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A friend of mine is moving out of his place with a great view of Downtown Montreal in 2 days so I was lucky enough to get one last crack to shoot a night scene. As it happens there’s also something called Spheres Polaires in town and the spheres add to the image.
Montreal Night Scene — Marko Kulik
Today’s vintage photograph of the day by master photographer Ernst Haas, is titled Binoculars and it was taken in Battery Park, NY in 1952. Haas is well known for adopting colour early on in his career before many of his contemporaries. Famous Haas colour photographs include slow motion studies.
A Haas quote that I really dig is, “The best pictures differentiate themselves by nuances‚¦a tiny relationship ‚ either a harmony or a disharmony — that creates a picture.”
Binoculars by Ernst Haas — 1952
This photograph works on‚multiple‚levels which is likely why it works so well.
The‚binoculars‚themselves look like human faces so we are‚immediately‚attracted to that aspect. However, other elements also make this image interesting. These elements include the fence and the buildings in the background. For me, the fence, binoculars and background buildings represent the fact that ‘making it’ in New York is difficult. The fence separates you from the buildings but you can see them through the binoculars. Getting there, is a battle…but if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.
Photography podcast #91 discusses 3 common‚reasons‚we get noise in our photographs and we offer tips on how to beat that noise. For the purposes of this podcast, noise is the appearance of coloured‚specks, ‚monochromatic‚specks or bands/lines that appear in your photographs (often in uniform areas like the sky or in the shadowy parts of the image) that should not be there.
Scene from Oka Park Quebec Canada
This image from OKA Park looks pleasing enough and looking at it here you might not know that the image was underexposed. I boosted the levels in Photoshop so at first glance it looks pretty good.
HOWEVER, this 100% crop from the same image reveals the noise (colours in the snow) due to underexposure.
Snow detail crop at 100% shows colour noise
TIP — Don’t automatically underexpose. Underexpose the scene only when necessary.
Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Cambridge in Colour article on noise
Noise Ninja
Dfine
Topaz Denoise
Shiny‚is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Ton sur Ton is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum
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Thanks to rabs, Lee Sacrey, Las Vegas Weddings, Charles binns landscape photography, and Michael Van der Tol who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.
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Happy Holidays everyone and only the best for 2011 — thanks for listening and keep on shooting!
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Because Montreal now has snow everywhere, here’s another snowy shot; this time it’s a cat.
Yesterday I was dog walking Zeusy, and a cat spotted this 7 pound terror. Zeus started barking insanely but the cat barely moved. (That’s one of the things I love about cats btw. Unlike dogs that waste their energy willy-nilly, cats will only ‘waste’ energy if they have to). All the cat did was get up from where is was resting, locked focus on the dog, and raised it’s hackles (back fur) which made its body bigger. Basically the cat was saying, “you want a piece of ‚this, come and get it, but I ain’t moving!”
And that’s what drew me to the shot. It’s the cat’s gesture that helps suggest a story.
Cat with Raised Hackles
I should also mention that after we took the shot and moved on the cat sat right back down to rest in the snow.
The vintage photograph of the day is titled Shell by master Edward Weston and it was shot 83 years ago in 1927. Weston was well known for capturing everyday objects in unique ways and many of his everyday inanimate objects take on human body positions and gestures. Pepper No. 30 is another extremely famous Weston photo that also looks human.
One of the things that makes this photograph fabulous is the ‘gesture’ of the shell. It looks like it’s engaged in resting and normally shells aren’t ‘engaged’ in anything because they are dead. This shell however does not look dead, it looks sexy. The sharpness, composition and lighting are also superb here. Just as an FYI, Weston shot many different shells and they all tell different stories.
Shell by Edward Weston — 1927
The vintage photograph of the day is titled Shell by master Edward Weston and it was shot 83 years ago in 1927. Weston was well known for capturing everyday objects in unique ways and many of his everyday inanimate objects take on human body positions and gestures. Pepper No. 30 is another extremely famous Weston photo that also looks human.
One of the things that makes this photograph fabulous is the ‘gesture’ of the shell. It looks like it’s engaged in resting and normally shells aren’t ‘engaged’ in anything because they are dead. This shell however does not look dead, it looks sexy. The sharpness, composition and lighting are also superb here. Just as an FYI, Weston shot many different shells and they all tell‚different‚stories.
Shell by Edward Weston — 1927
Today’s image of the day is called Mondrian’s Glasses and Pipe by the late master Hungarian photographer Andre Kertesz, and it was shot 84 years ago. If you can find this one at a garage sale, keep it, it’s worth a few bucks.
This photograph is brilliantly composed and that’s why it stands the test of time. Kertesz plays with shapes in a masterful way here and uses leading lines to get to those shapes. Triangles occupy not only the positive space, but the negative space as well. This creates an incredibly dynamic composition. The circles in the spectacles as well as the pipe and bowl further engage us visually.
Mondrian’s Glasses and Pipe by Andre Kertesz — 1926
So I’m dogsitting a teeny 7 pound mini-poodle named Zeus for the next 2 weeks and we go out for a quick walk so little Zeusy can do his business. It’s snowing pretty hard but little Zeusy keeps trudging forward looking for interesting scents to track when all of a sudden I notice a path made by huge tractor tires. The lines go from foreground to midground and Zeus is pulling me in them. Immediately I think of the Grinch’s dog Max and I start laughing. I pull out the Canon G11 and call Zeus’s name and he looks back at me. I take a few shots and then I tell him to ‘Mush!’ as I continue laughing to myself.
