Light Musings

2012-01-31T14:45:00.001-08:00

Kenyan Adventure – Day 4 and 5

Today will be our last day in Samburu. We are out at 6:15 am as usual ready for another day of animal sightings.

Almost immediately we find two cheetahs. They are almost certainly the same two that we saw yesterday. Today, however, they have successfully made a kill and are in the process of eating it when we find them. We can’t tell for sure but it looks like it may have been a dik dik. Not much of a meal for two cheetahs. Eventually they finish their breakfast and we get some good photos.

We next come upon a group of male impala. Such a group of young males is known as “the losers club” since they have not been successful in having their own harem of females. We watch as a couple of the males joust with each other. They are beautiful animals. We then note that the impala have come to alert, suggesting the presence of some other predator.

After a bit of hunting we find a lioness nearby. However, she seem much more interested in finding a nice shady resting spot than anything else. It is amazing how unaffected the lions are by the presence of our Range Rovers.

As we begin our afternoon game drive we almost immediately come upon a large troop of baboons. We know that the baboons were around because we can hear them howling at night near our camp. We stopped and observed the troop. Several of the animals were busy grooming each other. We also saw multiple mothers toting their babies.
As we moved on we came across one large male baboon sitting on a rock by the roadside. He was perfectly content to let us take all of the photos of him we wanted. A handsome devil he was.
We also saw a number of colorful birds that afternoon. The first was the “Little Bee Eater”. They are only about 6 inches long but have extremely colorful plumage. The other bird that we saw was the “Eurasian Roller”. The Roller is also a small bird but quite common in the acacia woodlands of Samburu.

Another unique animal that we observed was the gerenuk, also know as the giraffe antelope. According to Wikipedia:

“Gerenuks eat food from higher places than most other gazelles and antelopes. They do this by standing up on their hind legs, and stretching out their long necks to get food off of tall bushes or small trees. Most of their diet is made up of leaves and shoots of shrubs and trees, but also includes buds, flowers, fruit, and herbaceous plants . Gerenuks do not appear to drink water; they get enough water from the plants they eat. Because of this, they can survive in very dry habitats.”

Day 5 arrived and it was time to depart Samburu and head south to the Lewa Conservancy. As we departed Samburu we passed through the community of Archers Post. This is where the reality of economic life in Kenya became obvious to us. The community was composed of a variety of small Samburu huts, buildings and shacks. This was my first real experience in seeing a 3rd world country close up. The contrast with our luxury camp at the Samburu Intrepids was obvious.

gerenuk

Archers Post

The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (also known as Lewa Downs) was formed in 1995. It is a wildlife sanctuary incorporating the Ngare Ndare Forest and covering over 62,000 acres. The Conservancy is home to a wide variety of wildlife including the rare and endangered black rhino, Grevy’s zebra and sitatunga. It also includes the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and African buffalo). Lewa holds over 12% of Kenya’s black rhino population and the largest single population of Grevy’s zebras in the world (approximately 350 individuals).

As we arrived in Lewa we immediately observed some new fauna and flora. We saw our first yellow bark acacia trees. Unlike the acacias that we observed in Samburu the yellow bark acacias had a characteristic, almost luminous, lime green to greenish-yellow bark. We also observed bird specimens of the sacred ibis and crowned crane.

After arriving and settling in we headed out for our first game drive of the afternoon. We almost immediately came across some elephants, helmeted guinea fowl as well as black headed heron. However, our target for the afternoon was to find rhinoceros. Lewa is well know for having both white and the rare black rhinoceros. And it wasn’t long before we found them. We came across a trio of whites composed of a large male and a mother with a young rhinoceros. The male was huge. The white rhino is normally docile and is a grazing animal. We observed them for quite some time. However, the male became agitated at one point and charged one of our Range Rovers. It came within 5-10 ft before Henry could get them out of there!

White Rhino

We then spotted a black rhino and followed it for a bit. The black rhino is smaller and is a browser, eating tree branches and shoots primarily. The names black and white have nothing to do with the animal’s color. According to Wikipedia:

Black Rhino

“These common names are misleading, as those two species are not really distinguishable by color. The word white in the name "White Rhinoceros" is a mistranslation of the Dutch word wijd for wide, referring to its square upper lip, as opposed to the pointed or hooked lip of the Black Rhinoceros. These species are now sometimes referred to as the Square-lipped (for White) or Hook-lipped (for Black) Rhinoceros.”

Come back tomorrow for more explorations of Lewa.

2012-01-30T14:05:00.001-08:00

In Praise of Local Guides

Since 2007, Cathy and I have taken 4 major photo treks sponsored by professional photographers or photographic organizations. We have enjoyed all of them immensely. When we first started out, we saw these trips as a way to combine learning our craft from a professional photographer as well as experiencing some incredible parts of the world. Without question, we have learned a lot about wildlife and landscape photography. However, we have come to realize something even more important – the value to experienced, local guides.

In each of our major photo treks our drivers/guides were hired locally. The advantage of this is that they know the terrain, the wildlife, animal behaviors, best view points, animal gathering points, etc. While it may be possible to learn some of this from guide books and through internet research, there is no substitute for local expertise. For example, most fishermen who are going to a new area for the first time will hire a local fishing guide for a day to two to learn where the hot spots are. The same is true for photographers. If you are not familiar with the area you will be much more successful if you have a local guide to assist you.

For our Kenya trip we had some of the best guides around. All of the guides from Origins Safaris hold a certificate from National Museum of Kenya & Nature Kenya Fundamentals of Ornithology, have completed a course with the US based National Association of Interpreters in Interpretive Guiding, and are full members of the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association (KPSGA) and hold Bronze or Silver level qualifications. Their knowledge of the wildlife, geography and culture was astonishing.

Peter Liech Adede, Henry Miwani and Felix Wambugu

Felix Wambugu was the spiritual, if not the actual head, of our four guides. Felix worked for a time for a French astronomer and then as a park ranger. He has many interesting stories from those days, including his experiences with poachers. He eventually moved into the tourism industry and obtained specialized training. He is an excellent guide with good people skills, a sense of humor and a deep knowledge of the bush, the wildlife, the culture and the different eco-systems.

Joshua Sonkoyo is from the Maasai tribe. His upbringing and education give him unique insights into the wildlife and animal behaviors in the area. He routinely anticipated the animals intent and put us in the right place at the right time. He also tells great stories. If you ever meet Joshua, ask about the baboon story.

Henry Miwani was our third guide. A nicer, friendlier man has never existed. Henry is an elder in his Maasai tribe and still goes home, when not acting as a guide, to farm. Henry arranged for us to come visit his village on our last day in Masai Mara. We had a wonderful time learning about the Maasai culture from him.

Our fourth guide was Peter Liech Adede. Peter was the youngest of the guides but his intelligence and experience made up for the fewer number of years. In addition to his work as a guide he spends large amounts of time working with the Kenya Self-Help Project / Nyashep Education Trust. More than half of all children in Kendu Bay fail to complete a primary education due to extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS-related parental deaths. The dropout rate is highest among girls; more than 70% do not finish grade eight. Peter is working to improve this situation.

It is because of the efforts of people like Felix, Joshua, Henry and Peter that our photo treks have been so successful. Cathy and I highly encourage you to consider one of the may photo treks that are available that use talented local guides to introduce you to their world.

And finally, I can’t leave you without a photo for the day. One of the more unique animals that we saw was the bat-eared fox. They are cute as all get out.

Until tomorrow, enjoy…

2012-01-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

Kenyan Adventure – Day 2 and 3

We arose early on the morning of January 14th to catch our East African Air Charter flight to Samburu Game Reserve. We flew in a 13 passenger Cessna Caravan. The game reserve is 217 miles north of Nairobi in the very center of Kenya and covers 64 square miles. Along the way we would fly past Mount Kenya, the second highest peak in Africa at 17,000 ft. The reserve was established in 1985 as part of Kenya’s ongoing attempt to protect it’s natural wildlife resources. It is also one of the two areas in which conservationists George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness made famous in the best selling book and award winning movie Born Free.

We landed on a small gravel airstrip south of the reserve. Unfortunately, recent rains had washed out the bridge across the Ewaso Ng'iro river turning what is normally a short drive to our camp into a 2 hour trek. Fortunately we saw lots of wildlife along the way.

We finally arrived at the Samburu Intrepids camp. The Intrepids company operate a series of luxury camps in Africa and ours was no exception. We would spend the next 3 nights in our beautiful tent cabins. The camp sported all the comforts one could ask for. The only drawback was that the water was not potable. All drinking water, including that used for brushing your teeth needed to come from bottled water.

At 4 pm that afternoon we had our first game drive. Our group of 13 people had 4 Range Rovers with drivers. This provided us with lots of room for our photography gear and to move around.

The roads in Samburu are little more than deeply rutted tracks. Whenever you were moving you were constantly tossed about. It was a very tiring and bruising experience. Fortunately the discomfort was offset by the magnificent wildlife. An magnificent barely begins to describe what we saw.

One the drive from the airstrip to the camp we had seen gazelle, impala, zebra, giraffe, crocodile, gerenuk, Egyptian geese and more. Inside the reserve was more of the same. What really surprised us was the incredible bird life. We saw birds that I had never even heard of before.

Martial Eagle

The highlight of our first day was the sighting of two cheetahs. Cheetahs were number one on my list of animals I wanted to see and here I was getting to see them on our first outing! They are the most beautiful animals, although these two looked like they could have used a good meal. None the less it was quite a thrill to see them up close in the wild.
Our schedule for the rest of our time in Kenya would be roughly the same. Every morning at 5:15 am we would get our wake up call. Porters brought freshly brewed coffee and cookies to our tent. By 6:15 we were out for our first game drive of the day. And our second day would be among the most spectacular. The list of animals for this, our first full day, included: Impala, Elephants, Martial Eagle, Giraffe, Lions, a Kori Bustard (the heaviest bird in the world still capable of flight), Ostrich, Vervet monkeys and an Easter Pale Chanting Goshawk. At one point we found ourselves in a herd of over 25 elephants. For the most part the animals ignored our Range Rover. However, one small elephant seemed determined to show us who was boss.

