This is an email that I received from a former art teacher who is a member of a photo club that I attend.

Hi Tom,

          On occasion I look at and read the online site Digital Photography School.  As you well know , more times than not the info goes right over my head.  But I did trip on this in this week’s email and thought you would EITHER enjoy reading it , OR it would set you in a tailspin.  It sounds like February’s Shooters’ meeting.

Thinking of you,

                             Cynthia

http://digital-photography-school.com/opinion-why-photoshop-is-ruining-landscape-photography

Do check it out.

My response:

Cynthia,

Thank you for sharing this article. I had read it a while ago. No tailspin, though.

Competitions now are savvy enough to stipulate when they do not accept manipulated images. Most "open competitions" accept them. 

There is nothing wrong with purists and journalists who restrict themselves to only tonal adjustments. I often do that myself. However, if you are creating a photograph as pure art, by definition no restrictions should apply. Otherwise art becomes stagnant and creativity becomes suppressed. Whether or not an image is manipulated (as all images are to some degree) or not, quality and impact is determined by the skills of the artist. As you well know there are many images that we come across that are extremely trite, boring, poorly composed, yet technically accurate reproductions of what the photographer witnessed. Personally, I go to my happy place when I see those, politely bite my tongue, and hope that I don't blurt out something offensive to that person who probably is very pleased with what they have captured. 

Keep creating art! It doesn't have to be beautiful, accurate, or anything other than whatever you want it to be.

Thank you for letting me rant about this again.

Tom

Here is my most recent and by far the most challenging photo restoration that I have ever performed. It might be hard to tell from these low resolution images, but this image has an infestation of mildew over the entire image. Fixing the tears and lost detail is simple compared to getting the clapboards to look acceptable in spite of all the mildew damage.
The young girl didn't have enough detail left in her face to merit restorable facsimile. The infant  had at least one eye, half his nose, and enough hair that I could fake a reasonable approximation of what he might have resembled. This was done in Photoshop CS5 by doing a reverse cloning of the eye and partial nose. The mouth was cloned from his older brother, transformed, skewed, then rotated. The tall young man in the middle rear is L. P. Lavoie, my Grandfather! For a restoration quote email me at tomlavoiephot@hotmail.com.

I'm now offering photo restoration. This image is one of my father's mother and some of his siblings. It was quite a challenge to bring the image this far since it was a low resolution image taken off the web. It's hard to see how deteriorated this image was. For a client I would set up a file sharing program that would grant me access to a large resolution image that I could access quickly and easily.

Here are some selected shots from my return trip from The River Valley Artisan Tour in Westmoreland, NH. 

This is from an event that I did for the Library in Westmoreland, NH. The hat was created by a local artist. The shot was taken outdoors in an Easy Up tent that functioned as a light diffuser. This created an evenly distributed soft light with subtle contrast. In order to get around some quirky shadows, I slightly brightened her face using a Nikon SB900 flash channeled through a Rogue snoot. A snoot is a type of device that directs light to a confined area. It can easily be homemade or expensive ones can be purchased. The Rogue snoot works exceptionally well on this type of speedlight, comes with an assortment of grids and gels, and is reasonably priced.
It should be a simple task to correct the distortion in the frame using Lightroom 4.

This is my favorite shot from the Great Waters Music Festival Masters of Motown concert. I already had several shots of the staff and the audience which was my assignment, so I took the liberty of doing some more creative photography. My Nikon D700 is probably capable of revealing the audience behind the soloist without the excessive noise that accompanies the requisite high ISO. However, I felt that the image was much more compelling with the audience's shadows and her features highlighted. The most important detail and most challenging thing was to make sure her eyes were in focus in spite of the low light. This was shot at f/4 ISO 5000 280mm (using a 1.4 teleconverter) in aperture priority mode using manual focus and a lot of guessing.

My sincerest gratitude goes to the other members of the Four Guys Photo Club and to to my twin sister, Judy Hurd for  the assistance they so generously contributed to help set up and strike my display at The Artists in the Park exhibit in Wolfeboro.  Also, your debriefing at the pub afterwards is invaluable.

