“Hi Jason, we received your order for printing, thanks so much for your continued patronage.  Before sending to print though, we wanted to check and make sure the image is as you wanted it because of some items near the corners that caught our eye.  Do you want these items in the frame?  let us know and we’ll proceed accordingly.  Thanks so much!

What an awesome email, and in fact, I did not want the edge distractions.  So, in getting a reminder myself, decided it would make a good blog post for the day.  Here’s the final image I sent out to the vendor for printing:

It’s a nice image, and I am testing a few shots in some frames to see how a series might look together, so this is one I wanted to add.  However, if they had proceeded before I made edits, this is what would have gone through:

See the distracting elements?  I missed them the first time!  The lesson here is that it helps to have a checklist before printing too, and to include “clean the edges” in your checklist.  I think I am going to put one together here soon.  With that in mind, what sorts of experiences have others had in pre-printing stages?  Do you use a checklist to make sure you’ve done everything you need to do?  What would you include?  What would you leave to the lab?  I know a lot of folks let the lab do final edits on things like color correcting, white balance, and even cropping, while others like to maintain end to end control over their imagery.

Sound off in the comments – would love to hear everyone’s thoughts!

The folks over at Stack Exchange have become the latest sponsor for the monthly contest series, and I gotta say, they are quite a clever operation.  The site is based on the same idea that the blog is based on – which is sharing knowledge and experience with the greater community at large.  No forums to join, no registrations to mess with, just good information in a Wiki-style interface.  The layout is pretty slick where you can post (and answer) photo-related questions.

There’s lots of topics covered and it’s definitely a useful resource to answer everything from generic to specific questions like “Depth of Field and Focal Length” to “How to take sharp night photos“.  Definitely one to add to your photo bookmarks folder.

Anyway, they were super generous, tossing a Lensbaby Composer into the ring for some lucky photographer!  So, special thanks and shout outs to Stack Exchange in advance for their sponsorship.  With the theme of their site, and the gear tied to the giveaway, I figured this was worthy of something special, so, here’s the gist:

Lots of ways to interpret this…it could be a stack of pancakes, a stack of coins, a stack of Pringles, a haystack, or any other way you can imagine!  Remember, the prize is a Lensbaby Composer, worth $300 retail, so if there ever was a time to ramp things up a notch, this would be it!  I’ll put something together on the Lensbaby Composer later this week so you know how cool this lens actually is!

That’s it for today – more cool stuff coming up later this week including the September winner (lucky photog will win a year of NAPP membership!), and other fun stuff.  The trick is to keep on shooting!

In being playful with your work, it’s often even more helpful to put down the tripods, and SLR’s.  Put down the lenses and filters. Put down the soft boxes and fill flashes.  Being playful means letting go of the “rules” of photography.  I’m reading David DuChemin’s book, The Inspired Eye (available now on his website – use EYE3Free for 20% off through Sat.), and in it, he speaks to this idea that that inspiration can come from play.

Some ideas from David include taking a day and try taking pictures whenever the mood hits.  Even if you are shooting through wet glass, or in a moving car.  Take a picture with your focus ring taped down.  The softness from the out of focus shot can force you to look at something more generic like the lines and energy of a scene.  It really is inspired capture that David is going for here, and that can definitely come from play.

One of my favorite images from my own library is a niece – I was literally playing.  I wasn’t expecting anything great, or show-stopper quality.  Just goofing around.  I was laughing and being silly, and so was she.  I took the camera to ridiculous angles, knowing it wouldn’t work (or so I thought).  Just goes to show you the power of play in photography:

The upshot?  Take time to play – only good things can come from it!

The shadows of an image can be just as important to the composition as the lit parts are.  When talking about how to light images with strobes and studio lights, the use of shadows to give definition is often discussed, but the same discussions can be germane to naturally lit photos too.  Remember, the word photography means to paint with light (photo and graphos), so even the absence of light can be significant in defining our images.

Whether you shoot portraiture, architecture, landscapes, or even abstracts, shadows can and do play a role in how you compose your images.  Do you look at the shadows in your images?  What story do shadows tell in your work?

For those of you who might not know who Dave is – he’s one of the original “Photoshop Guys”, and has been teaching Photoshop classes since version 2!  He is currently the Senior Developer, Education and Curriculum for NAPP, a Certified Photoshop Instructor through Cs4, and  Certified Technical Trainer.  With several books under his belt, and a 2009 inductee to the Photoshop Hall of Fame, he is certainly no stranger to the world of Photoshop!

Here’s the nuts and bolts of our discussion, but to get the full schmear, grab the podcast either from here or in iTunes!

Talking Points:  Shooting with Photoshop in Mind

• What’s the point of Photoshop:  Fixing photos or creating visions?
• Compositing Photos in Photoshop
• Story boarding, green screens, extracting – options galore
• How do you get there from here?
• Fine Art versus Business
• Learning Workshops versus Seminars
• Watching versus Doing
• HDR:  Art form or a Solution?
• Links
  • Dave Cross Workshops
  • Dave Cross Blog
  • Dave Cross on Twitter
  • Dave Cross on Facebook

It was so fun talking to Dave about such a wide variety of subjects and we really hit on quite a bit for only 40 minutes of talk time!  Do check out his web resources there as I think the smaller sized workshop setting he has set up in Tampa will become the trend-setter of things to come.

