Indie-Photo 101

Quote of the Day

2012-07-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

A lot of people think that when you have grand scenery, such as you have in Yosemite, that photography must be easy.
Galen Rowell

Quote of the Day

2012-07-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

“It can be a trap of the photographer to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get." – Timothy Allen – On editing photos

Weekly Wackness Experiments: This Week's Wackness!!!

2012-06-30T13:54:00.002-07:00

Hello all and welcome to another Weekly Wackness Experiment! For those who don’t already know, Weekly Wackness Experiments are designed carefully each week so that we all can toss the “rules” of traditional photography. Read the full description here!

Remember to post YOUR entries on your social networks with the hashtag #weeklywackness for your chance to be featured on our blog! Follow us on Instagram and tag your photos there, or simply email us your entries at indiephoto101@gmail.com

This week’s experiment guidelines:

All entries must be completely and 100% yours
All entries must be created strictly for Weekly Wackness Experiments
All entries must be created IN-CAMERA using no third party digital enhancements
- yes you can use weird custom white balance or in-camera B&W or sepia
- yes you can use every photo editing app you have if you’re using an iPhone for Weekly Wackness Experiments

Those were the boring rules, here’s where it gets good.

All entries must be shot while the photographer is in rapid motion. (running, jogging, riding a bike)
Entries can be taken in the day or at night
Shoot as many experiments as you like, hashtag them all, we don’t mind!
Experiment with different shutter speeds and as always, have the most fun you could possibly have!

Quote of the Day

2012-06-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

“ Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop." – Ansel Adams

Charge Cheap!

2012-06-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Find the answers here! I was pleased, myself. Don't go thinking this is scary news, this is great news!

Read More Here!

Product Reviews: MacBook Pro Retina Display

2012-06-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a great article featuring a full review of the new MacBook Pro's Retina display which seems to squash everything thus far.

Read More Here!

News: Dictionary made from Google Images!

2012-06-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

WOW! How creative! It's amazing and wonderful to see true determination in an idea see its way through.

Read More Here!

News: 7D new Firmware!!!

2012-06-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

New firmware delivers increased buffer, new editing tools and more!!!

Read More Here!

Weekly Wackness!!!!!!

2012-06-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

This last week's Weekly Wackness Experiment wasn't a huge hit. BUT LET'S NOT GET ALL SAD. That was just week 1. Week 1 out of INFINITE weeks to come.

BUT fret not, dear fellows, because amidst the entries two Instagrammers will be getting their dues today.

Stay tuned for the rules and guidelines for THIS week's all NEW Weekly Wackness Experiment!!!!!!!

New Sigma Large Sensor Compact!!!

2012-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

New Sigma DP2 Merrill large sensor camera to debute in July!!!

Read More Here!

News: Today's Apps gone Free!

2012-06-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here’s a great site with a list of paid apps that are free TODAY!! We’ve downloaded Kinotopic+ and are having a blast making vintage looking GIF’s. It’s the closest we get to a Lomography Kino!!!

Read More Here!

Quote of the Day

2012-06-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

“ If I saw something in my viewfinder that looked familiar to me, I would do something to shake it up," – Garry Winogrand

News: Photo Contest

2012-06-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Juried Photography Exhibition:
I'll Fly Away
The Nature of Birds
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Entry Deadline: Thursday, July 19, 2012
OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION:
SATURDAY, August 4, 2012
7:30 - 10:30pm

Make A Submission

Ah, the birds. Uniquely beautiful, ceaselessly fascinating; borne of dinosaur DNA! Elusive and unreachable, except by the camera lens, if ever there was a creature that inspired mankind's collective "compare and despair" mentality, the bird would have to be it. Greek mythology speaks of Icarus and Daedalus, who yearned to fly free of of the earth; Edgar Allen Poe wrote of that pesky raven tap, tap, tapping at his window, and even Jesus asked us to consider the sparrow, who neither sows nor reaps, yet still gets along. Heavy.

