by successfulbob | landscape photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education
Mirrors are funny critters… They will lie to you as you look at them thinking, “Wow, I look good!” Whoops! wrong blog post. Back to our regularly scheduled conversation…
The focus point in a mirror is on a totally different plane than the frame that contains it. Been caught by the, photographed the bride in the mirror and found either the subject you wanted to have in focus in the glass or the surrounding area surprisingly out of focus?
Here a possible work-around when you would like to have everything in focus but don’t have time to get on a tripod with a really small aperture. And even if you had time to do that you still might not have enough DOF to make it work. This is an extreme example with several focus points in play. The background which has the sign telling us where we are. The side view mirror on the car. The side view mirror. And the convex utility mirror for helping to keep the driver out of accidents. All are important to telling the story I want to share so I made an exposure for each of those individual surfaces then blended them together in Adobe Photoshop. Here’s the result…
The assembled photo with all the pertinent information in focus. Bell Rock Vista in Sedona, Arizona.
Here are the raw captures before assembly.
Photographed with the Lumix GX7 and the 35-100 f2.8 Vario Lens while focusing through the range of the scene.
Now how about that bride shot with mom reflected in the mirror and crying???
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to give me a shout or comment on this post.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, graphic design, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
A little slice of Sedona I Thought I’d share with you. A flower I enjoyed
while on a hike this AM. Hope you like it as much as I do…
Captured with the Lumix GX7 Lumix Vario 35-100mm f2.8 lens – Exposure f/10 1/80 sec ISO 200 at 100mm
After the capture of the flower it was extracted from the background and placed in another file with an organic background I made a couple days ago. The flower was enhanced and a drop shadow added. It was then duplicated and moved numerous times until I came up with what you see here.
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”
― Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder
“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Happy Earth Day to you… Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography, photography education
The sun was in my eyes!
It was too windy…
The dog ate my posts! Yeah, that’s the one…
OK enough with the excuses. The reality was It was a busy, busy week. Started with the Arizona Professional Photographers Convention in Phoenix. I am always amazed how much I learn, even after all these years, of attending other photographer’s programs. I guess it’s because with the base knowledge that’s built over the years there are new levels of understanding.
Tim Meyer was an excellent speaker on lighting. He is on the faculty of Brooks Institute of Photography. I have heard him speak before but this time I was apparently more ready for the information he provided. His use of light modifiers in unexpected ways is amazing. He makes light dance! If you get the opportunity to see Tim or study with him… DO SO!. Look for his new book coming soon. His current book ‘The Portrait’ Understanding Portrait Photography is available now.
ON the marketing side I was impressed with Steve Kozak and his ‘touch the emotions’ type marketing. Sell by helping people get what they really want verses trying to sell things you want to sell. Check out Steve’s Guide book ‘The Road to Success Requires 4-Wheel Drive’ He had photographer’s crying during his coaching session and that will lead to getting the emotion into their marketing.
A real winning combination for learning is to enter images into competition and then attend the judging. AZPPA had four judges on hand to score the images and offer feedback during challenges. It’s part of my ongoing education and i highly recommend you get in the game if you haven’t already. Participate at your local, state, region and national levels and your photography will grow by leaps and bounds in short order. Who knows you may even win an award or two that will lead to some good press if you follow through in your marketing by sending out properly written press releases. You can learn more here. (I did OK but I’ll share that in another post.)
The rest of the week was running hard photographing, processing images, speaking, delivering Meals on Wheels and enjoying the company of my wife. Don’t let business take you totally away from your family. You didn’t loose out because I didn’t post for a week, but I would have if I didn’t spend quality time with my wife. I’ll fill you in on the other photography stuff over the next few days…
Your in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography
As you probably know I enjoy the challenge of capturing live stage music. In order to keep my skills in top form even when I’m not hired I keep photographing performances even when I’m out to dinner. Sometimes after sharing the images with the artist it leads to the musician becoming a paying client for creating marketing images or CD cover art.
I’ve found the Lumix GX7 micro 4/3rds format has lots of things going for it when working (playing!) this way. It’s got a very low profile, weighs less than 2 pounds with the 35-100mm 2.8 lens vs the over 5 pounds for my dslr with equivalent lens combo. I’m also finding that the camera is a picking up a pretty wide dynamic range which is really helpful as many small clubs are now using LED stage lighting which doesn’t have the full spectrum of color not to mention the range of light to dark.
Here are a couple images from Sound Bites Grill in Sedona….
Susannah Martin Jazz Trio on stage in Sedona, Arizona. This image was double processed from the same
RAW file with the stage lighting the concern on one process and the outdoor image in another
and stripped in using a mask in Photoshop.
Vocal stylist Susannah Martin live at Sound Bites’ Show Lounge.
Ralf Illenberger Live at the Sound Bites Grill Show Lounge in Sedona, Arizona.
by successfulbob | black & white, commercial photography, fine art musician portrait, graphic design, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography education
If you follow my blog and life you’ll see that I’m a music fan. Photographing live music is something that I have been devoting myself to and adding in creating art for the musicians. When something like the Old Town Center for the Arts annual Blues Fest comes along I am in hog heaven. It gives me a chance to photograph and practice new techniques.
Tommy Dukes, Arizona Blues Hall of Fame member. Artistic Photoshop work from blues fest performance. Original capture with Lumix GX7 35-100.. 2.8 lens. Impressive Art filter. Layers and textures add to final art mix.
Did I say it gives me a chance to practice? I believe practicing is as important to photographers as it is to musicians, athletes or anyone else who needs to have the skill of working under pressure. Changing settings, working in new lighting (and often challenging) conditions is something you need to be able to work with almost without thinking so you can capture the essence of a performer. In this case I was playing with some of the presets in the camera and finding some cool looks. In order for you to access the camera pre-sets after downloading you need to capture the images as jpegs. For safety sake and to have all the info presented to the camera you can save as RAW plus jpeg.
Tommy was quite animated and his shirt added to the life of the performance. Capture with Impressive Art filter then layers of texture added to foreground and background.
Then I self assign creation of CD covers, music and musician art and share the ideas with the artists and their marketing people. This has led to being hired to do the work I enjoy. Hmm. Practice. Self assignments. Sharing. Marketing. People often ask me how I get the images I do and the work I want to do. Re-read the last paragraph again and you’ve got he answer. When are you starting your next personal project?
Pretty much straight out of the GX7 camera using the monochrome art setting. Pretty clean black and white!
Straight out of camera with the Impressive Art setting on the Lumix GX7
Yours in Photography, Bob
