Ask Brooks

We're Moving!

Announcing Our New . . .

We're not sure what to call it. Compendium seems the best term, but a bit over the top. Amalgam — too dental. Blog — too, well, bloggish. Corpus — creepy. Assemblage, collation, accumulation, gathering — oh, heck with it.

How about — Where We Put Lots of Miscellaneous Stuff We Think You Will Be Interested In.

Essentially, we are doing a bit of E-C-R-S, which stands for Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, and Simplify.

The idea is simply this: we are combining all the multifarious email and web communications we have with LensWork readers into one compendium. Rather than having separate . . .

• Podcast
• Tech Blog
• Ask Brooks Blog
• Weekly News & Info Emails
• Alumni News emails
• Twice weekly Alumni Spotlights
• Vision of the Heart blog
• Alumni Spotlight
• Podcast email announcements

. . . we are combining all of this into one, new project called LensWork Daily. This combined whatever has the advantages of:

• Giving our readers a single location for everything
• Much easier for us to create and post
• Design consistency
• Category tagging so you can see only a filtered subset of posts that interest you
• Cross-fertilization of our various reading groups
• Automatic RSS feeds to email, browsers or other aggregators (and we'll be providing tutorials for those of you who are not familiar with this)
  • You can receive new posts in your email
  • You can monitor new posts using your browser's RSS tracking
  • Or you can bookmark the main web page http://daily.lenswork.com and stop by whenever you want to catch up.

And most importantly, because LensWork Daily uses a post/comment format, you can add your thoughts to the discussion via comment posting and share ideas with the community at large.

http://daily.lenswork.com

We call it LensWork Daily because we have so much content to share that it works out we actually do something everyday  — well, at least Monday through Friday. Because these things have been scattered in a number of different areas, we know some of you haven't been aware of all the content we publish. Now, with this unified approach, you'll be able to more easily keep up with all there is to see.

So, this blog — askbrooks.lenswork.com — is being terminated and all it's previous and future content can now be found at http://daily.lenswork.com. Pop over there and reset your bookmarks, RSS feeds, and take a look at our new combined, amalgamated, unified whatever-we-should-call-it!

Enjoy!

Brooks Jensen
Editor, LensWork Publishing

P.S. By the way, our regular website (www.lenswork.com) is still where you can go to learn all about the various products we sell, subscription information, etc.

And www.lensworkonline.com, our new membership website with content galore, is where you will find downloadable publications, full-content video workshops, the podcast archives going all the back to podcast #0001, epub and Kindle ebooks, audio and video interviews with photographers, iPad and Android editions of both LensWork and LensWork Extended, and lots more.

BW Conversions Using Lightroom or Nik Silver Efex 2

Brooks,

I value your opinion very highly, because as I've listened to you and read your essays over the years, I find that we think along the same lines on many things. Now I need help on something. I am trying to decide whether to plunk down some hard earned cash for Nik Software's excellent Silver Efex Pro2, or just continue along using Lightroom 3 for my black and white conversions. From all of the testing I've done between both of these, I find that they both have pros and cons, too many in fact, to list here. And so I would like to ask your opinion. Which do you use? Maybe neither? And if you do use one of them, could you share a short statement as to why?

Andy Garcia

   

Clearly personal preferences can be a part of this thought process. With this in mind, I'm not sure my ideas have any more validity than anyone else's. Having said that, I do, however, have a very specific way I think about these things. Quite simply, I'm not comfortable using "canned" effects. There's a tendency with these kinds of things to make images look like everyone else's, or at least there is a certain indistinct pressure to move us all in the same direction. I know, that's not necessarily logical or even rational, but it's a resistance I can't seem to shake.

I prefer to make my own decisions, even if that means I'm less efficient. I prefer to play around with an image and allow myself to discover interesting things along the way, even if that means my process is somewhat clunky. The idea that I can simply click a button and have some magical effect that turns my image into something of greater artistic value just grates on my sensitivities.

In essence, I value the process and the journey too much to allow myself to be limited by someone else's definitions and presets. So, for me, it's an easy choice — I would stick with Lightroom and/or Photoshop and continue to make all creative decisions on my own rather than succumb to the preprogrammed approaches that are available in things like Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro 2, even though I do recognize they are ideal solutions for certain people. Just not for me. And, again, if you disagree and prefer their kind of approach — and if it works for you— I say go for it without guilt.

