Little Park by the Bay
01/12/2011 10:46 AM Filed in: Lightbox
This images were captured at a little park near Annapolis, Maryland in the Fall of 2009. It is right on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and is a location I frequent from time to time with my oldest son. On this day, the sky was overcast and the wind was blowing rather hard.
The images straight out of the camera were nice, but not really more than snapshots. Although I liked them, I wanted to find a way make them more interesting. My solution was to pull the focus in each imaging using a Photoshop technique that simulates the effect of a tilt-shift lens.
In each of these photos, only the main subject area is in focus and sharp. The rest of the photo is blurred with the blur feathered into the main subject area. When combined with a little creative color work and a mild vignette, these images have a wonder antique or old camera look to them.
All the images below were taken with a Canon 40D and a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens. They were shot as Raw and initially processed using Lightroom 3. From there, each was pulled into Photoshop CS5 to apply the tilt-shift, pulled focus effect and to creatively work their color. The images were then brought back into Lightroom to apply the vignette. Enjoy!!
The images straight out of the camera were nice, but not really more than snapshots. Although I liked them, I wanted to find a way make them more interesting. My solution was to pull the focus in each imaging using a Photoshop technique that simulates the effect of a tilt-shift lens.
In each of these photos, only the main subject area is in focus and sharp. The rest of the photo is blurred with the blur feathered into the main subject area. When combined with a little creative color work and a mild vignette, these images have a wonder antique or old camera look to them.
All the images below were taken with a Canon 40D and a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens. They were shot as Raw and initially processed using Lightroom 3. From there, each was pulled into Photoshop CS5 to apply the tilt-shift, pulled focus effect and to creatively work their color. The images were then brought back into Lightroom to apply the vignette. Enjoy!!
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Ghosts In The Night
12/06/2010 02:26 PM Filed in: Lightbox
This past weekend, while in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to do some night photography. This has long been something I have wanted to do, so... When I learned I would be in town for the weekend, I made sure I packed and took my camera bag.
I set out on my nighttime photo adventure Friday evening after a great dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill on 15th Street, NW. I grabbed my Canon 40D, my Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS lens, and a warm coat. Washington, D.C. gets cold in December, but the walk to the mall and monuments was pleasant. The chill in the air also assured that few people would be out and about.
Reaching the mall and the Washington Monument, I headed east walking a circuit from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial and back. The images below, though, are of The Three Servicemen statue near the entrance to the Vietnam Veterans Wall Memorial.
The Three Servicemen statue is one of my favorite statues in Washington, D.C. The faces of the soldiers have such a haunting quality to them or, at least, that is how I have always seen them in my mind. It is this quality I wanted to capture using the blackness of the night to frame the faces of the soldiers.
As I mentioned above, all these images were shot with a Canon 40D and a Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS lens. In addition, I also used the 40D’s built in Speedlite with its intensity dial all the way back for a bit of fill light. In the digital darkroom, I processed all the images using Lightroom 3, applying a vignette to darken the corners and filtering for high ISO noise. Enjoy!!
I set out on my nighttime photo adventure Friday evening after a great dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill on 15th Street, NW. I grabbed my Canon 40D, my Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS lens, and a warm coat. Washington, D.C. gets cold in December, but the walk to the mall and monuments was pleasant. The chill in the air also assured that few people would be out and about.
Reaching the mall and the Washington Monument, I headed east walking a circuit from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial and back. The images below, though, are of The Three Servicemen statue near the entrance to the Vietnam Veterans Wall Memorial.
The Three Servicemen statue is one of my favorite statues in Washington, D.C. The faces of the soldiers have such a haunting quality to them or, at least, that is how I have always seen them in my mind. It is this quality I wanted to capture using the blackness of the night to frame the faces of the soldiers.
As I mentioned above, all these images were shot with a Canon 40D and a Canon EF 24-105mm f4L IS lens. In addition, I also used the 40D’s built in Speedlite with its intensity dial all the way back for a bit of fill light. In the digital darkroom, I processed all the images using Lightroom 3, applying a vignette to darken the corners and filtering for high ISO noise. Enjoy!!
