DigaPixBlog

The use of filters, whether they are on the camera or on the computer, can be an art form in themselves.  Knowing when and what to use to alter an image can make or break a composition.  However they should not be relied on to make a week illustration strong.  They should alter the photograph to reflect the photo-artist’s vision of the subject.

The photograph we have here has had a number of computer filters applied with skill.  This photo-artist is experimenting and learning how to manipulate images so they can become a good rendition of antique photographs.  I particularly like the trace of clouds that fill the upper right of the frame.  They act as a cover holding the eye in the foreground. 

The bridge itself has nice lines but lacks drama as a subject.  With the top of the bridge cutting the composition in half a long a near horizontal line the photograph appears stagnant.  Perhaps a little different angle would strengthen the graphics and add to the interest.

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Postcards over the past twenty years have gone from images that looked like proletarian snapshots to sophisticated photographs.  When we see a really old postcard, from the early 20th century, there is a feeling of a simpler time when perfection was not the normal expectation.  These old images from around the world would tell the recreant that this post was from an exotic place unimaginable to the flocks back home.

The image here works on this nostalgic level not because it is technically good but because it breaks the normal graphic conventions.  It has the look of an image that may have been taken a hundred years ago for popular consumption, a time when any photograph of an out of the ordinary local would do for a postcard. 

Some of the rules that were broken that give this image its charm are; too much empty sky in relation to the rest of the scene, the buildings in the foreground with extreme tilt to the right, the boat in the foreground to close to the edge of the frame.  But these flaws are what make this image interesting and nostalgic.  When you break the rules sometimes it works.

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I love a photograph that tells a story; people at play, people at work, people just living in a way we can all relate to.  When we see these images we are all drawn into the story and relate to them with our own memories and emotions.

This photograph is not just a story but a small novel.  The viewer can almost feel the blowing sand and hear the laughter of the children.  These boys are playing with the wind.  The feeling of movement in the mats demonstrates the power of the wind while the posture of the children tells us that they are having fun and enjoying life.

The lighting is low enough to give good detail in the sand while the reflected light off its surface has help to fill the shadows.  My only wish is that there was a little more separation between the blowing mat and the vegetation covered hill in the distance.  Perhaps the levels could be compressed just a little to take some of the gray our of the sand.

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The viewer’s eye likes to flow through a photograph.  It is looking for harmony and rhythm in the image like listening to good music.  Elements that distract the viewer are are noise and cause the eye to be distracted and wander. 

This street in old Europe has a wonderful feeling of age and mystery.  The way that shadows and light define the layers within the receding scene add texture to the photograph.  The slightly ‘S’ curved street takes the viewer through the arch and into the past progressing down through time.  The edges of the frame have a slight softness to them which adds to the dream quality of the story.

There are a couple of suggestions I would like to make to the photographer.  There are no vertical lines and the building appears to be leaning slightly to the right.  This may be deliberate or the part of the photographer but the image could be cropped and rotated a little to the left to create a more stable graphic.  The second recommendation is the removal of the street light.  It has been blown out and there is no detail on the surface.  This hot spot distracts the viewer from the intended subject the street and the arch way.

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Finding new ways to express common subjects is one of the challenges the photo-artist faces every time they present an image to the public.  This can be done by finding a new angle of view, a different crop, tighter shot, better light, computer manipulation, etc.  If our images are to standout they must have something new to say about familiar subjects.

The photographer of this common image elected to use the computer to create his vision.  By converting sixty percent of the image to black and white and selectively leaving a portion in color the layout takes on a new feel and meaning.  The photo-artist came in close to eliminate background distractions.  This particular type of plant has very graceful curves to the leaves that have grace and flow.

I like the way the creator of this image elected to have the green wash on the surface behind the protruding cone.  The photographer may wish to take another pass at removing all the unwanted color down in the lower left hand corner, there is still a hint of green in that area.

PS: This plant is not a cactus, its a succulent.

