Mood by Gregory Crewdson, some over retouched and some images based off of the chinese guy who does the flying people, but interesting as commercial work.
For future thought
It’s probably fair to say that because of CGI, traditional studio photography will begin to fade away in the next couple of years. But to make great ‘photographic’ images, as with retouching, a healthy relationship between the CGI studio and photographer still needs to be a part of the image creation process. The role of the photographer is simply evolving, as is ours from just a retouching studio to a full creative production facility. Whilst we have a strong grasp of photographic technique, it’s preferable in many cases to also have a photographer’s eye looking over an image, as they can often help define the lighting and camera angles and spot errors that the untrained eye can’t always see.
So I am on the fence about this one. I was one of the first to call out the end of Photo Labs back in the 90's, but I don't know if photography will go away. I saud all the labs around will go away and there will be a few custom labs left around to do high end art stuff and thats it. Which is pretty much where we are at.
But this discussion about the death of photography we hear now is based on two fronts:
One, video is killing photography. Everything will be motion based and print is dead.
Two, CGI is killing photography. Why have shoot a product when you can just 3d render it.
Here is my main thought on both of these discussions. MONEY.
It all begins and ends with money. You think a retoucher is expensive and time consuming? Have a 3d model built and see what that runs. You think renting a studio for a still shoot is expensive? Add on all the hot lights and grips you need for a motion shoot. Plus sound and video editing. These are more expensive by factors of two all around. Don't forget that all of this take way more time to produce as well and time is money. You are not walking away from the shoot with a rough edit of the commercial to show the client the next day. That is weeks away. Same with 3d for any kind of decent rendering.
So I do not really see photography going away really. but on higher end shoots I see these other aspects being incorporated in the bag of tricks one uses to achieve a final goal. Video for "Harry Potter Newpaper-esque" loops on websites and 3d for incorporating impossible to achieve effects.
Night photos by Tim Simmons
Tim Simmons – work I like this take on night photos a lot. Very elegant and smooth. I am getting some people together for some night shooting and this is some nice motivational material. Very clean lighting.
I am wondering if I can run my profoto's from my truck without melting the battery.... hmmm....
Pano Pic from a River stroll.
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Took this a few weeks back and started working on the post the other day. It's 13 images stick together. Started to hail about 5 minutes after this was taken and it was very dark under that bridge.
Wachella Falls
Shot on a hike in Wachella Falls here in Portland. Posting this more as a test to see what images look like in this format.
While I like what I have going on now, I do not know if I care for how many pages there are. So I playing with ideas to consolidate things. I just don't know if I like the idea of images sharing a page with blog postings. Comments are on to see how much spam I collect.
Update Code is all screwy and comments give me a fatal error anyways. Keeping them off.
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Shoot from last Sunday
In the fall of 2008 I started working on a series of images whose main characteristic involved moving the camera while taking the photograph. This is a process I had tried in Paris in the early 1980s under the guidance of Scott McLeay with whom I was studying photography at the time. Unfortunately, at that time my attempts had been unsuccessful for reasons we will see shortly.The motivation for creating this series was related to my study and research of color and composition. Because these images cannot be composed as precisely as non-blurred photographs, and because colors get mixed with other colors when the camera is moved, I thought that they were near-perfect examples of composing with color instead of composing with shapes and objects.
High Speed Sync w/ Bees and Others February 14th, 2009Okay all, we’ve had a little gem in the bag for a while now. Time to share yet another feature of the new RadioPopper X system. How would you like to activate nearly any light source ever produced - including large powerful studio lights - using high speed sync - by radio. Another world’s first, right here.
PIX Feed: PIX CHAT : Jeremy Wilkins, Digital Retoucher
It was exactly at that time that I was introduced to Daniel Kopton, who runs a retouching business called Danklife. We met through a friend of a friend, and he invited me over to see what kind of work he was doing. I was completely blown away. What he was doing was light years beyond any retouching that I had been doing in the headshot world. Daniel agreed to teach me his secrets and give me some freelance jobs, as long as I agreed not to talk back too much. I had some money saved up and knew that I didn't have the time to learn high-end retouching from Daniel and still be at Pixels full time. So, I quit my job and hoped for the best. The transition seems to have been successful. Daniel and I have a really strong working relationship, and I've been with Danklife for 3 years now.
