Bill Hurter’s Small Flash Photography: Techniques for Professional Digital Photographers by Bill Hurter

As I read through this book, I kept remembering that a giraffe is a horse designed by a committee.

The book purportedly is aimed at users of small flashes, with emphasis on Nikon products, like the amazing D600, D700, D800 and D900 flashes, which give photographers a fantastic degree of control over their lighting. The chapters in the book include the characteristics of small flash units, descriptions of small flash modifiers, the benefits of taking the flash off the camera, some lighting fundamentals like white balance and flash synchronization, single flash techniques, multiple flash techniques, and portrait lighting.

There were a few ideas that are seldom explained in lighting books, like a brief discussion of when to use certain lighting ratios, but mostly the text repeated general ideas applicable to flash lighting, without any details. Given the subject matter, new users of flash would probably look for more information on some of the technical aspects. For example, Nikon flashes use the Creative Lighting System to control all of the flash units. Selecting from the various menus on the equipment to achieve a certain look can be quite daunting, but there was no mention or examination of this procedure. Similarly, many of the illustrative photographs used other lighting equipment, like the Quantum Td5-R, but there was no explanation of how to integrate that light into a system with small flashes (and indeed, I wondered if the Quantum unit would be considered a small flash by most photographers).

Throughout the book, I had a feeling that the book lacked unity and then I noticed that none of the photographs were taken by Hurter himself. Even traditional lighting diagrams were only used where the photographer had furnished them to the author, often leaving me wondering how a particular lighting effect had been achieved. The author apparently is more of an editor than a photographer. That doesn’t mean that he can’t create a good technical book on photography, but I have found that the practical experience that one brings to writing about photographic technique leads to more useful explanations. There certainly was a shortage of practical suggestions.

The photographs that the 28 participating photographers provided are excellent, although they are mostly limited to wedding and portrait photography, and most seem designed to give the photographers’ customers images with which they would be happy. A few are quite interesting and bold, like the cover photograph of a woman in a bridal gown in an ungainly pose and wearing cowboy boots. On the other hand, there are few of the spectacularly lit creative images of a photographer like Joe McNally.

This is not the book for a photographer to learn how to use small flashes. It would probably better serve as a supplement to other books, or perhaps as an idea book.

Calverton Birds

On my trip to Calverton today, I tried to take photographs of birds other than bluebirds, so I started with a northern mockingbird. (They are all over the place.) But I was led back to a bluebird who was consuming a nice green caterpillar. Then I spotted this wet sparrow. (I’m not certain where he was bathing.) Can John W. or anyone else on the list identify the species?

Photographer’s Guide to the Digital Lifecycle: Real-life workflow scenarios for managing still and motion photography assets by Ben Greisler

The birth of the personal computer freed computer users from control by Information Technology (IT) staff. Unfortunately it also came to mean that digital photographer had to become their own IT staff. As files multiplied and as the mortality of disk drives and other electronic equipment became more apparent to users, photographers wondered how to preserve and keep track of their images. Strangely enough few books addressed this issue.

“Photographers Guide to the Digital Lifecycle” is aimed at helping still and motion photographers design procedures to manage their assets. The author emphasizes the importance of planning the workflow as early as possible and then breaks the cycle into separate steps: ingestion, storage and server solutions, backup, archiving, data recovery and digital asset management tools. He takes great pains to distinguish the digital life cycle from digital asset management, although the distinction was not clear to me. His approach is to provide a broad overview of the considerations involved. For example in discussing software, he talks about the features one should consider for a particular function, without recommending any one piece of software or explaining the nuts and bolts of how any might work. A PC using photographer might wonder if there is any role for the Backup and Restore function of Windows 7, but it is not even mentioned. This approach is probably more useful to the IT professional than to the individual photographer trying to assemble the hardware and software to protect his assets. To illustrate the author’s points, each chapter ends with real world examples of digital lifecycle systems. Unfortunately, most of the cases involve large enterprises. There is no single example of the lone wolf photographer with a computer, a DVD burner and a few external drives.

The author’s background as an IT professional, rather than as a photographer, was apparent throughout. For example the discussion of ingestion made virtually no mention of the capabilities of Bridge and Lightroom to bring images from card to computer, and even though Greisler recognized Lightroom’s cataloging capabilities, there was no mention of its capabilities and shortfalls for archiving and backup.

The fact is that the information contained in most beginners’ manuals for Lightroom and Photoshop is more useful for the management of digital assets than this book. Peter Krogh’s book, “The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers” still remains the best book on this subject for photographers. Greisler’s book can at most serve as a supplement.

