The so-called "exposure triangle" is usually thought of as a means of controlling the lightness and darkness of an image, and that's obviously true. But we old timers learned in studying the Zone System that tones are related to textures, particularly in combination with the angle of illumination. Human vision almost never sees tones without textures. Even the absence of texture is a form of texture.
This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2500 and counting! — are available to members of LensWork Online. Try a 30-day membership for only $10 and discover the literally terabytes of content about photography and the creative process.
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HT2547 - Ten Is the Perfect Default
28/02/2026 | 2min
HT2547 - Ten Is the Perfect Default
All media have a comfort zone within a common range of sizes, plus or minus. Novels are typically a couple of hundred pages, popular songs 4 minutes, statues are commonly life-size. Exceptions are not uncommon, but it seems as though every medium has its default size. I've always felt that the default size for photography is 10 inches. We might see more detail in a larger print, but do we need to?
This RSS feed includes only the most recent seven Here's a Thought episodes. All of them — over 2500 and counting! — are available to members of LensWork Online. Try a 30-day membership for only $10 and discover the literally terabytes of content about photography and the creative process.
HT2546 - The Love of Fast Shutter Speeds
27/02/2026 | 2min
HT2546 - The Love of Fast Shutter Speeds
Here's an odd observation spanning the opposite poles of my 50 years in photography. In my youth almost all of my work involved long shutter speeds, reciprocity failure, and sturdy tripods. Now, at the opposite end of my artistic life, my favorite shutter speeds are all a 1/2,500 of a second and faster.
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HT2545 - On Long-term Survival
26/02/2026 | 2min
HT2545 - On Long-term Survival
Just as a thought experiment, let's assume the long-term survival of your artwork is a concern to you. What could you do that would increase the odds of your artwork surviving into the long-term future? Would it be making prints with the most archival materials and techniques? Are you sure?
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HT2544 - Famous or Decor
25/02/2026 | 2min
HT2544 - Famous or Decor
I may be wrong about this and I'm more than willing to admit that, but I think photography on the wall divides itself into two fundamental types. There are photographs we frame and hang for their value as decor (goes good above the couch) or it is a photograph that is celebrated for its maker (often a collectable master). This is the main reason why I so rarely frame my photographs for display on the wall. My work tends not to be decor because it is too personal and I'm not famous nor collectible. Worse, I'm not interested in chasing fame nor chasing those kinds of images that make great decor.
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Sobre LensWork - Photography and the Creative Process
Random Observations on Art, Photography, and the Creative Process. These talks focus on the creative process in fine art photography. LensWork editor Brooks Jensen side-steps techno-talk and artspeak to offer a stimulating mix of ideas, experience, and observations from his 50 years as a fine art photographer, writer, and publisher. Topics include a wide range of subjects from finding subject matter to presenting your work, and building an audience.
Included in this RSS Feed are the LensWork Podcasts — posted weekly, typically 10-20 minutes exploring a topic a bit more deeply — and our almost daily Here's a thought… audios (extracted from the videos.) Here's a thought… are snippets, fragments, morsels, and tidbits from Brooks' fertile (and sometimes swiss-cheesy) brain. Usually just a minute or two. Always about photography and the art life.
Brooks Jensen is the publisher of LensWork, one of the world's most respected and award-winning photography publications, known for its museum-book quality printing and luxurious design. LensWork has subscribers in over 73 countries. He is the author of 13 books on photography and the creative life -- the latest books are The Best of the LensWork Interviews (2016), Photography, Art, and Media (2016), and the four annual volumes of Seeing in SIXES (2016-2019).
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