What a blast to be invited to join the Ultimate reflection group, based on my imag…
What a blast to be invited to join the Ultimate reflection group, based on my image reflection / Thanks to Trace and Julie for the honour.
Floating was selected for the Ultimate reflections...
Floating was selected for the Ultimate reflections group
What a double blast to have my my image reflection FEATURED in the invitat…
What a double blast to have my my image reflection FEATURED in the invitation only Ultimate reflection group. / Thanks again to Trace and Julie for the honour.
Miron has been featured in the Ultimate reflections...
Miron has been featured in the Ultimate reflections group
Ultimate Ninja Device sold 1 sometime this week an…
Ultimate Ninja Device sold 1 sometime this week and it made me very happy. Thanks whoever you are!
Well, I am definately not an earlybird to this site, but I have been lucky enought to sell 13 shirts in 3 days. Yes, some were to one fri…
Well, I am definately not an earlybird to this site, but I have been lucky enought to sell 13 shirts in 3 days. Yes, some were to one friend but I didn’t expect him to buy 6! I only designed one for him, he talked to his mates and they all got the same ULTIMATE PACMAN shirt (search it) - I’m very happy with the quality of work on this site, the in-depth critique given and just in general, the Redbubblers! Thank you! I am terribly addicted to this site now, I think I loaded this up before my email tonight! Anyways, enough techno babble, lets have some self promotion: go and check out my folio and be amazed! lol No, in all seriousness I have just uploaded a few picture works, (try and find the mullet) and all is going great! Speak to you all soon! Diesel Laws
I am chuffed to find The Ultimate Green Vehicle featur…
I am chuffed to find The Ultimate Green Vehicle featured in That’s Funny Group ... along with His Master’s VOIP. A double-header!!
Kathy and I are up late for us.. LOL.. So glad we decided to stay up.. I was informed that Kathy and I were featured with Steamy Morning …
Kathy and I are up late for us.. LOL.. So glad we decided to stay up.. I was informed that Kathy and I were featured with Steamy Morning Koi Pond II… / We are so pleased.. Hi Five and All.. Yabadaba Doooooo Happy Happy Happy
TAMRON has released a 18mm ~ 270mm f4.5~6.3 (yes, thats right – 15x zoom) which is equivelant to 29mm ~ 432mm (Canon APS-C format sensor)...
TAMRON has released a 18mm ~ 270mm f4.5~6.3 (yes, thats right – 15x zoom) which is equivelant to 29mm ~ 432mm (Canon APS-C format sensor) on a 35mm film camera. It has asperical lens elements, an ultrasonic type focusing motor and in lens image stabiliser that is to die for!! / 18mm (28.8mm) 800asa 1/15s f6.3 hand held / 270mm (432mm) 800asa 1/13s f6.3 hand held (this is near the centre of the first image. A B S O L U T E L Y an A W E S O M E lens!!!!! Other than that, I recently got a 105mm f2.8 SIGMA Macro lens (35mm full frame) which equates to 168mm on my Canon / / 1/400s @ f8 1600asa hand held (no image stabliser) – brilliant lens and a SIGMA 10mm ~ 20mm lens (16mm ~ 32mm 35mm equivelent) / / 1/50s f4 10mm (16mm) hand held (no image stabliser) (left) 1/15s f4 10mm (right) / another incredible lens – can be useful too – not just for making wierd images of my son or my mates
Ok maybe you haven’t heard of the Ultimate Warrior. / I’ll try to temporarily stop with the ridiculous early 90s references. So, if yo…
Ok maybe you haven’t heard of the Ultimate Warrior. / I’ll try to temporarily stop with the ridiculous early 90s references. So, if you like cool ass resources for making art, or you like to give things to the Redbubble community, then you should check out Ultimate Resources . It’s a brand new group for just that!