Jeremy gets a little press time!
Epson 3800 Step-By-Step Printing Workflow
If you have a LCD display, I recommend setting your display calibration options to Gamma 2.2, "native white point" for the color temperature, and 100 cd/m2 for the target luminance. This last point is very important: new LCDs are capable of emitting a lot of light (and often are extremely bright out of the box). If you edit images on a super-bright display, your print will appear too dark by comparison. Even if your calibration software recommends setting the target luminance to a higher value (e.g., 120 cd/m2), I still suggest using a lower value such as 100 cd/m2.
Through A Lens Lightly: Soft Proofing
Step Three: Next, select View > Proof Setup > Custom. The Customize Proof Condition dialog will be displayed, allowing you to select the options for how the proof should be created. First, select the profile for the paper you’ll be using from the Device to Simulate drop-down box.
The McNally Tripod Rig | Joe McNally's Blog
I use the Gitzo GT-5560SGT tripod, and mount the Manfrotto Accessory Arm 3153B to it, and then the Gitzo G065 Laptop Platform to that. Couple that up with a ball head such as the Manfrotto 468MG, and you be cooking. I keep the platform at eyeball height so I don’t have to stoop to see the computer. I’m tethered via Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 and a USB 2.0 cable with an extension. Everything is taped down, cause I’m excitable and accident prone. It works real well as a location rig.
We did all the retouching on this here site. I like the motion they added. Nice touch.
Snapshot: Grace Jones | | guardian.co.uk Arts
The arabesque that Grace Jones is executing in this 1978 photograph/artistic creation may be graceful, but it is also impossible. "What I'm interested is the illusion of reality," says the photographer and art director Jean-Paul Goude, who was to be Jones's Pygmalion, transforming her from hard-partying model to an androgynous fantasy image and international superstar. "And unless you are extraordinarily supple, you cannot do this arabesque. The main point is that Grace couldn't do it, and that's the basis of my entire work: creating a credible illusion."
Retouching has been around a lot longer then Photoshop, fyi. It actually goes back another century, but I won't bore you with details.
New York artist Sam Bassett takes portraits to the next level. Blending the feel of installation art with plan ol’ ethereal awesomeness, he shoots his subjects in a way that manages to be about them while also immersing them into something that transcends them as well. The results are completely kick-ass images that encompass more than who a person is and what they do, but creates an energy and atmosphere of how what they’ve done has shaped their life. The environment of the portrait becomes a reflection of them as a whole - their history and accomplishments - rather than just a documentation of their physical appearance.
And his website sucks. So go here to see the images instead.
Look at the "Face to Face" series.
Richard Nicholson Photography - 'Last One Out, Please Turn On the Light'
Last One Out, Please Turn On The Light a survey of London's remaining professional darkrooms
So for the record, about 10 years ago I said darkrooms would be going bye bye and there would be a few left as fine art labs.....
Pixelrust is now on Flickr. If I got that link to work right. Otherwise just search for pixelrust. Wheee!
Video Digital SLRs (35mm digital still cameras) now produce amazing high quality HD video and deliver the advantages of 35mm lenses, but remain awkward for use in video and movie production. To meet the needs of filmmakers who are taking advantage of this cutting edge approach, Redrock accessories bring the needed cinema form factor, support, and features to video DSLRs.Redrock accessories for video DSLRs transform video DSLRs into production-ready cinema solutions by providing:
* Rock-solid 15mm support system * Follow focus with 35mm lens gearing for accurate and repeatable focusing * Swing-away mattebox for light management and easy access to changing lenses * Shoulder mount and handgrips for steady handheld use * Support cage for enhanced stability and low angle shot