Photo Techniques (2010-07)

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J u ly/Aug ust 2010

variations on the photographic arts
Tyler Stableford
Photoshop
Stetson CS5
Dan Moughamian
Campaign MICHAEL NELSON
Before the Curtain
Douglas Dubler’s SEÁN DUGGAN
Fashion Photography Using Pinhole
A. D. Coleman
The Photographs of
Steven Katzman
Barry Haynes
Correct Digital Exposure
ZZZSKRWRWHFKPDJFRP
_______________
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THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®
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EDITOR S NOTE: July/August 2010 Vol. 31 No. 4
Formerly PHOTO Techniques Magazine
Publisher S. Tinsley Preston III
Photography is everything I do, and anything different from that isn’t photography. Editor Paul R. Schranz
Creative Director Lisa Cordova
That’s a paraphrase of statements made in a number of letters I’ve re- Copy Editor Bonnie Schranz
ceived regarding specific, though distinctly different, articles we’ve pub- Production Roberta Knight
lished in the first three issues of photo technique. Since the 1880s, there Marketing Manager Janice Gordon
have been a number of attempts to define what photography is and isn’t,
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Contents
Insight
4 In the Face of Forgiveness:
Steven Katzman’s Epiphanies
A. D. Coleman
Feature
30 Corporate Photography pg. 4
on Location:
The Stetson Campaign
Interview with Tyler Stableford Tech
11 Adobe Photoshop CS5
Innovations Content-Aware Workflow
Dan Moughamian
28 Machine Wash Deluxe
A great texture system now a 19 Proofing Your Negatives Digitally
Photoshop plug-in Critical Scanning Techniques
Jean-Christian Rostagni
Acratech Ballhead
A perfect mate for a fiber tripod 38 Perfecting Digital Camera Exposure
Your meter reading isn’t always
29 6300 Series Printers the best choice
Barry Haynes
Introducing Canon USA’s newest
wide format printer
Strobies by Interfit Portfolios

Amazing group of light modifiers
for portable flash
16 Beauty Avatar
Film-inspired fashion shoot
Douglas Dubler
23 Before the Curtain:

Portraits of the Atlanta Ballet
Interview with Michael Nelson
43 Artifacts of an
Uncertain Origin
pg. 29 Pinhole Photography
Seán Duggan
On the Cover:
Photography and Creative Direction: Douglas Dubler 3
Model: Aleksandra Marynyuk, Q Model Management NY
Make-Up: Patrycja Korzeniak, rep by Halley Resources NY
using Make Up For Ever
Hair: Hikara Tezuka for Elnett/ LÓréal USA
Styling: Ise White, rep by Timathy Priano NY
Fashion: Proenza Schouler
pg. 28 Hat: Designed by Makins, courtesy of Samuel’s Hats NY
Digital Enhancement: Willie of cursorctrl.com
www.cursorctrl.com.
Studio: Splashlight SoHo NYC
Inspiration: Sarah Dubler
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INSIGHT:
In the Face of Forgiveness:

Steven Katzman’s Epiphanies
A. D. Coleman
4 photo technique J/A 2010
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IN THE FACE OF FORGIVENESS A. D. COLEMAN
If God had a face what would it look like? / And coherent entirety. I don’t share Katzman’s particular
would you want to see if seeing meant that / you would convictions, but I don’t disbelieve a word of what
have to believe in things like heaven and in Jesus and the he has to say. And, as a writer, I know an authentic
saints / and all the prophets? voice when I hear one.
— Joan Osborne, “One of Us ”
Recently, I asked him to reflect back on that period
Photographers have photographed believers in all of his life and the experience of religious conversion.
the world’s major religions and many of its minor He replied, in part, as follows:
ones while engaged in the act of worship. Often
they have done so as outsiders to those creeds, People have always asked, “What got you interested
with attitudes ranging from the respectful and in revival?” I would always reply, “I saw an ad in
curious to the skeptical or even critical. But more the Sarasota Herald Tribune: “Come to the miracle
than a few of those photographers grew up within tent, come to the miracle tent. Witness the blind see,
a particular faith whose practice and practitioners the cripple walk, the deaf hear . . .“That’s a pretty
they subsequently described in images. No doubt hard act to ignore, with all of that Southern polyester
some of them remained followers of those belief singing praises to the Lord under a party tent. As
systems, so it seems safe to assume that while a I found myself studying my subjects through my
number of them may have lapsed in their faith, or rangefinder, I became fascinated with the worshippers’
paid only lip service to it thereafter, others surely devotion towards their belief system, regardless of
sustained their convictions to the point where we whether it was in conflict with mine.
would consider them devout.
During the first service that I documented, the preacher
Therefore we can say that religions have been saw me kneeling down, twenty pounds of equipment
photographed, as it were, from the inside. How- around my neck, perhaps my own personal albatross,
ever, I can think of no photographer who has given and pointing his finger directly at me he said, “Faith
us a firsthand account in words and images of his has no religion.” Those words somehow freed me from
own spiritual crisis and conversion —especially to a religion’ s dogma.
religion with which he had no previous connection,
and against which he had decided prejudices. No It wasn't until I was speaking [about the work] at a
photographer, that is, until Steven Katzman. gallery opening that the question arose again, “What
led you to revival?” I repeated the story, but this time
Writing about The Face of Forgiveness, Steven it was different. For the very first time I realized it
Katzman’s act of bearing witness, necessarily in- was “I who was blind, it was I who was deaf, and
volves addressing not just the human spirit but acts it was I who was crippled. But now I am able to see,
of faith, the evidence of things not seen, even the walk and hear.” Holding back my tears, steadied by
possibility that God might exist—whether as the all- the supporting wall, I casually told the audience what
powerful, omniscient Being that the conventional had just happened.
wisdom assumes or else, in Joan Osborne’s words,
as “one of us . . . Just a slob like one of us, just a Perhaps not coincidentally, that controversial 1995
stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home.” lyric of Joan Osborne’s served as the theme song Left
This project tells us what Katzman believes, while for the regrettably short-lived TV series Joan of Tampa,
Steven Katzman
implicitly asking us what we believe, proposing that Arcadia, which astonished me not only because it
we put those cards on the table. made it onto network TV but also because I found
myself drawn to watch it regularly. Its premise—
In the accompanying text to his 2005 book Katzman that confused teenagers (or at least Joan Girardi,
describes how he came to make these images and its eponymous heroine) may be on a mission from
what happened to him in the process. It’s a long God — bemused me. But I found the show’s great-
story, and I commend it to you in its moving, est value in its portrayal of blundering, flawed,
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INSIGHT:
vulnerable, wounded, everyday people engaged in ment as a documentary photographer pursuing a