*****

As a final reminder for the podcast and website a couple things wrap up this week:  The month long Flickr contest series, so do get your photos in for a chance to win Photo Mechanic!  Also ending this weekend is the promotional deal on the Deeper Vision eBook from David DuChemin – 20% off through July 2nd w/ promo code DEEP4.  Have a happy 4th of July, and we’ll see you next month!

So, for the time being, enjoy an abridged post of the LDP Podcast #60 with Andie Smith

Have a great weekend! (Oh yeah, and don’t forget the Flickr Contest is still going on for that free copy of Photo Mechanic)

One final little trailer teaser here for ya, since I had my last two podcasts with my good friends Andie and AJ (they live like ten miles from each other), figured to give him some linkage too – his new podcast is live now in its second episode, so stop over to AJ Wood to check it out – fun, fast, and informative!

While both the light and the composition are essential elements to a photograph, often times you will “see” one before the other.  So the question became one of “Do you see the light?”  versus “Do you see the composition?”  Take for example the photo I’ve shared in the past of Bull Island at Sunrise:

When I first saw this scene, it was not a sunrise – it was more around 11am – noonish.  It was my previous trip to Bull island, and my first thought was “This scene would be gorgeous at sunrise!”  To me, for that moment, the composition was totally the first and only thing that popped into my mind – I simply had to find the time to get back for the right light.  As you can tell from the above shot, I did!

By contrast, sometimes you are in a location and the light just speaks to you…something about it inspires you to capture the moment.  After the moment of inspiration then, the way to compose starts to creep into your minds eye.  Here, a great example from my own portfolio archives is some beams of light that caught my eye in a parking garage:

The lines of light that shot through the grid-style wall of the garage really caught my eye here, and I spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out the best way to capture the moment.  Clearly, I was shooting on a tripod, but I wasn’t sure if I should look at it from this side, the other end, or from the front.  Either end would have given a left-to-right (horiztonal eye movement) perspective, whereas shooting from on the side would have been a vertical sort of shot, with the lines drawing the eye in.  Ultimately, I shot it as my own eyes first saw it: left to right.  The point though, is that I saw the light first, then had to think about the composition…

For me, the best way to express the whole idea of looking at images from a perspective of lighting and composition, it’s probably better to not use the term “versus” because neither one weighs more for me – I consider both equally.  Does one sometimes catch my eye first?  Of course – but I always draw the other element into the image whenever possible.  For me it’s more of a scale – with lighting on one end and composition on the other:

Sometimes something on the left end of the spectrum catches my eye, then my brain pulls me to the right to bring the two together.  Other times something on the right end catches my eye, then the opposite happens, my mind starts thinking about the left.

As you can see, it’s not as simple as one would think to really definitely answer this – but I will say this:  It helps to explore which you may lean toward more.  Some people just see the lighting element of imagery plain as day, while for other the composition just falls naturally into place.  Knowing which way you lean though, can help you to work on the other element.  The question really to ask then is:  which comes first in your eye? (Hint: Sound off in the comments! )  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here Friday for some honest to goodness ground-breaking news!

Portraiture though, brings a unique set of circumstances to the table though.  The timing is much more controlled, lighting is managed more strictly, and little is left to chance.  Yet, even in these controlled environments, many photographers have trouble because of the fears associated with guiding and instructing people on how to pose.  It’s understandable, considering all that goes into posing your subjects, as well as the fact that some subjects aren’t the best at being guided.

To those ends – here’s some basics to start with in posing your subjects.  For starters, focus on the face – it’s what we all gravitate toward anyway, and body posing can be very complex depending on a persons body style.  By focusing on the face, you can really highlight that which we all look at anyway.  Here’s the simple secrets to posing a persons’ face:

MOVEMENT AND CONFIDENCE

1.  Movement – If you think about it, we can only move our faces in three different directions:  Left to right, up and down, and tilting to one side or the other.  Look at it directionally speaking:

When broken down to these simple directional perspectives – you can easily explain this to your subject.  I’ve found that using hand gestures to both indicate the current and desired direction is also extremely helpful.  When you start using left and right, the question becomes “your left or mine”?  Directions can get confused, as can both photographer and subject.  By using your hands, you maintain a sense of connection too, because the person is looking at you and following your guidance.

