Articles on Photography
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Musings on Art
The Monday Night Group (or, how to improve your photography in one hour a week)
I've been a member of the Monday Night New Work Review Group since 1998, and I think it's done wonders to improve the quality of my photography.
The principle is simple - meet every other week with a bunch of photographers, everyone brings new work, and you spend the evening reviewing the new work.
It's simple. It's fun. It's inexpensive. And, it works.
Hunter-Gatherer or Farmer?
There are two types of photographers in the world, and I divide them neatly in this article on two different approaches to landscape photography
Ability, Accomplishment, and Art
Some musings on the difference between ability and accomplishment, and what that difference means to us as artists.
The Flash of Recognition, (or Why I Photograph)
A few of my thoughts on what makes for a great photograph, segueing into why I make photographs.
Art is a Verb, not a Noun
Some thoughts on the trend toward art that tries to be outrageous, why people make such art, and what we can do about it.
Film Development and Scanning
Getting the Most From Your Scanner - Choosing Scanner Software
I borrowed a USAF 1951 test target to continue the experiments with scanning described in the article below. When I scanned it using both the Microtek software for my ArtixScan 1800f and with Silverfast AI, I got a heck of a surprise. Check it out.
Scanning B&W negatives in color
I took a few minutes off from the process tuning work, and checked out the results of scanning B&W negatives in color and converting to grayscale in Photoshop. The results surprised me, and they'll probably surprise you, too!
Tuning the Hybrid Film/Digital process Part one - film calibration
Although I'm always looking at the current contenders for replacing large format film with digital capture, they're not there yet. So, I've decided to see how much the hybrid film/digital process can be optimized if we are willing to tailor negatives to scanning instead of printing on gelatin-silver papers.
The first step in this optimization process is to get complete control of film development for a variety of developers and the films I regularly use.
The result is a huge table of film development times and temperatures, for N-2, N-1, N, N+1, N+2, for D-76 (both straight and 1+1), Microdol-X (both straight and 1+3), and XTOL (straight, 1+1, 1+2, 1+3).
I'm like those zany Scrubbing Bubbles - I do the work, so you don't have to!
And check back for parts 2, 3, etc. Now that I have the development stuff done, I'm ready to get started with the interesting stuff.
Digital Printing
How Big Can You Print?
The first question everyone asks when they find out I'm using an EOS-5d is "How big can you print?" That turns out to be a simple question with a complicated answer. Prints from digital capture and film capture scale differently, so the answer is "It depends". In fact, it depends on a lot of different factors.
Digital Myth #1 - Staircase Interpolation
For some time now, I've been very dubious about claims that you're better off uprezzing an image in steps of 10%, rather than just doing it all in one shot.
It's time to put it to the test. I compare the results of photoshop's bicubic, bicubic smoother, and the much ballyhooed Staircase Interpolation method, and we look at the results to see which is best.
Conclusion: don't bother with staircase interpolation.
Anatomy of a Photograph
Some time ago, a really great photographer (Doug Plummer) came over, and we did some digital printing of one of his photographs so he could get a feel for what digital output is like.
Afterwards, Doug commented that he'd wished he'd seen me edit a photograph (using Photoshop) from scratch, so that he could see how I went about it. That idea stayed in my mind, and just recently it occurred to me that I could write a very interesting article which showed each step taken.
And that's what I've done with Anatomy of a Photograph - and you can switch back and forth between 'before' and 'after' versions for each step, by rolling the mouse cursor onto and off of the image.
(going off) The Silver Standard
For something like 80 years, black and white photography has been dominated by what I call the Silver Standard - the air dried, glossy, fiber-based gelatin silver print.
Inkjet printing has changed all the rules. It's time for us to let go of the Silver Standard and move on. It'll be ok. Really. Everything is going to be fine.
Putting Away the Silver Prints (a few more thoughts provoked by digital printing)
I took all the silver prints I had around the workroom, and I put them in boxes and put them away because I no longer refer to them when I'm making a digital print. The digital prints are now the standard of comparison.
That provoked some thinking about gelatin silver prints, digital prints, the properties of both, and why I seem to be drifting permanently away from conventional projection printing on gelatin silver paper.
Toning Black and White Digital Prints
Black and white images printed on my epson 9600 printer are perfectly neutral - which makes them look a bit lifeless. I spent some time exploring ways to 'tone' the images, including duotoning, color balance, and curves. In the end, I chose the curves technique as the best of the choices. You can download the curves I use in this article.
This article is still a rough draft - watch for refinements and examples to be added.
