Vancouver and Victoria in the Eighties: Stephen Cysewski

Vancouver and Victoria in the Eighties: Stephen Cysewski

I just posted a new web site of photographs from Victoria and Vancouver BC during the eighties.

Hatcher Pass Alaska: Stephen Cysewski

Hatcher Pass Alaska: Stephen Cysewski
Hatcher Pass is one of the most beautiful places in Alaska. When I lived in Anchorage I went there often to take photographs. Most of these photographs were taken in the seventies or early eighties.

The North Slope Alaska in the Seventies: Stephen Cysewski

The North Slope Alaska in the Seventies: Stephen Cysewski

Another new web site including Barrow and Pt. Hope.

Seward Penninsula and Nome In The Seventies: Stephen Cysewski

Seward Penninsula and Nome In The Seventies: Stephen Cysewski

Another new web site. I am posting photographs that I scanned a couple years ago.

Shaktoolik Alaska 1967 and 1968: Stephen Cysewski

Shaktoolik Alaska 1967 and 1968: Stephen Cysewski

Since we are stuck in Alaska, instead of Thailand, I used the time to post a new web site of photographs I took when I was a VISTA Volunteer in Shaktoolik Alaska in 1967 and 1968.

I Took This Photo On November 25th 2008

Technophilia: Organize your digital photos with Picasa

Technophilia: Organize your digital photos with Picasa

This is a good article. I will integrate it into next semesters class.
Steve

Wandering In Fairbanks 2008

I just finished Wandering In Fairbanks 2008. I wanted to complete it before we left for Thailand.

Here is the web site URL
http://www.cysewski.com/wif/wandering2008/index.html

Here is the URL for the same photographs on Picasa Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/cysewski/WanderingInFairbanks2008StephenCysewski#

Here is the URL for the same photographs on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cysewski/sets/72157609834478467/

Please share with others if you think it is appropriate.

--
Stephen Cysewski
Professor of Computer Applications, Emeritus
University of Alaska Fairbanks
http://www.WanderingInAlaska.com
http://www.WanderingInFairbanks.com
http://www.WanderingInThailand.com
http://www.WanderingInSeattle.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cysewski/
http://picasaweb.google.com/cysewski

Wandering In Fairbanks Alaska 2008: Stephen Cysewski

Wandering In Fairbanks Alaska 2008: Stephen Cysewski

I just posted Wandering In Fairbanks 2008. I wanted to finish before we leave to Thailand.

The site has many more photographs of the people of Fairbanks then usual.

The files are not large so it should load fine, I hope.


There are more and larger versions of the photographs on Flickr and Picasa Albums.

Steve

Loosely Related

I know many of you in the class do some web stuff. Here is a good free book (download PDF) on CSS. There are some good design bits in the book too.

http://cssdesign.s3.sitepoint.com/Art_Science_Of_CSS_Giveaway.zip

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google
This is a "cool" resource to explore!

How to Build a Photography Website in 3 Easy (and One Difficult) Steps | Magical Places Fine Art

How to Build a Photography Website in 3 Easy (and One Difficult) Steps | Magical Places Fine Art

Excellent article. I will add it to the sharing section of the course next semester.

The next President of the United States - The Big Picture - Boston.com

The next President of the United States - The Big Picture - Boston.com
What makes a photograph excellent? These photographs are inspiring. Use these photographs as examples of the diversity of ways that you can cover a subject to express its meaning.

10 Tips For Better Autofocus - Outdoor Photographer | OutdoorPhotographer.com

10 Tips For Better Autofocus - Outdoor Photographer | OutdoorPhotographer.com

Worth reading!

www.wanderinginfairbanks.com

Dark Roasted Blend: This Math Rocks!

Dark Roasted Blend: This Math Rocks!

Check this out, scroll down to the DC6 photographs. I love this site, I subscribe with an RSS feed and am always entertained.

Why Your Photos Look Lousy - Color Managment Basics | PixSylated

Why Your Photos Look Lousy - Color Managment Basics | PixSylated
Excellent description of color management.

Laurence Kim Photography Blog

Laurence Kim Photography Blog

Read this blog post, it applies to the Panasonic LX3, but it is appropriate to other cameras like the Canon G10. The comments on the camera, the metering, and the quality of JPEG images will seems like heresy to some people, but, from my experience it is true. I used the Canon G10 for the last half of the Amery photographs and you have seen me use the Panasonic LX3 at International Friendship Days and at the Tanana Valley Farmer's Market.