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For the past couple of weeks I have been packing my things preparing to move to a new home.  While cleaning out one of my drawers I came across an old tin type I must have picked up years ago and forgotten about.  I was amazing how this hundred plus year old image was so unaffected by time, true archival quality far beyond what we can print today.  How many of our images will people be looking at a century from now?

This architectural photograph has the feeling of an old and preserved print.  Not quite a tin type but a nice quality just the same.  The graphics are nice but without the manipulation the image would be a record shot of the structure.  I like the way the photo-artist has softened the image around the outer edges giving this the look of inserted wood cut prints I have seen in antique books from the 19th century.

The photographer has used the computer to take an ordinary shot of an interesting subject and make it into a delightful composition.  The end result fits the subject matter extremely well.

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Panoramic photographs can add a whole new dimension to photography.  The viewer is automatically attracted to them because of their unusual format and novelty.  One of the problems with this format is that too often the photographer will forget that the same rules of graphics and layout that apply to a good 8 x 10 image also are necessary for the panorama shot.

This photo-artist has not neglected the fundamentals of landscape photography.   By keeping the small section of land in the foreground he has established the traditional landscape trinity of foreground, middle ground and distance.  The non organic buildings standout against the white vegetation caused by the ultraviolet effect.  This UV effect gives the image a fairytale feeling.

I find it interest how the sky has remained an 18% gray while the reflection of the sky on the water’s surface has shifted to almost pure black.

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The keystone effect or sometimes called keystoning is caused by trying to project a vertical surface on the tilted image plane of a camera.  Keystoning causes the vertical surface to appear tilted or take the shape of a trapezoid.  The only way to prevent this is to use a camera with a tilt able image plane such as a bellows camera.  That is one reason large format bellows cameras are still used in architectural photography.

This photographer has used the keystone effect to his advantage.  The tilt of the building gives additional drama to the bazaar decorative nature of this facade.  The tree in the foreground adds depth to the image and helps keep it out of the realm of a purely record shot.

When you look at the levels curve of this black and white image you will see that the distribution of the scale is almost flat across the spectrum.  This has resulted in excellent tone rendition without blown out whites or blacks without detail.  Note the detail in the leaves and brick work around the windows.

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When converting an image through the use of computer filters you need to start with a good composition.  The filters may affect the mood and style in the process but the underlying graphics are required as a foundation to build upon.

The graphics in this composition lead the eye further and further into the scene.  The leading lines of the shadows and fence take the viewer from the foreground to the barn and then across the meadow into the woods beyond.  There are two sloped diagonal lines created by the foreground hill and the meadow that converge at the corner of the barn about one third from the right hand frame, a very pleasing composition with a feeling of balance and tranquility.

The painterly effect combined with the tinting has the look of a watercolor or ink wash print.  This image is a good example of what can be accomplished when a photo-artist starts with an excellent photograph.

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The application of filters to a photograph must be more than an attempt to save a bad photograph.  The photo-artist needs to have a vision of what they want the end result to look like.  They should see into the original image and draw out their perceived result with the application of filtration not just try every tool in their pallet to come up with something that changes the original.

This photographer saw the potential for of a line drawing within the original composition.  With the expert application of computer filtration they were able to create what appears to be a hundred year old sketch of this Italian town and bridge.  This feeling of age was skillfully done with the additional use of fadeout around the illustration and feathering of the lines as a sketch artist might have done.  Also you will note the use of a color tint to all the whites.  This has the appearance of a color wash and/or age.

This is an excellent example of what can be achieved to take a good image and make it into a much better presentation of the subject.

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Photographing children, boys in particular, can be a challenge.  At a certain age they want to ham it up in front of the camera to the point that it is not worth the effort to try to get a serious image.  But there can be moments where they come across with personality and character.

This young man, apparently at a formal affair, was captured at one of those moments where his inner self and personality were showing through the outer child.  We can invasion him fifteen or twenty years from now as a key player is a similar function, perhaps as the bridegroom.  He looks so grown up, so serious and proud.