Christmas Parade: 2010
12/01/2010 04:23 PM Filed in: Lightbox
When Thanksgiving weekend arrives, the town of Westminster, Maryland decks-the-streets for the annual Christmas Parade. Attending the parade is a regular tradition for my family. This year we braved the cold and crowds with seven adults and five kids.
Ralphie and his trusty Red Rider Carbine-Action Air Rifle were not seen on the streets of Westminster, but I thought I heard Clark Griswold say... “We're gonna have the hap hap happiest christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny f*cking Kaye.” (Sorry for the language, I just couldn’t resist...lol)
These images were shot with a Canon 40D and a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens. This year I also brought along and used a Canon 580EX II Speedlite. That was a big rig to shoot with on a crowded street, but fun all the same. All the images were processed with Lightroom 3. I hope you enjoy the images. Happy Holidays!!
Ralphie and his trusty Red Rider Carbine-Action Air Rifle were not seen on the streets of Westminster, but I thought I heard Clark Griswold say... “We're gonna have the hap hap happiest christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny f*cking Kaye.” (Sorry for the language, I just couldn’t resist...lol)
These images were shot with a Canon 40D and a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens. This year I also brought along and used a Canon 580EX II Speedlite. That was a big rig to shoot with on a crowded street, but fun all the same. All the images were processed with Lightroom 3. I hope you enjoy the images. Happy Holidays!!
Limitless Possibilities: A Study in Variation
11/06/2010 08:41 AM Filed in: Lightbox | Digital Darkroom
In my last blog post, Original to Final: A Study in Process, I walked through my process for creatively working an image from as captured to final. In this blog post, I want to expand that process beyond the final image and demonstrate the endless possibilities that can be achieved with a well composed and exposed image. The subject for this post is the same as before, the image of my neighbor’s little girl on the beach.
Original
This exploration begins with the resulting final image from my previous post. As way of review, this image began as a wonderful snapshot with me cropping the image for composition, removing a few unwanted elements, and generally adding some “pop” and “depth” to create the final.
The images below are variations of the final image above. They were created by using plugins and presets in Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop. The black and white image, Variation 9, was created using Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro plugin for Photoshop. The other variations, Variation 1 thru 7, were created using a mix of purchased, tweaked, and custom presets in Lightroom. I added a vignette to some while others not. All images ended with a final pass through Photoshop for sharpening.
Each of the images below have a different look and invoke a different felling. As variations on a theme, they each represent a different interpretation of a common subject. The range and palette of expression and creativity is limitless. There are no rights or wrongs. There is only process. Enjoy!!
Variation 1
Variation 2
Variation 3
Variation 4
Variation 5
Variation 6
Variation 7
Variation 8
Variation 9
Original to Final: A Study in Process
11/04/2010 10:50 AM Filed in: Digital Darkroom | Lightbox
I am often asked about my workflow and how I get to a final image. Recently, a neighbor asked me to detail how I go from an original image out of the camera to a final creatively worked image. I wish that was an easy question to answer. The truth of it, though, is this... Creatively working an image is a process rather than a set workflow. For me, there are no rights or wrongs. There is only the process.
With the above in mind, I thought it would be fun to walk though an example of my process and detail my thoughts and some of the tools I use. For an image, I wanted to use one that I did not capture myself. My neighbor just happened to have a wonderful snapshot of his daughter laying on the beach. This image is a typical snapshot but, to my eye, there was more to it than just a nice family snapshot.
With these issues in mind, the first stop in my the digital darkroom is Adobe’s Lightroom. Normally, I use Lightroom to process RAW images. Lightroom, however, can also be used with JPEG images and, in fact, contains tools that make certain tasks easier to perform than in other applications.
For this image, I ran it through Lightroom to do two things. The first and easiest was to crop the image keeping the same aspect ratio as the original. When cropping the image, though, I did not keep the subject dead center. I cropped the image with the subject further to the left. This makes for a more interesting composition. Cropping the image also had the benefit of removing the foot in the sand to the left of the subject. The second task I used Lightroom for was to brighten the subject’s eyes. For this, I used a local adjustment brush to both brighten and add clarity to the eyes.
