LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process

HT2254 - Cropping a Vertical Out of a Horizontal It's a bad practice to crop a vertical out of a horizontal capture. For one reason, doing so loses over half the pixels your camera captures. Isn't it a better strategy to just develop the habit of composing both a horizontal capture and a vertical capture wherever possible? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2253 - Time at the Speed of Time Every picture we make operates as a time capsule. It's a historic image, which becomes more historic with the passage of time. I like to think of it this way: With every click of the shutter, we launch another time capsule into the future. And at its essence, each time capsule says, "this moment was important." Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2252 - Subtle Shadow Detail I've always found that efforts to preserve subtle shadow details are important, particularly in landscape photography. This was always a challenge in the film days because the toe of the exposure curve was relatively flat and didn't provide much separation of tones. The best strategy was to increase exposure. But here in the digital age, I've found a combination that provides a simple method to help preserve subtle shadow detail. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2251 - Framed Trilogies In 2022, we published a book titled Trilogies. Each of these trilogies consisted of three images the photographers used to illustrate a story, an expanded view of a subject, or a guided and deeper involvement with a scene. In the book, these three images were presented on facing pages. As a layout, this got me thinking about printing three images on a single sheet of paper and matting and framing them as a sort of triptych. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2250 - Pick Your Compromise When choosing which lens to take with me out photographing, it often boils down to a debate between two strategies. Do I use a two-lens strategy where both are the best lenses I own? This will require a lot lens swapping and invariably some dust on the sensor. The other option is a travel lens with a "super zoom," one with a 10 to 1 zoom ratio that requires no lens swapping in the field. It's a good lens, but not quite as sharp as the superior lenses. Since I can't have my cake and eat it too, I'm reduced to picking my compromise. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2249 - Photograph What You Love It's my observation that every photographer has something that they love other than photography. Maybe that passion of ours can translate into an interesting photographic project. If you love pitching horseshoes, I would bet there's an interesting photographic project there, but I've never seen one. I've never seen a photographic project about gardening, although I've seen countless projects of flower blossoms. Don't think in terms of the product, but rather the process. W. Eugene Smith's Country Doctor comes to mind. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1452 - A Sketch vs an Image One of the most influential artists who have shaped my thinking about photography is, believe it or not, Charles Dickens. As a young writer, he worked for a newspaper to wander the streets of London and create short "sketches" of the scenes he encountered. Sound familiar? All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT2248 - Glossy or Matte Surface A common question that every photographer has to answer, assuming they make prints, is which surface to use with an image, glossy or matte? It seems odd to me that this is so rarely discussed but yet is such a fundamental decision we need to make with every print. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules, but here's my thoughts on making this critical choice. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2247 - Phases of a Career If we work at something long enough, we will eventually recognize that we've been working our way through phases of a career. Without being conscious of my evolution, I can now look back and identify four distinct phases of my output: prints, folios, PDFs, and chapbooks. I wonder what's next? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2246 - Universal Excellence If we look back in history as recently as 25 years, certainly as recently as 50 years, what separated the Masters from the rest of us was their incredible command of craft. They could create such stunning prints that the rest of us simply couldn't. The digital workflow has turned that separation into the ultimate democratic equity. Today, everyone can master the craft fairly easily. What are the consequences of this universal excellence? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2245 - A Fascination with Process The other day, a photographer came by the house to show me some of his work. I always enjoy this opportunity to meet with people and learn about their creative process. This fellow had images made by using glass plates and hand coated gelatin silver materials. Clearly, he was a photographer who loved the process. In viewing his work, all of his comments are about the technical and chemical challenges of making his images, but virtually nothing was said about their artistic intent or the aesthetic created by his process. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2244 - Sharp vs Tack Sharp Since my earliest days in photography, I've recognized that lenses are far more important than cameras. Lenses touch the light which makes the image; cameras are primarily light-tight boxes that allow us to control how much light gets in, but they don't actually touch the light. Knowing a lens thoroughly is important, especially if you're looking to make a tack sharp image. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2243 - Orson Wells on Limits Orson Wells is said to have observed that "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” My interpretation of his thought is that nothing is as supportive to creativity as a structure. Here are a few examples from my creative endeavors. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2242 - Photography, a Verbal Art Medium We photographers like to think of photography as a nonverbal medium. Then why do we title our prints? Why does someone look at a sunset and think " beautiful"? When showing our work, why do we feel compelled to tell viewers where it was photographed and when? Is photography really a nonverbal medium, or is it a medium that is often supplemented with words? If we don't need words, why are photography books from other languages translated into our language for publication? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1451 - Sharing Our Work, Goldilocks Style Let's say someone wants to come over to your house and see some of your work. What do you show them? Do you pull out one print and that's it? That seems arbitrarily limited. Do you bring out 500 prints? That seems a bit overwhelming. Viewer fatigue is a reality in sharing our work, so how do you decide what to make available? All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT2241 - The Right Amount of Difference One of the primary challenges with project oriented photography is to avoid the deadly appearance of repetition. The images in the project need to be alike enough to go together as a unified body of work, but different enough to not become repetitive. Finding that balance is one of the greatest challenges in editing and sequencing a project. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2240 - Prints Throughout the Day As the sun crosses the sky, the light in our house changes dramatically. This is one of the primary reasons why I like to live with a print for a while before I am done with it. On many occasions as the light has changed I realized the print is slightly too dark or slightly too light. Art should live well over time, but the only way we'll know that is if we observe it over time. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2239 - Two Things We Need More Of It is so easy to think that what we really need to take our photography to the next level is that better piece of gear, or more gear, or lots more gear. Looking back on my personal history with photography, it's never been new gear that has created an important piece of work or project. The true genesis of work — and therefore the two things we need more of — are ideas and time. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2238 - Gear Overboard Exactly 50 years ago today I learned a valuable lesson in photography. I was photographing on the Oregon coast when I decided I needed to use a different lens for this one particular shot. I miss that lens. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2237 - Art-sized Prints How large does a print need to be in order to be considered artwork? Snapshots are usually pretty small, 4x6" or so. If we make a 5x7" is that big enough to be considered artwork? 8x10"? Why do photographers so readily consider size of function of the seriousness of artwork? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2236 - Beyond Human Sensitivity We are told that hawks have keener eyesight than we humans, so maybe they could see the ink dots in our digital prints. We can't because the technology has exceeded human visual sensitivity. Perception boundaries, once crossed shift advancement to other concerns. In the future, we can expect more intuitive and ergonomically advanced equipment. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2235 - The Life of a Book There's no doubt there's quite a thrill in having a book of your work published. There are, however, some realities of book publishing that are less comfortable than we'd like them to be. For example, it's a common fate for a book to be eagerly consumed by its new owner and then be relegated to obscurity on a bookshelf, often forgotten. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

