Stacey G Lloyd's Photography Blog

My Blog Has Moved

2012-01-06T11:40:00.001-08:00

My new website with integrated blog is now online. You should now link to www.staceyglloyd.com/blog.

Coming Soon

2011-12-28T15:14:00.001-08:00

As you may have noticed I have been away from the blog longer than usual. There are several reasons for this: the busyness of the holidays, a death in the family and work on a new combined blog/website.

The blog image was captured with an iPhone. While driving to a car shop, my wife and I accidently stumbled across a small area where there was a local “hoar” frost. It was absolutely stunning. A mile or two in either direction there as nothing. I didn’t have my main camera gear (shame on me) so I got out the iPhone and grabbed a couple of images. I added a bit of a white vignette to give it that out the window look . In addition I converted it to a selenium toned image (to add the cold blue hue).

Composition Notes – Balance

2011-12-13T19:28:00.001-08:00

For the second in the series on composition, I thought I would touch on balance. One could write pages on this subject so I will only scratch the surface. Balance in some ways is one of the trickier aspects of composition. When is an image balanced? Should it be balanced? What factors come into determining visual balance? This blog only touches on the last question.

Don’t confuse symmetry with balance. Creating symmetry can be good in some images, but symmetry can often result in static or “boring” images. You can have balance without image symmetry.

Key to understanding balance is the fact that our mind implicitly gives weight to elements within an image. This weight is not just based on the elements size, but on it’s color, tonal value, local contrast, texture or other differences from the rest of the elements, etc.

Look at the opening blog entry versus the one below. Do you feel the difference? What is the difference?

It isn’t much, but the difference is the one red leaf along the top middle left edge of the image. First, red as a color carries a lot of weight – our eye is quickly drawn to red elements (notice in this image that the yellow leaves feel somehow secondary). Second, the red leaf helps balance the red leaves around the rest of the frame. In part this is done by completing a pattern. The red leaves almost form a circle (or possible a triangle) around the yellow ones. When the one red leaf is gone it’s absence breaks the pattern and draws our mind’s eye. Our mind doesn’t like it when it can’t find a pattern that provides balance and goes off hunting. Completing the circle keeps our eye in the frame and on the subject.

Looking at the three primary yellow leaves in the image. Do you feel the balance? They are all different sizes but there is balance. One way to look at it is a teeter tauter (fulcrum). From the visual center formed by the three leaves note that the smaller leaf on the left is further from the center than the larger on the right. This gives balance around the “middle” leaf (just like we learned as children on the teeter tauter).

Looking back at the blog on “black holes” we can see that the black hole creates an imbalance because of its strong tonal weight. The same is true of white spots in an image.

I will leave you with one last image to think about. Look at the black and white image below. It has “black holes” all over the place. Why does it work? What gives the two asymmetric leaf clusters balance?

More Flypaper Texture Overlays

2011-12-04T15:03:00.001-08:00

Life is keeping me busy right now so before I continuing with the next installment on composition, I thought I would share some more images I have created lately using Flypaper Textures.

As you can see texture overlays work on a wide variety of subjects. Here are a couple quick observations:

Subjects with subtle or non-cluttered backgrounds tend to work best.
Try multiple textures on an image to see what works best.
Try several of the Photoshop layer blending modes. I use multiply and soft light the most (so far).
Vary the opacity of the blending modes.
Apply multiple textures to a single image.
Use masks to vary intensity of texture in areas of the image. Having minimal (to no) texture on the key focal points tends to work well.

Have fun!

Composition Notes – Black holes

2011-11-23T08:49:00.001-08:00

While shooting the fallen leaves this past weekend, I decided to use them to illustrate some of the compositional elements I take into account while shooting. This is the first in a set of blog entries touching on composition. First i will look at black holes.

Take a look at the second image. Notice where your eye gets drawn – the black area in the middle upper left. That probably isn’t where you want the viewer to look. Compare this to the opening blog image where I simply placed a leaf in the hole – problem solved.

Ways of dealing with “black holes”

Fill the hole as I did above.
Shift the framing to eliminate the black hole.
In post processing try to bring out detail in the hole by dodging it (increase local exposure).
Clone something into the hole during post processing.
Use the black holes or “negative” space as part of the composition – balance. I will touch on balance in a future blog.

Black holes are often a problem when shooting foliage and flowers, etc. This is especially true on sunny days where there are deep dark shadows. That is why cloudy days are often better for shooting these subjects (use a diffuser or look for shade on a sunny one). So instead of “dealing” with the black holes, you can avoid them altogether.

Leaf Recycling

2011-11-15T09:19:00.001-08:00

Even though the leaves may all be on the ground, you can still have fun creating great images of fall color. Just look at the ground. I went out and did just that Sunday morning. One of the final images is shown above. I started the morning practicing some creative camera techniques. Below is a sequence of images that set the stage for that above. The sequence started with a simple shot of the leaves on the ground (more on that in the next blog).

First I captured a “simple” off center 9 exposure rotational image. To do this you keep a point in the viewfinder (pick one of the focus markers in your camera’s viewfinder) set on a single point on the subject (the leaf) and rotate the camera slightly as you click off the exposures. With a Nikon camera you can setup it up for multiple exposures to be blended automatically in the camera; with other camera’s you may have to blend them in Photoshop.

Next I captured a 9 exposure zoom image. Keeping the focal point on the leaf at the same point as I slowly zoomed and clicked off the exposures. Notice there was a slight camera rotation as well. I reduced the focal length to get more leaves into the image.

Putting these two techniques together you can end up with an off center rotational zoom image like that below. Hold onto the zoom ring as you rotate the camera to do this most readily.

I then applied this same technique to the base of the tree from which all these leaves had fallen (the opening blog image). It appears the tree is drawing in all of the leaves and sucking them down into the tree’s base. This is what ultimately happens in the forest as the leaves decay and feed the tree, but not quite so dramatically. The tree is recycling…

Fall Color and Textures

2011-11-12T10:43:00.001-08:00

It is hard to believe that fall has come and almost gone. This past year has gone so quickly. I not only love the bright colors of fall, but all the various shades of brown the grasses and plant take on. As always, I try different techniques on any good subject I find. This row of maple trees in an abandoned business park is one example. The opening blog image was created from a swipe (1/4 sec) that then had two texture overlay layers added. Both textures are Flypaper textures. Shown below is the swipe without the added texture layers.

The third image is the scene shot straight at f22 for maximum depth of field.

The final image is a landscape format capture of the scene that brings in more of the green in the distance trees. Shooting both landscape and portrait orientations of a subject is always a good idea; that gives you more options for possible publication or stock image use. I find I like each of these images for different reasons. Which do you like best?

Flypaper Textures

2011-10-29T07:16:00.001-07:00

In the past couple of years, the use of “texture overlays” has become quite popular (see Flickr). Personally they appeal to me because of the painterly quality added to an image. Up until now I have only used textures that I have captured. Typically I have grabbed the texture on location (a close-up of a building’s texture for overlay on other images of the building). However, I have seen some beautiful images from Tony Sweet, John Barclay and others that use prepackaged texture images from “Flypaper Textures”. They offer several differ sets of textures which can be purchased. The quality of these textures is excellent and multiple textures can be applied to an image to make it unique. I highly recommend them.

Textures can be overlaid with an image using various tools, but the most common is simply using a layer stack in Photoshop as shown below. For the sunflower image I used two different Flypaper textures. First I added the “Antiquity Scroll” texture from the Flypaper Texture Box Two collection. I blended it with the primary image using the Color Burn mode at 46% opacity to get the look I wanted. Next I added a mask to that layer and removed most of the texture from the first sunflower. Secondly I added the “Muscatel” texture from that same collection. I blended this second texture using the Multiply mode at 100% opacity. Again I added a mask and removed most of the texture from the left most sunflower and some from the center flower. Third, I performed an overall curves adjustment to the stack; the image was a bit dark and low in contrast. Finally, I enhanced the contrast of the left most sunflowers center using selective application of a curves layer.

How do you know what textures to use or which blending mode to use? Basically you need to experiment. Try different textures, opacities, blending modes and masks. There are also several tutorial blog entries on the Flypaper Texture Blog.

First Articles Published

2011-10-22T18:44:00.001-07:00

Excuse my shameful self promotion here, but it is exciting to get your first article(s) published in a national publication. In this case Shutterbug’s Special “Expert Photo Techniques” (the cover is shown in the last blog image). The first two images are iPhone captures of the lead pages for each of the two articles. If you have been following my blog you know that both of these articles are based on work you would have seen here first.

In case I didn’t mention it before, these two articles were written several months apart but just happened to be put in the same issue by the editor. Both of them are “how to” articles on creating some of the images shown in my exhibit earlier this year.

If you want to pick up your own copy, you can generally find this special issue wherever Shutterbug magazine is sold. Enjoy.

Fort Point in HDR - Revisited

2011-10-12T07:51:00.001-07:00

This past week I was able to return to Fort Point in San Francisco. Unfortunately, due to traffic I only had a 45 minute window in which to shoot before it closed. Here are a couple of images from that visit. It was a great place to photograph the first time and was again the second. If you can go there, I highly recommend it. It is the lighting that excites me when I am there; very dramatic with wonderful arches, lines and shadows everywhere. As before, I shot HDR sets to deal with the extreme light range.

One thing I decided after my first visit was that this place begs for people in the images. I made use of my camera’s timer to take some images where I ran out into the frame. In the image above, that is me in the window. I shot one medium exposure frame in addition to the HDR set where I stood on the steps by the window. I then blended myself into the HDR image using Photoshop layers and a mask. It looks like I am outside the window, but I am not.

All HDR images processed with HDR Efx Pro from Niksoftware. Additional processing was done in PS5 with other Nik Filters.

Texture Overlay

2011-10-07T19:20:00.001-07:00

When I am out in the field shooting, I try to remember to capture close ups as well as the big picture; get that nitty gritty detail. These close-ups can come in handy later for creating what are known as texture overlays. The image here is a blend of two images taken on my recent outing in Colorado and Utah. The rock structure shown below was taken at Arches National Park at sunset.

The close-up texture was taken in the Colorado National Monument. It is shown below.

As I was reviewing the images I noticed the similarity in the contours. One thing I should mention about shooting the texture image: I try to be conscience of the composition formed by the lines or key elements in the texture (often using the rule of thirds). I try to apply the same vision to the composition as I would for any other image. I find that my texture images often work well with my other images as a result (common eye).

The final image is created by blending the two originals together in Photoshop using a mask layer shaded to taste by using a pen tablet. See the screen capture below. As shown, a curve adjustment was used as well to get the desired contrast in the final image.

More of Nature’s Spotlights

2011-10-02T15:06:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share more images where nature created natural spotlights that highlighted key elements in the image. In creating strong images second only to composition is the quality of light. Again most of these are from my recent trip to Colorado and Utah. The image above is one of my favorites.

The image above would not be that strong without the natural spotlight on the side of the hill. It is that light that caught my attention. While the rock peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park were around me, it was this special light on the hill behind me that made it stand out. This is an example of why it is always good to be looking all around you when you are shooting; especially if the lighting is fairly dynamic.

The last rays of a sunset highlighted the tops of the rock structures captured above making them standout against the background.

As in the previous image, the last sun rays before sunset touched the top of this structure and highlighted the grass along the foreground.

Nature’s Spotlights

2011-09-27T10:46:00.001-07:00

Lately I seem to be tuned into how nature spotlights elements of the landscape. This can happen on a cloudy day when beams of light shine through a hole in the clouds, at sunrise or sunset when the suns rays find their way through a gap in the mountains or when sun light bursts through a hole in the trees. Notice how these spotlights draw your eye to a specific feature.

I have included here a couple of examples from my recent trips to Washington, Colorado and Utah. When you are in the field shooting, make sure you take time to look all around you and notice how nature is highlighting the landscape. If you see light moving across the top of the mountains, watch and wait to see if it brings out a feature that will add to your composition. Often you have to be patient, but the reward is worth it.

Also note that nature provides different colors of spotlights come morning or evening.

