Pro Techniques

A large percentage of the population has always had a love affair with the automobile. We own more cars per capita than any other culture and we have a genuine fascination with older models. When "classic" vehicles reach a certain age, some will spend small...

One of the challenges to home or professional photographersthese days is trying to keep every portrait set from looking the same. In a world where “freshness” counts a lot, being able to mix things up from one session to another, from season to season, all without jumping through too many hoops to change the set, is an advantage for many. A current trend is the ability to not only change backdrops but flooring as well, and with that in mind we recently had the opportunity to work with products from a division of the pro lab White House Custom Colour called “Backdrops by WHCC.” They have a wide range of interesting offerings in both fabric backdrops and rugged “rubberized” studio flooring.

When our resident digital guru's Digital Darkroom Resource CD appeared in 2003 it debuted to much fanfare. The first volume included 11 chapters; shortly thereafter, Brooks released a second volume containing 16 chapters. He's now outdone himself with a new, third volume that contains 26 chapters, totaling 318 pages in PDF format plus a folder of images for print test...

One of the primary differences between a photograph and the real world is that reality has three dimensions: height, width, and depth. Your photos, of course, only have two—height and width. Any depth that exists in a photograph is purely an optical illusion. Even if you were able to create a print that was the exact same size as the scene (and wouldn’t that be fun) it would still pale beside the real thing because of the lack of that third dimension.

I have to admit something to you. About five years ago, when it was becoming very evident that digital technology would become increasingly important for the imaging professional, I tried to look the other way. I figured it would be a niche market. If they...

Having worked with Steve in the past, and knowing him for many years, we are always pleased to feature his photography and writing. Recently a new book of his came across our desk (ISBN: 978-1-4547-0327-3, published by Pixiq, www.pixiq.com, 272 pages, $29.95) and we are happy to offer an excerpt of just a few pages of the tip and technique filled volume here. This is one book where Steve’s personality, experience, and expertise certainly comes through in each and every well-illustrated page.—Editor