What is fine art photography?

Fine art photography is a kind of image created and printed with an aim to produce a singular photo. The singular refers to the way that the artist express his(her) vision. It’s different from photojournalism and commercial photography.

For me, two necessities are essentials. The first is the way that the image is captured, where the photographer’s ability is crucial. In this category the more relevant is the capacity of photographer to explore composition and theme to make something different from the reality. If he (or she) does something unusual, see what the other don’t, and then we can call art.

The second part is about to printing. Print fine art photography means to chose the right print, the right ink and the right paper. Modern prints can print a photo with excellent quality with low cost. Epson, HP and Canon lead the market in hardware printing, and Epson, Bradford, Ilford and others are selling in paper market. The main issue in the use of papers to fine art is about durability and color confidence. In this field we need a paper to last a hundred of years or more and could demonstrate the originals colors with fidelity. The paper is, usually, 100% cotton and acid-free.

Why to chose fine art photography?

The use of fine art photography is direct when we think in aesthetics. It moves us to imagine about the necessity of beauty, pleasure, appearance, well-being etc. Fine art is to collect. Fine art is to appreciate. Fine art is to promote the sensation of dreams. It helps us to stimulate the use of beauty instead of the ugly.

Fine art gallery sells fine art photography

Where you can find fine art photography? In to worlds: a) in the real world of bricks, you can find it in galleries; b) in the virtual world, you will find in the Internet. In the Internet there are four types of sites: a store selling art in general (like ), an online gallery specialized in photos (Fine Art America or Redbubble), a site that congregate photographers (500px) and the photographers websites.

In my case, I’m selling my photos at my own website www.maxcohenphotography.com where can found my portfolio. It is hosted by SmugMug. The service provided is excellent, where the client can chose a variety of sizes, papers and frames. The delivery is worldwide. Did you have tried?

Why We Need to Process Black And White Photography

In my last post I told you about my experience with black and white photography when visited the Dessana Tribe, in Amazon Rainforest. Now I’m going to tell about what steps I made in the computer to process the images. Is it necessary? Yes!

I usually photograph using RAW file. And differently from JPG file, the camera does not process the RAW. Take a RAW represent that we have a really raw image. It permits us to process with our personal interest. In another way, JPG files are always processed by the camera, where are added some adjustments in color saturation, contrast and white balance. In RAW files, by all cameras brands, such Canon and Nikon, these adjustments are null. And the great aspect of this is that we can estipulate with no degradation to the image after the shooting.

But, any software can do this? No. To process a photo you need a specific application to image treatment capable to load a RAW file. And more… a RAW produced by your camera. A RAW created by a CANON is different from the NIKON, and the others brands!

The most famous applications to management and manipulate photos are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture. Aperture and Lightroom are competing together. Their main function is to serve like an images organizer with some editing functions. Both are excellent softwares.

Using Apple Aperture And Nik Silver Efex to Processing Black And White Photography

I chose Apple Aperture to organize my photos a year ago. I loved it. It’s very easy to navigate and to adjust photos (many photos!).

After import a photo to Aperture, I check the exposure, observing if exist area with clipping in the highlights and in the blacks. Then, my eyes go to white balance. In the 99% of cases, my Canon makes a good work. If not, or if I want an artistic view to this image … I just adjust.

Then I use Nik Silver Efex 2 plugin. Aperture accepts plugins and Nik has some great ones. Silver Efex, I think, is the best software to treatment black and white photography. And I tell you why…

Silver Efex has some great features. The main items are… The first one is the u-point technology. It’s amazing to select an area and add adjustment. Extremely easy. Inserted the point into the image, you can specified what you want to adjust, like bright, contrast etc. Its technology selects the similar pixels.

Second, the structure adjustment. It’s a function to add texture or to emphasize the texture. It’s different from contrast. And the result can be seen clearly.

Third, toning function. Do you need to transform the B&W (grayscale) in duocolor? You can select what color do you apply. A pure B&W? Sepia? Or a variation? Variation from blue or from red. You will choose!

