Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Digital Cameras & Shooting Techniques => Topic started by: ErikKaffehr on January 24, 2016, 03:58:32 pm
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Hi,
There were some discussions on the lack of images on the Equipment & Techniques forums. So I figured I can start a thread about images. Here is my first contribution:
(http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Shoots/LuLaForums/20141130-CF045901-Pano_small.jpg)
I got a PM from a member on LuLa who had a Hasselblad Planar 100/3.5 CF to sell at a very decent price. I always wanted that lens for a long time. When I got the lens I of course needed to try it, so I went to Nyköping castle, sort of a comfortable place with some nice subjects. So, I took a picture of the old brewery and some trees.
Suddenly, I realised that the composition was quite OK, but the sky was interesting, too. I needed a more square format to include the sky, so I made a quick decision to take two exposures and combine in Lightroom.
Processing was Photo Merge-> Panorama in Lightroom. After that I darkened the top part using a graduated filter. This I do often and have a preset for it. After toning down the upper part, exposure was adjusted for good general brightness while holding back highlights. I moved the "blacks" slider so I had minimal clipping in some areas and compensated by lifting shadows.
Lightroom does use some kind of tone mapping when setting the highlight slider left of -50% and the same applies to the shadows slider. My understanding is that it is some kind of local contrast enhancement.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's about all to say about this image.
Raw images, etc are here: http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Shoots/LuLaForums/
Best regards
Erik
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I took this shot whilst on holiday in Scotland in 2006. We were out for a morning walk and as we crested a rise this was the sight that greeted us so I took a quick snap with my Medion 85173 compact camera.
(http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/alans70/Scotland-1_zpsglakn7sh.jpg) (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/alans70/media/Scotland-1_zpsglakn7sh.jpg.html)
This Medion is not the worst digital camera I've ever owned (I think the worst was either a key ring camera or the camera on my first camera phone) but it's far from good by todays standards and will be thrashed by any smartphone camera. The WB and colours can be off and I used to open the JPEG's as Camera raw in PS5 and process for best effect. The final file is 1.18mb and 2304 x 1728.
I came across a print of this picture a few weeks ago. I'd actually forgotten that I'd printed it and what I'd done was crop it and print it so that it filled an A4 sheet. I was actually quite shocked at how nice it looks. Please note that it may/will look a bit worse posted here via photobucket than on my screen.
I've looked at this picture quite a few times since I rediscovered it and it's reminded me of that moment and it's made me think that I take photographs not only to play with the gear :D but also to look at either on screen or in print and if the final image is good enough I really should stop being such a gearhead. I do enjoy using cheap basic kit and I still get a lot of use out my Panasonic G1 which I often use with old Minolta Rokkor and Olympus Zuiko lenses.
Sorry if an old Medion compact and this picture are a bit low rent for this thread :D
After decades with film and then about another decade with Canon DSLR's these days I wield a Sony A7, Panasonic GX7 or G1.
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An asbtract for a change. ;)
This image was captured this Saturday during a casual walk in the neighborhood with my daughter. I had configured myself to look for light.
Light is plenty in winter in Japan where the air has an amazing transparency that our ancester must have experienced on a frequent basis before pollution became what it is.
It is a fascinating excercice to look for light sneaking through the densely packed buildings in Tokyo and creating shapes, playing with materials to highlight their textures.
I passed by this panel and realized a few seconds later that it was displaying an amazing amount of compositional balance and I came back a few steps and aimed my DSLR and Voigtlander 125mm f2.5 lens at it. I have spent time looking at it and cannot find the slighted flaw between the complex network of lines and shapes in terms of how they devide space. Just perfect.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1584/24465775842_7dee8b93f8_b.jpg)
Cheers,
Bernard
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Here's one from about a year ago. During the summer someone had forgot putting out a camp fire in a nature reservation area close to where I live, so we got a forest fire. Fortunately it didn't become that big, and in a way it's not too bad as some insects need burnt wood to thrive, and in Sweden fires are so uncommon these days that sometimes even planned forest fires are made to create burnt forests so the insects don't go extinct.
We had a huge one in the south though a couple of years ago, the largest fire since the 1950s so it can go real bad real quick.
Anyway the conditions this days was very inviting, easy to make nice-looking images with the frost on the black wood. I like the palette of colors it created, which is very much shown in this image.
This is shot with Linhof Techno, Leaf Aptus 75, SK47XL f/16 with some fall. In terms of composition I often like to intertwine elements of geometry and chaos, the chaotic element should be obvious and I chose a tight composition with little sky to really fill the frame with it. The main geometric elements are the two diagonals made by the burnt trunk and its crown.
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Ok, let’s talk about images rather than equipment and techniques. I have little interest in how folk make their images, I also have little interest in single images, but I am fascinated in why they make specific series of images and why they choose their subjects.
While I do have interest in technique as I've learned lots by that, I'm also interested in the "project", why someone shoots a particular set of images.
