Lark Street Photo Shoot

Danny and Al, Martial Artists

 

Kee, Body Builder

These were taken today with my Nikon D200 and the standard 18-105mm Nikkor lens.  Shot in color, these portraits were then converted to Black and White using Topaz Adjust.  I started with the original Charcoal setting and did a lot of tweaking to get this result, similar to "Charles" in an earlier post.   My technique is to approach in a very friendly way, complement, make a little conversation and with permission, get their street portrait.

Enjoy, Jeff

 

Seashore Dream

Slow Shutter

I really enjoy this application, Slow Shutter for the iPhone. This was taken at a local amusement park where we took our grandchildren today. The tilt a whirl was rotating fairly quickly and I captured this at one quarter of the second exposure with a -1.75 exposure compensation so the image would not blowout. The image was edited in Laminar With levels and then Color burn blend mode. A small frame was added at the edges. Enjoy Jeff

iPhone fun in the supermarket

Ordinary shopping for food with Jeanette. Tons of flowers in the flower department. Excellent iPhone photo opportunity! I used SlowShutter to first take a still picture at 1/8 of the second and then a blurred picture at the same speed or picture occurred as I moved the camera over the flowers. Then the image was transferred to Laminar for further editing of curves and so forth and then ultimately to Snapseed for a little detail enhancement white balance correction and a frame
What a great way to have fun while food shopping! Enjoy, Jeff

Waiting

Southwest flight 3211 today. Waiting to disembark. I love the expression on the woman's face in front of me as her patience was a little tried. A fun grab shot with the iPhone 5. Enjoy, Jeff

Charles

I shot Charles in April of this year.  He was  on his bike in Washington Park, I on a bench.  I thought he was a very interesting subject and he agreed to be photographed.  I used a Nikon D200 with a 50mm 1.4 lens set at about f3.5 and composed him to the left of the frame.  Originally in color I converted the image using Topaz Adjust 5 to create a powerful look to an already powerful looking young man.  Enjoy, Jeff

Shooting People

There are many ways to shoot people on the street. My favorite is to meet someone who has a "look" that attracts me, engage them so that we both feel comfortable and then shoot. I simply feel better about this type of portraiture than sneaking a photo. Most importantly, I have made a connection with another person that elevates the photo experience for me. Enjoy, Jeff

Fuji Instax 210

In search of a modern Polaroid system, I discovered the Fuji Instax 210 camera. It is a lightweight but big and bulky plastic camera that uses Fuji instant film. This is not peel apart film but film similar to the later SX-70 Polaroid films. After snapping the shutter it develops in about one minute.

This was my first box of 10 prints shot with the image, I have selected a few which I photographed with my iPhone for uploading purposes. The major purpose of this camera for me right now will be to take photographs of my grandchildren and present them an actual physical print rather than having them looking at a computer screen or a cell phone screen to see their image. Hopefully they will learn to appreciate some of the older analog ways!

I certainly can see future artistic Uses of this camera, however they cannot be manipulated like the older versions of SX-70 film. I look upon this camera as another tool in a great, fun filled hobby.

Enjoy, Jeff

f1.4

Daisies around the corner.  Perfect opportunity to try the Nikon 50mm 1.4 lens Ari gave me for my birthday!!  All were shot at f1.4, ISO 100 and Tv of about 1/1000 sec.  The goal was to create a very shallow DOF, thus isolating the main subject and creating a complimentary blurred background. The first and third shots were edited as color images in iPhoto.  The middle in Topaz adjust using the preset bleach bypass. Enjoy, Jeff

  

 

 

 

 

 

SX-70 Experience

My great friend Cliff and I went to Vassar College today to see the SX-70 Exhibit.  The SX-70 was Polaroid's fantastic SLR introduced in 1972, that used "Instant Film".  This film, the malleable kind that could take up to 2 hrs to harden in warm temperatures was great to manipulate with a stylus.  Sadly, although SX-70 film is now made again by The Impossible Project, it is not the soft kind.  These are some of my shots taken with this film. I was GREAT fun!  Enjoy, Jeff

Newport 2003

Marine Shack AC

Lady Dawn AC Marina

EvianWaterNYC

cushmanmarine

BayouCafe 

SaratogaBurgers

Toasted Sunflower

Schaghticoke WaterGames

 Schahticoke Fair The Guesser

Marine Shack AC BW 

Grandpawoodstock

Lucy the Elephant

A Nature Shoot at Five Rivers

As I am becoming more ambulatory with my walking boot, i thought a little outing to our local nature preserve would be worthwhile this morning.  I used a Nikon D200 DSLR and a 400m Nikon F4 lens.  On a Dx camera that is equal to a 600mm lens, great for wildlife without compromising the animals.  To get a fast shutter speed of a minimum 1/600th second,  I set the ISO to 800 and shot between F8 and F5.6 depending on the light.  The rabbit was at 5.6 for example. 

