Knowing Matt Eastwood • Mood Photographer.

RAW Photography, Darktable and my friend Yuki

Matt — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:14:13 +0000

The Darktable Interface! (under Ubuntu 11.10, 64 bit, Gnome Shell)

“I shoot my photos in RAW, and you should start doing the same! It’s so much better than JPG.” Oh boy, do I know that line well. By the time I met Yuki, I’d heard it countless times before – and all the benefits of RAW along with it: hey, you get uncompressed image data with all details present, and full creative control! But what did that mean? My picture would look like crap and I’d have to do all the work to make it nice? Did that ever deter my lazy ass!

But then, lovely young Yuki bounced into my life. We met at an artist meet-up, made friends and by March 2012, we were cruising Montreal’s streets with our mutual friends. She had brought a DSLR and was shooting away happily when she gave me that same line: shoot in RAW like I do. But Yuki was not some random photographer I chatted with at a convention or meetup. No – she was my new friend who lived up the street. If I’d ever freak out about the complexities of RAW editing, I could give her a call, we’d meet up and we’d tackle it together!

Less than 2 months later, here I am, with my first 200 RAW images, a ton of new knowledge, and a huge appreciation for a format I should have adopted long ago. And the best thing: I never even had to ask Yuki for help (though we still hang out regularly! ). I learned quickly that RAW shots often come out well enough to barely need any retouching. But once retouching becomes necessary (or you fancy it), it’s amazing what you can do with the right tools.

Tools like Darktable, for instance.

Being an Ubuntu user, my first job before even adopting RAW was to find a good open-source program to process the images (CR2 files from my Canon EOS 40D). I tinkered around with Ufraw (plugged into Gimp or standing alone) and Rawtherapee for about 30 minutes each before I found Darktable: with its own repositories and hyper-active development (version 1.0 came out on March 15th!), and its immediate stability, I loved it right away.

Granted, Darktable still has the odd cosmetic bug and actually froze my system completely 2-3 times after I first installed it, but I don’t mind the former (just a matter of time until they get fixed) and the latter has stopped happening for some reason. Like (I would assume) any RAW editing software out there, it allows non-destructive editing: any changes you make to an image are recorded in a history stack (so you can trace your development at any point) and saved in a so-called “sidecar” file (extension: XMP) that goes hand-in-hand with your image. The CR2 remains untouched, and once you’re done editing, you can export your work to the most common formats (e.g. JPG, BMP, TIFF, PNG).

After my first couple of weeks with it, there is only one gripe I have with Darktable: it saves all your changes on-the-fly. That is convenient, but also dangerous: press the wrong button, and your entire history stack is gone. If that happens, you better have a backup copy of that XMP file, because you just overwrote it with NOTHING and CTRL-Z is not an option. If Darktable has a failsafe against this, I haven’t found it yet, so I’ve made it a habit to back up those sidecar files as often as possible. A little diligence saves your nerves, and hey, it’s a good habit to develop either way.

From white balance and exposure through levels and tone curves to effects like bloom, softening or framing, Darktable’s plugins allow a plethora of powerful and fancy modifications to your image. I am now using it in conjunction with Gimp, switching to the latter either when I haven’t figured out yet how to get an effect in Darktable, or when Darktable can’t do it (e.g. dodging/burning with a brush). The Darktable developers’ blog has great hands-on tutorials, and the web page provides an in-depth user manual as well (which I have yet to read myself ).

From now on, while continuing to expose my photography on this blog, I will also release articles about how I went from an untouched RAW to a final work using these wonderful two applications, Darktable and Gimp. Watch this space!

And join me in thanking Yuki for the nudge.

Clearwater – The Crime Series: A Noir Album.

Matt — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:07:01 +0000

Clearwater – The Crime Series: The Facebook Page.

These photos promote my new “Noir” crime story series, Clearwater.

Stairwell Dwelling.

“Good day, sir”, Frank said as the man left his apartment. “I’m here to take you in.”

Pose 2.

And it was just a matter of time until the bastard would show up.

Phantom in the Night.

There once was a violin player in Violin Rain, but the part of the city had borne its name long before him, and it would continue well into the future. The violin player was long gone.

Gate.

Standing outside was such a familiar position, and one that Frank had long become comfortable in. But ever so often, the object was getting inside – and he could hardly remember a time when that was easy.

Frank.

A tear rolled down Patrick’s cheek. “I know why you are here”, he said.

“I won’t resist.”

Fire Escape.

Another poor soul locked in the cages of the prison they had built for themselves. Frank came to free them from it. But there was no absolution where they were going.

Fence.

So many ghosts that humans can never bury. Frank had his own, and though they tortured him, he held them in his arms like fading lovers, marching on with the desperate hope they’d stay alive long enough for him to reach the end.

Experiment.

And when he gathered pace, it felt like he would never stop running. An old sensation.

Coming out of the Dark.

And then there were the fallen. The losers, the freaks, the outcasts. They just couldn’t be bothered.

Cloud.

A cloud of smoke obscures Frank Clearwater’s face, leaving his features up to the reader’s imagination.

Clearwater Running.

Frank ran to catch up with a crime he knew he could not stop. Getting Sternwick was a mere matter of consequence, and there was no triumph to be had from it.

Business Card – Design 3.

There once was a violin player in Violin Rain, but the part of the city had borne its name long before him, and it would continue well into the future. The violin player was long gone.

Clearwater Approaching.

They had flipped the lights out and lifted the curtain, but the show was out of their hands.

Business Card – Design 1.

