Adding Clarity
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© Dorothy Gantenbein. All rights reserved.
Motion with High-Dynamic Range (HDR) Images
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I just completed my first tutorial for Digital Stop. You can read about how I made this image here.
David Julian Workshop
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This weekend, I attended the David Julian workshop through Digital Stop. I had a great time and all the stars aligned. David is a great teacher, inspiration and working on simulating alternate processes digitally. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend taking one of his workshops on creativity. He really can teach creativity. We also learned compositing skills as shown by this image.
Sunol #18
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I have been watching the Luminous Landscape "Camera to Print" video. I learned an important printing tip. When printing from Photoshop CS3 to your inkjet printer. You should always let "Photoshop manage colors". Why? Because, Photoshop converts colors MUCH more accurately than letting the printer driver and OS do the conversion using the ICM or ICC. Hmmm. I always let the printer driver manage colors when using the Epson papers with my Epson printer.
Sunol Drive-By #2
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I have been watching an excellent video called "From Camera to Print" by Luminous Landscape. Highly recommended.
Pattern Interrupted
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Another from this weekend’s workshop with Vincent Versace. This is in the Presidio. A tip from Vincent. A pattern is always interesting but a pattern interrupted is much more interesting.
Photographic Style #2
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Yesterday’s post shows one photographic style (ie a photo montage). For my Photographic style class, I need an example of three different styles for my infrared landscapes. This is my second photographic style, and is a simulated pinhole camera shot that I mimicked in Photoshop. I tried shallow depth of field with my infrared camera but I have not mastered the focus differences to have my shot turn out.
I toned this shot with Ken Lee’s Bronze Quadtones. See http://www.kenleegallery.com/bronze.htm.
Sacramento Train Museum Abstract #4
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Ooops, found one more abstract from the Sacramento Train Museum’s ceiling.
I recently discovered Lenswork podcasts called "Vision of the Heart". Brooks Jensen discusses an image (or pair of images) published in Lenswork. His discussions are very insightful and revealing. For me, hearing these discussions gives me a much greater appreciation of the work. For the podcasts, see here.
By listening to the podcasts, I discovered the amazing and gorgeous work of Chip Forelli. His B&W work is gorgeous. In the podcast, he quotes his mentor, "Never trust air that you cannot see." In Chip’s work, the air is a vital component of the composition and mood.
Foxfire Revisited
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This week, I learned an important lesson. I was scrambling to get ready for a show at PhotoCentral. I was going to print out Foxfire for the wall at 11x16.5". I had accidentally saved a web sized version over the original (processed) image. Well, I thought no problem. I have the digital raw file and I will just re-process the image. Well, two hours later and 5 versions later. I realized that I could not reproduce my original processing even though I knew that I had done it quickly that night in Yosemite being very tired. This second version took hours to do and required about 30 adjustment layers to achieve. I do like it better than my original processing but... I am reconsidering flattening my processed images with the belief that I can re-create the processing.
To see the original processed version roll the mouse over the image.
Embarcadero Field Trip #4
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This one was taken in the parking garage when finishing our field trip to the Embarcadero Center on Saturday. This is part of my "Mysterious or Surreal Mood" assignment.
I helped the lighting along in Photoshop by quite a bit. I wanted to put more light on the mirror and let the rest flow into mysterious darkness (at least I hope that is how it appears). To achieve this effect, make sure that your image is 8-bit color because the Lighting filter does not yet work wiht 16-bit color. Add a blank layer. Make this layer’s blending mode be Soft Light or Overlay. Fill the layer with neutral grey (RGB 128, 128, 128). Now, run the Filter | Rendering | Lighting filter. From there, you have a lot of light choices, I usually stick with Flashlight or Omni. For this one, I was more adventurous and put in Five Lights Down. Since the lighting is on a grey layer. I could blur the edges and fine-tune the effects without losing image detail.
