Review of a new Magnum book in the Independent, featuring well-known Magnum photographers on other well-known Magnum photographers (Trent Parke is in there!).... »

I keep saying it and I'm about to repeat myself, so try not to yawn too obviously: I love my Nikon EM. It's small, light, basic and does everything I need in a camera. Unfortunately, it's a film camera and, while I love film, I find myself without much... »

Should have blogged this long ago; a classic photo.net post from 2003, Evolving into a photographer.... »

Interesting URLs from the last day or two: qtpfsgui is a graphical frontend to various UNIXey HDR tools, if you want to experiment with the techniques suggested in this TOP post. Early findings: it's tricky to get right without a lot of experimentation, and what's wrong with blocked shadows... »

I made a conscious decision to use the Bessas last weekend, as they've been sitting around mostly unused for the past six months and I had a hankering for black and white film. If I were being a "rational economic actor", I'd probably have come to my senses and... »

Colin Jago briefly covers his top three photographer influences here (Blossfeldt, McCullin, Erwitt), and I thought it might be fun and time-wasting to list some of my favourite photographers so I can look back one day and laugh at how superficial and uninformed my tastes once were, while others... »

...Much faster than the post from Australia to the UK, for example. Two months after buying via Abebooks, and probably four after putting the book on my watch list, my copy of Trent Parke's "Dream/Life" finally arrived yesterday. Frankly, it would have been worth it if I'd had to... »

Over at Babylon Wales, Anthony Brockway has been observing Maciej Dakowicz at work as he photographs another night out at the Glamorgan County Council staff club. Maciej's work will be well-known to anyone who follows the Wales And The Welsh Flickr group pool. This is an evocative written portrait... »

Towards a simplified mono workflow, and more Bibble wibbles (I originally wrote a long screed about the gradual cessation of my photography due to the huge backlog of images waiting to be processed, but I'll save that whine for another day. This is an extract based on finding a way... »

Short review of Mapivi After my last round-up of Digital Asset Management applications on Linux, Martin Herrmann sent me an email about his own program, Mapivi, currently at v0.9.1. After an initial adjustment period, I've since started migrating my image management to this application.... »

Two recent notable mentions for my photography that would otherwise pass unnoticed: Fourth place in the PhotographyBlog Autumn-themed monthly competition. PhotographyBlog also interviewed me as part of their gallery member spotlight series.... »

A different focus "You want an ultra-wide angle lens," whispered my Gear Acquisition Syndrome to me. "You need an ultra-wide angle lens!!" Well, that settled it: clearly I needed an ultra-wide angle lens. Because I had an idea for a shot of my Junior Research Assistant (just the one, mind)... »

A valedictory for my Nikon F80 My F80 is up for sale on eBay, after over twelve months sat unused in a bag under the bed. It's a great camera, but obviously I no longer have a use for it and, well, let's not get sentimental about this - I'd... »

Following on from my last post, I downloaded jBrout v0.2.109 to give it a whirl. Despite the name, it's a Python/GTK application but feels fairly slick. The RPM didn't work on FC5 (complained about a missing "userenv" dependency) so I installed from source; the entire distribution unpacks into a... »

Digital Asset Management in Linux Notes based on quick research into image management under Linux.... »

Following the Welsh theme of the last post, here are a couple of good blogs spotted at the Welsh Blogs aggregator recently: Chris Cope is an American columnist who learnt Welsh solely online using the BBC's website and has now brought his "child bride" to Cardiff to take a... »

I have a number of long-term photographic projects on the go, and I've just formally launched the latest by creating a dedicated album for it in my PhotographyBlog gallery. This is a round-up of what they are and what their purpose is.... »

What's up with Bibble? Bibble is a raw converter and image enhancement application for Windows, Mac and Linux. It's particularly geared to large scale batch processing of many images. In terms of enhancement features, it supplies almost everything except selections and direct editing functions: for example, lens correction, sharpening, exposure... »

A review of LightZone I'll get right to the point: LightZone is so good, it was worth installing Java for. In over eight years of PC ownership, I've never yet found a need to install Java - the megabytes of libraries, the bloat, the slowness, just for a few footling... »

smart-sharpen2 v0.3b is my modified version of John Hall's sharpening script from the GIMP FAQ site. Changes: Dialogue to modify sharpening and edge-detection parameters. Optional despeckling applied to the layer mask prior to edge-detection; this removes a lot of the grain on scanned negatives and thus avoids sharpening it... »

