Wild Berries

I like the simplicity and soothing colors of this shot. It was one of the rare ones I’ve taken that I liked in camera right away as shot. It was shot at Hugo Point Park in Chambers County between Baytown and Anahuac, TX in February of ’07. I was using a Panasonic Lumix Superzoom shooting at a 35mm equivalent 72mm at f4.0 for 1/500 and ISO 80.

In post processing I didn’t do much, just used Topaz’ “Mid-Color Pop” preset to bring in more of the green that was there that day [at least in my mind anyway.]

Just for Fun

Just thought I would have a little fun here with a multiple exposure technique Mark Johnson demonstrated [much better!] on the old “Radiant Vista” website. This photo is from the 2008 Livestock Show and Rodeo at the Reliant Center in Houston.

It’s based on a pseudo HDR generated from a single RAW image with Photomatix Pro 3.0. I selected the hammer and then rotated it using free-transform into different positions and using decreasing opacities on separate layers. I added color correction, sharpening, and a vignette to finish it off.

Tucker's Friend

This is my dog Tucker’s friend Chloe. Chloe is a 35 pound bundle of almond colored Standard Poodle puppy energy that has been staying with us for a week while her people were gone to Disney World on vacation. Between my wife and me we were able to get Chloe to sit still just long enough to shoot a few shots for this portrait.

For this shot Chloe was on a table in the shade of my backyard that I had set up with a black background [sheet]. To add a little fill light to the scene I used a 24” reflector with a silver and gold striped cover.

Tech: Oly E-3 w/12-60 Zuiko zoom, AP mode, ISO 100, f5, 1/80, 60mm Post Processing: Darkened blacks, increased clarity, and slightly saturated in Camera Raw, Opened in CS2 and cropped, sharpened using High Pass method, and added “mid-contrast pop” preset in Topaz.

Two Approaches

Today’s posts are of two different approaches to similar subjects. At least they are similar in as much as they are both photos of two men working high off the ground in industrial situations. In both photos I let the original conditions for the image capture point me in a direction for the post processing and ultimately to the final image. In the case of the sign hangers the post processing was only a crop and some basic color correction and sharpening. In the photo of the steel erectors the final image here is the result of twelve separate layers and quite a bit of photo manipulation. In both cases the images presented are an accurate representation of what I saw in the scenes that prompted me to capture the moments.

Canino's Farmers Market

Canino’s is one of the largest and oldest farmers markets in the city of Houston. This shot was taken on an overcast afternoon and was part of a series I shot for an “At the Farmer’s Market” assignment for the BAPC. I originally worked the shot up as a color image but I really like the way the B&W version draws my eye to the lighting, and the repetition of pattern created by the shopping carts out front.

Tech: Panosonic Lumix Super Zoom [10MP], f3.2, 1/100, ISO100, 20mm, aperture priority mode, RAW Post Processing: Cloning, Curves, High Pass Sharpening, B&W Adjustment Layer, Levels Adjustment to brighten mid-tones, Sepia Tone, Vignette.

Another Backyard Squirrel

I wanted to try out the combination of my 50-200 zoom and a new extension tube I had recently purchased, so I broke out the combo in the backyard. I took a series of photographs to test the close focusing ability of this combo and was mostly happy with the results. The combination did produce an extremely narrow depth of field and limited focal range that took some getting use to but once I did things worked out fine.

Tech: f3.5, 1/320, ISO800, 150mm, aperture priority mode Post Processing: High Pass Sharpening, Dup layer in Overlay mode, levels adjustment to brighten mid-tones, vignette.

King of the Jungle

I was surprised that I liked this shot at all. For one thing I generally don’t care for animal shots taken at the zoo. I guess its the whole idea of shooting a “wild” animal that is trapped in front of you. It kind of seems to me like paying a guide to take you on a hunt so that you can shoot a deer that’s tied off to a fence post!

On top of that, on this day the zoo was hot, crowded, and full of mosquitoes - so I was anything but inspired when I took the shot. Add to that the fact that I was shooting through at an inch of cloudy and scratched Plexiglas and I thought I certainly had the right prescription for an easily “deleteable” shot.

In this case though post processing made the difference. I started with the original shot, which was dull as a result of the cloudy plexi, and duplicated the background layer in overlay mode. This greatly improved the color saturation and gave me a much better starting point. From there I added a curves adjustment and high-pass sharpening for the final photo.

I had taken my Oly E-3 along for the shoot but unfortunately forgot to pack any batteries – what a pro! Luckily my old Panasonic Lumix Super-Zoom was in the car, with batteries, and I was able to use it for the day. Tech: Aperture Priority, 58mm, f3.6, 1/80, ISO 100, -1 exposure.