Digital Printing
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Here is a write-up of my digital printing process. Later, I may add a second document later for B&W printing. Click here, DigitalPrinting.PDF.
This image is a drive-by of back list Pampas grass.
Yosemite Drive-By #1
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This was taken from the car as Chip was driving up to Glacier Point in Yosemite. I was going through an obsessive photographer thing about missing shots as we zipped past. So I took out my camera, I started shooting images. I threw away 100+ duds but there is a handful of interesting images that resulted. Also, I made myself car-sick taking these images.
On a technical note, this image was not manipulated in Photoshop except for a levels adjustment. This image was taken through a car windshield and the camera was hand-heldw with aperture of f/22 and with a shutter speed of 1.3 seconds. I did auto-focus probably on the yellow bush on the left before pressing the shutter. My camera's auto-focus mode does detect movement of the focus point and try to track with that movement. I believe that predictive auto-focus gives the stuttering/streaky quality to this image.
Making of 'Warning - Smoking Area'
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Whenever I start composite, I look for two compatible images. How to determine if two images are compatible is really trial and error. In this case, I started with the image of the smoking area. I knew it was promising because there was a lot of whitespace. The marsh scene was a recent image and just jumped out as a twin image. Sometimes, I try 12+ different combination of images before finding a suitable partner, and sometimes I veer off with two different suprisingly compatible potential ’twin’ images in a totally different direction. For this image, these were the only two images that I tried.
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The next step is to place one image above the other image. I usually change the Opacity of the upper layer to ~60%. That way, I can more easily see the interactions. Then, I start cycling through the upper layer’s blending mode. For my base layer, I used the marsh scene and the upper layer was the smoking area. After cycling through the blending modes for the upper layer, I saw a few possibilities but no winner. However, I decided to invert the upper smoking area image. Voila, I differenced the images and had a very interesting starting point. For the right-hand image below, the upper layer opacity is 58% and blending mode is Difference.
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At this point, I liked the Tapestry effect in the background wall, but I was unsure about the void of the palm leaves and its pot. I decided to add back the original smoking area image but masked for the void area. To create the mask, I copied the original smoking area to the clipboard for use in the mask. Then, I copied the original smoking area layer and moved it to the top of the layer stack. I added a layer mask to the top layer and pasted in the copy of the smoking area image from the clipboard into the mask. To copy into the mask, make sure that the layer mask thumbnail is selected in the Layers view before pasting. For a layer mask, black conceals and white reveals. The mask needs to be inverted.
Next, I needed to see the mask so I held down the Alt key and clicked on the layer mask thumbnail. This makes the image mask visible in the image area. Then, I did a levels adjustment to greatly darken the shadows of the mask and brighten the highlights. To go back to viewing the image, I clicked on the image thumbnail in the upper layer. I left clicked the upper layer (of the original smoking area) at 100% Opacity and blending mode of Normal. After a little fine-tuning of the mask, I had the following image. For the right-hand image below, I added back some contrast.
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At this point, I thought the image looked pretty close. I used two Nik filters to pop colors using the contrast color range filter add some green using the Nik Cross Process filter. For the next step (right image below), I added the Nik Bi-Color Violet/Pink filter to warm the image and add blue to the top of the image.
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This is image is very close to done. I decided that the shadow details in the palm fronds are too blocked up. So, I applied a Shadow and Highlight adjustment to open some details in the palm fronds. For the final right-hand image below, I applied a small Levels adjustment to brighten the overall image. The image is done.
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Orton Technique
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Tonite, I am deeply touched by Terri’s recent post. Terri authors Wind Lost, a blog, about her struggles with chronic tension headaches which she handles with grace and courage. Terri is also a gifted photographer. Her posting has inspired me to try out some new techniques with my black and white photography, called the Orton technique.
