Coalescing

It’s been two and a half months since my last post which essentially puts me on track (at least for this crazy year) for my schedule of posting. It is not a schedule I prefer but considering the stressors to the nation and our health, it will have to be so. It is a small step taken beyond the usual routine of trying to survive.

That being said, I still am trying to incorporate the techniques and wisdom of John Paul Caponigro into my work flow and understanding of photography. To this point I have purchased four of his digital videos on color theory, photoshop techniques, color strategies and techniques, not to mention printing methods. For me it was a wonderful discovery to find this throve of knowledge. I have watched JPCs videos many times to absorb what seems to flow so casually from him but is quite earth shattering to me. I have listened and have learned. Thank you, JPC.

I have re-created many of my previous photos using JPC’s techniques over the last 2-3 months. The currently posted one is a composition of two photos (actually three) that were re-imagined and recreated to get me to a place I’ve never been before. While I am not totally pleased with it, it does capture the spirit I was trying to achieve when I captured these visual elements.

The currently posted photo was taken at Conimicut Point, Warwick, RI with a Canon DS 5DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, F/16, 1/60″, ISO 160.

 

Photographic Reflections

The Post title is somewhat ambiguous for it was not meant to mean reflections as in water or any shiny surface, but reflections as in “what just happened” or “what have I been doing.” Next week I’ll be off to Maine, specifically Acadia National Park and the Schoodic Peninsula, to partake in a Photography Workshop during the glorious Northeast Foliage Season. The workshop is run by John Paul Caponigro, whom I have followed for some time in trying to lean the ins and outs of becoming a better photographer.

While I have taken other workshops, this particular one seems to be more demanding or more of a challenge, which is not a negative, but quite the opposite. As an example, John Paul already had given three assignments before I had even crossed over the Maine border. While I embrace this challenge, I also sense that in many ways it may not speak to all of my needs at this particular stage of my life (72 years of age) and growth (having a unique take on a developing style of photography). Nonetheless, one of the tasks was to produce a portfolio. This produced an immediate existential moment of anxiety within me, for I had no portfolio. In fact, the whole purpose of my photography blog was to document my search in developing a style. In other words I was in an inchoate stage of having any resemblance of a portfolio. However, with the help of my wife I seriously started to critique my photos, only accepting the best technically and artistically, from our point of view. We ended up with approximately 12 first picks, and about 17 second picks. My conclusion to this assignment/process was that it was helpful in helping me weed out weaker shots, allowing a more concentrated collection of what I believed I want to achieve in my photographs.

In some ways, I feel  like I am at an unique stage photographically. When I am taking photographs, I try to align myself with the  Élan Vital of Henri Bergson, i.e., the life force and process which produces those ephemeral moments of creative expression in nature. “Can I capture that moment?” is what I strive for. I do not care about anything else. I am totally unorganized, in a most chaotic state, until I sit down and reflect on how do I produce a photo of what I thought I just saw and captured.

The currently posted photo was taken on the north shore of Aquinnah, Martha’s Vineyard, MA. It was shot with a Canon 5DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 100mm,, f/10.0, 5.7″, ISO 50, using a ND 10 stop filter, post processed with DxO PhotoLab 2, using ACR and Photoshop CC (2019) with a gradient map and DxO Nik Efex Color Efex Pro.

Good Enough

When is good, good enough—at least in photography?

This question has been rolling around in my head lately, simply because I believe I’ve made some gains in growing photographically. Admit-ably, this is a very subjective statement, but since I have no one to bounce it off of, I’ll stick with it. But then again, even if I had someone to bounce it off of, that other person’s perception of my photographs would be highly subjective based on his/her perspective.

But, to get back to my point… How is one to judge growth in an art form? In broad parameters, one can say that in photography a photo is poor rather easily if it is out of focus, poor developed, or not having composition pleasing to the eye (of most people). Another photograph can be judged as good if it is in focus, has good composition, but does not elicit any emotional/aesthetic response from the viewer. In other words, it’s just a good photo.

That last point is where I am at in taking photographs. I, more or less, can craft a good photograph and the subject matter may be more than an ordinary view of a certain subject/theme, but artistically it may fall far short if it were presented to a judging body of established professional photographers. The photograph is good, but nothing more. It would not be worth the time and effort to print it, frame it and post it in a space where others could appreciate its worth.

