tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88688682011-12-15T14:06:03.920+11:00Articles and resources on the craft of photography, rather than the equipment of photography.ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comBlogger181100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1116222060228452652005-05-16T15:39:00.000+10:002005-05-16T15:42:18.236+10:00

This blog has been renamed to One Stop Under and moved to its own domain.Please update your bookmarks and point your RSS readers over there.

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1110513533752310262005-03-11T14:58:00.000+11:002005-03-11T15:00:37.416+11:00

"Personal style. This term has meant different things to me over the years. When I studied at the Beaux Arts in Paris Personal Style had the feel of something unreachable, the feel of something one sees and finds in museums, the feel of something which others – those who have "made it" and who have been recognized as the masters – possessed. Personal style had the feel of something that students

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1107823361502714472005-02-08T11:42:00.000+11:002005-02-08T11:42:41.503+11:00

"Photographs are never clear by themselves. In some way or another, they are only the shattered fragments of the broken mirror of reality and, as they show us their images, we are forced to reconstruct their meaning. Hans Durrer here reflects on the question of how to read photographs." Reading photographs

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1106088512834108832005-01-19T09:48:00.000+11:002005-01-19T09:48:32.833+11:00

While Mike Johnston's article discusses the Pentax *ist DS (quite possibly the dumbest-named camera ever), it's not so much a technical review as an experiential review. He reminisces about many older Pentax products, and has some interesting points to make about Pentax's unusual strategies through the years. Well worth a read. The K-1000 of Digital SLRs

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1103153627338660102004-12-16T10:33:00.000+11:002004-12-16T10:33:47.336+11:00

Pi Media is one of the biggest US commercial studios. They shoot the whole Sears catalog, among other clients. This article is a brief look around the Pi Media studio, and how the photographers go about their work. Interestingly, the studio has been all digital since 1998. The studio is massive - over 200,000 square feet of studio and post-production space. They employ 400 people, including 40

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1102126013329299882004-12-04T13:06:00.000+11:002004-12-04T13:06:53.330+11:00

An excerpt from the book On Being A Photographer, by David Hurn and Bill Jay. One of the best ways to grow as a photographer is to take on a project of some type. Choose a subject, and produce a body of work to illustrate that subject. Maybe the end result will be a portfolio or a gallery show, or maybe it'll end up as a small photo album or a web presentation. It doesn't matter. What matters

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1101435829572332442004-11-26T13:23:00.000+11:002004-11-26T13:23:49.573+11:00

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

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1101435464897990352004-11-26T13:17:00.000+11:002004-11-26T13:17:44.896+11:00

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

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1101337146757029542004-11-25T09:59:00.000+11:002004-11-25T09:59:06.756+11:00

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

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1100236096678567902004-11-12T16:08:00.000+11:002004-11-12T16:08:16.676+11:00

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

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1100047610828219632004-11-10T11:46:00.000+11:002004-11-10T11:46:50.826+11:00

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

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1099956937667871762004-11-09T10:35:00.000+11:002004-11-09T10:35:37.666+11:00

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

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1099460174697812942004-11-03T16:36:00.000+11:002004-11-03T16:36:14.696+11:00

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/

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1099455986505153172004-11-03T15:26:00.000+11:002004-11-03T15:26:26.506+11:00

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

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1099371816921320402004-11-02T16:03:00.000+11:002004-11-02T16:03:36.920+11:00

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,

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1099367541759073142004-11-02T14:52:00.000+11:002004-11-02T14:54:11.783+11:00

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

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1098704017322612592004-10-25T21:33:00.000+10:002004-11-01T22:52:15.650+11:00

Now here's an interesting project - complete plans for a do-it-yourself pinhole camera, made out of paper, that looks like a standard 35mm SLR. It even takes rolls of 35mm film! http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholecameras/dirkon_01.html

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8868868.post-1098701493594712572004-10-25T20:50:00.000+10:002004-11-01T22:52:47.420+11:00

This guy takes hundreds of photos of a subject, rotating the subject only a degree or two between each image. He then takes a single row of pixels from the same height in each photo, and creates a new image by stacking all these rows on top of one another. Have a look at the page to understand what I mean :-). http://www.bmumford.com/photo/streak/index.html

ThePoolRoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370573297512561024noreply@blogger.com