by successfulbob | landscape photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
Up early as dawn was breaking I had my tripod set up in the bed of Oak Creek in Sedona, AZ. In the distance was water’s opposite – the stoic red rock formation of Cathedral Rock. I wanted to have the water slow flowing and that required a longer shutter speed than I was able to obtain with just the camera settings… Neutral density filters to the rescue.
Cathedral Rock on Oak Creek in Sedona, AZ. One of the top ten most photographed places in the country.
In the image above I used a 4 stop ND filter in the holder and added a 2 stop graduated ND filter at an angle across the top right hand corner where the sun was streaking across the trees.
Chris Kalmbach, one of the members in my Cohort in the new educational platform called the Arcanum, has been creating beautiful imagery using some long exposures using neutral density filters. Seeing and critiquing his images made me want to play with ND filters again.
Long exposure with ND filter notice water smoothed out by exposure. © Chris Kalmbach All Rights Reserved
I personally didn’t want to invest a boatload of money into filters I might only use a few times so I did some poking around and found these very inexpensive plastic filters with a full range of step rings, holders, lens shades and more from Neewer. See the ND Filter kit Here.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Enjoyed this water quote… “My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.” Mitch Hedberg
by successfulbob | fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
Ocotillo.
That’s not a word you hear everyday… Even if you live in the Southwest where these very interesting cactus reside. Ocotillo are long stalks that most of the year look like they are a bit worse for wear and have moved on past the living stage.
BUT, when nature’s green paint brush, AKA rain, moves through the area at the right time of year these seemingly greyish brown sticks with thorns turn green and put on a show with bright crimson blooms.
Kinda gives you hope when you see this process. And that’s where a phrase you hear even less, the name of this post, Dance of the Ocotillo. Which I think is easier to say than Dance of the Fouquieria splendens which is it’s binomial name.
My model friend Pash Galbavy said she really enjoys these plants and wanted to be photographed with them when in bloom. “Was I game to get up and hike into the wild before the sun chose to make an appearance?” “Sure,” I said. “Always up for a challenge and creating some art.”
Pash made individual dance moves around the cactus. Camera was mounted on a tripod and multiple exposures were blended together using Layers and Masks in Adobe’s Photoshop.
This is an alternate version I enjoy even more created using multiple NIK filters. Included in the mix were Pro Contrast, Glamour Glow, Sepia Toning, Edge Efx and Film Noise.
I used the Lumix GH4 with the Vario 12-35mm f2.8 lens mounted on a tripod. I wanted to capture motion on each movement but I couldn’t get the shutter speed slow enough without some extra help. Camera settings 19mm, 2 sec, f22 ISO 200 manual mode.
Getting the shutter speed this slow required the help of a 2 stop neutral density filter. I had just received a set of very inexpensive filters from Neewer because I wanted to experiment with them for water effects. The kit is less than 25 bucks and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. I just happened to throw them in my kit before this shoot… Who knew??
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you want to talk about someone dedicated to her art here is a photo of Pash dressed in clothing more appropriate to the per-dawn temperature!
Pash dressed for the 47 degree pre-dawn temps we were working in.
PPS – Making purchases on Amazon and through other links helps support the education on the Successful-Photographer web site… TIA.
by successfulbob | Lumix FZ 1000, Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography education, photography marketing
Sedona has had a very wet (for us) spring and the result has been lots of flowers flourishing, in the wild and in the gardens. As you may remember I write a column for the local monthly paper, The Villager, to help keep my name out there. It’s called Photographer’s Corner and I offer tips on making better images. Usually the tips are pretty simple from a pro’s point of view but they are appreciated by the general public.
It was nice while on my Meals on Wheels route to have the Lumix FZ 1000 on hand to grab some flower photos as I saw them. Being able to zoom to 400mm made it possible to shoot from the car through an open window during the rain. (make sure you turn the car off to cut down the vibration) Here’s one of an Iris standing tall on an overcast day which gave good detail.
Straight capture for the article illustrating the concept of ‘Filling the Frame’. Camera settings 1/320 sec F4.0 ISO 160
Once I had the image in the computer I had to play just to see what I could see…
Here’s another version. Always try something new when I have time.
The images were created blending a photo of a wall of small leaves and a photo of some dead leaves raked into a pile. Textures can come from a myriad of places and subjects. Thought I’d keep these textures organic in keeping with the flower.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | commercial photography, Lumix GH4, photography, photography education
Having a camera with you all the time allows you to see a quick moment and record it. This enables you to learn how different objects look in different lighting situations. I do a fair amount of commercial photography and product and often clients are looking for a natural setting photograph that has the feel as if not set up for an ad. Making little studies like this keeps me sharp when figuring out details for future shoots.
Captured with the Lumix GH4 and 35-100mm Vario f2.8 lens 1/15 sec f2.8 ISO 1600
I really enjoy the warmth of this image. Light was coming from the sky through sliding glass doors. The repeating orange light gives this a lot of depth. If I was photographing this for a client I would have added some more controlled light onto the wine bottle with very soft edged highlights and perhaps have added a glass of wine to the set-up.
But since I was there enjoying the music and having dinner with my wife I didn’t push it toooooo much.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
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
