Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Using a Printer Evaluation Image
Outback Photo is a great resource on digital printing. They have developed an evaluation image for the sake of testing printers and profiles. They make is available as a free download. The also have a write up on how to evaluate the results. The article, Using the Printer Evaluation Image, also has a link to download the image.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Great Article on Color Management
Luminous Landscape, a really great photography website, has recently posted an article by Andrew Rodney titled Why Are My Prints Too Dark. It is very current and address some matters that have arisen since the 2005 publication of his excellent book on the subject; Color Management for Photographers. I encourage you to read it and the numerous articles that he links to.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Arduino
Arduino is a very popular processor that is allowing many otherwise normal folks to get into robotics and hardware programming. Here are some links to some stuff I found interesting.
Atlantic article which does a good job explaining what the Arduino is all about.
Blog article and video on making a programmable robot from a popular cheap kids toy.
Hacking a cheap digital camera for Arduino control.
Controlling a Roomba with an Arduino chip.
Make magazine's intro to robots.
MakerShed a source for Arduino processors and other related electronics.
Atlantic article which does a good job explaining what the Arduino is all about.
Blog article and video on making a programmable robot from a popular cheap kids toy.
Hacking a cheap digital camera for Arduino control.
Controlling a Roomba with an Arduino chip.
Make magazine's intro to robots.
MakerShed a source for Arduino processors and other related electronics.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Image from a new series I am working on
The only copy of this image to survive the theft of my laptop. It is from the series on foreclosure that I am working on. It is just a little baby image though; so good for FB, email, and web. Not enough info for a good print. Will just have to shoot it again. Next time, it will be even better. If you know of a home that is currently foreclosed or previously foreclosed and have a connection to get me access for a few hours, please let me know.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
More thoughts on Scanner Art
In an earlier posting on scanner art, I lamented that scanners don't get enough love. Having used quite a few scanners over the years for purposes for which they were never intended, I have learned a few things in regards to their use as a creative vehicle.
1. Depth of field is the area in front of and behind the plane of focus that is reasonably sharp. You can assume that the plane of focus on a flatbed scanner is the surface of the glass. To be sure, this is not always the case and there are special systems of focus determination which involve shims and such to place film closer to the true plane of focus. I am more concerned with the understanding that as you move things further from the glass, the objects appear less sharp. This can be used to great effect. You can use this to provide a sense of depth in your image. If everything is equally sharp in an image, it tends to looks flat. Since the glass prevents us from utilizing the depth of field in front of the glass, we are limited to moving things further above it to make them less sharp. Of course, you can remove the glass if you would like to, put the design of most scanners is such that the scanning mechanism travels just beneath the glass preventing you from having images situated much below the glass surface.
One of the more interesting things pertaining to scanner depth of field is that it varies greater among various scanner models. It all has to do with the optical design of the scanner. For example, the Canon Lide series of scanners have incredibly shallow depth of field compared to say an Epson Perfection 3170 or a Perfection 4990. This isn't intrinsically bad, it is just to be noted. If you want to make a piece with very shallow depth of field, then get a Canon Lide scanner. If you want greater depth of field, get an Epson. This isn't to say they are all the same though. In the previous post on scanner art, I think I mentioned that everyone should have at least one scanner. Depth of field considerations is just one reason why.
2. Light fall off. Light scatters as it travels away from a light source. Opening or removing the scanner lid, less light will be reflected back onto the object being scanned. Usually, opening up the lit results in a black or very dark background as opposed to white. Depending on what you are going for, you can do either.
More to come soon...
1. Depth of field is the area in front of and behind the plane of focus that is reasonably sharp. You can assume that the plane of focus on a flatbed scanner is the surface of the glass. To be sure, this is not always the case and there are special systems of focus determination which involve shims and such to place film closer to the true plane of focus. I am more concerned with the understanding that as you move things further from the glass, the objects appear less sharp. This can be used to great effect. You can use this to provide a sense of depth in your image. If everything is equally sharp in an image, it tends to looks flat. Since the glass prevents us from utilizing the depth of field in front of the glass, we are limited to moving things further above it to make them less sharp. Of course, you can remove the glass if you would like to, put the design of most scanners is such that the scanning mechanism travels just beneath the glass preventing you from having images situated much below the glass surface.
One of the more interesting things pertaining to scanner depth of field is that it varies greater among various scanner models. It all has to do with the optical design of the scanner. For example, the Canon Lide series of scanners have incredibly shallow depth of field compared to say an Epson Perfection 3170 or a Perfection 4990. This isn't intrinsically bad, it is just to be noted. If you want to make a piece with very shallow depth of field, then get a Canon Lide scanner. If you want greater depth of field, get an Epson. This isn't to say they are all the same though. In the previous post on scanner art, I think I mentioned that everyone should have at least one scanner. Depth of field considerations is just one reason why.
2. Light fall off. Light scatters as it travels away from a light source. Opening or removing the scanner lid, less light will be reflected back onto the object being scanned. Usually, opening up the lit results in a black or very dark background as opposed to white. Depending on what you are going for, you can do either.
More to come soon...
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
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