Just when I was getting sort of serious about my photography I sort of got sidetracked by ...politics...no, I'm not thinking of running for a political office or anything like that (got enough crazy people in office already...haha...), I started to become interested in what our country is going through today. I've never been too interested in politics...I do vote every election...but I'm beginning to care about what our elected officials are doing and if they're doing the right thing. In a way I wish I was still ignorant about such things...
After becoming very disenchanted with main stream media and the stuff they consider news (anything Kim Kardashian does is important news? Come on...give me a break...), I started looking around the net for sites that at least presented information that dealt with important topics (and no, I really care that whats her face named her kid North...sheesh...). Being someone who doesn't watch TV much I really didn't know where to start, but I was determined to find a web site with real news.
Do you know how hard it is to find a news web site that actually has real news? It's not easy, especially since I never was really interested in keeping up with current events. Of course I tried the obvious choices like CNN, MSNBC (or whatever they're calling themselves now), ABC News, CBS News, etc...and what I found at those sites didn't feel right. It was news, but something was wrong...it felt like they were putting a spin on things rather than being objective and impartial. It felt more like they were trying to present topics that were entertaining rather than informative.
So I tried to use Google to locate alternate news web sites and tried to search for things like "real news" (and I found a site called TheRealNews.com), "honest news", "truth"...things like that. At first I got some pretty wild sites that seemed to be tilted towards radical views rather than actual information, so I just kept looking. I decided to check out the BBC since I figured it would news from a place that valued information and found that it was different from their American counterparts, but it was not quite what I was looking for...which was actually hard to do since I really didn't know what I was looking for.
Actually, what really I wanted to know was how we (the U.S.) got to where we are now...it seems the U.S. is in a very strange place and I felt it was time to take the blinders off. I found a site called Truth-Out.org that presents a lot of topciss that are not covered by the mainstream media. Of course I really don't know if what they have on the site is really the "truth" or not, but most of the articles seem like they're covering real events. And most importantly, the site is not owned by one of the media giants, so that's a plus. And this site led me to BillMoyers.com, a site with a name I recognize which seems to be a good source of information.
And what did I find out after finding some decent informational web sites? I found out the U.S. is really messed up right now...I mean, it's really messed up. Corporate greed, corrupt politicians, profits over people, the disappearing of the middle class, income and wealth inequalities, politicians with agendas that don't serve the public interest or good, ALEC, the Koch Brothers, crazy Republicans, corporations that want to control everything...it almost seems like I'm living in a Third World country now. What the hell happened?
After spending a few weeks of being more politically informed, I'm starting to get kinda tired of it. I'll try to keep up with what's going on, but I don't want to spend all of my free time reading about politics and the messed up nation we live in. It's depressing. So I'm turning my attention back to photography and I'm determined to improve both my shooting and my post processing skills.
I've come to realize that I've been really limiting myself when it came to processing my images because I rarely did localized adjustments...I'm a global adjustment kind of guy. But I'm finally learning how to do Dodging and Burning the correct way...I never bothered to find out how to do it before and I was just winging it and didn't like the results...and that's because I was doing it wrong! I'm much happier with the results after finding out the correct way of doing it.
And I'm also putting more effort into learning how to use luminosity masks and exposure blending. I'm even starting to use my Wacom tablet now and learning how to use the brush tool more effectively...it really does make a difference if you bother to look for tutorials that actually teach you how to use the tool properly...duh...I'm even using the gradient tool now. I can finally say I understand how masking works now and I'm even using custom actions to help speed up my workflow.
Anyway...the point of this blog is that I got distracted but now I'm trying to refocus on photography again. Maybe next time I'll actually have some photos to share.
Early Morning at Laenani Neighborhood Park
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
Finally Waking Up
Digital photography has been my main hobby for the last 6 years now and I've gone from being a total beginner who knew next to nothing about photography to an amateur photographer who has accumulated a decent amount of gear and gained a fair amount of knowledge and experience. I admit that I tend to spend more time thinking about the technical side of photography and less time trying to improve the artistic side...and I believe this is the main reason why my images have not really improved much since I began. Oh, my images are technically better than when I first started, but artistically and creatively...they suck. But a number of events occurred over the past few weeks that seems to have nudged me in a new direction and changed the way I want to approach this hobby.
The first thing that happened was I came across an article on the Digital Photography School web site titled "What is Holistic Photography?". Some of the ideas in the article got a little deep at times, but I think the main concept it was getting at was the importance of balance. There are technical and artistic aspects to photography and a good photographer will strive to be proficient at both because they are both equally important when creating an image. After reading the article I realized that I really needed to embrace the artistic side of photography as well as the technical side...something that wouldn't be that easy for me to do. But just knowing that this was something I couldn't keep ignoring was enough to put me in the right frame of mind as I moved ahead.
