I find myself playing with my photography images in Photoshop.
This is where I test out new ideas, explore possibilities, and have a bit of a romp through Adobe Photoshop’s Blending Modes just to see what I might discover.
A Juniper tree was the subject. Depth, dimension, and color were the objectives.
Here are some results.
Here’s one that’s good fun but a bit over the top of in saturation. If you don’t push the boundaries, you don’t know how far to go.
Easing up the saturation through changing blend modes makes this an entirely different image.
Adding the moon changes things once again
Here’re a few tweaks to the moon addition. Gives it a bit more life.
If I were doing this as more than an exercise or decided that I wanted to make this into an art piece for printing, I would have spent much more time on making selections and blending the various textures and layers together. Play doesn’t always have to have a pay-off more than a new feel for the tools with which you are working.
Lessons learned in this session. Be careful with selections from the beginning of the process. Verify before moving too far along in the project. Once a mask is made and reused throughout the process any mistakes will be magnified. Ultimately, having had this session I will save time and frustration in the future.
Initial image was captured with the Lumix G7 with a 20mm f1.7 lens. The moon photograph was created with the Lumix GH2 handheld with a 100-300mm lens extended to 600mm equivalent. I keep lots of reference files of textures and various elements on hand to help in the art process. I think of my texture images as an artist would their paint & set of brushes.
Earth Day Photography – Landscape Photography Magazine
Landscape Photography Magazine put out a call to photography artists to create an image of sunrise on Earth Day of this year. The image I created was accepted into the curated collection gathered from that day. Here is my entry as it appears in the Landscape Photography Magazine Earth day PDF. Download your copy for free & get a 60% off deal on a new subscription. If you are a landscape photographer I know you’ll love this. (disclosure: I am not an affiliate of LPM magazine. Just think they do a great job!)
Earth Day Photo – Capture Lumix FZ1000 25-400mm f2.8-4.0 @f8 Multiple Exposures ISO 800
Text from image follows below
“I was traveling and thought I’d miss out on the sunrise opportunity. Arrived at the airport gate and saw this east facing view. Major problems to overcome were minimizing the reflections on the thick plate glass & taming the wide density range of the scene. Used my arm to block as many of the reflections as possible and removed a few of the larger reflections in post-production. I captured a 7 stop exposure and processed 6 images in Aurora HDR *. Managed to hold the camera steady by bracing against the window frame. Timed the shot to capture the movement of the luggage cart.”
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
*Until July 5th there is a Fireworks Bundle available from MacPhun
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Creative Kit 2016 – 6 Powerful photography apps
Creating Powerful Photos of Fireworks – Video Training from PhotoFocus
8 Intensify presets and 3 Noiseless Presets created especially for fireworks images
PhotoBulk app by Eltima Software – Resize photos and add watermarks
Uplet app by Eltima Software – Upload photos from your Mac to Instagram
Lumix LX100. Built on a solid magnesium body with all necessary controls on the exterior of the body with machined knurled knobs or solid switches. Fast f1.7-2.8, 24-75mm, Leica DC zoom lens. While this camera is only 12.8 MP, it has 4K video and Photo Mode which enables printing of images pulled from still frames. Features are coming out the wazoo of this camera including several ways to capture HDR images, bracket your aspect ratio, bracket white balance, 11 frames per second burst rate, and more.
Here’s an image I created from a three-stop bracket of the red rocks. The frames were processed in Aurora HDR software from MacPhun.
Red Rocks of Sedona, Arizona – High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photo
Here’s the three stop bracket. Images Straight Out of Camera (SOOC) Middle exposure was 1/160th sec f8 ISO 200 34mm (FF equivalent 75mm)
I’m liking the Aurora HDR software as it has LOTS of controls for processing the image without having the ‘HDR halos’ and other problems I always associated with using software to process multiple exposures. There are many presets for getting into the ballpark of the image you would like to create. You can still go HDR crazy if you want to push it that way. It’s up to you.
Aurora HDR software window. There are many more controls available by scrolling the right-hand panel. There are also a plethora of presets with the ability to create and save more of your own.
I feel we are living in a time of unlimited creativity. Between the new camera capabilities and software options imaging is moving into a whole new world. Yes, it’s easier for the average person to obtain a correctly exposed image. But, for those of us who have been working photographers for a long time, we can leverage that knowledge and push the tools to give us more possibilities for creating images with solid depth and dimension.
For photographers that are looking for a new and improved HDR photo editing experience, MacPhun is offering a very special competitive upgrade price, and some very special bonuses when they switch to Aurora HDR Pro from their current software.
Key Features:
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Exclusive live webinar with Trey Ratcliff
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Jeff Carlson HDR ebook
A collection of full resolution textures from Flypaper textures
How to HDR video training with Matt Suess
*competitive upgrade pricing requires screenshot of their existing HDR app to qualify, qualifying competitive upgrade apps include but are not limited to: Photomatix, Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, HDR Efex Pro, and many more
I have been fortunate to live in places with some spectacular scenery and would probably have a hard time living in an urban environment or someplace dull and flat. Sedona, Arizona is the gorgeous place I now get to call home. Red rock vistas and a dry climate that showers us with sunshine two hundred seventy-eight to three hundred days per year.
And, after residing here seventeen years, I still find different ways to view the majestic red rocks thanks to visitors spurring me on. Some visiting friends asked if a helicopter tour would be worth a go and would I be interested in joining them? I said, “Yes indeed!” I was surprised I hadn’t thought to fly the skies with my camera in all that time.
