JonathanBourke.Com » Photography

A Website With A Flash Of Inspiration?

jbourke — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:44:00 +0000

Can Strobox.com make me love flash photography?

Just discovered Strobox.com, a website linked from LifeHacker this morning.

Fantastic!

I find the use of flash one of the most challenging aspects of photography, and I have said as much in the past. Strobox.com allows you, the budding photographer, to browse or search for particular lighting setups and see how other do it. You can also upload your own creations.

A community written lighting and flash photography recipe book effectively.

They even have a free iPhone App to help you diagram your various lighting setups.

BTW: Example in the screenshot above is an excellent Family portrait from David Pinkerton Photography.

I Hate Flash…

jbourke — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:18:17 +0000

I Hate Flash...

Why? It scares me, it defies me to control it, demands manual control for best results. And mostly, it beats me… so much so that I bought this book, this flash, this camera, and finally, this lens to wrestle back control at the darker points of the my photographic adventure.

If I am honest with myself, I don’t know how to use it correctly, and have the photographic evidence to prove it! This post from Photocritic.Org might just put me on the path to flash redemption, and cure me of my past sins..

It can cast harsh shadows, especially when you forget to remove the lens hood!

It can wash EVERYTHING out. And off course, there is Red Eye!

It can reflect in glasses, windows… even been known to sparkle of the odd shiny nose or forehead.

And if you are using it, so is everybody else. Flash attack from all angles!

Occasionally…

Just occasionally…

It can work out all right

A Website With A Flash Of Inspiration?

Repost – Duke Special @ Dolans

jbourke — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:28:22 +0000

The eccentric Duke Special now features as a new gallery on JonathanBourke.Com. This is a repost of an earlier Flickr based Gallery as I slowly migrate my portfolio content to my own website. In this gallery, I try to capture the eccentricity, the motion, and the colour of Dukes’ performance at Dolans that night. Some of the images could be perceived as being blurred… but for me this accurately reflects the feeling of the gig.

Back when I originally posted this I said:

Duke Special wowed the midweek crowds at Dolans Warehouse in Limerick on Tuesday 9th of December. This time he had his band with him, and the percussionist, “Temperance Society”, entranced people with clattering, banging, shaking, twisting, roaring, scraping, and more. He was brilliant. It was a poignant night for Mary and I, as it will be our last concert in Dolans for some time…

In some ways, “Temperance Society” stole the show, using everything from pots and pans, assorted sticks and whatnot to create an eclectic sound. From Wikipedia:

He is most often accompanied by percussionist “Temperance Society” Chip Bailey, who plays cheese graters and egg whisks, a Stumpf fiddle and a Shirdi drone box, as well as the more typical drums and cymbals.

Jack L @ Dolans Warehouse in Limerick

jbourke — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:48:57 +0000

Jack L @ Dolans Warehouse in Limerick

In the continuing voyage of discovery that is sorting my photo collection comes another gallery. This time it is Jack L performing at Dolans Warehouse in Limerick on various dates in 2008.

Jack Lukeman (or Jack L) is pretty much unique amongst the artists I have seen perform… he can hold a venue on the power of his voice alone. I must have seen him perform 10 times now; he certainly ranks as one of my favorites. Check out his music at www.jacklukeman.com.

Be Careful With The Delete Button

jbourke — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:09:30 +0000

Be Careful With The Delete Button

Would you believe that I had deleted this photo?

Nope… Well, I had; didn’t like it in colour, so it was trashed. Only I made a mistake. I only removed it from my Adobe Lightroom catalog rather than from disk, so I was more than surprised when it popped back when I sync’d folders.

A little tidy up with spot removal, some localised sharpening, and the Glow 10 preset from onOne Software (free download, by the way), and I am left with this.

Feel like I won the lotto… of course this little boy makes me feel like that every day. See more in this gallery.

Weddings are Hard Work!

jbourke — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:35:35 +0000

Susan sneaking out...

I have tinkered with getting into Wedding Photography from time to time, and have gone as far as doing a wedding photography course, buying wedding photography books, and attending a wedding photography trade show.

