by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
Country music soundin’ GOOD!
Moot Davis Band had them on the dance floor at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona, Arizona last Wednesday night. Holly and I were there for dinner and the music and were not disappointed on either count…
Sometimes, in my mind, country music can get a little maudlin… I’m not one for crying in my beer so when they say a country music band is coming to town I’m not usually too thrilled. Well that thought jumped out of my head within the first couple songs once the band started to play. This is a really talented group of musicians. Moot has a great voice and the band has wonderful instrumentation occasionally leaning a little toward rock with Bill giving some great guitar licks.
We ended up staying until the last note faded away and had a great time.
Moot Davis Band photo created for the Sound Bites Grill ‘Wall of Fame’.
The individual images were captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario Lens. I’m finding the stage photography is much easier with the GH4 especially with the LED stage lighting. The camera reaches into the shadows and keeps the highlights from blowing out when you use the shadow highlights curves setting to boost the shadows and hold down the highlights.
Each musician was layered into the image and multiple textures were added using blend modes to create the painterly feel…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art musician portrait, Lumix GH3, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photoshop tutorial, success education
Stalwart entertainers Tom and Shondra did a show at Sound Bites Grill here in Sedona, Arizona. These guys (I use that term loosely) do a highly energetic show that the audience really gets into. Steve asked me to photograph them for the ‘Wall of Fame’ and it was my pleasure to do so! Even though it is only two performers I thought their energy needed more than just one photo to help tell the story… This is what I put together.
Tom and Shondra on stage at the Sound Bites Grill Wall of Fame image.
The Lumix GH3 worked well for capturing Tom and Shondra’s performance. Because their expressions changed quite rapidly during the live performance I used the 5 frames per second bursts to have choices. I used the Lumix GH3 for this shoot because I sent the Lumix GH4 in for service… not that there was anything wrong but more of a precautionary measure.
I was photographing along Oak Creek and went to cross the creek and slipped on the rocks and the GH4 was submerged while I was trying to right myself which took long enough to put water into every available opening in the camera. I dried it off as much as possible at the scene and then headed for home. I dried it more. Got out the hair dryer and searched for moisture in every compartment. I kept rotating and finding more water but with the heat on medium and I made sure I got every drop I could. The camera turned back on and operated wonderfully. But I sent it in for a chek-up and all was well. The weather sealing on that camera is better than I thought. I still don’t recommend submerging your camera to test it like I did. But it showed me we should be pretty good in a moist environment…
Multiple images were put together using Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 using blend modes, textures and masks. I also added some smoke with brushes that I obtained from Woody Walters who is an amazing Photoshop artist and instructor. Go check out his stuff. (I don’t receive any commission from Woody but I can save you 15% if you decide to sign in for more than his free Photoshop tutorials use coates15) He has amazing info to share with you!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | fine art photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources
Had the opportunity to test out the Fiilex LED light kit model FLX302 which includes three P360EX lights, stands and barn doors in a watertight rolling case. I used this kit on a real estate shoot a couple weeks ago You can see some of those results here.
I thought I’d give these bad boys a workout in the studio with a still life project. Again the ability to see the lighting exactly as it will appear in camera allows me to get a bunch of different looks in a very short period of time. Having the ability to change brightness and the white balance of the lights from the golden tungsten color temp of xxx to the brighter blue of xxxx adds to the creativity.
Here’s a quick animated GIF to show many different looks using just the three lights, a shoot through umbrella and a piece white of foam core as a reflector.
Many different lighting versions using the Fiilex LED’s
Once I have the initial image captured in studio it’s time to put Photoshop to work. Using multiple images of tectures, layer masks and blend modes I take the image to my artistic place. Here are a few versions…
From the initial image captures above it’s time to experiment with various textures and color palettes.
I’ve found many people like warm golden tones.
As they say variety is the spice of life. So more colors! More texture. Play! Experiment!