This is an image that will be in my upcoming show at Artists In The Park on August 15 in Wolfeboro, NH. This magnificent sculpture can be seen on the side of RT 1B coming from Portsmouth to Newcastle, NH. It printed exceptionally well. I only had to remove the pipe that appeared to be protruding from a very uncomfortable part of the bird's anatomy.  For you photogeeks; this is why you pay the big bucks for an 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens and shoot during the "golden hour".

Only a few weeks left to get ready for my sale at Artists in the Park in Wolfeboro, NH. This has been a major leap for me since it involves new ventures in marketing and all that goes along with it. I'd like to thank Russ Schundler, a terrific photographer and fellow exhibitor for all his assistance in learning new marketing skills.

Here is an approximately one hour video of a seminar done by Scott Kelby. If your are an aspiring professional photographer, you should take the time to check this out. He is spot on in his advice, especially about working a scene and selecting portfolio images. Go to: http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/approaches-to-composition-photography-with-best-selling-author-scott-kelby/

Upcoming events

Mark the date ... August 15, 2012 ... as a time to visit my  exhibit at Wolfeboro's "ARTIST in the PARK" juried show.

• Don't forget, time is running out to view my work at the Franklin Gallery in Rochester, NH.

• Coming up will be images from our Down East tour with the "Four Guys Photo Group". 

Brookfield, NH Photographer Tom Lavoie to Exhibit at the Franklin Gallery in June

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Brookfield, NH Photographer Tom Lavoie to Exhibit at the Franklin Gallery in June

"Northeast Kingdom Reclaimed"
by Brookfield, NH photographer Tom Lavoie

The Franklin Gallery 

at Ben Franklin Crafts

Ross Bachelder, Manager

60 Wakefield Street, Rochester, NH 03867

603-332-2227 --artsmultiple@gmail.com

April 18, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Brookfield, NH Photographer Tom Lavoie

to Exhibit at the Franklin Gallery in June

The Franklin Gallery at Ben Franklin Crafts, 60 Wakefield Street in Rochester, will host an exhibit called Black, White and Camera -- monochromatic images by Brookfield, New Hampshire photographer Tom Lavoie -- for the month of June during regular business hours.

Lavoie, a member of The National Association of Photoshop Professionals, has studied photography and Photoshop techniques with New Hampshire photographer Jim Block and noted San Diego photographer Tony Sweet. He has also had one-on-one coaching with other world-renowned photographers including Rick Sammon, Tony Corbell and Laurie Schupp.

He has attended seminars with Joe McNally of National Geographic, Robert Beck of Sports Illustrated, Vincent Versase (a Smithsonian Award Associate) and George Dewolfe, a student of Ansel Adams and Minor White.

Tom Lavoie’s passion for photography began several years ago when he found himself attempting to capture images on an early digital camera -- a SonyMavica -- while touring in Europe as a professional trumpet player. It was there that the seeds of his blossoming career as a photographer were sewn.

"Curious," by Brookfield, NH Photographer Tom Lavoie

“Dealing with the frustrating limitations of that camera, while photographing in the dim light of cathedrals and opera houses, motivated me to upgrade my equipment” says Lavoie. “It also convinced me to begin what has  happily become a lifetime of learning and developing my skills as a photographer. I hope other professional photographers and lovers of photography will stop by the Franklin Gallery and see my work.”

The Franklin Gallery and Ben Franklin Crafts are open Monday through Friday 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Saturday 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Sunday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. For information about Tom Lavoie’s Black, White and Camera andfuture Franklin Gallery exhibits, e-mail Ross, the gallery manager, atartsmultiple@gmail.com. 

Sentries of Madre Vooh*

This image illustrates the creative possibilities of an image even though it has some severe technical flaws. The original image was washed out due to shooting almost directly at the sun. This resulted in blown out highlights and poor contrast. Yet there was something compelling in a sort of mystical way about the subject and this setting. Using layers in Photoshop CS5 I copied the image on a separate layer, flipped it horizontally, then aligned it using the move tool. The tones were then intentionally adjusted in a manner that maintained the mysterious mood of this image. Normally, I would have tried to reveal much more detail in the shadows and highlight areas, but after much experimentation I decided that this interpretation worked so much better. It creates a sense of wonder in the viewer.