Blog images:

Shot at sunrise at the Colorado National Monument. Light was selectively beaming onto different monuments as the sun broke the horizon.
Here a ray of sunlight coming through the tree canopy formed a perfect spotlight on the base of this Sycamore tree early one morning at Maryhill State Park in Washington state.
The last rays of aspen glow just hit this mountain top through a gap between other mountains at sunset – Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
Another hole in the clouds late in the afternoon created this spotlight on the mountain side. Again in Rocky Mountain National Park.

HDR Saves Even a “Bad Day”

2011-09-08T20:30:00.001-07:00

In going back over some images I captured in Yosemite a few months ago, I was once again reminded that even a “bad day” with good subject material can yield great images. When I was in Yosemite the light was flat, the valley seemed gray and the clouds were low. I never did see Half Dome. Below is what an unedited RAW image file from the HDR set looked like. Regardless I decided to shoot HDR exposure sets keeping B&W processing in mind.

I just got around to processing some of the images and am quite happy with it. Others ones like that below came out quite nice as well.The power the photographer has with HDR photography and the latest image processing tools is impressive.

You might be asking if HDR was necessary. The answer is yes and no. The light was such that I could capture images like the first one in one exposure (the one shown is an example). However, I choose HDR to get the most data I could in the shadows and highlights. This allowed me great deal of latitude in bringing out a lot of contrast and detail. 3 exposure was probably plenty, but I don’t get to Yosemite very often.

Blog Images: Both images were generated in Photomatix 4 from 5 exposure sets. They were then post processed using Nik’s SilverEfx Pro. Some additional adjustments were made in Lightroom3.0 and/or with Nik’s Viveza2. The last image was shot with a 450mm focal length to grab the “V’ composition I saw in the distance.

My Mother’s Passing

2011-09-03T19:46:00.001-07:00

I learned today that my mother passed away. While tears were shed they were mostly tears of joy. She has had Alzheimer's for well over a decade and so the mother I knew has been gone for many years. It was good to know she was finally no longer subject to that terrible disease and was now in a much better place. I am sure she is singing and humming the old hymns as she used to do around our home. I can still hear them.

Why I am writing about this here? One of my earliest memories of photography is of me photographing an Iris in my mother’s garden. She loved to garden and often had me “dig in” and help break up soil, transplant shrubs and pick the vegetables. I am sure it was here love of gardening that instilled in me a love for the natural beauty of God’s creation. She has been dearly missed.

Blog Image: Somehow this image seemed appropriate. A flower basking in a glorious diffused light. New and fresh, reborn. The image itself is a high key photograph of a Coneflower taken against a white background lit by window light and filled with a reflector.

Analysis and Creativity

2011-09-01T21:29:00.001-07:00

I once had a college professor state that “you must be able to analyze before you can create”. This was much to the chagrin of the young engineers who wanted to just design something new, not analyze an existing design. Applying this to art and photography it is essential if you want to grow as a photographer. You need to spend time viewing and analyzing artwork and photographic images to see why they work. Look at the use of color, the use of tone, the composition or placement of key elements, the shape of the frame, the quality and direction of the light, the implicit lines formed by the tonal transitions, etc. You can also ask yourself how does this image make you feel and why? Why did the artist/photographer use the perspective/lens he did? Take the time just to study one image. It can really be enlightening when you are analyzing well crafted images. In the end, this analysis prepares your mind and heart to creatively capture what your eyes and soul see.

Blog Image: Taken at Stanford University. 1.3sec at f22. Processed with Lightroom 3.0.

Simply Rocks - Analysis

2011-08-19T22:25:00.001-07:00

You would think photographing rocks would be simple, but sometimes things are not as simple as they appear. On the shore of the Columbia River a few weeks back I decided to shoot some images of the beautiful river rock along the shore (in Maryhill State Park). Here are a few of the decisions or things I had to take into consideration.

Is the composition pleasing? Finding something that really works can take a bit of searching. Sometimes you do some rearranging to get what you what, but doing that can be risky. The image can easily look too contrived or just not natural.
Lighting? In this case it was early morning sunlight. I did try shading (my body) and using a diffuser to modify the lighting. In the end I chose the low angle sunlight. I used a polarizer and varied the amount of polarization to get the look I wanted.
I varied the shutter speed. There were small rippling waves coming in and that kept the rocks wet. Did I want to see motion or not in the image? I liked the images without water motion– 1/30sec.
Which lens would be best? My 105mm macro or my 24-70mm zoom? I went with the macro.
What aperture? While the rock surface was flat, I did need to make sure the closest and furthest rocks would be sharp. With a 105mm macro this was critical. I found f11 was sufficient.

During the post processing there was a whole different set of questions and decisions to be made. How much contrast? How much color saturation? Any white balance adjustments to be done? Cropping? Touch up? Vignette?

So that is why these “simply rocks” images are more than they appear.

Return to the Lavender

2011-08-14T18:07:00.001-07:00

Another year has passed and the lavender returned. Due to other obligations in my life, I was not able to get out and capture much of the lavender this year. A couple of weekends ago, I got the chance to capture a field that was still in reasonable condition. It was at Willakenzie Lavender Farm in Yamhill Oregon. I got out bright and early so I could catch the sunrise on the lavender. As I drove to my destination it was hard to resist all the possible images I saw along the way. There was nice ground fog hanging here and there along the beautiful valley, but I was determined to catch first light on the lavender. Here are a couple images from that morning.

Blog images:

This is an HDR image captured at sunrise. I didn’t quite get the sunburst I hoped for. The image was processed with Nik’s HDR Efx Pro with some additional processing in Lightroom.
The second image taken shortly after sunrise was a “shoot through” were I used a long lens (70-200mm zoom at 190mm) to shoot through some lavender and focus on one lavender stem. Shooting flowers with a long lens is not typically the first thing that comes to mind, but it can result in nice images. f6.3 at 1/160 sec.
The last image captures the sunrise light just brushing the tops of the lavender. 70mm, f22, 0.5sec.

Beyond Sprinklers

2011-08-04T22:04:00.001-07:00

A couple of blogs back I wrote about shooting backlit flowers early one morning when the sprinklers were on. Then this past month I was roaming around the beautiful Stanford University campus late in the evening looking for images to capture. As I walked around the fountain sculpture shown below (the White Memorial Fountain created by Aristides "Aris" Demetrios) the sun moved back behind it creating a dazzling light show.

I couldn’t help but think of those flowers. Applying what I had learned from shooting them I was prepared to capture this set of images. This is why it is important to practice (I know you probably hate that word) your photographic skills at home and “along the way”. It prepares you for the future when you are at that far away photographic destination.

Besides capturing images from the side and taking advantage of the dark background, I also got down low and took advantage of the blue sky. I under exposed a bit to get the deep twilight sky look shown below.

The last image is one I call “The Mermaid’s Tale”.

Of all the image sets I shot at Stanford, these were the images that got me the most excited and made the creative juices flow. I am glad I was prepared.

Blog Image Notes: As with the flowers I generally had to adjust the EV to –1.- to –2.0 to handle the back light. I also shot with a range of shutter speeds to vary the shape of the falling water. The first image was at 1/80 sec and the last was at 1/800 sec. All images were processed using Lightroom 3 for tonality, etc.. The first two images used the Antique Light preset in Lightroom while the last two images kept the natural color.

After writing this blog I found this recent article about the fountain - http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/june/claw-makeover-update-061011.html

All images of the sculpture have been used with the permission of the artist.

Exhibit Synopsis

2011-07-28T08:22:00.001-07:00

Readers have asked about how my recent exhibit went and what I learned. Here is a summary.

The opening night was well attended. Approximately 200 visitors during the 2 hour window (this was on the high side for this gallery). I kept busy visiting, answering questions and describing my work. I enjoyed that very much.
On opening night I brought greeting cards and a selection of matted prints in addition to the larger framed exhibit prints. As expected the cards sold the best with matted prints next - no large print sales on the opening night.
The gift shop at the Arts Center liked the cards and small matted prints and so they put some on display. They still have a stock of the cards and prints on sale there. There have been some sales off and on.
In the end I sold 5 large (16x24 prints) as a result of the exhibit. Two of the five were the framed exhibit prints. Of those one sold to a friend and the other to a new business owner I had talked to a couple months before (she was going to need wall art for her new business). Three of the prints (print only) were sold to a woman who saw the exhibit while in town and she called me from Philadelphia to order them a couple weeks later (a pleasant surprise).
I was asked by some regional photo clubs to meet them at the exhibit so I could answer questions. This was another opportunity to get my name out there and get more exposure. I didn’t expect any sales necessarily, but I did bring cards, etc. This went well and talking about the techniques, etc. was fun.

Other notes:

Don’t assume people will just show up at your exhibit. You need to market the event to everyone you know plus some. I did quite a bit but I would do even more. Here is a summary of what I did.

Printed up 8x5 post cards that were sent directly to my friends, acquaintances, clients, etc.
Placed 3 x 5 cards (announcing the exhibit) of my own and from the gallery at places I visited, ate, worked, etc. Most small business owners were fine with placing them on the counters, etc.
Sent out email to the area photography clubs announcing the exhibit, etc. I did this a bit late. One of those obvious things that slipped my mind.
Prepared a press release and sent that to editors of three of the local papers. I was told to wait until 2 weeks before the exhibit (editors would ignore you until then), but that was bad advice. You should make contact at least four weeks before. If the paper wants to do a story on you and your art the editor needs to get you in the queue for a reporter to interview you.
This is a great opportunity for potential clients to see your work. The gallery lighting, your nicely framed prints, can all make a strong positive impact. It will look better than just an image on your website and lets the client see the quality of your work and presentation.
Posted blog entries about the upcoming exhibit and put a notice on my website.
Mat and frame as professionally as possible. I received several compliments on the quality of the presentation. This all counts. You are not just looking to make money but establish your brand. Even if people don’t buy right then, they need to go away with a strong positive image of you and your work. You never know what opportunity they might bring your way later.

I hope this will answer some questions and be of use to any of you who are planning your own exhibit.

Blog Image: One of my early Floral Fusions (1.3 sec at f16).

Stonehenge

2011-07-23T16:55:00.001-07:00

If you live in the NW and haven’t gotten by our own local Stonehenge you might want to take a look. It is off highway 14 near Maryhill (just east of The Dalles, Oregon) near the intersection with highway 97 in Washington state. It is a war memorial styled like Stonehenge - as it might have looked before its deterioration. It is a full scale replica made of concrete instead of carved stone, but it is a unique structure. It sits along the beautiful Columbia Gorge so the setting is quite nice. As a photographer there is a lot with which to work and play.

Blog images:

Stonehenge has always had a bit of mystery so to add some mystique to the image I used a wide angle lens (12mm on a DX body => 18mm). In addition, I used a variable ND filter to get a long exposure set of HDR images. The HDR set was processed with Photomatix 4.0 using the ghost reduction feature. The image was then converted to B&W using SilverEfx Pro from Nik Software. A vignette was added along with some local adjustments using Nik Color Efx Pro and Photoshop.
The second image was shot at sunset with the sun just breaking through the corner of one of the openings. A small aperture (f18) was used to get the sunburst. In this kind of shot you will get lens flare. All processing in this case was done in Lightroom 3.

Macro Fun

2011-07-13T21:54:00.001-07:00

I love to get up early on a summer morning and explore the garden looking for new images. In my previous blog I captured images involving the garden sprinklers. This time I put on the macro lens (Nikon 105mm) and started exploring. Given the sprinklers had run earlier there were a lot of water droplets hanging on the flowers and foliage so I decided to focus on those.

In the 1st image I saw a row of water droplets hanging along the edge of a gladiola. To get in close, I added a Canon 5T close-up lens and a 36mm extender. I traded depth of field for some background detail. On a shot like this all the droplets have to be very sharp or else they distract from the rest. Set your camera up as parallel to the droplets as you can.

If you want to get a sunburst like the above you need to go with a small aperture (f51 in this case). The tradeoff is, of course, depth of field so you need to make sure the background material is far away and not too cluttered or else it distracts from the image. Also, note that changing your angle of view relative to the sun and water droplet can greatly impact the level of sunburst. Move you head up and down watching the water drop. Find the point where the sun seems brightest (you will see the difference once you hit that magic angle).