LW1450 - Ten Myths That Need Busting In a technical and artistic pursuit like photography, it's not surprising that certain myths have developed over time. One of my favorite quotes is from G. K. Chesterton who said, "It's amazing how many things there are that aren't so." All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT2234 - SIXES in the Field When I first started playing with the idea of Seeing in SIXES (six image projects), I spent time scouring my Lightroom catalog for candidates and cousins. As my experience has evolved with this idea, I've found that thinking in terms of six image projects in the field has given me an entirely new approach when I'm out with my camera. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2233 - A Stunningly Impressive Chapter A common experience when reading a novel is to find one particular chapter or scene that is the heart of the book. That chapter presents the denouement or the action that has been building during all the previous chapters. Do we then remember that chapter and refer to it in conversation? Or does that chapter elevate the entire book? We recommend the book, not the chapter. The same thing happens with a photography project. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2232 - Fifty Pounds of Gear In my first photographic trip to Japan, rather than take suitcases, I packed everything I needed into my backpack for maximum mobility and foot travel. In those days my comfort limit for my backpack weight was about 70 pounds. With this in mind I packed a maximum of 20-pounds of clothing plus the pack itself, leaving me 50-pounds for gear and film. In my upcoming trip to the West Coast, I'll have a much more capable gear kit that weigh less than three pounds. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2231 - Choose Your Challenge I've often found it useful to divide photography into a set of competing challenges. How do you want to play with photography? Do you want to challenge yourself with the technical complications of making giant prints? That's valid. Or do you want to challenge yourself with the expressive complications of making more meaningful artwork? That's valid, too. And then of course, there are all the variations that combine both of these challenges. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2230 - PPI Required for Printing How many pixels per inch are required for printing? Be careful; this is a trick question. In fact, as I've asked the question it is unanswerable without additional information or blind assumptions. What's the missing/assumed data? What is the viewing distance likely to be? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2229 - Software Updates, Image Updates Here's a question that's both philosophical and practical. When there is a software update that could dramatically improve an image you've already finished, do you go back and update the image because the software allows you to improve it in ways that were previously impossible? Or, do you leave it as is because you are busy doing new work rather than living in the past?