Sedona’s famous Cathedral Rock from the air. Lumix G7 with 12-35 f2.8 Vario G lens @f5.6 1/400 sec. 12mm (24mm FF equivalent) ISO 200
More Red Rock formations. Same gear as above. @5.0 1/400th sec, 19mm (38mm FF equivalent)
Processed in NIK Silver FX Pro2 (available free from Google)
Cathedral Rock is one of the state’s most photographed destinations. I know that I have photographed it on numerous occasions, but never from the air. An artistic rendition of Cathedral Rock was one of my first Merit images in Professional Photographers of America image competition.
Let’s talk about photographing from the air.
I have done photography in the past from the air, but it was always a charter flight where I was calling the shots for the position of the helicopter or plane and the possibility of staying on station or revisiting until I had the shot. With that kind of luxury, there was time to check settings of the camera ensuring they were correct. This flight was going to be a horse of a different color. A sightseeing tour lasting 17 minutes and no do-overs.
I thought about the new technology I have access to in the Lumix cameras and decided to place my trust in it. I’ve talked about this setting once or twice before. It’s called Intelligent Auto. I jokingly refer to it as the ‘Honey, stop the car!’ setting. It calculates the f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO. I have always used it sparingly as I want to make the decisions that control the final look of the image. In this case with no time to devote to changing settings I decided I would concentrate on framing and composition and see how well the camera would do. Shot in RAW to have more latitude to cover exposure but the SOOC files were pretty darn good.
After looking at the metadata for exposure settings (see above) I was surprised to note that the camera had automatically recognized the scene as a landscape and set the camera for ‘Landscape Mode’ – “For landscape photos with background in focus.”
Once again I was pleasantly surprised. Shutter speed was high enough to freeze the scene in spite of the helicopter’s vibration and motion. Exposure was solid for the scene. All-in-all it’s a winner. If this were a commercial shoot for a paying client, I would be working this entirely different but this is a great help in quickly changing situations.
Thinking about visiting Sedona? Check out http://www.sedonaairtours.com for your aerial view of the red rocks. really enjoyed my experience with Sedona Air Tours. They work together as a great team!
Learn more about other attractions in Sedona at theVisit Sedona website.
(You might want to scroll down to play the 1967 hit from the Fifth Dimension called Up, Up and Away while you read the rest of this post.)
Imagine floating in Silence. Beautiful red rock vistas spread before you like towering sculptures.
That was the first thing that came to mind as a surprise when I took a balloon flight over the red rocks of Sedona. Silence only interrupted by the occasional roar of the propane burner to control our height above terra firma. Silence only changed by the occasional comment of a fellow passenger exclaiming about some new deer or rabbit that came into view unaware we were hovering overhead. Gliding over the landscape is an incredible way to experience Sedona.
You can’t beat it with a stick!
I was out on a photo ‘dawn patrol’ with my cameras and fellow Lumix Luminary photographers Suzette Allen & Jon Yoshinaga while they were in town for a visit. We set up for sunrise over the valley and were gifted with the lifting of the hot air balloons. It is always a fun addition to a shoot when the hot air monoliths pass through the scene as a colorful counterpoint to the scenery.
Here are a couple of the photos I captured of visitors heading off to a sky adventure.
Hot Air Balloon lifts off into the azure blue skies over the red rocks of Sedona. Captured with Lumix G7 with 100-300mm f4.0-5.6 Vario lens @f4.9 1/160th sec 193mm (386mm FF equivalent) ISO200
Balloons dot the skies above the Red Rocks. Lumix GX8 with 100-300mm f4.0-5.6 Vario lens @f4.5 1/10000th sec 150mm (300mm FF equivalent) ISO800
If you asked the question above you probably were not a black and white film photographer from past days. We usually learned about the reticulation effects when we treated our film badly by either getting it too hot, processing it at the wrong temperature or some other variable I can’t remember now.
But, after seeing the effects, I remember trying to screw up the film for art purposes. I came across the look when I was messing about (read that playing) in Photoshop.
Photographed around sunrise with haze in the distance. Straight out of camera (SOOC) Lumix GX8 with Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f4.0-5.6 lens @ f5.6 1/1250 sec ISO 800 @ 300mm (600mm equivalent)
I choose this lens to compress the scene.
After processing.
I had made a set of images one morning near dawn, and I was feeling a bit of a ‘Japanese aesthetic’ in what I saw through the viewfinder. Things like that can happen when you are out shooting thinking you are getting one thing then, being a bit disappointed upon return to the studio process the files. I still felt I had something worth which to work. I liked the distance imparted by the haze that we don’t usually see in the high desert due to the dry air. This particular haze was thanks to some forest fires sharing some smoke with us.
After trying various filters, I stumbled on a look that reminded me of the reticulation of old. I pushed for it some more, and you see what I got above.
Not sure I’m where I want to be with this set of images. I’m going to put them away for a little while then revisit at a future time. Sometimes you need to try something out and come back later to see how you feel about it. There are a lot of compositions involving this same scene. Who knows? These files may be a treasure trove with this processing or some other treatment.
Or, it could just be a pile of… We’ll find out later.
Something old could be new again. Reticulation anyone??
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
Cameras Get Smarter -
A High Speed Smart Camera Remote
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Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
Here’s one that’s good fun but a bit over the top of in saturation. If you don’t push the boundaries, you don’t know how far to go.
Easing up the saturation through changing blend modes makes this an entirely different image.
Adding the moon changes things once again
