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Not AI-made…
The colour rendition of a photo taken with a Pentax (camera and lens) is unique. Taste is personal, and so is this opinion. One thing, however, is sure: the pictorial look of this photography is not made by an ‘AI’.
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Is AI-generated art actually killing ‘real’ Art?
This picture is how Dall-e 2 interpreted a prompt like Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white sketch in the style of Andy Warhol of a scientist facing a hajime sorayama-like cyborg in a 1940 mad scientist sci-fi lab. Does that mean that —as everybody and his cousin keep repeating— that AI killed Art(ists)? Not very. AI-generated imagery serves to specific purposes and whether is creation or not is utterly irrelevant.
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The Mystique of Film
I have resisted for a long time before giving out my two cents about the neverending debate ‘film vs digital’. I gave up after the next self-delusion I read in a well-known ‘semi-pro’ (purposely not linked) online photography magazine. It featured the umpteenth column explaining how shooting film ‘gets the experience back’, going full-manual ‘forces you thinking’, having limited exposures ‘pushes you to become more selective’, and all the usual motives connected with the choice of travelling on a horse-powered chariot instead of using a regular car. There is no need to shoot film to experience all that. Set the camera on full manual, disable OIS and IBIS, use a…
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A Fix for the Wikipedia Photos’ Copyright Scams?
As reported by Petapixel, a new form of copyright (better, ‘moral rights of author) scam hits photographer: the credit stealing on Wikipedia. In a nutshell, as everything on Wikipedia is editable, somebody started changing the photos’ ownership information from the original author to somebody else who, as Petapixel writes, get a series of ‘benefit’. As bad as it sounds, copyright protection on the Internet is a lost battle for an individual. Some services like Unsplash “turned the problem into an opportunity”. However it did not solve the issue in general terms. I’m seriously considering if just going back to a print-only sharing is a better way to handle pictures’ copyright,…
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An Essay on Light
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Leica Shop @ Strada Maggiore
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Becoming a Human Tripod
An often forgotten topic in the photography schools and courses is the physical (I would say, physiological) side of the game. True, a Leica Noctilux and a Leica M can deliver exceptionally sharp images, but if your hands tremble or your body wobbles, no gear, no matter the cost, can save your shot from being shaken. Ideally, a perfectly steady shot would require a tripod. Yes you can tweak the ISOs and/or the aperture but this is a trade off with image quality , so we’re back to the opening statement: a steady shot needs a tripod. But the truth is that none of us – pros included – can…
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Gigi Cifarelli Guitar Solo (feat. Michele Di Toro) – Live@Florian Espace Pescara
This the reportage I did on behalf of Rockol.it with a Canon 5d Mk III and the venerable Canon EF 70-200/2,8. The theater was small and few were the angles to be exploited. Thus I’ve decided to focus on close-ups and american shots.
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The Watchman (Street-Photography Shortcuts)
As every thing under the sun, Street-Photography too has its own shortcuts: freaky street-portraits are one of those. It’s easy to have your pictures noticed when your subject is a 60-years old Brit-Punk, an implausible-color dressed man or whatever alike: these subjects do the work on your behalf and it is very hard to obtain such kind of picture AND conveying actual meaning. Personally I like photos that – alone or made meaningful by a title – can tell a story. This way I can try to (pretend to) make “unique” shots, that stand with dignity in front of the zillions of 500px/Instagram/Flickr’s great images that are often perfect but…
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@ Mediterranean Beach Games 2015 – Wrestling, Italy vs France (And a primer on sport photography – Part 5)
Part 1 – Intro, Before the event, getting your media pass Part 2 – Before the event, having your media pass working for you Part 3 – During the event, get ready for the show Part 4 – During the event, how to choose which event attend to 3 – Shooting the game As I said before, the chances of getting a good exposure greatly improve if you are (or have become) comfortable with the game. But knowing how the ball rolls worth nothing if you’re not in the right position to take the shot. a – Reclaiming your space from other photographers Event (and thus sport) photography is a…
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Money Doesn’t Smell
The main photo depicts a Syrian kid surrending to a photographer, whose camera she thought was a weapon, while the side pictures are automatically displayed by the advertising engine of the online newspaper. There is a contrast between the brutal reality where the kid lives and the luxury aura implied by the two fashion shot that shows how insensitive magazine editors can be. I understand the need to monetize every click or content, but I’m not sure that this is the right way to do it. Why don’t chose, for instance, to advertise a fund raising campaign supporting UNICEF or Doctors Without Borders? And, by the way, I don’t understand…
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YANE – Yet Another Nepal Exhibit
This the poster of Yet Another Nepal Exhibit. It is hard to see the point in going to the other end of the world to take pictures that, as a Google Image Search shows, have already been shot zillions of time. In other words: taking original photos in Nepal is very hard. This teach a simple lesson: going overseas in the belief that the place makes the photo is wrong.