With the above in mind, I thought it would be fun to walk though an example of my process and detail my thoughts and some of the tools I use. For an image, I wanted to use one that I did not capture myself. My neighbor just happened to have a wonderful snapshot of his daughter laying on the beach. This image is a typical snapshot but, to my eye, there was more to it than just a nice family snapshot.
Original
The subject matter of this image is wonderfully playful and there is a lot of separation between the subject and both the foreground and the background. The main issues for me with the image and the ones that make it “just” a snapshot are as follows:
- The subject is dead center frame.
- There is a foot in the sand to the left.
- There is a purple beach towel in the sand on the right.
- There is a general lack of contrast in the image.
- The subjects eyes are a little dark.
- The image is soft and the subject slightly out of focus.
With these issues in mind, the first stop in my the digital darkroom is Adobe’s Lightroom. Normally, I use Lightroom to process RAW images. Lightroom, however, can also be used with JPEG images and, in fact, contains tools that make certain tasks easier to perform than in other applications.
For this image, I ran it through Lightroom to do two things. The first and easiest was to crop the image keeping the same aspect ratio as the original. When cropping the image, though, I did not keep the subject dead center. I cropped the image with the subject further to the left. This makes for a more interesting composition. Cropping the image also had the benefit of removing the foot in the sand to the left of the subject. The second task I used Lightroom for was to brighten the subject’s eyes. For this, I used a local adjustment brush to both brighten and add clarity to the eyes.
Lightroom
From Lightroom, I took the image into Adobe’s Photoshop. This is where the rubber meets the road. I performed the bulk of the work in Photoshop beginning with cleaning up a few unwanted elements in the image. The Photoshop tool used for this is healing tool. What did I remove? I got rid of the purple beach towel in the sand on the right of the subject, as well as a few large gains of sand around the subjects mouth.
Photoshop 01
The image is really starting to come along. Still, there is a general lack of contrast and definition. To address this, I used a Photoshop filter called Viveza 2 from Nik Software. Viveza 2 allows one to add control points in an image to selectively affect elements for any pixels of a similar color, hue, or brightness. For this image, I laid in five control points, as follows:
- Point 1 (Sky): Darkened the sky. Added saturation.
- Point 2 (Sand): Brightened the sand. Added contrast and structure.
- Point 3 (Skin): Brightened the subjects skin.
- Point 4 (Bathing Suit): Brightened the pink. Added saturation.
- Point 5 (Hair): Brightened the hair. Added structure.
Photoshop 02
The image is almost there. Playing around with the sky and the subject’s skin, however, created a halo effect around the subjects foot. The fix for that, was a quick pass in Photoshop using the smudge tool to blur and blend the halo effect into the surrounding pixels.
The final step is to sharpen the image. This is probably the most subjective aspect of working an image (along with color) and is dependent on how it will be output. For this example, I sharpened the image for the screen only. The tool I used was Photoshop’s smart sharpen filter.
Final
Forget what the original image looked like? Here it is below. The final image is no longer flat. The final image pops and has greater structure, while the subject’s eyes draw your focus. With the subject off center, the image’s composition is much more interesting.
Original
There it is... From original to final, my process for working an image creatively. As I said above, though, there are no rights or wrongs. There is only the process. This is just my interpretation for this image. If I have done my job well, others will find this image appealing as well.
Wedding: Krista & Ryan
11/02/2010 06:14 PM Filed in: Lightbox
Here are some images of a wedding I shot in Philadelphia area. The bride and groom are Krista and Ryan and both were a real pleasure to work with. The wedding was fairly large with around 350 guests and was a bit of a logistical challenge with a large bridal party and three locations to cover.
The reception was hopping, had a great DJ, and was a blast to work. I have to chuckle though... After the wedding, my wife and I ran into the bridal party at our hotel bar. I wish I would have had a camera in the bar!! lol
All these images were captured with older Canon 20D DSLRs and an assortment of lenses, including the Canon EF 24-105mm f/2.8L IS lens, the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens, and the Tokina SD 12-24mm f/4.0 lens. For processing, I used Adobe’s Lightroom. Enjoy!!
