Mar
31
This picture is one of these special pictures which are not really exceptional at all but have a deep and a meaningful significance to me.
As it often happens the reason a picture is special has a lot to do with the way I felt at the time of taking this picture, a warm feeling (on a very cold day) that overwhelms me every time I look at it. I used this picture in different mixed media projects and even used it as a book cover for one of my books.
To get the effect which further more conveys the essence of this picture, I spent about two minutes (!) but was so happy with the end results.
Essentially, I added two different layers of scanned textured papers and played around with the visibility blend mode to blend the two layers “behind” the main photo. Then, all that was left to do was to convert the image to a saddle sepia tone.
Posted in texture layer
Mar
27
In my previous post about pricing your photos, I neglected to mention another important factor to consider: your target customers.
If you want to reach just about everybody and anybody, if your target customer is the average person who would love to have one of your beautiful prints next to his bed, then obviously you should set an affordable price. Maybe somewhere around $20-$30 for an 8X10. It’s a reasonable price and I’m sure you think since it’s such a bargain people will jump on it. And in a way they will. From my experience, when you set the price low, a lot of people will inquire and show interest and ask questions. All kind of questions. That’s fine. People should ask questions and find out all information possible before they buy something. However, you will soon discover that a few emails later, most of these nice people simply disappear. Where do they all go? I don’t know. But I know that just a few of the initial inquiries end up in an actual sale. 
Now, that’s fine if you enjoy an endless exchange of fruitless emails but if you really want to sale your photos, the best way to go is to raise your price to something that is beyond the reach or interest of the average person.
Its really simple, when you increase the prices (and therefore the value) of your photographic prints, you attract a whole new crowd of people. Some of them just like to display beautiful and VALUABLE art in their homes and offices , and some are art consultants, interior designers and such. And they actually buy your art. And they don’t even ask too many questions.
Posted in Thoughts about photography, black and white photography, street photos
Mar
25
I took this picture a few months ago and it was sitting in my freezer since then. Today, while I had some free time on my hands, which is an unusual luxury for me lately, I thought it would be great manipulating a time-zero picture.
I think I forgot how much fun it can be… its like therapy for me. As it is, one of my favorite steps in photography, other than figuring out an old classic camera and being out there, and taking pictures, well, I also enjoy very much what people call the “post processing” (I don’t know why but this term sounds so mechanical and emotionless to me). I sure enjoy spending time with my photos on the PC, working with textures and layers, but nothing compares to directly engaging with a photo.
Just thought I’d share.
Posted in Photographic art, Polaroid, Thoughts about photography
Mar
21
So I ran out of film the other day and so I cleaned up the spider webs off my digital Minolta and took it along instead.
I read somewhere before that many photographers shoot only RAW because it’s an unprocessed format and so it gives the photographer the most control possible.
I must say I quite enjoyed processing the images myself instead of letting the camera making the choices for me.
The only problem I had with it, was the length of time it took the camera to store the image after the exposure was made. I’m not sure how long it was exactly but it felt something like 10 seconds which is awfully a long time to wait in between shots when we’re talking about street photography.
So I was wondering if anybody knows and has any advice on this issue…
By the way, Larry King said “good morning” to me shortly after this picture was taken… Can you imagine what a great honor it must have been for him.
I’m sure he told all his friends about seeing me walking by. 
Posted in digital, street photos
Mar
18
While photographing on the way to work and back, I thought it will be a good opportunity
to test different rangefinder cameras
under relatively similar settings (same time of day and place and of course the same type of film)
The Olympus 35RC is yet the smallest rangefinder I’ve come across so far. This little fixed lens rangefinder from the 70’s has a metal body and is easy to carry around everywhere, which makes it perfect for street photography. It has an automatic exposure as well as a manual control. In order to activate the light meter it needs a PX625 battery witch is a little tricky to find. I found mine in a specialty battery store but otherwise it is widely available on ebay.
Due to its compact design the camera was easy to use and I also liked its firm controls which made it easy to choose and change the shutter speed or distance/focus while on a move.
