Archive for June, 2008
How I Critique a Photograph
Over at the Digital Photography School fora, I critique a fair amount of photographs. But for some reason, I got to thinking about the way I do it and comparing it to the way it seems that other people are critiquing. So for those who are interested, here is the process I go through when I critique.
- What is my initial reaction? Even if the photograph is meant to be confusing or super artistic with a message (think Malevich’s Black Square), there is still an initial reaction. This includes things that just jump out at me as being good or bad.
- Where do my eyes go? It doesn’t matter if you have the coolest looking thing ever on the right side of your frame if my eyes keep going to the left.
- How is the lighting? This is where the mandatory Photoshop work comes in. On 95% of the photographs that I critique, I copy and paste them into Photoshop, open up the curves tool, and see how it looks when I hit Auto. The automatic setting is surprisingly on, so it’s a good judge to go by.
- How are the colors? A lot of the time the colors could use some boosting. A brightness/contrast adjustment layer might not be the best choice for doing final work but it works great for this.
- What post processing techniques would look good? Blurring the background, making it look like a painting, this is the catch all stage for stuff like that. I don’t do it, I just say what comes to mind.
- What final thoughts do I have? Since I type the critique while I’m doing stuff, I might have some more thoughts that would be helpful. I add those to the end.
And there you have my process for critiquing a photograph.
I’m On a Mission
Over at Sapid Existence I’ve had a few people ask to see the EXIF for a photograph that I’ve shown. Ok, only one person actually. But I think that’s enough to warrent putting the EXIF with every photograph that I have over there.
There’s only one problem, I can’t figure out how to do it. Over at Flickr, the request to have this available is either passed off as stupid or ignored/left alone so people will be quiet about it.
On the WordPress end of things it’s better, but not by much. There are plenty of gallery plugins that will show the EXIF for photographs hosted by me. But as far as I can tell, there is nothing that will show the EXIF for a photograph hosted by Flickr. So I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on the WordPress people.
I feel like I’m running around in circles trying to figure this thing out. Hence the photograph above. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them. I’ve exhausted just about every route I know of in order to find an answer.
Firefox 3
Firefox 3 is fun. There’s no way other way to say it.
For looks, it integrates with your system unless you have another theme. Which is great for me, no more trying to find themes that match it.
The Awesome Bar took some getting used to, but now that it knows me better we’re getting along just fine.
The new download box is nice.
Really though, no review can explain something like this right. Just go try it ofr yourself.
Firefox 3 Review Later
Firefox 3 is released today. I’ll have my look at it later.
I can tell you right now though that at first I wasn’t a fan of the new Awesome Bar. But it’s starting to get to know me, so I think it’s just like having t start over with the autofill stuff.
Anyway, further look into it later.
No Explanation Possible
After tonight’s game, there’s really no way you can deny it. Boston’s going to win the NBA title this year.
There’s no way to explain how a team can come back from being down by 24 points on the road.
There’s no way to explain Kobe Bryant’s new strategy of getting everyone else going first and then worrying about himself.
There’s no way to explain how any coach wouldn’t do more to make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen.
There’s no way, except that this Celtic team is favored by fate.
Unless you’re one of those people who thinks the NBA is fixed now. But there’s no way this storyline would have gotten out of the meeting. It’s just too far out there.
I’m Thinking of Hosting a Photo Contest
Yes, my overworked self is thinking of adding more work to the pallet. I don’t know why, maybe Kayleigh’s right and I just really like work, which doesn’t explain why I didn’t do homework in high school unless this is a recent development.
The reason why I want to host a contest (between here and the photo blog over at Sapid Existence) is because I’d like to give lesser known photographers a chance to actually win something. Every contest I’ve seen just seems to be dominated (or at least favoring in some way) more accomplished photographers. I want to run something that the guy next door could conceivably win with his camera phone.
After that, the details get a little murkier. Among them:
The Times, They Are a Changin’
Thank God for Bob Dylan, who has given me yet another title. I don’t think he ever fails me, and I don’t plan on stopping to turn to him for inspiration.
This blog has taken many different directions. It’s been a holding place for my CD list, a personal blog a few times, and a failed tech blog.
And now, I’m just tired of trying to box it in. When I tried the tech blog thing I kept thinking of posts that would have been great if I was still doing a personal blog. When I did personal I thought of nothing but tech stuff.
All that over thinking is now (hopefully) done. From now on, I post what I want. If it’s tech stuff, then it’s tech stuff. If it’s how I think about something, then I’ll post that. If it’s this weird dream where I, along with a group of other people, have to fight these dragon/shadow things similar to at the end of Link’s Awakening but I can’t get my powers unless I have some sort of slushie, then I’ll post that.
By the way, that dream actually happened. It was freaky, and yet didn’t feel weird at all while I was having it. Go figure….
Anyway, I’m going to post things, and hopefully somebody will read it. And if nobody does, then at least I have an outlet for my thoughts. And there isn’t much as dangerous as a trapped thought.
So be on the lookout for stuff. I’m not sure what yet exactly, but if you ask me that’s part of the fun.
Arranging the Furniture
Arranging the furniture in a college dorm room can be a complete mess. But if you can, it’s a lot easier to go in with a plan.
So as I got relatively bored the other night, I started to do just that. Opened up Photoshop and made myself a life size document (12.5′X17′) complete with life size furniture pieces in there. It might be a little crazy to do that, but it really cut down on the math needed to keep everything to scale. And trust me, it was bad enough having to convert all of the measurements to inches.