Book Review: The Photographers Eye by Michael Freeman
Posted on November 17, 2007 - Filed Under Culture, Photo | Leave a Comment
The Photographers Eye is a book about learning to see and visualize a photograph before you ever snap a picture. The composition and design of a photograph is one of those enigmas that some people seem to naturally have, while others have to work at to get it right. The fact is, though, the composition and design of an image is one of the most important aspects of your vision. To get it wrong is to lose the grasp of the viewer taking in your work.
The digital age has brought two new elements to design. First, there is the instant feed back from the camera. This gets the photographer more involved at conception. The second element is the image editing capabilities that are available today. These allow one to continue the design process long after the shutter has snapped.
The Photographers Eye sets out with the goal of making anyone envision and shoot great digital photographs. It intends to be different in that it wants to explore the actual process of taking photographs — to show how photographers compose an image. The Photographers Eye breaks down into six chapters covering 191 pages.
Chapter 1, "The Image Frame," examines how photographs are created within a spatial context called the viewfinder frame. You will look at frame shape, cropping, filling the frame, placement, and how to work with frames within frames.
Chapter 2, "Design Basics," shows how composition is essentially the organization of all the possible graphic elements within the frame. It is formed from graphic design principles and follows the same guidelines as would any other graphic art. These include Gestalt perception, balance, dynamic tension, patterns, visual weight, and content.
Chapter 3, "Graphic and Photographic Elements," explains what graphic elements are; two dimensional forms that appear within the picture frame. Because in painting and illustration there is no need to be realistic, abstract treatment is acceptable. Most times though, in photography, you have to use what is there to direct the viewer to your intentions. Here you will explore points, horizontal and vertical lines, curves, motion, moment, and exposure.
Chapter 4, "Composing with Light and Color," brings out what the effects of tone and color have on an image. Tone and color are two separate, yet related concepts that influence our perception of a photograph's meaning. Freeman explains the dramatic modeling through the use of lights and darks. You will examine chiaroscuro, color in composition, relationships of color, muted colors, and the use of black and white.
Chapter 5, "Intent," explains why, in the end, what determines the composition of a photograph is the purpose. What the purpose is should be examined before you make the compositional decisions. These intents can be reactive, planned, simple, complex, conventional, or challenging.
Chapter 6, "Process," within photography, is one of those things that is difficult to analyze. This is partially due to the fact that the composition and taking of the photo is, in comparison to painting and the other arts, one of relatively short duration. Many times even the photographer is unaware of the thought process, but nonetheless there is an evaluation and structure at play, and it is discussed in this chapter.
The Photographers Eye is one of those wonderful finds that brightens one's day, and gets them pumped up to go on a shoot. This, in my opinion, is one of the best books on composition I have ever had the pleasure to read. It is easy to read and not filled with empty jargon.
Even though the topic of design and composition is certainly subjective, the topics are concrete and can guide you down the path to understanding what works. It is very well thought out, it covers the hard basics: lines, shapes, and balance, as well as the more esoteric topics such as chiaroscuro, the search for order, and reactive thought.
If you are looking to improve the compositional aspect of your photography, if you want the design of your images to improve, then look no further than The Photographers Eye. I rate this a must have.
Resizor review
Posted on November 16, 2007 - Filed Under Digital, Photo | Leave a Comment
You always wanted to make some of your smaller size pictures taken maybe with an older digital camera bigger? Spent hours trying to achieve this in Photoshop or some other program just to see that the results aren’t what you were expecting. Now you have the perfect tool for that job and the best thing about it is that it is free.
This program is called simply Resizor. Its name came from two words, Resize and Razor. Program is quite simple. You can open the image you are working on, save the result, reset image size and process the image. When you load the image you can enter new pixel size or Image size, then you choose Method and resampling filter.
Resizor
You can choose between 15 resampling filters and by undoing the result you can choose which is the best solution for the image you are working on. When finished just click on save button and you are done.
Resampling filters:
- Hermite
- Box
- Bilinear
- Bell
- Gaussian
- Quadratic B-Spline
- Cubic B-Spline
- Lanczos
- Mitchell
- Cosine
- Catmull-Rom
- Quadratic
- Cubic Convolution
- Hamming
- Blackman
For the testing purpose I took a 100% crop from one of mine photos. Crop size was quite small 400px by 290px. Then I went and in Photoshop I changed its size to 1200px by 870px using Bicubic Smoother method. Then I went and did the same thing in Resizor. Experimented with different Resampling Filters and went for Lanczos resampling filter and Hermite resampling filter. Results are shown below
Lanczos filter
Hermite filter
As you can see on this crops Resizor brings a little bit more details to the photo and in the combination with many filters you can find the right one for your photo.
When I tried downsizing the original photo (3000×2000 px to 640x424px) it took program around 1 hour and 55 minutes to finish the process!!! Some kind of a software bug cause there is no logical explanation for that.
