A River Runs Through It - The Journey of a Single Image...

Every once in a while - you just have a "do-over", and this is one of those images "done over".  It was originally taken in Western Mass, USA about a year ago.  When I first processed it it looked entirely different than what you see above and it was "OK" - not "great", but - just "OK"..

Then a funny thing happened - I was selected to join The Arcanum -  a rather mind-blowing experience. It's not unlike Julliard School of Music, but rather - for photographers. Check it out - you won't regret it..  Anyway, I popped the previous version of this image into my group ("cohort") - and out came a huge number of suggestions and opinions that really helped shape this final image. At that point, I included it as part of my critique with my Master/Mentor (Glenn Guy), and he had a few more superb observations and "How To" suggestions - which really put the finishing touches on it.

The moral of the story behind all this?  Just when you think your images are just "OK", don't be afraid to take a second look and them them on their own journey to improve them. In my world, photography is all about the journey - and less about "arriving there" - and the journey with this image has been a terrific learning experience.   

Shooting Stained Glass Windows

Tiffany Stained Glass Window c:1902 - Chapel, NY

This past week, I had the opportunity to shoot several stained glass windows made at the turn of the century. The challenge was, retaining the brilliant colors while giving them context within the stone arch frames - a huge disparity between "light and dark" for sure, and typically well beyond the dynamic range in even the best of sensor technology. So - here are a few tips, that seemed to work well for me:

- Shoot in manual mode so you can over-ride the camera's "what you should shoot" mode;

- Spot meter the highlights - and remember what they are;

- Spot meter the shadows in the darkest area of the frame;

- Next - you are going to set to the average of the two readings - and then, set your EV to -1. This protects the highlight detail and presumes you can bring out the shadows in post-processing. As the shadows are in the final vignette (see the above image), I wasn't too worried about inducing any noticeable noise in the shadows.

In the actual execution of the shot - try to shoot late afternoon (golden hour) or very early morning without the sun directly coming through the window. A soft light is your best bet. In the inside of the building, ask for the interior lights to be dimmed or extinguished altogether, for optimum white balance and to induce a natural vignette around the bright window casement. As well, try to shoot in  RAW mode.

I'll try to continue to add some images from last weeks shoot as I can, but, in the meantime, I hope this helps!

  

The Grandeur of it All...

From yesterday and still processing over 300 other images?  Yikes!

Anyway...   In this image, I thought I knew what I wanted when I pressed the shutter on my A7R. These are organ pipes in a small chapel - a tripod setup just underneath.  I took three exposures at +3/0/-3 and joined them in Photomatix Pro. From there - into Lightroom, and finally edited in Photoshop where the monochrome was applies through Nik. Played with the opacity in that new level, just to leave a hint" of color. I put this up on The Arcanum in my cohort run by Glenn Guy.

If you are not a member of The Arcanum - you can check it out here: http://www.thearcanum.com/

Just home...

Sunrise Awakening - Reflecting Pool at The Vanderbilt Mansion

A terrific three days of shooting in the Hudson Valley Region of New York. I had the opportunity to get access to a number of properties and buildings that are simply outstanding. I'll try to post more images over the next few days.

For the image above, it was taken sunrise in the gardens at Vanderbilt Mansion. I liked the steam rising from the pond at the first sun's rays hit its surface. This was taken with my Sony A7R and the Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm lens. While the ISO was a bit higher then I usually shoot, it was needed to capture the a slighter smaller f/stop for the DOF I was looking for at the time. Also, I took a slightly higher point-of-view to center the reflection of Aphrodite in the dark pond water.  This was post-processed in Lightroom, then finished off in Photoshop.

On the Road Again....

Sometimes, it feels like I just get unpacked long enough to re-pack..  Headed to the Hudson Valley Region of New York for a shoot - and I'm really looking forward to it! I'll try to post a couple of images while "on-the-road"...  Now - for the last minute check list:

• Sony A7R? - check
• Back-up body (Olympus OM-D E-M1)? - check
• Full range of zoom lenses? - check
• Prime lenses? - check
• Tripods? - check
• Extra batteries and memory cards? - check
• Chargers and stuff? - check
• Surface Tablet? - check
• External 1TB drive? - check

Hmmm - I think I have enough room in the car for the DJI P2 V+ - so, here we go ;)  BTW - I usually remember all the stuff I've forgotten once I've left? Funny how that works!

Finally getting serious about my professional photo website....  It's been a long road from "there to here"?  I never know what to post in the galleries/portfolios, but - I guess we will figure all that out as we go along...

So far, I have examples from my Landscape, Residential Real Estate and Portsmouth specific galleries tagged..  Next, maybe aerial, wildlife and macro images.....

This is a neat adventure, though!!

My New Website

Fireworks Over Portsmouth

I was told that if I started writing a blog - I would be instantly catapulted into incredible fame and instant notoriety..  Nawww - I don't believe it either ;)  What I do believe rather - is that I would like to share some of my images from in and around Portsmouth NH - and related a bit about how they were taken and processed - and a bit about my personal choices in post-processing.  So a blog seemed like a terrific platform..

The first image - of course with the July Holiday season - is an image of fireworks over Portsmouth. The exposure data is 13 seconds @ f/11, taken on a tripod - and manually focused before hand.  I wanted to show enough detail in the buildings (and spotlight behind North Church), while at the same time - capturing the fireworks themselves and smokey sky. The trade-off in doing this, is that the core of the fireworks loses some detail in the highlights, but, at the same time - what we really remember are the colorful lights from the explosion as they shoot out anyway - so, a great trade-off to be able to actually see the city of Portsmouth with fireworks overhead.

To get a better vantage point - I also shot this from the Sarah Long bridge using an 80mm telephoto lens. I found the focal length just about right, as some fireworks displays go higher than others - and 80mm seemed just about perfect - allowing enough detail is I needed to crop a little closer during post-processing.