Interface Publications

I Have Moved...

2009-04-03T12:20:00.000+11:00

The Interface Publications blog and my writings are now happening over here...

www.interfacepublications.com.au

Heroes #2

2008-12-15T12:38:00.002+11:00

Irving Penn

In 1958 Irving Penn was named one of "The World’s 10 Greatest Photographers" in an international poll conducted by Popular Photography Magazine. Penn’s response was that of a true professional…

"I am a professional photographer because it is the best way I know to earn the money I require to take care of my wife and children."

But he also said, when opening his commercial studio in 1953: “Photographing a cake can be art”.

When I was learning about photography and wanting to be a photographer, Irving Penn was the ultimate professional. He took commercial jobs but treated every subject as though it was art. He was the master of the still life for magazine advertisements, but what impressed me were his portraits. They were simple, dramatic, unconventional (for the time) and just oozed with the character of the sitter.

I just seeing the Picasso portrait and saying wow, I wouldn't have thought of doing that. The basic portrait idea at the time was to take a pleasantly lit photograph of the subject, showing them looking nice. Using a portrait to make an art image but still capture the person in a recognisable way was an entirely new idea to me.

Penn’s portrait style went through three distinct phases. In his early days he photographed his subjects with props that told their story, for example, the composer John Cage was photographed leaning over a piano. Later he switched to a much simpler style with plain backgrounds and created drama with the simple lighting and the pose of the subject.

The third stage, and the one that impressed me the most, were extreme close ups, with tight cropping. He wasn’t afraid to use contrast or to crop out portions of the sitter’s features.

Pablo Picasso

The light he used was mostly natural light from a window. He controlled it by the placement of the sitter, the angle of the background and the exposure. This had a major effect on me and I spent years trying to learn this technique. Today, it is still mostly a matter of luck if I get it right.

Marlene Dietrich

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of good examples of Penn’s work on the Internet. And the ones that I found are not reproduced well. If you are interested in portraiture, find a copy of a book of his work.

His advice to young photographers… “Every picture should have a reason for being. It should say what it intends to say in the clearest, most effective way, with the greatest economy of means. To arrive at this clarity you must constantly simplify, simplify; pruning away anything that can be spared. Keep the purpose of the picture clearly in mind”.

Truman Capote

New Website

2007-11-02T09:00:00.000+11:00

The new version of the Interface Publications website has gone live. Unlike the previous version, the front page will change regularly, displaying a new image every few days.

The images are now displayed as Flash slideshow galleries. New images and galleries will be added as good images become available (that is a fancy way of saying I have to go out and take good images).

Please take a look:

www.interfacepublications.com.au

Heroes #1

2007-10-20T14:22:00.000+10:00

This is the first post in what will be an occasional series about the photographers who influenced me as I was learning about photography.

Astrid Kirchherr

The moody black and white photos of Astrid Kirchherr are my earliest memory of being interested in photography as an art. My family had always had cameras and had always taken photos. I have boxes full of holiday snaps and family events going back to the 1920s. I even have some negatives that my Grandfather took during World War One (yes, One).

But Astrid’s photographs were more than holiday snaps, they contained emotion, they conveyed something to me. The first images I saw were of The Beatles in their early days. This series, taken in Hamburg; inspired my interest in black and white photography and has shaped the way I think people should be photographed.

Astrid photographed the group and individual members many times in the early ‘60s but by 1967 had virtually given up photography entirely. It was difficult to make a living as a female professional photographer in the 1960s and this was compounded by the fame she had gained from photographing The Beatles.

“They (magazines) wouldn't look at my other work. It was very hard for a girl photographer in the 60s to be accepted. In the end I gave up. I've hardly taken a photo since 1967”, she said.

It is a shame because I would love to know how Astrid’s work would have developed over time.

I am very pleased to have two of Astrid’s photographs on my wall, both signed. Forty-seven years after they were taken, they still remind me just how effective black and white photography can be.

Some photos from the Hamburg series:

Link

These reduced, scanned images do not do the originals justice, unfortunately.

Some slightly better scans are here:

Link

The last information I have about Astrid is that, along with Ulf Kruger, she owns a bookshop (K&K) in Hamburg.

What's Happening...

2007-08-09T14:24:00.000+10:00

This blog is now used as an update page for the Interface Publications website.

I have been fairly active on the new image hosting site, ipernity, so I have added a link to my ipernity page to the site.

It is a very friendly, helpful community and I am enjoying posting there.

On the photographic front, I've just purchased a Canon 5D. As this camera has a full-frame sensor, all my lenses now work at their correct focal lengths. I have a proper wide angle lens again!

Basically, the camera is very easy to use, but it is several generations after my old D60, so there are some new tricks to learn.

I am still posting the occasional photo to Flickr, so you will continue to see me there too.

Now I like music as much as the next person...

2007-07-30T15:23:00.000+10:00

Now I like music as much as the next person, but was it really necessary to subject me to a bland, instrumental version of "What The World Needs Now" when I visited one of those awful automated public loos while out walking this morning.

It didn't enhance the experience.

Where Have I Been?

2007-07-12T20:43:00.000+10:00

More than a month without Interface? I can hear your cries of despair. But don't worry, I am OK.

While I was away, the great Flickr censorship issue happened. Unfortunately, this resulted in a number of my contacts and people whose work I admire leaving. They have joined a new European site: ipernity. So far this site is going well with a good sense of community. I have some work there too. You can see it here.

I am not sure yet if I will move entirely to ipernity, stay with Flickr, or run both. So far, I am enjoying ipernity more. The standard of work is high and so far everyone is playing together nicely. If I permanently move to ipernity, I will completely revise the way I put my work online. I don't know what that means yet.

