by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH3, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, panorama, people photography, photography, photography education
I compete to stretch my photography skill set in order to keep growing and to get some feedback from my peers on how my work is stacking up.
This year I received a more than pleasant surprise as my most successful ever in imaging competition at Professional Photographers of America International Photographic Competition. I will be awarded the Diamond Photographer of the Year for my Master Artist entries and The Silver Photographer of the Year for my entries in the Photographic Open case.
I also inadvertently answered another question that comes my way from fellow photographers when referencing the Lumix line of Micro 4/3rds mirrorless cameras… Is the chip big enough? Is there enough quality to use this camera for professional work? The answer is a resounding, “You betcha!”.
I entered eight images overall. Seven were captured with various Lumix cameras. Five images were accepted into the PPA’s prestigious Loan Collection. Variety was the watchword with the entries including a portrait, art images, architecture and a scenic.
Here are the images from the Master Artist case in which judges are looking for the skills involved in post production. Guide images are used to show some of the process going from RAW capture to finished product. These images earned the Platinum Photographer of the Year designation which will be awarded in Nashville at the PPA convention.
‘Horn in F’ original image captured with Lumix GH2. Textures with Lumix GH2 & Lumix GH3.
Used my ‘Step & Repeat” Photoshop action to make multiple copies of the French Horn. Images were copied, rotated and multiple texture layers in various blend modes were used to complete the art.
‘Musical instruments Museum’ original image captured with Lumix GH2. See above description for technique.
‘Nautilus’ original captured with the Lumix GX7. The blossom was isolated and
copied, resized and manipulated multiple times to create the Nautilus shape.
‘Thistle’ image captured with 5D Mark II using Helicon focus and focus stacking then worked with textures and color.
Here are the Four images submitted in the Photographic Open category. Three were accepted into PPA’s General Collection with one image admitted into the Loan Collection leading to the Platinum Photographer of of the Year Award which will be given at the PPA annual convention in February. If you a not already a PPA member it’s a great idea. If you join you can go to the convention for free in Nashville next year.
‘Rooftop View’ captured with Panasonic Lumix GH2. NIK Color FX Pro was used along with textures, blend modes and layer masks.
‘Sedona, Arizona Panorama’ Captured with Lumix GH3. Multiple images stitched together in AutoPano Pro then some NIK Color FX Pro to enhance the depth and dimension.
‘Still the One’ Captured with Lumix GH3. Converted to sepia tone with partial spot color mask for the flag.
‘Santa Fe Street Portrait’ Captured with Lumix GX7 a great street camera with a very low profile and lots of features I really enjoy. It’s my favorite “With Me” Camera. Converted to Black and white using NIK Silver Effects Pro 2.
When I first started working with the Micro 4/3rds format I was a little concerned about sensor size but as the new Panasonic cameras and pro glass were introduced I was able to put those fears aside and now I’m exclusively using the format for all my commercial and fine art work including architecture, product, portraits, fine art imagery and more. Is this the be all and end all format for every photographer and every need?? No, of course not! I’ve found it fits my working style and as long as my customers and I are pleased with the final results that’s what matters.
Questions? Give me a shout.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS Just in case you haven’t read my disclaimer section I am a Panasonic Lumix Luminary and I travel around the country teaching photography with them as my sponsor. If you would like me to come teach at your photography organization get in touch my contact info is at the top of the page.
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 | 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
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education
I was working with a new lens the Lumix G Leica DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm/F1.2 Lens and is it sweet and fast. In this play session after a couple days of judging and presenting at the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association convention thought I’d try some fun stuff with Sarah Wykhuis. She was a great subject. It started in the hall when she was standing near a light. I set the camera for a high contrast black and white look.
Sarah in the hall. Kind of a Julia Roberts look don’t you think?
Then we went outside to shoot in the dark to see what we could see. It was pitch dark so we used the building lighting and fellow photographer and presenter Pierre Stephenson used his IPhone to add a bit of fill light.
I shot in RAW plus jpeg so I could get to all the info presented to the camera and was surprised at how much detail I was able to pull form the file. Camera was Lumix GH4.
I always advocate getting out to play. You learn the limits of your equipment, sharpen your skills and discover new ways of doing creative imagery.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix Lounge, photography education, photography seminar, success education
Been away a little bit as I flew across the country to present my ‘Fine Art Photo Synthesis’ program to the TNPPA courtesy of Panasonic Lumix. I was also invited to be a judge for their state image competition.
While I was there I had time to catch Pierre Stephenson’s program on posing and picked up a few new ideas from him. I love learning this photography stuff! You can pick up some ideas from Pierre and you don’t even need to see him in person. He has some online lessons here on his Facebook page.
Some of the attendees at the TNPPA photography convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Thanks to Dorma Tabisz for grabbing some action photos of me speaking!
It was a great convention held by a wonderful group of people. The southern hospitality was on display big time! We took a riverboat cruise as part of the activities and I had a blast. I’ll share some of the people images I captured during the cruise. I was running the new 42.5mm f 1.2 DG Nocticron Leica lens through it’s paces. Wow is that thing sweet!
Here’s a few comments from attendees…
“For the first time in over 40 years in our photographic industry I set through the entire program Bob Coates presented to our Tenn. Professional Photographers convention. Even strained my neck and kept my hearing aids in so that I didn’t miss a thing. Thanks Bob.”
Gary Moor M. Photog., Cr. FBIPP, FRPS, FMPA
“Bob, I sure enjoyed your program last night at the TNPPA. I am not a member and mainly shoot landscape but your program inspired me to try some new directions with my photography.
Thanks again.” Sincerely, Latta Johnston
“Your program was fabulous and held my attention with information I KNOW I can put to use immediately !!! I can now leave the show knowing my time was well spent !!! Thank you for your willingness to share!” J. Wade Tipton M. Photog., Cr., CPP, TCD, TSD, F-PPMo, F-PPO
Til tomorrow…
Yours in Photography, Bob