Bluebird Love

I spotted this male bluebird presenting his love with a tasty morsel at Calverton. Bug! Yum!

 

 

On the Waterfront

I was strolling along the East River in the little park between the River and the East River Drive. Here are a few images captured during my expedition.

Jeff Wall: Picture for Women by David Campany

My guess is that many serious photographers have never heard of Jeff Wall. And yet, even though I freely admit that I don’t understand Wall’s work, I think he may be the most significant photographer of our time.

This book is part of a series of books that focuses on a single contemporary artwork, describing the work, its place within the body of work of the artist and the aesthetic and cultural context in which it was made and the effects of the work on that context. At least on paper it sounds like a different approach to art history that could provide readers with new insights.

The photograph which this book examines, “Picture for Women”, was made by Wall in 1979 and shows the interior of a room, which might be a classroom or a studio, in dead center perspective. The image was apparently made by photographing a reflection in a mirror. At dead center (also the perspective vanishing point) is a view camera. On the left is the figure of a casually-dressed woman looking at the reflection of the camera, (or, we might suppose, at the viewer). On the right is the figure of Wall, looking at either the women’s back on the set, or at her front in the mirror, and holding a cable release. Significantly, the photograph is a transparency 56 inches high by 80.5 inches wide, mounted on a light box and illuminated from the rear by fluorescent light. Like almost all of Wall’s work it is a carefully posed and illuminated tableau.

The author of the monograph maintains that before this image photographs were primarily designed to be seen as part of a series, in the manner of a magazine photo essay. Even when exhibited in a gallery, photographs were page-sized and mounted one after another. Campany suggests that this resulted in the quick look rather than the serious examination and analysis of each image. Campany also suggests that the size and method of presentation of “Picture for Women” (and Wall’s later work) was designed to make the image stand on its own and be presented as a unique item not competing with other work for attention. It was the move of the photograph from the page to the museum.

Campany suggests that this is the one image that was the turning point for art photography. He dismisses the idea that prior shows that featured large-size images like “The Family of Man” show at MOMA were part of this trend on the grounds that even though the pictures were large, it was a convenient method of presenting a photo essay. (I don’t agree with Campany on this. Larger size images were in the air.)

The author discusses the relationship of “Picture for Women” with the work of Edouard Manet, especially his “Un Bar aux Folies Bergere” which Wall has credited, along with many other images, as an inspiration for his work. He also discusses other topics like the gender-role background of the image; the use of mirrors in photography; and the shift in art photography to the post-modern (although Wall doesn’t fall into that camp.) Generally after each of these discussions, Campany says that it’s hard to state into what camp Wall falls, or that his work is ambiguous or even enigmatic. Given the author’s unwillingness to reach a conclusion on some of these issues, one wonders why this work should be regarded as somehow influential. In addition Campany sometimes lapses into photography theory jargon that is difficult to understand.

The book is illustrated with a number of color plates which support the text. On the other hand the selection of a narrow font that resembles typewriter print does not aid the reader.

A number of important critics, like Michael Fried and Susan Sontag have identified Jeff Wall as being an important figure in art photography, although most fail to make clear (to my satisfaction) why this is so. (Thierry De Duve seems to have done better than most in explaining his reasoning.) Campany has now joined this circle. Those interested in understanding the artist will probably benefit from reading this cleverly arranged book, but they are unlikely to gain sufficient insight to articulate the reason for this importance.

Bluebirds

It was cloudy and windy and light conditions weren’t great for photography this weekend. Images were blurred and noisy and dull. But, thanks to John W., we found a spot where bluebirds were nesting and I can finally present closer shots than the last fleeting glimpse. You can be sure I’ll go back when the light is a little better! And yes, the female does look a lot duller than the male.

 

Portrait of Long Island: The North Fork and the Hamptons by Jake Rajs

Credit the publisher Monacelli Press with audacity. No denizen of the North Fork would ever consider combining photographs of that beloved realm with images from the land of the archenemies on the South Fork. But Monacelli’s audacity doesn’t end there.

In 2006 Monacelli issued a book of Rajs’ images of the North Fork, “Between Sea and Sky: Landscapes of Long Island’s North Fork”, and in 2008 the publisher issued “Beyond the Dunes: A Portrait of the Hamptons”. Like a true North Fork fan, I reviewed the earlier book and not the later. I praised the North Fork book for capturing the feel of the place as no other set of images had. I was particularly impressed by the way Rajs handled light and by the way he captured the feeling of the relationship between land and sky. Those who love the North Fork will love this book, as will those who love landscape photography.