The most famous pinup icon passed away this week at the age of 85. / Her pictures could and still can be seen just about anywhere as she …
The most famous pinup icon passed away this week at the age of 85. / Her pictures could and still can be seen just about anywhere as she was the consumate beauty pinup from the 1960’s her name Betty Page you will be missed
This might be fun to try on your photos. / Tends to work best on images that are fairly bright and light to start with. Before / !ht…
This might be fun to try on your photos. / Tends to work best on images that are fairly bright and light to start with. Before / / and After / Before / / and After. / Before / / and After / Download it here! oh and this was created in cs3. All examples are my work do not copy or redistribute or claim as your own. / Also feel free to use the action in anything you want but do not redistribute. More useful things can be found over at Ultimate Resources
Hi! buddies out there … I am happy to announce that I have been made a…
Hi! buddies out there … I am happy to announce that I have been made a host of the group ULTIMATE RESOURCES by Fixtape ... the creator and host of the group. I had sent a mail to fixtape suggesting some improvements to ULTIMATE RESOURCES forums. In return she asked if I am interested to be a moderator. I was very happy and agreed. Now regarding the improvements to the ULTIMATE RESOURCES group … The group will be more active from now on. / The group forum is being divided into four main forums … Official Briefcase, Resource Box, Interview of members and General Discussion. Resource Box will be again subdivided to categorise and list all the resources submitted to the group as well as resources we find out ourselves. / Resource forum subdivision will help you to find out required resource at the right place and easily. You can manually post resources in the forum posts. Also the hosts will take the initiative to go through the art / journal submitted to the group and take the juice out and post them in right forums. So next time you find out something like an online art gallery or a new software to retouch image or a competition being held somewhere please go to the group ULTIMATE RESOURCES and share it. We will be very happy to accept. / Also the next time you need anything like photoshop tutorial or brush of illustrator or modern font or website to showcase your design, please feel free to visit ULTIMATE RESOURCES . By your active participation the ULTIMATE RESOURCES group can be treasure to Redbubble artists. You wouldnt need to go elsewhere then. We want everyone to participate. Three main ways of participation. / You can submit any resource to the group ULTIMATE RESOURCES / You can also go the the ULTIMATE RESOURCES forum and write a post to share something. / Also if you come accross such useful resources / tutorials posted by others … please tell them to submit the art / tee/ journal / writing … to ULTIMATE RESOURCES We also plan to launch challenges when things are in place.
Just a little..RB…HAPPY DANCE! 1st sale of the year! wooohooo yes sir! THANK YOU!! YOOO HOOO Who ever bought it …...
Just a little..RB…HAPPY DANCE! 1st sale of the year! wooohooo yes sir! THANK YOU!! YOOO HOOO Who ever bought it …THANK YOU! : ))) / : D alzenia
Weekends do not come much better than this….! My ’ A penny for….” got 2nd place in the weekly *Ultimate Photo Battle”. out of 24…
Weekends do not come much better than this….! My ’ A penny for….” got 2nd place in the weekly *Ultimate Photo Battle”. out of 247 images !! / Now we will have to see how it will fare in the monthly battle…. I need to thank all my frinds here on RB that held my hand and coaxed me along while I was going through my “dry spell”. / Thank you Guys! XXXCarisma
The ultimate tragedy / the harshest reality / our child is dead. When we lost our parents / we lost our past / losing a child we have lost…
The ultimate tragedy / the harshest reality / our child is dead. When we lost our parents / we lost our past / losing a child we have lost our future. Mornings are the worst / for a few seconds we forget to remember / that our son is dead. It hits us like a tidal wave / we drown every morning, over and over / like Groundhog Day. Short Audio Visual
Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, commissioned Kirkham Motorsports build the ultimate, cost is no object, roadster. Spanning the 2 1/2 years …
Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, commissioned Kirkham Motorsports build the ultimate, cost is no object, roadster. Spanning the 2 1/2 years between idea and completion, this book reveals the secrets of the ultimate car. If you like Cobras, this is awesome… / http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com/book_aoe/
One of the greatest challenges I have faced once I transitioned into digital photography, is dealing with the issues of work flow. When …
One of the greatest challenges I have faced once I transitioned into digital photography, is dealing with the issues of work flow. When I used film it was rather easy, I shot film, someone else did all the work, and I got back images. I catalogued them in albums and if I wanted bigger prints or more copes, I went back to the neg and, once again, it was someone else’s problem to make that into a print! Now of course I have thousands of digital files, far more than I ever produced negs because it’s “free”. Of course the true cost of all these images, and of the ability we have to edit and manipulate them, is that you have to employ some techniques to manage them or else, like I have been lately, you become paralysed under the weight of a pile of images that you just can’t turn into quality output. I’ve found my lack of decent work flow has slowed my shooting as I get less satisfaction from shoots when I wind up not getting the final product I should have, usually because I lack the skills and system to process the images I have to their full potential. It’s also meant that I have a massive collection of files, but no clue as to where many of my great shots are, so going back for them is a pain. This frustration has held me back. I have recently decided to fix all of this, and create a decent work flow, file management system and editing station at home. It isn’t going to be cheap or easy but I am determined to immerse myself in my photography again and see what I can do with it and this is the first and most important step. I have come to realise that without the right work flow, the right editing tools and the right workstation that no amount of shutter clicks will get me the output I want. As I write this my new PC has just arrived, and I am fresh out of my first class on some new software last night. Over the next few days I will be starting on this journey building the platform, work flow and image library from scratch and I’ll share each step along the way. I’d love to hear any questions or ideas from people going through the same thing, even if you bump into these posts in 2011! Hopefully by sharing this process I can help someone else out there avoid the mess I have made, or dig their way out of it if they have made it already.
(Come in part way through? Check out the whole series ) ...