2.  Confidence – If you project hesitation, your subjects pick up on that and it becomes more difficult to effectively manage a shoot.  On a recent outing with the local photo club, we were at a firehouse (remember the shots here?).  When they got one of the crew to agree to don their gear and pose – nary a soul stepped up to offer guidance and direction.  I stepped up, introduced myself, shook his hand, and started talking about some of the looks and poses I was going to try and get done.  I asked him if he’d be cool with that, started talking up his background and experience (“So, how long you been a fire man?  Are you married?  Any kids?  What was the scariest fire you had to put out?” )

After getting him comfortable with me, I got a few poses set up and went to back up a little to get him framed right – and found myself backing into the rest of the group – literally everyone in the group was following my lead.  By simply exerting some knowledge and confidence, people gravitated toward that and completely deferred to my experience.  Some of the guys in this group have been shooting for decades!  It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the photo club know more about composition, post production, and even lighting than I do, but my willingness to engage the subject, direct, and pose got the job done…and the model also really responded well to that too!

As you shoot more people and start to pick up a particular style or approach, that can help build your directing abilities and confidence across the board.  So, keep on shooting and we’ll see you back here next time!

*****

Today is a very special day for me, so I would like to take a quick moment and give a special shout out to my wife Tracy – 8 years ago today, she said yes and changed my life forever (for the better).  How a guy like me lucked out to get a gal like her still amazes me to this day!  I love you!

However, until then a few nuggets here and there will have to do.  (I am trying to coordinate with friend-of-the-blog Kevin Mullins to have a go at a podcast and this would be a great subject for him as he’s an accomplished wedding, event, and photographer from across the pond.  Kevin, I promise we’ll find a date here soon!)

So, the nuggets for this week are facial features – because at the heart of the portrait photographer is bringing out the beauty in your subjects’ face!  Here’s a great set of tips for bringing out the best in your subjects!  When shooting subjects it helps to keep in mind the three basic facial positions:  full front, 3/4 pose, and profile positions:

For subjects with round or wide faces, it helps to raise the camera angle slightly so as to look down to them just a little bit.  This elongates things a little more and minimizes the width perception.  It also helps to approach them with a pose that has a 3/4 look rather than a full frontal look.

For subjects with a thin face, just the opposite holds true – have their full face looking toward you with the camera and try to keep the camera at eye level with your subject.  Going up or down below their eye level will only serve to elongate a thin face even more.

For subjects with a large nose, it can often help to have them also face the camera directly.  By doing this, their nose will point straight into the camera to help minimize its size, and lets viewers see the rest of their pretty face!

For subjects with a smaller nose, it’s time to shift back to the 3/4 look…this will bring more depth to their face and “enhance” things a little…

Other tips I’ve picked up that are not specifically related to facial positioning include things like:

• People Deep-Set Eyes – Point light into their eyes. Light coming too far from the sides will accentuate the depth.
• Glasses – Bounce the light off the ceiling where possible. If not, position the subject so that glasses are pointed away from the lights.
• Dark Hair – Make sure that the background provides enough contrast so hair doesn’t just blend into it. Hair lights or a light on the backdrop are extremely helpful. Also make sure the background doesn’t show through hair.
• Double Chin – A slightly higher camera angle will be more flattering than straight on. It also helps to have the subject leaning forward.
• Large ears – Use a ¾ face pose or a profile.

There you have it!  Great ways to capture portraiture, specifically when working with facial angles.  Special thanks go out to my good friend Evan Ashenhurst for sharing some of his portfolio for this article.  You can see more of his work on his website at:  Ashenhurst Photography

A final footnote – since I will undoubtedly get a few questions about which lenses are best to shoot portraiture with, my favorite is the nifty fifty actually.  Amazingly sharp and the 1.8 depth of field is to be envied among all glass.  If you’re in the market for a portrait lens, you’ll definitely want to check this bad boy out.  Here’s the Canon-mount, a steal for less than $150 retail!

First off, focus stacking is used mostly in genres like macro photography, where intricate detail is needed across a range wider than what the aperture will allow for during composition.  The principle is much like the layered approach to HDR imagery – where you stack layers of images with different compositions on top of each other and blend the right portions through the entire image.

Where focus stacking differs from HDR is the types of images that you are layering.  In HDR images, you are compositing images with different exposure values over one another.  In focus stacking, you are not changing the exposure values, rather just the point of focus.  As depth of field drops off both in front of and behind your focusing point, the subject will blur.  While this may be an appreciated blurring technique in some cases, in other cases, getting different depths of field from different focusing points can make for a tack sharp macro throughout the range of the subject.

As is most often the case, explaining a photography concept is best done with images, so let’s take a look at an example.  For easy demonstration, I took a white cordless phone and placed it on a black background.  This way color issues are kept to a minimum…

Notice on the first focusing point, the sharpest point is right near the front?  It also quickly drops off into the background as I was shooting at f2.8  The low aperture number means I will have a very shallow depth of field, which is what is causing the blurred background.  To bring the rest of it into focus, I need to “stack” more shots that have a different point of focus.  So, let’s add another few to the composite:

The end result from stacking all these together can be accomplished by any one of a number of methods ranging from the most time-consuming of doing it manually inside Lightroom or Photoshop, and the most efficient one of using 3rd party software.  While several options do exist, the one that has become pretty much the industry standard is that of Helicon Focus!  Their quality of processing is, bar none, among the best I’ve seen.  More on that likely later this week.

