Focal Camera is an open source project designed to teach participants about the inner workings of a camera. With access to a laser cutter, a supply of 3mm plywood and the directions provided, you can be well on your way to creating a camera of your own. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Black and white photography is classy and powerful. When properly done, it can be enticing and dramatic. In fact, a great portion of fine art photography hanging in galleries is monochromatic. In the age of film, all it took was to load black and white film into your camera, but nowadays most digital camera sensors are recording images in color and with that, if you want to explore the black and white world, you’ll have to convert your images in the post-processing stage.
When it comes to converting and processing photos to black and white, there are a number of options. If you are a Lightroom user, there is a black and white option within the Basic Develop panel as well as some presets that come preloaded. All you need to do is click on them, and tweak the sliders until you get the desired effect.
There are also, of course, more sophisticated alternatives that could help make your work easier. Among those, Perfect B&W from OnOne Software is one of my favorite options. This application can be used as a plug-in with Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Apple Aperture, or as a standalone app. OnOne offers a full set of applications called Perfect Photo Suite, Perfect B&W is included in it, but it can be also purchased separately as a standalone application.
The idea behind this product is to help you to easily enhance your photos. There are controls to adjust tone, curves, color response via filters, and borders – and of course, it also comes with different types of presets. You’ll also be able to create your own presets and save them as well.
As I am an Adobe Lightroom user, I’ll demonstrate some of the features of the product by opening it from there. To launch the application, you need to select an image from the Library or Develop Module and go to the File Menu, then select Plug-In Extras and navigate to Perfect B&W 9.
One of features that you’ll probably like is the possibility to save all your changes as a Smart Photo. It means that even after your edits are done, you’ll be able to come later and redo your settings. This way, you are working in a nondestructive way. The application will pop up a dialog box when you launch it, asking if you want to edit in this work mode.
Once the applications opens, the layout is similar to what you find inside Lightroom. The preset panel is on the left and the develop options are on the right. There is also a set of tools that let you selectively add more contrast, brightness, or even mask entire areas in case you want to do a selective color treatment.
Once you are ready to work, you have the option to start by selecting the different presets, or just working with the sliders in the development panel. You need to be sure that you have selected the preview option at the bottom to see the effect on the image; you can toggle back and forth to show the before and after.
My preferred way of working is to use one of the presets as a base or staring point, then modify it to my liking with the sliders. The presets are divided into eight categories, as follows:
The names are pretty much self-descriptive, and if you click on them, you’ll see all the presets within that category with previews on the side panel itself.
As you can see in the image above, the application also allows for duotone images by combining the use of color filters, so you are totally flexible on the type of look you can create. For example, if I click the Pinhole Blue preset from the 19th Century Process, the software will create that effect, and you’ll see how some the sliders from the Develop Panel changed to create it.
From there you can pretty much tweak the image any way you want, and there is also an option where you can select the blending mode, exactly the same way layers work in Photoshop. You can also drop the opacity for a more subtle effect. In the example below I reduced the opacity to 34 percent.
The different old century presets are great to create all the vintage looks that are so popular today, with just a few clicks and without the need to know more complicated software.
For my final image, I selected Automatic from the Basic Fundamentals, then added contrast by adjusting the Tone Curve. I also moved the Detail slider to 15 so the ripple effect on the water was more noticeable; it also helped to add some drama to the sky.
As I knew I wanted to re-crop the image, I didn’t add any other effect here, so I went back to Lightroom cropped the image, then added a vignette.
OnOne Perfect B&W is a well-rounded application and a powerful tool for black and white conversions. I believe the best way to judge it is to give it a try. The good thing is that the company is offering a thirty-day trial, so it won’t cost you to play with it; moreover, you can download and test the full suite if you want. The regular price for the standalone application is $ 59.95 and the complete suite is $ 149.95. They can be downloaded straight from the OnOne website.
Editor’s Note: This is second last of a series of articles this week featuring black and white photography tips. Look for earlier ones below and the last one later today.
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The post Processing Black and White Photos with OnOne Perfect B&W by Daniel Korzeniewski appeared first on Digital Photography School.
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Street photography can be intimidating. Snagging candids of strangers is uncomfortable, at first.
While it’s best to simply to get out and learn as you go, it is nice to arm yourself with a few tips. Marius Vieth, a seasoned street-photog, doles out 10 lessons learned in this article. He includes advice on how to blend in, predict patterns and be ready for that crucial moment.
Our favorite tips from the article are:
Photo by Marius Vieth
© Erin for Photojojo, 2015. |
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[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]
An abandoned building becomes the setting for a surreal installation of colorful criss-crossing yarn as artist duo Toki seeks to render music in physical form. Recent architecture grads Toluwalase Rufai and Khai Grubbs present their visual soundscape as part of their ‘Synth’ series, temporarily altering public space “through establishing rhythm, movement, transparency, and ephemerality.”
