The Star of Spring in Japan

I’ve had many photos selected for Flickr Explore in the past, but this just blows them all away. 17,890 views, 366 favourites, added to two galleries, all in just a little over 24 hours. Guess folks like cherry blossoms.

But these viral things don’t tend to translate to much. People look at one photo and move on. Case in point: the photo I posted a few hours later only has 100 views and 6 favourites.

So it goes.

Link to the Past

Sorry for the lack of posts here recently, gang. A full schedule of teaching and shooting and meeting with photo clients leaves little time for much else. Add a pregnant wife who sends me on quests in the middle of the night for crazy things like taiyaki ice cream1 and I haven’t even been on the web for nearly a week. The sacrifices we make, huh?

Anyways, check out this link. These are some amazing pieces of art. Here’s one:

  1. The crazy things they have in Japan, eh? ↩

Hipstamatic Is 'Very Much Here to Stay,' Company Says After Layoffs

Still, it’s impossible to deny that Hipstamatic has been eclipsed by the breakout success of its (free) competitor Instagram. Today Instagram released version 3.0 to its 80 million users as Facebook jockeys to close its $1 billion acquisition of the company. Meanwhile, Hipstamatic’s former employees are bitterly job hunting via Twitter.

Allow me to go on a bit of a tangent about some photography philosophy before I circle back to commenting on this article.

I love Hipstamatic. The effects are wonderful and I really dig the analog philosophy they are going for. Digital is bringing in more and more and more photographers, and that is awesome, but it is also bringing very bad habits.

The chief bad habit, I think, is taking too many photos at a time. That is, seeing something you think is cool and snapping 36 photos of it instead of just one. Why is this bad? Well, besides giving you more photos to sort through later, this is taking the mindfulness out of the equation.

(Before I continue, let me add that there certainly are occasions when you want to — even need to — mash that button down and get as many exposures as you can. Sports, for instance.)

I’m not necessarily arguing folks should practice visualization1, but it is often very helpful to slow down and thinking about what you want from a photo before pointing and clicking.

So I love how Hipstamatic forces us to slow down. You have to pause and select the best “lens” and “film” for the scene, then after you snap it, you have to wait 30s or more before you see a result. This forced mindfulness is a good thing, I think.

Having said that, it’s not for everyone. I completely agree with this comment on the story.

Hipstamatic could have easily been Instagram if they weren’t so damn greedy. Give the app away for free to get it onto more devices and allow people to purchase effects if they want. I used to use it, but it’s too much of a hassle. When a photo opportunity turns up, I don’t have time to go through lenses and filters to take the shot. Instagram got it right – quickly take the photo and then take your time finding the perfect effect.

As much as I like the “photo zen” qualities of Hipstamatic, it does kind of go against the idea of a point and shoot camera. My kid does something funny, I want to be able to whip my phone out and take a photo as soon as possible so I don’t miss the moment.

Add Instagram, a service that lets you snap the photo as quickly as you need to, and apply a filter later. That is free.

And that’s the nail in the coffin for Hipsta. It’s 2 bucks for the app, then a buck for every filter you want… And how many filters are there now, 10-15? Those of us who bought the app a few years ago when it was first released and who have bought the new filter package every few months are mostly ok with this, but this is way too much money to most new users, especially when compared to free.

I’m sorry to say it, but I don’t see Hipstamatic lasting unless they can either expand to new markets and/or hit a home run with another app.

  1. Although it is a good skill to practice. Watch that clip to hear the Master — Ansel Adams — give his thoughts on it. ↩

Tips For Getting Smooth Long-Exposure Water If You Don’t Have An ND Filter

Nice tip for getting a longer exposure during the day when you forget (or don’t have) an ND filter from Matt Kloskowski. As Matt himself says in the video, this isn’t ideal. But it’s a nice option to know about, just in case.

We often forget just how much extra info RAW files contain and what this allows us.

To watermark or not to watermark

Once again, as I often have in the past, I am thinking about watermarks and considering using one on my photos.

At issue is not copyright protection. I register all my photos with the US government so I do have protection, but I’m not going to use it against web users. In fact, I fully encourage everyone to share and reshare my work and use my work in any (non-commercial) way they want. To encourage people even more in this, I license all my work under the Creative Commons non-commercial share-alike license.

I’m not worried about this stuff, and it is not the reason why I’m considering using watermarks.

What makes me consider a watermark is simple recongization. As a calling card, so to speak, so someone who sees my photo on some random webpage can instantly understand who took that photo and, moreover, where to find more similar photos.

Cons against using one… They are ugly. Not always, but most of the time. Just stamping some text over the photo is so so so very ugly, and it completely detracts from the photo itself. Folks who use more fancy logos for watermarks are a bit better, but those can be ugly too.

Hmmm… See I don’t know. I dislike watermarks, but I can totally see the advantage of using them, not as protection but as information. I have been conflicted on this issue for a long time and I continue to be.

What are some of your thoughts? Let me know in a reply to this post, or feel free to email me → dave@japandave.com.