by successfulbob | fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education, photoshop tutorial
I have the new Firmware upgrade on the Lumix GH4 and there is a bonus feature called 4K photo mode and I like it. You can set the camera to 4K capture and still have the choice to set your aspect ratio where you want it. But you can choose 16:9 to match your video wide screen or go 4:3 or 3:2. Even square will give you a 2880X2880 pixel size image to work with.
Years ago when I first heard about the idea of pulling still frames from video I was very skeptical. “What now I have to look through 1000’s of frames to make my choice?? NO way!”
Well that was then and this is now. It’s actually much easier than I thought it would be. You watch the video. When you see what you want stop the video move forward or backward a couple frames and capture it. Done!
Want a series from a child’s first birthday cake? Choose exactly the expressions you need with no, “Man, I wish I had caught that cute little smile…”
Capturing a lightning storm?
Hummingbirds at a feeder?
A stream with splashing water?
Bride and groom walking down the isle?
Roll some video and make your choice. With the Lumix cameras you can even play back the video and grab your still frames right in the camera before downloading! I’m sure you can think of many different instances where this feature could come in handy. I know I did when I started pondering more…
Let’s face it, no matter how good the technology is in our cameras mages need a little work in post to bring out their best. Here’s a still video capture from Oak Creek. I was experimenting with some ideas that didn’t work out involving water and Photoshop Blend Modes but I had this nice little bend in the stream captured as a square. Here’s how I gave it a little zing.
Original capture frame grab from 4K video.
There were a couple small hot spots addressed with a bit of cloning.
This needed a little curves bump to add contrast and a light vingette.
To add even more snap and ‘tooth’ to the rocks NIK’s Tonal Contrast filter was added.
A final NIK filter called Glamor Glow was used with a mask to keep the rocks sharp detail to contrast with the rest of the photo.
by successfulbob | black & white, fine art portrait, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education
As I was having lunch in Durango, Colorado I noticed the animation of our bartender. I explained that I was a photographer on a busman’s holiday and would she mind posing and giving me a few different expressions? She agreed. I had an image pop into my head that is like something below.
This is in process. Thoughts??
Adding some clouds…
Black and white version.
Feedback invited. Working title is ‘Three faces of Libby’.
Image captured with the Lumix GX7 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario lens. It’s a very compact camera that is not intimidating to those who you wish to be subjects on the fly…
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 | Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education
Are you open to PLAY!??
Play means time to learn and test. On a road trip and looking out the window and you know how much I like neon and the back of this open sign invited some attention from the Lumix GX7 and the 20mm pancake f1.7 lens. This is a very low profile set up for street photography. Here’s a couple…
I really liked the Orange glow against the blue sky.
Different angle leads to different feeling in the photo.
And flipping the image changes things totally.
How do you play? Are these award winning photos? Nope. But I learned a few things playing with color and exposure that will help me in the future…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
Country music soundin’ GOOD!
Moot Davis Band had them on the dance floor at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona, Arizona last Wednesday night. Holly and I were there for dinner and the music and were not disappointed on either count…
Sometimes, in my mind, country music can get a little maudlin… I’m not one for crying in my beer so when they say a country music band is coming to town I’m not usually too thrilled. Well that thought jumped out of my head within the first couple songs once the band started to play. This is a really talented group of musicians. Moot has a great voice and the band has wonderful instrumentation occasionally leaning a little toward rock with Bill giving some great guitar licks.
We ended up staying until the last note faded away and had a great time.
Moot Davis Band photo created for the Sound Bites Grill ‘Wall of Fame’.
The individual images were captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario Lens. I’m finding the stage photography is much easier with the GH4 especially with the LED stage lighting. The camera reaches into the shadows and keeps the highlights from blowing out when you use the shadow highlights curves setting to boost the shadows and hold down the highlights.
Each musician was layered into the image and multiple textures were added using blend modes to create the painterly feel…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
