Monday, July 30, 2012

The Impact of Giving

Play Me, I'm Yours
A lot has been happening lately, most of which has been good and I want to write about some of it. 


First, there is a really cool event happening around Salem. The event is sponsored by the Salem Chamber Orchestra and is called Play Me, I'm Yours. The event is ongoing through July 23rd. You can learn more about it here:
http://streetpianos.com/salem2012/


They have placed 11 pianos around town at various parks and street corners. One piano is even on the Union Street Walking Bridge. These pianos are left out for anyone to walk up and begin playing. I played my first today at the Minto-Brown dog park. My youngest daughter learned something new about me today; I used to know how to play piano. I played Open Arms, The Rose, some Chopsticks, a little of Für Elise and rounded things up with an untitled piece I wrote back in High School. My daughter looked at me like I was some sort of alien that replaced her dad, apparently she didn't know I knew how to play at one time. 


A better pianist than I
I played for about ten minutes and then moved over for someone more adept at tickling the ivories than I. My ivory ticklers have rusted over after twenty years of not playing.


The concept behind the Play Me campaign is stunningly simply yet so elegant in its delivery, very much a field a dreams without all the baseball references; if you build it, they will come. 


Every piano I have seen, which is only a small fraction of the pianos available, have had someone sitting at them, playing. Sometimes the person is playing alone, sometimes the person is playing to a gathering crowd. But the message for me is clear; Inspire others to share their talents and that inspiration will carry onward.


Strangers Sharing Beautiful Music
My daughter and I copped-a-squat as another lady took over the role of entertainer. We listened as she played Für Elise in its entirety from memory, yup no sheet music. It was magical and error free, unlike my previous rendition.


She moved on to a rather haunting tune I did not know, but loved, from a composer unknown to me. It was moving, melodic and mesmerizing.  After she finished the two songs, she got up and moved on with her dog, who wasn't too patient with her while she played, to do what they came to do; play in the park with other dogs. Their stop at the piano was spontaneous, much like ours, but it was moving. Sharing music with complete strangers for nothing more than the shear joy of playing music is what it was about. Thank you unknown lady and your 12 year old chocolate colored dog. You brought some joy and inspiration to this man, and his eleven year old daughter.


Looks out of place, but sounds right at home
My daughter and I walked the dog walking loop.


We talked about how things were with her and how she was going coping with the concept that her older sister wouldn't be in the same school as her. 


Her answers were exactly what I expected, short and to the point, but I allowed her the time to communicate her joy, her angst and even her middle ground stance on her feelings about things. I counselled her on how to cope and how to see negative things in a more positive light, coaching that was likely more aimed at myself than her. I encouraged her to pursue the things she was excited about. And then the walk was over. 


We stopped back at the piano and enjoyed another round of tunes before heading back home.


A Beautiful Summer Day at Minto-Brown Park
 As I listened to the musical styling of complete strangers I was able to reflect on a recent decision made for my photography club to withdraw from the State Fair. My organization has been a part of the State Fair's photography exhibit for the last two years and was slated to be a part of it this year, until management at the fair made a series of what I believe are bad decisions and subsequent fumbles. I have been personally/professionally involved with the Fair's Photo Exhibit as well; as a judge of the Student/Youth division, a staff member, a presenter and an exhibitor as well. 


So many changes are happening at the fair in the name of budget cuts; unfair things that will end up hurting an aspect of what makes a State Fair a State Fair and not just another carnival rolling into town. It all comes down to your local senate and house representatives making cuts everywhere and even threatening to cut the fair's budget completely which means closing the fair. It doesn't help that that the State Parks department doesn't even like owning the fair; something tossed in their laps by the same Senators and House Reps a few years back.


One of the ways giving can impact you is when the opportunity is removed. When all you want to do is give, but there is nobody willing to receive it; that is difficult for me. I don't have a huge ego, but when I say I want to help and the response is lackadaisical, I move on to find an organization that will snatch me up and put me to work. I like to give for the simple act of giving. I don't need recognition or pats on the back. I do it because at my core I want to make the world a better place. I can do that by giving. But if my offer to help is not received and put into action I am left feeling disappointed.


