HT0607 - About Media

Content is always more important than anything else we sweat over in the details of the media or presentation.

HT0608 - Your First Impression

When you review your images in the field, can you trust your first impression? Always? Sometimes?

HT0609 - Defining Your Way to Success

Be careful of how you define "success." It's possible to lower our expectations in order to feel successful when all we've really done it to accept a lower quality than we'd like.

HT0610 - Circling Back

My first ever attempt to make an art photograph was a very poor effort at photographing a cattail. This week, some 50 years later, I tried again and made a photograph I like. So much for 1/60th of a second.

HT0611 - Transitioning Into Creative Seeing

Right brain vs left brain is a useful idea for understanding what happens to us when we go out photographing and find ourselves frustrated. We need a transition time for our right brain to become active.

HT0612 - Sources of Inspiration

From where do you find inspiration? From what you see in the world? From ideas? From other photographers? From photographs? If you are like me, probably from all these. From which comes your best or most useful inspiration? And how can you strategize to get more from that source?

HT0613 - The New Photoshop Sky Replacement Tool

The Sky Replacement tool has a premise that I think should be engaged only when we know that it exists and we are not just jumping on board with a philosophy of which we are not aware — Romanticism.

HT0614 - Kilroy Photographs

There is a type of photography that simply says, "I was here." It seems to me that any photograph that aspires to be fine art photography needs to go beyond that simple evidentiary recording of "I was here."

HT0615 - Photographing Waterfalls

Fast shutter, slow shutter, what other options are there? An illustration of a limited paradigm — or perhaps an illustration of a limited photographer.

HT0616 - The Thing

What is the thing that you are capturing in your photograph? Is it the object in front of the camera, or something deeper and more human that becomes the real connection embodied in the artwork?

HT0617 - Dust on Your Sensor

Experience (ahem, failure) has inspired me to two habits I've found that really help. First, I do a sensor cleaning cycle every time I change my lens. Second, every time I make a photograph while pointing my camera up at a steep angle, I chimp to check that the skies are clean and clear of those dark circles indicative of sensor dust.

HT0618 - Sensor Noise and Detail

Noise is more visible and troublesome in smooth areas like skies and areas of creamy bokeh. High frequency areas tend to camouflage the noise. Therefore, high frequency images can tolerate a higher ISO.

HT0619 - Aperture and Sensor Dust

The smaller the aperture, the more those little dots of dust on your sensor will be visible in smooth areas like skies and water. They won't be any bigger, but they will be darker.

HT0620 - The Two Necessary Ingredients

What do you need to make a good photograph? Why not develop a strategy to increase those necessary ingredients so your success comes more frequently?

HT0621 - Two Ways to Use a Zoom Lens

The zoom feature is most commonly used to adjust the composition and framing. The less common use — but a more creative one — is to change the image geometry and depth of field.

HT0622 - Your Personal Focal Length

According to the people who regularly discuss these sorts of things, the human eye approximates a field of view equivalent to a 50 mm lens on a 35 mm camera. I'm not so sure, because seeing is more than an optical property. Our brains have a focal length, too.

HT0623 - The Zone System

The Zone System may not be of any use these days when it comes to its theories of exposure and development, but as a tool to think about tones, shadow details, highlight details, and tonal relationships, it still has tremendous value. It is the language of tonal relationships.

HT0624 - Sunrise and Sunset Photos

Those glowing orange skies are so seductive, but don't miss the opportunities 180° in the opposite direction where that orange light makes for some great colors even without the sky in the image.

HT0625 - GPS Location Tagging

In yet another example of the march of technology, my new Toyota Tundra truck has Wifi capabilities so it can be the source of GPS locations for my camera's image metadata. No kidding.

HT0626 - Nature's Vibrance Tool

There is no better way to punch up the vibrance of an image than by photographing it when the surfaces are wet. Two of my favorite times to photograph are just when a rainstorm is starting and right after the rain stops.

HT0627 - The Pressure to Get the Shot

You've been planning a photographic trip for months, and now that you are there, a pressure arises to "get the shot." That pressure can be counterproductive. Instead, what about doing some warm up shots, sort of like what athletes do to prepare? Purposeful stretching and loosening up our creative juices.

HT0631 - Associative Memory

Look at any photograph of Yosemite and who comes to mind? And isn't it interesting that this happens whether or not he made the image. For me, that happens with rainy windows (Sudek), vegetables (Weston), slit canyons (Barnbaum), and so many others.

HT0632 - The Word "Photographer"

Technically, the word photographer is a noun, but in practice it's a verb. We do something. What is it that you think you do? Make pictures?

HT0633 - Disappearing Into the Background

One of the fundamental differences between art on the wall and art off the wall is the kind of attention they receive. There are pluses and minuses to each. It's worth thinking about these differences for each project you do.

HT0634 - Those Who Have Gone Before Us

Members of LensWork Online have an incredibly inspiring resource in the archive audios section of LensWork Online. You can hear Ansel Adams, Minor White, and so many others talk about photography in these transcriptions from cassettes that I've been gathering for decades. If you haven't checked it out, I encourage you to do so.