What I Know Now ~ Mono Monday!

#7 ~ The Grad Dress Session ~

I'm rather proud of today's post. Not because this is the most stupendous B&W ever known to man. Not just because this features my beautiful daughter as model, although it would still be a reason. But because I learned a week or so ago.... drum roll please... to take my flash out of auto mode and into manual. This folks is huge for me. I cannot tell a lie.

I sat in online with CreativeLive's free webinar two weekends ago, and much of the teaching revolved around using flash. Flash had overwhelmed me. Flash had left me feeling that auto was safest and good flash exposure was a fluke. Instead, they gave us info on the variables of exposure, and how each effects the others (order the Lighten Up and Shoot webinar to get the low down, and no, they don't know I exist, so I get nuthin' for saying so) and I walked away realizing once again that education is freeing, and only makes you open to more creativity if you let it. And to have fun, which is Mikey and Andy's motto at all times, webinar or no. Am learning to make it mine too.

Getting back to my humble little speed light. I learned that the zoom length feature on your flash results in how wide and far a net your flash light casts over the subject. I learned that the closer you get with any kind of soft white modifier, the better lit your subject is, and the farther away your light source, the harsher since it has further to go to wrap around your subject's features. I learned about flash power, about ambient light, and how to use what you have on hand for great portraits...

And all of this in manual mode on the flash... because that's how you stay free to be creative. I promptly rearranged my entire living room (note to self, lift with the legs, not with the back) and set up a DIY mini studio in front of a large white window and window seat. Made myself a scrim out of an opaque white curtain in front of my flash set up as a slave over on a stand very close to my subject. A subject who wanted some images of her grad dress, some  creative images of her grad dress. Set up a reflector on the opposite side to bounce any scattered light back to her, and set my cameras exposure to ensure the backlight was blown out behind her to eliminate a cluttered window view. The point of the flash firing through the scrim was to soften the expanding light... and the reflector just managed to throw highlights over her hair on the other side, giving depth.

Everyone's cameras and flashes and spaces, and lighting... are different. So giving you my exposure info won't really be helpful. But I'll say this. Expose for your subject and how you want to control the ambient light already filling the space. Then set your flash according to how you want to accentuate both... and go from there.

Get out your gear, stop being afraid of it, and play. There's no end to the rewards. And your daughter will thank you for not sticking her out in front of another bush in the garden for pics while you artfully try to avoid including the garden hose in the background or the newspaper guy making his delivery on the sidewalk. Been there, done that, never going back.

Thanks for the Monday ramble gang! Have a good one!

Vintage Roses ~ Floral Friday!

"Fair Is The Rose..."

Friday once again, and that means flowers here at the blog. I've had a week free of any work, which means you seen some photos manipulated, played with or just were wonky enough on their own straight out of camera. Just because it was fun to do so!

Today's image is brought to you by the letter R... wait... sorry, mild flashbacks of Sesame Street, ahem. Today's image provoked me to edit with something aged in mind once again. Sepia shots of old rose gardens with some hand tinting came to mind for this one. Taken in the right light, roses have this lovely crisp texture to them so I was dying to try finding something to compliment that in editing. I found it when I used a duplicate layer to add a sepia conversion and used curves on the same layer to pop the mid tones and highlights. I dropped the opacity on that duplicate till I liked how much color showed through for effect. Another layer was applied with a textured old canvas effect, and I used the eraser tool to soften and remove some of it especially around the roses. Layers were flattened, and a bit of high pass sharpen applied at the hard setting which suited the overall look.

I think I may have to print this one as a canvas... makes me think of some of the old postcards that my grandmother collected way back in the day. And I think I may do a series for cards, which will finally be going up on the website for ordering within the week.

Thanks for the Friday ramble... get out there and capture your vision folks!

Simple Decisions ~ Exploration Thursday!

"Cascade"

(1/8 sec.@ F/16, ISO 100, 50mm fl panned, dark overcast light, potato vine as subject)

Simple and uncomplicated. Two words that can describe photography when you decide they should. You can find yourself walking up to some potato vine draping over a planter, decide you like how it naturally spills over the edge, and just as easily decide to allow that one feature to inspire your next image.

You can decide that the fun is in the photographing. That panning your camera across and downward will yield colorful and expressive results. You can decide to let your camera and your skills convey how you feel, not just what you see.

