Light and Shadow

Friday Night Photography Post:

Chance is always there. We all use it. The difference is a poor photographer meets chance one out of a hundred times and a good photographer meets chance all the time.

— Brassai

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As Photographers it is Our Responsibility to Understand Light and Shadows.
In this Fast Paced Digital World we live in. With Cell Phone and Point and Shoot Cameras. It’s very easy to get caught up in “Oh That Looks Good”!

Not Realizing that what we see with the human eye doesn’t necessarily work with just pointing and clicking. Taking pictures of everything and anything is a way of life.
Making that image Photographically Correct is a whole Nother Ball Game.

For some reason Photoshop or Digital Darkroom has become a Dirty Word??
Why? Because some people enhance too much. Edit too much and that particular image is exaggerated to such a point it is called “Fake”!!

Making a model thiner? Editing out something? Has always been there. Even in the Old Wet Darkroom Days.. The average snapshot shooter either doesn’t or doesn’t want to understand that Clicking the shutter is just the beginning of the whole overall creative process to create an Image.

A Stray hair? Something in the background that needs to be removed?
To lighten something or even to darken something to make the main idea of an image stand out. That is done in the Digital Darkroom my friends.
You see I never did like the idea of changing someones head and putting it on another body. To me that’s Nonsense.

Unless a camera is setup specifically for shooting in B&W which Yes! There is either a store bought or a body is sent to be converted to a specialist. Those Like Me will shoot in Raw in Color. Then take that image and do a B&W Conversion. Now I mentioned shooting in Raw.

Raw:
Lets the camera sensor loose! It maximizes the latitude. Meaning that a Raw Image will have more range between the brightest Whites and the Darkest Blacks. There is No Loss of information and is not a compressed image.
A JPG Image in the process has 83% of the information thrown away before that image is compressed.

Now I realize that All the images we see on the Net including my images are all JPG right? But I now have All of the image information to play with and control before I Myself make that decision to then convert that image to a JPG to be able to be pushed up to the Net.

My Control!! What I See and What I Want to be Seen!
Now add this to playing with Shadows and Light. A JPG Image is always 8 Bits of information. Depending on the Camera a Raw Image can be 14 Bits of Information.

Ahh ran out of time. Have to do something. I might add to this later.
Have a Great Weekend Everyone.

Mark

Canal in B&W Venice, Italy

Florence, Italy

Matting and Framing

There are two kinds of photographers: those who compose pictures and those who take them. The former work in studios. For the latter, the studio is the world…. For them, the ordinary doesn’t exist: every thing in life is a source of nourishment.

— Ernst Haas

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If your not familiar with Viewbug I highly recommend going over and checking it out! Click Here: https://www.viewbug.com

There are a Lot of very good Photographers posting wonderful images. It Helps in Uping your Game of Photography. They Host a Lot of Contests and Prizes.
So one day I was Logging in to check to see how my images were holding up in several Contests and I had received an Online Coupon for Nations Photo Lab for One 16×20 to be Printed. Gotta tell ya, my Print came back a lot sooner than I expected.
Very High Quality with the True Colors that I had checked and rechecked in Photoshop. It’s been very busy here but yesterday I found a very nice place to have this print Matted and Framed. Seems this place is also affiliated with several Art Leagues and Photography Groups for Competitions and Shows.

Maybe I’ll have the Opportunity to get involved?
In the meantime here is the Image I’m having Framed…

Art!

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What is Art?

Art is anything that was created by someone using a Media that creates an emotional response from the Viewer of that Object! That being said this can also includes a negative emotional response…..

The accepted definition of Art can be found in a lot of places. I’m sharing a Link to Only one. You can thank me later!! Ha

definition of Art

That is why “Art” itself is so objective.
Photography as Art creates a whole different level of arguments. Some positive and a whole Lot of Negatives. Especially from other Photographers who are willing to Deny that Photography can be accepted as “Art”! I have ran into a few of these people through the years and they are unwilling to accept Photography on this level. Why? Beats me!

When going out to full fill my creative urges the main thing I have inside my mind is “Is This Good Enough to hang on a Wall”?
Lighting, Composition, Colors and Interest.

The use of the technical aspect aka the Camera to me is second nature and will do what I have to do out of reflex. Just bearing in mind that I have to have all the correct equipment on hand to perform said tasks. On occasion I’ve had to just make do with what I had because of situations that had come up unexpectedly.

I am going to try and post a few of my images as an example of my interpretations of what I feel Art is. Please share your thoughts!

Thanks!!
Mark

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Harsh Winter Doldrums

Photography Quote:
What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are.
— George Eastman – He lived this philosophy.

I’ve had a difficult time coming here to Post!  I know I’ve been lax but between the reality of my day job and dealing with being called to report to work for Snow Duty!  I found that I didn’t have the creative mindset nor the patience for it.  I still don’t but I’m forcing myself……

This time of year is always rough!  Between the Cabin Fever of not having the time to shoot, as well as the lack of Creativity.  Every time I get an urge to go out into the bad weather or the Snow.  I get that Call!  Doesn’t leave room for getting past writers block.

What do you do keep the mindset fresh and creative?  That’s a good discussion for this week.  The first couple of days into the New Month of March.  We change the clocks ahead this coming weekend.  Spring is in the air and all hopes for at least some better weather are upon us!

I did nevertheless squeeze in a few hours of editing a couple of images from this past years Travel Adventure.  On FaceBook a friend of mine from one of the Photography Groups I am a Member of.  Challenged me to Post one image a day for five days.  So using that as an excuse I went in and searched around for a few images that I’ve never worked on before.  Those that know me know that I try to keep my images a bit on the simplistic side.  Meaning very little in the way of editing.  You know, the basic stuff really.  Maybe some color enhancing or Contrast push.  Maybe a little editing for bringing out the details to make the image pop.  I do have the Google Nik Collection and do use some of the plugins.  Till now I’ve never found a use for the new addition.  The Analog Pro?  Just didn’t seem to strike me for my kind of style if you can call it that.  Till now at least.

I found an image that to me worked perfectly for the ability to make it look “Old Style”.  The one I used for this is called Wet Plate.  So to start my work flow for this image was to enhance the colors and details in Color Efex Pro.  I then took it to Silver Efex Pro to help me with smoothing out the grey tones.  Then finally playing in Analog Pro with the different options I settled on “Wet Plate”.  This made the image come alive with the idea of an old View Camera and Silver Plate with running the Chemicals over it.  Daguerreotype Style if you will.

This is Florence, Italy.  We spent three wonderful days in Florence.  Every morning I would come down to the Arno River at Sunrise to try to capture the Old World Charm!  Let me know what you think!   All Comments and Criticism Appreciated!

© MarkG  Photography All Rights Reserved

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