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Search Results for: editing mistakes

How to learn filmmaking in a month or less without film school

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Learning filmmaking by yourself is, in many respects, a lot like learning photography. There’s some technical to figure out, sure, but there’s also a lot of observing the work of others and then doing. And many of the tips contained in this video from Darious Britt also apply to photography. At least, for the first few days.

Darious makes it clear in the beginning that he’s not saying film school is a bad thing. He attended film school himself. But not everybody’s in a position to attend film school and rack up a lot of debt. Perhaps you’re starting late in life and have other responsibilities that demand your time and attention so can’t attend film school. Whatever your reasons, this 30 day plan will get you on track.

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A beginner’s guide to working with models

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Running a shoot from start to finish can be pretty demanding; working with creative staff, managing your camera, adjusting settings, directing, and ensuring that everything is going smoothly. It can be pretty daunting with the prospect of trying to handle all of this right?

One of the more challenging aspects when starting out can definitely be getting comfortable working with the model(s) on a shoot, and how to ensure everyone comes out happy and satisfied.

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Mark Rodriguez’s work is too dark to handle

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When it comes to photography, Photoshop, and all things related, I tend to lean towards the stylised work. Not just my own, but in people whose work I admire. So I am pleased to bring you the work of Mark Rodriguez a.k.a Godriguez. I always hear people complain that they don’t know how to find inspiration, or can’t find it. Well Mark must have stolen their share, because it feels like every other day a new image is released on his social media. If there is such a thing as an inspiration tree, Mark has silently ripped it from the ground and hidden it in his wardrobe! Maybe this was his secret to winning 2015 Photoshop world Guru!…….or maybe it was just his amazing talent, meh, I prefer the tree story haha.[Read More…]

Facebook censored, then uncensored, famous photo of ‘Napalm Girl’

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Facebook is probably the biggest media outlet in the word, which probably makes Mark Zuckerberg the most powerful editor in the world. But with great power comes great responsibility, and that means that Facebook should be extra careful when deciding which photos they are removing from their network.

The story begins with Facebook removing a post (and the photo) of Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten. The photo was part of an article discussing seven photographs that changed the history of warfare. (By the way, the “real name” of this photo by Nick Ut is The Terror of War).

The next step was to delete a Facebook post by Tom Egeland, the author, discussing the removal or the initial photo, and blocking him from facebook for 24 hours.

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A primer to advanced composition (and critiquing your own work)

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A while back me and fellow DIY writer Joseph Parry were chatting over messenger. We had just started following a blog called Canon of design by Tavis Leaf Glover. Canon of design is a treasure mine of compositional information, which studies the master painters and how they designed, constructed and finished their masterpieces. These guys spent months, even years creating one image. Nothing was left to chance. Composition was perfectly drawn out, over and over again, until the image was compositionally bullet proof. I could write multiple articles about the benefits of signing up to Canon of design, but I will let you make your own mind up about that, just make sure you check it out.

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Ian Munro’s photos will get you question reality [NSFW]

Forged from rock and steel in the welsh valleys, photographer Ian Munro brings to photography a determination and dedication to keep inspiring  viewers with his conceptual storytelling .

His images blur the lines of surrealism and humour. Frozen in time, with shades of Georges Méliès, and mad genius, he creates large sets, sometimes building them from scratch for his models to act in.

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This photographer is capturing childhood at its simplest, sheltered from TV and electronic devices

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There’s no way around it, our world is dominated by electronic devices.  In these days of the super computers in our pockets we call cellphones, as well as tablets, smart watches and the countless other gadgets which make up the Internet of Things, one mother is taking things back to basics.

In an ongoing project, New Zealand photographer Niki Boon has been documenting the almost technology-free lives of her four children in a stunning black and white photography series, Childhood in the Raw.

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Humor: This Diagram Shows The Creative Fear Of Committing Work

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Committing work is not an easy task. Hitting that save button for the last time and shipping your work may be frightening. Your work is leaving your hands and it no longer under your control. Whatever greatness or mistakes that you’ve put in are there forever now.

I guess, this is why committing to a final version of a file is so hard and creatives go back to editing their files again and again. This phenomenon should probably have an entry in the DSM next to GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Maybe something like RCS (Re-editing Compulsion Syndrome).

This funny diagram by @akshar (Akshar Pathak) and @theyashbhardwaj perfectly illustrates this fear of commitment (and also a shocking lack of file versioning system).  While originally for designers, this applies to any photographer too. Can you relate?

 

Backup Workflow using BitTorrent Sync and Crashplan

Backups! We all need them, we hardly make ‘em!

Over the years, as a digital artist, I have on occasion lost bodies of work. I lost them when building a new PC, I lost them when my drive crashed, fell, burnt, and I even lost them while watching in horror as I mistakenly said yes to “are you sure you want to format drive D”?.

Data keeps piling up, and to keep everything archived we need at least double the amount of drive space.

Luckily I don’t do animation anymore so my projects aren’t that super large anymore, but I have been photographing and editing work for a couple of years now and the data pile keeps growing. Next to that I kept running out of space locally, and kept buying new drives for my Drobo to accommodate my expanding archive. The problem with new drives to store your projects is that you need to copy your data over and over, you get sloppy, you forget projects, you ignore folders, and in the end you lost some precious pictures in the transfer process.

I’m a creative artist, and even though I have OCD tendencies, I get bored with tedious tasks and mistakes are easily made.  I needed a better backup plan to safeguard my body of work, without having to spend too much time on this task.

Now there are numerous ways to maintain a backup, but I’m going to share one that has been working for me the past few years, and makes me feel secure about my data.

here’s my hardware setup:

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Dear New Photographer…

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I’m writing this post because I was up late last night on a Facebook forum, reading close to 200 comments about new photographers and what slime they are to the industry. How they’re stripping photography of it’s “art” and destroying any decent business practices. I read every comment, feeling more and more sick to my stomach the further I scrolled down the page.

“Who do these people think they are? Don’t they remember when they were new and making all the same mistakes?”

I know this year has probably had it’s ups and downs for you; the excitement of booking your first paid gig, the confusion of all that “must have” photography gear and the hurt and guilt of being single-handedly blamed for “ruining the industry.” I know the phrase “what to charge for engagement photos” is probably one of the first things to come up in your Google search bar, and secretly you’re still wondering why using the eraser tool in photoshop is such a horrible thing.

I also know that you’re afraid to ask for advice at every turn because for every established photographer that is willing to help, you’ve got 30 more breathing down your neck that are doing everything they can to cut you down. I’ve been there too – I’ve had my work ripped apart online by a “reputable” photographer (who went out of business earlier this year), I’ve bought things I didn’t need because some famous photographer endorsed them and I thought it would make a dramatic improvement in my work (it didn’t), and I’ve used the crap out of the eraser tool (layer mask, folks).

So what I wanted to do here is give you a heads-up. A bit of a rant mixed with some advice I wish I had known in the beginning, this is just about everything I wish someone had told me the first day I got that used and slightly beat up (but still very new to me) camera in my hands.

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