Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category
Friday, September 30th, 2011
Autumn is coming soon to a region near you! We wanted to pull together a few examples for inspiration – and some tips to help you make the most of your time in the field.
This image taken from top of Brandywine Falls in Cuyahoga National Park. We arrived just before sunrise, and Varina used a wide angle lens to capture the color in the sky before it faded. She bracketed the shot in order to capture the entire dynamic range, and then used our manual iHDR technique to combine three images.
Overcast skies are common this time of year, and they provide soft, even lighting – which is ideal for back-lighting fall leaves. Soft directional lighting lets the leaves glow without leaving them overexposed. Jay took this photograph off-trail at Liberty Park.
While enjoying the fall colors, don’t forget to notice the small details. Varina found these pretty leaves beside the trail. She stacked them to show the brilliant hues side by side. If you are shooting small details in bright sun, use a diffuser to soften the light.
We try to make the most of reflections at any time of year, but in the fall, they can be particularly beautiful. In this photograph from last year, Jay used the calm waters of Maroon Lake in Colorado to capture the reflection of the fall colors on the mountains. Jay choose NOT to use his circular polarizer filter because it would have minimized the reflections of the mountains and clouds.
And finally, make the most of Autumn’s beautiful skies! Changing weather conditions can mean quickly-changing skies. When the clouds put on a show, make sure you are ready to capture breathtaking fall color juxtaposed with dramatic skies!
Tips for Photographing Falls Colors
- Fall colors are easiest to photograph under a thin, even cloud cover. This provides soft overcast light that helps balance out the highlight and shadows. Soft, morning or evening light is beautiful as well – but controlling the dynamic range can be difficult.
- Don’t forget to notice the details – pay attention to water droplets on leaves, and the texture of bark on the trees.
- Use a circular polarizer to reduce scattered light and enhance Fall colors. This is especially effective when you are photographing wet leaves.
- When necessary, use a GND filter to balance the light. This will bring out the details in every part of the image.
- Look for reflections to enhance the colors of the fall images. Don’t use a circular polarizer when you are trying to capture reflections.
Jay Patel, with his wife Varina, are professional nature photographers and are frequent contributors at Naturephotographers.net. To see more of Varina's work, visit her website at photographybyvarina.com. Jay's website is here: jaypatelphotography.com.
Tags: autumn, fall, landscape photography, photography tips, Tutorials
Posted in Creativity, Landscape, Tips and Tricks | No Comments »
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Brushstroke ~ Knock Out Rose
Image © 2011/Denise Ippolito Photography
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION
I went out to a garden center the other day to photograph mums. I had been thinking of photographing mums and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some. As it turns out I couldn’t resist the Knock Out Roses that were hanging out in the back taking second stage to the more seasonal flowers. This often happens to me, I get side tracked by something that catches my eye. The soft coral colored blooms with the golden yellow centers just begged me to photograph them.
After creating several straight shots I did what I often do, I shot some blurs and some abstracts. After I studied the rose I realized that the one sepal is what was captivating me so I decided to make that the highlight of my image. Then I saw a piece of wood nearby that had all kinds of lines on it. I “pruned” the rose bush and put the bloom on its side across the board and got on the ground to photograph it. (I don’t recommend doing this at garden centers- this center belonged to my good friend) I liked the idea of the textured background but it needed something more. In Fractalius I added a glow treatment to the rose along with an accented edges filter in Photoshop. I also found this fantastic free texture called “brushstrokes” the other day and I felt it would be perfect for my rose. See the link below. I used the soft light blend mode and revealed a bit of the rose from beneath. I know the colors are a bit saturated but I just loved the old world feel and the bright colors mixed together.
Free Brushstroke: http://firesign24-7.deviantart.com/art/Brush-stroke-texture-123965652
You can see Denise's website at www.deniseippolito.com.
Tags: brushstroke, Denise Ippolito, editing, Flowers, Fractilius
Posted in Creativity, Digital Editing, Macro | No Comments »
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Day one of the Mt.Rainier workshop that I am co-leading with DPE podcast co-host Juan Pons was spectacular. Here are a few of my shots - and a few tips.