HT2228 - Too much Fretting Over Gear I can't even begin to count how many photographic trips I've made in my 50 years of photography. One thing I do know is that before every trip I spend hours thinking about what gear to bring, particularly what lens — or lenses — to bring. Interestingly enough, I'm yet to return from a trip without successful photographs. That has me suspicious that I would find any random combination of gear and lenses satisfactory. Different pictures? Yes. But stymied? Probably not.

LW1449 - The Goal of the Process As someone looks at one of your images, Is that the end of a process of the beginning of one? Is viewing your image the end of their engagement with it? Or do we hope viewing our image is the beginning of a small mental journey that engages their imagination, poses a few questions, or moves them to a further experience? All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT2227 - The Balance of Input and Output I can't help but feel that the path of an artist is one that balances input and output. If all we do is watch television, read, be entertained, it's difficult to be an artist. If all we do is work, produce, construct, it's equally difficult to be an artist. The key to the art life is finding the middle way, a balance input and output, where we take in, feel, think, and then produce with our response to the world.

HT2226 - The Least Camera Needed Ted Orland opened my eyes about gear. He advocated that we should choose a camera that's fit for the job but the least capable camera we can. His idea was based on the observation that the more capable the camera, the more complex, and the more complex it is the more it intrudes into the connection between us and the subject. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2225 - A Selective Literacy There are so many photographers, so many books, so many exhibitions, that it's virtually impossible to achieve anything even close to visual literacy in photography. Instead, we each have our own understanding of photography based on a fractional appreciation of what's being and been produced. We all love photography, but what we mean by that is entirely dependent on our own selective literacy. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2224 - Printing Monochrome with a CMYK Press Most commercial printing presses that you might employ to print your book will use the four-ink process that is the standard in the industry. Simply said, these presses use a combination of cyan ink, magenta ink, yellow ink, and black ink to achieve a sufficient simulation of human color vision. That's where the trouble begins. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2223 - The Annual Best Of Series Because I love reading short stories so much, over the years I've collected a number of anthology books that are "the best short stories of the year." This could be a pretty good idea for our photographs too, don't you think? What were your best images from, say, last year? What makes those images qualify as The Best? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2222 - Explore More Deeply Starting in 2009, I produced a series of annual projects under the title, Winter Trees. Each year for seven years, I produced a new five-image project for the series which was produced as a folio and as a PDF. To date, this remains one of the most difficult projects I've ever done for the simple reason that each year it became progressively more difficult to see the same subject in a new and different way

HT2221 - Shadow Writing I've always thought it was curious that photography is defined by its very nomenclature to be "light writing," but what we actually do is write the shadows onto white paper. If we think about what actually happens when we make our photographs, it helps make better decisions about how we control the exposure and what processing steps we need to pay attention to as we write the shadows onto the white background.

LW1448 - Project Photography Some thoughts on why we publish what we publish in LensWork. In particular, our emphasis on project-oriented photograph versus "greatest hits" images. All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT2220 - The Lasting Impression Someone has taken time out of their busy life to attend your gallery exhibition, visit your website, or look at your book. What is it you want them to take with them when they leave the gallery, move to new website, or put your book back on the bookshelf? What is the lasting impression you hope your work inspires in viewers?

