Reviewed by Ellis Vener

The title harkens back to "On Photography," the first of Susan Sontag's two book-length philosophical meditations about the role of photography in society. Like Sontag, Johnson has a well defined philosophical stance about the subject. The difference is that Johnson comes at the subject from the view of someone who is a maker and not a consumer of photographs.

"Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography" (O'Reilly Media, $39.99) begins with a brief history of the origins of digital photography and then zooms through the rapid evolution of technologies and techniques over the past 20 years, much of which the author was deeply engaged with. Johnson makes an eloquent plea for the sanctity of straight photography in photography's digital era, and rightly points out that if we compare it to the evolution of mankind, electronic photography is still in its Stone Age period.

Professional Photographer magazine offers our readers free lighting tutorials from Web Photo School.

Modifying the standard approach to portraits can add more life and interest to your shot if you know what you're doing. When it comes to shooting glamour, rules should be considered guidelines.

The most interesting glamour shots out there are taken by photographers who have veered from the rules to come up with their own bag of tricks for shooting.

This lesson will show you a couple of simple modifications you can make to a standard portrait lighting setup to enhance the appeal of your images.

Topics Covered:

• Setting Up the Background
• Setting Up the Quantum Q Flash
• Installing the Radio Slaves
• Setting Up the Main Flash
• Programming the E-300 Camera Settings
• Setting Up the Fill Light
• Setting Up the Separation Light

Go to Shooting Glamour in the Studio at Web Photo School.

Fast, High Capacity Storage for the Road

By Ron Eggers

As a long time user of the Epson P-2000, I was looking forward to playing with the newest generation of the company's portable storage solutions. While I took a look at the P-3000 at a trade show, I never did get my hands on it for testing. So I was really interested in working with the P-5000. I mention the P-3000 because that was a radical departure from the P-2000. It had different styling and a different user interface. Many of the specs and capabilities of the P-3000 have been incorporated into the P-5000.

In cases where Epson talks about significant increases in file-transfer speeds and image rendering times for the P-5000, the company is actually talking about an increase over the previous series, not the previous model. The P-3000 already had the increased transfer speeds and rendering times. The main difference is that the P-5000 has a larger hard drive. The P-3000 has a 40GB hard drive while the P-5000 comes equipped with an 80GB drive. Since I tested the P-5000, I'll concentrate on that model.

By Joe Farace

All images ©Joe Farace

In the January issue of Professional Photographer, Joe Farace reviewed the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens with the latest generation of Canon Image Stabilizer technology. Here you can view and download full-size photos to see the quality of capture with this lens.

Exposure:  1/640 second at f/13, ISO 320 (ctrl/right-click to download full-size image, 7.34MB)

By Ellis Vener

All images ©Ellis Vener

In the January issue of Professional Photographer, Ellis Vener reviewed the Epson Perfection V750-M Pro scanner with fluid-mount capability. Here you can download and examine the details of the standard and fluid-mount film scans as seen in the magazine review.

In this scan of 6x17cm Fujifilm Velvia film, I noted a higher overall contrast level, and tonal compression and corresponding loss of detail in the darker tones in the standard film holder scan. An increase in shadow detail and tonal separation are discernable in the wet-mount scan detail.

Left: Detail of fluid-mount scan. Right: Detail of standard film holder scan. (Ctrl/right-click each image to download full size, 9.1MB each.) Photo ©Ellis Vener.

Professional Photographer magazine's January issue featured photographer Hollye Schumacher loved shooting infrared film with her Canon EOS-1v 35mm SLR, but security personnel at airports insisted on opening her infrared film canisters. She converted her camera to infrared and now she travels easier.

For more information about the conversion technique, visit LifePixel.com.

Image ©Hollye Schumacher

Reviewed by Ron Eggers

Infrared photography has a sense of mystery about it. Producing ethereal images and false colors, pictures captured in the infrared wavelength evoke fantasy. It's almost like magic, and something that's magical certainly must be difficult. Working with infrared film is challenging. It's difficult to shoot with and even more difficult to process. Fortunately, like with so many things in photography, digital technology has had a significant impact on infrared photography. It is making it simpler than it's ever been.