Above: Expose for the highlights. Move the histogram to the right - but make sure you don't have spike on the right. Also, get up super early to capture the sunrise. You can rest when you are dead. :-)
Above: Use slow shutter speeds to blur moving water. Start with a 1 second exposure and then try 2, 3 and 4 second exposures.
Above: Compose with different lenses. Here I used a Canon 14mm lens on my Canon 5 D Mark II to capture an extremely wide-angle view of the this beautiful waterfall. The lens is actually "seeing" ahead and down at the same time.
Above: Look for texture. The moss surrounding this waterfall adds a nice texture to the flowing water.
Explore the light,
Rick
Tags: California Photo Workshops, HDR, Mt. Rainier, Rick Sammon
Posted in Articles, Creativity, Quick Tip, Workshops | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
Back In February of this year I was in Carlsbad, CA. for a couple weekends teaching my Macro Boot Camps, and I went to the San Diego Botanical Gardens to do a little shooting with some of the people that attended the boot camps. When I saw this flower I thought it was a good subject for using the Zoom Blur filter in Photoshop.
Here is the original image, I first did some clean up with the specks of debris, and filled in the gaps between the petals showing any background, and did a slight crop.
After doing the clean up in Photoshop Elements, I then clicked on Filters. In the next box clicked on Blur, and then clicked on Radial Blur. In the next box look for Zoom and click the circle next to it. Use the Amount slider to add or subtract the amount of the Zoom you want, and this is what I came up with.
After I got the zoom the way I wanted it, I went into Nik Software's Viveza, and did some tweaking with the structure slider to bring out the details in the petals, and darkened and added structure in the dark center. Then popped the yellow a little more.
What do you think?
You can visit Mike's blog and learn about his workshops here: Tiny Landscapes
Mike's eBooks are available in the OPG store here: Mike Moats
Tags: Mike Moats, Processing, zoom blur
Posted in Creativity, Digital Editing, Macro | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
If you spend enough time out in mother nature, she will occasionally come up with some cool stuff. I’m always on the look out for those unique opportunity to capture something special.
I was shooting ice abstracts on Stony Creek Lake, and found this outline of a ducks head in the ice.
I saw this face, two eyes and a nose in a flowing river. Some say the nose could be a trunk of an elephant.
In a gorge of upstate NY I found this heart carved in the gorge floor. Don’t know if it was man made or natural.
Here I am trapped in these bubbles shot at the edge of a small stream, bubbles created from a small waterfall.
We have all seen faces in tree trunks, rock walls, etc, look for cool stuff like this when you are out in the field.
You can visit Mike's blog and learn about his workshops here: Tiny Landscapes
Mike's eBooks are available in the OPG store here: Mike Moats
Tags: Macro, Mike Moats, Nature
Posted in Commentary, Creativity, Landscape, Macro | No Comments »
Monday, September 12th, 2011
After reading a thread in the Flickr Strobist group about a shot of two iPhones done by photographer Peter Belanger, I decided to see if I could recreate his photo, but instead of using studio equipment, I wanted to see if I could get similar results using just a single speedlight and reflectors.
I decided to light the phones from the back (as I often do with food photography) and use reflectors to the sides and to the front to throw subtle fill/highlights back on the phones. So for my keylight, I used an SB-800 in a 24" softbox almost directly behind the phones and at about a 45 degree angle. This might seem like nowhere near the size of the light source that the photographer used in the video, but a 24" softbox used in close to the phones appears to the phones as a HUGE light source which created a nice soft light. I triggered that flash with my D300's on camera pop-up flash.
Next I added my fill lights (or fill sources). Since my softbox was so close to the phones and I was shooting on a piece of white foam core, which is relatively reflective, all I needed to do was add a few more pieces of white foam core around the phone which would reflect the light from the softbox back on to the phone. I simply added these to both sides and held one in front below the camera lens.
To get the right amount of light I wanted from the reflectors, I simply took a shot, chimped a little, then moved the reflectors either closer or further away.