a search for meaning, attempting to figure out the sociological project and exiting it transformed,
right thing to do in mostly ordinary if not always perhaps permanently, by his encounter with an
easy situations, and striving to treat each other energy both terrifying and rapturous turns his
decently and lovingly. photographs into what detectives call “trace
evidence”— insufficient in itself to fully prove the
In short, it concerned the way that those I think of case, but corroborative of other evidence, sup-
as fundamentally good people, whether known to portive of a specific interpretation of the events.
me or not, try to live their lives everywhere on this
planet, regardless of their religious persuasion. By Typically, in a documentary project such as
that I don’t suggest that I consider their faith, or Katzman initially intended to create, the photo-
conscious acts of agnosticism or atheism, irrelevant. grapher interviews selected subjects of his or her
You can use almost any belief system as a weapon images, transcribing and editing their statements
with which to injure yourself or as an excuse to to allow those represented to speak for them-
harm others. Or you can use it as a reflecting pool selves. This empowers them, by giving them voice,
to show you the trace of the sacred in your own while at the same time distancing the photo-
poor slob’s face. Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, grapher from the situation, casting him or her in
Buddhist, agnostic, atheist — anyone can do either, the relatively detached role of translator, facilitator,
which is all I mean by “regardless.” In my exper- or intermediary.
ience, what you choose to believe matters less than
how you apply it to your existence on earth. Katzman, clearly, will have none of this. Or per-
haps I should say that whatever has possessed him
The people Katzman shows us surely qualify as won’t allow it, won't permit him to stand aside,
pilgrims, seekers of enlightenment, and he renders pretending to impartiality and noninvolvement.
them with all his considerable skill as a photo- In a superficial reading, this results in a seeming
grapher at moments in which they have surrend- disconnect between the pictures — which employ
ered themselves to a possibility, the instant of each conventional tropes of ostensibly and even clinically
one’s act of faith. You can’t photograph faith itself, objective modernist documentary photography —
of course. Photographs describe the light that boun- and Katzman’s intensely subjective, highly emo-
ces off the surfaces of objects, nothing more, and tional, first-person confessional narrative, entirely
both faith and revelation remain private, invisible uncharacteristic of the “artist’s statement” that nor-
inner experiences. mally accompanies such a suite of photographs.
You can photograph people testifying, feeling the In that testimony Katzman makes a point of
spirit — but that’s not the same thing. The outward mentioning several times the importance to him of
appearance of a spiritual experience inevitably using strobe flash for his images. I’m inclined to
becomes more open to interpretation. If we decon- take that strobe — and, by extension, the pictures
textualized Katzman’s electrifying images and re- he made with it — metaphorically rather than lit-
Right captioned them, presenting his subjects variously erally. Like Diogenes with his lantern, searching for
Tampa, as attendees at a James Brown or Tom Jones or an honest man, Katzman behaved with his camera
Steven Katzman
Britney Spears concert, customers at a comedy club, and strobe as if he could discover and expose (first
victims of a tragedy, or subjects of a hallucinogenic for himself, then for us) the essence of revelation
drug experiment, they’d lose none of their visual merely by putting a bigger bulb in the socket. Unlike
power. But their meaning, and our understanding Diogenes, he wasn't making a philosophical point,
of them, would shift dramatically. but behaving in a way we might call presumptuous.
Katzman aspired to produce in his photographs
So our reading of what these pictures signify de- a visual analogue of what he calls “the throng of
pends to a great extent on what Katzman tells us he lost souls being blinded by His light.” Powerful
underwent at the Brownsville Assembly of God in images result from this, pictures that suggest how
Pensacola, Florida in 1999, and thereafter through we might appear as motes in an omniscient God’s
2004. His riveting account of entering this environ- eye, but they don't take you inside the individual’s
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IN THE FACE OF FORGIVENESS A. D. COLEMAN
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encounter with the divine — because they can’t. of his own personal search for salvation. Think of
How could a mere photograph convey the actual them as self-portraits, each one an aspect of
presence, the immanence, of the Holy Spirit? Katzman’s own yearning for the state of grace,
and they fit exactly with his words, merge with
Yet if one approaches these pictures not as factual, them perfectly.
scientific proof but as a form of this photographer’s
testament to his own ambition, epiphany and con- Here’s what I take away from this: Katzman can
version, they take on different, deeper, auto- show you his intense, charged photographs of
biographical resonances. When Katzman states, “I religious ecstasy manifest in the faces and bodies of
am the lost soul in my photographs. . . . I realized human beings, with whom he so closely identifies.
that I was no longer a stranger shooting from the As one who now has undergone it himself, he can
outside, but I was now . . . on the inside looking out,” tell you in his own eloquent, convincing words
his images and text recombine in a much different how that actually feels — especially what it means
and more potent configuration, as manifestations to a nonbeliever (perhaps like yourself) who, to his
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utter astonishment, totally without warning, found The issues that Katzman confronted in this project
himself swept away. But, no matter how finely seem to run through his subsequent explorations.
wrought and persuasive, Katzman’s representations There’s a long, ongoing series about derelict life on
constitute mere reports, not the event itself as it Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. in Sarasota, Florida, Left
registers in a receptive heart, mind, soul. Someone where he and his wife Sharon reside for part of the Mozambique,
Steven Katzman
or something taught Steven Katzman a lesson, and year; it’s a meditation on the legacy of the slain civil-
he’s passing it along. His true message (or the mes- rights leader and his example of worldly service to
sage of whatever force speaks through him here): a higher cause. “Cowboy Convict,” addressing guilt Above
Tampa,
and redemption, consists of studies of the inmates Steven Katzman
You cannot have this experience at some remove; it of two maximum security prisons: “Oklahoma State
happens firsthand, hands-on, or not at all. But it does Penitentiary, McAlester, OK, predominantly white,
happen. It happens to others. It happened to him. It and Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola, LA, pre-
could happen to you. dominantly black, where eighty percent of the
inmates are serving life for murder,” says Katzman.
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INSIGHT:
And the bluntly titled “Death” series includes A. D. Coleman has published eight books and more than 2000 es-
says on photography and related subjects. Formerly a columnist for
Above images of cadavers undergoing cremation and un- the Village Voice, the New York Times, and the New York Observer,
Royal Albert Hall, nerving still lifes involving several species of dead Coleman has contributed to ARTnews, Art On Paper, Technology
Steven Katzman Review, Juliet Art Magazine (Italy), European Photography
creatures. It seems that Katzman remains a spiritual (Germany), La Fotografia (Spain), and Art Today (China). His
searcher at heart, “just a stranger on the bus, trying work has been translated into 21 languages and published in 31
countries. Coleman's widely read blog, “Photocritic International,
to make his way home.” appears at photocritic.com. Since 2005, exhibitions that he has
curated have opened at museums and galleries in Canada, China,
Finland, Italy, Rumania, Slovakia and the U.S.
Author’s note: Steven Katzman’s book, The Face of Forgiveness,
was published in 2005 by powerHouse Books. It received sup- Technical notes for The Face of Forgiveness:
portive response from the New York Times Book Review, Psychology “For this project I worked with my Mamiya 7II with a 43mm lens,
Today, and numerous other publications in the U.S. and Europe. and a Quantum flash mounted overhead. Film: Kodak T-MAX 100,
The above essay is a considerably revised version of the intro- occasionally T-MAX 400, all developed in T-MAX Developer, printed
duction I wrote for that book. You can learn more about on a DeVere 8x10 enlarger with a Rodenstock 100mm Apo Rodagon
this photographer, and see samples from all his projects, at lens, all of which have been sold. I dismantled the darkroom; now
stevenkatzmanphotography.com. it's a print studio. This was also the last project that I shot with
film. I personally did the scans for the book, using an Imacon 848
scanner." — Steven Katzman
© Copyright 2010 by A. D. Coleman. All rights reserved. By permission of
the author and Image/World Syndication Services, To ask a question or comment on this article, visit our
imageworld@nearbycafe.com
______________ online Forum: www.phototechforum.com
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PHOTOSHOP CS5 DAN MOUGHAMIAN
Photoshop CS5:
The Content-Aware Workflow
Dan Moughamian
(Figure 1)
This is the first of three articles on the significant The Challenge

changes in Photoshop CS5: Content-Aware Fill, Compositionally, this photograph has a couple of
Painting Techniques, and HDR. areas that require attention. The first is the lamppost
closest to the camera (along the walkway at right).
It’s no secret that Adobe Photoshop provides To my eyes, it pulls attention from the Lighthouse,
photographers with many tools for accomplishing unlike the other two more distant posts. Stemming
similar or related retouching tasks. Photoshop CS5 from that problem, we’ll also need to remove the
ships with two special Edit commands that work in reflection of the lamppost. These tasks will be hand-
new ways and achieve high quality results. led with a Content-Aware Fill workflow.
The new Content-Aware Fill and Content-Aware Heal The composition also needs to be tightened, by
provide an intelligent means of removing dis- bringing the points of interest on either side of the
tracting elements in a scene, by predicting what is lake channel “closer together” without creating arti-
“behind” these selected elements and then filling facts or removing important details. This will be
the selection or brush stroke with new textures that handled with the Content-Aware Scale command,
blend with their surroundings (Fig. 1). accompanied by an alpha channel we create.
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TECH:
Working with Content-Aware Fill & Heal

Let’s tackle the lamppost first; let’s call this our
“target.” I find it is helpful to first zoom in some-
where between 50 and 100% magnification, depen-
ding upon how large your image is and how much
detail you can see at those settings. The idea is to
get a good look at the textural details around the
target. This is helpful for determining whether you
should attempt to replace the target with a single
selection and fill, or if a segmented approach is
better (Fig. 2).
Typically, a Content-Aware fill target has multiple

texture types nearby, as in scenes like this one
where a single lamppost might cover areas of con-
crete, vegetation, water and sky. Attempting a single
selection when multiple textures like these are
“behind” your subject will often result in Photoshop
(Figure 2)
guessing incorrectly which replacement textures go
where. Here we’re mostly concerned with the veg-
etation and sky, but given the close proximity of
the other lamp heads to the one being targeted, I
attempted to take care of it in a single pass.
Step 1
Working on a separate layer, I used the Lasso tool
to select the target, taking care to leave a bit of space
between the post and the marching ants, while
maintaining an accurate shape outline. Remember,
you do not want the selection touching your target
(Figure 3)
generally, and you don’t want to leave too much
space or else Photoshop may become “confused”
as to what you’re trying to replace.
Step 2
Next, choose Edit > Fill…this will invoke the stand-
ard Fill Dialog. Under “Use,” select Content-Aware.
For this image the options for transparency, blend
and opacity were left at their default settings (Fig. 3).
Content-Aware Fill produces the initial result.

Often, if you have a very homogenous area of
texture around your target, one pass is all it will
take to get a perfectly natural looking result! For
more challenging situations like this one, it is not
uncommon to get a partially flawed result. The
lower area of vegetation, some artifacts on the curb
(Figure 4) and some soft details need further work.
To handle the imperfections in this fill, I selected

the flawed areas by shift-dragging around each area
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with the Lasso tools, and then performed another

Content-Aware Fill. You can see the second attempt
produced a pretty convincing result, even at high
magnification (Fig. 4).
For our final replacement, both Content-Aware Fill

and the Spot Healing Brush can be used in com-
bination to replace the reflection of the lamppost
with simple watery tones. I started with the smaller
reflections zoomed in to 300% to get an accurate
(Figure 5) assessment of what needed to be replaced and
what should remain, and again used the Lasso tool
to carefully select those areas.
Because puddles like these often produce subtle

gradients of color, I wanted to replace only the
regions of black. After selecting the targets, I ran
a Content-Aware Fill; the result is almost flawless.
Despite the size of the two smaller reflections, I
found the Fill was more effective than the Brush,
because the fill did not soften the area and repro-
duced the color gradients more accurately (Fig. 5).
Finally, the larger reflection was a good candidate

for the Spot Healing Brush, because of the homo-
genous tones and colors that surround it. All that
is required is to click the “Content-Aware” option
before making a corrective brush stroke (Fig. 6).
Once I had set up my Spot Healing Brush, I made

a single “swipe” across the lamppost reflection and
it was gone. All that remained was a small touch-up
(Figure 6) for the tip of the lamp (left of the main reflection).
Zoomed out to normal viewing magnifications,
there is no hint that the lamppost ever occupied its
concrete perch (Fig. 7).
Working with Content-Aware Scale

Once the extraneous or distracting elements of a
composition are removed, it was time to tighten up
the composition. Content-Aware Scale requires a
couple additional steps beyond Content-Aware Fill
to get your first correction, but it is, nonetheless,
a fairly intuitive process once you have tried it a
couple times.
Step 1
(Figure 7) The first thing that needs to be done is define the
areas that need to be protected from the Content-
Aware Scale algorithm. To accomplish this I used
the Lasso tool to select the two regions of my
phototechmag.com 13
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TECH:
image that most defined the composition: the

walkway and the lighthouse. Next I clicked the
“New Channel from Selection” button in the
Channels panel (Fig. 8).
Step 2
I hide the selection and then choose Edit >
Content-Aware Scale. This produces a set of
transform handles around the edge of the doc-
ument and provides basic transform options
and settings in the Options Bar. I always then
choose my Alpha Channel from the “Protect”
pop-up menu, to make sure I don’t accidentally
scale the wrong parts of my image.
Step 3
(Figure 8) I clicked the center drag handle on the right
edge of the image and dragged left, being
careful to watch for any obvious distortions
along the channel walls or trees. Once you
get close to the image width required, you can
drag the “Amount” slider; the lower the value,
the less distortion will be allowed.
For this image I settled on a value around 40%.

