If you asked the question above you probably were not a black and white film photographer from past days. We usually learned about the reticulation effects when we treated our film badly by either getting it too hot, processing it at the wrong temperature or some other variable I can’t remember now.
But, after seeing the effects, I remember trying to screw up the film for art purposes. I came across the look when I was messing about (read that playing) in Photoshop.
Photographed around sunrise with haze in the distance. Straight out of camera (SOOC) Lumix GX8 with Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f4.0-5.6 lens @ f5.6 1/1250 sec ISO 800 @ 300mm (600mm equivalent)
I choose this lens to compress the scene.
After processing.
I had made a set of images one morning near dawn, and I was feeling a bit of a ‘Japanese aesthetic’ in what I saw through the viewfinder. Things like that can happen when you are out shooting thinking you are getting one thing then, being a bit disappointed upon return to the studio process the files. I still felt I had something worth which to work. I liked the distance imparted by the haze that we don’t usually see in the high desert due to the dry air. This particular haze was thanks to some forest fires sharing some smoke with us.
After trying various filters, I stumbled on a look that reminded me of the reticulation of old. I pushed for it some more, and you see what I got above.
Not sure I’m where I want to be with this set of images. I’m going to put them away for a little while then revisit at a future time. Sometimes you need to try something out and come back later to see how you feel about it. There are a lot of compositions involving this same scene. Who knows? These files may be a treasure trove with this processing or some other treatment.
Or, it could just be a pile of… We’ll find out later.
Something old could be new again. Reticulation anyone??
Sometimes you just gotta change your thought pattern to get a better photo.
I was with fellow photographer Ralph Romaguera and his wife Cindy who were on a Route 66 road trip. They stopped by in Sedona as we are just down the road a piece for the Route 66 run. We shared a couple of meals and went out to shoot for a little while. Ralph has been using the Lumix GH4 and wanted to see if I had a few insider tips for best practices in using it. It turns out I could share a few ideas.
Today’s cameras from Panasonic are a bit more like computers with a lens than just a camera.
We talked about the ability of the camera to capture multiple exposures of a scene with just a quick twist of the dial. Many times, especially with landscapes, the dynamic range can be so large the only way to capture detail in the highlight and shadow areas is to use multiple exposures and blend them in post-production.
Multiple exposures were obtained to ensure proper detail in shadow areas as well as full sun. Images were processed in Aurora HDR software from MacPhun. Image captured with the GH4’s little brother the Lumix G7.
I usually don’t like how HDR blends skies into leaves or horizons as it tends to leave a bit of a halo. I process another image straight from Photoshop into the HDR software generated image to make the transition clean. Accomplished with an extra layer and layer mask.
Using the touch screen and choosing the exact position of your focus point is extremely handy. You can set the camera to a Mode called Intelligent Auto. With this setting, the camera sets the Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. It provides an amazingly good solid exposure for the scene before it. Am I going to use that all the time? Heck no. But, I leave my cameras set to this mode when I am traveling around. I jokingly call it the ‘Honey, stop the car!’ Mode. It allows you to capture a scene instantly. Then, if the animal or whatever is still available, then I’ll move to one of the other modes to take more control of the final exposure.
For an entirely different look here’s a black & white version converted in NIK Silver FX Pro 2 toned to selenium with a border added.
Al in all there’s a significant number of features to help you get the photo and/or video you are trying to capture in the GH4 and the G7. It nice to have photographers come from out of town for a visit that gives you a push to get out and shoot.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
“ The G7 makes an excellent camera for someone to grow into, offering all the key features a developing photographer would need access to. It offers some of the best tracking AF we’ve seen on any camera in this class. Video is the camera’s trump card, with the ability to capture high-res video giving all sorts of flexibility, whether you downsize back to 1080p, use it for selective cropping as you edit, or extract 4K stills of the decisive moment. ”
Arizona Professional Photographers Association has scheduled their Fall Fest event for November 4, 5 and 6 of this year. We’ll be traveling to Page, Arizona for lots of landscape photography opportunities. The highlight will be a tour of Secret Canyon. Secret Canyon is a beautiful slot canyon that we will access via Hummer Tour Adventures.
Also on the docket is a visit to sunrise and sunset locations that are quite beautiful. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. How about a video to describe the adventure?
Fall Festival video for Arizona PPA
There are limited spaces available for this trip. Initially, it will only be open to AZPPA members. Then if any spots are left it will be opened to non-members as well. If you would like to get on the waiting list to get in touch with me and I’ll get you hooked up.
The video and stills from this production were captured with a Lumix GX8 and Lumix GH4 cameras and assorted Lumix lenses. You may have noticed the time-lapse. It was created with the camera on a small tripod held on the dashboard with images taken every one second. Those images were processed in-camera to a 4K video at 24 frames per second. Adobe Premiere Pro the editor of choice for assembling all the pieces.
Lumix GH4 Lumix G Vario lens 7-14mm @14mm (28mm full frame equivalent) ISO 200 – Processed a three frame bracket spaced one stop apart in Aurora HDR software
Images were captured with the camera mounted on a tripod. When photographing in slot canyons you need to expand the dynamic range by capturing multiple exposures because light floods in from the open top but there are many dark corners. Being able to blend images together makes it possible to see all the varied detail that has been etched into the walls by wind and water over multiple years.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – More information on this trip or the monthly meetings and other benefits of Arizona PPA can be found on the website
Sound Bites Grill adds Melanie to the Wall of Fame
Remember Woodstock?
