Simplicity

Simplicity
Originally uploaded by John Brooks - Hastings

A photo from one of my students in the Black and White Competition at Central Community College in Hastings. You can see all the winners here.

Enjoy.

Don't let that "computer with a lens" (otherwise known as your camera) make all the decisions for you.
In almost every case... you should tweak the image settings in whatever software program you choose.
Take a look at this image:





But we want it to look as it looked to us. I used Levels in Photoshop CS3 but you could use any brightness/contrast control to make it look like this:




This isn't "manipulating" an image... it's letting the viewer see what YOU saw, not what the camera recorded.

Shooting People - that sounds sooo wrong

I've found that showing a genuine interest in what people are doing makes a significant difference in how good your pictures turn out. I like to approach people, chat about what they're doing, ask to take pictures and chat some more.
They're more natural when they're doing familiar things. And my job is to capture them at their "natural" best.

The multimedia aspects of photography just keep getting more interesting. A photojournalist friend says he used to only get one or two images per story in the paper but now more of his work is shown via the web.

It's more work. This piece required an audio recorder - which is now as much a part of my equipment list as extra lenses - and planning. You have to interview your subject, be able to edit the interview in a software program and shoot in a sequence that meets the concept you're going for.

More work equals more rewards and, in my opinion, more viewers.

I've been experimenting with a Photoshop add-on called Color Efex Pro 3.0. And as you can see the second photo is much more dramatic.

I used the Bi-color Filter and this is the preset (with a PS Brightness/Contrast layer added).

Prices range from $100 - $300 depending on the number of filters in the package.

They say on their website it works with PS, Lightroom and Aperture.

I like the control the various adjustments give you once the filter is applied but the presets look pretty good.

Demo versions are available.

Minor Adjustments

East of Hastings
Originally uploaded by John Brooks - Hastings

It's been interesting this summer to be working on "The View From My Chair" (a photojournalism project) because it's given me the chance to re-try some basic photoshop techniques.
This one was simply taking a B&W layer and reducing the opacity settings.
A very simple way to get this tinting effect.

Photojournalism Pioneer

A wonderful look at how Photojournalism and Art can make an impact:

Henri Cartier Bresson

There's also a slideshow from the exhibit.