PHOTO Pages

Laptopograms: Expose prints with your laptop screen!

Photofun — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:30:14 +0000

Ah, the sun! The big, bright strobe-light in the sky! We love our reliable ‘ol pal, but with so many new gadgets popping up, we’d be fools not to take advantage of their photo-gramming capabilities! We’re talkin’ laptopograms. Aditya Mandayam developed this exciting new way of making prints: press photo-paper against your laptop screen, flash […]

Ah, the sun! The big, bright strobe-light in the sky!

We love our reliable ‘ol pal, but with so many new gadgets popping up, we’d be fools not to take advantage of their photo-gramming capabilities!

We’re talkin’ laptopograms.

Aditya Mandayam developed this exciting new way of making prints: press photo-paper against your laptop screen, flash the screen, and dip the paper in developer, stop, and fix.

If you don’t have a laptop, TVs, iPhones, iPads, and other illuminating gadgets work, too! What we love the most about laptopography is that it’s wide open for experimentation.

Curate a show of Facebook profiles, hold a photo-shoot of your friends via Skype, make prints of your camera-phone photos, or create photos from a paused Youtube vid!

Yup, it’s official. Digital asked analog to marry it, and they’re running off to Vegas.

Laptopograms: Expose Prints with your laptop screen!
[Aditya’s Laptopography Tumblr]

p.s. Our pals at CanvasPop turn your most kick-ass photos into canvas art! PJ readers get a $25 gift card!

Photo Credit: Madmolecule for black and white girl; Aditya for all others

Life is Hectic… Summer of 2010

Photofun — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:40:37 +0000

I’ve been awfully quiet on my blogs and social media accounts over the last few weeks — but I’m not just being lazy. Most of you probably don’t give a hoot one way or another, but for those who are interested, here’s what I’ve been up to lately…

At the end of June, my wife took the kids up to North Idaho for their annual “summer vacation with the grandparents” routine. While she was up there, she saw that the house across the street from my parents was for sale. She’s been wanting to move back to that area for some time, so naturally, she pestered me about the house for a solid week. At first, I blew it off and found excuses for not moving back home. Then I found myself rationalizing such a move.

We started talking with the Realtors and banks a few weeks back and life has been hectic since then. Sign this, sign that, answer the phone 15 times a day, jump through flaming hoops while juggling chainsaws, etc, etc. Things have been moving very fast and I’ve been busy for about three weeks straight. But…

We’re buying a house!

The price was right and the location is perfect — I would love to raise my kids where I grew up. We’ll be close to our immediate families again, and I’m hoping we can settle down into a more relaxed lifestyle. For about the last 9 or 10 years, we’ve been living in apartments in college towns and cities in New Jersey and Southern California. Up in Idaho, we’ll be sitting on 5 acres and the neighbors are barely visible.

We’re moving out this Friday and we should be in the new place by Monday or Tuesday. It’s crunch time with the packing and all the other last minute arrangements, so I’ve been hard pressed to get near my computer. Once we get up there and settled in, I’ll be working from home while looking for a new job, so I should have some time to get back into the blogging scene.

I do love San Diego and all that it has to offer, but I love North Idaho more. I’m glad I got to take part in the Southern California scene and I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t experience more of it, but it’s time to move on. I’ll be trading beach towns & street scenes for wilderness & landscape — but I’m fine with new and interesting photographic challenges. Here are a few Idaho photos (mostly from my last visit in the winter 1.5 years ago).

So I’ll post what I can over the next week or two, but life has to come first. So long California, it’s been fun! And I hope to see all my SoCal friends again soon — you guys are great!

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Summer Photo Fun, Under $15!

Photofun — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:29:28 +0000

It’s July! And so far, we’ve had a little lot of fun this summer. This may explain our dwindling funds. Dwindled or not, funds are a non-factor when it comes to our two newest photo toys! They’ll stretch your summer fun through to the end of August, and beyond! (Dare we mention fall?) Affordable yet […]

It’s July! And so far, we’ve had a little lot of fun this summer. This may explain our dwindling funds.

Dwindled or not, funds are a non-factor when it comes to our two newest photo toys! They’ll stretch your summer fun through to the end of August, and beyond! (Dare we mention fall?)

Affordable yet awesome, they’re our two favorite new finds.

Photo Paddles

These 5 clear plastic paddles fit in your pocket, and bring the funny wherever you go.

Just hold up and snap to add a moustache, red lips, a speech bubble (dry-eraser included!), or a cowboy to any shot you take. No post-processing required!

Photo Paddles
$10 each in The Photojojo Shop

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Reusable Underwater Camera

Our first sip of underwater photography only left us thirsty for more. But the cost!

Then we found this little guy — a 35mm wide-angle waterproof marvel with a dreamy ‘toy’ camera lens.

