Dramatic skies in black and white

So my love of a dramatic sky, whether it be deep deep blue in hue or cloud filled and angry can be date quite a ways back.

Somewhere along the line in my Black and White work I wanted more than what the film could do on its own.

First I tried polarizing filters and that helped to a degree to darken the sky on a cloudless day, but it wasn't quite enough.

I opted to purchase a deep red filter for the camera. This accomplishes many things with a panchromatic film...one that is sensitive to all colors equally. First darkens things opposite of red on the color wheel like greens and blues, secondly it lightens reds and its neighbors like yellows all of which contribute to a more dramatic image than simply shot without a filter.

These were shot at and near the Split Rock Lighthouse on Minnesota's shore of Lake Superior for an "general magazine" assignment for my "C&P 408" class back at SIU-C.

An interesting trend I noted in my images from the beginning of college to the end is that I relied less on cropping and shot with full frame in mind more in my senior end. Blame it on my fine art photo friends and their "full frame society" that they had than anything else.

College was for experimentation...

When I was in college I opted to go a different route in my shooting as well as in the labs. Instead of "subtractive" color printing where one used filters of like colors to subtract out colors in the final print for one that was balanced I opted for "additive". In additive one exposed each layer of the paper by using a deep colored red, yellow or blue filter between the enlarger and paper. A bit more time consuming, but in my opinion yielded much richer color from the old kodacolor or ektacolor pro films I was using at the time.

I even took the "additive" filters out into the real world with me shooting. I'd take a big honking 4X5 view camera out and with those same filters shoot black and white images through them one at a time yielding 3 negatives, one for each filter. Then I'd print them, on color paper one negative at a time through the corresponding filter I shot it with, often frustrated as hell with getting registration right, until I got a final image.

This image was done with the additive filters as well. Instead of shooting black and white I had shot with kodacolor. It was a long time exposure and I inserted the additive filters, one at a time in front of the lens with the shutter held open for several minutes total. As each color was inserted I'd use a light to "draw" outlines around the model and "flash" them with a strobe. It yielded 3 different colors of light drawing on one film, yet the total scene was in approximate accurate color, or as accurate as one could get given the multiple color of light sources illuminating the scene. Of course I had some wild color shifts until I learned how to meter and gauge how much time was needed in order to expose each layer of film and yield a fairly accurate image. Crazy the things we think of and experiment with while in college...but that is what those years are for, right?

What we don't do to get through college

Its seems like a million years ago sometimes, other like it was yesterday. This image was one I shot to for a portfolio to get me into more advanced classes at SIU-C. But to get that education I had to do hard labor in the summers at the taconite plants in northern Minnesota.

I remember this place and taking this shot well. This is what greeted us each day as we walked into the pellet plant on our way to our designated work areas. Safety was always a concern as with all the conveyor belts, open walk ways and furnaces there were ample ways one could be injured if you didn't keep your wits about you.

This image was shot in the National Steel Pellet Plant in Keewatin, Minnesota the summer I had worked there. I had gotten permission to do a little shooting after my shift from a friend of the family who just happened to be the plant manager. I shot this after I had finished my graveyard shift and was too tired to shoot much...but I did have my locations scouted in advance and this was one I had really wanted to shoot.

I shot it on Kodak's Tri-X pan at normal ISO for better contrast and tonal control developing it in Kodak D-76 developer. This image is from a scan of the original negative done with the help of an Epson V600 photo scanner.

A little Black and White work from the Soulard Market

I remember this shoot quite well. The assignment was for a publications class I took at SIU-C. We were to take documentary type portraits for a "Sunday" type publication. Rather than opt for local to the school photo ops I decided to have a little road trip and go to the Soulard Farmers Market in St Louis.

The Soulard Market is the oldest continuously operating farmers market west of the Mississippi River. It was set up near the banks of the river in 1838 and has operated on that spot since its inception. A little more history HERE.

I kept pretty detailed records back in the day so I know a bit about these images. They were shot on Kodak's Tri-X pan film at its normal ISO of 400 and developed in D-76. I've kept them sleeved in archival pages since they were processed so they are nearly as good as the day I developed them. Even the "contact sheets" that were for each page are attached still after all these years so my life is so much easier picking which strip to scan.