There are a couple of suggestions I would like to make to the photographer.  It might be nice if we could crop the image a little to take the subject a slightly more off the center of the composition.  If the photographer has access to a computer software package that will allow a little cloning the light above and to the right of center on the edge of the frame could be cloned out.

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One of the things we try to capture in sports or performing arts photographer is the moment at the peak, the split second when the subjects are at their  apex of movement.  This is where the photographer has to be prepared; no time for meter readings, no time to compose, no time to think.  The photographer has to act on reflexes alone.

This image of two young dancers was taken at the zenith of their movement.  They may have held this position of the count of three and the photographer had to be ready.  The composition is elegant with a clean black background that lets the performers standout in all their grace.

The photograph highlights the skill of these two young ladies with elegance and style.  This moment has been captured for the view’s enjoyment.

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The next step beyond low-key is lithograph; where there is only black and white with no gray tones present.  That is to say that some photographs can be made to look like an India ink drawing. 

This photograph fits the title Black & White.  Through the clever use of light reflection this photo-artist has created a stunning graphic that pops off the page (screen).  The composition consists of bisecting the horizontal with white on the left and black on the right.  These contrasts are reversed in the water and glass reflections.  The vertical is divided in half by the line of glass rims.  The photographer has carefully thought out this composition.

You may notice that the right hand glass appears to be leaning toward the edge of the frame.  I have checked this out using a vertical line and it is as truly straight as any of the other subjects.  It is only an optical illusion cause by the proportion of black to white in the water making your eye see it more heavily weighted on the right side.

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Chiaroscuro is a term used for a work of art with high contrast between light and dark that affects the whole composition.  Another term that could be used is low-key.  This low-key effect accentuates the contours of an object by throwing areas into sharp contrast between light and shadow.

The composition presented hear is one of the strongest low-key images I have seen is sometime.  The blacks and whites take over this photograph with very little mid tone gray.  It has a film noir quality.  The structures with their different heights from left to right lead the eye up into the sky with its gray to black tones in gradations.

When digitized images with high contrast are transmitted or sometimes when they are printed they have a tenancy to block up in some areas where there are a lot of pixels of the same tone.  This has happened to the photograph as shown here.

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There are many details the photographer has little or no control over at the time of the shoot.  In truth there are many details the photographer does not even notice until the image is printed or blown up on the screen.  But these imperfections can prove distracting to the viewer and take away from an otherwise wonderful photograph.

This is a delightful illustration of children at play.  This candied image catches the girls enjoying themselves on their own without adult direction of supervision.  This can be seen by the gathering of people in the back ground with their attention diverted in another direction.  This grab shot captures a natural moment and tells a strong story.  I particularly like the placement of the three subjects and the  rim lighting on their hair.

There are a few small distractions I would like to point out to the photo-artist.  The first thing that catches my eye is the white string on the sleeve of the child in front in the mouth of the young lady in the rear.  The front girl’s foot is tangent to the bottom edge of the frame.  This can be modified but it will take some cloning work.  The last thing I would note is the object on the ground behind the leg of girl number two.  This distraction could be eliminated.

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All photographers have their own unique way of seeing the world.  I used to work with a wonderful photographer who saw scenes completely different than I did.  We would go out on a shoot and when we got our images back, even though we had been standing side by side during the shoot, our results looked like we had been in two different counties. 

This image starts with an interesting scene.  This old bar has a lot of potential for interpretation and graphic design.  It is not always necessary to shoot the whole subject to get the idea across.  I like the way the roof line of the barn echoes the mountain in the distance, this sets up an interesting pattern.  There is a significant tilt to the subject in relation to the bottom of the frame.  This may be because the structure was sitting on a slopped surface or the photographer could possibly have been trying to actuate the dilapidated condition of the building.

I would like to make a few suggestions.  The legs of the horse in the lower right hand corner have been cut off at the feet.  You may wish to leave a little more room so we can see the entire horse plus a little room beneath it.  Along this same line the edge of the barn on the left side is at a tangent with the frame.  Perhaps leaving more room at the edge or cropping in so we don’t see the vertical corner would be a better choice. 