In the meantime, here’s the result of an image that has been focus-stacked:

It’s a quick edit, and done with only having focus-stacked 5 images.  If I wanted a really detailed depth of field on something more important than a cordless phone from circa 1990′s, I’d likely have taken at least 10-15 images and massaged them through Helicon Focus more carefully.  More details on this entire process are coming up later this week, including reviews of the Tether Table (which will be given away this weekend as the March contest comes to an end), Helicon Focus, and the light triggers from Blackbelt Lighting.

For a behind-the-scenes footage video, stop over to the Facebook page!  (Be sure to “like” it and share a comment while you are there…)

When it was done, the house sure did smell good from the caramelized sugar, bananas toasting, and who doesn’t like bread?  (I know, I know – lots of carbs aren’t good for you…)  But, every once in a while it’s fun to indulge.  As luck would have it, this particular loaf of bread had some nice colors and tones to it, so naturally, I started thinking about my other hobby – photography!

With bread there’s so much you can do from capturing details, to using a shallow depth of field, to creative lighting and shadows, everything becomes a cornucopia of possibilities.  Here’s a few of my selects from just ten minutes of prep, 60 minutes of cook, and ten minutes of shoot time!

Want a slice?  What tasks have you taken and turned them into photo opportunities?  The lesson learned here today (hopefully anyway) is to take something you have to do and make it something you want to do!  In this case, it was a win-win scenario for me, but what about you?  Sound off with your own fun-filled (or food-filling) photo projects!

#1 – Stay sharp or stay home – Nothing loses the appeal of macro enthusiasts more than an image that is out of focus, at the macro level.  There are notable exceptions of course, but we are zooming in close to see the details, so unless they are sharp, we just aren’t interested!

#2 – Keep it simple – Too often, people will jump in and try to capture something highly detailed in a macro shot.  The problem is that often times you are dealing with a very shallow depth of field (low apertures in the 2.8 – 1.4 range), which means detail is lost either in the foreground or the background, or both!  This can be appealing in some cases, to have the fade from sharpness to blur, but in others, it’s not as effective, which means you’ll have to deal with focus-stacking.  It’s kind of tricky, so when starting out, stick to simple compositions like flower buds, water drops, and other such objects of interest (even a quarter’s edge can be appealing).

#3 Be aware of your background – Even though the background is often way out of focus, the color or tone of that background can make or break your photo.  Make sure it’s either a complementary color, or sufficiently blurred as to be indecipherable.  This shot I took on our street, with the road and vehicles beyond the branches.  They are so out of focus though, it’s literally impossible to tell the difference.

So, what types of scenes sound appealing to your macro instincts?  Consider buying a macro lens (or renting) and taking one out for a test spin.  With these three tips (and others) you will be well on your way to taking and making phenomenal images!

Don’t forget to sound off in the comments with your own tips, tricks, thoughts, and shots on macro photography!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here gain for another round of photo goodness!

***

The power of Lightroom has been so well documented from various outlets across the internet and magazines, I often find it surprising that such a small amount of space is dedicated to black and white photography.  This month, I’d like to take an opportunity to delve more into the creative adjustments you can make in Lightroom to bring out more in an image than just shades of gray!

There are two areas in Lightroom where you can make creative adjustments to the color to make things pop.  The first two HSL (for Hue, Saturation, and Luminance) and Color are great resources to use when you want to massage the color palette of your image.  The Black and White “tab” though, is where it’s really at.  When you click this tab, the image will be converted to an automated black and white adjustment, where the colors are converted to shades of gray – with no color tones at all.  This is where I’d like to begin the exploration:

While this can be a powerful way to present an image, the automated method of conversion is not going to work all the time (and for my tastes rarely does the default conversion work).  So, you have to dive in and really get comfortable with adjusting color tones.  To start off, I am using a pretty basic image – a red flower, and you can see that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the colored version of the image.

It’s got some great black and white potential though, so let’s go ahead and take it into the BW adjustment panel tab.  When I do that, the automated adjustments will kick in:

It looks interesting, but let’s see what massaging the colors just in the panel can do.  To start, since the flower was red and made up nearly 95% of the composition, I started with the red slider to see what the extremes would do on each end.  Here’s the image with the red slider taken up to +100 and then to the opposite extreme of -100…

In both cases, for me it’s an absolutely hideous image.  Clearly, there is a balance that must be struck somewhere in the middle – the question is where?  Well, now it comes down to subjective tastes.  For me, the default adjustment had the red a bit too strong – which kind of hid the morning dew of the flower, so I dialed things back a bit, taking the red slider from +22 to -20.  The droplets are now much more visible as they are standing out from the petals!

