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Glen Avon Falls No. 2 – Beaver River, North Shore of Lake Superior

 Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Lightroom Workflow, Black and White, High Dynamic Range, Lake Superior, Lake Superior Photography, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Minnesota, Nikon D3x, North Shore of Lake Superior, Photography Technique, Photography Tools, Photography Trips, Photomatix HDR, Photoshop Technique, Photoshop Workflow, River, Water, Waterfalls, Wide Angle Photography  6 Responses »
Sep 102011
 

Glen Avon Falls, Beaver River, North Shore of Lake Superior. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikkor 17-35mm lens at 17mm. See story for capture details.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Today I am returning to Glen Avon Falls on the Beaver River. This is the companion shot to the composition I posted on August 22 and was taken the following morning from the top of the rock chute and just below the upper falls. On this day a light morning mist filled the river below the lower part of the falls and diffused the sunlight rising just behind the large rock on the left. I want to talk about this image in regards to some recent discussions I have heard concerning HDR photography. So if you don’t want to hear me get on my soap box then please stop reading here.

As a former 4 x 5 shooter I used to compose my shots and expose for one take. I had to use whatever means necessary ranging from composition to use of filters to get the shot in one take. Even today, as I have professed in this blog, I am still kind of a one shot guy. Get it right in camera can save hours of time in post production. But I have found that digital offers me a far greater opportunity to “craft” a shot that quite honestly would be nigh on impossible to do in one take. The above image is a prime example. I am shooting almost into the sun with a misty, shrouded fog, dark rocks, and rolling water. In terms of exposure I could get close but not where I needed to be to hold detail in the rocks, water and the mist. The solution is to expose for each and combine the files. My argument is that this shot is an example of HDR-high dynamic range photography. I am extending the capture range of the shot, which could not be covered by the sensor, through multiple exposure brackets.

HDR photography in its broadest terms is generally exhibited through what I might refer to as “wacked-out, over-processed, haloed, grunge” shots where multiple exposures are cooked in an HDR software. If it sounds like I don’t like this style then the answer is yes. I do enjoy looking at those that are well crafted but for the most part much of what I see is akin to velvet paintings. And before anyone jumps on me for that statement please understand that I do not begrudge anyone their art or practice thereof. If it makes you happy then I am all for it. There is plenty of room at the table for all of us to share what we do and love.

But the recent argument I heard, and I won’t say where to protect the innocent, suggested that the concepts behind HDR are not legitimate, partly because it is associated with the over-cooked look” or the “I did not capture it in one take argument” is puzzling to me. Is the fact that I shot and combined three exposures to craft the above image mean it is not a legitimate photograph? In my honest opinion it is legit. This photograph is not over-cooked, or wacked-out through over processing in an HDR program. It is true to my vision for this image and represents what I saw and experienced that morning. It is in fact a high dynamic range shot crafted through multiple exposures. HDR software such as Photomatix, Oloneo, and even Photoshop HDR are excellent programs to help you extend the dynamic range of a shot. All of them allow you, the photographer, to make processing decisions based on your perceived vision of the image. Wack it out if you want or keep it natural. Its your decision. The Glen Avon shot I posted on August 22 was processed in Photomatix. That shot, processed in Photomatix’s Fusion engine, is not over-cooked, in my opinion, but rendered in a natural look to create an image based on my vision. Today’s image was created through layer blends in Photoshop. Both images have a similar look but were achieved using different tools from my toolbox.

The argument that goes along with this that I, or anyone else who shoots in this way, and does not get it right in camera, is either lazy or not skilled just floors me. This might be true for a percentage of shooters but I just don’t think it holds water. If I was lazy and not skilled I would take one shot in .jpg, let the camera make the decisions, and move on. The image above took planning. It was scouted and included test shots for compositional decisions. Then on the day of the shot I had to deal with the light, the water, compose the final composition, think about the foreground, the corners, how I envisioned the final image, processing decisions, color or black and white, and the list can go on. It is the same for all of the other skilled photographers I know who use these techniques. HDR capture and processing is but one tool in our kit. I don’t shoot everything this way but its there when I need it for difficult situations. But to say it is not legitimate because it was not captured in one take or is practiced by lazy, un-skilled photographers is just bunk. I will now stand down from my soapbox.