In landscape project is often lacking, many just shoot single scenes they find beautiful. I see nothing wrong in that, and many of the old masters did like that. Ansel Adams didn't organize his photographs in projects for example, but each image was an isolated artwork. He still had his reasons to shoot particular subjects of course.
Today in the art world arranging images in projects is more a rule than an exception. As a newcomer to serious photography I'm just now putting together my first project. I'd prefer to not talk that much about that before I've actually made it public though.
However I can talk in more generic terms how I choose subjects and some of my ideals. I like it when location and weather conditions are secondary and composition primary. In fact, I can prefer a "dull" condition in order to put more focus in compositional elements. Popular landscape otherwise have a tendency to try to maximize all elements in a picture, the light, the colors, a dramatic location and composition, which to me is sort of parallel to the modern man's struggle to maximize everything in life.
Instead I like to take a step back, tone it down. Don't make images based on location or drama (although I do shoot those as well, but it's not really those I'd like to define my photography), and overcast weather is my favorite weather condition. Challenge mainstream ideas of what makes up a good image. I also focus on shooting locally, I haven't traveled abroad with my camera (although I'm thinking of Norway :) ). There's a few reasons for that. One is that there's already thousands of photographers shooting at the famous locations, while relatively few in my neighborhood, so it's simply harder to make something that doesn't look like it's been done before when going to the famous locations. I also think that I can be a better photographer if I shoot nature I have visited a lot and know well, and its an environmental message to it as well, if we love nature so much why book flights all over the world to shoot images that's already shot by local photographers? While there are spectacular locations here too, most nature is quite "basic", which makes it more challenging to make pictures, and I like that. I see my mission as "showing the non-obvious", and if I get my audience thinking along the lines to really observe and see what's around them here and now, I'm happy.
A natural sub-theme where I live is forestry which on one side enriches our lives and nation but is stressful on nature.
I guess I could rewrite all that into some sort of artist's statement at some point. After that is done there's really not so much to say, then the images will do the talk. The greatness with art is "how small a thought it takes to fill a whole life!".
I've read a few artist statements and I can say that great artistic photography and great writing is not always combined in the same person, and many understand that and simply doesn't talk much at all about their art. I think we can see it as the general rule actually, which means we can't expect to get that many contributions of that kind.
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Taking pictures is, for me, a good way to handle depression, anxiety and in some way focus my ocd.
Last week I felt like I had to do something, so I scheduled some free time before sunset (between 5PM and 7PM), got my gear ready and hopped in the car. I knew where to go and what I wanted to do, and I hoped I could get it all with the golden-orange light of the sun just above the horizon.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) when I arrived the whole top of the mountain was covered by a thick cloud. I could barely see where I parked my car, but I noticed it was moving fast and was hoping it would dissipate enough to grab a few shots.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/20160110-_AM19365_zpsphrsjjd0.jpg)
It was indeed moving fast, but not in the direction I was hoping, so I walked downhill to try and find a better spot out of it. The light was fading, so I decided to stop and take a picture before it was too late now that I wasn't in the cloud. I wanted to put myself in it as well as I thought to myself I could use a new banner image for my social media.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/20160110-_AM19377_zpsosq5qtxd.jpg)
While I was there I spotted a trail that started below the rocks I was on, as well as trees. I followed it and found an even better composition. The light was pretty much gone, colors were turning cold and dark as it was moving into civil twilight.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/20160110-_AM19371-2_zpsnd54wmw7.jpg)
Back home I wanted to give it the warm colors I desired when I went out. It is different from what I saw, but I wanted a pleasing picture and not an accurate one. I warmed up the white balance, worked a bit on contrast as I tend to shoot and develop with neutral profiles, and used light orange on the highlights and light teal on the shadows. I used for all my pictures the D7000 with the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM.
Since a friend's birthday was coming up and she recently moved into a new apartment, I printed this photo on 70x30cm canvas. When I visited her place she had a couple of empty walls and she always loved my pictures so I decided to make a more personal gift.
I know the quality of this photo isn't much, but my old phone really struggles under certain conditions.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/WP_002989_zps3unfyvbh.jpg)
I’m fascinated by the buildings and contents and by the process of decay. The buildings are often in a parlous state, time and earthquake damage taking its toll. I never enter such places when alone, always ensuring there is help at hand should something untoward occur. I’ve encountered vermin, dead and alive, cats and dogs, dead and alive, goats, dead and alive, scorpions, dead and alive, humans, dead and alive…Ok, that last one was an exaggeration.
I’m not a reportage photographer as such but that said I am aware that if I don’t make these images then the subjects will probably go unrecorded.
I've been to so many abandoned places as well, I have quite a few series of pictures. Here are a few examples.
