At this year’s Night Photography Festival in Mono Lake, CA, I had a blast teaching an advanced class and making images side-by-side with so many people. But it was all the guest speakers, instructors and fantastic night photographers all in one place that was so unique about this gathering. Lance and I reserved Bodie State Park for two nights instead of one this year so that our group of 40+ could have ample time exploring and making images in the king of all ghost towns. Despite having this exceptional nighttime access to such an extraordinary place, I felt compelled to make portraits of the photographers themselves instead of the ghost town.

Now I’m no portrait photographer, and I don’t have any experience doing this, but I wanted to explore this idea of making portraits of night photographers in their habitat. These are 1-2 minute exposures by moonlight where I’m adding light on the subject with a flashlight (not a flash!). Since I prefer side-lighting from two sides with a handheld flashlight, it was challenging for the subject to keep still during the light painting and throughout the rest of the exposure.

As it turned out, other photographers started adding their own light while my shutter was open and some became a collaborative effort. So a tip of the hat to Lance Keimig, Troy Paiva and Tom Paiva for their added light and all the subjects for their collaboration and enthusiasm with this – it was a blast working with all of you. Perhaps those of you that know their work can pick out their handiwork?

I’ve included the names of these photographers below their portrait. They are all much more experienced photographers whose work I admire – please Google their names and check out their work if you aren’t familiar with them. And feel free to leave comments below.

Night Photographers use a process called “image stacking” that allows us to (among other things) make extremely long, 1-8 hour exposures that would otherwise be impossible due to overexposure. We take several images that are “stacked” or combined into a single, composite image. Over the years I’ve used a variety of applications to stack these images together including Keith’s Image Stacker, Startrails,exe, LR/Enfuse, “Open in Photoshop as Layers” and older versions of Dr. Brown’s Stack-A-Matic script. Limitations of these processes were frustrating and super slow which made it difficult to teach at workshops.

A few months ago I emailed Russell Brown (AKA: Dr. Brown) with a list of suggestions that I thought might make Stack-A-Matic a lot more usable for night photographers and the particular type of image stacking that we do. Russell is a night photography enthusiast and liked this idea. We spent the next month trying out and tweaking beta versions of Stack-A-Matic. It’s become THE way to finish off image stacking projects. You can download the new Stack-A-Matic script from Dr. Brown’s site right now – it’s free. There’s even a demonstration video that’s shows Stack-A-Matic in action.

This new version of Stack-A-Matic (v2.1.6 and newer) requires Photoshop CS5 Standard and purportedly works on CS4 Standard as well. The Extended versions of Photoshop are NOT required. There’s also lots of other great goodies to download. I’ve been a big fan of Image Processor Pro which comes with Dr. Brown’s Services.

Russell joined us at the Mono Lake Night Photography Festival last month to make images with us and to present this new script to an ideal target audience. I got a chance to make a night portrait of Russell and geek out with him for a few nights of image making. Russell and I will be hosting a session about night photography and image stacking at Photoshop World next month. Image Stacking will be a regular technique taught at all of my night photography workshops, and during private workshops/training.

I’m really excited that this process is finally easy enough for anyone to try out. Have fun! Let me know if I can help.

It was really fun having Angela and Mark Walley out filming during our annual workshop in Big Bend, TX. They are super talented and do amazing work. Between the photographers and videographers the creative process was quite alive that week with image making all day and all night long. You can check out more about WalleyFilms at walleyfilms.com

As a long time still photographer, I’m pretty blown away with the power of video as a communication tool. As our DSLR cameras gain HD video capability I’m enjoying getting my feet wet. I think all photographers need to keep an eye on this medium and think about how we can embrace it and make it a part of our work. This is my first experience incorporating it into my own business and I’m looking forward to more exploration with it.

Today, the NYTimes is featuring an essay of Jenny’s in that very column. It’s a deeply personal piece that reminds us to appreciate what we have, and do what we can while we can. Whither on paper or on your device, please check it out.

Lance Keimig and I will talk about night photography and be signing Night Photography: Finding Your Way in the Dark by Focal Press. The talk will begin at 5:30pm in the Full Goods Studio. This free event is a part of the annual PhotoTexas event held by the Texas Photographic Society.

