by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, graphic design, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography education
Had great time in Chicago at the Out of Chicago Conference put on by Chris Smith. What an incredibly successful event with over 160 people registered in it’s first year. You’ve missed it for this year but I suggest keeping an eye out for next year’s dates and get them on your calendar.
While out and about on one of the photo walks I moved to the Illustrative Art Mode on the Lumix GX7 and tweaked it to Black and White. This gives a very high contrast look with a bit of a glow. I enjoy this look for architecture with a graphic twist. But I had to try something just a bit different on top of that. Capturing images in RAW plus jpeg allows me to get to the full color information presented to the camera and I’m starting to play with mixing them and adding a gradient on a mask to blend them together.
Splitting the photo into Black and White and color. Bottom to top.
Reversed the gradient for this photo.
Tried the split on this one and it lost it’s ‘Cartier Bresson Decisive Moment’ feel so I took away the color.
Experimentation is key to growing your photography. Does the split color work? For some images maybe but as I play with it some more I may find the perfect place to use this technique. Let me know what you think!
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | black & white, fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge
Sometimes you just have to play…
I was experimenting with some slow shutter speeds and the ocean. Don’t consider this a finished piece but a sketch of the direction I want to head with this series. I might want to get horizons to line up a bit more maybe not. Probably get the tones to match a bit more… Or maybe not! Sometimes you just have to put things together and live with them for a while… Let me know what you think.
Breakwater on the beach – Rehobeth Beach, Delaware
captured with a Panasonic Lumix GX7 and 12-35 f2.8 Lumix Vario lens. Had a variable neutral density filter added to get a slower shutter speed to allow the water to become more ethereal…
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | black & white, graphic design, landscape photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education
I really enjoy the use of this preset on my Lumix GX7.
It’s called Impressive Art. It adds a slight glow to hard contrast lines, saturates and shifts colors and punches up the contrast. I’ve used this with success as is on a few videos for a totally different look. (take a peek at video here)
But my favorite way of using this setting was suggested by my fellow Lumix Luminaries to use Impressive Art but adjust output to Black and White. It gives a very graphic look to the image. I like it and have already used this setting to generate happy clients for my biz.
Here are a few from the canal in Lewes, Delaware. I was enjoying an evening Dogfish IPA at the bar and was attracted to the shadows, lines and reflections on the water… I couldn’t just sit there!
Reflections
Shadows and Line.
Shadows, Line, Reflections.
When using the presets on the camera make sure that you are capturing in jpeg. If you just shoot RAW you will see only the hint of what you thought you were capturing as the camera jpeg disappears when you download it. For the best of both worlds choose to capture in RAW + jpeg. Then you will have the camera settings but also access to all the information presented to the camera so you can do your own processing
by successfulbob | black & white, fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, marketing, people photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
SUCK it UP!!
If you aren’t participating in image competition I feel you are missing a huge piece of the education puzzle in becoming a better more successful photographer. Almost every photographer I’ve seen who gets in the game, submits images, attends the judging and listens to the critiques has shown amazing progress in the depth of their work.
It also doesn’t hurt that you can win awards, work toward your PPA degrees and talk photography with a bunch of like minded people. If you wait until you think you are ready for imaging competition you are missing the boat because this is how you get better, not by waiting until you think you are ‘good enough’. If you need some help in getting started, get in touch and I’ll point you in the right direction.
And, as Paul Harvey used to say, “Here’s the ‘Rest of the Story”.
In addition to the education I received by being immersed in imaging competition last weekend I managed to score a few awards.
‘Street Portrait – ‘Doc” First Place Masters Portrait
Camera info – Lumix GX7 35-100 2.8 @47mm exp 1/160, f2.8, ISO 200 square in-camera crop
Captured on the 2nd day I had the Lumix GX7 in my hands in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I saw Doc and asked if he’d mind if I made his image after chatting with him for a bit. It was nice to be introduced to him by my friend & fellow photographer Dennis Chamberlain. He told me Doc was quite the character and he was right. I asked Doc to move to put him in some good light.
‘Art of the Saxophone’ earned First Place Masters Illustrative Image – AZPPA Loan Collection and the American Society of Photographers Award (ASP) captured with the Lumix GX7.
Photographing some live music in nearby Cottonwood, Arizona and I spied this Sax on stage. Photographed it with the thought of creating an art piece. Even though I floated the sax in the scene it was the other instruments that help tell the story and add depth to the piece. The look was accomplished using multiple texture images, blend modes, masks, layers and color enhancements. It’s one of the programs I give. See if one is happening near you here. If you have a photo group and would like me to speak get in touch. Depending on the size of your group Panasonic will pick up most or all of the tab.