I attended a Freeman Patterson/Andre Gallant workshop recently and both use the Orton technique regularly. The basic idea is to combine two shots together of the same scene. Both are overexposed. The first shot is overexposed by 2 stops and sharp (think f/22). The second shot is out-of-focus with the lens wide open and about 1 stop overexposed. If you shoot slides, you sandwich the slides together. If you are digital, you combine the images into a single Photoshop file. Place the out-of-focus layer on top of the sharp layer and change the blending mode to Multiply. See here for a Orton Photoshop action.
You can simulate the Orton technique using a single image. Open and image. Add a Level Adjustment Layer. Move the midtone slider to something like 1.50 (this you can play with later). Copy the background layer and place it above the adjustment layer. Now, change the Blending Mode of copy to Multiply. Apply Lens Blur onto the copy of the background layer. If your version of Photoshop does not have Lens Blur, go ahead and use Gaussian Blur. The more blur means the stronger the effect. Finally, add a second Levels adjustment layer on top of your blurred layer. Adjust the level’s midpoint to something like 125. From here, you can experiment with the level adjustments, amount of blur, etc.
If you would like more inspiration, Andre Gallant has a book called Dreamscapes.
If you are considering taking a photographic workshop, I would wholeheartedly recommend the Freeman Patterson-Andre Gallant workshop. I had a fantastic time and loved Canada. I have never met nicer people. As a bonus, I met many wonderful photographers.
Accidental Self-Portrait
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This is another from my baby-steps into black and white film photography. I was upstairs in the Borders bookstore in Santana Row. I noticed the palm fronds outside the window and thought -- hmmm maybe a good black and white photo. Instead here I am gripping the camera (in bad form because my left-hand is not cradling the lens) appearing through the blurry fronds. I was using manual focus and I am not sure what I thought was sharp. I am using my favorite 50mm f/1.4 lens which is my default lens when I need lightweight, fast, etc.
On a digital technique note, I tried simulating the creamy effects of a cold head enlarger using Noise Ninja. Actually, I have never been in a wet darkroom and did not know what that meant but I do like the effect. For all the details, check out Doug Plummer’s Dispatches.
On the humorous side, I spoke to Mother this morning. She has already called my B&W film adventure ’stupid’. For any B&W photographers reading this posting, please do not take offense, just remember that she does not really know anything about photography. Well, she saw yesterday’s post and said "I guess it is pretty enough if you could just add some color."
Haunted House #4
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Haunted House #4 |
Another from my Freeman-Gallant workshop. This was an assignment at the Haunted House. We were supposed to expose for the window. Well knowing that I was shooting raw, I could let some of the highlights blink on the back of my camera. Turns out that the blinking highlights is based on luminosity of Adobe RGB. That is very conservative and highlight details about 1-stop (or more) are stilled captured in the raw file. For this case, I did not mind some solid white in the window but wanted detail in the tree. So when processing raw files in Rawshooter, I could do a small amount of negative exposure compensation, add a bunch of fill light, and reduce the highlight contrast. Voila, I have an exposure in a very trickly lighting situation without using anything except natural light.
If you want to retrieve more highlight details, you would need to process the raw file twice. Once for the highlights and once for the shadows. Then, you can combine them using Photomatix Pro HDR tool or just masking in Photoshop.
Freeman Patterson’s Garden #2
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Freeman Patterson's Garden |
This is another image taken around Freeman's beautiful gardens. I used the 'Dreamscape' technique taught in the workshop. If you are shooting digitally, start with a tripod. Compose your shot. Overexposure by 1/2 stop with a large depth of field. Then, open the lens wide open and over-exposure by 1 stop. Also, de-focus the lens enough where the details are obscured by the main compositional elements are still obvious. Take a second shot. Open the first image in Photoshop. Then, open the second image in Photoshop. Select the Move tool ('v' key), hold the Shift key, and drag the second image on top of the first one. Your first image should now have two layers with the out-of-focus layer on top. Change the blending mode to Multiply for the second layer.