So, now we are getting somewhere fun!  I tested a few more sliders, and ended up with the yellows and oranges slightly higher than the default settings, just to give a bit more contrast.  Here’s what it looks like after the black and white adjustments are made:

Of course there is always a bit of sharpening and noise reduction to make in post production, as well as lens correction, and even a little bit of vignette from time to time to help draw the viewer in.  Once these are done, the final image definitely has a creative look and feel to it:

It’s clearly not easy to decide both when, to make a black and white conversion, as well as how much to massage or tweak it to your tastes.  The ultimate decision is, of course, up to you as an artist and photographer, but you can’t get there by avoiding the Black-and-White panel!  Take some time to explore it!

***

There’s more to the article than that, and it has been modified somewhat to make for a better blog post, so be sure you subscribe to the PhotographyBB newsletter when you have a minute.  It is free, after all, and probably one of the best sources of a diverse set of reading material you can find.  Dave Seeram, the editor, has been quite generous with his kindness and patience in my contributions!  Please stop over and give him your thanks as well…nothing but learning and knowledge to gain!

As always though, I end up being more curious than informative!  What types of black and white adjustments do you make?  Do you prefer the neutral grays, or do you like to add a hint of color to your b/w images too?  What methods have you found useful versus not so much?  Sound off in the comments as I love to hear how others are working through their own images!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you next time right here!

Like this post?  Subscribe to the email version of the RSS:

Each book is a series of “hero shots” – just some really cool photography, ranging from studio work, to portrait, landscape, and everything in between.  The concept behind the series is that each page can be torn out (they’re perforated) so you can go and try to duplicate the effect in your own images.  I tore a few pages out of the books to show you the idea in practice.  Keep in mind that it seems my scanner is having some issues, so the image quality here is not very consistent nor is it necessarily accurate – the end result in the book look much better!

You can see the front image (left) shows the end result, and the rear of the page (right) shows the setup with how and where things are positioned.  I do wish he would have included the technical data such as aperture, shutter, ISO, light settings (1/4 power, manual, TTL, etc.), but it’s a neat idea regardless.

Here’s the rest of the sample images…

With 25 pages per volume, it’s nothing too meaty that will leave your head swirling with technical minutia and yet it’s got enough creative directions from all the contributing photographers to give you plenty of ideas for inspiration.   It’s all a lot like “lighting recipies” with a boiler plate template, from which the author (and contributing photographers) expect you to springboard from.  They give you enough to get up and running, but not enough to completely duplicate w/out a little of your own flavor and tastes in to season appropriately…

Depending on where you are and what you are looking for – this could be a two thumbs up or one to skip.  For me personally – I love getting creative and inspirational ideas from other photographers, so this medley gets two thumbs up!  Cool idea, well implemented, and lots of inspiration going forward!

Using Flash in the Snow - #1

Using Flash in the Snow - #2

Using Flash in the Snow - #3

Using Flash in the Snow - #4

Now granted, these are nothing that would ever been usable for fine art or stock type work, but it’s always fun to experiment, and this is one such case where on-camera flash works particularly well.  There’s other times when using on-camera built-in flash can also be useful though, so don’t be afraid to experiment.  Where have you had success with on-camera flash?  Share your own thoughts, perspectives and shots in the insight

One of the things we always hear about is that changing your perspective is a great way to see a new angle on things.  Many common methods of changing your perspective include things like

1. Shooting from a higher position looking down
2. Shooting from a lower position looking up
3. Renting a lens you’ve never used before and only using that for a week
4. Try shooting portraiture or product photography – something you’ve not done before.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but imagine taking even one of these to as much of an extreme as you can!  I recently had an opportunity to shoot from #1 – a higher position than most get to see.  It was from a helicopter!  The generous folks over at Rotors of the Rockies agreed to take me up for a few shots in exchange for some shots of their fleet to use in their own marketing and promotional work.  It took a great deal of planning, scheduling and coordination to get all the logistics together, but in the end, the venture was totally worth the experience.  I learned quite a bit, and a full-length journal article is likely going to be out shortly after the first of the year.

Here, however, I wanted to share a few of the experiences and my thoughts with the listening and reading audience as a sort of “primer” on what’s to come soon.  First off – the learning experiences:

Shoot the Fast Glass

Use the fastest glass you have and shoot wide open!  I had two lenses with me, my Caon 10-22 and the Sigma 50-500.  Wide open on each was f4 and f4.5 respectively.  While the latter had IS to combat the helicopter vibration, I still had to crank ISO pretty high in order to be confidant in avoiding camera shake/blur.  The end result was mostly stills of the blades in the other chopper that was airborne, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you are going for.

Expect the Unexpected

While I was aware of the concept of shooting “doors off” in a helicopter, the experience is nothing you can really prepare for, so you just have to go into the situation with an open mind.  I must admit I had a few butterflies on take-off.  But, by the end of the flight, the pilots (there was another trainer getting some air time) said I was leaning about as far out the side of the bird as my harness/belt would let me go.  The upshot – expect the unexpected.

