The Indiana State fair is an annual affair like any other state fair. What I did not know until recently is that there is more to the state fair than the usual animal and farming shows. In fact I found an entire section dedicated to photography although it is not well publicized. Anyway so I walk into the area where the photography exhibit was setup and boy was I underwhelmed – not by the quality of the images but by the disservice the print quality and presentation did to them. The photographs were wonderful even though some of them were heavily photoshopped. However the print quality and presentation were just horrible – even in the professional category. There was no breathing room between any of the photographs and they all seemed to blend together. I just don’t understand the need to display every entry that was ever sent to the exhibit. Select a few and do the best job presenting them including the light under which they are displayed. Going back to the original intent of this post – Is print making dead? It definitely felt that way yesterday. Many photographers think that their job ends with capture and some tweaking in Photoshop. Many don’t go beyond these basic steps to do their absolute best to get the most out of their capture and make it ready for output. I guess that’s okay since many are going to just publish their images to the web. However if you are going to make prints please take some time to understand the finer points of print making. There are several excellent resources on the web such as photo.net, Luminous landscape, and Normen Koren to learn and understand the issues around the fine art print. Manufacturers like Epson also publish several useful guides to the print making process. If you are the workshop kind of guy/gal there are several options as well such as the Santa Fe workshop series. Even if you don’t do your own printing it still helps to know the finer points so that you can have an intelligent conversation with your printer and give them the right instructions so that the final print is a reflection of your artistic intent and not a stroke of luck and some random settings.
Technique
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Aug 10
Is print making dead?
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Aug 10
Composites: Some experiments
I usually stumble on to lot of the techniques by accident. I never tried doing composites in Photoshop but yesterday I decided to jump in give it a try. I had an opportunity to attend a workshop/photowalk with Kevin Raber, VP of Marketing for PhaseOne – the digital medium format company. The above image is a composite of three different images that I took during the photowalk. I just find it interesting that this composite makes so much sense in the context of drones and satellite guided weaponry. Soldiers don’t have to be in actual combat. Instead one can sit in an air-conditioned cube and remotely fight a war by pushing a joy stick and punching some buttons. Here is another one that I created from a USA Today newspaper box and a sculpture in the Evan Lurie Gallery:
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Aug 10
Wreslin’ with steel film reels
Mira’s new friend – REX the Dinosaur from Toy Story. This was a quick photograph to get to the 36 frame mark so that I could try my hands at loading a stainless steel reel for like the second time in my life. After fumbling around in the dark for about 30 minutes I finally was able to load the reel. In the process I managed to scratch. kink, and maul the film 
. But I think I have the technique down.
10
Aug 10
A Conversation with Tom Casalini, Portraitist Extraordinaire [Part 2]
I interviewed Zionsville, IN based photographer and portraitist Tom Casalini a few days ago. In Part 2 of my conversation with him he talks about going digital, advantages of working in a studio instead of on-location, working with families, and selecting the final images and presenting them to the client.
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Aug 10
A Conversation with Tom Casalini, Portraitist Extraordinaire [Part 1]
Tom Casalini has spent a little over three decades behind the camera. He has worked on national campaigns for companies such as McDonalds, Life Magazine, and Timex to name a few. But if you ask him he will tell you without hesitation that portraiture is his true passion. When you see his portraits you will understand why he feels that way. Each of his portrait creations is a result of his innate ability to draw out the most intimate details about a person’s life and translate them into a vision that paints a honest picture of who they are. I am a great fan of Tom’s work and have been contemplating for a while to meet him and talk to him about his style and philosophy concerning portraiture. I contacted Tom last week about doing an interview and he agreed to meet me at his studio. Tom’s studio is located in Zionsville, Indiana, a quant artsy town northwest of Indianapolis. You can find him and his portfolio online at Casalini Portraits. He is also the author of the book “Ordinary Heroes” – a tribute to the Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. Here is Part 1 of my interview with Tom:
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Aug 10
Are budget strobes any good?
I am an amateur photographer which by definition means that I earn my living by doing something else other than photography. That also means that I don’t really have the budget for expensive lights/strobes that many professionals use in their line of work. The professionals need them for reliability and consistency and I think they should get the best equipment their money can buy. Just like they say the best camera is the one that you currently have with you – the best light is the one that you have. In my case it was a Flashpoint Digipop and a Adorama softbox that my father-in-law handed to me several months ago. Rated at 300 watt sec it is not the best in the world, but it is small enough to carry and set up on location. I had the opportunity to take some head-shots for a childrens theatre company in town and I used this simple setup and the results at least in my view turned out great. I took these head-shots in the gathering area of Madam Walker Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana. The background was put together by covering a rectangular cutout propped against an easel stand with a cloth backdrop that I made myself. The strobe was on Camera Right at 45ยบ shooting down through a Westcott Umbrella. I did not use a reflector to fill in shadows because I wanted to create something more “dramatic”. The strobe was set to 1/3 rd power and exposure was 1/180 sec at f/8.0. Above you can see some head-shots from that set – what do you think?
