Bill Wadman (@BillWadman) is a portrait photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. This conversation discusses his portrait work, how he got started in photography to begin with, and how he processes photos. We also talk about computers — a mutual interest of ours — monitors, hard drives, and how to build a Hackintosh.
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Show Notes & Links
- “Conceptual” or “Narrative” portraits
- Co-host of On Taking Pictures Podcast, a philosophical show
- Bill studied at Berklee College of Music, both on composition and production
- Bill was an art director in advertising
- 365portraits.com — Bill’s first daily photo project
- “Above The Line” advertising
- 110 Cartridge camera, for kids in the 80s
- Canon AE-1 (late 1970s auto-exposure SLR)
- Bill’s film project — 4×5 large format film
- Type 55 film, which produces a negative immediately
- Bill builds Hackintoshes
- 8×10 cameras, spherical lenses — stuff they don’t make anymore
- Letterpress - a hands-on, crafty process still in use
- The Toaster Project — How to make a toaster completely from scratch
- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith on Amazon and on Audible
- Bill doesn’t use a ton of lights and is also a terrible artist
“Sometimes I make the subject come to me, rather than me going to the subject.”
—Bill Wadman
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- Lightroom to catalogue, Photoshop for precision work
- 16-bit TIFFs with many layers? Use PSB file format.
- DNG file format to preserve metadata, shrink file size, and remove XMP companion files.
- Some photographers take 4,000 a day (Bill doesn’t take that in a month)
- Chris Anderson’s philosophy, as described in his book Free
- Bill is a monitor nerd
“The screen is the lens of your computer”
—Bill Wadman
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- Everyone should use a monitor arm
- Color Gamuts
- Operating systems running in 2x (HiDPI or “retina” mode)
- Prescott built a Hackintosh in August 2012, with Bill’s guidance
- A Hackintosh episode of Circuitous Conversations
- Windows is harder to install than Mac OS … even on a PC.
- A fresh install of Windows 7 is “insultingly bare.”
- Solidworks, a hi-end CAD/CAM software package.
- Reddit Battlestations and Cable Porn (SFW)
- TonyMacX86 — the Hackintosh Community
- Starting Over, part I — what Prescott installs for a fresh Mac OS environment
Tools
- Hackintosh desktop computer
- Adobe Lightroom
- Adobe Photoshop
- DNG file format
- RAID-0 array
- External USB 3.0 drive
- Canon 5D Mk-III
Canon 5D Mk-III
- Fuji X100S
Fuji X100S
- Sony RX-100
Sony RX-100
- Dell 4k Premiere Colors (Delta-e <2)
Dell 4k Premiere Colors
- X-Rite EODIS3 i1Display Pro
X-Rite EODIS3 i1Display Pro
- Ergotron monitor arms
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 w/2048 MB RAM
- Dropbox
- Any.do
- Google Drive
- OmniFocus and OmniGraffle
Techniques
- Be more involved with the subject than with lighting
- Research your subject before photographing them
- Push Back against frustrated subjects
- Explore the PSB file format (Photoshop Big)
- Use the star-ratings, for a first cut especially
- Share, don’t merge, photo libraries with your partner or family members
- Go for quality over quantity; show less work but make it better
- Shoot only 24 pictures, as if it’s a roll of film
Habits
- Keep folders for different categories (clients, etc.)
- Convert to DNG
- Import, process, backup
- Swap backup drives and sync once a month
- Export full-res JPG to Dropbox as a backup of the final
- Do part of your craft every day, but not the entire piece
- Go to the gym daily, but not for very long
- Delete photos you’re not going to use
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Prescott Perez-Fox is a graphic designer, brand developer, and educator with 18+ years experience in branding, packaging, graphic design, and web design. He runs The Busy Creator.