This one was back in 2014, in the abandoned village of Apice Vecchio. It was abandoned after a earthquake and only recently some people are going back. Most of it has been kept intact by a few people, it's like a soft of huge and open museum. Some houses are extremely interesting but not very photogenic. This was taken with the D7000 and the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/20140427-AND_3653_zpsk7iqslz1.jpg)
This is a Saint-Gobain glass factory, closed many decades ago. Most of the area has been converted to commercial and apartments, but this warehouse still stands. I shot it on the Olympus OM-1n with a Zuiko 28mm f/3.5 on Ilford HP5 pulled 1 stop.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/20080101-PICT6863_zpsky17klp0.jpg)
This is the furnace area of the same factory, this is where all the glass was fused. Most of it has crumbled and the whole area is closed off. It's a bit tricky to get inside, but it always help to be with a friend and be very careful where you step. I shot it on my crappy phone.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/20150426-WP_001766_zpseup77wfa.jpg)
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However I can talk in more generic terms how I choose subjects and some of my ideals. I like it when location and weather conditions are secondary and composition primary. In fact, I can prefer a "dull" condition in order to put more focus in compositional elements. Popular landscape otherwise have a tendency to try to maximize all elements in a picture, the light, the colors, a dramatic location and composition, which to me is sort of parallel to the modern man's struggle to maximize everything in life.
I like your pictures. If you don't already know it, check out Eliot Porter's work (he pioneered this approach). Also Lee Friedlander's desert series.
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Hi,
Some nice images from Anders.
Best regards
Erik
Anders, I know in the past you've been a little coy at times about posting images but I have to say I very much like 'burnt'.
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Hi,
This image was taken at Hans Kruse's Dolomites East workshop in September/Oktober 2015.
(http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Shoots/LuLaForums/20150929-_DSC2272_small.jpg)
The image is taken at Pragser See an early morning waiting for sunrise. We were all shooting the same subjects. In addition, I have been at the place many times, so I wanted to shoot something different.
So, I started to look at the small chapel and reflections in the lake. I also got a bit interested on that bold rock surface and figured it would be a nice point of interest.
The original image had quite an illumination range, so I needed to tame in it Lightroom.
- First I darkened the sky with one of my presets.
- After that I applied a higher colour temperature to the rock surface to make it look warmer
- I also felt the chapel needed to be more prominent, so I applied some local corrections to that area.
Best regards
Erik
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Nice image Erik, and very interesting to see how you made the post-processing.
I'm using RawTherapee for my post-processing. Unfortunately it doesn't have local edits (yet), but there's a graduated filter tool and that together with a generic highlights/shadows control covers most cases. During my first years I struggled with finding my "post-processing style" and I've tried all sorts of methods.
Now I'm using my own camera profiles (generated by DCamProf) to get a good baseline color, and then I use graduated filter when needed, almost always a little vignetting (my start image has zero vignetting as I always apply LCC). White balance is often left at daylight, but hand-tuned when needed, and then I can use RGB curves to add a subtle "color grade". I also usually add a little contrast, using either a "perceptual curve" (a special curve I added myself to RawTherapee which keeps color appearance constant) or a pure luminance curve which gives a slightly desaturated look. I nowadays almost never increase saturation, but keep it realistic or even a bit desaturated as a "look".
I've added a "before" and "after" example here of a chaotic semi-abstract. I don't want the "after" to differ too much from realism. Digital has the advantage over film that it can be more color-correct and realistic, but you can also just by pushing sliders around do a total transformation of the image, a power which can be difficult to handle.
My goal with post-processing is to add a subtle personal look and atmosphere but at the same time retain some of the documentary quality, so it's a balance. As my photography is partly about "showing the non-obvious" I can't transform an inconspicuous scene into some conspicuous. I also find it more satisfying to shoot in those special conditions which provide special colors, such as a damp autumn forest after a rain in overcast weather, if the post-processing retains a documentary quality so those conditions actually look special in comparison to normal conditions also in my images. I have no problem with people making creative transforming post-processing though, it's also an art in its own, it's just not suiting my goals.
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Hi Keith,
You have some very interesting images.
Best regards
Erik
Ok, let’s talk about images rather than equipment and techniques. I have little interest in how folk make their images, I also have little interest in single images, but I am fascinated in why they make specific series of images and why they choose their subjects.
As long as I can remember I’ve always been drawn to the architecture of the sun. I’ve long had a fascination for the architecture of the Mediterranean and specifically the abandoned buildings of the Greek islands.
In the mid twentieth century the islands experienced a great deal of depopulation due to a lack of employment with many people emigrating to America and Australia. Many of the homes and contents were boarded up and abandoned, the owners never to return. Over the years the elements have penetrated the buildings and decayed the infrastructure and contents to the point of collapse. Those that are still clinging to life have become time warps.
I’m fascinated by the buildings and contents and by the process of decay. The buildings are often in a parlous state, time and earthquake damage taking its toll. I never enter such places when alone, always ensuring there is help at hand should something untoward occur. I’ve encountered vermin, dead and alive, cats and dogs, dead and alive, goats, dead and alive, scorpions, dead and alive, humans, dead and alive…Ok, that last one was an exaggeration.
