Traveling the Journey of Light | Photoblog Thoughts, feelings, and techniques behind the photography of Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston

An End of Year Retrospective for 2009Posted by drfl on December 29th, 2009

At the end of every year there is a deluge of “Best of” lists.  Wholly subjective and different for every person, these lists hopefully celebrate the successes and identify the failures so that the next year can be even better.  It is during the cold wintry months I sit down in a warm location and review my previous year. I look at my work, look at how I grew and changed artistically and ask myself a few key questions (summarized):

1. Did I accomplish my artistic goals that I set last year?
2. Were my business efforts met with success?
3. What images did I fail to capture the mood/scene/emotion that I wanted? 
4. Did I surprise myself?
5. Do I still enjoy what I am doing? (Most Important)

 
If #5 is a Yes! (and it has been year after year), I look to next year and ask myself a few more key questions:

1. What artistic goals do I have for this year?
2. What locations should I focus on photographing?
3. What types of lenses/filters/techniques should I try?
4. What business ideas should I implement or push this year?
5. What hasn’t been successful and what should discontinue?

 
So what have I found by asking myself all these questions?  To follow the lead of others, here is my ”Best Of” list to illustrate my triumphs and to help answer those questions.  This is a collection of my favorite images, perhaps not the most profitable, but the ones that I feel exemplify my artistic growth.

#5 (Tie) Glorious Sandhills Sunrise and Toadstool Dawn

One of my ongoing projects is to photograph Nebraska, especially the not often seen places. I want to show the diversity of the state and the beauty that exists. These two photographs each show a different region of the state and places that many would overlook.

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What is “Acceptable Sharpness”?Posted by drfl on December 23rd, 2009

A few weeks ago I wrote an article entitled “How to get Sharp Enlargements: Breaking the Megapixel Myth”that gave some tips on creating images that could be greatly enlarged. Now, I am going to address the issue of “Acceptable Sharpness”. In a perfect world of capturing sharp photographs we would all have a remote similar to the movie “Click” in which we could simply hit the “pause” button and everything would simply stop. At that point we could setup our gear, put our tripod in place, connect our cable release, set the mirror lockup, choose the sharpest aperture, put on the best lens, fix the lowest ISO, and then finally capture the image. Unfortunately, no such device exists and so we are left to deal with breezes that blow, animals that run, and hands that shake and As a result, not all nature images are studio perfect. When zoomed in and analyzed imperfections may be noted, perhaps a little motion blur, perhaps a bit of depth of field issues and of course, hand held photographs will almost always be less sharp than an image from a tripod mounted camera. Does this mean that these images should be tossed out due to technical imperfections? At what enlargement point would these images degrade? These are the questions that led me on my path to finding my “Acceptable Sharpness”.

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How to Get Sharp Enlargements: Breaking the Megapixel MythPosted by drfl on November 18th, 2009

Myth: More megapixels will always lead to a sharper enlarged image.

This is without a doubt the greatest myth perpetuated by the camera industry today.  Marketing tells us more megapixels=better camera.  Back in the film days there were only a few choices, 35mm, 4×5, 8×10, 110, etc. In those days, (with a few exceptions, of course) the film size DID dictate how far an enlargement could be taken.  I remember years ago taking my 35mm black and white film that I had developed in the dark room and making test strips, then enlarging it to 6×9 and then to 11×14.  The sharpness of the image would begin to break down around that point.  The three main things I had to remember in achieveing the sharpest, largest prints in those days was 1: Shoot big film. 2: Proper focus when taking the photograph and 3: A grain finder.  For those of you who don’t know what a grain finder is, well, let’s just say its the equivalent of 100% zoom in Photoshop.

So, if larger film led to sharper, larger enlargements, shouldn’t more megapixels do the same thing?  I mean after all all those technical sites speak about resolving power and lines per inch and its always better bigger - right?

Well, the answer is somewhat elusive and lies in three basic parts.

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How to Create the “Orton” Effect - Tractor Series Part VPosted by drfl on September 18th, 2009

For the last in the 5 part series, I will demonstrate a variation of the “Orton” technique that I occasionally use. The Orton technique was popularized a few years ago and has gained momentum. Many ethereal modifications to photographs have been using different techniques centered around one goal - giving an image a slight blurry, other-wordly look.

For this image, I loaded the RAW file into Adobe Photoshop and tweaked the temperature, contrast, etc. until I had the image processed to my liking.

