Make Spectacular Reflection-Free Framed Prints
By Al Warfield– After you’ve gone to the effort of taking the perfect shot, making the perfect print, and choosing the perfect frame, why spoil your image by framing it under glass where a myriad of reflections will wreck its beauty? It’s easy to eliminate reflections on framed prints made with Red River Matte and Fine Art Matte papers; you’ll also have the added advantage of displaying an image as large as the frame size instead of a...
New Photo Project Book Really Delivers!
By Albert Chi— Despite its quirky title, this new photo book by Chris Gatcum will introduce you to a plethora of projects, allowing you to achieve creative mastery of the digital photography medium…stuff you’ve always wanted to do but never quite figured out how. The subtitle of the book is “52 weekly projects to make you a better photographer” but don’t mistake this for the usual run-of-the-mill book of its kind; it’s way better. The...
Asus 24″ Monitor: Perfect Color for Perfect Prints
By Arthur H. Bleich— You may own cameras and software worth thousands of dollars, but that won’t result in good prints unless you’re able to view your images accurately on your monitor. The 24” Asus PA248QV allows you to do just that; in fact, it out-performs many monitors costing a lot more than its modest price of $219—which includes free shipping. Don’t take my word for it; over 80% of more than 750 reviews from those...
How Two of My Images Grew Into a 55-foot-wide Mural
By Christine Pentecost— Do you ever see something you want to take a photo of, “some day”? Something, maybe, you see all the time and plan to eventually get around to taking pictures of it? A unique lonely tree in an open field? Poppies waving in the breeze? A neat old building? A beautiful mountain range? And then, the unimaginable happens: the tree falls down, the field of poppies get crushed in a hail storm, that neat old building...
Documenting Maine’s Penobscot River Wilderness. Part 2
By Zac Durant— The first half of my trip was leisurely paced down the West Branch of the Penobscot and I had time to enjoy and photograph much of the river’s wildlife including an industrious beaver who simply ignored me, an inquisitive moose, and low flying eagles that soared by. And then there was the peculiar jack rabbit who paddled out in the shallows and hopped onto a protruding rock. As I approached, he seemed unconcerned by my...
Photojournalist With Soul: Carl Juste
by Arthur H. Bleich— Red River Ppaper Pro Carl Juste has a personal intensity that permeates every photograph he makes. His images speak in a way words cannot, making an immediate connection with the viewer. He is a master visual communicator. Juste, 56, was just two years old when his family was forced to flee Haiti to escape political persecution. They settled in Brooklyn, NY, and spent ten years there until they moved to...
Back to Basics: The Power of Light
By Suzanne D. Williams— Light is the key element in every photograph and having an understanding of it is essential to becoming a good photographer. Relying on your camera’s automatic settings will at some point become a hindrance because these settings can be misleading. The camera does not always make the correct choice. Instead, you, the photographer, must be able to recognize the light and know how it will affect your final...
Nina Katchadourian: Photo Artistry at 36,000 Feet
By Arthur H. Bleich— It’s 2011. On a jumbo jet 36,000 feet over the Pacific headed for New Zealand, night has fallen, the cabin lights are dimmed and most of the passengers have dozed off. Nina Katchadourian slips quietly out of her aisle seat, cellphone in hand, and makes her way down the aisle to one of the lavatories. She’s on a mission in conjunction with a project she’s titled “Seat Assignment” and tonight...
Texture, Deckle and Float Your Flower Images!
By Christine Pentecost— Living in Montana, where the winters are long, I decided to give myself a photographic challenge, so I could enjoy my flowers year round. I wanted to photograph fresh bouquets of flowers, but in a way that I could have unique backgrounds, which could easily be changed. I also wanted a new way to present them at the many shows I exhibit at. Here’s an overview of three techniques to make your flower...
Photographing the White Horses of the Camargue
By Tony Bonanno— I’ve photographed horses for many years– quarter horses on western ranches, grand prix jumpers, rodeo horses and wild roaming Spanish Mustangs, but none have intrigued me more than the White Horses of the Camargue in the South of France. I’d never heard of them until about five years ago when I was leading a photo workshop in Cuba and one of the participants, Jody Willard, a photojournalist from California...
