Portrait in Black and White

This is Bart, a Harley enthusiast that I shot a few years ago. Like the Latino Fair shot below, club rallies also make a great place for people photography. You have to know when to ask permission to shoot someone and this is one of those places. I thought this fellow was most interesting with his eye patch, pipe and cane. He reminded me of an old warrior that had seen his share of battles. Shot with a KM Maxxum 7D DSLR , I just today converted it to a B&W image using Simply B&W, on my iPhone. I used a blue filter to darken the walls and his jacket, which also lightened skin tones, making the important central area of this environmental portrait stand out. Added a touch of contrast and grain. Looks like it was shot with Tri X. Enjoy, Jeff

New Terrific Black and White Photo App

This is a photo I edited with Simply B&W. Check it out: a new App for the IPhone that gives you film camera like control over a monochrome image. Colored filters, contrast and brightness adjustments as well as vignette and simple framing is available. This
original color image made a great test image of this photo App
Enjoy, Jeff

The Spanish Dancer

Street Fairs......what a great place for people photography. No need to sneak around. Just blend in, sway with the music, find interesting subjects and shoot! I find most folks are happy that they are being photographed at these events. No need to ask permission and ruin the candid moment. This was a Latino Festival in Albany today. I wandered there with my trusty KM Maxxum 7D and Tamron 28-300 lens. To avoid blur I chose a high enough ISO of 400 that would allow for a fast shutter and enough of an F stop to keep the moving subject sharp. Settings were: F5.6, and 1/800 sec . I included one shot at wider angle to capture the young girl enjoying the dance ( to create the environment of the scene) and one as a portrait close-up, minimizing the background.

Enjoy, Jeff

The Sunflower

Early morning. Radiant light and a sunflower. It doesn't get prettier.
Enjoy , Jeff

The Path

I saw this path yesterday on a morning hike. It's S curve, fence and light intrigued me, I saw it as a painting more than a photograph. Taken with the iPhone I edited it in Photoforge to create an oil painting effect, then tweaked it in Dynamic Light to bring out a bit of the dynamic range. Enjoy, Jeff

Perspective

Barnegat Light. I chose to shoot it from it's base, including the moon still visible at sunrise. Look for different points of view to show your subject. Taken with iPhone and True HDR. Enjoy, Jeff

The Moving Sunset

Taken these eve from the deck of the house in Surf City. I used an App called Slow Shutter which allows you to manually control the shutter Tv and dial in exposure compensation. Setting it to 1 second and 1.5 stops of exposure compensation , I quickly panned the iPhone over the scene which included dunes, dark sand , light sand, water then sky. Further edited in Photoforge and framed in Camera+. I really like the painterly result. Enjoy, Jeff

The Beach

Taken this AM with True HDR on the iPhone. Because of at least a four stop difference from foreground to sky, I chose an HDR approach to capture the dynamic range of the image. A straight shot could have been done with a 4 stop Grad filter on a regular camera after exposure for the foreground. Or, in computer one could use masks and blend modes to balance the exposure. Enjoy, Jeff

Gorilla in Black and White

I took this shot two years ago at the wonderful Bronx Zoo. The Gorilla Habitat is one of the best in the world and allows you a true window in our genetic cousins ( only about 5% DNA difference!). Shooting with a Canon SX10 with its wonderful super-zoom 28-560 lens I captured this shot in color. What a pose this huge male silverback gave me. The color image is nice, but I felt that the color subtracted from the power of the image. Using a great little PS plug-in, "Convert to B&W pro" from the Imaging Factory, I adjusted the color channels that effect the monochrome output very selectively to create this. A link to their site and program

http://www.theimagingfactory.com/data/pages/info/cbwp.htm

Enloy, Jeff

The Mushroom

A simple large bland looking mushroom found in my office parking lot. Put down a tarp, lay down and using my iPhone took the shot. The original was a dull mushroom with ordinary lighting, but this I created in Photoforge 2 using multiple layered effects to create a more interesting image. Enjoy, Jeff

The 1954 Chevrolet

Another example of American design beauty. Shot with a Lumix LX 5 in 1:1 format, ISO 100, f3.5, handheld. Processed in Iris Photo Suite, framed in Camera+ on the iPad. Enjoy, Jeff

The Olds

I have a certain nostalgia for these wonderful gas guzzling cars of the 50's and 60's. Gas was 20-25 cents a gallon, they had great back seats, and were works of design art. Look closely at the hood of this 1956 Oldsmobile . The symmetry, the sleek, unwasted graphic design, the symbol of power over the world. America ruled then, we all knew it and were proud. Technical stuff: taken with a Lumix LX 5 in 16:9 format, ISO 100 at f 3.5. Lightly edited in Iris Photo Suite. Enjoy, Jeff

Instagram. Another creative app for the iPhone. More and more I realize that often the joy in image making is just that, the making. Even with a regular camera we can not recreate the reality of what we saw. I find stretching that reality with artistic creative photography is what gets
me to smile. Enjoy, Jeff

What a perfect subject for an old photo App. This shot of a civil war re-enactor was shot a while ago in color then transformed to a near "period" look with Old Photo Pro on my iPhone. All done at the auto dealer while waiting for my car. What a nice way to pass the time. Enjoy, Jeff