Monthly Archives: April 2009
4/10/2009
Crocus Impression
Interesting story. I took some shots of these newly opened Crocus for a test of two compact HD video cameras I did for P&S Landscape (here) and posted them to Flickr for convenience in placing them in my blog. On Flickr they immediately began to draw comments. So I had to go out, end of the day, with my real camera and take some shots. Clearly.
In pushing for greatest depth of field, I used Program Shift to move the auto exposure to smallest possible aperture, and ended up with some pretty slow shutter speeds. Anyway, I took some really close ups of the insides of the flowers, as in leading petals touching the lens. They did not work for me as straight on photographs so I tried some Lightroom magic to enhance the strangeness of them. I will reshoot some this morning without touching the Program Shift and see what I get. In the meantime, this slightly unreal, manipulated image stands on its own as what it is: an impression of Crocus.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F5.0 @ 1/30th @ ISO 100. Program Shifted for smallest aperture.
In Lightroom, some Recovery, and more than usual amounts of Clarity and especially Vibrance to push the look over the edge of reality. Landscape sharpen preset. But then I went in with the color selective HSL (hue, saturation, and luminance) controls and altered the luminance of specific colors. In Lightroom you have a color selection tool that you can place over the image. Clicking the mouse and dragging up or down over a specific color in the image changes the HSL (whichever you have set, luminance in this case) values on the fly, as you watch. Lightroom does all the calculations and changes whatever color bands it needs, multiple bands most generally, to change just the color that was under your tool when you clicked the mouse. It is magical. By selecting the orange of the stamens and sliding the mouse up, I brightened just that orange, making the stamens pop out of the image. Then I selected the purple of the petal veins and slid the mouse down to darken that color and increase the contrast between it and the rest of the petals. The result is a striking, if somewhat unreal, image.
From Around Home.
Here is a more straight on image of the same flowers.
A bit more real...but better?
4/9/2009
Pioneers of Spring
On my way out to do some new product testing yesterday I discovered these little guys springing up in the yard. At last. We still have isolated patches of snow around.
I took a very low angle, with the camera resting on my hands and my hands on the ground, using the flip out LCD of the H50. The problem was eliminating distractions in the background, and, even so, the background was already in sun, while the flowers were shade, lit by a stray shaft of extreme side light. Tricky.
I like the way the light on the flowers picks up the texture of the folded petals, and of course the shapes and colors of these brave spring pioneers.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro mode (almost touching the forward flower). F4.0 @ 1/200 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom I had to deal with the bright background. Recovery helped but not enough. I used a Graduated Filter drawn in from the upper left toward the flowers at an angle, and then the Adjustment Brush to mask an area behind the flowers on the right. For both I reduced exposure. That made the blue of the sky way too intense, so I also reduced saturation for both the Graduated Filter and the Adjustment Brush mask. Then the usual Vibrance and Clarity settings, and the Sharpen portrait preset.
From Around Home.
4/8/2009
Egret and the Rubble
This image might break all kinds of compositional rules, but I like it. “Egret confronts the rubble: a study in contrast.” or something of the sort. Somehow the whole thing hangs together for me. The delicate, even elegant, bird; the massive frame of broken concrete; the texture of both concrete and the fragment of rope; even the splash of whitewash on the right…it all coheres to produce an image that has a kind of balance, maybe even elegance, of its own.
The Egret even moved slowly enough to allow me to get Exposure Compensation set for the white of the plumage.
Sony DSC H50 at 465mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/600 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto, with -1 EV exposure compensation.
In Lightroom, a bit of Recovery for the plumage. Added Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel, and Sharpen portrait preset.
From Galveston 2009.
4/7/2009
PB...
Just a bit of architectural detail from the industrial district on Galveston Island. I love Peanut Butter. The image is cropped at bottom and top for composition. It is all about shape and texture and the way the light plays with both.
Sony DSC H50 at about 375mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, just the most basic Presence and Sharpen.
From Galveston 2009.
4/6/2009
Primrose in the Morning
This shot will benefit from being viewed at a larger size. Click on it and choose your size from the settings across the top of the viewing page on SmugMug.