I’m not a reportage photographer as such but that said I am aware that if I don’t make these images then the subjects will probably go unrecorded.
The following three images were taken a few years apart, the first and second several years ago using a big camera and the third more recently using a small one. All were single shot. The second image drew inspiration from Van Gogh’s Chair, the first and third more expansive shots within the same property. I will typically move objects that are within the building but will not introduce anything from without.
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Hi Anders,
Thanks for comments and thanks for sharing!
I guess that we apply different amount of processing to our images. Personally, I feel that I want my pictures to look credible. So they don't need to be a good reproduction but I don't want to make way to much processing.
I have a great respect for you approach.
To give an example, this image may be overprocessed, but I feel it is a good representation of what I saw:
(https://echophoto.smugmug.com/Travel/Dolomites2014/i-ScF3V3K/0/X3/20140603-_DSC4026-X3.jpg)
This image is a bit overprocessed, but there was a great drama that no stills can reproduce. The processing here was quite a bit more than what I would usually do, but I felt that it was OK as I needed to show the dramatic play of light.
(https://echophoto.smugmug.com/Travel/Dolomites2014/i-9XZc3DZ/0/X3/20140605-_DSC4388-X3.jpg)
Best regards
Erik
Nice image Erik, and very interesting to see how you made the post-processing.
I'm using RawTherapee for my post-processing. Unfortunately it doesn't have local edits (yet), but there's a graduated filter tool and that together with a generic highlights/shadows control covers most cases. During my first years I struggled with finding my "post-processing style" and I've tried all sorts of methods.
Now I'm using my own camera profiles (generated by DCamProf) to get a good baseline color, and then I use graduated filter when needed, almost always a little vignetting (my start image has zero vignetting as I always apply LCC). White balance is often left at daylight, but hand-tuned when needed, and then I can use RGB curves to add a subtle "color grade". I also usually add a little contrast, using either a "perceptual curve" (a special curve I added myself to RawTherapee which keeps color appearance constant) or a pure luminance curve which gives a slightly desaturated look. I nowadays almost never increase saturation, but keep it realistic or even a bit desaturated as a "look".
I've added a "before" and "after" example here of a chaotic semi-abstract. I don't want the "after" to differ too much from realism. Digital has the advantage over film that it can be more color-correct and realistic, but you can also just by pushing sliders around do a total transformation of the image, a power which can be difficult to handle.
My goal with post-processing is to add a subtle personal look and atmosphere but at the same time retain some of the documentary quality, so it's a balance. As my photography is partly about "showing the non-obvious" I can't transform an inconspicuous scene into some conspicuous. I also find it more satisfying to shoot in those special conditions which provide special colors, such as a damp autumn forest after a rain in overcast weather, if the post-processing retains a documentary quality so those conditions actually look special in comparison to normal conditions also in my images. I have no problem with people making creative transforming post-processing though, it's also an art in its own, it's just not suiting my goals.
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Hi,
This is an image I made a couple of days ago. My first after work walk, as days start to get long enough for some picture taking after work.
I got interested in the two trees and the farmhouse in the background. Tried to find a good vantage point and came up with this one. I hoped I could use my Canon 24/3.5 TSE and use some shift, but I also had a 16-35/4 to fall back on.
Tried to find a spot where the flagpole was not obliterated by tree branches. I could not fit the full subject in the shifted 24 mm frame, so I turned the camera vertical and made three exposure that I could stitch into one image. I very often do this.
Stitching was quick and dirty in LR CC 2015.4.
The image was tamed using some gradients in LR, see attached screen dumps.
(https://echophoto.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Sweden/Winter/i-TGzd2tc/1/X3/20160309-_DSC4442-Pano-X3.jpg)
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A very interesting thread. In another thread I stated that I couldn't relate to people like Henri Cartier Bresson and his ilk with respect to learning but I preferred the modern approach. This thread provides that and is instructional. No nastiness, nitpicking or bitching yet so hopefully it can progress and I/we can learn some more? :)
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Hi Anders,
Thanks for comments and thanks for sharing!
I guess that we apply different amount of processing to our images. Personally, I feel that I want my pictures to look credible. So they don't need to be a good reproduction but I don't want to make way to much processing.
I have a great respect for you approach.
To give an example, this image may be overprocessed, but I feel it is a good representation of what I saw:
(https://echophoto.smugmug.com/Travel/Dolomites2014/i-ScF3V3K/0/X3/20140603-_DSC4026-X3.jpg)
This image is a bit overprocessed, but there was a great drama that no stills can reproduce. The processing here was quite a bit more than what I would usually do, but I felt that it was OK as I needed to show the dramatic play of light.
(https://echophoto.smugmug.com/Travel/Dolomites2014/i-9XZc3DZ/0/X3/20140605-_DSC4388-X3.jpg)
Best regards
Erik
I like the golden, cloudy peaks one very much indeed - the one I think you thought was over-processed.