What drew me to this image was the humourous aspect and the lines. I noticed the leash’s line entering the frame while I composed the image and that made the ‘scene’ even funnier suggesting that I was on a sled being pulled by this little dog. I guess my point on this one is be on the lookout for lines, they really help tell visual stories!‚ I cropped this image squarish because it suited the scene better and I likely would have taken more time with the scene if L’il Zeusy and I were warmer.
I Said “MUSH!” — Taken with the Canon G11
I’ve been following the work of Jan Saudek (note: many graphic nude images on the site — NOT for the timid) for about 15 years and he is a Master photographer. What originally drew me to his work is his storytelling, his non-conventional models and backgrounds, his themes and the handcolouring. Jan has a very notable ‘style’ and you will love him or hate him.
Today’s image of the day is Hungry For Your Touch, 1971 by Jan Saudek. I love the angle of this image and the positions of the hands which are reminiscent of‚ the Creation of Adam painting. I love the bright light entering the doorway in the background as it makes the theme of the image far richer. Without the door the image is more about hands and intimacy. WITH the door though, all kinds of additional themes (at least to me) are suggested. These themes include, creation, spirituality, union, longing and birth. That’s my take on it anyway, what do YOU see?
Hungry For Your Touch, 1971 by Jan Saudek
I’ve come to realize something about myself‚ lately, I just love detail shots.
There was a crazy snowstorm yesterday so it was the perfect time to go outside and take pictures.
I took about 10 shots of various scenes but when it came time to select just one image, I gravitated toward this detail shot below. I had no ‘goal’ in mind except to take a wintery shot. What attracted my eye to this shot were the lines. Lines in general are an extremely powerful compositional element when used correctly. Often they are used to guide the eye to another element in the image. In this case though, the lines themselves are part of the subject matter and they just screamed to be photographed.
Winter Mat by Marko Kulik
Last month I went on a photo-tour in the Rockies led by Darwin Wiggett and after the tour was over he asked if we could send over our 6 faves for him to post on his site. Now that they have been posted on his site for a week or so I thought I’d also‚ post them here. Feel free to comment or critique any aspect of these images.
Icy Sunrise at Preacher‚„s Point, Abraham Lake, Alberta by Marko Kulik
The ice formations at Preacher‚„s Point were just awesome. I could have easily stayed there the entire day and the sunrise was also one of the best that we had. I spent a good part of the morning on my belly sliding on the ice looking for cool ice formations. Although the ice I laid on was solid, the lake was not totally frozen and I kept hearing ice cracking sounds which freaked me out quite a bit.
Ice Cave at Beauty Creek, Jasper National Park, Alberta by Marko Kulik
I must have 20 shots of this ‚Ëœice cave‚„. I kept moving closer and closer and closer until my footwear would not let me move any closer or my feet would have been soaked with ice-water. I was super-intrigued with the ice-forms to the right of the central rushing water as they seemed smoke-like to my eye.
Waveform at Coleman Creek, Banff National Park, Alberta by Marko Kulik
I really dug Coleman Creek and had the 105mm Macro on for close up details. The great thing about the 105 (I have the Nikon version) is that it‚„s also a lovely portrait lens. When I spotted the interplay between the water and the ice here, I immediately focused a few feet in front of me. I thought of surfing as I captured this waveform.
Junction, North Saskatchewan River, Banff National Park by Marko Kulik
The rushing water, the icicles, as well as the rock faces all caught my attention in this composition. I was also struck by the strong shapes and the interplay between them.
Icy Tree Reflection at Waterfowl Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta by Marko Kulik
I was struck by the painterly feel of this reflected tree in the ice. The cracked ice and textures made for a nice canvas for the tree‚„s reflection.
Ice Disks, Abraham Lake, Alberta by Marko Kulik
This was a challenging shot to get because I cut my pinky finger on the ice maybe 5 minutes before taking this shot. I was bleeding a bit and tried to stop it with kleenex and it worked for a while. Every time I needed real dexterity though I moved the kleenex and it started up again. Anyway it healed up nicely. Sorry if I spoiled any macro compositions for anyone. Wait a sec the interplay of blood and ice ‚œ that might have been cool! I chose to convert this image to black and white because the natural colours of rocks in the background were interfering with the form of the ice disks I wanted to highlight.
And those were the 6 that I sent off to Darwin. Just in case people are interested to see a few additional shots, I posted 2 threads in our forum here.
http://www.photography.ca/Forums/f11/alberta-rockies-batch-1-a-12807.html
http://www.photography.ca/Forums/f11/alberta-rockies-batch-2-a-12821.html
On December 3rd I suggested that the image of the day on this blog would mostly be my photography and 3 days later I’m here to tell you that it will be a mix of photography that I personally find interesting. Sometimes it will be my work but often it will be other people’s and on some days, like today it will be the work of a Master.
Today’s image is by Master photographer Paul Strand and it’s called Young Boy, Gondeville, Charente, France . I just love the fact that this image is almost 60 years old. It’s a very intense portrait of a boy staring right into the camera. What makes this portrait work for me are the very intense and sharp eyes along with good lighting that reveals texture in the fence, boy’s hair, face and clothing. The well chosen background suits the subject and suggests a working environment to me. The printing is also wonderful with a full range of tones (that show up better in reproductions and books versus here on the web).
Young Boy, Gondeville, Charente, France, 1951 by Paul Strand
