Like the principals of a good painting, re-cropping a photograph seeks to maintain balance, create quiet tension and keep a strong focal point. Years ago I would visit the great museums and study how old masters dealt with the edges of the frame, a skill I use today.

Andrew Fisher and Jeffrey Weisman make up the very chic San Francisco design firm Fisher Weisman. In their wine country home above the Russian River in Sonoma County they bring city elegance to country casual. Here I have made examples of photos from their original vertical format by cropping them into a horizontal format with a 3 to 4 aspect ratio. Vertical or horizontal this home is always a treat to see.

These photographs were seen in the San Francisco Chronicle and Paper City magazine.

www.fisherweisman.com

Here are the original vertical images before they were cropped into a horizontal 3x4 format.

The term Hi-Def is popularly used to speak of the quality of high definition video seen in HDTV, digital TV and digital Movies. With increase computer capacity the large digital file can be used with more information this renders images with greater detail and dynamic range.

So to in my still photography practice, the term Hi-Def can be used for the process and equipment needed to give the highest quality of photos for large format uses such as a two page spread in a magazine. These large file photos have greater clarity, color saturation and greater detail in highlights and shadows. The Hi-Def image starts with state of the art Digital camera, costing tens of thousands of dollars, coupled with a studied process of careful crafting the photos composition, adjusting the styling and adding lighting, finally the photo under goes post-production back in the studio with Photoshop software.

A Low-Def photo is one that might be taken with a point and shoot camera or a moderately prices single lens reflex camera (SLR).
These photos most likely are taken quickly, without any or little additional lighting. These “handheld shots” might have digital file size 10-25 % that of a Hi-Def photo and very little post-production time will be given to these photos. Low-Def photos should not be reproduced greater than 8×10 inches and rarely would these Low-Def photos be reproduced in a magazine. These Low-Def photos however look fine within a video montage and when watched on most computer screens the viewer would not know the difference.

Following are examples of the two types of photos taken this winter near Lake Tahoe. Shooting for interior designer Kathy Geissler Best and architect John Malick the 1 ½ day shoot captured over 60 photos.

I have selected 6 of the Hi-Def photos...

And 6 of the Low-Def...

]]> http://www.studiolivingston.com/video/hi-def-low-def/feed/ 0 http://www.studiolivingston.com/video/best-of-2008-video/ http://www.studiolivingston.com/video/best-of-2008-video/#comments Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:52:48 +0000 David http://www.studiolivingston.com/?p=736 In DAY BY DAY 2008 I wanted to show the range of interiors and clients that I photograph for. In a simple hip way, the video sought to to be fun, lively and not too formal. Just a few hours of production time was available and a the collection of photographs was rather random. The change of the photo pace with the chorus is an idea that I would like to explore in other videos.

You can also take a look at my complete Hawaii images or visit my Fine Art blog.

Taking the limited still photographs from the day of shooting I created extra vignettes from within the photos and later interviewed her in her studio for about an hour. Filming, production, editing and titles took eight hours.