Project 52 by Frank Miller

[FrankMi]

Amazing shooting and PP Frank, love both Week 7 and Week 8 images.

Two things; (one each)
In the Week 7 post, I think the images would be better presented if separated by a line gap between them, so it doesn't look like the sky of #2 is the sea in shot #1, etc.

On the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, the brightly lit roof at lower edge of frame leads my eye out of shot, although I appreciate that's how it is, perhaps toning the sun down a bit might avoid it.

Gold like that is very hard to capture, you have mastered the SX40 well to achieve this result, especially as only an 8 bit jpg original was available.

Your skills are definitely some I'd like to (try) catch up with.

Cheers,

Thanks Dave and Donald! I'll try to incoprorate your suggestions (I should have seen the obvious) into the original postings so as to not make the thread any longer than necessary. Meanwhile, I've been working on the Week 9 project and should be able to post it fairly soon.

Now that I'm home again I can get back to playing with the DSLR shooting RAW as soon as I clear this backlog of images. LOL!

[FrankMi]

Week 9: The Ancient Library of Celsus

The goal for this image is to correct major parallax issues caused by stupidly shooting multiple images for a panorama from position that was too close to the subject. I now realize that if I am going to get great detail while shooting large objects, that I need to get as far back as possible and use the zoom to avoid the parallax issues. Sometimes you simply can't go back and do a reshoot so you learn how to make the best you can from your mistakes and learn how to avoid the issue in the future. This was my first attempt using 4 images:



Although I eventually got the parallax for this image corrected in Photoshop, the resulting image was so poor that I had to try again with four other images I took from a different vantage point.


This structure is also known as Rome’s Great Library in Ephesus. Only the front of the building has been recovered so far. About 10% of the original first century city of Ephesus has been recovered. Considering that a quarter million souls lived here 2,000 years ago, the place is immense! Its demise came in the form of malaria cause by excessive raw sewerage collecting in the surrounding marshlands.


In the land that is now Turkey, a wide marble road slopes down to one of the largest libraries of the ancient world. Between 12,000 and 15,000 scrolls were housed in the grand Library of Celsus in the Roman city, Ephesus.


Designed by the Roman architect Vitruoya, the library was built in memory of Celsus Polemeanus, who was a Roman senator, General Governor of the Province of Asia, and a great lover of books. Celsus' son, Julius Aquila, began the construction in 110 AD. The library was completed by Julius Aquila's successors in 135 AD.

Celsus was buried beneath the ground floor in a lead container inside a marble tomb. A corridor behind the north wall leads to the vault.



Please note: This image has been updated based on Malcolm's suggestion in post # 85. Thank you Malcolm!

[Donald]

1. A masterclass in shooting for panoramas
2. A wonderful and informative history class by someone obviously interested in understanding as well as just seeing (which is so refreshing)
3. Ended by a superb image in which the detail is marvellous.

You can't say that you don't get value for money here at CiC.

Thank you Frank. I have been educated this morning, as well as being privileged to view your work.

[FrankMi]

Thank you Donald. Most of what I have learned about photography over the past year came from the patience and kindness of the many folks (like yourself) here at CiC that unselfishly give of their time and labor to help others learn. I only hope that I can effectively return the blessings.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

You know Frank, your holiday snaps are so stunning that it's much more fun enjoying them than looking at them with a critical eye So I decided I would attempt to add at least one potentially useful piece of commentary...

In the photo of the Celsius I'd be inclined to clone out the tree branches on the right Stunning photo otherwise. I'm jealous!

There. Job done

[Bobobird]

Hi Frank,

Oh, by the way, this reminds me; I'm a great fan of your work.

Me too, me too.

Lurking on your thread and learning...

[FrankMi]

Week 10: Jameos del Agua

The goal for this week’s exercise is to capture the intense exposure range of bright sunlight through to the dark interior of a partially collapsed underground lava tunnel. I was not able to capture the entire range so there are some blown highlights.