What is it then about the bird that affects us so? Are they everything we want to be; beautiful, carefree and literally above it all?

Do we envy their freedom? Do we project on to them our desire to take wing from the grave cares and pedestrian repetitions of our human-ness, to a far place both wild and beautiful, and a life lived literally "on the fly"? Would that we, like birds, could rise to our potential without care, without responsibility! Unbound by the relic of reponsibility, or memory of those left behind? Oh! Fickle feathered fastidious freeloader of heaven and earth, thy name is bird! For the rest of us, wingless, bored and earthbound, photographs of you must suffice!

Approximately fifty works will be chosen from submitted photographs to be included in the I'LL FLY AWAY exhibition at 1650 Gallery in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Additional works may also be selected for an online gallery exhibition page.

Submit Now!

There is an entry fee of $25 for up to 5 images. Additional entries may be submitted for $5 each.

All accepted entries must submit a high res jpeg (300-360 dpi , minimum size 5x7") to be included in the printed SHOW CATALOG.

We offer free matting and framing for accepted photographs that fit our pre-cut mat sizes for the duration of the exhibition. We have a variety of frames and mats to choose from.

We will also print your photo for a nominal fee if you are accepted into the show and would prefer not to mail a print.
Juror: Andrew Overtoom. Andrew Overtoom is an award winning filmmaker and photographer living in Los Angeles. He publishes THE UNDEAD NEG photography blog and is currently launching a quarterly fine art photography journal. He is also the owner/curator of 1650 Gallery in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Selected artists may choose to offer their work for sale. The gallery retains 50% of the sale price, as well as 8.75% California sales tax. We offer free matting and framing for accepted photographs that fit our pre-cut mat sizes for the duration of the exhibition.

Questions? Please email us at 1650gallery@gmail.com

Good luck and hope to see you at the opening reception!
For More Information: http://www.1650gallery.com/flyaway2012_call.php

Advertise your Art Contest, Competition or Art Opportunity to over 28,000+ artists and photographers onTheArtList.com For More Information: http://www.theartlist.com

IP-101: Creating an Exposure

2012-06-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

In this course lesson from IP-101 we'll go over exactly what you need to create an exposure. We'll be covering key terms, techniques and what it means to create a photograph.

First off, let's talk about what an exposure is. In the photography world, an exposure is the term we use instead of photograph. An exposure is the product of exposing the film, or light sensitive material, to light for a certain period of time. The image created on the film, or light sensitive material, is a product of three main things.

ISO
Shutter Speed
Aperture

These three elements combined is what gets us an exposure. We can't have an exposure without these three elements because each element yields a different effect on the exposure.

ISO - I.S. What?

The ISO referes to the sensitivity of the film or sensor in your camera. When you buy a packet of film, there are numbers on the side, usually 200, 400, 800 or in some cases 1600. These numbers refer to the sensitivity of the film. Lower ISO number, the more amount of light you will need to properly expose the film.

A film with a low ISO is very sharp and clear, not grainy or riddled with noise. However, the higher the ISO, or sensitivity, the higher amount of grain or noise is apparent in your photograph. Also, the higher your ISO, the harder it is to get a clear focus on your subject.

For shooting at the beach in the middle of the day, ISO 200 is recommended whereas shooting at night on a busy city street, one might use 800 or 1600 coupled with a flash.

What does this mean for digital photography?

Well, a lot.

On every professional or pro-sumer camera, meaning it's not a point and shoot, you have an ISO button. This will let you change the sensitivity of the sensor in your camera. The sensor is the digital version of film and works the same way in conjunction with ISO.

A lower ISO means you'll need more light but your image will be clear and sharp, whereas a higher ISO needs less light but yields a grainy and often out of focus photograph.

When using a film camera it is VERY IMPORTANT that you set the camera's ISO to match the film's ISO before putting your film in. If you don't, your pictures will either be white or black.

When using a digital camera, switching different ISO's in the field is easy and doesn't require you to replace your "film" (because there is none?). This is an advantage in field photography and allows for experimentation with different ISO's to create that unique, never before seen, image.

