Since 2006 I've written over 400 columns, first for Michael Johnston's "The Online Photographer"" and then for my monthly newsletter (send me an email if you'd like to subscribe). With Mike's gracious permission I'm gradually copying those columns to my website, accompanied by keywords.

The first 27 columns appeared on Mike's old site, which became inaccessible several years ago... even to Mike! If it weren't for the wonderful Wayback Machine, they'd have been lost forever. Still... that debacle impelled the two of us to come up with a plan that would preserve them independent of the demented notions of any blogging platform. Over time I'll keep adding to the list until all my columns are posted here.

Within the limits of my very limited css-fu, I've reproduced my columns and the readers' comments exactly as they originally appeared, save that I've stripped off most of the obsolete and superfluous links and banners to "future-proof" the code as much as possible.

A couple of notes for readers:

~ The blogging software degraded illustrations to make them fit the page format and reduce bandwidth. Most of those in-page figures link to the full-quality versions of the illustrations that go with the columns. It's worth clicking on them to get the originals.

~ Please pay attention to the comments. Mike's readership was (and still is) unusually polite and extraordinarily knowledgeable. I've no problem acknowledging that the comments (and my responses to them) are frequently more informative than my columns!

Now, without further ado...

Columns

       Keywords

Column 000 - Who the Heck Is... CTEIN? (July 22, 2006)
                           (autobiography, Mike Johnston, Post Exposure)

Column 001 - Tee Corinne, Superstar of Lesbian Erotica (September 04, 2006)
                           (obituary, Tee Corinne, portrait, lesbian)

Column 002 - Pentax 67 100mm Macro Lens: Review (September 12, 2006)
                           (Pentax 67, macro, lens, 100mm, review)

Column 003 - All the World's a Stage (September 24, 2006)
                           (privacy, Harlan Ellison, Connie Willis, sexual harassment, Worldcon)

Column 004 - Ctein: Pentax 67 300mm* f/4 ED(IF) Lens Review (October 06, 2006)
                           (Pentax 67, 300mm, telephoto, lens, review)

Column 005 - Who's in Charge? You or the Camera? (October 12, 2006)
                           (technique, printing, composition)

Column 006 - The Seductive Tyranny of Digital Printing (October 23, 2006)
                           (digital, printing, darkroom, Ektacolor, technique)

Column 007 - Color Management--The Musical (Analogy) (November 01, 2006)
                           (digital, printing, color management, profile, technique)

Column 008 - A Brief History of Electronic Photography (November 10, 2006)
                           (digital, photograph, camera, photocopy, history)

Column 009 - Every Picture Tells a Story (November 24, 2006)
                           (book, monograph, portfolio, composition, photograph)

Column 010 - $10 Digital Camera--How Do They Do It?! (December 04, 2006)
                           (digital, camera, keychain camera, hardware, stripdown)

Column 011 - Shopping For Pixels (December 12, 2006)
                           (shopping, resolution, digital camera, performance)

Column 012 - $10 Digital Camera--How Does It Perform? (December 22, 2006)
                           (digital camera, keychain camera, performance, picture quality)

Column 013 - Book Review: 'Plastic Cameras' by Michelle Bates (January 03, 2007)
                           (book, review, Michelle Bates, camera, photography)

Column 014 - My Most Unforgettable Portrait Subject (January 22, 2007)
                           (autobiography, history, photo, portrait, animal)

Column 015 - OS Obsolescence: a Rant (January 14, 2007)
                           (software, rant, obsolescence, commentary)

Column 016 - Demythologizing Photoshopping--Six Insights (February 03, 2007)
                           (Photoshop, technique, image processing)

Column 017 - The Second-Worst Photographic Mistake I Ever Made (February 13, 2007)
                           (autobiography, history, photo, portrait, Max Delbruck, Richard Feynman)

Column 018 - A Printing Mystery (February 24, 2007)
                           (printing, hardware, computer)

Column 019 - And They Call It...Scooba Loooooove (March 04, 2007)
                           (darkroom, Scooba)

Column 020 - Customer Support, Take 1 (March 13, 2007)
                           (autobiography, history, scanner, hardware, customer support)

Column 021 - Customer Support, Take 2 (March 26, 2007)
                           (film, developer, customer support)

Column 022 - Kodak Merger Announced (April 01, 2007)
                           (humor)

Column 023 - The Worst Photographic Mistake I Ever Made (April 12, 2007)
                           (autobiography, history, Freff, clown, circus train)

