Book Review: face to face

Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Photographing People is just that: a comprehensive, in-depth look at how Rick Sammon takes pictures of human beings on his travels.

Rick starts by explaining that the camera looks both ways, which means that there is always an emotional connection (or lack thereof) between the photographer and his or her subject. This connection is at least as important as the technical aspects of taking the photo, since it determines the content. I believe that it is far too common for photographers to become far too focused on the technical aspects of photography instead of the content, so I like being reminded of this simple fact.

Mountains and Contrails

While in the mountains last weekend, I could not help but notice the white contrails of airplanes in the crystal clear blue sky.

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Ice Crystals

Snow had recently fallen in the mountains, probably no more than two days ago. On the north side, just below the summit, no sunlight had yet reached the freshly fallen snow, so no melting had occurred yet.

Close to the ground the snow crystals on the pines created a wonderfully sculpted landscape.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Snow Crystals V"][/caption]

The blue tinge is caused by ice filtering light as it passes through or is reflected. I decided not to correct it because I quite like the effect.

Alpine Panorama

Last weekend I spent some time in the mountains. The weather was unusually perfect for this time of the year: clear blue sky, sunshine, a slight breeze. I really should have brought my DSLR, but I was too lazy to carry so much weight, so the G9 was my tool of choice.

Image quality is a compromise, of course, but more than good enough for web use or up to medium print size. Sometimes, it is better to have a good time than to get the ultimate in image quality. ;-)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Alpine Panorama XV"][/caption]

Book Review: Mastering Digital Black and White

In general, I dislike books that try to cover everything to do with digital photography because they are usually good on some subjects and poor on others. I feel that these books would benefit from a tighter focus on what the author is really good at.

Mastering Digital Black and White by Amadou Diallo covers a lot of ground, but it focusses completely on digital black and white photography. In fact, it is the most comprehensive book on the subject that I have found to date. What a pleasant surprise!