If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him
For years, I produced hand made, labor intensive gelatin silver prints. Then I tried digital printing, and got great prints. And now, everything I knew about prints, the value of prints, and print pricing has been made obsolete.
Some Early Thoughts on Digital Printing
I've just started doing some digital printing. Here are some early thoughts and observations on the whole thing.
Traditional B&W darkroom work
The Zone System and Variable Contrast Paper
When Ansel Adams and Fred Archer introduced the Zone system in 1939 there were no VC papers, and so one of the goals of the Zone system was to plan negative exposure and development so that the visualized print could be made on Grade 2 paper. Instead of graded papers, Variable Contrast papers now dominate the market, allowing a printer to vary the contrast of the material across an extreme range. This raises the question - Why not just give all of our film the same development, and then make any needed adjustments using the controls VC paper gives us?
That's what I wanted to know, and when I went looking for the answers, I found very little information. This article summarizes the results from my first experiment.
Tmax-100 and Neopan 100 Acros Compared
My recent move (and switch from municipal water to well water) forced me to recalibrate all my development times. I took advantage of the opportunity to do a rough comparison of the two black and white films available in packets - Kodak Tmax-100 (aka TMX and 100Tmax) and Fuji Neopan 100 Acros.
Variable Contrast Printing
My article on calibrating a dichroic enlarging head for use as a VCCE light source when printing on variable contrast black and white printing papers. This is an updated version of what appeared in Photo Techniques in February 1998.
VC Paper Myths and Color Theory
An article I wrote discussing color theory, how it applies to VC papers, filtration, and a whole host of myths surrounding black and white printing on VC materials.
Choosing Black and White film
I teach one on one darkroom lessons. This was written as a handout for the first session, dealing with selecting black and white film and covering the basics of exposure.
Black and White film developing
This was written for the second session, covering film developing. It covers loading tanks, reel type, developer choice, and the whole process of developing film, from getting the film out of the cassette and into the tank through drying it.
Photography and the WWW
Getting Exposure Right
Although there are some photographers who are happy to hide their light under a bushel, most of us would like it if our work got plenty of exposure. In fact, we’d all like to be making boatloads of money selling our photographs, but most of us end up settling for just getting the work out there and seen by people. And, in the end, if you want to sell work, you first have to get people to look at it.
This article examines various ways of getting more exposure for your work.
Building a Photographic Website, 2006 edition
Yet another update to my views on the WWW and photographic websites. It's all about changing demographics.
Toward a More Enlightened Copyright Policy
My views on deep linking to images have mellowed a bit. Not much, but a bit.
Building a photographic website, revisited
Four years have passed since I wrote the original article, and some things have changed. Here's a revised look at what I'm thinking about photography on the web.
Copyright infringement and Your Website
Subtitled "what the scumbags are doing, and what you should do about it", this is my lessons learned article about detecting copyright infringement, and dealing with it, including a little bit about how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (aka the DMCA) is actually your friend.
Building a Photographic Web Site
My thoughts and experiences from building this website can help you build yours.
Large Format
My Large Format Kit
Recently, Tuan Luong posted an excellent article to www.largeformatphotography.info which described, in detail and with photos, what Tuan carries.
I found that pretty interesting, as did others. Long ago, I wrote up what I carry in this review but it's way past time for an update. Here it is.
Are the Zone VI meter modifications worth the cost?
For years people have argued about whether there was any real difference between the Zone VI modified Pentax Digital Spotmeter and the unmodified meter. Since I now happen to own one of each, I seized the opportunity to compare them head to head.
Zone VI Meter Modifications (reprised)
I examine an article by Alan Ross on the modifications (the one on the calumet web site), some scanned pages from the old Zone VI catalog, some criticism leveled at my data by Kirk Gittings, and decide that a) the modifications do not improve the accuracy of the meter, and b) so much time has elapsed since I first published my data that I no longer feel my conclusions are tentative at all.
Loading Large Format Film Holders
An illustrated guide to loading sheet film into holders
Choosing a Large Format Camera
Here's a first draft of some thoughts on choosing a large format camera. Feedback is solicited!
Other Stuff
Dry Mounting Prints
A brief rundown on how I dry mount prints.
Rodenstock Lens Literature
Ok, it's not exactly an article, but it IS copies of the Rodenstock literature on large format and enlarging lenses, scanned and on the web. And where else on this web site should I put this sort of stuff?
Theater Photography 101
My lessons learned (and suggestions) from my very brief (so far) period doing production photographs for plays. Tips on technique, equipment, materials, etc.
Current Process
I've described my photographic process, from film exposure, through scanning, image adjustment, and printing. Read it all. Let me know what you think.