I then copied the background layer by right-clicking and selecting “Duplicate” and naming the layer “Blurring Layer”. This new layer will be selected. I then chose “Gaussian Blur” under the “Blur” options and picked a radius of “30″.

Going back to my layers menu, I changed the opacity of this layer until I had the effect for which I was going, on this image it happened to be 51%. For a final touch, I created a curves adjustment to add a little more contrast to the photograph, being liberal with the curve.

To recap:

1. Load the RAW file into Adobe Photoshop and set the temperature, contrast, etc.
2. Copy the background layer.
3. Use the “Gaussian Blur” filter with a radius of “30″.
4. Change the opacity of this layer until desired effect is achieved.
5. Create a curves adjustment to add a little more contrast.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 109mm, f/8, 1/500 second

How to Create the “Old Time” Effect Using Nik Silver Efex Pro - Tractor Series Part IVPosted by drfl on September 17th, 2009

Continuing in the steps of yesterday’s image, I wanted to convert a close-up of the headlight on the tractor to monochrome, but I wanted it to have a bit of a sepia, faded feeling like photographs from another era. Just as before, I loaded the RAW file using Adobe RAW and set my temperature, contrast and other settings close to how I would want the image if I was going to publish it in color. Once again, I used the grayscale option to help me to visualize how the image would like in black and white to help perfect my options.

The Large Conversion

Once I have everything set, I then activate the Nik Silver Efex filter and begin scrolling through my options on the left. About 2/3rds down the page, I find a couple of options for sepia toned images. I think that the Dark Sepia version works the best so I choose that one. It turns out a bit dark, so I use the brightness slider to increase it just a tad. I also up the contrast and structure a little bit from the defaults. While some of the pipes are falling into the darkness a bit, I don’t mind that, but I want to show a bit of detail so I did move the shadows slider up. The highlights slider I left alone.

Adding That Little Extra

Since the tractor consists mainly of reds and white, I choose a green filter which helps lighten the reds and create more a sepia tone across the whites. I didn’t like the effect full on, so I moved the intensity to 64%. Because of the quality of the lenses in the past, many of the old photos have a bit of a vignetting to them. My goal with this is to not make it too noticeable, but give the viewer a bit of a lead in into the photo. I moved the vignetting down to -7 which darkens the corners slightly, but not too noticeably.

To recap:

1. Load the RAW file into Adobe Photoshop and set the temperature, contrast, etc.
2. Use Nik Silver Efex Pro to find a sepia setting close to the desired result.
3. Tweak the Brightness/Contrast/Structure settings.
4. Modify the Shadows/Highlights settings.
5. Experiment with different colored filter effects.
6. Vignette if desired.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 40mm, f/10, 1/400 second

How to Perform a Basic Black and White Conversion Using Nik Silver Efex Pro - Tractor Series Part IIIPosted by drfl on September 16th, 2009

One of the most obvious processing treatments that can be performed on an image of an old tractor would be to convert it to various types of monochrome. Today’s image was converted to Black and White by using Nik Silver Efex Pro. Black and White conversions can be performed both in-camera and later in processing with tools such as Photoshop, but I have found that Silver Efex Pro gives me more control over how the image is converted with some great visual presets.

When loading the image into Photoshop, I first corrected for color, although I did not spend too much time on making sure that all my casts were gone. If I know I’m converting to black and white, I often use the “Grayscale” feature in the RAW import dialog box to get a rough understanding of what the image will closely resemble.

I then activate the Nik Silver Efex dialog and scroll through the various options on the left side until I find the look that I desire. For the basic settings, I tweak the settings on the right such as brightness, contrast, and structure. Brightness and contrast work the same as those in Photoshop, while structure adds more definition to the lines within the image. Also available, the shadow slider brightens the darker areas while the highlights slider tones done the brightest parts of the image. This can have the perceived effect of lowering the contrast of the image, so I usually keep these two settings at a minimum.

For today’s image, I choose High-Contrast Yellow filter and left the defaults on brightness, contrast, and structure. I increased the brightness in the shadow areas to somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2, but kept the brightness slider at default. If you are not familiar with what colored filters do to black and white photographs I suggest checking out “Using Coloured Filters with Black and White Film” to gain an understanding. From there, I could tone my photograph or add a bit of vignetting. I will discuss both of these options in tomorrow’s edition of the tractor series.

