HT0788 - Old Time Radio

From time to time, I simply get overwhelmed by pop culture's over-sexualized, hyperactive, cuss-word laden, post-apocalyptic view of modern life. Maybe this is why I enjoy classic photography more than so much of contemporary photography. So much of contemporary popular photography seems insistent that it preach to me with pop culture's point of view. This is why I like classic literature, old time radio, and traditional photography. I prefer being informed and entertained rather than preached at.

HT0789 - Cultural References

If I refer to ruby red slippers, you know exactly what that reference means. If I use the term Red-Nosed Reindeer, we all know exactly who I'm talking about. But to someone raised outside our culture, such references might be perfectly meaningless and risky to use in our artwork because they will fail to connect.

HT0790 - The Perfect Camera

Perfect for what? If a camera is perfect for 90% of what you do is it a failure because it doesn't do the 10% you'd like to or may never do? Is the perfect camera one that requires that you not think because it is so automatic? Is that really a virtue?

HT0791 - Push Too Far, Then Come Back

I think this is the fundamental strategy of art-making. And I mean this in even some of the most practical ways. When I use a zoom lens I pushed too far and then come back. In post-processing I pushed too far then come back. An image selection, I choose to many then I cut back. In developing the text for project, I write too much and then cutback.

HT0792 - The Viewer's Experience

Understanding how your audience will experience your artwork is a crucial step in refining your project. Don't forget that you know everything about your artwork, the audience knows nothing. And the knowledge you have exclusively needs to be examined in light of what and how you communicate to those not in the know.

HT0793 - Manga

I've never been a fan of comic books because I'm not into the superhero thing. I am, however, fascinated with the intersection of the manga form of storytelling and its potential use in photography.

HT0794 - Here, Now

A couple of days ago I was out photographing and drove roughly a hundred and twenty miles to find not much inspiration and only a few exposures. When I got back to my campground, however, I was tired, the light was beautiful, and I noticed several potential subjects that were within an arm's reach of my trailer.

HT0795 - Minimum Focus Distance

In last week's podcast I was asking for help for ways to go back with fresh eyes. A number of listeners sent wonderfully creative ideas, and for all of these suggestions I'm grateful. The one that has intrigued me the most, however, was the suggestion to explore minimum focus distance with each of my lenses. With my long telephoto, this does not necessarily mean macro photography, and I'm having all kinds of fun playing with this unusual strategy. I don't know if I'm making interesting images, but I am shaking up my visual habits.

HT0799 - Little Irritations

A horizon line that is parallel with the bottom of the picture is okay, as is a clearly tilted Dutch angle. But an angle that's only one or two degrees is an irritation. Having a shallow depth of field is okay, but if your portrait focuses on the tip of the person's nose but their eyes are out of focus, that's a little irritation.

HT0800 - Creative Awareness

One of the best ways I know to start seeing potential subjects is to stop looking for them. Instead of running around with your camera in search of an image, try putting the camera down and just becoming open and aware to everything around you. As if from thin air, potential images will begin to appear like magic.

HT0801 - Managing the Humongous Task

One of the really daunting tasks that all of us have is the challenge of keywording in Lightroom. It's a humongous task and a seemingly never-ending one. There is, however, a strategy that can help that is another one of Maureen's famous cooking examples from the kitchen. Turn the giant task into smaller bite-sized challenges.

HT0802 - Over-emphasizing the New

In our rapidly changing culture, there is tremendous pressure on content creators to constantly be coming up with something that's new. This could be a trap that we should be wary of. "New" and "noteworthy" are not the same thing.

HT0806 - Extreme Processing

I've always approached post-processing with a fairly light hand. I tend not to work on images to an excessive amount, but I've learned I might be wrong in that. I've discovered a number of images that were pretty mediocre out of the camera but I've been able to cajole them into something much more interesting with some rather extreme processing. The strategy might resurrect a lot of images I given up on with a lighter touch.

HT0807 - Better Than Average

I wonder if any of you have, like I have, wondered why we produce so many mediocre photographs. And even more interesting is the question about those ones that are so significantly better than our average. What is different about those images that are so much better than our average ones?

HT0808 -Thinking in Projects

For most of my photographic life I thought in terms of images. My efforts were aimed precisely at making a terrific image — a solitary, standalone, single image. But for the last 20 years I've been thinking more and more in terms of projects and I find that requires a fundamental shift in thinking patterns.

HT0809 - Exploring Styles

When working on a project, I'll often begin by simply gathering images into a Lightroom collection. From there I'll move on to processing each of those images as seems best. But the final step is to take the processing that best fits the project idea and applying it to all the images that have been gathered. Sometimes this eliminates certain images from the project.

HT0813 - Obtaining Shallow Depth of Field

Discussions on the Internet of shallow depth of field continue to amuse me. Most chat threads are centered almost exclusively on discussions of fast apertures and in particular why you should buy a faster lens. But the reality is if you want to create a shallow depth of field, it's easier to do so with a longer focal length than it is with a faster lens. If you want to see how this works, download an app called DOF Simulator and play around with it. You will quickly conclude that aperture is the least important component for creating a shallow depth of field and that focal length and distance to the subject are where a shallow depth of field is really created.

HT0814 - Important Lens Characteristics

I continue to think that the right lens is far more important than the features of the camera. When shopping for a lens, the characteristics I'm most interested in knowing are it's sharpness and contrast, the quality of the bokeh, how it handles flair, weather sealing, and of course, focal length. Maximum aperture is almost immaterial to me.

HT0815 - Wasted Pixels

War on waste, in this case wasted pixels. If you have a 50 megapixel camera, for instance, but only make smaller prints, you are wasting and tossing out not just unused megapixels, but also money, storage space, transfer time, and processing time.

HT0816 - Publishing vs Distributing

Just as a point of clarification, "publishing" is not the same thing as finding and connecting with an audience for your work. All the effort and expense to create a book does not mean your work will be seen by more people. Publishing may be a point of pride, but getting your work seen requires distribution.