This ensured the harbor wall and buildings on
the left did not take on a “crunched” appearance
at normal magnifications. Note that a value of
0% produces the same or very similar result as
using the standard Scale command. Also keep
in mind that the finished result usually ends up
looking smoother than the “live scale” view you
see prior to accepting your changes (Fig. 9).
The results for this command usually take a

minute or two to process depending on image
size and hardware configurations, so be pa-
tient. Once finished there will be an area of
transparency along the original boundary of
the image. That can be cropped away to com-
plete the edits (Fig. 10).
(Figure 9) Optional Step

In some situations, you may notice slight
“fault lines” outside the boundaries of your
Alpha Channel/safe area. Adjust the hardness
of your Spot Healing brush accordingly to
remove these with the aforementioned Content-
Aware Heal mode or some quick cloning if
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(Figure 10)
there are obvious patterns that have been broken.

Here I fixed a few small errors on the channel
wall, removed a power box along the sidewalk
and a seam in the concrete to wrap up.
While no tool or command gets perfect results

every time, I think you will find that when used
in the right scenarios, the Content-Aware Fill and
Content-Aware Scale commands are indispensible
retouching tools that can save you a lot of time in
post-production.
Dan Moughamian is a fine art photographer and instructor,

having more than 16 years experience with Adobe Photoshop.
He is a veteran of Adobe's testing programs and a published ______________________________________
author, contributing to the Photoshop CS4 Bible, as well as
feature articles at Peachpit.com. Dan has also authored a series
of in-depth Adobe training videos. His upcoming titles from
Nonlinear Educating include: Image Retouching & Adjustment
with Photoshop CS5 and Raw Foundations with ACR 6.
To ask a question or comment on this article, visit our online
Forum: www.phototechforum.com
_______________________________
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BEAUTY AVATAR DOUGLAS DUBLER
Beauty AVATAR
Douglas Dubler
When I was first presented with the assign- literal, but very interpretative. To have used some-
ment of producing a cover for photo technique, thing more literal like a traditional animal print
I immediately began the initial and most would have been, for me, too obvious. Using two
important task of conjuring up a strong subtractive primaries, magenta and green, creates a
concept from which the visual image could sense of color depth as the eye is unable to focus on
emerge. I use the verb “conjure” because both simultaneously. It is one of several techniques
the process is both evocative and mystical that I am frequently inclined to use in order to en-
with little logic. hance the perception of three dimensions in a two-
dimensional art form.
As a beauty photographer, I look for inspiration
from many diverse sources: museums, mythology, The lighting is from a single Broncolor Lightbar
films, cultural events, opera, ballet, etc. I had just 120 with a Para Soft 220 SB as a very weak fill.
been to see James Cameron’s Avatar and was com- Power was provided by several Broncolor Scoro
pletely captivated by all aspects of the film—so A4S packs. The Lightbar’s spread was reduced with
much so that I went to see it twice. I was drawn to barndoors to narrow the beam of light and raise
the obvious, such as the camera work, the story and the contrast. The lighting configuration provides
the technology, as well as its subtle parallels to the even coverage, good modeling with smooth fall-
treatment of the American Indians, gross neglect of off under the chin. My signature “shutter drag”
our own planet’s ecosystems and Eastern inspired technique created a slightly off-register secondary
spiritual philosophies. For me everything came to- image while maintaining an ultra sharp primary
gether in a marvelous way. He is a master story- image. This is a technique that I have been devel-
teller, and I think it is his best film to date. It really oping over the years which adds a “3D” look to the
resonated with me on a very personal level. Here image and softens the profile of the model. This
was my inspiration! is even more appropriate since Cameron chose to
film Avatar in 3D.
Since my approach to photography is neither literal
nor linear, I used the film as a point of departure. I used the new Phase One 645DF camera made by
It inspired my choice of color palette, lighting, Mamiya with an AF 150mm f2.8 IF lens. Capture
make-up, and of course, the fabulous feather hat was with the new Phase One P 65+, whose virtually
by Makins, which was the basis creatively for full frame sensor produces an impressive 350MB
the cover shot. I wanted everything to have that file in 16-bit with extreme resolution, very smooth
organic, wild, tribal feeling. A very important part tonal transitions and great skin tone. The camera
was also the fashion. I chose a silk jersey top from was set at 50 ISO to insure maximum file quality.
Proenza Schouler’s Spring 2010 collection. I felt This camera/back combination has become my
their animal design motif was perfect—again not new “favorite” for medium format digital capture.
phototechmag.com 17
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The second look was an extension of the original imal revisions, I had the two files that were the
concept, but even more interpretive. Loose feathers completion of my initial vision.
were woven into the model’s hair, which had
been wound around a Styrofoam form. The color The final chapter for me is always the execution
palette was more minimal with the focus being the of the print, so I made two prints on my Epson
futuristic eye make-up and the free-form hairstyle Stylus Pro 3880 on Epson’s new Hot Press Bright
with contrasting colored feathers. The nude lips paper. They exceeded my expectations. I could
further accentuate the eyes, which have a distant finally rest.
gaze. I had the make-up artist add a collar of gold
and silver leaf to play off the metallic eye colors and This shoot, like most of mine, required con-
bring a textural element to the tight beauty shot. siderable thought and meticulous planning, which
The jewelry is 19th century Victorian Bakelite. are necessary if one is attempting an accurate ex-
pression of an abstract concept. There were many
The lighting for this shot was an unusual meetings, many more phone conversations and
arrangement of Broncolor Lightbar 120 Evolutions more than enough text messages to insure that all
in a horizontal line at camera height with a Pulso- of the creative team was on the same page on the
Spot 4 on top of the camera as a fill light. Their day of the shoot. At that point, I like to leave ample
combined effect gave me that “deer in the head- room for creativity so the images that I shoot look
lights” effect which I thought went with the styling inspired, not produced. The difference between the
and coalesced all of the visual elements. I tried two is what separates good and excellent. And time
several variations on the mainlight before settling is often the best barometer of what is trend and
on this configuration. what is enduring. In this case, I hope time is on
my side.
Capture was with my Nikon D3X 24.5 megapixel
D-SLR with Nikon’s new 70-200mm f 2.8G ED Douglas Dubler is a fashion and beauty photographer who
VR II zoom. The close focusing ability of this lens seamlessly joins craft and creativity to produce some of the
most memorable images in editorial, advertising and fine art
enables me to get “tight” beauty shots while main- photography. Clients include Max Factor, Revlon, Clairol, Coty,
taining the distance I need for the lighting setup. I Redken, Avon, Charles of the Ritz, Sally Hansen, Alexandra de
Markoff, CNN, Epson, Broncolor, Nikon and Nik Software, as well
also like the compression afforded by the longer as celebrities Jacqueline Bisset, Jane Fonda, Shirley MacLaine,
focal length. I captured the image at 50 ISO to Dolly Parton, Brooke Shields, Andie MacDowell and Sharon
Stone. Recent assignments find him working as both creative
virtually eliminate noise and processed the files in director and photographer. Dubler has been recognized by the
Capture NX2 software. industry with awards from the Starch Report, Communication
Arts, Art Directors Club and Clio. Teaching venues include The
School of Visual Arts, Brooks Institute, The International Center
Accurate gray/white balance for both shots was of Photography, Hallmark Institute of Photography and Palm
achieved by using the X-Rite’s ColorChecker Beach Photographic Workshops.
Passort each time the lighting or camera was To ask a question or comment on this article, visit our online
changed. In addition, all images were captured to Forum: www.phototechforum.com
the Apple Mac Pro computer using Phase One’s Product Resources
Capture One Pro soft-ware, which enables multiple Cameras: Phase One 645DF Camera w/ AF 150mm F2.8
camera connection without reconnecting or restar- IF lens, Phase One P 65+ 60.5 MP Digital Back, Nikon D3X
ting the software. It supports tethered capture with 24.5 MP DSLR Camera w/105mm f/2 DC Nikkor lens, AF-S
VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8G IF-ED lens; Lighting:
Phase One, Leaf, Nikon and Canon cameras. Broncolor Scoro A4 and Grafit A4 Power Packs, Para Soft
220 FB, Para Soft 220 w/diffuser, Lightbar 120 Evolution w/
barn doors, Ringflash P, PulsoSpot 4; Kobold 800 DW HMI
After the images were edited, the selects were Par Lights; Software: Capture One Pro 5, Nikon NX2, Adobe
electronically sent to my retoucher, Willie of Cursor Photoshop CS5; Color Management: X-Rite ColorChecker
Control in Australia (www.cursorctrl.com). We have Passport, X-Rite ProfilerMaker 5, Color Eyes Display Pro,
Color Think Pro; Printers: Epson Stylus Pro 9900, Epson
been working together for about 14 years, long Stylus Pro 3880; Monitors: Eizo CG303W, Eizo CG243W;
before retouching came to the Apple platform. I Computer: Apple Mac Pro 8-Core 3.2GHz w/16 GB DDR3
Crucial RAM, Apple iPad 3G 64GB, G-Technology external
think his “skin” technique is the best in the market hard drives, Lexar UDMA 600X Compact Flash cards;
and conveys a sense of moisture, translucency and Meters: Sekonic L-608 exposure meter, Sekonic C-500R
transparency while maintaining the dimensional Prodigi Color colormeter; Graphic Technology Print viewers,
Wacom Cintiq 21UX, Intuos4 tablets.
quality of the original capture. After several min-
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PROOFING YOUR NEGATIVES DIGITALLY JEAN-CHRISTIAN ROSTAGNI
Lance Armstrong hitting the ground racing, prologue of Tour de France 2009, Monaco, Shot with Noblex 135U, Kodak Ektar 100. See additional Tour de France
photographs from proofing scans made using the Epson V750 paired with Silverfast Ai 6.5 software at jean-christian.net/art/socialistvacation/letour/letour.
Proofing Your
Negatives Digitally
Jean-Christian Rostagni
You are not alone; I still shoot film, too. Actually I choose the latter for proof scanning. In essence,
that is mostly what I shoot, mainly because most this is a variation on the contact sheet process,
of my cameras or black and white films don’t have allowing absolute full frame, a must, yet not easily
a good digital equivalent. My goal is to proof my achieved by most film holders.
films into full frame files that I can use for sub-
missions or on my website, without apologies or For this, the Epson V750 paired with SilverFast Ai
large expenditure of time. 6.5 is the best choice I know. It is a flatbed scanner,
less than perfect for film, but quite good, efficient
Hardware and adaptable for about $850. It is superior to the
Planarity is an absolute requirement when scanning V700, which does not have a fluid mount or high
film. There are only three ways to achieve that: pass optics addressing flare issues in unmasked scans.
· Drum scan, obviously not an option for proofing Setting Up

