Understanding the Histogram
In this article, I will shed some light on some useful ways to read and understand the histogram attached to all of the images you make. This lesson will describe how to effectively read a histogram as well as provide several examples of how to solve difficult exposure situations.
Does Size Matter?
The size of the work should be driven by the content rather than the market. Right? The fact is, in the art industry where selling work and getting gallery representation drives many artists’ working methods, working either very large or very small seems to be the shtick. It would seem there is no in between.
The Great Picture
How big is big enough? Does Size in Photography Really Matter?
Stand aside Andreas Gursky now there’s something much grander. Gursky makes large photographic prints, often measuring over 100 inches tall. Yes this is huge! However this next work of art has been entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as being the largest photograph ever.
Returning Back to My Familiar
Returning from a trip with such epic proportions leaves the soul feeling a bit empty and without. Punta Gorda, Belize is a very small town in the southern-most district of Belize; the Telodo District. The town sits on the Bay of Honduras very near the equator and is therefore high in humidity and ambient temperature.
The [...]
How to Write an Artists’ Statement
Your artist’s statement is the basis by which your work is perceived by the viewing public. It is important that you understand the impact your words have upon these viewers and potential buyers.
Ask yourself whether you want to be seen as a political artist, a craftsperson, a landscape photographer, a photojournalist, a portraitist, or even [...]
Hyper Critical of Your Work?
Often times we are very critical of our own work, so critical that we throw out very good images (I do anyway). By shooting from the hip or in burst mode while walking through a crowd, the unexpected results are often more pleasing and inspiring. Why is this?
Environmental Portraits
In environmental portrait photography I approach the term a bit more loosely than the straight-forward approach made by traditional portraitists. I like to think of the portrait as portraying qualities that make the individual unique, show the character within the human, the traits that quantify the subjects individuality.
How Photographs Inform
My knowledge of Pietà and preconceived ideas surrounding the crucifixion of Christ bring context to LaChapelle’s image. Pietà is an iconic sculpture, one known for it’s beautiful rendition of the crucified Christ. It harnesses the power and emotion of a mother and child, as well as that of a sacrificial servant.
The Family of Man by Edward Steichen
AUDIO Click on the triangle to listen along while you read.
While thumbing through my copy of an original catalog from the Family of Man exhibition, I can’t help but to think of the various types of people in attendance, class, race, gender, all under the same roof, sharing the same air, viewing the same image. [...]
How to be Creative
AUDIO Click the little triangle to listen while you read.
Creativity can prove a great challenge for many of us. I for one can attest to having more “dry spells” than creative abundance. Here are some things to consider that have worked for me and continue to work to this day.
Keep a journal on you at [...]
Practice Practice Practice
Like any athlete, the art of photography requires discipline and practice. Take the sport of cycling for example, at the competitive level, (racing against some of the top-level professionals in the US) this discipline demands vast amounts of time. Training time is spent developing base fitness, pedaling rhythm, energy efficiency, bike handling skills, pack mobility, [...]
We Are All Critics
If we truly believed that photography should always be straight, meaning without photographic manipulation, not only would it be impossible to make photographs (we manipulate through exposure, composition, framing, shutter speed, etc.) but all the credit of the captured images would need to be given to the creator of the the landscapes and not the [...]
What Was The Bauhaus
The Bauhaus was first and foremost an art school, albeit of a new and interdisciplinary kind. All students started with a “preliminary course” aimed at unlearning academic conventions of depiction and fostering a creativity based on the essentials of shape, color, and the physical properties of various materials. It was not a class for mastering [...]
f/64 Manifesto
The name of this Group is derived from a diaphragm number of the photographic lens. It signifies to a large extent the qualities of clearness and definition of the photographic image, which is an important element in the work of members of this Group.
The chief object of the Group is to present in frequent shows [...]
A Family of Portraits
We are all of one Family, born and raised within the social confines of this world. Presented here are my dearest friends, the ever expanding Baird Family.
Art Meets Social Media
A new show titled POKE! curated by Jennifer Ward, fotofest.org’s exhibition coordinator, hosts a verity of “Social Media” art pieces, including a piece by Piana, a Houston based artist, titled Journal of the Collective Me, an ever-changing Web project that displays random tweets and status updates that include the word “me.”
Another piece by artist, David [...]
Landscape Photography
As discussed in the “What is Landscape” survey posted to Facebook, there are many interpretations of the term “landscape.” However abstract the term becomes, they all seem to reference the vast open space of our land. During the process of assembling these thoughts on “landscape” and what the terms convey, the following artist’s work comes [...]
What is Landscape
landscape |ˈlan(d)ˌskāp| noun
1 all the visible features of an area of countryside or land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal : the giant cacti that dominate this landscape | a bleak urban landscape. a picture representing an area of countryside : [as adj. ] a landscape painter.
What is landscape? This may seem like [...]
Beyond Pretty Web Pages
Web design consists of much more than mere pretty pages, handsome colors, and moving pictures. The art of web design includes the aforementioned, but goes far beyond and into issues of user experience. The old adage, “you get what you pay for,” holds true when it comes to assembling your site.
GREAT web design starts with [...]
Analogy of Student and Teacher
The relationship of a student to a teacher is analogous to a guide book. In this analogy the student chooses the destination/topic of focus and the author a.k.a. teacher highlights, points out and describes the areas of focus, mapping out points and landmarks along the way.
In this analogy, the student plays an active role in [...]
Physiognomy: Measuring a Person’s Character
Physiognomy’s history is marked by points in time that presented this pseudo-science as more than a mere quackery practiced by fortune tellers and mystics. It is thought that by dividing one’s facial structure into thirds, certain personality traits can be assumed.
CMS Migration
As of the first of August, Trefethen Studios has switched to a content management system, otherwise known as CMS. Our sites refreshed appearance displays new content specific to the aim of our studio.
As our services in the field of digital media education, photography, and design continue to expand, we have found it necessary to provide [...]
Filtered Through Association
All of the images we read are presented through the filter of editors whose aim is to present their arguments. From the billboard you see while driving down the highway to the AD you read about the School of Visual Arts, arguments are presented front and center with forethought regarding their viewing audience. Whether these [...]
The Third Mind – Burroughs and Gysin
In a movement defined by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin known as the cut-up, a group of writers set out to bring writing up to speed with the rest of the pictorial arts. In the words of Gysin, writing was fifty years behind painting and the cut-up served as a means of bringing writing [...]