A little fog in the morning

This old "chrome" as in Kodachrome is actually an ortonized image. You know what I mean, one sharp focused and perfectly exposed with one that is over-exposed and out of focus overlayed and printed together. Except this time instead of printing it was simply scanned and the two were married that way.

Call it old school orton but it still works. Interesting to me at least to see how the divergence from purley commercial photo dove into the fine art stuff even when I was in college.

Did I tell you how much I love my new Epson V600 scanner? It can scan up to 12800 dpi from a 35mm film yielding files in the 35-50meg range or higher depending on the detail in the neg or chrome one scans.

Arrested Decay...the early years

Even back when, I was a fan of arrested decay and interiors by existing light. Near my childhood home was an abandoned airport. It was left to simply rot and decay and I was able to sneak in for a few shots. Lucky the floors didn't give in while I was in there.

These are scans of the final prints...the negatives were lost somewhere along the line among my many moves.

A little in the foreground gives you depth to perspective

Its an old trick, but if you have items in the foreground your perspective as to depth and sense of place increases. I used this technique in these two images shot from the year I lived in Death Valley's Furnace Creek.

Dantes View was just a short drive, under half hour from Furnace Creek. I loved to go up there to just watch the sunset and the color of light change during that event. It was so enjoyable I made that trip many times, it certainly was relaxing to sit and watch the shadows of the Panamint Range slowly creep across the valley floor.

If you look closely the richness of color has not faded after all these years. Why? I shot mostly in Kodachrome back in the day and you just couldn't match the capability of that film with any other, at least in my not so humble opinion.

Enjoy....

Some things never change...like the love of a dramatic sky

I shot these while living in Death Valley in 1981. Even then the love of a dramatic sky ala the old Dutch Masters was there.

Painting with light

Back when I was in college I did an independent study program my senior year in a fine art vein instead of following the commercial path I had been on. A lot of reasons for it, chief of which was I wanted to explore my creative artistic side beyond what a commercial studio would do.

I had stumbled upon the idea of painting with light during my intro to color class and fooled with it a bit. What I did to achieve the effect was to place the camera on a tripod and leave the shutter open several minutes with a small "f" stop for max depth of field as well as allowing maximum time to "paint" with the light. The light source that I painted with varied from flash lights to sparklers. I often times lit the model with a quick flash from a strobe so that part would be properly lit so I could focus on the time to paint with the light source.

Here are just a few examples, more can be found in my flickr set called "Early color work"

Its all about a true black....and good mid tones

Talk about a hard shot to get right, but I did. This pic of the bridge and mill in Burfordville MO was taken fall of 1977 for my Black and White photography class. It was exercise in the "zone system" as formulated by Ansel Adams...one of my long time hero's for so many reasons.

Just a little taste of spring

Shot this in March 1976 could be dogwood. Could be forsythe. Both were the first to bloom in MO once winter was done and before the rest of the stuff was ready to go.

This is from a scan of the original negative done with an Epson V600 Photo scanner, set the dpi for a max 12800 (extrapolated) that picks up every little piece of grain. I dumbed down the images just a couple of notches so it loads faster here.

Funny how my love of things up close was there in the early work. I like how the depth of field is so shallow that only a couple of blossoms are in focus.

A few more from the archives

This is sort of fun digging into the archives and digitizing things for posterity...or at least until the next big thing comes along.

I've always loved isolating trees and showing off their individual beauty in a forest. I particularly like this set of images. They were shot in Northern Minnesota on my grandparents property on Bear Island Lake outside of the town of Ely where they lived. Can you tell from these images that Ansel Adams had an affect on me even in my early years?

Some trends go back ages...

I have a new scanner and among the tasks I have for it is to take my old B&W and archive them all digitally.

One of the things I've noticed in my early work was an affinity for natural lighting, even low level for all the drama one can get from the images shot under such conditions. Also noted that I did a lot of very moody black and white work both indoors and outdoors.

These images are of some family members that cooperated with me and my experimentation back in the day. Both are very natural portraits that I am still very pleased with many years after the fact.