· Imacon/Hasselblad scanners, which flex the First, set the options accessed in the main dialogue
film, thereby achieving excellent planarity; general tab. Auto is the least intuitive, but I can’t see
aside from sizeable investment, not really a why one would need other settings, short of being a
productivity-oriented choice prepress specialist. Check the “Levels” boxes when
· Scanning between two glasses scanning press clippings or the like in order
phototechmag.com 19
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to get a whiter background. Then calibrate your

scanner; the Epson V750 ships with IT8 targets.
SilverFast targets make the calibration even easier.
Scanning Area & Holders

The scanner has two film modes; the full area
allows scanning directly on the bed in an 8x10
zone. The lens used then is of lesser performance.
When using the holders or the fluid mount, the lens
system changes to a higher resolution that focuses
about 2mm above the bed. I only use the fluid
mount, with a top glass (not delivered). I get full
frame and the film is perfectly flat, hence the sharp-
ness is optimized. Fluid would make the whole
process a little more involved, so I don’t use it.
Instead I use Anti Newton glass in order to avoid

Newton rings. In black and white, one A.N. glass
is enough, as the emulsion side will not generate
rings. A top A.N glass is then the way to go. But in
color, the emulsion is often too slick and an A.N.
glass is necessary on both sides. One A.N. glass is
of no consequence to sharpness, but two will add
some noise that has to be compensated for later
with noise reduction software.
(Figure 1) This is the fluid mount in the scanner.
Replacing the bottom glass in the fluid mount
requires removing 14 screws with a 2mm Allen
wrench. Focal Point (http://www.fpointinc.com) is
the source for A.N. glass. Whether one scans emul-
sion down (best), or up, does not matter, as
SilverFast can be set to flip the image (Fig. 1).
The yellow thread is here for an easy lift of the
top glass. The semi opaque strips on three sides
create a space between the two glasses allowing
air to escape without blowing the strips out when
positioning the top glass.
Note: Because of the lamp movement and the ab-

sence of mask around the frames, it is necessary to
position 35mm strips parallel to the shorter side of
the fluid mount. In the other direction, scans get
projections of the perforations. Without masking,
no matter what, there will be a slight orange color-
ation of the edges of the strips (color). Aperture 3
has some brushes that can take care of that.
(Figure 2) In this view of the SilverFast bed, the frame is active. The frames have been
rotated to correct orientation.
SilverFast Workflow
The most comprehensive way to scan with
SilverFast is the HDR format. This means doing
RAW scans at 64-bit in multiple exposures, harves-
ting all the data that the scanner can extract. The
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PROOFING YOUR NEGATIVES DIGITALLY JEAN-CHRISTIAN ROSTAGNI
scans are edited later, as many times and for as

many different applications as necessary. This is the
scanning equivalent to a RAW workflow. For proof
scanning, I choose a more immediate workflow,
as follows:
1. In SilverFast one prepares a batch in reverse

order, starting with the last scan. I arrange the
marquis around the last frame, with a comfortable
bleed for easy positioning. I scan in 16-bit in order
to have some reserve for post scanning editing and
use auto sharpening, which is perfect for proofing. (Figure 3) Main dialogue with
The frames may be tilted in order to adapt to the auto adjust button second from
left and grey point dropper left
position of the strips (Fig. 2). of Professor. Options gives
access to general settings.
2. The SilverFast software shipping with the scan-
ner does not include “Multi exposure,” which
achieves a higher dynamic range. This is different
from the older multi-sampling technique. Upgrade
online at http://www.silverfast.com.
3. I scan at resolutions that make viewing at 100% (Figure 4) I typically do

in Photoshop too wide for my 22" monitor. The not use the “Standard”
tab, but I move the Brightness
scan size is a compromise between magnification and Contrast sliders a fair
potential, scanning time and impact on storage. amount.
Once I have created my first frame with the appro-
priate crop, ppi amount, ICE or not, film profile,
etc., I save it in the Frame-Set menu in the general
tab for the next time I scan a film in this format.
4. When a frame is over an image, SilverFast

instantly adjusts for the specificities of that image.
Next I click on the diaphragm icon (second from
left in main dialogue —Fig. 3). This automatically
adjusts density contrast, saturation. I can use the
grey point picker (actual picker in the second icon
from right in main dialogue) and drop a neutral
point to control color tint. It is possible to have
up to four grey points in one frame. If an image
does not have a good neutralizing zone, some
settings from another frame might work better.
It is possible to save those and recall them in the
NegaFix dialogue. Click on the “Professor” icon,
the dialogue expands. The Save and Recall settings
options are at the bottom of the expansion tab.
5. At this point I often modify what the auto adjust (Figure 5) This is what appears after clicking Scan. The
files here go in a folder 135-NB-2255, which is my film
has assessed by sliding the cursors in the Picture reference. Each file will be named 135NB2255-n where
Settings Dialogue (Fig. 4). The orientation of the 135NB2255 is the constant (File naming); SilverFast
scan, landscape or portrait, also needs to be set, then adds the relevant number for each frame. I have
unchecked “Reset for every batch scan,” As this is the
and that is done in the Densitometer palette. If I second batch for that film, and I want the counter to keep
were out for perfect scans I would then use the accruing.
phototechmag.com 21
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other tools offered by SilverFast in order to refine in relatively few words than to actually follow the
what up to now takes five seconds or less. For steps, which are fairly intuitive. Also, SilverFast
proof scanning, I make necessary refinements in provides screen casts for just about every function
Aperture or Lightroom. of the software, and often those movies are directly
accessible from the interface.
6. At any rate, when the first frame is done, I drag
it over the next one while holding the option key. There is one golden rule in SilverFast: save your
This duplicates the frame over the next one with all prefs. A number of incidents may cause SilverFast
its parameters. That was fast, and I can either reset to get out of whack. That is typically remedied
some parameters to zero, or modify their value, by trashing the prefs (user/library/Preferences/
if warranted. Renew for every frame, and then a Lasersoft Imaging), hence the need to save prefs
batch is ready to scan. in order not to lose custom film profiles, frame-
sets, and general settings. I save my prefs (the
7. Select “Batch Scan” in the “General” tab of the entire Lasersoft Imaging folder) each time I create
main dialogue; click “Scan.” A dialogue appears something new. If I need to reset the preferences,
(Fig. 5) for details. Click “Save,” at which point it is I can replace the prefs that Silverfast recreated
all out of your hands. by my last saved set, assuming that one was not
corrupted. I typically keep several months worth of
8. I scan in TIFF in order to preserve the maximum those prefs in case I need to go back in time. Save
integrity of the data. prefs in the Documents folder.
It is in fact more difficult to describe the process
Creating a Custom Film Profile
For proof scanning I typically lower the contrast of
the profiles that SilverFast provides. To lower the
contrast or to adapt an existing profile to a new
film, go to the NegaFix dialogue (Fig. 6). Click on
the Curves tab, and then on the pencil icon. At this
point the curve can be modified. While holding the
Command key, drag the points you want to affect.
Clicking on the second icon from left will smooth
the curve. When finished, click on the last icon on
the right, which will save this new profile under a
different name.
A native of France’s Rhône valley, Jean-Christian Rostagni discov-

ered photography at 15 while traveling with his parents around the
Mediterranean sea. He has since devoted his life to its practice. His
commercial career began in France and has continued in central
North Carolina, USA since 1993, where he has collaborated on
projects with writer Clyde Edgerton, exhibited, taught and presented
lectures on photography, and received honors from the Durham Arts
Council and others. Rostagni’s publications, in addition to photo
technique, include Le Monde, Elegant Bride, Marie-Claire and the
O.E.C.D. Observer.

Product Resources
Cameras: Leica M6 TTL with summicron 28m, 35mm, 50mm
and télé Elmarit 2.8/90mm, Hasselblad 503 CX with 4/50mm
FLE, 3.5/60mm, 2.8/80mm, 4/120mm, 4/180mm, Flexbody
and Arcbody with 4.5/45mm, Noblex 135U; Scanner: Espon
(Figure 6) NegaFix dialogue with curve of film profile. V750; Software: SilverFast AI Studio 6.6 with dual exposure;
Auto tolerance adjusts contrast and warmth of Film: Kodak Ektar 100, Ilford FP4; Other: Focal Point A.N. Glass.
the frame.
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BEFORE THE CURTAIN MICHAEL NELSON
Before the Curtain

