Photoshop is power
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on February 9, 2010
If anyone tells you that something cannot be done using Adobe Photoshop, they are probably mistaken. At Tadsen Photography in Madison, WI we have done some of the most complex Photoshop projects imaginable. Don’t like that building, that person, that wisp of smoke? The image that we start with is raw material. The rest is subject to creative invention and technological ingenuity. A photographer’s eye is essential to accomplishing photo-realistic adjustments in a believable fashion. No one else has quite as much of an understanding of lighting and composition as an experienced photographer. Combine this fact with wicked Photoshop skills, and you have a one-stop do-it-all shop that can have your images as ready for whatever application as you need.
Never hesitate to ask for changes or manipulation in your imagery. If your photographer says that it can’t be done, then you are probably using the wrong photographer
Iphone app looks just like Diana or Holga
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 28, 2010
A friend of mine introduced me to Hipstamatic. Check out this great image he took with it. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/photo.php?pid=4553630&id=591501413
Wisconsin Photography
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 28, 2010
The challenges to photographing in Wisconsin are myriad but the rewards are great too. When one chooses to live in a place situated in the middle of a continental landmass one can expect to endure both the extremes of heat and cold. Thus it is with Madison. Equipment cannot be left in the car in winter or it will get so cold that setting up requires gloves. The summers are very nice and one of the reasons people choose to endure winters here, but the humidity and extremes of temperatures can rival that of the Yucatan Peninsula.
But we love out midwest. The people have a fortitude and a humility that can’t be found anywhere else. Winter hardship reminds us daily that our lives are fragile and that we exist at the whims of nature, and so we acknowledge and celebrate our climate, overcoming its inconveniences and, where possible, getting out into it.
Ice fishing is a big thing here in Madison. What in the world is appealing about sitting on a bucket staring into a hole in the ice for hours on end, you might ask. I might ask the same thing too. But the draw of this activity is undeniable. As I drive past lake Monona every day, there they are. Dozens of blaze-orange snowmobile-suited men (and some women) sit in reverie, waiting for lake perch to make themselves known. These folks are widely dismissed as crazy but are fixtures of the season and would be sorely missed should they all spontaneously decide to abandon their hobby.
DPI and file size explained
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 27, 2010
There is a lot of confusion about DPI among clients. DPI (dots per inch) in and of itself has nothing to do with ones overall ability to enlarge a file. DPI, instead, is merely a measure of the information density at which a file is saved. For example, you could have a 1 inch by 1 inch image that is 300 dpi. This would be a very small image, indeed, and would not work well for reproduction other than on the web. Likewise, you could have an image saved at 72 dpi that is 22×40 inches. This would be a reasonably large file and could be converted to 300 dpi at smaller printing dimensions.
To avoid confusion the best thing to do is to refer to files based upon their “pixel dimension” rather than in “dpi.” Pixel dimensions give the absolute size of the file, i.e., 4000×6000 pixels. A reference to a files dpi, on the other hand, gives no information UNLESS it is combined with the dimensions of the file, i.e., 4×6 inches at 300 dpi.
Hopefully this can begin to clear up some of the confusion with digital file sizes. At Tadsen Photography, we handle all aspects of a photoshoot down to providing digital files at exactly the size and resolution needed by clients.
Client education is a big part of what we do. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions about your digital files.
Strange man seen prancing with dry cleaning.
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on November 19, 2009
It’s a truism that Wisconsin is weird. And it doesn’t get much weirder than this.
Hot Dog
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on November 18, 2009
Madison Wisconsin might be just the kind of place where you’d find a hot dog on the railroad tracks. At least it might just be the kind of place where you’d find some nutjob out taking a photograph of a hot dog on a railroad track. Or under a car tire.
Facebook Connections
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on November 17, 2009
The Tadsen Photography website is now fully linked to the Tadsen Photography fan page on Facebook. Facebook is quickly becoming a sort of virtual town square and gathering place for nearly every everyone. Tadsen Photography spends quite a bit of time on Facebook and hopes that if you are not a member that you will sign up soon. The front page of the website now has a Facebook link that connects directly to the Tadsen Photography fan page, and the “Links” page now has a very fancy Facebook interface called a “fan box.” If you are on Facebook and haven’t become a fan of Tadsen Photography, please take a moment to do so. If you are not on Facebook, well, what are you waiting for? 
Photographing the President
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on November 12, 2009
It isn’t often the the President of the United States comes to Madison, Wisconsin. As a matter of fact it was apparently Harry Truman who last did so. So when I heard that Barack Obama was going to be at Wright Middle School here I called in all my favors and got press access to the event. Previously I’d photographed the President in Green Bay and knew that I wanted to be able to get tighter pictures of him this time, so I rented and enormously expensive 600mm lens from Calumet in Chicago. The lens arrived early on the morning of the President’s appearance.
Lens in tow, a fellow photographer and I had sweaty palms as we moved past all the police barracades up to the Secret Service checkpoint. There was always this sense that maybe we would not get it somehow. But we succeeded. Once inside there was a terrible crush in the press section, which was way in the back of the gymnasium on some low risers. Everybody had an idea of what territory they were going to stake out and, in order to hold that territory one had to literally stand in place for two hours.
Once the president arrived it was go-time, a frenzy of attempting to shoot at the exact right moment, keeping the autofocus rectangle on the bridge of the President’s nose, recomposing and then firing off volleys of shots. The buffer on my camera soon filled up as my camera isn’t really optimized for sports shooting, and I would have to wait for the images to write to the card. Despite all of the visual and technical machinations occupying my mind I was able to listen to the speech, which I found to be articulate, intelligent and moving. I am very much a fan of our President.
Me with the venerable Canon 600mm f/4 IS L
Editorial Photography Unplugged
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on September 11, 2009
Fall has created some new inspiration.