Technical Details: Three images were combined to make the final shot. Exposures were at 1/4, 1/2, and 1 second. The RAW files were processed in Lightroom and moved to Photoshop where I used layer masks to paint in the parts of the shot I wanted. Once I had the file components to my general satisfaction I made the conversion to black and white. Just so you know I envisioned the shot at capture as a black and white. From there it followed a typical path with curve layers for various parts of the image, dodging and burning, and a mid-tone contrast layer.

Walk in beauty.

Bob

 

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MOAB Paper Portfolios

 Moab Masters, Moab Paper, Photography Tools, Portfolios  No Responses »
Jun 262011
 

Portfolios for Photographers by Andy Biggs from Andy Biggs on Vimeo.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. I am posting pretty quickly after my last article but I though some of you might be interested in fellow MOAB Master, Andy Biggs, video presentation on MOAB Portfolios. How we present and archive our work is very important and Andy shows various options including MOAB Chinle Portfolios and archival storage boxes. Hopefully this will give you some ideas on preparing your next portfolio.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

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Hipstamatic Photography – Fun With the iPhone 4

 Abstracts, Black and White, Flower Photography, Flowers, Hipstamatic, iPhone Photography, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Photography Tools  2 Responses »
Apr 142011
 

Daffodils No. 1. Shot with an iPhone 4 and the Hipstamatic iPhone App with Claunch 72 Monochrome Film and the Lucifer IV Lens.

Daffodils No. 2. Shot with an iPhone 4 and the Hipstamatic iPhone App with Claunch 72 Monochrome Film and the Lucifer IV Lens.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Well, I have fallen under the spell of my new iPhone 4 and my digital life may never be the same. Ok, that may be over stated but I have thoroughly enjoyed my iPad and found it quite a useful device for checking into my Facebook and Blog sites as well as housing my digital portfolio and providing hours of entertainment while on the road. So I did not think I could have much use for an iPhone. Well I am wrong. I really like it and I can do many of the things I do on my iPad but in a more portable fashion. And then there is the photography aspect.

I downloaded the Hipstamatic App for the iPhone and have a great time experimenting with all the film, lens, and flash options available through a variety of upgradeable Film Paks. The basic dowload comes with a few rolls of “film type” and lens and flash combinations. But you do not want to stop there. Just go on and buy all the Film Pak options to get all the various combinations. There are Black and White films, Infrared, Color, and Tonal Colorized Film options and most come with a lens or flash. The fun comes in trying out the various options. The camera looks like an old range finder and there are simple controls for setting the image quality, which affects the output size, selecting the film, and the flash. You can change lenses by swiping your finger across the iPhone screen. When you are ready to shoot you touch the screen and the camera flips over and you can compose through the viewfinder. It is a bit like looking through an old Box Camera. You can only see a portion of your composition which is part of the fun. All the compositions are square and come with various borders depending on the film type selected. My favorite combination so far is the Claunch 72 Monochrome with the Lucifer IV Lens. The two images above were shot in my garden this evening using that combination. The files are stored on the iPhone and can be downloaded into iPhoto. You can also share the files straight into Facebook or e-mail out to your friends. I shot each image in the highest quality mode and each .jpg was imported into Photoshop for a little curve work. Simple and fun. In fact its just liberating. Give it a try.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

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Terlingua Creek Sunrise – Big Bend National Park

 Badlands, Big Bend, Big Bend National Park, Helicon Focus, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Photography Technique, Photography Tools, Photography Trips, Photography Workshops, Sony α900, sunrise, Texas  No Responses »
Nov 082010
 

