Roger A. Dallman Jr. Roger started in photography in 1979, as a secondary job in the Army. He shot "grip and grins" and Army events. He began shooting portraits and weddings on the side for extra camera gear money. He won several photo contests and an Army journalism award. After career assignment changes, he put the cameras aside and sold his darkroom equipment. In 2006, he bought his first digital camera before a trip to Europe and was hooked again.
Today he is a dedicated Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop user-advocate and NAPP member. He is active in photography groups and teaches digital darkroom techniques. He prefers to shoot portaits away from seamless paper and static lighting. He is also a photo retoucher and restores old photos - a handy skill when working on his genealogy hobby.
Mark B. Segal. Mark started shooting when he was 13 and has done it off and on since then. As a Navy brat and then Naval Officer, I got to go to interesting places. I wish I had taken my camera more often. I love the way the camera allows you to dissect the world and shape what people see of it. Photoshop and Lightroom are great tools to help capture what you thought you saw from behind the lens.
I love helping people salvage and restore their photographic memories as links to their past. The patience and dedication needed are usually far beyond what the images are worth, except to the person who owns the picture. Seeing the smile or tears from when you've brought back an image from the cracked, torn and faded pile is a reward in and of itself.
Many people who would like to do more with their photography are unsure about exactly where to start. I recommend a subject that won’t require lots of equipment and provides the widest range of techniques to study. Flowers are a good choice.
A dear friend of mine wanted to do something special for a couple’s upcoming 50th anniversary. The two surviving photos from their wedding were in pretty rough shape. She wanted to take lots of their photos and put them into a book. I got to help. Photo restoration takes infinite patience and attention to detail. ...
The human eye is a wonderful thing. It can take in details in the highlights and shadows in a scene; combine them in the brain; and we see the whole image. The camera does not have this capability – yet. Believe me, they are working on it. What do you do in the meantime?
So Roger announced that I “won” the photo contest and while I enjoy gloating as much as the next person, I have spent the last few days contemplating what that really means. To me, photography is a very personal way of sharing how I look at the world. Since it’s invention, people have questioned whether...
This past weekend I traveled to Norman Oklahoma to attend the Navy ROTC reunion. I had the pleasure of meeting up with old classmates, and the privilege of meeting the huge unit of 120 Midshipmen. We graduated 7 of us, way back in 82, and 4 of us made it there. These two, Dan Churchman and...
We want to thank all the readers who voted in our little contest last week. It was back and forth and very close. When the smoke cleared, it was Mark in the lead by a nose (or was that a telephoto lens). His shots were 1, 2, and 4. Although we weren’t ranking the images,...
As we’ve written about all week, Mark and I had a little contest this past weekend.
Just a quickie follow-up to Mark’s blog. I want to drive the point home that you have to get out there and use your camera to improve your skills. When we lead seminars with new photographers, we constantly hear how busy people are. I’m sure that is true, but, to quote a well-known future philosopher,...
