There are literally hundreds of photography websites out there, some great one's and some mediocre one's, so I'm recommending a couple here that I visit on a regular basis because they are very informative, entertaining and may even help you improve your photography.
First up is The Mindful Eye. Until recently this was the Radiant Vista which is run by professional photographer and teacher Craig Tanner.
Craig is an outstanding photographer who really has a passion for teaching and photography in general. This site is really about helping photographers improve their craft for amateurs and pros alike.
The site offers a daily critique where you can send in an image and if you are lucky, Craig will post a video of him analyzing and then editing your shot in Photoshop. These videos offer great insight into how a professional photographer can see the final shot before editing and then the work flow involved in getting the shot there. This is an invaluable source of information if you are struggling with editing in Photoshop or any other image editing software.
There is also a large community forum where the users actively encourage each other and offer positive criticism and help on all aspects of their photography.
The second site I visit regularly is by photographer John Beardsworth. John is one of my favourite black and white photographers and has an excellent book available on the subject which I highly recommend.
His site offers a very entertaining blog which covers a wide variety of subjects including Photoshop, Aperture, Lightroom, color and monochrome photography, DAM, the visual arts and even computing tips.
Many of John's black and white images are also available to view on the site and I would highly recommend that you take a look.
Saturday 20 June 2009
Tuesday 9 June 2009
Fine Art Photography
What is your definition of fine art photography? The Wikipedia definition is "photographs that are created to fulfill the creative vision of the artist." This is the definition that I like. To me it is also any piece of beautiful artistic photographic work that is non-commercial that can be a landscape, a portrait, an abstract image or a macro image of some kind.
Different people have different definitions of what fine art photography is, some say it has to be black and white or monochrome, others say that the print has to be matted for framing before it can be called fine art. I do not subscribe to these at all. In truth fine art can be black and white / monochrome or color but I must admit that I do prefer black and white. My own fine art images are exclusively in black and white as I prefer this format for printing and framing. To say though that the photograph must be matted is a little obscure in my view. Surely it is about the image at the end of the day?
One thing I do see on a regular basis are personal photography websites touting themselves as fine art photographers and offering so-called fine art prints. Unfortunately many of these lack any artistic quality whatsoever and are merely record shots or snapshots. I doubt very much if they will see many sales of these! At the other end of the spectrum I also see truly fantastic photographic art on display in photography magazine reader galleries, that the photographer is not promoting or offering for sale or for print from their own site. I'm pretty sure this is down to lack of confidence from the photographer in their own work.
Different people have different definitions of what fine art photography is, some say it has to be black and white or monochrome, others say that the print has to be matted for framing before it can be called fine art. I do not subscribe to these at all. In truth fine art can be black and white / monochrome or color but I must admit that I do prefer black and white. My own fine art images are exclusively in black and white as I prefer this format for printing and framing. To say though that the photograph must be matted is a little obscure in my view. Surely it is about the image at the end of the day?
One thing I do see on a regular basis are personal photography websites touting themselves as fine art photographers and offering so-called fine art prints. Unfortunately many of these lack any artistic quality whatsoever and are merely record shots or snapshots. I doubt very much if they will see many sales of these! At the other end of the spectrum I also see truly fantastic photographic art on display in photography magazine reader galleries, that the photographer is not promoting or offering for sale or for print from their own site. I'm pretty sure this is down to lack of confidence from the photographer in their own work.
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