Portraits of the Atlanta Ballet
an interview with Michael Nelson
B. Lynn Simonton
What sparked Michael Nelson’s Before the Curtain series was a shoot with
a model who was a dancer. Fascinated with a concept of photographing
Above
dancers on a much larger scale, he embarked upon an extensive pro Christy,
bono project with the Atlanta Ballet Company that took him into two Michael Nelson
worlds—the theater from the vantage point of the audience and the other
world backstage that the audience never sees.
Nelson worked on the project for two years almost a decade ago, and
he looks back on that time not without some emotion. He describes it as
“magical,” as well as “something I could contribute to,” because of the
non-commercial nature of the project. He considers it great fortune that
phototechmag.com 23
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PORTFOLIO:
the company’s artistic director gave him free rein The contrasts between the lighting situation onstage
to photograph both from the house and backstage and backstage admittedly presented a challenge.
during the ballet’s rehearsals, and his resulting Nelson had the benefit of making use of stage
portfolio holds images captured from both vantage lighting set by a talented professional lighting crew,
points, though he suggests that the most meaningful and he worked with what they provided when
for him are the backstage portraits. he shot dancers onstage from the house. But the
contrast in light levels is incredible, and he had to
A commercial portrait photographer, Nelson con- carefully balance the difference between the stage
siders all of the shots in this series to be portraits, floods and the single 100-watt incandescent bulb
whether group or solo. Images he likes best are allowed backstage. No flash at all was permissible
those that tell a story about someone, and this series where it would distract the dancers. He made one
has quite a few strong examples. And while he once posed pre-rehearsal shot, “Christy,” for which he
thought there was some separation between his fine used an old Bardwell-McAllister 2000 watt tungsten
art photography and his commercial assignments, fresnel light and reflector, but the rest were all what
he says he has come to recognize the same heart he calls “quick shots” using available light.
and passion for what he sees and photographs is
true in all of his work. Some images like “Serenade #1” had to be shot
from the audience. Nelson especially wanted to
While in some ways similar to photographing a capture the gorgeous effect of the blue background
single dancer in his studio, there were significant with the white onstage. Choosing not to use a sharp
Below differences doing this large-scale project. Married contrast film, he made the image with a Mamiya
Serenade 1, to a former dancer, Nelson took instruction from RZ 67 with Agfa RS1000 color transparency film
Michael Nelson
her in the terminology of ballet. He says it also took and a 180mm lens.
a little time to establish a relationship with the per-
Right formers and backstage crew, who came to realize “Caught” is another image shot from the audience,
Caught,
Michael Nelson
that he was not the typical jobber shooting publicity and for this staged sequence, the ballet company
shots. Nelson knew this had happened when he got some assistance from the photographer. In this
showed them Polaroid proof shots and they re- instance, the dance was contemporary, not classical
sponded to the intensity of the moment he had ballet, and the goal was to illuminate the solo dan-
captured with them. He became something more cer in freeze-frames as he did a series of leaps across
than just a “guy with a camera,” and he became a black stage. On Nelson’s suggestion, they rented
almost like another crew member in the darkness two large commercial Speedotron power packs—
of the stage wings. Many of the dancers didn’t using them on a low-watt setting. The dancer
know when he was photographing them, he says, carried a remote transmitter in his hand, which
and when they did, they were comfortable enough he would trigger when he wanted to be seen by
with his presence backstage not to care. the audience — frequently at the height of a leap.
What added to the effect was the complete ab-
sence of light onstage and in the audience—even
the aisle lights were extinguished. Nelson captured
his photograph of the performance through one
long exposure.
In addition to controlling light, Nelson drew upon

his awareness of musical timing to anticipate the
dancers’ timing while shooting the dance company.
In essence, dancer, musician and photographer
moved to the same rythm. He learned to take shots
when the dancers paused, and they paused when
the music of the ballet directed them to do so.
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BEFORE THE CURTAIN MICHAEL NELSON
Without knowing anything about the specific ballet RZ67 on a monopod to enable necessary quick
being performed, he could be guided by its rhyth- maneuvering out of the way of the dancers as they
mic cues to create images during the pauses. One rapidly entered and exited the on-stage area. He
of his favorite images from the series is of a soli- was amazed at their transition—elegant dreamlike
tary dancer. He waited for the moment she paused characters in performance were revealed only
to capture that frame. Part of the high of the whole backstage as flesh and blood humans with the
experience for Michael Nelson was photographing evident aches and pains of their profession. He
a company under the direction of the intern- captured both of these views in his portraits.
ationally recognized choreographer Bobby Barnett,
who pretty much allowed Nelson to work where Looking back a number of years to the execution
and how he wished during their countless re- of the project, he admits that he is still very “old
hearsal hours together. One of the most telling school,” and while he now does occasional
portraits for Nelson is one of Barnett and a dancer, commercial assignments digitally, he still enjoys
Jessica Mylene, deep in conversation about her working with film. Kodak was a sponsor of the
performance. The photograph perfectly captures Before the Curtain project, and many of the images
the relationship between the two subjects through were shot with 120mm T-MAX film, which he
body language that communicates their master/ processed and printed himself. Color work was
student roles. done with Fuji RHP and Agfa RS1000. Polaroid
has been a big part of his photographic life, as
Backstage where Nelson shared the limited wing well. He spent some time working with Polaroid’s
space with the dancers, he used a wide-angle lens emulsion transfer process. He admits to having
to work close to his subjects. He put the Mamiya some “coveted boxes of T-55 4x5 B&W and some
phototechmag.com 25
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PORTFOLIO:
of the medium format 665 Polaroid film to use Michael Nelson has been a professional photographer for over
20 years, following diverse experiences that include working
selectively. “There’s something unique about the in business, as a firefighter and paramedic, SCUBA diving
imperfections of film,” he says, “to show what’s and sailing, flying and teaching photography. His only fear is
mediocrity, and his approach to life and work is the same — full
really going on.” He did a recent shoot with a of humor, spontaneity, and a lot of passion. Among his numerous
young model who had experienced only digital corporate clients, Baker Books has chosen one of Nelson’s images
Above Left cameras. She was amazed when he put a print in or the cover of the soon to be released book, The Fine Life. For
Solitary Dancer, more information, visit Nelson’s website www.michaelnelson.com.
Michael Nelson her hand made with Fuji’s proofing film.
Above Right
Before working on this project, Michael Nelson had
Direction from no prior familiarity with ballet, nor had he ever Product Resources
Bobby, experienced the Degas paintings of the subject. He Cameras: Mamiya RZ-67; Lenses: 65mm, 110mm,180mm;
Michael Nelson Film: Agfa RS1000 color, Kodak TMY B&W, Fuji RHP color;
says that Before the Curtain became for him a clas- Lighting: Bardwell-McAllister 2000 watt tungsten fresnel
sical exercise in the exploration of beauty and grace, light and reflector, Minolta Auto Flash Meter 4, Polaroid
form and function. His visual response to the danc- 669 metered; Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4; Scanner:
Umax Powerlook 3000.
ers’ art was intuitive, a combination of eye and heart.
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INNOVATIONS:
Machine Wash Deluxe

This is a huge improvement over the former Machine
Wash Action sets. The system is a robust rebuild of a
great texture system that has moved to a Photoshop
plug-in filter with an intricate but intuitive workflow.
Machine Wash Deluxe is downloadable software.

It is based on loading one of four sets of textures
with the option of buying additional sets. Each set
costs $99 and includes the initial software system
with the first download. It is intricate in that it can
create three layers of textures with elaborate
customization of each.
Acratech GP Ballhead
The first layer is the primary Wash layer. It is An increasingly popular brand of
important to check the box that makes this texture ballheads and tripod accessories is
application on a separate layer above the original. available from a company called Acratech Inc. in
This allows further manipulation with blending, California. Made from solid stock aircraft 6061-T6
opacity and masks. You choose a texture from a aluminum, these precision-made accessories are of
preview screen that shows all of the textures you the highest quality.
purchased, plus those in sets you have not
purchased. Once a texture is chosen, you can In addition to various brackets, including popular
change the category, scale and placement. L brackets to retain the lens position when shifting
between vertical and horizontal, of particular note are
their ballheads. The newest is the Acratech GP. The
head weighs less than a pound, but it can support up
to 25 lbs. It’s the perfect mate to any fiber tripod to
keep the weight down while keeping camera capacity
weight up.
The mount itself is Acra-Swiss compatible, which will

fit a wide variety of mounting plates. The head has a
bullseye level at the mounting base.
An interesting feature of the Acratech GP is the two

rubberized knob system for the ballhead. One knob is a
tension knob. This controls the tension in the movement
when you use the major release knob. This helps keep
the head (especially with an attached camera) from
falling abruptly.
With a long lens mounted using a lens collar ring and set
to the side via the ballhead, a combination of the lens
In the Surface Tab, you can choose another texture vertical movement and the rotation ring movement work
and apply scale, texture depth and tone for giving as a gimbal head. A gimbal head balances the camera
the image the illusion of being a paper relief. In the and lens at their natural center of gravity, thus making
Background Tab, you can choose another texture the lens weightless in terms of tilt. The smoothness of
and place this as a layer below the image for further the adjustment is a result of setting the tension knob.
blending. You can also change the color tints of the
highlights, midtones and shadows independently. Another unique feature of the GP head is the ability to
Click OK and the three layers are shown in the unscrew the mounting plate and mount it to the head
Layers panel. bottom. The ballhead is then mounted to the tripod
column upside down. With the mount and bullseye level
The only drawback to the software is that Machine on the marked rotational base, you can use the rotational
Wash Deluxe is only active with 8-bit images. marks as a guide to creating accurate panoramic images.
However, the textured effects can be really amazing. The price for the GP ballhead, less the camera mount, is
For more information, go to www.misterretro.com. $399.95. For more information, go to www.acratech.com.
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INNOVATIONS:
Canon Releases Next Generation

6300 Series Printers
The Canon 6350 24" wide format printer is a significant
improvement over the previous 6100 series. While the
6350 has a 80GB hard drive built in for load and batch
printing, the specs are the same for the 6300 without
the drive, as well as the new 44" 8300.
The 6300 series uses a 12-ink LUCIA EX ink that has a

20% wider gamut than its predecessor. The color gamut
is very similar to Adobe RGB. (Note: the 6100 inks are
not compatible with the 6300 series.) There is also a
High-Precision mode that delivers less graininess,
enhanced gloss, deeper blacks and an exceptional
separation in the shadows. It reproduces fine lines more
accurately and also produces cleaner text. The new inks
have greater color stability, with reduced bronzing and
metamerism and have been formulated to improve
scratch resistance. each for a total of 30,720. It will print 16-bit files from
Photoshop and RAW files from DPP.
Like the 6100, the 6300 series has built-in calibration
that resets the printer base to the original optimal Similar to what is found on more expensive RIP systems,
factory settings that allow specific paper profiles to yield Canon’s new printer has an Account Manager built into
accurate results. its software that allows you to obtain printing costs for a
particular job.
The 6300 series machine is more stable, with less shake
as the heads move back and forth. The control panel In an independent review by BERTL that evaluates digital
has been greatly simplified, in both tabs and menus. The imaging systems, Canon’s 6350 received a five-star
print heads on the Canon are user-replaceable. As in the Exceptional rating. For more information, go to
previous model, there are two heads with 15,360 nozzles www.usa.canon.com.
Strobies by Interfit
Strobies is brilliant in its simplicity and incredible
in its design. It is a group of light modifiers for
portable flash units that can be purchased either as
a kit or as separate elements.
We tested the Portrait Kit. For $149 you pick a base