You can see in the setup photo (click on it for a larger view), my position of the reflectors except for the one in front. I was holding it, so I had to put down to shoot the setup folder. Also, I almost never shoot on a tripod but when doing product photography, I've that its really useful to use a tripod so you can keep the same framing, then adjust your subject(s) as necessary. If you do use a tripod, be sure to turn of the VR (vibration reduction) or IS (image stabilization) on your lens, otherwise it could create a little vibration and not give you the sharpest photo.
 This is the image from the camera that I used for my final image. I knew going in, that this would be a more labor intensive photo in post production than I normally do but I still wanted the best image I could get to start my post work from. After watching Peter's video, I decide to use the same method he did, and shoot the phones while they were off, then add the desktop views afterwards in Photoshop. This is definitely not my strong suit, but I took a test photo with the phones on, and my key light reduced the contrast and color of the iPhones' desktop screens, so I thought adding them in post would be the best option for the best looking finished product.
If you look closely at this photo, also you will notice that we use protective screens on our iPhones which leave bubbles and scratches but actually does a pretty good job of protecting the face. I also had plenty of nicks and scratches to remove in post as well.
To get the screen capture, I simply did a "screen shot" of the home page on our iPhones and texted them to my main computer to use in this composition. This probably would not be the best way to do this for a client as the screen shot is not that good of quality, but for just posting a photo on the 'net, it worked out fine.
After adding the home pages to the phone, I boosted the overall contrast and brightness a bit with a curves adjustment layer, then added the blue, vignetted background in post. I had a pure white version but I think the blue background just works better and adds a little color to the shot.
So as you can see, this is actually a pretty easy setup to do, but did require a little more post work than I usually prefer to do. However the post work really made a difference with this particular image imho. Another reason I shot this the way I did was to illustrate the fact that you can create pretty nice product photography without having a studio full of expensive lights and modifiers.
Hope this was helpful and if anyone has any questions, please sound off in the comments!
Read more about John, his photography and his blog at John Adkins Photography.
Tags: iPhone, Lighting, product photography
Posted in Creativity, Digital Editing, Lighting, Tips and Tricks | No Comments »
Friday, September 9th, 2011
"Hurricane Hal," formerly known as Bull Schmitt from the Light Photographic Workshops, is here in Croton on Hudson, New York shooting with me - because Hurricane Irene washed out his B&H seminar.
Today we photographed waterfalls - large and small. Here are a few tips, from Hurricane Hal and me, for capturing the beauty of flowing water.
• Use a tripod - to steady your camera during long exposures.
• Shoot at 1 second or more to blur moving water.
• Pack a ND (Neutral Density) filter, which will let you shoot at slow shutter speeds in bright light.
• A polarizing filter can also reduce the amount of light entering the lens.
• Use your camera's self-timer or a cable release to avoid camera shake during a long exposure.
• Check your histogram to check your exposure.
• Bring a lens cloth to keep your lens clean.
• Use Live View to check your scene - composition, focus and exposure. Zoom in for precise focus.
Hurricane Hal and I hope to see you at the California Photo Fest in October in California.
Explore the light,
Rick
Explore all things Rick Sammon at www.ricksammon.info.
Tags: Rick Sammon, Tips and Tricks, waterfalls
Posted in Creativity, Landscape, Quick Tip, Tips and Tricks | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
 Here’s a common question: How many shots do you take on location?
I generally shoot lots of images – but as I shoot, I delete the ones that aren’t worth keeping. Let me walk you through a typical morning shoot.
I’m up bright and early, ready to shoot. Here I am at Graveyard Flats in Banff National Park (Alberta, Canada). Lovely mist is rising, and the world looks positively blue. The sun isn’t up yet, so I set up my camera for a long exposure. I take my first shot… maybe it’s a little underexposed, so I take another to correct the damage. I will compare the two images, and then delete one of them. I might take another shot or two from a different angle. But each time I shoot, I compare the tiny image on my monitor, check the histogram, maybe even zoom in to check the focus… and delete any image that isn’t quite right. When I get home, I choose the one that looks the best and delete the others after I’ve processed. (ISO 100, 20 seconds at f/7.1)
The light changes as the sun nears the horizon, and I want a shot that shows the strange landscape surrounding the lake. So, I set up my tripod for another shot. I follow the same steps, and I’ll pay close attention to my histogram. I need to make sure that I’m capturing the entire range of light as the sky gets brighter… and that my shadows aren’t too dark. The histogram shows me that I need just one image for this photo – but I take two anyway… one a little brighter than the other, just to make sure. In the end, I don’t need that brighter shot, so after processing, I delete it.