Ok, these are my three most importants thing in Silver Efex. And there are more!

Saving Black And White Photography

Quitting from Silver Efex, the image is forwarded to Aperture. In this time I think that I don’t need to do anything more. Sometimes I needed to execute some adjustment in Aperture, like crop, but it is very unusual. The next step is to move for a specific project.

I save all my images in folders into the Aperture. And I classify the folders by a theme, or a theme and city (together), like: “Dreams” or “Amazon: Scenes” or “Amazon: Scenes in B&W“.

Another action in Aperture is to include a title, caption, keywords and gps coordinates. It’s very important to localize more easily in the future.

What Did I Expect From Black And White Photography?

I’ve been practicing black and white photography (B&W) for a few months. I don’t remember when I adopted. But I did and I’m feeling very well with this kind of photo. It’s another world if compared with color photography. In this post I tell an experience that I had photographing in black and white when I was visiting the Dessana Tribe.

The first impression photographing in B&W is the color absence permits us can see forms and lines with more details and no distraction. This fact take us to observe the place and things around us with others eyes. For me, in black and white photography, the composition is the most important item.  And the lighting? Ok, it is important too, but it is the second item.

When my friends and I were planning to visit the Dessana Tribe, last year, I immediately thought about photograph in black and white. This action included sees in B&W by the LCD camera. That opportunity was the first to practice my “B&W vision”. See the world in black and white is not so easy in the first moment. Technically is possible. I configured my Cannon to “monochrome” and the LCD viewer offered me 3 inches of the pure B&W. And, how I frequently use RAW file, I was not worried about if I could need the color information in the future, because the RAW file salve all information, and I would can see the photos in color when open in my iMac.

Technically prepared and with I plan to the visiting, we arrived at Dessanas’ Tribe in the late morning, after thirty minutes (approximately) by boat from Manaus. In general, we knew that we would be three kinds of places to photograph: at the beach, into the forest and inside the Indian’s buildings. And this is what happened: much light at the beach and low lighting in the others sites.

But I was not thinking about the light. I was interested in composition! With the three sites and different lighting, I knew that in dark places I would photograph in lower speed. And for this situation or I used a tripod or a support improvised.

Photograph the Indians was awesome! They are very nice people – gentle and with many histories to tell. That was I needed to practice black and white photography!

I made some photos at the beach and after into the “oca”. See in black and white slowly made me to lose the initial fear about that exercise. Of course I made a hundred of photos and only a bunch of them I liked. I needed to try, to experiment, and I, since the beginning, permitted me to make a lot of mistakes.

Photographing In Black And White With Low Light

Inside of their oca, I could make the photo above. This is the leader of the Dessanas. He was stand up next to the door – inside of oca. As we can see, in the oca there are no light or electric energy, we only could expect the sunlight that was entering through the oca’s walls. And that moment was an opportunity because the light came in smoothly and filled the front side of the Indian.

Others photos opportunities emerged in that morning. In all of them I needed to take photos with the camera in aperture priority, with the fastest f that my lens could serve. The ISO was between 100 and 800 values – depended the position that I was and quantity of light entered in the oca.

A more difficult photo was when the Dessanas were dancing or moving fast. With low light, the photo ended blurred. This effect was expected in black and white photography, like in the color photos – the same. The light, my second more important item, was decisive to blur or not.

Composition In Black And White Photography

As we can see in my photo gallery, black and white images offer to us an impressive form to see composition. Or, in other way, the monochrome color and strong composition take us to observe a scene with more impact. For this mission I used Nik Silver Efex 2 hosted by Apple Aperture.

In that day, I was looking for geometric shapes, like lines, squares and circles. The perspective look is another great idea to a success composition. I explored and, in the end, I was satisfied with our visit!

A last observation… In final versions, I included a variety of toning to the images, like sepia. Some of them can be classified like a duotone images. Interesting information about B&W, monochrome and duotone can found in Wikipedia. In this case, I didn’t want to worry about the variety of gray scale images and tones. I thought if a photo is originally in gray scale I could put all together. That’s it.

