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Nikon have confirmed the existence of a banding issue in some D200 digital SLRs, which have been the subject of much discussion in Nikon forums for the last few weeks.

According to their knowledge-base article, the banding “can become visible only in specific shooting conditions that include particular combinations of high contrast scene content, lighting, camera settings, substantial enlargement and the shooting environment.” Nikon claims that the problem is limited to early-production D200 cameras.

Basically, if you think your D200 has a problem you can send a sample image to Nikon, who will advise you on what to do next (usually the camera needs to be sent in for adjustment).

Ken Rockwell has written a page about the Nikon D200 Striping, Vertical Stripe, Banding and Corduroy Effect (all different terms for the same thing), with notes on how to reproduce it, how to avoid it, and why not to worry about it. Ken claims that the problems only really occur with badly-exposed images that should be deleted anyway, but that doesn’t account for photographers deliberately over-exposing an image in a bracketed series of exposure for later reconstruction in a high dynamic range image.

Digital Artform has a pretty comprehensive page about D200 banding, with links to many forum discussions and other resources.

Filed under: Nikon
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I can’t read the text (it appears to be in Russian), but these fun food photos speak for themselves.

The photographer has been masterfully creative, carefully placing miniature figures on, in and around various items of food so they appear to be engaged in day-to-day activities. As straight food photography, these images are well-composed and appetizing. The addition of the figures makes them totally engaging!

If anyone can read the text or knows more about this photographer, please post in the comments below.

Filed under: Humor,Photographers
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Alain Briot has published another essay in his Reflections On Photography And Art series, Subject Matter And Print Size.

This is an excellent exploration of the relationship between the subject matter of an artwork and the finished size of that artwork. Alain’s classical artistic training at the Beaux Arts gives him an uncommon insight into the artistic aspects of photography, which are often ignored by conventional photographers.

Too often, photographers simply print all their images at the maximum output size of their inkjet printer. While we may make prints at smaller sizes for practical reasons (to fit into a photo album, to save expensive paper and inks, to fit a mat or frame we already own, etc), it never even occurs to many of us to vary the size of our prints for artistic effect. Yet this can be a simple and effective artistic tool.

The essay gave me an idea for a photographic exercise…

Lenses fall into three rough categories – wide, normal and telephoto. They each have their own characteristics, enhancing or reducing the separation between foreground and background, limiting the angle of view, and altering the perspective and perception of the scene being captured.

Similarly, prints fall into three rough categories – small, medium and large (the actual sizes will vary between photographers depending upon how big they normally print, and how big they are capable of printing). For me, 6×4″ would be a small print, A4 (roughly 8×12″) would be a medium sized print, and A3+ (roughly 13×19″) would be a large print.

So, this exercise would be to make some prints in each of the six combinations of print size and lens focal length. That is, print some wide-angle photos at small, medium and large paper sizes, and then do the same for some normal-angle photos and some telephoto photos.

In analyzing the prints, take particular note of which combinations of lens focal length and print size make for a compelling display. Try to determine what type of subject matter is best suited to each of the 6 lens/print size combinations. You might even be motivated to repeat the exercise using a much wider or longer lens or printing much smaller or larger than you’re used to, in order to explore a more extreme exaggeration of the effect. It’s always worth pushing boundaries to see how much is too much.

You just might discover an interesting new direction to pursue with your photography!

Filed under: Exhibitions,Photography Tips,Technique
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