Stones on the Beach

Stones on the Beach serves as my personal blog for topics like photography and art. You’ll also find the odd tutorial and informational piece.

Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

The Aksa Collection Is Now Available As NFTs at Rarible

I’m pleased to announce that the Aksa Collection has made its debut as a series of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the renowned NFT marketplace, Rarible. This limited edition collection of 21 prints, originally captured at the picturesque Aksa Beach in Mumbai using the innovative Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) technique, is set to captivate the hearts of both NFT enthusiasts and fine art collectors alike. Each of the 10 NFTs in the collection represents a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, making them a highly sought-after acquisition in the digital art realm.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

Photography to the Rescue! How to Legally Copyright Your AI-Generated Art

I think the title is doing most of the heavy lifting for me. It’s been publicized widely, and voiced by the US Copyright Office, that AI-generated works are not permitted because they are not originally created by a human author. Now, somewhere along the way, it was determined that photography was. Even though the process is ultimately the same. There’s a click of a shutter button. Or there’s a click of the mouse. What leads up to these actions may be drastically different but the actual physical process is the same. But let’s not muddy the waters. This article is about how to copyright your AI-generated images, not to split hairs on the definition of human authorship.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

How Many Iconic Photos Have You Taken?

When discussing the masters of street photography, it is accurate to say that their portfolios often consist of only a handful of iconic images, regardless of their lengthy experience in the field. Personally, I can relate to this, as I have about three images in my own modest collection that I truly admire and consider to be iconic within my own sphere. This particular photograph is one of them. I captured it on New Year's Day, 2020, on the active railroad tracks at the Dhakuria Railway Colony in Kolkata. While the presence of a passing train at that precise moment would have enhanced the image, I cannot expect everything to align perfectly unless I resort to Photoshopping.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

Bingo Was His Name-O

Bingo Was His Name-O

In shadows deep, where darkness grips his soul,
Resides poor Bingo, plagued by writer's block.
His muse has fled, leaving an empty scroll,
Leaving his words to wither, die, and mock.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

No Plate, No Problem!

Narrator: "Are you tired of those kitchen mishaps that ruin your sweetest moments? Well, fret no more, because we've got the solution you've been waiting for!"

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

The One-Eyed Ornithologist

The One-Eyed Ornithologist (Aviculus unoculus) inhabits the woodlands of North America, exhibiting a peculiar behavior of hosting nesting birds during their mating season. This solitary creature, notable for its grumpy disposition and affinity for vitamin supplements, adheres to a strict sleep schedule, retiring early in the evening and rising well before the break of dawn, aligning its habits with the avian species it shelters.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

I Discovered That You Can Use Generative Fill to Remove Halos and Clean Up Edges in Photoshop!

About a couple of weeks ago I discovered that apart from all the wonderful things that Generative Fill can do it can also take care of halos and smoothen edges. I’d been working on a composite when I happened upon a common problem: rough edges and halos. Let’s jump right into this and deliver on the headline and I’ll talk about the implications and my thoughts about Generative Fill afterward. Now, I’ll show you how to do it.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

New Prints: DJ in the Desert Series

Music is a big part of my life and I'm always surprised by how little it's a part of others' lives when I come across those odd meetings and gatherings where the music is inappropriately absent from the scene. I'd rather be complaining after such an event that "the music sucked" than have to endure time-space without rhythm and melody.

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AI Craig Boehman AI Craig Boehman

In Defense of AI Art: History Repeats Itself, Again, Again, and Again

I’ve had a few conversations with people who are dead set against artificial intelligence at the helm of artistic creation, and they’ve expressed the same things to me. Some of these people are in creative fields and should know better, in my opinion. But the same arguments and sentiments persist about AI and new trumpeters will likely continue to take up the cause against it. I’m not making my plea to critics, for the record. And frankly, I don’t care about their stances against it. They’ve already lost the debate if history is to be trusted. I’m making my case to artists now who may be espousing these arguments and sentiments without having the benefit of a sincere evaluation of AI.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

Your Artistic Vision Is More Important Than What Your Camera “Sees”

The worlds of production and post-production are on a collision course like two orbiting black holes that first met one another in the deep seems of intergalactic space. This is called a binary black hole. Eventually, they will merge as one and become more terrifyingly beautiful. This is what should happen when the worlds of production and post-production meet: they should take the shape of something magnificent, an artistic vision.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

June 4th Photo Walk at Versova Beach

There are flashier beaches in Mumbai but Versova Beach is my personal favorite for photography and for a walk. With a wide array of subjects, from local and Koli communities to horseback riders, vendors, and fellow visitors, it’s a beach continuous with activity. There are also the methi farmers in the southern portion of the beach and the current Coastal Highway construction that’s reshaping the beach and local environment for the foreseeable future.

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Street Photography Craig Boehman Street Photography Craig Boehman

Once Upon a Shitty Bridge

I don't consider myself a documentary photographer. I occasionally take pictures, that if were part of a much larger and more precise body of work, could be considered documentary in nature. But the reality is there's only one project that has been dear to me in the past decade and I only photograph that part of Kolkata real estate too infrequently.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

A Meet n’ Walk With Gopal Form Mumbai Paused

Had a fantastic meet n' walk with Gopal @mumbaipaused yesterday. I don't think either one of us was planning on a little jaunt along the shores of Versova Beach in the heat and not-so-great light but that's where the photography gods lead us during high tide.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

A Test Edit From My Next Project

A sneak peek at a work in progress. This will eventually be part of a new limited edition series on canvas. I'll be exploring images sourced from another location in Mumbai. I don't know what size I'll be producing yet, but I'll limit each image to 2 or 3 prints for collectors.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

The Transition From Photographer to Artist

The line between being a photographer and being an artist is a blurry one. Many photographers struggle with the question of whether or not their work is considered art, and what steps they can take to make the transition from photographer to artist. In this article, we will explore this distinction and provide some tips on how to make the shift from photographer to artist.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

Thoughts on the Square Ratio in Photography

Throughout the history of photography, the square or 1:1 ratio has been a traditional format, particularly for medium format cameras such as Hasselblad, Mamiya, and Rolleiflex. The aspect ratio of 1:1 provides a unique canvas for photographers to explore, offering a different perspective from the more commonly used 3:2 ratio. It’s also more painterly, in my opinion, more “artsy”.

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Craig Boehman Craig Boehman

Shooting to Crop Is More Than Okay in Street Photography (or Any Other Genre)

I wanted to share with you all today about how shooting for the crop has become an essential part of my street photography. Sometimes, certain scenes jump out at me, and I know the camera frame isn't going to be perfect. That's where cropping comes in.

Recently, I took a shot of a building with a motorcycle embedded in the upper floor. To capture the full essence of the scene, I needed a vertical shot at 24mm. Even with this, I had to crop in and break the ratio because the sign with the motorcycle to the left was pictured the same, and there was open space to the left of the building.

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