“For most of us, when the sun sinks below the western horizon, we pack up our cameras and head for dinner. But it needn’t be that way. Lance Keimig and Scott Martin have teamed to provide the most comprehensive instructions for photographers willing to explore the beauty of the night. Just published by Focal Press, “Night Photography: FInding your way in the dark” includes a history of night photography from the earliest practitioners using glass plates to contemporary artists using the latest digital equipment. The book covers topics from basic subjects such as determining exposures and photographing by moonlight to more exotic topics like high dynamic range imaging (HDR), light painting and star trails. One section details the techniques of a workflow that is applicable for both day and night digital imaging. For photographers bewildered by the increasing problem of keeping up with digital files, this alone is worth the price of the book. Keimig is uniquely qualified to guide both beginners and professionals in the subject of night photography. He has photographed at night for over 20 years and teaches at New England School of Photography in Boston. In addition, he and Scott Martin, a digital photography educator and fine art photographer, conduct a series of workshops in night photography around the American Southwest.” – Bill Wright

Although the book is available at a variety of bookstores including Amazon, I recommend buying a signed copy direct from Lance. Not only is it nice to support the author, his signed copies are under retail and have an option of including a print of the cover image.

http://www.on-sight.com/?p=1358 I’m thrilled to have Calumet choose my “Texas Love Bus” image for their photo of the week. Texas Love Bus is a 2 hour and 8 minute exposure made from 2 to 4am in West Texas. It was a moonless night so the bus was “painted” entirely by flashlight for several minutes. A pack of coyotes howled and played in the foreground during the exposure as I sat and listened in my car a few feet away. They didn’t show up in the final image because they weren’t illuminated on this pitch black night. I was grateful they didn’t bump the tripod as it would have messed up the long star trails I was going for in this shot.

People often ask “what makes the stars go in circles?” when they see this image. The answer is simple: the Earth’s rotation. Star trails are one of the many phenomenal aspects of night photography that we cannot experience with our eyes during the moment. Interested in night photography? Consider joining Lance Keimig and I at one of our night photography workshops in West Texas or California.

Ordering

For those of you in San Antonio I’d like to ask that you pick up your print at my studio Friday December 18th or by appointment. Please email me letting me know which prints you would like for me to have ready. Bring $200 cash for each print. For those out of town, email me with your order and send cash for $200 per image plus $25 for shipping and handling.

For future reference, all images are available in 4 standard print sizes: 17×22, 20×30, 36×54, 54×81. Email me for pricing and more information.

Limited Edition Portfolio Box

In addition to selling individual prints, I am making a few limited edition portfolio box sets with all 18 images.

These elegant, handmade 16×20 portfolio boxes will be availble for delivery in January for $2250 (shipped). You can place your order by sending payment (cash or check) by the end of the month. Thanks, I am very excited to be able to offer these portfolio boxes and prints this year.

Unlike the previously popular “Extract Monaco LAB” applescript, “Convert to MonacoLAB” is Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6.x) compatible. The Windows version is compatible with XP and Vista; it should also be compatible with Windows 7, though it has not yet been tested on that platform.

“Convert to MonacoLAB” uses a convenient droplet that allows the user to drag and drop a measurement file onto the droplet icon for processing. The processed measurement file retains the original file name and conveniently adds the “MP” suffix at the end of the filename.

You can read more about and download the Mac and Windows versions of Convert to MonacoLAB at Eric’s website. Here’s the direct link to the Mac download and the Windows download.

I’m a big fan of Bill Atkinson’s 1728 profiling targets and have been using Eric’s application in Snow Leopard to get measurement data into MonacoProfiler for generating printer profiles. I’m also a big fan of Eric’s work at Adobe. A big thanks to him for making this utility.

http://twitter.com/scott_martin_

I will continue offering the one-on-one training for professionals that I’ve been doing for 17 years now, both on-location and at my own printmaking studio. Some topics are best learned in the classroom and in the field, while other topics are best learned via one-on-one training. By offering both group workshops and one-on-one training I can better serve my clients. Shooting workshops in the field are my favorite as they are a great creative outlet for everyone involved – including myself.

All of these workshops are sponsorship free with less than 20 participants. Without sponsorship we can focus on your needs without the sales bias and marketing push that is so common in workshops and seminars today. We’ll talk about the positive and negative aspects of all types of hardware, software, media, etc without allegiance to any particular brand.

Feel free to email me and let me know what topics you’d like to see covered in future workshops. I think that 2009 will be a big year for a majority of photographers to make the switch to Lightroom, and for existing Lightroom users to perfect and master their workflow. Because I feel so strongly about the importance of this transition I am including Lightroom in each and every one of these workshops. I hope you’ll join me! – Scott Martin

Those interested in this type of workshop might consider attending our Night Photography workshop in in Big Bend next month or contact Lance or myself about other opportunities.

Please join me for the opening reception with live music Thursday, Sept 4th 6:30-9pm.

Bismarck Studios
930 Proton, Suite 202
San Antonio Texas 78258
(near the intersection of 281 and 1604) (yes, out there)

Hope to see you there! – Scott Martin