Here is a quote from the posting.

"In fact, for certain subjects such as landscapes, nature and fine art, a good point-n-shoot like the LX3 could be the best tool for the job, sometimes even better than a DSLR or a $40k medium-format DSLR.

Why?

* Would you rather schlepp around 20 pounds of gear (camera, lenses, tripod, ballhead, etc.) or a 9 ounce camera that you put in a pouch on your belt?

* No need to change lenses. Really handy for a day like yesterday, when I was taking pictures on a rainy day on a muddy trail.

* The combination of built-in image stabilization + greater depth of field you get with a small sensor means that a tripod is not required. No tripod means more creativity, as you can get yourself in more positions and are less likely to remained anchored in a few spots.

* Greater depth of field means no need to stop down to tiny apertures like f16 which soften images due to diffraction.

* Shooting with bigger apertures also means faster shutter speeds, which = sharper images.

* Fixed lens means no dust spots on the sensor.

* No mirror slap means the camera doesn't vibrate = sharper pictures, even if you're using use mirror lockup.

* Overall image quality will be just as good as a DSLR (if not better) because of all the reasons listed above.

On the other hand, if you want to shoot anything that moves, is in very low light, with a shallow depth of field, or that requires long telephoto lenses (e.g. wildlife, sports, or weddings) you'll need a DSLR. Horses for courses."

Amery Wisconsin 2008: Stephen Cysewski

Amery Wisconsin 2008: Stephen Cysewski

I just created a new web site. I visited Amery Wisconsin twice this year to visit my father. I visited the first week of June and the last week of October. I spent some time walking around Amery taking photographs. Here is the web site of the Amery photographs.

Thank you!

Thank you Steve, I really enjoyed the class and learned more than I thought I could.

Editing and Enhancing Photographs(2)

Here is the original photograph (a small gathering of Obama supporters in Fairbanks):

Brought up close by zooming and adding blue color



Enlarge only the group and enhance all c0lors to almost 200%
(This photo is not as clear as it is in photoshop probably because I increased its quality to 10)


I tried to eliminate all color but didn't have much success

Editing and enhancing photographs

The link to Adobe Photoshop is: http://www.adobe.com/photoshopcs3

I will use Adobe photoshop to edit and enhance a photograph as follows::

Original photo

Photo cropped and softened and optimized

Photos with common errors

These are my photos that document and show the following common errors:

Subject blur/partially blurry photographs




Motion blur/totally blurry





Depth of field/wrong plan of focus





Over exposure/washed out





Under exposure/too dark





Incorrect white balance/wrong color

Mike Fox - Photojournalism: Your Photo Assignment - Our Election

Mike Fox - Photojournalism: Your Photo Assignment - Our Election
FYI
This might be interesting, especially in Fairbanks.
Steve

What I didn't present last Saturday

Hello again,
Last Saturday morning, before heading to class, I loaded my presentation onto my camera's card. At least I thought I did. I perhaps removed the card before writing was complete and corrupted the card's content. Fortunately, I had some of my presentation on other cards and was able to cobble together a few pictures. The others may be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30736402@N03/

and... I had really good time in class.

Thanks! to everyone,

Stephen Binns

Friendship Day Alaskaland

My Friendship Day at Alaskaland (aka Pioneer Park) Fairbanks Alaska

Information about Autism in Fairbanks

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AutismInFairbanks/

Final Project - Windows

Windows in Fairbanks

My Final Project - Lara Poirrier

I HATE SHAWN

Faces of Autism

Photo Final

My final project, these are photos from dress rehearsal and and backstage on opening night.

Here

My Photo Collection

Personalized Car Plate

My Photos

These a some of my favorite pictures from this class. Thanks Steve. Now that I understand my camera, I can learn to take better photos. I spent time during this course building the attached Slide Show. I plan to use SmugMug from here on out for my photography. Click here to view my photos.

Class Project

Hi All

Click on the title above to view my class photo project.

Great class!
Dan

Selected photos for presentation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgtmajusmc/page7/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgtmajusmc/page8/, and http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgtmajusmc/page9/ are the site locations for the selected photos for presentation. The picasa link is:http://picasaweb.google.com/BrittEadie/PhotoWalkCreamerSField#.

