“During these last days of the administration, what is the point of protest, satire or any other sort of rabble-rousing? In assembling this collection of pictures I’ve made over the last eight years, I’m not really trying to accomplish much at all. But as President Bush once said, ‘One of the great things about books is, sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.'” – Alec Soth
This 48 pg. newspaper will be sent to our weekly winner packed safely in a corrugated box. Then it’s up to you how you deal with it.
You can also go to the Magnum Photos store to pick up a copy right now.
So Sign up for the NEWSLETTER to be eligible to get this special piece by Alec Soth. The email comes out on Weds. morning at 9:00AM PST. Details are included in every NEWSLETTER
Thanks to our eagle-eyed readers who share the cool stuff they run into out there.
From Scott G., he turned us onto this just as we were putting the finishing touches on the NEWSLETTER yesterday. (yep, baked fresh weekly)
This tilt/shift method of shooting and post production just tweaked our eyes.
From Vince Laforet
OK, uploading all and sifting through the materials to see what makes sense to share.
A couple of things I wanted to get right out to you though: D.A.P. book distributors and publishers had a booth at Art Basel, (they are alreday prepping 2009!) where they took care of your artful needs if you didn’t buy any of the major pieces. Books, Books, And more Books. PLUS one of the coolest concepts we’ve seen for a Christmas Tree (yep, I said it..not a HOLIDAY tree).
[photopress:PF8_1256.jpg,full,centered] detail
[photopress:PF8_1256_4.jpg,full,centered]
And as you can see, the use of focus give these 2 dimensional trees a very strong visual presence. ( get it? presence/presents ?)
These artist’s interpretations of the classic shape told in a 2D tree with sticky backing safe enough for any wall.
Great for those who are square footage challenged, or want the ease of rolling up the tree on Jan 2, and packing it away for another year.
[photopress:PF8_1259_2.jpg,full,centered] detail
[photopress:PF8_1259_2_2_1.jpg,full,centered]
Winner of Unscene Miami, 944 Magazine Photography Contest ————————————————————————————————————————-
And other than Art Basel there were a ton of events around town and one night at SET club, AXE, 944 Magazine and the UnScene Photography Tour presented UnScene Miami, a one-night-only gallery event showcasing the work of Miami’s emerging photographers.
Local artists will participated in UnScene Miami by displaying their work in two different contests, each of which provides a vehicle for exposure. Five finalists have been chosen to exhibit their images of the city they call home.
The winning photographer, announced December 4, Stephanie Stalnaker, will travel to Los Angeles in the spring to compete for a chance to have her artwork showcased in a full spread in an upcoming issue of 944 Magazine.
I was very happy to be there for the announcement to a very surprised and gracious winner.
Congratulations, Stephanie! – You shoot some beautiful work.
We can talk for days here about why you should print your photographs. And we have.
We know that a lot of folks are somewhat disappointed with the results they get in their digital darkrooms, no matter what printer they are using.
There is a reason for that. GIGO. Or “garbage in, garbage out”. If you don’t have a proper file going in, the printer will get you at the other end.
Your monitor may be sitting in a place where the light changes throughout the day. Sure, your eye adjusts, but this is digital world my friend. Or the colors may have been set too magenta, or yellow, or cyan. Subtle, but the print will reveal it when its too late.
Simply put, you must calibrate your monitor to show consistent, standardized colors that can communicate directly to your printer. This will help eliminate wasted ink, paper, and probably frustration.
Then, when you have done all of your hard work in the digital darkroom, whether it is a simple crop, retouch, cleanup, or a massive overhaul, the info can be sent to your printer, which then understands what your monitor already knows.
Does that make sense?
The first time I discovered this process, it opened up the digital world for me, again. Finally, what I saw through the viewfinder and monitor, could translate into a print and be pretty much the same on first blush. Heck, these inks and paper are not cheap! Neither is my time.
The solutions I have used in the past didn’t get the entire workflow easily. I don’t have a digital tech on staff, nor a person that does my prints. Chief cook and bottle washer over here. I needed an easier end-to-end solution.
They know what you’re up against, and have pledged to make it an easier process for you to calibrate andprofile your printer and monitor. (what’s a profile? kinda like a personalized color setting for your equipment, ensuring a good result from the beginning. Many pro labs have their own printing profiles for their systems, which you can download to your programs such as Photoshop, so when you output a file to have someone else print it, what you saw on your monitor will look like what they print out for you.)
OK, lets get started:
You open the box to find 4 items – The calibration device itself in a neoprene casing, a quick start booklet, CD, and a USB cable.
Easy to follow instructions in the booklet, and the CD automatically downloads the latest version of the software.
