If you follow me and my work you’ll find I enjoy capturing panoramic photos. Maybe it’s because I live in wide-open spaces. Whatever the reason they give a slightly different viewpoint of an area that doesn’t come across in storytelling in any other format.
Today I wanted to share a couple ideas about the in-camera feature in a lot of the Panasonic cameras. Stitched panoramic photos and how I use them. When I want a full-on capture of a panoramic scene I will tell you I shoot multiple images and stitch them together using Photoshop or another program. That is what will get the best quality beyond a shadow of a doubt. I will also, depending on the density of the scene shoot bracketed exposures to ensure the highest quality rendering for a print including the highlights and shadows.
Let’s give you a little preview of one of my favorite spots to photograph here in Sedona.
Castle Rock formation with Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte in the Village of Oak Creek in Sedona, Arizona
This image came out of the camera 6100 pixels wide 1/2000 sec ISO 800 f13 with Lumix Vario 35-100 f2.8 lens
When I want a full-on capture of a panoramic scene I shoot multiple images and stitch them together using Photoshop or another program. That is what will get the best quality beyond a shadow of a doubt. I will also, depending on the density of the scene, shoot bracketed exposures to ensure the highest quality rendering for a print including the highlights and shadows.
I use the in-camera pano feature more as a ‘sketch’ of a scene. Why is that? Number one – When making the pano capture there can be some slight stitching errors. You’ll sometimes find these in very simple areas like plain blue sky or conversely in very, very detailed areas. Number two – The files are rendered as a jpeg which means that the camera settings are baked into the file and that information will be stripped during the compression process. Number three – Finally, the files are not that large. Panoramas tend to need to be printed large to appreciate them.
So why do them in camera at all? I mentioned the ‘sketch’. Number one – This finished jpeg stands as a quick reference of the scene which can be filed with the RAW captures. Number two – It can be uploaded via the in-camera Wifi to send off to others to share what I’ve just seen. Number three – There might not be time, for example when traveling with others to complete a full-on capture of the frames. Number four – Sometimes I am just looking for a ‘record’ of the area to remember to go back to because there weren’t great conditions. I do this when scouting locations.
An overcast day in Sedona. This image ends up with quite a bit of ‘depth’ due to the weather and distant mountains. In-Camera Pano 7600 pixels wide. 1/100th at f7.1 ISO 800
Hope this give you some ideas on how to leverage features in a way you might not have considered before.
Learn your gear inside and out. If you are fumbling or thinking about what buttons do what or how to get the proper exposure for the scene that tells the story you would like to tell it’s going to be tough to get beyond make memorable images.
Carl Mydan’s is more succinct than I so here’s the Photo/Art quote for today.
“…one is not really a photographer until preoccupation with learning has been outgrown and the camera is an extension of himself (/herself ed.). There is where creativity begins. – Carl Mydans
The Lumix G6 is coming in very handy now that it is converted over to infrared capture by LifePixel. Midday is not the best time in the world for catching beautiful photos with standard color capture. But move to infrared and the middle of the day is a whole new world.
I was out scouting some new areas to photograph with wildlife and really didn’t think I would be capturing any images but I had the new Lumix GX85 and the 100-300mm lens and had some fun there in spite of the time of day. (check the post here) And I also had the G6 in IR. This is one of the advantages to shooting with micro 4/3rds gear. I was able to have all these options with me with no strain when hiking around and scouting. Used to be I would leave gear behind until I was absolutely certain I wanted to make images. Now opportunity abounds and I’m having more fun and getting more images.
Sedona Wetlands (learn more about them here). Designed land to help with the processing of wastewater while creating habitat for wildlife. There are quite a number of species taking advantage of the new ‘watering holes’!
I’ve started to narrow down my processing of infrared images. I have bee taking the RAW file and lowering the color and tint sliders to 0. Dialing in highlight and shadow to taste. A pinch of Clarity. Add some black. Add some white. Then tweak the contrast. Open the image and take it to NIK Color FX Pro 4 for a little Glamour Glow and we are looking pretty good. Once I am pretty certain this is the processing path I want to take I’ll set up a preset in ACR which will dial in all the goodies to get me close then tweak. When I set that up I’ll share it here on the Successful-Photographer blog. You can see a bit more in-depth info on this IR conversion in this post on LifePixel.