On another note: today a man approached an airline check-in desk in Launceston and ask for a ticket to Canberra so he could see the Prime Minister. He then produced some gun parts. Police were called and he is now helping them with their enquiries. The headline in the online Murdoch Press says: "Armed Man Who Wanted to See PM in Custody". That headline could use a comma, or a possible re-cast. Or then, maybe the headline writer was just expressing the inner thoughts of many of us.

What I did on my holidays...

2007-06-06T06:25:00.000+10:00

I have come back from the Malta/Sicily/Dubai trip with a large number of photographs I am now sorting through. Most of the time I kept the ‘walking around’ lens, the 28 – 135 IS lens, on the camera. I used the wide angle a few times and the 70 – 200 zoom hardly at all.

The Vosonic X-mate image tank worked very well. Plug in a card, turn it on, wait for it to identify the card type and ask if you want to back it up, click ‘Yes’ and away it goes. It backs up a full CF card much faster than uploading the card to the laptop. It also creates a new folder each time you plug in a card so that you can’t accidentally overwrite any files.

As each card filled, I backed it up to the Vosonic and then to the lap top to make sure I had a good chance of getting a complete set home. The Vosonic travelled in my backpack with the camera and the laptop went in a suitcase or was carried as hand luggage.

We carried adapter plugs with us so we were able to run the laptop and recharge camera batteries, the Vosonic and our phones at all stops. Much more civilised than the Milford Sound hike.

Next time I travel I will have to seriously review what I take. The 70 – 200 L series lens is superb, but very heavy to carry. It takes my carry-on backpack right to the 7Kg limit for cabin baggage and it is heavy to carry when walking around sightseeing. Considering the number of times I used it (on most days there was so much haze that photographing distant objects wasn’t possible) it really wasn’t worth the effort.

One of the disappointments of the trip: I was looking forward to photographing some of the amazing buildings and architecture in Dubai. We have all seen those photos with the wonderful blue skies and bright sunshine. I don’t know when those photos are taken, but while we were there, the air was so think I could barely see the buildings.

I'm Back

2007-06-02T17:35:00.000+10:00

We have returned safely from our travels in Malta, Sicily and Dubai. There will be more information and musings when I have had some sleep.

Interface update...

2007-04-27T22:30:00.000+10:00

It's all go here at Interface!

I have added a new gallery in the Projects area. It contains photos from our recent hike along the Milford Track and our boat trip along Milford Sound.

We are off overseas again next week (no more 55 kilometre hikes though) and won't be back til early June. No more Interface Updates til then.

The new New Zealand gallery is here.

Interface update...

2007-04-26T21:00:00.000+10:00

I have added a new project gallery containing some of the images from the two attempts at photographing smoke. These images were an exercise in lighting and learning and as such, were very useful.

The Interface Publications Projects gallery is here:

http://www.interfacepublications.com.au/Projects/Projects.htm

Interface update...

2007-04-23T11:27:00.000+10:00

Yes, again!

I've added two new images to the Land & Sea gallery: one from the New Zealand trip and one from the Kangaroo Island trip. I have also added a new image to the Form & Texture gallery.

Interface update...

2007-04-21T13:17:00.000+10:00

I've added two new images to www.interfacepublications.com.au. One has been added to the Cityscapes gallery and is of the artwork that is (was?) at the corner of LaTrobe and Queen streets in Melbourne. The other has been added to the Land & Sea gallery. It is a portrait of a sheep in a paddock near Torquay.

More updates will be coming soon.

Travels with my camera...

2007-04-19T15:02:00.000+10:00

The recent hiking trip in the south island of New Zealand gave me some problems. Usually I would take the full kit and a laptop to download the photos each night. But this was a hiking trip and anything I took had to be carried for four days.

Also, the overnight stops were at lodges deep in the New Zealand wilderness with no access other than walking and by helicopter. Power is supplied by generators that are turned off at 10.00 pm. When they get switched back on at 6.00 am, it was all systems go until we started walking at 7.30. So there were limited opportunities (and power points) for re-charging batteries.

I decided to leave the laptop and camera battery charger behind, take a pile of CF cards and a few spare charged batteries. I finished the trip with one empty CF card and one unused battery. I wouldn’t have wanted to cut it much finer.

I also left behind the 75-200 mm tele and the 20 mm wide angle and rely on the 28-135 mm all-purpose lens. There were a couple of occasions when a big tele would have been useful (but it would have been a major problem to carry) and one occasion when the 20 mm would have produced a great image (at the top of Mackinnon pass we saw a superb rainbow arching from one side of the valley to the other in a perfect arc, best rainbow I have ever seen, but the 28 mm didn’t quite get it all in) but the all-purpose lens did a good job in the majority of circumstances.

Taking photos while walking along the valleys was a little tricky in places. The light levels were very low at the best of times in the dense rainforest and marginal when the sky was overcast or early in the morning. I should have used the image stabiliser setting more than I did, but I was worried about battery usage.

Also, because of the dim light at the valley floor and the sunlit mist/light cloud in the sky, the dynamic range between sky and shadow was a little hard to deal with at times.

So that I could take photos as I walked along the valley floor, I decided to carry it in my hand. It was more comfortable in the back pack, but the rigmarole of trying to get the camera out every time I wanted to take a shot got very old very fast. There were times it became uncomfortable or difficult while climbing over trees and rocks, but I carried the old D60 for 55 kilometres.

It was a great trip, I am still going through the hundreds of shots I took, but I have some images I am very happy with.In May we are off again, this time to Malta and Sicily for a month. Currently the plan is to take the laptop and I have just ordered a new toy, a Vosonic image tank that is supposed to hold 80 Gb of images that can be downloaded directly from CF cards.

I love to go a wandering...