Interesting for me also was my propensity to not only store them for safe keeping back then, but I also noted the basics such as film used. In this case these were shot in good old Tri-X Pan at ASA (we call it iso now) 400, no pushing was done.

Praise be...the new scanner arrived

Can't wait to find in storage all of my negatives,not just those stashed in with the trusty High School yearbooks. This gem came from the first set I shot with my first brand new, spanking way cool 35mm camera that I bought with all my graduation gift money.

Best I could find to celebrate the arrival of my new scanner, an Epson V600 that is comes set to scan both negatives and transparencies. Should be interesting to see how it does with the old Kodachromes...will it reproduce the same rich color? Right now am pretty amazed at what it does with old color negatives like this July 4th shot done summer of 1975.

test...just a test of a new tool in my arsenal

I bought a flip cam...mostly for use over at So Cal Auto Blog the possibilities are endless. Maybe do some tutorials on stuff I do with CS5? HDR? Just random stuff like this test video that I put together fooling around with the simple tool earlier today? I don't know, what would you like to see?

Camellia...orton style

I just love how a pretty blossom becomes oh so romanticized with the simple addition of a couple of steps in Adobe CS5.

I've done the steps numerous times in other posts this time around will skip the details on how I got there and just let you enjoy the image.

Interesting Online Gallery for me...Gallerish

So as part of my near daily quest to find new venues to show case my art work I stumbled upon Gallerish, an online gallery for Los Angeles.

Its pretty nifty, certainly is a no risk venture to show case ones art. The nice thing is that they permit linking to your own website at no extra fee. Pretty slick way for new/emerging artists trying to build a following of collectors to get some exposure. Their home page link HERE.

Of course I set up my own brief online gallery with them. You can find me HERE.

A little diversion and play time with Polaroin

Yesterday a friend turned me on to a web site called Polaroin. Link HERE. It creates Polaroid style images out of your digital photographs regardless if shot with a cell phone or DSLR.

I played around with it a bit yesterday and am having fun with it. Though I do mourn the day Polaroid dissolved itself and quit making film its nice to see it replicated with a fun online app. (I have ample Polaroid images from over the years, loved the look and feel of the images and have quite a collection of their cameras so my mourning is twofold....can't use the cameras I have and can't play with the process again in the future).

Of course it got my wheels turning and wonder if there is a point to duplicating it in Adobe's Photoshop CS5. Art for the sake of art has its purpose and I just may do so. Stay tuned....

HDR to the rescue

This image would have been nearly impossible to capture without the aid of HDR post processing? Why you ask? Well the "wall" behind was actually a bank of white plexi that was back lit and several stops brighter than even the spot lit car. Shooting it bracketed +/- 2EV solved the problem when I used those files to generate an HDR image.

The final image was then tone mapped with Photomatix. After that it needed no other post processing 'cept for some minor color correction work.

The car is the Mistubishi i-MiEV (electric car) due on sale later this coming year. More about the car on So Cal Auto Blog.

A new Focus and a photo op

Last night I attended an event at the Petersen Museum. Ford and Jay Leno donated the Ford Focus Electric Vehicle he had used in his show last season. Link to the post about the event itself HERE.

It should be no secret by now that I love to shoot cars about as much as I love to drive them. These events are terrific for shooting cars but the lighting isn't always ideal, and I dislike the harsh look of flash preferring the available lighting any day.

The problem with last nights shoot was multiple. First the car I wanted to feature was white, under spotlights that created too harsh a contrast and zero highlight detail. That was fixed by shooting with HDR post processing in mind. Second was that because of the different light sources there was different colors of light coming into play that makes accurate color balancing by the camera difficult...shooting RAW and using Adobe's CS5 helps with the color correcting.

Of course Photoshop helps with the final processing, in this case using some filters to make the 2012 Focus Electric the center of attention by using some spotlight action to darken other areas of the frame so the key car pops out from the back ground.

In terms of HDR processing I shot this bracked +/- 2 EV. The HDR file generation used those 3 files to create the file I worked from for color correcting and filter application. Tone mapping was done via Adobe's CS5. The final image used here was then dumbed down in size and dpi so it would be fast loading without sacrifice of detail .

The final image gets bigger with a click.

Just a new little adventure...