The highlight of the day was watching two Ostriches mate. The male and female tracked each other across a huge field, their intent obvious. The male puffed out his neck and called to the female. Upon coming together the male performed his mating dance and consummated the act. Awesome.

The lions we saw were pretty laid back. But we would see many more later in the trip.

Kori Bustard

Vervet Monkey

Eastern Pale Chanting Goshawk

2012-01-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

Kenyan Adventure

It’s Friday morning, January 13th. Still recovering from jet lag Cathy and I wake up in Nairobi ready to begin our African adventure. We arrived in Nairobi last night, via London, and were met at the airport by a representative from Origins Safari’s and taken to the Fairmont Norfolk where we met up with professional photographer Daniel Cox and his wife Tanya. We joined the rest of the group in the bar for a nightcap before turning in.

This first day was pretty laid back to allow everyone a chance to recover from the long flights. After an excellent breakfast we headed out to the Giraffe Center in Nairobi. The following is from the Giraffe Center website:

The African Fund for Endangered Wildlife Kenya (A.F.E.W Kenya Ltd) also known as the Giraffe Centre is a non profit making organisation, which was founded by the late Betty and Jock Lesilie Melville in 1979. The late Betty, Jock's American born wife, had earlier discovered the sad plight of the Rothschild giraffe and there were only 120 left on an 18,000 acre ranch in Western Kenya that was scheduled for sub-division and settlement.

We got to meet the giraffes, up close and personal! Then one of the associates talked to us about the status of giraffes in Africa and the mission of the center. It was very intriguing.

From the Giraffe Center we headed to the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. Some of you may have heard of this place as it was featured in the September 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine. Located just outside Kenya’s Nairobi National Park the Nairobi nursery of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is the world's most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation center. The nursery takes in orphan elephants from all over Kenya, many victims of poaching or human-wildlife conflict, and raises them until they are no longer milk dependent. Once healed and stabilized at the nursery, they are moved more than a hundred miles southeast to two holding centers in Tsavo National Park. There, at their own pace, which can be up to eight to ten years, they gradually make the transition back into the wild. We watched as the trainers fed and exercised the elephants. The dedication and concern shown by the trainers was obvious. They even sleep with the elephants at night!

After eating, the elephants cavorted in mud holes and generally had a great time, as did we. But then it was time to head back to the hotel.

Nairobi is a bustling city. Traffic is like nothing I had ever experienced before. It is bumper to bumper traffic most of the day. Unemployment is 40 to 50%. It is not the place for inexperienced tourists to explore on their own. Car doors are locked and windows rolled up no matter what the weather. And yet every Kenyan that we met on our trip was most pleasant.

Tomorrow begins the adventure for real. We fly to Samburu Game Reserve to begin photographing the wildlife of Kenya. Stay tuned…

For more information:
http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/orphan-elephants/siebert-text
http://www.giraffecenter.org/
http://www.originsafaris.info/
http://www.naturalexposures.com/

Garden Gallery

2011-10-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

Remember those old movies starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland from the 30’s where they get together and decide to put on a show? Well something similar to that happened to a small group of us a couple of months ago. Artists FRO Butler, Kurt Vorheis and I were talking and somehow we decided to put on our own Art Show. Our idea was to have a small, by invitation only, show to make contact with local artists, curators, gallery owners etc.

We were probably crazy to attempt this in just two months but we did it anyway. The show was titled “Garden Gallery” and scheduled it for Sunday October 23rd. Invitations were emailed, budgets prepared and additional artists identified. The final program included:

Kurt Vorheis – Stainless Steel Sculpture
Mark and Cathy Pemberton – Photography
FROgard Butler – Watercolors and Oils
Nancy Robinson – Acrylics
Ann Vestal – Ceramics
Walter Crew – Acrylics and Scratchboard

After much preparation we successfully launched the show yesterday. While we have no official headcount there was a steady stream of people all day long. We had lots of snacks, punch and maybe a bit of wine to keep our visitors happy while visiting with the artists. The energy level was very high and several of the artists made significant sales. It was an extremely successful outing.

Many thanks to the artists who participated and to Kay Vorheis who kept the food table supplied. During the show Cathy took a lot of photos which we’ve put together into a short video.

Enjoy, and wait until next year…
Photos by Cathy Pemberton

2011-09-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Polar Bears of Churchill - Presentation at REI

Cathy and I will be giving a presentation on "The Polar Bears of Churchill" at the Concord REI store on November 2nd at 7 pm. If you have not been to one of our previous talks, and would like to learn more about these fabulous animals, please join us. There is no charge but REI requests that you register in advance due to limited seating. Click the REI link below to register.

November 2
7 to 8:30 pm
REI Concord
Willows Shopping Center
Concord REI — Polar Bears of Churchill, Manitoba

November 3
7 to 8:30 pm
REI Brentwood
2475 Sand Creek Road
Brentwood, CA 94513
Brentwood REI - Polar Bears of Churchill, Manitoba

2011-07-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Why You Can’t Believe Your Histogram
Mark Pemberton
The Digital Curmudgeon

I love digital. I love everything about it. That’s why it is so disappointing when you discover that all is not perfect with your true “love”.

However, before I get to the problem with my “love” I’d like to quickly discuss a very important aspect of digital photography and histograms. A typical histogram from an image containing a full range of tones will look something like the example shown below:

However, sometimes the subject matter does not contain the full range of tones from black to white. A histogram from that image might look like this:

Many people are familiar with the concept of “exposing to the right” (ETTR). If you aren’t, it is the practice of exposing the image such that the histogram is forced to the right hand side, but without actually touching the “wall”. This can be accomplished by dialing in positive exposure compensation if you are using Auto Exposure (AE) or by opening up your aperture if exposing manually. That histogram should look as follows:

Why would you want to do this? The amount of information carried by light is proportional to the quantity of light. Every time we reduce the amount of light striking the sensor by 1 f-stop we cut the amount of light, and thus the amount of information in half. A 12 bit RAW image can theoretically produce 4096 (2¹²) different tones. Those tones are not evenly divided across the typical 5 f-stop range of the histogram. The 4096 tones are actually arrayed as shown:

It is entirely to our benefit to shift the histogram as much to the right as possible to take advantage of the greater number of tones available there. This is also why it is critically important not to under-expose your images in digital photography.

So what does this have to do with my alleged disillusion with digital photography? The other day, Cathy and I were shooting close-ups of flowers. Everything was perfect. The lighting was good. We carefully metered the light and checked our histograms and then began to shoot. After a while we took the images and loaded them up to Lightroom. To our surprise, the petals were blown out, completely lacking detail. Yet the camera’s histogram was perfect and there were no “blinkies” on the highlight display.

The answer was completely obvious in Lightroom. Lightroom’s histogram is a true RGB histogram, showing all three color channels independently. It was clear that the green channel was “blown out” and the red channel was just about to start “climbing the wall.”

Why did this happen? The answer lies in the fact that the basic histogram displayed by virtually all digital cameras is a “Luminance” histogram. It displays only the brightness data. The Luminance histogram can differ significantly from a true RGB histogram. Our problem was exacerbated by the fact that we were shooting close-ups of flowers with just a single color predominating.

To document this effect further I went back into the yard and took a few more photos of a yellow-orange rose. These are shown below. Below each photo I have included the associated histograms. The top histogram is a luminance histogram, similar to that found on the camera. The lower three histograms are for each of the RGB channels.

Figure 1

The first image was shot with a normal, metered exposure. Note the significant difference in each of the three RGB channels and how the red channel extends much farther to the right than the Luminance histogram.

I then over-exposed the flower by one f-stop to move the Luminance histogram to the right. (Remember ETTR?) This was probably the perfect exposure for this situation. Note that none of the histograms is touching the right-hand side.

I took a final exposure at + 2 f-stops. Even at +2 stops the luminance histogram was not touching the right-hand side. However, the green channel is now “climbing the wall” and the red channel is about to start. This is the situation that Cathy and I experienced earlier that lead to the blown out petals.

So the camera’s histogram failed to alert us that there was a problem. But what about the “blinkies”? The following two images were shot from the back of the camera.

Figure 2

The first image is a typical view of the Highlights display on the back of our camera. The “blinkies” are based upon the combined RGB luminance data. No “blinkies” are visible. Our Nikon D300, however, allows you to monitor the individual RGB channels for “blinkies”. When I changed from RGB to the Red channel the screen lit up with “blinkies”, indicating gross over-exposure.

This is all academically interesting but is it really important to obtaining good images?

To test this out I took the two over-exposed RAW images from Figure 1 and adjusted the exposure down in Lightroom and compared them to the correctly exposed image. I also took a 2 f-stop over-exposed JPEG image and corrected it in Lightroom.

Figure 3

A – Correctly exposed RAW image
B – 1 stop over-exposed RAW image corrected in Lightroom
C – 2 stop over-exposed RAW image corrected in Lightroom
D – 2 stop over-exposed JPEG image corrected in Lightroom

These results show that even though the Green channel was blown out in image C, I was able to recover the image in Lightroom with no sign of significant loss in detail. However, the JPEG image did not fare so well. Although I was able to produce an adequate result in Lightroom the loss of the data from the Green channel was significant, causing the color to shift from a light orange to yellow. There is also some loss of detail in the upper petals.

Conclusions

This was a fun set of simple experiments. However, it reinforces certain concepts.

1. Always shoot RAW. It has more flexibility and latitude.

2. If your camera has the capability, turn on your RGB histogram display, AND LOOK AT IT! My camera is set to display all three channels. Unfortunately, when we set up Cathy’s camera, we forgot to turn that feature on. It’s on now.

3. Go ahead and expose to the right. Just keep an eye on those RGB histograms.

Further Reading

Not surprisingly, this topic has been covered by others. There are a number of good articles on Luminous Landscape and other sites on this and related subjects.

http://www.digitalphotopro.com/technique/camera-technique/exposing-for-raw.html

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

2011-07-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

JAZZ MUSICIAN

Glenn Howell is the Director of the Contra Costa County Animal Services Department. He is also a fabulous bass player. The following video is from a photo shoot at my studio last Monday.