The decision for our organization to withdraw from the fair was not made lightly and without deep discussion of the facts and possible alternatives. After explaining the situation to the group's leadership and debating the weight of the situation, a unanimous vote was had that it was in the best interest of our organization to withdraw and apply our energies elsewhere. So now we are left with a hole that needs filled and the group's leadership has stepped up to offer some amazing ideas. So we will see what we can do to fill that hole for our group, for the community. Much like the Play Me, I'm Yours event, we are looking to open the door of opportunity for others to share their beautiful talents with the community if for nothing else, to make a complete stranger's day a little brighter.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Luck - The Good and the Bad

Sunset on the Water
Seneca, a first-century Roman philosopher, once said luck is when preparation meets opportunity. That is a great explanation of good luck. Bad luck on the other hand is the cause of one of two things; the lack of opportunity or the lack of preparation. 


I take ownership of my own luck, at least as much as I can. If I am not prepared it is my own fault. That's right, my fault.


If I know there is something that I want to photograph, I make sure sure to do what I can to make myself available to do it. 


Sometimes luck means I have to abandon something else that I want to do, like stay at home and have a quiet evening with my wife. But each and every time, luck requires me to say yes to opportunity when it comes knocking. 


And opportunity knocked on my door yesterday. And I said yes.
Faded Brillance


My friend, and fellow photographer, Liz Smith, called me up yesterday and asked me if I heard about the possible Aurora Borealis happening. I said, "No". 


She asked if I would be interested in going out and shooting it. I said definitely. It has been a goal of mine to just see an Aurora Borealis since I was a kid and learned about them. One of the biggest challenges has been my luck.


See I have spent my entire living at or below the 45th parallel, that is halfway between the North Pole and the Equator, in Oregon. As luck would have it, the Aurora Borealis don't dip down to the 45th parallel very often. 


Another bit of luck is the fact that I live in the state of Oregon. If you are not from around here, there tends to be considerably more overcast days than not here in Oregon. That is not a complaint, but simply an observation supporting my story of luck. I don't complain about the weather like so many others I know. I love cloudy skies during the day because cloudless skies are boring for a photographer.


Starry Sunset


To be an aspiring astrophotographer living in a perpetually overcast state like Oregon usually can be, is sort of bad luck. Being an aspiring astrophotographer looking to photograph the Aurora Borealis and living beneath the 45th parallel is a double tap to the bad side of luck. 


So when opportunity presents itself, even if it is only a thirty percent chance, I jump on it. Thirty percent was the chance that the  Aurora Borealis would be visible at the 45th parallel.


The skies were clear; opportunity. The sun had sent a sizable, M-Class, coronal mass ejection (CME) right at us; opportunity. I made myself available; prepared. I tracked the coming solar storm online; prepared. But alas the Aurora dream would remain such, a dream. 


The Aurora Borealis never made an appearance at the 45th parallel because the CME was not strong enough; no opportunity.


But I didn't let that take away from the beautiful evening and great company of my wife and Liz. 


We even had a surprise encounter with another photographer friend, Nathan Smith and his wife and son, Heather and Noah.


All of us made the best of the Aurora Borealis show, sans the Aurora Borealis, and had a great time and captured some amazing images of sky, both during and after sunset.


In the end the Aurora Borealis never made the opportunity available. But I made some beautiful photographs and shared a beautiful evening with some wonderful friends and my wife. It was a lucky day after all.


Are you prepared? If not; Why not?

Saturday, July 14, 2012

A New Experiment

Just seeing if there is value to this tool.

Vacation for the Heart and Mind

Inland
Abstraction of Light
This is my 700th blog post. That is a lot of posting. I started my vacation inland taking in the natural beauty the Earth provides with a little help from the Light of Sun.

My goal with this vacation trip was to shoot everything with natural light and my new Vivitar 70-200mm lens. I accomplished those objectives for the most part, using my Tamron 17-50mm lens for only a few landscapes.

The image to the left is an abstraction of light illuminating the leaves of a tree through the forest canopy. This was done intentionally, using the natural light bouncing off the tree leaves and a naturally darker area that fell in the shadow and I moved my camera to create the movement.

Contrast of Light and Dark
Again, using the natural light falling through the forest canopy to allow the light to fall on the subject and leave the background in shadow I was able to capture and isolate the subject.