This is one of those shots where I wish I could say I took it because its best feature…but honestly I did not even see the dew drops on the petals until I was processing the image in Lightroom. I was out birding for a very few moments before work, hurrying around my first visit to a new location in a Galveston (I am in Galveston only once a year for a few days) and I was almost back to the car. I had taken several flower shots along the way, since the birds were pretty thin, and I saw the primrose by the path, flipped the LCD out, bent over, took three shots, and was back in the car in less than a minute. Hours later, when I downloaded the photos and loaded them into Lightroom, I picked the best of the three by the thumbnail and opened it in the Develop mode. Then I saw the dew drops. Surprise!
I know from my own experience that I am often surprised by what I see in my own best images…after I have taken them (sometimes weeks or years after).
Sony DSC H50 at full wide in macro mode (about 1/2 inch from the flower). F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, I applied just a touch of Recovery to make the water drops pop out a bit more, some Clarity and Vibrance, and the Sharpen portrait preset.
From Galveston 2009.
4/5/2009
Brown Pelican in Galveston Harbor
Just down the dock from the tall ship of yesterday there were a group of Pelicans sunning and feeding. Pelicans are, of course, almost too easy. The 465mm equivalent of the Sony H50 is more than long enough for satisfying pelican shots. This handsome fellow was actively feeding along the length of a long dock.
Sony DSC H50 at full tel. F5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, I pulled the highlights back with a bit of Recovery, shifted the black point slightly to the right to intensify the colors, added Clarity and Vibrance and used the Portrait sharpen preset.
From Galveston 2009.
And just for fun.
4/4/2009
J S de Elcano in Galveston Harbor
To quote from a Lighthouse Depot description of a model of this ship: Four-Masted Schooner Model…An Impressive 44″ In Length The Juan Sebastian de Elcano is a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy. At 370 feet long, it is the third largest Tall Ship in the world. Built in 1927 in Cadiz, it is named after a 16th century explorer and captain of Magellan’s global fleet. Steel hulled and steel masted, a marvel of gilt and teak, ropework and canvas, with a crew polished to within an inch of their lives, the J S de Elcano is an impressive sight to happen on in Galveston harbor, right next to the Off-Shore Oil Rig Museum.
This shot uses the full wide end of the zoom on the H50 and shows all the distortions of the lens, compounded by the upward tilt of the camera, which placed the ship across the axis of all most all of the distortions. Still. The distortions might even add to the impression of size and the majestic sweep of this elegant vessel.
The light was just about perfect for this detailed shot.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F5.6 @ 1/640 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, some Recovery for the white highlights and the sky. Added Clarity and Vibrance in the Presence panel, and the Landscape sharpen preset.
From Galveston 2009.
Masthead Detail, J S de Elcano
4/3/2009
Eilean Donan Castle
Eilean Donan, the quintessential Scottish Castle, seen in many films, and subject of millions of tourist snapshots, including this one. Catch it on the right day at the right hour and it is magical. I took wide shots, and mid-shots, and full telephoto. This is a medium tele shot for framing.
Sony DSC H50 at about 150mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/200th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
Nothing fancy in Lightroom. Recovery for the sky and clouds. Presence increase through Clarity and Vibrance. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Scotland.
4/2/2009
On Skye
I was only on Skye a matter of hours, going out to the Hebrides, and coming back and on both days we had a tight schedule and a long way to go. I want to go back. Skye has some of the most amazing scenery I have ever had the pleasure to travel thorough.
This is a pretty straightforward shot with a delicate balance between the foreground and sky brightness. I have not applied Graduated Filter effects to this yet. I may go back as time allows and see if I can improve it, but I am pretty happy with it.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide angle. F5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, I used Recovery for the sky, and Fill light for the foreground. Added Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel, and used the Landscape sharpen preset.
From Scotland.
4/1/2009
I should probably have something trickier for April Fools Day, but I don’t. Just another typical Hebrides building. This time a round house. The original dwellers on the Hebrides were a people who built round houses, and you still see the remains of these round structures all over the islands, though not as houses. This was probably a sheep shelter before it was rebuilt and converted into a studio/display room for traditional wool arts. Of course it is the grandeur of the setting as much as the structure itself that makes the image.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
This required (or at least received) similar treatment to yesterdays image. Double graduated filters, from the top to darken, and from the bottom to lighten and increase contrast for the hyper-detailed effect. And then my usual Presence adjustments (Clarity and Vibrance) and the Landscape sharpen preset.
From Scotland.
And here is a view of the inside as it is today.