Razor is a free program and you can download it from this address. Program comes in one exe file and does not require installation.
Sony Ericsson W380 walkman phone
Posted on November 16, 2007 - Filed Under Digital | Leave a Comment
Sony Ericsson W380 Walkman phone : Sony Ericsson unveiled the latest addition to its Walkman mobile phone portfolio, along with new accessories. The Sony Ericsson W380 Walkman phone is a stylish new offering packed with features sure to set music lovers’ pulses racing. For the music fan on the move, the Sony W380 Walkman phone combines a unique clamshell design with all the music credibility users expect from Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phones. The phone packs in innovative features, including Gesture Control, that allow users to mute calls with a wave of their hand. There is also an external display that comes to life only when you need it; to show the name of a music track or to let you know who is calling.
 Sony Ericsson Walkman phone “With the Sony Ericsson W380 mobile phone, we address the needs of young, fashion-conscious music lovers, OnOne Software Announces Essentials 2 for Adobe Photoshop ElementsPosted on November 15, 2007 - Filed Under News, Photo | Leave a Comment
OnOne Software has announced Essentials 2 for Adobe Photoshop Elements in Windows and Mac versions. The updated plug-in suite offers additions adopted from onOne’s software collection, including color-correction functions from PhotoTune, image masking tools from Mask Pro, border-creation tools from PhotoFrame, and resizing technology from Genuine Fractals. Another new feature included in version 2 of the Essentials package is a revamped “Make It Better” tool, which lets users quickly optimize image color, contrast, and brightness by comparing adjusted images side by side and selecting the most visually appealing. The Essentials 2 suite is available for $59.95 or as a free upgrade for current users of Essentials for Adobe Photoshop Elements. For more information, go to the onOne Web site. Hands On: Nikon D3Posted on November 14, 2007 - Filed Under Cameras, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment
The Nikon D3 ($5,000, street, body only) may not be within reach of most photographers’ budgets, but that won’t stop them from dreaming about this amazing pro camera. We’ll find out precisely how amazing it is when we put a production version through the gauntlet of image-quality and performance tests in the Pop Photo Lab. But based on our extensive hands-on experience using a fully operational (but not fully testable) model, we believe this might be the greatest camera Nikon has ever built. The D3 has enough unique features and technology to fill a book — and no doubt several are already in progress. In the meantime, here are five reasons we are so high on it: 1. Rock-solid build and sophisticated design. Fujifilm FinePix F50fd review Cameralabs introductionPosted on November 14, 2007 - Filed Under Digital, Ratings, Reviews, Tips | Leave a Comment
PhotogrpahyBLOG reviews the Fujifilm Finepix F50fd and writes – ‘The Fujifilm Finepix F50fd is a frustrating beast. On one hand it offers a number of significant improvements when compared with the older F31fd, but on the other it takes a serious backwards step in terms of image quality, which is ultimately what every camera should primarily be judged by. We whole-heartedly gave the F31fd a Highly Recommended award one year back at the start of 2007, commenting “this compact camera still has no rivals in terms of low-light performance”. This time around, the F50fd is no longer the low-light leader that the F31fd was.’
Canon EOS 40D Review at DPexpertPosted on November 12, 2007 - Filed Under Photo | Leave a Comment
HP Photosmart R937 reviewPosted on November 12, 2007 - Filed Under Cameras, Reviews | Leave a Comment HP Photosmart R937 digital camera review : During HP labs event in Lisbon every participant received a digital compact camera to play with for one week. Of course this is an ideal way to get acquainted with the latest top model of the American brand. Certainly an experience that asked for more, so right after this we requested a model to put to the test and to offer you an extensive HP Photosmart R937 review. HP Photosmart R937 – Huge touch screen HP R937 – 8.15 Megapixel camera resolution
Master Class: Liquid LightPosted on November 11, 2007 - Filed Under News, Photo | Leave a Comment
WaterDance was published in 1995, and shortly thereafter Schatz and his wife and savvy manager, Beverly Ornstein, relocated from Marin to Manhattan. That move also marked the end of Schatz’s medical career after several years of photographic sabbaticals. The couple kept the house, though, so that Schatz could keep shooting in its pool. He went back four or five times a year to continue his own projects and also to do the growing number of paying assignments that his underwater work was attracting. Over the years these have included editorial work for Vogue, GQ, Sports Illustrated, O magazine, and Time (for which he has shot many covers); fashion work for Carolina Herrera, Giorgio Armani, and Joseph Abboud; and advertising work for companies ranging from McDonald’s to Brizo, maker of high-end bath and kitchen fixtures. For a sense of how prolific the photographer is, visit howardschatz.com. In 2001, Schatz and Ornstein bought a house in Connecticut — giving the photographer the opportunity to design his own swimming pool from the bottom up. “There’s probably no other pool like it in the world,” he says. “I can light from any direction, any side, from the top or bottom, with as much complexity and control as in a regular