The reception was hopping, had a great DJ, and was a blast to work. I have to chuckle though... After the wedding, my wife and I ran into the bridal party at our hotel bar. I wish I would have had a camera in the bar!! lol
All these images were captured with older Canon 20D DSLRs and an assortment of lenses, including the Canon EF 24-105mm f/2.8L IS lens, the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens, and the Tokina SD 12-24mm f/4.0 lens. For processing, I used Adobe’s Lightroom. Enjoy!!
Ice Cold Beer Here!!
11/01/2010 09:00 AM Filed in: Lightbox
With the 2010 baseball season coming to a close, I thought it would be a good time to look back and keep the memories of a day or night at the ballpark alive in our thoughts. For me, living near Baltimore, Maryland, that means the Orioles and Camden Yards. This past baseball season, I had the pleasure to attend, work, and shoot six games over the spring, summer, and fall.
In this blog post, I am showcasing the hard working folks that work at Camden Yards as vendors. These man and women do a fantastic job keeping patrons stocked with food and drink without them having to leave their seats or miss any action on the field. They bust their butts, while putting on a great show themselves. They are also wonderful subjects to photograph.
The images below are just a sampling of the vendor images I captured over the six games I attended this past baseball season. Every one of these games was a night game with the all lighting challenges that brings. For the images displayed here, I used a Canon 40D DSLR and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Lens. No flash was used and all are presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Enjoy!!
In this blog post, I am showcasing the hard working folks that work at Camden Yards as vendors. These man and women do a fantastic job keeping patrons stocked with food and drink without them having to leave their seats or miss any action on the field. They bust their butts, while putting on a great show themselves. They are also wonderful subjects to photograph.
The images below are just a sampling of the vendor images I captured over the six games I attended this past baseball season. Every one of these games was a night game with the all lighting challenges that brings. For the images displayed here, I used a Canon 40D DSLR and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Lens. No flash was used and all are presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Enjoy!!
Nags Head Morning
The two images below are the same. The difference between them is my interpretation of the scene. Believe it or not, this image was captured at 7:00 a.m. one September morning in Nags Head, North Carolina a few years ago. It was a warm and hazy sunrise that actually could pass for a sunset. The camera used was an Olympus E-20N, a great digital camera back in the day. I still have and use it as a grab and go camera.
This image was shot in the Olympus RAW format. Although I had converted and processed it years ago, I wanted to see what Adobe’s recent Lightroom 3 update could do for the image. The original version is a straight conversion that really only tweaked the basics like exposure, contrast, clarity, and shadow detail. The enhanced version was also run through Adobe’s Photoshop and tweaked using Nik Software’s Viveza 2 filter. As you can see in the enhanced version, I used the Viveza 2 filter to play with the color and tone of the image. I also used the Viveza 2 filter to add some structure and detail to the waves and water. In both versions, Lightroom 3 did a great job with managing the noise in the image.
This image was shot in the Olympus RAW format. Although I had converted and processed it years ago, I wanted to see what Adobe’s recent Lightroom 3 update could do for the image. The original version is a straight conversion that really only tweaked the basics like exposure, contrast, clarity, and shadow detail. The enhanced version was also run through Adobe’s Photoshop and tweaked using Nik Software’s Viveza 2 filter. As you can see in the enhanced version, I used the Viveza 2 filter to play with the color and tone of the image. I also used the Viveza 2 filter to add some structure and detail to the waves and water. In both versions, Lightroom 3 did a great job with managing the noise in the image.
Original
Enhanced
Weekend Warriors
09/15/2010 01:07 PM Filed in: Lightbox
Here are a few images of some Weekend Warriors shot after a very exciting travel soccer game. The team these boys are on won their first game of the season. A wonderful start to the fall soccer season!!
Dance Badminton
09/11/2010 09:41 AM Filed in: Lightbox
If it is spring in Carroll County, Maryland, then it must be dance badminton season. My score is a 9 out of 10. Great form and an attitude that shows he came to play. Look at that game face...