Please check out my website at: http://pembertonphoto.com/
or our fine art website at: http://mcfineartphoto.com/

2011-05-04T14:12:00.001-07:00

MOONLIT NIGHT AT BADWATER

During our recent visit to Death Valley, Cathy and I continued our exploration of night photography. On our first night out we went up to Zabriskie Point. The moon had not yet risen and we obtained some wonderful images.

A few nights later I realized that we would have a waxing crescent moon. That day we had been to Badwater and marveled at the immense salt flats and polygon salt formations. Thinking back upon our experiences at Arches National Park I realized that we could perhaps use the moon light to illuminate the salt pan while still getting a beautiful sky full of stars.

We got down to Badwater at about 9 pm and set up our equipment. After a few test shots to establish the proper exposure we got to work. The following shot was the result.

Exposure for this shot was 20 seconds, f 2.8, ISO 3200 using a 17 mm lens mounted on a Nikon D700. I turned on long term noise reduction to reduce the amount of noise in the sky. The salt pan was brightened somewhat in post production to improve the image.

Give it a try.
Mark

2011-04-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

SOMETHING NEW

Many of our faithful followers are familiar with our Digital Abstractions. These are photographs that we modify in Photoshop to produce artistic images that have abstract and or impressionistic character. If you haven't seen this work before please check out some examples at:

http://www.mcfineartphoto.com/digital_abstractions/

Many people have asked us how we create these images but it is very difficult to answer because each image is different. There is no filter or button that you can press in Photoshop to accomplish this. Each image is the result of hours of work

Recently we have started working with the blending brush and other filters and have come up with what we hope is a unique look. In the example below I started with a photo of a cluster of white flowers and came up with the following image. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

Cathy and I would greatly appreciate your comments on this new addition to our Digital Abstracts, especially from those of you with fine arts backgrounds.

Thanks for your help.
Mark

2011-04-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

Camera West Presentation

Tonight Cathy and I will be presenting at Camera West. The topic of our talk will be "Becoming Focused" and represents our development as photographers. For those attending tonight's presentation I have two recommended sources of information.

For photography in the US I cannot recommend highly enough Robert Hitchman's newsletter Photographing America. To date, he has published 117 issues, all packed with invaluable information for photographers. Check out Robert's site at:
http://www.photographamerica.com/
I highly recommend purchasing all of his back issues!

My second recommendation is for anyone planning a trip to the southwest. I strongly recommend purchasing any book by Laurent Martres. He has three volumes on the Southwest and one on Oregon. These books are full of precise detail that photographers will find very useful.

Best regards,
Mark

2011-03-29T14:48:00.001-07:00

Experience, Create, Share, Re-Experience

As I mature, both chronologically and psychologically, I find myself becoming more contemplative. In my early days of photography, if it moved, I’d shoot it. In fact, if it didn’t move I’d also shoot it. My goal was to create great looking images. These days I’ve become much more selective. I want my images to be meaningful. I find myself not taking a shot as often as I take one. My choice of subjects has become much more selective. Simply creating a good-looking image is no longer sufficient. To achieve this goal I have boiled my photography down to the following four steps: Experience, Create, Share and Re-Experience.

As photographers we are continually advised to get to know and understand our subjects. Excellent advice, to be sure. Understanding the habits of wildlife or the prevailing lighting conditions of a location will undoubtedly lead to better photographic possibilities. It is essential that you take time to experience the environment and your subject before shooting it. This will result in both better images as well as an experience to add to your lifetime of experiences. For myself, photography has ceased to be about creating images and is more about capturing experiences, hence the first Experience in my process. Two years ago Cathy and I toured Iceland. Iceland is an amazingly beautiful country, and we certainly came home with many beautiful images. However, it is the memory and experience that we had while touring the country that I wanted to capture. The book that we wrote when we returned, is titled “Iceland – A Personal Journey” to reflect that this was a book of our experiences.

The second step in my process is to Create. Joe McNalley wrote a wonderful book titled “The Moment it Clicks” about “the sheer joy of clicking the shutter”. This moment of creation is essential and includes all the things that we have been taught as photographers; composition, exposure, lighting, anticipation of action, etc. The moment you click the shutter you have created an image, frozen one instant in time. However, the process of creation is far from over. Ansel Adams is famously quoted as saying: “A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” This takes you back to what you experienced as you took the photo. The totality of what you observed and felt should be expressed in the final image. The idea that a camera’s CMOS sensor is the equivalent of the combination of the human eye and brain is ludicrous. How the image is processed will reflect the artist as much as reality. Will the image be printed on gloss or matte paper? As a color or B&W print? Should you darken the sky or burn in some of the highlights? Add a vignette? These are just a subset of the many decisions to be made in the final stage of creating an image. The final image should represent the photographer’s experience of the event as well as their vision.

One thing that almost all artists enjoy is Sharing their work. What is the point in creating a work of art if not to share it. As a matter of fact, sharing of photographs is what is driving the current explosive growth in digital photography. Most of us remember when sharing images meant carrying around a paper envelope of 3 ½ x5 inch prints and showing them to friends and family. You could always tell the serious photographers, they carried around their latest 8x10 B&W prints. Times have changed radically. Online sharing is now the norm. Today a person is more likely to pull out their smart phone to show you photos from their last vacation or of their new baby. In fact, it is highly likely that they took the photos with their smart phone. You can have your own internet gallery on pbase, photo.net, photosig or Flickr. And of course there is the omni-present Facebook. There is no question that technology has tremendously enhanced our ability to share our images, and experiences, with others. But what does this mean for the serious photographer?

The beauty of the digital revolution is that it has opened up so many new ways for photographers to share their images and to express themselves. It is very easy today to create an attractive website to display your portfolio. Some of the savviest photographers today are making great use of Flickr. If you are serious about selling your work or services is it assumed that you will have a Facebook page and a blog to promote yourself.

Another form of sharing that has become extremely easy is publishing your photos in book form. Pick up any photography magazine and you will find dozens of companies that make it simple for you to create coffee table style books of your works. I find the creation of books to be one of the most satisfying methods for sharing my work. I can include not only my images but factual details and my thoughts of the event. I have also begun to create ebooks that can be downloaded and shared over the web. The options for sharing continue to expand.

Understanding how you will Share your work is essential to the Experience and Creation steps. Cathy and I were recently touring Death Valley. I had never been there before and became fascinated by the geology and history. I thought it would be fun to create a book that would include our fine art photographs as well as describe the history and evolution of the valley. Instead of focusing my efforts exclusively on fine art photography I began to think journalistically, and began to document old mill ruins etc. Thus the manner in which I intended to share my work was driving my experiences and creative process.

The final step in my process is to Re-Experience your work. I know that most photographers enjoy going back to old images and looking at them. They bring back fond memories of past experiences. And, after all, isn’t that what we want? As we age it is extremely pleasurable to be able to look back on a lifetime of work and re-experience it. I can think of nothing more satisfying!

(If you would like to see examples of our ebooks of other works please check out our website at: http://mcfineartphoto.com.)

2011-01-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

Time Lapse Photography

With all the advances that are occurring today in digital photography it is becoming more and more an integrated multimedia platform. In addition to creating fine photographic prints I find that more and more of my time is spent in maintaining websites and galleries, as well as in creating books, e-books and slide shows. I have found the process of creating digital slide shows to be among the most rewarding tasks as it incorporates the use of photography and music.

Recently I was perusing the photos that Cathy and I took while shooting in the Southwest. We had gone to Arches National Park early in the morning to photograph sunrise on the Organ rock formation in the park. We set up our tripods and waited for sunrise. Every couple of minutes I took a photo as the lighting changed.

I loaded the photos into Lightroom and as I quickly ran through the images, looking for the best image, I noticed something amazing. Right before my eyes on the computer screen I was watching the sunrise being re-enacted. Because my camera was on a tripod, all of the images were in perfect register. It was one of those Ahah! moments. I immediately realized that by stringing the images together in a slide show I would be able to create the illusion of a time-lapse movie of sunrise in Arches National Park.

I quickly loaded the images into ProShow Producer and created a slide show. Though rough, it was clear that the potential was there. I simply had to define the conditions. In order to create smooth motion I set the slide duration to 0.1 second. I used a dissolve transition of 2 seconds between each image. When I replayed the slide show under these conditions I had a nearly perfect time-lapse movie of sunrise on the Organ in Arches.

I decided at that point that this would be the opening for my Southwest slideshow. I wanted to begin the sequence with a black slide and fade up, as if we had been waiting for sunrise in the dark. Unfortunately, my first shot in the sequence showed the Organ in the pre-dawn twilight, not darkness as I wanted. Undaunted I made 3 copies of the first image and dropped the exposure 1, 2 or 3 f stops to create the illusion of the sun rising.

The end result was almost exactly what I hoped for. Initially the sky and the face of the Organ brighten as the sun rises, then the color changes from a cool pale to warm orange as the rays of the sun illuminate the rock surface. If you’d like to view the sequence, check out the video at the end of this post.

Of course there are may ways to include video in slide shows today. ProShow Producer allows the incorporation of video files directly. However, this is a technique that is within the reach of most photographers in that it is simple to set up. Give it a try and if you come up with something interesting, let me know at mspemberton@att.net.

2011-01-12T15:43:00.000-08:00

HOUSE AT ARNARSTAPI DOES IT AGAIN

On Sunday, January 9th, the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs (N4C) hosted its Annual Awards Banquet and New Board Installation. Once again the event was held at the United Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco. Cathy and I were present to represent the Diablo Valley Camera Club, as were our friends Mike and Lori Espinosa, and Karen Najarian.

All the winning prints from the annual competition were on display. There was time to peruse the winning prints and catch up with old friends before the banquet service began.

After lunch a slide show of the winning Prints and Projected images was presented. As would be expected, the array of beautiful images was amazing. And yes, we took home our share of awards. In the Monochrome Masters division my "House at Arnarstapi" took the 1st place Medal. (see side bar) A second print of mine, "Mill Stones" took 4th in the same division. I also got an Honorable Mention for Brimilsvelir Kirkja as did Cathy for her portrait of "Bosco".

