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For months I have wanted to shoot this old train. I found it tucked away in a corner of a town in Northeast Georgi; almost as if it was left there and forgotten. Sometimes I find things that have nothing to do with people or portraits and I am drawn to them. This is one of those examples.
As I look at the outside windows it seems that the train is in motion and passing life by outside. And that is what it I am sure happened so many time so long ago.
I received a call the other day from some local realtors asking if I would help them with a new listing that they had. It was a big deal for them and they wanted to make sure they could do the best they could. They had been working with the homeowner for 2 years and felt they really needed to go all out for their client. And for a $1.3mm house, I think I would go all out as well.
We spoke about what they were looking for and what they needed. The project ended up taking a bit more time then I planned on, but I wanted to makes sure that they got it right and had a client who was thrilled with the images of their home. Below are some of the shots that I took.
As a PS: yes, these are all HDR. And no, I don’t think that is cheating. The goal is to show off the house right? And I think these images do just that.
Last night I attended a talk given by John Mariana at the Roswell Photographic Society. The topic was Fine Art with Photoshop and Adobe Raw. To be honest, I was not all that thrilled to go. While I thought I might pick up one or two small things, I did not expect much. But what occurred was just the opposite; What I walked away with, I believe may change how I look at post processing. In other words, it may be one of the larger things I have ever learned.
I know that many people say you should never fix or change something in Photoshop; The way it comes out of the camera is the way you should present it. To that I say boo-ha-ha; and I always have said that. Even before digital photography took off, everyone made changes to their images. It may not have been called post processing, but they were still changes. It is just that these changes occurred in the darkroom rather then on a computer.
My goal in presenting an image is to see it the way I saw it when I snapped the shutter. If I really go over the top, number 1, people can tell and number 2, I admit it. The ultimate goal is to capture the viewers imagination and build excitement.
What John spoke about last night was nothing really new. I was familiar with each of the tools in Photoshop that he spoke about. Some I knew were there, but I had forgotten them or just gotten into a habit of not using them. But it was the way he presented his information and at that moment, for some reason, it just resonated in me. So what did I learn? Two very simply things really: 1) In our culture, we read left to right. So your image should be viewed that way. 2) If the lines aren’t straight, straighten them. Nothing earth spattering. But it is one of those small things that I think will allow me to get that much better in the images that I present.
Below are two images that I have taken this past year. Neither are out of this world shots, but I wanted to show you my point. The first two images are exactly the same, but with one minor difference, I switched the horizontal position from one side to the other. Look at the top image; That is the “final image”. Below that is how I started out. On the top image, my eye seems to naturally lead from the left to the right. On the bottom shot, it felt forced. Again a minor change, but now it just feels right; I enjoy the flow of it more.
The 2nd series has the same change as above, but this time, I straightened up the lines. When I took this shot, it was impossible for me to get level with the building. But with some minor tweaks in Photoshop, it now looks just like I saw it.
I love technology. But in reality, I love learning even more!!
Last night, I was editing some photos that I took at a wedding recently and I decided to have some fun with one of them. I wanted to create a kind of surreal look and feel. I chose this shot because I loved her eyes and their intensity. She seemed perfect (or at least the shot did) to try to do something fun.
After I was done, I showed it to my wife and she said that while it looked cool, she didn’t like it at all. I then showed it to a photographer friend who basically said the same thing.
So I am now wondering what to think. I still like it, but am I nuts? What do you think? I don’t think I would ever use it in a wedding album, but for something a bit different, why not? Right??
Last month I spoke about a local band that had asked me to put together a CD cover for them. If you recall, I gave them a few choices and options. After a lot of thought and a few times of going back and forth, they finally made their choice. Below is a draft of their cover and I could not be more excited. Not only am I thrilled with their choice, but I just love how it turned out.
I have found that there are some images that you see that just strike you; for one reason or another they stand out in your mind. When that happens to me, I always have a hard time putting my finger on just why that happens. But I know that for some reason they stick out and I am drawn to them.
One of my favorite authors is Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His book El Amor en los Tiempos del Cólera or Love in the Time of Cholera has always been one of my favorites. For the same reason that a photography sticks out at me, a book will as well.
This image was taken in the French Quarter of Ahmedabad India earlier this year. Ahmedabad sits on the northwest side of the country; It has both a large Hindu and Muslim population. But as I discovered as I was going around the city, it used to have a French population as well. This small area used to be occupied by the French over 100 years ago. The same buildings that they lived in are still there and now used by the local population.
As I saw this window, for some strange reason the story from Garcia Marquez jumped into my mind. It seemed to remind me of the story and the place that it occurred in. I am not sure of the correlation between the two, but that was literally the first thought that entered into my mind.
A week or two ago I was asked to see what I could come up for a local band that wanted to use a lime and a shot glass as their cover for their CD that is coming out soon. I have to be honest, I though long and hard about this one; it was a bit intimating. How should I light it? One light or two? Grids? Reflectors? What is the background? Bright? Dark? Moody? Etc etc.
With a little bit of influence from Zack Arias and his One Light Workshop off I went. And below is the initial result, I am not sure what they will think. I sent them a few to look over today and I am sitting here with bated breath waiting for their feedback. They will either love the samples I sent over or they will hate them;. OK, I guess it could be in between as well. More than anything, this was an experience. I am very used to working with people. But a product? Well, that is very different. But I guess the good news is that they don’t talk back!
Not sure if #1 or #2 is my fav. But I think it is #2.