2007-04-08T19:59:00.000+10:00

Just got back from NZ and a hike (tramp) along the Milford Track. This is a fantastic experience and I only managed one blister for the whole 55km. The climb over MacKinnon Pass is slow going, but well worth the effort.

We had a fantastic time and hope to recover soon.

On the way over Qantas lost one of our bags. It turned up later that night. On the way home they made up for it, they lost both of our bags. Still missing, but Qantas say they know where they are.

I am currently uploading several thousand photos and will start putting them up on Flickr soon.

Interface Holiday

2007-03-31T03:40:00.000+10:00

I am off to New Zealand in a couple of hours. I have a new 28 - 135 mm lens to play with on the trip.

Back on the 9th with some new images.

A New Angle

2007-03-27T15:04:00.000+10:00

With my favourite lens away for repair, I have been using the 20mm wide angle lens more often. I like the effect a wide angle gives to a lot of images. And, regardless of you good a telephoto lens is, there is just something about the sharpness and crispness of a prime lens.

However, a wide angle can't be used in all circumstances, so, while I have re-discovered wide-angle photography, there is a lot of work I want to do that is just going to have to wait.

Not a lot happening...

2007-03-26T18:18:00.000+10:00

My photography is curtailed at the moment. My favourite lens, the one I use most of the time, is in at Camera Clinic for repair. Unfortunately there has been some difficulty getting the correct part to fix it. Camera Clinic have been very good at keeping me informed of progress, but they are still waiting on Canon to deliver a part.

In the meantime, I am using a 20mm wide angle and a 70 - 200mm L series zoom. This combination doesn't work in all circumstances.

To complicate the issue, we are off to New Zealand for a walking tour on the 31st of March and I don't know if I am going to have a lens to take with me.

I am spending my time learning a bit more about Photoshop and trying out different types of images on Flickr.

My Friend Flickr

2007-03-08T20:17:00.000+11:00

It has been a while since I posted. During that time I was kept busy learning how to drive Flickr. It took a little while to upload enough photographs for my account to be approved as suitable and made public. I also read up on the benefits of posting groups and contacts and indicating photographs are ‘favorites’. I read an article by Thomas Hawk on how to become known on Flickr. By the time my photostream was public I was all set to go.

I posted some images in a couple of groups. I searched for and found some images that I liked. I marked them as favourites and made some nice comments about them. And those photographers returned the compliment and looked at my photos and made some nice comments.

It continued in this fashion for a few days and I was enjoying it, and then…

I added the Canola Fields image on February 28th. By that time I had a small group of people who were regularly looking at my work. I also added the image to the Australia Photographers pool and the Landscape and Nature pool.

People started looking at the image and commenting. I got invited to add it to several ‘by invitation only’ groups. One of those had several levels of membership, based on how many group members liked it. I eventually hit the highest level in that group.

As the day progressed the number of views and comments and awards grew. Each day the Flicker people record and display the top 500 images on the Explore page. During the day, I got a mail from a new contact saying it had just gone into the top 20 for the day. As that Flickr averages 20,000 image submissions per minute, I have been told, that ain’t bad.

Canola Fields briefly made it to the main image on the Explore page and finished the day at number 43. It currently has 1226 views, 73 comments and 111 people have marked it as a favourite. Last time I looked it was still in the top 50 for that day. It is still getting the occasional comment.

Those few days were addictive. I had trouble walking away from the computer because I wanted to see if there had been any new views, any new comments. Had more people selected it as a favourite?

I can see how people get attracted to playing the Flickr interestingness (as they call it) game; looking for fame and attention. It doesn’t necessarily mean it is a great photograph, just that a number of people who like that type of image have seen it.

There are a lot of very good, very knowledgeable photographers on Flickr. In fact the display of talent is awe inspiring and humbling. There are also a lot of very generous, charming folks. There are also overwhelming numbers of amateurs, wannabees, people posting their holiday snaps for Auntie Emma and just plain wankers.

Conclusion? Flickr will be the way forward for me, so I will shut down the photoblog. But I don’t want to find myself taking and uploading photos purely to gain Flickr brownie points and therefore feature in Explore. I will be trying to concentrate on improving my images and will be attempting to contact and work with other serious photographers. That’s the plan. Stay tuned.

Visit me on Flickr

Hyphen Abuse

2007-03-08T11:32:00.000+11:00

While reading today’s Geelong Advertiser (online), I came across an odd sentence:

“Four cranes were called in to clear the right-hand lane of the steel barriers and to stand them back-up right.”

Two hyphens in the one sentence, in a provincial paper? My theory of writing (and I don’t think it is original) is that the purpose of a sentence is to convey meaning and information, and to communicate. So what on earth is that second hyphen communicating?

The word ‘up’ clearly belongs to the word ‘right’. The crane stood the barrier up right (or even upright, which is a perfectly good word). So why has the word ‘up’ been connected to the word ‘back’ with a hyphen?

What meaning was the writer trying to convey? Or does someone just not have a clue what a hyphen is for?

And furthermore…

I am not crazy about that “right-hand” either. There is no real reason for the word ‘hand’ to be appended. Using “right lane” is quite sufficient.

What in the word?

2007-02-26T21:23:00.000+11:00

While travelling recently, I noticed that a lot of motels no longer supply soap in the bathroom and shower. Instead, where you would expect to find soap, there is a little paper-wrapped object called a ‘cleansing bar’. Fortunately, a cleansing bar smells, feels and works pretty much the same way as soap.

I was able to work out, after a little trial and error, that a cleansing bar was what I needed to use in the shower; but how do non-english speaking tourists cope?

I can imagine that they have worked out enough common English words so that they can have a good time when travelling and, when in need of a wash, look for something with the word ‘soap’ on it.

But when faced with a little paper packet labelled ‘cleansing bar’ they might need to reach for a dictionary. And this isn’t as much help as you might think.