Finding nice background color when you can is always a great way to add pop. In the image above the background was all green which was nice, but I wanted a little more pop. I grabbed another red flower from the garden (I don’t recommend this unless it is your own garden) and held it at arms’ length (while I looked through the viewfinder) and moved it behind the area I wanted to emphasize. It took a few tries to get it, but I am happy with this one.

In this final image, I couldn’t get the sunburst without an aperture that resulted in a messy background. So I actually shot one with the background bokeh I wanted (large aperture) and combined it with the small aperture shot using Photoshop. The result is the sunburst plus the nice background. It always pays to think outside the box you think you are in.

Fun with the Sprinkles

2011-07-07T07:29:00.001-07:00

Remember the hot days of summer when you used to run around in the sprinklers? Well you can still have fun with the sprinklers, but in a different way. As I was testing out the sprinklers early one morning last week, I noticed an array of beautiful images just waiting to be captured – this blog contains a few of them.

I used a Nikon 70-200mm lens with a 1.4x extender to reach in and get the images without getting wet. I was generally shooting with backlight so I had to set the EV to –1.3 to –2.0 (typical for backlit situations). I kept the depth of field shallow for the first image to remove background clutter. Notice the difference in the look of the water droplets between it and the next two which had a bit smaller aperture (more depth of field). Try different shutter speeds to change the appearance of the droplets in the air. The first two images were shot at 1/320sec and the last at 1/100sec.

Happy Fourth of July

2011-07-03T20:18:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share one of my latest “Floral Fusions” for the holiday. These blue star thistle blooms seemed appropriate for the 4th. This floral fusion is created using moving textured glass. One image was shot without the glass and the second was shot through the moving glass (0.4sec at f22). The images were captured in the garden, early in the morning, before the breezes started. To add a little punch behind the blue flowers I took an orange plastic bag that was handy and wrapped it around the base of the plant. The two images were blended together in Photoshop using a layer mask and a brush. Contrast and local adjustments were done using Lightroom.

Have a happy fourth everyone!

Alcatraz Analysis

2011-06-26T16:52:00.001-07:00

I thought I would take this shot from Alcatraz and walk you through what I was thinking about as I composed the shot and why I processed it the way I did.

The shoot: In some respects this shot was away from the main Alcatraz “attractions” but it caught my eye because of the barbed wired on top of the fence. I felt at the time shooting through the fence would convey the sense of imprisonment. Next I had to decide how to frame the image. I carefully chose where the fence supports were placed. The vertical post was aligned along the building corner and at around 1/3 of the frame space. This seemed to be the least intrusive way to include it. The lower horizontal was placed along the lower edge of the building for the same reason. Keeping the shot a bit wide helped add to a feeling of distance and separation. The prisoners clearly felt that 1.25 mile distance from San Francisco. Keeping the shot wide also let me include the barbed wire which I felt was important to the overall context.

Post processing: This was an HDR image processed with HDR Efx Pro. I did three primary things during the processing. One, desaturated the image to make it more dreary. Two, allowed the white balance to shift a bit to the blue side – prison seems more like a cool place than a warm one. Three, went with harsh contrast which makes the image a bit more edgy.l Prison is a harsh place.

Iris Fusion

2011-06-25T07:04:00.001-07:00

I am continuing to work on new floral fusion images; adding little differences from my original collection. I will be sharing some of those down the road. This image is just one small variant – flowers with water on them. This Iris was captured in my yard a couple weeks ago - early in the morning before the morning breezes kicked in. Other variations I am working on are white backgrounds with the image pushed to a hi-key look (somewhat over exposed and overall very bright – most pixels in the upper half of the histogram). More images will be done with only black background. Each of these variants will likely be group into small collections of their own.

Infrared Mystery House

2011-06-18T18:20:00.001-07:00

I went on a little tour last Sunday with a few local camera club members. We were primarily scouting/reviewing areas for future shooting. Along the way, we did get to grab some images. Given it was bright midday light I decided I would use my IR camera. This particular scene struck me as a good use of IR. IR adds mystery to an already mysterious place. Who lived here? Why did they leave? When did they go? What was their life like? This was out in the middle of no where. The large sky and the house dwarfed by the large tree add to this feel of remoteness and insignificance.

Blog Image: Shot with a modified Infrared Nikon D70. Converted to B&W using Nik Software’s Silver Efx Pro during the post processing. The glow was added using Nik’s Glamour Glow filter found in Color Efx Pro.

Early Morning Light

2011-06-14T20:35:00.001-07:00

There is nothing quite like a quiet morning watching the light as the sun comes up. The soft shades of blue and magenta are quite pleasant and calming. In this particular case I was on top of The Dalles Mountain watching the light as it hit Mt. Hood and Mt Adams. This was a location I learned about the night before by talking to a local photographer, John Davis. I ran into him on the Rowena Plateau – known for its spring wildflower display. While the wildflowers on the plateau were spent as I expected, I did get to see some nice pre-reticular clouds and learn about other good locations from John.

It is hard to get up early enough for sunrise this time of year (sunrise 5:15am in the NW), but if you do, the rewards can be worth it. I am not talking about capturing a great image, that may or may not be the case, but about experiencing the beauty and wonder of morning light.

Blog Images: Mt. Hood at sunrise. For me this image was all about capturing the subtle hues from that morning. No dramatic clouds, just simply beautiful soft light. I pushed the mountain low in the frame to force the viewer’s eyes up through the transition from blue to magenta to blue.

Red Poppy

2011-06-11T08:58:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share this series of images I shot a while back. It provides just another example of what you can do with one subject. In this case it is a red poppy plant. As I have mention now and then I enjoy working in the garden. Sometimes before I place a new plant in the garden I will bring it inside to my make shift studio.

Don’t forget to explore all sides of your subject. Even if it isn’t the one you see – maybe I should say especially if it isn’t the normal side. The first image is one example.

This is a three multiple exposure shot against a black background. Shot using the multiple exposure mode in my Nikon.

A white poppy was most in front of the red poppy in this shot. It has been processed to be hi-key.

Another back view of the poppy but giving it more context. This is a bit of a before and after shot. Notice the diagonal composition. The background was switched to a light green.

More of a classical poppy close up. Ideally the poppy details would be more symmetric but that was not the case. I still like it though.

As you can see, a lot can be done with one subject in just a single session.

It’s E Day

2011-06-07T07:39:00.001-07:00

It is finally here after nearly 9 months – my first formal exhibit. My wife and I spent many hours printing, matting and framing prints and are glad to have that part completed. Tonight is opening night and I am sure I will be excited and perhaps a bit nervous.

Last Saturday I did get a preview of the exhibit as you can see in the pictures here. It is very satisfying and fun to see your images all hung together and lit with those gallery spots. Those lights can make your images really pop – like the “Windblown Poppy” below.

And here is one thing you will rarely (close to never) see in my blog – a picture of me, but here I am with one group of prints.

If you are in the area, I would enjoy meeting you tonight. There will be music and food to enjoy along with artwork from several artists.

The exhibit will be open from June 7th-June29th. Hours are 9AM to 9PM M-Thu, 9AM to 6PM Fri and 10AM to 4PM on Sat. The Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center is located at 527 E Main St., Hillsboro, OR 97123. For more information call (503) 615-3494 or visit www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/wcac.

Upcoming Exhibit and Unexpected Publicity

2011-06-01T17:05:00.001-07:00

I just delivered my framed prints to the Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center in Hillsboro Oregon for my upcoming exhibit. While I was there I was informed that one of my images had been featured on the cover of the Washington County Summer Arts Guide. This was totally unexpected and I was pleased to see the extra publicity. The “Windblown Poppy” image is mine in case you haven’t seen it.

With the upcoming gallery exhibit my focus as of late has been on publicity. Last week I submitted a press release to multiple newspapers. My wife and I have begun leaving 4x6 exhibit announcement cards at different business we frequent. We also sent out 8x5 flyers to friends and acquaintances inviting them to the opening night.

This blog, Facebook and my website are of course other ways to publicize the exhibit. If you know people in the area please pass along an invite for me.

Please join me opening night June 7th: 6-8pm. There will be live music, food and great art.

Mission Revisited in HDR

2011-05-26T06:29:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I revisited the San Juan Bautista Mission. If you are ever around Gilroy, California I recommend you visit the mission - quite a beautiful place. The blog image is just one of many I took. HDR photography is a great way to capture the light in and around the mission. While not always needed especially on a cloudy day, it allows you to get more detail in the shadows and bring out a lot of the wonderful texture that is so prevalent at the mission.

Blog Image: 3 exposure HDR processed with HDR Efex Pro from Nik Software using one of the BW presets.

Look Before You Get There

2011-05-20T07:18:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when you are headed somewhere for a shoot, you need to keep your eyes open because some of the best images might appear before you get there. Such was the case when I took this blog image a few weeks ago while waiting on a boat to Alcatraz. Not that Alcatraz is not a cool subject, but I really ended up liking this image (I think its that quality of light thing again….).

This isn’t the first time I have had this happen. It is easy to be mentally focused and ready to get “on location” but as always it is good to keep our minds open and see what is right in front of us.

First Article

2011-05-15T21:25:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share the good news that my first nationally published article on photography will be coming to you via the newsstand on October 18th. It will be included in Shutterbug Magazine's special issue “Expert Techniques Guide” and is titled “Floral Fusions”. So put that date on your calendar! But if you don’t remember, don’t worry, I am sure I will remind you later!

Now that I am done tooting my own horn, let me give you a little history which might prove useful to those of you looking to get published. First, one of the reasons I started writing this blog three years ago was to start honing my writing skills, so that really was the first step. In some respects, my first draft was posted as a blog entry a year or so ago.

Second, I had to search for possible publishers. Finding out where to submit an article idea isn’t always easy (still haven’t found where to propose articles for some national magazines). I searched online, in the magazines themselves and in the “Photographer’s Market”.

Third, I learned that editors generally only want you to submit a few small images and the proposal for the article - not the article itself. They also want you to provide examples of your writing (this blog served that purpose). I first proposed this article via email to Shutterbug’s editor last fall. While the editor liked the images, the proposal and my blog, he felt they would be better for a spring edition of the magazine and suggested I resubmit it in February. I did that and he quickly accepted the article proposal. But that doesn’t mean your article will be published.

Fourth, I received minimal guidance on the article itself: less than 500 words for the main body; captions for the images didn’t count against that. Believing that it was best to strike while the iron is hot (what does that mean anyway?) I decided to sit down and write the article that weekend. Keeping it under 500 words was the real trick. I learned to take advantage of the caption text to get in all the necessary information. Creating the captions, selecting the final images and creating illustrations took as long or longer as the article itself. My wife served as my initial editor as she often does for this blog.

Fifth, I submitted the article that Monday as a MS Word document and a Photoshop proof sheet of the images as requested. It only took a week in my case to get a response – made my day.

Sixth, there are the contracts to be signed. Once accepted you need to do the paperwork. This will involve the terms of payment, usage rights, etc. Terms of payment in this case are based on the amount of page area that will be filled by the article – so many dollars for a half page, so much for a full page, etc. Rights can cover not only the printing of the article, but magazine advertising use of the article, website usage, etc. Once the paperwork is done though, this can set you up for future articles.

Finally there is the scheduling of the article. Once your article is accepted, it may be a while before it is actually scheduled for print. One reason my article was delayed to Fall were test reports. When test reports come in at a magazine such as Shutterbug, they trump other articles due to their short shelf life.

In the end, if everything goes well, you will have the satisfaction of seeing your article and images in print, plus a few extra dollars in your pocket.

Now onto writing the next article…

Great Photography Takes Work

2011-05-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

While browsing several galleries in Mendocino and Fort Bragg, California this past weekend, I was reminded of the fact that creating great images involves hard work. I have gone into many small galleries over the years and noticed that many of the photographic images are often not that strong or well executed. In talking with the gallery owners many will tell me that “photographs” just don’t sell that well – that is understandable given the all too often anemic work.

Now you may think I am being judgmental or harsh. Who I am to make such judgments? Well, I am just a guy who has seen a lot and can tell the difference. You can tell when a photographer has made the effort to get out there and catch that exceptional light that makes an image sing: one who gets up early, stays well after sunset, a photographer who knows how to create strong compositions, edit down their images and create tonally rich prints.