for your particular flash unit. The base fits snuggly
to the head without requiring Velcro attachment.
Then you select options, of which there are many.
The Portrait Kit has a large white softbox, 8" x 12".
Additionally, the kit has a beauty dish, a large globe Snoot Honeycomb Grid Four Leaf Barndoor Set
diffuser for a bare bulb look, miniature four-leaf
barn door set, a snoot with optional honeycomb
attachments that reduce the circle of project light
4 Leaf Barndoor Set
even further and a larger honeycomb grid for a
focused beam.
With complex multi-flash systems being run from

inside the camera bodies, having an additional set
or a selection of separate pieces for a second flash
Interior Softbox
unit gives you the ability and flexibility of creative
portable lighting at an extremely reasonable cost.
For more information, go to
www.interfitphotographic.com/Strobies. Globe Diffuser Mini Beauty Dish Reflector
phototechmag.com 29
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FEATURE:
Corporate Photography
on Location: The Stetson Campaign
an interview with Tyler Stableford
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THE STETSON CAMPAIGN TYLER STABLEFORD
Paul Schranz
Everyone likes to think that when they do a agency and they say, “Great, let’s start working
commercial assignment, the photographer will next week.” It’s usually, “We’re interested in
have an enormous amount of control over what your work and what you’re doing, we’ll keep in Above
gets photographed and how it will be done. In touch.” And then I start a relationship—I’ve met For this shot, we had
our model in an open
corporate assignments, the team involved is sim- the art directors and the art buyers and account field in the afternoon
sun. We used scrim
ilar to what you would image working on a movie managers, and then I stay in touch with them on the left side of the
set, and this doesn’t even begin to account for the and say, “Hey, I’m continuing this work and do model to soften the
sun and then placed
number of corporate people on hand to super- things in your genre.” a large Octobank on a
vise production. Tyler Stableford is among the Hensel Porty 12 Lithium
light for fill light on the
leading location photographers who worked on I think my work is a mix of outdoor adventure, as model. My first assistant
is holding a California
an ad campaign for Stetson. This interview with well as industrial and environmental portraiture. Sunbounce reflector to
him sheds light on the complexities and nuances The Stetson project was double/triple bid, as fill in shadows on the
model's face.
of doing a corporate shoot of this magnitude on usual. What that means is the bidding comes
location. down to two or three top photographers being
considered in the process. They want to know Left
PS: Tell me about how you got the Stetson job. the budget—what would it cost to shoot this With the main softbox,
I wanted to keep
campaign over four days in a range of places, shadows on the male
model's left side but
TS: I think with many ad agencies, it’s a court- from the high mountains to a nightclub, to work- allow enough light to
ship that can take many months and even years. ing ranches, and where should we shoot this fall on his face, as he
is anchoring the scene.
Pure Brand Communications in Denver is one of thing—they were thinking maybe in Wyoming. We used the Hensel
the top ad agencies—they had my portfolio and I said, “I live in a really beautiful spot that has Porty 12 Lithium strobe
and Wescott softboxes.
I met them six months to a year before I had a all that—everything from the country bars to
chance to bid on this campaign—that’s generally working ranches. We could shoot it locally—
how it works. I never give my portfolio to an ad keep cost down by shooting locally—have a
phototechmag.com 31
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FEATURE:
local producer and crew." I think that was ap- was fashion-oriented, the clothing and the
pealing. It also meant if weather changed or sunglasses were very important; there were
things changed, my crew and I knew the area a lot of people who played important roles in
well and could adapt quickly. it. So, from the top down, there were several
people from Stetson. There was an art director
PS: I look at the photographs of the shoots, and from the national brand of Stetson. And then
you’ve got quite a few people involved. I think Stetson has some licensees of its brand, so
this is something that really escapes people who one company makes and sells their boots and
would like to do a project like this. How many another makes and sell their sunglasses, their
people are involved in this production? cologne, etc. The cologne is made by Coty, and
the hats by Hatco. Roper makes the clothing as
TS: I would preface it by saying that this is prob- well as boots. We have account managers on
ably one of the largest productions that I shot set who know this clothing line really well, and
last year. Typically, as a Colorado photographer, if things come up as we shoot a scene, where
my productions are a little bit smaller, for shoot- we have a checkered shirt and we want to show
ing at a ski area or such. This production, be- a nice t-shirt underneath, too, this person can
cause it was a big national campaign, and it say yes, that shirt is going to be sold next year,
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and can match the two together. If we want to tion, a garment and wardrobe stylist to prep all
do a scene with a t-shirt, they’ll say which are the clothes and make sure they look good on
the t-shirts we want to represent, so we have a the models, and a hair and make-up stylist. And
whole wardrobe to choose from. then I have my first and second assistants who
are helping to work with the lighting and run
Then we have the ad agency people who are all the equipment, the digital tech and viewing,
really running a lot of the creative, the art so if the client’s at the shoot, we can put the
director, Jerry Stafford, the account manager, compact flash cards in the computer with a full
Eric Espinoza, and the co-owner of Pure Brand screen to see if we’re getting what they had
Communications, Gregg Bergan, who also acts in mind.
as creative director. And then I have my crew
there, an amazing producer named Liz Long PS: So what is it you actually have control over?
and her assistant who line up all of the loca-
tions, arranges for vintage trucks on location, TS: Shooting a large campaign requires a great
insurance and permits to shoot on a ranch, and mix of patience while all the moving parts come
make sure we have whatever we need there. together and the creative concepts are hashed
Also, the ranch manager to oversee the loca- out with the clients, who are Stetson and the
phototechmag.com 33
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agency…trying to push professionally for what

they think is best for the brand, and people have
different opinions and one’s not better than the
other. It just requires a lot of discussion, and I
try to stay out of it as much as possible. I’m hired
for two reasons, I think. I’m hired to execute the
client’s and the agency’s vision, and also to bring
my look, my talent set, to the shot. I’m happy to
comment upon creative direction, but it’s not my
position. It’s up to Stetson and it’s up to Pure to
decide and say, “This is the look we want for
our campaign.” I don’t do the research—I don’t
know exactly who their buyers are. I can say, “It
looks great with the cowboy sitting on the truck
with his hat cocked sideways,” but that may
not be the look that speaks to their brand that
they’ve developed over their 145-year history.
These big shoots are an opportunity for me to be photo of the model, Paul, by the vintage truck,
very patient, but also to act very quickly, to be we used a silk scrim overhead to diffuse the
decisive, and to have a super dialed operation sun, and filled light on one side with a Hensel
with my two assistants, because we’ve spent strobe and large Westcott Octobank.
so much time hashing it out, and the sunlight’s
slipping away, so when we finally get the PS: Can you talk about the interior shots and the
creative direction, it’s action time and it needs lighting scenario and solutions?
to happen very quickly.
TS: This scene at the Belly Up nightclub in
PS: Working with creative direction, and yet hav- Aspen was the most intricate lighting setup of
ing your own style, how much of “you” do you the campaign. We used the nightclub’s existing
give up to do this, and how much of you do you stage lights and fog machine to start, and
get into it? added several of our strobes to light the model
in a dynamic, energetic way. It took a couple of
TS: I would say that in a big shoot I think it’s hours to really get the lights set up in such a
a general rule that a photographer will give up way that the scene felt energetic—as though
some of his creative talents—and that’s fine the model/performer was just about to go Above
with me. I have plenty of time in my life to pur- onstage during a concert. The creative director, For this late afternoon
shot, we set up a scrim
sue my creative dreams, whatever those are. Gregg Bergan, was very helpful in commun- above the model to
soften sunlight. We then
When somebody’s paying me to photograph, I’ll icating his vision and helping us evolve the placed a large Octobank
photograph puppies and Barbie dolls all day if lighting setups to carry energy. In this behind- softbox in front of the
model for fill, bringing
that’s what they want me to shoot and the rate’s the-scenes photo, we are using some scrims the subject out against
right. I don’t bring my ego or my sense of what and reflectors to block stray light from the stage the bright background.
I should be shooting to the job, and I can keep lights and using our strobes to bring a dramatic
my creative vision for my own side. look to the model’s jeans and boots. We used
an Octobank for soft fill and a gridded light to
PS: How about the lighting scenarios? Do you paint a harder streak atop that.
control that aspect?
PS: When someone sees a corporate brand
TS: Yes, I control the lighting, but of course I’m photograph, I don’t think they appreciate the
constantly showing my lighting tests to the art complexity of the shot, not only in terms of the
director to see if it fits their concept. For the photography, but also the negotiations.
phototechmag.com 35
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FEATURE:
resistant clothing company. I shot a controlled

burn this week, and we’re shooting with heavy
industry workers this month. And then I’m com-
pleting an exciting shoot with F-16 fighter pilots
that will run in the July issue of 5280 Magazine
and also later in Southwest Airlines Magazine. I
also do quite a bit of work for Cabela’s; they are
one of my top clients.
PS: Last thing. I noticed that you also do video

work with your Canon 5D Mark II. This is a new
role for the corporate photographer. Can you dis-
cuss your DSLR video experiences?
TS: Yes, when the Mark II came out about a year

and a half ago, I used it immediately to shoot
a volunteer fundraiser for a humanitarian aid
agency, and I was super impressed because I
was able to work with my existing set-up. I was
able to travel with a carry-on bag of equipment
and made a very moving, successful fundraiser
with stills to video. That would not have been
as easy before the 5D Mark II came out. I was
able to tell a very powerful story, more powerful
than shooting stills alone, for a cause that’s
very important to me. And then, of course, my
filmmaking has grown. The story-telling abilities
that we have now are way more powerful—it’s
amazing, but you definitely have to be willing
to give up a lot of free time to make the jump.
DSLR filmmaking has allowed me to create
some of the most powerful projects of my ca-
reer, because they have three or four layers of
audio track on them, motion and stills—I’m very
excited about it.
Colorado photographer Tyler Stableford has earned a worldwide

clientele for his commercial and editorial photography. Men's
Journal recently named him one of seven "World's Greatest
TS: As a professional, I want to know how that’s Adventure Photographers” and he is among Canon’s prestigious
Explorers of Light. He has won awards from Communication Arts,
done. How much is offset, how much is posed? PDN and The International Photography Awards and is an active
That really helps me learn as a professional. I’m member of the environmental-business organization,"1% For The
Planet." Visit his website www.tylerstableford.com.
happy to share that any time.
PS: What other projects are you working on?
How many projects do you have going on at one Product Resources
time? Cameras: Canon 1Ds Mark III, 5D Mark II, Lenses 24-70
f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8, 16-35 f/2.8; Lights: Hensel Porty
Lithium 12 lights, Westcott softboxes etc, Octobanks and
TS: Anywhere from zero to a dozen—it depends. diffusers; Tripods: Gitzo and Manfrotto carbon; Software:
Adobe Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS4; Monitor: Apple
The usual freelance entropy, you know. I just 30" cinema display, Wacom Cintiq 21UX; Computer:
have completed a short film on a Paralympic Apple Mac Pro MacBook Pro; Other: PocketWizard radio
transmitters; Think Tank SpeedRacer beltpack.
skier. I am shooting a campaign for a flame-
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TECH:
Perfecting
Digital Camera
Exposure
Barry Haynes
It’s critically important to get a correct exposure when shooting

with a digital camera. I shoot my digital camera exposures in RAW
mode at the lowest ISO I can use and still get the shutter speed
and f-stop I want. Although modern cameras have many different
exposure options, I have a standard way of shooting that works
best for me. I believe that the image itself is the most important
thing. That’s why the steps for getting a good exposure have to
be second nature, practiced and thought out ahead of time. That
allows you to focus on making that all important image!
Five years ago I moved to the Sunshine Coast, just north of

