Thoughts About Photography

Ashton Kutcher's Nikon Commercials

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:19:20 -0700

I thought it might be fun to make a somewhat off-topic post that dives into advertising and pop culture. You probably have seen the Nikon commercials where girls steal Ashton's camera and take flirtatious pictures with it: Frankly, I find the commercials annoying, but does that mean it is a bad advertisement? Nikon needs to sell cameras and the money isn't coming from geeks like me who take apart broken antique cameras in their spare time. The money comes with selling tons of cameras to the vast majority of people who aren't particularly interested in photography as an art form. The truth is that cameras serve a different purpose in modern society than it does for people like me. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, it just isn't me. Today the camera is a status symbol. The camera is a fashion accessory. The camera is a social toy. To the average person it is just a way to document your life and have some fun. So perhaps the Nikon spots are brilliant. With a market flooded with affordable digital cameras what do you do to stand apart from the pack? More megapixels? New technology? People expect a camera to take good photos and have the latest features. To sell more product camera makers have to find another way to differentiate themselves. Nikon's answer is to sell a lifestyle. The Nikon commercial appeals to the average person not because it is pushing "speed and a Nikon lens," but because it is selling a lifestyle. Girls like the idea of using a camera to flirt with that cute guy. Guys like the idea of taking advantage of clueless babes. And this all happens in the context of some kind of party that you wish you were invited to. Sex, status, and a party lifestlye. The formula works for beer and deoderant, why not cameras? I guess all that is left to do is smile and say cheese.

Pinhole Camera Made From Juice Box

Sun, 11 May 2008 22:56:25 -0700

Dennis from Captured Starlight has a nice pinhole camera made out of a juice box. A big part of my fascination with pinhole photography is the ingenuity of the photographers that build there own cameras. Anyone can drop a couple hundred dollars on the latest camera, but it takes a special motivation to build a picture taking machine out of the scraps you find in the garbage.

Digital Photography Tip: Renaming Hundreds of Files

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:39:36 -0700

If you have a digital camera you most likely have a bunch of folders containing files with names like "DSC01442.JPG" or some similar naming structure. The ideal practice would be to rename each file with a descriptive title. If you took 300 photos on your vacation that can be a huge job. renaming the whole bunch would take forever so must of us just rename the folder and let the files keep the cryptic name. Luckly there are some utilities that allow you to rename large batches of files quickly. The utility that I like is called "A Better Finder Rename." It is available for both Mac and PCs and it lets you do complex renaming quickly and easily. The program costs $24.95 so I looked at some free alternatives but I couldn't really find anything as good as A Better Finder Rename. Name Mangler (Mac only) is worth a look, but it is limited in what it can do. One extra feature that I couldn't find anywhere else was its ability to rename files with names from a separate list. I have needed that ability once or twice and it is really handy. Check out their website to learn more about it. There is one other situations that I use "A Better Finder Rename" that is worth mentioning. With my timelapse photography setup I endup with thousands of images. It is nice to be able to change the names of a large batch of jpgs with a few clicks. I know I am not the only person looking for ways to rename large batches of photos, so if you have a solution that works for you, please share it in the comments.

Argus Pinhole Modification

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:30:33 -0700

I don't have a tutorial for this one, but I thought I would share with you the pinhole modification I made to my Argus. I already had the lens stripped away from my homemade tilt-shift lens experiment and realized that the small leftover body would make a nice pinhole camera. All I really had to do was attach my homemade pinhole shutter (remember the one made out of a floppy disk and a ballpoint pen?) which I modded to work with a cable release. Now I have a pretty decent pinhole camera that I can trigger with the cable rather than adding camera shake with a more traditional shutter mechanism (black tape). It isn't my most beautiful camera, but it is small and it works! Here are some pictures of it: Front of the camera with the shutter release cable: The back with the film loaded: The back of the camera opened up:

Photo Skepticism: Friend or Foe?