Terlingua Creek Sunrise, Terlingua, Texas, gateway to Big Bend National Park. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 20mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f8.0 for 1/30th of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This image is from a recent workshop I attended at Big Bend National Park. The landscape specific workshop was taught by Craig Tanner and Marti Jeffers of The Mindful Eye, with assistance from TJ Avery. I have known Craig for many years and I would highly recommend any of his workshops. It is an intensive, week long, photography immersion that includes two shooting sessions a day, assignments, concept lectures, and critiques. It has been a number of years, probably over 10 to be exact, where I have participated in a workshop. I came away feeling energized about my work and with a host of new friends which is just a small part of the benefits. Additionally I was able to spend time in one of the great national parks in the lower 48 states. Many of us, myself included, spend so much time alone shooting in the field and forget that one of the great pleasures is sharing our work with other photographers who can provide other perspectives and ideas. Craig’s teaching methods, critiques, and assignments are all aimed at improving our technical and artistic abilities. Assignments such as limiting your equipment to one lens, composition challenges, shooting in varied lighting conditions, shooting macro, or for me, the dreaded portrait, can push you to new challenges. No matter where you are along the path of photography, new challenges can push us towards expanding our creative possibilities. I would encourage you to visit The Mindful Eye website for more information on Craig and Marti’s workshops.

For those of you who visit my blog on a regular basis you might think this looks fairly typical of my work. And while that may be true it does represent an exploratory departure for me in terms of workflow. For many years I shot with a 4 x 5 and enjoyed the incredible depth of field I could achieve through the cameras tilt and shift movements. These movements are not available for modern day 35mm cameras except through expensive perspective control lenses. And even so it is very difficult to use them to get the same foreground to background focus. At the workshop each of us had to select a concept area to work in and I choose “depth of field”. To assist in this challenge Craig introduced me to Helicon Focus and the concepts of “focus bracketing”. Focus bracketing is where you take a series of exposures, all at the same shutter speed and aperture, where you adjust the focus with each exposure. With the composition above I focused on the closest foreground point I could see in the viewfinder and then looked at the numbers on the focus ring. I would then divide that number to the infinity mark into a series of brackets. I would make the first shot, rotate the focus slightly, shoot again, and continue in this way till I reach infinity. What you are doing is overlapping the focus zones with each shot. In general most of my shots use anywhere from three to five separate exposures. Now comes the magic. The Helicon Focus software will take each of the focus brackets and combine them into one file blending the focus zones together and creating an image with near to far sharpness. The RAW files can be imported straight into the software. The process also allows you to shoot at lower f-stops virtually eliminating lens defraction. Now what about wind and moving clouds? With moving clouds there can be an issue with overlap but the software allows you to retouch by using the last layer as a reference. You simply paint away the blur to reveal the clouds in a stationary position. It is more of a challenge in windy conditions and usually it is best to resort to hyper focusing over focus bracketing. The saved file can be opened in Photoshop and put through your normal workflow.

Over the next few months I will be posting more images using this workflow. I want to thank you for stopping by today. Don’t forget to consider a workshop.

Bob

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The Photographers Ephemeris

 Photography Technique, Photography Tools  No Responses »
Mar 252010
 

I just ran into a very interesting application that is tailor made for landscape photographers. It is called the The Photographers Ephemeris and it was developed by Stephen Trainor. It is available on his website, High and Dry. And  is free. That right. However, he does ask that you contribute if you can and I highly recommend that you do. So what does the program do? Well for starters it gives you sunrise and sunset, and moonrise and moonset. It will give you the moon’s disk percentage, and to me, one of the best things, is the azimuth lines so you know where the sun and moon are rising and setting. And if this wasn’t enough the program is tied into Google Maps and the azimuth lines are overlayed in the program. The program runs on Adobe Air which is a free download.

Image 1: Sun and Moon information for the Paria.

The screen shot above shows the sunrise/sunset and moonrise and moonset for the Paria Wilderness in northern Arizona. Note the azimuth lines superimposed on the map. The screenshot below shows the locations window where you can add or subtract locations. You can zoom in and out on the map and once you find your location, click on the area to mark the coordinates. From there you can just add it to your list.

Image 2: The Locations Window.

It is a really nice program, simple, and easy to understand. You can also watch a video tutorial or read through a series of instructions. I am still getting to know the program but I encourage you to head over to Stephen’s site and download. But don’t forget to contribute to all his hard work in developing such a great tool.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

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