Fw: 28th Annual Horizon Awards - Call for nominations
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Photographic training,photo requests,insight,class agendas, multimedia transmissions from the field, wireless technology. For teens and adults with digital point and shoot, 35mm,digital slr and camera smartphones. This info is provided by internationally syndicated photojournalist Ken McCoy.Find out about agencies such as AP, UPI, World Picture News,World Entertainment News Network,PRPHOTOS, and Getty. KEEP UP WITH PHOTO EVENTS VIA PHOTO ACCESS WITH KEN MCCOY @kenmccoypress(twitter) !!!!
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Copyright 2008 Paul Calkins Three Friends F stop 11 Exposure 1/125 second ISO 400 Kodak 120 Tmax
Ken, Another exciting week, still working on the class! By the end of the week will be in Los Angles, will see new adventures that brings. PC Photographic Thoughts Volume II
June 17, 2013
Three Friends By Paul Calkins © 2013 Bellaartandphoto.com
I noted on this June day that I could almost make out the Sierra Nevada to the east and the coast range to the west as I traveled down Old Highway 99. I thought to myself, not bad for June. The normal smog based haze had seemed to give a pause from its normal state. I was out taking a few stock photographs on one of my many projects, in this case bracketing. In photography, bracketing is the general technique of taking several shots of the same subject using different camera settings. I looked at the distant haze; it brought me back to the reality that I might be looking at a large wild land fire. I looked again, but it did not have those characteristics. That look brought me back to a meeting in the late 1990's dealing with the environmental and emergency response. This was a very serious topic to be sure. Environmental issues now started appearing on my response checklist. It was during one of these meetings I was startled to see "silver-only" hazardous wastes are to be regulated…If you were a photographer, this would impact you. It was also at this time, that I became aware of the first digital camera's coming onto the market. We constantly had to deal getting accurate damage assessments to headquarters. The new digital camera looked like it would fill a timely need. I forwarded up a request for such an instrument to management. There was absolutely no response. I reasoned that such a request was just too novel for the state purchasing bureaucracy. When I did get a reply, it was of the nature "get a regular camera." That was it. What I did not count on was that in California, environmental regulators would be sending me a digital camera soon enough. The regulators, through actions against the chemicals used in photography would hasten the development and marketing of digital cameras. By 2005 I would have my first professional digital camera, and the state would soon be supplying us with refurbished Kodak digitals. I leave you this week with a black and white photograph of three friends meeting at the fountain in front of the City Hall in downtown Fresno, California. This shot is one of the few, as time goes on, to result from processed film. I hope all the dads out there, especially those serving our country, have a happy and peaceful Fathers Day.
Thanks for listening. |
Copyright 2013 Paul Calkins Tres in Sepia F stop 4.9 Exposure 1/30 second ISO 800 focal length 16 mm Flash disabled Ken, Hope all is well. I am continuing to work on the class presentation. Marilyn has been my best critic! We hosted Daizsa and Kawanii Saturday night. Kawanii was a babe in arms when I did the Cybersub Cafe show. He is now a very confident 4th grader, and Daizsa is now Junior in High School. The time has gone by to fast! Photographic Thoughts Volume II
June 10, 2013
Red Eye By Paul Calkins © 2013 Bellaartandphoto.com
Red Eye is one of those things that you ponder when you are at the family gathering, and take a photograph. You are startled to find that your family members have become beings from the planet Zombie. Their eyes glow like flashlights peering in a startled fashion. Delete, is your next act in this case. The cause of this startling effect, involves the speed of light, and the fact that our eyes are full of blood vessels. Also our reaction time is a whole lot slower than light speed. The flash enters the eye, bounces back, reddened, and the camera sensor dutifully records the image. Luckily for us, those very smart and enterprising electrical, optical, design, and software engineers have thought this one out. Some cameras have been designed to pre-flash the subject, just before the main flash does its work. It gives those family members eyes a split second to adjust, and close their iris just a bit to give a more human look. Now let's go one step further, if you want to photograph your favorite pet, let's say a house cat. This animal has a super inner eye reflective system. I mean Felis catus has built in reflectors, they can see just fine in almost total darkness. You go and try to catch kitty, by now looking very wild, because of your attempts to get its attention, and then you snap the photograph. After several tries, you lure the light shocked cat from under the coffee table and attempt to capture the essence of its spirit. In this case you decide to turn the offending flash off completely. Oh! I forgot in this case that I left the camera in Sepia mode from a previous project. I should have checked my camera, and made sure all the default settings were in place. Happy accidents sometimes produce wonderful results.
Thanks for listening.
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