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:31:47 -0700

The latest news photo hoax has me thinking about authenticity in photography again. In the most recent case, a chinese man doctors an image of a train and a bunch of antelopes. You can read the article to get the full story, but the image they show explaining how the fake was spotted is pretty interesting. I expected evidence such as cloned animals or something much more obvious. For example, one explanation depends on an antelope that kind of looks pregnant. Another says that the antelope would be more scattered if they were running from a train. One explanation is just flat wrong. It says that the train should be blurred and the antelope should be more in focus because the train is going 60 mph and the antelope are running slower. This explanation doesn't hold up because the train is several hundred meters away. The antelope may not be going 60 mph but I bet their legs are and they are closer to the camera. I am not saying that the photo is real, but can't we get an explanation that holds up to scrutiny? [](http://www.foundphotography.com/PhotoThoughts/fake_photo.jpg) Luckly, there are real professionals working to scientifically disprove the authenticity of photographs. There is an interesting article on wired.com that talks about methods that companies like Adobe are developing to spot altered photos. Adobe seems like the last company you would turn to lead the hunt for photo hoaxers considering they have made a fortune off of convincing everybody how easy/safe/fun it is to enhance and manipulate our photographs. Nevertheless, as the industry leader in photo manipulation they have to address a growing concern about the authenticity of photography. So Adobe finds itself in an interesting conundrum. How do you use a technology that is meant to alter photography to identify the people who are creating hoaxes? Where does harmless photo enhancement end and illegal photo manipulation begin? How do you convince a skeptical population to trust photography as the truth? They have a quote from Kevin Connor, who is senior director of product management at Adobe. He says, "There's much more awareness and much more skepticism when (people) are looking at images. That's why we think that's something we need to get involved in. It's not healthy to have people be too skeptical about what they saw." Not healthy to question what you see? That is a shocking statement when you consider what he is implying, that it is healthy to accept what you see as real without questioning. Yikes! The article closes without really giving much hope that there will ever be a trustworthy way of telling whether or not a photo has been altered. While that may seem like a tragedy, it is a side effect of an advancing civilization. Think about the past when photos represented the "truth." That was a more dangerous time because it ignored the editorial nature of photography. Think of all the manipulation that happens to an image in camera. Somebody has to pick the subject matter. The photographer isn't an emotionless bystander. He composes his shot with an agenda. He choses the exposure and controls the focus. These are editorial decisions. You can make the same old lady look like a saint or a witch just by how you choose to take her picture. To accept an image as "truth" regardless of how it was originated is dangerous. Defense attorneys, law enforcement, news organizations, protective governments, conspiracy theorists, traditionalists and photography purists will continue to find ways authenticate and de-authenticate photos. I can't blame them, but I firmly believe that a skeptical population is a better alternative to blind unquestioning masses.

Build A Tilt-Shift Lens for Your SLR for Cheap

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:52:37 -0700

I haven't posted a good camera modification in a while, so it feels good to present you with this new tutorial on how to build your own tilt-shift lens. Have you seen those photos where only a small part of the picture is in focus and the rest of the image gets dramatically blurred? If you ever wondered how this effect is created, chances are the picture was taken with a tilt-shift lens. Most lenses are fixed exactly parallel to your lens because that is the position that will distribute the light evenly and keep focus at a fixed distance. A tilt-shift lens is different because it allows you pivot the lens. By "tilting" and "shifting" the lens you can throw things out of focus in unconventional ways. Using a tilt-shift lens is a fun way to inject your photos with drama and controlled distortion. Here is a link to a good Flickr gallery full of examples of tilt-shift to give you an idea of what is possible with a tilt-shift lens.

If I have convinced you that a tilt-shift lens would be a nice addition to your photography arsenal, I have some bad news for you. Tilt-shift lenses are expensive. A quick Ebay search reveals that you will be lucky to secure a lens for under $500 with some lenses well over $1000. Yikes! A slightly less expensive option is something called a Lensbaby, which will run you between $100 to $400. Despite hearing good things about the lensbabies, I just can't justify dropping a couple hundred dollars on a lens that's main purpose is to degrade and distort my pictures. Luckily there is a third option. Here are some ideas that will help you create your own tilt-shift lens for next to nothing.

Pentax K1000

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:56:46 -0700

I finally got the camera I have always wanted. No, it wasn't a Hasselblad or a Mamiya or a Leica. The camera that has been on my wish list longer than any other is the Pentax K1000. Sure, I could pick one up on Ebay for under $100 but I just figured that someday the classic camera would just find its way into my collection. That is pretty much what happened. I love having a story to go along with a camera and now I have one that I will probably be telling quite a few times in the future. Here is how the classic tank of a camera came into my collection...

How A Lens Is Made

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:12:07 -0700

Here is an interesting YouTube clip showing how a camera lens is made.
(via kottke)

Updated Design

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:23:35 -0700

This is just a quick post to ask you to check out the Found Photography homepage and see if you like my updated design. I added a little bit of animation and added links to some of my photo collections. If you have a photo blog and are curious about what is happening behind the scenes you should take a look at Slimbox. It is an Ajax slideshow/gallery that uses mootools. It took some work to get it to work with my Movable Type backend but I think the results were worth the effort.

