Rangefinder Magazine
May 2006
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Insight/On the Cover by Bill Hurter
Welcome to our annual digital issue! While the digital vs. film debate seems to be slipping somewhat into the background, digital technology is affording greater opportunities and some new pitfalls for the creative imagemaker. Darwin Wiggett (page 8) is a skilled photographer who believes nothing is impossible. If it can be imagined, it can be realized is his motto, and thus, his images are remarkably inventive and delightful. So are Martin Waugh's liquid images (page 14), which are derived from months of testing and writing custom computer code to control both the drops and their shapes, as well as the timing of the strobes and shutter. As you can see on our cover, his images are amazing. David Humphreys (page 24) is a commercial photographer who has settled on food as his main area of interest. He uses large format digital to bridge the gap for food clients who still see film as the preferred imaging medium. Rhona Shand (page 30) is an excellent fine artist who uses scanners to create multiple layers of texture and transparency that impart change to the "self" of her subjects. Paul Slaughter (page 80) is a well known photographer and writer who has created an engaging digital travelogue to Japan, one of the most photogenic countries on earth. Linda May explores the digital systems Louis Meluso of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (page 42) has designed to capture detailed records of the museum's holdings. The museum's attention to detail is incredible as are the techniques Louis has developed for capturing every detail of the priceless artwork. Bob Rose (page 76) covers the latest tools needed for optimizing your system to print and see accurate color in his article, "Color Mangagement: 2006." Sam Leinhardt (page 54) is a Renaissance digital artist who loves shooting flowers, but the difference between the originals and Sam's finished images is astonishing. Craig Minielly writes Photoshop actions that have become very popular. John Rettie takes a detailed look (page 50) at how they'll help your creative efforts.
Bill Hurter, Editor
ON THE COVER:
Photographer: Martin Waugh
SUBJECT: A drop of water colliding with the splash of a previous drop
TITLE: "Vegetable Bowl"
Camera: Canon EOS 10D
Lens: Canon EOS 70-200mm f/2.8L IS
CREDIT: Copyright © Martin Waugh for
www.liquidsculpture.com
COMMENTS: This photo was taken using classical high-speed photographic techniques: short-duration flash (1/20,000 sec.) with the timing triggered electronically. Colored gels over the flashes generated the background color, and food coloring provided the color of the column and "bowl." Photoshop was used for a small amount of post-processing, mostly to adjust the color balance and to clean up some stray dust particles on the water surface (there always seems to be a few). Otherwise, the image shown here is what the camera saw.
The difficult task was sculpting the shape. I released a yellow drop that fell into a pool of clear water, creating the familiar column. The top knob of the column separated into its own droplet, seemingly suspended. At that moment, a second (blue) drop collided with the floating droplet, forming the green bowl.
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