(Come in part way through? Check out the whole series ) So before we get into the process of building a new, efficient, work flow and cataloguing system I though it might be helpful to describe the mess in which I currently work, and highlight the issues I am looking to resolve. The Hardware / I am working on a 4 year old laptop which is running a Pentium M 1.86Ghz processor and 1.5GB of RAM. The machine is old, tired, under performing and not up to running photoshop on 12MP RAW files. It is also running out of hard disk, so I am using a 1TB external hard drive for storage of my files. My camera is at least up to scratch, being a D300. Images are stored on CF cards that I interface with the machine via a card reader. Colour Management / Well, there isn’t any. While strictly not part of ‘work flow’ I think colour management has a place here, and certainly factored into my decision making process when it came to new hardware. Basically, I have a laptop whose screen is not good enough quality, that got calibrated once with borrowed equipment about 18 months ago. Beyond that, I have no colour management currently. Shooting Methodology / Right now I shoot RAW+JPEG. I understand the benefits of RAW, but for the most part care of my poor work flow, don’t get to take advantage of them. Hence I shoot RAW plus, and essentially end up using the RAW files as a backup if I don’t like the JPEG, or need heavy processing. Importing images / I import images to my work flow by manually copying them into my directory structure from the memory card. Essentially this process does nothing more than move the images to my disk, with no renaming or tagging. Folders are named by date, with a description of some sort after it. Processing and cataloguing images / Right now, I use Photoshop and Bridge. I use Bridge to sort and rate my images, and then process then in Adobe Camera Raw and, if required, photoshop. For the most part I will stick with the JPEGs if they are acceptable, and only use the RAW if work is required. I have a mess of RAW and JPEG files inside all my folders and, frankly, the use of the work cataloguing in the heading should be preceded by ‘lack of’. Outputting images / Output is either an as shot JPEG, in which case not a lot is done, or a JPEG produced out of Photoshop if processing has been done on a RAW. I don’t have an easy way to view all work I consider ‘Output’ in one place, and often will place my output somewhere random and if I want that image again, have to go back to the original file and create another JPEG. Backing up / Right now most of my images exist solely on my external drive. This drive is made of two mirrored disks so I am OK if one fails, however I have no off site backups if I have a larger failure. So as you can see, my work flow has lots of work and little flow! My intention in this process is to address all the following issues: A new workstation, with performance, storage and colour management considered. This machine also takes into account the other PC needs/wants I have Shooting methodology – do I still want to shoot two types of files? Importing and cataloguing images – how can I streamline and automate this process, and end up with a workable catalogue? Processing – Finding a tool that allows me to easily process and develop my images in bulk while also making it easy to go back to the original file and re-process in a different style later if my tastes or skills change Output – As part of cataloguing, be able to easily browse my ‘finished’ work. Also look into a way to more easily produce a showcase of my better work or a selection thereof such as an overseas trip to show friends. Backup – I have thousands of images… a few of them are even good. Once I have them all sorted out how do I make sure that I not only protect the images, but the processing and cataloguing that I am going to set up around them? In the next update I will talk about the workstation I have recently acquired and the software and hardware decisions that I have made. These are going to determine some of what I can do down the line, so I think they are just as important as the methodology I end up using.
My journey on Red Bubble has been filled with learning and has been a real adventure for me since joining in April 2008. My work has att…
My journey on Red Bubble has been filled with learning and has been a real adventure for me since joining in April 2008. My work has attracted 70,100 views, my writing 3,460 views, I have been featured on numerous occasions, I have sold work, I’ve won a challenge, been in the top ten of other challenges and been made a feature artist. I admit I was over the moon on each occasion and didn’t think it could get much better than this … until today. Monday morning, rushing to get to work and in a state of undress … phone rings and a voice not familiar to me introduces herself as Rosalie Dale ... oh sweet Rosalie, I have met on one occasion during the Gladesville/Roselle shoot last year but have chatted often by Bubble Mail and exchanged comments and provided support to each other on many occasions. So it threw me to think she was ringing me … maybe she was in my area and wanted to touch basis …. oh no! Rosalie then gave me the news that Steve McLaren (Bodymechanic) had chosen my work “Window to the Outside World” / / for his upcoming exhibition at the Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst from 23rd November to 6th December 2009. For more informatiion on the exhibition check with Steve HERE I’m afraid I must have sounded bewildered as I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing let alone try to find the right words to say. Where … When … How!!!!!! As the day progressed it all came together and now there’s a mad panic on to find someone who can put my image onto canvas and deliver it in time. Congratulations also must go to my fellow artist Mieke Boyton whose work “Fill ‘er up” was also chosen … Mieke’s image can be found HERE So thank you to everyone who has commented, encouraged or offered advice during this journey … its been fun and its only going to get better♥♥♥
(Come in part way through? Check out the whole series ) ...