I was asking for a new adventure. I got one, well made it happen. My friend Dave Share from metblogs/blogging.la have been talking for a while about doing a car blog. We made it happen over the last few weeks.

You can visit So Cal Auto Blog and leave comments or whatever. I'd really like it if you'd click on the ads from time to time as it helps us build credibility with them beyond content.

The banner was made by me from an image of a Mustang Bullitt I shot a while back. Cropped it down and added text with Photoshop...and then sized to fit within the spot allotted in word press. Stupid easy and nice results.

Stuff

I worked this image from 3 bracketed images into an HDR file then took it a step further and ortonized it. In short I needed a dreamy looking image for a post I was working on for blogging.la that ran today. I was pleased with the outcome.

I'm hanging in Monrovia City Hall through March 31st. I was hung (figuratively, not literally but am sure there are a few that would like to blur that line) this past Wednesday. I need to get a shot in of my work hanging in the "City Lights" gallery as it is called in city hall. When that has been accomplished will post it here too. A little bragging, but what good is a blog if you can't do your own self serving post every now and then.

Just a little break in the rain

I've found through trial and error that a low res camera is just as good as a high res when it comes to producing orton style images. This quick image was grabbed with a cell phone of all things and worked in the orton style.

Love the impressionistic view of the world an orton style image produces.

To get there you make a duplicate layer, increase the exposure, slight increase to the saturation, and finally give it a little blur via the gaussian blur filter in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Then you take the layers and give them a multiply blend and voila you have your own orton style image.

Sold to a collector...has such a nice ring to it.

It has an even nicer ring to it when its a repeat customer and is more than 2 pieces, especially in this tough economy. Funny how the same person takes unrelated pieces.

Roses

Before Electricity

Cars, Cars, Cars....love 'em to drive and shoot

I love cars. Without a doubt many of those machines are just beautifully engineered and sexy to the eye as well. Getting a press pass gives one uninterrupted access to cars during the LA Auto Show and I wear myself ragged during the show.

To get this shot I did a few things, including a departure from normal...added in some elements. The car is the Mercedes Benz CLS 63 AMG which is drop dead gorgeous. I bracketed the shot to get the exposure right, then added in some spotlight and lens flare effects to frame the car better from its surroundings.

To save you the google searches my primary posts on blogging.la are HERE and HERE. My entire set of raw images from the LA Auto Show are in a set in flickr, appropriately titled 2010 LA Auto Show.

Desert Heather...ala Orton

I still am always amazed how much easier and faster it is to create with a pc vs silver based material. Orton wasn't that hard of a process, but it was time consuming getting the color balanced and exposures down when trying to print through doubled up slide film. Adobe's CS5 makes it all the easier.

As a refresher Orton was a guy back in the 70 who would do two shots of the same subject on slide film. One was razor sharp and perfectly exposed, the other was out of focus and over-exposed. The two were sandwiched together and printed resulting in a very surreal in focus/out of focus with artifically saturated colors.

To achieve this in Adobe the process is similar in theory. You take one sharply focused and exposed file. You open it and duplicate a layer labeling it "Background copy".

With that copy you go to Image>Adjustments>Exposure and increase your exposure by a factor of 1-2.0 so you "blow out" or lose all highlight detail. Got to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and increase the saturation by a factor of 10-30 depending on how the changes look to you.

The next step is go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and chose pixel range of 10-25 depending on the amount of blur you need. Less if you have an already blurred background, more if you don't.

The final step is go to the adjustments box on the side margin and select "Multiply" as your blending option.

There you go a few simple steps for recreating the look and feel of the old silver based "Orton effect" images.

Piled Higher and Deeper in Venice Beach

I love the insanity of this camper. So much stuff they had to bring along a mini-van to hold the extra. I have no idea what the story is behind this is, but that festive banner flying on the main camper tells me this is a fun crowd not some down and out of luck scenario.

The image was shot purposefully with HDR file generation in mind by bracketing the exposures 2 stops +/- from average. The HDR file generation was completed with the help of Adobe's CS5 that I also used for the tone mapping. Tone mapped for max saturation and definition between the various shapes so it took on a lot of blocks of color emphasizing the surreal nature of the setting itself.

