Author Archives: tyson robichaud photography

*Exposure 3, third time’s a charm!

by in Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Alien Skin's Exposure 3 makes your digital files instantly feel film like. - ©tyson robichaud photography 2010

I have been curious about the Alien Skin Exposure software plugin for Photoshop for a long time.  With the third iteration, Exposure3  has taken their film simulation software even further.  Read on for examples and reviews…

*Authors note: Link to Alien Skin’s Newsletter showing this article here!

To those who’ve come from the newsletter, welcome!!!

 

(March 2012) Now that Exposure 4 has been released, you can read my updated review HERE!

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*Shooting Fireworks

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balancing the scene's ambient lighting with a long exposure: ISO100-f/11-6seconds

For those of us in the US, it is getting close to the 4th of July holiday and a fun photo opp.  Capturing fireworks can present some fairly unique challenges, but with a game plan, it can be a lot easier than you think…

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*Selective Color use in Black and White Photography

by in Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

One fun, and very easy technique in Photoshop is to use a small point (or points) of color in a black and white image to draw focus to a particular area or provide a particular mood.  It is easy and can provide a bit of intrigue to an image. This is my basic way of achieving this using an image in Photoshop.

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*A new way to see indeed!

by in Photography gear, Photography tutorials and tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Why do we take pictures?  For the majority of us, I’d guess it falls somewhere into the realm of, enjoyment and/or documentation.  Regardless of the medium, whether it be digital or film, we like to preserve moments and may enjoy trying to do so with some level of artistry.  Isn’t it nice when someone says, “wow, that is cool!” or “how did you get your picture to look like that?”  Simply put, many of us enjoy taking pictures because we like to and it’s nice when that is noticed or appreciated.  Add in a few cool tools and enjoyment can turn into excitement from behind the lens.

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*Who are they for anyway? – an open letter to Panolympus

by in General ramblings, Photography gear | 44 Comments

We are witnessing a new war being waged in digital photography, and we’re all winning.  On top of the leapfrogging going on in the higher end system lines, we are seeing more and more movement toward the world of smaller, mirror-less, interchangeable lens system cameras.  You may call them EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens, assuming they have an electronic viewfinder), or MILC (Mirror-less Interchangeable Lens Compacts) but however we cleverly abbreviate them, the question remains, who are these cameras for?

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*Free Photoshop Contrast Pop Action!

by in Postprocessing techniques, Software tutorials / reviews and tagged , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

My lovely friend Kira plays the good sport.

Here is a brief tutorial on how to add a contrasty “look” to just about any picture.  There are sites out there to purchase many of these types of actions, and some of them are well worth the price, but I’ve found that through my years, many other photographers have offered up free advice as I was learning to scrape the surface of Photoshop, which enabled me to gain a deeper understanding of my post processing.  So, in this tradition, I shall try to pay back a bit of that help by offering up this little trick.  I know that many photographers would rather spend their free time taking pictures, not in front of a computer processing them.  I myself find enjoyment on both sides of this coin, but I sure don’t mind being able to quickly automate some of my more “used” techniques.  This is one of them…

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*A thank you to many, or, why I think the internet is cool.

by in General ramblings and tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

I do feel that you are neat. If you are reading this, it is meant for you.

First, thank you.  To those of you who’ve been visiting, reading and commenting and those who have been linking me to their blogs, articles, allowing me to guest blog for you, re-posting my blog posts, and generally helping each other out, thank you.  If you are here, reading this, I mean you.

The internet is an amazing tool for information gathering.  Sometimes that information can be challenged and in some cases, just downright wrong, but the fact that it is a tool that enables all of us to provide the dialogue, has gone a long way in helping me in a variety of ways.  I wanted to take the opportunity to thank a few of the folks who’ve helped my blog gain a little exposure and hope to be able to turn a few of my new friends onto their sites as well.  Many of the links below may be well known to many of us, others perhaps not, but regardless, I find a lot of value in these sites and hope that others may as well if you don’t already…

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*G-FD’d Up From the Feet Up! (or, how I saved thousands buying FD lenses)

by in General ramblings, Photography gear and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 94 Comments

Looking down the barrel…

Recycle, reuse, reshoot.  As long as you don’t mind manually focusing and establishing your exposure, why pay a ton of money when there are so many used, high quality lenses available?  Sure there are many optical and automated benefits to modern lenses, but sometimes, for the money saved, I can deal with the shortcomings of older, out of date lenses.  Using older, “legacy” glass on multiple cameras, either via a proprietary mount or adapter, can provide a fun, reasonably affordable and beneficial experience… Continue reading →

*Photography vs Art

by in General ramblings and tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Where does a photograph stop and digital art begin?

Where does a photograph stop being a photograph and start becoming something different?  We’ll call it an ‘artistic interpretation’ for lack of a better description.  Or, are they one in the same no matter what level of manipulation has been applied?  I’ve been taking pictures for a while, more of my life than not if you don’t count the hiatus I took after college when I was bogged down with three jobs.  I still have some shots from that time period, but they are few and far between.  So, I feel like photography has been a part of my life for a while.  I’ve not spent too much time thinking about it in these terms until recently.  Prior, I’ve just enjoyed taking pictures but thanks to the internet and my epiphany that there are other people out there with opinions getting me to challenge my personal understanding, I feel like it is an entertaining idea to explore.  Is anything done to a photograph, after an image has been captured, by way of any kind of manipulation actually doing something that betrays the purity of photography, or is it just part of the progression?  Well… let us explore. Continue reading →

*TRP in the New York Times – Gadgetwise

by in General ramblings, Photography gear and tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

This little guy has been pulling his weight!

Rik Fairlie from the New York Times had gotten in touch with me a few weeks back regarding my experience with the micro 4/3’s system.  We chatted for a little bit about the pros and cons and he was nice enough to mention me in his article for the Gadgetwise section last week.  I’ve not been quoted in a publication before so it is weird to see my name affiliated with an article like this.  Kinda like hearing your own voice on your answering machine, I guess if I could go back, I might have answered some of the questions a little differently, more eloquently perhaps.  Regardless, thank you very much to Rik for tracking me down and for those who’d like to read the article, it is here!