(Come in part way through? Check out the whole series ) As mentioned in the last piece, I have started with building a new workstation to support my work flow taking into account the issues that I have identified in ‘The Mess”. Firstly let me say, ‘Hi, I’m Jon and I’m a PC’. I know Macs are synonymous with graphic work, but I am a PC person and working in IT, really need to stick with a PC at home. I can also deal with issue better on a PC than a Mac. So for me, that choice was a no-brainer. Given that, let’s look at: / The Hardware / I have had a PC built up through a reputable system builder I know through work with the following Specs. I have noted the basis for my choices by each one: Quad Core processor @2.8 Ghz – multiple cores allow multiple programs to run well side by side. Adobe Lightroom also makes good use of multiple cores, so more cores is a cheaper way to get performance than more speed (GHz) 8GB RAM – More than I’ll need for photography, but this allows me to have other intensive applications running as well. Keep in mind if you go for more than 3.5GB RAM that you will need a 64bit operating system to be able to use it. I’d want 4 for just doing photo work. OS Hard disk and a RAID Controller – I have a primary Hard disk for installing the operating system and applications. I have also had a RAID controller than controlls 4 hard disks in a RAID 5 array. Put simply this means that if one of those disks fails, I can replace it and not lose any data. This is where my photos and other personal data are going to sit. I have also put in an extra single drive to hold page files and scratch data to increase performance. Quality IPS primary screen – I have added 2 24” wide-screen monitors, and spent the extra to get a quality primary screen that uses an IPS panel, rather than the cheaper TN panels. My second screen is a TN screen. I am far from the best person to go into the technical differences, but I can tell you than the difference is obvious, and I am glad I followed the recommendation to get the IPS screen for colour work Spyder3 Colour Calibration – I have acquired the spyder to colour calibrate my screens, to make sure what I see is what I get. This is a simple process and now as part of my routine I will re-calibrate the monitor about once a month, ensuring I have consistent colour management. Software / After talking to a few people and reading about it on forums, I decide to make Adobe Lightroom my main software for cataloguing and processing images. I am glad I did. It makes managing your images so much easier. That alone would be worth using it for even if you still did everything in Photoshop or CaptureNX. However on top of that, it has enough processing tools to cover 95% of most peoples needs, giving you a real one stop shop for most of your work. I have also undertaken a Lightroom Course at the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney.It’s been a real eye opener so far, I am 2 of 5 classes in, and I am definitely glad I took it before I started importing images. So those are the tools I have chosen to build my new work flow around. The hardware really just to support the processing power needed, and then Lightroom to be the main tool that I use to take the files from shot image to sorted output and the Spyder3 to take care of colour management. With those taken care of, the next items on our list in “the mess” are shooting methodology and Importing Images to the work flow, which will be my next topic of discussion. I am aware there is a lot of technical aspects to this entry and I have been lightish on detail, so if there is anything you’d like more info on hit me up in the comments and I can reply with the details there or, if needed, edit this journal or make a new one!
Introduction By popular demand, this Guide seeks to explain and demonstrate the use of extreme neutral density filters, with particu…
Introduction By popular demand, this Guide seeks to explain and demonstrate the use of extreme neutral density filters, with particular focus (groan) on the 9-stop Hoya ND x400 Filter and the 10-stop B&W #110 ND Filter. I also discuss neutral density filters in general, and I have included at the end of the Guide links to the BG work of other RBers who, in my opinion, excel in this mode of photography. There is currently a world-wide shortage of those particular filters, with both Hoya and B&W being caught out by a sudden upsurge in demand. I attribute a chunk of the cause to the popularisation of their usage by Redbubble and magazines, particularly the UK’s Digital SLR Photography (http://www.digitalslrphoto.com/). Notwithstanding the current shortage, I have included at the end of this Guide a Resource List, including a rough price guide. If shopping on-line, be aware that prices vary significantly, especially in Australia, so caveat emptor rules, ok? I want to be upfront and say I am not recommending one over the other of anything. I have and use neutral density filters made by four different companies, and I do not get any commissions or kickbacks. However, in my Resource list I do discuss one particular type of neutral density filter, unique to a particular manufacturer, which, to say the least, is useless. Considering it costs between 250% and 300% more than others, this is rather disappointing. I should have believed the photographer I met on Big Nobby at Crescent Head instead of placing faith in the testimonials on the company’s website. I am talking about the Singh-Ray Vari ND filter. I also have been buying gear from one particular Australian supplier whose prices and service I have not seen bettered, and because that is the plain and simple truth of my experience (yours might be different), I tell you who that is, also in my Resource list. Terms used You may have seen the term Black Glass used on Redbubble. The person who first coined it was Adriana Glackin. It was March 2009, and Adriana and