You want some fancy new lenses for your SLR. Want! WAAAANNNTT!! But new lenses cost lots of money. Spondoolicks! MOOLAAAAHHH!! And you don't have much of that, because of what the SLR cost you in the first place. Boo! Waaahh! SUUUCKS!! Fortunately, there are lots of other low cost... »

I keep meaning to post a moan about the generic landscape pictures that clutter up photo gallery sites, not to mention yards of shelf with glossy colour hardbacks in tourist shops, but it probably wouldn't amount to much more than "GAH, if I have to look at one more... »

More rampant Western materialism over cheap technology...... »

Nikon launched the D200 at the tail end of last year and from the specs, it was finally the DSLR I said I'd been holding out for. So I bought a D50. Eh?... »

New year, new camera: I wanted to buy a Nikon D50 DSLR. I'm not proud and I'm not giving up on film, but I needed something digital that accepted fast lenses, gave acceptable images at high ISOs and had a shooting rate that could keep up with my nine... »

Just launched, the BB photoblog: Unpopped. Expect weird, wonderful or downright wanky images.... »

Notes on buying a new camera So, I need a(nother) digicam. The family one is stuck indoors being used for family photos, now that we actually have a family. I had planned to save the cash for the inevitable DSLR next year (D200? dare I??), but the great light we... »

Recently published via Lulu, the vanity publisher for the 21st Century, is The Toycam Handbook ("Better living through plastics"), a joint effort by members of toycamera.com (tc). For $30, you receive 112 pages (approx. 1/4" thick at 9x6" size) of specs, tips and thoughts on using "toy" (plastic) cameras.... »

I've come to the conclusion that I'm definitely almost probably certainly going to allow my Nikonians subscription to lapse early next year. That will also mean the loss of my main online photo gallery. If you're worried that this will mean the disappearance of all those classic images (well,... »

Too much time on my hands? Here's a quick and dirty Perl script called acv2gimp that converts a Photoshop curves action file (.acv) to a GIMP curves file. Just run it on the ACV file and redirect stdout to a new file, which should then be put in your... »

Just a few tricks I've learnt, discovered or regularly use on my own shots.... »

BBC4 is running a series on Sunday nights called A Digital Picture of Britain, which is supposedly a companion to A Picture of Britain on the main channel. The latter is a look at the influence of the British landscape on the arts hosted by a rather grumpy David... »

It only took about ten years, but I finally got a story on Slashdot, about Nikon's encryption of the white balance information in the NEF raw data from their DSLRs. Much inflamed commentary ensued in typical Slashdot "RTFA" style, which also spilled over on to the normally placid waters... »

The gap in the photography book market for advice on working digitally in monochrome is slowly filling. I've posted reviews of Darkroom to Digital by Eddie Ephraums and Digital Black and White Photography by John Beardsworth on Nikonians.... »

Canon Powershot A40 only £149.99 ...said the advert in the window of my local branch of Jacobs. Heck, that sounds like a good price, I thought. Pity I didn't want a digital camera. Actually, it's a real shame. Later, I checked out the spec and typical A40 prices on... »

Virtually every photographer in London seems to shoot the redesigned Great Courtyard in the British Museum, but that didn't stop me either. Others soon weighed in with even more fine shots.... »

...Not only an archtypal seaside pic, but also the November winner of the Nikonians B&W contest! I'd like to acknowledge the untiring efforts of the people of Saltburn-on-Sea, who must have to look at that view all the time. I've more or less ceased posting images in the Nikonians... »

You've stopped believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy so isn't it time you gave up on the Quick Fix too? Especially at that price.... »

I have great difficulty with point 'n' shoot cameras. Give me a chunky automatic SLR with lots of fiddly buttons and dials and a thick wodge of user manual to go, and I'll happily figure out how to use all the functions and then run off some - arguably... »

There are currently lots of fine things being said about the HP Photosmart 7xxx range, particularly their amazing black & white printing capability, but mainly by those lucky people who have already taken a chance on one. The rest of the world, or at least the part that skulks... »

There are a million online articles and forum postings that tell you how to develop 35mm negatives. This isn't (exactly) one of them. Rather than intimate that it's dead easy (it is) but dismiss some of the details with a wave of the mouse ("simply pop the top of... »

It seems my faithful Nikon EM has sprung a light leak. Thankfully, my fellow Nikonians came to the rescue and last night I was able to (hopefully) repair the problem. Read on for the gory details.... »

A fisherman's bondage gear [? check this - ed.] down by the harbour.... »

View from the top of Montserrat in Spain, reached via one of the steepest funiculars I've ever gazed down.... »