Brimilsvelir Kirkja

Mill Stones

Bosco

Best regards,
Mark

2010-11-12T15:25:00.000-08:00

FOUR AWARDS AT FOTOCLAVE

Over the Halloween weekend, FotoClave, one of the largest photography symposiums and competitions in Northern California took place. We blogged about this back on September 16. Cathy and I were excited that 14 of our images were accepted for the competition. However, neither of us was complacent. The competition would be tough, with 60 images per category.

The results are now in and Cathy and I took home 4 awards. The winning entries were:

1st Place - Monochrome Prints- House at Arnarstapi - Mark
3rd Place - Creative Prints- Meditation - Mark
5th Place - Creative Prints - Reticulated Fuschia - Cathy
Honorable Mention - Nature Prints - Polar Bear Still Hunting - Cathy

It is a great honor to receive these awards and we look forward to next year.

The winning images may be seen on the right hand side of the page.

Best regards,
Mark and Cathy.

2010-11-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

CHASING THE LIGHT
Journeys Through the American Southwest

On Sunday, October 10th, Cathy and I took off on another of our grand adventures. This time to photograph the Southwest, specifically southern Utah and northern Arizona. The last time I visited the Southwest was in 1983 with my parents and Cathy had never been there. Beginning on Tuesday the 12th, we had a 5 day photography workshop with Bay Area photographer and river runner Jimmy Katz. We would spend 5 days in Moab Utah photographing Arches National Park and some of the surrounding environs. After that, we would be on our own. By the time we finished two and a half weeks later we had visited and photographed Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Dead Horse Canyon State Park, Capital Reef NP (briefly), Bryce and Zion Canyons, Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons, Horseshoe Bend and the Grand Canyon.

We were often up at 6 am in the morning so that we could be on station to photograph our subjects at sunrise. While the temperatures in Moab were quite moderate, the morning temperatures at Bryce ranged from 27 to 32 degrees. And of course we were also there at sunset to catch the beautiful last rays of the sun. One evening even had us doing night photography until 11 pm in Arches NP.

Without a doubt, the Southwest is one of the most beautiful areas we have ever seen. The colors were an intense orange during the sunrise and sunset hours. And the rock formations were astonishing. Cathy has already got two more trips to the Southwest in the planning stages.

If you would like to see some of our photos please go to our website at:

http://mcfineartphoto.com/

Until the next time,
Mark and Cathy

Grand Canyon After a Storm

2010-09-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

FotoClave 2010

Each year, at the end of October there is a large, regional 3 day photography symposium called FotoClave. Per the FotoClave website:

"FotoClave is the premier photography forum in Northern California, drawing the finest amateur film and digital photographers together for a weekend of learning and sharing. The program is packed with informative and entertaining programs covering a variety of photographic techniques and subjects. In addition, FotoClave includes a competition where members of participating camera club councils show their best work."

This symposium is sponsored by the three camera councils in Northern California. The three councils are Northern California Council of Camera Clubs (N4C), Central Coast Counties Camera Club Council (6C), and San Joaquin Valley Camera Club Council (SJVCCC). Each council is made up of individual camera clubs. N4C has 10 clubs, 6C has 6 and SJVCCC has 6 clubs for a total of 22 camera clubs.

The Photo Contest this year has 8 divisions, including:

Pictorial, Journalism, Nature, and Travel Projected Images
Color, Monochrome, Creative, and Nature Prints

Each council is allowed to submit 20 images for each of the 8 divisions. The competition to qualify for one of the 20 spots is fierce. To determine the 20 qualifiers in each division, N4C (the council to which Cathy and I belong) held a contest. The number of entries ranged from 300 to 500 images per division. The results have now been tallied and Cathy and I were pleased to see that 14 of our images have qualified for FotoClave. I have listed the images below and attached a short video showing the images.

I am also delighted to point out that several other members of the Diablo Valley Camera Club qualified. Nicole Marshall qualified with 5 images, Euclid Viegas with 2, and Lori Espinosa also had 2 images qualify. Congratulations.

Hopefully at least a few of our images will make the grade and place in the final competition in October.

Until next time,
Mark

Monochrome Prints
Mark - James
Mark - House at Arnarstapi
Cathy - Corn Lily

Color Prints
Mark - Namafjell Hverir, Iceland
Mark - Travis

Creative Prints
Cathy - Reticulated Fuschia
Cathy - Blue Flight
Mark - Reflections and Refractions – Red
Mark - Meditation

Nature Prints
Mark - Flock of Brown Pelicans displaying mating plummage
Mark - Polar Bear prowling the shore of Hudson Bay
Cathy - Solitary Polar Bear still hunting on frozen Hudson Bay
Cathy - Polar Bear roaming the Tundra

Creative Projected Images
Mark - Spirit

2010-09-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

All good things eventually come to an end

And so it was on Tuesday, August 31st that I completed my final day as photographer for the Contra Costa Animal Services Department. This was an interesting and sometimes difficult job, but always rewarding. During the past 14 months I photographed over 4400 animals. I also met a lot of very dedicated staff that work very hard to take care of the animals that flow into the shelter.

However, it is time for me to move on. I am anxious to do more traveling and work on other areas of art and photography. And so I bid adieu to my friends, both two and four legged, at the Martinez shelter and wish them the greatest success. I especially want to thank Cindy Smith and Glenn Howell for their tremendous support. We will hopefully cross paths again in the future.

Mark

2010-06-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Permanent Artwork for the Martinez Animal Shelter

Last December, Glenn Howell, the Director of the Contra Costa County Animal Services Department approached me with an idea for enhancing the appearance of the Martinez facility. He had seen another facility that had used large photographic prints to enhance the appearance of some of the animal enclosures. He wanted to do something similar with the rabbit enclosure at the end of the gallery in Martinez. After a bit of discussion I pitched to him the idea of mounting 4 large, dye infused, metal prints on the wire mesh sides of the rabbit pen. Glenn loved the idea and despite the fact that it took six months to get it through the county bureaucracy, the task has now been completed and installed.

The concept was to show that rabbits make excellent family pets. We quickly moved away from the idea of just photographing rabbits. We wanted to show people interacting with rabbits in a positive way.

On May 19 I took my studio gear to the shelter to photograph the rabbits and models. Cindy Smith, Volunteer Manager for the shelter, had arranged for a variety of individuals to pose with the rabbits. Over the next 3 hours we photographed many different combinations of rabbits and people. From the hundreds of photos we finally narrowed it down to the final four, that can be seen below.

The final prints were spectacular and the comments glowing. These prints have clearly added a bit of elegance to the main gallery at the Martinez shelter.

If you are interested in seeing the original prints, drop by the shelter at 4800 Imhoff Place in Martinez. While you are there check out all the wonderful animals. You might even find a friend that you must take home with you.

Mark

Click on Image to enlarge

If you'd like to see some of the photographs from the rabbit photo shoot click here.

2010-06-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

HDR in Photoshop CS5

A few weeks ago I received my copy of Photoshop CS5. I was excited about some of the new features being offered, including the new Content Aware fill capabilities. However, another area that Adobe was touting was their new HDR (high dynamic range) Pro module. I’d tinkered briefly with HDR in the past but never seriously. Photoshop’s capabilities in prior versions were meager at best, so I was curious to try out the new version.

Two weeks ago I was in Napa Valley with a buddy and we stopped by the Old Bale Grist Mill. I wanted to take a look at it to figure out what time of day would be best to photograph it. It turns out that there is no really good time because it is surrounded by trees and open meadows. The combination of shade and bright light makes photography difficult. I realized that this type of high contrast lighting would be a perfect subject for testing CS5’s HDR Pro module.

I used a 24 to 70 mm zoom lens mounted on a tripod mounted D700 and took a series of raw photographs from +3 EV to –3EV, in one stop increments.

[Click on any image to enlarge it]

The image above is the 0 EV image, or in other words, this is the picture you would get by putting the camera in autoexposure mode and taking a photo. Notice that the sky and foreground are largely burned out. Because I metered the exposure on the building there is good shadow detail, although there is some loss of detail at the bottom of the waterwheel. The thumbnail images show the exposures of all 7 photos.

These 7 images were loaded into Lightroom. Before attempting to process the images I figured I needed to learn how to use the HDR module so I went to NAPP’s (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) Photoshop CS5 Learning Center and clicked on the HDR Pro icon to view an instructional video. Eight minutes and 45 seconds later I was an expert.

Returning to Lightroom I selected the 7 images, Right clicked and selected Edit in >>>Merge to HDR in Photoshop. All 7 images were stacked in layers in one image in the new HDR Module and a HDR image was automatically created. For this image I wanted a realistic look. So after playing with all the sliders I simply selected the Photo realistic preset and clicked OK. The 7 individual images were merged into one HDR image, which opened up in the normal Photoshop screen.

While the HDR image was good it was not yet ready for prime time. I went through my usual routine of sharpening, etc. In this case I knew that I wanted the final image to be Black and White so I used a Black and White adjustment layer to make the conversion. The final step was to correct the perspective of the image using the Transform command (Edit>>>Transform>>>Perspective) to produce the final image shown below. For my first serious try at HDR I was pleased with the image.

While at the grist mill I shot two other sequences; one of the side of the mill featuring the water wheel and one inside the mill showing two old milling stones. In each instance I followed the same process described above; shooting 7 images at 1.0 EV intervals. The image of the waterwheel I converted to an antique sepia tone in Lightroom after creating the HDR image in Photoshop. For the shot of the mill stones I pushed the details up in the HDR module to create a slightly hyper-real appearance.

I’m forced to conclude that Adobe did its homework on CS5. While the HDR Pro module may not be up to the level of Photomatix yet (or maybe it is) I found the interface simple and easy to use.

Mark

2010-03-11T09:19:00.000-08:00

Five Awards at Creekside Arts Festival

The annual Clayton Creekside Arts Festival took place from March 5th through the 7th. Sponsored by the Clayton Community Library Foundation, the theme for this year's art show was "A Community Comes Together ... Arts, Culture and Nature".

