Editor's Notes

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Editor's Notes
The Business Side Of Photography
George Schaub  |  Jan 26, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2011  | 
There comes a point in your photographic life when you might consider making money with your camera. It might be a life’s goal from the start, and you put the time into assisting, attending workshops, and even taking formal lessons or enrolling in a school dedicated to the craft. But more often than not it’s something that occurs to you along the way, something that sticks in the back of your mind as you lay awake at night. You consider it because of your love and dedication to making photographs, and your feeling that making a living with something you love to do would be a good way to go through life. But the question remains—just how do you get started, how do you make the transition or the first step?
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Editor's Notes
The Camera World Gets Connected
George Schaub  |  May 21, 2013  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2013  | 
I must admit to mixed feelings about the ongoing “connectedness” craze. On the one hand you have to admire technology that allows you to link the images in your camera with various mobile devices, convenient I am sure for some, and that now even lets you shoot and share at one touch of a button. On the other hand I am uncertain how this has anything to do with seeing and making quality images that speak to your instincts and feelings about the world around you. I note that some companies make this connected ability the headline of their new products, while others take it more in stride and list it as just another feature.
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Editor's Notes
The Digital Dilemma, Part 37
George Schaub  |  Aug 01, 2005  | 

Judging from the letters we receive and the action on our Forums (at www.shutterbug.com) the debate between digital and film photographers is ongoing, and shows no signs of abating. Some photographers have manned the silver-halide barricades and defy all comers by waving the silver-halide flag, while others scoff at the film fans by terming them reactionaries and...

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Editor's Notes
The Digital Processing Difference
George Schaub  |  Mar 01, 2009  | 

I recently got back a roll of processed color negative film from a lab touting itself as “professional” and it reminded me why it’s difficult for me to go back to shooting film. It’s not that I don’t like the look of film, or that I don’t enjoy actually working with it; it’s that the prints were well below my expectations. I checked the negatives and they...

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Editor's Notes
The Fine Art Of Photography
George Schaub  |  Jan 01, 2008  | 

As someone who has paid the rent with photography since high school I often find myself uncomfortable when the words "photography" and "art" are linked in a sentence, especially when art is spelled with a capital "A." I see photography as a craft, one that takes rigor, training, and sacrifice to get right. But I also see photography as an art;...

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Editor's Notes
The Fine Art Of Portrait Photography
George Schaub  |  Apr 01, 2005  | 

The portrait is one of the most demanding of all photographic tasks. We are asked to capture the character of a person in the brief, fleeting moment it takes to make an exposure. Painters seem to have the advantage, being able to take hours or days to render their impressions. They can block out forms and fill in the light and shadow as they see fit. What do we have to contend...

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Editor's Notes
The Future Of The Future
George Schaub  |  Dec 01, 2006  | 

In this issue we ask our contributors to pose their thoughts about the future of photography, at least looking forward a year. As is their wont, each has a particular revelation, wish, or projection based upon their sense of optimism (or lack of it) and field of expertise. You'll read echoes of nostalgia for film photography, thoughts on what needs to change to make things...

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Editor's Notes
The Last Kodachrome Frames
George Schaub  |  Nov 28, 2011  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2011  | 
In this issue we feature images from the last roll of Kodachrome film ever processed. Steve McCurry’s work has always been admirable, but here the photographs have a special poignancy because they will be irrevocably tied to the end of an era in photography. These iconic images now reside in the Eastman House in Rochester, a fitting setting for them among the daguerreotypes, albumen prints, kallitypes, and other images created by processes that have become part of history. True, you can emulate the “look” of these processes with software, and even recreate some of the old paper print processes using custom-mix chemicals and old formulae, but I doubt very much that anyone is going to attempt to set up the massive machinery and chemical soups required to allow Kodachrome to be processed ever again.
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Editor's Notes
The Light Fantastic
George Schaub  |  Oct 01, 2007  | 

This issue is dedicated to lighting with reviews, how-to articles, and roundups of gear, all intended to get you thinking about the best way to illuminate your subject. At the most basic level exposure is about aperture and shutter speed--that's how light is controlled. But it is in shaping light, using modifiers for existing light and various types of bulbs, controlled...

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Editor's Notes
The Monochrome Option
George Schaub  |  Feb 01, 2011  | 

Every photo you take with a digital camera is RGB but that hasn’t stopped anyone from exploring the rich field of black-and-white imagery. True, a few years back the “conversion” to black and white was not so simple. You had to explore Channels or desaturate the image to create the foundation file, which left you with a fairly good black-and-white rendition, but something that...

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Editor's Notes
The Nature Of Nature Photography
George Schaub  |  Aug 23, 2011  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2011  | 
I remember a story Fred Picker once told about showing his portfolio to a curator at a museum in New England. Fred photographed in the British Isles, near his home in Vermont and places far and wide, and trained his eye and lens on natural forms and man-made totems in nature. His favorite photographer was Paul Strand, though his photo collection ranged as far as his travels. In any case, in goes Fred to this curator, who quickly breezes through the images and dismisses the lot, saying, “We don’t need any more rocks and trees.”
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Editor's Notes
The Power Of B&W
George Schaub  |  Mar 14, 2012  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2012  | 
I grew up in a black-and-white photographic world. Sure there was color and plenty of it, but what attracted my eye were the black-and-white pictorials in Life magazine, black-and-white movies like The Third Man and the film noir B-flicks, and the amazing work that came out of the FSA and that of Weston, Evans, and Siskind. When I began photography “seriously” I couldn’t imagine shooting in color, except for the rent-paying jobs, or not being the one who processed and printed my own work.
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Editor's Notes
The Power Of Black And White
George Schaub  |  Mar 17, 2014  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2014  | 
While every image we make with a digital camera starts out as a color (RGB) image, it doesn’t preclude creating dynamic black-and-white photos from those image files. In fact, the ability to “convert” to color lends itself to producing more tonally rich images than we ever could have imagined when working with black-and-white silver materials.
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Editor's Notes
The Rise Of “Mirrorless”
George Schaub  |  Jan 07, 2014  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2013  | 
Not long ago when you wanted even a modicum of quality with the ability to interchange lenses and control over cameras and functions worthy of the craft you’d mainly have to choose among a variety of D-SLR-type cameras. While they all followed the 35mm SLR form and even modes of operation, the digital differentiator was generally the size and megapixel count on the sensor. While there certainly were variations and competitive technologies within different brands, the major split was between APS-C and so-called “full frame” (larger sensors equaling the 35mm format). Improvements tended to drift “down” from full-framers to APS-C, but there were also a number of concessions, if you will, that moved up from APS-C to the more pro-oriented models, which for some muddied the waters although body construction, shutter cycles, and other matters of concern to pros were retained in the higher-priced cameras.
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Editor's Notes
The Wedding Photography Craft
George Schaub  |  Apr 01, 2010  | 

More pro photographers than you might imagine have been forged by the fire of the wedding photography trade. There is little to compare with the challenges of that combination of business and shooting knowledge and skill required. A typical wedding day can include portraits, still life, posing, lighting, exposure, photojournalism, classic groups, action, low-light, night, and even candle-lit...

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