Costs less than an disposable underwater camera, yet it’s reloadable!

Reusable Underwater Camera
$15 at the Photojojo Store. Includes film.

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The 10 Second Pre-Shoot Camera Check

Photofun — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:00:07 +0000

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve ruined shots because I failed to check my camera settings before shooting. Haven’t most of us been in that situation? You’re shooting something out of the norm (maybe some manual controls, exposure compensations, ISO settings, etc), and you don’t set your camera back to the “regular” settings. So you pick up the camera again after a few days and start shooting, only to realize that you completely screwed up a bunch of shots because the camera was still set for that last outing.

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After doing this a few times, I’ve gotten in the habit of spending 10 or 15 seconds checking my camera settings before I shoot. Of course, all cameras are different (as are shooting styles), so this is just my own personal checklist of things I look at. Yours may be different, but the point is that you should have that habit of checking the settings prior to releasing the shutter. Here’s a rundown of what I look at and how I typically set my camera.

1. PRIORITY MODE

My usual setting is aperture priority mode, but I’ll sometimes switch to shutter priority or full manual. I always make a note to set it back to aperture priority before I start shooting, unless the situation calls for something different.

2. SHUTTER / F-NUMBER

This one varies on the lens attached, but I usually preset my 50mm lens at f/2 or f/2.4 while in aperture priority mode. The reason I do this is because I know that’s fast enough for most lighting situations, and it reflects my personal shooting preferences (I like somewhat shallow DOF most of the time).

3. EXPOSURE COMPENSATION

For me, this setting usually stays at zero, but sometimes I’ll move it around in difficult lighting situations. This one is a big deal — I’ve been burned more than once because I didn’t set it back to zero. If your compensation is way off, you can’t recover a bad shot.

4. ISO SPEED

My usual ISO setting is “auto” — and my auto is allowed to vary between 200 and 1600. In bright situations, I’ll set it to 100. And in dark situations, I’ll set it to 3200 or 6400. I always check that I set it back to auto-ISO so I don’t go out in full afternoon sun shooting at ISO 3200.

5. DRIVE MODE

Most of the time, I’ll leave my drive mode on machine gun mode (or hi-continuous). I don’t use it very often, but it’s nice to have it ready if I do need it (sucks when you need it and it’s turned off). On occasion, I’ll switch over to single shot if I keep firing too many accidental continuous shots.

6. AUTOFOCUS MODE / AREA

For the most part, I like to keep my camera in AF-S (single shot) mode. I find that continuous AF and auto AF slow down my continuous drive when I do need it, and Manual focus is rarely used on my digital camera.

7. METER MODE

I’ve grown to like spot metering, and I rarely change it from that. If I do, I try to make sure to set it back to spot so that my exposures are closer to what I expect.

8. COLOR SPACE

I don’t think I’ve ever changed this setting, but I glance over it to make sure I didn’t change it by accident last time out.

9. WHITE BALANCE

Another setting that I rarely change. Auto white balance usually does an OK job (except for incandescent lighting), and it doesn’t really matter much when shooting in a Raw format.

10. BATTERY POWER

Although this item is near the bottom of my screen and the bottom of my list, it’s probably the most important. ALWAYS check your batter power before you even walk out the door. I messed this up just once… haven’t done it again.

11. FILE FORMAT

Yet another setting that I rarely change, but a good one to double check. I’d be kinda pissed if I spent a whole day shooting only to realize that I shot all JPEG images rather than Raw.

12. REMAINING SHOTS

I usually have the same memory card in the camera and I know that I can get a bit over 400 shots on my card. So if I see less than 400 available photos, I know that I need to format the card and clear out the old photos.

Again, these are just the things I quickly glance over before shooting. Other cameras and other photographers will have different needs and different checklists. But the point is that you should have some sort of camera setting checklist burned into your mind.

What other things do you check before shooting? And what are your typical settings for some of these items?

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Turn Your Instant Photos into Reusable Notes, To-Do Lists, and more!

Photofun — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:50:14 +0000

Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3 We love instant photos. They’ve always been fun to make, fun to share with friends, and pretty darn nice to look at. Now they can be functional too! We’re going to show you how to make your Polaroid or Instax photos into erasable noteboards that you can use […]

Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3

We love instant photos. They’ve always been fun to make, fun to share with friends, and pretty darn nice to look at.

Now they can be functional too!

We’re going to show you how to make your Polaroid or Instax photos into erasable noteboards that you can use to make your lists, reminders, and other notes so much fun that you’ll almost forget you’re getting work done!