I don't; I think it's absolutely right for the subject.
And there one of the problems: it's fairly clear to me that the interest in this zone of LuLa is all about technical things such as stitching etc., with huge images with maximum detail and so forth. But, many of these seem, to me, absolutely dead in the water. Yep, great 'technique' but dearth of soul.
I can't escape from the old adage about a fuzzy concept...
I appreciate that this is a purely personal take; it neither makes my observation right nor wrong - just mine.
It seems very rare to find both ends of the photographic spectrum present in any one image from anyone.
Rob C
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Hi Rob,
Your thoughts are always appreciated!
Best regards
Erik
I like the golden, cloudy peaks one very much indeed - the one I think you thought was over-processed.
I don't; I think it's absolutely right for the subject.
And there one of the problems: it's fairly clear to me that the interest in this zone of LuLa is all about technical things such as stitching etc., with huge images with maximum detail and so forth. But, many of these seem, to me, absolutely dead in the water. Yep, great 'technique' but dearth of soul.
I can't escape from the old adage about a fuzzy concept...
I appreciate that this is a purely personal take; it neither makes my observation right nor wrong - just mine.
It seems very rare to find both ends of the photographic spectrum present in any one image from anyone.
Rob C
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Thanks for comments on thread!
Best regards
Erik
A very interesting thread. In another thread I stated that I couldn't relate to people like Henri Cartier Bresson and his ilk with respect to learning but I preferred the modern approach. This thread provides that and is instructional. No nastiness, nitpicking or bitching yet so hopefully it can progress and I/we can learn some more? :)
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To dismay the purists:
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/5938083_orig.jpg)
;-)
Rob C
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Finally shot both the waste plastics selection plant (I was scounting when I posted here (http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=99472.msg894028#msg894028)), as well as the adjacent plastic bottle recycling plant.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/_AM19705_WEB_zpse1iswxh0.jpg)
It was quite the challenge as I never shot inside a factory before. Moving around with safety gear wasn't much of an issue as I thought it would be, and having two bodies was a huge time saver as I used only the 10-20mm and the 50mm for tighter shots.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/_AM22151_WEB_zpss6swxmvy.jpg)
The day was heavy overcast with light rain, so it was very bad outside with really flat lighting. It didn't help inside either, on top of the weird lamps they had with massive green cast. There was no way to add lighting without having to rent equipment that was way out of my budget, and being a one man army also meant I couldn't waste too much time setting things up. Both factories were cleaned up for a big press event from 11AM to 1PM, but they weren't ready before 9:30AM so I had to work as quickly as possible in just one hour and a half. This meant no tripod either (which would've been useless in many places anyway, as well as a big safety issue).
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/_AM19688_WEB_zpsipmzsjot.jpg)
Because of the weird light I had to shoot mostly between ISO 400 and 800, but I knew that a good exposure and a bit of overexposure would've saved me in post noise wise. I fired off a few shots and reviewed them in a well lit place, and I liked the noise grain I was getting, so I kept on going stopping only for talking with the workers and pose a few of them.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/_AM19663_WEB_zpsbif5en3t.jpg)
As I said, the light was weird (but not everywhere), so I had to do a lot of masking and color correction in Photoshop to make the colors as neutral as possible. There are still some spots where it can't be helped, as the sensor just didn't pick up much else besides green, and desaturating would make it look worse. It's a subtle thing that one doesn't even notice with naked eyes, but our brain is too good at making reality look much better than it is.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/_AM19648_WEB_zpsczd0lhva.jpg)
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/_AM19655_WEB_zpsjd8gqnfc.jpg)
Keeping the lines straight was really hard, most of all because so many things weren't straight at all. Starting from pillars and ceilings and ending to some support beams for the machines. They looked straight, but after reviewing the pictures I went back and noticed they were not. Most of the time it's not evident as I tried to make everything look as good as possible with all kinds of perspective corrections, but there were some pictures, like this one below, that required more work: the yellow line at the bottom was visibly tilted with everything else aligned, so I had to cut it and adjust it separately before extensive cloning and healing to make it all seamless.
(http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab14/Andrea_Minganti/_AM19731_WEB_zpsydpnnain.jpg)
In the end the client was extremely satisfied and I am too. It was an intense half day (I covered the press event and subsequent visit to both plants as well), but it was well worth it. Having more time and possibly a helping hand I would definitely try to use additional lights and maybe some more compositing to make both places look more alive. Maybe next time.
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Thanks for sharing!
Some very nice images and interesting to hear more about them. Nice to hear your customer is happy!
The first two images are compelling, I would say. The other ones are OK, too.
Best regards
Erik
Finally shot both the waste plastics selection plant (I was scounting when I posted here (http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=99472.msg894028#msg894028)), as well as the adjacent plastic bottle recycling plant.
