Course Books in Photography

I'm always borrowing newly published books from the Fairfax County Public Library.  One of my favorites is titled "Digital Photography Complete Course" (about $20).  This link has a "Look Inside" feature: 

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Complete-Course-Publishing/dp/1465436073

I think it's a really good book for beginners in that it covers all the basics but does it with wonderfully illustrative graphics, and it will become a good reference-shelf item.  

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At the other end of the spectrum is a text used by Northern Virginia Community College for their introductory photography course, which I've taken.  The text is "Photography" (11th Edition), by Barbara London, et al.  It's expensive (about $120) and not available for preview at local libraries, but older editions (some predating digital) are available for under $10.  If you find one at a garage sale, I'd recommend buying it.  It's a thorough and professionally-written introduction to the historical, technical and artistic aspects of photography.  

How to Give and Take a Critique

B&H's Explora has lots of great articles.  This one provides guidance for commenting in our Critique galleries.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/tips-and-solutions/how-give-and-take-critique

Lucid Dreaming

"Is this the real world? Or is it just fantasy?"

Astronomy Picture of the Day (APoD), April 4, 2016

Nik Collection Free

Google’s Nik Collection, a photo editing software package designed for professional photographers, once retailed for $149. Today it’s absolutely free to download, for both Windows and Mac users.

Emmanuel Lubezki

Cinematographer for The Revenant, interviewed in February 2016 by DPReview.   

"Digital gave me something I could never have done on film."

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day

Next Pinhole Day is April 24, 2016

Anyone, anywhere in the world, who makes a pinhole photograph on the last Sunday in April, can scan it and upload it to this website where it will become part of the annual Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day celebration's online gallery.

http://pinholeday.org/

Cube Box Solargraphy

Cubed pinhole camera records the sun's passage in the sky from the 2015 Winter Solstice to the 2016 Vernal Equinox.  

Astronomy Picture of the Day (APoD), March 26, 2016

Monochromatic Images

20160108

A monochromatic image is composed of a gradient of a single color, and has an emphasis on contrast, texture and composition.  

The link B&W Conversion, Notes on contains two documents providing guidance for developing post-processed monochromatic photos rather than relying upon in-camera-processed photos. 

1. "Taylor, David - Black & White Photography,"and
2. "Black & White Conversion via Lightroom." 

The first document summarizes Part 3 of David Taylor's "Black & White Photography," which is available at the Fairfax County Public Library.  Taylor provides detailed guidelines for using the features of Lightroom to convert color images into many B&W forms. 

The other document contains brief technical info that helped me understand the B&W conversion process, including methods to create what I call multichromatic images, which leave hints of the original image's colors.  In the photo "Cross Cottage at Mason Pond" the original color of the leaves has been teased forth from the mostly desaturated image.  

Cross Cottage at Mason Pond

Monochromatic techniques used on Cross Cottage (above) solarize the image, desaturate the house, and, using filtering techniques, leave a hint of green.