When all things are said and done, one has to say that “good enough” is when you are happy with the results of your work in making a certain photographic capture possible to express the essence of that particular scene/theme at which you were pointing your camera.

The above musings are relevant to where I am…in a nascent nexus of some qualitative photographic growth. I hope it is true. But even if it were not, the journey has been an interesting one.

The particular shot in this post occurred after having lunch at a most remote spot in Norway at the Stalheim Hotel which overlooked a magnificent valley road, the Stalheimskleiva, which is one of the steepest roads in norther Europe. A Canon 5DS camera, with a EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 28mm, f/13, 1/125″, ISO 50, post processed with DxOPhotoLab II, ACR, Photoshop CC2019, using a Gradient Map, and  Nik Viveza.

 

Patriots: The Legacy Continues

How does one photograph an airplane to make it interesting? It has to be in the context that the plane finds itself in. For example, a misty morning with trail streamers following the airplane’s wings as it ascends or descends. Or, it may be a lightening burst near the plane or around the plane with other ominous clouds and rain.

But on a clear day an ordinary plane landing or takeoff is uninspiring as far as a photographic moment.

The current photo was taken on a beautiful day in the first week of February at Green State Airport in Warwick, RI (officially listed as in Providence), with actually balmy weather. So, while the atmospheric conditions were perfect for a photograph at 2 PM that day, there was no visual drama to capture the human eye.

Except, if one searches out the human story behind this plane landing. Which just happens to be a most historic moment in the history of sports. Namely, the capturing of a 6th Lombardi Trophy by the New England Patriots in the LIII Super Bowl of 2019.

The photo of the Patriots plane landing at Green State Airport was the homecoming of the 2018-19 Patriots Team landing after capturing the Lombardi Trophy after overcoming all odds in doing so. I will let History tally the greatness of this accomplishment.

All I wanted to accomplish in taking this photograph was capturing that moment of arrival. The use of multiple planes was style imposition to elicit the anticipation of welcoming home a Champion.

The photo was taken with a Canon 5DS for the six planes in the current posting. Each plane photo had manual settings of f/11.0, 1/640″, with ISOs of 200 or 250, using a Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ multiple settings of 400mm, 312mm, post processing with DxO Photolab 2, Adobe Camera Raw 2019, Viveza 2, DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Pieces & Piecing It Together

It’s been over three months from my epic tour of Italy where I took over 2700 photos. That tour or at least the photographic part of it has been haunting me through that whole time frame. Despite my pre-trip preparations and setting up shooting strategies, I must say that they proved not to be that effective. Was it the strategy, my implementation of that strategy, or other forces that made the shooting aspect less than optimal in its results is hard to say.

I’ve gained some perspective over the three months of processing and thinking about the photos I had taken, and while initially I was quite despondent regarding my results, I have come to see that, in reality, I probably could not have done any better considering the circumstances of trying to shoot “professionally” in a less than optimal environment.

What I am trying to say is that I have had the task over the last few months of shifting through the hundreds of photos I’d taken, and evaluating them more microscopically, as it were. What I discovered is that many times my approach and composition of shots were great, but the ever constant out of focus or blur was present. I anticipated the possibility of these types of circumstances (where I might be rushed in places with new and different lighting situations) and try to compensate for this. My so-called anticipated solution to solve this potential problem was to shoot in manual mode, setting a high shutter speed with an aperture that I could quickly adjust for low light vs high light, and then simply put the ISO on automatic. For some reason(s) this often failed me. I probably would have more keepers if I had used the strategy of using Automatic Mode.

The above being said, I managed to have some success, but not with out working in post-processing to get it. Thus, the above title to this post, Pieces & Piecing It Together. The bright side to this current phase of less than optimal in-camera shots was that I was forced to beef up on my post processing skills. Personally, I much rather get it right in the camera, first.

The current photo to this post is that of wallpaper at the Villa Carlotta on Lake Como, Italy. The Villa was a most wonderful place with artisan craftsmanship throughout. The wallpaper had embroidery type details to cover the seams. There were several types of these embroideries in various room. For this photo I compiled three of them to maximize the effect they produced from viewing them in situ. The photos was taken with a Canon 5DS, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 65mm, f/5.6, 1/100″, -0.33 Exposure Compensation, ISO 6400, post processed with DxO PhotoLab, Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop CC, and Color Efex Pro.