...
In the end the client was extremely satisfied and I am too. It was an intense half day (I covered the press event and subsequent visit to both plants as well), but it was well worth it. Having more time and possibly a helping hand I would definitely try to use additional lights and maybe some more compositing to make both places look more alive. Maybe next time.
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Finally shot both the waste plastics selection plant (I was scounting when I posted here (http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=99472.msg894028#msg894028)), as well as the adjacent plastic bottle recycling plant.
....
Thanks for sharing!
Please allow me to give some small feedback. This is not inteded as critisism, just my opinions on how I "see" photos.
What I see is a very industrial, clean allmost sterile enviroment. It also seems that humans are allmost redundant. The strong composition with POI placement, lines with disapeering points, perspective control or symmetric composition enhances this feeling.
In #2 I get the feeling of wokers beeing supervised (by the group upstears at right hand side).
Impressive work :D.
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Ok, let’s talk about images rather than equipment and techniques. I have little interest in how folk make their images, I also have little interest in single images, but I am fascinated in why they make specific series of images and why they choose their subjects.
As long as I can remember I’ve always been drawn to the architecture of the sun. I’ve long had a fascination for the architecture of the Mediterranean and specifically the abandoned buildings of the Greek islands.
In the mid twentieth century the islands experienced a great deal of depopulation due to a lack of employment with many people emigrating to America and Australia. Many of the homes and contents were boarded up and abandoned, the owners never to return. Over the years the elements have penetrated the buildings and decayed the infrastructure and contents to the point of collapse. Those that are still clinging to life have become time warps.
I’m fascinated by the buildings and contents and by the process of decay. The buildings are often in a parlous state, time and earthquake damage taking its toll. I never enter such places when alone, always ensuring there is help at hand should something untoward occur. I’ve encountered vermin, dead and alive, cats and dogs, dead and alive, goats, dead and alive, scorpions, dead and alive, humans, dead and alive…Ok, that last one was an exaggeration.
I’m not a reportage photographer as such but that said I am aware that if I don’t make these images then the subjects will probably go unrecorded.
The following three images were taken a few years apart, the first and second several years ago using a big camera and the third more recently using a small one. All were single shot. The second image drew inspiration from Van Gogh’s Chair, the first and third more expansive shots within the same property. I will typically move objects that are within the building but will not introduce anything from without.
A bit late, but I just discovered this thread.
Thanks for sharing!
I am very impressed on how you have been able to show decay and abandoned interior, and at the same time kept the photos so simple and "clean" (hope you get the meaning). The choice of colors are (for me) superb, and improves the photos a lot compared to B/W.
Really great work!
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Hi,
I sort of like this image, not that much to say. A small hint, I have found that a small value of "dehaze" (in Lightroom) is sometimes quite useful to enhance thin cloudscape in the sky. Not sure it has been used here, though.
(https://echophoto.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Sweden/Spring/i-V3Sk2HC/0/X3/20160319-_DSC4554-X3.jpg)
Best regards
Erik
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Thank you for the comments and the tips, I'll be sure to keep those in mind!
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Hi,
I got myself a Sony A7rII a few months ago. One of the reasons I went for it was that I wanted to do tilt and shift photography. This posting is about tilts.
It is possible to get a tilted plane of focus by tilting the sensor relative to the lens. There is a rule named after a captain Scheimpflug in the Astro-Hungarian Army in WW I that says that if the subject plane, lens plane and sensor plane cut each other all of that subject plane will be in focus. To achieve that, you need to be able to tilt either the focal plane or the lens.
When I am shooting this kind of images I try to focus at the center and use peaking to find approximate tilt. After that I switch to magnified LV and adjust focus for center, modify tilt to get background object in focus and do a new careful focus on the main object. This is best down at full aperture and stopping down just for exposure.
This picture was shot a few days ago:
(https://echophoto.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Sweden/Spring/i-4H8pVnR/3/X3/20160411-_DSC4931-X3.jpg)
As you can see, most of the image is in good focus, but if you look at the first attached image you can also see that the plane of focus is rather thin. The strains of grass behind the small pine are clearly out of focus. The trees in the background are also in focus.
This image was actually a reshot of an older one, where I have put the background focus on the small rocks in the background, causing the trees being out of focus. Placement of that tilting plane needs to be well chosen.
This image was shot using a Contax 35-135/3.3-4.5 zoom that I bought on EBay. The reason I bought that lens was mostly that I needed a manual aperture as the T&S adapter I use doesn't allow for aperture control.
The image needed some fix up in Lightroom, I used three applications of the graduated filter and three of the radial filter. The original image is shown below.
The original DNG file is here: http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Shoots/TS_Stuff/
The image below shows the HCam Master TSII with a Canon 16-354/L:
(http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/A7Flex/20160207-CF047065_small.jpg)
And the lens below is the Hasselblad Distagon 60/3.5 CF:
(http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/A7Flex/20160207-CF047062_small.jpg)
Best regards
Erik
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This is a lovely thread and its really interesting to actually read how the thoughts behind the photographs.
