Salt Flat Study No. 17. Photo ©Heather Shimmin Black and white imagery has a wonderful aesthetic. Maybe because we are used to seeing the world in color we like the uniqueness of seeing something without it. Black and white images somehow transcend the snapshot in a way that color never can. Here are some suggestions on how you can improve your black and white photographs. SHOOT IN COLOR Shooting in
Gardeners instinctively know that flowers and plants are a continuum and that the wheel of garden history will always be coming full circle. – Francis Cabot Lowell There is something magical about a roof garden. Parks and backyard gardens are wondrous places, but when they are placed high above the earth on a rooftop, where they are not supposed to be, the experience becomes invigorating and unforgettable. In a
Harley Davidson Road King Detail, Cross Processed Photo ©Heather Shimmin I’m sitting at the coffee shop on a Sunday morning in a leather Manhattan chair. My soy latte is cooling on the end table to my left. The Shins are playing in the background as I wave to a friend who just walked in the door. I’m working in Photoshop, removing a few pieces of lint from the model’s black
There are many ways in which you can alter the color palette of an image to achieve various colour effects in your images. That choice can be made in-camera or later in post-production. These are the most common and quickest ways to achieve a variety of colour effects. Warm, natural sunlight is the only light source for this image. Photo ©Heather Shimmin IN-CAMERA ADJUSTMENTS My philosophy is to do as
Emerging from the Bethnal Green tube stop, one might feel as if they had got off in Harlem instead of London. Sad, 1960s buildings line the street, with even sadder storefronts: quality car store, low-price tyres, off license city supermarket, City Chic. It in the middle of this neglected street is Bethnal Green’s old Town Hall, unassuming, yet stately. This 1910 Edwardian structure was built at the height of British
Catalogue Cover for Fall Class Schedule Client: Utah Valley University Photo ©Heather Shimmin 1. Your image needs work Since the advent of the camera, photographers have spent hours in the darkroom tweaking their images – dodging and burning, cropping, adding contrast – in an attempt to make them as close to perfect (in their eyes) as possible. Today, this means spending time in the digital darkroom, aka, Photoshop. With
Pubs are a fascination of mine. Some of the older ones in London are tiny, hidden gems. Some have much written about them, others have hardly anything. The latter is the case with Williamson’s Tavern, located in the City of London, down the street from St Paul’s Cathedral and several pubs Sir Christopher Wren himself would frequent. The following is the result of an exhaustive search on Williamson’s Tavern, its history,
Crucifix Inside the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York City Photo ©Heather Shimmin The final stage in the digital imaging process is post-production, the stuff that happens after the photo shoot. This entails editing, touch-up, and storage of all these precious images. EDIT, EDIT, EDIT If location, location, location are the three rules of real estate, then edit, edit, edit are the three rules of post-production. You
John the Baptist Photo ©Heather Shimmin PART TWO: PRODUCTION Part two of this series of three articles on digital camera tips for beginners focuses on the production stage of photography, the actual shooting. Now that you’re more comfortable understanding the controls and functions of your camera (having read the manual and prepared yourself for the photo shoot) you can now focus on the production, or photo shoot. Digital
Client: Tru Talen Agency, Photo ©Heather Shimmin PART ONE: PRE-PRODUCTION This is the first of three articles on digital camera tips and techniques for beginners to help you learn more about your digital camera, understand it better, and ultimately take better images. I’ve broken down this vast topic into the three phases of the photographic process: pre-production, production, and post-production. THE PRE-PRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Pre-production is the term
Now that you’ve plunked down the cash for a digital camera, you need to protect that investment by getting a suitable camera bag. Your camera bag needs to be sturdy, comfortable to carry, secure, and large enough to accommodate your camera and its accessories. Camera bags come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and materials. The type of photography you will be doing will dictate the kind of camera bag
adaptive reuse case study THE DEPTFORD PROJECT location: Deptford, London former function: Jubilee Line commuter train carriage built: 1960s previous architect: unknown new function: café and bistro remodeled: 2008 architects: Studio Myerscough The Deptford Project, a delightful coffee shop in a redundant London Underground carriage. Photo ©Heather Shimmin On 14 February 2008, after a very slow journey from Essex, a 35 tonne, 57 passenger, decommissioned 1960s commuter train carriage