See? Simple and uncomplicated. You look through the myriad of experiments on the screen back at the computer... and suddenly stop at the one image that speaks to you the loudest. You decide to leave it pretty much as it was straight out of the camera with some slight adjustments. Surely if it immediately conveys the sense of motion and vibrancy to you, it will do the same for others.

If they decide to let it.

Simple and uncomplicated. I've made no bones about the fact that I like to decide to use that as my approach in photography more often than not. Behind the lens, and in the digital darkroom. The act of photography has to be that simple, or the pursuit becomes more of an obligation. And I've simply decided not to let that happen.

What aspect of photography you love is always your decision, and everyone is different. Just decide to stay true to it, and then enjoy yourself. It's really that simple.

Vintage With Meaning ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"Memories of Papa's Garden"

Today for Telephoto Tuesday, I felt like going back in time. I have always had a very strong connection to gardens and flowers, and it's in part because I'll never fathom how the Creator began to design such varied beauty down to the tiniest detail for us to enjoy, and also because I've been told I spent my earliest years out in my Papa's garden watching him coddle and prompt various wonderful plants into bloom long before I could even pronounce their names. Indeed, there are quite a few pics of me as a toddler sitting amongst the garden ornaments of little ducks or with the cat, Papa's flowers in profusion behind.

So the other day, when out photographing my garden, the light seemed flat no matter what I did in camera. A very flat grey sky was all I had to work with. But after some thought on what I'd want to accomplish in editing, I decided one approach would be to do a little digital darkroom playing and try to add some age or retro effects to give it some life. So I photographed with that goal in mind, using the telephoto lens to get shallow DOF, selective focus, and solid groupings of flowers that would lend themselves to a 70's treatment.

I've been especially wanting to find the right use for the Monday Morning Violet filter from Nik Color Effx. Whenever I see the results it takes me back to those old photos of me in my sunbonnet with my grandparents in the garden... so in Corel I brightened the original shot for today's post in an adjustment layer before putting it into the Nik filter, adjusted to retain highlights and shadow, then used the clarify option to add some definition. I also duplicated the layer, and subtly added an old paper texture, using the eraser tool to erase the texture from the flowers so they aren't overwhelmed and stand out.

The framing is a Corel picture frame filter added last. It makes it feel like a photo you can pick up and hold... unlike today where it seems no one actually prints their photos anymore.

I look at this and automatically am transported back to having "real" tea parties that always ended in a game of hide and seek with Papa, or a game of chase - Papa chasing the cat out of his flowers for the fourth time in an afternoon. He passed away while I was still very little, but if I think hard enough I can see his large hands and his huge work boots... and every garden somehow makes me think of him.

Thanks for the ramble back in time folks, and have a good one! Find a memory you have always loved, and then find a way to honor it in a photo by you!

Hibiscus ~ Mono Monday!

"Rose of Sharon"

(1/15 sec.@ F/18, ISO 160, 200mm fl, Remote Shutter/Tripod, Overcast light)

I find Hibiscus challenging to capture properly and with any kind of finesse. They are only in their prime individually for about a day or so, then wilt considerably. I find it easier to photograph them before they fully open. The long flimsy petals crease, flop over, and stick together once they've bloomed. I stand out on the lawn with my camera and I find myself muttering things under my breath like, "come on, work with me girls!!!" as I try to find a single perfect flower to photograph. And if profuse on the tree, the blooms stand out in the background like a bad quilted effect, splotchy and clumped. So I thought I'd try to find a specimen from my front garden that would be workable as a monochromatic image today. It took some doing.

I let the fact that it was overcast after a rain, and that I wanted to use my telephoto, which is a fairly slow lens in low light, to dictate that I needed my tripod and remote so there was zero camera shake. I also know that in low light, my camera doesn't have great noise control when going higher than 200 ISO so I kept it down, also constituting the need for the tripod since after I metered and checked my histogram I realized my shutter speed needed to be longer to let in enough light.

I converted the image to B&W in PSPx2 by using the Platinum Film Fx filter and Curves to fine tune the exposure a bit while in Raw. Some high pass sharpen was applied when everything else was done. In the end, it reminds me of film instead of digital and I like how it looks as a print, with some texture almost.

Hope you all like it! This one goes out to my buddy Lonnie, who is always reminding me not to forget my love of B&W.

Thanks for the ramble, and have a great Monday gang!