by successfulbob | photographers health
High Intensity Interval Training…
That sounds pretty intense. “No way I want to do something like that!” I know that’s what I was thinking when looking for a workout program that would fit my schedule yet still be helpful in getting me fit.
ALERT ALERT! *Lawyers type notice. I am not a health expert. I didn’t even think about staying in a Holiday Inn Express last night either. I recommend you see a doctor before adding any type of exercise to your daily activities. Also when you first start any new exercise routine you should either get together with an athletic trainer or physical therapist to ensure you are doing any exercises with the proper form. It doesn’t do any good to do the exercises wrong and hurt yourself. Understood?
OK, that’s out of the way I’ll tell you how I’m putting my workouts together.
After poking around the World Wide Web for ideas one kept popping up that seemed like it might be very doable. The Seven Minute Workout. You’ll find lots of variations out there but the APP The Official 7 Minute Workout from Johnson & Johnson is the one I choose.
Screen grab from the 7 Minute workout page.
This what your workout instructor looks like on the screen of your device.
Cool part of this system is you don’t need any fancy equipment or go to a gym. You need your body. A room. A chair. Smart phone or Ipad. A clear wall. And, maybe an exercise mat if you have a hard floor. As you exercise with the program it tells you the moves you’ll be making. Times you through 30 seconds of the movements then gives you 10 seconds of rest and moving into position for the next exercise and starts you with a new 30 second clock and repeats until you’ve done the full set of 12 exercises.
7 minutes? OK that sounds a little too good to be true… It is. In order to really benefit from the program you should do the cycle three times in a row. And it will walk you through all of that. It will also track your progress with feedback from you and as this set of exercises becomes too easy it will set you up with more advanced exercises and sequences.
Here’s a link to a New York Times article about the program.
I highly recommend trying this out! (after you have seen your doctor!)
It’s easy. It eases you to deeper levels of workout. It’s super portable and there’s no investment except for the time you put in. I recommend you make it part of your daily routine and pretty soon when you miss doing your morning exercise for some reason, you’ll really miss it. Here’s to your health!
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, graphic design, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography education
The salesman for neon signs in Austin, Texas could sell ice to Eskimos in their Igloos!
At the very least he or she is very good at what they do. The neon in and around Austin’s downtown area is very creative and plentiful. When I came to town to meet with fellow Panasonic Lumix Luminaries for a brainstorming session after dark I hit the streets to see what I might capture.
Here’s the Heritage Boot sign just down the street from my motel.
This was created using three separate exposures and layering them together in Photoshop using masks and blend modes. I really like the feel of this… bright and warm yet it has an old time feel at the same time.
If you are ever in need of some beautiful boots this is the place! They are stunning.
Tripod is from the MAC Group MeFoto backpacker model. Easy to pack and surprisingly stiff with a nice ball head. Goes for around $150 bucks. Folded it’s about 12 and a half inches. (OK 12.6 inches) and will expand to 51.2 inches. Camera Lumix GH4 with 35-100 f2.8 with three different exposures and some zooming for extra interest.
Yours in Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | black & white, Lumix GH4, photography education
I was asked the question how do you a black and white image conversion. To steal a quote from Willy Shakespeare, “Let me count the ways…”
That’s kind of like asking ‘What film do you use?’ Or, ‘What are the settings on your camera?’ I use multiple methods depending upon the image and ultimate use of the image. Is it for a fine art landscape? Portrait of a person? Architecture? What are the different colors within the image? Is it being printed on canvas, photo paper, in a magazine or newspaper” All have a different feel and needs… We can now touch every single pixel in an image and control it’s tone Ansel Adams would have been in heaven!
I have an action that incorporates using the LAB mode. Covert to LAB throw away the A and B Channels. (that’s color info) convert to Greyscale. Convert back to RGB. Add a curves bump to taste.
Black and white converter in Photoshop.
Channel mixer.
Hue saturation.
NIK Silver FX Pro 2. Wonderful software!
