Good Morning!
Sometimes Art Just Happens…
An old adage in the Dishwashing biz, of which I was once a proud member, is that you can’t get clean dishes out of a dirty sink. What do dirty dishes have to do with art, well nothing, but the tenet in that old saw works for the fine arts as well. You can’t create a masterpiece with cheap tools and low quality media. For instance, I used to do a lot of work with watercolor. My paintings sucked. It wasn’t until I took a course and found out that if the artist uses sable brushes, 400Lbs cold pressed paper, and watercolor paint that doesn’t bear the name “Crayola”, he or she can produce some credible work. The other main factor is talent, which eludes me to this day.
The exception to this rule is Lomography, where a cheesy camera is an essential tool. Lomography is based on the Lomo, a Russian made camera with a cheap plastic lens. The point and shoot camera has to be wielded with a shoot from the hip, in your face attitude to get the proper Lomographic effect. You can use Photoshop to create some of the effects, but the spontaneity and element of chance are missing.
For some edgy photography in the Lomographic vein, check out DerMuränenBlog. Below are a couple photos I vandalized with Photoshop…
Labels: art, crappy watercolors, dishwashing, Lomography
posted by The Phosgene Kid @ 8:59 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
I'm just starting to get into it myself. I guess I do it for myself and if no one likes it oh well.
I like your cactus pics. Good stuff!
hammer: We are our own worst critics. It is fun to play around with though... Thanks for the compliment!!
I like the first picture a lot. I hope to take good pictures one day, but I should start taking picturesd to practice.
washed
out skies
(from preceding post)
likely is a function of
your cameras auto-exposure
you could try taking your own light reading (your camera should have a built-in light meter/indicator) and manually set exposure for the sky (this probably will result in very dark foreground objects, which could work ok with some pics, like this sunrise)
alternatively, as auto-exposures are usually 'center-weighted', try taking an (auto) reading with more sky visible, hold it, and then shift to more ground, click...
you could try bracketing exposures (your camera may be able to do this automatically, usually 3 or 5)
you could also try playing with a polarizing filter, if your camera will accept one -- this can increase contrast in the sky substantially while having only a moderate effect on ground objects
or, get real good with photoshop and drop in your own skies (you need to understand ramped masks, curves, and layers)
you likely already know all of this, and as it is, you're doing a great job getting some really beautiful pics, phos -- keep on keepin' on
/t.
ll: Practice makes perfect. I mainly take pictures so when my memory finally goes (probably early next week) I can look back on my pictures and say "Who the hell are all these people?"
/t.: Thanks for the advice. You are correct, I need to fuss with the white balance and the exposure a bit more. I do have a polarizing filter and need to put it to good use.
I think it may be a function of all the crap in the atmosphere here, but the skies look as though they were painted on, it is hard to explain. They don't have the same deep blue as the skies in South Dakota...
Oh dear Phos, talent doesn't elude you. It has your back in different ways.
I don't understand all of that photographer mumble jumble but the cactus picture is awesome!
du: Thanks. It is a slow learning process - if there was a bus involved in the process, I'd be on the short one....
I just had a look at this "muraenenblog". This guy is a genius!!!
Thanks for the link phos ;)
i remember those photos
The monsoon burger picture is crazy! Really makes me dizzy ha!
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