Photo Walk photos

These are my photos from our three photo walks with my little Canon powershot S3IS camera. These photos are not edited or labelled and are posted for sharing and comment only until I edit some of them for our class assignments. I like pictures to represent what the photographer saw when he or she took the picture not what someone else wants to see at a later time, but I will edit a few of them to demonstrate that photographers don't always "shoot" what they think they see because they don't see the blurriness or other defects in the photos produced for viewing. My photostream can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgtmajusmc/ or http://www.flickr.com/people/sgtmajusmc.

Saturdays Class Plan

Tomorrow I will do a brief presentation about taking photographs at International Friendship Day and also in the Permafrost Tunnel. I want to explore why it was difficult to take photographs at International Day and what we can learn from our experiences.

I also want to talk a little about new trends in the RAW/JPEG controversy. There are new trends developing that might cause us to re-evaluate the idea that RAW is always best.

We also will do the required faculty evaluations.

You also will have a little time to prepare for the presentations.

The presentations will be made using the video projector in the room so you should have a way to share the files online or to bring the files up to the display computer.

When the presentations are completed the class will be over.

November 1st will be the last day to submit work for grading. I will total all the points and submit the grades November 3rd. I will not be able to submit the grades online so that will not show up on UAOnline until they are posted by the registrars office.

I have enjoyed this class, I learned a lot and enjoyed the communication and sharing. I loved seeing the diverse and unique expressions of the joy of photography. I had a lot of fun teaching this semester.

Thank you for sharing the experience.

Steve

Picasa Web Albums - Cysewski - Permafrost Tunnel

Picasa Web Albums - Cysewski - Permafrost Tunnel: "I took these photographs without external lighting. The difference is that the camera was easier to hold, the ISO was higher, and the subjects did not move quickly."

The Places We Live

Both the subject, and the method of presentation are worth looking, feeling, and thinking about. Here is a quote describing the project.

"Oddly, I feel like it is a very different thing putting these stories up on the web, as opposed to the book, magazine articles or exhibition. I had the blessings of all the people in the project to use the material for everything I wanted—I really only used homes where the people were quite eager to tell their stories. But still I somehow can't shake the nagging sensation that putting their homes and lives on the web is somehow different from the other mediums.

Is it that the viewing experience of the book, magazine or exhibition is a more private experience than on the web? Or vice versa? Am I alone to have this feeling, or do others feel the same?"

Here is the link to the Magnum Blog post about the project. The Places We Live

Black Star Rising - Sometimes a Bad Image Isn't the Camera's Fault -- It's Yours

Black Star Rising - Sometimes a Bad Image Isn't the Camera's Fault -- It's Yours

Remarkably relevant :)

PHOTO PORTFOLIO

Happy Holloween Everyone!

Playing with Lightroom with Pics from Friendship Day

Playing with the filters in Lightroom!

Love the blue on the clothes.

My Saturday

I just wanted to share this 1 photo. I took lots of pictures that day but this is my favorite. After leaving Pioneer Park, I went to the UA Museum of the North and had another photo walk. I didn't edit a whole bunch of those photos, but I did upload a few to my Picasa account. Click on the link if you're interested.

Thanks for looking...What a great class!

Museum Photo Walk

Dan

Girls at the International Day

I just liked the feel of this picture from Saturday.

EXIF Data

For those trying to diagnose why a photograph works, or does not work, look at the EXIF data, or Metadata. Check the ISO, the shutter speed, the aperture, and the focal length. The rule of thumb is that you can not handhold a camera unless the shutter speed is the equivalent of the focal length of the lens in 35mm equivalent. For instance if the focal length of the lens is 50mm the shutter speed should be 1/60 to stop camera motion. IS or VR can allow a lower shutter speed for camera motion, but it can do nothing about subject motion. Even if the shutter speed is fast enough, you need to hold your camera steady to minimize camera motion. To decrease camera or subject motion you can increase your ISO, but that will lead to more noise. Also the closer something is to your lens, or the longer your focal length, the greater the chance is for subject and camera motion to become a problem. To understand the settings you used for a photograph the EXIF data can help you diagnose and improve your camera skills,

KobreGuide to the Web’s Best Multimedia & Video Journalism - Home

KobreGuide to the Web’s Best Multimedia & Video Journalism - Home

This is an amazing site, not exactly relevant to the course, but still amazing!