HT2219 - Ego Pixels Here is an interesting story about gear from a friend of mine who photographed portraits and weddings. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2218 - A Convenience Camera There was a time when I searched for the one camera that would meet all my needs. How innocent I was back then. That camera was likely to be large, full-featured far beyond my needs, render the highest quality images I could ever imagine, and cost and weigh a lot. But sometimes, that camera is just too much camera. I've recently added a new camera I think of as my "convenience camera" for time where portability and light weight take precedence over the ideal. Of course, excellent image quality counts, too, and after searching for a bit, I have found the porridge camera that is just right.. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2217 - Paper Has Personality Photography is — still — a paper-based medium. Paper is a huge part of our lives. Different photographic papers might have different characteristics, sometimes dramatic difference. Other times, these differences are subtle. I learned the importance of this when I was working with Huntington Witherill on publishing his book Botanical Dances. It's crucial to explore a papers personality before committing to it for a big project. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2216 - Amazing IBIS Results Handheld photography is a new thing in my 50 years with a camera. The advent of image stabilization has entirely changed my approach to photography. In combination with burst mode, simply amazing results are possible. Here is my empirical rule of thumb. One over the focal length + 5. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2215 - No One Cares About Our Plans It's a fairly common thing in photography to hear a photographer talk about what they are going to do. They haven't done it yet, but they announce to the world they are about to do it — as though we are supposed to care about their plans. Don't tell people what you are planning to do; tell them what you've actually done, accomplished, finished. That's the only thing that counts in the art world.

HT2214 - Every Work of Art Has a Title I mean that. Every sculpture, every painting, every poem, every novel, every song — they all have titles. So why do we photographers think "Untitled" is a reasonable title? Is our imagination that limited, or are we just lazy?

LW1447 - Limited Editions Years ago, after showing my work to a gallery owner, I was thrilled when she said she loved my work and would like to represent me. It was a lifelong dream come true. She then insisted, however, that I limit my editions as a prerequisite to her representation. I passed. Mechanically, there is no limit on how many "copies" you can make. This is especially true in the age of digital printing. No one knows how many you actually make unless you publicize that. A designation like 1/50 does not mean you have made 50 prints. Who benefits from limited editions? All previous episodes of our weekly podcast are available to members of LensWork Online. 30-day Trial Memberships are only $10. Instant access, terabytes of content, inspiration and ideas that expand daily with new content. Sign up for instant access! You might also be interested in. . . Every Picture Is a Compromise, a series at www.brooksjensenarts.com. and... "How to" tutorials and camera reviews are everywhere on YouTube, but if you're interested in photography and the creative life, you need to know about the incredible resources you can access as a member of LensWork Online.

HT2213 - The Size of the Print, the Size of the Paper In my first photography class we were taught to leave a quarter inch white space all the way around our images. If we printed on 8x10 paper, the actual area of the image would be seven and a half by nine and a half inches. As my thinking about this has evolved over the years, I now leave space around the image that creates a mat board-like margin on all sides. In practice, this means I print 8x10s on 11x14 paper, 11x14 images on 16x20 paper, etc.

HT2212 - Postal Code Titles One of my favorite photographers is Jay Dusard. A number of years ago we were preparing to publish a portfolio of his in LensWork and I had sent him proof pages to approve. He immediately got back to me and asked me to change the abbreviations I used in his titles, for example AZ as compared to Arizona. He explained "AZ is not a location, it's a postal code." If we're truly interested titling our prints with accuracy, perhaps we should include the ZIP code in our titles? Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2211 - Ready at a Moment's Notice It's a fairly common occurrence that an exhibition space develops a crisis when a scheduled artist has to pull out for one reason or another. It leaves the exhibitor / gallery with a hole that needs to be filled quickly. Would you be able to respond if you were to receive an invitation that required an exhibition be provided immediately? Maybe it's a good idea to have an exhibition or two ready for any opportunity that presents itself. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!

HT2210 - How Many Projects at a Time In my earliest days of photography I tended to work on one project at a time. I gave it my total focus and postponed working on others. To avoid that void at the end of a project I started working multiple projects at a time. As new ideas came, I added them to a list which became increasingly lengthy and unmanageable. I've since found the sweet spot by using a tiered strategy for managing multiple projects simultaneously. Show your appreciation for our free weekly Podcast and our free daily Here's a Thought… with a donation Thanks!