New Tripod

Well, my trip to Yosemite National Park last weekend pretty much convinced me it’s time for a new tripod. Three lost feet, a broken leg lock, and broken extension limiter finally made me realize I’m fighting a losing battle with my current carbon fiber legs. The mess of models available from the larger companies (Manfrotto/Bogen, Gitzo) are making my head spin. What sticks are you currently using for your work? Are you happy with them?

 Neil

 

Opinions about such issues are a common as flies in a horse pen. I am not sure mine is worth any more than the next guy's, but for years now I have used two tripods. When stability is all important and weight is not, I have a very old Davis & Sanford. I've owned it for 40 years. You'll need Ford F350 to haul it around.

 

For a light weight alternative, I've been using a Feisol carbon fiber tripod for the last six or seven years. Love their stuff and a lot less expensive than the bigger brand names. I can't attest to it's toughness because I don't beat it around. Never had anything break. Never needed to replace anything that's worn out. I'm sure others will have suggestions for you, too.

 

  

Life after Harman Gloss FB Al

Now that Harman Gloss FB Al has been discontinued and replaced with Harman by Hahnemühle Gloss Baryta, have you taken another look at the papers available on the market? If so, what are your thoughts on the state of inkjet papers and what will you be using in the future? The increase in price for the Harman by Hahnemühle papers caused me to look around and I'm now very pleased with Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique, but I was hoping to hear your thoughts on the matter.
Thanks,
Chris

Audio response runtime 1:45

Life after Harman Gloss FB Al.mp3

e-LensWork on a Nook Color

I am a big fan of a great deal you and your team do. I want to restart my LensWork subscription but this time I would like to get the electronic version. Now my question, I have an iPad as well as a nook color, will the LensWork for iPad format properly display on the 7 inch screen of the nook color?
Thank you
CW Daly

Audio response runtime 57 seconds.

e-LensWork on a Nook Color.mp3

Plagiarized

I’ve just been to the Sotheby’s website and found in their catalog of images to be auctioned on 10/06/10 two images that may be copies [near duplicates] of ones I have imaged. The first is by Tina Modotti printed in 1929 [lot 128] [quite a feat as I was born in 1949], and titled Sugar Cane, and the other by Robert Frank titled Paris (Man In Park) dated 10/50 [lot 174] [at least after I was born]. 
Do you think I should be compensated?
Alan

Audio response runtime 0:38

Plagiarized.mp3

All the good photos have already been made

What do think, Mr. Jensen, about the following statement (I'm sure you've heard it before): "All the good photos have already been taken/made - so, consequently, there is no point in (being too enthusiastic about) photographing anymore" ?
Andrei Baciu

Audio response runtime 1:58

All the good photos have already been made.mp3

PDF Publishing

Hi Brooks,
I was wondering about PDF publishing. On the LensWork site you have a class on the subject. We're now into various incarnations of CS5 products - I was wondering if the basic software and workflow are still the same? More specifically, with InDesign CS5, is it still necessary to use Acrobat 9? Or can you do all the navigation and audio with just InDesign?
Thanks for the continued inspiration.
Sincerely,
Arnie

Audio response runtime 2:24

PDF Publishing.mp3

ABW print toning settings

Hey Brooks,
I hope you are doing well and the Holiday season is finding you in good cheer. I have been scouring the LensWork blogs to find your writing on your Advanced Black and White settings when printing, specifically related to tone. I am printing with an Epson 3800 and have been messing around with toning my prints and I am also one who likes warm prints. I know that you had published this information in one of your blogs but I can't for the life of me find it. When you get a free second, I'd love to hear from ya. Thank you much, and take care!
Matt Vogt

Audio response runtime 2:17 

ABW print toning settings.mp3

Portable Audio Set-up For The Oyster Run Podcast

Hi Brooks,
Just recently, I heard the podcast you recorded during the Oyster Run weekend. The audio quality was superb! Can you please describe what you used? (Zoom only, or with external mike, etc.)
Thanks!
Andy Garcia

 Audio response runtime 2:44 

Portable Audio Set-up For The Oyster Run Podcast.mp3

 

Here is the podcast Andy is referring to, just in case you missed it when it was originally posted.

LW0648 - Less Than Ideal.mp3