Had to Stop

The clouds, light and scenery were just too much. Jake had to get in on the action so with a daring swerve and a screeching stop, he was in the thick of the action.

What makes a successful B&W successful? That’s a real common question. For me, it’s the ratio and placement of those blacks, whites and all the shades in between. With that in mind, I tend to arrange the elements in the frame so the black and white elements are the main foundation and depth of the photograph. it doesn’t always work out the way I’d like but when it does, it brings a smile to my face.

Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

Simple Click – Mono Snow

Nothing escapes a Sierra winter storm, not even Mono Lake.

Simple Click – Fall Baby Fall

This movie requires Flash Player 9

The opening in the clouds lets just enough sun to peak through to dance on the falling snow. Gorgeous!

I Just Love Home!

We’re following the seasons again and it’s a ton of fun. We’re back home for 36hours and home gave us a grand welcome!

That’s fresh snow you see on the Sierra Crest. I know, I know, many don’t wanta see snow this early but I welcome it. There is nothing more gorgeous then fall color in fresh snow. The fall color hasn’t really started which means we’re going to have a spectacular fall. Simply Gorgeous! Oh yeah, these photos were taken from a moving vehicle through the window. A bad habit I have!

Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film.

Silver Efex Pro 64bit is HERE!!!

OK, I’ve been using it for some time but now you can too work in 64bit with Silver Efex Pro! and that’s BIG NEWS! All the B&W on the site for the last couple of months (unless there is a ACR reference) have been finished using my FAVORITE B&W pluggin, Silver Efex Pro. The video how to use it is on the home page. Don’t read this any further, go, get it, finish images, enjoy the world of B&W!

To Include or Not Include?

This movie requires Flash Player 9

One of the very cool locations we’re going to share with the DLWS gang this week is this old train trestle. In while, while you’re reading this, we’re out shooting and having fun, wish you were with us. As you can see, I didn’t wait for the group, I shoot the trestle while scouting. Here’s my issue, do I include the V joint or not?

This movie requires Flash Player 9

What’s the subject? What’s the design? What shows the age and depth? I don’t have the answer yet. I took it both ways because I don’t and I will be pondering that question until I reshoot it. Yeah, I will reshoot it to answer this question and go back with a PC-E lens to clean up all the lines I can. I love a challenge!

Photos captured by D3x, 24f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

There’s Color in Fall Color

“What color, you turned it into B&W!” Well, B&W and all the shades of gray are color to me and when the right “fall color” images provides me with all those colors in the B&W spectrum, I go for it!

This movie requires Flash Player 9

How did I get the B&W? The answer is in our video library, look under digital darkroom, Silver Efex Pro! It works magic and I just love its magic. Clean, simple and fast, what more can you ask for from a software/pluggin?! And what’s required in a good B&W? A clean black and a clean white, where, how and how much is up to you!

Photos captured by D3x, 24f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Simple Click – The Treasure of Time

This movie requires Flash Player 9

“Moose, I didn’t know you can run!” You’d be surprised what I do for the photo!

One Tree – One View, One Image? cont…

Moving back and changing the angle of attack to minimize that cloud still isn’t getting it. The tree is now “flat” against the mesa and with that massive rock, it’s just lost in the frame. Like John Shaw once said, “Your tripod has legs, so do you!”
Photo by D3x, 18AF on Lexar UDMA digital film

One Tree – One View, One Image? cont..

OK, I move closer to the Juniper and use part of the Juniper to block part of the cloud so now that bright, white mass at the top of the frame isn’t pulling the eye away from the tree. But what has happened to that beautiful shape of the tree when I got closer. To me, it’s lost its drama.

And in case if you were wondering if there would be any improvement by going to B&W, I don’t really think so. The graceful pose still is lost being so close to the tree.

Photos by D3x, 18AF on Lexar UDMA digital film

One Tree – One View, One Image? cont.

What is the subject? If we got with just the tree, then how do we arrange the elements in the photograph to support that subject? I moved physically a little close to the Juniper for this shot. When I did that, what happened to the cloud? Look back at the 1st posting if you need to but when I moved closer, I effected that could and that changed the whole image. Can you tell? The cloud is now higher, bigger and bloody white! The eye screams to it and there is stays because there is nothing else in the frame bringing the eye back down to the tree. This is not a workable solution to making the image.

Photo captured by D3x, 18AF on Lexar UDMA digital film

Old Friend, Still Gorgeous!

This movie requires Flash Player 9

The Valley of the Gods is an amazing location that I just love to visit. I’m making plans to spend a whole bunch more time there, but that requires different travel plans.

This incredibly small slice of UT when the storms are rolling through is simple, without a doubt, hands down one of the most romantic landscapes in the southwest. There’s a ton of red here, not a issue. I wanted to do a little exploring in B&W and was happy with my results. I can do better but that requires days of on foot exploration. I always love having to have to return to a location

Photos captured by D3x, 18AF, 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film

The Art of Travel

I don’t think there’s a means of travel to a project I’ve not taken at this in in time, from the Fuji Blimp to Navy PT Boat and each have their pluses and minuses. The one means of travel though that I use the vast majority of time is a truck. Our adventure this time to the far north was no different. The 10 hour drive up the Haul Road, yeah, you read that right, the 10 hour drive up the Haul Road scares of many as it should. This is not the first time for me and nowhere the last and I love each and every time I cruise this highway of imagination. What’s the secret or art of traveling in the back seat of a F350 for ten hours? It’s to simply look out the window and take it all in.