SHUTTER SPEED

Shutter Speed describes the amount of time your film, or light sensitive material, is exposed to light. Given the speed at which light travels, which is extremely fast (186,000 miles/sec) the shutter can't remain open too long before the film becomes over exposed. An over exposed image is usually very bright and often impossible to make out detail because of it's brightness.

Standardization of photography has given us all common shutter speeds to follow, whereas when we increase the size of our aperture by a stop, we can decrease the shutter speed to balance the exposure. But don't worry, we haven't covered what aperture or stops are yet.

Standard shutter speeds on cameras are usually written in fraction form because the amount of time the shutter is open is usually in fractions of a second. (yes, it can be very fast)

Common shutter speeds include:

1/1000 s (the "s" meaning second),

1/500 s

1/250 s

1/125 s

1/60 s

1/30 s

1/15 s

1/8 s

1/4 s

1/2 s

1 s

"B" stands for Bulb, which is a shutter speed you might find on your camera. This allows for the shutter to remain open for as long as you hold down the shutter button. The shutter button is the button we press to take a photograph.

Many photographers use a technique in "Bulb" called a "Long Exposure" where they might take a photograph of a busy city freeway at night and all the cars just look like streaks of white and red lights moving down a clear and focused highway. (Weekly Wackness usually promotes the use of Bulb in a reckless, nonsensical way)

Other photographs taken with a slower shutter speed include photographs of waterfalls or creeks. This is an effect called "motion blur" where objects in motion are blurry or stretched. This occurs in most shutter speeds under 1/60 s but if you're shooting a shutter speeds of 1/30 s and below, you'll need a tripod or a stable flat surface on which to place your camera. Why? Well, at shutter speeds lower than 1/30 s the motion blur is so intense that the pulse in your hand will cause the frame to move resulting in a blurry or out of focus photograph.

A fast shutter speed will give the effect of "frozen time," where everything is sharp and clear and in focus and you may see things one is unable to see with the naked eye like a droplet of water frozen in the air or a split second funny facial expression made by a usually good-looking friend.

The faster your shutter speed, however, the more light you'll need to hit the film or sensor and vice versa, where the slower your shutter speed, the less light you'll need to hit the film or sensor.

APERTURE

Aperture is a little more complex than the others, but we'll save the more technical advanced talk for later. First, the basics. Aperture describes how far open the iris is in the lens. Iris, you say?

The lens and the camera body are two separate things. The ISO and Shutter Speed are devices controlled inside the camera body. But something must happen before light can hit the camera body, it must pass through the lens. The lens gathers and focuses the right amount of light, and the shutter speed then controls how long that light hits the film, or sensor, and the ISO determines how sensitive the film or sensor is.

The Iris is the device within the lens that controls the amount of light passing through. It does this by creating a circular opening determined by what are known as F-Stops.

As depicted above, when the aperture goes from f/1.4 to f/2 the amount of light passing through the opening is cut decreased by half.

The aperture doesn't only affect the brightness of your image, but also how much of that image is in focus. We call this Depth of Field. When the iris is wide open at 1.4, the background areas will appear more blurry than when the aperture is at 5.6 or 8.

This effect is clearly demonstrated by pin-hole cameras. These cameras have a fixed iris opening that is really, really small. The size of a pin hole. The photograph generated by these cameras are very sharp and everything is in focus.

The depth refers to the focus range. If you're at 1.4 you may have only a half inch or an inch of space that is in focus. Whereas with 5.6 or 8 your focus range is great, a few feet.

All these together, ISO, shutter speed and aperture form together to create the exposure. Of course, focus does too. But in some cases, it doesn't. (see Weekly Wackness) Now you're ready to start experimenting! Don't get discouraged by photographs you don't like, through failure we learn and through learning only then can we succeed! Besides, most artists hate their work anyway!