With his new book "The Complete Guide to Digital Infrared Photography," Joe Farace explains those changes, and in the process, he takes much of the mystery out of infrared photography without dispelling the magic that makes it so fascinating. Published by Lark Books (a division of Sterling Publishing), this book is a detailed and well-written step-by-step guide to infrared photography. It's obvious that the author has a thorough understanding of the subject matter and the processes involved in coming up with striking infrared images.

Press Release — Kubota Image Tools is pleased to announce its return to Italy for its third creative photography workshop for professional and advanced amateur photographers. This seven-day photography workshop includes several photo excursions, classroom instruction, photography critiquing and more.

Meeting in Florence, the workshop group will be driven to the nearby village of Chianti to begin the Tuscan part of the adventure. Here photographers will spend two nights at the incredible hilltop villa Hotel Radda (www.hotelradda.com).During the stay here there will be photo excursions to surrounding Tuscan villages.

[Editor's note] In his January newsletter, author and photographer David Saffir delves into the topic of just how much printing your work can cost you and where you can eliminate waste.

By David Saffir

In my view, the hidden costs of ink jet printing can be summed up in one word: waste. In a moderately busy photography studio, this can amount to hundreds of dollars per year. I intend to limit the discussion to large format photo quality ink jet printers, and exclude machines that are used in sign making and similar activities. Later in this summary, I will look at the numbers and add them up.

Read the rest of David Saffir's article.

The last photographer to take a formal portrait of former President Gerald R. Ford speaks with Professional Photographer

On January 8, 2007, Senior Editor Joan T. Sherwood spoke to photographer David DeJonge about photographing former President Gerald R. Ford during his visits to Grand Rapids, Mich. DeJonge also discusses his experience attending and photographing the ceremonies surrounding the arrival of Air Force One with the former president's remains and the interment ceremony at the Ford Presidential Museum.

The Ford family (foreground) observes as former President Ford's casket is transferred from Air Force One for the procession to his funeral services in East Grand Rapids, Mich., on January 2, 2007. Image ©David DeJonge

If you purchased qualified Canon cameras and lenses between October 15, 2006 and February 19, 2007, you are eligible for rebates up to $300.

Press Release—Canon U.S.A., Inc. is extending its popular “Cash In With Canon” rebate program that offers consumers the chance to build or expand their EOS camera system. With this extension, consumers who purchase qualified products between now and February 19, 2007 are eligible to receive rebates of up to $300 on select Canon Digital SLR Cameras, such as the full frame EOS 5D.  What’s more, consumers can double rebates when purchasing two or more different eligible EOS Digital SLR Cameras, Canon EF or EF-S Lenses and EOS system accessories. The “Cash In With Canon” rebate program has also been extended through February 19, 2007, on Image Stabilizer binoculars.

Adobe offers price special to early adopters through April 30, 2007

Press Release—Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced that Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 software is now available for pre-order and is expected to ship in mid-February 2007. Photoshop Lightroom lets professional photographers import, manage and present large volumes of digital photographs, allowing them to spend more time behind the lens and less time at the computer. More than 500,000 photographers participated in the public beta program over the last 12 months. Recognizing the photography community for their efforts, Adobe is offering Photoshop Lightroom at a special introductory price of US $199 through April 30, 2007 at the Adobe Store. Photoshop Lightroom will later sell for an estimated street price of US $299. Users of Lightroom beta will have access to the program until its expiration on February 28, 2007.

“It’s an unlikely scenario that professional photographers would moonlight as software developers,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president, Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe. “Fortunately for us, they were willing to give it a shot. Everything, from image viewing and evaluation tools to timesaving editing features, was developed with the help of photographers. This was truly a collaborative effort and we extend our thanks to everyone who provided invaluable feedback to help us deliver a powerhouse professional photography tool.”

Press Release—Extending the appeal of the H3D DSLR camera system to a new professional photographic audience, Hasselblad has launched the H3D-31, a 31-megapixel version of the H3D-39, the world’s first 48mm full-frame DSLR camera system. With near full-frame capture, the H3D-31 uses a 44x33mm sensor enhanced with micro-lenses to boost ISO rating one stop to a new maximum of ISO 800. The system’s new high-speed capture architecture, which is common to all H3D models and enables the fastest possible operation, also gives the H3D-31 an impressive capture rate of 1.2 seconds per image in either mobile or tethered mode. These features give the H3D-31 the highest burst rate of the H3D family.