by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge
I kept on walking in spite of the chill night. My black Adobe fleece wrapped tight. Hands alternating buried in the kangaroo pouch on the front trying to keep warm yet continue to have the camera at the ready. Still I walked because scenes like the ones below kept crying out to be immortalized in ones and zeros.
OK maybe a little over-dramatic but when the brain goes into creative mode you start to see beauty in the mundane things you pass every day. Photos captured with the Panasonic Lumix GX7
Light raking down from above add shadows from the peeling paint. Shadows create form and depth. From above it’s a bit like a horror show or impending doom coming your way. Any how it adds interest for me.
LUMIX G VARIO 35-100/F2.8
I liked the juxtaposition of the New Yorker sign tied together with the top of the iconic Empire State Building.
LUMIX G VARIO 35-100/F2.8
Sometime you just gotta look down and fire the camera even if you think it was a mistake. Was it??
LUMIX G VARIO 12-35/F2.8
by successfulbob | commercial photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography education
Learning to see light the way the camera sees it is important to getting better images. Since I have been living with my new Lumix GX7 camera lately because of it’s small size and features I have discovered something that I have been told many times in the past by superb photographers I highly respect. You gotta make images! Lots of them!
Have you ever looked at a scene and thought, Wow, that’s gorgeous! only to be disappointed by the resulting image capture? Well that’s happened to me too… Not as much anymore because I am practicing on a regular basis and not on my paid clients. Every time I see a scene now that interests me at all i make an image then see how it stacks up to how I thought it was going to render.
Lounge area at Sound Bites Grill Sedona, Arizona
I was at dinner last night and saw these lights playing with the shadows. We have a very high contrast scene and just for jollies I wanted to see how it played out. The light along the top of the wall. Lighting of the art on the wall behind. The lamps. The reflections on the couches… You get the idea. I shot this as a jpeg so I didn’t have all the information available to me to do post adjustments but I still opened the photo in Adobe Camera Raw and was able to open up the shadows just a bit. I am surprised by the detail held in the highlight while still getting information in the shadows.
Tiger Woods doesn’t only come out to the golf course when he’s playing a tournament. As a matter of fact he will often head to the driving range or putting green after a round while still in the tournament to work on his game. So I guess my question to you is, “How much are you working on your game??”
Yours in photography, Bob
by successfulbob | landscape photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, panorama, photography
Monsoon sunset in Sedona, Arizona from Sound Bites Grill. Red rock landscape image with cloud formations.
Great time of year for landscape capture in the southwest. Sedona, Arizona has great red rocks all year long but add in the cloud formations of the monsoon season at sunset and things really start to rock!
This landscape image was assembled from 2 in camera panoramas made with the Lumix GX7 with a 25mm 1.4 Leica Summilux lens. Then the 2 images were stitched together using Adobe Photoshop to get more of the clouds in with the red rocks.
FYI, I wasn’t thinking about making images when this started to occur. I was out to dinner with my wife Holly and things started to happen on the horizon and luckily before we left the house I had grabbed the GX7 “just in case”. I’m finding that because of its small size I am keeping the camera with me more and more often. And, consequently I’m finding more and more photo opportunities unveiling themselves before me. I tried to do this with my former go-to camera but often found it too cumbersome so often left it behind and lamented not getting the shot when it jumped up in front of me.
Click here to see other sedona canvas prints
by successfulbob | fine art portrait, photography, photography education
One of my fine art photography clients came to me with a photo of a recently deceased restaurant owner from his favorite restaurant in Prescott, Arizona. He wants to create a gift of a framed art portrait printed on canvas to hang in a place of honor to remind patrons of the vibrant, fun host he was.
Here’s the challenge. The photo was a snapshot taken with on camera flash with a busy background. Take this image and turn it into a 40 inch canvas. Challenge accepted! I used my ‘Photo-Synthesis’ technique to create this art piece. First I isolated the subject from the background using various selection tools and placed him on his own layer. Then using the stamp tool I moved the catch lights in his eyes to set the direction of light. Painted some shadows using the soft light layer mode using a soft black brush to add some shadows to his face to add some depth and dimension. Because it’s an Italian restaurant I selected several textures captured from walls in Europe and blended them together using Adobe Photoshop in various blend modes. Added some painting techniques I’ve been studying and toned the image to a warm reddish golden color. The art portrait has not been through final tweaks and possible color changes that my art patron can ask for if he desires, but I thought it was far enough along for me to share with you.
Here’s the before and after… You decide. Success??
Art Portrait created by Bob Coates Photography from snapshot.
To see more art images from Bob Coates Photography check out this web site. If you would like to talk about a me coming to speak to your photography group about these techniqes or other photography education programs give me a shout. If you have enough members my expenses may be picked up by Panasonic as I am a Lumix Luminary.