Column 024 - Don't Make News (April 23, 2007)
                           (journalism, commentary)

Column 025 - Buying Digital: Too Much Shopping! (May 03, 2007)
                           (shopping, digital camera)

Column 026 - In Praise of Prokudin-Gorskii (May 17, 2007)
                           (Prokudin-Gorskii, color, photograph, history)

Column 027 - James Clerk Maxwell's Big Mistake (May 25, 2007)
                           (color, photograph, history, James Maxwell)

Column 028 - Photography in the Metaverse (June 08, 2007)
                           (software, VR, Photosynth)

Column 029 - 'Within the Stone': The Backstory (June 16, 2007)
                           (book, review, color, Bill Atkinson)

Column 030 - Picks and Nits in the Digital Age (July 2, 2007)
                           (digital camera, review)

Column 031 - Picks and Nits in the Digital Age, Part 2 (July 7, 2007)
                           (digital photography, technique, storage)

Column 032 - Nits and Picks in the Digital Age -- The Final Chapter (July 14, 2007)
                           (digital photography, data recovery, review, technique)

Column 033 - 'All Your System Are Belong To Us' (July 23, 2007)
                           (autobiography, humor, Windows, hacking)

Column 034 - Channeling David Vestal (August 2, 2007)
                           (rant, technique, equipment, commentary)

Column 035 - How To Improve Digital Print Tonality (August 12, 2007)
                           (Bill Atkinson, digital printing, technique, Photoshop)

Column 036 - Size Matters (August 23, 2007)
                           (digital printing, printer, equipment, technique)

Column 037 - Sampling Isn't Simple (September 1, 2007)
                           (science, digital photography, scanning)

Column 038 - All Pixels are Not Created Equal (September 11, 2007)
                           (science, digital photography)

Column 038a - Ctein is One - by Mike Johnston (September 11, 2007)
                           (autobiography, Mike Johnston, writing, Ctein)

Column 039 - The Bar Also Rises (September 21, 2007)
                           (film, digital photography, resolution)

Column 040 - Speedy Spotting With Photoshop (October 7, 2007)
                           (Photoshop, technique, spotting, retouching)

Column 041 - I Am The Camera...Or Is It The Other Way Around? (October 12, 2007)
                           (technique, photography, color, B&W)

Column 042 - Perseverence (October 15, 2007)
                           (film, photography, 35mm, B&W, David Dyer-Bennet, DD-B)

Column 043 - A Proposal To Redefine Digital ISO (October 31, 2007)
                           (digital photography, ISO, technique, exposure)

Column 044 - Stifling Your Inner Yahoo (November 10, 2007)
                           (commentary, aesthetics)

Column 045 - The Photo-Fetishist League (November 20, 2007)
                           (commentary, humor)

Column 046 - Cliche (December 6, 2007)
                           (photography, aesthetics, B&W, color)

Column 047 - Holiday Lights Worth Seeking Out (December 16, 2007)
                           (night photography, color, Christmas, technique)

Column 048 - Keeping the 'X' in 'Xmas' (December 22, 2007)
                           (Xmas, science, physics, quantum mechanics, religion, theology, fraud)

Column 049 - More Keychain Madness (January 9, 2008)
                           (Keychain camera, digital, Photoshop, technique, review, humor)

Column 050 - Good Press, Bad Press (January 13, 2008)
                           (commentary, marketing, Kodak, Fred Picker)

Column 051 - MacBook Air-A Traveling Photographer Assessment (January 18, 2008)
                           (review, Macbook, Apple)

Column 052 - So, What's In Your (Digital) Wallet? (February 3, 2008)
                           (technique, storage, digital photography)

Column 053 - Polaroid Made Me The Photographer I Am Today (February 14, 2008)
                           (autobiography, film photography, Polaroid, color, B&W)

Column 054 - It's Bigger, But Is It Better?
                   Photoshop Bicubic vs. Genuine Fractals vs. BlowUp (February 26, 2008)
                     (digital photography, software, Photoshop, technique, review, Genuine Fractals, BlowUp)

Column 055 - It's Bigger, But Is It Better? Part II (March 1, 2008)
                     (digital photography, software, Photoshop, technique, review, Genuine Fractals, BlowUp)

Column 056 - It's Bigger, But Is It Better? Part III (March 4, 2008)
                     (digital photography, software, Photoshop, technique, review, Genuine Fractals, BlowUp)

