Blog Marco

I was playing around with my desk ornament (aka Tombo and Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service) and taking photos with my Nikon D700 and macro lens. Here are the results... Macro photography is close-up photography. The classical definition is that the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject. On 35 mm film (for example), the lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area approaching the size of the film frame. Most 35mm format macro lenses achieve at least 1:2, that is to say, the image on the film is 1/2 the size of the object being photographed.

Many 35mm macro lenses are 1:1, meaning the image on the film is the same size as the object being photographed. Another important distinction is that lenses designed for macro are usually at their sharpest at macro focus distances and are not quite as sharp at other focus distances. In recent years, the term macro has been used in marketing material to mean being able to focus on a subject close enough so that when a regular 6×4 inch (15×10 cm) print is made, the image is life-size or larger. With 35mm film this requires a magnification ratio of only approximately 1:4, which demands less of lens quality than 1:1. With digital cameras the actual image size is rarely stated, so that the magnification ratio is largely irrelevant; cameras instead advertise their closest focusing distance.

I bought myself a Holga 120 CFN recently which typically shoots 120 Film. Shot my first roll and I'm the hunt for a place to develop... Here's a few places in Sydney that still does 120 film processing.

For 12 shots, 120 Medium Format Film; Fotolab (same day service) quoted me $11.95 to process, $2.20 per 4x4 print (Shop GE, 303 Pitt St. - Sydney Ph. 92833721 http://www.fotolab.com.au/). Foto Riesel (Overnight service, drop by 10am) quoted me $27 for developing and printing. (364a Kent St Sydney 92996745) Other place you can try is Campsie Prolab.

Photo above by SlimJim

Watch these two videos below which describe the "10 Golden Rules of Lomography". The ten rules follow after the "Don't think, Just Shoot" motto of lomo style photography.

• Take your camera everywhere you go.
• Use it any time – day and night.
• Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it.
• Try the shot from the hip.
• Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible.
• Don’t think.
• Be fast.
• You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film.
• Afterwards either.
• Don’t worry about any rules.

Lomography is the commercial trademark of Lomographische AG, Austria for products and services related to photography. I recently bought myself a Holga plastic camera to find out what this plastic camera craze is all about. Lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing are often considered part of the "Lomographic Technique.". I'm yet to develop my first roll, but I'm excited to find out the results soon! (How long has it been since I used any sort of film? 6/7 years ago?)

Learn about Lomography and cheap plastic cameras from this short video from KUTV2 - "blurry, fuzzy and badly framed, all the things that make art photography great, and all available from cheap plastic cameras like the Lomo, Diana or Holga":

Found an Interesting Photography studio job on SEEK...

Studio Sales & Photographer – Full Time

Have you ever wished you could work in a professional company, with professional people, doing professional things in a professional way? alex&marc new generation portraits is recruiting a professional team for our state-of the-art studio in Castle Towers, Castle Hill.

As Lady Gaga sings in her hit song "Paparazzi":

Got my flash on it's true
Need that picture of you
It's so magical

Someone has "invented" a new gadget for celebrities: an anti paparazzi flash gadget which fits in a purse. A photographer shooting a celebrity at night, complete with flash will find that every photo would be ruined as the flash from the anti paparazzi device will blind the camera's CCD sensors. There are still bigs in the "invention".

Here is a hilarious and extreme example of how much of a difference smart cropping can make. Here's a quick tutorial on how to crop your photos for your facebook or myspace profile album - no retouching required. First grab your camera. Then have someone else take your picture while you contort your body to reveal your best assets all the while "hiding" your worst features. Keep in mind on where you will crop the photo. Upload your photo and open in your favourite photo editor.

Get the crop tool and choose the area you want to keep and save. Upload to Facebook or MySpace. On a more realistic note - photographers do this all the time. They either frame the photo above the waist, or if you have a double chin, the photographer may take the photo on a higher plane so your neck won't appear as big. The most common technique is "the twist" where the subject stands side-on to the camera while facing the camera direct. Click "Read More" to see the crop below...

I'm not sure if this was a mistake by the programmers by not automatically deleting previous backups but I've amassed about 10 Gigabytes for obsolete - old Lightroom catalog backups. Perhaps this is a use for having multiple backups at hand - but since I have a strong backup routine with all my other files, I think I can risk just having the last backup or simply to dump the whole backup catalog process.

So where do you find and delete these old Adobe Lightroom catalog files? In Windows its in your documents under the Photos folder then /Lightroom/Backups... So if you find yourself short of disk space (these backup catalog files/folders take up about 500 to 1 Gigabyte each!!!) you can find these folders and just delete them. While you're thinking about cleaning up your catalog, it may be a good idea to also "Optimise your catalog" to make it run faster (And defrag your computer while you're at it).