Victory over death? The streetlights fled into the distance. Soon enough, they just stopped. And gave way to blackness.

Business Card – Design 2.

Frank had passed these houses so often. Now that he stood in front of their door, he wondered whether he would eventually see the insides of all Autumnfield houses. Life reared its ugly head.

Cigar Lighting.

Who would notice another fedora-wearing freak in the streets of this godforsaken town? Frank wondered if it was all cheap cigars and wine now and forever.

Approaching.

Once the hopeful child of a middle-class family, Frank had become a lone wanderer, sliding down the quest for closure.

Ahead.

The rain had left a thin stream of water on the pavement, running down into the gutter, forgotten like the blood of Stark’s victims.

With or Without You.

Matt — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:00:13 +0000

Shades of Clouds on a Hilly Coastline.

Matt — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:31:52 +0000

It all smelled like the fresh rain, so soft that it blew in from the seas as mere mist. A gull hung in the air motionless, scanning the ground, then diving down and out of the scene of layered mountains fading into the distance in shades of grey. The coast was carved right into it, and rays of sunlight broke through, occasionally at first, then with growing fervour, to illuminate its features.

These photos were taken on October 8th, 2011, in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Headshots: Avenue’s Afternoon Lights

Matt — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:42:15 +0000

When the sky cleared and the sun came out, the shadows drew the features of his face in a new light. These headshots were taken on September 5th, 2011.

The Remedy.

Matt — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:18:03 +0000

Click thumbs for full-size portrait-format shots!

Tell me all about the wild rides! Life’s careless when you follow the waves, and easy when you lead, emerge on top and grow richer for the time you spend.

These are byproducts of a photo session I had with a friend for passport photos in early August 2011.

In the Key of Passion.

Matt — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:18:37 +0000

Singing about life in the key of passion, you wear your expectations on your sleeve, just like you always did. Did you know I never even saw you try, just succeed? And the band pumps out your music, and the glasses and mirrors reflect your fire and send it thundering through the room.

Clara Engel: Beyond The Music.

Matt — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:00:32 +0000

These photos were taken on the 9th of April 2011 on the Plateau, Montréal. One of the first days of Spring – and I’m happy I can shoot outside again. Clara Engel is a musician who has her music up at Bandcamp. Recommended!

Images and poetry eagerly linger beyond the click.

Names.

My name is Jen, sir I hope you don’t mind
My name is Max, wish I had what it takes
My name is Marie, I’m a singular kind
And we sometimes wonder what difference we make

How it goes.

There’s a time for strength, and a time for healing.
A time to let go and recover our feelings.
So we sit by the road with our knees drawn close
Watch cars rushing by and say “that’s how it goes”.

Through the day.

We’re spirits floating through the day
Like pollen carried on the wind through the streets
Magic carpet magicians in May
Alighting where concrete and nature meet

Back to Life.

A rhythm reaches into my flesh and bones, lifts me up from the ground and back to life. The water of the sea touches my feet, every heartbeat takes me further up the beach, I see green seaside plants growing out from the sand and the earth, and I dance by the dunes. People come and join! What a time to be alive!

To the wind like dust.

I hear the winter’s whispers shimmer in the haze of a summer elegy. Bright eyes watch intently after the boys of summer have gone, and another year flies to the wind like dust: only for a moment and the moment’s gone.

Don’t even have pictures, just memories to hold. They grow sweeter each season as we slowly grow old. But we linger in the sweetness of a day, and another one, ever on, we are the ones that remain.

The circle and the sky.

It’s a fine line between the circle and the sky
And the’s circle’s always racing, never lets a day slip by
The sky looks in peace at us, catching up with time
But he breathes a sigh of deep relief whenever we tread that line.

The Heat.

The heat of a summer day
The sun on my skin and a breeze in my hair
I look at you and I smile and I say
Let’s take time off and just walk on air!

Dreams in Sight.

The second floor in a house downtown
That’s where I return from work every night
And there are days when I feel like I’ll drown
And there are days when my dreems feel in sight

To the core.

My best friend was a timid fella. A girl that shook him to the core: he never had the balls to tell her she was the one that he adored. I wrote a letter for him to her, she breathed its words with sheer delight. But boy, she was a clever girl, found out who wrote it over night! Now time and tide have turned with love ignited by my words. And as it happens, I got the girl, while my friend… well, I guess he didn’t.

Swimming Pool.

I dreamed of a giant swimming pool. It was stretched across the landscape, lined by forests and fields under a blue sky with lone white summer clouds. And it had slides, fountains, playgrounds in water, lawns, the laughter of children and the chatter of happy people lazing in the sun.

Sometimes in the Night.

Sometimes in the night, when we cling to each other
We walk so close that our feet almost touch
And the fields lie ahead and the path, where we bother
Feels stony and rough, and a little too much.

Diamonds on the Surface.

Sunlight dances on the water
It’s diamonds on the surface
And rays fading into the deep
And oh, how we love the diamonds.

After The Wedding.

Matt — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 04:08:30 +0000

The bells slowly fade into the nights that lie between you and the wedding day. The flaming torches and shimmering lights will be by your side all along the way. They will follow, and guide, and unite, and divide, and return to the source of your pleasure and pain. The life that you have is the joy that remains.

About a month after their wedding, in October 2009, my two friends took me out for a “Wedding Trash” photo session. This was shot at Westmount Square, Montreal. More from that session are to follow.

A Chinese Wedding.

Matt — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:57:40 +0000

These were shot on September 5th, 2009, in Montreal at my friends’ wedding…