Project 52, 1st Quarter by Frank Miller (FrankMi)

[FrankMi]

I would also like to express my thanks and appreciation. Indeed I always learn something from your threads. Aside... you've photographed the fountain-scape beautifully... I love the look of the water.

Thank you Christina! I have always been fascinated with the myriad of interesting displays that water in all its forms can present, from snowflakes to waterfalls to cloud patterns.

Perhaps this is why I am so fascinated with Terry's (Loose Canon) water projects.

[FrankMi]

The feedback is very much appreciated Nandakumar and Mark!

[AndrewMcD]

I wonder about conveying the scale of the fountains. The technical specs that you quoted make them sound quite impressive but in viewing the images it is difficult to get a sense of their size. The background buildings are sufficiently far away that they don't provide a reference. People or vehicles with which to compare the size of the fountain would have been distracting.

Your explanations of the planning, strategy and fore thought that goes into making your images is very helpful!

[FrankMi]

I wonder about conveying the scale of the fountains. The technical specs that you quoted make them sound quite impressive but in viewing the images it is difficult to get a sense of their size. The background buildings are sufficiently far away that they don't provide a reference. People or vehicles with which to compare the size of the fountain would have been distracting.

Your explanations of the planning, strategy and fore thought that goes into making your images is very helpful!

Thank you for the kind words Andrew, they are truly appreciated.

An article I read said that the center column was capable of reaching 120 feet high. Most office building are about 10 feet per floor so as tall as a 12 story building is possible. I don't know how high it went for the panorama shot and the water height is limited by the wind speed to keep the water inside the basin so it might not have been at full height in the last image.

[ShaneS]

Thanks for taking the time to explain how you 'worked the scene' and came upon you chosen vantage point for these images. Like others I am impressed by the amount of forethought and planning that you put into your shots, not to mention the technical side which boggles my mind!

[FootLoose]

FWIW Frank, the image that impresses me most is the last one, and that is because of the background ie the sky.

Our lighthouse here is iconic. I have photographed it hundreds of times but it was quite a while until I realised that the only shots worth keeping were those with an interesting sky in the background.

I think the fountain is fascinating, but it needs a complimentary background and the clouds provide that in the 6th shot. JMHO.

[FrankMi]

Thanks for taking the time to explain how you 'worked the scene' and came upon you chosen vantage point for these images. Like others I am impressed by the amount of forethought and planning that you put into your shots, not to mention the technical side which boggles my mind!

I'm glad it is helping you Shane!

I think that all decent photographers develop their own method to 'work the scene'. An interesting view will capture the imagination of the photographer, but the goal goes beyond grabbing a quick snapshot and moving on, to trying to improve the capture of what is was that attracted you to press the shutter in the first place.

Often this will mean exploring various camera angles and heights, DoF, orientation, shutter speed if movement, waiting for the light to be just right (particularly with moving clouds), position of movable objects like people or vehicles. The variables that you can play with are scene specific.

In this case, the biggest issue was the grey overcast sky and the change needed was to return another day when the weather complemented the scene.

Perhaps the biggest help in working the scene is to develop the habit of continuously asking yourself the 'what if' questions that will lead you to the best result.

[FrankMi]

FWIW Frank, the image that impresses me most is the last one, and that is because of the background ie the sky.

Our lighthouse here is iconic. I have photographed it hundreds of times but it was quite a while until I realised that the only shots worth keeping were those with an interesting sky in the background.

I think the fountain is fascinating, but it needs a complimentary background and the clouds provide that in the 6th shot. JMHO.

I agree with you Greg!

Sometimes we just can't get a part of the scene they way we would like to see it. Occasionally we can either fix the issue, move the viewpoint, or (as in the case of the sky) wait for better conditions. This is one area where artists really have it made. They can create the perfect sky to match their composition!

[FrankMi]

This week I've been trying to use lighting to model shapes using the Emerald Amaryllis that finally blossomed.

The Emerald Amaryllis is a very wispy plant, much like the Chico. This makes for posing problems as it is like a gangly teenager, not very graceful no matter how it is viewed!

My first thought was to light the blossoms pedals from behind so that the pedals would glow. I arranged two focused gooseneck LED lamps to shine at a 45° angle from behind the blossom. The other blossoms on this scape were constantly getting the way and not wanting to damage the plant I ended up with a useable, but awkward arrangement.