I would like to note that the texture in the tree is nice but the sky has little to hold our attention and could be reduced by quite a bit.

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Altering photographs so that they consist of a black and white with an accent of color is a technique that has been around since the beginning photography.  Before we were able to reproduce color in photographs images would be hand tinted to give them realism.  Since the advent of color prints it has become more of a novelty technique.  Today it can be accomplished on the computer using selective masks.

The scene in this illustration lends itself the selective coloring.  The interior of this building indicates a time long past.  It was a natural choice to leave the candle in color to indicate the present imposed onto the past.   I like the way the door is cropped allowing us to see only a portion of the opening.

There are a couple comments I would like to make.  For some reason the candle seams to low in the composition.  I can’t put my finger on just why but I feel it needs to be further away from the bottom of the frame.  Speaking of edge relationships, perhaps the hanging pot on the right could have a little more distance for the side.

I would also like to see more contrast in the black and white print.  The grays are a little muddy and some work with the levels and curves would give the image a little more snap.

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One of the things that makes a small children so wonderful is their since of wonder and discovery.  Every day they see our world through the eyes of innocence and bewilderment.  To a child anything is possible, rain dear can fly and gardens can be magical.

The photograph presented here captures some of that miracle of imagination of childhood.  This little person has found the door to the rabbit hole and is about to peek in to see if the mad hatter and the queen of hearts are there.

This image was shot using inferred which gives the illustration an otherworldly feeling.  The arbor lends itself to a symmetrical composition.  The photo-artist has captured the action of the child at exactly the right instant, just as the door is opened and before we can see through the opening.  I know this was out of the photographer’s control but it would have been nice if the subject were not wearing the white hat.

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When I look back at products made a hundred years ago I am amazed at the artistic detail that went into some of the most common items; filigree and scroll work on industrial machines, masonry sculptures on buildings high above the street, flowing design of utilitarian products.  This was the industrial age, why go to such trouble to make commercial products with such artistic detail?  It must be our need to create art and craftsmanship even in the tools we use every day.

This nineteenth century device, I don’t know what it is perhaps a coffee grinder, shows this attention to detail in the spokes of the wheel.  They could have just used straight lines but rather the manufacturer elected to produce interlocking arks reminiscent of a fine crafted geometric sculpture.

The photographer has framed the subject in such a way that we only see three quarters of the object.  We can tell that it is symmetrical so there is no need to illustrate it in its entirety.  This leaves something to the viewer’s imagination.  The back drop, the lace curtains, gives the feeling of a Victorian home.

The image has been altered with a soft focus filter along the top of the subject to give it a dreamy effect.  This is nice but may not have been necessary to this extent. 

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There is no such thing as right and wrong when it comes to photography, well almost nothing.  If it works and the viewer is interested in the image no matter what rules you break it’s still a good photograph.  There’s the rub, if it works for the viewer!  And how does the photographer know if it works?  The only way I can answer that is to say experiment and see.  But your work must be intentional, not just luck.  That’s where talent and practice are required.

This is an interesting experiment in the use of a subject not being as strong as the supporting graphic elements.  The skull is small in relation to the strong lines of the roof eves.  The viewer’s eye is constantly pulled away from the subject and upward to the roof and beyond.  The photograph has been converted to a black and white probably because the color in the eves was distracting from the white wall.

I applaud the photographer for experimenting with this image but I might suggest that the material they had to work with was not conducive to a strong image.  I also think that a little work needs to be done with the contract and curves on the computer.  The image as presented appears to be a little muddy and soft.

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Slow shutter speeds, when used by a knowledgeable photographer, can add life and movement to a photograph.  This is particularly true when only a small portion of the image, most often the subject, is in motion.  When done well it makes the viewer see the world in a new way.

This composition has a number of things going for it.  The train and platform present a strong single point perspective to the layout. Our subject about to enter the train is in motion with ninety percent of his body in blurred movement, while his left foot is stationary on the platform.  The image appears to have been converted to black and white and them the red lights were allowed to come through giving the appearance of a hand tinted print.