photo studio.” Though the new pool is outdoors, it’s covered with an inflatable clear dome that allows him to shoot year-round. It also lets him incorporate outside light into his images. “Mostly I use strobe because I like to control things,” says Schatz, who works with a variety of light types and silks up to 20 feet square. “But I sometimes slow the shutter speed enough to bring in natural light as fill, and I sometimes shoot by direct sun because of the shadows it creates and the way ripples in the water break it up.” Either way, Schatz’s spectacular lighting skills also depend on light-modifying devices such as reflectors placed under the water. Schatz’s control extends to the pool water itself. He heats it to an unusually high 92 degrees — exactly the temperature of skin — so that he and his subjects can shoot all day without the risk of hypothermia. (That’s especially important for his subjects, whether dancers or models, because they usually have so little insulating body fat.) He chemically removes the pool’s chlorine on the day of a shoot so that his models won’t squint. “In a lot of underwater photographs, if you look closely you can see their eyes burning,” he says. Schatz even keeps the pool’s pH — its acid-alkaline balance — at 7.4, the same as human blood and tears. “You get into the pool and say, Ah, this is paradise,” he says. “My models can open their eyes and be beautiful.” That’s clear to see in the latest of his many books, H2O (Bulfinch, $60), a stunning monograph of his underwater work. One other bit of chemistry is crucial to the success of his images, Schatz explains. “I make the shoot happy,” he says. “I refrain from using the word ‘No.’ I’m encouraging and complimentary. I always try to find something positive, so that the experience, even though it’s really hard work for the subject, is satisfying.” Schatz feels that this atmosphere lets him push beyond simply getting the shot. “There are times that the models do such a good job that I might say, I feel like I got the picture, we probably can quit, but since we’re both having such a good time why don’t we take some chances, not constrain anything and see where we can take it.” Despite Schatz’s tight control over his set and subjects, he still believes accident plays an important part in his photography, most of which has actually been done on dry land. “I feel as if I can always make a good picture,” he says. “But to make something incredible is really hard, and unlikely, and evanescent. To do that you need to allow a feeling of freedom within your direction, so that the model isn’t afraid to improvise. You need a willingness to take chances, and to be a little crazy.” Hands On: Olympus E-3 Digital SLRPosted on November 11, 2007 - Filed Under Digital, Photo, Reviews | Leave a Comment
If the Olympus E-1, the company’s first high-end DSLR, never caught on among pros, you can blame its painfully slow, insensitive autofocus system. But one look at the new Olympus E-3 ($1,700, estimated street, body only) was enough to convince us that, this time around, Olympus has come up with not just a much better AF system, but a much better camera all around. Our impression comes from using a preproduction, fully operational camera that wasn’t ready for testing in the Pop Photo Lab. We expect it to do at least as well on the image quality front as the company’s consumer-level Evolt E-510, since the E-3 packs a similar 10.1MP Live MOS sensor (manufactured by Panasonic). Because of its smaller size and 4:3 aspect ratio, the E-3 will also have a 2X 35mm lens factor. While 10.1MP isn’t on the bleeding edge of resolution in this price category, the E-3′s advanced image processing may suppress noise even further than the E-510 at ISOs up to ISO 3200. • Product Gallery The E-3 feels rock-solid, well balanced and easy to hold. The body, comprising a three-piece, molded, magnesium-alloy shell and impressive gasketing and weathersealing, alone puts it in pro territory. Olympus improved the pentaprism viewfinder — larger, with better eye relief and none of the E-1 ‘s tunnel-vision effect. The company claims the viewfinder offers nearly 100 percent accuracy and 1.15X magnification. Another noticeable improvement: Unlike its predecessor, the E-3 has both a pop-up flash and wireless flash control for three flash groups (with four channels each). Kudos to the 2.5-inch LCD monitor, which can be swung to the side and turned up and down (for overhead or waist-level shooting), as well as turned inward for protection. « go back — keep looking » |
CameraLabs reviews the Fujifilm FinePix F50fd and writes – ‘So if you were hoping the F50fd was the new high ISO performance leader, prepare for a disappointment. It may be no worse than rivals, but it’s certainly no better. Where the F50fd does score though is its no-nonsense approach to common activities like indoor flash photography. Like the F30 / F31fd before it, the new FinePix is a great indoor party camera, focusing and exposing faces perfectly and increasing the ISO (if you allow it) to record greater background detail. Outdoors it also performs well and offers manual control over the aperture and shutter for creative effects.’ 
DPexpert reviews the CANON EOS 40D DSLR and writes – “This is a fine camera with worthwhile advances on its predecessor. Canon has dominated this segment of the market for DSLRs between $2000 and $3000, but now faces stiff competition. The Sony A700, the Nikon D300 and the Olympus E-3 are coming soon, which means four superb cameras to choose from in the price range. Camera shops have already discounted the 40D to around $2600, so expect some serious price cutting.” 
