by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
Today we reach out to the writing world for today’s theme in the Sunday Photo/Art Quote here on Successful-Photographer. Some of the best work I have created was inspired by or because of taking on personal projects…
I believe that if you don’t explore what your heart tells you is important or a subject that you haven’t tackled before you will take a long time to grow as a photographer.
When pursuing an impressionistic art look for my work I had no idea that it would morph into a paying project creating work for a nightclub. The techniques have become one of my most requested teaching programs called ‘Photo-Sythesis’. I also believe that the artistic techniques I am now using as a result of advancing personal projects to create art images led to my being named a Lumix Luminary by Panasonic. (of course it didn’t hurt that I was already yelling to all my photographer friends how much I liked the new format! But I digress…)
If I see an interesting face with character on the street I will engage that person and then ask if I might make their portrait. Making a total stranger comfortable in front of your camera makes it much easier to pose and photograph people you know or have come to you for a portrait.
That brings us around to today’s quote from Jack London.
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go meet it.” Jack London
Update… 9/22 I found another version of Jack’s quote, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” I like it!
Go get it! What are you waiting for?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – I can’t remember the full story of one of the first books that grabbed my attention but I have a memory of being scared reading London’s ‘Call of the Wild’ What’s wild about you? go meet and embrace your inspiration
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 | fine art photography, graphic design, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography education
The salesman for neon signs in Austin, Texas could sell ice to Eskimos in their Igloos!
At the very least he or she is very good at what they do. The neon in and around Austin’s downtown area is very creative and plentiful. When I came to town to meet with fellow Panasonic Lumix Luminaries for a brainstorming session after dark I hit the streets to see what I might capture.
Here’s the Heritage Boot sign just down the street from my motel.
This was created using three separate exposures and layering them together in Photoshop using masks and blend modes. I really like the feel of this… bright and warm yet it has an old time feel at the same time.
If you are ever in need of some beautiful boots this is the place! They are stunning.
Tripod is from the MAC Group MeFoto backpacker model. Easy to pack and surprisingly stiff with a nice ball head. Goes for around $150 bucks. Folded it’s about 12 and a half inches. (OK 12.6 inches) and will expand to 51.2 inches. Camera Lumix GH4 with 35-100 f2.8 with three different exposures and some zooming for extra interest.
Yours in Photography, Bob
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by successfulbob | photography - art quote, photography education
“That’s not really photography!”
“You cheat!”
“I never crop I only show what was in the frame originally.”
“I show exactly what was captured by the camera…”
Today’s Photo/Art quote has a lot to do with vision. What does the final image look like? Does it really matter how it arrived in it’s final form? I don’t think so…
“Those doing digital manipulation of their own photos deserve the respect to be viewed for whatever their final product is – not the process.” – Julie Rodriguez Jones (more quotes from Julie)
If you follow my work you know that I am an anything goes kind of guy when creating my artwork. I use multiple layers, textures, blend modes, masks, hue saturation layers and anything else I can think of to get the vision in my head out into the world.
When working on my commercial images I have no problem creating different exposures of the same scene and blending them together with masks to give a better rendition, closer to what the eye will see in that scene, than any one single exposure might.
To those who believe that any photography is “pure photography” I wish for you to think hard about it. All thoughtful photography is art and is very subjective to the maker even if there is no ‘visible’ manipulation.
Many things factor into a photographic image. Lens choice. Choosing what to leave in – or out – of the frame at time of capture. Exposure. ISO. Format choice. Time of day. Add light? Block light? Focus. Depth of field. Black & white, sepia tone or color? High angle or low? When prepping to print – Retouching. Dodging and burning. Choice of medium to print on. The artistic choices are endless…
I don’t feel that someone who has taken an image further via digital methods should be penalized for their choice of tools. Now do some digital images not appeal to you? Maybe not. Or ‘straight’ prints not appeal to you? OK, fine… Please don’t judge how an image was created. Judge the effect the final image has on you regardless of the creation methods.
Ansel Adams is often put forth as one of the great ‘straight’ photographers. But an in-depth study of his work and understanding of how Adams manipulated his medium of film and printing will tell you that his images stand out not because of being straight with his photography but pushing the limits of the tools he had available at the time. He did special exposure and development of his film. He choose the grade of paper on which to print. He spent days manipulating the final image from a negative by dodging and burning a print until it was what he wished it to be.
In 1984 when his autobiography came out he said, “I wish I could be around in 20 years to see what people could get from my negatives via electronic means. It would not be the machine that would be responsible for the final print, but the operator of it. While the images would not necessarily look like mine I believe they would be able to get much more information from the negative than through traditional means.”
Celebrate great imagery no matter how it is created…
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | art books, kudos, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography books, photography education
Julianne Kost rocks!
Saw her presentation at the Sedona Photofest last week and picked up more ideas for my creative work. She has been an inspiration to me for many years and even seeing her program again I always get fired up about creative imaging all over again.
This post is a salute to Julianne turning a lemon into lemonade. In case you didn’t know she is not a fan of flying. OK maybe that’s a bit to soft. She really is uncomfortable flying. But, as she speaks to image makers all across the country for her job at Adobe flying is a big part of her work. So she chooses to get the best view from 30,000 feet and started capturing and creating interesting images from the air and compiled them into a book called ‘Window Seat’. I got my copy autographed back in 2006 and still pop back into the pages for ideas. In addition to sharing her images she gives some tips, tricks and ideas on how the final images were created using Photoshop.
As I flew across the country this week from Phoenix to Philadelphia I made some photos from my own window seat and share them with you here.
Phoenix from the tarmac while waiting for some crossing traffic.
Phoenix neighborhood… a study in line and form.
It feels like an ocean wave working it’s way over the desert hills.
It was a really good cloud day. Fun shooting them from above for a different perspective.
My images were created using a Lumix GX7 my favorite travel camera using the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario Lens. Julianne suggests a bit wider lens and shooting at f2.8 to make sure the outside of the window does not get in focus. In using the longer lens I was able to isolate and crop in on details as they unfolded. Be aware that as the plane is traveling over 500 MPH if you see something fire the shutter fast or it’s gone. Also don’t tilt the camera too far down as you’ll be shooting through too much glass and get the bottom of your capture blurred.
Order up Julianne’s book. You’ll get lots of ideas and inspiration to find your own personal project turning lemons into lemonade…
Yours in Photography, Bob