Tatiana (the 2 Yarners – think about it) and myself were at the very bottom of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains. Adriana asked Tatiana if she could try using her “black glass thingy”. She was referring to Tatiana’s Hoya ND x400 filter, but the name is rather appropriate so it stuck. After all, this what the ND x400 looks like: Rather dark, isn’t it?! In this Guide, I will use the term Black Glass or BG to refer to both the 9-stop Hoya and the 10-stop B&W. (I should also point out that it was Tatiana who turned me onto the creative uses of the BG.) Other terms you need to be familiar with, if not already, are: B&H – A major photographic gear supplier, based in the USA. B&W – A division of Schneider and a brand of BG. Btw, B&W does not stand for Black & White. CP – Circular Polariser, a type of “screw-on” filter. ND – Neutral Density. Grad ND – Gradual Neutral Density, including Soft Grad ND and Hard Grad ND. What is a neutral density filter? An ND filter is to a camera lens what a pair of sunglasses is to a human. (Peter Hill, 2010.) No more, no less. It is termed neutral because the filter will reduce the light going through the lens to the camera sensor in an even manner, whatever the colour conditions. Unless the filter has a manufacturing fault (and some do!), the colour is not impacted. I recently read on a blog that ND filters should not be used when shooting objects which are not lit consistently in the frame. I reckon that is rubbish advice. As I explain later in this Guide, the purpose of a Graduated ND filter is to even out different light exposures within the one frame (for example, a bright sky and a dark foreground), and there is absolutely nothing to prevent you from using a Grad ND with an ND, Black Glass or not. I do it often, and my point is demonstrated by most of the sample images in this Guide (below). Neutral Density filters and Gradual Neutral Density filters are made with increasing levels of density, said to be equivalent to f stops. Thus, you do not need to use an extreme ND filter such as the Black Glass. For example, apart from several BGs of varying diameters, I also use a (slim) B&W 3-stop ND Filter (77mm) and, if I so desired, I could in fact stack 3 such filters to achieve the equivalent of a 9-stop BG. Some history The genesis of the shortage of availability is the original purpose of the BG – to allow safe photography of bright light sources. Hoya and B&W are slowly catching up with the more popular uses of the BG. I still get a smile from these words which, to this day, are still those chosen by Hoya on their website to describe the “special effects filter” we know as the Black Glass: Photographing solar eclipses and ultra-bright light sources can be extremely dangerous. This filter reduces light values by 9 stops to less than 1/500th of its original intensity and allows safe photography. It can also be used to achieve super slow shutter speeds in daylight to render moving subjects invisible. (It’s worth noting that the 10-stop B&W Black Glass reduces light values to less than 1/1000th of its original intensity. Or in other words, the 10-stop BG only allows 0.1% of light to pass through it. Now that’s extreme.) I don’t shoot many solar eclipses, none in fact, but I do use the BG across the entire range of light conditions, including ultra low-light conditions. Extensively. For example, for up to an hour after sunset on a coastline, and in the deepest darkest rainforest. I’ll show you why later in this Guide. Essentially though, living and shooting in Australia, where the light is exceptionally bright, is the ideal reason to use a BG. So much so that I was recently told by the local distributor of UK-based Lee filters (Geoff at Mediavision) that Lee have been finally convinced to produce a BG. I am salivating because Lee filters are handmade, whereas Hoya et al are not and can be prone to colour casting or, more commonly, purple flaring. What’s the big deal with the BG? A picture tells a thousand words, so I’ll let these samples do most of the talking: Sample 1 Turimetta Beach / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 27mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, 30 seconds at f22, single RAW file. On such a bright sunny day, a long exposure to achieve a misty sea look is simply impossible without a BG. Reason enough to use one. Moreover, as this image shows, the depth of the colours that we see with our own eyes, sans sunnies, are allowed to seep into the photograph. By that I mean, normally an image shot in these conditions is fast, too fast for the camera’s sensor to capture the depth of the colour, to allow the colour to be soaked up by the sensor. The above image was shot on a day sooo bright I had to stop down to f22 to achieve it, even with the ISO right down to 50. Extreme settings they may be, but the result is what I like to term hyper-real. Now, with the 21 megapixel Canon 5D Mark II, I normally do not stop down further than f8 or f9 because of the diffraction effect, BUT in most other DLSRs using the Black Glass enables you to stop right down to f22 (and beyond, depending on the lens you are using) when shooting seascapes and landscapes and the like to achieve a decrease in depth of field, which in turn separates foreground subjects from those in the background, thus adding to that hyper-real result. Cool. And then there’s the clarity. Here are two close-ups from the above image: Again, with a non-moving subject, the long exposure allows the detail to really come out, and for the same reason a fast exposure doesn’t. When you combine the colour factor with the detail factor you have an image, to my mind, which has real body and depth. And that can change a rather ordinary composition into something quite special. Sample 2 When our eyes are looking at a real waterfall we are seeing the water in a flow. Hence, to me, a photograph of a waterfall taken at