To Keep or To Delete – Are All Your Photos Worth Keeping?

My last post was about printing your favourite photographs to put them on display in your home. In order to decide what are your favourite photographs though, you need to review your collection. That opens up a whole other topic and it’s one that has gotten some airtime lately – should you keep all the photographs you ever shoot or spend some time initially culling and sorting good from bad and deleting the bad?

The topic has surfaced because of the proliferation of online resources that now enable or even insist that you keep all of your “assets” in the cloud. The convenience of working on your collection anytime, anyplace, on any device seems to be what has prompted this discussion. Or perhaps it was the fact that even professional photographers now use many different devices to capture their work. And of course, the larger your collection, the more challenging is this idea of managing everything in the cloud. Cost aside, the larger the collection, the more organized you have to be in managing it and the more time you need to devote to it.

There are so many elements that factor into a decision on retention. This post explores some of the most relevant considerations for hobbyists primarily. Professionals have to be guided by contractual conditions and by their own marketing and branding interests. This is not that. This is for those of us who have full creative control over what we keep and what we don’t without the pressure of legal obligations or earning an income from it.

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Ethics and Images and the Messiness of AI

You might be aware of the raging controversy of the use of an Ansel Adams photograph as the source material for an AI generated “colorized” version of the photograph.

That isn’t the problem – the copyright expired on this particular photograph and was not renewed, so the photograph was “in the public domain” and could be used in any way by any artist for any purpose.

The issue is how the gallery that recreated the image then marketed it with Ansel Adams name and reference to the original photograph. Why is that a problem?

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not a legal case or legal advice.

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What Does It Mean When a Photograph is “Stunning”?

We’ve all done it. Used words like “fabulous”, “incredible”, “stunning” to describe photographic works that we see posted online or hung in a gallery. Sometimes we actually mean it. Sometimes we say it to be nice. We hope those words will be applied to our work too. In this age of social media, praise is often a given and we think something is wrong if it doesn’t come.

But eventually, we all reach a point in our own personal journey where we become more selective. We don’t offer praise as readily. Perhaps your own work also becomes a bit monotonous. Perhaps you have seen too many of the same presentation of a piece, even if expertly done. I hear that often happens to those asked to judge competitions. They may rate an otherwise superb item very low just because they have seen something similar before, often many times before.

It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. Even in art. We are taught from an early age to strive for the next victory, to be the best and to not stop there. But because art is so subjective, how do you know when you are looking at something truly stunning?

For me, it’s all about the emotional reaction I have to a piece. Does it make me stop doing whatever other thing I was doing to admire it? Does it take my breath away? Do I linger watching it? Do I struggle to describe what I am feeling?

Take a walk with me. I’d like to explore just one photograph that I label as “stunning” and reveal why. This photograph was taken by a young insanely talented wildlife/bird photographer in the UK by the name of Rachel Bigsby.

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Adobe’s Puzzling February Update

Whenever Adobe releases a new version of its photography software package components (i.e. Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop), there are typically a multitude of videos that explain the new releases and, again typically, comment on how great the new features are.

Not this time.

The bulk of videos I have watched, mostly from long running pro photographers, have described and demonstrated the features, but also offered some very puzzling or at least unexpected commentary. Find out what.

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Creative Ideas at the Creative Lab

Yesterday, I dropped by the Canon Creative Lab in Mississauga where they were hosting Image Wonderland. This was an event showcasing Canon gear (of course), along with a number of sets with models and high end props (including a vintage Cadillac) where you could try out the gear. I’ve never been to one of these, and honestly did not know what to expect.

I’ve been a Canon fan-girl forever, and we were also encouraged to bring our own cameras and shoot away. Images could also be printed through the onsite Canon Print Shop for free, although this was confined to 4×6 prints for walk-ins, and 11×17 prints if you submitted them ahead of time. And there was a series of talks given by Canon Ambassadors, including Irene Rudnyk, Sal Balaji and Steve Russell.

What did I see and experience at the event? Read on…

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What Does It Mean To Be A Professional?

I had an interesting experience recently, as all home owners do. I had to hire someone to do some repairs on the house. I also took the opportunity to do some upgrades as well. The specifics don’t matter, but the quality of work does. The company I hired boldly advertised their services as delivered by highly trained, professional technicians. I hear that phrasing a lot, especially from those selling services, including photography, with the latter usually accompanied by the words “award-winning” as well. Of course it started me thinking of a blog topic, What does “professional” actually mean? Read on.

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When Technical Support is No Support at All

Happy New Year all! Playing with those Christmas gifts? Here’s the story of one of mine.

Any hobby that relies on technology will eventually bring you to a point where you need to contact Technical Support. I’m pretty savvy and can solve most technical things on my own. I frankly prefer to do that, as I learn better that way how to avoid the problem next time.

I had a situation recently though that made it necessary to seek help. I purchased a piece of equipment before Christmas through my favourite telescope shop. The item was made by SkyWatcher, a reputable, well-known and trusted brand. Sadly, the item did not work at all out of the box and despite my best efforts, I could not solve the problem. So I contacted technical support, first at the shop where I purchased it, then through SkyWatcher. Here’s what happened…

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Visiting ProFusion Expo

Earlier this month, I ventured into that den of iniquity – the largest photo and video trade show in Canada, called Profusion Expo. It is hosted by retail vendor Vistek here in Toronto. It brings together vendors of all the major camera and video brands, and includes a myriad of special presentations from their ambassadors along with the opportunity to put hands on their latest equipment.

The retail marketplace has changed big-time for this market since Covid. Products are not refreshed as often, and when they are, the new releases are not available everywhere for customers to see and touch before buying. Anything I’ve bought in the last few years has been online or as a “pre-order”, sight unseen. One reason for my going to the show this year was to see what I could not see elsewhere. It did not disappoint.

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Why is Astrophotography So Popular Now?

If you check the sales numbers of the top camera manufacturers worldwide over the last 15 years, you will see that sales have dropped by more than 90%. The market for traditional camera sales has clearly bottomed out, with most of us relying on our cellphones now to capture those memorable daytime visual experiences.

In contrast, the market for astrophotography is exploding, particularly in the 30-40 year age groups. Inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic, sales have skyrocketed. While still technically a niche subject, the number of companies now that offer specialized astrophotography equipment, along with the number of companies that will design and build a custom home observatory for you, is growing by leaps and bounds. There are also star parties around the world each year where enthusiasts gather to share experiences and ideas. YouTube searches for astrophotography confirm the growing interest, although there is a strange unexplained dip between 2018 and 2020.

My last blog post talked about a move away from technology to more analogue options, especially for young folk. This bucks that trend bigtime. Why?

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Teaching Styles – Finding the Right One for You

I love to learn. Have all my life. And the winter season is a great time to learn new things, since most of us are stuck inside.

I’ve been concentrating on two paths of learning this winter: astrophotography image processing, and architectural image processing. The first deals with doing the utmost to ensure good image quality and colour representation in the tiny objects photographed in the sky. The second deals with adding tone, contrast and artistic adjustments to architecture to turn them into works of art (beyond the work of art that the architect already produced).

Both paths have brought me in touch with several teachers, respected in their fields. But they could not be more different in their teaching styles. One of the challenges I’ve had has been finding a teaching style that gives me the right learning experience for me.

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