Here are a few images shot at a family event back in the early spring. These images are presented in a 9:16 format ratio. They were processed with Adobe’s Lightroom and given a springtime sporting edge with a slight vignette. Enjoy!!
Here are a few images shot at a family event back in the early spring. These images are presented in a 9:16 format ratio. They were processed with Adobe’s Lightroom and given a springtime sporting edge with a slight vignette. Enjoy!!
Backs to the Beach
09/09/2010 07:33 AM Filed in: Lightbox
For many, summer means trips to the beach or a family vacation to a beach resort. The beach of choice for my family, for the past couple of years, has been Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. Different then the classic boardwalk beach towns on the New Jersey shore, or even Maryland’s own Ocean City, Rehoboth Beach has wonderful beaches and a great town to explore with something for both kids and adults alike.
As I was sitting on the beach watching my kids play in the sand and at the waters edge, I started to take some photos of others around me. This photo opportunity turned into this subject exploration, Backs to the Beach. Once the idea came to me, I grabbed my gear and took several walks up and down the shoreline to capture the images here.
Shooting conditions were not the greatest. The skies, for most of the time, were grey and overcast with the sun only peaking through every now and then. In those moments, I was there and ready to grab that golden light. These images were all taken with a Canon 40D DSLR and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Lens. The images were processed using Lightroom and enhanced in Photoshop using the Nik Software’s Viveza 2 filter. All images are presented here in a 16:9 letterbox format.
As I was sitting on the beach watching my kids play in the sand and at the waters edge, I started to take some photos of others around me. This photo opportunity turned into this subject exploration, Backs to the Beach. Once the idea came to me, I grabbed my gear and took several walks up and down the shoreline to capture the images here.
Shooting conditions were not the greatest. The skies, for most of the time, were grey and overcast with the sun only peaking through every now and then. In those moments, I was there and ready to grab that golden light. These images were all taken with a Canon 40D DSLR and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Lens. The images were processed using Lightroom and enhanced in Photoshop using the Nik Software’s Viveza 2 filter. All images are presented here in a 16:9 letterbox format.
Easter Photo Opportunities
04/03/2010 09:36 PM Filed in: Lightbox
I spent the afternoon at an annual family Easter party. The weather was perfect, the food was wonderful, and photo opportunities were there for the taking. There were lots of family and kid shots captured. Here, however, are three images taken when I strayed away from the festivities. Every location has photographic opportunities, even when that location might just be a backyard on a sunny spring day in April.
Team Arsenal: 2010 Spring Soccer, Game 1
03/29/2010 04:13 PM Filed in: Lightbox
If it is spring and a chilly, overcast, blustery day... It must be another season of travel soccer. This year and season, it is Team Arsenal. Here are six images from Team Arsenal’s first game. Due to the low light of a,cloudy and grey day, I shot these images in a Raw format and converted them in Adobe’s Lightroom. I created a reduced saturation, vintage look preset and applied it to 25 images selected out of more than 180 color proof images shot during the game. This preset details the uniforms and grass and has a healthy vignette to add some punch and focus to the subjects.
To see the full set of 25 artistically worked images, please stop by my Smugmug site. To get there, just click here. Oh... Team Arsenal won. Final score was 3 to 2.
Irish Lass
03/17/2010 12:06 PM Filed in: Lightbox
These images are from a portrait session I shot back in 2006. The family was traditional Irish and these images are of their little Irish Lass. She was a pure pleasure to work with. Shy at first, but warmed up to both me and the camera very quickly. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
Winter: Parting Shots
03/16/2010 03:04 PM Filed in: Lightbox
With spring officially upon us next week and the weather finally warming up in Maryland, it is time for a few parting shots of winter. The record snowfalls in the Maryland and the generally cold climate all season made this winter seem longer than usual. It, however, was one of the most enjoyable winters in a long, long time. So... With a fond farewell, here are a few images captured during some winter fun. Enjoy!!