The First Photo I Was Really Proud Of

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:20:36 -0700

The photo on the right is one of maybe three photos that I am really proud of (click for a larger image). Part of it is that I think it is just a great moment, but I think it is probably because I am so emotionally connected to it. It was taken during a parade in Grand Island, on a wonderful autumn weekend spent visiting friends and family. It was one of the first rolls of film shot for my college photography class. I was nearly bursting with excitement for that class and couldn't wait to take pictures with my new Pentax ZX5n. I remember breaking away from my friends and walking down the street looking for something to take a photo of. Then all of a sudden this moment happened in front of me. It was surreal. I remember being literally scared as I took the photo. This was it! I only took one shot but I knew it was a good one. I think I was shaking as I walked away from that scene. I have never had that feeling since. Since I snapped the picture almost ten years ago I have probably spent more time working with this image than any other image in my collection but I have never had it framed. I just couldn't get it exactly right. At school I remember spending many frustrating hours in the darkroom working on enlargements. I nearly went broke dodging and burning and cropping and enlarging before I finally had a print that was acceptable. Years later, before I had access to a good film scanner I scanned the prints and began Photoshopping. Looking back at those files it is embarrassing to see how heavy-handed I was. So this weekend I went back to this image to see if I can "remaster" it. I decided to ditch my earlier digital scans taken from prints and rescan the original negative. I dug the negative out and was relieved that it was still in good shape. I got a good scan and brought it into Photoshop. I have struggled with cropping the image before and decided not to crop it this time. I tried to be very subtle in my dodging and burning. In the past I tried to push the contrast so that every detail was as defined as possible. This time I held back and left things alone so that it would look more natural. Interestingly, this "final" print probably took less time than any of my earlier attempts because I didn't try to make it something that it wasn't. It feels good to finally be satisfied with the print and be able to let it live in my archive instead of my to-do list.

B-Sides: The Best of the Worst

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:36:50 -0700

I don't want to let the cat out of the bag completely, but I am working on a photography book. That means going through hundreds of my photos and preparing them for print. Often I am lazy in cleaning up my scans since screen resolution is more forgiving (and cheaper!) than a print. As a result of digging through my archives I am getting to see a bunch of photos that I didn't think were good enough for posting the first time around. Most of the time I was right, but some of these rejects aren't half bad. Look for me to get into a regular routine of posting these "b-side" photos on my home page and stay tuned for more info about my book.

My First Pinhole Photo

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:36:51 -0700

I still remember the assignment in my high school photography class. It seemed magical. You could make a camera out of a coffee can? It sounded like a Macgyver invention and I think that was probably the moment I was hooked on photography. We loaded our cameras with photo paper negatives in the darkroom and headed outside. I pointed my coffee can at a fire hydrant, uncovered the pinhole and waited 45 seconds on that frigid day. Back in the darkroom we unloaded our cameras and developed the photo paper. It worked! Now it is over ten years later and I have to work harder to get that magical feeling from photography. It is easy to take for granted how amazing picture taking really is. Technology has convinced us that anyone can take a picture if they have the right machine. All you have to do is point your phone and push a button. I think many people feel really dissappointed when they spend so much money on a camera only to find that their photos don't improve. The flood of photos fills the internet and our memory cards but great photos are hard to find. If you are looking to find the wonder we felt as children when we got our first roll of film developed maybe all you really need is a coffee can and a pinhole.

The Future of Photography on the Web

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 00:03:05 -0700

A friend brought this video to my attention and if you haven't seen it you should check it out. It really makes the future of photography on the web seem limitless...

Inverted Cloud Timelapse

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:29:55 -0700

I use a batch action in Photoshop to process the photos from my timelapse adventures. Usually I just resize, crop, and color correct but you could do a lot more if you feel like it. Above is the result of some layering, inverting, and I can't remember what else I did to this batch. The second half is especially psychedelic. Enjoy...

Yashica Electro35

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 19:03:35 -0700

A recent addition to my camera collection that is quickly becoming a favorite is the Yashica Electro35. It is an old rangefinder with a fast lens, a quite shutter, and accurate auto exposure. If you are like me and can only dream about owning a Leica, this camera might be just what you are looking for. They are a bargain on Ebay going for $25 or less.