Column 057 - Remembrance Of Things--Part 1 (March 22, 2008)
                           (Tee Corinne, archiving, Bridge)

Column 058 - The Shape Of Things That Came :A Reverse-Engineered History
                   of the Camera Business (April 1, 2008)
                           (history, business, cameras)

Column 058a - Adding Up - by Mike Johnston (April 2, 2008)
                           (Ctein, autobiography, Mike Johnston)

Column 059 - Remembrance Of Things--Part 2 (April 13, 2008)
                           (Tee Corinne, archiving, Bridge)

Column 060 - Rangefinder Follies (April 21, 2008)
                           (rangefinder, camera, vision, technique)

Column 061 - It's a Vision Thing (May 2, 2008)
                           (vision, prints, photography)

Column 062 - Speeding up Photoshop with an External Drive (May 12, 2008)
                           (hardware, Photoshop, hard drives, review, performance)

Column 063 - How Not To Present Your Work Online (May 22, 2008)
                           (business, commentary, web design)

Column 064 - Photoshop Elements 6--It's Not Just for Kids Anymore (June 1, 2008)
                           (Photoshop Elements, software, review)

Column 065 - JPEG...Seriously? (June 28, 2008)
                           (digital photography, technique, RAW, JPEG)

Column 066 - Lazy ? Does Not Compute! (June 22, 2008)
                           (commentary, technique)

Column 067 - Go Where You Wanna Go, Do What You Wanna Do (July 3, 2008)
                           (business, photography, law)

Column 068 - It's Still a Vision Thing (July 14, 2008)
                           (vision, science)

Column 069 - Payola (July 22, 2008)
                           (business, magazines)

Column 070 - Saints, Scoundrels, the Separation of Church and State,
                      and the Balance of Terror (July 29, 2008)
                           (business, magazines)

Column 071 - Migration Route (August 13, 2008)
                           (hardware, computers, hard drives, review, technique )

Column 072 - Fujifilm Finepix S100FS Review, Part 1 (August 26, 2008)
                           (digital camera, review, Fujifilm, Finepix S100FS)

Column 073 - Fujifilm Finepix S100FS Review, Part 2 (August 28, 2008)
                           (digital camera, review, Fujifilm, Finepix S100FS)

Column 074 - Fujifilm Finepix S100FS Review, Part 3 (September 4, 2008)
                           (digital camera, review, Fujifilm, Finepix S100FS)

Column 075 - A Proposal for an Investment Strategy (September 18, 2008)
                           (humor, business, commentary)

Column 076 - Still Crazy (And Making Dye Transfer Prints) After All These Years
                     (October 9, 2008)
                           (technique, darkroom, dye transfer)

Column 076a - Ctein Dye Transfer Print (October 9, 2008)
                           (print sale, dye transfer, Mike Johnston)

Column 076b - Don't Forget (October 17, 2008)
                           (print sale, dye transfer, Mike Johnston)

Column 076c - Message (and a Request) from Ctein (October 20, 2008)
                           (print sale, dye transfer, Mike Johnston)

Column 076d - Volunteers of the World (October 23, 2008)
                           (print sale, dye transfer, Mike Johnston)

Column 077 - High Pass Sharpening with Layers (October 27, 2008)
                           (Photoshop, layers, sharpening, technique)

Column 078 - Diffraction--Quantum Weirdness in Your Very Own Home
                     (November 7, 2008)
                           (diffraction, science, physics, quantum mechanics)

Column 079 - Diffraction In Perspective (November 15, 2008)
                           (diffraction, science, physics, optics)

Column 080 - Data Mining for Dummies (November 23, 2008)
                           (reviews, science, optics)

Column 081 - What I (and You) Don't Know--Part 1 (December 5, 2008)
                           (books, Laurie Edison, nudes, sensors, resolution)

Column 082 - What I (and You) Don't Know--Part 2 (December 14, 2008)
                           (optics, books, science)

Column 082a - Ctein Dye Transfer Update (December 5, 2008)
                           (print sale, dye transfer, Mike Johnston)

Column 083 - (Still) Keeping the 'X' in 'Xmas' (December 21, 2008)
                           (Xmas, science, technology, digital cameras, optics)

Column 084 - Savvy Shopping (January 1, 2009)
                           (shopping, digital cameras)

Column 084a - Dye Transfer Print Offer Update (January 6, 2009)
                           (dye transfer, print sale)

