Shade of Light

It happens too often that neophytes wishing to read and learn about photography end up by browsing through books and magazines that are just about cameras and equipment instead.

This is bad. This creates generations of amateurs thinking of buying a new lens rather than approaching a new theme.

I did that too. My first (Italian) magazines were Fotografare and Tutti Fotografi. Great magazines for sure, but just as with pain-killers, they shouldn’t be used regularly.

Now I know plenty of great magazines that are really about the work and the inspirations. Often useful magazines are simply publications with a good editor choosing good material. Other times, the magazines that I like focus on the creative use of photography (or design, more in general).

I had a look on the web and I collected some publications available for free on Issuu. I will be adding regularly new “findings” in this Issuu shelf.

I have added a new gallery, City bits. Please enjoy (responsibly).

Please also note this new website address. Hopefully this is going to stay for long.

Most of us, most of the times, thinking of photography, think of taking pictures rather than making.

It’s true for me, too.

At times, however, I have an idea in mind and I need to create it in order to shoot it. The following is an example. Besides the usual difficulties of light and exposure, I had to figure out what lens and what perspective would match the vision I had in mind. I confess it was not easy, and the end result, that however I like, is not like the image I had in mind.

On iStock the English version is available too.

I learnt most of what I know about photography several years ago. One of the few “new” things is for me the discovery of the “enhancing” (dydidium) filter (generally manufactured by Tiffen or Schneider Optics B+W), that apparently works only on digital sensors, by differentiating further the wavelenghts corresponding to colors of earth and foliage.

So, Autumn has come, and I went out to practice with this new filter on my Fuji S3.  Some examples here.

P.S.: I read here that the filter works on film too.

Who can please tell me the name of this beast that I photographed today?

It doesn’t matter what meterologists will say: the snow will come to London, abundant. I have recently sold this stock:

If people buy my snow stock, snow will come. Stock doe not lie, buyers know (better than metereologists).

Sometimes, shooting in RAW pays back, especially if we are playing with our new digital toy, and have a long learning way ahead.

This picture is over two years old. When I shot it, I used one of the crappiest Nikon lenses (the 35-135 AF zoom, now sold) and I was not into subtle retouching at all.

I am publishing it now, because I feel I finally managed to correct its lack of sharpness (that you cannot see, anyhow, in this small file size) and micro-contrast. Also, because I feel it represents at the best my feelings for London.

Also available on iStock.

I have created a new photographic gallery here on Shade of Light. It is the first gallery where I can break free from the previous limitations due to wordpress.com

This gallery (”Regno Vegetale“) is dedicated to those few times that flowers and plants have attracted my imagination more than sea has.

Sebbene poche volte gusto e scienza si incontrino, mi piacerebbe capire qual è il segreto, qual è la ragione, per cui certi cappuccini (Starbucks, Café Rouge) sono orribili, altri (Caffé Vergnano, Ismail) sono fantastici.

Tra parentesi, osservo che la realtà commerciale britannica mi porta a fare qualcosa che in Italia non farei: dare un nome a un cappuccino in base all’appartenenza  del bar a quella o quall’altra catena.

Fintantoché la differenza si limita al solo caffé, ci arrivo. So fare un caffé buono e capisco perché un caffé cattivo è cattivo. Ma il cappuccino è un altro discorso, più complesso. Vorrei vedere di capirci qualcosa…

Un fantastico cappuccino preparato al RedRoaster di Brighton

Although a few times taste and science meet, I wish I knew the secret, the reason, for some cappuccinos (Starbucks, Café Rouge) are horrible, some are fantastic.

Incidentally, I observe that British commercial scene leads me to do something that in Italy I would not do: naming a cappuccino after the bar’s belonging to this or that chain.

As far as the difference is limited to the coffee, I get it. I know  how to do a good coffee and I understand why a bad coffee is bad. But cappuccino is another matter, more complex. I would like to understand.

The above picture is also available on iStock.

La mia collezione di DVD – collezione di fatto, ma non per intenzione – è a circa quota 400. Dove arriverà? Dove arriverò?