I've recently started to move my old photographs to an online backup site. While browsing through these old photos I found that I am now flagging different photographs as "keepers" compared to when I looked at them several years ago. And with the now free Nik collection post-processing software it was actually kind of fun to breath new life into the old archives.
(https://filmadvances.smugmug.com/China-1/i-k5bfhdx/0/L/R0010830-Bearbeitet-L.jpg)
This picture was taken from a bus just by chance and it was totally over-exposed. I had to adjust the brightness down quite a bit.
(https://filmadvances.smugmug.com/China-1/i-vR8NF8d/0/L/R0011294-Bearbeitet-Bearbeitet-L.jpg)
The second one was also taken from a bus window. I didn't consider this image as particularily interesting, but the person's sunglasses, his pose and the mirror are kind of matching. Since it was shot with the 28mm equivalent lens of the Ricoh GRD III, I cropped the original image.
(https://filmadvances.smugmug.com/Athens/i-w5tVjFF/0/L/DSCF1673-Bearbeitet-L.jpg)
I didn't consider the last picture as a keeper at all when I first browsed through them, because the trees in the foreground were not particularily interesting. But in my opinion it helped a lot to make the foreground completely dark and focus more on the shape of the mountains and clouds via a black and white conversion.
I hope I'll be able to have these thoughts while actually taking the photograph in the future in order to have a better keeper / photopgraphs taken ratio.
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The other world dances silently along beside you; I bet you mostly didn't notice.
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/4803194_orig.jpg)
;-)
Rob
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That's a pleasure to look at Rob.
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That's a pleasure to look at Rob.
Thank you, Pat; that's very nice of you.
I see you dig horses: my wife loved them though I always felt uneasy anywhere close to them - they're just too big for humans to feel near to being equals. Mind might be one thing, but physicality is another quite else! I can sit on a horse and it wouldn't notice; the same ain't gonna work the other way around!
That said, I always wanted to have a shot at photographing the fabled white Camargue ones, but I expect that just as with so many other celebrated things in this world, the reality wouldn't quite hold up as well as I'd like. But still love to find out!
Rob
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On of my more upbeat numbers:
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/427325_orig.jpg)
Rob C
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Needs more megapixels Rob. Have you thought about a new Hasselblad ?
;D
(Runs for the door)
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Rob,
I love the way these recent shots of yours show just enough to be highly evocative/suggestive, with no extraneous detail. Beautiful stuff!
Eric
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Graham, Eric -
Thanks for the comments - would love another 'blad again but only if somebody else is willing to donate it to me. Maybe the richer denizens of this section of LuLa can do a quick whip-around and send one to me (I won't feel offended if it's slightly used...)!
Regarding the pix: yes, I do like to try to cut to the chase, as it were, but with this sort of thing it's not really planned at all - just instant recognition of something when I see it, fractions of a second after it hits me right in the face!
A woman I shot some time ago has come out of the woodwork again and shown an interest in doing more pictures with me; this is she:
http://www.roma57.com/interrelate.html
and we are currently setting up a little shoot for Saturday morning in an old finca (Spanish country home) which belongs to a pal of hers, where I suspect, from her description, I shot some decades ago commercially. It'll be interesting to see what we come up with in the brief time I'll have - she now works in a shop in the afternoons, so I'll have to concentrate as if I were actually paying her! Can I cope? Will it work? So much stress... I jest. I think.
Again, thanks for the thumbs up.
Rob
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Hi,
This image was a few weeks ago at Giau Pass in the Dolomites.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Dolomites-2016-1/i-5dT7hnM/0/X3/_DSC0173-X3.jpg)
Best regards
Erik
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Since the America's Cup is in full swing thought I would post some images from the San Francisco America's Cup of 2013.
Though Oracle is the USA representative it is interesting that no USA sailing venue was good enough for the team.
They chose a foreign country to race in rather than America. As such I hope they remove the USA from the Oracle
Team USA signage. Bad taste all around.
Michael
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Hi,
This was shot with the Sony A7rII mounted on my HCam Master TSII using a Canon 16-35/4L lens, probably at 16 mm.
The combo allows some shift at 16/mm and very generous shift at 20 mm and up.
In this case there was some heavy mechanical vignetting at the top, but is hidden by the vegetation.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Technical/HCam-MasterTS/i-7fcm84n/0/X2/20160710-_DSC6406-X2.jpg)
Best regards
Erik
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Hi,
A couple of weeks ago I visited Gotland. Gotland is a large island belonging to Sweden in the Baltic Sea. For some reason, there are 93 churches on Gotland and many of those can be traced back to early medieval times. This was shot with the Canon 16-35/4L
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Sweden/Gotland/i-6T6qsmK/1/X3/_DSC6699-X3.jpg)
Best regards
Erik
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Hi,
Here I wanted to show the decorations on the pews and have them sort of lead up to the altar:
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Sweden/Gotland/i-T7mNhMm/0/X3/_DSC7320-HDR-X3.jpg)
In a way I feel it illustrates what "Scheimpflug" can do, but also what it cannot do.
