "on-the-cheap,"  I think it bears re-examining.

F-stoppers article on "HOW TO CRITIQUE"

Anyone who has ever taught a class (or taken one for that matter) can feel the pain of a poor critique.

There is always the one student who "likes it," or "just doesn't like it," without any clarification as to what specifically they are identifying, and as to whether it is a personal preference or an overriding technical or compositional error.

Then there is the other who is worried about being perceived as "the jerk," preferring to identify every single piece as worthy of hanging in the MET… whether that is the case or not.

You often have to give guidelines for critiques, and this article by F-Stoppers' Mark Bowers focuses primarily on photography, but much of it rings true throughout all visual art.

iPHONE-ography?

The following is a blog post from ERIC KIM. In it, he makes some compelling arguments about iPHONE/Smartphone photography (after all… the best camera is the one that you always have on you) while mixing in some common sense photography foundations, and advice on how to achieve those foundations in a smartphone sphere.

He also sells products (workshops and literature), but I think the free stuff on this site is incredibly useful for budding iPhone-photographers.

While I'll readily admit that the commercial market may not be ready for product shots done on a smartphone (save for viral marketing/social media campaign types of things), in the fine-arts sphere, It is no less valid than any other form of image production.

With entire group shows at fine arts galleries across the world, and even full-length movies being done on smartphones (and tablets), why resist the technological marvel that you likely have on you at all times. It certainly exceeds many of my early cameras.

Business Card Inspiration

As an instructor, I post quite a lot of this type of site— the "inspiration sites." I love the craft of designing a business card, and often the examples I refer to  take the format of the business card to completely new dimensions: stainless steel cards, cards printed on wood, innovative shapes, and incredible folding forms.

Every so often though, I like the more restrained. The reality of being a designer is that the vast majority of clients aren't amenable to spending a small fortune to print on custom fabricated fiber-glass and aluminum cards using specially formulated ink. The parameters of the pragmatic job also require occasional external inspiration.

Here's a site that focuses on that.

http://design4users.com/2016/08/03/d4u-inspiration-business-card-as-an-art/

10 Powerful Photoshop Techniques every Photographer Should Know

I recently came across this video on a Photography site that I frequent (Petapixel). Its provocatively entitled "10 Powerful Photoshop Techniques every Photographer Should Know."
Many times (as Petapixel contributor DL Cade states) these articles are a bit of a letdown. I found a few of the approaches in this video pretty interesting and not too basic nor too difficult.

Its worth a view on a lazy weekend, and at 36 minutes long it covers several topics.

1. Face Aware Liquify Filters | 0:53
2. Color Lookup Tables | 4:30
3. Transform a Selection | 8:07
4. Frequency Separation | 9:03
5. Calculations for Selecting Hair | 15:06
6. Selective Sharpening w/ High Pass | 20:46
7. Color Range on Live Mask | 24:12
8. Curves | 27:21
9. Combine Adjustment Layers with Blend Modes | 29:50
10. Camera RAW filter on anything (Use Dehaze for interesting contrast) | 32:28

of course, this is a sample for a product that the video's authors (Tutvid) are hawking for a small fee...but I don't mind the free teasers that these places toss to us every so often. Enjoy.

Ever want to take a Stanford Course in Digital Photography…for FREE?

Marc LeVoy, a Google employee and "visiting" lecturer at Stanford, recently put a free copy of his University Course online via Google Sites, for FREE ACCESS. While it may lack some of the full lecture support (a good deal of it, however, is in Video format via YOUTUBE) it is pretty much the Stanford Undergrad course he delivered.

Check it out here.

TYPOGRAPHY from the APPLE WWDC

Every so often, the powers that be at Mac have a HUUUGE get together in the form of their Worldwide Developer Conference. While it could be argued that this is a conference primarily for Apple Partners (especially their developers), they have incredibly informative and educational seminars and presentations.

Not that the practical type user thinks about the issues of TYPOGRAPHY in their everyday work life—but those in any graphic communication discipline ought to.

While this presentation goes near the half-hour mark, it includes an incredibly rich introduction to basic TYPOGRAPHY as it is used practically within applications. If you are at all curious about the discipline of typography, and are willing to listen to this introduction, you'll be rewarded with a very good basic introduction to typography (with a bit of application development and the integrated usage of fonts in the mix.

Check it out
[click image for link]

Going Mirrorless

I am switching to a mirrorless camera. I'm doing it with baby-steps (entry-level APSC size…although the full frame is only a few hundred extra, outside of ISO and CROP, the difference are becoming less impactful for basic image quality, and I can always upgrade).