DIY Practice Exercises

ISO: Practice using different ISO's and notice the difference in grain. (view on a computer monitor or the biggest screen you have) Experiment with these grain levels and sensitivities. A grainy photo isn't always a "bad" photo. Try using a black and white setting on your high ISO photos.

Shutter Speed: Practice shooting objects in motion at different shutter speeds. Take some photos of a waterfall or running creek at a very fast shutter speed and a very slow one. See the differences, note them for your own future uses. Freeze time with fast shutter speeds, capture a friend jumping in the air or a dog catching a frizbee.

Aperture: Use your aperture settings to create multiple depths of fields. Shoot a line-up of objects, or place objects at multiple distances in the background for greatest effect. Remember, higher aperture number, less light comes in, more in focus. Lower aperture number, more light comes in, less is in focus.
What do we call the aperture number?

Quote of the Day

2012-06-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

"You've got to push yourself harder. You've got to start looking for pictures nobody else could take. You've got to take the tools you have and probe deeper," William Albert Allard

Manual Mode for Life

2012-06-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

Often when we purchase our first camera we're a bit skeptical of the manual mode. We love the safety of the green box knowing we can snap instant photos and with autofocus it's that much easier. Let's take a moment to remember why we use the manual mode and why that turns taking a photograph into making a photograph. We cannot forget that photography is not just the documentation of life as it happens, or the capturing of a single moment, but it is an art.

By taking consideration into your framing, composition, lighting, focus, shutter speed and aperture you are transformed into an artist. You are no longer documenting or capturing but creating an image that no one else could see. The simple act of choosing a focus object has a very profound effect on not only your photograph, but the experience of creating it.

So let's all get creative. Lets screw with our settings, set custom white balances that transform things enormously. Let's focus on weird things and set our shutter speeds too slow. This is art, let's create something worth while.

Tips and Tricks: Transform Your DSLR into a Super Charged Video Camera

2012-06-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

WOW! We just found one of the best articles ever on transforming your Canon DSLR into a really a hard rockin' professional grade video camera! I have to admit, we were all pretty excited about this find. LifeHacker really nailed it on this one!

Become Awesome Here!

News: Biggest, Hottest Group Photo Ever!

2012-06-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

This Hollywood Celebrity Group Photo trumps most in awesomeness and all around Hollywoodness. Granted, my highschool graduation group photo had 968 eager Seniors in it, but with celebs it's a little different.

Read More Here!

News: Polaroid Z2300 Instant Digital Camera

2012-06-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

We all know Polaroid has a thing for cameras with built in printers, but this new one trumps them all. It's sleek, cool and even a little hip.

View More Here!

Quote of the Day

2012-06-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

"which one of my photographs is my favorite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow" Imogen Cunningham

Weekly Wackness DEADLINE

2012-06-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hello all!! Just a reminder that this week's Weekly Wackness Experiments entries will be reviewed no later than noon tomorrow. This means you must upload and share those weekly wacknesses to Twitter, Instagram, WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger with the hashtag #weeklywackness for a chance to have yours featured on our blog! OR your can email them directly to Indiephoto101@gmail.com Thank you! Indie-Photo 101 Team ps show the Twitter page and Instagram some love, will ya?

Tech News: iPhone Lovers and Travelers Rejoice!

2012-06-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

Charging on the go is no worry anymore with these two new products!

View More Here!

Tech News: Cult of Mac

2012-06-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

We found this awesome article from Cult of Mac that shows a terrific new product that transforms the back seat of your car into a drive-in movie theatre.

View Full Article

Tech News: iOS 6 Featuring Yelp!

2012-06-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

We're all looking forward to iOS 6 in the fall which features a ton of new things including an all new Maps system, better integration with Facebook and now Yelp check-ins.

Read the full article from Bloomberg!

Tech News: Apple Released Podcasts for iOS

2012-06-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

We've been waiting a long time for Apple to release an app dedicated to Podcasts, but the wait is over as Apple releases the app appropriately named "Podcasts,"

Read More Here!