Christmas Lights: 2009
12/21/2009 02:34 PM Filed in: Lightbox
Before the Holiday Season slips away, I want to show some images of the magic that is Christmas lights. Christmas might be my wife’s holiday, but the hanging of the lights is all mine. I am not quite as bad as Clark Griswold, but this years outing ended up being 5,150 white lights. The images below are a macro look at some of those magical little lights. These images were shot with a Canon 40D and an EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS lens. All were processed with Lightroom. Happy Holidays!!
Christmas Parade: 2009
12/21/2009 01:56 PM Filed in: Lightbox
Back in November, during the Thanksgiving weekend, my hometown of Westminster, Maryland had their Christmas Parade. With kids in hand, I, along with my wife and her family, attended. Naturally, I took a camera and the following images are a few from that outing. All were shot with a Canon 40D and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. No flash was used as I wanted to work with natural lighting. All the images were processed with Lightroom. Hey... Is that Ralphie and his trusty Red Rider Carbine-Action Air Rifle in the background? Happy Holidays!!
Morgantown: A Photo Road Trip
09/18/2009 10:37 AM Filed in: Lightbox
Here are some high contrast black and white images from a recent photography road trip taken during the Summer of 2009. These images were captured in Morgantown, West Virginia. They were taken with a Canon 40D DSLR and a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Lens and processed using Adobe Lightroom. Morgantown is full of photographic opportunities and is a town containing a wonderful mix or old and new. These images were taken at various locations along the Monongahela River. The full photo series can be viewed at http://lightis.smugmug.com. Stop by and take a look. Enjoy!!
Last Beach Weekend
09/13/2009 12:15 PM Filed in: Lightbox
I grew up spending my summers at the beach in Cape May, New Jersey with my grandmother. I have some fond memories of that time in my life. Endless days on the beach and cool, windy nights on the boardwalk. It is not a surprise then that as an adult, I enjoy spending vacation time every year at the beach with my wife and kids. This year, the beach was Rehoboth, Delaware.
The following images were taken on the last real weekend of summer for my kids. It was the last weekend before school started in late August. I took these with my oldest son in tow as we walked the beach that Saturday morning. All are black and white, digital infrared images captured with a converted Nikon CoolPix 990. I boosted the contrast and cropped them to a 16:9 letterbox format.
The following images were taken on the last real weekend of summer for my kids. It was the last weekend before school started in late August. I took these with my oldest son in tow as we walked the beach that Saturday morning. All are black and white, digital infrared images captured with a converted Nikon CoolPix 990. I boosted the contrast and cropped them to a 16:9 letterbox format.
Variations
09/08/2009 02:57 PM Filed in: Lightbox | Digital Darkroom
I am always amazed how one image can invoke different looks and feelings depending on how it is processed. From the original image straight out of the camera to a worked final image, photographers today have a vast range and palette at their fingertips to be expressive and creative with their work. This is true for both the professional and amateur photographer alike.
The image presented here and its variations are an example of this expression and creativity. The shot is simple… An on location portrait at a poolside birthday party over the summer. The first version is, for the most part, straight out of the camera. The versions that follow are worked and processed, each uniquely different from the other.
The image presented here and its variations are an example of this expression and creativity. The shot is simple… An on location portrait at a poolside birthday party over the summer. The first version is, for the most part, straight out of the camera. The versions that follow are worked and processed, each uniquely different from the other.
Out of Camera
Added Contrast & Rich Black Tones
Reduced Contrast with Enhanced Whites and Light Tones
Desaturated Colors with Red Tones
Aged Tones
Classic Black and White
End of School Year
07/01/2009 12:22 PM Filed in: Lightbox
The end of the school year brings out cameras for most parents and families. It also brings out cameras for photographers like me. In the first half of June, I had the opportunity to photography a Pre-K groups of kids in their final days of the school year. All were excited about the summer and filled with lots of energy. The shoot was a blast. I shot over 200 images and presented 113 to the school. Here are a few samples.
Holiday Fun from 2008
01/28/2009 05:08 PM Filed in: Lightbox
Since the blog was not online for the 2008 Holiday Season, my annual family fun photo didn’t get posted. These are so fun to do, however, it deserves a showing. Enjoy...