Cleansing bar: becoming clean with a relatively long, evenly shaped piece of some solid substance, as metal or wood, used as a guard or obstruction or for some mechanical purpose.
Or perhaps…

Removing by or as if by cleaning a long ridge of sand, gravel, or other material near or slightly above the surface of the water at or near the mouth of a river or harbour entrance.
Doesn’t seem all that relevant, how about…

Making free from sin or guilt with a counter or place where beverages, especially liquors, or light meals are served to customers. Now you’re talking! That is some little paper packet.

Apostrophe Abuse

2007-02-26T12:39:00.000+11:00

Seen in a pub in Portland, Victoria.

Sigh.

Blowing smoke...

2007-02-17T16:54:00.000+11:00

Another image from the great smoke-in.

Smoking in the boys room...

2007-02-17T15:58:00.000+11:00

The temperature reached 38C on Friday. And was I doing something sensible? No Along with a photographer friend (from here on referred to as TP, you know who you are), I was shut in a studio/shed, trying to photograph smoke.

It was damn hot in there, and smokey. We were trying to establish the technique for lighting and photographing the smoke from an incense stick after being inspired by the photography of Graham Jeffrey over at Sensitive Light.

We managed some interesting results, but didn’t get the quality we were after. To get better results on the next try, we will move the backdrop further away so no light at all gets on it (if the back ground isn’t totally black, it is hard to get all the detail in the smoke, you loose some when you manipulate the background to black).

We also need more light on/in the smoke. Unlike other sorts of photography using flash, you can’t really reflect the light off the smoke it just goes through. So you need sufficient light at the right angle to get the detail. Also, I need to zoom in more; I had to do way too much cropping.

At least I came home smelling of sandalwood.

A fine friend...

2007-02-12T11:00:00.000+11:00

Over at russellboyle.com, Interface's good friend Russell Boyle has posted some sound files of his poetry.

Wander over and have a listen. It's good stuff.

What am I doing?

2007-02-09T13:01:00.000+11:00

One of the reasons for starting this blog was to document the learning process I am going through with digital photography and printing. I haven’t been doing much of that lately.

I haven’t been idle. I’ve been working (sporadically) on a few new things in various areas. I have been doing some black and white portraiture again (thanks Shazz, Trev and Russell) with mixed results. I am happy with the black and white look, but I am not getting the best out of the subjects or lighting yet. I need more practice.

I have also been experimenting with being more aggressive/adventurous with the ‘enhancing’ of images in Photoshop. I’ll talk more about those two things in future posts.

One issue I have been exploring is how to get my photos “out there” so I can get more feedback and therefore work to improve. It is hard working in a vacuum. You don’t really know how much you are improving and if you are moving in the right direction. I get very good feedback from friends and family, but I would like a wider exposure.
I set up the Interface photography website to showcase what I believe to be my best images of the moment. The plan is to update it regularly as I get new work up to standard. Getting people to come and see it is the next big issue.

The aim of the blog was primarily to document the digital photography learning process, take part in a dialog with other photographers as work progresses on new images, add bits and pieces about writing issues, etc. It has been successful in a limited way. I have been having fun writing about various bits and pieces and have enjoyed the comments from the folks who are reading it, but I haven’t been able to get a wider readership yet.

I began a photoblog partly to put up some work that I don’t think fits into my current website, and to experiment with linking to photoblog sites such as photoblogs.org. So far this has produced virtually nothing in terms of new visits.

I am now looking into displaying some work on Flickr. I am not happy about their terms and conditions, but there are a lot of good photographs there and some very interesting photographers to interact with.

The big question is how to get my photographs noticed. I am reading about tags, groups and other ways of being seen.

A work colleague of a friend is doing very well on Flickr. He is getting a lot of comments and reportedly offers of purchase. His work is often not to my taste, but go to Flickr and check out images from Ambientlight, a Geelong boy.I don’t think I will keep both the photoblog and a Flickr stream going, so eventually the least useful one will go.

The big challenge is to get a broader exposure for the photography and writing. I shall keep you informed of the progress.

Spelling grumble

2007-02-02T11:58:00.000+11:00

I have been reading an otherwise fine book by a well-known Australian author. This author has won a Miles Franklin Award. So the writer’s credentials are exceedingly good.

Except…

The author has used the term “tee-shirt” on several occasions during the book. I cannot let this go unmentioned because it annoys me every time I have to read it.

The casual shirt to which the author refers has nothing to do with playing golf. It is a T-shirt. When it is spread out flat it forms the shape of the letter ‘T’. I will accept ‘t-shirt’. I will not accept “tee-shirt”.

And recently I saw a TV advert for “100% cotton tees.” Now that is just dumb. A 100% cotton tee wouldn’t hold the weight of the golf ball.

Apostrophe Abuse

2007-01-24T13:17:00.000+11:00

Hanging on the front of our local Ford dealer is a large sign advertising a sale. It reads:

2005 Falcon’s $21,000

It involved time to prepare, make and hang it and it would have cost a reasonable sum of money. A number of people would have been involved in its production.

At some stage when the wording was being discussed, someone added a totally useless apostrophe. During the whole process of making this sign, didn’t someone question if it was correct?

What thought process was involved in putting that apostrophe there? It had to be a conscious decision because time and money were involved. Why go to so much trouble and expense to advertise the fact you don’t know jack about apostrophes?

To all the folks at Westpoint Ford at Hoppers Crossing, here’s a hint. It’s just plural; the Falcon doesn’t own anything.

Down the rabbit hole...

2007-01-23T00:23:00.000+11:00

My local supermarket has a display of Easter eggs. It is January 23rd.

I think this might be a record.

It's easely done...

