There Once Was a Girl and Some Ducks...A Post Production Journey

I was at Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles a few months ago and had the opportunity to capture an image that was full of anticipation.  The scene developed rather quickly as a young girl hesitantly approached a group of ducks nestled on the ground next to a pond.

Barely having time to take up position and adjust the camera, I captured the moment just before she started to pet the closest duck.  This moment was full of excitement and tension and I couldn’t wait to get back and see the image on a larger screen.

In post production, one thing that I noticed that was dominating the image was the bright blue of the young girls dress.  This seemed like one of those times when a color image works against you because of color distraction, and so I decided to convert the image to black and white.

I liked what black and white did, but was never completely satisfied with the result.   I liked the image enough that I shared it with friends and with my local photography club.  The reaction was consistent…nobody liked the image.  The ducks were completely lost in the background.

So I went back to the drawing board.  I started with the full-color image, de-saturated the dress and worked more on the lighting and contrast of the ducks.  I was pretty happy and ran the result past those same friends of mine who had seen the black and white version.  Reaction was all favorable, but interestingly enough, another consistent response came out—the girl’s leg was now a distraction, and a tighter crop was recommended.  This response came from two friends who don’t know each other and live in different cities—I found their common observation interesting.  I didn’t see the leg as a problem, and in fact thought that its position helped convey the tentative approach the young girl was making.  I did see how the high contrast between her leg and the surrounding would draw the eye’s attention so I thought I’d try out their suggestion.

So, my final edit was the tighter crop, and you know what?  I like it, but I also like every other version of the image.  I think it was a strong image to begin with, and a stronger image with each post production improvement. 

My journey helped reinforce two points…1)  starting with a strong image IN CAMERA is really important, and 2)  don’t be afraid to get the opinions of your friends and be open to trying their suggestions.

Feel free to contact me at CostaMesaPhotography@gmail.com or check out my website gallery at http://costamesaphotography.com/

(metadata 1/180 sec at f/5.6 and ISO 320, focal length 105mm)

Aebleskiver? And you eat them??

Yep, and with powdered sugar and jam!  So I learned on my first trip to Solvang.  So close to Los Angeles, but continents away in terms of charm. 

The Santa Ines Mission was founded on September 17, 1804 and was named in honor of Saint Agnes, an early Christian martyr of the fourth century. The Spanish for Agnes is Inés, hence the name of the church; the American Yankees anglicized the spelling of the Spanish pronunciation and named the town Santa Ynez.  The Mission, which commands a superb view of the Santa Ynez River Valley and the Santa Ynez and San Rafael mountain ranges in the distance.

The community of Solvang was founded in 1911 and began as a dream of three Danish immigrants: Reverend Benedict Nordentoft, Reverend J. M. Gregersen, and Professor P. P. Hornsyld. In January, 1911 the Danish-American Colony corporation bought almost 10,000 acres of prime land in the Santa Ynez Valley, California. The new colony was named “Solvang” (meaning sunny field).   Early buyers, almost all Danish, came from California, the Midwest, and Denmark. 

In 1936, the 25th anniversary of Solvang’s founding, the people in Solvang decided to throw a party. The three-day celebration (June 5-7) included a torch-light procession, plays, pageants, a parade, folk dancing and singing, a concert, barbecue, and a street dance — and was a huge success. In 1937 Solvang put on another celebration and the tradition of Danish Days was born.  In January 1947, the Saturday Evening Post magazine published a feature article about the “spotless Danish village that blooms like a rose in California’s charming Santa Ynez Valley.”

Oh, the smell of fresh baked pastries… That’s one of the main attractions when walking the town square.  And Aebleskivers?  Well, they are traditional Danish pancakes in a distinctive shape of a sphere. Somewhat similar in texture to American pancakes crossed with a popover, æbleskiver are solid like a pancake but light and fluffy like a popover.  Oh, delicious!!

Check out my complete collection of Solvang-area photos (including some great wine country) at http://costamesaphotography.com/

And as always, if you have comments or suggestions, drop me a line....

(photo metadata:  1/500 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 100, focal length 45mm)

When Color Matters

I don’t profess to be an expert on color rendering.  You can stop reading now if you are hoping to delve into the science of how colors are captured on your camera’s sensor, differences between RGB and sRGB, monitor calibration, and the like… Much has been written about all of these topics, so I’d encourage you to seek out those technical resources if interested.

I had an “aha” moment recently when a friend of mine came to me with a request to shoot images of a fabric sample (more on the “aha” later).  My friend is in the business of providing natural fur products from the shearings of Angora goats for mohair and Alpacas.  The sheerings are then woven into a 100% cotton backing and then custom die provides for the variety of products their customers desire.  My friend’s challenge was having photographs on their website that looked like their actual products.