‘Committed’ – Awarded 2nd Place Masters IllustrativeCamera and gear info – Lumix GX7 7-14 f4 @12mm exp 1/6 sec, f4, ISO 3200 Seven shot bracket.
camera mounted on Culmann Germany carbon fiber tri-pod Magnasit 532C
Check out the tattoo of the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi from Santa Fe, New Mexico on this young man’s back. I was photographing the Cathedral around 10 PM and he walked by working on setting up for the Indian Market the next day and he said, “I have a tattoo of that on my back.” I asked if he had a minute to spare and could I make his photograph. I bracketed the image with 7 stops automatically with the Lumix GX7. Got off only two bursts because I had him for about 30 seconds before he was called back to his duties.
Guardsman’s Pass, Utah scored an 80 for a merit
Camera – Lumix GX7 35-100 f2.8 @42mm exp 1/640 sec, f7.1, ISO 640 (set by camera panorama mode)
This rounded out my image case. This was the first use of the in-camera panorama from the Lumix GX7. I love this feature! That doesn’t mean I don’t also make my panos the old fashioned way with multiple exposures and stitching them together when I want a larger file to work with but this is a great feature.
Managed to make it into the AZPPA Top Ten for the 14th time in 15 years. This information is being compiled into a press release. Check here for more information on how get the most from your marketing.
Til next time. Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | black & white, commercial photography, fine art musician portrait, graphic design, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography education
If you follow my blog and life you’ll see that I’m a music fan. Photographing live music is something that I have been devoting myself to and adding in creating art for the musicians. When something like the Old Town Center for the Arts annual Blues Fest comes along I am in hog heaven. It gives me a chance to photograph and practice new techniques.
Tommy Dukes, Arizona Blues Hall of Fame member. Artistic Photoshop work from blues fest performance. Original capture with Lumix GX7 35-100.. 2.8 lens. Impressive Art filter. Layers and textures add to final art mix.
Did I say it gives me a chance to practice? I believe practicing is as important to photographers as it is to musicians, athletes or anyone else who needs to have the skill of working under pressure. Changing settings, working in new lighting (and often challenging) conditions is something you need to be able to work with almost without thinking so you can capture the essence of a performer. In this case I was playing with some of the presets in the camera and finding some cool looks. In order for you to access the camera pre-sets after downloading you need to capture the images as jpegs. For safety sake and to have all the info presented to the camera you can save as RAW plus jpeg.
Tommy was quite animated and his shirt added to the life of the performance. Capture with Impressive Art filter then layers of texture added to foreground and background.
Then I self assign creation of CD covers, music and musician art and share the ideas with the artists and their marketing people. This has led to being hired to do the work I enjoy. Hmm. Practice. Self assignments. Sharing. Marketing. People often ask me how I get the images I do and the work I want to do. Re-read the last paragraph again and you’ve got he answer. When are you starting your next personal project?
Pretty much straight out of the GX7 camera using the monochrome art setting. Pretty clean black and white!
Straight out of camera with the Impressive Art setting on the Lumix GX7
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, photography gear
For some reason I found myself enamored with this railroad draw-bridge in Tampa, Florida. It’s just outside the museum I was hanging in and I liked the graphic lines and shapes that ran through the scene. I thought i’d run the camera through some of it’s pre-sets to explore different ‘looks’. Never used to be a preset guy but I’m liking the fact I can have a pretty well processed image straight out of the camera. Here’s a few…
Four different preset images from the Panasonic Lumix GX7 camera pretty much straight out of the camera.
Totally different feel with all of them. Having fun seeing what the camera can do.
Please be aware of a couple things. You must have the camera set to save jpegs. Shooting in RAW only will allow you to see the processing on the camera but when you download the RAW images and open them on the computer you will see the processed file for about 2 seconds and it will disappear leaving you with the RAW information only.
Now a wonderful thing is available here. You can get the best of both worlds by shooting RAW + jpeg. Then you have a finished processed jpeg and still have access to the RAW file if you want to process the image in a different way. My friend Kevin Ames of Ames Photographic in Atlanta says, “Friends don’t let friends shoot jpeg!” He is a big advocate of shooting in RAW because if you shoot jpeg only you are allowing the camera processor to throw away a lot of information from the file. If you shoot in RAW it has the most information and will allow your file to be even better in the future as more and better software is designed for processing images. I agree. But, I like the idea of working with and tweaking some of the setting the camera has available for immediate use hence I now do both.