This is a technique I have been working to master for a couple of years now. Like all things in photography, this technique requires some compromise of others choices, such as composition as the shadowed area might not always be in line with how you may want to compose the image and depth of field with adjustments to the aperture. Another compromise is exposure, in which the subject might not be as brightly lit as you would like due to the low light; see the middle image below as an example.

Delicate Fern

Lightly Lit Leaves

Bloom in Contrast

Ocean Side

Patterns
Heading to the beach, I found natural patterns as well as man-made structures.

The patterns that can be found in the sand are as varied as the fingerprints on the people in the world. All you have to do is look around with an open mind.

 Observing the patterns is as simple as looking at the bigger picture and ignoring the smaller details from the onset. Once I have captured the patterns I then move in and look at the details.
Sand Patterns
The above photograph and the photograph to the right we both shot within ten feet of each other.

Again, just by looking, I was able to find both of these photos. It takes a shift, an intentional shift, in the way I see to be able to see the patterns. It can be difficult. It is a lot like trying to the forest for the trees or trying to see the sailboat in the middle of a poster of patterns of static (popular in the early 90s).

Once the shift happens I start seeing the patterns everywhere. I see the patterns in wood, sand, gravel, asphalt and even in crowds of people. After practicing for years, I can now switch from one mode to another and back again.

It just takes time to develop the ability to switch it over if it doesn't come to you naturally.

Fossil Love
Sandcastles in Triplicate
Metamorphosis


Aquatic Adventures
The sand of time lead to the sea
I have a huge fascination for waves. I will let those images speak for themselves.

Patterns in the Waves

Green Crush

Afternoon Light

Back to Back
 The best way to photograph waves for me is to shoot in the light of the afternoon sun, but that is because I am on the left coast. If I were to be standing at the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, I would shoot early morning, an hour after sunup. This is what helps makes the waves glow.

Aloft

Subjects in the sky are always of interest for me. But I typically don't shoot things that are directly overhead because the underside of a bird isn't as interesting to me as it flying at me.

Goodnight Moon
Burning Sky
Sun Sets on Another Day

And Finally, I love it when subjects in the sky make their way to the ground.

That's all for now. Do yourself a favor, take a few days and find your artist. It is an amazing journey.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Free Texture Friday

Sand Texture
Today is Free-Texture-Friday and today's free texture is a great natural texture of sand patterns.

Nature provides some of the best patterns to use in images.

Click here to see the full resolution file, then right click and save.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Lightroom Tutorials - Importing Images and Watermarking

A member of my photography club emailed me a couple of questions about Lightroom and rather than answer via an email response I thought that I would address these questions via a blog post. The first question was in regards to image/catalog management specific to importing images and the second question was about how to create a watermark for your images.

Let's address the first question first. Can we set it up somewhere in LR that the 'already' imported images will be automatically 'unchecked' when we are ready to import new files?
Lightroom 3.6 Import Interface

The easy answer is yes are a couple of ways to not have images in your catalog automatically unchecked or ignored altogether.

Select New Photos option
The first possible method is used the file options, All Photos is selected by default. Change this to New Photos and this should show only new photos, or photos that do not exist in your catalog already.

This may have odd effects, such as if you store all your photos in one location and just import them into your catalog. If you are doing this, when you remove an image from your catalog, without deleting it from the disk, the image will reappear in your import dialog each and every time you do a new import. This is because the image doesn't exist in your catalog but still exists in the folder. 

Don't Import Suspected Duplicates
The second option, which will have similar results as the above but remains checked for each import until you uncheck it. Under the file handling on the top-left panel of the import dialog, you can click the Don't Import Suspected Duplicates checkbox. Again, this only works if the image exists in the catalog already, but could prove problematic.



Image management can be tricky, but successful image management starts with how we import our images. As a part of my workflow I always move the images to a new destination from a separate Import folder on my desktop. This ensures that the only images shown in my import dialog are the new images from my shoot. This is one of the fundamental workflow things that I teach in my Lightroom Workshops.

Lightroom Watermarking
The second question that was asked is; How do I add watermark / copyright on the images?

The easiest way to add a copyright to an image is to put a copyright notice in the metadata. Then when exporting or printing select the Simple Copyright Watermark which used the copyright metadata entry for the source of the text for the watermark.