There is, however, a learning curve with this. I find I am much more comfortable shooting with a traditional DSLR--even though the resolution and IQ are lower on them—I don't yet feel comfortable shooting (and it shows at this point). I find that the images I shoot with the DSLR look like I am more comfortable. It's hard to articulate fully, since its not just one thing (composition, technical, etc.) but things look a little stiff and safe.

There is SOOOO MUCH to learn...The menus (and sub menus, and sub-sub-menus, and hidden menus; and of course the options and sub-options for all) are dizzying. The fact that the lenses take a bit of getting use to, as well as the exciting prospect of using old lenses from a variety of manufacturers on the camera and using "assisted manual focusing" are also part of the curve.

But I KNOW that the payoff is very real. The advantages will be well worth the growing pains.

We (the human animal) love the familiar, and often have an initial fear, suspicion, or confusion associated with the new. When we move to a new location, when we get a new car, or new television (etc.) with sooo many new and unfamiliar features, we need time to assimilate.

So I will continue watching videos and reading up on the new technology. I will ignore the part of me that tries to push me backwards technologically, and push forward and embrace the new (while maintaining an objective viewpoint about those items that are not necessarily better).

Kinda like life, no?

RAW Processing test

I read an article about the differences between the various ways different RAW processors handle files, and decided I wanted to try it with a "backyard shot." The shots lack any compositional or artistic merit, but they have a range of edges and tones that simultaneously allowed me to test a new camera and lens.

I shot the scene in daylight, and then again after sunset (at 3200 iso setting). I also was simultaneously checking the autofocus on this camera and lens combo with the zoom fully wracked out at the 210mm/tele end.

Take a peak at the results and see what you think. It looks to me like Phase1 or DxO gave me the  best results—but you may find another attribute within the photos lacking.
[click image to see the Flickr gallery]

RULE OF THIRDS...

The Rule of Thirds is one of those time honored compositional norms that have been taught (and held to) for years in the world of Photographic Composition. Every once in a while, I'll get a student who will question "the rules" of composition and the need to have any rules at all. While I will conceded the rules can sometimes be broken to positive effect, more often than not they are a sort of structure for the photo that one may not even be aware of.

I like to give students the analogy of kid who writes songs while strumming on his guitar: he may know chord structure, and think out a "I, IV, V chord progression" in advance.

He may also just strum and pluck in bed without the knowledge of structure. He strums and plucks until he hears something that sounds nice, and writes it down onto paper. After looking at his song (or maybe after learning chord progressions) he realizes that the I, IV, V chord progression is present.

Not every photographer will think out the composition in advance. Some will shoot and shoot and shoot, and then find that one shot in the mix that works well...to realize later than one of the compositional rules is present.

Back when I was an undergrad shooting B/W film (we walked to school barefoot, uphill both ways as well btw ;-) we had to shoot with quite a bit of forethought. Film rolls had 24 to 36 shots on them. You had to fight with the snooty grad students for developing time, and the process of developing negatives and making prints cost quite a bit of time and money. Compound that by the fact that when you took your pics, you never knew with complete certainty what you were going to get until the darkroom phase.

Fast forward to now.
Film is just a quaint artisanal remnant to many. Students have digital SLRs capable of totally blowing away my 35mm Fujica film camera...and can shoot (and even edit) right on the camera. The number of shots is limited only by your memory card, and memory is cheap these days. If you didn't nail composition in the camera, you can easily do so in post with more ease than cropping on a darkroom enlarger (and lest you think me "holier-than-thou," I am guilty as charged also).

But getting it nailed in camera is still the gold-standard. Figuring out what you are seeing, and then creating the communicative image of that is key, and composition can help to unlock it.

Without further adieu— I present the RULE OF THIRDS as explicated by Mr. Levi Sim on PHOTOFOCUS.

INFOGRAPHIC ON ESSENTIAL WEB PAGE FEATURES…

"INFOGRAPHICS" amaze me. They are the very essence of visual communication…communicating the essential information that you need to know in a quickly processed "chunk of visual deliciousness."
If I had my way, all chapters in textbooks would contain an INFOGRAPHIC at the beginning.

I stumbled upon this infographics for the "50 Features That Every Small Business Website Must Have." 
While this deals with web, it is much more about effective marketing communications, so all designers may want to take a peek. (from B2C)

http://www.business2community.com/infographics/50-features-every-small-business-website-must-infographic-01474284#bd2FwWV9mSgMzdgs.97

FREE DESIGN GOODIES!

I love finding other bloggers and blog ad digest posts with downloads for the "hungry" student. @3 sites with free stuff for you. HEY…you're a student, and there is free stuff out there. 'Nuff said.

http://www.webdesigndev.com/free-design-goodies-download/