Best regards
Erik
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Hi,
Visby is a medieval town on Gotland a large island belonging to Sweden in the Baltic Sea. There was a cat called "Knäcken" who was famous in Visby, he was sort of "master cat of the central square". When he passed away there was a crow-founding project to raise a memorial for him.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Sweden/Gotland/i-CHSSdC2/0/X3/_DSC7152-X3.jpg)
This image was shot around 50 mm using significant tilt. It is a good demonstration of what "tilt" can do. The distant building is in focus and so is "Knäcken", but everything else is pretty much out of focus.
Best regards
Erik
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Excellent demonstration, Erik.
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This is directed at nobody in particular...why go to the trouble of taking a technically ideal image if it lacks the artistic value to hang in your living room?
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This is directed at nobody in particular...why go to the trouble of taking a technically ideal image if it lacks the artistic value to hang in your living room?
I think there's many reasons, to name a few:
- learning or practicing certain techniques
- creating memories of what you've seen
- documenting subjects for others to see
- to demonstrate certain techniques for others
- for fun
Creating images for artistic value is only one of the reasons people make (technically ideal) photographs and I think artistic value usually overrated as well as based on personal taste.
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(http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=107692.0;attach=148623;image)
This is directed at nobody in particular...why go to the trouble of taking a technically ideal image if it lacks the artistic value to hang in your living room?
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The Mission Inn, in Riverside, CA is something of a local landmark. It was never "Mission" a la the famous California Missions, it was built as a hotel and get away for celebrities "back in the day." Several U.S. presidents have stayed there, etc. It is somewhat local to me. This is a little collage of impressions I gathered on one morning there.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Still-Life/Still-LIfe/i-T83Z77z/0/XL/IMG_0745-XL.jpg)
Rand
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One morning in Knokke (Belgium) I stepped on the beach to make a walk and while still walking towards the flood line I suddenly notice this scene, the shower frame, beach tent and ship. Taking a few steps closer and to the left it suddenly lined up perfectly (I think) and took this shot. I like it a lot so I hope you will enjoy it too.
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Well seen Pieter
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Quite surreal - Nice Shot.
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This is directed at nobody in particular...why go to the trouble of taking a technically ideal image if it lacks the artistic value to hang in your living room?
Of all my photos only three hang somewhere, the ones in the living room/kitchen of the Brata hut, the 106 years old mountain hut of my 99 years old father in law.
The subjects are: a marmot (see my avatar and my nickname), a panorama of the entire Malghera Valley (with so-so colours), a misty panorama of Laghèt (a small alpine lake) with Eriophorum scheuchzeri.
This is my first Androsace alpina. I found it on the edge of an avalanche gully in Pedruna Valley.
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Nikon D7200 with the 2.8-4/16-80 zoom at 16 mm. The basic Raw conversion was done with Nikon Capture NX-D, followed by some slight retouching of the TIF via Bridge/ACR.
Neither the camera nor the Nikon Raw converter enjoy much attention around here, however, I’m quite happy with it.
Peter
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This is directed at nobody in particular...why go to the trouble of taking a technically ideal image if it lacks the artistic value to hang in your living room?
Maybe something that is technical and well done can be artistic for just these reasons?
I've worked on many items of technology that I considered good enough to mount and admire as art.
But anyway... I live in northern England at about 54 deg north and the light here is often flat and lifeless and it just so happens that my free time is often on flat lifeless light days and in an effort to create something worth looking at from the following two pictures I dived in Nik filters and decided that the following were to me better to look at than the rather flat and lifeless colour originals. Both were taken with a Sony A7 and an old manual focus lens but I forget which one, probably a Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.4. It's an old cinema at the seafront in Redcar, northern England.
(http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/alans70/alan-warm-DSC01156-600_zpsjdnxtuux.jpg) (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/alans70/media/alan-warm-DSC01156-600_zpsjdnxtuux.jpg.html)
(http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/alans70/alan-warm-DSC01162-600_zpsmj5457gu.jpg) (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/alans70/media/alan-warm-DSC01162-600_zpsmj5457gu.jpg.html)
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I regularly do a random pic of whatever is around my room.
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I regularly do a random pic of whatever is around my room.
You go to bed with some unusual things. (That is your blanket, isn't it?) ;-)
Rob
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Scheming dogs.
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One morning in Knokke (Belgium) I stepped on the beach to make a walk and while still walking towards the flood line I suddenly notice this scene, the shower frame, beach tent and ship. Taking a few steps closer and to the left it suddenly lined up perfectly (I think) and took this shot. I like it a lot so I hope you will enjoy it too.
Terrific image. Perfect.