I used to be a little reticent about taking package shots - it always seems to be somewhat of a cop-out on the part of an illustrator to just show the outside of the box. Some products had a little printing on the outside but some were the classic " plain unmarked box "...
We've just gotten a sliver of information from the people who import the Hoya brand of photographic filters that they will be bringing in a new line.The press release says that Hoya are introducing three new tough filters under the title of " Fusion ". They'll be the three classics of digital photography - the UV filter, the clear glass protector, and the circular polarizer.The big difference is in the number and nature of the coatings on the glass which are intended to repel dust, water, and fingerprints. It sounds rather exotic as there are to be 9 coating layers to toughen the surfaces.They'll be in the popular sizes from 37mm to 82mm and look to be quite economical.We have yet to see whether they will be able to cope with special contaminants - dog noses in animal studios and gummy bears in studios that do children's portraiture...
Those of us from North America who remember ARIZONA HIGHWAYS* were always amazed at the wonderful colours in the images. Deep blues in the skies, strong reds and yellows in the landscape. We all wanted that in our pictures - even if we were taking pictures in British Columbia in the murk season. What was the trick?The trick turned out to be simple:1. Use Fujifilm Velvia 50 film.2. Get the printer to pour more ink into the press.3. Move to Arizona.I opted to move to Western Australia and the murk season stayed in Canada, so I was ahead already. Then with the advent of digital I could pour more saturation into the computer easily. And finally I discovered the circular polarising filter - this allowed me to make the skies blue and the seas green.But when I got a very wide angle lens and tried to do the same trick with it that I was able to do on a standard focal-length lens - I ran into another of those optical facts of life. A circular polariser on a very...
As photographers we are rarely encouraged to take pictures of someones else's photographs when they are exhibited. It is considered naff in some cases and criminal in others - particularly if we then whack them on our websites and claim them as our own.It's a little different if we go to see pictures that have been done by other means - or sculptures or artefacts and manufactured articles. Sure, there can still be a degree of taboo, but many public galleries are okay with it - as long as you do not use flash or tripods.This is fine - I love wandering the art galleries of Victoria and New South Wales to see famous works of art - and new, obscure things. I have learned to cope with the light conditions of the places and to get a clear result.The illumination can be problematical, though good galleries will have directed lighting that shows the art to good advantage. But the colour temperature of it may be all over the shop. I've taken to recording the art with RAW and a...
Okay, we don't actually have Chubby Checker but we do have Hoya.And if you don't know who Chubby Checker, the Peppermint Lounge, or the Twist were, there are classes in retro conducted at TAFE - we suggest you enrol yourself...
Landscape photographers are romantics. They must be - they go a thousand kilometres to camp overnight in freezing bush so that they can get up at 3:30AM and hike through bush to a beachfront. Then they haul 500 Kg of equipments over wet rocks and stand there shivering while they are waiting for he sun to rise. They have $ 8200 sitting on a tripod in front of them on the slippery rocks and are waiting only an incautious moment to tip it into the sea.Then they drive a thousand kilometres back home and spend week of nights in a dark room trying the HDR the result. This seems clear evidence of either romance or madness.One of the symptoms of this madn...
Arise, ye downtrodden. No, wait, that's a different sales pitch. May Day is over...