Ego boost
My meager skills as a photographer have passed a small, unremarkable milestone. “Autumn sunrise” has been marked as a favorite by someone on flickr. Actually, right now two people have done me the honor. Wow.
2005-10-15Understanding bokeh (ぼけ)
The Luminous Landscape has a nice article about bokeh in its “Understanding” series. The article explores the issue from a technical viewpoint, much the same as the [current] Wikipedia article on the subject.
The technical aspect is only that interesting. Fortunately Mike Johnston has taken the time to write an article about the subject from a more artistic perspective. This article is part of his late lamented Sunday Morning Photographer series on Luminous Landscape.
Henri Cartier-Bresson and kairos (καιρός)
I got myself a copy of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s retrospective book “The Man, the Image and the World”. This book illustrates the “decisive moment”, which Cartier-Bresson got so famous for capturing quickly and acutely. I found an article which discusses the concept of kairos in photography. Well worth a read. And the book is well worth its asking price.
2005-10-14The Ultimate Exposure Computer
I have read quite a few articles on exposure, but I think I found one which is better than the rest. That is The Ultimate Exposure Computer. Which, in turn, is essentially the “Sunny 16 rule”:
- Set the shutter speed to the closest setting above one over the film speed
- On a bright sunny day, set f/16
- If the day is not bright and sunny, correct according to the zone system