by successfulbob | architectural photography, landscape photography, Lumix FZ 1000, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography creativity
Inspired by the Unfamiliar
Just back from PPA‘s Imaging USA…
And, I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “Oh, you’re from Sedona! You are so lucky to have such a beautiful place in which to live!”
Now I don’t actually dispute that statement because I am lucky and I do live in a beautiful place. But, photographically we all live in beautiful places. Why do I say that? Because it is the light in which makes a beautiful photograph not necessarily the subject matter. Believe me I’ve seen plenty of butt-ugly photographs of the red rocks of Sedona.
The other part of the equation is that I believe we are inspired by the unfamiliar. When we see the same things before us day after day I believe our eyes and minds become fatigued by the repetition. Moving out of my comfort zone to new visuals on a regular basis via the travel I do when presenting programs around the country I find stimulates my creativity. Just by virtue of seeing something I am not used to can lead to creating new imagery that is interesting to me.
Wherever You are is Beautiful
Wherever you are is quite interesting when seen with new eyes. There have been many times a photographer from out of town has come into my neighborhood and shown me new ways to see the beauty around me. And I have shown others beauty in their own neighborhood.
I have found I really enjoy seeing new things. I think the secret is to use the same eyes at home as we do on the road. I suggest you and I try to not wait to travel to look at our own city or town with new eyes… I guarantee you will start creating more and better images. Although it doesn’t hurt to get a little ‘refresher’ by taking a little trip as a reminder.
One Image from the City of Atlanta
The convention was in Atlanta, Georgia. This image was captured from the Onmi Hotel 11th floor. I enjoy the architecture, lines, forms and light as I look out over the city.
This is pretty much SOOC (straight out of camera)
This version is with color correction and a bit of artistic adjustment.
Using NIK Silver FX Pro 2 to create a black & white version makes tone and form more of the star than the color.
All three images have a slightly different feel due to different processing. I’m sure there’s even more but that’s all the time I have today. I be sharing more of my ‘city safari’ images in posts next week.
For those who have inquiring minds about gear and settings for the capture… Lumix FZ1000 1/200 sec f4.5 ISO 200 in Aperture Priority
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH4, people photography, photography creativity, photography education
Dusty western streets lined with aged buildings hinting very strongly at a bygone time.
Characters in period dress move through the streets as if they’ve returned home from the present day. That was the Arizona PPA Fall Fest this year organized by AZPPA and headed up by board member Bruce Roscoe of Alayna Photography. Bruce created a calendar with this great bunch of actors and arranged to share their talents during this event. There were five instructors, ten actors and thirty-five photographers in action, learning, sharing and generally having a good time.
I gotta tell you if you live in Arizona, are a photographer and not a member of Arizona PPA you are missing out on education, networking and building lifelong friendships with those of a like mind.
But, I digress just a bit. Here’s an image created after the sun sank (sunk?) below the horizon of the ‘haunted church’ done at the end of the street.
This was ‘Filo’ one of the actors posing during a light painting exercise held at the end of the day. Lumix GH4 with a 12-35mm f2.8 lens was mounted on a tripod and a series of bracketed exposures was made of the church scene followed by Filo being lit in various positions. Images were then striped together to have our actor studying up on his ethereal image inside.
If you are not in Arizona there is probably a Professional Photographers of America Affiliated group not too far away from you. You can check the list. I travel around the country and have spoken to many of these groups and I can tel you that the education acquired from being a member and participating as a volunteer can help you grow your photography business.
Lots of photographers suggest that they can get all the photo education they need from the web and online tutorials. I beg to differ there’s no beating live in person education and if you are not already a member of one of these organizations I encourage you to at least visit for one or two meetings. You be glad you did!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – The event was help at Canyon Creek Ranch and should you find yourself in central Arizona it’s a place you might want to check out!
by successfulbob | architectural photography, commercial photography, photography
More images from the Sky Ranch Lodge photo shoot in Sedona, Arizona. If you would like to see details about the shoot and additional images you can check them out here.
King Fireplace room.
Pillow & headboard treatment detail.
Kitchenette and fireplace room.
reat property with wonderful grounds and spectacular views. Coming to Sedona? Check it out…
Yours in creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, commercial photography, Lumix GH4, photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources
Got a chance to work with my buddy Jack Hillman of Hillman Design Group on another shoot with Sky Ranch Lodge in Sedona, Arizona this past week and we dodged rain and wind to traverse between the eight rooms we needed to photograph for the web site and marketing.