The next thing that happened was meeting Kiall Frost and hearing about luminosity masks for the first time. Like I mentioned in my previous blog post, I started doing research on luminosity masks and I'm currently in the process of learning about this technique. But it isn't that I'm learning a new post processing technique that is making an impact with me...what I'm starting to realize is just how important post processing is to the whole image making process. Over the past year I've tried several different post processing programs like the Topaz Plug-in Bundle, HDR software like Photomatix Pro and NIK HDR Efex Pro 2, the NIK Collection as well as Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 and what I'm finally beginning to do is push beyond my conservative comfort level and actually try new things...things I wouldn't have tried a even year ago.
And what this new adventurous attitude toward post processing is doing is to change the way I approach my shot making out in the field. The last 2 outings I shot half the frames I normally shoot and that's because I've slowed way down and I'm actually thinking about the shots I'm trying to take. I find myself being more aware of the light and even think about the composition of the image as I look through the viewfinder. I know I still have a long way to go, but it's a nice feeling to know that I'm actually beginning to think about the final image while I'm out there shooting.
The last thing that happened was the post processing exercise dA Crazies started doing recently. What this exercise is doing is helping me to learn how to assess an image carefully, come up with an idea of what I'd like the image to look like, and is forcing me to learn new processing techniques that will help me to achieve the look I'm after. The thing I'm really enjoying about this exercise is how some of dA Crazies will talk about the parts of the image they feel they need to work on and what they did to change it. This is proving to be very insightful.
But why am I finally waking up only now? Well, I think the article about Holistic Photography planted a tiny seed in my mind and the subsequent events helped to get that seed to germinate and grow and multiply. That article made me realize I need to find balance between my technical skills and artistic/creative expression and that's a challenge I feel I'm finally ready for. The other events seemed to trigger something deep inside of me and I'm feeling a strong desire to take photography a lot more seriously so that I'll be able to create better photographs than I've been producing up till now.
So now I'm eagerly looking forward to the next dA Crazies sunrise shoot where I can push myself a little more and try to get that one great shot...the one that has been eluding me all these years.
I just hope I don't fall asleep again...
The first thing that happened was I came across an article on the Digital Photography School web site titled "What is Holistic Photography?". Some of the ideas in the article got a little deep at times, but I think the main concept it was getting at was the importance of balance. There are technical and artistic aspects to photography and a good photographer will strive to be proficient at both because they are both equally important when creating an image. After reading the article I realized that I really needed to embrace the artistic side of photography as well as the technical side...something that wouldn't be that easy for me to do. But just knowing that this was something I couldn't keep ignoring was enough to put me in the right frame of mind as I moved ahead.
The next thing that happened was meeting Kiall Frost and hearing about luminosity masks for the first time. Like I mentioned in my previous blog post, I started doing research on luminosity masks and I'm currently in the process of learning about this technique. But it isn't that I'm learning a new post processing technique that is making an impact with me...what I'm starting to realize is just how important post processing is to the whole image making process. Over the past year I've tried several different post processing programs like the Topaz Plug-in Bundle, HDR software like Photomatix Pro and NIK HDR Efex Pro 2, the NIK Collection as well as Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 and what I'm finally beginning to do is push beyond my conservative comfort level and actually try new things...things I wouldn't have tried a even year ago.
And what this new adventurous attitude toward post processing is doing is to change the way I approach my shot making out in the field. The last 2 outings I shot half the frames I normally shoot and that's because I've slowed way down and I'm actually thinking about the shots I'm trying to take. I find myself being more aware of the light and even think about the composition of the image as I look through the viewfinder. I know I still have a long way to go, but it's a nice feeling to know that I'm actually beginning to think about the final image while I'm out there shooting.
The last thing that happened was the post processing exercise dA Crazies started doing recently. What this exercise is doing is helping me to learn how to assess an image carefully, come up with an idea of what I'd like the image to look like, and is forcing me to learn new processing techniques that will help me to achieve the look I'm after. The thing I'm really enjoying about this exercise is how some of dA Crazies will talk about the parts of the image they feel they need to work on and what they did to change it. This is proving to be very insightful.
But why am I finally waking up only now? Well, I think the article about Holistic Photography planted a tiny seed in my mind and the subsequent events helped to get that seed to germinate and grow and multiply. That article made me realize I need to find balance between my technical skills and artistic/creative expression and that's a challenge I feel I'm finally ready for. The other events seemed to trigger something deep inside of me and I'm feeling a strong desire to take photography a lot more seriously so that I'll be able to create better photographs than I've been producing up till now.
So now I'm eagerly looking forward to the next dA Crazies sunrise shoot where I can push myself a little more and try to get that one great shot...the one that has been eluding me all these years.
I just hope I don't fall asleep again...
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