Space Chair. cool.

Cool, simple, elegant work.

The Black and White Photography Workshops (postponed)

Join us for the FIRST Black and White Photography Workshop Series- sponsored by Head-2-Head Reivews, Digital Silver Imaging and LensProToGo!



Working with the book Black and White Pipeline, we'll cover all aspects of digital B/W photography, but above all else, how to understand and control the process, and learn to see in Black and White using digital tools- producing the highest quality Black and White photographs possible.

Sign up early- space is limited and we want to see you there!






Session 1- Digital Black and White Photography Overview- the Process, the Camera, Learning to See in B/W

What makes digital B/W unique? In this class we look at a bit of the history of B/W photography, and how the challenges and power of digital photography has changed the very nature of the B/W photography process. We explore how the vision and the process of the photographer changes profoundly.

• Conversion methods
• Understanding the process and developing a vision
• Camera settings, the histogram, the step wedge, working prints and an overview of the process
• Evaluating and anticipating density in the final print
• Creating a workflow to enable visualization

This is a three-hour workshop, workstations are not provided. Students who are able to bring laptops are encouraged to do so. This class is suggested as a prerequisite to the Black and White Photography Series.

Time- December 10th, from 6pm to 9pm
Place- LensProToGo Studios, 152 Commonwealth Ave, Unit M-1, Concord, MA.
Cost- $50

Please make your reservations in advance, we will not accept unregistered students on the day of the workshop.

Make your reservation here:

Session 2- Digital Black and White Photography- Processes and Conversion Techniques

The conversion from a full-color image to Black and White is the essential departure of digital B/W photography from tradition film methods. The photographer, rather than the film emulsion, controls the mapping of color to grayscale. In this class we will explore all the available methods and processes for making that conversion with control and understanding- ultimately building a foundation for training the photographer’s eye, and visual imagination.

• Understanding the grayscale color space
• Understanding Channel Mixer
• Methods of Grayscale conversion
• Grayscale in Camera RAW
• Conversion using Plugins- Nik Silver Efex Pro
• Conversion using Smart Objects- and introduction
• Color Management in Black and White processing

This is a three-hour workshop, workstations are not provided. Students who are able to bring laptops are encouraged to do so. This class is suggested as an essential step to understanding the entire scope of the Black and White Photography Series.

Time- December 15th, from 6pm to 9pm
Place- LensProToGo Studios, 152 Commonwealth Ave, Unit M-1, Concord, MA.
Cost- $50

Please make your reservations in advance, we will not accept unregistered students on the day of the workshop.

Make your reservation here:

Session 3- Digital Black and White Photography- The Smart Object RAW B/W workflow

The Smart Object RAW workflow has leveraged the power of the RAW file, adding Layers, Masking and Smart Filter control, power, and repeatability. Rather than a “non-destructive” workflow, Smart Object RAW processing is truly a “constructive” workflow adding layers of data to the image. This class is an introduction to working with Smart Objects, and will review working with Layers and Masks, as well as introducing Smart Filters.

• The Smart Object Workflow
• Masks and Layers
• Black and White processing in RAW
• Smart Object Black and White processing
• Smart Filter Plugins- NIK’s Silver Efex Pro

This is a three-hour workshop, workstations are not provided. Students who are able to bring laptops are encouraged to do so. This class is suggested as an essential step to understanding the entire scope of the Black and White Photography Series.

Time- December 17th, from 6pm to 9pm
Place- LensProToGo Studios, 152 Commonwealth Ave, Unit M-1, Concord, MA.
Cost- $50

Please make your reservations in advance, we will not accept unregistered students on the day of the workshop.

Make your reservation here:

Sign up for any individual class, or all three using the "Add to Cart" buttons below. You do not need a Paypal account- look for this message when you check out.



Sign up for all three and receive a free copy of Black and White Pipeline.

...see you there!

more stuff i do. gallery.

Stuff I Do-

I do a lot of Stuff.

I teach. I shoot. I consult. I write. I fix things. I even find lost pixels.

Depending on how you got here, click the links above, or just scroll down the page.

oh. hey. I also build electric motorcycles...

Stuff I Do- Teaching and Training

First off, have a look at our Fall 2010 Workshop on the Windjammer Angelique- Sept 13-18 .

Very often I get calls to come in to a location and take a look at the procedures that are being used at a studio, lab or school. After getting a facility up to industry standards and working at peak efficiency and quality, often the final piece of the puzzle is to get everyone up to speed, onto the same page, in implementing these practices.

I've worked with committed amateur photographers one-on-one to address specific needs, I've trained entire Photo Departments in major companies. I can come in and talk to your crew for a few hours, or build a multi-day curriculum for you, very often based on my own books.

Speaking of that, I do actually do quite a bit of writing, too. Need some written guidelines for your staff, practices and procedures? I can do that too.

Email me, and let's see what I can do for you.

...back to "Stuff I Do"

Stuff I Do- System Mechanic, Consulting

I do on-call troubleshooting and maintenance for imaging systems, as well as workflow and color management consulting and training. I do basic networking work for Macs and PCs, and various services like RAM installs and other hardware services. This can be as complex as designing and installing entire imaging systems, or simply advising you on, and performing software and hardware updates.