Rediscovering Versace

 

About two years ago I made a significant jump in advancing my photographic skills by reading two books, Welcome to Oz, and From Oz to Kansas, by Vincent Versace. They were encyclopedic books to get through since they contained both a broad and specific attention to detail, outlining what it takes to make a good photographic print, i.e., a process starting at how you conceptualize what you want to take a photo of and proceeding all the way through to the final product of making  the print.

I started on the journey two years ago of trying to master those techniques/skills and am still trying, but with the satisfaction that I am making progress. At the start of incorporating the points that Vincent presents in his books I chose the strategy of only adopting some at a time since the points are numerous. I believe I understand what I am doing now more than I ever have—some of this is conscious and some unconscious— but I think there is direction in what I am doing and not just random growth.

In any event, I have come to the realization that I can not only take photos and then just have digital representations of them (i.e., digital files). I must make prints to make any appreciable progress. I hesitated in buying a printer primarily because of the cost factor, but decided the time was right now since Canon offered a deal that was hard to resist; essentially getting a professional printer (Canon Pixma Pro 100) for a quarter of the cost. I could not go wrong.

I am quite happy with my decision not only because it is a quality printer (at an extremely attractive price) but also because it has allowed me to control more of how I can fashion in print the vision of what I actually saw at the moment with my camera. More will follower later regarding this.

The photo of the Northern Flicker was taken during an early December snow, and was not planned but hastily taken by sticking my head outside to my deck quickly so as not to frighten my feathered friend. A Canon 5 DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm was used with settings of f/6.3, 1/500″, ISO 1250, post processing with Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop CC, DxO Optics Pro 11, using a Gradiant Map, and Nik Color Efex Pro.

The Mind’s Eye

Over the last few weeks I’ve been preparing for my upcoming photo shoot in Hawaii in June. I’m anticipating challenging conditions both physically (heat and cold) and photographically (lighting extremes). I am less concerned about the former and more concerned about the latter. Consequently, I acquired graduated ND filters as well as standard ND filters of varying densities to deal with Hawaiian light.

Also, I discovered a wonderful product for my screw-in filters, namely Xume magnetic adaptors, which allow me to by-pass the screw-ins and simply stick the filters on magnetically. They were a little costly but, when in the field shooting, time is of the essence.

I’ve included the current blog post photo to summarize the current state of my thinking, photographically. That is, when I see a scene, I not only am seeing the scene but also I am projecting onto this scene various personal attributes (how I value certain things as colors, light, object as well emotive elements as warmth, aversion, mystery, joy, etc.).  The current blog photo was taken with a Canon Powershot G2 camera many years ago. It was highly contrasted and blown out with mid-day light. Only by using some post-processing techniques was I able to salvage what my mind’s eye saw at that moment. The mind’s eye image stayed within me for years and only recently due to learning and using techniques to shape the image to conform to my mind’s eye was I able to get the image before you.

The current image was shot high above Positano, Italy, in May 2011. Post processing used Lumenzia PS Extension, a gradient map, as well as Color Efex Pro.

 

State of the Art

This post will focus on exactly where I am in relation to certain goals set for myself over the last year.

First and f_77a3324_dxo11oremost, I’m taking sharper photos due to improved technique, use of a tripod, and being more aware of my camera settings (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO).  Also, my photos are less noisy due to excellent use of DxO Optics Pro noise reduction. By the way for some reason my camera and lenses remain fairly clean and free of dust; exactly why I do not know.

There still are many goals to achieve. I tend to take high contrast scenes and have been blowing out either foreground or background. So, I recently invested in graduated neutral density filters. Another goal is to improve my intended focus, especially in long focal lengths or panorama shots. In this regard, I have been trying to perfect my estimate of hyperlocal distance based on the focal lengths of my lenses.

The posted blog photo is of Sugarbush Farm in Vermont. It was shot with a Canon 5 DS, EF 24-105mm f/4 IS USM @ 40mm, f/13, 1/640, ISO 800. I was aware of trying to capture the hyperlocal distance, and believe I succeeded.