There is a new Firmware version out for the GX85 the leverages the 4K video feature called Post Focus. Post Focus will run a little video capture that will make an image with approximately forty focus points. You can pull any of the still frames, and each frame of the video is focused in a different place. You can then play back the video in camera and select any frame you wish and save as an eight megapixel still frame. See the video below.
You ask, “Wait a minute Bob, why is this a nice feature?”
Number one, it enables you to choose what’s in focus in the image after the fact. For example, you are capturing an image of someone’s face with a VERY shallow depth-of-field without a lot of time to check on your focus point. You can dial in the corner of the eye or the beginning of the iris or the other eye if you’d like for creative possibilities. Here’s the cool part. You can take a few of these images and put them together with a process called Focus Stacking and control exactly what is in focus or out of focus in your photo.
Single still frame with just the middle portion of the image in focus bringing attention to the Plus 25 bar placed on the red bag.
Number two on the cool list, we can now do the focus stacking right in camera and have it saved as a jpeg right to the card. This can save a bunch of time. Before you had to take the video into another program, save each image as a single frame and then run those frames through Photoshop or another program to obtain your stacked focus image.
This image was Focus-Stacked in-camera to show detail throughout the entire range. Total time for processing about thirty-seconds
Nuber three, you can use this feature the way I have been to get a hyper-focus image but stacking all the images together. This will allow you to use a macro lens which can give incredible detail. Usually, that detail is very shallow depth-of-field, but with Focus Staking you can get focused detail from the front to the back of the image.
Here’s the video showing all the points of focus that were captured. The original is a little over one second long. I slowed it down to about twenty percent so you can see it move through all the focus points.
This is a photo of the representation of my achievements and service to photography through Professional Photographers of America (PPA). The bar on the red bag is the newest sent to me and shows 25 merits earned through service, education, and imaging competition. The medals on the bottom of the ribbon are degrees earned and the small rectangle in the PPA National Award presented by Arizona PPA. As members of the association, we are charged with wearing the medals at conventions and PPA events. It is a message to other members that we are accomplished photographers available to answer questions.
I have only had this camera in my hands for a couple of days, and I’m liking it! The Lumix GX85 was built on the same chassis as the GX7. It’s a body that is small but very comfortable, in my opinion, to handhold. I remember when I took the GX7 out for a test spin about three years ago and didn’t like the feel of the grip when first using it. But as part of the Luminary Team, I was given the assignment to take the camera cross country and make images and send them out for two days. First half day I was uncomfortable with the camera’s feel. By the end of the first day, it was, “I kinda like this camera.” By the end of the second day, I was pleased and comfortable with the feel of the camera.
The other bonus was/is that this camera is very low profile. Combined with the smaller lenses of the micro 4/3rds system I found almost no one who said no to the request of making their picture. A decided difference from the equivalent full frame DSLR gear.
Fast forward to yesterday and photographing some wildlife. I was out scouting a wetlands area just south of Sedona. (who knew, right?) It was the middle of the day, and I wasn’t planning on making any images but just in case I set up the GX85 with the 100-300mm. The camera stabilization is fabulous, and the pictures I took are tack sharp. When photographing wildlife, I like precise detail and was excited by the results from handheld photos. It can be tough using a tripod when chasing flying critters around the marshes.This little guy is called the Flame Skimmer or Firecracker Skimmer for obvious reasons. I found chasing dragonflies is a lot like photographing birds in that you need to study behavior patterns to obtain well composed interesting images.
Here’s a detail of the dragonfly. A little bit of sharpening was added in post using MacPhun’s Creative Kit Focus
Here’s the under-carriage of another dragonfly. Amazing little critters!
I moved to a different area with more water at a place called Bubbling Springs over in Page Springs and found this huge family of Mallards out for an afternoon swim.
Mallard duck detail.