When I looked at the images on the monitor, the color in the pedals was sickly and I thought that I would need another subject for this exercise, however I persevered and after learning a number of ways that don't work, ended up chucking the lights altogether! Felt like chucking the Amaryllis too but I had bought it for my wife and a DO like to eat.

OK. Basic 3/4 shot, front lighting using the CFL's in the ceiling can lights in the kitchen. Eight shot focus stack on just the front blossom. Nothing fancy and unfortunately, not much new learned this go-around. <sigh!>



Next time I try using lights to enhance the modeling of the subject, I'll find a better subject to play with.

[mknittle]

Looks good to me Frank, I looks like difficult subject. kinda all over the place.

[Cantab]

Nothing fancy and unfortunately, not much new learned this go-around.

Maybe nothing learned but it's still an attrative image and you provided an interesting story of what didn't work!

What were you using to create the black background? Simply the result of the lighting or black background...?

[FrankMi]

Looks good to me Frank, I looks like difficult subject. kinda all over the place.

Yes, a bit gangly I'm afraid. Glad you like it Mark.

Maybe nothing learned but it's still an attrative image and you provided an interesting story of what didn't work!

What were you using to create the black background? Simply the result of the lighting or black background...?

Hi Bruce, in this case I used a black poster board but had to drop the brightness for the background or it would have been a dark grey. Thank you for commenting!

[FrankMi]

When Adobe decided to do away with the purchase option for Photoshop and force it’s users to rent the software on a monthly basis, I had concerns. Although this model might work for those that use the product daily over months or years, it puts the occasional user at a severe disadvantage. I may use Photoshop daily for several weeks but then not use it for several months.

For starters, the nifty new features in CS6/CC won’t be available, but how would that affect my non-professional post processing usage? There are other questions as well.

How different is post processing in Photoshop and Lightroom?

What works better in Lightroom 5 than Photoshop CS5?

What would I still need in Photoshop that I can’t get in Lightroom?

I upgraded to lightroom 5 for more than just its cataloguing features and started learning how to use Lightroom as my primary post processing application.

I had an image of the Cape Neddick Lighthouse located at the “Nubble”, a small, rocky island a short distance off the eastern point of Cape Neddick at York, Maine.

I had originally discarded the Nubble Light image as it was taken in poor lighting conditions late one rainy afternoon but then I thought it might make for a decent challenge for Lightroom and provide me with a valuable learning experience.

My first task was to learn how to use Lightroom for post processing, something I hadn’t done with Lightroom 3. To this end I started reviewing the Lightroom 5 videos produced by Anthony Morganti.

Getting a handle on Anthony’s Lightroom 5 (and other photographers) workflow made the learning process much easier!

What are some of the differences?

1. The Spot Removal (Clone/Heal) Tool is easier to use in LR5 but less precise. It is not content-aware as it is in CS5 and can get to be a pain to work with in some situations such as removing the power poles and lines.
   
   
2. Although you can do some limited filtering with brushes to increase or decrease sharpness and other attributes, there is no true Selection, Masking, and Layers in Lighroom. As this is a critical component of much of my post processing, I may do basic processing in Lightroom but in many cases will still need CS5 to complete the typical images that I do.

Nubble Light – SOOC, but cropped to match the final image aspect ratio.



Before I started post processing, I needed to define what I wanted from this image. The original was cold, wet, and lonely. I decided I want to bring some warmth and a feeling of wanting to be there to the island. There was hint of sunset at the horizon so I wanted to enhance that glow and make the lighthouse look more like lighthouse keeper’s family home but retain the sense of the rocky island isolation.

Lightroom 5 Processing in the Develop Module

These global settings are based on the workflow used by several photographers that I researched, some things that I learned, and personal preferences for this image.

Reset – If there have been previous settings applied, such as in Adobe Camera Raw, some of the Basic Panel options will not be available such as Highlights and Shadows. This can be corrected by clicking the Reset Button.

Lens Correction Panel

Profile - The Canon SX50 camera has built-in lens corrections and Adobe already replicates these. You cannot turn them off, so there is no selection to be made.
Basic – Remove Chromatic Aberration.