I had the pleasure of seeing the work of one such young (30ish) photographer while in Mendocino, Jon Klein. His images far out shone the rest in the galleries in that area. Clearly he has spent the time to learn the craft. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking photography is easy, anyone can do it. While anyone can take pictures, it takes much more to create great images.

Take a look at some of John’s work at Jon Klein Photography. I rarely buy other photographers work, but I did buy one of Jon’s (the blog image) and it was tough to choose. I was also fortunate enough to get to meet Jon while at the gallery. He is a nice guy, making a living off of his work – and I mean work.

Don’t take me wrong, working hard at what you love isn’t all that hard.

Spring in Infrared

2011-05-01T21:23:00.001-07:00

As spring has sprung with its fresh bright and vibrant greens it is time to get out those IR filters and IR cameras. Now that may not be the first thing you think of with spring coming on, but the rich greens of spring do provide great material for those of you who love IR photography. The images here were captured with my Nikon D70 that I had converted to IR last year. Both images were processed using SilverEfx Pro for the B&W conversion.

I have repeated the first image at the end of the blog where I have added an IR glow using the Glamour Glow filter in Nik’s ColorEfx Pro software package. This glow is more typical of the IR films used previously.

If you haven’t tried out IR photography the lower cost way to try it out is using an IR filter. It is more difficult to use (can’t see through the lens once the filter is on) but it will only cost you $80-100 for a good filter. The filter will require very long exposures (tripod required) because the camera’s sensor has an IR blocking filter still in place.

A converted camera is much easier to use, but cost you $250-350 depending on the camera and conversion house. With the camera conversion you can see what are shooting through the lens and the exposures time are much shorter (closer to “normal”).

Fort Point

2011-04-20T07:34:00.001-07:00

Now and then a place you had no expectations of surprises you. Such was the case with Fort Point in San Francisco. Having visited Alcatraz and the Palace of Fine Arts earlier in the day, I had already been presented with great subject material. But nothing inspired me as much as Fort Point. This Civil War era structure contained unexpected beauty in light and form. Other photographers appeared to appreciate its beauty as well. Wedding and engagement photos were being shot the whole time I was there. I appeared to be the only one shooting HDR images of the fort itself. I have included a couple of my favorites from the day.

As with any image or any subject, it is still the light that makes or breaks the image and the light streaming through the windows and arches make this place a photographer’s paradise.

Blog Images:

This was the first thing that grabbed my attention as I stepped onto the 3rd floor. Created from 5 1-fstop exposures. Processed with Photomatix 4.0 with Nik Color Efx Pro Color Contrast Filter plus local adjustments using Viveza.
Just before I shot this image a bride and groom were posed to the left of these windows. What a great setting. 9 1-fstop exposures. Processed same as 1.
I usually look for red doors, but a blue one surrounded by orange brick pops just as well. 5 1-fstop exposures. Processed same as 1.

Tripods – Who needs them?

2011-04-14T20:28:00.001-07:00

If you have been capturing nature or landscape photography for any period of time, I am sure you have encountered the admonition to use a tripod. Generally the arguments for using a tripod are:

It slows you down and makes you think about the composition and framing (what you include in the frame) more carefully.
You will get sharper and more stable images (no hand shake, etc.)

While both of these statments are true, I would like to come at it from a little different perspective. You probably paid a few $$$ for a nice camera and lenses. If you really want to be able to fully use what you paid for, you need a tripod (more $$$). Why do I say that? Do you…

Want to really use the full range of f-stops on your camera as your personal vision requires? You need a tripod. If you want a nice bokeh in the background but want the tip of the stamen of the flower in sharp focus, you need a tripod so you can get that focus dead on. Or maybe you want everything sharp from front to back when the sun is not full and bright -you need a tripod so you can go to f16+ and not get blur due to shake.
Want to use those slower shutter speeds to maximum advantage? You need a tripod. Do you like the look of a still calm ocean or a soft flowing waterfall? Then you need a tripod to let you shoot those long exposures.
Want to get the crisp sharp images your expensive telephoto can provide? You need a tripod. Even with image stabilization you are typically limited on the shutter speed/f-stop combination you can use without some loss of sharpness. The more you zoom in, the more you need that tripod.
Want to create images with a wide dynamic range? You need a tripod. If you want to participate in the world of HDR photography, you really need a tripod to make sure all those multiple exposure shots are perfectly aligned. While software can help a lot with the alignment, it isn’t perfect and the edges may not be clean as you enlarge the image.

But maybe you say a tripod cramps your style. To that I would say two things. One, not being able to fully use your camera’s capabilities should be cramping your style. Two, take that camera off the tripod when you are deciding how to compose the image. Walk all around, move in, move out, up and down. Once you find the shot, set up the tripod and capture the image.

Blog image: This shot of a pier in the ocean required a very long exposure, 20 sec, plus great depth of field, f22. Something you just can’t do without something like a tripod.

Exploring Where You Are

2011-04-06T08:01:00.001-07:00

With my temporary relocation to California, I ended up in the heart of Silicon Valley. An area covered with hundreds of buildings and myriads of industrial parks. While I used weekends to explore areas outside of the valley, I also captured images within.

One of the first things I noticed in my immediate surroundings were all the various textures and stone work on many of the buildings. There was also a wide variety of trees around the buildings (some not native to the NW). As a result I started collecting images of the unique textures and those textures juxtaposed with the trees. Will this become a new body of work in time? Maybe.

Challenge yourself to see the common threads in the area you live. What characteristics make your area unique? - ones that identify where you are. Look at the flora, trees, buildings, homes, sky, land, industry, etc. This is typically easier when you first arrive in a new area so it will take some effort to put on new eyes where you live. Is there a body of work you could create or put together unique to your area?

Another Day Another Pier

2011-03-25T21:31:00.001-07:00

It often seems to be the case when you are at the ocean that a cloud layer comes in from the west just before sunset. That was the case when I went out to shoot near Cambria, California. An hour before sunset the clouds rolled in and there went the nice warm glow on the cliffs. Instead of hanging it up, I decided to drive back to a pier I had seen earlier. A nice pier jutting off into the ocean near Harmony, CA. I wanted to work more with long exposures (5+ sec) that night and the waves breaking at the base of the pier would work nicely.

As always, when working a subject, you should try different compositions, framing options – vertical and horizontal, abstract parts of the subject, visualize different post processing, etc. I have included just a couple of the images here from that evening shoot.

The first image is a 30 sec exposure which is what gives the water such a mysterious look - large waves really add to this effect. The blue water and sky add to the very soothing yet mysterious image where the pier draws you in.

The second image exposure time is less than that of the first, only about 8 seconds. It was timed so that the wave was receding into the ocean, creating lead in lines using the trails from the stones. There was one larger stone that I carefully placed in the frame before the wave came in.

The third image has a simple rhythm. Note that your eye is drawn to the break in the rhythm. The rule of thirds was applied here, not by placing the subject there but the absence of one (negative space). In this case, a 15 sec exposure was sufficient to smooth the water and eliminate strong distracting details in the water. The sky and water were becoming nearly one in tone as the evening came on.

Ocean View - iPhoneography

2011-03-22T20:50:00.001-07:00

As many of you may have noticed I have been featuring quite a few iPhone images on my blog and Facebook page recently. That is due to the fact the I have not had the time as of late to get out and shoot using my full set of gear - it has truly had to be “Photography Along the Way”. As I have noted many times, it is not the gear you have but the eye behind the gear. One reason I keep shooting with the eye phone is to keep my eye sharp. As with many things, practice is key to honing your skills.

While walking along the beach with my daughter I looked up and saw this solitary person standing on the ridge. Landscapes with a single standout element like this are great opportunities for a strong image. The sky was dramatic as well. Having my trusty iPhone with me I was able to capture the moment. While I have been able to do this in the past with other point and shoot digital cameras I haven’t been able to process them in the camera to the extent I can with an iPhone. You now have a camera and virtual darkroom with you all the time.

Blog image: iPhone image shot with HDRPro and processed as BW image using Iris app. With an app like HDRPro you can capture such a broad range of light – it really lets you keep those bright clouds in check like you never could before in the middle of the day.

Michael Kenna

2011-03-18T20:32:00.001-07:00

While in Carmel, California this past week, I took the opportunity to visit a couple of Photography galleries downtown: The Weston Gallery and Photography West. I enjoy looking at the work of other photographers and this was the opportunity to see some top notch work. There were images from Ansel Adams, the Westons (father and sons), Michael Kenna, William Neill and other familiar names. It is always humbling when you get to see the work of photographers like these but, at the same time, inspirational.

On this visit I was captivated by Micheal Kenna’s work. His B&W images really resonated with me deep inside. Simple strong compositions, displayed in relatively small 8x8 prints (in a world where most photographers are going big). His style is often minimalist. A style I have always liked. If you haven’t seen his work I would suggest you visit his website and take a look – Michael Kenna.

If you don’t visit galleries, I suggest that you do. It is a good way to expand your visual literacy and inspire yourself to new heights in photography. Maybe you will find a style that really resonates with you.

Blog image: A 15sec exposure under the pier at Harmony, California. I chose this image because I noted that Kenna often used long exposures in creating many of his minimalist images. Long exposures smooth out water and remove the detail. Longer (1 min) may have been even better in this case.

Lighthouse Implied

2011-03-08T21:32:00.001-08:00

While shooting along the California coast this past weekend, I stopped by the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. It was mid day and I knew I would not be back at sunset or late afternoon. The light was not great but it was better than it had been earlier that day so I decided to capture HDR sets for post processing later.

The first blog image turned out to be one of my favorites. In part, because it only implies the presence of a full lighthouse without showing the full lighthouse. Maybe the top is missing – you don’t know. In general the viewers mind will fill in the missing piece (a type of auto-completion). This concept is something to keep in mind when composing your images and deciding what to include in the frame. Do you need to show everything or is only a piece needed? The fence and walkway provide a nice S-curve back into the picture where you are left with the mystery. Using leading lines of various shapes add nicely to a composition.

As with some images, I found that I could process them for different looks that were all pleasing to me. I have shared a couple here for your viewing. Feedback on which approach you like better is welcome.

Blog image: Five exposure HDR image processed with HDR Efx Pro. The later was processed with SilverEfx Pro after the initial HDR processing.

What is a Camera

2011-03-05T21:57:00.001-08:00

Recently I was reading an article by Mark Lissick in Outdoor Photographer. He asked a very important question - What is a camera? How would you answer? The typical answers are "a device that records an image or an object that captures light". As Mark points out, how you view your camera can limit how you use it - does it just capture or record? As I thought about it, I realized my view of my camera has evolved over time. In the beginning I probably thought of it in the classical terms above (especially with my engineering background). However, at some point for me it became a tool or perhaps a canvas where I could paint most any image that I could imagine.

As I learned to use every control and capability of my camera I began to craft images as I visualized them in my head. I could slow down the shutter and paint moments of time on the back or canvas (sensor) of my camera creating brush strokes; I could blur out the backgrounds to create flowers floating in a sea of color; changing the focal length I could create depth. In this creative process the camera is just one of the many tools at your disposal. Reflectors, filters, lights, lens, etc. are additional tools. But as with any tool how well you know its capabilities and possibilities can limit or enhance your ability to create.

Take the time and get to really know the tools in your hands.

What is your camera for you?

Blog Images:

A slow shutter speed pan of the SE Oregon grasslands creating an impressionist painting of the landscape.
A slow shutter speed shot of flowers using the camera as a brush in circular motions.
A shallow depth of field to create a place a yellow flower in a sea of blue.

Abstraction

2011-02-25T22:09:00.001-08:00

There are probably times when you look around and think “There is nothing here to shoot.”. Maybe the subject matter around you isn’t that interesting or doesn’t ring your bell. That is a good time to think about abstraction. Try looking at how you can frame just pieces of the subject matter around you - get in tight. Don’t worry if you are losing subject context. Look for graphic patterns (triangles, circles, squares, diagonals, V’s, etc) or interesting textures. See if you can come up with an interesting composition or design. Think about ways you might post process the subject matter to add interest, deal with boring or clashing colors (B&W is good for that) or bring out texture (using contrast or clarity). With strong graphic abstracts, keep other distracting objects/materials out of the image or clone them out later if you have to.