Column 085 - More Savvy Shopping (January 11, 2009)
                           (shopping, digital cameras)

Column 086 - Maximum Photoshop Performance (January 24, 2009)
                           (Photoshop, hardware, hard drives, performance)

Column 087 - What I Learned While Printing (January 30, 2009)
                           (dye transfer, Kodak, print sale, technique)

Column 088 - Why 80 Megapixels Just Won't Be Enough... (February 11, 2009)
                           (digital cameras, technology, vision, resolution)

Column 089 - Great Expectations (February 21, 2009)
                           (film photography, digital photography, grain, exposure range)

Column 090 - 1000 Photographic Fans...Maybe? (March 7, 2009)
                           (business, fans)

Column 091 - Does Ctein Have 100 'True Fans'? (March 13, 2009)
                           (business, fans, Ctein)

Column 092 - Shapes of Some Things Long to Come (March 23, 2009)
                           (science, optics, physics, digital cameras)

Column 093 - Transition State (April 4, 2009)
                           (Ctein, autobiography, film photography, digital photography)

Column 094 - A Very Grand Democracy (April 12, 2009)
                           (astronomy, science, sensors, digital photography, astrophotography)

Column 095 - Fitting a Pint in a 12-Ounce Can (April 27. 2009)
                           (technique, digital photography, printing, Photoshop)

Column 096 - Mysterious Photoshop Blending Modes (May 7, 2009)
                           (Photoshop, technique, layers, blending modes)

Column 097 - Noise Is Your Friend (May 10, 2009)
                           (science, physics, noise, digital photography)

Column 098 - Danger, Danger, Will Robinson! (May 22, 2009)
                           (software, photography, aesthetics)

Column 099 - "Photoshop CS3 RAW" & "Photoshop Lightroom 2 Adventure"
                          by Mikkel Aaland (June 8, 2009)
                           (books, review, Mikkel Aaland, Photoshop, Lightroom, technique)

Column 100 - Column 100: Looking Forward, Backward, and Sideways (June 15, 2009)
                           (Ctein, science, digital photography, business)

Column 101 - Depth of Field Hel--The Sequel (June 23, 2009)
                           (photography, depth of field, optics, science)

Column 102 - Photographing a Supernova (July 6, 2009)
                           (science, photography, astronomy, astrophotography, supernova)

Column 103 - Reality Is Not Arithmetic (July 15, 2009)
                           (commentary, rant)

Column 104 - Picture Postcards?!? (July 23, 2009)
                           (science, physics)

Column 105 - Polychrome...(it gives us such nice, bright colors) (August 13, 2009)
                           (color, digital photography, autobiography, Montreal)

Column 106 - Polychrome II (August 21, 2009)
                           (color, digital photography, autobiography, Montreal)

Column 107 - OT: Self-Incrimination (September 1, 2009)
                           (birds, science, intelligence, autobiography, parrots)

Column 108 - On Topic (Really!): Parrotspeak / Parrotvision (September 12, 2009)
                           (parrots, vision, science, language)

Column 109 - Tips for Finding '1000 True Fans' (September 24, 2009)
                           (business, Ctein, fans)

Column 110 - How Long Is a Lifetime? (September 30, 2009)
                           (cameras, photography, commentary)

Column 111 - Film for a Lifetime (October 13, 2009)
                           (film, photography, commentary)

Column 112 - High ISO High Noon (October 16, 2009)
                           (ISO, photography, technique)

Column 113 - Settling Down...or Not, as the Case May Be (October 26, 2009)
                           (autobiography, photography,commentary, camera)

Column 114 - OT: Weird Adventures in A.I.* (November 1, 2009)
                           (autobiography, intelligence, parrots)

Column 115 - Here Comes the Sun (November 17, 2009)
                           (photography, astrophotography, sun, telescope, review)

Column 116 - Solar Photography with a Coronado PST (November 29, 2009)
                           (photography, astrophotography, sun, telescope, review, technique, Photoshop)

Column 117 - Taking Small Format Seriously (December 6, 2009)
                           (photography, cameras, technique)

Column 118 - I Hate Shopping! (December 13, 2009)
                           (shopping, cars, cameras)

Column 119 - Seasonal Art (December 21, 2009)
                           (Christmas, commentary, photography)

Column 120 - How Sharp Is Your Printer? How Sharp Are Your Eyes? (January 5, 2010)
                           (vision, printers, resolution, sharpness)