The Encaustic Photo Artistry of Jill Skupin Burkholder
By Arthur H. Bleich— On the last day of January, 2014, a small, brown package arrived at the home of Jill Skupin Burkholder, a photo/artist who lives in Palenville, NY, a tiny hamlet nestled at the base of the Catskill mountains. Inside the package rested a highly sophisticated HCO ScoutGuard trail camera, capable of capturing night photographs of wildlife and then transmitting them to a remote iPhone for instant viewing. The images...
Back To Basics: Orientation Can Make Or Break Your Image
By Suzanne Williams– The composition of a photograph is exactly what the word “composition” itself implies. It is the way the objects in an image are “composed”, or we could say, “arranged”. Composition is, for the most part, subjective to the photographer’s eye. The fact is that there are many ways to arrange the same scene. Think of a well-known photograph. Ansel Adam’s...
Kaitlin Walsh– Merging Art With Anatomy
by Arthur H. Bleich– Kaitlin Walsh is a biomedical artist– a rarity in the art world. Her beautifully crafted, abstract anatomy watercolor paintings celebrate the wonders of the human body in ways so imaginative it’s sometimes hard not to fall in love with her deadly cancer cells or even mundane parts of the human body, like an ankle, so beautifully are they executed. These are not those sterile pictures you see hung on the walls in...
How To Print Beautiful Antique Christmas Cards
By Arthur H. Bleich– The Christmas card-giving tradition began in London in 1843, when Sir Henry Cole commissioned an artist friend, John Horsley, to design a card that could be mailed to his friends. Some say Sir Henry thought up the idea to avoid writing long letters in reply to those sent by friends and acquaintances– an English tradition at Christmastime. He had a “To___” printed at the top so he could write in his friends’ names–...
Fine Art Inkjet Printing
By Jim Nickelson– I’m often asked from friends, family, and even other photographers about why I bother printing my work when the whole world seems to be moving digital. For me, the reason is simple: creating a fine art print is my primary purpose in making photographs. As is likely becoming obvious, I am a strong proponent and champion of the fine print. If you are a photographer, I think it is essential to eventually print...
Frank Hamrick– Handcrafted Photobooks
By Arthur H. Bleich– When Frank Hamrick was ten he traded his sister an old hat for a plastic 35mm camera she’d gotten from a kid on the school bus who’d gotten it from his father who’d gotten it from an auto dealer as a premium for test driving a car. And so began an illustrious arts career for this now-40-year-old “superstar of southern art,” an accolade bestowed by the prestigious Oxford American Magazine. His work mixes...
Add Value and Security to Your Images
By Arthur H. Bleich– If you currently sell (or would like to sell) prints of your best work here’s a technique I’ve used successfully to assure buyers that if they resell my photographs some day it can be proven that they are genuinely mine and not unauthorized copies. I began doing this a few years ago when a friend who sells prints at art shows and fairs in this country traveled overseas and found copies of his work being sold...
Get Maximum Shadow Detail in Your Prints
By Tim Grey– In many cases a print will not reflect the full level of shadow detail as actually exists in the image file. Instead, that shadow gets “blocked up,” similar to the way shadow detail gets clipped in an exposure that is too dark. You can compensate for this issue by essentially brightening the value of black, causing all neighboring tonal values to be brightened up accordingly. With the vast majority of printers I find that...
Photos To Art Prints In Eight Simple Steps
By Brady Wilks– A digital inkjet wet transfer print provides a look that no other process can achieve. Due to the variations that an artist can use to manipulate the print and its unique visual aesthetic, this alternative photographic process is a powerful and viable option for an artist’s expression. The process is simple and your supply list is short. You will need an inkjet printer; wax paper or a pack of printer labels (address,...
Tri-Fold Brochures Can Yield Big Profits
By Arthur H. Bleich– My first introduction to tri-fold brochures came in pre-web times when I was on an extended assignment to Alaska and based in Sitka. The Chamber of Commerce had placed some small ads in travel magazines to promote their beautiful town as a tourist destination. The response was overwhelming but when readers requested more...
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