My rates are $150/hour. Email me for more info.

Here's a nice recommendation from Jay Dunn. I worked for him at both Ross Simons and Lane Bryant as a consultant.

“When I reached out to my friend, Michael Oh, at Techsuperpowers, I was unaware of Ted Dillard. What I needed was the insight of a professional photographer, fused with the knowledge of the digital and technological advances, to create a cost-effective, efficient, multi-user, multi-city, photography and asset management workflow. Ted far surpassed any expectations I had.

He engineered a strategy that allowed photographers and color houses in seven different cities to align to standards and protocol that created speed-to-market and cost advantages worth large dollars to our organization.

If you are in need of relevant, business-focused, world-class insight and experience to revamp the way your company does photography, Ted will be the last guy you call.

In an industry where everyone knows "something" about digital photography, Ted is the only expert in the country that I've experienced who knows "everything" about digital photography. Hire him, or accept less. It's your choice.”

Thanks, Jay!

Here's more about that caper.

...back to "Stuff I Do"

Stuff I Do- Data Recovery

Not for nothing, but I've been doing data recovery for over 10 years now, and primarily on digital camera media- you know, CF cards and such. Using an array of data recovery procedures and some straight-out lessons learned from experience, I have a success rate of about 95%.

See my "Secrets of Data Recovery" post for a more details.

Shoot me an email and I'll answer any questions you may have, like, what I can do with what you have.

Basic rates are based on what I actually recover- no success, no charge.

1GB and below- $100
over 1GB and to 2GB- $200
over 2GB and to 4GB- $300
over 4GB by quote

Hard drives I charge a flat rate of $300.

...back to "Stuff I Do"

Stuff I Do- I Like to Take Pictures, Too

OK, yes, there's one more thing. I do, occasionally, get to take me some nice photographs. Most of the work I like to do is kind of blurry. It's, ah, art. I have some shows sometimes.

Like this.



But I shoot for the Angelique, a windjammer out of Camden, ME, and the Maine Windjammer Association too.



I do tabletop stuff, from this-



To this- for my wife, Teresa Dillard.



...and in between.



I also get to shoot my friends having a good time. Here's Kathy Tarantola and Bill Gallery at Bill's opening on Newbury Street this past year.



I have a particular style for each type of work I get to do, and I get to play with some really nice equipment thanks to Head-2-Head Reviews. But mostly I keep busy. And have fun...

...back to "Stuff I Do"

Bit depth illustrated

This is from a Canon technical post... more about that on my H2H blog, but here's the cool graphic.

Crowdsourcing. duh. now i get it.

In this story from '06 in Wired, they talk about the rise of the idea of crowdsourcing.

Suddenly it all starts making sense.

Not only the context of all the controversy around Crispin Porter + Bogusky in general and ShockingBarack.com in specific, as well as my gut reaction to it (negative), crowdsourcing is a way to get amateur content for very low cost. It even seems like the whole viral marketing thing is taking it to the extreme of "crowd-buzz-sourcing"- get other people making the noise for you. Get a great viral thing going, sit back and collect. I'm not going to fan the flames, but with a little creative googling you can see for yourself what the ad/marketing community is all atwitter about... envy is not the least of it, either, as far as other agencies and CP+B.

As far as photography goes, and anyone trying to support a family with it, here's this lovely, uplifting quote from the story. Well, uplifting like it may uplift your ass from your empty studio couch and get you looking for a job pumping gas.

After several weeks of back-and-forth, Menashe emailed Harmel to say that, regretfully, the deal was off. “I discovered a stock photo site called iStockphoto,” she wrote, “which has images at very affordable prices.” That was an understatement. The same day, Menashe licensed 56 pictures through iStockphoto – for about $1 each.

iStockphoto, which grew out of a free image-sharing exchange used by a group of graphic designers, had undercut Harmel by more than 99 percent. How? By creating a marketplace for the work of amateur photographers – homemakers, students, engineers, dancers. There are now about 22,000 contributors to the site, which charges between $1 and $5 per basic image. (Very large, high-resolution pictures can cost up to $40.) Unlike professionals, iStockers don’t need to clear $130,000 a year from their photos just to break even; an extra $130 does just fine. “I negotiate my rate all the time,” Harmel says. “But how can I compete with a dollar?”

He can’t, of course. For Harmel, the harsh economics lesson was clear: The product Harmel offers is no longer scarce. Professional-grade cameras now cost less than $1,000. With a computer and a copy of Photoshop, even entry-level enthusiasts can create photographs rivaling those by professionals like Harmel. Add the Internet and powerful search technology, and sharing these images with the world becomes simple.

I'd add something in the list- "with a computer etc etc ... and lower standards and expectations from clients, and little or no understanding, or appreciation of exceptional content..."

On a bad day I'd call it "being a lazy hack..." but that's just me being a bitch.

I mourn for the future of our profession.

site- Boone Oakley

I don't know why I've been obsessed with the ad and marketing biz lately. But the is the Boone Oakley website. It's crazy good. But who the hell am I?