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From Camera to Print…
This is what happens when a shot is not taken thinking of its final destination (or when a graphic editor doesn’t consider what the outcome would be once printed): a poor rendition.
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Dress Different
According to the fashion-photography standards this is a perfectly usable shot. To me, that’s simply a missed photo.
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Italy, Street-Photography and The Law – A Real Case
Last July, members of the Polizia municipale of Rome seized the camera of a British-Brazilian street-photographer, Simon Griffee, while he was documenting the way they dealt with an immigrant. As Simon’s lawyer I’ve filed an appeal and a week ago the Court of Rome revoked the seizure. The battle is not over, yet, but hopefully Simon’s camera will be back on his hands pretty soon. As soon as possible I will release a thorough analysis of the case matched with what the law says, in theory.
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The Street Photographer Rights In Italy. The Leaflet
Here is an easy-to-carry A4 leaflet to be used in case you are confronted by a law enforcement agent of officer that question your Street Photography activity. Legal issues apart, please remember to always be polite and to help the officer not to look goofy or ignorant (as he actually would) in front of the public. Q. Does taking people’s photography in public spaces infringes sec. 615 bis of the criminal code? A. NO. Under the Corte di cassazione ruling n. 47165/2010 outdoor there is no reasonable privacy expectation, as there is no reasonable privacy expectation in case of tacit – while non equivocal – withdrawal of this right, as…
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Who Needs A Wedding Photographer Anymore?
I took this picture at a friend’s wedding. Though there was an “official” photographer, almost all of the attendees did their own “service”. They spent the majority of their time (and of their mobiles’ batteries) by obstructing the professionals on duty to get mostly irrelevant and low quality pictures. This is the main reason I chose not do weddings and – in general – ceremonies.
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Noon on the Beach
Another experiment with the Nikkor 16mm F/3,5 Fish-Eye. Using this lens in a less conventional way is really challenging for the composition. Keep trying.
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Brain vs Camera
The picture on the left is what the camera saw. The picture on the right is what I had in mind while shooting. Thanks to Photoshop I’ve been able to bend the “objectivity” of the camera along the line of my creativity.
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Italy, Landscape Photography and the Law – Part Two
In a previous post I addressed some of the legal issues involved in Landscape Photography where copyright was willfully not mentioned: since copyright is an outcome of human creativity who might ever think of imposing it over a landscape? Well, as much as it sounds crazy, somebody did it: on 2o11 the Town of San Quirico d’Orcia, in Tuscany, passed a local regulation that copyrights landscape images and artistic, cultural, environmental and architectural “stuff”, making mandatory pro shooter to ask for an authorization before starting their sessions. This local regulation is simply illegal, because “copyright” implies an act of creativity, while the landscape in itself doesn’t (unless you believe in…
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Just a soccer field… Part 2
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The Google Experiment
The usual note: I don’t write about gear. But this time I want to do an experiment inspired by the consequences of having the post about Street Photography and Italian Law bounced by Adam Marelli and Luminous-Landscape. Since these two websites channeled my post around the world, the access to (other parts too of) my blog – mostly unknown, previously – steady increased. I’m far from saying that I’ve reached an “audience”, nevertheless this blog is gaining its space among the zillions of pictures that live on the Internet. And it is “quality” space, meaning that visitors (you’re always welcome, folks!) find something of interest by looking at my pictures…
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Good Idea
… bad execution. The shot would have been acceptable if the head of the fisherman had the sky as a background instead of the bow.
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Italy, Landscape Photography and the Law
Welcome back to the “Law, Order and Photography in Italy” series. The second episode (the first being about Street-Photography) deals with Landscape Photography and, again, provides practical advise for the photographer who travels through Italy shooting its nature. Summary Landscape Photography, at first sight, looks like a piece of cake. No need to hip shoot, no fear of being confronted by an illiterate policeman or angry passerby, no model-release to carry… just you, your camera and your subject: the Nature. But things, as often in Italy, aren’t that simple since rules and regulations extend (literally) up to the top of the mountains. To put it short, there are a few…
