Article DetailsPhotography Essays - By Alain Briot |
| Date Added: July 27, 2011 06:26:36 PM |
| Author: Mike Kieffer |
| Category: Helps/Tricks/FAQ |
List of essays on Alain Briot’s Website: 1 - The Master File The concept of the Master File is relatively recent and I thought that a short description of it wouldn't hurt. The fact that I received numerous requests to describe this concept told me that there was indeed a need for such a description. How do you find the ideal composition for a specific photograph? How do you decide which format will best express the beauty of a specific scene? This is indeed a difficult question and I have a new and powerful answer for you. I am sometimes asked what I consider to be marketing or what I mean by marketing exactly. By "marketing" I mean all sorts of promotional activities. There's really no limit as to what marketing venues, approaches, etc. can be. 4 - Raw Conversion in Adobe Lightroom Lightroom is one of the most exciting Raw Converters. Offered as a free beta download until its official release, Lightroom has become part of many digital photographers toolkits. I make a living selling fine art photographs. I started selling my work full time in 1997. Since then, in just ten years, I made millions of dollars through the sales of photographic prints. 6- Art, Elegance and the Fine Art Print Why are we attracted to certain works of art? I believe that we are attracted towards specific works of art because of the emotional response we have to a specific piece, because of its elegance, and because of how it resonates within us. I also believe that there is nothing scientific or rational in this process. Someone once told me that photographers like hoodoos but that print collectors are only moderately interested in them. While this may be true, it is also true that print collectors are interested in the expression and the style of the artist, regardless of subject matter. 8- Composition 2: Antelope Swirls I regularly visit the same places over and over again. I do so because I do not tire of visiting these places and because I continue to find new inspiration in these locations. This approach works for me because these places hold special meaning for me. These are places that I continue to see in a new light each time I visit. 9- Composition 3: Monument Valley Afternoon This is one of the most famous locations in the world and an icon of the American Southwest. As such I often say that it is easy to create a good photograph of Monument Valley because it is so dramatically photogenic, but difficult to create an outstanding image because so many good ones already exist. 10- Composition 4: Comb Ridge Clouds 12- Composition 6: Clearing Spring Storm 13-The Artistic Process: A Four-Parts Series This is a series of 4 essays centered on Alain's approach to artistic expression These essays are titled as follows: 1 - Finding Inspiration (available) 2 - Exercising your Creativity (available) 3 - Developing your Vision (available) 4 - Achieving your Personal Style (Scheduled for August 07 delivery) Together these four essays are represent, first, an exploration of the too-rarely discussed subject of inspiration and creativity, and second a road map towards the development of a vision and the achievement of a personal style unique to you. Each essay features a set of Skill Enhancement Exercises that allow you to practice and develop your skills on your own 14- What is a Fine Art Photograph? What a fine art photograph consists of --what it is exactly-- is a question I am asked from time to time. The answer is both simple and complex. On the one hand, a fine art photograph is a photograph created for artistic reasons. On the other hand, once that is said, it becomes necessary to explain that, just like any other medium, photography is a medium that can be used for many different purposes. What makes a photograph art is eventually the intent of the photographer rather than the actual image. 15- From Raw File to Master File What an image looks like before and after optimization in Photoshop is often a mystery. I myself wonder about the process that other photographers follow, even though I know that the original file and the final prints are usually quite a ways apart. This mystery, so to speak, is often compounded by the fact that many photographers pretend that, and I quote, the final prints are literal reproductions of the original Raw files. Not so. It never was the case with film and it is even less the case with Raw files. 16 - The importance of Marketing and How to price your work? What an image looks before and after optimization in Photoshop is often a mystery. I thought I would lift part of the veil through a sequence of 12 "before and after" versions of images created in Antelope Canyon, at the Hoodoos and at the Horseshoe Bend in Arizona.A few notes are necessary to shed light on how these sequences work. 17- Antelope Canyon before and After Tony Sweet's work is very creative and very beautiful. The several examples that are featured below speak for themselves. But Tony's background as a musician and as a creative artist is also unique. To better understand Tony's approach to photography, and to learn more about his inspiration, I asked Tony to answer several questions about his work. His answers are below. I believe you will find them fascinating. Creating fine art photographs requires the proper set up. This setup must be practical. For most photographers, this means setting up a home studio rather than renting a location just for photography. There are benefits to having a home studio. For one, you don't have to go anywhere to do yor work. All is there where you live. This saves a lot of time in travel and commuting. Doing great work is important. Showing your work in a setting that does it justice is just as important. In other words, where you show your work is just as important as what work you show. Unfortunately, we don't always have control over the setting in which we show our work. In fact, more often than not, we have to take what is being offered to us. However, there are instances where we have a certain amount of control over this setting. Knowledge is necessary in order to excel in any endeavor. They say knowledge is power and I believe it is. In art, and more specifically in Fine Art Photography, knowledge gives you the power to bring your inspiration to life. It makes it possible to translate ideas into fine art prints. It enables you to share your vision with your audience through the medium of your choice. There is a lot of thought being given today to the issue of numbering prints. Photographers who decide to sell their work ponder endlessly whether to release their prints in limited edition or not in limited editions. Such is the question that worries many photographers today. It is worth mentioning that photographers who do not try to sell their work suffer no such quandary. They simply print their work, wasting no time on how many prints of a single image they make. Instead, they concern themselves with print quality rather than with print quantity. 23-Finding the Personal in Art Finding the personal in your art is finding yourself, finding who you are, what you like and what you do not like. This is true for both artist and collector, whether you create art or you collect art. Finding the personal in an artist’s work is finding out who the artist is, where the artist is coming from and what shaped this artist’s aesthetic approach. Finding the personal in a collector’s work is finding out what this collector likes. Iit is finding out who this collector is, where he or she is coming from and what shaped this collector’s aesthetic approach. As we can see from this brief introduction to creating and collecting art there are really very few differences between the two. Collecting art is just as creative of a process as creating art. In collecting art the medium is the collection process, while in creating art the medium is the specific art form chosen by the artist. Over 20 detailed individual reviews of photographer’s work in video format. Composition is the strongest way of seeing This is Edward Weston's definition of composition It is still my favorite definition of composition. Plus 14 more tips from Alain Briot! 26-Achievements As the new year gets under way, it is important to take stock and celebrate your achievements for the previous year. I do that every year by making a list of everything I have done. It’s also fun to look back and read the account for past years as well.
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