by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography, photography education, photography gear
What a difference a lens (and some extension tubes) can make!
I went back out to the trial chasing some wildflowers in Sedona, Arizona. But this time I came a bit more prepared for the subject with some extension tubes and a long lens to isolate and magnify the beauty something a wide lens just can’t do. (see images from the day before)
Having trouble finding the correct names for my desert flowers. This might be a Four O’Clock something or other. Any help from you botanical types??
Been trying to identify this flower… Has the shape of a type of Morning Glory but the
pistols extending out from the bell I think are telling me it’s something else. Any ideas for me?
OK enough with the flower naming conventions… Here’s the down low on the gear used.
Because I was on the trail I wanted to stay fairly light so I grabbed the MePhoto Backpacker Tripod. Pretty versatile and folds up to around 15 inches with it’s own shoulder case. Nice ball head with firm controls. Wasn’t sure I would like this tripod but it’s been serving me very well.
I wasn’t traveling to far so the Lumix GH4 was the camera of choice with a 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario lens. Extra lenses, extension tubes and other photo stuff was in the Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 20. Good build with enough room for a good selection of gear but still is unobtrusive on my belt.
I added some inexpensive extension tubes from Vello. When you shop for extension tubes make sure you get matched to your system so the auto-focus and exposure are automatic. If you only shoot macro images occasionally extension tubes can work great and save you the price of a dedicated macro lens.
To help control the lighting I used a 20 inch 5 in 1 reflector from FJ Westcott. This is small and light yet big enough to cover flowers fro the sun and give a nice glow to the lighting.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | architectural photography, commercial photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography gear
Thought I’d share some of my commercial work with you… Been going at it pretty hard this week. Shooting images for the Sky Ranch Lodge (not my images yet on the web site they are still in post production) in Sedona, AZ.
One thing I like about my job is getting to know my community more intimately. I’ve been living in Sedona for over fifteen years and always knew about the Sky Ranch Lodge but never had cause to go there. Very cool property! It has a nostalgic feel, the grounds are gorgeous with multiple water features and the views are indescribable. But that’s where the photos come in handy!
This is one of two cottages at Sky Ranch Lodge.
Double queen with a garden view.
The interiors were captured with the Lumix GH4 and 7-14 f4.0 lens. Having the articulating screen is handy when I am trying to squeeze the camera as close to a wall corner as possible.
Added fill light to the rooms with Fiilex LED lights. The 302EX 3 light kit with stands and roller case worked well. This was the first time I used continuous lighting on a hotel job and it sure makes the job easier. The fact that you can dial in color temperature on the lights saves a bunch of time time in post production when you are balancing outdoor light with the incandescent lighting from the fixtures.
I bracketed exposures to balance indoor and outdoor light to be stripped in in post.
I’ll share a trick I use to get a nice glow from the room lighting without blowing out the highlights. Change all the bulbs out to a 15 watt size. Saves a ton of time in post production!
Water feature and gardens at the Lodge.
Put yourself in this rocker lounge chair. (Think I’d have a glass of wine or a cold brew in my hand too)
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photography, photography education, video
Humble.
And, extremely talented.
His name is Alan Ames.
He shared with me that he was pleasantly surprised that he was able to play along with the ‘A’ team of musicians assembled on the stage at Sound Bites Grill. I had enjoyed Alan’s playing before, he’s already on the SBG ‘Wall of Fame’ but I heard lots more. When I asked band leader Eric Miller about the additional sounds I was hearing he told me that Alan had built his own instrument. It’s called a Violyra. (I’ll check with Alan on the spelling of this) Instead of the violin’s traditional four strings Alan added two extra strings in the bass range with a different body design. His creation is so original the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix has commissioned him to make another for display in the museum. A true honor indeed.
Here’s a quick sample of some of the sounds Alan creates with his Violyra…
Still frame pulled from 4K video captured by the Lumix GH4.
The sounds Alan can make from this instrument are extremely varied. He said he has fused the old techniques of instrument building with the new technology and this allows him to create an incredible range of sounds from traditional violin to cello and more…
Pretty amazing the new technology available in musical instruments and cameras. It’s a great time to be a creative. What are you experimenting with??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH4, photography
Architecture here at the Wizard Academy is quite distinctive and a bit on the Old World side. I like it.
As always I create a self assignment to create some art from the places I visit. Here is Chapel Dulcinia. It’s a place to have a wedding if you are in the Austin, Texas area. It’s beautifully appointed and in a very wonderful quiet area on the Academy grounds. By the way, did I mention there is no charge?? Last year there were over 800 ceremonies on the property. This year they are on track to have over 1000 weddings here.
Chapel Dulcinia at the Wizard Academy. The texture for creating the art came from a photograph of the elevator floor…
Captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario lens.
Any idea where the name for Chapel Dulcinia originated?? If so comment below…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photography education, photoshop tutorial
Sound Bites Grill hosted Daniel and the Lion in the show lounge last Tuesday for Dance Night. There were quite a few people out on the dance floor and I’m pretty sure I heard talk of them coming back for another performance. Make sure you watch out for it if you are in the Sedona, AZ area! Or check their web site for other dates. BTW they are opening for the Counting Crows this summer.
If you follow my blog you know I create art images of the performers at Sound Bites Grill here in Sedona. Here is the image that made it to the ‘Wall of Fame’…
I capture all the musicians individually and try to get their personality worked into the photo.
The individual musicians are selected in Adobe Photoshop then composed into the art piece adding drop shadows and others effects. Different texture images are also layered over the master with different Blend Modes applied. The signatures are done with black Sharpie on white paper. Then the signatures are scanned and laid out individually. I Invert the color and change the Blend Mode to Screen and the black disappears leaving just the autograph.
This is more of a straight capture of the performance of the band. Lumix Vario lens 12-35mm settings 15mm f2.8 1/30th sec at 3200 ISO
I’m using the Lumix GH4 which makes it easier to capture the large range of lighting that occurs in a live venue using LED lighting. This is a single capture. The image was then taken in to Adobe Camera RAW. Highlight slider was brought down to tame the blown out areas and the shadows slider was brought up to bring some detail out of the darker areas. This camera has a tremendous density range. If I was going to really work this image to control the light even more I would have blended bracketed photos together for even more range of density. It is very possible to accomplish this in one capture because the camera shoots at 12 frames a second and can bracket up to seven stops of light with one push button of the shutter.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, photoshop tutorial, video
Finally started playing with the 4K video capture to make still images on my Lumix GH4.
Why would you want to do that? Well having access to 30 fps images allows you to capture micro expressions during a fast moving shoot of a baby or if you want a photo from a video you made and couldn’t grab stills from. I didn’t realize how useful this could be until I started trying to photograph hummingbirds at the new feeder my wife put up. This is a pretty good image that will print fairly large. If you are using the entire frame you can grab an eight megapixel image from 4K video.
After grabbing the Frame for the video I opened the file in Adobe Camera Raw so I could use those controls by highlighting the image in Adobe Bridge and hitting Cmd R (Cntrl R for PC users). After some additional adjustments for color and sharpness and removing the bird feeder in Adobe Photoshop here’s the still photo result.
This image came in at 15 MB after cropping. Depending on the output media this could easily make a 20 inch or larger print.
Here’s the video.
YouTube Video on the original 4K video capture.
I’m thinking that his has more applications than I originally thought. When I first heard about this idea I was thinking there’s no way I’d want to dig through that many images for an expression or specific moment. Found out it wasn’t that hard stepping through the frames in Adobe’s Premeire Pro CC.
The photography landscape is changing as the lines between video and still capture get closer together.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