Had a chance to work with LED lighting instead of my traditional flash units to supplement the lighting in the rooms and I like it. Because I had more powerful LED lights from FJ Wescott I was able to see the final image a bit better as I was working. Kicking a little light here and there and seeing the effect immediately was a great way to work.
This is a double queen room. The daylight balance lights made it relatively easy to balance with the light entering the room from outside the window.
Sky Ranch Lodge fireplace and table detail. Simple rooms but very neat & comfortable.
Lamp detail. I enjoy when I get the tell the story of a property in detail images like this. Over the years many properties have tried to show everything in a room in one photo and the message of how wonderful the property actually is can get lost.
The lights I was working with are Skylux LED lights that are designed for studio video work. I pushed them into location lighting for the resort I was photographing. All images were captured with my workhorse Lumix GH4 camera body. ANd the most used lens was the 12-35mm f2.8 Lumix Vario with an assist from the stunning 42.5mm f1.2 Nocticron.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, commercial photography, Lumix GH4, photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources
Still working on photographing the Phoenix Airport Hilton after their eight million dollar refurbishing of the property.
It was great working with the staff while on the photo shoot. Everyone was as helpful as possible in getting the areas set for the photography. This makes the shooting day go better, smoother and leads to better photographs.
Sales manager Mike Manginelli was great in letting me know specifically what he was looking for. We were able to shoot to the IPad from the Lumix GH4 using the built in WIFI and Panasonic Image APP (free download) so he could see exactly what the camera saw as we worked out angles and ideas.
A bonus in operating and controlling the camera from the IPad (or IPhone or Android device) is when making multiple exposures to handle lighting situations with bracketing the camera is not touched. This allows for exact registration for blending various exposures using Adobe’s Photoshop Layers and Masks.
The Saguaro Room set for a reception.
Exterior night image.
Ballroom set for meeting.
Another bonus to shooting from a remote system is being able to ‘paint the room’ with multiple pops of a flash and see the results as you go. These images are blended into the final scene adding light where necessary to fill shadows or creativity for esthetic reasons to add interest. I used a Paul C Buff light with a strip light box attached and a Vagabond battery pack to stay mobile. The Buff wireless triggers complete the remote set-up.
I’ve found the ability to ‘light my images’ with multiple exposures has made my shooting more efficient giving a better quality image to my clients. I spend more time in post production but my clients time is not wasted and I’m able to get the property rooms back online so there is little revenue loss when I photograph.
How do you work your interior and architectural shoots?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, commercial photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photoshop tutorial
Trying to add just that little bit extra…
Been photographing the Phoenix Airport Hilton lately after their eight million dollar remodel. There are some photos it can be a little more difficult to make sexy but lighting and awareness can make them stand out.
Take, for example, a boardroom photo. Here’s a utilitarian room with office chairs around a large table. We looked at a number of angles and one of the things I thought set the room apart was the fact that A – it had a window and B – there were palm trees outside the window. The wonderful thing about collaboration is that some of my best ideas come from other people!.
Mike Manginelli has been heading up the photography project from the hotel side. We discuss each photo, the use, how they want to present it to potential clients then we set up the shot. Mike said, “Hey what if the photo was taken from here?” As soon as I set the camera in place I was all over it. Once that decision is made…
Then it’s time to make the room shine from a lighting standpoint. I work with multiple images for different exposures of different areas. Inside in shadow. Inside room lighting. Outside daylight needs a totally different exposure from indoors. And then some additional accent lighting which adds that ‘certain something’…
Here’s the base exposure. Curtains are closed so I can control the glare on the tabletop to allow the wood and grain to show and not be blown out from the reflection.
Added a flash exposure to highlight detail and throw some light into the shadow area under the table.
Curtains were opened to obtain exterior view. Flash added to curtains to not have trouble blending inside/outside from flair around window. A little of the reflection was allowed on the tabletop.
Final boardroom image with a Curves Layer to open up shadows just a bit.
Layers Palette from boardroom photo showing various Layers and how the Masks were applied.
A handy feature on my Lumix GH4 is the built in WIFI that talks to my Ipad (or Iphone or Android) via ‘Image App’ (free download from Panasonic) so I can control the camera without touching it. All controls including shutter release and bracketing are available on the phone or tablet. When shooting multiple exposures, making adjustments to the camera, like exposure changes, firing the shutter, etc. makes it much easier to blend the images together in post production when the camera is mounted on a tripod. I used the 7-14mm f4.0 lens for this. There is no distortion in the lines on this lens. It’s one of my favorites for architecture work requiring a wide angle view.
Questions? Let me know…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