WB was automatic and then adjusted in iPhoto with subtle editing of curves and contrast. 

It was great to get out and enjoy this special place.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre and Post Development

Shot with an iPhone 5 and "developed" in Laminar. Enjoy, Jeff

Barbara's Flowers

I always look for the light, especially backlighting which really makes translucent objects pop.  This was taken with an iphone 5 using camera+ on 5sec delay shutter to insure steadiness as it was hand held. I blocked the sun from flaring into the lens with a large folder.  Later edited in Laminar. Enjoy, Jeff

iPhone versatility

Original shot with iPhone 5 using Camera+App. No editing

Cropped and Levels applied in Laminar

Using Big lens App to simulate a 1.8 lens on a DSLR, blurred the background leaves and applied a slight vignette.  

Enjoy, Jeff

Sadness

Sometimes you have to be quite secretive and taking a person's photograph of this very sad woman in Sicily. She thought I was playing with my camera button when actuality I was photographing her. I was struck by her facial expression, her sadness which was somewhat contradicted buy her red bright scarf.

Enjoy, Jeff

The Street Portrait

I love street photography. One can capture either candid photographs where the subject is not suspecting that their photograph is being taken or take posed photographs. This photograph of a young man late at night was a combination of both. I saw him walking across the street and was immediately attracted by his appearance as a great subject. I asked him politely if I could take a photo and he gave me permission. I popped up the flash of the Canon G9 camera and took one photograph. I converted it to black and white as I think it has a bit more impact.

Enjoy, Jeff

Simple Portraits

There has been much written about portrait lighting. Many options exist, including using a main light such as a fixed light, a window with soft light and then a reflector to cast some light on the shadow side.  Here I used the camera on tripod and two flashes controlled by a radio wireless transmitter on camera.  The main flash was set to my left about 6.5 feet high firing through a white umbrella, set at full power. The fill light flash set opposite, through umbrella set at half power.  Both flashes were 45 degrees to subjects .  Further fine tuning of exposure was through the camera.  The ambient light portion was set at a 60th second and to control the flash burst, the aperture was set to f9. F9 also allowed for adequate depth of field to insure front to back subject sharpness.  Camera was a Minolta Maxxum 7D DSLR.  Lens, a Sigma 28-70 2.8.  As you can see everything was set up manually.  With adjusting the variables available until the histogram shows a proper exposure, it is not difficult to get it right. Enjoy, Jeff

The Fisherman

A grab shot today out at Lake George with Jeanette my mobility knee scooter.  Shot with a Nikon D200 and its 18-105 kit lens.  I edited it in Topaz Adjust for this bleached slightly grunge effect.  What struck my eye was the perfect composition that this young boy had set up.  The tackle boxes on either side, the worms left, the soda right and the diagonal created by his  and the rods position. Enjoy, Jeff

 

Adirondac

Shot with True HDR then developed in Laminar. iPhone 5. Enjoy, Jeff

The Red Filter

Black-and-white film photographers have been using colored filters for decades. In color photography, a black and white colored filter can be used as well. This is the same image taken from Thatcher Park today. They were both taken with TrueHDR but the second one was cropped to make it more appealing and a red filter was placed over the image "digitally". The red filter on a color image darkens blues and greens and creates more contrast. Thus a punchier look. The filter can be placed of course on the camera but the advantage of digital is you can place it in the processing of the image.  Enjoy, Jeff

 

Morning Light

This is the view from our front porch. Currently I am somewhat disabled as I have undergoing an Achilles tendon repair and have limited mobility.
This was simply shot with my iPhone 5 and processed in Laminar, Dynamic light and then ultimately Retouch applications within the iPhone. It's not a great photograph but it has a certain light, morning airy quality which I find attractive. It was fun doing this as a distraction from my injury and surgery. Enjoy, Jeff