If you shoot digitally and use raw files, then you do not need to shoot the second out-of-focus image. Process the first image with an exposure compensation of +1/2. Then, process the raw a second time with an exposure compensation of +1. In the second image, apply a Lens Blur (enough to loose all the smaller details). Change the second layer's blending mode to Multiply. You may need to do a Level adjustment to taste.
Panning Poppies
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Panning Poppies |
One of the techniques that I learned from the Patterson-Gallant workshop was panning. You want to start with an exposure timeof 1/4 to 1/2 seconds usually with a fairly large depth of field like f/22. Going with a longer exposure time results in mush. Make sure that you are correctly focused before you start. Trip the shutter and pan the camera. In general you want to pan with your subject. For example, pan up and down for tree trunks. In this case, I was shooting a bed of unopened oriental poppy blossoms. I thought that I panned along an arch shape but it really looks like I panned from upper-right to lower-left.
Yosemite #6
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Merced River |
This is another from my Yosemite series. I loved the beautiful green color in the Merced River but had a hard time capturing its essence. In the process, I learned a trick that I want to pass on. Below is the same image as I would have normally processed As you can see, there is a huge difference in the tonal quality between these two images.
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Merced River (original) |
The original image was captured in Raw format. There was no black or white clipping in the histogram but the histogram shows a very contrasty image with a large spike in the quarter and three-quarter tones. I processed this image (5) times with exposure values of 0, -1, -2, +1 and +2. This simulates doing exposure bracketing in the field. Then using Photomatix Pro, I combined the (5) images into a single High-Dynamic Range image and did tone mapping (I think I used the default values).
Maybe, you are saying to yourself that I could just use Shadows & Highlights to open up the darker areas in the original version and retain some detail in the clouds. Well, I did use Shadows & Highlights and I still could not get results nearly as good as using the high-dynamic range image. The bad news is that you would have to buy Photomatix Pro because this trick does not work with Photoshop CS2's HDR plugin. Photoshop's HDR requires different exposures not just different raw processing. The good news is that you can try out Photomatix Pro for 30 days and see if it works for your style of photography.
Swanson Creek #3
Another shot from Swanson creek from this weekend. In the bottom right, the water is mimicking a sharpening defect. It is actually in the original.
For this shot, I had to light-paint after the fact to open up the heavy shadows in to the top of the image. This is really handy when you are not using flash in the field. In Photoshop, make a duplicate of your flattened image. The image must be in 8-bit color for this filter to work. Select Filter | Render | Lighting Effects. At the top, choose Flashlight from the Style dropdown list. Now, position the center of the flashlight beam where you want. You can size the flashlight beam by grabbing the edges in the preview window and dragging. There are a lot of sliders that you can ignore. You may want to play a little with ambience. This controls how fast the light drops off to black. Click OK.
Now, you have a bright spot in your image fading to black. Add a layer mask to the duplicate layer and fill with black. Take a soft brush with Opacity 50% / Flow %30 and slowly start revealing where you added light. By building the light slowly, you should avoid an obvious edge. If you want a stronger effect keep increasing the Opacity of your brush.
Amazing Circle
I ran across a fun technique for fiddling an image, called Amazing Circles. This image was made with an variation of this technique that made it into an ellipse. You can download actions for both effects here. The source image for this effect was the 'Sea Monster of Alameda Fair'.
For both Amazing actions, start with a square selection covering as much of your image as possible. To make a square selection, choose the rectangular selection tool. On the toolbar, change the style to 'Fixed Aspect Ratio'. Leave the width and height to 1 (meaning square). Make your selection, and run the action.
Alameda Creek
This is another find from the archives. For one thing, I think that cropping can make a huge difference. Also, I think that Pixmantec's Rawshooter has hugely improved my infrared work. Using Rawshooter, I can get much closer to what I want for the final result. Here are my Rawshooter steps for infrared images...
- First, I need to set the white point because infrared images come out of the camera with a strong magenta cast. I can get my raw files close to neutral. Somewhere between 1800-200K. Photoshop's camera raw lowest color temperature is 2000K.