Column 121 - So, What About Kodak? (January 9, 2010)
                           (Kodak, commentary, history, business)

Column 122 - The Dark Cloud of Collecting... (January 23, 2010)
                           (business, art, commentary, collecting)

Column 123 - Focusing Follies (January 31, 2010)
                           (cameras, rangefinders, focus)

Column 123a - Three Days Left! (February 1, 2010)
                           (Mike Johnston, print sale, dye transfer)

Column 123b - The Final Hour (February 3, 2010)
                           (Mike Johnston, print sale, dye transfer)

Column 124 - Why Is It (Not) Art? (February 11, 2010)
                           (commentary, art)

Column 125 - Ctein: 'I Quit' (February 18, 2010)
                           (film, digital photography, autobiography)

Column 126 - What Can't Digital Do for Me? (February 25, 2010)
                           (film, digital, film vs. digital, photography)

Column 127 - The Printer / Photoshop / Snow Leopard Hell (March 4, 2010)
                           (printing, technique, color management, Mac OS, Snow Leopard)

Column 128 - What Tests Don't Tell You (March 11, 2010)
                           (science, testing, resolution, sharpness, optics)

Column 129 - Supporting 1000 True Fans (March 18, 2010)
                           (business, Ctein, fans)

Column 130 - Artists Ain't Saints: Jim Marshall, 1936-2010 (March 24, 2010)
                           (Jim Marshall, obituary, autobiography, rock)

Column 131 - Oddities of Image Stabilization (April 1, 2010)
                           (technique, sharpness, digital cameras, image stabilization)

Column 132 - Statistics, Damned Statistics, and the 'Visio Populi' (April 8, 2010)
                           (business, Ctein, fans)

Column 133 - Of Verbs and Trademarks (April 15, 2010)
                           (business, trademarks, law)

Column 134 - How Not to Get Your Product Reviewed (April 22, 2010)
                           (business, review, VMware, commentary)

Column 135 - They're Selling Us Crap Paper (April 29, 2010)
                           (digital, printing, paper, quality control)

Column 136 - Animal Language (May 6, 2010)
                           (autobiography, intelligence, parrots, language)

Column 137 - More On Print(er) Sharpness (May 13, 2010)
                           (printing, printers, digital, sharpness, testing)

Column 138 - Returning to Hell: Color Management and Snow Leopard (May 20, 2010)
                           (printing, technique, color management, Mac OS, Snow Leopard)

100mm
35mm film
300mm
aesthetics
animal
Apple
archiving
art
astronomy
astrophotography
autobiography
Bill Atkinson
birds
blending modes
book
Bridge
business
B&W
camera(s)
cars
Christmas
circus train
clown
collecting
color
color management
commentary
composition
computer
Connie Willis
Ctein
customer support
darkroom
data recovery
David Dyer-Bennet
DD-B
depth of field
developer
diffraction
digital
digital camera
digital photography
dye transfer
Ektacolor
exposure
exposure range
fans
film
film photography
film vs. digital
focus
fraud
Fred Picker
Freff
Finepix S100FS
Fujifilm
grain
hacking
hard drives
hardware
Harlan Ellison
history
humor
image processing
image stabilization
intelligence
ISO
James Maxwell
Jim Marshall
journalism
JPEG
keychain camera
Kodak
language
Laurie Edison
law
layers
lens
lesbian
Lightroom
Mac OS
Macbook
macro
magazines
marketing
Max Delbruck
Michelle Bates
Mike Johnston
Mikkel Aaland
Montreal
night photography
noise
nudes
monograph
obituary
obsolescence
optics
paper
parrots
Pentax 67
performance
photo
photocopy
photograph
photography
Photoshop
Photoshop Elements
Photosynth
physics
picture quality
portfolio
portrait
Post Exposure
print sale
printers
printing
prints
privacy
profile
Prokudin-Gorskii
quality control
quantum mechanics
rangefinder (s)
rant
RAW
religion
resolution
retouching
review
Richard Feynman
rock
scanner
scanning
science
Scooba
sensors
sexual harassment
sharpening
sharpness
shopping
Snow Leopard
software
spotting
storage
stripdown
sun
supernova
technique
technology
Tee Corinne
telephoto
telescope
testing
theology
trademarks
vision
VMware
VR
web design
Windows
Worldcon
writing
Xmas


You can email me at ctein@pobox.com
  
copyright 2023 by Ctein. All rights reserved