by successfulbob | fine art photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography, photography education, photography gear
I took my Lumix GH4 out for a hike yesterday. I was accompanied by it’s friends the 7-14mm f4, it’s cousin 12-35 f2.8 and it’s big brother the 35-100mm f2.8. This combination of camera and lenses gives me the 35mm equivalent focal range of 14-to 200mm with fast glass. Add a spare battery, a five in one 20 inch Westcott reflector, some extension tubes and put it all in a small Tenba ‘Switch 10’ bag and I’m ready for almost anything I might come across photographically.
Oh, did I mention all of that gear weighs just a bit over six pounds? Throw in a MeFoto backpacker tripod and water for the hike and it’s still under ten pounds. TOTAL.
The Lumix Micro 4/3rds Mirrorless system rocks!
Happened upon this stand of delicate little lavender flowers.
Mounted the GH4 with 35-100mm on the tripod. Added a 10mm Vello extension tube and it looks like this in full sun.
Open the 5 in 1 Westcott reflector, take off the cover and use the scrim between the sun and the flower and look at the change.
I think I’ll take the kit out for a hike again tomorrow.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you use the links to Amazon.com as an affiliate I will receive a small percentage form the sale. It helps support photographer education and the Successful-Photographer web site. TIA.
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography, photography education
Flowers of all shapes sizes and colors often make a good subject for photographs. And if you can get to a place like Selby Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, all the better for having a pile of subject matter to pick from.
Since I’ve been all artsy-fartsy with the birds I’ve been photographing I thought it might be time for a little realistic imagery. Here are a few from the Selby Gardens botanical collection…
Not sure of the name of this one but I love the color contrast against the soft background. Natural light filtered through foliage gave the soft lighting against the sunlight falling against the green leaves in the distance.
Orchids are very interesting subjects. They almost look Sci-Fi to me especially when you get in close. Something from another world.
Another orchid. These are from the Phalaenopsis family.
In order to focus closer to get these details of the throats of the orchids I added Vello Extension Tubes to the 35-100mm Lumix Vario f2.8 lens. Images made with the Lumix GH4
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, graphic design, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography education, photography gear
The flower garden at the B&B at which I’m staying has some beautiful blooms… So I’m playing and experimenting with the Lumix GX7, 35-100mm f2.8 and and Vello extension tubes.
Rose petals close-up with extension tubes. Opening up the shadows and lowering the highlights with the GX7’s in camera curves setting.
I always enjoy details revealed when photographing flora with back lighting.
Have you played lately??
Yours in Creative Photography, bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, photography, photography education, success education
The wonderfully amazing surprising results from this year’s Professional Photographers of America International imaging Competition caused me to take a peek back at some of my older Loan Collection images. Here is a Loan print from my first print case, one of my first successes in competition.
‘Study in Orange and Blue’ Earned PPA’s Loan Collection designation
For those that aren’t familiar with the PPA imaging competition an image will be reviewed by six jurors for the image to be included into PPA’s General Collection and be awarded a Merit. A Merit designation essentially means that the panel of judges felt that the image produced is above average work for a photographer with above average skills.
Once and image is awarded a Merit it is then reviewed by a different and larger panel of judges for inclusion into PPA’s Loan Collection. This is considered the best of the best and the work must be exemplary according to a majority of the panel. Usually less than 10 percent of the images entered into a competition will make it to the Loan Collection. It is an honor and I am proud to say that I now have 17 images in PPA’s Loan Collection.
I would have to say that participation in imaging competition has been one of the driving forces to make me a better photographer. Placing your images in front of your peers for review is nerve wracking indeed. It makes you look at your work critically and go over it with a fine toothed comb. This has been really good for my clients over the years because this attention to detail and pushing the creative envelope has made my client’s images stand out and help their businesses look better than good. My portrait clients have received more flattering portraits as well e cause lighting, posing and finishing of the portraits makes a huge difference in how people are perceived by the camera.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Next years competition cycle is getting ready to begin… Are you going to become a better photographer and participate? Start setting your best work aside in a folder so you don’t have to scramble when it’s time to start prepping your images. You’ll be glad you did. And so will your customers.
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography, photography education
No I didn’t stutter in naming this photo blog post it just seems that way…
Macro macro was exactly what I was trying to say. I thought I’d take the macro photography to another place and see what happens. I used the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f2.8 Aspherical mounted on the Lumix GH4 with a set of Vello Extension tubes (10mm + 16mm stacked) to see what would happen. Since I was trying to keep Weight down on the trail I used a MeFoto Backpaker Travel Tripod.
Some serious detail comes forward with this setup. I photographed this Yellow Desert Flower bud and love the detail I was able to bring to the image. Almost looks hyper-real.
I’d love to be able to tell you the specific name of this desert flower in the photo but there are so many varieties that look similar to each other… Ah what the heck let’s go with Yellow desert daisy bud.
Here is what our bud will turn into short of being eaten by wildlife or beaten into submission by rainy weather.
On the first image I added some sharpening using NIK Silver FX Pro2 and adding Structure and Fine Structure to the preset #4 High Contrast (smooth). Then I changed the Photoshop Layer Mode to Luminosity. Since I was shooting at a very high ISO 3200 because of the low light the sharpening also sharpened the overall noise in the image so I added a Layer Mask to allow the background to be soft while the flower bud was sharp.
Mix and match your photo tools, add a little post production to see what happens…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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