How naïve I was when I started… “Sure”, I said…this should be easy.  I’ll just shoot a few frames in the sun, and shoot a few in the shade—they can pick the one they want and voila, project done.  The problem was that when I got my images back into Lightroom, they all looked a bit different from each other—and when I compared the images to the sample in my hand, there were difference there too.  How could this be??

I know, white balance…you’re already ahead of me.  I knew this going into the shoots.  What I didn’t really appreciate is that the color of an object is different under different lighting, nevermind the photographic side of that discussion…just looking at the fabric in sun was different that looking at it in shade.  A red apple though will always look red to you…your brain will just tell you that the apple is red, regardless of the warmth or coolness of the lighting.  But which red is red?   Reminds me of the old joke of the accountant on an interview, who when posed with the question of what 2+2 was, responded, “what do you want it to be”?  THIS was the “aha” moment!  I realized that color perception is in the eye of the beholder, and that your brain adjusts to perceive things the way it EXPECTS to see them. 

So I took my photographic project to the next level and borrowed an 18% gray card from a friend.  Again, much could be written about this, but suffice it to say that I used the card to more accurately adjust the color temperature of my images when shot in sunlight and in shade with the hope of minimizing the ambiguity.  The adjustments I could make based on the gray card were a big help.  Instead of just going with my camera’s assessment that the “daylight” color temperature I shot in was 4650 degrees Kelvin, or guessing that it should be slightly warmer or cooler, the gray card helped me calibrate it more precisely.  My end results were quite good—by the definition of looking the same on screen as the sample in my hand.

For 99.9% of my photography, the preciseness of the color temperature rendering has not been important.  I’ve made adjustments and enhancements to my images when capturing, or in post production, and the results have been quite pleasing, and to my viewers, quite satisfactory.  It’s near impossible to you (or me) to look at one of my sunset images and determine if the shade or orange or pink in the sky is exactly what it was if standing there…and quite frankly, it doesn’t matter that much, because I’m not trying to convey that scientific precision…I’m trying to convey a story or an emotion through the art of photography.

But with my friend’s fabric, there is no story to be told…they want to show the color of their product that will show up on your doorstep.  My only question for you…is your doorstep typically in the sun or in the shade???

(photo metadata:  1/250 sec @ f/8, ISO 200, focal length 52mm)

HDR--Just Because You Can?

My wife and one of her friends just returned from the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach. Although I’ve never been there, I understand it’s an extremely popular annual arts and crafts event that features among other things a photographic exhibit. When my wife came come, she reported that she had seen quite a number of “HDRs”. That comment struck a chord with me that I wanted to share with you.

 

First of all, can you imagine a friend coming back from an art exhibit and telling you that they saw a bunch of watercolors? Or a bunch of pen-and-inks? Or how about a bunch of frescos? To all three of these questions, I think the answer would be “yes”.  The friend has only told you about the art’s medium, not the art itself. So because my wife and her friend said they saw a bunch of HDRs, what does that mean?

 

HDR is a medium for photographic expression, just as is B&W--it's another medium, or technique. In fact, like painting, photography has a myriad of different techniques and mediums through which photographers express their emotion and point of view. And depending on whether the photographer is working in the realm of photojournalism, or documentary, or landscape, or portraiture, or macro, or sports, etc…the techniques used can involve elaborate capture setups and/or elaborate post-production efforts. HDR is simply a tool, or technique, or medium that can be utilized in some or all those various realms.

 

Now let's look at when someone might or might not want to use HDR as part of their image creation process. Just as saying “watercolor” describes a broad range of end-result styles, HDR is a term that describes a broad range of results, from the radically process extremes sometimes referred to as “grunge”, to the more sedentary balancing and evening out of wide tonal ranges in a scene (like my HDR image in this posting). Unfortunately, HDR has come to carry with it a connotation that many photographers associate with unpleasing results, when in fact, some of the most awe inspiring images are HDRs—and were created in the darkroom years before there were computers and software designed to deal with high dynamic range…ah yes, the days of dodging and burning…you remember them, right? That was “HDR”.

 

I heard a good friend once say “that’s a hammer looking for a nail”, and another friend told me that "if your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail"… Both statement conveying the same singular mindset.  In photography, if you’re starting out with intent to create an HDR, then you are a bit like that hammer. Keep the hammer in your toolbox until you’ve decided what story you’re trying to tell with your imagery. What did you see, how did you decide to compose it, what camera settings were most appropriate to capture the essence of motion, color, depth, contrast, and finally, what post-processing techniques will help you complete the story telling--maybe HDR is the tool/technique you need, maybe not.  Don't use HDR just because you can...

