Look ma, no Photoshop!
I enjoying this category and I especially love to hear the comments from those that take my online class with the BPSOP when I explain that there was a time when not only did we have to focus our own cameras, but Adobe was a type of house in the SW corner of the USA.
I also love to actually see the expressions of those that take one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet if I show my PowerPoint presentation entitled, “Life before Photoshop”.
Unfortunately, the large majority of my students started in the digital era, and can’t fathom not being able to enhance their photos after the shutter has been clicked. It’s almost scary, as in freaks them out, when I tell them that they’re not allowed to use Photoshop in my class, and that I want to see their UN-CROPPED images right out of the camera. You see in my class it’s about becoming better photographers, not better photo-technicians.
Don’t get me wrong, I love CS5, and I use it all the time. But when I use it it’s because I didn’t have the control I needed to create my image in the camera. WOW, how about that content-aware tool…it’s crazy!!!!!! Don’t you just love it???
I digress once again.
In the above photo, I was hired by the advertising agency that handled a company who insured boats and yachts of all sizes and shapes. The Art Director didn’t have much of a layout to follow, but what he wanted was to show a giant lobster attacking both a motor-yacht and a sailboat. I hired a good friend that’s a terrific model builder, and after we had a preliminary conversation over the size he carved my claw out of hard foam. He also devised a way to keep it standing up in very shallow water (as seen in the photo) while I had a sailboat and a large motor-yacht follow each other around me in a circle at sunset.
Remember that in those days everything had to be in perfect scale since it was to be created in the camera. Now, the claw would be a foot tall, shot in a controlled studio and Photo shopped into the image with just the boats.
What’s the fun doing that??? For me, there’s a sense of accomplishment in knowing that I could do this in the camera. I could never feel that sitting in front of a computer.
But that’s just me!!!
Here’s how we did it. The first photo shows Danny getting it ready, and the second shows me in a Zodiac shooting it.
Btw, the first day as we were getting ready to shot, the device Danny built did not cooperate and wouldn’t stay up. We had to scrub it for the day and let the kinks be workd out. Fortunately for yours truly, the next day was as clear as the day before…so no harm done.
Visit my website at:www.joebaraban.com, check out my 2018 workshop schedule, and come shoot with me sometime.
This coming July 29th will be my 30th anniversary teaching at the Maine Media Workshop. I’ve always picked this time as it’s the week of the Lobster Festival down the road in Rockland. This ofers a unique set of photo ops, different from the Maine Coast, fishing villages and lighthouses. The Lobster Festival is all about color, design, light, energy, people watchng and environmental portraits everywhere you look; some people are there in costumes and loved to be photographed.
In conjunction with The Santa Fe Workshops, October 2nd I’ll be leading a group in San Miguel de Allende. A beautiful oasis and artist colony, and the entire city is a UNESCO site.
Come join me for a week of fun and photography…what could be better
JoeB