Don’t Try Too Much

Believe it or not, while I only went up with two lenses, I only changed lenses once, and quickly changed back to my first lens (the 50-500).  Shorter range lenses just won’t be able to capture much detail.  Now if you are going for panorama shots, then use your shortest lens, and leave the long glass at home.  But in these types of situations, changing lenses only decreases your shooting time, and with so much to capture, having to shift gears going from tight zooms to sweeping panos mentally is very challenging.  On your first trip, just pick a “subject” and stick with it – don’t try to get too much.

You have many things to think about – your harness, your gear staying safe, the wind whipping all around you, staying in constant communication with the pilot, then there’s your composition, and much much more.  If you mentally try to shift gears from one set of shots to another by switching lenses, you are likely to miss something important in the process (and I did – I missed an aerial of Invesco Field, one of the ones I wanted!).

And now, as promised, the shots.  Due to licensing restrictions, I am limited in what I can show here (many went to the folks over at ROTR).  Some of the shots will also be exclusive to the forthcoming complete journal article that covers every detail of the event from beginning to end.

Taking Off

First View from Above

Aerial Shapes and Patterns

What "Doors Off" Really Means!

Skylines and Sunsets

As you can see, it was quite a blast to be up to get a new/angle and perspective on things.  Not only can you get some great shots, but it can also give you a jolt of creativity when you need to “break out” of your familiar routines.  This perspective went higher than the average, but there’s other ways to go too.  Imagine going way lower than most.  Consider spelunking!  Silhouettes in caves would be cool too, not just in the air!  Finding a new vision or perspective is what it’s all about…and like the familiar phrase from David DuChemin:

Gear is Good, Vision is Better

Where is your vision going to take you today?

***

(Also would love to have feedback on the content especially for this post as the writing and imagery will be similar to what goes into the journal article!  Like it?  Hate it?  Needs more?  Needs less – please share your thoughts via the comments or email!)

*****

Editor Note:  I would like to give special thanks to the folks out at Rotors of the Rockies.  Not only were they open and receptive to the idea, but were totally cool to work with and they have kept superb lines of communication open.  I would definitely recommend them for those interested in taking an aerial adventure.  Rates are available for 30 minute and 60 minute sessions on their website:  http://www.rotorsoftherockies.com

1.  The first school of thought is that we should adhere to the accuracy of what it is the sensor is capturing.  By allowing for interpretation and manipulation of the pixels, photography is no longer the means of reporting things – life, as we know it!

2.  The other school of thought is that pixels and cameras are simply a means of capturing a limited portion of the world around them, and that even the human eye is capturing more in a single instant than any single still image could ever hope to capture.  With that in mind, it is the job of the photographer to bring to life what it is they see, and use the tools available to them to bring that image to life, whether it means performing HDR, sharpening, white balance corrections, or anything!

Now, keep in mind that there are always exceptions to the above two schools of thought.  Journalism for instance, requires accuracy and not making adjustments as it really is meant as a reporting mechanism not an interpretation or individual perception of what is scene.  While I am not sure where my own line of thinking really ends up on this very polarizing issue, it does seem that perhaps there is a time and place for it.  Again, with all subjective work, there is a certain degree of personal preference and bias – and this also speaks to the second point, because some HDR can be really really good, while others can be really really bad.  Nevertheless, for my two cents, it does seem that occasionally, there is both a time and a place for HDR.  During such times,  I’ve tried a variety of approaches to utilize HDR while also keeping some measure of reality in my photos.  Take for example, the three images below taken at different shutter speeds, while keeping ISO and aperture constant – thus creating several different exposures of the same scene:

HDR base Images

By combining and basically “stacking” each of these images inside our post production work flow, we can bring out the details in the shadows from the first image (down in the golf course area), bring out the details from the highlights (the clouds), while maintaining the clarity of the neutrally lit areas in the middle of the photos (the rocks and pool).  While there are several ways to do this, including Photomatix, HDR Pro (the one native to CS5) and several other Photoshop and Lightroom plugins like what Topaz Labs, Lucis, and OnOne’s plugin Suite), here I am using the HDR Pro function inside of Photoshop CS5.

HDR Pro Sample

I did choose the option inside the HDR Pro menu to select a more saturated image than what was originally created in camera, and it is more reminiscient of what I actually saw.  So, am I cheating at what I created?  Is this a “real” photo?  What if I were to take another approach, and simply make some adjustments on a single image?  Back to the digital work flow I go…and here is a single shot edited in Lightroom:

Lightroom HDR

Now, while there are clearly some slight differences in tonal range, saturation, and such, there are two things to keep in mind:  1 – I was making these edits pretty quick, and 2 – this is the Internet, which makes color accuracy a difficult thing to achieve.  It does serve to illustrate that you don’t necessarily have to stack images in Photoshop to achieve the HDR look.  Simple slider adjustments in Lightroom can approximate the same thing.  As mentioned above, there are also a number of third-party plugins and add-ons that can bring this effect to life.  Regardless of what the consensus is, HDR is likely a technique that is here to stay, and it’s simply a matter of experimenting and finding a technique that works for you, and that your clients, or colleagues, or friends and family, will find appealing.

