by successfulbob | Lumix GX85, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photographer of musicians
Live Entertainment Photography – Anthony Mazzella
I’ve been working capturing the performers at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona for about four years. I still enjoy the challenge of making images in this environment.
Anthony Mazzella on guitar – Image captured with LumixGX85
The latest entertainer to make the Wall of Fame is Anthony Mazzella. Even though Anthony is on the Wall already from a previous performance Sound Bites felt that the stage show Anthony has developed with his salute to Legends of Guitar should have its own special image.
Full stage with Anthony and his ‘babies’ all ready to play.
Playing multiple guitars in a variety of styles, along with looping music from other instruments makes this a really great show.
LED lighting and a smoke machine add a lot of ambiance to the stage.
I’ve been pleased how the Lumix camera gear can handle the contrast range in this difficult shooting scenario. In the earlier cameras, I had to work a lot harder to have detail in the shadows and not loose the pure color of the LED lights. Now, with new processing engines and five-axis image stabilization, I’m able to get more detail across the entire range. Can you say happy?
Mazzella Playing the blues during his performance.
Monday I’ll share the black and white conversions of these images.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | bird photography, landscape photography, Lumix GX85, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography creativity, wildlife photography
Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge Part Five
This post is the final in this series from a very productive shoot at the wildlife refuge in New Mexico. The refuge is a very target rich environment for making bird images. The scenery wasn’t bad either! Let’s talk about creativity just a bit more. I saw a lot of photographers while I was there. And except for gear difference such as long lenses, I believe most photographers there were getting pretty much the same photo.
Why would I say that? Check out the photo below of the scene at almost every location in the refuge. What do you see?
Take a careful look. Every camera is at the photographer’s eye level.
I saw this ALL the time. To obtain a different look to your images, you need to look at things from a different viewpoint. I spent a fair amount of time on my knees, sitting on my butt and getting the camera off of the tripod. Look back through my past posts, and I think you’ll see lots of variety. Bosque Pt 1 Bosque Pt 2Bosque Pt 3 Bosque Pt 4 Changing the height that you shoot from can have a dramatic effect on what is in the background of your subject.
I also heard a lot of motor drives at 8-15 frames per second going off. Motor drives can be helpful when tracking moving subjects or quickly changing background and lighting conditions, but I would see that happening when a photographer was shooting a relatively stable subject in constant light. Save yourself from extra editing time on the computer, Turn off the motor drive when you don’t need it.
Taking a lower angle allowed for the reflection with the grassland environment in the background.
Had to be on my knees to get the composition of the reflection where I wanted it placed.
Generally, a gimbaled tripod head would be needed to capture solid images of birds in flight. With new gear and in-camera stabilization improvements, more creativity is possible. The Sandhill Crane images were captured handheld with the Lumix GX85 and the Lumix 100-400mm lens (200-800 35mm equivalent) lens fully extended.
Excited about possibilities as I push this camera and lens combo even further.
See what you can do to differentiate your images from others at every chance you get.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | bird photography, fine art photography, Lumix GX85, Lumix Lounge, wildlife photography
Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge – Part Four
Getting Artsy
When photographing a specific subject or area I always shoot for good solid captures at the beginning. After I know I’ve got some good work ‘in the can’, I see what I can do to push the creative ‘Artsy’ side. Here are some of those images.
Let’s look at some tracking flight images with the shutter speed set to a slow speed in this case most were at 1/250th sec. Images were captured handheld with the Lumix GX85 and the Lumix 100-400mm lens (200-800 35mm equivalent) Most were with the lens fully extended.
Sandhill cranes photographed at takeoff panning with slow shutter speed.
This technique adds lots of movement and an abstract feel to the images.
Further into the art arena using additional post-processing techniques. MacPhun software Focus CK was used to bring more attention to the flight of the cranes.
Cropped SOOC (straight out of camera) 1/40th SEC shutter speed.
Image from above worked with additional post processing.
Canada Geese on a flyby 1/1600th SEC shutter speed.
Experiment. Push. Play. Don’t be afraid to get an imperfect result in camera. Playing can lead to more interesting and personal image creations.
