I spent the last couple of days in San Antonio shooting the missions for a series of photos for our good friends Pep and Patricia. This is the facade of Mission San Jose, which is open to the public until 8:00 p.m. through the summer. With my great photo assistants, Kim and Robert, we scouted the four missions and I shot about 16 gigabytes and nearly 900 images over a two-day period. There were alot of bracketed exposures mixed in to that total, so there were probably 350 unique images. I had the idea of doing alot of HDR and expanded dynamic range stuff with these images, and probably will in the future, but this first one is a single exposure. You just can't beat great light. In Photoshop, I shifted the sky a little to give it a warmer tone just because I thought it complimented the golden tones on the building better.I've also changed the look of the blog - white background, black text, and a new frame for the image. I'd be interested in comments about the image and any other of the blog changes.
I was astounded how light can change a shot. In the space of five minutes, the light changed and made this shot. I had a great time and learned quite a bit this weekend. Photography is a lot of work! Cant wait to see more of your efforts from this weekend. Thanks for allowing me a peek at how you work.
ReplyDeleteI'm smirking over the comment that "photography is a lot of work". If they only knew the forethought and afterthought of each shot, right?!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you took the opportunity to do this and can't wait to see a mini series of that here! What wonderful history and so close to us!
I really like the gallery presentation, it look just like it sounds! But to be honest I can't remember what your blog looked like before...still this is nice! And a gorgeous image too, great colors, textures, sky (it IS a little purplish looking}. I do wish I could see the whole carved door on the bottom and the rest of the columns on each side but I guess you were going for a closer-in shot to make all the detail more visible. I always have that problem of figuring out where to crop a building with detail like that. Looking forward to more of the missions.
ReplyDeleteAs to the blog changes: I definitely like the change to the white background with black text. It has a crisper, cleaner look. I like this border, but did not focus so much on that feature before.
ReplyDeleteThe photo: I like the lighting on the building and the few clouds in the sky setting everything off and giving the photo some depth. I'm partially with Cindi on the bottom of the photo. I don't need to see the whole door, but would like to have seen it cropped under the feet of the figures on either side of the door. I'm not sure it would make a difference but would like to see that version. Maybe you could have dropped down on the top of the photo enough to allow the figures to show completely. Though that may take away from the effect of the cloudy sky giving it some depth.
DHaass
Let's see, whose blog does this remind me of? Not sure, but I do know it seems more pleasing to my eyes (and easier on them).
ReplyDeleteLike the frames, but I do wish you would continue your signature--that seems so much classier to me!
Nice shot of the mission. I do agree with Cindi, the sky does have a little purple in it that seems a little off. As to the cropping, I think you nailed it.
Fine work.