Sean Duggan Blog

Photoshop User Article

Check out the June issue of Photoshop User for a feature article I wrote called Metamorphosis: In Search of the Transformed Image. It covers a variety of techniques that I use in my digital darkroom work for treating the initial image as the point of departure and transforming it into something just beyond the edge of a literal image.

Note: The collage of the woman with the butterfly mask on the opening spread is the work of the talented Taffy Orlowski, one of the design team at Photoshop User.

The image below, Dresden Passage, and the process used to create it, is one of the photographs featured in the article. See below for the original version of the image.

Dresden Passage, 2004
Below: the original image
(click in the images to see them larger)

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Camera Raw 4.1 Update

Adobe has announced a significant (and free!) update to Camera Raw. Unlike most interim upgrades, this one contains far more than support for the newest cameras (though there is that, of course). Camera Raw 4.1 features substantial new functionality for sharpening images (including the ability to use the existing tonal map of the image to create a virtual "mask"), enhanced noise reduction capabilities, a new defringing control in the Lens Correction tab and a new Clarity slider in the main image controls tab for applying adaptive midtone contrast adjustments. All in all, it's a very impressive upgrade and if you're using Photoshop CS3, it's highly recommended. You can get to the Adobe Camera Raw 4.1 download page by clicking here. Jeff Schewe has an interesting article on the new Camera Raw features over at Photoshop News.

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Featured Workshop

The Creative Digital Darkroom
July 29 – August 4, 2007 Santa Fe Workshops

If you're interested in a week of creative Photoshop and digital photography (including panoramas, HDR, multiple image composites, and my "metamorphosis" techniques), then consider joining me in Santa Fe, New Mexico this summer for my Creative Digital Darkroom workshop.The workshop is based on concepts, philosophies and techniques that are covered the book I am currently finishing up with Katrin Eismann, The Creative Digital Darkroom, due out this fall from O'Reilly Media, Inc. The digital darkroom lab at the Santa Fe Workshops is one of the best I have ever taught in. Each student has a G5 Mac with a cinema display with access to an HP Designjet pigment printer. We'll be exploring all the cool new features in Adobe Photoshop CS3 as well as Photoshop Lightroom. We'll also have some photo excursions during the week for practicing creative camera and exposure techniques, including a foray into the magic of night photography.

One Pill Makes You Smaller...

Tea Party in the Grass
[mint tin pinhole camera; paper negative]
May 20, 2007
(click in the image to see it larger)

Another photo from the AltoidCam. This is part of one of my daughter's miniature tea sets. The cup on the right was only a couple of inches from the front of the mint tin. A 15-second exposure in open shade...taken a couple of days ago on our front lawn.

Pinhole Still Life (AltoidCam)

AltoidCam, No. 1 [paper negative, mint tin pinhole camera]
November 26, 2006
(click in the image to see it larger)

This was taken last November with a homemade pinhole camera made from an Altoid mint tin. A piece of black and white photo paper was cut to size, placed in the mint tin and the seams were taped up with black electrical tape. This exposure is 2.5 minutes. On my main website you can see a photo of the AltoidCam, as well as a shot of it in action making this photograph.

Another photo that was made with this camera today will be posted on Tuesday.

Santa Fe Trail

Santa Fe Trail  [Canon 5D]
Santa Fe, New Mexico  July, 2006
(click in the image to see it larger)

This is a life size bronze sculpture depicting a wagon train that is at the entrance to Museum Hill in Santa Fe. The exposure time is 2.5 minutes at f/8, 100 ISO. In addition to the light from a nearly full moon and the lightning in the distance,  I used a flashlight to paint in some illumination in the foreground and also placed a small penlight in the cowboy's raised hand. The photo was taken last year during my week long workshop in Santa Fe.

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Featured Workshop

The Creative Digital Darkroom
July 29 – August 4, 2007 Santa Fe Workshops

This week's featured workshop is still a ways off, but if you're interested in a week of creative Photoshop and digital photography (including panoramas, HDR, multiple image composites, diptychs, triptychs and more), then consider joining me in Santa Fe, New Mexico this summer for my Creative Digital Darkroom workshop.The workshop is based on concepts, philosophies and techniques that are covered the book I am currently finishing up with Katrin Eismann, The Creative Digital Darkroom, due out this fall from O'Reilly Media, Inc. The digital darkroom lab at the Santa Fe Workshops is one of the best I have ever taught in. Each student has a G5 Mac with a cinema display with access to an HP Designjet pigment printer. We'll be exploring all the cool new features in Adobe Photoshop CS3 as well as Photoshop Lightroom. We'll also have some photo excursions during the week for practicing creative camera and exposure techniques, including a foray into the magic of night photography.

Chimayo Holy Chile

Chimayo Holy Chile [Canon 5D]
Chimayo, New Mexico
(click in the image to see it larger)

Today's image is from the tiny village of Chimayo, north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was taken last summer during my workshop at the Santa Fe Workshops. In addition to a very famous old adobe church known the world over for the healing qualities of the soil (the last time I was there a priest was giving a small ziplock baggie to a Dutch family so they could take some home),  Chimayo is also home to this very picturesque chile stand, where you can purchase bona fide "Holy Chile".