To recap:

1. Load the RAW file into Adobe Photoshop and set the temperature, contrast, etc.
2. Use Nik Silver Efex Pro to find a black and white setting close to the desired result.
3. Tweak the Brightness/Contrast/Structure settings.
4. Modify the Shadows/Highlights settings.
5. Experiment with different colored filter effects.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 37mm, f/11, 1/60 second

How to Create More Interest in Your Composition by Hinting at Your Subject - Tractor Series Part IIPosted by drfl on September 15th, 2009

In yesterday’s post I shot through the prairie grass and focused on the tractor. In today’s image I was still shooting through the grass, but the real objective was to subtlety hint for the real subject.  The goal is to force the viewer to first examine the photograph and then look deeper for the intended subject. This creates more interest in the composition since upon first viewing, the subject may appear to be the in focus grass, but then the eye is immediately led to the bright headlight and then to the form of the tractor.

For this result, I kept the depth of field intentionally shallow at f/6.3 and focused on the grasses in the front. The objective is to use an aperture that gives us an impression of our subject while not blurring it completely. I used aperture bracketing to find the perfect balance of blur and form. Bracketing is capturing a range of images at slightly different settings in order to ensure that you have the highest selection to choose from in post-processing. With digital, this is great as additional images cost nothing. Most bracketing is done with exposure, however, I find myself bracketing aperture quite often in these types of cases. This technique can be attempted with the subject behind or in front of another object. Experiment with different positioning and apertures in order to find an effective combination.

To recap:

1. Experiment with focusing on an object either closer than your true subject or further away to subtlety blur the intended subject.
2. Bracket the aperature to achieve the desired look.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 109mm, f/6.3, 1/13 second

How to Have Fun Photographing Tractors - Tractor Series Part IPosted by drfl on September 14th, 2009

As I mentioned in the post “The Dew Drops of Summer“, my brother-in-law invited my father-in-law and me to his cabin near Cedar Rapids, Nebraska where I had the opportunity to photograph a restored 1951 Ford tractor. This week, I am presenting a 5-part photographic series of tractor images. Each day I am going to have a new tractor image and am going discuss what photographic techniques I utilized to achieve the effects in the image.

A Little Bit About the Tractor Session

I spent quite a bit of time photographing this tractor. I had asked my brother-in-law to park the tractor in some grass to which he replied “You want to park a fully restored tractor as though it had sat for years?!”. Well, yeah! I had visualized this image of the tractor in a field with some nice prairie grass. I began in the late afternoon sun and as it grew darker I asked my brother-in-law to switch on the headlights. He then suggested capturing some images of the tractor through the grass as though it was coming toward me. A marvelous idea! By trying different apertures I was able to experiment with the settings which would keep the grass in the extreme foreground out of focus, but still recognizable. I found that f/8 was the most effective at producing this result.

A Little Bit About My Camera Settings

Whenever I shoot images, I solely shoot in RAW format. There are many reasons for this, but the most basic is that I have full control over the processing of the image. When an image is created as a JPEG the camera assumes it knows what’s best and creates the image for you. Well, I’m just stubborn and I certainly don’t think the camera knows whats best for me! In each of the images of the series I used the RAW converter in Adobe Photoshop to process the photographs.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 104mm, f/8, .6 second

The GO PHOTO Principles For More Self-fulfilling PhotographyPosted by drfl on September 9th, 2009

If you would like to take a look at an on some things that I have found make my photography more meaningful, head over to Darwin Wiggett’s blog and check out The GO PHOTO Principles For More Self-fulfilling Photography.

Easy Techniques for Dripping Fall Colours with Digital Cameras by Darwin WiggettPosted by drfl on September 8th, 2009

Today’s post is courtesy of a guest contributor, Darwin Wiggett.  Darwin is an outstanding photographer well known for his nature and landscape images of Canada. He also leads excellent workshops in the Canadian Rockies which I have had the joy of attending. I highly recommend that you check out his website at http://www.darwinwiggett.com and his blog at http://darwinwiggett.wordpress.com.

Easy Techniques for Dripping Fall Colours with Digital Cameras
by Darwin Wiggett

I often get comments about the rich and vivid colours in my photos. Many people assume I simply push the saturation levels in Photoshop to get my signature saturation. In fact my vivid colour comes mostly from in-camera techniques rather than post-processing fixes. People are surprised to hear that I never use the saturation slider in Photoshop! Here are a few tips to help you create vivid colour every time you press the shutter button.

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