Images were captured with the Lumix 100-300mm Vario f 4.0-6.3 lens. That’s a whole lotta reach for about $550 – Especially when you consider it’s the full frame equivalent of 200-600mm.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Can’t wait to try out the new Lumix G Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400mm Lens with this camera.
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It’s fun to find new art and artists (to me) once you start poking around. I’m happy to share Paul’s painterly photography work with you today on the Successful-Photographer blog.
Paul’s Thoughts on Painterly Portrait Art.
“A portrait describes what the subject looks like in a painting, a photograph or a sculpture. Portraits might include other objects which help to explain the subjects, A portrait, like all art, is something to “read”.
Cristi & the Boys before – Notice that Paul is starting with a very nicely posed and lit image before he begins the painting process.
I enjoy being engaged with the story of the subjects. Of course, so much is left to our imaginations, but the artist gives us clues about what the subject is thinking, what they do, or the emotions held deep inside them, what they feel about themselves, and of course, what they look like.
Some of us just think of the likeness that shall be portrayed, But to me, it’s what the subject tells us in confidence about themselves that makes portraiture so interested to me. Yes, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
On the creating my “painted” images, I start with my photograph, not always a formal portrait, as I like the candid type of unaware subjects. Like every one of us, we have particular likes and dislikes, and preferences. We just like certain things. I find this hard to explain: but I’ll attribute it to human nature. I try to make everything left in the image count for something.
The painting process for me is to soften some things, leave some sharp, lose some edges, define as little as possible while leaving as much as possible for the viewer’ imagination.
Much of my work is for my enjoyment. I like to print images, sometimes to study, but often to show to prospects, hoping that they would really like them and commission me to do a portrait for them in this style. In a way, it’s a method of marketing and separating myself from the competition.”
Paul has taught portraiture, including composition and lighting to photographers since the 1980’s including some Corel Painter classes here and there. He doesn’t work at this as a regular gig. If you are interested in Paul’s style, let him know if you’d like to have a class. He would love to schedule something for you. Otherwise, you are always welcome for a brief phone conversation to talk about our painterly art, or if you’d like to hire Paul as a tutor.
Today we’ll use the quotes of a couple of art contemporaries from around the 1400-1500’s. Both men are inspirational to me. We’ll start with a quote from Leo.
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough. We must apply. Being willing is not enough. We must do.” – Leonardo da Vinci
I guess the short word here would be practice. A regular theme here on Successful-Photographer. I feel Mr. da Vinci says it in a more powerful, in-depth way. “…impressed with the urgency of doing.” I’m trying to extend my vocabulary and writing skills to be as succinct and powerful with words as these.
Thought to be a Leonardo self-portrait, Man in Red Chalk and his Virtuvian Man.
Many photographers, including myself, have the knowledge but have not put it into practice enough. If I may suggest that when you go to a seminar or program and you see, for example, a new lighting idea that you immediately upon returning from the presentation try to replicate the lighting. Can’t tell you how many times I thought I ‘knew’ about a technique because I had seen it performed but when trying to create it on my own at a future date found that, well, I didn’t.
I try hard not to make that mistake anymore. If I see a lighting technique that interests me.
I try to recreate it.
In a PRACTICE session.
NOT on a paid client.
Doing is the secret.
There’s another quote out there from Benjamin Franklin, “Tell me, I forget. Teach me. I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Involve yourself when trying to master any new techniques.
Which brings us to the quote from Mr. Buonarotti
“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”
– Michelangelo Buonarotti
Do you hear the echoes of these words? One of the greatest artists of all time lets you know he had to work his butt off to achieve the things he did.
Clouds of all shapes and sizes dance and glide through the area on a regular basis.
Normally, mid-day is not the best time to be out photographing in full sun. With my Lumix G6 camera converted to infrared the middle of the day becomes a playground of absolutely beautiful high contrast. I love this look and the possibilities it brings.