Not only is the chile holy, but it's also very, very good. So good, in fact, that I am really looking forward to returning to Santa Fe to teach another workshop in late July and early August (see below for details). I've already burned through the supply I picked up last July and I have a powerful need for more of the good stuff!

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Featured Workshop

The Creative Digital Darkroom
July 29 – August 4, 2007 Santa Fe Workshops

This week's featured workshop is still a ways off, but if you're interested in a week of creative Photoshop and digital photography (including panoramas, HDR, multiple image composites, diptychs, triptychs and more), then consider joining me in Santa Fe, New Mexico this summer for my Creative Digital Darkroom workshop.The workshop is based on concepts, philosophies and techniques that are covered the book I am currently finishing up with Katrin Eismann, The Creative Digital Darkroom, due out this fall from O'Reilly Media, Inc. The digital darkroom lab at the Santa Fe Workshops is one of the best I have ever taught in. Each student has a G5 Mac with a cinema display with access to an HP Designjet pigment printer. We'll be exploring all the cool new features in Adobe Photoshop CS3 as well as Photoshop Lightroom. We'll also have some photo excursions during the week for practicing creative camera and exposure techniques, including a foray into the magic of night photography.

Abandoned Building Still Life

Abandoned Building Still Life [Canon 5D]
Waialee, O'ahu, Hawai'i
April 17, 2007
(click in the image to see it bigger)

This is from just inside the door of the abandoned building seen in the previous triptych.

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Featured Workshop

The Creative Digital Darkroom
July 29 – August 4, 2007 Santa Fe Workshops

This week's featured workshop is still a ways off, but if you're interested in a week of creative Photoshop and digital photography (including panoramas, multiple image composites, HDR, diptychs, triptychs and more), then consider joining me in Santa Fe, New Mexico this summer for my Creative Digital Darkroom workshop.The workshop is based on concepts, philosophies and techniques that are covered the book I am currently finishing up with Katrin Eismann, The Creative Digital Darkroom, due out this fall from O'Reilly Media, Inc. The digital darkroom lab at the Santa Fe Workshops is one of the best I have ever taught in. Each student has a G5 Mac with a cinema display with access to an HP Designjet pigment printer. And, although I can't guarantee it at this time, my guess is that Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Lightroom will be installed on the computers for this class. We'll have two photo excursions during the week for practicing creative camera and exposure techniques at interesting nearby locations.

Abandoned (1916)

Abandoned (1916)  [Canon 5D]
Waialee, O'ahu, Hawai'i
April 17, 2007
(definitely click in the image to see it bigger and better)

I have long been interested in the diptych and triptych as an alternate way to portray a scene. And although I have not made a focused project of just this format, I do create them now and then when a good subject presents itself. This abandoned building on the north shore of O'ahu was such a location. These are three separate exposures taken with a tripod-mounted Canon 5D. Although you can certainly create diptychs or triptychs by slicing up a single exposure, I prefer to shoot individual shots for each panel. Some selective sepia washes were added to portions of the image in Photoshop CS3.

Note on the Location: Based on some casual research I did on the Web, this building was part of the Waialee Boy's Industrial School, a reform school from the early 1900s for about 100 boys (mostly Hawaiian) who were disobedient to their parents or charged with assault and battery. Another two-story abandoned building that was supposedly the main school is across the street (photos of that to come in the future). I am not certain what this building was, but it's possible that it was part of the plantation structures since the school was self-sufficient with pineapple and taro fields surrounding it. If you have more information on this place, please let me know!

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Featured Workshop

The Creative Digital Darkroom
July 29 – August 4, 2007 Santa Fe Workshops

This week's featured workshop is still a ways off, but if you're interested in a week of creative Photoshop and digital photography (including panoramas, multiple image composites, HDR, diptychs, triptychs and more), then consider joining me in Santa Fe, New Mexico this summer for my Creative Digital Darkroom workshop.The workshop is based on concepts, philosophies and techniques that are covered the book I am currently finishing up with Katrin Eismann, The Creative Digital Darkroom, due out this fall from O'Reilly Media, Inc. The digital darkroom lab at the Santa Fe Workshops is one of the best I have ever taught in. Each student has a G5 Mac with a cinema display with access to an HP Designjet pigment printer. And, although I can't guarantee it at this time, my guess is that Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Lightroom will be installed on the computers for this class. We'll have two photo excursions during the week for practicing creative camera and exposure techniques at interesting nearby locations.

Lost

Lost  [Canon 5D]
San Francisco,  January 2, 2007
(click in the image to see it in a separate window)

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Featured Workshop

Real World Digital Photography I: June 24 – June 30, 2007
The Maine Photographic Workshops

This week's featured workshop is two months away and there are only 3 spaces left. If you're interested in a week of learning creative digital photography, digital darkroom workflow and Photoshop techniques, then consider joining me on the beautiful coast of Maine for my Real World Digital Photography I workshop (there is also a level II version in late September that builds on what is covered in the first class).The workshop draws on concepts and techniques, both photographic and those in the digital darkroom, that are covered the book Real World Digital Photography that I co-authored with Katrin Eismann and Tim Grey. Additionally, we'll be covering new developments, such as Photoshop Lightroom. In the  digital lab each student will have a Macintosh computer loaded with Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. In addition to our time exploring digital workflow and creative image enhancement techniques, we'll also have photo excursions during the week for practicing creative camera and exposure techniques at interesting nearby locations. Click the class title above to register.