The 50mm ("normal") focal length lens is: tack-sharp; immediately rewarding; easy to use; harder work; better than a zoom; boring; ideal for low-light work; required for a natural perspective; not really "normal"; good for learning the value of "foot zoom"; obsolete; underrated; cheap; best value; best for a beginner;... »

Some might say that's my philosophy.... »

Midland Compound No. 1000 & Evening Star, and how I feel about them in a museum.... »

Boat-spotting along Conwy beach. I think he called the second one "Dignity".... »

There are two questions about choice of film that, when asked on any photography forum, are guaranteed to provoke mild tuts of irritation and some teeth-grinding among old hands (barring DPReview, whose readers will only laugh): "What's the best film?" [criteria unspecified] "I use Brand X and am really... »

Some semi-abstract outdoor shots, from a photo expedition to North Wales last year. I always meant to create a dedicated gallery/story from the shots I took that day but sadly most of them turned out rather average.... »

What you get for loitering in graveyards at night.... »

...and a tale.... »

It came from behind the fence post.... »

Well, it fell...where I dropped it on the paving slab. An immensely simple idea that unfortunately still needs a little post-processing work.... »

This shot is technically poor but (I think) aesthetically appealing, thanks to the always rewarding combination of a normal lens and XP2.... »

(Cader or Cadair? My old OS tourist map says the latter but everything else I've seen recently, including the NT signs, prefers the former.) The summit was, as usual, covered in cloud and blowing a gale but on the way down the sun started to poke through across the... »

Shots from Scotland and Northumbria.... »

End of the pier show.... »

A leaf and a spot of sunlight. I was sitting by the riverside in Worcester when I noticed a simple opportunity that didn't require moving from my spot.... »

A quiet corner of Manchester on a sunny day.... »

When you're on Bamburgh beach in conditions like this, the shot practically takes itself.... »

Petteri Sulonen offers the cluestick to camera shops: it's about the service, dummy.... »

Arty, that's me.... »

This study of a wheelbarrow is one of my favourite shots to date, and probably the closest I've yet come to the sort of images I want to make. It has a painterly quality and the shallow depth of field (with only the wheel guard and the front edge... »

The shortcomings of sandstone as a headstone.... »

Apparently, I owe Claire a share of any royalties I make from this image of her plant; I think she'll still be paying into the college fund for some time to come. People seem to think the foreground, unfocused leaf is distracting. I thought it juxtaposed the sharp pepper,... »

When I first got my film scanner, it took me several weeks and many attempts to produce a satisfactory scan. I'm sure everyone goes through the same thing, but there seems to be a shortage of simple how-to guides or example workflows for beginners, exacerbated by the fact that... »

The most concise statement I've ever seen on taking great photos with a film camera. Manually.... »

Here's a great Photoshop action that reproduces the look of "Amelie" (one of my all-time favourite movies, and I say that as a dyed-in-the-wool, lifelong, lifesucks cynic) on your images. Regardless of whether one judges it to be an effective reproduction (you probably have to pick the right chocolate-box... »

Home Photography by Andrew Sanderson: I have to stop going into bookshops for at least a few years if books like this keep coming out. And I swore I wasn't going to buy any more tutorial books. Good job the floor under our bookcases is solid concrete. Actually, this... »

Here's an interesting thread on Nikonians about the merits of fast lenses against all-in-one zooms. The latter are usually targetted at the "consumer" market, because consumers want the convenience and will accept - or are unaware of - the limitations and compromises imposed by these designs. Chief among these... »

A contre-jour sort of day in Worcester. (I know all these fancy foreign terms.)... »

The 13th photo I took.... »

Wouldn't it be great if you could display flowers like this in your own home, instead of using a boring old vase?... »

Probably my best shot from last year.... »

I thought this shot across Coniston wouldn't amount to much but in the end, (after some severe lateral correction ;-) it was worth the short walk from the car.... »

Another shot of the war memorial in Aberystwyth, taken at sunset.... »

By way of extremes, an otter and a tiger. One of these animals will give you a nasty bite. The other is too tired.... »

Here are two pictures of keas in New Zealand. Keas can pull a vehicle to bits with their beaks but then, if you're unfortunate enough to be driving a Maui campervan, it's probably too late to worry about that anyway.... »

In a surprising development, it turns out that the sun sometimes shines on Kinder.... »

For Douglas, who came back.... »

Simple but effective.... »

You don't need a zoom. You'd do better with a more boring lens.... »

Imitation/flattery confusion.... »

Something to be said for the Commonwealth fuss anyway...... »