This is, of course, just my personal take on HDR.  What about the rest of the readership?  Any thoughts on the legitimacy or validity of HDR?  Does it work?  Can it work?  Or should we stick to trying to capture it all in-camera – on a single frame?  Sound off in the comments or via email!  Thanks for sharing your own thoughts, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

ETA:  Don’t forget – a couple contests are going on through November and the rest of the year:

1.  Monthly LDP Giveaway – Share your own “POP” themed photos for a chance to win a pack of pearl metallic paper from the folks at Red River – this paper is awesome for HDR-styles of work!

2.  The Nations Photo Lab Family Photo Day – Upload your images to their Flickr Page for a chance to win a pretty impressive set of prizes including autographed books, free printing certificates, and much more!

Sunrise 1

Sunrise 2

Sunrise 3

Sunrise 4

Sunrise 5

By the same token, there’s also something to be said for the waning hours of the day and the night time coaxes us to our nocturnal tendencies.  The deep blues of the sky as the moon begins to creep over a skyline, the brilliant oranges and blues mix in unimaginable ways through the clouds, and streaks of headlights and tail lights bring a sense of motion to the darkness – they all lull us to stay up and about to catch the images the work-a-days miss.  These are what draw us out at night.  The downside is that your dinner is cold, or your spouse/significant other has already eaten and you chow down alone.  Of course, you may be eating as you pour your images into Lightroom, Aperture, or other photo editor – beside yourself with anticipation of what you’ve captured.

Night Owl 1

Night Owl 2

Night Owl 3

There are pros and cons to being either an early bird (that gets the worm), or the night owl (that gets…a cricket?).  I’ve enjoyed (and suffered) through both, but would love to hear your perspectives.  Are you a night owl or an early bird?  Sound off in the poll and the comments!

Yellow and Blue

Iydillic Scene

Orange, Red, and Blue

Yellow, Green, and Blue

Colors Colliding

Going Low

As you can see, the subtle HDR processing really added something to the photos.  Is it good?  Is it bad?  As in most things artistic, there is something of a judgment call involved.  Perhaps an important side note here in learning more about composition is to realize that something came out of an otherwise normal exercise (taking the dog for a walk), and in looking all around yourself, images are available everywhere.  Where should you look for your next photo?  Right there!  You just have to know to look for it!

Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

After a few months of feedback and suggestions, it seemed the idea was pretty good, but people wanted examples, or at least something to liven things up a bit – the “spreadsheet style” was a little tedious on the eyes.  So began the latest project for me (as if I don’t have enough projects, according to Tracy)!  Well, after 6 months of blood, sweat and tears, it’s finally here – 49 Tips, The Sequel!

All the tips are new, just as useful, and even more in-depth, but here’s the best part – it’s really an eBook now!  With a cover page, a prologue, epilogue and, as you can see, there’s a photo for every tip! Okay, so some are screen captures so technically not photos, but each one gets the point across quite well (I think anyway).  A few of these tips have been shared out via Twitter and Facebook in recent weeks to give everyone a sneak peek of sorts, but it’s “out there” now, and very excited to see what people think.

So, let me know what you think of the new style and layout!  It’s only $4.99 , which is less than a grande white mocha at Starbucks (at least that’s what I’ve heard…b/c I don’t drink Starbucks…right?)!  And for the time being (through the end of July, anyway), there’s an additional discount code for $1 off if you use it in your shopping cart:  “Sequel“

Since it was 6 months between Part One and The Sequel, my guess is it will be another 6 months before I come up with a third installment, so feedback, thoughts and input are always welcome!  There’s a link in the feature product are on the blog, or you can go to the full store here to see all three product downloads!

Apparently the WordPress eCommerce does not work as advertised as several people have gone through the process and not received their digital download email.  So, to hopefully make things easier for everyone, I’ve signed up with a company friends have used called eJunkie, and after a little configuration and setup, it’s available for purchase through their system (still using Paypal).  My apologies for the hassles initially, here’s the new download location:

Enjoy, and we’ll see you back here again next week!

The idea of themes presented itself, and while this is nothing new here on CB (see my tail-lights theme here), we came up with some great ideas for a photo project that we thought we’d share with the listening audiences.  It actually was kind of fun because the end result was a challenge we threw down at each other for taking more regular pictures on our own smart phone camera sites (I am at www.mydroidpics.com and Kerry just got set up at www.kerrysdroidpics.com).

Some of the themes we came up with for photo projects included the following (plus one I thought of afterward):

Faces

Alphabet

(the letter L)

Shapes/Colors

Action

(running)

And this is just the tip of the iceberg!  As you can see, nothing that will make the Smithsonian, but a couple have potential for creative juices to start oozing!   We’ve challenged each other to be more creative, and will start doing so on our respective camera phone sites.  We’re also asking listeners and readers to challenge themselves and to share with us your own thoughts, ideas, and creative endeavors both here and over in the comments for the podcast, so chime on in – the more the merrier!