Read on to find out how…

How to Make Instant Photos into Reusable Noteboards

(…)
Read the rest of Turn Your Instant Photos into Reusable Notes, To-Do Lists, and more! (752 words)

Link Roundup 07-17-2010

Photofun — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:40:32 +0000

Photography links for 07-17-2010

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Before we get to the links, I apologize to anybody that visited the site recently and found it to be infected with a malicious redirect exploit. I became aware of the issue this morning (thanks to an email from a reader) and I had it fixed within an hour. These things happen from time to time, and I appreciate folks letting me know when something is wrong with the site. Now for some weekend reading!

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Make a Masterpiece from Your Contact Sheets!

Photofun — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:00:34 +0000

The scene: 9 am, you wake up. Your room is eerily silent. You sense something’s off, but you can’t quite put your finger on it.

You run to your computer. Photoshop is gone! All that’s left is your scanner, camera, and film. WHAT DO YOU DO?

Create art IN your camera!

Martin Wilson did, and the results are incredible: each contact sheet is a self-contained work of art, made of cleverly-composed patterns and words.

It’s not easy — every time he picks up his camera, he has to know precisely what each frame should look like before he shoots it — a single roll can take months to shoot. But the product: a Contact Sheet Masterpiece, with nary a cursor in sight.

With a little patience and a pint of planning, may we all aspire to the Martinistic school of contact!

Martin Wilson’s Masterpiece Contact Sheets

p.s. Our BFFL’s at MOO are giving PJ readers 25% off their Mosaic Frames! Check. it. out.

13 Night Photos You Never Thought You’d See

Photofun — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Here are the results from another great round of Epic Edits Flickr Challenge! #4 was all about “night” photos (chosen by the winner of the last round), and we had some nice looking entries once again.

The winner this round was Dustin Michelson, also known as “i_shoot_minolta” on Flickr. As the winner, he gets to choose the next topic:

CHALLENGE #5: “ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS”

FLICKR TAG: “EE-EPORTRAIT”

So basically a portrait, but taken in the subject’s natural environment (work, home, etc) — see Wikipedia for more explanation. Just remember that the photos must be in our Flickr pool and tagged with “ee-eportrait”. Now for the vanishing point photos, starting with my favorite:

365.20 by i_shoot_minolta

This photo stood out for me because it’s very clean with strong lines and focal points. The light draws my attention, but the vertical lines lead me away. The window in the middle of the wall adds a nice little break in the lines, and the texture on the ground looks great with that light. Oh, and what’s that sign say? Let me look closer… “NOTICE: SOMETHING SOMETHING ONLY… Damn it!” So there you go, the light draws you in and the unknown sign keeps you interested.

On with the other selections I made:

Perspective. by Tomas Webb

driving home by topfloor

Color Alley by topfloor

Moonlight by RussHeath

Rockstar Teri by cabbit

Cafe del Bokeh by topfloor

Blurry Night by RussHeath

San Diego Skyline by i_shoot_minolta

The lights that never sleep by photo_gratis

source of money by topfloor

Night time by the bay by nathanTHEchan

Autostadt nights by topfloor

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Photographer and Artist Notification Lists

Photofun — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0000

I’ve mentioned this a few times in the past, but this is an update to those posts. My local printer also runs a couple of notification lists for artists and photographers, and the sign-up location for them has moved.

There is now a single page that has two forms: one for photographers, and one for artists. When you sign up for a list, you will be notified of new juried shows and exhibitions for photographers or artists. The notifications are mainly aimed at southern California residents, but some are more broad.

If you’re into doing shows, exhibitions, or contests, you might want to sign up for the appropriate list and see what comes through.

PHOTOGRAPHER AND ARTIST NOTIFICATION LISTS

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Animags — Magnetic Photo Stands/Our New Best Friends

Photofun — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:30:53 +0000

Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3 We’d been saving up for our dream trip to Japan ever since we saw Lost in Translation. After hours of nodding in and out of second-run movies and throwing hot towels on our face, we made it! And guess what? Japan truly is the land of all things […]

Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3

We’d been saving up for our dream trip to Japan ever since we saw Lost in Translation.

After hours of nodding in and out of second-run movies and throwing hot towels on our face, we made it! And guess what? Japan truly is the land of all things magical and rare, just like Sofia promised!

We couldn’t possibly leave all that magic behind, so a week later we stuffed our pockets full of Animags, put on our most innocent look, and dashed through customs.

What the hey are Animags? Only the most adorable magnetic photo-holders shaped like animals. Ever.

Intricately-detailed zebra, grizzly bear, deer, and hammerhead shark each split in two with hidden magnets for sandwiching and holding your prints. Photo-farm > Farmville.

Animag Photo StandsTweet It!
$9 each at the Photojojo Shop!

p.s. Our pals at Vimeo are putting together an *awesome video festival*. Enter yours, you might win a $25,000 grant!