A wide variety of works were entered into this juried show, including paintings, ceramics, recycled art and photography. Last year I entered the show. This year Cathy joined me. Together we entered six of our photographs.

Awards were anounced Friday evening and combined, Cathy and I took home five ribbons. The first three awards were judged on the basis of all arts works, not just the photography division. Cathy won Best Technique for her Polar Bear Migration and I took Best Presentation for Great Egret in Flight. Cathy also won a Judges Choice award for "Portait of a Threatened Species", her classic image of a polar bear. In the Photography division, Cathy took first place with her photo of a brown pelican titled "Preparing for Flight". I followed with a third place finish with my "Bald Eagle Fishing".

Overall the festival was a wonderful event and a great experience for Cathy and I.

Best regards,
Mark and Cathy

2010-02-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

Photographing Three Dimensional Artwork

As a follow up to an article that I wrote last year (see March 26, 2009 entry on this blog) I am now providing information to artists on how to photograph their three dimensional artwork. As more and more artists seek to creat websites they are discovering the problems of photographing their sculptures and other 3D art. This new article delves into the issues and explains in detail how to simply and inexpensively take pictures of your own artwork and upload it to the web.

If you are interested in learning more about how to photograph 3D artwork please check out the article I've written at:

http://mcfineartphoto.com/art3D.htm

If you wish to download a copy you may obtain a PDF version at

http://ebag.wordpress.com/downloads/

Sculpture by FROgard Butler

2010-01-03T15:34:00.001-08:00

Nine Awards at 2009 Annual N4C Print Competition

Mark and Cathy Pemberton received 7 ribbons and 2 first place medals at the annual Print Competition of the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs (N4C). N4C is a regional organization that represents 13 camera clubs in Northern California. Each year, all of the monthly winning print entries from the 13 clubs are judged in an annual competition and awards given. For 2009, Mark and Cathy collected five Honorable Mention ribbons, one 5th place ribbon, one 3rd place ribbon and two first place medals.

Cathy took first place in the Creative division for her beautiful “Misty Morn Along Gastineau Channel.” The creation of this piece was described on this blog back on June 7 if you are interested in reading more about it. Mark took first place in the Color Pictorial division for his “Polar Bear Sojourn.” The other works that placed include:

Cathy - Reticulated Fuschia, Solitary Polar Bear (Urus Maritimus) Still Hunting on the Frozen Hudson Bay.

Mark - Blair (3rd), Urban Homestead (5th), Xiao Fang #2, Polar Bears Sparring, Ghosts of Bodie.

2009-12-06T15:39:00.001-08:00

First Place in John Muir Medical Center Art Show

I am pleased to announce that my image of the geothermal features of Namafjall Hverir, Iceland took first place honors at a juried art show hosted by John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek and sponsored by the East Bay Artists Guild. The judge was Arthur Scott King of the Diablo Valley College Art Department. In his comments, as reported by EBAG's Nina Tyksinski, he explained that while appreciating a beautiful and inspiring view, he wanted to see more. He wanted the photograph to reinterpret the world with a unique viewpoint. He also wanted to be able to read the photograph as he would a painting, with an eye for repetition of patterns, interesting tonal variations, among other criteria. He appreciated the way his eye was led through the 1^st place photograph and how he kept discovering new nuances.

If you are in the East Bay Area and would like to see the show it will be on display until January 15th at the Aspen Surgery Center at John Muir Medical Center, 133 La Casa Via, Walnut Creek. The exhibit is open for viewing during normal business hours.

If you'd like to see more of our photographs from Iceland check out our website at http://mcfineartphoto.com.

Mark

2009-11-15T13:52:00.000-08:00

Iceland – A Personal Journey

Well it’s taken me two months but I'm finally getting a few images from our Iceland trip posted. Cathy and I, along with our good friends Gail and Axel Duwe, made the trek to Iceland back in September. We spent 10 days touring the country. None of us had ever been there before, but we had heard great things about the natural beauty of the island.

We began in Reykjavik, in the Southwest part of the island and made a clockwise circuit around the entire country, stopping to stay at a different farmhouse or cottage each night. The weather was as highly variable as the geography. Some days were beautiful and sunny and others a deluge of rain. Needless to say, the rainy days posed great problems for our photography.

Iceland is often referred to as the land of Fire and Ice and the Land of Contrasts. Our experience certainly confirmed this. We observed geothermal fields, geysers, massive waterfalls, glaciers, vast lava fields, fijords, fertile farmland, mountains and much more. Such diversity in a small country is astonishing.

We had no trouble getting around the country. The people are exceptionally friendly. Almost everyone spoke English although the everyday language is Icelandic.

Cathy and I returned home with over 6000 images. We managed to reduce that down to our favorite 600. I’m sorry we can only show a few on this blog. Hopefully we will post more in the near future to share.

If you are looking for an interesting and different vacation spot, we highly recommend Iceland.

Best wishes,
Mark and Cathy

2009-08-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Animal Photographer

Sometimes life takes interesting turns! Three years ago I retired from the corporate world to pursue my interests in photography full time. However, photography is hardly my only interest. I also have a life-long love of animals. Last year, I volunteered at the Contra Costa Animal Services Department (the animal shelter). Cathy and I ended up being foster parents to 6 or 7 litters of kittens. We would take care of them until they were old enough to be adopted and then return them to the shelter. During that time I got to learn about the operations at the shelter and came to know Cindy Smith, the Volunteer Program Manager. I shared with Cindy some of my photography from Alaska as well as shots of the foster kitties that we cared for.

In May, Cindy contacted me about an opening at the shelter for a new Animal Photographer. This position is responsible for taking “glamour” photos of all the animals up for adoption and uploading them to the web. I applied for the position and weeks passed as many photographers were interviewed. Finally, at the end of June, I was contacted by Glenn Howell, Animal Services Director (the boss). I had been selected to be the new Animal Services Department’s photographer.

I began work on June 27th and have been going full speed ever since. I photograph up to 40 animals a day. It is very hard, but rewarding work. I was amazed to see the number of animals that were being adopted. Hopefully, my photos are enticing more people to come in and adopt a pet.

One of the things that I have learned is that there are a large number of very caring people who work and volunteer at the Animal Services Department. Their efforts at education, and caring for all of the animals are making a major difference in Contra Costa.

To learn more about the Animal Services Department or about adopting an animal visit their website at http://ccasd.org.

Warmest regards,
Mark

2009-06-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

Creation of “Misty Morn Along Gastineau Channel”
Cathy Pemberton

(Cathy's photograph "Misty Morn Along Gastineau Channel" won 1st place in the Creative category at the May N4C Photo Competition. She was asked by the editor of Foto Fanfare if she would write an article on how she created this print. The following is that article. Mark)

In the summer of 2007 my husband Mark and I took a wonderful trip to Alaska. We spent 4 days in Juneau and then traveled by train to Denali National Park. The things that we saw during that trip were awesome. One of my favorite experiences was visiting Treadwell Mines along Gastineau Channel, adjacent to Juneau.

We visited the mines early one misty morning. There were mountains in the background along with a heavy mist draping across the mountains and channel. In one location there was a clear view of the channel along with an ancient salt water pump house that supplied water to the mines. It was an incredible view, although somewhat static. As I was setting up for the shot I noticed a person out for a morning stroll. I waited for about 10 minutes until he reached the perfect location in my view and then snapped the following photo.

Figure 1

Compositionally I loved the photo although it was a bit dull and lacking in contrast due to the morning light. I always wanted to come back to this photo and try to do something more interesting with it.

My husband Mark, in addition to being a photographer is also a member of the East Bay Artists Guild and has been attempting to find ways to integrate photography into the more traditional art forms. As a result, we have been experimenting with a variety of filters and plug-ins for Photoshop. One of the more intriguing plug-ins is called Fractalius produced by a company called Redfield. They make 20 different plug-ins for Photoshop. I decided to give Fractalius a try for modifying my Misty Morn photo.

My first decision was what I wanted the final image to look like. I was actually planning to use this photo to put on the wall of our living room, replacing an old Impressionist style print that had been hanging there for the past 8 years. Thus, I was looking for a soft, dreamy, semi-abstract look.

The process for producing Misty Morn sounds straight forward but in reality required many hours of work in Photoshop to tweak the image to give the exact result I was looking for. I opened the image in Photoshop and duplicated the layer, and then opened Fractalius. When you open Fractalius you are faced with a preview and 11 sliders for modifying the image. There are also a variety of presets that the user can experiment with. The final image and slider settings used to create Misty Morn are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

This figure captured the feel of what I wanted to express. However, too much detail had been lost and the sky was washed out. To bring back some of the detail I applied a layer mask and partially masked out the hiker, sand, salt water pump house, sky and mist belt. The result is seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3

At this point the image was starting to come to life but was still dull. Using Hue/Saturation and Brightness/Contrast layers I was able to make the image pop as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4

The image was nearing completion at this point. However, the clouds were blah. I wanted more color, so using a dappled paint brush set for a very low opacity I painted some pink into the clouds and mist belt. The difference may be very hard to see in this reproduction but the subtle change is very noticeable in the final print. I also burned the clouds and mist belt to darken them slightly, and add the final bit of snap to the image.

Figure 5

And there you have the final image. It captured my original vision for the photograph as well as the emotional impact that I felt that morning.

I would like to end by offering a word of caution. There are may filters and plug-ins available for Photoshop and they offer the artist a wonderful variety of tools. However, they are only tools. I have seen many images on the Internet where photographers have simply applied the filter or plug-in without having any artistic vision of what the final image should look like. Initially the results are often astonishing to a photographer who is used to photo-realistic images. However, if you come back to the image later you will probably find that it is lacking in vision and originality. Use these tools wisely to create images that are original and express your emotions. Only then can you be considered to be an artist.

Cathy

Photographing Artwork

2009-03-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Almost all artists need to photograph their artwork at some time or another. Usually this is for the purpose of creating a portfolio of their work. This portfolio may be posted online or hard copies in either the form of prints or a book produced. As many artists have found out, photographing artwork has many challenges. Obviously the artist will want to have photographs of the highest quality to represent their work. This includes sharpness, color accuracy, contrast and saturation. Problems that are typically encountered include glare and reflections. This is especially true for, but not limited to, glossy or reflective surfaces and materials.

