Lensbaby New Soft Focus Lens Optic

Soft-Focus-Optic

Want a great lens with the look of a $1,000 Rodenstock Imagon for your digital SLR? Look no further than the newest lens addition to the Lensbaby line. Lensbaby, the brain child of photographer and inventor Craig Strong, brought soft focus and skewed focus planes to cameras that normally produce sharp results. The current generation lenses offer interchangeable elements, and that is where this article comes in. I recently obtained a Lensbaby Soft Focus element, and wow, is it cool! My 3 part … [Read more...]

What Makes a Photographer?

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I got an interesting e-mail today... a promotion e-mail from an architectural photographer named Dan Poyourow (www.danpoyourow.com). Dan is based in Maryland, and his work is well worth looking at. At the bottom of his e-mail, he included this tidbit... “Photography thought for the week: Contrary to what some creatives may tell you; shooting digital and reading a book on Adobe Photoshop does not make someone a professional photographer. There is still no substitute for experience, … [Read more...]

Photographing the Waterfalls of the Havasupai

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The Havasupai Indian Reservation is home to some of the most spectacular waterfalls you'll ever encounter. Roughly 40 miles west as-the-crow-flies of the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park is a side canyon called Supai Canyon. It's about as dry and arid as any high-desert environment you'll encounter. Massive, sandstone canyon walls surround a sandy desert floor decorated with cottonwood trees and prickly-pear cactus. What makes it so unique, however, is a brilliantly, bold turquoise creek … [Read more...]

Digital Camera Infrared Conversion- Part 2

Infrared Photography

I recently wrote about my newly converted Nikon D200 body. I have since been on a trip to Acapulco, Mexico, and have shot over 1,500 images with the new body. Here are my impressions so far. First, this conversion by Isaac Szabo uses an excellent filter (the infrared filter replaces the high-pass filter over the sensor inside the camera). The infrared images are wonderful, far better than any I got with my previously converted SLR. There is more color in evident in some of the images. With … [Read more...]

Digital Camera Infrared Conversion

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Since the 1930’s, photographers have enjoyed the use of infrared films for both scientific and pictorial use. The infrared spectrum is beyond the ability of the human eye to see, and objects viewed in light from the infrared spectrum often look quite different from visible light. Most living foliage will appear light or white in a final print shot with infrared film, and human skin can be almost translucent, with veins showing through the skin like magic. But with the advent of digital … [Read more...]

Ask the Photographers #2 : Flashlight Graffiti

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I was doing my level best to get nothing done yesterday. As I was gleefully stumbling away I came across A.Pic.Co.Tv's Art blog's post Picasso's Light Graffiti published by Life Magazine. So I had to ask, seeing as I am definitely photographically challenged, how was this done? I emailed my esteemed colleagues... Britt Stokes, boy genius, responded in a split second. He opened the lens in a relatively dark room, drew with a flashlight, then a flash was fired at the end of the … [Read more...]

Best Camera for Budding Wedding Photographer

MTaylor816 (who recently became a DigitalAppleJuice follower) twittered : Ok photogs... what is the best DSLR to buy for starting out as a wedding photographer? Googling this made my head explode. We have a distinguished group of working photographers associated with DigitalAppleJuice, so  I emailed our band of merry  with this question. Van Redin (Stills Photographer for the movie industry) said: Hi Madbadcat It depends on how much you can spend. As usual you get what you … [Read more...]

Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity by Michael E. Stern

Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity - Rocky Nook

Rocky Nook Press recently sent me a review copy of Michael E. Stern's new book Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity, and since I am always interested in the creative process (especially when it involves disciplined thought), I was happy to sit down with it for some quality time. I gravitate towards that word "disciplined" because I am an analytical and systematic individual. My trusty Mac computer dictionary provided the following: With that in mind, I have … [Read more...]

Robbie Lacomb at The Alpha & Omega Fine Art Photography Gallery

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The work of artist-photographer Robbie Lacomb is currently on display at Alpha & Omega Fine Art Photography Gallery in Austin TX.  The exhibition will remain on show through the end of January 2010. Photographer, digital artist and printmaker Robbie Lacomb resides and works in East Texas and teaches art and art history at Angelina College in Lufkin. She exhibits her prints and photographs in the U.S. and abroad, including Morocco, Ireland, Russia and Paris, France. In the year 2000 she … [Read more...]

Monitor Calibration : Xrite i1Display 2

The road from getting the color you see on the computer monitor to that you see on an inkjet print is a long and torturous path. What-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) is not what is going to happen with a printer right out of the box, your monitor, and bargin inkjet paper from the office supply store. Without taking time in this article to give you a background in additive color(projective color—ie: your monitor—color built with Red, Green, and Blue) and subtractive color(printed … [Read more...]

Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity, and Personal Style by Alain Briot

For those of you who follow The Luminous Landscape web site, Alain Briot's name will be a familiar one from his informative and insightful writings for the photographer. If you are new to his writings you will be in for a treat in his second book published by Rocky Nook (his first was Mastering Landscape Photography). Rocky Nook produces beautiful volumes printed on acid-free paper that reproduce the dynamic tonalities of the fine-art prints that they showcase, and the long-term … [Read more...]

Rollip.com: Polaroid Nostalgia

Nostalgic for the Polaroid look? Wishing for the ability to make snapshots look like Polaroids? There's a fast, easy-to use solution. All it involves is an upload, a brief wait, and a download. Check out http://www.rollip.com/ which takes you to a site by Rollip. Click the website to start; this takes you to a page of original images and Polaroid "look" variations that take you back to the days of slight color mismatch, over and under development; atmospheric effects and the … [Read more...]