Combinations of some of the above methods mixed together for different areas of the image.
Now my Lumix mirrorless cameras have presets that give me results that are repeatable and quite interesting. I shoot RAW plus jpeg to have the information that was presented to the camera and sometimes I will take the camera BW jpeg and also process the RAW and mix them together to get the look I want.
In Austin Texas with the Luminary team. Went to a BBQ place last night. Illustrative Art setting
pushed to black and white on the Lumix GH4
Don’t forget there are more tweaks that can be made to specific areas of an image by dodging and burning. (avoid using the dodge/burn tool in Photoshop! It mashes up pixels. Instead create a soft light layer and paint with black at a low percentage to burn. Another layer paint with white to dodge)
Their could be a whole field of study here just on this subject. I have a two hour program talking about this and could probably do a two day class on this subject called ‘Inspired by Ansel’
Here is a link to some blog posts on black and white shooting. https://successful-photographer.com/category/photography/black-white
by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
Is your photography unique?
Do you fully bring your inner self when you create images? If not, then there’s a distinct possibility you are not creating art. You are just making pictures.
Today I dug up a quote from poet, playwright Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde Photo by Napoleon Sarony
“A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperment.” Oscar Wilde
I’ve found my strongest images come forward when I am totally in the moment working on creating an image I really want to see made. Not necessarily because I am getting paid to make the image. But experience that I’ve acquired over the years allows me to bring creative things forward when on paid shoots even though
That’s why personal projects are so important to your growth as a photographer. You get the opportunity to explore, experiment and experience so much more as you create. You then are able to carry those forward into all your photography. I’ve also experienced the cross-pollinating of different genres of photography helping me create better photography. My wedding work helped in the fashion. My commercial work helped inform my wedding images. Playing while creating art images has worked it’s way back into my advertising photography.
So I ask again, “Are you bringing you to your photo shoots?
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography education
Sound Bites Grill is the new home for Estaban… Turning Sedona into home base is now a reality for guitarist Estaban and his violinist daughter Teresa Joy. They are joined on stage by Percussionist Emilio Santiago. (this guy has the fastest drumming hands I’ve ever seen!)
And they asked me to start documenting and creating images for marketing and promotion. We started out in the Village of Oak Creek about five miles south of Sedona where the red rocks begin. The weather cooperated better than I could have hoped for during our rainy monsoon season. Clouds protected the talent (and me!) from getting overheated, but allowed the sun to keep peaking through to light up the red rocks nicely.
Estaban in front of Courthouse Butte in the Village of Oak Creek Sedona, Arizona
Guitar great Estaban & his daughter, violinist Teresa Joy in front of Castle Rock.
Gateway to Sedona with Estaban and Teresa Joy showing off the sign to their new home base.
The Estaban show live on stage at Sound Bites Grill with Emilio Santiago on Percussion.
I choose to use the Lumix GH4 for this shoot because I would be working on a tripod. The lens which seemed to work for the entire shoot was the Lumix Vario 35-100mm f2.8 at ISO 200. Aperture for the outdoor images was at f11 because the story we are telling is of Estaban making Sedona his home. If I was trying for more ‘artsy’ images I would have chosen a wider aperture. A lot of noise has been made about the GH4 and the fact that it does 4K video. Well I gotta tell ya it’s a hell of a still camera too. I love the touch screen focus. The screen is bright enough to see in almost any light but it also has a live view eyepiece. It’s picked up and extra stop of density and can shoot RAW files at 12 fps (not that I needed that with this shoot!).
Lighting was supplemented with an Ultra Zap 1600 Paul C Buff flash powered with a Vagabond Mini-Lithium battery. It’s great to have studio powered flash in the field! I added a shoot through umbrella and kept it just out of frame. The shoot-through allows to ht the light source closer to the subject which gives softer shadow edge transitions. Here I was trying to make sure the light on the performers was really clean yet natural.
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Yours in Photography, Bob