Have you started a photo project?  Got a theme?  Need a theme?  Post away with your own ideas both here and over at Camera Dojo!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

The illustration I am trying to make in all of this is that a simplicity of color can be just as powerful as a huge rainbow of colors – and sometimes, even more so.  Sometimes, a uniformity of color can have an impact and a power that all the wild variations thrown together cannot induce a positive reaction.  As in all things photographic, the best way to demonstrate is through imagery.  here are a few examples of the “Power of Color”  In the interests of keeping things consistent, I am working hereunder the RGB principle of Red, Green, and Blue as the three primary colors, and will look at these in comparison to a scene of multiple colors.  Ready?  let’s go!

Red

The red of a rose – simple, elegant, classic, and the lines certainly do not hurt the composition.  Like the shot?  Think it works better than a multiple-colored scene.  Take a look:

Mixed

Sure, I cheated a little bit by putting some colors together that don’t exactly complement each other, but hopefully it illustrates that a hegemony of color isn’t always a good thing.  That’s just one example though, right?  Let’s look at some more perhaps less convincing samples to see if the theory holds true:

Green

A green anole sits on a green bed of leaves.  This one has been accepted at iStock (under an account since closed), so let’s just assume that this one “works”.    And here, we have a counterpart to the almost pure green:

Mixed

Oooh…a tougher call because these colors complement each other better.  Yeah the scene is mitigated by the car bumper, but still – it’s a nice combo of green, red, blue, black, and white.  Your eyes kind of go all over the place don’t they?  Hmmm…maybe it’s not as tough a call after all.  Colors can distract you sometimes…

One more set…

Blue

Again, we’ve got some simple colors here…very much a blue-dominant scene, albeit with different shades, but for the most part blue.  I know some could argue that the presence of shades means different colors and while technically true, on the color spectrum these are closer to being the same color than they are different colors.  And the gray – pretty much color-neutral, and not a factor

Mixed

It gets tougher here because there isn’t as much color variation but I don’t have a lot of blue in my portfolio of work that includes other colors, so I had to go with one I’ve used before as reference.  It’s actually a pretty cool scene because sunsets in South Carolina are not easy to capture favorably as they almost always have unfavorable skylines.  This one from the ocean looking in at the marshlands was an exception to the rule.  Sure, it’s pretty (one of my favorites from SC), but look, the blues grab your eyes, then the oranges, and you can even see a hint of green in the foreground.  It starts to get distracting with the lighter water in the foreground too.  (Yes, I know, we are always our own worst critics).

The point that I’ve hopefully driven home though, is that you can have beautiful scenes with either a mixture or a simplicity of color.  When in doubt though…try to go for simpler compositions of color.  Too much can be a bad thing.  At least that’s my take.  What’s yours?

The monthly contests here encourage everyone to go out and capture new work with a theme in mind, and creating new work is always a good thing, but sometimes, when given a theme, and then looking back at archives, you can find new meaning in older images, when looking with a different perspective.

For instance – I was reading an article over on Nikon (yes, I read Nikon’s website – we all know it’s the photographer and not the gear by now, right?) about the value of sounds.  The article was talking about pet photography and that you can get certain expressions if you catch the right sound (full article here:).  It got me to thinking – what would the lack of sound look like in an image?  So, I decided to close my eyes and try to imagine what a photo of silence would encompass:  the serenity of a flower, the peace of a beach or the darkness of an evening or morning sunrise or sunset when it’s just you and the landscapes, even the chill of the day with snow covering everything in a blanket of quiet.

It gave me such a burst of inspiration from my own archives that I decided to go through and pick these specific ones out with the idea of “silence” in mind…  Of course I couldn’t just leave something like this alone – so I added a little taste of music that I thought would be appropriate:

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/vids/silence.mov[/podcast]

This is, of course, just my own interpretation.  What are your thoughts when you think of a series of images that captures “silence”?  Would you set it to music?  How many images would you include?  Here I had 8 images…was it too many or not enough?  Sound off in the comments, as it’s really the viewer thoughts and input that is always so valuable!

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/vids/titan.mp4[/podcast]

You’ve also already seen some of the shots from the trip, but here’s a few more to satisfy the image-intensive crowd!

Have a great Monday and we’ll see you back here tomorrow when I announce the winner of the March Contest and the theme/prize for April…it’s another good one so be sure to tune in for that!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you then!

The idea for this post came from a tweet where someone referenced their entire archive saying they had photos of this and that, and were prepared for most situations when clients would come to them and ask “Do you have a photo of…?” so they could say yes!  It prompted me to go through my own archives, and I found several recurring themes – one of which was…can you guess?  WATER!

Go through your own archives and see if you can find recurring patterns – I asked some fellow photogs and water was a common one, which got me to thinking about this post in particular.  “What is the deal with water?”  Do you see a lot of water in your work?  What other themes arise from your archives?  Sound off in the comments, as I’d love to hear what inspires others (even if it is water too!)

Don’t forget, the LDP Flickr contest continues and the “Heights” contest deadline is about a week away.  Get your photos in soon to be in the running!  Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!