The setting is a dilapidated building on the corners of Channing and Reed streets in Washington, D.C. It took the artists two days to install an undisclosed amount of yarn, winding it around support columns and occasionally using nailed-on boards for extra support. The project was completed guerrilla-style, and D.C. residents who tried to get in to see it in person report that it has since been cut down, with ‘No Trespassing’ signs posted on the property.
The first yarn piece Toki created was carried out in a more accessible place, enabling the public to watch the piece take form over a period of three days. They hoped that occupying an abandoned building would “engage the viewer on an urban exploration… inciting a sense of wonder.” This edition of the series may not have been up long, but there will be more installed throughout the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.
“Our initial decision to create this series was more impulsive than planned, and influenced by the desire to express the music we hear three-dimensionally,” say the artists. “These creations allow us to represent the sound of music as physical worlds. They start with lines of distinct colors you can follow and the more you immerse yourself, the more they blend in and the more you surrender to the symphony of color. Similar to music, the space we create allows you to slip between worlds, to be in two places simultaneously.”
Yarn bombing is graffiti that grandmothers approve of! They consist of quickly knitted additions to street objects and sculptures. Why? Because it’s fun!
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Has there ever been a cozier-looking bus cruising around the streets of London than this neon yarn-bombed double decker dubbed the No. 7up? The beverage brand …
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What seems at first to be narrow rays of turquoise light streaming in through the stained glass windows of a vacant Gothic Revival church turn out to be over …
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[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]
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Als ich Dave Kings Fotografien zum ersten Mal gesehen habe, schoss mir direkt Karl Blossfeld in den Kopf. Die schwarzweißen Bilder, die sich wie der Blick in ein altes Herbarium anfühlen, erinnern in ihrer floralen Motivwahl an den großen Naturfotografen des 20. Jahrhunderts.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity
Canon has taken the main DSLR awards for the best products of the year as voted by the prestigious European Imaging and Sound Association. The EOS 7D Mark ll won ‘European Prosumer DSLR Camera’ while the EOS 5DS/5DS R won the award for ‘European Professional DSLR Camera’. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Whoa, it’s been a minute since we launched back in 2006. Free Hugs were everywhere, Pluto was downgraded (tear) and we were all Crazy for Gnarls Barkley. While we’re still waiting on Pluto to take back the planet title, our shop has upgraded universally.
Today, we’re throwin’ it back with a mash-up of our favorite items of yesteryear (that are still rocking in our shop!) and their new counterparts.
(…)
Read the rest of PJ Throwback! Our Favorites From Then and Now (27 words)
© Erin for Photojojo, 2015. |
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[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]
Every one of these somewhat ominous-looking futuristic homes is just waiting for its big Hollywood break as the lair from which some supervillain hatches nefarious plans. In fact, some of them have already been used as filming locations, or got their inspiration directly from a sci-fi series. While most Bond-style villains might live in cliff-clinging complexes or hidden underground houses, these particular residences look a little more alien.
Combining science fiction aesthetics with organic and sustainable materials, this home by Kendrick Bangs Kellogg features an exoskeleton-like stepped roof supported by 26 concrete piers. Everything about the residence is sculptural in nature, inside and out, and it’s easy to imagine it being a setting for a futuristic film. Completed in 1993 and located in Joshua Tree, it went up for sale for $ 3 million in 2014.
Designed by Zaha Hadid for supermodel Naomi Campbell’s Russian billionaire boyfriend, ‘Capital Hill Residence’ is a sculptural glass and concrete creation with a central tower looking out over the woods from the hillside. Maybe it’s a combination of the cold materials, strange layout, binocular-like tower and the Moscow setting, but this has ‘super villain’ written all over it.
Set mostly underground, the only partially visible profile of Villa Kogelhof by Paul de Ruiter is required to blend into the landscape as part of the deal to build on a protected habitat. The entrance, parking for six cars, storage, bathroom and a workspace are all subterranean, while the floating glass box holds the living spaces. The home is self-sufficient, generating its own energy and recycling its trash.
A client with a fondness for Star Wars wanted a home that would be quick and relatively inexpensive to construct, raised above ground level to enjoy views of his plot in central Spain. NOEM architecture created a polished metallic pod elevated on a metal frame and accessible via a restored airplane stairway. A futuristic wall-mounted panel controls all the functions of the house, including automatically raising and lowering shutters depending on the time of day or temperature.
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, or forget that they’re literally living in a fishbowl, if they have any modesty at all. …
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Custom homes come in all shapes and sizes, but few stand out so much as these unique examples of residential architecture. They are, however, anything but …
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Sometimes, beautiful views of your surroundings simply trump the need for privacy. Living in a bubble isn’t so bad when you’re in a remote location …
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[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]
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This month at the 2015 Flash Memory Summit, Samsung introduced an SSD with the highest capacity ever: 16TB. The new drive has a total usable storage space of 15.36TB, exceeding all other similar high-capacity SSDs. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Das Bild des Tages von: Nico
Im Ausblick: Sea Watch, kleine Welten und ein Interview.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity
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