Concert Photography

From a distance, these shots are really hard. This is Adam Levine of Maroon 5 shot Saturday night at Madison Square Garden from the 5th level, Section 210.  DSLR's are not allowed in unless you have a valid press pass.  P&S are. I brought in a Fuji x10 with a small zoom lens up to 112mm.  Exposure was center weighted and knocked down a stop to compensate for the bright spotlight.  The spotlights were always changing brightness and color even increasing the challenge.  To stop the action I shot at ISO 1600 giving me a 1/40 sec Tv with f2.8.  Not a great shot, but one that you can learn from.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Bear Clan Pow Wow

I really liked the composition of these dancers. I thought it might be enhanced by some filters in Snapseed. I like the result! Enjoy, Jeff

iPhone 5 and TRUE HDR

 

 

 

 

 

Great day for a snowshoe hike in Thatcher Park.  Cold at 10-15 degrees but pristine, peaceful and fun.  These were all shot with True HDR on the iPhone 5 and edited within the App.  The iPhone 4, 4s and 5 can all do HDR with 2 exposure ranges of one image and create a decent pic.  However, you can not edit it further in the Camera App and must move the image to another editing App like Snapseed, Photoforge and so forth.  The HDR effect creates an image with greater contrast, dynamic range and perceived sharpness than the standard camera App.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Slim Black Devil

 

 

 

 Mike Raso over at The Film Photography Project turned me on to The Slim Black Devil film camera.  It is a little black cam with a 22mm lens, one exposure only, F11@1/125 second.  No focusing ring- just point and shoot!  I used Fuji Provia 200 print film and am very happy with the results, especially #2.  I had to clone and paint out my shadow in that one and do some noise reduction in Noise Ninja.  Pretty cool, huh?  Enjoy, Jeff

645PRO on iPhone 5

  

The iPhone 5 has an 8 MP sensor which when paired with 645PRO as a camera App, you have a competitive image making machine!  It is not a DSLR but can compete with most pocket P&S cameras.  This App with its DSLR controls can create a 22.9MB TIFF image, not compressed or sharpened by the iPhone default camera.  You get the closest thing to a RAW image you can get from a Smartphone.  This image once loaded into iPhoto, or any photo editor,  can be further edited like any photo.

Thus the iPhone can be used for quick fun shots using the default camera, Hipstamatic, Instagram or Camera+, or like a "real" camera for large printable images.  We are in a great photographic era!  Enjoy, Jeff

Restoring Old Photos

Original

 

Final

Restoring old photos is a passion of mine.  One trick I learned from Katrin Eismann ( get her book) is when there is this much damage, find where it lies within the photographic information.  The mold seen lies mostly in the Blue and Green channels.  By converting the image to a monochrome only using the Red channel, the mold spots go away!  Of course much more was done to get to the final result.  It was a fun 3 hours of work.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Thatcher Cliffs

  We had a fresh snow and I was fortunate enough to get out to a pristine place during the snow.  This is the overlook to the Indian Ladder Trail at Thatcher park in Albany.  This was the best composition

I could make given the location.  I used a Fuji X10 at 28mm, ISO 40 and Tv of 1/140 sec.  This allowed for a sharp handheld shot.  When I see this I feel winter, I feel cold.  That is the what I want the viewer to feel as well.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Shape and Form

I look for opposites. Contrasting shapes are one example, especially when in proximity to each other. The rounded structure is The Egg, a theater complex. The linear building part of the Empire State Plaza in Albany

Shot with iPhone 4 using True HDR. Enjoy, Jeff

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2013 from my beautiful wife Jeanette,  and me .

Capitol Hills Black and White

Capitol Hills Black and White.  Shot this AM with a Fuji x10 as a  3 color, 1 stop bracket,  Processed in Photomatix as a Monochrome Image.  I really like the punch of this image.  Enjoy, Jeff

Dynamic Light App

This a great App to create an HDR effect with a single image. You have the ability to adjust the strength and the radius of the effect. The first image in each pair is the original.

Street Shoot

 Both shot today with the Fuji X10, set in B&W with a red "digital" filter, ISO 3200, f5.0, zone focused manually to 5-12 feet, cable release.  Camera was around my neck and cable release inside my coat. This is a stealth method that is near undetectable!  Minimal processing in iPhoto.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Going for a smoke.