speed, eg 1/100 second, is unreal because it freezes that flow. Such an image can be pin-sharp, which is fine, if not suitable, but when the water is just as pin-sharp as the surrounding rocks it looks, again to me, as being one-dimensional and hence will not hold my interest regardless of how well composed it is. This is an example, mine, and taken at 1/60 second, of what I mean: Many photographers are on the same page, so with tripod handy and perhaps some filters like UV, Circular Polariser and Grad NDs, the aim is to slow the water down to capture more of the flow , as opposed to droplets frozen in mid-air. However, this presents another problem: the longer the exposure, the whiter the water, and hence the danger of overexposure or blown highlights. This is an example of what I mean. Again, it is one of mine, only this time taken over 1.5 seconds in an early vain attempt at capturing movement: Now compare those samples with this: Katoomba Falls / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 25mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, 46 seconds at f11, single RAW file. I know which type of water flow capture I prefer. It still amazes me that a long exposure with the BG will retain the clarity of the water flow without blowing it out or turning it into a mushy snow-like blob. And, like the bright beach shot, the colours are deep, despite (or because of) the image being taken with no sunlight and from a shaded position. Let’s have a closer look at some of the detail: Here’s one more example of a low-light, shaded waterfall, only this time with minimal water flow and a really really l..o..n..g exposure: Dante’s Glen Falls / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 50mm f1.4 EX DG HSM Lens with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.6 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO: 50, f9, 300 seconds, single RAW file One thing I should point out now is the absence of a need to tweak curves and levels. What you see with the above samples is what I shot. If you get the focus right and the exposure right (see below), the BG will do the rest. Sample 3 Where are the cars? / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 51mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter, ISO 50, 8 seconds at f14, single RAW file. Just like Hoya says on its website, slow shutter speeds with the BG will render moving objects invisible. The above shot of Anzac Bridge was taken during the middle of a workday, with scores of vehicles passing whilst the shutter was open. To be honest, I haven’t had time to explore this aspect of shooting with the BG, but you can well imagine the creative possibilities! You can also use the BG to create a ghosting effect: / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 25mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, 146 seconds at f11, single RAW file. Ten second delay. Sample 4 The visual impact of taking a photograph showing movement contrasted with stillness can be extended from what the eye sees (waterfalls) to what the eye does not see – clouds. Indeed, it was monochrome seascapes with major cloudage happening that really got me going with the BG. But those were seascapes shot in the UK, where dark brooding skies appear to be the norm! Here in Australia, this is the best I’ve been able to manage: Grey Dawn / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 24mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee 0.6 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, 98 seconds at f14, single RAW file Sample 5 Which brings me to my last sample of what the BG can do – really really cool Monochromes. As you’ll see from my choice of inspirational photographers doing BG work here on RB, there is something really cool about the use of a 9- or 10-stop ND filter when shooting in Monochrome. For me, it doesn’t matter if the exposure is for 8 seconds … / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 24mm f3.5L Tilt+Shift Lens with Hoya HMC x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, f8 at 8 seconds, single RAW file 45 seconds … / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 50mm f1.4 Lens with Hoya HMC x400 Filter and Lee 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter, ISO 50, f8 at 45 seconds, single RAW file 60 seconds … / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 24mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter, ISO 50, f14 at 60 seconds, single RAW file 120 seconds … / / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 50mm f1.4, Hoya HMC ND x400 Filter, ISO 50, f6.3 at 120 seconds, single RAW file ...or how many seconds, the Black Glass will always produce interesting Monochromes. With such variety of applications, is it little wonder I find it hard sometimes not to shoot with the BG? Please tell me, as my therapist needs to know. OK, enough of the Show and Tell. Now we explore the How. How to use a Black Glass Gear It almost goes without saying, but if you are going to use a Black Glass you will need to mount your camera on a tripod. Also, I would recommend using mirror lock-up for enhanced stability and a remote shutter release for the same reason. And if you shoot in JPEG using a Black Glass instead of shooting in RAW you will be decreasing the depth, clarity and colour that is possible from BG usage. Nuff said on that score, sore point. Wind Got wind? Not good for using the BG. