As a follow up to my Top 10 Most Annoying Photo Critique Comments post I’m going to be posting a running series on photography terms and definitions. Some of these terms will be pretty straight forward and others will be new to most. The idea is that perhaps this will boost the vocabulary of those that make critiques and provide greater understanding behind much of what we see in photography.
The first entry in the series is Aerial Perspective
“Aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective is the effect on the appearance of an object by the atmosphere between it and a viewer (or the technique of depicting this effect in a work of art, such as a landscape painting). As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases. The contrast of any markings or details on the object also decreases. The colours of the object also become less saturated and shift towards blue.
Aerial perspective was discovered and named by Leonardo Da Vinci, who used it in many of his works, such as the Mona Lisa, in order to suggest distance.”
An example of this phenomenon can be seen in this image:
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19
Mar
Posted in Updates & Announcements by Jim |
A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to see a female Kestral hunting in Sonoma County. I’m not much of a bird photographer so I learned a lot in the process of capturing this and a few other images. More images from this day can be seen here.
This has been a long time favorite of mine and recently has become a favorite of quite a few others on Flickr via the Explore page. The story behind this image is quite painful. After hiking through 30 miles of the back country of Crater Lake National Park along the Pacific Coast Trail I decided to venture into the crater. A little too sore and with a few too many blisters on my feet I walked down the Cleetwood Cove trail (a 700 foot descent or about 60+ stories). In the end it was worth the discomfort after getting my slide film back and seeing this…
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18
Mar
Posted in Links & Articles, Photography by Jim |
As far as photo forums go I have to admit I’m a dinosaur. I’ve been posting on photo forums since they started to pop up on the internet. Granted I’ve done so selectively, yet trying each that comes around and over time I’ve settled into a few that I feel best meet my needs. Things are constantly changing and more than likely in a few years much of this may turn out to be a fad and disappear. Lets hope not. Still since 1993 one thing has held constant… the following annoying photo critique comments: Read more… »
One of the most ironic things about local activities and also for photographic opportunities is that some of the most amazing things are often found right under your nose. I know several local photographers that have yet to take many of the classic San Francisco photos because they take seeing these fantastic scenes for granted. Recently I discovered that an amazing wildlife refuge is literally right out side my office window and an area adjacent to it Blair Island is due to be restored.
I’ve only been out shooting in this area once, but I’m looking forward to exploring more.
New Life For Bay Santuary - SF Chronicle
Taken early in February near Bay National Wildlife Refuge
I’m a pretty impatient person so when someone tells me that something great is on the horizon I’m usually on the edge of my seat. The past few months I’ve been more seriously experimenting with Flickr.com and another great site Zooomr.com.I remember hearing about Zooomr when it first came out and was lured by a free account with a lot of storage space. I totally forgot about it until I found out there was a free promotion to a Pro account when you blogged hosted images. This was smart marketing and it definitely got me hooked and I’ve been paying closer attention ever since. My enthusiasm for Zooomr was also stoked by Thomas Hawk who had been posting about the promise of photosharing sites and stock.
Since that time I’ve had some ups and downs about the notion of these sites with photo sales. Flickr gets huge amounts of traffic, but as noted in my blog entry The Dark Side of Flickr: Photo Phishing By Corporate America there is a big problem with those searching for photos looking to exploit photographers and avoid paying for use. Zooomr with their latest release seems to be attempting to take the bull by the horns.
Although not live yet, I’m eagerly awaiting to see the new site, there is a very interesting hook… the most interesting yet…
“Sell your photos as stock — you keep 90% of the sale!” Read more… »
One of the more exciting moments from last summers trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a very dramatic Caribou river crossing. More details behind this photo can be found in my latest podcast EXIF & Beyond: Wildlife Photography In The Arctic
A follow up to my earlier post Microsoft HD Photo: DOA or image file format of the future?
The evolution of technologies, file formats included, and their adoption are always interesting. As much as companies like Microsoft attempt to market their standards the process seems to have a life all its own. Granted in this situation I think they’re success is going to be pivoted around adoption of the format by camera manufacturers.Photographers have been pitched the benefits of RAW and it is the centerpiece to most modern workflows. Saving images out in other formats for other uses are splintered (TIFF, JPG, etc.) Asking the public to replace one or add one is going to be a tough sell particularly if the format isn’t considered as open as these other formats.
Do I want to put a higher resolution image out on the web?
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