Living in Sedona, I have been privy to lots of beautiful changing scenery due to changing light conditions. The most interesting images happen on the edges of light when sunrise or sunset occurs. Or, when you find the edges of light where light spills through a window or under an overhang. Storms arriving or clearing are often wonderful ways to capture a different look.
Red rocks with a square crop. A path leads into the scene from the corner.
Car camera
Light as this is often fleeting in a landscape. I always keep a “car-camera” available for moments such as these. It’s a Panasonic Lumix FZ2500 — an all-in-one camera that can go from 25mm wide to 480mm zoom. It has lots of features including the ability to capture up to seven stops of exposure on a single button push (and can bracket focus as well, but that’s another post).
Different landscape compositions
Photographing a scene can be composed in many different ways. And, each individual way tells a slightly different story of the scene. I’ve found over the years that whatever grabs my interest in a passing landscape is just a starting point and any car stop should include exploring the area just a bit more.
A vertical crop gives an entirely different feel to the scene.
Learn more
I wrote a bit more in-depth on this subject on the Photofocus blog. Learn more here.
My buddy, Kevin Ames an editor of Photofocus, mentioned that many photographers have trouble monetizing their photography, especially when working on personal projects and asked that I share a few success stories. I did some research and found that this was the way I have built my business over the years. Here’s one of the stories on how I accomplished this. My personal projects are centered around learning a skill I was am trying to acquire. I then leveraging the image I’d created by selling, promoting the new skill — entering in image competition or garnering press. I hope you find these ideas helpful.
Once upon a time in a town near Atlanta …
Was on a visit to Atlanta to visit with my friends Ashley and Liz. In their neighborhood was a favorite restaurant of theirs called Manchester Arms. It was an overcast drizzly, dreary day. As I was entering the restaurant I noticed it had a kind of European pub flavor and I thought it would make a good subject for a new art technique I wanted to master. Despite the drizzle, I ran outside to grab a few frames from a couple different angles. For this particular use, the soft, overcast lighting worked well.
Before After
Here are the before and after images to show the results of my post-processing.
Manchester Arms restaurant in the rain – Before image
Finished art processed in Adobe Photoshop with textures, Blend Modes and masks.
Getting ready to head to New Mexico next week for the Festival of the Cranes held in Socorro and Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Preserve. (11/20-11/23) As the cover artist my crane art image will grace the cover of the brochure. In addition, it will be available for sale on T-shirts and coffee mugs. Sales of those items help support the friends of the Bosque and support the festival.
I’ll be on site with wildlife and avian art for sale, including prints of the cover art.
Cover for the Festival of the Cranes
As always I’d be happy to chat with you about techniques, photography, and/or commissions. You can see more of my work by checking out my art site. coatesart.net
For those that compete (or want to compete) at the International Photographic Competition (IPC) through the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) an important part of the process is presenting your image properly. There are twelve elements on which the images are judged. One of them is image presentation.
Think of it like this. Have you ever had an image that you thought was quite good? Then framed it and it looked even better? That is what you should try to make your image do when putting together your submissions.
Here is a video to give you one way to put together a presentation for a black and white image. This example is showing a double keystroke. The final image could be done with a single keystroke as well. As an artist it is your choice for the color (or tone) of your keystroke as well as the width. Coming soon, I’ll share some ideas on working with color images.
If you have any questions on PPA image competition, don’t hesitate to ask. I wish you the best in your competition journey.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – The subject is Craig Christopherson a wood and metal sculptor. See some of Craig’s work here on Instagram. Image was made with the Lumix G9 and 42.5mm f1.2 Leica lens. You can see how I went from the original capture to the final post processed image in my blog on post processing with Adobe Photoshop and Skylum Luminar 4 software.
I had the opportunity to get my hands on an LED light from FALCONEYES. It’s the F7 Pocketlite. You can see my thoughts below but the short answer is I like it. 97 Color Rendering Index and a good size and power as a fill or main light in a pinch.
I’ve often heard the expression the best images are made with the camera that you have with you. This light is small enough to have with you all the time.
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
Best embroidery ever. Give Queensboro a try, get a $20 instant credit to get started by clicking on the logo! They specialize in great quality custom logo apparel and promotional products with the best customer service.
Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