- Next, I use auto exposure which gives a good starting point.
- Most infrared images need more contrast so I use the built-in Strong Contrast curve.
- I can fine-tune the shadow and highlight contrast independently. Usually, I add more shadow contrast and less highlight contrast.
- While converting to a 16-bit TIFF, I do raw sharpening. My images enter Photoshop with a nice crisp look without any over-sharpening.
Posting an Image
My blog is a photoblog. So, I post a lot of images. It maybe surprising but I do not use photo albums. Instead, I post one or two images per blog entry.
To get the best results. Here are a few tips for prepping your image before display. I use Photoshop but any imaging program will work.
Typepad Blog Setup
As you may have noticed, the blog styling has had an overhaul. After a few questions/comments from friends, this entry provides all the details for configuring and posting images to your Typepad blog.
Here are all the details...
Oakland Convention Center
This was a grab shot taken outside my office. The glass building is the Oakland Convention Center. The spire with the clock is the Oakland Tribune building.
Today, I attended a Photoshop seminar. I thought that I was taking Photoshop Creativity by Bert Monroy. Instead, I signed up for Photoshop CS2 Power Tips by David Cross. The seminar was excellent and I learned a lot. Here is one of the tips from the seminar.
Tip: For this image, I used the Image | Apply Image command. I chose Blending Mode of Multiply. This caused the colors and details to pop. Then, I changed the opacity to reduce the strength. The seminar recommends Overlay mode. Try both and see what works for you.
Sunol
This was taken just below the visitor center in Sunol. Tried maybe 4 different crops before choosing this one. If you look close, there is a tent in the right-hand side. I burned it down to make it less prominent.
Tip: I have been using Pixmantec Rawshooter for a couple of weeks now. I find that I can get much closter to my final output while still in raw. I thing that I love is the composition grid. It shows the rules of thirds even while cropping. I simulate that with setting the dividers to 33.333% in Photoshop but cannot see them for reference while cropping.
Reynolds Winery #3, Napa
One more fisheye from the pond at the Reynolds Winery in Napa. This one has been fiddled with with a blurred imaged overlayed.
White Rose
Another from Napa in the Copia vineyards.
Tip: One a different note, checkout Colors in Life for photo inspiration and web site design inspiration. I was contacted by the author/web designer, Masroor Iman. He asked permissions to use some of my images in his web site. After seeing how wonderfully he presented my images, I need to give my blog an overhaul.
Photo Friday - Delicate
Yesterday, I visited Napa on an outing with Aphra and the camera club. This is from the Copia winery where we all met and then dispersed.
I have started processing my raw with Pixmantec's Rawshooter. Even at a short time, I am starting to prefer it to Photoshop's camera raw. I can get much closer to my final output in Rawshooter. I like the sharpening, separate highlight and shadow contrast, and vibrance (just in premium version) controls to name a few. It is also easy to copy and paste settings when I shoot a panorama.
Modern American Indian Art Museum
One more from my recent Santa Fe trip. We wanted to visit this museum in Santa Fe but it was closed when we arrived. Instead we visited the nearby art fair and had a wonderful time. This was a grab shot made by sticking my camera through the fence.
Tip: When traveling by air, do not leave your Allen wrench for your tripod in your carry-on luggage. Mine was confiscated in Albuquerque.
Pueblo Village of Tyuonyi
This is a small section of the ancient Pueblo village of Tyuonyi located in the Bandelier Monument National Park. This section is located on the flatland below the cliff dwellings. It is a circular village forming 400 rooms. Each root was maybe 4x5 feet. Too little to laydown and fully stretch out.
Guadalupe River Walk
Tonite, Chip took me to downtown San Jose. I was anxious to visit the newly opened Guadalupe River Walk. We had to park at Adobe because the Sharks were playing at the arena. We will have to return and bring the girls. It is a great place to walk dogs.