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, if you are shooting a long exposure outside in wind, trees will become blurred. While this may seem to be adding creative spice, to my it doesn’t. For example, I need trees to be as still as possible in order to provide contrast to moving water. Secondly, and rather obviously, the longer the exposure the greater the risk you’ll end up with a blurred image because of wind. It only takes a slight vibration to ruin the shot. But hey, the best time to use the BG is at dawn and sunset. It’s the best lighting conditions and normally at that time of day the wind is not an issue if its a clear day. Taking the shot When you screw in a BG onto the end of your lens, it is usually impossible to see anything through the viewfinder except black, unless you are pointing the lens directly at the sunlight on a clear bright day. Hence, before you screw in your BG you will need to compose your shot and focus your lens. A few tips are handy to note: Don’t forget to turn OFF the Auto Focus (AF) on the lens before you press the shutter with the BG on the lens, ie switch to Manual Focus (MF). If you forget to do this, when you press that shutter the AF function will kick in and vainly try to find some light through the lens, and that then ruins your focus and you will end up with a blurred image. If you remember to switch to MF before taking the shot, don’t worry if you hear the camera’s AF-asist go “beep”. It just means that there was still enough light happening but it won’t override the MF setting. This commonly happens when you are using the BG on a bright sunny day. The purists are going to cringe when they read this, but when you are composing and focusing your shot before screwing in the BG, I wouldn’t worry about the exposure. In other words, don’t stress about having to calculate how many stops of overexposure you need to get an evenly-balanced exposure after putting the BG on. I have tried to do this and never succeeded in getting anything other than an overexposed blob. I have a theory its to do with light intensity. And besides, one of the major advantages of using a BG is that you do not have to adjust ISO to compensate for bright light and instead you have greater control over aperture and speed. I discuss ISO and BGs more below, but my point is this: if you want to use ISO 100 just do it. If you want to use f22 or f2.8 or whatever, just do it. You can because what’s left is speed, and the BG gives you enormous range in that regard to find the right exposure when using the BG for any particular shot. Another reason for not worrying about the exposure is that f stop compensation calculations assume you won’t also be using a Grad ND, which will darken your image. Try doing the calculations for that! In the absence of doing those exposure calculations, it is a case of trial and error. 60 seconds and your image is still dark? Well shoot again, this time at 90 seconds. A little too overexposed? Well try again, this time at 75 seconds. Each time you are narrowing down the exposure time. The more you use the BG, the more comfortable you’ll get with gut feel. Bear in mind that if you shoot at, say, 300 seconds, adjusting the next shot to 315 seconds is not going to make a discernable difference. A 15 second differential will, however, make a difference between 60 and 75 seconds. Bear in mind that the person I consider to be the King of the BG (see below) admits that success with long exposures is “trial and error”, just like I said. If you are using a BG on a zoom lens take care when screwing in your BG that you don’t push the zoom back, thus lowering the focal length and changing your composition, if not focus as well. Screw the BG on tight, otherwise you will get flare on the side of your frame. In the case of the Hoya BG it will be purple. This is also recommended if you are also going to screw in a Cokin or Lee adaptor ring for your Grad NDs. I speak from personal experience of failing to screw in the BG tighter than the adaptor ring onto the BG – my 72mm BG is now permanently attached to my Lee 72mm wide angle adaptor ring. Not a good look. If you get sun flare when taking a shot, using a BG will not avoid it, but increase the flare. I generally try to avoid pointing the lens directly at sunlight with the BG on, unless the shot is less than, say, 10 seconds. Hot pixels, dead pixels, and stuck pixels With really l…o…n…g exposures, you are bound to experience one or more of the above. This problem arises from variations in the individual responsitivity of the millions of pixels on your camera’s sensor. Type 1 are hot pixels, which will show up as white dots. Type 2 are dead pixels, which will show as black dots, and Type 3 are stuck pixels, which will either be red, blue or green. Often you will see all 3 types referred to as hot pixels. I have found Type 3 to be most prevalent when using the BG, and it is not uncommon for all 3 colours to be evident. On a Redbubble page they are very hard to discern, but if someone buys a large print of your BG masterpiece and there are stuck pixels on it, it will be noticable so you need to be on the look-out for them on your computer monitor. Here is an example of an image with at least four stuck pixels … / Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 24-70mm f2.8L Lens at 24mm with Hoya ND x400 Filter and Lee (Polyester) Green Filter, ISO 50, 63 seconds at f5, single RAW file shot in Monochrome, white balance fine adjustment applied to Landscape mode to counterbalance the green ...hard to see aren’t they? Here are 2 of them in a close crop: Unfortunately, if your DSLR has a reputation for noise at ISO 640 and above, your hot, dead, and stuck pixel problem will be multiplied if using the BG for exposures longer than about 30 seconds. For example, Tatiana’s 5D produces many more such pixels than the same image shot on my 5D Mark II with the same settings. Some tips: Stuck pixels and other types of problem pixels are easily fixed in post-processing, in exactly the same manner as dust removal. Do take the time to remove them. Enlarge your image to check for them if necessary. You’ll get more of these problem pixels the longer the exposure and the higher the ISO. The pixel variations increase because the sensor heats up over a long exposure period. This is one reason I am really hesitant to shoot at longer than 7 minutes. I have seen images shot over speeds of up