tangled and rusty

This is a tighter shot of the pile of chairs in the photo posted earlier in the week. The black and white conversion was done with Nik Silver Efex Pro. If you're interested in doing great fine art black and white conversions, this is a piece of software that you have to get. It is truly revolutionary in the control and mood you can place in an otherwise ordinary photo, and the number of tonal options is unbelievable. Recently, I've been working with the U-Point Technology control points in the program, where you can create areas of varying exposure and contrast - really great for evening out a photo made in hard light like this one. Check out Silver Efex here.

4 months later

Hard to believe --- four months ago this week, Hurricane Ike struck Galveston. In some ways it seems so long ago, and in other ways it seems like yesterday. The island is finding it's way back slowly. The city struggles with budgets, residents struggle with rebuilding their lives and homes, but you see progress and hope, and that makes you feel better. I was down in Galveston on Sunday taking some photos for the Bay Area Photo Club's assignment of "Old Galveston" and ran across this scene. I haven't taken very many of these type photos - debris piles ... people's lives, homes, and businesses on the street corner. But four months later, this appears on the street one day. Makes you shake your head. For every 10 steps forward on the island, there is a scene like this. Restaurant silverware in plastic containers, rusty upsidedown chairs in a pile, soda water still in bottles litter the curb. In the background you see some of Galveston's public housing, fenced off with their future uncertain. It's a long road back, indeed.

proteus leaf

New Years resolutions anyone? Well mine isn't necessarily a resolution, but I'm hoping to shoot more photographic series and bodies of work this year. I've been inspried by the work of Mark S. Johnson and his book Botanical Dreaming for over a year now -- the beauty he captures in the out-of-focus areas behind the subject (known in the photographic world as bokeh). It's one of the things I'm going to try and do more of in 2009. This image was shot with an SB800 flash through an umbrella above right, using a 50mm Nikon lens with a 36mm Kenko extension tube. The extension tube effectively allows a lens to focus at a closer distance than it normally would - sort of the inverse of what a teleconverter does. But the down side is the extremely shallow depth of field. Used to your advantage, though, you can get some interesting effects. The best way I've found to focus this set-up is to turn off autofocus and simply move your body (and camera) until you achieve focus. So hopefully you'll be seeing more of these images here through the year.

Blair revisited

This photo was taken back in July of a woman named Blair who we happened to meet near the Strand in Galveston. Larry asked her and her boyfriend, Carlos, if they'd be interested in doing some modeling for us, and they agreed. The photo was taken in the alley behind the Tremont House. It was on one of our first outings with off-camera strobes, and this particular shot was taken as most of the photographers were shooting Carlos with strobes while Blair waited patiently in a window sill. We left the photo shoot sure that we had Blair and Carlos's email addresses, but in the weeks that followed we couldn't find them. But by coincidence, Larry happened to meet a friend of Carlos's who put us in touch with them. So, earlier this week I was working on a couple of shots to put on a CD for them, and this is one that I never thought much of until now. With a little work, I think it's worthy of posting on my blog and one that I bet even Blair will like. So that brings up a question: as photographers, what's your editing process? Do you keep most of your raw shots or do you ruthlessly cull through them, keeping only the very best? Are hidden gems going in the trash or are you saving valuable disk space by permanently deleting? I'd be interested in hearing opinions...

A Dickens of a Dilemma - The Liquify Tool

So, if you read this blog or know me, you probably have heard or see by my recent posts that I'm trying to do more portraits and people photos. While pelicans in flight are still near and dear to my heart, it's time to branch out into the world of lighting and models. With that comes the pretty ominous task of facial retouching and postprocessing, or more specifically how much is acceptable? I posted the photo above left about two weeks ago --- a perfectly lovely young girl who Larry and I photographed at Dickens on the Strand. The photo on the right? Well, there's this tool in Photoshop called the Liquify tool, and it's not one that I use too often on pelicans. Literally, with a couple of clicks of the mouse you can take 15 pounds off the subject. Now, I ask: is it practical for the portrait photographer to do this to every shot? Would it increase your business if you were making a living from this or would it just increase your workload with no real payback? Would subjects be so thrilled, would you get more business? Anyway, I'd love to hear your opinions about this dilemma, and if you're a portrait photographer how you handle this. Please click to see the full size version, and feel free to comment...

In the Street at Dickens on the Strand

Here's another photo from Dickens on the Strand - a policeman who was in the middle of the street on a stand, high above the crowd. The old building facade behind him made for a nice background (shot at f/2.8). When you really study the scene you realize how good digital cameras are these days - white beard, black hat and coat, very dark glasses --- in full sun with a mixture of neutrals and colors in the background. If that's not a lot to throw at in-camera metering I don't know what is --- all at f/2.8. The only thing done was to add a little fill light in Camera Raw to bring out the shadows under the brim of his hat.

In the Alley at Dickens on the Strand

Here's another photo from Dickens on the Strand in Galveston - probably my favorite of the day. This gentleman was sitting on the curb eating his lunch when Larry and I pounced on him, right after we had shot the girl in the pink hat that I posted a few days ago. That alley made for some great backgrounds, and he was so cooperative letting us take a few photos. Again, the same light setup was used, a Nikon SB800 off to the right shot through a soft box. I thought this almost looked like the light was snooted, but probably is because of his dark clothes and hat and the relative ambient dark alley behind him. Black and white conversion was done with Nik Silver Efex Pro with a selenium tint. Click to see the larger version -- it's worth it. I'm also posting the color version below. I'd be interested to hear which you like better in the comments.