 

Fuji Fp100c Fun

So,  Again these instant images.  The top is the peeled positive and the bottom, the reclaimed negative using the thick Clorox bleach method.  After scanning the neg,this is what i got. Certainly more detail, but way more funkier in color changes.  Enjoy, Jeff

Homefront fuji fp100 Positive

 

Homefront fuji fp100 Negative

 

Instant Filmography!

Goats Indian Ladder  fuji fp100  

 

Homefront Cafe Altamont NY fuji fp100  

From Pentax 67II to iPhone to Instant Film, the joy of photography continues.  These were shot with a Polaroid EE Special Packfilm camera and Fuji FP100c film.. These are the positive images.  I reclaimed the negatives tonight using the glass plate, thick Clorox technique and am waiting for them to dry.  Later I'll scan them and see if there is more detail or usability in them over the prints.  I edited these in iPhoto.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Film!

A few entries below are some shots of the Victorian Stroll taken with the Fuji X10,  I also brought my Mamiya 645 Medium Format film camera with a 200 mm Lens ( =to135mm in 35mm format) shot at f4.  I used Ilford HP 400 B&W film  shot at ISO 400.  All images are manually focused and Tv set by camera's meter, which was very accurate.  Of the 15 frames shot, not one was improperly exposed.  These images are taken from a CD Scan made at the time of developing by The Darkroom, in California.  There has been no editing of any kind.  I am really impressed with the detail of the shadows, the richness of all the tones and the Bokeh of the lens.  This is best seen in photo 4.  Note the out of focus background.

Enjoy, Jeff

  

Thomas and Friends

We have iPhoneography and now we have Instant Filmography! 

One of the things I love about photography   is that you have so many options to choose for imaging fun.  I use digital, medium format film, iPhone and now "back to the past", using instant film.  Polaroid no longer makes instant film and a Polaroid like film is Made by The Impossible Project.  However, it is really expensive.  The alternative is Fuji's FP100c, a color film for Land  packfilm cameras.  This peel apart film, is in a 6x9 format and under bright light can produce some stunning prints.  Furthermore, it creates a true negative that can be "reclaimed" using Clorox bleach. 

 My new buddy, Michael Raso, over at The Film photography project (http://filmphotographyproject.com) gave me some great advice about shooting this film in the cold, that was really invaluable.  If you enjoy film as I still do, I strongly suggest you head over to his site for many useful tips as well as fun and educational podcasts.  This shot taken in waning light near days end was made with a Polaroid EE Special camera and the Fuji FP 100 film. This camera has a plastic lens and focusing distance guess scale on the lens.

 This is the positive image without the edges pulled away, giving it a kinda' grungy look.  Later. I'll reclaim the negative and play around with that after it is scanned.

Enjoy, Jeff

Another Tragic Day in America

Taken this year in the late afternoon on Friday, December 14. John on Main Street, grieving in Altamont , NY . When are we going to stop this madness . The lives of our children have more import than the rights of gun enthusiasts to have any weapon they want.  Jeff

Another Way

Another way to have fun with a photo.  This was processed first in Snapseed then in Lo-Mob as a 6x9 old polaroid pack film negative.  Polaroid had and now Fuji has a negative from the instant film that you can bleach out the chemicals, scan and edit the image.  Enjoy, Jeff

Two ways of Visualizing

Shots of a pretty Victorian dressed girl shot during the Stroll.  Note the original vs the aged effect create in Old Photo Pro.  Enjoy, Jeff

Troy HDR Images

Troy Steel Doors

 

Troy Wall

If eyes are kept open, there is so much to see and shoot.  On my way back to the garage today, I saw these walls right there!  I knew they had HDR potential so shot them as a set of 3 bracketed images 1 stop apart.  I used the Fuji X10, and the camera strap braced around my neck as I pushed the camera out in front.  This is a great technique to become the tripod for steady shooting.  The images were processed in Photomatix Pro.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Today's Photo Shoot

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

   

 

Today Was Troy's Victorian Stroll.  Met up with several other Photo Club Members for a walk and shoot!  These were all done on the Fuji X10, ISO 400, no PP after other than than the Uber-cool monochrome of the models in the store front capturing the reflections of the buildings opposite.  I really like that look.  A bit artsy! I shot 15 B&W portraits with the Mamiya 645e MF film camera.  We'll see how they turn out.  Enjoy, Jeff