to 15 minutes and I do wonder how much “repair” work was necessary and if its good for the sensor. Manage the problem by keeping your ISO as low as possible. ISO 100 is ideal. Indeed, I would recommend letting your sensor cool down between really long exposures. (Shutter life ratings are not based on long exposures.) Some cameras have Noise Reduction processing capabilities which will fix the problem before you download. But there are 2 reasons why I never engage this function on my camera. First and foremost, Noise Reduction will cause a loss of definition, ie clarity. Secondly, if your exposure is, say 120 seconds, the Noise Reduction process will take 120 seconds before you ever get to see the image in your viewfinder. I’m a patient man, but not that patient! Anything else? At this point I think I’ve exhausted my knowledge of the BG, if not you as well. I’ll leave this space here in case of something else coming to mind for later edits. Those who inspire This is the easy part. There is no doubt in my mind as to who is the Mono King of the BG on RB – Donald Cameron (aka Mr Mono). Check out these examples of his exceptional work: Falkirk Canal Wheel / Dyin’ Alone / Time and Place / Night Comes Falling / Donald’s a pretty good poet too. Check out his portfolio and be inspired! Other’s whose mono BG work inspires me: Joel Tjintjelaar / GlennC / Underdoc / Check out their portfolios – just amazing! Resources As I wrote above, prices for the BG vary significantly, depending on both the diameter required and the supplier. About the only constant is that the cheapest is the smallest diameter, getting more expensive as the diameter increases. This is one reason why the cost of going BG relates more to the actual lens you want to use it with and, unfortunately, most lenses for DSLRs are at the higher diameter level, ie 72mm and 77mm. (Your lens should display its diameter on the inside of the front tip.) As far as I am aware, only Hoya, B&W (Schneider) and Singh-Ray make BGs or similar. Several others make ND filters up to 3 stops, eg Tiffen. B&W (Schneider) The Schneider B&W Black Glass is available for lenses with diameters of 35.5mm 37mm 39mm 40.5mm 43mm 46mm 49mm 52mm 55mm 58mm 60mm 62mm 67mm 72mm 77mm That’s the largest range on the planet. The Schneider B&W website categorises its filters by size, not type. Here is the B&H page for B&W BG filters. For Australians, I bought my B&W filter from here but be aware they may be currently out of stock. It may be better to buy through B&H (see above link) given the greater range in stock and the improving Australian dollar against the greenback. There’s also Adorama, but I’ve never bought off them. Here’s their B&W BG catalogue Also, check out this guide to spotting fake B&Ws, especially those on offer on eBay. Hoya Hoya Black Glasses are available in 49mm 52mm 55mm 58mm 62mm 67mm 72mm 77mm Here is the main Hoya ND x400 web page. Here is the B&H (USA) on-line shopping list for Hoya BGs. Here is the equivalent Adorama page. For Australians, here is where I buy my Hoyas. They have a physical shop in North Sydney and their Hoya prices are the cheapest I’ve seen. (They also have the most extensive catalogue of Canon lenses I have ever salivated over.) A comparison of prices can be had here Singh-Ray I wanted an 82mm BG for my Carl Zeiss Distagon 21mm f2.8 Lens but as you can see from the above, neither Hoya nor B&W make them at that diameter. Instead, I acquired an 82mm Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter. These things are significantly more expensive than either Hoya or B&W and, in my opinion, only worth a fraction of a Hoya or B&W, if anything at all. They are constructed in exactly the same way as a Circular Polariser, only much chunkier. They proclaim to give a range of 2 to 8 stops. I don’t think they do. Anything above about 6 produces vertical banding. Worse, the higher the stop the greater the colour casting throughout the frame. And to cap it off, I cannot use it, ie vary the ND factor, with the lens hood on. A complete waste of money and my biggest gear mistake to date. Lee Filter Systems Much like Nikon v Canon, it seems to be Cokin v Lee. But, unlike Cokins, Lees are handmade and, according to rumour, are less prone to colour casting. But I wouldn’t know. I use Lee polysester filters for black & white photography, Lee resin Grad NDs, and many Lee resin special effects filters. Given that level of investment, I don’t use Cokin. (I’m more than happy to add Cokin links if anyone wants to supply them to me.) Lee has an excellent guide, in pdf, to their entire filter system here. Their main website is here. If you only want to go basic with Lee, I suggest simply buying one resin 0.9 Soft Grad ND Filter (about $120) and/or the set of 4 polyester filters for black & white photography ($20 each). For Australians, Lee gear can be acquired from either Mediavision or Vanbar. I have nothing positive to say about Vanbar, but I am at a regular at Mediavision. Geoff is the man. Contact details for Mediavision: / 4 Monash Road (off Victoria Rd) / Gladesville / NSW 2111 / Tel: 02 9816 4055 / Fax: 02 9816 1661 / Email: sales@mediavision.com.au Well, that’s it for me. If you got this far with this Tutorial, you may find these of interest as well: The Easy Guide To Basic Photoshop / The NEW and IMPROVED Easy Guide to Creating the Orton Effect using Photoshop / The Easy Guide to Creating Samples of Artwork on Redbubble – UPDATED / The Easy Guide to Creating Clickable Images on Redbubble / The Easy Guide to Creating Links on Redbubble / Mirror Lock-up – what it is & when to use it / The Easy Guide To Applying Motion Blur / The Easy Guide to Adding Clouds to an Image using Photoshop / Everything you want to know about RAW but are afraid to ask / The Easy Guide to Using a Tilt+Shift Lens Cheers / Peter History Tutorial published 6 January 2010 /
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