Vancouver, BC, Canada. Living here one becomes attracted to the
water and the natural beauty that surrounds you. Before moving
here, I never was in a sea kayak and seldom found myself in a
boat. Now being on the water in a kayak or sailboat or just the
ferry that brings us home is one of the things I enjoy most. In the
last five years I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to color adjust
waves and ripples, color and contrast of water so it looks the way I
see it and feel about it when I’m out there on the water.
Choosing your Camera Settings

RAW, not Auto or JPEG
Hopefully you’ll find RAW mode as one of the image quality
choices on your camera. A RAW file is exactly what the chip in
the camera captures, analogous to your original film in traditional
photography. RAW files can have up to 32,768 tonal values per
each Red, Green and Blue color channel. If you choose JPEG for
your file type, the image is shot in RAW, then the computer inside
your camera automatically color corrects, adjusts contrast and
converts your image to an 8 bit file which only has 256 possible
tones per color channel. That JPEG format has tossed most of the
detail in your image, and then the image is usually sharpened and
saved in a compressed version that may lose more shadow and
highlight details. Because it has more contrast, the JPEG version
may look better in your camera’s small viewing window. When
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PERFECTING DIGITAL CAMERA EXPOSURE BARRY HAYNES
My image theme for this article is On the Water”..in kayak or sailboat it's one of the things I enjoy most.
phototechmag.com 39
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TECH:
you go to improve the image on your computer, by

adding shadow or highlight detail for example, that
is where the JPEG falls apart. It doesn’t give you
the options provided by all those extra shadow,
midtone and highlight values that the larger RAW
file has. If you use Auto to shoot your images, the
camera is picking your shutter speed and aperture
for you.
Histogram display On, use a low ISO

You want to set up your camera’s screen so you
can see the histogram display of each image right
after you shoot it. This allows you to see if you are
Above is the Histogram for an image shot with a Canon
under or over exposed. Newer cameras, like my Rebel XTi. The Display (Disp on the Canon; Info on some
G10, show you a real-time histogram display on the other cameras) button changes the display mode. While
camera’s screen while you are composing a shot so viewing a recently shot image, push the button until you
see the histogram on the screen. It should appear in the
you can see ahead of time if you are going to over camera s preview after shooting an image. Many cameras
expose, then change the exposure to correct before have a mode to show the histogram in color. The historgam
you actually shoot. The histogram display shows above is correct for a normal contrast day, in that it spans
the full range of values but doesn t go vertical on either the
you a bar graph of the light values in your image. left or right.
The darker shadow values are to the left and the
bright highlight values are to the right. The shape
of the histogram graph will be different for each
image and depends on the subject matter in that
image. With a contrasty scene, like a bright sunny
day, an ideal exposure would have histogram val-
ues going from the far left to the far right of the
graph without any vertical lines at either the left
or the right edge of the graph. A vertical line on
the left edge of the graph means that you have lost
some shadow detail and on the right edge it means
a loss of highlight detail.
I always use the lowest ISO setting on my camera

if possible. That would be ISO 100 on my Canon
On this histogram, notice the vertical bar on the right side,
Rebel XTi and ISO 80 on the Canon G10. The
indicating this shot is overexposed and is losing highlight
G10 is a 14 megapixel pocket camera so its sensor details. The picture to the left of the histogram is flashing
is quite small. I’m able to make 30 to 40 inch prints black in the sky to show the overexposed areas that will
be clipped with no detail in the digital file. To correct this
with the ISO 80 setting, but the higher ISO settings problem, lower your exposure until no clipping is shown.
are often too noisy for large prints from the G10.
The quality of the XTi images is great at ISO set-
tings up to 200 and I’ve certainly shot and used up-sample an image and sharpen it for larger high
images with the 1600 setting from the XTi, but those quality prints is to get a correct exposure at the low-
require creative Photoshop techniques to disguise est ISO possible where the histogram goes across
the noise in the shadow areas. During my 20 years most of the range from shadow to highlight.
of teaching Digital Printmaking workshops, I’ve
worked with images from many different digital Metering Style, Shutter & Aperture settings
cameras, and I’ve found that the quality of the With a digtal camera, I use the camera’s Auto White
pixels is, in many ways, more important than the Balance setting, then tweak it in Photoshop when
number of pixels. I try to choose cameras that give it’s off a bit. When shooting in RAW mode, the
me the best quality of pixels for the price. Even camera’s white balance setting isn’t permanently
though my XTi only has 10 megapixels, I can gen- applied to the file, as it is with the Auto and JPEG
erally make larger sharper prints from it than from settings. You can see the white balance and edit it
the 14 megapixel G10. The key to being able to in the RAW filter later. When the item I want to
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PERFECTING DIGITAL CAMERA EXPOSURE BARRY HAYNES
Another day on the water, we took our sailboat through world famous Skookumchuck Rapids, straight ahead here. I find the power and beauty in this
body of water amazing!
focus and meter on is not in the center area of the your camera to create a slightly lower exposure,
screen, I just point the camera at that item and hold then shoot the scene again until the histogram goes
the shutter button halfway down. This forces most just to the right side and the flashing stops in the
cameras to make their focus and metering choices. bright parts.
While holding the button halfway down, I then
move the camera to reframe the shot and this keeps An additional advantage of shooting in RAW mode
my initial focus and exposure setting. is that if you do overexpose a bit, you can later
lower the exposure setting in the RAW filter, and
I’ve learned that the shooting style that works best sometimes, if you didn’t overexpose too much, get
for me is to set the camera to shutter speed priority. your lost highlight details back. In JPEG mode
With this setting, I pick the shutter speed and the these highlight details are permanently clipped.
camera picks the aperture setting based on the
scene and meter setting to get the correct exposure. Another way to solve the loss of highlight detail
One needs to understand the relationship between problem is to set your camera to bracket exposures.
the two, in that faster shutter speeds stop motion When you do this, normally the camera will shoot
and smaller aperture openings (the larger aperture one exposure at the normal setting, one under
numbers) give you more depth of field. When exposed and one over exposed. I find that I seldom
shooting in this way, to get the most depth of field, need the over exposed shot. I’m often not sure if
I usually pick the slowest shutter speed that I can
use for the type of image.
Underexposing to Save Highlight Detail