There is a lot to understanding watermarking. Watermarking is a very powerful way to brand your images. In addition to Metadata, watermarking gives a visual clue to who made the image. But offers little as a deterrent to theft. 

If you are watermarking your images to prevent image theft you might as well be using a Chihuahua for an attack dog; just not that effective. Watermarks can be cropped or cloned out of image easily. They have little impact as measure of theft prevention.

Lightroom allows you to add two types of watermarks; text and an image. The text watermark allows you to put any text you want to. An image watermark allows you use whatever you want as a watermark. The image above uses an image so I can brand my photos with not only my domain name, but also my logo. The image also gives me access to thousands of fonts rather than the select few Adobe allows Lightroom to have access to.

The first step is to create a new watermark in Lightroom is to click on the Edit menu and select Edit Watermarks... menu item.

This will open the Watermarks dialog box, below.






To create a text watermark, select Text as the Watermark Style: option.

Enter the text you want to have as your watermark. This may simply be your name, or ©, year and your name, for example; © 2012 Jane Doe Photography or simply your business name. 

As a bonus for this article, to type the copyright symbol, simply press and hold the Alt key while you type 0169 on the 10 key keypad then release the Alt key. This trick doesn't work without a 10 key keypad, so if you are using a laptop without a 10 key keypad, simply copy and paste the © from this or any other website.

Now under the Text Options in the dialog box you can change the font, style alignment and color of the text. You can also add a shadow to the text and adjust the shadow's opacity, offset, radius and angle. 

Scrolling down through the watermark options you can also change the Watermark Effects. This allows you to change the opacity of the watermark. Making a watermark a little transparent helps it to not over power the image. 

You can change the Size of the watermark, to fit the image, make it proportional or fill the image. I typically use Fit in this option because regardless of the size or orientation (landscape/portrait) of my export, it fits in the area I set it up to do. The other size options have strange results from time to time. 

The Inset adjustments allow you slightly shift the watermark left, right, up and down to get it aligned the way you want. The inset adjustments are in relation to where the watermark is anchored, described below.

The Anchor tools allow you anchor the watermark to a specific area of the image; top left, top center, top right,  middle left, middle center, middle right,  bottom left, bottom center, bottom right.

Watermarking using an image works just the same as a text watermark, except you are using an image. Under the Image Options you will click on the Choose... button.

This will open a dialog box where you can select images you have already made for use as a watermark. 

The adjustment sliders all work the same for the image watermark as they do for the text.

Once you have your watermark made, click the Save button. Give the watermark preset a name and click the Create button.

Now comes the time to use the watermark.


If you are printing from Lightroom, there is an option to include the watermark in the printout. This is a great option for printing client proofs. In the Print module, simply check the Watermarking option and select the watermark you wish to use.

For exporting your image for use on the web, you scroll through the export options and near the bottom check the Watermark checkbox and select the watermark you want to use. 

As you can see you can have many watermarks. This can be beneficial if you are doing work under multiple businesses as well as having top and bottom, as well as left and right aligned watermarks, as well as dark, light and even numerous color versions so you can theme the watermarks to match your images.

That's it for now. I hope this answers some of your questions about file management and watermarking. Feel free to email if you have any specific questions about Lightroom.
 

Friday, July 6, 2012

Artist Versus Analyst

Following the Rule of Thirds
Let me preface the following statement with: this is not a post about how great a photographer I am. My ego is in healthy check. Now that I have said that I can say: I am generally a pretty good photographer. 

As a photographer and teacher of photography I preach the rules of photography. I preach about composition; the rule of thirds and filling the frame. I preach about exposure and the histogram. I preach about subjects needing to be interesting. I preach about light and shadow and how to make them work.

I also practice these things, some times to a point of my Analyst squashing my Artist. My artist asks what-if questions and my Analyst doesn't like what-if scenarios. My Analyst knows that 1 + 1 = 2 and that is not to be challenged, ever.

The image above was an attempt by the Analyst to make a technically good photograph. I followed the rule of thirds. The horizon is not in the center plane of the photograph. I properly exposed the subject. I did everything right. Yet the image lacks pop and impact. This image would not be able to move a turd with bulldozer, let alone move someone emotionally. I might as well have photographed a black cat in a black room with the lens cap on. If I were to post this by itself, it would have likely received a few obligatory comments, if that, but it definitely would not have moved anyone.

