Here's a thought…

HT1823 - The Soft Blacks of Matte Paper

Matte inkjet paper, like the paper used for platinum/palladium printing, has a lovely surface but cannot produce very deep black tones. Measured with a densitometer, the black of matte paper will typically top out at about 1.5, whereas glossy paper can easily reach a density of 2.2. Our eyes magically adjust for this difference, and thank goodness they do.

HT1824 - White Is Not a Tone

Certain subjects, snow and sand dunes immediately to mind, we describe as being "white." But there is a difference between white in nature and photographic white, a perfectly detail-less tone in a print. Photographic snow or sand dunes are actually gray, but that is the trickiest gray to achieve successfully without it looking dingy. Photographic white is not so much a tone as it is a description of visible detail.

HT1828 - Why Black and White?

There's a fascinating philosophical question about black and white photography that pops up from time to time. If color photography had been invented first, would there have been a need to invent black and white photography at all? Said another way, what does black and white photography provide that is denied in color photography? What is your default - - color or b/w?

HT1829 - The Picture Is Not the Thing

The purpose of poetry is not to show off our clever use of vocabulary. It is to connect us with the dance of life. Similarly, the purpose of a photograph is not to show what the surface of world looks like, but rather to reveal the invisible. The print is not the goal; the goal is the response the view has when looking at the print.

HT1830 - Program Mode

From my earliest days in photography, the assumption was that anything automatic would be inferior to the trained and sophisticated decisions of a skilled photographer. Manually implemented controls would result in better pictures than any automatic decisions the camera would make on its own. Is this still true?

HT1831 - Cyan Skies

As a photographer, I know embarrassing little about color science. I do know that a cyan sky is just wrong. That has led me to use profiles as a better starting point.

HT1835 - 400 Is Not Enough?

My current camera has a comparatively low CIPA rating for its battery life. It will allow me only 400 shots compared to twice that in many in some full-frame cameras. Only 400? How much capacity do I actually need? Which makes me remember my view camera days and the joy of sheet film holders.

HT1836 - Needlessly Bracketing My Exposures

Earlier models of digital cameras I owned missed a critically important feature - - they did not have Zebra stripes that indicated overexposure. Because that feature was missing, I always shot a three-image bracket to be sure I would end up with a useable file that has highlight detail.

HT1837 - The Best Lens I Ever Owned

A few weeks ago I was shopping for a specialty purpose lens, and that has had me thinking about lenses I have used in my career. What are the characteristics of a lens that make it attractive? Is it sharpness? Aperture? Edge to edge fidelity? Close focusing distance? I think not. I think the best lens is the one that most closely matches with your natural vision.

HT1838 - More on Natural Vision

Does your natural vision lens create your best photographs? Or do the best photographs come about when you use a lens that is not your natural vision, but one that you need to work a little harder with because it doesn't come easily?

HT1842 - Another Way to Increase Sharpness

Is there a lesson about sharpness we can learn from comic strip artists? Perhaps. They hand draw their comic strips much larger than we see in the newspaper. The image is then reduced to fit the size we see in print. That size reduction increases visual sharpness. There is a bit of a parallel with photography.

HT1843 - Our Creative Life as a Series of Completions

With each new album they released, The Beatles defined their evolving career. Painters are said to have "periods" that define their evolving vision. I'm not sure if this is a model we photographers should follow, or if it's just something that happens as our creative vision matures. I do know that completion is a key element of the artistic life.

HT1844 - Spinal Tap Meets Photography

If you hang around photography long enough, you'll begin to discern the patterns that sweep over the photographic world like waves in a tsunami. I automatically resist such fads and eventually come to detest them. Please, photographic world, stop oversaturating your colors with the vibrance control.

HT1845 - Old Training vs The World Today

A lot of what I learned in my view camera days is still relevant and useful. Some of those early lessons I find are now habits and ways of thinking that are now obstacles based on training that is downright illogical. ISO is a good example.

HT1849 - Massive Projects

It seems that every photographer I know has at least one massive project, maybe more, that resists completion. Maybe it's the fact that it is so massive, so overwhelming, so unmanageable that makes it so difficult. Is there a strategy that helps manage these massive projects?

HT1850 - The Myth of Universal Vision

The premise with which we make our photographs is that there is a view that is best. We sweat bullets over the perfect tones, color balance, contrast ratios, etc. We do so under the assumption that when we get it right everybody will see what we see. But this is folly, because the truth is everyone sees differently.

HT1851 - Long Shutter Work Around

These days, I'm using a tripod less and less. One area that has plagued me is long exposure photography, for example, lacy waterfalls. I've accidentally discovered an interesting workaround that produced surprisingly good results.

HT1852 - PPI For Printing

Experts who seem to know a lot more than I do recommend one of three resolutions for high detail printing. Most commonly I've seen 360 PPI recommended, but also 300 PPI, and 240 PPI. Not knowing which to use, I decided to evaluate using the good old-fashioned method of doing it myself and analyzing with my eyes. Here's what I found.