I was going to suggest to the photographer the possibility of a little cropping but after trying it the image became to sterile.  However eliminating the bright lights in the upper left hand corner by cloning may be something the photo-artist would consider.

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Patterns within photographs can be used as subjects or backdrops that add meaning to subjects.  Often they are most effective when the pattern is interrupted by an anomaly such as one item out of place or a sudden shift in color or texture. 

This photograph uses patterns as an element that adds interest to the subject.  Can you envision how the composition would change if the subject was placed on a solid asphalt surface?  The pattern of stones is laid out in waves as if the woman were walking on fossilized water. The photographer has only shown us a portion of the woman and allowed us to imagine the rest of her attire.  We can see she is a person who likes funky combinations, blue jeans and stiletto heels. 

In the image at the top of the frame the feet an tail of a pigeon are visible.  The photographer may want to consider trying to clone this out.  Also, on the copy we received, the image appears to be a little soft.  I think the sharper this composition is the better.  Overall it’s a very clean concept.

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Composition generally requires some element that connects the parts to make a whole.  There are some images that forget to do this and the end result is a number of subjects, or pictures, within the photograph.  If they are not connected by some thread the viewer becomes confused and the image is disjointed.

This photograph has two strong subjects, the primary subject is the horse in the lower right hand corner and the secondary is the rock in the upper left.  These could have become unrelated except for the strong graphic line of the layered light coming through the dust.  This subtle light obscures much of the landscape which keeps our attention on the relationship of the two primary elements as our eye flows from the upper corner downhill to the horse and back again.

This illustration gives me the feeling of being under water.  The light appears to be cascading downhill and filling up the landscape with a translucent ether.  The horse appears to have lost its way in the gray world of this mass of particles suspended in the air.

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“If you take a picture of a child and you like it it’s a snap shot, if your neighbor truly likes it it’s a picture but if the world likes it it’s a photograph.”

This is a world class photograph.  What joy, what fun, what can one say except I love this image?  The child is so genuine in her joy that this universal image can be related too by anyone.  You can almost hear her child’s giggle as she attempts to hole each ethereal globe in her hand.

The composition has allowed a little extra room from the right hand frame for the bubbles to float into.  The dappled background is dark enough to let the highlights of the floating spheres to standout.  I think the child is a little soft but this does not detract from the overall feel of the shot.

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If you like this image I recommend that you read the short stories of Franz Kafka.  They are composed by a man who is recording his half awake dreams and night mares, not fear, just bewilderment at everyday events.  This image reminds me in particular of his story about passing a  stranger at night; ‘Passer-by’ ……”When you go walking by night up a street and a man, visible a long way off - for the street mounts uphill and there is a full moon - comes running toward you, …..”.

The use of the soft filter in this European ally way has added a dream like quality to this composition.  It has the feeling of a long exposure and yet the man is thou not sharp, not blurred as you would expect.  The sky has enough light to tell us that night has not fully descended yet.  The man is facing away from us down the cobble stone steps leaving the viewer with anticipation about his next move, will he continue down the hill or turn and ascend.

The mood in this image is that of the mystery of the ordinary.  Nothing is distorted or out of the commonplace yet we feel there is something unnatural about to happen and it is to happen at any second.  The viewer can read a hundred stories in to this photograph.

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I am continually asking people to crop down their images to the point that I feel that people may think I only like macros.  The point is that the photographer should decide what turns them on and then take everything else out.  Keep to your insight and throughout all the junk.  If it works the photo-artist has made the viewer feel the same inspiration for the image.

This photograph of the eastern Sierra Nevada has captured the grandeur of the landscape without making us wade through any unnecessary information.  It tells us about the dry climate in the foreground, the flat scrub of the hills in the middle ground and the snow capped mountains in the distance.  The subject of this composition is not the tufa in the foreground but the entire eastern side of this mountain range.

