The level of sharpness in a photo shapes the aesthetic and emotional impact of an image. While sharpness is often equated with photographic quality, the deliberate use of softness or blur can convey a unique, compelling visual story.

Coming to you from Peter Forsgård, this enlightening video explores the concept that a photograph does not always need to be sharp. Forsgård begins by addressing the common obsession with sharpness in photography, highlighting the industry’s focus on sharp lenses and pixel-peeping habits. He challenges this notion by emphasizing the importance of choosing aperture settings based on desired depth of field rather than just sharpness. This encourages photographers to think more about the artistic intent of their images rather than just technical excellence.

Forsgård then delves into five methods for intentionally creating softer images, each with its own aesthetic appeal. He discusses the use of soft focus lenses and filters, such as mist filters, to achieve a dreamy, filmic look. Another technique he explores is creative blur, achieved through camera movements or panning, which can add a sense of motion and emotion to a photograph. Minimalism and the use of bokeh are also covered, where strategically unsharp areas in an image can highlight the subject or create a particular mood. Lastly, Forsgård touches on impressionism in photography, where an entirely unsharp image can evoke feelings and moods through colors and soft edges. These techniques underscore the versatility and expressive power of photography, moving beyond the conventional emphasis on sharpness. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Forsgård.

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (Jan. 25, 2024) – Milligan University Artist-in-Residence Kathryn Baylor will present a photography exhibition, “Still in the Silence,” from Jan. 28-Feb. 13 in the Milligan Art Gallery in Derthick Hall. An opening reception will be held Sunday, Jan. 28, from 2-4 p.m. The exhibition and opening reception are free and open to the public.

Baylor graduated from Milligan in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in film and minors in photography and the humanities. As artist-in-residence, Baylor assists with Milligan’s artistic events and classes. She also has access to Milligan’s facilities, such as the dark room, where she can grow in her own artistic mediums.

“Still in the Silence” will showcase several eras of Baylor’s work, and each piece centers on the theme of grief. While Baylor first identified as a portrait photographer, she has explored using art photography to capture the unseen in life. Recently, she has used photography to work through emotions, such as loss and grief, and she encourages viewers to see beyond the surface of a photograph.

“My father passed away unexpectedly during my senior year at Milligan,” shared Baylor. “I decided to try to explore the feelings of grief in this exhibition as I believe it is one of the rawest feelings humans experience in life.”

Throughout her time at Milligan, Baylor has appreciated the university’s emphasis on small class sizes along with her professors’ devotion to student success. To learn more about Milligan’s visual and communicative arts programs, visit www.milligan.edu/pvc.

Posted by Greer, Allie E on January 25, 2024.

There’s a shortage of people qualified to treat convicted sex offenders in Colorado. We’ll talk about the reasons for the shortage, its impact, and efforts to find solutions. Then, photographs, taken by veterans, via a program that creates community and support. And, a family with Southern roots takes a trip to the ice castles in Cripple Creek.

Texas Border Business

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By Sara Reyna

In his first year as a full-time photography instructor at South Texas College, Carlos Limas plans to share his artistic expertise beyond the classroom by presenting his captivating exhibition, “Intangible” in hopes to motivate students creatively and build spaces of connection for future artists. 

“It is not only important to teach my students the technical parts of art and photography, but also share with them my own work as a teacher,” he said. “It shows them the endless possibilities they may have when pursuing a career in the art space.” 

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Limas’ exhibit has been on display at STC’s Pecan Campus’ art exhibit hall at Building B, room 103.

Limas’ passion for visual arts was always clear to him as a young child growing up in Rio Bravo, Mexico. He went on to pursue those passions in Monterrey, Mexico when he graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from theInstituto Profesional de Arte y Diseñoin 1995. To continue challenging himself as an artist he ventured out of the country to Brussels, Belgium where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from l’Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 2000. 

“When I share my story with students, it is to show them where their passion for the arts can take them and I emphasize to them the importance of learning to adapt,” Limas shared. “Adapting to new environments is crucial for young artists to be able to grow in their careers and building that self-confidence will move them along the right path, even if that path doesn’t seem clear right away, that is all part of the excitement.”

Following his graduation in 2000, Limas participated in a conceptual art residency in Milan, Italy, and numerous group and solo exhibitions across many global platforms such as Mexico, Belgium, France, Slovakia, China and the USA over the course of six years. After being away from his homeland for many years, Limas wanted to reconnect with his roots in Monterrey and went on to serve the community as chair of the School of Art Escuela Adolfo Prieto at CONARTE from 2006 to 2011. 

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Furthering his mission to reinvent himself as an artist Limas moved to McAllen and obtained a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) where he graduated in 2019. 