Following my Artist
Then there is this photograph to the right. The photograph breaks several of the rules mentioned above. Lets start with the composition. The horizon is on the center plane of the photograph. The subject, the sun, is dead center in the image. Rule of Third/Fill the Frame rule is thrown out the window.

Now let's talk about exposure. In relation to the rest of the image, the lower right corner is under exposed. This leaves a dead spot in the image technically speaking.

Technically speaking, this image is a train wreck. But from an artistic standpoint, this image moves people in spite of the rules. This photograph evokes an emotional response that the first photograph could not. Why? Because I allowed the scene to move me before I tried to capture it. My Artist saw what was beautiful about the scene and captured it shutting down my Analyst

So when I posted my Artist's photograph on social media sites it received more comments and "likes" than most of my images usually get. As a matter of fact, I had five "favorites" from complete strangers, people I don't follow or don't follow me, within fifteen seconds of posting it.

What makes one photograph work and the other not? The first photograph was a true attempt at capturing the scene of a setting sun. It was shot with a Nikon D200 using the 200mm lens with careful consideration on exposure and composition. It was edited using Adobe's Lightroom with some dodge and burn and noise reduction. A professional photograph from professional equipment.

The second image was made using my cell phone and an HDR app that anyone can buy for $3.49 from the Android App Store of your choice. The photo was edited on my phone using Instagram. Both photos were taken by the same photographer; me. So why the huge disparity between the two? Is a camera phone that much better than a Nikon DSLR? I have said it many times, it's not the camera that makes an image it's the photographer. The failure of the first was a result of my Analyst being in control and the success of the second was the difference between my Analyst and my Artist.
Trusting my artist
Sand Patterns
I think I know what happened; how my Analyst got in control at the start. When I first got to the scene I was thinking, location, shot lists, exposures and composition. I set up, pointed the lens, fired a frame or two recomposed, refocused, fire again. Rinse and repeat. I didn't let the scene talk to me and let me know what it was showing me. My Analyst doesn't see such things. I was focused on getting the specific shots I wanted or thought I should get given the rules of photography. I was hell bent to get "The Shot" even if the scene wasn't really showing me "The Shot". My Artist was buried in the world of technicalities.

I finally put my camera aside, unhappy with the results. Took in the breath-taking scene for several minutes. I saw what was happening; I wasn't seeing the sunset through the sun. I shut down my Analyst and my Artist came rising to the surface. I grabbed my phone, opened the HDR app and fired off three frames. I stuck my phone back in my pocket as the HDR app was processing the three image series. I grabbed my camera and walked back to the campfire we had on the beach to warm up. 

I put my camera away and sat on a log by the fire. I grabbed my phone, saved the resulting photograph and shared it via Instagram. I didn't dink around with lots of post processing and cropping and tweaking. The photograph didn't need much of anything to make it pop. The photograph captured exactly what my Artist saw in the scene. The photograph captured exactly what the scene made me feel when I finally stopped, shut down my Analyst and took the scene in while my Artist came to the forefront.

I walked away from this experience re-finding the value of not getting lost in the technical aspect of the process. I know the technical aspects of photography, so I need to let go of the Analyst in me more often. I need to allow my Artist to do the job an artist does best. In the end, I know how to use the tools and I know the rules, so my Artist knows how to use the tools and knows the rules. More importantly my Artist knows when to break the rules. I need to trust that more moving forward because when I do, my Artist truly shines.


How about you? When do you struggle between your Analyst and your Artist. Who usually wins? How do you overcome your Analyst? Share in the comment below.

Monday, July 2, 2012

4th of July Preview

Fourth of July
Close Enough to Taste 
Last night was our night to celebrate our independence with our kids. We invited our good friend Liz and her niece Kiersten over for some homemade pizza and fireworks.

4th of July
Blinding Flashes
There are so many ways to shoot fireworks. This year I chose to allow the fireworks to do all of the movement.

I placed my camera on the tripod and triggered it with a remote.

Fun and interesting images resulted.

Enjoy the rest of the evening's images below.







Angry Chicken

Star Bursts

Bombs Bursting in Air

Rocket's not-so Red Glare

1/4 Second Exposure

Ground Flowers

Light Painting

Smoke Signals