Bruce Percy, Thoughts

A follow-up post from the previous one, in the same vein.

Another great benefit of not trying to keep up with the latest and greatest in camera gear is the money you can save. Many people are selling off medium format gear on eBay nowadays for a fraction of the price they originally paid for it, trying to fund their 'upgrade' to digital. You can pick that stuff up for a steal, and get out there and learn a lot more about photography than the technologists who leave their cameras on automatic.

Bruce Percy, Thoughts

Why Your Camera Does Not Matter

Ken Rockwell has written an excellent rant on why your camera doesn't affect the quality of your final image. He advocates that the less time you spend worrying about equipment, the more time you have left to worry about actually taking photographs.

Ken knows what he's talking about, too. Just have a look through his photo galleries to see some incredible images.

This philosophy is partly why I started this blog. I know it's true, yet I often still get sidetracked by the latest digital SLR announcement or start wishing I had a certain lens. Here, I try to ignore the technology and just concentrate on the creative side of photography.

Well, mostly :-). I still link to handy tools from time to time.

Why Your Camera Does Not Matter

WhiBal White Balance Reference Card

The WhiBal white balance reference card is a fantastic tool for getting your white balance right when it really matters (e.g. fashion or product photography, difficult lighting conditions, etc).

It's a little business-card-sized bunch of cards that you take a reference photo of in each lighting situation you're shooting in. One card is white, one black, and two are grey. When you get back to your computer to edit the photos, you can set the white and black point of your image to recreate the correct exposure and contrast, and use one of the grey cards to set the colour balance of your image.

This tool is not just for digital photographers - film shooters can benefit too. If you shoot negatives, you can make test prints of your reference shot to get the right colour filtration for neutral output. If you shoot slides, you can't directly modify the white balance of the slides later, but if you need to scan them you can use the reference shot to ensure you scan your good shot with the right exposure and colour corrections.

If colour accuracy is important in your photography, or if you're just sick of mucking around in Photoshop trying to get skin tones to look natural, WhiBal could help you. And it's only about USD$45 (USD$50 outside US).

WhiBal Cards

Image Cataloging Primer

This article explains how to set up, organize and maintain a database of your photographs, and integrate it into your digital imaging workflow.

It explains the two basic approaches to cataloging - event-based workflows and library-based workflows. IPTC captioning and categorization are also discussed.

Although written to promote their own DigitalPro3 image management software, this article contains a lot of useful generic information and some things to think about if you are shopping for image management or digital asset management software.

http://www.nikondigital.org/dps/dps-v-2-25.htm

LensWork Audio Blog Commentaries by Brooks Jensen :: November :: 2004

Here's an interesting thing to try if you store your images (or information about your images) in some kind of database.

Brooks Jensen recommends adding three extra fields to your image database:

Distance to Subject: infinity, 20-50 ft, 10-20 ft, 3-10 ft, under 3ft, macro, super-macro

Colour: warm tones, cool tones, saturated colours, pastel colours, monochromatic

Composition: round, diagonal, T, L, random shape

He says it's useful for identifying what types of approaches you favour for various subject types, and can help you identify new ways to approach old subjects to help you break out of a creativity rut. I guess it can also help when you're trying to find groups of photos that will go well together, such as cool-toned macro shots.

Listen to Brooks' audio blog entry on this page:

http://lenswork.com/stl-web/b2/index.php?m=200411

How to Create a Portfolio of your Work

Creating a portfolio of your photographs is a very rewarding process, which can often lead you to see your work in a new light and inspire you to explore new directions.

This article by Alain Briot gives detailed guidance on how to plan and develop your portfolio. It explains what a portfolio is, helps you identify your audience and your purpose in creating a portfolio, and contains plenty of practical advice on putting your portfolio together.

If you're serious about your photography, this is an exercise you should definitely consider.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/portfolio-8.shtml

Delkin Devices - Archival Gold CD-R

If you're worried about the (short) shelf-life of CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, this product may be for you. Delkin is claiming it's the most reliable CD-R on the planet, with a storage life of 300 years. They're not cheap, though, at USD$136 per 100!

I haven't used these, let alone tested them, so decide for yourself whether to believe the marketing hype or not.

http://www.delkin.com/delkin_products_archival_gold.html

CameraHobby - Wedding Photography e-Book

So, you're considering shooting a wedding?

There's a lot to consider when shooting a wedding for someone. This is one of the most important days of their life, and they're trusting you to capture the memories for them. No pressure or anything, but you really don't want to stuff that up.

Edwin has put together a series of web pages outlining his experiences and recommendations for shooting weddings. There are lots of great tips in here, and he covers pretty much all aspects of event photography - from equipment and preparation, to shooting styles, dealing with people, and business considerations.

Worth a read, even if only to remind yourself why you don't shoot weddings!

http://www.camerahobby.com/Wedding-Introduction.htm

photo.net Learn Photography

If you want to learn more about photography, this is a great place to start.

If you're completely new to the hobby, read the Beginnners section first. It'll give you a good background in light, lens, film, exposure and camera choices.

As your skills develop, your questions will become more specific - the Taking Pictures section has a lot of great articles on topics like portraits, gardens, architecture, ruins, underwater, studio, sports, street photography and more.

The Caring For Equipment section is probably worth a read for any photographer, especially those using cameras with detachable lenses and other accessories.

Photo.net also has discussion forums, photo reviews, interviews and lots of other ways to lose time to photography. Membership is free, so dive in and look around.

http://www.photo.net/learn/

ISO 12233 Test Chart

OK, I've posted more equipment-related links so far than I originally intended to. Here's one more: an ISO 12233 test chart, used for measuring the resolution of your lens/camera combination. Normally these charts cost about USD$100, but this one has been created from the ISO description and made available for free.

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/res-chart.html

That's the last equipment-related link for a while! The next few will be about composition and aesthetics...