baseball world series

As any who know me can attest I’m not too much of a sports fan. I like to see a good football game no matter who is playing. I’ll root for my home team but I’m not rabid about it at all. Basketball I wanna see a well played game. If it weren’t for the fights I’d be a hockey fan. But baseball? Not so much.

But I was in a local elbow bending establishment and ‘lo and behold’ the World Series was on. And just show I’m not totally prejudiced I gave the game a passing nod.

I even gave it one of my highest complements. I took a picture.

beer and baseball

OK maybe I was taking a picture of my beer and the TV happened to be in the background. But that counts right?

Just a reminder that the Lumix G7 camera has 4KPHOTO Mode so you’ll never miss World Series type moments in your photo capture!

To all the true baseball fans I wish you the best and I hope your team wins!

Yours in Creative Photography,        Bob

PS – All right. I confess. I had to make two images and combine them or you would never have known that was baseball on the tube in the background.

people infrared photos part dos

The marriage theme continues from the Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration at Tlaquepaque in Sedona. (see part uno)

This couple was having a blast dancing with Mexican musicians providing music. They stopped and graciously posed for people as they wandered through the event. I asked if they wouldn’t mind posing for me where I could make the Infrared capture shine with deciduous trees as part of the background. Up the stairs we went…

day of the dead infrared photo

Asking the couple to move to a different background made all the difference compared to just asking them to pose in among the crowd.

I’m still taking multiple exposures to make sure I still have detail in the highlights and the shadows, dark skies and bright leaves then process the files by blending them with Layers and Masks in Adobe Photoshop. This was a simple blend with the darker Layer on top I made a Feathered oval Selection using the Marquee Tool and Refine Edge. This allows you to see and tweak the results before applying the Mask. Even with the Bracketing I did end up loosing detail in the bride’s hair on the sunny side.

chapel at tlaquepaque

The wedding theme continued at the Chapel that was set for a Day of the Dead wedding.

As you might see I am really enjoying using the Lumix G6 that has been converted to Infrared by Life Pixel. I choose the standard (750nm) filter for my conversion because I wanted to get the traditional IR look exactly as I’d like it.

Yours in Creative Photography,     Bob

people infrared photography

Obviously infrared imaging is not for people photography. Dead eyes. Super high contrast. Blown out highlights. Definitely not for people… Unless you are doing something artsy with the scene being most important and people are a relatively small element in the overall image OR you are at a Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) Celebration.

And, I just happened to attend one at Tlaquepaque in Sedona on Saturday and found a few people in costume and face paint to pose for me.

tlaqueqpaque day of the dead photo

Had a lovely ‘Day of the Dead’ model join me for a quick photo session in a back lit alcove.

tlaquepaque day of the dead celebration photo

Paper mache Caterina on the fountain. Seems like it was a day for brides as I worked…

If you are unfamiliar with the Day of the Dead celebration it is a Mexican Holiday when families get together and morn and celebrate the passing of loved ones. The celebration is to help those who have passed to move on in their journey beyond.

Images captured with the Lumix G6 and 20mm f1.7 pancake lens. Converted to IR by Life Pixel. I had the

Proper tool for the job. I think infrared works for this situation. How about you??

Yours in Creative Photography,        Bob

PS – More tomorrow…

sunday photo/art quote 1025

“I’VE BEEN FRAMED!!”

You’ve seen this line used in many books and movies by criminals, or those thought to be criminals.

Much the same idea Gary Winogrand brings forth the thought that what we choose to put in or leave out of the frame can change the story and impact of an image. It can be as simple as taking the time to think about the background and taking slight a step to the right or left to simplify the area behind the subject. Or it could be taking the subject to a totally different environment to tell a completely different story.

framed photo qoute

“Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.”   Gary Winogrand

Winogrand was a street shooter, advertising photographer, photography instructor and student of the photographic medium. He’s worth a look at to inspire some deeper thinking in how we use photography to skew our stories, for good or bad, when we press the shutter button.

Yours in Creative Photography,      Bob

lens baby fisheye experiment

Da#M it!

I got all the way up the hill to the cliff dwellings and realized I left the fisheye from Lens Baby in the car. Gotta tell you I almost didn’t go get it. I also gotta tell you it probably isn’t such a great idea to run 15 minutes up a steep hill at 7500+ feet. I was sucking some serious wind when I got back up to the top.

Annnnyy waayy… I thought I try some different things with the fisheye lens because of the relatively small spaces in the caves. Once I got my breath back I mounted it on the Lumix GX8 and here’s what I started to play with.

lens baby fisheye image

Here’s a ‘straight’ Circular Fisheye image from the dwellings. The full fisheye effect is a little cut-off because of the micro 4/3rds format.

fisheye image at gila cliff dwellings

Gila cliff dwellings photo captured in a different way with  the Lens Baby

lens baby fisheye photo

Then I thought I’d try to push the envelope a bit further an do a panorama. Here’s the individual captures…

gila cliff dwellings panorama lensbaby

And the stitched image… Don’t try to have Photoshop stitch this for you it locked up on me. I guess the circular edges gave it fits so I did the stitching the old fashioned way… by hand with masks.

I enjoy trying new and different things and was surprised by the final result.

Experiment.

Play.

Have fun.

Make mistakes.

Learn.

Yours in Creative Photography,      Bob