Picasa Web Albums - Cysewski - International Friendship Day 2008: Fairbanks Alaska

Picasa Web Albums - Cysewski - International Friendship Day 2008: Fairbanks Alaska

It was difficult taking photographs. The light was poor and it was difficult capturing the images that I was seeing. I was also experimenting with a new camera. If I were going to take these photographs again I would raise my ISO to 800. I would use shutter priority and set the shutter speed to at least 1/60 of a second, maybe 1/125. I would also focus more carefully and be more aware of my camera bracing. Sometimes I learn more from a photo opportunity that was not successful. I sure had many learning opportunities in this photo project!

Mo' Dancin'

I deliberately used a slower shutter speed to blur the image… looks like it could have been even slower. Still, I think the images are interesting

Rock, Paper, Plate

And THAT'S how Peter Pan got his name?

Origin of sticky rice...

Dancin' to the music...

Yes... a little pepper, parsley, oregano....

Color War

Maiden Feets

Clash Plaid

Little Plumber's Helpers

Origin of DEVO

International Friendship Day at Alaskaland

Here is one of mine

International Friendship Day

Hard Place.......

What a hard place to take photographs. I messed up and was relying on IS or VR to compensate for slow shutter speeds, but the subject motion (people moving) caused many blurry photographs. I was using 1/15 and relying on the vibration reduction, but forgot about the subject motion, at least that is my theory now! Also because the camera is small, and I was being quick, my camera holding technique was poor! I am learning a new camera and am creating many "learning opportunities" for myself! I will share some of the photographs later, but there were too many blurry photographs. Frustrating and enlightening!!!! Next time I will use Shutter Priority and set the shutter to at 1/60 of a second.

Homework 2 Canon XSi

Canon XSi

Pros -

Large back display, lightweight, true 3.5 fps.
Still has less noise than a Sony A350
Live view
Higher capacity battery

Cons

ISO only down to 1600, 3200 would be nice
No body image stabilization
Would like more steps in the auto bracketing, three now 5 or 7 would be nice.

Sites

Site 1
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/
Site 2
http://www.dpreview.com/news/
Site 3
http://www.dpreview.com/news/
Site 4
http://www.popphoto.com/camera_review/
Site 5
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/

Homework #1

Homework 1

What photographs do you wish you had taken, but did not?

I spent a lot of time taking night sky pictures. I did photograph Comet Hyakutake did not photograph Comet Hale-Bopp.

It seemed at the time that everyone was of at night with a camera getting pictures of Hale-Bopp and there was a lot of politics within the astronomy community that I was avoiding. I now wish I had spent the time out at night and ignored the BS.

It is now so “easy” to work at night with the digital camera. Instead of trying many different settings in the blind. Bring the film in the next day and then make changes the next night. A slow long process. Also getting the photographs printed was often a pain. So often they would say there was nothing and you would have to insist they print.

The instant feedback has allowed so much more “fun” and chances to experiment at night and then the processing on the computer can bring out so much now.


SECOND ASSIGNMENT
Photographic Seeing: The Essential Camera Concepts: How does the camera
work?
1. Look on the web for a single photograph that you like, post the URL to the
photograph to the course web log. The first picture in the Feelings link below. I can’t get it out alone.

AND
2. Also look on the web for a photographer that you like and post a URL to a web site
that shows the photographers work.

I have been trying to learn about sports photography and I spend time just looking through these.



This is type of pictures I am working toward

Action


Feeling

Lorena Sims Web log

http://neneng99701-lorena.blogspot.com

YouTube - WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 1/4

YouTube - WAYS OF SEEING (first episode) 1/4

Here is the link to the video on Ways of Seeing. You can also google John Berger to get information about his ideas and books.

High Definition Twilight Photographs of Tokyo

Fascinating!

Discover How to Become a Photojournalist

Discover How to Become a Photojournalist
Excellent advice! The advice applies to street photography also.

My Photography Slide Show

My Best Photography

Wild Card Day

I do not have pre-planned content for Saturdays class. At the beginning of class I will ask for concepts, skills, or ideas that you want me to cover. I will then do my best to either review, or cover those areas. The real purpose of the class is to provide a work day for the final portfolio. So if there are not any concepts you will have time to work on your portfolio. I, of course, can provide individual assistance during that time. We will leave for the place formerly known as Alaska Land around 1:00 to cover International Friendship day.

Obvious Street Photography Tips

Obvious Street Photography Tips
Excellent summary and excellent advice. This Saturday we will be able to use some of these tips again.

Photo Errors

Motion Blur












Depth of Field
















Incorrect White Balance












over exposed














under exposed