Tool Panel, Crop Overlay, Angle – Level the horizon.

Basic Panel – As this is a landscape/seascape we want to reset the histogram to optimal by flattening the image then set the White and Black points with the following steps. The remaining settings are typical starting points and are scene and personal preference specific.

Temp, Tint, and Exposure – Adjust as needed to match the actual conditions at the time of shooting.
Shadows – set to 100% to bring out the detail in the shadows.
Highlights – set to -100% to being out detail in the highlights.
Whites – ALT+ slider to the right until whites just start to appear.
Blacks – ALT+ slider to the left until blacks start to be clearly defined.
Contrast – Use +20 as a starting point and adjust as needed.
Clarity – Use 40 as a starting point and adjust as needed.
Vibrance – Use +20 as a starting point and adjust as needed.
Saturation – Use +3 as a starting point and adjust as needed.

HSL / Color / B & W Panel – These are really subjective settings. This is where I am hoping to change the mood of this image.

HSL: Hue, Saturation, and Luminance – Here is where I’d like to be able to enhance the red/orange/yellow hues in the sky just above the horizon but the controls affect the entire image so the building reds and groundcover oranges and yellow are affected more than the sky. This would be an easy process in CS5 using layers.

Detail Panel – This panel is all about getting an appropriate balance between image sharpness and noise reduction.

In Photoshop CS5 I would selectively do noise reduction first, then capture sharpening, then selective content/creative sharpening and finally output sharpening based on the target presentation media.

In Lightroom, all of the changes are carried in a separate file and applied for viewing in Lightroom and permanently when the output file, typically JPG or PNG is created. This means that the change sequence can’t be controlled as it is effectively done all at once. Without the ability to use selection masks and layers, isolating changes in one part of the image from another is based on relatively imprecise brush strokes.

On the other hand, there is still quite a bit of content-specific changes that can be accomplished.

Although the sharpening and noise reduction tools in the Detail Panel can be used to customize the image, the majority of the changes appear to be accomplished with the following two settings. For an in-depth review of the other Detail sliders, please see Anthony’s Detail Panel video.

Sharpening, Amount – Use 70 as a starting point and adjust as needed.
Noise Reduction, Luminance - Use 40 as a starting point and adjust as needed.

Although I’m not completely happy with the results of these globally applied starting settings, I feel I need to practice and learn a bit more before I will be proficient in this area.

This is what we have so far.



Now I need to see what can be done with specific areas within the image. First, I’d like to try the Clone/Heal tool to see if we can remove the telephone poles and lines as I feel that these attract significant attention needlessly. Let’s minimize the ‘ugly’.

Tool Panel
Spot Removal, Heal – Once you select with a brush what you want removed, Heal tries to locate a similar area to clone in while retaining the background color and texture. The Clone tool does the same thing except that it is a complete replacement from the selected source. The replacement selected area can be moved. You can use the ‘H’ key to hide the selection points.

I found this very frustrating. If I selected an area that was too large, it was obvious that the source selection was different. If I made the selected area smaller, the heal brush tried to preserve more of the target selection resulting in a smudge.

Once I had selected an area to be addressed, it wouldn’t let me select the same area again so correcting problems was very difficult. Another thing I noticed is that there may be a significant delay between when I click on something and when the screen updates with the result. I some cases you don’t think anything happened only to have the first change appear after starting to do the change a second time.

I find the Clone and Heal tools in CS5 are more easily controlled and accurate. This tool seems to be more geared to a quick and dirty smack and move on providing speed over accuracy. It may just be my inexperience with Lightroom, however.

Graduated Filter – This can be used to bring out more detail in the sky by dragging down from near the top of the image. To reset any previous settings for Temp, Tint, Exposure, etc., hold the ALT key down and ‘Effect:’ will change to ‘Reset’ which you can then click on.

I dropped the sky exposure by about 1.5 stops and increased the contrast to 30.

Adjustment Brush – Hopefully I’ll be able to complete the remaining adjustments with the Brush Tool. You will want to use a NEW brush for each area of the image you want to change so that you can go back to any change you made and adjust it without affecting any other changes you made.

After making what would have been some Dodge and Burn updates to turn the lights on in the lighthouse and enhance the sunset lighting a bit I feel that although the image has a long way to go before it can avoid the trash can, I have learned a thing or two about Lightroom.