The blog image was taken in a rental car parking garage. The car rental agent said “Follow the yellow lines to the elevator…”. Parking garages can often provide interesting graphic subjects. There wasn’t anything standing out to me in this one so I stopped and composed this diagonal view of the “yellow” line. It not only had strong graphic value, the concrete had a heavy texture. I found that processing the image as a high contrast cool B&W image added the punch the image needed and brought out the texture. I also burned in (darkened) the edges and corners to give it more depth.

Now look closely around you today and see what abstracts you can create.

Contemplation

2011-02-20T15:56:00.001-08:00

Now and then we just pause and contemplate life. When we do, we often fixate on an object or stare into the distance. Where am I going? Where is life taking me? Is it going where I want? What lens should I buy next?

To me, each of these blog images have a sense of contemplation, each with a different feel. The first image is calming and neutral emotionally. The heron staring in the distance and the overall blue tones support this calm feel.

The second image is a bit more negative emotionally and moody. A hole or dip in the ground, the burned in edges and the black and white processing add to this feel.

And the third image is more warm, optimistic and refreshing. Can’t you feel the balmy air soothing your soul. The strong warm tones and the familiar subject matter of breaking waves give the image a positive energy.

Color, light and subject matter all impact the viewer. Sometimes it will be different than yours, but often a common or shared subject and/or experience like the ocean at sunset is a good way to strike a common emotional chord.

Life as with these images can sometimes be the pits, just flowing along or bright and optimistic. I hope you are getting to experience some of the latter!

Doc on the Bay

2011-02-14T20:20:00.001-08:00

While staying at the beach recently, there was a nice dock across from the hotel. I spent one morning just exploring and working it from different places and perspectives. On top of it, below it, beside it, under it, etc. The lead image is one of many from that morning. If you remember my summer barn shots, there is a real similarity in look to this image.

This shows how shots you take where you live can help you better capture subjects when you are out at more distant locations.

As always, when you find a good subject, walk around, stick with it and work it. Don’t forget to use your camera both horizontally and vertically. It is so easy to get in the habit of using your camera only one way. If you want to see how strong your horizontal bias is, just look through your catalog of images – you will see what I mean.

Blog Image: These are all HDR images converted with Photomatix 4.0 and then post-processed with Silver Efx Pro.

Anniversary Missed

2011-02-08T21:20:00.001-08:00

I realized the other day that I have now been writing this blog for over two years as of January. While this blog has meandered around a bit, the overall theme continues to be about creating photographic art wherever you live, work and play - “Photography Along the Way”. With the advent of all the small relatively high resolution cameras and phones, like the iPhone, this is becoming even more true. Not only can you capture the image, but process it and post it from the field.

The blog image is an example of what you might find on a cold winter’s day; art that jumps out to you in its own unique way. You just need to stop, look and see.

When Skies are Gray

2011-01-31T21:54:00.001-08:00

I was reading an image description on Darren White’s Flickr page the other day and he commented on how most of his Oregon coast images were in black and white. He noted that this was due to the fact that so many times the skies were cloudy and gray. This is often the case. In fact the day after I shot the images in my previous blog entry the skies were gray. Given that, I didn’t shoot as many images and I knew I would be processing them in B&W. What am I trying to say? Remember to adapt when the weather isn't what you hoped for. Maybe you need to be seeing in B&W. Great images are still there to be captured.

Blog image: This is another long exposure image – 8 sec at f22 using a variable ND filter. In post processing, several things were done. A row of houses was removed from the far ridge using cloning (something I expected to do), the sky was darkened, foreground rocks were lightened and structure brought out in the water. Silver Efx Pro was used to convert and process the B&W image. I started with the high structure preset and added a red filter. I used a control point to bring out the far sea stack by adding contrast and darkening it. One thing I love in Silver Efx Pro is the “zone” bar that lets me see what portions of the image are in which tonal zone.

Beauty in the Mist

2011-01-27T18:34:00.001-08:00

This past weekend my wife and I took a little get away and caught one of those rare sunny and warm January/February days on the Oregon coast. It was pleasant and there was really good wave action. As late afternoon came on with the ocean just past high tide the table was set for a beautiful evening shoot. I had been wanting to do more experiments with long exposures and so I put on my variable ND filter. The results are what you see here.

All of the exposures were 3-6 sec long at f22. While the images look very good at this size they aren’t quite as perfectly sharp as I would have liked. There was a strong wind that was creating quite a bit of vibration in the tripod and camera (even with a large Gitzo Systematic tripod). I was able to keep one hand on a tripod leg to damp out the vibration but there is still some there (didn’t have a good weight handy). The other thing that comes with wind by the ocean is a steady fine mist that gets on your filter all the time. I had to constantly clean the filter (have lots of micro clothes handy for these conditions).

As you may have noticed, I love to mix and blend colors within my images using movement – movement of the camera, textured glass, or the subject itself. This was just another way to get that mixing and the colors are wonderful.

Do you have a favorite? Let me know.

Painters Tone Map

2011-01-23T18:45:00.001-08:00

It struck me the other day as I walked through the Portland Art Museum that painters use tone mapping when they create their images. Look at a master landscape painter’s work and you will see what I mean. You can have a painting with the sun shining right at you, yet detail and light in areas that would be very dark to black if shot as a normal picture. The painter sees the full High Dynamic Range of light (as you and I do) and maps the tones as he desires into tones that he can show on a canvas. In some respects, HDR photography has now given that power to photographers.

Blog Image: Just for fun I decided to take an HDR image and make it look like some of the work I saw in the museum. This was a 5 exposure image from Bandon, Oregon. I processed it in a rather extreme fashion in HDR Efx Pro from Nik. This resulted in the bright glow around the stacks to the right. The landscape painters did that in their paintings to create a high contrast area that draws the eye. There is also detail in the stack to the left that wouldn’t be there in a single exposure image but could be in a painting. I then used Topaz Simplify to set to the “oil painting” preset to add the texture. For the final touches, I desaturated the image a little, shifted the white balance (to a bit warmer) and added a vignette.

Night Beat

2011-01-20T18:33:00.001-08:00

It is easy to get in the habit of only shooting pictures during the daytime. After all, isn’t photography all about capturing light? But even in the night, especially in the city, there is plenty of light to be found. While it can be challenging, it is also fun and you get to see things in a new way. You will definitely want a tripod and keep an eye on the histogram.

Blog Image: I had been meaning to shoot this pathway many times this past year. But as I drove by it one night, I decided to stop then and there and get the shot. It was nice in the daytime, but it really popped with this nice nighttime side lighting. I converted the image to black and white using Nik’s Silver Efx Pro. This pathway is on the Pacific University campus in downtown Forest Grove.

Matting and Framing II

2011-01-17T19:43:00.001-08:00

Picking up from the blog before last, here are some additional questions I have asked myself relative to the framing and matting of prints. Again, I have provided my choices, but in the end it is up to your taste, cost structure, etc.

Color of the mat? This is a very debatable topic – color vs simple off white mats. I have chosen the off white to neutral color mat materials for all my images. I think it is easy to look unprofessional when you start mixing different color mats.
Double mats? Double mats look nice, but add more cost. I have chosen to go with a faux double mat look. I saw this at an Ansel Adams print showing and I liked the look. To create this faux look you make your print area smaller then the mat opening (say 1/4” on each edge). The white print area around the print combined with the mat gives it that double mat look. The tradeoff is that it is a bit more tedious to line up the print as you mount it in the mat.
Mat thickness? When you start looking at mat material you will find there are multiple thicknesses to choose from – 4,6 and 8 ply being the most common. Here I base the decision on the size of the print, whether it is a Special Edition or Limited Edition and sale price. For the larger, high end prints I use 6 or 8 ply mat. For the smaller Special Edition prints I use 4 ply. I can tell you that 8 ply looks really nice. One reason to use thicker mats for larger prints is that it keeps the print surface from ever touching the glass (it might stick).
Frame material? There are several choices for frame material: metal, wood, none, etc. So far I have chosen to go with wood frames. Metal is typically cheaper, but I personally prefer the look of wood. You can also choose to go with something like canvas wrapped prints (something that happens to be in right now).
Frame color? Black is a classic – especially for black and white images. For my color images, I prefer a warm medium to dark wood tone.
Dust seal? You may first be asking yourself what is a dust seal. It is the brown paper backing you see on professional framed artwork. I choose to do this for my Limited Edition high end framed prints. Generally this requires that you use wood frames – you glue the paper (when it is damp) to the frame itself.
Frame hanger? Again here there are several choices. A wire attached to the frame with D-ring hangers is the high end choice. If you are going to hang in a gallery – this is the preferred choice.

I am sure you may have yet more questions. If you do, feel free to ask them on this blog.

Blog image: A sunrise shot of a frost laden orchard near my home.

iPhoneography Along the Way

2011-01-15T14:44:00.001-08:00

I know I promised part two of my blog on Framing and Matting, but before I do, I just wanted to share a little more iPhonegraphy (as it is being called). For me iPhoneogrphy is just another way to create images along the way and where you are at - that is my overall primary message in this blog. iPhones just provide a convenient way to have a reasonable quality camera with you all the time.

This past week I arrived a bit early at the San Jose airport on a return trip home. Not having my camera gear with me I decided to make the best of it and shoot a few iPhone images. I have included a couple here.

Blog Images:

I waited a bit on this first image for people to be in good locations – balanced. In this case I got lucky and only one person was left facing into the scene – click!
Looking up, I liked the lines and colors of this cool ceiling. I framed the picture to create a strong diagonal and keep and odd number of lights.
The last two images I played with the “Slow Shutter” app again and with 1-2 sec shots took images of people’s feet stepping in and out of the frame. The patterns in the flooring allowed me to create interesting backgrounds. I braced the iPhone against a pillar, but wasn’t able to keep the background as sharp as I would have liked (needed a tripod). None the less the images came out very intriguing.

Matting and Framing

2011-01-09T17:05:00.001-08:00

This blog entry is for those who like it when I touch on the practical side of selling and marketing your images.

Inevitably as you start to look at selling prints, you have to ask, what sizes should I print? Should I matt them? Frame them? How? I know I had all these questions and a lot more as I started to sell prints. It took me a while to come to some conclusions on a lot of this so here are a few of my decisions:

I have personally chosen to only use mats and matting materials that are archive quality, acid free, cotton rag, etc. They aren’t the cheapest way to go, but I want my work to last and be a quality product all around. I use archive pigment inks and papers so I don’t want the matting materials ruining the print in time.
I try to use standard size mats to keep the cost down. Custom sizes cost more or require you to cut your own.
I have chosen so far not to cut my own mats. While that would allow more options and a custom look, I am choosing not to spend my time this way. You may choose differently. I use mats with 1:1, 6:4 and 2:1 ratio openings.
If I am selling matted prints. I choose mats whose outside dimensions fit off the shelf frame sizes when possible – this keeps the customers additional cost down when they buy my prints.
I typically buy my mats from matt providers like matcutter.com or framedestination.com . They are quick and so far they both provide quality work.

Here are more questions you will likely have:

How thick of a mat? 4,6 or 8 ply.
Should you double mat?
What color mat should you use?
Frame material and color?

I’ll touch on these and more in my next blog entry (or more).

Blog image: Another shot from one of the recent cold mornings. Ice on the edge of a pond. Nice oblique movement and interesting pattern of dark and lights. Cropped to a 2:1 ratio format.

Frosty Mornings

2011-01-06T19:58:00.001-08:00

Frosty mornings can present you with a lot of photographic material. With the recent cold snap in the NW I have taken the opportunity to get out a couple of mornings for some frosty shoots - once in the yard and a couple times out in the local areal. Frosty leaves and flora are a classic and I just can’t get enough of them.

What am I looking for when shooting frosted leaves or plants?

Nice color – rich subtle hues or bright primaries.
Simple compositional elements – oblique lines, circles, triangles, etc. without random crossing lines (like those caused by blades of grass). You might have to do a little finger pruning.
Are the corners filled or balanced and symmetrical?
Geometric pattern of color or just nice balance?
Is there a single element that draws the eye within the apparent chaos?
Nice frost.