If you are interested in learning more about how to photograph artwork please check out the article I've written at: http://mcfineartphoto.com/art.htm

Elle Quebec Magazine Publishes Our Polar Bear Photos

2009-03-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

The April issue of Elle Quebec magazine contains an article by Louise Dugas documenting her experiences observing the Polar Bears of Churchill Manitoba. Cathy and I met Louise during our November trip and quickly became friends. She is a woman of boundless energy and enthusiasm. While writing her article for Elle, Louise contacted us and asked if the magazine could purchase some of our photos for use in illustrating her article. We of course were delighted and agreed. In the end, Elle purchased one photo of Cathy's for the opening spread and one from me. Elle also purchased photos from one of our other trip companions, Brian Wong.

To promote the article, Elle has published a slide show, narrated by Louise, and showcasing many of our photos. To view this slide show click here.

To see more of our polar bear photos please visit our website at http://mcfineartphoto.com.

Best regards,
Mark

Prize Winning Photographs at Clayton Creekside Arts 2009

2009-03-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

This weekend is the annual Clayton Creekside Arts Festival. I was privileged to be invited to submit my work to the juried art competition along with many other local artists.

The theme of the show was "Cultural Legacies…Reflections of our Past". Works of all types were submitted, including paintings, water colors, wood working, photography and more. I submitted 3 photographs.

On Friday, March 6, the awards were announced. Two of my prints, "Reflections on Lincoln" and "Ghosts of Bodie" took second and third place. First place went to Tom O’Connor for his amazing photograph of petroglyphs at Canyon de Chelly, New Mexico.

Mark

Eight Awards at Annual N4C Print Competition

2009-03-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

Mark and Cathy Pemberton took 6 ribbons and 2 first place medals at the annual Print Competition of the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs (N4C). N4C is a regional organization that represents 13 camera clubs in Northern California. Each year, all of the monthly winning print entries are judged in the annual competition and awards given. For 2008, Mark and Cathy collected four Honorable Mention ribbons, two 4th place ribbons, one second place ribbon and two first place medals.

Cathy took first place in the Monochrome division for her beautiful rendition of a Corn Lily (aka skunk cabbage) that she shot in the eastern Sierras. Mark took first place in the color division for his contemporary piece titled Reflections and Refractions #2.

The Great Polar Bear Adventure - Conclusion

2008-11-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

Our polar bear adventure is complete. Cathy and I learned a great deal about polar bears and life in the sub-arctic during our short stay in Churchill. The polar bears are truly magnificent animals and while they are not endangered at this time they are at risk. The observed populations around Churchill are declining. The Hudson Bay is freezing later and later due to global warming. Given that polar bears don't eat from the time of the spring thaw until the bay freezes over again this delayed freeze could endanger the population.

If anyone is interested in viewing the polar bears I would suggest doing so in the next couple of years while the population is still strong. In order to see the bears you will have to take one of the guided tours to the tundra. Two groups conduct these tours. They are:

Frontiers North Adventures
http://www.tundrabuggy.com/

Great White Bear Tours
http://www.greatwhitebeartours.com/

Information about the town of Churchill can be found at
http://www.townofchurchill.ca/

If you are interested in learning more about polar bears I highly recommend checking out Polar Bears International
http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/
http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/faq/

This trip will rank as one of the great adventures in our lives. Cathy and I sincerly hope that you have enjoyed sharing it with us.

Arctic hare

If you'd like to see more of our photographs of polar bears check out our website after November 24. We should have more photos posted by then. Our website is:

http://mcfineartphoto.com/

Now where shall we go next year? Hmmm...

Mark and Cathy

Day 5 - A Bear in the Air

2008-11-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

Apologies to everyone. I know that we promised something special two days ago but the realities of travel got in the way. On Tuesday we left Churchill and got into Winnipeg in the evening. I won't bore you with the details of our travails other than to say that we almost lost most of our camera gear and all of our photos from the trip. Can you spell STRESS! When we got to Winnipeg I had the choice of writing the blog or spending the evening in the bar with our travel companions. I guess you can figure out which one I chose.

Our trip from Winnipeg to San Francisco was no less trying, including lost luggage in Calgary. After multiple delays (despite excellent weather) we finally made it home last night at 9 pm. But enough whining.

Day 5

Day 5 was shaping up to be extraordinarily boring. The polar bear tour was finished. It was planned as a travel day. However, our flight was not scheduled to leave until 6 pm. Cathy and I had already seen pretty much all of what Churchill had to offer (not a lot). After a tour around the town that morning we had lunch at the Gypsy Cafe. It was there that our specialist guide, Richard, discovered that there was a special event happening at 2 pm. All plans changed instantly.

If you check our blog from November 13 I described the polar bear jail. What Richard learned was that at 2 pm one of the polar bears was to be "paroled" from jail and airlifted to a remote location on the Hudson Bay. We all piled into a semi-heated school bus and headed for the "jail".

When we arrived the "parolee" was already tranquilized and laying in a cargo net in front of the jail. We all disembarqed from the bus not wanting to miss the event, knowing that the airlift would happen rapidly. We stood in the freezing wind for about 15 minutes, waiting for the helicopter to arrive. The freezing wind, combined with bus exhaust made for a memorable experience.

Finally, in the distance, we heard the unmistakable thump, thump, thump sound of a helicopter approaching. As it was approaching we noticed a sudden activity amonst the Natural Resources personnel. Suddenly an ATV appeared towing a trailer with a tranquilized polar bear cub on it. The helicopter landed in front of the jail and immediately the Natural Resources staff carried the cub to the helicopter and loaded it into the PASSENGER COMPARTMENT!. A cable from the 'copter was connected to the cargo net and before you knew it the helicopter took off, lifting the mother polar bear into the air. The helicopter headed north northwest on a mission to drop the mother and cub on the shore of the Hudson Bay about 100 miles from Churchill.

It was never explained to us why the cub was loaded into the passenger compartment of the helicopter while the mother was in a cargo net outside. The only thing that we could figure was that cubs do not have sufficient insulation from the cold to survive the trip.

Richard told us an amusing story about one of the bear lifts. Once again, a mother and cub were being airlifted. Inside the helicopter was the pilot, the cub and one Natural Resources personnel. About midway through the flight the Natural Resources person was startled when "something" started licking his hand dangling by his side! Since that time all flights have include two Natural Resources staff on air lifts with cubs inside to monitor the status of the cub!

The amazing part of this event was the demonstration of just how concerned the people of Churchill and Mannitoba are about the welfare of the polar bears. The existence of the "polar bear jail" and airlifting the bears to safety show just how much the people up north care for the natural environment.

To see photos of the polar bear air lift, click on the link below. Then either click on "slideshow" on the upper right corner of the screen to see a slideshow of the pictures or click on the first thumbnail image to view the picture manually.

Please come back tomorrow for one last entry about our polar bear adventure.

Take care,
Mark and Cathy

http://www.pbase.com/mspemberton/polar_bear_lift

Day 4 - Here Comes the Sun

2008-11-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Our fourth and final day on the tundra. And what a day it was. The sun came out and it was glorious. And for the first time in 4 days we had excellent photography conditions. However, sunny conditions means clear skies. And clear skies mean severe cold. When I had to take my gloves off my hands would freeze in seconds.

Our timing for this trip was nearly perfect. In the past few days the HudsonBay has begun to freeze over. Today most of the bears we saw were either on the ice or very close to it. By next week the bears will be gone.

Enjoy today's sampling of photos. And stay tuned in for one more special post tomorrow.

Best regards,
Mark and Cathy

Hmm. What's for lunch?

Willow Ptarmigan

Day 3 - Rumble in the Tundra

2008-11-16T20:05:00.000-08:00

Today started with a very good omen. On the bus ride out to the tundra we saw a female polar bear with two cubs crossing the road right in front of us. The day was off to a good start.

After yesterday's freezing adventures today was a balmy 10 degrees. No frostbite today!

We saw a lot of bears today but the most exciting part was that we saw two different males sparing with each other. The second set went at it for about 15 minutes not more than 100 feet away from us. It was awesome to watch these magnificent animals go at each other.

Day one's photos were all taken by Cathy. Yesterday's photos were taken by Mark. Today's photos are once again brought to you by Cathy.

Enjoy
Mark and Cathy

Day 2 - Momma and Cubs

2008-11-15T18:48:00.001-08:00

The title of this blog was almost, Bears 1 Photographers 0. The morning started slowly. the temperature dipped to -4 degrees last night. Our driver/guide assured us that the polar bears loved the cold weather and that this would bring them out. After two hours of prowling the tundra we had not seen a single bear. We were becoming discouraged. And on top of that we were all suffering from frozen toes. Would we come up dry today?

Then luck changed. We saw a large male following a female and two cubs. The female beat a hasty retreat. However, we caught up with her later in the day and got some fantastic pictures of her and her cubs. In the end, it was a great day with many bear sightings. (But our toes were still frozen.)

Two more days to go.
Best regards,
Mark and Cathy

Day 1 - The Polar Bear Express

2008-11-14T18:31:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a day. It began with a brisk walk to breakfast at 6:30. As usual the temperature was 10 degrees and the wind was blowing at 30 mph. Following breakfast we boarded a school bus for the trip out to the tundra where we boarded the Tundra Buggy. Off we went at breakneck speeds of up to 3 mph over the frozen tundra.

For 7 hours we prowled the frozen wilderness and were rewarded with multiple sightings of polar bears, ptarmigan and one arctic hare. It's getting late and Cathy and I have to get ready to do it all over again tomorrow so it's time to go to bed. But here are a couple of photos for you to enjoy.

Until tomorrow,
Cheers.

Mark and Cathy

The Great Polar Bear Adventure

2008-11-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

Well we made it. Cathy and I arrived in Churchill today at about 10:00 am. As the picture below shows, the weather was a balmy 20 degrees with 30 mph winds that drove snowy ice crystals into your face with stinging results. I believe this is the last we will see of the sun for about a week.