2007-01-20T12:51:00.000+11:00

Over on The Online Photographer, there is a nice post by Barry F. Margolius about using an extremely low-tech piece of equipment; an easel.

In his words: "…it became clear that it was very hard to evaluate/enjoy these prints. One day they looked great, the next day they looked very flawed. In a moment of inspiration, I walked down the block to the art store and bought an artist's easel: black aluminum, not ugly but not particularly attractive. I just stood it up in the corner of my living room. Now I can easily (no pun intended) display my latest print du jour. Then I could live with it for a few days and decide if I liked it—and sometimes even why I liked it. The time allows me to decide if I like a print enough to frame it, and how I want to frame it, and even where I might want to hang it."

This is an issue that has plagued me (and I am sure many other photographers) for some time. Do I hang up my work? Which ones? Can I justify the cost of framing something that I might not like in a few days/weeks/months time?

Some time back I did a series of portraits of friends who visited my home (this was in the days of ‘wet’ photography). I printed everyone exactly the same and also had access to a retired family friend who did picture framing as a hobby. I was able to get a series of frames exactly the same to do a mass hanging.

The down side is that these frames, or certainly not the matts, are not re-usable, having been built for a specific purpose.

Since moving to my current place, I have wanted a method by which I can put my new digital prints up on the wall cheaply and easily so I can change them regularly. After reading about and rejecting several methods as being too expensive or cumbersome, I hit upon the idea of using artist’s canvasses. The low quality ones can be purchased in a range of sizes for not a lot of money (about $20 each for the ones I settled on).

I bought several in different sizes before deciding on the one that A3 prints looked fine in both portrait and landscape mode. A trial run also showed that, although the canvasses were off-white, they were still too stark for the prints. A quick trip to the local hardware shop and a sample point of a neutral grey paint fixed that. I now have five canvasses hanging on a long wall.

To display a new print, I just line it up and pin it through the corners with white map pins; quick and easy to do. This is not an ideal method. From certain angles the light reflects badly off the prints and it does show that the prints aren't fixed firmly and flat against the canvas. But it is quick, cheap, simple and it will do until I find one or two that I want to frame and hang more permanently.

Interface update...

2007-01-08T21:19:00.000+11:00

I have added a new section to the Interface Publications website. It is named "Projects" and I will use it to display projects I am working on, series of photographs that donÂt fit into the other galleries and temporary exhibitions.

Currently it contains a new gallery: "Night Lights". This features eight images I took, as the name suggests, at night. Most were taken in a moving car. One was taken of a neighbourÂs house.

The method was quite simple. I turned off auto focus and set the lens to be extremely out of focus. Then it was just a matter of pointing the camera and pressing the shutter.

After a couple of shots that featured heavily over-exposed highlights, I set the aperture to under-expose by two stops.

I tried to hold the camera steady, but the car movement and the very slow shutter speeds added motion blur to the out-of-focus effect.

I then used image-processing software to examine and select the ones that had interesting features. At this point I have to confess to digital manipulation. I am sorry, but I succumbed to temptation. I committed colour saturation, contrast enhancement, hue shifts, noise introduction and, on one occasion, I even resorted to curves.

I will probably not pursue this type of photography much further. The taking is too easy. After a couple of experimental shots and adjusting the controls, it is just point and shoot.

A lot of the results are similar. Any skill comes from examining the results and looking for pleasing shapes and colours that will respond to manipulation. I am learning to "read" a representation of the RAW file and work out what sort of image I can get from it. Much the way I used to "read" a negative in the darkroom to work out what sort of a print it would produce.

Not digitally manipulated, take 2

2007-01-05T19:31:00.000+11:00

You might remember an earlier post, Not Digitally Manipulated, in which I discussed a quote from a newspaper review of the Sam Haskins exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.

The reviewer said: “but none of the images is manipulated, digitally or otherwise”. I went on to discuss this and give my views.

However, I just came across this question and answer in an interview with Sam Haskins, posted on the pop photo website. Sam is being interviewed about the re-issued book, Cowboy Kate and Other Stories.

Didn't you do the restoration digitally?
"The images were printed from digital files, retouched in Photoshop. I scanned the original negatives on an Imacon scanner. And I feel I get better images out of old transparencies than I ever managed before in a wet darkroom. Because in one photo, you can have 20 areas each with a different contrast ratio. You can tweak the whole image bit by bit like you could never do in a darkroom. And listen, to stand all day in a stinking darkroom is not my idea of fun! I'd rather sit in a nice easy chair in front of a monitor."

So, good old Sam scanned the images using a good quality scanner and then retouched and cleaned up the images in Photoshop to get the most out of each one.

I knew Sam wasn’t a wanker.

It is about getting the most out of each shot, not about being able to boast about some form of imagined purity. Why put artificial restrictions on creativity?

Christmas retraction...

2006-12-27T12:37:00.000+11:00

Seems I was a little premature with my Christmas grumble. Some parts of Victoria did have a white Christmas.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/12/25/1166895241338.html?from=top5

Snow fell at Mt Buller, bringing much needed relief to the hard-working fire fighters. Who'da thunk it? Snow in Victoria in December.

Christmas grumble...

2006-12-21T10:07:00.000+11:00

Just got back from a road trip to Gosford and points west, via Canberra. The country is in poor shape from the drought and hundreds of kilometres of it is covered by thick smoke from the fires.

We were sitting having lunch in a cafe in Rutherglen on Tuesday. It was 37 deg outside. The air was thick with smoke. You could smell it inside the cafe and we could even see smoke drifting through the open door. We were eating salad and having cold drinks. The damn sound system was playing "Walking through a Winter Wonderland". Australia really needs to come up with its own Christmas imagery. Or at least toss away the sentimental Euro/USA images.

This photo was taken outside Rutherglen.