Me either. A little before my time.
But I do remember I grew up with a lot of music from that era. One of the artists recently appeared at Sound Bites in Sedona, Arizona. Melanie put on a fun show with a reprise of her classic hits like New Key and Look What They Done to My Song along with some newer material. Follow up with Melanie’s website here for more music info, tour dates, and history.
One of the benefits of being the house photographer at SBG is I have the opportunity to attend a lot of shows and view lots of entertainment. The other bonus is Stephen and Michele appreciate the work I do and allow me to create the art pieces from the live performances.
Melanie from her live performance at Sound Bites.
ORIGINAL CAPTURES WITH LUMIX GH4 35-100MM F2.8 VARIO LENS 1/40TH SEC F2.8 ISO 3200
Here’s the process. I photograph the performers through their show. Once images are downloaded, I cull the non-keepers. There can be quite a few of these due to blurred movement, changing lighting conditions, etc. Then I choose one that helps to tell the story, and I extract the performer from the image using Adobe Photoshop. I’ll open another file and import the extracted image. Then I’ll experiment with bringing in different textures as Layers. Changing the Blend Modes of the layers changes how they interact with the layers below. Layer Masks allow me to be selective about where changes will show. I have the artist sign their autograph and ‘message to the house’ in black marker on white paper. That is scanned and brought into the final art. That layer is inverted making the text white, and the Screen Mode is used to make the paper disappear.
Melanie & Family – Melanie has some incredibly talented progeny. They joined her on stage. Son Boe wails on the guitar. Daughter Jeordie is a singer/songwriter in her own right. (she’s playing some dates down the road in Phoenix in the next few days) All in all a great show.
You can see here that while the same general technique was used on both images, there is an entirely different ‘feel’ to the imagery. I enjoy the challenge of trying to do something a little different for all the art that hangs on the Wall of Fame. If you find yourself in Sedona stop by, grab some grub, and check out the ‘Wall’ in person.
Yesterday I took on the task of going hiking in Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona, Arizona to capture infrared photos. OK, maybe tough isn’t the correct word for this assignment. I love almost all aspects of working in photography. Getting out into nature and exploring is high on the list of the good parts.
I’m up in Oak Creek Canyon between Sedona & Flagstaff. The picnic area is called ‘Halfway.’ So named because it’s halfway between the hugely popular (& crowded) swimming hole known as Slide Rock and an excellent trail called West Fork. Halfway is a little less traveled spot as you have to scramble down a fairly steep embankment while climbing over rocks. Once down to the creek there’s a bit of rock hopping to navigate your way around.
On to today’s thoughts on working the with a camera converted to infrared. I had my Lumix G6 converted by LifePixel with a standard IR filter ad it is working out pretty much as I had hoped it would. I find myself using the 20mm Lumix f1.7 lens quite often. It’s sharp, fast, light and has a very low profile. I guess at a 40mm full frame equivalent it pretty closely matches a standard field of view which I feel lends itself to most of my infrared captures.
As I make my IR captures I have been bracketing exposures. When I first started I was bracketing by five stops as I was learning how the camera ‘sees’ with the IR filter installed. I’ve now moved to a three-stop exposure bracket but I also set an exposure compensation adjustment depending on the dynamic range of the scene in front of me. I am capturing the images in RAW plus jpeg with the camera set to black and white. White balance is set to daylight.
The image above is two jpegs blended together to achieve the tonal contrast for which I was looking. After getting the tones blended in Photoshop using a mask, the Layers were merged and a trip to NIK Silver FX Pro 2 for some sharpening. I used the Structure and Fine Structure settings si tweak the sharpness and change the resulting layer blend mode to Luminosity. Only the luminous information is then transferred to the image. Then NIK Color FX Pro 4 was added utilizing the Glamour Glow to add some IR life to the highlights. The shadows were protected from the glow.
This image was processed from a single jpeg which was opened in Adobe Camera RAW. Jpegs can be opened in the RAW editor to use the controls available but it does not have all the information of a RAW file. I was just trying to control contrast with this treatment so I didn’t feel the need to start with the RAW file. Exposure was adjusted as well as the highlight and shadow detail. A soft light layer was added for some dodging and burning. A vignette completes the treatment. I enjoy all the textures and tones of this scene.
Infrared photography can take midday, which is usually a tough time of day for making photographs and turn it into a blast.
That was my play yesterday. I created a few more scenes I’ll share with you tomorrow.
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.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
Cameras Get Smarter -
A High Speed Smart Camera Remote
Best embroidery ever. Give Queensboro a try, get a $20 instant credit to get started by clicking on the logo! They specialize in great quality custom logo apparel and promotional products with the best customer service.
Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
Photographed around sunrise with haze in the distance. Straight out of camera (SOOC) Lumix GX8 with Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f4.0-5.6 lens @ f5.6 1/1250 sec ISO 800 @ 300mm (600mm equivalent)
