by successfulbob | photography - art quote, photography education
One of the most sincere, talented, giving and wonderful photographers I know is the author of today’s photo/art quote.
Woody Walters.
Woody does a weekly ‘Photoshop Tip of the Week’. You can check it out here…
“If sight is the function of the eyes then vision is the response of the heart.” Woody Walters
Woody is a visionary who has shared his techniques in Photoshop and has been an inspiration to me over the years.
Vision is way different than seeing.
Here’s some of Woody’s work… © Woody Walters These are samples of Lightening & Smoke Brushes he created. His set of smoke brushes are, “How should I say?” Smokin!
I wish for you the ability to see beyond what your eyes see and to respond to what is in your heart…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you want to upgrade from Woody’s free Photoshop Tip of the Week you can use the code ‘Coates15’ to save 15% off the bi-monthly subscription price which gives you access to new longer tutorials and access to download some of Woody’s brushes.
by successfulbob | black & white, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography education, photography gear, photography software, photoshop tutorial
I’m working on a video for a future seminar being hosted by the Arizona Professional Photographers Association (AZPPA) in the fall and here is an image of one of the character actors expected to join us in a western setting. Steve AKA the ‘Sheriff’ is a pleasure to work with as are all the people who will be dressed in period costumes at the event.
‘Sheriff’ Steve in costume.
Steve was captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Lumix Vario Lens. Natural light from a somewhat overcast but bright day coming through a doorway camera right and behind Steve so I could shoot into the shadow side of his face to add depth, dimension and drama to his features.1/15th sec f3.2 ISO 1600 in Aperture Priority with a slight bump in Exposure Compensation to open shadows just a bit.
Post processing often plays into the creation of my images. As Ansel Adams proclaimed, “The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.” So here is the original digital capture with no adjustments.
Straight Out of Camera (SOOC)
Top Image was processed in Silver FX Pro 2 to convert to Black and White.
Then some small retouching moves, mostly dodging and burning to control the contrast of the scene.
NIK Color FX Pro 4 Bleach Bypass Filter. Used a Layer Mask to bring back some detail that got whacked.
Back into NIK Color FX Pro 4 to use the Tonal Contrast Filter to highlight details and bump contrast.Layer Mask to control specific areas.
Added a Soft vingette.
Soft Light Blend Mode Layer added to retouch and add extra life to his eyes.
Then a conversion to Sepia Tone using a Hue Saturation Adjustment Layer with the settings Hue 30 Saturation 10 Lightness 0 and Colorize checked. (Got this recipe, or something very similar, about 15 years ago from longtime photographer friend Tom Cheswick)
Link to NIK Plugins
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | landscape photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, panorama, photography, photography education, photography gear
Sometimes you just want more pixels in an image.
Do you have to buy a new more expensive camera? Nope. You just have to learn how to sew… I mean stitch.
Basically even with the 16MP micro 4/3rds chip we are working with in the Lumix line of cameras we have multi-megapixel (like 100MP plus) cameras in our hands if we take multiple images and overlap them. Here is an example.
This is 13 images overlapped with the camera held in the vertical orientation. This file comes in at 385MB after processing in Photoshop.
I could easily print this image 26 inches by 158 inches. That’s about 2 feet by 13 feet!
Here’s another version with 2 rows of 10 images overlapped with camera held in vertical orientation. This file is almost 400MB after processing. Could easily be printed to 3 feet by 10 feet…
This technique can be used with large group portraits, architecture and any stationary subjects.
Images were captured with the Lumix GH4 and the Lumix Vario 35-100mm f2.8 lens at ISO 200 f10 1/320th sec. The built in level on the GH4 helps to keep the horizon straight during this hand held capture to make the panorama stitching easier in the software. My overlap of individual images is about 30%. Any less than that and you’ll tend to find stitching errors in the final image.
So you’ve heard the expression “Go big or go home!” Now you can with whatever gear you are working with….
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – using links on this site to make your gear purchases help to support this web site and the education being shared. Thanks in advance!
by successfulbob | photography - art quote, photography education
It’s been a busy weekend of teaching, Gave a lighting class to Arizona Professional Photographers Association, and presenting a Keynote for the Sedona PhotoFest and I’m getting ready for a two day Workshop today and tomorrow so this Sunday Photo/Art quote is a day behind. My apologies… and have a happy Monday.
Today’s quote fits right in with a lot of the things I have been teaching this weekend. I suggest that practice and playing are two of the main ingredients for successful image creation. If we don’t play we won’t discover new things that I like to call ‘happy accidents’. Without ‘happy accidents’ we are basically repeating what we KNOW will be OK with our clients. And consistent and constant practice allows us to master our skills so that the technical side doesn’t get in the way of our creativity.
If you don’t do it, you don’t know what might happen.” Harry Callahan
To recap. Play! when you have your camera out or are messing about in Photoshop say to yourself, “What if i pushed this button instead of that one?” Then do it. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you are not making mistakes you are not stretching to your full creative capabilities.
I’m reminded of this side quote, “There’s a very fine line between a groove and a rut; a fine line between eccentrics and people who are just plain nuts.” Christine Lavin
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – I like to think that I fall on the eccentric side vs just plain nuts but I’ll leave that for you to decide!
by successfulbob | photography education, success education
Got a burning business question?
Need help with Photoshop or an art project?
Just want to run some photo ideas by me?
It’s time to help support NILMDTS and yourself at the same time. There’s an online fundraising auction and there’s a bunch of photography stuff up for grabs including 2 different 2 hour coaching sessions with me. You can use the sessions to ask about business advice, get some one on one coaching in Photoshop or any other photography related session. These sessions are 1hour long but you get two of them. Normally $125 per hour but bidding starts at $100 for the package. If you wanted to try me out at a discount there’s a great chance for you. Click here to get to the photography items up for auction.
Here’s a screen grab from the auction. I’m donating my time. You’ll get a deal. NILMDTS gets the money. Win, Win, Win!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