Applying these to the blog images here is what we see in the first image:

Rich brown tones.
Diagonal composition formed by the leaves.
The corners are symmetrical. If there were leaves in three corners and only one with grass it would feel unbalanced.
Balanced with triangle in the corners.
For me the leaf near the upper right attracted my eye.

For the second image (this will look nice as a large print):

Beautiful mix of orange, yellow and green.
No real strong compositional element but a strong repeated pattern. No rogue grass blades, twigs,etc.
All corners are filled.
The individual colors are evenly spread throughout the image maintaining balance. Look at each color and see the balance.
For me the lighter green leaf cluster near the upper right caught my eye.

Was I thinking about all of this while shooting the images? Actually I was. It is pretty automatic now due to experience.

Happy New Year! - Notan

2011-01-01T22:50:00.001-08:00

Thought I would get out a last minute Happy New Year to all of my readers out there. To start off the year I decided to write about notan. Not nothing but notan.

Notan is “a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark next to each other in art…”. Or as it was put in a new book I was reading, Photographic Composition A Visual Guide, “The importance of negative space (ground) being seen as having shape and being harmonious with shapes in positive space (figure)”. The yin-yang symbol is a classic example. As in these two abstract blog images, neither the figure or ground (subject or background) are dominant and they balance each other.

These images were created from a Christmas decoration setting on our fireplace mantle. Having just read about notan these images came to mind as I stared at the decoration. The decoration is shown from a wider perspective below.

Another place to find notan material is in shadows. If the sun is shining where you live, go out and look for the interplay of dark and light on a sidewalk, see what you can find.

Seeing Anywhere (w/iPhoneography)

2010-12-29T10:40:00.001-08:00

I started this morning reading a quote from Ernst Hass,”The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to see “.

Later I was accompanying my wife and daughter to a clothing store. Not having much to look at myself, I started to see the palettes of color around me. Thinking of a new app, “Slow Shutter” (I had just loaded it on my iPhone), I decided to play with the colors around me and create color abstracts using iPhone pans and swipes.

This is what was there:

The opening blog image and those that follow are what I “saw”.

This next image was created from several black tops hanging on different color hangers. Again you can see what was there and then what I saw. Now you may say, how can one “see” those things? The answer is simply imagination, practice and experience. I looked for pleasing color schemes, individual colors mixed with opposites, used oblique lines for more energy, etc.

Was all I saw abstract colors? No. Here are a couple more images from that store visit. One indoors and the other out waiting in the truck.

Blog images: As noted above the first images were all created using an iPhone with the “Slow Shutter” app. For the images here I varied the shutter speed from 1/4sec to 4sec. In some cases I just moved the camera up and down or along the dominant lines, in others, I would twist the camera while moving it forward or backward (with the longer shutter speeds). I tried a variety of motions seeing what patterns I could create.

The last two images are straight shots using the standard iPhone camera app, the later being shot through a rain drenched window.

Power of the Oblique

2010-12-26T11:44:00.001-08:00

While out shooting nighttime shots this past week I was reminded of the power of using oblique angles when composing an image. Look at the two blog images. The subject was interesting, but a straight up and down composition was less than exciting. Is this an original idea for a neon sign? No. But it definitely made this image have a lot more punch.

Blog Images: This was shot in downtown McMinnville Oregon while I was HDR Christmas window shopping. These are not HDR images – didn’t really need the wide luminance range. All adjustments were done in Lightroom 3.2. Both images were burned and dodged in basically the same way for comparison purposes.

All About the Eyes

2010-12-22T17:03:00.001-08:00

Just a quick blog entry with a couple of shooting tips for the holidays. As you gather with your families during this holiday season and maybe take some family pictures, remember the eyes. When people view an image they are immediately drawn to faces. And specifically the viewer will focus in on the eyes. So if you’re shooting with your DSLR and maybe a large aperture in a dimly lit room, remember that the eyes need to be in focus.

Personally I try to use flash as little as possible and take advantage of window light. Open the drapes and let whatever light is outdoors flow into the room. Catch people when then are facing a window. Get in there, get intimate shots. Have fun and don’t sweat it. Use a flash if you need it – sharp with flash is better than blurred without.

By all means put down the camera at some point and just be there – you know what I mean.

Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

The Unknown

2010-12-19T07:28:00.001-08:00

We just had a loss in our family – a 3rd grandchild that we will never know on this earth. While we didn’t get to know this child, the loss is definitely felt. A place in our hearts that looked forward to meeting them, getting to know their unique personality will for now remain empty. It is not until one has experienced a miscarriage or closely know those that have that you can understand the loss. Not many people talk of this and you don’t know how many have experienced this loss until this happens. You then find there are many around you who have. Maybe we try not to make a big deal out of it –after all we really didn’t get to know them or raise them for any period of time. This is likely what most of us who have not personally experienced this think. While this never happened to my wife and I, we have known many who have – parents, friends, siblings and now our children. All I can say is that if this happens to someone close to you, be patient, kind and understanding. It will likely take time and grace to heal the pain and loss of one who will remain unknown.

Blog Images: I selected the first image for its sense of something missing, emptiness or loss. The second image is one of hope – it is entitled “Resurrection”.

Just Say No

2010-12-18T09:51:00.001-08:00

I am not sure what the person in this house was saying NO to, but part of being a good photographer is knowing when to say no. No to taking an image, no to processing an image, no to the subject matter and no to some sales venue. Why do I say this? Because we are finite. We don’t have infinite time and resources. And as one photographer I respect put it, you just can’t shoot everything.

What this is all about, is becoming a more mature and refined photographer. Hopefully over time, if we critically evaluate our work, we learn not only what makes for a good photograph, but what doesn’t. We pass on shots we might have once taken. Maybe we need to wait for better light, the subject just isn’t that strong, or there isn’t any way to create a strong composition from the elements. In reviewing our images, we learn which ones are worth saving/processing and the ones that should be deleted (so hard to do). Maybe a sales venue consumes a lot of time with little in the way of real sales (low return on time invested).

I suspect learning to say no is harder when you don’t make your living from your photography. Because if you do, you have to learn to make the best of your time. Learning the discipline of saying no might make or break you.

Now does saying no mean you don’t take risks, try new things or explore new opportunities? No, just the opposite. The time you saved should give you some of the time you need to explore new things.

More Christmas Nostalgia

2010-12-12T20:01:00.001-08:00

Last year I captured a similar image to the one above and decided later that the picture really needed to have a person in it (see the image below). I wasn’t bold enough last year to ask one of the workers to pose (that is different now). This year I went back and took someone along to pose. Fortunately the tree stand was in the same place and I caught it just before closing. I think it is a definite improvement. Maybe you have images like that. You might have to wait a while (like a whole year) to reshoot, but it can be worth it.

Note that my post processing of this years image is much more subdued and more natural. Which do you like better?

See my previous blog for the basic post processing steps used to create the images above.

Yuletide Nostalgia

2010-12-11T11:02:00.001-08:00

It is time to shoot another round of HDR Christmas images. I like looking for scenes or window displays that have a nostalgic feel to them. The HDR illustrative look really lends itself to this type of image.

Basic steps for this look:

Shoot for HDR – likely a five stop range for these – three in some cases.
Adjust the white balance in the HDR image set using your RAW processing software before you start the HDR processing. Lightroom or ACR for example .
Process for a grunge look with something like Photomatix. I tend to keep the light smoothing set mid to max, max strength, max microcontrast and max luminosity. Set the color slider to your taste (you can correct it in step 5 as well).
Save the image after adjusting tone settings.
Reopen the saved image in Photomatix and process it with the sliders set as they were for step 3. Fine tune the color. Save again.
With your standard post processing tool (Elements, Lightroom, Photoshop, etc.) correct the contrast (almost always required), add a vignette, burn/dodge, clean up the image if needed, etc.

I was fortunate to find these images in my town of Forest Grove. Check out antique shops in your area one night.

Train Car

2010-12-06T19:24:00.001-08:00

I have shot images of this old train car a couple of years now. Different light, different times of year, different angles, from the inside out, from low angles, wide angle and telephoto. This is just one my latest captures from this past fall. The lighting was great and so was the color. In this image the train car is just one piece of a bigger picture.

Blog image: Post processed with Nik Soft Color Efx Pro and Viveza 2. Filters included “Color Contrast Range” and “Darken/Lighten Center” from Color Efx Pro. Hue/Saturation adjustments were also made in Photoshop (toned down the reds).

Snow and patterns

2010-12-02T21:53:00.001-08:00

Well we had our first snow this past week. It didn’t amount to much so I decided to play with the patterns the snow created on our back patio. While I tried lots of variations, the lead blog image is my favorite. As luck would have it a few new leaves fell on the patio and I was able to find this nice triangular formation – No I didn’t place any of these leaves. Challenging yourself to find strong composition elements or patterns like this is part of training your eye to create pleasing compositions - ones that play off the fact that our brains like patterns.

The second image shows a simpler less dynamic shot, but it too was created with composition elements in mind. While the leaf is centered, notice that the background consists of a three by three grid with only three full bricks shown. This was no accident - the shot was carefully framed.

Trees in Fog

2010-11-26T16:08:00.001-08:00

I was once told that the best selling photograph of all time was the picture of a fence zig zagging to a tree in the fog – you may have seen it in frame stores, etc. I don’t know that that is true, but I can definitely understand the appeal. A copy of that photograph hung in my office for a while as an inspiration piece. Maybe that is why I shoot so many trees in the fog? The blog image is a recent example that I shot in the vineyard near my home. There are vines out there in the distance, but you can’t see them (and you weren’t suppose to).

Blog image: Sepia toned with some burning in (darkening) of the sky/fog around the tree. A little contrast added to the tree to make it pop out a little better.

Fall Orchards

2010-11-23T22:11:00.001-08:00

Can you resist an orchard on a foggy day? I know I can’t. On the way to work this past week I noticed there was a nice fog in the local orchards (I vary my drive many days just so I can see what is happening in different areas). No matter how many times I shoot in the orchards I find there is always some composition I haven’t tried before.

Do you have some subject you shoot over and over? Do you press your self to come up with something new and different? Some times it can be really hard (frustrating even) and other times it just flows. This particular day was somewhere in the middle. In some ways it can be like exercise, some days its easier than others. But either way you come out stronger and maybe feeling better.

These image were all taken that morning.

Blog Images:

Looks straight forward but I did use a focal composite (in CS5) to get the detailed depth and compressed view I wanted.
This is a simple slightly wide field shot – 35mm focal length equivalent.
This shot had a Polariad Transfer filter applied to if from Nik’s Color Efx Pro during post processin.
As always, I have to grab a pan shot to add to my Seasonal Immersions portfolio.

Golden Portal

2010-11-20T09:32:00.001-08:00

Ever been to a place you know has been photographed a million times before and you are looking for a way to do something new? That was the case when I shot this classic image under the Siuslaw Bridge in Florence, Oregon. While I caught it at a nice tide level and at sunset, I wanted more than the classical image (I still shot that though). Applying a technique I learned from Tony Sweet when shooting under a pier, I put on the vari-ND and set up the tripod. This exposure was 25 sec. After about 10-15 seconds, I slowly zoomed in on the image for the rest of the exposure. This allows for the arches to be very distinct and transparent at the same time. When during post processing I found that the image felt unbalanced (because of the lighting from one side) I decided to apply a “Dreamscape” mirror. (See my video on this by clicking here for more on that) This made it balanced and enhanced the surreal feel of the image.

Preparing for Print Sales

2010-11-16T08:50:00.001-08:00

It is the holiday bazaar season and I thought I would take up an offer form a client to sell some prints and cards at her holiday shop. Perhaps you are getting ready for a sale yourself. There is more than meets the eye in getting ready (beyond all the details that go into preparing your artwork – printing, signing, mounting, framing, etc.)

Here are a few questions you might want to ask the shop owner before you show up with the prints.