It might surprise you that for something that looks so easy, it is possibly one of the most difficult photographic assignments:

Sometimes difficult clients
An event which is a once in a lifetime occasion (mostly, here in Ireland)
Low light environment with plenty of fast movement (the Church)
The Competition (i.e. people like me in the crowd who have the equipment and by god, they are not afraid to use it!)

But it all pales into insignificance to the exercise in stamina, strength, perseverance, quick thinking, and late night singing that is required to attend and participate fully in your cousins wedding!

Congratulations Gary & Susan!

Software for Beginner, Improver, and Advanced Photographers

jbourke — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:24:44 +0000

Which Photo Software? What photo software you need, when, and why...

I recently discussed the must haves / don’t needs of buying a digital camera, depending on the stage of your photography obsession . I would imagine that most of the time photo’s come straight out of the camera and onto paper, if at all. If you want to take your photo’s that little bit further, here are some software tools which can smooth the way…

I don’t know how many times I have had to rebuild my PC due to a glut of software. I must have tried nearly every photography related software or utility on the market. Don’t waste time like I did… here are the winners:

First Steps

So you use a compact digital camera, and you shoot exclusively JPEG files (though it may not mean much to you). Nothing beats Google Picasa for ease of use, power, and price… Free!

Google Picasa - Did I mention it was free?

Pluses:

Picasa can produce some amazing effects, which would take many steps in either Photoshop Elements or CS3. It’s photo organising capabilities are not bad either. And, did I mention it was free!

Minuses:

It currently does not support RAW files, and it’s edits are limited to the entire picture, so any advanced digital editing is out.

Brisk Walk

You are using an advanced compact digital camera, and you are beginning to tinker with the RAW format. Additionally you see all these tutorials about digital editing, mostly referring to Adobe Photoshop, but the cost is out of your league. Give Photoshop Elements a whirl. It has most of the tools that it’s big brother has for Digital Photographers, and has continuously updated RAW file support due to Adobe Camera Raw.

Adobe Photoshop Elements - Better than you would imagine!

I have used Adobe Photoshop Elements for years, and in many ways it is more powerful than many professionals give it credit for.

Pluses:

For example, it’s integrated organisation capabilities have only recently been matched by Adobe Lightroom, supporting keyword tagging, collections, versioning, tight integration with the editor.

Minuses:

Doesn’t support layers, non destructive editing, advanced renaming, automation.

In fact, in my opinion, you really need a good reason to buy Photoshop CS3 over Photoshop Elements, especially since you can expand it’s capabilities with Photoshop Compatible plugins.

Jogging

You are using an entry level SLR, and shoot nearly exclusively in RAW. You have amassed a large image library, and are beginning to poke around in the murky world of digital noise. Here are some additional tools which I have found useful:

NeatImage - Very easy to use, intelligent noise reduction in your images.
PTLens – Great at “straightening” out the photo’s produced by imperfect lenses.
Hamrick Vuescan - Got a scanner? Get this!
Adobe DNG converter – When you start adding tags, and other metadata to images, you will begin to see additional “XMP” files appear. These files store the additional data when Adobe does not know how to write back to a particular image file, such as a proprietary RAW file. Converting all your RAW files to DNG has many advantages, one of which is the ability to store extensive metadata.
Flickr Uploadr – The best photo sharing community.

I will leave the pluses and minuses of these as an exercise to the reader .

Sprinting

Ok the big kahuna! Despite it’s outrageous price, you have decided that you absolutely need Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Lightroom. That said, if you are a professional photographer, and utilise any third party studio management, colour management, or any software, it is certain to work with these. Tutorials in industry press – you guessed it, Adobe Photoshop CS3. Many open source fans mention “The Gimp” as an alternative… but as good as it may be, it will never be taken seriously in the Photographic industry as long as it is called “The Gimp”.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom - the professional choice for Digital Asset Management

Adobe Photoshop CS3 - The Big Kahuna!

I know I recently upgraded… so what do these give me:

Complex file renaming in Lightroom
Advanced metadata capabilities, such as templates, in Lightroom
Advanced colour management
Automating Photoshop with Actions

Pluses:

Extremely powerful, and pretty much the industry standard.

Minuses:

Bloody expensive, and in Europe, it’s a rip off with prices which bear no relation to sales tax, importation duties, currency exchange etc. Buy a boxed product in the US and bring it home.