Review: THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY: An Approach to Personal Expression

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I always enjoy receiving a review copy of any book from Rocky Nook Press because I know two things about it in advance: (1) the book itself will be printed on Acid-Free paper, and will still show its illustrations with brilliance and clarity for years to come, and (2) the book will be bound in such a manner that it will behave itself and lie open beside my computer without the necessity of putting weights on each side of the open volume in order to make it lie down quietly and allow me to enjoy … [Read more...]

Ansel Adams: Analog Photography and the Creative Process Revisited

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I recently visited the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, to view an exhibit of Ansel Adams works titled Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light. The show ran from May 29 through November 7, 2010. In total, I made four trips to the museum to see this exhibit. Ansel Easton Adams was born in early 1902 to parents Charles and Olive Adams in San Francisco, California. As a boy, his family traveled to Yosemite (which had become a national park in 1890) when he was about 14 years old, an experience which … [Read more...]

Mike Cavaroc’s Top 5 Images of Summer 2010

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It's never easy to narrow down a season's worth of images to just five, but here are the five that either I liked the best, or that you liked the best, taking Google Analytics stats into account. Most of them came from Grand Teton National Park, with the exception being the grizzly bear with four cubs up in Yellowstone National Park. Now that the crowds are dying down as well, I'm thinking about heading back up there and seeing if I can find them one more time before they head in for the winter. … [Read more...]

Review- Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3: A Photographer’s Handbook

Amazon.com_ Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3_ A Photographer_s Handbook (9781933952673)_ Stephen Laskevitch_ Books

I recently received a review copy of Rocky Nook's Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3: A Photographer's Handbook by Stephen Laskevitch. I always enjoy receiving a book from Rocky Nook to review because they print their books on acid-free paper and the reproduction quality is as outstanding as the content. As a workshop teacher I am always interested in another teacher's approach and quite admire the methodical, logical, and easily-understood approach that Stephen Laskevitch uses in Photoshop CS5 … [Read more...]

Lensbaby Fisheye Optic

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A long time ago, in a world that only used film, a lens was developed to see the whole sky. Cloud studies for meteorological use prompted the invention of the fisheye lens. It wasn’t long until the keen eye of the “art” photographer saw one and decided to use it to make images that could not otherwise be made. Fisheye images aren’t like rectilinear images, where straight lines mostly stay straight... fisheye lenses give you a convex rendering with curved straight lines, and encompass a … [Read more...]

Lensbaby New Soft Focus Lens Optic

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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...]

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...]

Photographs by Britt Stokes

These Files sizes are large. Please be patient. Taken in 2010 with The Infrared Conversion Digital Camera … [Read more...]

Why I got rid of my HP b9180

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It's a lovely printer, the HP b9180 is.  When I finally understood the printer's need for control and set the color management to "Printer controls color", the blacks came out smooth and velvety, the print always true to what I saw on the screen.  Since that fateful discovery, I have yet to see a single horizontal track  streaking across large fields of color in a print. Image quality is superb. … [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...]

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...]