[photopress:ColorMunkiD.jpg,full,centered]
Once the software was installed, it took all of about 2 mins. to calibrate my monitor. I then got a “before and after” comparison just to tell me where I was at, how much the monitor may have been off.
Next up was tying the printer to the monitor.
Step one was printing the 1st color chart with a sweet timer which includes allowances for ink drying on the specified paper. That way when you scan the chart the ink has settled into the paper for a more accurate read.
While I waited for the ink to dry, about 10 min.,, I was sent a full up, Pantone Digital Color Matching System by email, which loaded directly into the Color Munki program. Another excellent tool, given to you only if you have gone through a couple of levels including registration. I’ll let you know later where this comes in.
Next up is using the Color Munki to scan the simplified color chart #1, which prints out with printer name, time and date stamped so you have a point of reference. I used the video help, AND the written info help which were both very clear .
Now a 2nd chart is printed to further refine the profile.
Same process, just as easy. The final step is using a photograph to tie the 2 together.
Very, very, easy steps.
With 4 mins left to drying finish, I made a cuppa joe.
Ok, It was all done in about 30 min. including drying time. And the first print?
Excellent match.
Then there were some other software tools for you:
A color picker which will give you associative colors for the main colors in your photo. Your photo programs (photoshop,Lightroom, Aperture, ) are listed on a side bar to pick an image. Key colors are shown in a separate block. Then you can either match them by a Pantone chart to make sure you get the accurate rendition, pick a complimentary color for matting, or adding other colors in a layout. This is where your emailed Pantone Color Chart come into play.
And if you have to send a file to a client or a printing lab, the Digital Pouch is a tool that allows you to view color-accurate images on displays other than your own. The application allows you to load any number of images for transport. Once the images have been selected, it creates a Java photo viewer applet. The applet lets you know if the display you are viewing the images on has been profiled in the last thirty days. And it can be viewed on any machine-Windows,Mac or Linux.
To sum it up, calibration and profiling is something you really have to do if you are going to work in the digital photography world. Even if you shoot film and print digital. Even if your goal is to change the look of the original shot, you have to be able to translate that desired look anywhere you want, be it prints or publication.
I have worked with a bunch of these tools.
This is the simplest, full service (monitor and printer) calibration system, available today. And at under $500 USD, it’s an awesome price.
Just think of the ink, paper, time, and screaming fits you’ll save.
And we are giving one away. Right here at Photoinduced.com. Details in the NEWSLETTER this week, and then on the site.
For the past couple of months we have been traveling a bit to some very cool cities where the night time defines the character.
And when that happens, you want to capture it as you’ve experienced it.
Jill Waterman, a photographer and educator based in NYC, has published a book called Night and Low Light Photography that helps explain it all.
[photopress:24637215.jpg,full,centered]
As told from the perspective of 30 different photographers, the book is laid out in a very easy to consume format with sections on Equipment, Lighting Techniques, Weather, Night time subjects, The Color of Night, and more.
A lot of the info comes at you in a page or two, so once you’ve gone through the basic overview sections, you can flip through and perhaps see what images catch your fancy. You’ll get the advice from a pro on achieving that look, in a straightforward manner.
There was an image from Chip Forelli, that we use as a screen saver, that is included and it was very cool to at least know how he shot it.
Most of the shooters are working with film, and you’ll get the full shot specs on most of the images included here. We think that you’ll be able to adjust most of the info for digital though.
Night shooting is putting not only the ISO sensitivity of the DSLR’s on trial, but even the more sophisticated point and shoots that give you a pretty decent range of manual control. And honestly, when the light gets low, and you’re going out, there is a good chance that you’re carrying one of your smaller cameras, like a Canon G10, a Nikon P6000, or even a Lumix, many of which give you a manual range of controls. So on the tripod front, maybe one of the small pups like the Giottos we featured here, should be in your kit. Although we have used a lamp post to steady the camera on occasion.
But if you want to get this stuff for real, get ready to pack the good stuff; glass, bodies, and a big boy tripod like we said, and maybe some coffee. It’s gets chilly out there. And take a stealth camera bag into the night. Just a suggestion.
There is one bone to pick with this book, though. The folks who designed the type color seemed to not always be in sync with the rest of the book. The resultant few instances are real tough to read as the words blends with the background.
We first got into this book out of need. Crappy night time shots that always disappointed. Seriously. This collection let us know what we were doing wrong and how to do it better. That’s all we ask for.
Overall, we were rewarded with a lot of solid tips to getting some of those night shots of these cityscapes we spoke about, and a slight prodding to hang out after dark a little bit more with the daytime rig.
It’s a buy recco from us, as its one of the photographic categories we all deal with at some point, but need some solid info. At about $20. USD, it’s a sweet deal.
Jill Waterman did it right here.
Published on December 12th, 2008
You must be logged in to post a comment.