Not digitally manipulated

2006-12-06T17:53:00.000+11:00

An article in The Age (Melbourne daily newspaper, 6th December) about a retrospective exhibition of the works of one of my photographic heroes, Sam Haskins, contains the following phrase: “but none of the images is manipulated, digitally or otherwise”.

The phrase “not manipulated” occurs regularly in discussions of photography, both traditional and digital. When I read it, I am never sure if I should laugh or get angry and rage a bit. This time I have decided to get angry and rage a bit.

I am not sure what the phrase is supposed to convey; some form of superiority perhaps. “My images are better because they are natural and I didn’t fake anything in Photoshop.” “My images are better because I am so technically proficient I don’t have to make any changes at all.”

As far as I am concerned, the statement “not manipulated” is a load of bullshit. I worked in both commercial and amateur darkrooms (both colour and black & white) for many years, and I don’t think I have ever printed a colour or black & white image without some form of manipulation. And I don’t think very many other photographers have either.

Let’s take a look at the traditional black & white process…

Unless you have framed the image perfectly in the camera, it will need cropping. The standard 10” x 8” paper size doesn’t match either 35mm or 21/4 square format; so you either accept a lot of uneven white border, or you crop to suit. Either way, this is the first change away from the original image.

Usually, the next step is to decide what paper you print on, the surface type (matt, glossy) doesn’t matter, but the contrast rating of the paper does. If you choose a paper that provides more or less contrast than the image originally had, you’ve just made your second manipulation.

Then the print maker will work out the exposure time the paper needs under the enlarger. Once again, unless the exposure results in an image that is the exact equal of the original subject, not lighter or darker, then another manipulation has been made.

Unless the image has been taken on a day that is not too bright, or not too dull and unless it has been exposed correctly, it is likely that some areas of a ‘straight’ print will either be too light, meaning detail is faint or missing; or too dark meaning that detail has been lost in a solid black. A good print maker will then give extra exposure to a faint highlight (burning in) or hold back the exposure in a dark area (dodging). More manipulation.

To sum up, unless a print is produced that exactly reproduces the full frame of the negative with the same contrast, brightness tonal range and/or colour rendition as the original subject (virtually impossible due to the recording limitations of film and paper), some manipulation has taken place to produce a quality print.

If you are working in colour, there are other issues. Colour film and paper can’t accurately reproduce all the hues in the real world. Neither can the saturation of these colours match the real world counterparts in all instances. So, when printing colour, choices have to be made. What colour will be printed accurately? If the photo includes a person, most print makers will try to get the skin tones right, or at least pleasing.

Producing pleasing colour in a colour print is not necessarily the same as producing accurate colour. I would suggest that in most cases it is not possible to accurately represent every colour in a image. Not direct manipulation, but by deciding which colours to correct, emphasise or highlight, the print maker has made changes away from the original.

Now let’s move into the digital world…

Unless you have one of the very rare cameras that can produce a black and white image, all your images start off as colour. So, if I convert an image to black & white to produce a traditional art-type print, am I guilty of one of those terrible digital manipulations?

I have been taking images for more than 30 years now and I use a digital SLR from Canon, but I still don’t get a perfect exposure every time I press the button. I would have to say that, even with the best attempts I am capable of, the images don’t come out of the RAW converter ready to print or display on screen.

I usually need to adjust the contrast (selecting paper) and the brightness (paper exposure). Often some areas need to be darkened (burning in) or the shadows lightened to reveal detail (dodging). For some images I also adjust the colour saturation.

For me, the point is to produce the most visually pleasing image I can. Why would I produce a substandard, murky, flat, uninteresting print, if it is possible to extract the best from the image data and produce something with a bit of impact? And what is wrong with that if I do.

Anyone who says they didn’t do these types of manipulations in a darkroom is kidding themselves. Anyone who says they produce digital images that are not manipulated is either throwing away half the data in their image files and producing sub-standard work or is telling porkies.

Anyone who says this about the work of another either has no clue what they are talking about, or is making the photographer sound like a wanker, and my hero, Sam Haskins, is not a wanker.

Cheap as chips!

2006-12-05T15:14:00.000+11:00

Over at The Online Photographer, Ctein has posted a blurb about the $10 (US) digital camera. This is almost hard to believe, a functioning digital camera for the price of a roll of film. Read about it here...
http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/

And if you don't know who Ctein is, visit his site and find out, a talented man who has been involved in digital imaging for decades.
http://ctein.com

The advent of the $10 digital camera brings to mind my first camera, the Kodak Instamatic 25. It came in a cardboard display box with a clear top. The 'pack' featured the camera in all its plastic glory, a wrist strap, a four-sided flash cube, a flash cube extender (for avoiding red-eye) and a 126 black and white film cartridge. Photographic heaven for a 10 year old.

Ride Sally Ride

2006-11-30T15:59:00.000+11:00

My son the aeorospace engineer just sent me this link to an Italian-styled Mustang.

Mustang by Giugiaro!

The right tone...

2006-11-23T17:08:00.000+11:00

I have been interested in the split toning process for some time. It is a traditional (wet) darkroom technique that produced lovely, but not always predictable, results.

There are functions for making split tones in Photoshop, but I have struggled to get the technique right. Mostly they looked overdone and heavy. That was until I came across The Light's Right Studio. Glenn E. Mitchell II (PhD) has produced a series of Photoshop tutorials and sets of actions. He makes these action sets available for download, and they are free. The Internet is a wonderful place.

One of the sets, TLR Split Toning, provides you with all the tools you need. The image at the head of this post is a re-working of the mist on the lake image in the Mist on the water post. I ran several of the actions in combination (can't remember specifically which ones) to produce the result above.

I will explore this and other TLR actions in the near future. Thanks again Glenn.

Mist on the water...