Also the pictures turned out pretty good.
This camera is a really really good choice for street photography.
Posted in Film photography, black and white photography, classic cameras
Mar
15
I had a portable hard drive scare today.
I use this external hard drive as a back up drive for all my files in the last few years but in reality this hard drive is not a back up anymore. Since I got a new PC a couple of month ago the back up drive became the only copy to some of my files. And for a while now I meant to make a copy, but it’s always tomorrow, not right now. So it didn’t happen.
Well, it turned out the drive is OK, just a problem with the enclosure, but if nothing else this is a good reminder to BACK UP everything, and back it up NOW!
I know you hear it all the time. Me too. Yes, yes, I’ll do it soon. Just as soon as I finish what I’m doing.
Also, it’s a good idea to copy your files to another medium such as DVDs – 2 back ups are better than one!
And by the way, I have some back up DVDs out of state, some in Connecticut, some even in Israel. With the big earthquake (replace with: flood, fire, mud slide, hurricane, tornado, etc.) just around the corner. You never know.
Posted in News & other stuff
Mar
12
One of the most common questions I get regarding my textured layer images is:
can you explain how you did it? Well. really. I can’t.
I just admire those photographers who can illustrate and explain every step of the process. I want to ask them “how the heck did you do it?” How can you remember and demonstrate each and every little step you took?
See, when I “work” on a picture (well, its not really work) its kinda done in a flow and at the end, I look at the picture and it is what it is and there is no way I can trace my steps back.
Sure I can give a nice general description of the process but trying to record every step of the process will obviously hurt the natural flow which is clearly the most important ingredient in the process.
At best I can show the before and the after.
Before:
After:
Posted in texture layer
Mar
08
Like it’s not bad enough to overcome all your fears about your photos being good enough to sell now you need to set a price. How can you even put a price on your beloved artistic creations?
There are a few things to consider but mainly it comes down to the final product you are turning out. If you are printing using a standard home printer you might want to keep your prices rather low, but if you have a high end printer with special ink technology and superior paper then this will affect your prices and allow you to increase your prices. If you are, like me, going to use a professional printing service you can price your prints according to your expense plus the final quality of your image. It will probably be a high quality final print, archival inks and premium paper but since the print is printed on a typical photographic paper using a standard process you will probably want to keep your prices reasonable.
If you decide on matting your prints or even matting and framing them for your buyer it will obviously cost them more.
Now, another important thing to consider is that when you sign your photos it should double their price and if you sign and number them it will triple the original value!
In time you will find out which of your images are the favorites and sell more. If you wish you can then set these favorites at a higher price, especially if you sell them in limited editions.
Posted in Thoughts about photography, black and white photography
Mar
05
Typically I like images that have film grain; it accentuates a dark mood, a gritty feel and depth. But I don’t really care much for the digital noise – grain’s ugly cousin. Digital noise is the result of high ASA digital camera settings or scanner employment.
In the past, I used the Noise Removal filter provided in Paintshop Pro in order to eliminate noise in some images, but recently I needed something that works better and without any loss of detail.
This is when I decided to give Noise Ninja a try and was ever so impressed with the fact it is capable of effectively reducing the amount of noise but at the same time without losing detail.
Noise Ninja is available as a plug-in or stand alone software and the best way to learn using it is through their Five Minute Guide located under Help/User guide.
Basically there are 3 ways to use Noise Ninja: automatically generating noise profile from the image, creating an image profile manually or loading an existing profile. You can download a profile of your scanner or camera from Noise Ninja homepage.
Posted in Recommended, digital
Mar
03
Just like all great breakthrough tales I discovered the zoom lens effect by chance, though I’m sure I haven’t really discovered anything new and this effect was done even before I came around.
In any rate, in order to create this effect you’ll need a camera with a manual zoom lens and long exposure.
Now, all you need to do is zoom your lens in or out while the shutter is open.
Click on the image to view it in a larger size so you can get a better idea of this effect.
Posted in techniques
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