When you get to a new exposure situation, take
a sample shot or two then look at your camera’s
histogram display. It is most common to lose high-
light detail on a bright day, especially when shoot-
ing in the direction of the sun or when you have
lots of darker areas and fewer bright areas within
the scene. Look at your sample shots; you’ve lost
highlight detail if you have a vertical line at the right
edge of your histogram and/or the bright parts of
the picture on your camera’s screen flash on and
off to show you that these highlights are clipped On Salmon Inlet, BC; taken from my kayak in RAW mode
(lost forever). When this happens, you should set with the Canon G10.
phototechmag.com 41
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TECH:
I’ll need to underexpose by, for example, one f-stop editing application. Your main goal in exposing a
or two. I’m often shooting from a boat or kayak RAW file is that it should have a range of histogram
and can’t stop to check the details, so first I set values to match the image without losing any values
the camera to underexpose by one f-stop. I then in the highlight or shadow range. For fairly high
go to the camera setting for bracketing exposures contrast, you can underexpose a stop or so and still
and set it to shoot three exposures. Since I’ve use the shadows. For extreme contrast, you’ll have
already chosen to be shooting one stop under, the to bracket your exposures to give you the option of
bracketing will now set the camera to shoot one at using several exposures for a final art quality print.
two stops under, one at one stop under and one at These techniques will give you good RAW data to
the normal exposure. This allows me to later pick shape into your final image in the digital darkroom.
the exposure that works best. If I choose to, I can
also take the highlight values from the two stops The system I’ve described here can easily be
under, or one stop under shot and get the shadows applied to most outdoor situations, and you’ll have
and midtones from the normal exposure. To do this a great image to work with when you want to edit
would require editing the image in Photoshop or a it electronically and/or make a print.
similar application. Aligning several exposures like
this is also much easier if they were shot from a Barry Haynes is a photographer and author living in Gibsons,
tripod so all exposures are of the exact same crop. BC, Canada, just north of Vancouver, where he has his studio and
photography gallery. See www.barryhaynes.com for info about his
A tripod won’t work from a kayak, but I still find it Outdoor Photography, Photoshop Printmakingworkshops, Photoshop
fairly easy to take clouds and sky detail from one books, images and gallery. His Photoshop Artistry: for Photographers
exposure and the rest of an image from another. using Photoshop CS2 and Beyond, from New Riders publishing, is
the 8th edition of this series. See also www.maxart.com.
Summary of RAW file Philosophy To ask a question or comment on this article, visit our online
Images that you shoot in RAW mode often look
Product Resources
flatter than their JPEG counterparts. This is be-
Cameras: Canon Digital Rebel XTi, Canon EFS 10-22MM
cause the camera does no automatic correction lens, Canon G10; Printers: Epson 7600, 4000, 2400;
on the RAW files. That gives you the most options Inks: Ultrachrome; Paper: Epson Premium Luster Photo
Paper, Epson Matte Canvas; Software: Adobe Bridge,
later when you edit those files using Lightroom, Photoshop CS4; Computer: Mac.
Photoshop’s RAW filter or some other RAW
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ARTIFACTS OF AN UNCERTAIN ORIGIN SEÁN DUGGAN
Artifacts of an
Uncertain Origin
Seán Duggan
Though I have been using digital tech- tially a simple wooden box; the only exposure
nologies in my photographic work since “control” is a small wooden slide that covers and
1992, and the majority of my images today uncovers the pinhole. The multi-format capability
are made with digital SLRs, for the photo- consists of wooden dividers inside the camera that
graphic project featured in this article I still can be repositioned in a series of notches to change
have one foot firmly in the analog world of the format of the negative to 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7 or 6x9 Above
film and simple pinhole cameras. (the photos in this series are all 6x9). The Typewriter,
Seán Duggan
For those who are unfamiliar with this type of For the first test roll that I ran through the Zero, The first image in the
series; from the initial
photography, a pinhole camera has no lens, just I carried an old typewriter down to the edge of a test roll that I made with
a tiny pinhole through which light enters and river, not far from my house in the Sierra foothills. the ZeroImage pinhole
camera.
exposes the scene. I had made occasional forays I set the ISO on my DSLR to the same as the ISO
into the world of pinhole photography throughout 400 film in the pinhole camera and used the DSLR
the 1990s, but in 2000 I began to explore it more as a light meter to determine a correct exposure for
seriously. The camera used for this series is a the scene. On the back of the ZeroImage camera are
ZeroImage 6x9 multi-format camera that is essen- two circular brass dials, one engraved with aper-
phototechmag.com 43
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PORTFOLIO:
tures and the other with exposure times. By lining Florida cypress swamp (and discovering an alligator
up the exposure values from the digital shot, I then nearby), or a winter snowshoe trek up the side of
checked the position on the dial for the aperture of a Sierra mountain. The process and the journey of
the pinhole (f/235) to see what the corresponding making the image are just as important to me as is
“shutter speed” was and exposed the film for that the final destination of the finished print.
amount of time. In the case of the typewriter, it was
about 20 seconds (so far, the exposure times for the Once the negatives are developed, the analog
photographs in this series range from one second process moves into the digital darkroom where the
up to about five minutes). The test roll results were selected images are scanned and then opened into
very good, and that shot of the typewriter was the Adobe Photoshop for final enhancements that in-
first in a series of photographs that I have been clude overall brightness and contrast modifications,
working on for the past four years. “dodging and burning” of specific areas in the
scene, and final “seasoning” with a blend of ir-
One early creative decision came from the camera regular toning that combines the original neutral
itself. The notches visible on the top and lower values of the black and white negative with two
edges of the film are the notches referred to pre- different strengths of sepia. All tonal and color
viously that are used to change the format of the modifications are applied non-destructively using
negative. I found this particular edge “signature” adjustment layers and layer masks for maximum
to be visually very interesting and decided to print creative flexibility.
the photos full frame and include the edges as part
of the image. I also liked the edge lettering, and The Landscape of Metaphor
the use of different film types to include a variety The most fundamental way to view the series is as
of edge markings was a conscious choice. With a combination of the still life and the landscape.
this decision, however, the technical challenges of In working on this project my previous experience
using the camera increased. Because I am printing with the landscape as a subject has been re-
the images full frame, there is no cropping, and invigorated and reimagined by pairing it with the
when using a camera with no viewfinder, one has enigma of the artifacts I place there. Though these
to be very careful with composition. All framing images certainly celebrate the incredible diversity,
decisions are made based on prior experience with beauty and mystery of the natural world, the land-
the camera, which provides me with a good sense scape also serves as the stage setting for quiet and
of the approximate field of view that this wide- slightly surreal tableaus created by the presence of
angle pinhole produces. the artifacts.
After the full frame/no cropping “rule” emerged, I also see the photographs like short stories or
Top another important rule became clear to me: there poems, small fictions that suggest a narrative, in-
The Clocks, would be no digital compositing used to place the viting the viewer to step in and follow where it
Seán Duggan
artifacts in the scene. I have nothing against digital may lead them. The photographs in the series,
Fifteen seconds in a individually and as a group, represent the frame-
snowstorm
collages; I enjoy creating images using those tech-
niques, and I even teach a workshop on Creative work of a story, but one in which you only see a
Collage with Adobe Photoshop (the next one is glimpse of what has happened or what is about
Bottom coming up at the Mesilla Digital ImagingWorkshops to happen. It is up to the viewer to fill in the rest.
The Diary, in southern New Mexico in mid-September of Ansel Adams once wrote that “there are always two
Seán Duggan
2010). But for this series, a central and very im- people in every picture: the photographer and the
portant part of the photographs is my experience viewer.” I regard the role of the viewer in finding
in making them. And part of that experience is meaning in a photograph, even if it is a meaning or
viewing the actual artifacts in the scene and finding interpretation that is only apparent to them, to be
unexpected arrangements and relationships with just as important as the role of the photographer in
the surrounding landscape. I also enjoy overcoming creating the image.
the logistical and physical challenges that can arise
when making some of these photographs, whether The structure of the series allows me to explore
it involves wading through thigh-deep water in a different ideas and concepts through the placement
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PORTFOLIO:
of certain artifacts in specific landscapes, or simply is a very different photographic experience from
enjoy the serendipitous chance of an unexpected using a DSLR (which I do use for other bodies of
juxtaposition. Many of the artifacts are obvious in work). And that experience is a key part of my
what they might represent, while others are more enjoyment of this series. Being out in many dif-
Above enigmatic. I choose artifacts based on how inter- ferent landscapes with these artifacts and using
The Gears, esting they look in a purely visual sense, as well as a simple wooden camera with the same level of
Seán Duggan
how they might serve as symbols for other ideas. technical sophistication as the cameras used by
Parts of a machine, but Some exist not only as visual contrasts with their the early photographers in the mid 1800s is an ex-
no longer part of the
machine; and in the surroundings but also as symbolic and meta- perience that cannot be achieved using a modern
background, the river, phorical keys that transform the scene by opening digital camera.
the 'machine' that
made the canyon. a conceptual portal, inviting the viewer from
a landscape of earth and sky to a landscape of The photographs and the experience of creating
Right Top
metaphor and hidden meanings. them exist on more than one level, and it is this
The Package, multi-level quality that keeps the series fresh and
Seán Duggan
On Pinhole Photography intriguing for me, a crucial component for any long-
I am sometimes asked why I go to the trouble of term creative project. As I write this, the Artifacts
Right Bottom using a wooden pinhole camera with no viewfinder series is still very much a work in progress, and
The Zero Image to make these photographs. Wouldn’t it be easier to though I do not know how many images the final
6x9 pinhole camera
(supported by a Joby photograph these images using a digital SLR and series will contain, I feel that I am probably more
Gorillapod) on location, then use Photoshop to create the “pinhole look”? than halfway there. I have ideas for certain artifacts
photographing an
artifact of an In some respects in might be easier, but it would and specific landscapes to photograph before I can
uncertain origin.
also require more work in Photoshop, and the view call it a completed body of work. The series also
would not be the same as that made with an actual requires travel in search of different landscapes,
pinhole camera. But the main reason I photograph and the very nature of the photographs, like pinhole
them the way I do is that using a pinhole camera photography itself, involves a slower, more contem-
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plative approach. But I am enjoying the journey

very much; the act of creating the photographs,
working on them in the digital darkroom and the
gentle swirl of ideas that accompanies them is very
rewarding. The creative muse still speaks to me
through this channel. And when the creative muse
is calling, it’s always a good idea to keep answering
that call.
Seán Duggan is a photographer, author and educator with a

traditional, fine art photographic background combined with nearly
two decades of extensive real world experience in the field of digital
imaging. He is a co-author of The Creative Digital Darkroom (O’Reilly
Media, 2008), Photoshop Artistry (New Riders, 2006) and Real
World Digital Photography, 2nd Edition (Peachpit Press, 2004). You
can see more of the Artifacts of an Uncertain Origin series at ___
www.
seanduggan.com.
__________

Product Resources
Cameras: ZeroImage 6x9 Multi-format Pinhole Camera,
Canon EOS 5D (used as a "light meter" for the pinhole
camera and documenting); Tripod: Joby Gorillapod,
Manfrotto 055X; Film: B&W medium format film (various
emulsions); Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4, Lightroom;
Computer: MacBook Pro, Sony Artisan Display; Epson
Perfection Photo 4870 Scanner.
phototechmag.com 47
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Contents | Zoom in | Zoom out For navigation instructions please click here Search Issue | Next Page

J u ly/Aug ust 2010

THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®

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THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®

EDITOR S NOTE: July/August 2010 Vol. 31 No. 4

Formerly PHOTO Techniques Magazine

Publisher S. Tinsley Preston III

See www.phototechmag.com for guidelines,

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. by St. Croix Press Inc.

THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®

THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®

Strobies by Interfit Portfolios

23 Before the Curtain:

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In the Face of Forgiveness:

4 photo technique J/A 2010

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IN THE FACE OF FORGIVENESS A. D. COLEMAN

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vulnerable, wounded, everyday people engaged in ment as a documentary photographer pursuing a

6 photo technique J/A 2010

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IN THE FACE OF FORGIVENESS A. D. COLEMAN

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8 photo technique J/A 2010

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PHOTOSHOP CS5 DAN MOUGHAMIAN

This is the ﬁrst of three articles on the signiﬁcant The Challenge

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THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®

Working with Content-Aware Fill & Heal

Typically, a Content-Aware ﬁll target has multiple

Content-Aware Fill produces the initial result.

To handle the imperfections in this ﬁll, I selected

12 photo technique J/A 2010

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PHOTOSHOP CS5 DAN MOUGHAMIAN

with the Lasso tools, and then performed another

For our ﬁnal replacement, both Content-Aware Fill

Because puddles like these often produce subtle

Finally, the larger reflection was a good candidate

Once I had set up my Spot Healing Brush, I made

Working with Content-Aware Scale

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THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®

image that most deﬁned the composition: the

For this image I settled on a value around 40%.

The results for this command usually take a

(Figure 9) Optional Step