Returning to One’s Roots by Using a Point and Shoot

Over the Sea of Grass
Over the Sea of Grass

When I was a young lad I had a 35mm Kodak camera that I had won at a contest in Montana.  About once a year my family and I would go on a trip, usually to a national park and I would be sure to pack the camera.  I would take several rolls of film and I would ultimately end up exposing most of it in the first couple of days and then I would have to ration the rest for the remainder.  During the time I was scurrying up on rocks and running up to lake shores to snap a quick photo, I had no idea that one day that would turn into something greater.  My only goal in those days was to capture the beauty around me so that I could be reminded of it later.

As time has progressed, so has my equipment.  During college I used a completely manual Pentax K-1000 to capture almost solely black and white images.  I did quite a bit of dark room work in those days, rolling and exposing my own film, and creating prints until the dead of night with only a singular red light for illumination.  I learned of different lenses, apertures, and shutter speeds.  I first used a tripod and a medium format camera.  Needless to say, the quick point and shooting slowly morphed into more deliberate, careful shooting, I had become a “serious” photographer.   Besides, now I had a grade depending on it.

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Fall’s Final Curtain Call

Fall\'s Final Curtain Call

This is an image of the same tree from Autumnal Brillance, close to sunset with the sun low in the sky. The leaves were completely gone in a matter of days after this photograph was captured.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/16, 1/60 sec.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa Side

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: Fall’s Final Curtain Call - A maple tree bursts forth into glorious autumn colors.

Using Photoshop to Lose Weight and Look Great!

Harvest Moon

Back on June 6th I wrote an article entitled Photoshop Ethics in Digital Nature Photography that posed the question, “Where do we draw the line in regard to photoshop usage in nature photography”. It seems that this is a question that is plaguing other industries as well and is even prompting governments to get involved. This is not a new issue, in fact, since the invention of the camera, there has been evidence of manipulation.  A recent set of articles have been written that focus on the extreme photoshopping that has been taking place in the fashion industry, one at the New York Times and one at the New York Daily Post.

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Photo Friday: Soulful Soaring

Let Your Soul Soar

It’s been a while since I posted an image from my Canon G10. In the next couple of weeks I plan on having a couple of posts dedicated to images that I have captured using this point and shoot. Today, though I wanted to share an abstract image that I captured a couple of mornings ago of the clouds during a sunrise. It’s a simple image that I think gives a great feeling of peace and which relies solely on color and form.

Since the G10’s format is natively conducive to many non-widescreen monitors, I am also offering this image as a free computer desktop wallpaper for whomever may want it in three sizes. On a PC, in order to make this your desktop, simply click on the link that corresponds to your monitor resolution and right click and choose “Set as Background”.

Let Your Soul Soar - 1600x1200
1600×1200

Let Your Soul Soar - 1280x960
1280×960

Let Your Soul Soar - 1024x768
1024×768

Technical Details: Canon G10, f/4.5, 1/15 sec., Light Orton Effect
Nebraska Sky

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: Soulful Soaring - Colorful Illuminated Clouds at Sunrise

How to Create the “Orton” Effect - Tractor Series Part V

Final Orton Image

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.

Pre-Orton Image

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″.

Gaussian Layer

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.

Blurring Layer

Layer Settings

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

Autumnal Rustling

As promised, my impromtu “Missing the Mountains” series continues with today’s post of some Aspens in Colorado near Pike’s peak.  During my trip last September, the aspens were beginning to burst forth with color and some of the groves were completely changed.   When I stopped and capture this grove, a breeze was gentle rustling the leaves.  In post-processing I added a bit of Orton to simulate this feel on a still photograph.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/9, 1/200 sec.
Aspen Grove near Pike’s Peak, Colorado

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/photo.asp?pictureid=AutumnalRustling&xmlfile=/journey06/xml/color/colorado.xml&x=9.

Inspiration: Found

Following yesterday’s post, I went out last night to photograph some flowers that are blooming in a nearby field and found one that had gone to seed similar to the one I saw yesterday.  I stopped and spent almost an hour photographing the patterns, contrasts, and small details that were contained within this little piece of nature.

On the technical side of things, something that really helped was the phenomenal high ISO performance of the Canon 5D Mark II.  This photograph was taken at ISO 2000 with a little work from Noise Ninja.  Back in the film days this would have meant high grain and loss of detail, but today’s digital is really pushing what one can do in low light.  Today’s tools are simply amazing.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM lens + 25 extension tube, f/2.8, 1/60 sec.
Light Variation of Orton Effect

Ethereal Plane

About a month ago, I noticed several purple flowers growing down by the Platte River.  I don’t ever remember seeing these flowers blooming and certainly not in the magnitude that they seemed to flourish this year.  Determined to get a shot I went down by Schramm a couple of nights while they were at their peak.  Unfortunately, every time I was there the wind would blow the flowers around which did not make it easy to get a sharp shot.  After review I decided that this image would be perfect for the Orton Effect.  For more information on what this is visit http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0106/dw0106-1.html.  Overall, it’s good to use this effect sparingly and there has been an increase in people thinking this effect has been overused recently.  I still like it for an image like this, it seems to work well to bring out the contrast of the purple on green. 

This photograph is currently a finalist in Digital Photo Pro’s Ultimate Creativity contest.  If you wish to vote for it visit http://www.digitalphotopro.com/photo-contests/ultimate-creativity/finalists/contest/ultimate-creativity-finalists/1156-ethereal-plane.html.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 35mm, f/13, 1.6 sec., Orton Effect
By Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska

Reaching Out: Revisited

A couple of posts back I mentioned how many of my images have a “life”. Essentially, some are never quite finished for me. Tonight’s image is one such example. In a blog post on March 2, 2008 found here, I mentioned going back through some old photos and finding one that I liked the intricate details. Well, after reviewing that same image, yet again I felt I could add a little more to the photograph. One processing technique I use, especially with images with high contrast of color is a method called the “Orton effect”. Essentially, this effect takes an out of focus image and sandwiches with an in focus image to create a somewhat dreamy version of reality. It was originally used with slide film, but a technique still exists for digital. For more information, visit this tutorial on Orton imagery: http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0106/dw0106-1.html.

Technical Details:

Canon 5d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/11, 1/5 sec., Orton
Alberta, Canada

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