Infrared black & white image Village of Oak Creek, Sedona, Arizona
The camera was converted to infrared by LifePixel. It took a slightly older camera and gave me a new look for images in my photography life. The way I capture is in RAW plus jpeg and bracketing by three stops. For this image, I processed the three jpegs and layered them together using the information from each using Masks in Photoshop. I took the layer showing the highlights and moved it into NIK Color FX Pro 4* and added a Glamour Glow Filter to get the “IR Glow.”
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
* You can download the entire series of NIK filters at no charge. Go get ‘um. There probably won’t be any updates but they are an incredible set of tools for use right now.
Tuesday Painterly Photo Art – Stephen Moody – M.Photog.
I met Stephen through the Arizona Professional Photographers Association. I was fascinated and intrigued by his abstract images I became exposed to during the annual imaging competition. I started seeing more of his painterly work through Instagram and Facebook and asked him if he would like to share here on Successful-Photographer.
Stephen Moody’s Fine Art Portraiture
Stephen Moody has been a professional photographer for 35 years. He has been fortunate to photograph projects for international commercial clients as well as portrait clients.
“I must say that the joy of seeing my work printed in Vogue Magazine was a rush, as well as seeing my art images of Coca-Cola products hanging the halls of Swire Coca-Cola Headquarters. It was a feather in my cap,” says Moody. “But, seeing one of my fine art portraits hanging in a client’s home in the same room as their original Picasso is more than I ever imagined.”
Moody has been creating fine art portraits in one way or another since he started in business in the early 1980’s. Using AGFA 1000 RSX transparency film Moody created Impressionistic artwork in the camera and then used a tri-color printing method to create even more pointillism.
Today, he has taken it to an entirely elevated level. Moody’s clients do not hang photography in their homes. They have original art in their homes. Moody had to change his business model and develop his talents in the fine art of painting to create original artwork for his clients.
“Art In Its Most Human Form”™ was Moody’s transformation from photographer into an artist. His first show in Scottsdale, Arizona sold three paintings for $15,000 on opening night. These mixed media paintings were his first images to use photography, dyes, and acrylic paint together on one canvas.
His process starts with a photo shoot. After selecting an image, he creates a stunning image in Adobe Photoshop. The image is then painted in Corel Painter. “I have two styles that I offer to the client; Impressionistic and Classical,” shares Moody. “The style is chosen based upon the décor in the room where the artwork will be displayed.”
Stephen says, “In Painter, I only use a clone brush to bring in the image.Once I have a basic visual to work from I use brushes with paint, color and texture to finish my piece. I prefer to use brushstrokes that enhance the artwork as opposed to having my art look photographic.”
“Many people know that I am a photographer as I have been doing this a long time. But the people who see my finished artwork hanging in a home or a business refer to me as an artist!” exclaims Moody.
Off down the road again I traipse again in this Sunday Photo/Art quote. This time, I turn to the Orient for inspiration. You wouldn’t think a guy who wrote the Art of War would be able to inspire us in our photographic art. But he can. The Art of war is traditionally ascribed to Sun Tzu. The book presents a philosophy of war for managing conflicts and winning battles.
No greater battle can there be than the ones that can rage within ourselves.
“Can you imagine what I could do if I could do all I can?” Sun Tzu
I sometimes think we hold ourselves back. At the very least I know I sometimes do. We can be our worst enemies when it comes to heading for new horizons and starting or, dare I say, conquering new projects. That little voice inside can be a help or a hindrance in our quest to create new imagery. The voice can be our best cheerleader, or it can be the little nag that is always looking for, and sharing, the worst case scenario should you start to try something that is outside your regular wheelhouse.
I’ll not go into examples here. We all have those times when we’ve been held back by our fears. And, better yet, those times we’ve placed those concerns in the closet and overridden their dire predictions and accomplished so much more than we thought possible. Let’s try to do more of the latter.
It is a constant battle. Hence why I use Sun Tzu in this thought about art and our capabilities. He was one of the greatest strategists in waging war theory that ever lived. We can learn a lot from his words.
I’ll leave you with two last quotes.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.” Sun Tzu
“We have met the enemy and he is us.” From the comic strip Pogo
With that, I’ll see you in the battlefields of creativity.
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.
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