Ryan Phillips Blog

I found this great little story over on Apartment Therapy about a couple who lives above an Art Gallery that they run. The article likens them to Herb and Dorothy Vogel. If you are unfamiliar with Herb and Dorothy you should check them out. Herb worked in a post office and Dorothy was a librarian. Together over 40 years they amassed a collection of 4,700 pieces of art from some of the most famous artists in the world…before they were famous! They had paintings strung from the roofs, stuffed under the bed and packed in boxes. They donated the enitre collection to the National Gallery of Art but it could only accept 1000 of the pieces as it had no room for a collection of this size…which fit into the Vogels tiny NYC apartment. They gave the rest away to other musueums and then started filling their tiny apartment again.

Herb and Dorothy a film by Megumi Sasaki was just released to critical acclaim but it almost didn’t happen. Here is what the artist had to say about the film:

“They didn’t articulate why they like this particular artwork, why did they collect a certain artist,” Sasaki says. “The only thing they said was, ‘It’s beautiful. I like it.’ How can I make a film about art collectors who don’t talk about art?”

Sasaki had resigned herself to making a 20-minute short film until an interview with Italian artist Lucio Pozzi convinced her that part of the beauty of the Vogels is that they aren’t so academic about what they like. They act on intuition.

That intuition made them one of the largest and most astute collectors in the New York art scene. Collecting the likes of Christo, Schnabel, Koons, Lichtenstein and hundreds of other world class artists. Those who watched said Herb would just walk up to something and point like a hound. He just new what he liked…and what he liked turned out to be some of the most renowned contemporary art in the world.

Watch the Trailer…

YouTube video

These days, editing seems like a long lost art for most people other than professionals. Editing is the art of choosing your best pictures and then taking those to the next level. For most of my career I edited out, tossing what I didn’t want and keeping the rest. About two years ago a friend of mine forced me to try editing in. It was near impossible at first but after a few jobs it became second nature. Having tried both I could never go back.

Here is the basic premise: let’s say you have 6 similar images in front of you. If you edit out, you may pull out 3 but still have 3 left. In reality, only one is a hero shot. Now, if you edit in, you will pick 1 shot out of the 6 and it is the clear winner. It seems like a small shift in perception but it has a HUGE impact on your workflow. You will edit about 70% faster and have a tighter edit when you are done. This will help you tell the story of the event with less images. You will learn more from looking over a tighter edit and you will do more with the resulting images. In this manner, you can end the analysis paralysis that plagues you and choose good solid images and do things with them.

This is not just a pro-technique, it is probably even more useful for consumers. You come home with a camera full of images and throw them on a hard drive. Maybe you share a few but you get overwhelmed by it all and they just sit there. If you take a few minutes to “edit in” you will reduce the number you are storing, only keep the best, and be more likely to actually print them. Remember life with film? You always had prints and ALWAYS put something up in your home to display, whether on the wall or in an album. Editing In will help you actually do something with your images again so you can truly enjoy your memories.

Below is a screen shot with similar RAW images and the one with the box around it is the winner of the bunch. The reason I picked it over the others should be obvious – it is sharp, it has the best facial expression, and the composition and lighting are great. Maybe I would pick one other that is serious but this is a happy, fun bride and this shot sums up a portrait of her in one shot. Why bother keeping the rest? Neither of us will ever use them.

This is also a cool feature of PurePhoto that may help you organize. You can use our split screen feature to split a CF card into multiple galleries. For example, you may have the Fourth of July parade, bath time, and some winter scenes you shot all on one card before you download. With our split screen feature, you can easily drag and drop those images into different galleries to keep them organized. Now they will be easier to “edit in.”

*On the left is the gallery with the 3 different events, on the right is the main library. You can add new sub galleries as you drag and drop the images from the left panel to the right panel. EASY!

We just posted a free video as a little teaser for what is inside the premium content area at PurePhoto.com. This is a simple B&W conversion in Photoshop that requires no advanced knowledge, advanced techniques, or 3rd party plug-ins. It is a quick Desaturate and Contrast bump.

There is a full video on this one in our Learn section but I’ll give you the basic gist here…

*Camera Set-Up:
I want to start out first by making sure your camera is set-up properly. Most of you have the LCD of your camera set to maximum brightness. Read your manual and find out how to change this setting. You want to change the brightness level of the LCD to the halfway point. Your image wont look as great on the back but you will have a more accurate idea of what your file is really going to look like. This also has the added benefit of forcing you to use your histogram, which is what will truly tell you if you have nailed your exposure.

Reading your camera’s histogram:

The histogram probably pops up often but you just don’t know what it is or how to read it. The basic idea is that the left side is your black point and the right side is your white point. If you pass the bottom corner and your data starts to slide up the side than you are clipping information. If everything is stacked up to the right than your picture is overexposed (too bright) and you need to adjust your shutter speed until it comes back into range. If everything is stacked up to the left than your picture is underexposed (too dark.) You will need to adjust either the shutter speed or the aperture in order to correct this. While adjusting, beware that your shutter speed stays above a 60th of a second unless you are on a tripod. Also be aware of your aperture if you are going for a specific creative choice.

Turn on your camera and play around with it. Adjusting your LCD Brightness will probably clear up many of your exposure problems. Press the Histogram after your next few shots and see what you are getting.

UnderExposed (Too Dark) Black point has travelled up the left side.

Good Histogram. Left and Right side are contained and nothing is sliding up either side.

OverExposed (Too Bright) The white point has travelled up the right side and information is being lost.

This is where your LCD brightness should be.

This is the same shot with the same exposure. The difference is the LCD brightness. See how easy it is misjudge your exposure based on your LCD brightness?

Any specific questions, leave a comment!

We just posted a free video on how to tune up your vacation photo. It plays a bit small on DailyMotion but you should still be able to follow along. To see hundreds of HiDef educational photography videos in all their full screen glory, sign up for PurePhtoto.com’s Premium Membership.

Check out 500 Photographers, a blog by Pieter Wisse. He has put together an amazing display of photography from all over the world. Beware, this is a total time vampire and you will lose hours looking at all the amazing work.

This is such a great quote and check out this shoot. Simply amazing! This was shot one year before I started assisting him. I didn’t know him that well but this seems so out of character for him. A great departure! He was one of the nicest photographers I ever worked for. One more thing…this was all shot Large Format with zero effects! The degree of difficulty to shoot this with only styling and lighting on an 8×10 Film Camera is insane. In addition, if I remember correctly, everything was Speedotron…not the most consistent light source…especially back in 95′!

“And if a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up. I know that the accident of my being a photographer has made my life possible.”

Richard Avedon – 1970

Click Here to see the whole shoot:

This is slightly old news but if you didn’t know or haven’t done it, the newest firmware from Canon updates the video capabilities in two ways. The first is that it enables you to choose the beautiful fast aperatures of your fancy lenses and it also enables 24fps (frames per second) for video. In case you are wondering what that looks like, here is a great clip that shows off 24fps…

YouTube video