Photo captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

Back to the Ol Homestead

With the great puffies and gorgeous July light, a trip to Bodie was a must. Bodie is not new to me, in fact, my family has been going to Bodie since 1900. So it was with great delight we took the group there to share not only it’s photographic wealth, but also it’s colorful history.

There are many, many ways to approach photographing Bodie. My approach this time was to have corrected buildings in B&W. The first obstacle most fret over are all the people that walk through your photo. There are two ways of dealing with this. The first is simply wait, most folks don’t stand at any one place for more than 30secs. The seconds is simply use Content-Aware fill in Photoshop. I used a combination of these two in these photos.

Next, I shot with the 24PC-E handheld. I seemed to have opened Pandora’s box by talking about these lenses so much, all I get are questions on how to use probably one of the simplest of photographic tools. We have a video being posted this week which will hopefully make this simple tool simple to use.

Lastly there is the B&W. What I did was create 1 image HDR and then take that Tif through ACR 6.2 for the B&W conversion. It’s really easy to do and as you can see, it creates pretty dramatic results. But the key to all of this is the one thing we have zero control over, and that’s the clouds. They make the whole image happen. Without them, all the rest is just talk.

In the Sierra, Always Have Your Camera!

We headed down to the airport to pick up Stephanie so like always, I grabbed the camera as we left the house. Looking out the window told me what lens I should have attached.

It’s the summer and the pattern has turned so we get our very dramatic afternoons. The thunderheads started to form early all around Mammoth but not over Mammoth. I knew heading to the flats, they would be off in the distance and not overhead which is why I selected the one lens I took along.

The clicks were easy, I parked in the middle of the road, shot out the window what you see at around 80mm, -1 exp comp with AWB. Pretty easy stuff. I knew with the drama in the sky these would be B&W photos. That was done in a SNAP in ACR 6.1 and then a simple click into Photoshop and another click on the Poster Action and it’s back out shooting. It’s all pretty easy stuff for anyone to do. The hardest thing for most folks though is that first step, always having your camera with you.

Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

Perhaps the Next Question Should Be – Color or B&W?

A challenge for so many when they put the camera to their eye is, “Do I shoot vertically or horizontally?” Moving forward from that question for me for my landscape work is the question, “Color or B&W?”

So we just looked at the subtle change just turning the camera can have to a landscape image. In that process of doing the dance, what does the option of B&W bring to the dance? First, many have a hard time just seeing their world in B&W. Try just squinting your eyes, this will take those highlights that will blow out become gone to your vision and those areas that will be lost in the shadows, black to your vision.

This movie requires Flash Player 9

With that, you should start seeing those areas in your photo that are the highlights. In this particular example (every photograph is different) the subject is the highlight and when you turn the camera vertically and your go to B&W, damn if the subject doesn’t smack you right between the eyes. And when you do that with your subject, the viewer of your photograph can’t help but see the subject and that’s when you win! And you’d be surprised when you do that correctly, those little things you missed that shouldn’t be in the photo, magically disappear! I’m looking forward to sharing this with the folks next week when they come to our Eastern Sierra Adv and play with our puffies in their viewfinders! And yes, this is what I saw when I clicked, a vertical, B&W photo.

Photos captured by D3s, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Perhaps the Next Question Should Be – Color or B&W?

A challenge for so many when they put the camera to their eye is, “Do I shoot vertically or horizontally?” Moving forward from that question for me for my landscape work is the question, “Color or B&W?”

So we just looked at the subtle change just turning the camera can have to a landscape image. In that process of doing the dance, what does the option of B&W bring to the dance? First, many have a hard time just seeing their world in B&W. Try just squinting your eyes, this will take those highlights that will blow out become gone to your vision and those areas that will be lost in the shadows, black to your vision.

This movie requires Flash Player 9

With that, you should start seeing those areas in your photo that are the highlights. In this particular example (every photograph is different) the subject is the highlight and when you turn the camera vertically and your go to B&W, damn if the subject doesn’t smack you right between the eyes. And when you do that with your subject, the viewer of your photograph can’t help but see the subject and that’s when you win! And you’d be surprised when you do that correctly, those little things you missed that shouldn’t be in the photo, magically disappear! I’m looking forward to sharing this with the folks next week when they come to our Eastern Sierra Adv and play with our puffies in their viewfinders! And yes, this is what I saw when I clicked, a vertical, B&W photo.

Photos captured by D3s, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

ANM#2

It’s in the middle of a lawn, so it’s either for a possible forest fire in the middle of Central Park, or the builder was a dog lover. The photo might have been stronger if I used the power of CS5 to remove some features but decided to not go that route. The B&W conversion was done in CS5 using Scott Kelby’s Gradiant Map technique and then adding a Brightness/Contrast Curve.

Photo captured by D3s, 28AF on Lexar UDMA digital film

« Previous Page — Next Page »