by successfulbob | fine art photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources
Had the opportunity to test out the Fiilex LED light kit model FLX302 which includes three P360EX lights, stands and barn doors in a watertight rolling case. I used this kit on a real estate shoot a couple weeks ago You can see some of those results here.
I thought I’d give these bad boys a workout in the studio with a still life project. Again the ability to see the lighting exactly as it will appear in camera allows me to get a bunch of different looks in a very short period of time. Having the ability to change brightness and the white balance of the lights from the golden tungsten color temp of xxx to the brighter blue of xxxx adds to the creativity.
Here’s a quick animated GIF to show many different looks using just the three lights, a shoot through umbrella and a piece white of foam core as a reflector.
Many different lighting versions using the Fiilex LED’s
Once I have the initial image captured in studio it’s time to put Photoshop to work. Using multiple images of tectures, layer masks and blend modes I take the image to my artistic place. Here are a few versions…
From the initial image captures above it’s time to experiment with various textures and color palettes.
I’ve found many people like warm golden tones.
As they say variety is the spice of life. So more colors! More texture. Play! Experiment!
Images were photographed with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario Lens ISO 200 1/6 sec @ f4.5
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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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
PS – Please remember using links to products from this page helps support the information being presented and shared
by successfulbob | photographers health, photography - art quote, photography education
Before you start to read this post you might want to click on the song below… Go ahead, you can do it!
TIME…
If you think about time is the ultimate currency in our lives. Twenty-four hours in a day. Some of those are, of course, survival type hours eating, sleeping, bathing and generally tending to health in one way or another. When you start to whittle away at you day like that you start to realize that time is as the Steve Miller and song says, ‘Slipping into the future…’
So lets take just a bit of time to think about how we are using it. Roy H. Williams puts it succinctly in today’s Photo Art Quote.
“What are you buying with the hours of your life?” Roy H Williams
(Roy is the author of the Monday Morning Memo which is a place I recommend you spend some of your time…)
I believe it’s a good thing to ponder ideas such as this occasionally as we as artists/photographers tend to throw ourselves into our businesses and many times creative work and family lives suffer as a result.
Can you find a way to have someone else do the menial work within your business? Things like editing, or retouching? Is there someone who would be better at selling you than you? Think about ways you can spend more time focused on your art and the creative aspects of your business and on your family and friend relationships. I think when you accomplish that you’ll get a much better return on your ‘investment’. Every time you start a task ask yourself, “Is this going to give me the best return in quality of life?”
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Steve Miller Band – Fly Like an Eagle
by successfulbob | architectural photography, black & white, fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH3, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, panorama, people photography, photography, photography education
I compete to stretch my photography skill set in order to keep growing and to get some feedback from my peers on how my work is stacking up.
This year I received a more than pleasant surprise as my most successful ever in imaging competition at Professional Photographers of America International Photographic Competition. I will be awarded the Diamond Photographer of the Year for my Master Artist entries and The Silver Photographer of the Year for my entries in the Photographic Open case.
I also inadvertently answered another question that comes my way from fellow photographers when referencing the Lumix line of Micro 4/3rds mirrorless cameras… Is the chip big enough? Is there enough quality to use this camera for professional work? The answer is a resounding, “You betcha!”.
I entered eight images overall. Seven were captured with various Lumix cameras. Five images were accepted into the PPA’s prestigious Loan Collection. Variety was the watchword with the entries including a portrait, art images, architecture and a scenic.
Here are the images from the Master Artist case in which judges are looking for the skills involved in post production. Guide images are used to show some of the process going from RAW capture to finished product. These images earned the Platinum Photographer of the Year designation which will be awarded in Nashville at the PPA convention.
‘Horn in F’ original image captured with Lumix GH2. Textures with Lumix GH2 & Lumix GH3.
Used my ‘Step & Repeat” Photoshop action to make multiple copies of the French Horn. Images were copied, rotated and multiple texture layers in various blend modes were used to complete the art.
‘Musical instruments Museum’ original image captured with Lumix GH2. See above description for technique.
‘Nautilus’ original captured with the Lumix GX7. The blossom was isolated and
copied, resized and manipulated multiple times to create the Nautilus shape.
‘Thistle’ image captured with 5D Mark II using Helicon focus and focus stacking then worked with textures and color.
Here are the Four images submitted in the Photographic Open category. Three were accepted into PPA’s General Collection with one image admitted into the Loan Collection leading to the Platinum Photographer of of the Year Award which will be given at the PPA annual convention in February. If you a not already a PPA member it’s a great idea. If you join you can go to the convention for free in Nashville next year.
‘Rooftop View’ captured with Panasonic Lumix GH2. NIK Color FX Pro was used along with textures, blend modes and layer masks.
‘Sedona, Arizona Panorama’ Captured with Lumix GH3. Multiple images stitched together in AutoPano Pro then some NIK Color FX Pro to enhance the depth and dimension.
‘Still the One’ Captured with Lumix GH3. Converted to sepia tone with partial spot color mask for the flag.
‘Santa Fe Street Portrait’ Captured with Lumix GX7 a great street camera with a very low profile and lots of features I really enjoy. It’s my favorite “With Me” Camera. Converted to Black and white using NIK Silver Effects Pro 2.
When I first started working with the Micro 4/3rds format I was a little concerned about sensor size but as the new Panasonic cameras and pro glass were introduced I was able to put those fears aside and now I’m exclusively using the format for all my commercial and fine art work including architecture, product, portraits, fine art imagery and more. Is this the be all and end all format for every photographer and every need?? No, of course not! I’ve found it fits my working style and as long as my customers and I are pleased with the final results that’s what matters.
Questions? Give me a shout.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS Just in case you haven’t read my disclaimer section I am a Panasonic Lumix Luminary and I travel around the country teaching photography with them as my sponsor. If you would like me to come teach at your photography organization get in touch my contact info is at the top of the page.
