Antoni Gaudi 1852 – 1926
This is the third article in what I’m now calling the “Masters” series. First we had Lighting a la Rembrandt, then Color Theory with Matisse, and now I want to explore Composition through the work of Gaudi. I hope you enjoy and would love to hear from you folks about future articles you’d like to see! Enjoy…
bloemmarket at dawn
Sometimes a city provides you with a story of personal reflection and memory. Remembering a certain, unrepeatable feeling, tied to an experience or some other memorable trigger lends itself as a tool with which to write these stories. Luckily for me, Amsterdam has allowed me to add chapters to my story year after year. It has become a second home as I’ve had to travel here each year for the last eight to conduct business (for my real job). I count myself very fortunate that the industry I exist in professionally forces me to spend time each year in such a cool city. Of course the obvious stereotyped assumptions make their way into the conversation whenever I mention that I travel here each year, but the history, kind nature and beauty of this city rivals any that I’ve been to. Just make sure you look both ways before stepping foot out into the street, at least twice.
Eyes are not only a window, but a roadmap. I’ve always felt that I can tell a lot about a person based on the shoes they wear, and the kind of person they are by their eyes. Eyes tell you a story, they paint emotion and can determine the power of a portrait. Of course there are many, many other elements to pay attention to, but a good portrait quite often starts and ends with the eyes. Even in snapshots, making sure everyone’s eyes are at least open is one of the first things you check when glancing on the LCD screen right? Assuming we’ve captured a shot with eyes open wide, getting them to pop can make the difference between a good portrait and a wow shot. Here are a few techniques that I use, and have found from others, that can help make those eyes stand out.
image © Lensbaby Inc. 2010
My blog may seem as if I’ve become nothing but a Lensbaby honk of late. Let me say, I’ve been lucky enough to have made friends with the fine folks at Lensbaby. That, and they’re my local, hometown lens manufacturer right here in Portland. I am a softy when it comes to supporting the local folks, so in a word, yes, I like seeing a local, forward thinking optical company do well. They are also very cool people making very unique, affordable optics, and they asked me if I would play around with this new lens. I love all things photography, so I was excited to get my hands on yet another brand new Lensbaby product to play around with. As if the recently released Tilt Transformer wasn’t enough, Lensbaby has developed the Scout to further diversify their optical offerings. More after the jump…
It’s easy to go through much of life paying attention to the times that one is unlucky, but if we spend all of our energy on ignoring the times we are lucky, it is easy to miss out on a lot of the fun life can provide. I remember hearing about Hasselblads back in the day. I’d never really considered medium format to be something I’d ever realistically get to play around with. My limited expendable income was always directed to other areas. As fortune and luck would have it, the father of a girl that I was dating, was a photographer. Not just a photographer, but a connoisseur of all things photographic. His history with photography was inspiring, his knowledge intriguing, his collection of cameras was a thing of beauty. I knew, I needed to marry this girl.
*image used courtesy of Lensbaby
As announcement after announcement come in, excitement in the photographic industry rarely hits the pitch that it does when Photokina rolls around. Lensbaby has used this stage to announce their first micro 4/3 and Sony NEX dedicated offerings in the form of a combined Tilt Transformer and Composer for each of the subsequent mounts. Being that I do not have, nor have access to a NEX 3 or 5, I’ll be writing about my experience with the micro 4/3 mount Lensbaby Tilt Transformer/Composer combo. Combining the optical playground that is the Lensbaby Composer with the ability to replace the composer element and mount any Nikon F mount lens to gain a multitude of tilt-able options is just what we’ve needed to see in a micro 4/3 mount, a versatile, affordable, different and really, really fun option. Read on for a few test shots and examples…
I have been receiving quite a few emails lately asking which mirrorless interchangeable lens compact cameras I would suggest, so I figured I would give a quick rundown on who I feel would benefit from each of the current stock out there and which I feel are the “best” choices.
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!
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…
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.
Tyson Robichaud Photo-blography 