I got sent a random email message from Nikon (below) which states that Nikon product prices in Australia are set to rise in February 2009. Also reported by NikonRumours, attached with the email from the Nikon marketing department was an excel spreadsheet reporting the new prices as well as the wholesale price which retailers receive the goods from Nikon. The prices have a general 20-50% markup... Items below $200 seem to have a markup above 25% and lenses and cameras have a general markup between 20-25% or the recommended retail price.

What's shocking about the Australian Nikon price rises is the extent of the increase. For example, you can purchase a Nikon D700 body for $3,375 right now. But in a months time the same camera will be worth $4,799 RRP (or $3,839 ex GST wholesale). There is a similar price increase pattern for many of Nikon's lenses and other camera bodies.

Last weekend, news of this "nude photos of a kid in a magazine" scandal surfaced. Magazine was called "Art Monthly Australia". The editor responsible for the magazine is Maurice O'Riordan... was he just trying to get free publicity by causing yet another scandal? Selling more magazines? Or was he honestly acting for the art community, trying to continue a debate that just occurred a bit over a month ago with the whole Bill Henson photography scandal. The photo depicted on the magazine cover is of a 6 year old - a model, Olympia Nelson who is now 11 years old and who says that ""I think that the picture my mum took of me had nothing to do with being abused, and I think nudity can be a part of art. I'm really, really offended by what Kevin Rudd had to say about this picture." It is also reported that the actual magazine contained photos of oral sex by an octopus, bondage images, including one of a Japanese schoolgirl in school uniform trussed up in rope while another image shows an adult woman also trussed up, with breasts and genitals exposed, according to Ms Tankard Reist, director of Women's Forum Australia. Art is a very funny business...

The last supper was a meal depicted in the bible and a scene depicted by Leonardo Da Vinci. It is said that the scene portrays the reaction by each apostle at the moment when Jesus had said that one of them will betray him that night. You will notice that the 12 apostles have different reactions and are grouped into threes... The first group of three: Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus and Andrew are all are surprised. The next group of three are Judas Iscariot, Peter and John and have very varied expressions. Judas is the one carrying the small bag which may be the sack of silver given to him as a reward for the betrayal or a symbol for his position as treasurer of the group. Also to note is that he is the only one with an elbow on the table which traditionally us a sign of bad manners. Peter looks angry and is holding a knife pointed away from Christ, perhaps a preview to his violent reaction in Gethsemane during Jesus' arrest (he cuts a guards ear). The youngest apostle, John, appears to swoon. After Jesus (the centre of attention) there is another group of three: Thomas, James the Greater and Philip. Thomas is upset, James is stunned and Philip appears to ask for an explanation. Finally, Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot are in discussion, probably to ask if Simon has any answers.

About Bill Henson controversial photography art. I'm not going to add too much subjective commentary here - mainly because I don't have any to add - I'm more of a practical person - I see things as they are most of the time. Controveries aren't new to the art world. Although I do find it fascinating to hear/read other people's subjective commentary about Bill Henson's artwork and other art in general... Anyway here are some of his photos and related commentaries which I found scattered on the WWW.

So who is Bill Henson? Is he an artist or a pedophile? Are his photos pornographic or are they art? Bill Henson has skyrocketed into the news headlines as a result of controversy and scandal over an exhibition at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney which depicted naked 12 year olds.

Still looking at photography jobs... Below are three jobs: one is a product photographer, the other is a photography studio manager and finally another job for a dating website - which strangely appeared on the search results when searching for "photographer". I've looked at photography jobs before - here is a studio job, other jobs in the photography industry and another job for a photographer. What I tend to see with these advertised jobs for photographers is that most of them are low paying. I guess the high flying talented photographers have their own business and are either selling their own artwork.

Another controversial photoshoot. The art world seems to be pushing boundaries all the time. We've had the recent underage "art" photoshoot scandal will the Bill Henshaw Exhibition and justa few weeks back we've had a scandal with a topless 16 year old posing with a 15 year old published in a fashion mag. Now its some Lifestyle travel magazine in China called: "New Travel Weekly" who sent in models into the Chinese Earthquake zone and had a sultry photoshoot amongst the rubble. There is no taste in this. Posing for a photoshoot where people DIED is just distasteful. Posing in skimpy clothing and underwear is just disgusting. Worst of all - the magazine was published last Monday - which was the first day of mourning for the 50,000 people who died. The models, who appear sultry rather than sad, pose in front of and draped across fallen beams in ruined buildings, singly and together. Some appear to be wearing fake bloody bandages. The official news agency, Xinhua, said the propaganda department in Chongqing, where the lifestyle magazine is based, issued a statement condemning the publication's editors for "severely violating social morality, and causing extremely negative social effects". It said the magazine itself would be subject to "rectification", although the editors in charge have gone for good. In other words - the editors had their asses FIRED!