Buy beautiful prints is too easy! Think about … The Internet is a fantastic world. All of us can communicate with a large number of people around the world without live our homes. Or permit us to sell and buy anything (or almost!) in virtual stores. Some friends of mine, who live in USA, asked me to buy my photos and why not to sell online? It’s very easy to do it. Yes, I agreed. There are a few services that could help. I made a little research, and find the SmugMug. And I started to sell my images…

Well, if you wantto buy some of my images … These are the steps…. Buy beautiful prints…

Buy beautiful prints in 8 steps

1) Go to my website http://www.maxcohenphotography.com

2) Navigate to the portfolio section

3) Choose one album

4) Choose one (or more) photos

5) Click “Buy” button on the top right corner (see image below)

6) Choose the size of the print and quantity

7) Choose frame and mat

8) Go to checkout, and inform your address and payment method.

SmugMug service delivery worldwide! Another information, how to proceed to buy, you can see at SmugMug help site.

See you later…

Looking for awesome photos in Facebook?

Talking about Facebook…. There’s a tip to receive post continuously from a fan page. The Facebook created a limit of the number of people who can visualize the posts in fan pages, like my page. In other words, only few people, who liked, will receive the new posts in yours timeline. If you want to continue receive my Facebook posts, you need to add the fan page to your interests lists. Look to this image to how to add!

I created some albums to categorize my photos, some like my portfolio in my site. You can access the albums in Facebook using this link. I have been organizing in color and black & white; amazon scenes landscapes, specifics sites in Amazon like Manaus and Iranduba, Porto Alegre (other brazilian city), dreams, desires …

And thanks for appreciate my images!

Facebook friends!!!

Hi Folks!

I’m very happy with the visiting in my Facebook fan page. The page had +10.000 likes in this month. Thank you!!!

It’s very interesting to see people liking the photos and making some comments. It’s all new for me. The page is my first action to publish and promote my images.

The recipe to give some audience, I think, it’s the kind of photos. I have been photographing amazon nature, urban architecture and general landscape. But, another day, a girl asked me about to make photos of her wedding…. Hey! This is other area! I told her about photograph needs to be specialized and she needed to contact somebody to make weeding photos!! I thanked her for contact me. If she did, was she liked my photos. Thanks for that!

In 2013 I will continue to make some new beautiful photos. I think so!

See you…..

PS: in the photo above… is Porto Alegre, one of the most important city in Brazil.

And how about photograph amazon indians? More specific … original south american indians!

South American Indians: Art, Culture, History and Nature

In December/2012 I and friends wanted to photograph any tribe in Amazon, in a effort to register the culture, people and their habitat. All of us agreed to visited the Dessanas. Why? Because they are living near! The Dessana’s tribe is located about 20 minutes from Manaus, navigating on the Black River (Rio Negro). It was a great day with beautiful photos.

The boat arrived and we first saw the wonderful beach with white sand. It was the entrance to the tribe. The Dessanas have a cordial reception. Still on the beach, the son of tribe’s chief received us white a large smile! The proximity with Manaus, many adults in the tribe speak portuguese easy. Good for us! The communication was no problem.

We started to walk to the tribe. The way took 10 minutes, on the beach and, after, in the forest. No problem. Any easy path. Ok, the sun was very hot! And our bags with equipments rapidly turned heavy!

The indians showed some dances in the main “oca“, to give to the visitors some knowledge about their culture and history. Everybody dance! Adults and children. Indians and the “civilized” men! That was the way to teach and transmit. And they have been doing that for a long time.

In that day I wanted to practice looking in black and white. I configured my Canon to monochrome view and Raw files. With Raw, the camera saved all files in color, and then, at the computer, I could decide between B&W and color.

The challenge to photograph into a “oca” is because the low light. The indians don’t have electrical energy – ok, not in this tribe! So, how to take a photo with no flash and the people are moving? I paid attention to spaces where the light came in. My plan was to sit in a position that I can see the light entering and lighting the people. And, of course, increasing the camera’s ISO. My goal was… Could I make some fine art photos? Could I capture the nature of Dessanas?

