Single-Serving Photo

Adobe has finally released the first upgrade package for Photoshop Lightroom, which brings us to version 1.1. I say “finally” because this upgrade introduces at least one feature that we hoped against hope would be in the first release, the ability to merge libraries, among other enhancements.

First, if you have Lightroom and it hasn’t already popped up and told you to download the upgrade, you should seriously click over there and do that. (more…)

Thanks to Aaron Johnson of What the Duck for this eloquent visual synopsis of what I’ve been thinking about lately. Too often we get so deeply embroiled in our craft that we forget why we do it.

A debate has been raging for days on Usenet over the question of whether photography is art and, if so, when it becomes art. Although the very discussion is futile and has no practical outcome, I do think it’s important to take a step back from what you’re doing and think about what it is you’re gaining from it. This is going to be a heady philosophical post so if that’s not your particular brand of vodka, read some photo news instead. (more…)

Is it a good idea to give away work for self-promotion? Can you realize secondary gains from charity? I like to think of myself as a charitable person; my stance has typically been to give things away in the name of recognition rather than lock them up and hope to find a market for them in the future. I’d rather let the world see my work and appreciate it than stand on principle and be completely unrecognized.

That said, everyone has a different threshold of charity, and that threshold seems to be linked to their success and recognition. Completely unrecognized people give things away to gain exposure. After achieving success, they often stop giving things away to maximize their gains. Then, if they become very successful, they may begin giving things away again because they can afford to.

Because there are so many nuances to the ways in which creators may wish for their work to be used by others, the Creative Commons emerged, creating whole new gradations within the copyright system. Now, rather than saying “all rights reserved,” we can easily say “some rights reserved” and call upon a pile of pre-written legalese. Good idea? (more…)

In the web development world (which I call home for about eight to ten hours a day), we have a few general “rules” we follow to make websites more usable, accessible, and effective. Photographers are a technically savvy crowd, especially since digital has gotten so popular, but they don’t always think about things the way web developers do. Here are some simple guidelines you can follow when promoting your work on the web. (more…)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, well, you know, photographs here on my photo blog, but I think you’ll agree it was worth the wait. I spent a day in rainy Boston last weekend with my Lensbaby 3G, introducing it to the charm of beantown.

This was the first time I took the Lensbaby out in the city and I am very pleased with the results. It’s extremely challenging to focus by sight without a proper focusing screen, and being locked at f/2 probably doesn’t help either, but I wanted the most dramatic depth of field and also the most flexibility in varying light conditions. I made several of these shots by “bracketing focus,” which is to say I would make several exposures rapidly while very slightly moving the Lensbaby’s front ring toward and away from me in the range where it appeared to be in focus through the viewfinder.

A few shots that I thought I nailed were completely blurry, and others that I wasn’t sure about came out very well, so that’s a testament to practice… Which I lack. Without further ado:

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery

Prints Available—Click to Visit the Gallery