This is how it looks, for now…



Needless to say that I am very disappointed at how grainy it turned out. I suspect that the more changes I make in Lightroom, the grainier the image becomes as all of the changes get lumped together.

So far my limited experience is likely playing havoc with getting the kind of results I was expecting. I have seen Lightroom images that others have posted on CiC that are far superior to this so for now I’ll chock the poor result up to my abilities and keep trying to improve.

For more information, pictures, and the history of the lighthouse, please see this link.

<EDIT> I just realized that I did not go to the Effects Panel for Post-Crop Vignetting as I had intended.

One feature in this panel is the ability to increase the grain!

[Brownbear]

Hi Frank,

I use Lightroom and absolutely love it mostly because of the friendly user interface where I can see all my processing all at once, and similarly - see my adjustments and the effects all at once on the screen, including side by side views. I also find the chromatic aberration tool and the lens adjustments far easier (simpler to use)in LR.

I have the Photoshop CC package now but before this I used Elements, and similarly use Photoshop CC for the following because I prefer it for these, ie... does a better job for me.

Healing/Cloning dust spots etc
Sharpening selectively
Expanding Canvas
Combining Exposures (using layers for select areas)
Applying Curves and Levels adjustments to select areas

Somehow I'm doubtful that anything I have to share about post processing might be helpful to you because of your expertise but I'm replying simply because no one else has, and I do know what I like about LR.

PS... Don't forget that in LR you can use the adjustment brush for a lot of selective adjustments including saturation of select areas...

[FrankMi]

Hi Christina! Thank you so much for commenting. I am guessing that this might not be a posting of any interest to most folks.

Yes, I am slowly learning about Lightroom and applying global adjustments is certainly easier. Based solely on my initial experience I will likely settle into using Lightroom in the early part of my workflow and where needed, finishing up with CS5.

For now I am going to try to do as much as I can in Lightroom so that I can give it a fair chance. It will take a bit of practice to perfect the use of the adjustment brush technique. I don't think I can get the sharply defined edges that I am used to, particularly when working in corners. I may be able to overcome some of that by zooming in close but I haven't as yet learned how to zoom to a precise magnification to returning to the same location to make additional changes is still a challenge for me.

So much to re-learn when you switch applications!

[Shadowman]

Nice processing, I either use Elements or LR/NIK, I too have a tendency to go back to older shots and apply different looks.

[Bunty Plumchip]

I love the subject and how you explain how you have looked at it and how yo have set about creating the final image that you want. This is very helpful. I do actually like the cold loneliness of the original image too, but agree abouut removal of the telegraph lines- to enhance the isolation. The image 'warmed up' and inviting in juxtaposition would make a nice pair- a subtle mood shift of the sea and sky and how people live as part of that.

[wilgk]

I too am learning Lightroom so it is very kind of you to share your journey in such detail.
The lighthouse 'light' being a great example of how little details can make a big difference. I love the sky, getting the most out of foreboding skies is my pet challenge of the month....make that year!

[FrankMi]

Nice processing, I either use Elements or LR/NIK, I too have a tendency to go back to older shots and apply different looks.

Thank you John. I haven't played with Elements or NIK as yet.

I took a number of lighthouse pictures this fall with the idea that I would make a New England series but most of the lighthouses aren't accessible without a boat and the weather wasn't very good on most of the opportunities that I had to shoot which is why I was reluctant to use any of them.

[FrankMi]

I love the subject and how you explain how you have looked at it and how yo have set about creating the final image that you want. This is very helpful. I do actually like the cold loneliness of the original image too, but agree abouut removal of the telegraph lines- to enhance the isolation. The image 'warmed up' and inviting in juxtaposition would make a nice pair- a subtle mood shift of the sea and sky and how people live as part of that.

Thank you Carolyn! Once a scene grabs your attention, determining how you want the image to be displayed and mentally devising a plan for process before shooting can really help ensure that the scene is captured with all the needed attributes. It also helps me to 'work the scene' during the shooting process.

You have given me a great idea! I went back to this location when it was brighter. I'll need to look to see if I could do a pair of images, one brighter and more cheerful and one dark and foreboding.