After that, I could see all the history about the Dessanas. Interesting history! I took some photos, nice dance, great models, humans, nature! Liked I said, a great moment! Long life to Dessanas! Long life to south american indians!

Looking for fine art photography? Take a look at images from Amazon rainforest!

Fine art photography: regional boats in Amazon

Amazon is an exotic and unique area in our planet. We can find different and extraordinary things. Its nature is so rich and diverse. Luck for photographers who have been the opportunity to discovered it!!

Many of us had the opportunity to read National Geographic Magazine, or others magazines, showing the nature, animal and plants in Amazon. But, in this post, I would write about the forms and composition we can find there. This month, I and my friends have been looking for to lines and others forms in the nature here. We were interested in fine art composition.

Many kind of photos are art in general. Fine art is a particular art expression. Singular lines, in fine art, take our attention. Smooth curves. Straight lines. High contrast.

Our exercise in this month took us to explore boats. Regional boats, in Amazon, have symmetrical forms, colors fortes and texture. Add some water, or put it over the river, the image will be complete. We can make beautiful photos with these elements. Smooth water. Colorful wood.

In other way, think about boats, we can explore the life in Amazon. The unique way of life in Amazon, when people using boats to go to school or to visit a friend!!

City photography, chaos, art and beauty

I believe there is a lot of beautiful scenes to be captured in a city. Of course, no city is so marvelous like Paris or New York. So, to make some city photography and urban scenes turn to a be a challenge for some of us. In my city, Manaus, we have some great locations – not so many. And, how about to make images from bad traffic in our streets? Or, how to shoot a thing that is awful in our normal day?

I made some photos from the streets exploiting the slow traffic. And…. WoWoW …. the colors are really great! The slow speed of the cars and trucks blurring the images and made special effects to the scenes. In this example, I could started to think how to captured interesting forms and color in things that we don’t like! Traffic, rush hour, who like it? Nobody, right? But, we can captured beautiful photos and some stunning landscapes.

Exploiting the photos and composition

In this example, I just changed my point of view: there isn’t a bad thing or ugly location. Ok… seriously… yes, it exist! But we don’t go to be a rigid person! We need to offer a second chance to it! Instead, I looked for compositon, colors and some action. What chaos from street can offer me? And what a silence tunnel can offer me? Urban scenes have a lot of opportunities. The challenge is…. where? when? what light?

An element we can explore in composition is the sky. If we can put a terrific sky in the scene … we will be captured, in the most part of the time, a terrific photo! Avoid a black sky, after the sun goes down. Try to captured the twilight moment, with clouds and magnific colors. It will inject more drama to the scene.

We need to do a homework: looking for potencial locations in our urban scenario, as we are walking or driving in the city. Just look for streets, lights, cars movement, where will be the sunset. Think about the compositon. Do these elements make a good composition? How can you improve it? All of these things are there – for free! The puzzle is how to joint all in the same time. Visit and read specialized magazines to get tips, like Digital Camera, or inspire yourself with fantastic photos at 500px.

This is the way I found to view what I don’t like, in every normal day of work, and turn it in a special photo, maybe in a kind of special art. Try! You maybe find some art in our urban chaos!

Last saturday I had a chance to appreciate a beautiful and amazing sunset. I was driving through the Rio Negro Bridge, going to Iranduba. My friends and I were going to photograph a lake with old trees in there. But, before arrive, more specifically in the middle of the bridge, I could see the sunset. Immediately, after exit the bridge, I stopped the car and took the camera to register that scene.

The landscape was fantastic. The nature making art!!! The sun was emiting rays through the clouds and reflecting over the river. The clouds were different colours, orange, white, gray and some blue. My first impression was that scene looked like a paint – an art. An image painted by the great masters. A landscape image painted with an artistic view. Oh, yes, maybe a scene like served the inspiration to the masters! A beautiful image only offered by the nature. My mission, in that moment …. capture that single moment in an artistic photography.