Images were photographed with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario Lens ISO 200 1/6 sec @ f4.5
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography
Man I gotta tell you I had a great night last night. Dinner with my wife Holly at Sound Bites Grill while listening to the music of Eric Miller and Ralf Illenberger. We ended up staying for all three sets because the music was soooo good.
We’ve heard Eric play in many different configurations with all kinds of musicians. I’m beginning to think he’s the ultimate musical chameleon. I’ve seen Eric playing in a rock and roll band, with a symphony, doing stage shows, a bit of opera, flamenco, composing and playing almost all the parts on a CD and much more. He has been collaborating with Ralf on a new album and they were debuting some of the new songs. I can’t wait for it to be released! They both bring lots to the project. Ralf was a pioneer in creating a unique guitar sound to the world back in the 70’s. Kind of a new age, fusion and fingerstyle all wrapped up in one sweet package. Eric brings his guitar skills and a voice that sounds remarkably like Sting – only better. Add the new lyrics and this is going to be a fantastic album. Watch for it!
Eric and Ralf live on stage at Sound Bites Grill. Both excellent musicians but the sum of the parts is much greater in collaboration!
Image captured with the Panasonic Lumix GH4 with the 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario Lens. Table in the foreground adds the reflection.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography, photography education
No I didn’t stutter in naming this photo blog post it just seems that way…
Macro macro was exactly what I was trying to say. I thought I’d take the macro photography to another place and see what happens. I used the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f2.8 Aspherical mounted on the Lumix GH4 with a set of Vello Extension tubes (10mm + 16mm stacked) to see what would happen. Since I was trying to keep Weight down on the trail I used a MeFoto Backpaker Travel Tripod.
Some serious detail comes forward with this setup. I photographed this Yellow Desert Flower bud and love the detail I was able to bring to the image. Almost looks hyper-real.
I’d love to be able to tell you the specific name of this desert flower in the photo but there are so many varieties that look similar to each other… Ah what the heck let’s go with Yellow desert daisy bud.
Here is what our bud will turn into short of being eaten by wildlife or beaten into submission by rainy weather.
On the first image I added some sharpening using NIK Silver FX Pro2 and adding Structure and Fine Structure to the preset #4 High Contrast (smooth). Then I changed the Photoshop Layer Mode to Luminosity. Since I was shooting at a very high ISO 3200 because of the low light the sharpening also sharpened the overall noise in the image so I added a Layer Mask to allow the background to be soft while the flower bud was sharp.
Mix and match your photo tools, add a little post production to see what happens…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Please remember using links to products from this page helps support the information being presented and shared
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography, photography education, photography lighting resources
Choices!
We get to make a bunch of them and I’m still playing with ideas as I explore the photographic world in which I have chosen to immerse myself. How about you?
What kind of decisions can we make to change the look of a single scene? Here’s an example of three images made with a Macro lens of a flower that is about the size of my thumbnail.
First capture of the White Horsenettle. Full sun. Looks a bit harsh. (why do they call it White Horenettle when it’s lavender??)
Placed a 20 inch scrim from a Westcott 5 in 1 to increase the size of and soften the light.
This has the effect of softening the shadow edge transitions and, to my eye, renders the flower in a more pleasing fashion.
Same capture with lighting as above but changing to a wider aperture softening the background allowing the flower to stand out more.
These are very similar images with subtle, and not so subtle, variations. Could there have been more choices made in this capture? You betcha! Could have taken a higher angle and not included the sky area. Could have changed the composition. Changed the lens. Changed the camera distance to subject. Could have added flash. Could have moved the scrim to the shadow side and reflected light into the shadows. You get the idea…
Point is when you have a subject explore the many possibilities and variations because it’s not unusual to improve on your images as you ‘work the scene’.
Capture information – Camera: Lumix GH4 Lens: Leica DG Macro-Elamarit 45mm f2.8 Aspherical Extension tube: Vello 10mm
Explore. Play. Practice.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