Let me know what you like, or don’t care for, in these images. I have an inquiring mind!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | landscape photography, Lumix GX85, Lumix Lounge, photography creativity
Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge – Part Three
The refuge is quite beautiful in and of itself even without the birds. I made sure to capture images of the landscape as a subject all of its own. Here are a few scenes from the area.
Even though there are Cranes in the foreground, this is more about the landscape than the birds. Made with the in-camera panorama feature of the Lumix GX85.
Sunrise just after the Sandhill Cranes made their ascent leaving the pond for the day to forage in the cornfield.
Lots of layers in this landscape.
Reflection in the bend.
Reflections of sunrise among the grasses help tell the story of the environment.
I always try to tell the complete story of an area even if the main reason for the trip, in this case, was for the Sandhill Cranes and other wildlife of the Bosque del Apache.
Follow the previous posts here. Part One.
Find Part Two here.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | bird photography, Lumix GX85, photography gear, wildlife photography
Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge – Part Two
You can take a peek at part one on the Bosque Wildlife Refuge shoot here.
Made four total trips into the refuge which included a couple of sunrises and sunsets. Here’s a tip I’ve found to be handy when photographing in the same location multiple times. Download the images you capture as soon as you can for review. When you have a look, you can tell if any settings need adjustment. Nothing worse than making the same mistakes two days in a row and not finding out how you might have improved until you get back home. I’ve been a pro for over twenty years, and I still find slight improvements can be made when making images in the same location on subsequent days.
Let’s look at some tracking flight images captured handheld with the Lumix GX85 and the Lumix 100-400mm lens (200-800 35mm equivalent) Most were with the lens fully extended.
Sandhill Crane in flight over the corn stalks.
Flying into the corn field getting ready for landing.
Wings are flared to slow ascent.
Opposite synchronization of wing position. Mountains in the background with just a streak of sun add interest to the image.
Taking off from the cornfields heading toward the nighttime gathering area in the pond.
There are many ways to capture a different ‘look’ to a wildlife photograph even though the subject matter is the same. In this case, the subject is Sandhill Cranes, but all the photos have a different feel. The different look is accomplished with a change in position of the subject. Using a different background. Changing the crop can make quite a difference also.
I’ll be sharing more options and possibilities for differences with the same essential subject in subsequent posts. I look forward to hearing your thoughts as I move through this series of with the Sandhill Cranes.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | bird photography, Lumix GX85, photography, photography gear, wildlife photography
Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge – Part One
Talk about a target rich environment! Possibilities for incredible wildlife photography abound. The scenery, a variety of birds, and combinations of the two make for a great time photographing in this wildlife preserve about one and a half hours south of Albuquerque, New Mexico near Socorro. Learn more about the Bosque here.
This was my first visit, and I already look forward to returning in the future. Sandhill Cranes are a favorite bird for me to photograph. I have worked with them on the Gulf Coast of Florida. I’ve never seen groups this large. Since they are tanking up from traveling, they are pretty relaxed. They are chomping on rows of corn grown for them. The ponds are just the right depth for them to overnight and makes for interesting photographs as they fly in and out at dawn and sunset.
Let’s take a look at the photos.
This was one of the very first pictures I made when we got to the refuge. I am always trying to show the behavior of the animals when making images to add interest. Because I had previous experience wit the Sandhills, I recognized that this bird was about to leap. The fact that the other two birds are at the end of its wings was serendipity. Not the best time of day for photographing but we were checking out the area.
Jumping Sandhill Crane
Sandhill Crane on a flyby through the field.
Sandhill Cranes in the corn field planted for the migration as a feed stop.
Getting ready for landing in the corn field.
Bob Coates (hey that’s me) Original photo made by my shooting partner on this trip, Dennis Chamberlain. Dennis is an incredible photographic artist. You can see some of his work here. (PS – I arted-up Dennis’s photo so don’t blame him for how it looks!)
Here’s some feedback on the gear that I used. I was testing out the Lumix 100-400mm lens with the Lumix GX85 to see how it would hold up to not being on a tripod. I’ve always tended to photograph birds in flight handheld because I could track their movement better but would often end up with more tossers than keepers due to blur. The dual image stabilization rocks! Total change with this gear. I’m very excited about the number of images I got that were keepers with this rig. You’ll see more of those in the next couple days.
Yours in creative Photography, Bob