What is your commission rate? Typically 30-50% depending on the venue (bazaar to fine art gallery).
Do you have a way to display matted prints, cards, etc or do I need to provide that? You may need to provide bins, racks, etc.
Do you advertise? This may determine whether the venue is a good use of your time and effort. You may also want to do some advertising yourself – maybe a postcard mailing to your contact list.
What is the price range of products or art that typically sell in your shop or bazaar? Not a good idea to put $300+ prints where most buyers are only spending less than $200.
When do you need my artwork delivered? Day before, week before, etc
Do you have room to stock any inventory? You may need to hold prints and be ready to restock if sales are good.
To what level of detail do you track what sells? A shop owner may only know that you sold 20 cards or 5 prints, but not which prints or cards. You should have a detailed inventory so you know what is selling (market research).
Do you need an inventory list? They might require this given you are leaving valuable goods in their hands. You may want one so there is not disagreement or mistakes later on the payment you should receive.

This is just a short list of items that you need to address , but not an exhaustive one.

If you live in the area and are interested in one of my prints you will be able to find them every weekend until Christmas (Dec 19th) at Willakenzie Lavender Farm in Yamhill, Oregon. For a map – click here.

Blog image: This is a multiple exposure (9 exp) image of leaves blended with one single exposure image of the leaves. Using a brush and mask layer in Photoshop I brought out the one single leaf.

Fall Fog

2010-11-13T08:33:00.001-08:00

We are into the foggy season here in the Northwest. It comes on with the transition from fall to winter. We only have a little moisture in the air out here in the Northwest (really) so it is easy to get days where the air temperature drops enough to create fog (technically speaking when the temperature and dew point are within about 4 degrees). But don’t worry about the technical definition. If you see a change in the weather forecast from a warm trend to a cool trend and you have moisture – look for fog.

I love to shoot on quiet foggy mornings. It is so peaceful and the subtle hues of color are great. This week I had another chance to go back to the vineyard near my home. The blog images were taken there.

Around the Yard

2010-11-06T10:21:00.001-07:00

As I was coming back from a fall color shoot I noticed there were still a couple flowers blooming in the yard. I had been itching to create some additions to my “Floral Fusion” portfolio. Unlike the past, I left these flowers in place (vs. bringing them into the studio). The wind was calm enough and a pop out diffuser provided shade when needed. As in the past these images are a blend (or fusion) of multiple exposures. Sometimes they are blended in camera and sometimes in Photoshop using layers and a brush. I used the later for both of these images. As you can see they both proved to be great subjects and the color mix of the backgrounds was great.

Blog Images: Both of these are textured glass blends: morning glory and kaffir lilies.

Just Next Door

2010-11-04T19:19:00.001-07:00

In the search for fall color I have driven around a bit, but it turns out there was some great subject matter right next door – well more like the other side of the hill. David Hill Winery is just a couple minutes from my home (I live on part of the hill). A while back I asked the owners about being able to photograph there outside of their regular hours. They said sure, no problem. So the last couple of days I have taken them up on that – late evening and early morning. It has been great fun shooting in and around the vineyard. All the vines are bright yellow and seem to glow after sunset. Unfortunately the grapes have been harvested, so no grape images but I am more than happy with what is there.

What do you have next door waiting?

Blog Images:

1) This is just a straight shot taking advantage of the evening glow just after sunset. The quality of light was exceptional.

2) This was taken the next morning just as the sun was starting to light up the tops of the vines. This is a 0.4sec pan where the camera is moving along the angle of the vines.

Fall Again

2010-11-03T07:50:00.001-07:00

It is fall again and the effort to find new and exciting images is well underway. While color has been sparse in some areas, there is still great color to be found in others. I visited one of my favorite fall locations again this year – the Portland Hoyt Arboretum. There is one particular group of trees at the arboretum that tends to have the best color and groupings. I have shot there multiple times now. The blog image is a 0.4sec pan with a branch from the front tree close to the camera on the left and around the top. A wide angle (17mm) let me get this perspective. The image has only had tonal, color saturation and touch up work done in the post processing. The rest of the “look” comes from the camera panning action.

Sunburst

2010-11-01T07:19:00.001-07:00

Now and then we are fortunate enough to witness a sunburst in the fog - where the sun breaks though a span of trees and magically we see sun rays shooting off in every direction. That was the case Friday morning this past week as I was driving to work. The phenomenon actually went on for quite a while as I stood there with my tripod trying different compositions as the sun rose up the trees creating various sunburst patterns. Sometimes I kept the sun behind a tree trunk and in others I let it peak out as in the image above. As with most back lit shots the exposure had to be adjusted off of that indicated by the auto exposure. I also used auto bracketing to generate HDR image data. This image was processed with Nik’s new HDR Efx Pro – keeping it very natural.

HDR Side Effects

2010-10-24T13:46:00.001-07:00

As I prepared for a talk this week on HDR photography, I started thinking about one of the issues I have personally dealt with when it comes to HDR photography. No not the “it’s not realistic” debate, but a side effect of shooting HDR – you can become photographically lazy. What do I mean by that?

You can allow it to effect you in many ways:

You may not look as closely at the quality of light in a scene. After all you can change the look of the lighting later in processing. You may not wait for the best light.
You may not take the time to determine the best exposure. After all you can just shoot your set of HDR exposures and as long as you capture everything (per the histogram) you can deal with it later.
You may take an image you should delete and try to process your way out of it. You know the images I am talking about.
You can get hooked on the surrealistic HDR looks you can create (which are great fun) and forget the subtle enhancements you can do for that realistic look you wanted at the start (better highlights and shadows). This is not unlike the first time a photographer gets their hand on a saturation slider!

Am I saying not to shoot HDR? Of course not. But just beware and check yourself to make sure some of these side effects aren’t settling into your work. Try shooting non-HDR for a short time if you need to. Focus on honing your basic light observation skills and exposure skills again – they come back quickly.

Any of you know what I am talking about? What has been your experience with HDR?

Blog Image: This is a simple sample of using HDR to bring out very subtle detail in shadows and highlights but keeping it natural.

Empty Chair Emotions

2010-10-21T09:23:00.001-07:00

Looking through a friend’s images on Flickr, I was reminded of how much impact an empty chair can have in an image. I just presented a brief talk at my local photo club on shooting and processing for emotional impact so I am thinking about it this morning.

I have shot quite a few empty benches, picnic tables, etc in my time. They seem to draw me in. Perhaps they represent loss or grief, loneliness or maybe a place we wish to be. I know one client feels the later about the second image; so much so she ordered a large framed print. What do they say to you? What do they make you feel?

Another Floral Fusion

2010-10-19T21:44:00.001-07:00

Before the flowers are all gone,I wanted to create a couple more floral fusion images from my garden. One of my favorite flowers is the Windflower, shown above, that blooms late in the summer. Using moving textured glass techniques I created this image by blending a straight high depth of field shot with one where the shutter speed was around a 1/2 sec with a moving piece of textured glass in between the camera and flower. No paint programs are involved.

Afterglow

2010-10-15T18:28:00.001-07:00

As I have noted in previous blogs it pays to hang around after sunset. Once the golden hour has passed the blue hour begins. I continue to be amazed at how many photographers pick up their tripods and leave once the sun sets. That was the case at my recent sunset shoot at Bandon beach. Not to be critical, but they are missing out. Some of the most spectacular orange and blue tone combinations occur during this time. The blog image is just a taste of what can be seen. It was taken a good 30 minutes after sunset. Tripods required.

Face in the Sun

2010-10-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

Face rock on Bondon beach at sunset. This image required a bit of footwork to get to the place where the sun would set in the eye of Face rock. I had hoped to get a star burst on the eye, but multiple attempts failed. Instead I went with this look. It makes me think of a how it feels to put your face in the sun after a long period of cloudy days, which happens a lot in Oregon.

More Tranquility

2010-10-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

In my search for tranquility on a recent road trip, I found some at Bandon beach (Oregon) on a quiet morning before sunrise. Shooting on this highly photogenic beach you can feel a bit of pressure to create something totally new (hard to do at a place so photographed). I shot one sunset session a couple nights before in which I just got my feet wet (figuratively and physically) and found compositions weren't flowing all that readily - at least not ones that intrigued me. I found the morning light much more to my taste.

The blog image is just one from that morning.

Take a Look

2010-10-09T20:22:00.001-07:00

Today I was introduced to the work of a young (19 old) photographer, Evan Sharboneau. He has a different and creative approach to photography. If you need to be inspired by some very unique images take a look at his work on the web. It can be found in multiple places: http://www.redbubble.com/people/thevlue, blog at http://www.photoextremist.com and http://www.vlue.deviantART.com.

His work will just give you a taste of some of the radical things that can be done with all the tools available to the young photographer in the digital age. Just imagine the images that will be produced by the next generation of photographers.

Blog image: One of Evan’s images. See his blogs to see how it was made.

Good News

2010-10-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share the good news that I have been awarded an exhibit next year at the Glenn & Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center. This was a situation where my work was competing against art from many disciplines so I am very pleased. If you are in the area (Hillsboro Oregon), my work will be on exhibit all of June 2011. There will be two bodies of work on exhibit: Floral Fusions and Seasonal Immersions.

So how do I feel about it? This will be my first formal exhibit so I am grateful for the opportunity, excited and nervous. There will be a lot of work to do – I have been awarded the whole lower floor (20-30 prints needed). I will need to finalize my selections, print, matte and frame them. If things go well, hopefully there will be a couple of prints sold.

The blog images are samples from Floral Fusions and Seasonal Immersions respectively.

Footwork and Dunes

2010-10-05T08:10:00.001-07:00

One of the keys to finding good compositions is footwork. Using the zoom alone doesn’t cut it. Not fancy footwork, but just plain walking side to side, backward and forward, etc. But when you are in the sand dunes, that footwork can be hard work. That was the case as I was shooting at the Oregon National Dunes last week.

The blog images illustrate one other thing. When shooting dunes, white balance can make a lot of difference. Even when shooting in the late afternoon with a warm sun, if you have a blue sky you can shift blue. I find that I like some images better warm and other with the cool blue shadows. Do you have a preference?

Out in SE Oregon

2010-09-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

There is no shortage of barns, old and new, around SE Oregon. Here is just one of the more unique ones. This the first HDR image I have processed using Photomatix Pro 4 Beta - I am really pleased with the look.

Tranquility

2010-09-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Just looking for some tranquility as we road trip along. We found these rocks stacked in a river during a walk around a campground. The next morning, light reflected off of the nearby foliage created beautiful colors on the water surface. A 4 second exposure added to the tranquil feeling.

Road-tripping

2010-09-16T21:12:00.001-07:00

Time for my wife and I to hit the road, relax and have fun together. Will I be shooting? What do you think? Will I be blogging – probably not much. I don’t expect a lot of internet or even phone access where we are headed – but then I am always surprised by what is available in the middle of what appears to be no where.

Blog image: Just a simple shot on the Wilson River about 20min from my home. Feels a bit appropriate as we head out down the road.

Why Blog?

2010-09-14T20:35:00.001-07:00

Why blog? This is a good question to ask yourself every now and then - if you write a blog. I am reading David duChemin’s latest book, “VisionMongers – Making a Life and Living in Photography” and somewhere in the middle chapters of the book he talks about blogging. His discussion got me thinking about my blog and how I may have drifted over time away from my original intent. It has been awhile since I really just talked from the heart and gut about my pursuit of photography. I tend to be a bit of a private person, so opening up and sharing what is going on inside and expressing my heartfelt thoughts in a blog isn’t a totally natural thing for me. I think it is for David duChemin (if you haven’t read any of his books, I highly recommend them).

Open sharing is really the basis for any real relationship and a blog can be one way we relate to others. I have shared at that level at times (if you have been reading along for the past 20+ months you probably know that) but it hasn’t been as consistent as I would like. It is my goal to do more of that level of sharing as I go forward. Feel free to interact and participate in the dialog if you like.

So what do I see this blog being about? For now I see three primary purposes.

To relate - Share experiences that might just let you know you are not alone in some of the things you go through or feel as a photographer.
To teach - Share useful concepts, techniques or methods. My new screencast videos fall into this category.
To inspire -Continue to share new images that might provide inspiration or vision to you as a photographer.

Blog image: Don’t let the rain keep you from shooting. I shot this image through my rain coated windshield (thanks to my wife’s suggestion). It was then double processed through Photomatix Pro even though it was a single image. Should make for a good screen cast some day.

I have added a link to David duChemin’s blog on my list of favorites.

