Traveling the Journey of Light | Photoblog Thoughts, feelings, and techniques behind the photography of Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston

Marketing Photography, Part III: The Art of Keywording PhotographsPosted by drfl on July 27th, 2010

In my May 12th post, “Everybody Loves Keywording Photographs” I mentioned that keywording photographs is usually a tedious albeit necessary exercise to help categorize photographs and allow others to find them via your website or search engines on the Internet.  During the past two months I have revamped my website with the focus on expanding my already existing keywords and made some notes.  Today, I’m going to give some tips on what you should do to maximize the your the keywords associated with your photography.  For this exercise, I will be using the image above, “Mist and Melancholy” to help illustrate what keywords should be associated with this image.

While answering each of the 11 questions below, we need to keep four things in mind.  Primarily, we will want to be as specific as possible.  If something has a proper name, it should be used.  Secondly, we will want to explore as many synonyms as possible within each question.  Thirdly, if the plural of the subject differs significantly in spelling we will want to make note of that as well.  Lastly, spell check everything!  A mispelled word will rarely help in searches.

Keep in mind that if your keywords are too vague or inaccurate people will not think that your keywording is reliable and will be frustrated when they do not find the image they need.  Additionally, we want to use only the terms the majority of individuals would use when searching.  It is possible to go too far in keywording and have obscure words which few people would actually use.   Using such terms reduces the effectiveness of the words that you have chosen to describe the photograph. 

The questions come after the jump - be sure to click on “Read the rest of the entry”!

Read the rest of this entry »

Nebraska - From One Extreme to Another - Day 10 - BreakthroughPosted by drfl on July 9th, 2010

For my final image in the “From One Extreme to Another” series, I present “Breakthrough“. This is probably, my favorite image from the day I spent at Ponca State Park. The sun and fog really added to the dynamic of this image. While the composition seems simple, something keeps drawing me back to this photograph. A good example of learning to photograph where you live. Interesting images can be made virtually anywhere, one doesn’t have to travel far to see some incredible things.

Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/8, 1/2000 sec.
Ponca State Park, Nebraska

5 Arguments Against “Is That REALLY How You Saw It?” - #2: Are You Super-Dynamic?Posted by admin on June 10th, 2010

One of the most frustrating issues with photography comes with attempting to capture images with large dynamic range of light. When one looks at such a scene, like a person in front of a sunset, our eyes can pick up both the individual and the colors in the sky. When we photograph the scene, though, either the person is illuminated and the sky is washed out or the person is in the dark with the colors of the sunset are readily visible. Our eyes can effectively pick up about 10-12 stops of light while photography at its best picks up about 6.

Gradient of Roughly 5 Stops (Not to Exact Scientific Scale, for Illustration Purposes Only)

Gradient of Roughly 10 Stops (Not to Exact Scientific Scale, for Illustration Purposes Only)

Over the years various methods have been employed to alleviate this problem: Neutral Density Filters, Blending, HDR Software, Fill Flash. Curiously, even though our eyes can see these levels of light, when applied to photographs these images sometimes appear what many consider to be “unnatural”. As a result, this is one of the areas that viewers complain that a photograph could not have been how the artist actually witnessed the scene.

So, why does the viewing audience believe these images to be manipulated? Partly due to years of conditioning, people take photos and without these techniques their results fall short. Partly due to an overuse of some of these technologies. Lastly, partly due to using these technologies in situations or images that do not warrant them. I have seen many photographers pull out their Neutral Grad filters in situations when they are not needed, simply because they are so used to using them to hold back the sky. It is not always necessary! Meter first!

Of course, the end result is to capture the scene as one sees it, the side effect is creating an image that the viewing public believes is unrealistic, even though it may be more realistic!

Mass Believability? - 5 I shouldn’t be able to see those tree trunks!

Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/18, .4 sec., 3-Stop Hard Neutral Grad
Black Hills, South Dakota

Photo Friday: Ice TreesPosted by drfl on February 5th, 2010

After skipping the last two Photo Fridays I have returned with an image I captured a couple of weeks ago at Boyer Chute near Ft. Calhoun, Nebraska.  I hiked into the refuge and found a grove of cottonwoods tipped with hoarfrost.  I spent some time photographing the patterns and contrasts through the trees.  This image was taken about 20 minutes before sunrise when the cool blue of twilight dominated the prairie.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/8, 1/15 sec.
Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

The Photographer’s LuckPosted by drfl on January 19th, 2010

“Wow, you must have been lucky to see that!”, “That was lucky you had your camera ready at that exact time!”, or “Did you feel lucky when you saw that?!” are all sentiments I’ve heard voiced at shows and exhibitions to myself and other photographers. Are photographers really “lucky”? While I am happy to have witnessed some of the beauty offered by this earth, this word is perhaps used too freely amongst some of these individuals.

Andrew Fleming, a Scottish researcher, leaving for vacation, left some petri dishes out in his lab containing strains of the staph bacteria. Upon his return he noticed that in one dish one of the staph strains had died near where a mold had taken over. Recognizing the benefit of being able to create a substance to combat bacteria, he worked for years exploring this discovery. The mold he discovered was later termed “Penicillin” and the the modern antibiotic age was born. Of course, many might say he got “lucky”, but in fact he had the knowledge and experience to recognize the implications of what he found. It took years of hard work and dedication, but his serendipitous discovery could have been lost on a less inclined mind.

Seneca, a Roman philsopher is quoted, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”  Pratice, patience, planning, education, all go into building an artist’s preparation for when opportunities arise and these opportunities do not come readily. For example, a photographer who wants to capture the morning sun on a particular mountain peak must research sunrise times, angles, weather conditions, and ascent routes. Once all this information is compiled and processed the artist can then prepare equipment, dress appropriately and ascend the slope to gain the opportunity for a beautiful alpenglow shot. Upon arriving, more preparedness is then required compose the shot, utilize the appropriate filters, and later process the shot to its fullest extent.

Creating art forces artists to observe to the world in a more detailed manner. With more observeration comes a greater the apprecation of the gifts of the this world. An artist’s main goal is to share the beauty that comes from the heart and imagination and this requires dedication and preparation. The thrill of capturing beauty could be perceived as luck, but the end result is a greater realization of the gifts we have. As for the gifts I have?  I agree, I am lucky.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 25mm, f/8, 1/13 sec.
Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

Photo Friday: Twilight BluePosted by drfl on January 15th, 2010

Taken at twilight from the tower at Platte River State Park in Nebraska after a fresh snow.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/8, 1/60 sec.
Platte River State Park, Nebraska