by successfulbob | fine art photography, photography education
I’m a fan of some of Georgia O’Keeffe’s art and with her inspiration I am using multiple images and this cow skull on the fence that I photographed at the last Arizona Professional Photographers all day event where I was teaching at a Western set town called Canyon Creek Ranch… (should you ever be in the area it’s a fun place to visit with history, jeep rides, horseback riding and more)
Inspired by O’keeffe
I call this process Photo-Synthesis whereby I use multiple images and blend them together to create something that I believe is greater than the sum of the parts.texture on the fence was created with two leaf images and a sheet metal image using differing Blend Modes in Adobe Photoshop.
This image is part of my ‘play to learn’ time. ‘Play to learn time’ is important for growing your skills and stretching vision.
What have you done lately to push your skills to another level??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you would like to have me come speak to your local photography group or set up one on one lessons let me know…
by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
“I’VE BEEN FRAMED!!”
You’ve seen this line used in many books and movies by criminals, or those thought to be criminals.
Much the same idea Gary Winogrand brings forth the thought that what we choose to put in or leave out of the frame can change the story and impact of an image. It can be as simple as taking the time to think about the background and taking slight a step to the right or left to simplify the area behind the subject. Or it could be taking the subject to a totally different environment to tell a completely different story.
“Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.” Gary Winogrand
Winogrand was a street shooter, advertising photographer, photography instructor and student of the photographic medium. He’s worth a look at to inspire some deeper thinking in how we use photography to skew our stories, for good or bad, when we press the shutter button.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GX8, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography gear, photography software
Went to Sound Bites Grill, my favorite restaurant, to see some of my favorite musicians play and was not disappointed on either case. Food was great and the entertainment of Miller, Martin and Ki was stellar as usual.
And also as usual, even though I wasn’t working I brought my Lumix GX8 with the 20mm f1.7 lens to the party to try to push some features. The table I was at had a very tough view of the stage as far as the camera goes. Deep shadows in the corner and Sunlit rocks out the window behind. I thought I’d try the HDR setting to see how it would do. There are menu choices of bracketing by one, two or three stops but there’s also an automatic setting. Now there’s an additional part of this challenge we have moving people. I made a number of exposures with a few distorting features until I realized I needed to bump up the ISO to get faster shutter times and watch for moments ‘between the movements’ of the performers.
Finished image. But, what I’d like you to do is compare the two images below to see the difference.
Straight out of Camera – 20mm @1.7 ISO 1600 Aperture Priority with auto setting for HDR capture
SOOC – 20mm @ f1.8 400 ISO Aperture Priority
Call for some more experimentation but I think the camera HDR setting handled a very difficult scene extremely well. A little additional processing in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop could tweak the HDR image to be somewhat better in taming the saturation and working tones a bit but I’m happy.
“Wait a minute Bob I thought the HDR feature saves images as jpegs. How are you going to process the file in ACR??”
If you have the image highlighted in Adobe Bridge using CMD R (mac) or Ctrl R (pc) will open the jpeg image in Adobe Camera Raw allowing you to use those controls. Very handy!
I also captured some 4K video that I haven’t had time to process. That will have to wait for another post…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | imaging competition, photography, photography competition, photography creativity, photography education
Received a nice piece of mail the other day celebrating the images from my Artist case at Professional Photographers of America (PPA). It was the certificate indicating that I was named a Silver Medalist in the International Imaging Competition.
The Silver Medalist certificate from the Artist Competition
There’s a new triangle on my ribbons. Once you have earned a degree from PPA you are charged to wear the ribbons and degree designations to all PPA and PPA Affiliated events. As former President Ralph Romaguera once said. “When you see people wearing these ribbons and medals don’t be intimidated, they indicate permission to ask questions and talk about photography!”
Earning the Silver Medal also made me an Elite Photographer for the following year because I have earned and Imaging Degree along with a Photographic Craftsman Degree and earned the Certified Professional Photographer designation. The Elite Photographer Award is only given to a few photographers in any year. I find myself extremely fortunate and thankful…
Here are the images from the submission…
Sarasota Polo Magazine Designs
Keeping Watch
One Point One Five Seconds
Sandhill Cranes
by successfulbob | architectural photography, commercial photography, Lumix GH4, photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources
Still working on photographing the Phoenix Airport Hilton after their eight million dollar refurbishing of the property.
It was great working with the staff while on the photo shoot. Everyone was as helpful as possible in getting the areas set for the photography. This makes the shooting day go better, smoother and leads to better photographs.
Sales manager Mike Manginelli was great in letting me know specifically what he was looking for. We were able to shoot to the IPad from the Lumix GH4 using the built in WIFI and Panasonic Image APP (free download) so he could see exactly what the camera saw as we worked out angles and ideas.
A bonus in operating and controlling the camera from the IPad (or IPhone or Android device) is when making multiple exposures to handle lighting situations with bracketing the camera is not touched. This allows for exact registration for blending various exposures using Adobe’s Photoshop Layers and Masks.
The Saguaro Room set for a reception.
Exterior night image.
Ballroom set for meeting.
Another bonus to shooting from a remote system is being able to ‘paint the room’ with multiple pops of a flash and see the results as you go. These images are blended into the final scene adding light where necessary to fill shadows or creativity for esthetic reasons to add interest. I used a Paul C Buff light with a strip light box attached and a Vagabond battery pack to stay mobile. The Buff wireless triggers complete the remote set-up.
I’ve found the ability to ‘light my images’ with multiple exposures has made my shooting more efficient giving a better quality image to my clients. I spend more time in post production but my clients time is not wasted and I’m able to get the property rooms back online so there is little revenue loss when I photograph.
How do you work your interior and architectural shoots?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