Hunting Hollow
Tonite, went back to Henry Coe State Park. Instead of going to the main entrance, went to the Hunting Hollow entrance instead. I have been consistently whipped by the incredibly steep hikes at this park. One of the docents told me that Hunting Hollow was a flat road along a creek. It is flat but the creek is gone for the season.
Sunol
This is from Sunol. It has been fiddled similar to Kathleen Connally's style. She has a beautiful photoblog, A Walk Through Durham Township, PA. Her pictures have a rich, saturated style that is very distinctive.
Here is how I got a similar look.
Tomales Bay State Park
This is a high dynamic range (HDR) panoramic. I bracketed by 3 f-stops with 5 separate exposures. There were gusts of wind that you can see moving around the leaves and tree branches around while taking the individual shots. Everything was a little too brown for my taste so I cross-processed to pop the green. My biggest surpise is that the blue of the sky is peeking through the branches.
Hakone Gardens - Part 3
This is another shot from Hakone Gardens. Because there were dark green leaves with a white flower, I used one of my favorite techinques for dodging and burning. On the layers palette, hold the Alt key and click on the new layers button. In the pop-up dialog, select mode of Soft Light (or Overlay for stronger effect). Check the fill with 50% gray checkbox. Now, you have a neutral gray layer that does not affect the image. To burn, select a black brush with 10% (adjust per image) opacity and lightly paint the areas. To dodge, select a white brush and repeat. If the effect is too strong, you can always change the gray layer's opacity.
Photoshop Lighting Effects
With this image, I used one of the most overlooked filters in Phothshop, Lighting Effects. For this shot, the sun was getting low and lighting of the duck's rear and rock well. But, the duck's head and background bamboo were too dark. I ran Lighting Effects three times. Each acted as a very small amount of fill flash on the head and various places in the background bamboo. The key with using Lighting effects is to experiment with the settings. Use Spotlight when you have directional light and the Omni for diffuse lighting. Also, remember to make a duplicate of your flattened image and mask the Lighting Effect. That way, you can paint on the fill light just where you need it.
Canon 5D
While C and I were at the gardens, we chatted with a few wedding photographers. They were getting setup for a wedding photo shoot as soon as the gardens closed to the public. After comparing a few equipment notes (they were Canon users as well), one of the guys confirmed that the Canon 5D is real. I had heard a rumor about it and seen a photo on DP Review. However, I was a little skeptical because the picture could have been a Photoshopped 20d. Here are the specs...
High Dynamic Range Images
I have recently upgraded to Photoshop CS2. My primary reason was interest in doing a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. So far, I have not actually tried such an image. I was recently reading this month's Outdoor Photographer magazine. George Lepp shows an example of an HDR image from Hawaii. It is sunset at the beach with black lava rocks. He took 7 images each one-stop apart on exposure. The result is amazing.
Here is how to do an HDR image...
David Julian
I just read an article about Photographer/Photo Illustrator David Julian. He has fascinating photo montages. His web site is a hoot with the various parts of the brain lit up for each section. He gives workshops on creativity which makes me curious. How do you teach creativity?
This is another photo from last month's photo event in Hercules.
Photoshop Camera Raw
Tonite, I gave my talk on Photoshop Camera Raw. I got a little carried away on the write-up. Here is a link to the PDF (warning it is 3 mb so a dialup connection could take quite a while). I took a lot of material from Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2 by Bruce Fraser.
This is the Bamboo forest at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga.
Fine Art Digital Printmaking - Part 2
This weekend was the second and final weekend of my fine art digital printmaking course. This segement was taught by Michael Creedon (an instructor at the San Francisco Art Institute). Here are a few of the things that I learned.
Folksy Poppy
This is another shot from my Hercules field trip. It reminds me of a folk art painting of a California poppy.
Last weekend and next weekend, I am attending a Digital Fine Art Printing class. The class is at the San Francisco Art Institute. The first weekend was taught by J. Holmes. Joseph Holmes is an expert at printing. I will try to post his teachings as I absorb them. Here are a few tips.