(photo metadata:  1/60 sec @ f/3.5, ISO 1000, focal length 18mm)

Visualizing the Post-Processed Result

Twice in the last week, I took photographs that in and of themselves were not creative or inspiring captures. Instead, they were shots where I saw potential only through post processing. I felt a little guilty because this approach is counter to most things you read about photography, particularly the emphasis (which I agree with) to capture as much of your desired end result “in camera” instead of in the digital darkroom.
Let me describe both situations.

I was walking through my neighborhood to complete an errand and came upon an old-model Ford pickup truck. Because I also agree with the advice that you should try to have a camera with you at all times, I was carrying my point-and-shoot camera for that “just in case” opportunity. The problem was that the truck was parked such that I couldn't get a clean shot without a lot of clutter behind it. I could have uses my f/1.8 lens to throw the background out of focus, however, like I indicated, I didn’t have my Nikon with me, and second, putting the background out of focus would have also meant having some of the truck also out of focus.

 

Therefore, I opted to take my shot, knowing that I’d deal with the background in post-production. I didn’t labor hours, but rather did a simple selection and applied a Gaussian blur as well as a slight de-saturation coupled with a decrease in exposure. These adjustments made the truck the star of the image, in spite of a background I had no control over.  (email me if you'd like to see how this came out)

 
The other situation where post production was part of my image capture strategy was during my visit to the Getty Center this weekend with some of my family, including one of my sons and his girlfriend. There was a point where they were walking ahead of me, hand-in-hand, and the way they were holding hands caught my attention.  As you can imagine, with them walking, and me walking, it would not have been possible to accomplish “in camera” the end result I was visualizing (refer to the photograph to see my final result).
 
My plan quite simply was to kick up the shutter speed and make a sharp capture in shutter priority mode, and then deal with completing the concept in post production. A tight crop and a bit of vignetting gave me the final result I was after.

So next time you’re out with your camera, open your own “aperture” a bit more and consider captures where post-production is central to your photographic visioning and story telling.

(photo metadata:  1/750 sec @ f/6.7, ISO 200, focal length 62mm)

Victoria--warm up after that great Alaskan Cruise!

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia and was named after Queen Victoria.  Victoria is one of the oldest cities in the Pacific Northwest, with British settlement beginning in 1841. The city has retained a large number of its historic buildings, in particular its two most famous landmarks, the British Columbia Parliament Buildings (finished in 1897 and home of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia) and the Empress hotel (opened in 1908).

Staying at the Empress Hotel (see photo of dining room), facing the inner harbor and the Parliament Building was a real treat.  I found the history of the Empress Hotel quite interesting.

In addition, the city's Chinatown is the second oldest in North America after San Francisco's and was within short walking distance. Nicknamed the "City of Gardens," Victoria is an attractive city and a popular tourism destination—it was easy to see why!  The weather was sunny and warm, with an occasional need for a light jacket when walking around in the evening or early morning.

Have you been there?  Would love to hear about it... CostaMesaPhotography@gmail.com

(photo metadata:  1/60 sec @ f2/.8, ISO 1600, focal length 11mm)

Alaska's Glacial Wonderland

According to the USGS, Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier on the North American continent. It has been thickening and advancing toward the Gulf of Alaska since it was first mapped by the International Boundary Commission in 1895 (Davidson, 1903). 

This is in stark contrast with most glaciers, which have thinned and retreated during the last century. This atypical behavior is an important example of the calving glacier cycle. If Hubbard Glacier continues to advance, it will close the seaward entrance of Russell Fjord and create the largest glacier-dammed lake on the North American continent in Historic times.

This was our first official stop after leaving port at Seward.  After entering the initial ice flow, our speed slowed to an imperceptible crawl as it took another couple of hours to actually get to the closest point the captain was willing to approach.  From this vantage point, we were able to see some calving, but more than that, we were able to see the drama of scale, colors, textures, and experience first hand the marvel and wonder of glacial flow.  The crowds on the upper ship decks were initially full, but after the two hours approach, many went below deck where it was warm (and where all the food was no doubt!!).  

This was when the real magic started for me.  There were only a handful of us remaining, and it was completely quite and it seemed as if the air couldn’t have been cleaner and the water couldn’t have been colder (it actually had a surface that was a crystaline sheen of icy water).  This was an inhospitable place, yet there were birds, sea lions, and greenery on the steep hills…and of course the several thousand of us visitors on the Celebrity Millennium.

Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you thing...  CostaMesaPhotography@gmail.com

(photo metadata:  1/750 sec @ f/5.3, ISO 200, focal length 200mm)