As far as I can tell, all of the photographs of the North Fork in “Portrait of Long Island” originally appeared in the “Between Sea and Sky”, although only about one-third of the images in “Between Sea and Sky” appear in “Portrait of Long Island”. The essay on the North Fork in “Between Sea and Sky” has been edited down for “Portrait of Long Island”. “Between Sea and Sky” measures 9 and ¾ inches by 11 and ¾ inches. “Portrait of Long Island” measures 7 and 1/8 inches by 9 inches. Thus page size in “Portrait of Long Island” is just a little more than half of the size of “Between Sea and Sky”. Some of the photographs in “Portrait of Long Island” have been reduced to one-third the size of the same image in “Between Sea and Sky”. (I had no copy of “Beyond the Dunes” for a comparison although it appears to be of the same size as “Between Sea and Sky”).) The printing in “Portrait of Long Island” does appear to be of the same quality as “Between Sea and Sky”.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve seen the artist’s images in exhibition in sizes as large as 40 inches by 80 inches and found them drop-dead beautiful (if far more expensive than dozens of books!) In any case I find the reduced size of the images in “Portrait of Long Island” to be extremely disappointing in comparison to the larger images.

One can speculate on the publisher’s motivation in publishing the smaller book. I suppose if one can’t afford the more expensive larger book, or if one just wanted a memento of the East End of Long Island, it would be better to purchase the smaller book than to miss Rajs’ wonderful pictures. But if you want to have a better appreciation of the work of a great photographer who captures the spirit of a place as well as anyone can, get the larger book (or perhaps even both larger books.) 

The HDR Book: Unlocking the Pros’ Hottest Post-Processing Techniques by Rafael “RC” Concepcion

To understand what is wrong with “The HDR Book” it might help to understand how high dynamic range (HDR) photography works. The human eye discriminates a range of tones about twice that of a digital camera. That means that the human eye can see details in shady or sunny spots in a scene where a standard digital photo would just show black or white. The HDR process combines photographs taken at different exposures so that the light areas are selected from the darkest photos and the dark areas are taken from the lightest photos. The tonalities are then remapped. The blackest tone in the scene still appears as black, but some tonalities that might have appeared as black in a standard photo show as dark grey tonalities, just as a standard photograph’s white tones would also show detail. An HDR photo can show the same amount of detail in dark and bright areas as the human eye sees.

All of this occurs by shifting tonalities in the photograph, either changing all of the tonalities of a certain level, or by changing tonalities based on the ratio of tonalities of adjacent pixels. In order to achieve that, HDR software offers a variety of tools, each represented by a slider, that offer different methods of shifting. As a result of the options offered, the photographer can not only extend the range of light but also change tonalities to achieve what may be considered surrealistic effects, although surrealism is not necessarily inherent in HDR processing.

In “The HDR Book” the author begins by introducing the techniques of capturing images for HDR processing, like bracketing and using a tripod. Next he discusses what subjects are particularly suited to HDR photography, although his emphasis seems to be on subjects that will lend themselves to the surrealistic approach. The third chapter discusses the software to be used in HDR processing, including Photoshop CS5, Photomatix Pro and HDR Efex Pro, with an emphasis on processing in Photoshop after creating the HDR image. (This creation process is known as tone mapping.) He next offers 10 different images that he captured and processed first in HDR, and then in post HDR processing in Photoshop.

My experience is that many photographers are interested in extending the tonality of their images to approximate the human eye without adding any special effects but almost all of Concepcion’s work seems to be of the surrealistic variety. This might have been mitigated if he had offered detailed explanations of how the various sliders in the three pieces of software covered affected tonality and interacted but his advice seems to be to experiment with the sliders. When it comes to the sample images, a single screen capture and a short paragraph are devoted to the sliders that he moved in tone mapping and then several screen captures and paragraphs explain how the pictures were processed after tone mapping. Moreover, the Photoshop adjustments that he covers range from the simplest techniques that even tyros will be familiar with to intricate techniques that only experts might consider. There is little general explanation of these techniques so that to benefit the most, one should be well familiar with Photoshop.

I was disappointed that while discussing the details enhancer process of Photomatix Pro, Concepcion did not mention some of the other HDR processes available in Photomatix, like tone compressor and exposure fusion, especially since these processes may prove useful for individuals not seeking a surrealistic image.

I have no doubt there is a need for learning about post-tone mapping Photoshop cleanup. However, this book does not provide much help in understanding the tone mapping uses of the facilities in the discussed pieces of HDR software.

 

 

 

Old and New

Here is a photograph of the steeple of the old Episcopal Seminary in Chelsea, New York with the new Frank Geary designed IAC headquarters building in back. This is a part of my Chelsea Windows series which you can see by clicking the link in the blog header.