Graphically you will not that the snow capped mountain in the distance is attached to and separated from the tall tufa on the right by the dark foothill.  The clods obscuring part of the distant landscape adds additional depth, also note that the shape of the tufas act as a frame for or a window to the mountain.

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Some people think that photographs should be as sharp as a tack.  However there are many times when the image can be soft or even grainy to add to the mood of the subject matter. 

The dust in this image has been enhanced by adding grain to the original print.  It works well with this subject where the atmosphere is obscuring some of the horses, riders and trees in the scene.  By converting the original color shot to black and white has enhanced this raw gritty feeling. 

The concave curve to the trail adds an interesting graphic to the composition.  The viewer wall also note that the photographer has left room in front of the lead horses to move into while at the same time supplying a contrast between the dust and clean air they are about to disturb.  The narrow horizontal format works well with this subject.

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Macro photography opens up an alien world that exists all around us, a bazaar world where the ordinary becomes the extraordinary.  The macro lens like the microscope shows us what reality is made of and how it is put together.  We take so many things for granted and often fail to see what is right in front of us. 

How many times have we seen a spider web with drops of due sparkling in the sun.  Our first reaction is to capture what we see with our ordinary eye.  But this photographer went further and came in close to discover how the droplets related to the gauzy fibers of the web.  The resulting image shows a world where water takes on an amebic life giving the illusion of a living form.  The macro fibers of the spider web interlink these organic shapes.

The photo-artist has tinted the composition with a green hue, normally not my favorite, but in this case it does add to the alien feeling of the image. There is not much going on in the way of graphics but the chaos is held together by the interlinking fibers and repeated patterns.  Overall this is an interesting study.

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Mood is less specific than emotion.  It is a feeling, good or bad, that we take away from a situation or a scene.  Images often evoke moods in the viewer which may be felt more intensely by some than others.  The lighting in a photograph combined with the subject matter set the tone of some compositions in a way that asks the viewer to intemperate the story being presented.  Emotions evoke feeling of anger, joy, love, patriotism, etc., but a mood is a subtle tone that covers a broader more indefinable feelings.

This image presented is a mundane scene that we have all experienced, the hotel room, nothing to photograph there, nothing extraordinary, it’s just a hotel room.  But the photographer has turned it into a work of art that the viewer can read like a good novel, and each reader will come away with a different story.  The original photograph has been manipulated in a subtle way to give the illustration a dream like quality while at the same time not distorting the presentation of the subject.  Using a green hue, which is normally not a good thing, adds a mood to the image that is difficult to express, a little sad and yet familiar.  It also adds a certain timeless quality to the composition. 

By showing the wall to the left with the picture in forced perspective the photo-artist has added death to the image.  This combined with the bed on the right focus our attention on the one point perspective of the light and then on what it illuminates.  This ordinary hotel room is telling a narrative that is somewhere between a mystery and a suspense.  It draws you in and holds your attention while you find you are trying to complete the rest of the story.

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Some subjects beg to be converted to sepia black and white; ghost towns, cowboys, old cars, etc.  Anything we think of as vintage is fair game, however when you see old tintypes and very old prints you soon realize they have a certain quality that is very difficult to duplicate.  Perhaps it was the latitude of the film or the type of developing chemicals used, but it is almost impassable to modify a modern image to look like it was taken a hundred years ago even though the subject could have existed at the time.

The windmill photographed here has been converted with the use of computer filters.  The photo-artist has taken on the difficult task of making the print look antique.  The composition has focused on the subject so that it takes up almost all of the image area.   There is interesting texture in the water and plants along the bank of the pond which has been enhanced by the filters used.  The lighting is mid day but with this conversion that does not detract from the photograph, if anything by converting from color to black and white the subject has been enhanced.

The photographer may wish to consider allowing more space in front of this subject if possible.  This would show us more of the surrounding environment and take the subject off the center line of the composition.  When I first saw this photograph I thought the horizon line was tilted but after checking and measuring I think the illusion is caused by the hexagonal shape of the building and the curve of the shore line.

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