2006-11-20T20:43:00.000+11:00

We have been having some very unusual weather for this time of year. After having one of the hottest October days on record, almost the driest October on record (Melbourne's average October rainfall is 67mm, we got 11), we then had a cold snap that produced snow in outlying areas of Melbourne.

To follow this up, yesterday we had a thick morning mist at lovely downtown Sanctuary Lakes. The mist on the water lasted til about 10.. am.

Let's do lunch...

2006-11-16T14:34:00.000+11:00

Yesterday we had lunch at Breizoz in Williamstown. The chef, Jean-Marie Blanchot, makes crepes in the Breton style. The staff (thanks Catherine) are knowledgable, friendly and enthusiastic about the cuisine.

They also do a very nice line in traditional apple cider.

Jean-Marie is quite visible as he cooks up a storm in the kitchen.

The Rainbow Connection

2006-11-16T12:38:00.000+11:00

The recent cold snap here in Victoria gave us a very nice double rainbow moment yesterday. The hail storm wasn't as quite as nice though.

More music, more music...

2006-11-14T21:14:00.000+11:00

In a previous post I mentioned the work of Melbourne photographer Gerard Anderson. Gerard photographs local musicians in a live performance setting and produces superb images of musos at work.

Gerard is just back from the Wangaratta Jazz Festival and has posted a new gallery of his work. You can visit it here.

This time Gerard has surpassed himself. This is a superb collection of performance images.

Get your motor running...

2006-11-12T16:58:00.000+11:00

A report in The Age on Saturday said that Victoria's new V/Locity trains were regularly exceeding the 160KMH track limit on country runs.

So, with Victoria now also having 'hoon' laws, does this mean that train drivers risk having their trains confiscated by police?

Climb every mountain...

2006-11-09T13:36:00.000+11:00

I am just back from 4 days at Mt Buffalo. Along with a group of friends, we stayed at The Chalet for a few days. The Chalet is under threat of closure and it would be a shame to see this grand old guest house disappear. The staff are very friendly and the food is excellent.

The press release is here. The thought of this grand old building being 'renovated' by developers is not a pretty one.

The Chalet provides a comfortable base for exploring the surrounding area, including Lake Catani and the Horn. I will add more photos to the blog or the website as I process them.

This photo is of The Gorge, taken from the hang glider launching area. It has been lightly sepia-toned and given a bit of 'glow'.

And another one...

2006-11-02T22:26:00.000+11:00

Here is the local fountain, in black and white.

I love the nightime...

2006-11-02T21:38:00.000+11:00

Today I discovered the website of Andy Frazer. It contains some fantastic examples of night photography.

Mostly, you need light to take photos. Mostly, at night there isn't very much. But if you leave the shutter open long enough, eventually enough light arrives to register as an image.

In the old film days this was rather hit or miss. I tried a few times, but after waiting to develop the film then finding out my guesses were way off and I had a lot of blank film, I gave it away.

Now, with digital, you can see your results as you go and adjust accordingly. I haven't got a masterpiece yet, but I have only had the one try. This is the lake across the way. Taken at about 8.45 pm using 10 seconds at f/8.

Visit Andy's site. http://www.gorillasites.com/nightphotos/

I've looked at clouds...

2006-11-02T15:14:00.000+11:00

Today's much-needed rain has produced some fantastic cloud formations.

They have been changing constantly as the rain squalls move toward the city.

An Apology

2006-10-31T14:26:00.000+11:00

I apologise for my online absence. I have been suffering from major computer issues.

I have mostly got it sorted out now (thanks to my brother) and I have most things loaded and running correctly.

Normal services will be resumed shortly

Sunshine and I Feel Fine

2006-10-18T16:51:00.000+10:00

I haven't had a chance to take many photos in the last week or so, but today I drove down to the mouth of the Werribee river to try a couple of things. I used the monopod with the large (70 - 200L) lens. It is rather heavy for steady hand holding. I also tried setting custom white balances. However, in the bright contrasty afternoon sun I couldn't see any difference between the camera setting and my custom setting.

I don't think any of the resulting images will end up on the Interface site, but there were a couple I liked.

The Grocer's Apostrophe

2006-10-12T15:45:00.000+10:00

In my past life as a business writer, I had a bit of a reputation when it came to apostrophes. I was, shall we say, a little intolerant about the misplacement of these little creatures.

And yes, it does matter, for all of you who just asked that question.

When searching for somewhere to have lunch in lovely, downtown Williamstown today, I decided not to eat in the place that was advertising 'Fresh Soup's and Salad's". If they can't get their apostrophes correct, what chance have they of making the food edible?

Book in the USA

2006-10-04T12:27:00.000+10:00

On our recent roadtrip to Canberra, I had a little memory moment. While at the Lifeline Bookfair, I was browsing through the table of old computer books when I came across a copy of "The Second Giant Book of Computer Games". This was the original Interface Publications UK version of the book, not the "Tim Hartnell's Second Giant Book of Computer Games" version that was published in the USA by Ballantine.

So, for $2.00, I got a little piece of my history back.

The Beastie is Back

2006-10-03T16:12:00.000+10:00

My Mustang has come back home after its latest round of tarting up. On this trip away, the interior door panels and door furniture were replaced, a new steering wheel installed, all of the rear interior panels were taken out and repainted, the back of the fold-down rear seat was re-carpeted and the correct wheels and tyres were fitted.

Thanks very much to Richard, Peter and the guys at Hoppers Stoppers for the superb work. You can trust them to do a job right.

And thanks to Milt and the gang at Tony D. Branda Performance in Altoona, Pennsylvania for the fast and friendly service in supplying the parts.

Interface Update

2006-09-28T12:52:00.000+10:00

I've been visiting friends in Canberra for the last few days. There were very few opportunities for getting online, so the blog was silent.