IT will be in the satchel of goodies for you to peruse at this coming Thursday (10/14) Artists Reception at Bolt Barber's in Los Angeles. For those that forgot the details it is set for 7-9:30PM at Bolt Barbers, 460 S Spring Street (5th and Spring) Los Angeles CA.

Shooting in low light doesn't always need HDR or a Flash to work

Shooting with just the existing natural light is a challenge. First you have to decide how much detail and noise you are willing to accept for a higher ISO. Why the higher ISO need...you don't always have the benefit, or permission even, to use a tripod let alone "brace" yourself on something if you are in a museum or similar setting. The higher ISO allows for a faster shutter to eliminate camera shake, but it does so at the expense of image quality as the ISO climbs.

Bracketing is the salvation of shooting with a window providing the light.

Thank goodness for tone mapping being able to be applied to an image to bring all tones captured into range that can be displayed on your screen or printed image material.

For this image of the captain's desk on the Queen Mary I didn't have the benefit of being able to use a tripod or brace myself on something. I knew I was good for relatively slow shutter speeds (1/10 second) so I set my ISO at a moderate 800 and bracketed 1 stop each way from metered.

The final image was cleaned up for color balance, a bugger when you have sunlight streaming in from a window coupled with regular incandescent lighting through the use of Adobe's CS5 color tone and color filters. After that was done the image was tone mapped to bring down the bright window to a more acceptable level and bring in some more of the shadow details. Low light image rescue completed.

This won't be among the images at Thursdays Bolt Barbers Gallery Reception. There will be ample images on the wall and in my trusty satchel for you to peruse. The gallery is located within Bolt Barbers, 460 S Spring Street, Los Angeles CA. The reception is 10/14/2010, 7-9:30PM.

One more for the show....

Dang it all. Both printers decided to die on me in the middle of yesterdays effort to get some oldies but goodies added back to the satchel for the October 14, 2010 Bolt Barbers' Gallery reception. Alas the 'puter and art gawds aren't playing well together.

Before it died I did get one last print done. Always loved the haunting look of this image...

More of me@ Bolt Barbers Gallery

Bolt Barbers' updated their web to include some thumbnails of a few of the pieces in the show. The reception is going to be big. BIG I tell you. Why you may ask? Bolt will host Hot on Yelp's "Beauty & The Hairy Beast Event from 5P-10P. Live DJ on hand and all services will be free with suggested donation for each service to benefit The Midnight Mission.

The Bolt Barbers' Gallery link on me is HERE.

As a reminder...the reception is set for Thursday October 14, 2010 7-9:30PM. Bolt Barbers 460 S Spring Street, Los Angeles CA.

Just one final Autochrome....

I finally figured out the blending as noted in yesterdays post. I opted to dig out one more little image from the Che-ez Snap and autochromed it. I liked the image to start with, the graining of it all via the various layers and steps only adds to the old timey feel of the image.

Revisiting the Autochrome...

I don't know what I was thinking but I completely forgot about this treasure trove of images done with the digital camera I had called the Che-ez snap. I found the DVD's from my old Textamerica account and started sifting through them.

I've blogged about that little camera numerous times, what I never thought about was how those low res images might be the key to perfecting the Autochrome look that I wanted. Until yesterday.

These images all started as small low resolution jpegs from that camera. I went and created a few layers until I got the saturation lowered and wider grain of the Autochrome sorta duplicated with the help of Adobe CS5. What I still can't figure out how to do is outline these "grains" with black like the Autochromes themselves had. Until then I can only partially duplicate the look and feel of those old 'chromes.

To get there here is the steps I use.

Create new adjustment later>black & white. Leave blending to "normal" but set opacity to 25%.

Click on the original image and use control+alt+J to create a new layer and label it noise. desaturate the image by about 25% using the adjustment too. Go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the adjustment to "5" pixels. Next go to Filters>Noise>Add dust and scratches and move slider until you just have some visible dust and scratches. Final stop is to go to Filters>Pixelate>Pointillize and adjust towards smaller dots.

Click on the "noise layer" and adjust your mixing to either "soft light" or "hard light" until you get the image that you like.

Merge layers and voila your final image is now set to be saved as a pds file for further use or jpeg for publishing on flickr or similar.