Despite accomplishing many professional endeavors, Limas, whose work is inspired by Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Siqueiros, often felt out of place until his journey finally led him to STC where he now teaches digital photography as a full-time instructor and works as the Visual Arts coordinator for the Visual Arts department.

“I was seeking a different environment to reinvent myself. It took me years to find my place here in the Valley, but when I came to South Texas College to start teaching I finally felt like I belonged and I hope to continue fostering that same feeling with the students here at STC so that together we can exist in these creative spaces as a community, this will help us create a stronger identity in representing not only our hardworking students and talented faculty, but to also represent the endless opportunities that STC is paving for us all,” he said. “There is so much potential here at our school and in our area, I hope that this exhibition serves as an invitation for our students to experiment, collaborate and explore a diverse range of artistic expressions.”

STC’s Art Gallery will be hosting a closing reception for Carlos Limas’ exhibition “Intangible” on January 25 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Pecan Campus, Building B, room 103. 

For more information about the Art programs offered at STC or future art exhibitions visit https://www.southtexascollege.edu/academics/visual-arts/ or call 956-872-6769.

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Watch video: High Dynamic Range vs Luminosity Masking

If you’re into landscape photography, you’ve probably heard of HDR imaging. It involves using software to blend a set of bracketed exposures into a single image with a high dynamic range, which enables us to display detail in very bright and very dark areas. It’s especially useful for sunrise or sunset landscapes, as the sky is usually so much brighter than the land, so recording a balanced exposure without using HDR can be a challenge.

However, there is a second option that’s perhaps less practised, but potentially more effective. Luminosity Masking is similar to HDR in that it lets us blend bright and dark frames, but it’s more of a manual process of layering and masking images in Photoshop, using the luminosity of different areas to create seamless blends. As such, it has a steeper learning curve than HDR, but with greater control comes results that are often more nuanced.

Both HDR and Luminosity Masking are forms of exposure blending, so we need more than one exposure to work with. This is where bracketing with your EOS camera comes in. But there’s more to it than simply engaging your Canon’s bracketing mode. Read on and we’ll explain everything. 

1. Try an HDR in Photoshop

Highlight the images in Adobe Bridge, right-click and Open In Camera Raw. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+A to select them, right-click and choose Merge To HDR. Adjust settings to suit. Hit OK. A new HDR DNG image is created, which you can edit with Camera Raw’s tonal tools.

2. Try Luminosity masking

Highlight the bracketed frames in Adobe Bridge, then go to Tools>Photoshop>Load Files Into Photoshop Layers. Highlight all the layers and go to Edit>Auto-Align Layers. Choose the most balanced exposure, drag this layer to the bottom and hide the others.

3. Run the action

Download the supplied Action set (download here). Go to Window>Actions in Photoshop. Click the flyout menu and choose Load Actions. Once done, click the Luminosity Mask 5 Levels action and hit the play button. This creates channels for different levels of luminosity.

4. Target the highlights

Go to the Channels Panel (Window>Channels) and click on the different channels for highlights. Choose the one that targets the brighter parts of the sky. Hold Cmd/Ctrl and click on the channel to load the white parts as a selection, then click on the RGB channel.

5. Paint a mask

Reveal the layer that has a darker sky, then go to Layer>Mask>Hide All. Grab the Brush tool, set colour to white and brush opacity 50%, then paint over the sky to gradually reveal the darker, more vibrant colours in the highlights. Once done hit Cmd/Ctrl+D to deselect.

6. Reveal shadow details

Go back to the Channels Panel and click through the shadows channels. Choose one that targets the deepest shadows. Cmd/Ctrl+click it. Go to the Layers Panel and reveal the brightest layer. Add a black mask and paint white to reveal more detail in the shadows.

7. Paint colours in Soft Light

Make a new layer in Photoshop and set the Blend Mode to Soft Light. Grab the Brush tool, hold Alt and click to sample a colour from the sunset. Using a soft-edged brush, paint around the coloured areas of the sky to enhance the colour. Lower the layer opacity. You can repeat for another colour if you like.

8. Use Channel Mixer

Add a Channel Mixer adjustment layer in Photoshop. Select Output Channel: Red, then set Red +200, Green -50, Blue -50. Next, go to the Blue Channel and set Blue +200, Red -50, Green -50. Adjust the layer opacity to control the strength of the effect, and paint black on the layer mask if you want to hide it in areas.

9. Tweak camera calibration

Open your image in Camera Raw and go to the Calibration Panel. Try increasing the Red Primary Saturation slider to about +40 and set the Red Primary Hue to -10. Then go to the Blue Primary and increase Saturation to +20 and set Hue to -5. Experiment with the saturation strength to get the effect you want.

If you’re serious about scenery, take a look at the best cameras for landscape photography along with the best lenses for landscapes.