Most of the photos I took during the trip were of family and friends at various celebrations (happy birthday Graeme, welcome home David) but I managed a few others as we were travelling.

I have added two new photos in the Land & Sea gallery. One is of a canola field near Holbrook and the other is of the mysterious Lake George, near Canberra.

Now That is Big!

2006-09-13T17:07:00.000+10:00

Over at The Online Photographer, there is a post about a one-off Zeiss 1700 mm (yes, 1700) super-tele lens. This lens has been custom-built for a very rich customer and is made for a Hasselblad 203FE medium format camera. It weighs... Why am I writing all this out, go and read it for yourself.

The Online Photographer - Really Big Lens.

Lights Flash by My Window

2006-09-05T13:36:00.000+10:00

Last night I was a passenger in a car being driven down Melbourne's Westgate freeway. I had my trusty DSLR with me. The lights flashing by were intriguing, so I set the shutter to manual, turned off autofocus and pointed the camera out the window. I checked the first few images and made some adjustments to the shutter speed, finally settling on 1 second exposures. Most of the resulting images are not that great, but I got a few that I found interesting.

Interface Update

2006-09-01T12:41:00.000+10:00

I have added two new images to the Structures gallery.
The first one is of a row of beach huts down at Mt Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula. This photo was taken in Autumn, so it doesn't have the bright sparkly aura that the more touristy photos of beach huts have. Also, the ones at Mt Eliza aren't quite so colourful as the more trendy ones at Brighton.
The second photo was taken during a recent New Zealand trip. It shows some of the decoration in the Art Deco city of Napier. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Art Deco period.

The Music Goes Round My Head

2006-09-01T12:31:00.000+10:00

Gerard Anderson is a Melbourne photographer who specialises in photographing the Melbourne music scene. I have been a big fan of his work for a long time. Technically his images are top-notch, considering the low lighting and other issues you have to deal with when photographing a live performance.
Gerard’s love for music and for photographing people is obvious. He captures the character and intensity of the performance superbly.
You can visit him at www.gerardanderson.com

Interface Update

2006-08-28T17:13:00.000+10:00

I have added another New Zealand photo to the Land & Sea gallery. I like this one. We drove along the shore of Lake Rotorua late in the afternoon on a misty dull day. There was low cloud on the surrounding hills and it was getting all 'atmospheric'. New Zealand is good at 'atmospheric'. Maybe that is why the Lord of the Rings was filmed there. The shutter speed was getting rather slow, but I had a monopod with me so I didn't have to rely on my doubtful low-light skills.

I removed one image from the gallery to make room for it. It was one that embarressed me somewhat, having been taken a long time ago and rather clumsily manipulated.

TTTTThat's all Folks!

2006-08-28T13:24:00.000+10:00

My son, currently working in South Korea, just sent me this link.
http://www.arariogallery.co.kr/exhibition/exhibition.php
It is an exhibition at the Arario Gallery in Seoul. The artist builds skeletons of cartoon characters. Seriously Cool.

Interface Update

2006-08-27T15:23:00.000+10:00

This afternoon I have added two new photos to the Land & Sea gallery. These were taken during a trip to the north island of New Zealand in May, 2006.
http://www.interfacepublications.com.au/land&sea.htm

We seem to be developing a wind theme

2006-08-25T16:22:00.000+10:00

I know it might say more about me than I am happy to reveal, but this site fascinates me. I can't stop. Help. (It needs sound.)

Isn't the Internet great, millions and millions of interlinked computers and technology, just so that we can play fart noises from across the world.

Let's hear it for Mr. Nice Hands.

Raindrops Keep Falling...

2006-08-24T17:51:00.000+10:00

Just had an SMS message from VLine Whinger, an ex workmate and commuting companion. It has been rainy pretty much all day here in Sunny Melbourne (tm) and the new wavy roof at Spencer Street (sorry, Southern Cross) station has provided much entertainment for the weary workers travelling home. The roof catches a lot of water, and dumps quite a bit of it on the platforms below. Wavy and Leaky!

We are Sailing, We are Sailing...

2006-08-24T15:38:00.000+10:00

And yet another image from the great balloon expedition of '06. We are well on our way to our eventual landing ground at Box Hill, looking back at a companion balloon and the city. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is in the bottom left corner.

It has been raining all day to day. Too wet for me to take my camera out for a spin. Just how water resistant are DSLRs anyway?

Fire

2006-08-24T11:27:00.000+10:00

Here is another photo from the great balloon trip, or “Around the City in 80 Minutes”. Our pilot Nick inflates the balloon. The heat and roar from the burner was impressive.

Blowin' in the Wind

2006-08-23T20:27:00.000+10:00

According to a presenter on the ABC (Australia) TV show The New Inventors, methane is 25 times worse than carbon as a greenhouse gas, contributing to climate change.

So, does this mean if I stop farting I can drive my Mustang faster?

Up, Up and Away...

2006-08-23T11:33:00.000+10:00

Just got back from a fantastic balloon flight over the city of Melbourne and suburbs, followed by a champagne breakfast at the Grand Hyatt. Thanks to Nick and the team from Balloon Sunrise for a great morning.

Unfortunately I wasn’t paying quite enough attention to the shutter speeds in the low light. As a result, I have a number of not entirely sharp images. I guess I just can’t hand hold at a 20th of a second in a moving balloon any more. I still managed to get several nice shots and they might make an appearance on the website soon.

The New Interface Website is Up

2006-08-22T23:17:00.000+10:00

The new InterfacePublications website has just gone live, under its own domain name.

I don't have time to sanity test it right now. It's late, I'm tired and I have to get up very early to catch a balloon.

Interface Joins the Blog World

2006-08-18T09:58:00.000+10:00

Today Interface Publications steps into the world of blogging.