View of our plane in Churchill shortly after landing.

We all piled into a too small school bus for the short ride to town. The roads were covered with a thick layer for fresh snow and we slid from side to side on the road. The driver didn't seem to be concerned in the slightest.

On the way into town we stopped at the polar bear "jail". The jail houses polar bears that venture too close to town and refuse to leave. In these cases the animal control people dart the bears and haul them off to jail where they remain for 30 days or until Hudson Bay freezes over. At that time they are released onto the ice to resume their natural hunt for seals.

Cathy attempting to break into polar bear jail to see the polar bears.

Polar bear traps.

After a tour through the town and lunch we settled into the Tundra Inn. We took a walk to the store to purchase some snacks and to visit a few sourvenir stores. We won't be doing that too often - it was damn cold. But fortunately we are prepared for it.

Tomorrow we head out on the tundra for the first time in search of bears. Keep your fingers crossed for us. Maybe I'll have pictures tomorrow.

Mark and Cathy

The Polar Bear Adventure Begins

2008-11-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

It's 6 pm and Cathy and I are sitting in our room at the Sheraton 4 Points hotel in Winnipeg, Canada. The day was uneventful, aside from the usual hassles of air travel these days.

We meet up with our travel group in an hour or so for dinner. Tomorrow we get back on a plane and fly up to Churchill to begin our polar bear photo shoot.

Supposedly we will have internet access in Churchill. If so, we will try to post daily and include some photos.

Let the Adventure Begin.

Mark and Cathy

The Wimberley Tripod Head

2008-09-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Recently Cathy and I purchased a Nikon 200 to 400 mm, f 4 zoom lens for our nature and wildlife photography. This lens is a beauty. The images are tack-sharp and it focuses rapidly. And the fast lens speed of f4 allows fast shutter speeds and relatively low ISO settings, all ideal for wildlife photography. The image to the right was shot handheld with this lens at ISO 250, f4 and 1/2000 second shutter speed.

Of couse this kind of performance comes at a price, and in this case the price is weight. This lens weighs 7.2 lbs. While it is possible to shoot handheld it is difficult and tiring. The obvious answer it to use a tripod. I tried the lens with my Manfrotto 322RC2 Grip Action Ballhead. While it worked fairly well it was difficult to track a bird in flight and simultaneously shoot.

Researching the options I discovered the Wimberley Tripod Head. Designed specifically for nature photography, the Wimberley Tripod Head is a unique, specially designed tripod head for long telephoto lenses. Superb balance is maintained by utilizing a lower pan pivot and an upper tilt pivot. (see below)

Cathy and I took it out to the Martinez Marina on Sunday to try it out, hoping to get some good bird shots. What we found was that the Wimberley was a snap to quickly aim and shoot. The camera and lens were perfectly balanced. With all the weight below the tilt pivot point there was no tendence for the lens to be front or back heavy. In only a few minutes we were both able to track birds in flight while shooting. The shots below are examples of the results we achieved.

While it is not inexpensive, if you are a serious wildlife photographer this is a great tripod head!

Food and Wine

2008-07-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Photography is not my only passion. There are so many things to do, places to go and things to experience in life. Food and wine are right at the top of the list. I'm trying to limit my consumption of both of these right now while I try to loose weight but they still fascinate me. Thus, I have undertaken a new project to photograph food and wine in new and (hopefully) exciting ways that convey my passion.

The photo on the right is one example of this new project. Everytime someone sees this picture for the first time they assume that it is done in photoshop. It isn't. What you see is the result of careful arrangement, lighting and natural optics. Refraction and reflection do the rest.

Unique angles also make everyday objects seem special.

Cathy and I have shutdown the fine art portion of our website (http://pembertonphoto.com) but we promise to have a new and improved version back up sometime before the end of August. We'll have all of the old stuff plus lots of new material, including plenty of food and wine photos. In the meantime you can check out our completely redone website for portrait and commercial photography.

If you are a foodie I recommend that you check out our friends at Artisan Adventures. This is a blog edited by Julie and Loyd Auerbach. Much of what they write about has to do with restaurants and food discoveries here in the San Francisco Bay Area but should be of interest to all Foodhists.

Until next time...
Mark

Kiss of Color

2008-07-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you that love art as much as I do, I have an important event to announce. I recently joined the East Bay Artist's Guild. This is a group of local artists that do a superb job of reaching out to the community to propagate the appreciation of all forms of art. The group has many talented painters, sculptors, textile artists, photographers and woodworkers among its many members.

From June 30th to July 17th the EBAG is sponsoring an art show at the Diablo Valley College Art Gallery in Pleasant Hill. The title of the show is "Kiss of Color". As a new member of the Guild I am privileged to have three of my photographs displayed at the show. There is a great variety of work on display by the artists and the show is a must see of local art aficionados.

The show hours are 11:00 to 4:00 Monday through Thursday. Now I know what you are thinking; I can't come to that - I have to work. Never fear! We are hosting a special artists reception on July 9th from 6 to 9 pm. Details for the show can be found on EBAG's website at:

http://ebag.wordpress.com/current-ebag-event/

We would love to have you drop by the Gallery and see our work. If you can't make the show, you can view four of my prints, along with other artwork from the EBAG in a storefront display at 105 Crescent Drive, downtown Pleasant Hill next to the Century Theater.

Best regards,
Mark

Family History Book - Family Tree Poster

2008-05-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

So now you've scanned a couple hundred photos and published your first book. After all that wouldn't it be nice if there was someway to piggyback on all that work and use those photos for something else? Well you can! How about using the photos to create a poster-sized family tree. This is exactly what I did with some of the photos that I used to create our family history book. In this chapter I will give you a few tips for creating your own family tree poster.

Once again, I used Photoshop to create my poster, but any image editing software will work. The following are some tips to prepare for creating your poster.

First of all, think of the overall design that you want to use. I chose a fairly standard vertical tree design for my poster, with the oldest generations at the top and the youngest at the bottom. You may want to use a horizontal orientation or simply a collage for yours.

In order to get a sufficient number of photos onto the poster it will need to be big. Mine was 20 in. x 30 in. The first step is to create a new, blank, document in Photoshop that is 20 in. x 30 in. Set the resolution to 300 ppi. (pixels per inch)

If you are using a vertical tree orientation it works best if you size all of the photos to be the same height. In my case I resized the photos in Photoshop to be 2 inches high. (Image -> Image Size -> Height = 2 inches) Don't forget to set the resolution of the photos to the same resolution of the poster. Then use the Move tool to drag each photo onto the poster and into position.

If you are using a horizontal tree, it will be easiest if you resize all the photos to be the same width.

My poster had 43 photos. Each photo was captioned with the persons name below the photo.
(Warning!!! If you are working in Photoshop each photo and caption will be a separate layer. As you add individual photos to the poster Photoshop will name each layer, by default, Layer 2, Layer 2, etc. Rename each photo layer immediately with the persons name. If you don't you will rapidly forget which layer corresponds to which picture which will make arranging the photos nearly impossible.)

Arrange the photos and captions on the poster by dragging the individual layers to the target positions. Add titles, lines and other graphic elements as desired.

Here is the finished result of my photo family tree poster. (Click on image to enlarge)

Of course, the are many different color schemes and variations that you can use. Here are two alternatives.

In this example I've used different background colors, fonts and added drop shadows to the photos...

and in this example I've converted the entire poster to a sepia toned black and white image to give it a more uniform appearance. The options are limitless and entirely up to your creative instincts.

Once you've finished your poster in Photoshop it will be a very large file. (Mine was 84 MB) In order to print your poster, save it as a JPEG. My final JPEG was 16 MB. Upload the JPEG file to your favorite print service and in a few days you will have your finished family tree poster. Order extras. They make great gifts for the family.

As described in the last chapter, I highly encourage you to check out Lynda.com if you need assistance in learning to use Photoshop to create your poster.

That wraps up the series on Family Photo Histories. I hope you've enjoyed it and that it has stimulated your your creative juices. I'd love to hear from you about your creative efforts.

Mark

Family History Book - Chapter #3

2008-05-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

In the first two chapters of this series I've described the purpose and content of a family photo history book. In this chapter I will address some of the technical requirements for creating the book.

I am assuming that the vast majority of the content for the book will be photographs and documents as described in the previous chapter. In order to get these into your book you will have to scan them or have them scanned for you. In order for the photos to be properly reproduced in the final book there are some technical details that are very important.

FILE TYPE

Most of the on-line services, such as Shutterfly, require that all uploaded photos be JPEGs. Make sure that your scanner is set to save the image as this type of file. If you have files that are saved in TIFF or other formats you will have to convert them to JPEGs using Photoshop or other image processing software prior to uploading. Making sure that your scanner is set to save files in the correct format will save you a lot of time downstream. If you are having the photos and documents scanned for you by someone else make sure you tell them to save the files in JPEG format.

RESOLUTION AND COMPRESSION

In order to be reproduced properly the scanned photos and documents must have sufficient resolution. Typically this translates to somewhere in the range of 180 to 300 ppi (pixels per inch). When scanning your photos I recommend that you set your scanner to 300 ppi. If you are scanning a 4x6 in. photo and plan to enlarge it in the book up to 8x10 you will need to set you scanner to a higher resolution - say 400 to 600 ppi to get the best quality.

Another important parameter is file size. The JPEG file format is a compressed format. Your scanner should give you the option to set the quality level or compression level for the saved file. The quality setting normally is from 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest quality and 10 being the highest. Compression is the reverse. If the quality is set to 10 then the image compression will be least. If quality is set to 5 the image will be compressed a lot and the file size will be much smaller. While you might think that you want the highest quality possible this will result in very large file sizes. This can result in very long upload times. You will want to keep the file size as small as possible to minimize upload time as the following illustrates.

- A 4 in. x 6 in. JPEG @ 300 ppi is approximately 0.85 megabytes (MB)

–- Upload time with DSL = 0.25 to 0.5 minutes

–- A typical book can contain 100 or more images
- Upload times with DSL can take one to three hours for 100 images, depending on line speed.