2nd Video Tutorial - Barn in B&W w/Lightroom 3

2010-09-11T20:42:00.001-07:00

I decided to go ahead and re-process the same barn image used in the first tutorial but with Adobe’s Lightroom 3. As with most post processing there is more than one way to achieve a desired result. The final image should come from your vision – the tools are just a means to get there. These two video tutorials allow you to compare different ways of performing B&W conversion and basic image tonal adjustments to reach a common vision. To see the video, you can click here or on the image above.

The image below is the one processed before using Silver Efx Pro. It is linked to the first video.

Feel free to give me any feedback.

Dreamscapes

2010-09-08T12:17:00.001-07:00

I recently purchased Andre’ Gallants' book “Dreamscapes”. Andre is a protégé of Freeman Patterson and his book contains a set of wonderful images he created based on overlaying different images. If you are looking for some new inspiration I highly recommend it.

I have included a couple images inspired by this book.

Blog images:

This one is very much a vertical mimic of the cover shot of the book. Just the first thing that popped to mind.
A different kind of mirror image. One in which the image is copied mirrored and overlaid completely on the first.
This is an overlay of one image of a building with a close-up of the building’s texture. These texture overlays are popular today but have been around quite a while.

1st Video Tutorial – Barn in B&W w/Silver Efx Pro

2010-09-02T15:11:00.001-07:00

As I promised in my previous blogs I have created my first video tutorial. It demonstrates the conversion of a color HDR image into an HDR Black and White image using Nik Software’s Silver Efx Pro plus a bit of Color Efx Pro. Note that the video is HD so when you go to the Vimeo sight right click on the video and select full screen. in the popup menu.

Click here to go to the video tutorial

It isn’t perfect, but hopefully you will find it useful. Please feel free to leave me feedback – it will help me produce better videos as time goes on.

Old Barns

2010-08-29T18:58:00.001-07:00

If any of you have been following my Flickr Photostream you may have noticed a lot of old barns lately – converted to black and white. The detail you can bring out in a B&W HDR barn image is just wonderful. Old barns strike a cord with me, either because I am getting old or because I had the privilege as a teenager of working on a farm – mostly tossing hay bales around. Must be the later. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites from the series so far.

Note: I am still working on the first video – taking a bit longer then I thought to work out all the technical kinks. The first video will cover the B&W conversion of a barn image so stay tuned.

More Sunflowers

2010-08-21T17:53:00.001-07:00

As I promised in my previous blog here are some additional ideas of what do with sunflowers.

Blog Images:

The lead blog image is just a simple close-up but getting it wasn’t simple. I was shooting outdoors in the early morning light. There was just the slightest breeze, but not enough to let me shoot the length of exposure I needed for f36 (need the DoF when you are this close). A really high ISO might have gotten me there, but instead I shot at f10 at 1/30sec and ISO 640 and shot five images each with the focal point moving from the front of the flower to the back pedals. As in a previous blog I used the focus stacking capability of Photoshop CS5.

A bridal veil drawn vertically across a group of sunflowers was used to create the unique look shown here. The shutter was a bit long to allow the veil to blur a bit. Window light and reflectors were again used for illumination.

The next image was shot in the same field as those in my previous blog using the wheat as a background. For the unique look shown here I applied the Monday Morning – Sepia filter from Nik Software’s ColorEfx Pro. Viveza 2 was used to lighten the lower center of the sunflower. Finally the edges and wheat were burned in using Photoshop’s burn tool.

In the final image, three sunflowers were arranged in a vase in my studio and shot using window light and reflectors against a black background. A wide angle lens was used to create the perspective (I don’t use wide angle lenses indoors all that often). Again I used the Monday Morning filter but with different slider adjustments. After that the Tonal Contrast filter was used to bring out a bit more texture. The face of the front sunflower was lightened a bit using Viveza 2.

NOTE: I plan on adding How-To videos to my blog in the near future. If there is any image you would like me to walk through the post processing let me know.

Sunflowers

2010-08-13T16:47:00.001-07:00

It is definitely the time of year for sunflowers. They are showing up on everyone’s blog. So in keeping with the trend, here are a few of my recent sunflower images. This set is all from one sunflower field. If you can’t think of new ways to shoot sunflowers, these might stimulate some ideas. Here in Oregon the sunflower fields are pretty spread out. I found the nearest one using Google, a place called Grandma’s Garden.

Blog images:

The opening image is a field of sunflowers overexposed. I must admit I came into this image sideways. I was actually shooting an HDR image and decided I liked the look of the +1 stop exposure. I hope to get back and shoot a panoramic vs. this crop.
A wheat field was next to the sunflower field and made for a great background (color and texture). I used the tonal contrast filter in Color Efx Pro to bring out more texture.
For this image i did a 9 image multiple exposure while rotating the lens in its collar and keeping the rotation point over one sunflower off of center.
The final image utilizes the wheat field edge, which had a little curve, to add more compositional interest as the sunflowers tapered off into the distance. I used the side facing sunflower to push the viewer’s look back and to the right - making the C-curve stronger.

I am sure I will be posting some more sunflower images in a future blog.

Learning About IR Photography - Revised

2010-08-08T19:11:00.001-07:00

As I continue to shoot different subjects in infrared, I am starting to learn a couple things I didn’t know. Note that I am shooting IR using a Nikon D70 which has been converted/modified for infrared image capture.

REVISED – I realized as I was shooting more IR today that what I wrote down yesterday was backwards. My apologies. Here is a more correct explanation

CORRECTED - Metering behavior is different. At first it seemed a bit erratic. While the meter still looks at the visible light, the amount of IR energy in the scene can vary with the subject and time of day. If the scene is mostly green foliage the meter will read that typically as 18% gray tone. However, green foliage emits a lot of IR and is thus very bright (more as the day goes on) – it is almost white. Your meter is effectively overexposing for a scene that is mostly white not gray as it measured. This means you need to adjust the EV –1 to –2 to keep the image from blowing out. On the opposite end, images with a lot of water or other “cool” elements (that record nearly black) may require adjusting your EV +1 to +2. For a nice mix of say sky and foliage the meter gets it about right. In time you start to see the infrared image in your head and compensate your exposure accordingly. Checking the LCD and histogram is a good idea too.
Not all lenses behave the same. Besides the usual lens flare issue you can encounter in normal photography, there are hot spots (milky areas near the center of the image – shown in the adjacent image). Some lenses are very prone to this while others are not. Apparently the behavior depends on the coatings for a specific lens. It is aggravated by small apertures. Using wider apertures may help but may not eliminate the problem (but you lose depth of field). Bottom line, standard camera lenses are not necessarily designed or tested for the infrared light spectrum. One last note, apparently this hot spot can often be eliminated in post processing by not using the color channel in which the spot is dominate. I didn’t find that worked on the image shown to the right.
Even if your modified camera was adjusted so that the IR light focuses correctly on your sensor for one lens it may not for others. Same bottom line as above – standard cameras and lenses are not designed for IR. If you avoid shooting with the aperture too wide open this will not be a problem.

Now don’t let these things scare you off from going into digital IR. They aren’t that big of an issue once you know about them. They might limit you in some ways, but infrared photography opens up a whole new photographic frontier for you to explore.

Finally, I have been experimenting with different post processing to see what I like. The final blog image is one example of using toning with a heavy vignette on an infrared image.

More on Simple – How to

2010-08-01T20:15:00.001-07:00

Here is another example of keeping things simple. This image is all about the light and composition. Even the depth of field is simple – everything is in focus, front to back. But there is the rub. Keeping all of this in focus was not simple. This close up was shot with a 105mm macro lens at f32 but that did not keep everything in sharp focus. To get things sharp from front to back I had to take three exposures with the focal point different for each one: front edge, stamen and back interior. Fortunately there are great tools like Photoshop CS5 that allow you to align and blend three images with just a couple mouse clicks.

Here is how you do that:

Import your set of exposures as separate layers in Photoshop.
Select all of the layers.
On the Edit pull down menu select Auto-Align Layers.
In the Auto-Align popup box select “Perspective” and click OK.
When that is done go back up to the Edit menu and select Auto-Blend Layers… and select “Stack Images” in the popup box. Click OK.
At this point you should have a nicely blended image with only the sharp focus section of each exposure used.
If there are some artifacts or errors on Photoshop’s part, you can go in and touch up the Mask layers, created by Photoshop, with a brush as needed.
Flatten out the layers and you are done.
Now wasn’t that simple?

Keeping it Simple – In color or B&W

2010-07-28T11:45:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed that I like to work (play) with a lot of different techniques in my photography; both in the capture and post-processing. However there are times when keeping everything simple just seems best. This is one of the reasons I like a lot of William Neill’s images. The blog image is one example of my keeping it simple. I have also included it in Black and White.

One of the keys to “simple” is simply great light. Another is just simple composition – think simple graphics.

So if you are like me, and like to push the limits, step back now and then and keep it is simple.

Take Along a Friend

2010-07-25T19:40:00.001-07:00

Photographers often shoot alone and I know we may often prefer it that way, but next time you go out consider bringing another photographer along with you. You not only keep each other company, you get so see how someone else sees the same subject in a different way. I think this is one of the appeals of a photography workshop or a photography club, but you don’t have to wait for a workshop or a club outing, just give someone a call, email or twitter before you head out. I think you will be glad you did.

Blog images: Here are a couple images I took on an evening drive out to the coast with a couple friends. The lead blog image is a 15sec exposure taken using a vari-ND to soften the water. The second image is an HDR image taken near dusk. The third image used the vari-ND again with a bit of Nik Soft fog added to create yet more mystery and depth. The final image was created using the “Holga” preset in Nik Soft SilverEfx Pro with some minor adjustments

Just Say No?

2010-07-14T06:39:00.001-07:00

Do you find it hard to resist shooting a subject even when all the conditions are "wrong"? Bright sun, wind, wrong lens, wrong camera, etc. I do. While this can force you to be creative in your handling of the subject and sometimes that works. Most of the time it may just be best to come back and shoot later when conditions are more favorable. Now I know this may create some arguments, but the reality is we only have so much time and isn't it better to invest your time when the odds of getting strong images are most favorable. I am not talking about being a fair weather photographer - I personally would view inclement conditions as generally favorable. But there are times like Sunday when the sun was just plain harsh, I accidently forgot one of my camera's with my mid-range zoon, my wide angle was in the shop and the wind was blowing. Not exactly prime conditions to shoot images of lavender with a macro or long lens. Did I try to shoot? Yes. Should have I, I don't think it was a good use of my time. I did do some multi-exposures, swipes and long exposures (multiple seconds with my Vari-ND), but nothing really came out strong because the light was just inappropriate for the subject. Was it a good exercise? Maybe. What are you thoughts on this? Are you driven to shoot when you know it probably won't be worthwhile?

Blog image: I did try to shoot some classic lavender images with my long lens. A cloud did pass over now and then so I waited for one, upped the ISO and waited for lulls in the wind. The image was still very flat and unsaturated (RAW image on left). In post processing I adjusted the white balance, added saturation, contrast and then applied the Orton filter effect which is good on low contrast images.

A Different Texture Overlay – How To

2010-07-07T12:23:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed a lot images using texture overlays as of late. You take two images overlay them and blended them together - a nicely textured rock overlaid and with a flower for example. But if you go back to the writings of Freeman Patterson, he discovered that you could create textured images using multiple exposures where you mix images of different subjects along the way. This is probably best explained through an example - like the opening blog image.

Two types of flowers have been combined via multiple exposures to create the blog image. A total of seven exposures went into this image. As in the past, this has all been done in camera (a Nikon feature, but you can recreate this using layers in Photoshop).

First a background pattern or texture if you will was laid down by taking the first five exposures of the Blue Star Thistle shown on the left. The five images combine into a background image that looks something like the next image. Note that you can create texture images like this and use it to blend with other images you may already have.

Second, two additional exposures were take of the Helen’s flower shown here. Note that you may need to up the EV +1 for these last two exposures to bring them out a bit more.

Hints:

Choose the colors of your material carefully so they work together. Here we have a classic blue/orange combination.
For the background (thistle in this case), try to create a nice even texture by thinking ahead about the framing of the multi-exposures.
Post process for contrast, saturation, etc as desired. I did little to not adjustments on the blog image.

Have fun!