Dirkon ... What?!?

So just what is a Dirkon?  Well, its a pinhole camera made completely out of paper.  It is photography at its most basic.

History

Where did the Dirkon originate?  It was first printed in Magazines.

"During the 1970s, magazines published in Communist Czechoslovakia were controlled by the state, like the majority of other enterprises. Very few good magazines were available and were difficult to get hold of, so people would borrow and exchange them when given the opportunity. This also applied to magazines aimed at young people, which was probably one of the reasons why almost everyone from my generation, when we get on to the subject of pinhole cameras, has fond memories of the cut-out paper camera known as Dirkon, published in 1979 in the magazine ABC mladých techniků a přírodovědců [An ABC of Young Technicians and Natural Scientists].

Its creators, Martin Pilný, Mirek Kolář, and Richard Vyškovský, came up with a functional pinhole camera made of stiff paper, designed for 35 mm film, which resembles a real camera. It may not be the most practical of devices, but it works!"  ~ Pinhole.cz

So where can you get your hands on one of these great pinhole cameras?  Well, you have to build it you can download everything you need from this website pinhole.cz.  However, if you are not up to creating a paper camera then you can be lazy and buy the plastic version from Photojojo by clicking here.  So go build or buy your pinhole camera and go give film a try!

Want to get better at photography?

Of course you do! How do you do it? There are many ways ... one of those ways is to do a 365 or 52 project. What is that you ask? Well, I am going to tell you all about it.

We will start with the 365 project. This is a project that lasts a whole year. The goal is to take at least 1 picture a day and upload it to flickr.com (if you don't know about flickr.com check out next weeks post on flickr). You can also join a group and put your picture in to the group as well. There are many groups supporting the 365 project with many different themes. Themes range form a self portrait a day or allowing you to upload any picture you like or some even give you a theme for the day ... it is all about personal preference. The purpose of the project is to help you become a better photographer by forcing you to see the world using "photographers eyes". The more pictures you take the easier it is for you to see photo opportunities everywhere.

However, if the 365 project sounds a bit too ambitious for you there is another option ... the 52 project. As it sounds it is 52 pictures a year instead of 365 or 1 picture a week. The purpose of the project is the same as the 365 project it just requires less photography per week. If you are interested in a 52 weeks group check out the group I created by clicking here.

As you can see I have given you 2 new ways to help you become a better photographer ... so go out and take some pictures! Next weeks topic "flickr".

Jacob's Photography Blog is Back!

So after taking almost a year hiatus I have decided to get back to blogging ... lucky you! lol. I have some great new material planed for this year (2010). I have been teaching photography classes, working on my street photography, and getting my business off the ground. All of this has helped me gain new insight on photography. I hope to be able to share some of my knowledge with you as well as some of my mistakes so that you hopefully won't have the same problems I have had.

I hope to create a new blog entry once a week but they may come more often depending on my work load. So check back often to keep up with all of the new posts. All of that to say ... the first new post will be published tomorrow at 9:00 AM EST.

The Rule Of Thirds And How To Break It

What exactly is the “Rule of Thirds”? The rule is simple to explain but for some it may be hard to put into practice. You should imagine breaking an image down into thirds, both vertically and horizontally, so that you have 9 segments like the demonstration below.


This is basically a tic-tac-toe board. Too often photographs have the subject placed directly in the center of the frame, which makes the picture look dull and uninteresting. To keep this from happening try to place the subject on one of the horizontal or vertical lines. The easy way to properly follow the rule of thirds is to not have your subject directly in the center square. Sound simple?

Now on to breaking the rule … a photographer may want to break the rule of thirds to add an artistic flair or to add drama to a photograph. But be aware that breaking the rule may be harder than it seems.

Hopefully this post will help you to understand the rule of thirds.

RAW vs. JPEG

What is the difference between the two file types? Well, JPEG (aka Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a is a commonly used method of compression for photographic images. The degree of compression can usually be adjusted, allowing a selectable trade off between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality. Hmmm ... "perceptible loss in image quality". Even though there is the word "little" in front of perceptible there is still a loss in image quality. JPEG compression, in my opinion, is a lousy format that throws away the data that you can’t see in order to give you smaller file sizes, but if you don't need high quality images and need a small file size JPEG is definitely for you.

Then what is RAW? A RAW image file contains minimally processed data directly from your camera's image sensor. RAW format is completely loss-less and keeps every piece of data your camera captures (even if you don’t need it). There is one down side though ... RAW format requires a good bit more space on your memory card because it does store every bit of information from your camera's sensor. However, a RAW file isn’t technically an "image file" (in the true since of the word). It has to be converted by special software on your computer and processed in order to be suitable for printing or exporting for other uses. So, why shoot in RAW format? Since RAW format stores every bit of data from your camera's sensor if you screw up a picture it is almost always fixable. Lets say you shoot a picture on a bright sunny day (a once in a lifetime photo) and you don't realize that it was overexposed until you get home and view it on you computer -- if you shot in RAW you could easily adjust the exposure to be properly exposed. So to sum this up, If you are not going to bother processing your photos, RAW is not for you.

So what does all of this mean for your pictures? Well there are pros and cons to shooting both RAW and JPEG images. Many people choose to shoot in JPEG format because it is a universal format which can be taken directly off of the camera and shared via email or published to the Internet. JPEG format also requires less storage space on your camera and computer. RAW, on the other hand, requires some post production work. You will need software to properly edit and export your photos. This software sometimes comes with you camera, and sometimes needs to be purchased. Programs like Aperture (from Apple), Adobe Lightroom, and Adobe Camera RAW in Photoshop are great programs for editing RAW files. I, being a Mac guy, prefer Aperture but I also use Photoshop quite a bit. But even if you view photography as a simple hobby, it is still worth investing in photo-management software like Aperture or Lightroom that make organizing, keywording, searching, and editing your RAW photos as simple as working with JPEGs.

I sure hope this helps you with your decision over the "Great Debate" of RAW vs. JPEG.