Photographers' Union Thread

[Justin24]

Avedons work is great. Reminds me of Diane Arbus work the last photos are eerie a little disturbing but done very well. I love B&W it give photos a different perspective from color photography.

[Jive Turkey]

Philip Lorca Dicorcia is another personal favourite. I really enjoy his stolen portraits work. the concept was that he would set up strobes for a certain spot on the sidewalk in times square. He set up a camera focused on that location. All of this was out of the the sight of passersby. When someone would step into that section of pavement, the shutter would be released and he would have a portrait of an unsuspecting pedestrian. awesome concept and execution. The lighting is gorgeous and the expressions of the people have a sort of disconnectedness to them. If you didnt know any better, you'd swear some of these were set up

[ntalwar]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey Philip Lorca Dicorcia is another personal favourite. I really enjoy his stolen portraits work.

Apparently, he was sued for using those photos for commercial gain by one of the subjects, but the statute of limitations had expired. Those photos are great though.

On a slightly different topic, I've seen people rave about Capture One software for RAW processing. What does it do that other tools (like PS) don't?

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by ntalwar Apparently, he was sued for using those photos for commercial gain by one of the subjects, but the statute of limitations had expired. Those photos are great though. On a slightly different topic, I've seen people rave about Capture One software for RAW processing. What does it do that other tools (like PS) don't?

If I'm not mistaken, it was the Rabbi who sued, claiming an infringement on his religious rights. I think it had something to do with it being against his religion to have an image of himself used in a commercial sense (DiCorcia sell his prints, as most artists do). That case, and any others that may have come about, were ultimately dismissed. Because they were on public property, their images are fair game to be used as long as they arent falsely portrayed or it isnt directly for commercial purposes (eg. you cant take a picture of a random person, then use that picture in a newspaper article on mental insanity. Also, you cant use that persons image in an advertisement). the loop hole for DiCorcia was that, as fine art, the original goal of the photo was art and not profit.

Capture One has its advantages and disadvantages. For a lot of the more specific adjustments (anything involving masking, comping images, filters etc) photoshop is much easier and gives you the benefit of being able to go back and turn off layers you dont want. However, for tonal adjustments, curves, exposure correction and especially upsizing files, Capture One is far better than photoshop. I'm not sure the specifics are far as the program code is concerned, but the algorithms Capture One uses to resize are far superior to Photoshop's. It treats colour and luminosity differently, so when you upsize, its similar to upsizing a vector graphic rather than as remapping a series of pixels. You'll find that you can push the files much further. Also, because its not treating the images as pixels, when making colour adjustments you'll end up with smoother transitions and less banding. Capture One also gives you the benefit of being able to shoot tethered to a laptop and then have your adjustments applied in real time. I dont think anyone would ever use only Capture One though. Its a way to get your images as far as possible with minimum destruction to the file before moving it into photoshop.

[Justin24]

Some images from last weeks photo shoot.

[BVS]

Originally Posted by Justin24

This is my fave. You've really come around as a photographer...

I remember when you first started you always had a great eye, but now you're really getting good technique as well...

This paticular shot reminds me of a Rolling Stone photographer, but I can't remember their name right now...

[mad1]

Originally Posted by Justin24 Some images from last weeks photo shoot.

wow, sorry only now am I going back over to see shots Ive missed, and this is a fav one our of that session Justin

[bonocomet]

I really like the works by both of those last two photographers

[Justin24]

[Jive Turkey]

Sicy, theres an easier way for you to do that. Do you know how to use layer masks?

[Sicy]

You mean like make a new layer first?

[Jive Turkey]

exactly, but instead of making a new layer of your image, you apply an adjustment layer above it.....so lets say you want to desaturate your picture and make it black and white. you go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation and click ok (there are other ways to get there and other ways to make your image black and white, but this is the most straight forward for now). So now your Hue/Saturation window will pop up. Just slide the saturation slider all the way to the left and click ok. Your image will be in black and white now. But your original colour image still exists underneath the adjustment layer. Now you use a layer mask to bring the colour back in the eyes: If you look at the layers menu on the right, you'll notice you'll have two layers now: your image and the adjustment layer. with the adjustment layer selected (highlighted in blue), take a brush with black paint and paint in the area of your picture that you want the colour to come back to. You can think of it as making a hole through the adjustment layer using black paint. If you make the hole too big, just paint the layer back in with white paint....Make sense? If it sounds complicated, it really isnt. You'll see when you do it. There are shortcuts to add adjustment layers and better ways to convert to black and white (if you have CS3 or newer, just substitute the 'black and white' adjustment layer for 'hue/saturation') but if you're new to masks, this is the easiest way. and once you get the hang of adjustment layers and masks, you can do all sorts of fancy things ....or course, you might already know all of this

[Sicy]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey exactly, but instead of making a new layer of your image, you apply an adjustment layer above it.....so lets say you want to desaturate your picture and make it black and white. you go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation and click ok (there are other ways to get there and other ways to make your image black and white, but this is the most straight forward for now). So now your Hue/Saturation window will pop up. Just slide the saturation slider all the way to the left and click ok. Your image will be in black and white now. But your original colour image still exists underneath the adjustment layer. Now you use a layer mask to bring the colour back in the eyes: If you look at the layers menu on the right, you'll notice you'll have two layers now: your image and the adjustment layer. with the adjustment layer selected (highlighted in blue), take a brush with black paint and paint in the area of your picture that you want the colour to come back to. You can think of it as making a hole through the adjustment layer using black paint. If you make the hole too big, just paint the layer back in with white paint....Make sense? If it sounds complicated, it really isnt. You'll see when you do it. There are shortcuts to add adjustment layers and better ways to convert to black and white (if you have CS3 or newer, just substitute the 'black and white' adjustment layer for 'hue/saturation') but if you're new to masks, this is the easiest way. and once you get the hang of adjustment layers and masks, you can do all sorts of fancy things ....or course, you might already know all of this

Just tried this out... very cool cant wait to mess with it more..thank you.

[Sicy]

Thanks for that info, sounds a bit confusing but I will try it. I have PS7.

[Jive Turkey]

Ive got CS3 and I think it contains Photoshop 10, but I could be wrong...So I dont think you'll have the Black and White adjustment layer, but the hue/saturation will be there.... Its really not complicated though, you see. Let me know if you run into any trouble (or maybe you are happy with the way you're doing it and thats cool too)