Based upon the above considerations, I have had very good success setting the JPEG compression on the scanner to yield file sizes of 1.0 to 2.0 MB. If some files are 2.5 or 3 MB don't worry. However, if most of your files are this large it will take much longer to upload your files to the vendor.

RETOUCHING

One of the facts of life is that many our our old photographs have not been preserved properly and are stained, cracked, faded or otherwise damaged. Fortunately most photos can be restored with a bit of editing on the computer. Even if you have never tried to restore a photo before you can make amazing improvements.

There are many photo editing programs on the market today. I have used both Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS, however, most programs will allow you to do basic photo retouching. The main tools that you will use in Photoshop are:

- Spot Healing Brush
- Healing Brush
- Patch Tool
- Clone Stamp
- Smart Sharpening/Unsharp Mask
- Levels/Curves
- Color Balance/Hue and Saturation

Spots and small stains can easily be removed using the Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush or Clone Stamp. Larger spots or stains may require the use of the Patch Tool. Faded photos can be brought back to life by applying Levels or Curves adjustment layers. Cracks and tears in old photos can be repaired using the Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush or Clone Stamp.

The following are some examples from one of my photo books. (Click on images to enlarge)

This photo was badly faded, cracked and stained. However, only two photos of my great-grandfather were available so I wanted to use it. In order to retouch the photo I used the Spot Healing Brush and Healing brush to eliminate the cracks and stains on the photo. I then sharpened the photo using the Smart Sharpen filter in Photoshop and then used a Levels adjustment layer to darken the photo and enhance the contrast.

This is a great photo of my maternal great-grandfather (back row, far left). Again, the photo is badly faded with many spots and scratches. The bottom half of the photo is even more faded than the top half.

Once again I used the Spot Healing Brush and Healing Brush to remove spots and scratches. By applying a curves adjustment layer I was able to bring the photo back to life and increase the contrast. Again I sharpened the image with the Smart Sharpen filter. To darken the bottom half of the picture I applied a overlay gradient mask. Finally I cropped the photo slightly to eliminate some distracting elements on the left side.

Retouching can also be used to bring old documents back to life as well as photos, as this example shows.

The image on the left is a poor photocopy of the original document. It is marred by many smudges, one of which badly obscures the last two entries on the page. Using the same techniques described above I was able to remove the obscuring smudges and bring the document back to almost pristine condition.

I would like to mention one very important aspect of retouching for use in a family photo history book. The book is meant to convey a sense of history. It is important that the restoration of old photos not detract from the sense of history. Old photos should look old. Sometimes a torn edge or smudge here and there adds to the sense of age. Some photos look better slightly faded. You may not want to bring them up to perfect condition. Be sensitive to the image and mood conveyed by the photo when doing your restoration.

I know that much of what I have described above is over the head of many people. But it isn't difficult to learn. To learn more about how to use photo editing software I highly recommend you check out Lynda.com on the internet. This site offers online tutorials fom many software packages including Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro. You can buy a monthly subscription for only $25. In one months time you can run through all the tutorials and become an expert retoucher yourself.

Many photo labs offer photo restoration services. While it can be expensive to restore a lot of photos you might have a particular photo that you want to have restored professionally. However, don't just hand you precious heirloom over to someone at the neighborhood drug store. Meet and speak to the person who will be doing the restoration and make sure that they understand what you want.

Now it's time for you to get started on creating your own family photo history book.

Good luck!
Mark

Family History Book - Chapter #2

2008-04-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

One of the things I failed to talk about in the first chapter is the reason for creating a family history book. Some reasons are obvious. The book will document the history of the family and memories of your parents/grandparents. However, there are some less obvious reasons, including:

1. To learn who all those people are that show up at weddings and other family events. In fact, one of the greatest benefits to creating the book is the information that you will learn about your family.
2. To create copies of rare photos and documents. Treasured documents such as birth certificates, immigration papers, grade school report cards can be included for everyone in the family to share.
3. The book itself can become an heirloom to be passed on to future generations.

In the last chapter I describe the basic format and content of a Family History Book. One of the most important parts of the history are the autobiographical sketches prepared by the parents. The entire layout of the book will be designed around their stories.

So how do you go about obtaining your parent's stories? After all, not everyone has the writing muse. The following are some hints and suggested topics to help prod the parental memories.

- Where / when were they born?
- Where did they grow up?
- What was life like at that time? (the depression, gas rationing, WWII, etc.)
- How many siblings did they have? Names?
- Describe their parents. What were they like?
- Describe life growing up. What was important to them? Sports? Academics? What was school like? Were they a good student? Did they have a favorite pet? What person influenced them the most?
- What was their first job?
- How did your parents meet? Story of their courtship.
- Married life. Describe the birth and growth of their children. (i.e.: you)
- What has been the most important thing in their life.
- Much, much more.

The autobiographical sketches should be about 1000 - 2000 words long. This should be enough to capture the flavor and some detail of their lives without being too large a burden. If you simply can't get them to write things down for you then the simple alternative is to spend an afternoon talking to them about the above topics and writing notes or recording the session. Once their stories are written, give them back to your parents. They may remember more details upon reading their own words. And remember, try not to edit their words too much. For historical reasons you want the stories to be in their own words.

So how do you go about selecting the photos and documents to be included in the book? Ideally you'd like to have at least one photo of each ancestor in your direct lineage going back as far as you can. Where possible, include photos of married couples or families. As you move forward into the future photos will become more readily available so editing becomes more important. Include only those photos that tell the family story. No matter how great that sunset photo that you took in Hawaii is, don't include it unless it is relevant to the history.

The same advice is true for documents to be included in the book, although a little more leeway may be applied here. Some documents may be rare and you want to preserve them. In my family's case we found a birth list of all my grandmother's siblings in Finnish. This made the document unique. Old report cards are always fun. Perhaps even an old love letter from your parent's courtship. (Use judgment here) The documents are spice to the photos.

In the next chapter I will talk about some of the technical requirements for scanning old photos for use in the history book and briefly cover the topic of photo restoration.

Mark

2008-03-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. I've been wanting to try my hand at writing for a while now and I'm finally getting around to capturing some of my ideas and sharing them. This will be an opportunity for me to share some photographic tips and techniques with you. However, I hope to go beyond that and provide ideas for projects that will be fun, attractive and useful.

In my first series of articles I am going to talk about creating a family history book. We all have vast archives of photographs stored away in shoe boxes in the closet. I'm going to show how you can turn those old archives into a meaningful family history book, or perhaps a photo-collage that you can hand of the wall or give as gifts for Christmas or birthdays.

Please join me in this new adventure. Your comments are always appreciated and welcome.

Chapter #1

Most of us regularly take pictures at birthday parties, anniversaries, sporting events, vacations, etc. In many cases we look at the pictures, pledge to put them into a photo album "when we have time" and then stuff them into a shoe box in the closet. Very few among us ever put the photos into an album. Some truly creative people actually produce elaborately crafted scrapbooks from their photos.

The advent of digital photography has opened up possibilities to the average shutterbug that were never before possible. We have choices that go beyond traditional photo albums and scrapbooks. We can share photos over the web using any one of a number of photo sharing services (Flickr, SmugMug, Shutterfly, Picasa, Photobucket...) or create computer/DVD based slide shows with music. We can print our images on almost anything; greeting cards, magnets, mugs, stamps, t-shirts, etc.

Many of us have dreamed of someday publishing a book of our photos; visualizing ourselves as a modern day Ansel Adams or Eliot Porter. It is now possible to inexpensively produce, high-quality, press-printed, hardbound photo books. These are available from any number of online and retail sources and range in price from $30 for 20 pages to up to $350 for professional quality coffee table style books. There is something very satisfying about "publishing" your own hardbound photo book.

As I was toying with various options for my first photo book I hit upon the idea of producing a family history. To be honest about it there is much about my family's background that I don't know. I wanted to capture as much of this history as I could but do it in a way that would tell a story with pictures. The book would center on my parents, telling the story of their ancestors, their life growing up and their lives together up to the current time. In the end, Cathy and I produced two histories, one for my family and one for hers. In this series of articles I'll explain the steps I went through to create the book, to help you create your own.

I broke the book down into the following parts:

- Ancestors

- Parental autobiographies

- Family life and siblings

- Adult life

- Other Topics (i.e.: pets, travel, special events)

The most difficult task, but one of the most rewarding, was getting both parents to write the story of their life. Needless to say, this is a daunting task for anyone to undertake. However, with patience, persistent badgering and a few months, both sets of parents created very interesting, short autobiographical sketches. Some editing was required but every attempt was made to keep the story in their own words.

The other major task was collecting the photographs and other documents that would go into the book. This involved going through many old albums and shoe boxes of photos, selecting the most interesting and then scanning them into the computer. In some cases we came across precious old documents that were also scanned. These added to the texture and depth of the story.

A book of the type I am describing is meant to be shared. One of the major problems with most albums, home videos, etc. is the failure to understand that "less is more". We've all had the experience of sitting through excruciatingly boring slide shows of someone’s latest vacation. I was determined that this book should contain only the "best of the best". All content must tell an important part of the story. The old adage of "leave the audience wanting more" applies here. Editing the number of photos down was one of the most difficult tasks in the project. The topic of photo selection will be covered in a future chapter.

Here is the exact sequence that I used to organize my families' history book:

- Title Page with photo of my parents

- Diagram of the Pemberton family tree

- My fathers story

- Photos of paternal ancestors

- Photos of my father's life and family prior to marriage

- My mother's story

- Photos of maternal ancestors

- Photos of my mother's life and family prior to marriage

- The family years – Mom, Dad, my sister and myself

- Photos of my sister from infancy through her teen years

- My sister's wedding and her family

- Photos of my formative years and marriage

- Treasured pets from our childhood

- Current group portraits of the family

The entire book was 40 pages long when completed and contained 86 photos. Cathy's family history book was slightly longer at 54 pages with 106 photos. Shutterfly published both books for us. The finished product was beautiful. Everyone who has seen these books has enjoyed them. If you would like to see representative pages from our history books click the link at the end of this post.

In the next chapter, I will discuss more about picture selection, some of the technical requirements for the scanned photos as well as the important topic of photo restoration.

Mark