FEW YEARS AGO

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Alfred Stieglitz- The Father of Modern Photography


Legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz was one of photography’s pioneers. In a time when the arts, photography included, were stuck in the past and unwilling to change, he drove the art of photography into a new erra of expression. Because of this he is known by many as “the father of modern photography.” As the documentary explains: What Stieglitz was driving at was a new vision for a modern world; to teach America to see, and photography was the epitome of a new way of seeing… to shock the world of the arts out of its blind attachment to the past.
Part of the PBS American Masters series, The Eloquent Eye is an in-depth documentary on the life and work of this great man. And it’s well worth an hour and half of your weekend if you can spare it. (via FStoppers) Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz is known for the New York art galleries that he ran in the early part of the 20th century, where he introduced many avant-garde European artists to the U.S. He was married to painter Georgia O'Keeffe (SEEN BELOW)
Much More on Alfred Stieglitz HERE. VIA:fstoppers

Thursday, May 3, 2012

HDR Photography from Realistic to Fantastic!


HDR or High Dynamic Range Photography has been all the rage for the past year or so. There are many new tools available to the photographer to capture and process this type of image, but much of the subject still remains elusive to many who would like to take full advantage of what you can achieve with these techniques. In this hour long, free webinar sponsored by Sekonic and hosted by Joe Brady, we’ll cover many of the ways available to create HDR images. We’ll also explore using a handheld light meter to make sure that the exposures we take deliver the best data for a successful image without filling up our memory cards and hard drives with many unnecessary exposures. Starting with the basics of exposure and metering, follow along as we take a look at some popular HDR processing softwares to create and enhance our images. More info and two (not one, two!) archives of the presentation for your educational pleasure after the jump… There are several styles of HDR Photography – from realistic to super-real to fanciful to surreal. Let’s explore ways to create each type of image depending on your desires and artistic vision. NOTE: Though both the 1PM and 3PM sessions cover similar material, the image demonstrations in each are different. If you enjoyed one, you might enjoy watching the other!

Controlling Light with Matthew Jordan Smith





About: Matthew Jordan Smith Amelie's Influence When was the last time a movie made an impact on you? The movie Amelie is one of my all time favorites, and if you are a photographer or artist you owe it to yourself to see this film. I have just completed watching it for the zillionth time, and even though this film is in French I muted the sound and focused only on the images. Notice how the color's red and green play a strong roll in this movie. There are several times when the color blue is introduced but rarely. If you want to enhance your photography in any way, do yourself a favor and watch this film, then share how it's influence your work. Here is a sample of how it's influenced mine.



 Matthew Jordan Smith is a celebrity fashion photographer, author and instructor[1] born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Columbia, South Carolina [2]. Smith attended the Art Institute in Atlanta, GA. After graduation, Smith returned to New York City to pursue photography full-time. Smith's big break came when he was hired by Essence Magazine to photograph Anita Hill. Smith went on to photograph high profile celebrities such as Tyra Banks, Vanessa Williams and Queen Latifah[3]. Smith's clients include Pantene, L'Oreal, Ebony and Essence[4]. In the Fall of 2001, Smith published his first book, Sepia Dreams-A Celebration of Black Achievement Through Words and Images, published by St. Martin's Press [5]. The book encompasses a collection of photographs and interviews with fifty African-American celebrities, all of whom spoke with Smith about the motivations and qualities that enabled them to find and embrace success. In June of 2003, Smith was honored by Eastman Kodak when they selected him as one of their Kodak Icons. [6] In 2006, Smith was commissioned to shoot the photos for the American Photos Mission Series, published by American Photo Magazine[7], sponsored by Microsoft and endorsed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Smith currently resides in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He has been a featured photographer on several cycles of America's Next Top Model[8], most recently Cycle 9 .

Monday, April 30, 2012

THREE BASIC COMPONENTS OF EXPOSURE EXPLAINED





Matthew Gore of Light & Matter created this beginner-friendly video tutorial on the three basic elements of exposure: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. It’s explained with easy to understand illustrations and examples, and features graphics and sounds that are reminiscent of old 8-bit video games. You can also find a text-based version of the tutorial here. The Three Basics of Photography (via Xatakafoto)
FIND CHART HERE.

Cool Stop-Motion Tutorial





  Carlos Lascano is one of the top names in Stop Motion photography, so Kessler was honored when Carlos crafted this piece as a primer for the making of stop motion video with the CineSlider and Oracle Control System. So for those of you who ever had an interest in making stop motion, here's Carlos to show you how it's done. by Kessler Crane In 2007, after being in charge of the Edition and Postproduction Department in In Vitro Films (Barcelona), Carlos resumed his freelance career and moved to Madrid, where he actually lives. After the experience acquired from The Legend of the Scarecrow, he deepened his drawing style and merged it with his extensive technical knowledge and his filmmaking experience, in order to focus on the creation of animation pieces. In 2008 he published online his latest short film, A short love story in Stop Motion, which collected over two million views and around 40.000 quotations[5] in websites from all over the globe in the first six months. Then came The Can, a spot commissioned by Red Bull Austria, intended to be part of a program that Red Bull organized together with the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In 2009 he founded his own production company, DreamLife Studio SL, with the intention of starting to produce his own works on a larger scale. The company is based in Madrid. In 2009 and 2010 he focused mainly on advertisement, working on large campaigns for Al Balad Newspaper in Lebanon, Oscillococcinum in France, Popsicle Ice Pops in the US, and TetraPak in Russia[6]. During 2010 he also directed the music video J’ai pas le temps for French singer Gabi. The video was featured at the third episode of the Zacuto’s Emmy award winning web series The Great Camera Shootout [7], in Chicago, where Lascano also participated as a guest. Later on that year, he was invited by Vimeo to participate as a judge for the Animation Category of their first festival, Vimeo Festival + Awards [8], held in New York on October 9th, 2010, next to other award-winning filmmakers such as David Lynch, Nicolas Schmerkin and Vincent Laforet. In 2011 he was commissioned by Amnesty International to write and direct an animated spot for their 50th anniversary. The original score was composed by the Academy Award Winner Hans Zimmer and the Academy Award Nominee Lorne Balfe, and the production took place in Prague between his own company, DreamLife Studio and Eallin Motion Art. The spot was internationally released by Amnesty International on May 28 th, 2011, on the day its 50th anniversary was commemorated. Also in 2011, Carlos released one of his most ambitious projects: a mixed-technique animation short film, A Shadow of Blue [9] [10], film that qualified for the 84th Academy Awards.[11]. Owner of a very personal style, his mixing of digital tools and real objects brought a new organic aesthetic concept[jargon] to animation, making Carlos achieve international recognition,[12] and setting him on the sight of large advertisement companies. Eallin Motion Art [13] (Czech Republic), Bent Image Lab (USA and Canada), Cube (France), Boiron (France) and Trix (Portugal), are some of the companies he is currently working with.