* Read the title backwards to reveal the location of this subject ;-)

Here is another image from The Four Guys Photo Club recent sunrise seacoast excursion. I chose to do this as a faux panorama* rather than a true panorama composed of multiple images stitched together. The lighting conditions at sunrise change so rapidly that it would have been difficult to capture this moment without being set up and ready to go. Someone, who shall remain nameless, overslept by fifteen minutes which created a very rushed situation at our arrival. (Nameless is off the hook because we all still managed to get some great shots and he was actually early for the next excursion.)
The lesson is: allow enough travel time to arrive about 1/2 hour or more before the actual sunrise.
* See my previous post for details of faux panorama.

This image was captured on a recent excursion of The Four Guys Photo Club in Wolfeboro NH. Our excursions are starting earlier and earlier in the morning after having some very successful sunrise sessions. The early bird catches the glorious morning light. If you haven't learned that by now, good! That means less competition for me ;-) Just kidding.
This faux panorama was created using a simple crop in Lightroom 4.  Normally I would have done a full blown panorama if I were going to print this at a much larger size. This will print just fine on a sheet of 13"x19" paper which is a standard size. This will also display just fine on the web. However, for those of you interested in creating a full blown panorama that can be printed to a massive size with incredible detail, stay tuned. I will give a detailed description of my procedure.

Westmoreland Trees-Westmoreland, NH

I recently received some criticism from a highly respected artist and photographer for not correcting the lens distortion in this image. However, I respectfully disagree.  If this were an image of an architectural structure that would have been a very valid criticism. Aside from the fact that much of the image would have been cropped away by that correction, it totally would have ruined the impact of the image. In my humble opinion, this view seen from about 30 feet below the bottom of these trees on a hill seems to exalt them and embrace the viewer.
My point is this: TRUST YOUR OWN INSTINCTS AND ARTISTIC VISION!!!
Be sure to click on the image to get the full impact of the details in this image.

Current events

For those of you that missed the Gafney library exhibit, you can see a few of my images currently on display at the  Tuftonboro Library in Tuftonboro, NH during the month of March.  My first solo exhibit will be in June at the Franklin Gallery in Rochester, NH. I have decided to make this an exhibit entirely composed of monchromatic images.
The next solo exhibit is scheduled for June 2013 at the Wolfeboro Public Library in Wolfeboro, NH. This will be ambitious since I intend to show all new images.
On another note, "thank you" goes out to Tom Rush for our second session with him. Tom is a terrific model. Keep an eye out for his advertisement of MacKenzie & Marr Guitars. Also our images are featured on his "Fish Song" children's album.

Thank you for a successful exhibit!

Thank you to all who helped make our exhibit at The Gafney Library such a successful event.  It was very gratifying to see so many people travel so far to support us. Thank you to Betty and Coty who came all the way from Plattsburgh, my twin sister Judy who traveled from the Northeast Kingdom,  and my photo partner/sister Medora for showing me the ropes. Thanks to Matt for taking time out from his busy teaching schedule at Brown University and for bringing Skye and Ivy along. I would also like to thank Martha for sharing her magnificent rare photography collection after the reception. Special thanks go to Peter, Beryl, and all the staff at The Gafney Library for making it all work so smoothly.

Gafney Library and upcoming events

Please join me for the opening of our photo exhibit at The Gafney Library in Sanbornville, NH on 2/18/12 11:30AM-1:30PM
It will feature over thirty of my works as well as images by my sister/photo partner, Medora Hebert.


Upcoming events include a group exhibit in Wolfeboro, NH (Details TBA) in March, and a black and white exhibit at The Franklin Gallery in Rochester, NH in June. 
I will post details as they become available.

Tug Boats Portsmouth, NH

This is an example of a black and white HDR image as discussed in the previous post. Since this was captured at dawn in very low light (note the lights on the boats), a single exposure of this subject would have lost much of the detail. A tripod is essential for this type of situation.