While I’m waiting for the sunrise, I try out a couple of compositions. This one survives because of the mist still hanging around the mountain, and the appealing curve of the lake… but I’m hoping for something better.
Now the sun is rising over my left shoulder. I’ve been waiting for the sun to light up the top of the mountain because I want to capture its reflection in the lake. My tripod is already set up with one leg in the water at the edge of the lake. I’ve found these interesting stones that make appealing foreground objects, and I have my camera set up low and as close as possible. I’m glad to see a little bit of mist still hovering at the base of the mountains, and although the sky is clearing, I still have some pretty little clouds hanging over my mountain.
At this point, I might have 10 or 15 shots from this location. A few bracketed images, a couple of different angles and compositions, and shots from different times. When I get home, I’ll pull the images off my card and compare them at a larger size. In this case, I end up processing four images. And then, I take this last shot and convert it to black and white. Everything I haven’t used gets deleted. In the end, the file for Graveyard flats contains 9 files… four RAW, 4 processed color tifs, and a black and white tif.
Five processed shots. Typically, just one will end up on my website - and the rest will never see the light of day… unless someone asks specifically for an image from this location.
I know so many photographers who shoot thousands of images at each location – and if that’s what works for you, by all means, keep doing it! For me, the problem with that approach is that I can’t process all those photos. So, if I shoot and keep that many, most will never get any attention. Worse – the good ones get lost in amongst the junk. On an average day, I’ll leave a location with 2 to 5 images (maybe as many as 20 if I’m bracketing). Even if I visit several locations in a single day – and get great skies all day long – I won’t end up with more images than I can handle.
So the question is this… how hard is it for you to delete photos as you shoot? I know lots of photographers who won’t delete anything until they see the image at full size on a good monitor… and others who don’t delete at all. Ever.
Do you come home with 50 shots? Or 5000?
Varina Patel, with her husband Jay, are professional nature photographers and are frequent contributors at Naturephotographers.net. To see more of Varina's work, visit her website at photographybyvarina.com. Jay's website is here: jaypatelphotography.com.
Tags: canada, Jay Patel, Varina Patel
Posted in Articles, Commentary, Creativity, Landscape | No Comments »
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
Once again, we’re proud to sponsor a great Black & White Photo Contest with our friend John Batdorff!
Last year’s contest had some incredible entries. We have even more prizes this year—from us and from Black Rapid, Nik Software, Peachpit Books, Digimarc and more!
The contest starts today and entries close Sept. 18th. There will be lots of fun with voting and with judging!
Click here to read about the contest and the many prizes. Good luck!
Tags: black and white, contest, sponsorship
Posted in Contests, Creativity, Digital Editing | No Comments »
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Keep Your Eyes Open For Cool Stuff
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011If you spend enough time out in mother nature, she will occasionally come up with some cool stuff. I’m always on the look out for those unique opportunity to capture something special.
I was shooting ice abstracts on Stony Creek Lake, and found this outline of a ducks head in the ice.
I saw this face, two eyes and a nose in a flowing river. Some say the nose could be a trunk of an elephant.
In a gorge of upstate NY I found this heart carved in the gorge floor. Don’t know if it was man made or natural.
Here I am trapped in these bubbles shot at the edge of a small stream, bubbles created from a small waterfall.
We have all seen faces in tree trunks, rock walls, etc, look for cool stuff like this when you are out in the field.
You can visit Mike's blog and learn about his workshops here: Tiny Landscapes
Mike's eBooks are available in the OPG store here: Mike Moats
Tags: Macro, Mike Moats, Nature
Posted in Commentary, Creativity, Landscape, Macro | No Comments »