General Photography

Display Your Craft

MCT 12 2011 12 29 2011 2032 In this day of digital and the web, printing is obsolete - right?

Well, it isn't - or at least it shouldn't be.  The ability to store and view your images on an iPad or share via the web is awesome, but it doesn't have to replace the printed art form - it should compliment it.  It may take a few minutes of time and some money (although it doesn't have to be expensive) but to see and share your work in large format and bright color is fantastic - and will be a constant source of satisfaction and pride.

Here are a couple ideas to display your craft and have fun doing it - without spending an arm and a leg.  It doesn't have to cost you upwards of $60 to $150 per framed print, just be a little creative!

  • Homemade Craft(my wife's great idea)
    • Take a Sunday drive into the country and keep your eye out for antique and yard sales - find a piece of scrap barn wood or some other type of weathered wood.  The piece of barn wood below cost $20.
    • Pick three or four images that go together or tell a similar story.  Print them out in 8x10 format (on regular 8.5x11 photo paper)  Cost of ink and paper is at most a couple dollars.
    • Clear, frameless clip frames.  We got the ones below from Hobby Lobby or you can get them from Amazon for around $5 each.
    • The sample below cost less than $38 dollars and looks great in the family room!

MCT 01 2012 01 01 2012 2067

  • Frameless clusters
    • Build a wall collage of images on 13x19 paper (or 8.5 by 11 if that's all you have available).  You can be creative with your crops and just trim the excess - it really enhances the collage.
    • Now -  this is cheap, creative and fun way to display your image art.  (though I admit might not be for everyone's taste)   The image below and the one at the beginning of this post are collages I put up in my office.  And I'm not done - I'm planning for the larger one to take up the whole wall!
    • The Epson Matter 13x19 paper worked out astonishing well (and very cost effective) so you don't need to use the more expensive photo paper.
    • Each 13x19 image cost me less than 50 cents each (printing myself) so the total large collage was a whopping $6!  (and if I don't like it or want to start over, it's no big deal)

MCT 12 2011 12 29 2011 2040

Have fun, get a little creative and hang some of your work for all to see.  I love the satisfaction and enjoyment I feel every time I look up from my desk and see some of my favorite images - give it a try!!

See the light!

Mark

Don't Take That Picture!

5DII Eagles 2010 02 12 196 Original I recently grabbed my camera and my wife one evening to catch a great sunset, only to find out I didn't bring the requisite memory card with me (yea, rookie mistake).  So what to do now?

Well, I actually sat on a bench with my wife, held hands and watched the majesty of a great sunset!  It was a wonderful evening and reminded me that we need to take time and experience some of these moments - without your eye always stuck in a view finder.

The image leading this post comes from one of my favorite Bald Eagle locations and, as I think about it, I've never taken the time to put the camera down and just enjoy the moment.  I've never seen an eagle before three years ago - this was a "bucket" item for me and I have yet to take the time and just experience it.  This will change during the coming season - I'm going to take the time to see it with my own eyes . .  and enjoy a short moment in real life!

So a little advice, take the time for yourself every now and then - and enjoy living the moment!

Hmmm, ya know . . . now that I think about it, I know I had a memory card in that camera . . . . I wonder if my wife . . . ?   Naaa, I just forgot it!

See the light,

Mark

Make Lemonade!

Film Filter Goose It happens to all of us, amateur and pro a like, you think you have a great shot in the field, only to get home and find out it's just not quite right.  Maybe you blew the highlights a bit, or missed the focus, or . . .  take your pick, there's a whole bunch of possibilities!   So what do you do now, trash it?

I don't think that should automatically be the next choice - at least not yet!  If the image has some character, let's get creative and try to save it!  Take a look at your image editor of choice (or plug-ins that work with it) and see what filters are available - just start playing around with the options - try black and white and go from there -  see what happens!  (remember, you were probably ready to trash the shot - so it's not like you going to ruin it or anything!)

Glamor Goose

The shot above was almost completely "bad lemons" (blown highlights and out of sharp focus) but it had some character to it  These fellows were having a gentleman's disagreement over a lady and the goose on the left seemed to be yelling directly in the the other chaps ear.

From the Imperfect Photographer's Dictionary . . .

Bad lemons: all the sugar in the cupboard won't make these images sweet!  A really bad lemon usually has three or more critical flaws (the geese above have two) or a particular flaw is exceptionally bad.  For example, if the focus was so terrible that you couldn't identify the critters as water fowl, that would probably qualify!

This image was too cute, I had to do something to save it.  My personal choice in filters is Nik Color Efex Pro and the primary effect in the goose image is an effect called "Glamour Glow".  Now it's still not a great image - but I like the personality it has!  If an image is technically perfect, but boring, there's not much you can do - but an interesting image will give you some latitude and allow some imperfections to be overlooked.

Give it a try the next time you end up with lemons, make some lemonade.   Checkout my "lemonade" gallery, I decided to get my own collection together!

I've included some links  to a few good creative filter packages, check out the trials and see what you think!

What You Think's a Great Image May Not Be - And Vise Versa!

Great Blue Heron

We all have certain images that we love, in our eyes they're the best of our best.  (so far at least!) We love them, and we expect others to love them just as much as we do - but it doesn't always work that way.  The opposite can equally be true, images that are "so-so" for us can be a fan favorite.  So why does this happen?

When you look at an image you've made - you actually experienced the capture, the environment, the look, feel and smell of the place.  It invokes a very specific perspective for you (good or bad) that is colored by the experience you've had.  When someone sees an image for the first time, they lack that same perspective.

The image itself (and maybe a short caption) is all they have to go on.  They decide how much they like or dislike the picture based solely on what the image "tells them".  What story does it communicate and does it trigger any emotions in the viewer?  Does it have "personality" or "interestingness"?  Is there a unique element to it that makes it "stick"?  When someone views your image, your personal opinion doesn't matter - case in point is the image at the beginning of this post.

I made this image on an overcast afternoon with rather harsh light.  I wasn't planning on stopping at the river so I didn't have my longest lens, hence the Heron was pretty far away.  When I got home and processed the image, I had to crop in way too far - and due to the harsh light I had to really work over the exposure and level adjustments, there was some noise - and it wasn't as sharp as what I would have liked . . .  and so on.  My experience with this image wasn't the best - when I looked at it, I saw all the "flaws" - that was my vision and my perspective, I didn't really like it because I saw all of the things that should have been done better.  Now just as is the case with an image I really like (due to my experience with it) the viewer of this image is not colored by my perceptions, all they see is color, action and whatever the image communicates to them.

I posted this image on a few sites I frequent just to document my efforts for the day, not thinking much of it.  The next morning, there was some great feedback on the shot - people loved it!  Go figure, so I decided to enter the image into an online weekly contest and it scored a second place (within a hair's width of first) with awesome feedback!  What people saw in that image (without the baggage I was carrying) was a great story, interestingness and emotion!

Keep that in mind the next time someone yawns at an image you've made, without your perspective and experiences as the photographer - does the image carry the load all on it's own, from  a standalone perspective?  I think that's the indicator of a really great image, can it invoke the emotion, color and story - all by itself!