About 3-4,000 years ago, at the northern end of the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, the volcano Montaña La Corona erupted. Huge volumes of molten lava flowed out of the volcano and as the surface hardened, copious volumes of molten lava continued to flow under the hardened surface. This led to the formation of a 6 kilometer long lava tube which ran from the volcano to a point about 1.5 kilometers out and under the Atlantic Ocean. At some points, the lava tube is 30 meters in diameter. Over the centuries, the submerged section of the tube became home to a species of Blind Albino Crab (Munidopsis Polimorpha) known as 'Jameitos' which are only found on Lanzarote.

Over time, several sections of the lave tube collapsed creating entrances where it was possible to access both the interior of the tube and the pools of seawater within that ebb and flow with the tide.

A jameo is formed when a tunnel ceiling collapses, most often occurring when its width exceeds twenty meters, or when gases accumulate and explode. Only a jameo reveals the presence of volcanic passages and allows their routes to be traced. The Jameos del Agua was artistically developed for viewing by César Manrique in 1968 as follows:

Through a winding staircase visitors enter into the Jameo Grande, a roofless volcanic bubble 100 m. long and 30 m. wide, and from there into a magnificent garden with a large swimming pool.

To the north, a second jameo contains a dance floor and two bars built into the niches formed by the rocks create and exciting night club.

A 600 seat concert cave opens up towards the southern volcano end of Jameo Grande. This astonishing hall with its wonderful natural acoustics offers a unique setting for concerts and ballet performances.

This first image is looking from inside the lava tube toward the northernmost jameo with the ocean-end entrance, restaurant, and bars. The lava tube continues into and under the Atlantic Ocean. Behind this viewpoint is the jameo of the main entrance, swimming pool, and back down into the lava tube where the auditorium lies. From there the lava tube continues on toward the volcano for another 4 kilometers. The white specks than can be seen in the bottom of the saltwater pool are thousands of Jameitos. You will note a spot in the top of the lava tube where part of the roof has collapsed.



Althought the remaining images aren't really necessary, I felt that they might help for background information and to put the primary image in context.

This is the Atlantic Ocean jameo on the northen end of the lava tube. It looks down on part of the restaurant and bars. The entrance to the far end of the initial image is to the right. The ocean end of the lava tube is to the left.



This image is in the restaurant looking down into the lava tube north toward the ocean. I have reduced the vibrance as I believe the green colour is from artificial lighting. In the pool you can see more of the Jameito blind albino crabs.



Although they are difficult to get a good image of due to their very small size and being underwater, here are some of the Jameitos.



Here we see the swimming pool and a small portion of the gardens that was built into Jameo Grande, the collapsed roof of the lave tube to the south of the primary image which is located behind this viewpoint. Ahead is the southern end of the lava tube containing the audatorium/theater in the direction of the volcano.



This last image is of the auditorium that was built into the southern direction of the lava tube just beyond the swimming pool. From here, the tube continues another 4 kilometers toward the volcano. As we drove along its route, we could occasionally see other jameos but only a small portion of the tube (Jameos del Agua) near the Atlantic Ocean has been opened for tourism.

[Teton Chuck]

Frank, Wow. What a spectacular set of photos. And thank you for the background story. It truly makes the photos much more meaningful.

I don't have any way of knowing what challenges you faced to get the full range of colors, but it seems to me you did a good job. Thanks for sharing.

[FrankMi]

Thank you Malcolm and Bobo. Yes, I should have cloned out the branches, particularly as they were partially clipped by the panorama merging process anyway.

[FrankMi]

Frank, Wow. What a spectacular set of photos. And thank you for the background story. It truly makes the photos much more meaningful.

I don't have any way of knowing what challenges you faced to get the full range of colors, but it seems to me you did a good job. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you Chuck! The Canon SX40 is really amazing. I got it on sale the morning I left for Rome so I wasn't able to see any of the results on a PC monitor before I returned home. In some respects I was shooting without knowing how any of it would turn out. I also didn't have an opportunity to learn the bells and whistles in advance.

The zoom is spectacular at 840mm (FFE) and the image stabilization is phenomenal. None of the images from this trip were on a tripod, not even the ones taken inside the lava tube!

The camera's ability to capture images in very low light is also spectacular so I can't take credit for much of the sharpness and detail. Not in the main image, but in the ocean entrance and the theater, artificial coloured lighting made is impossible to get realistic colour renditions. I used Topaz Adjust to help bring out some of the more subtle colours in the lava tube walls.

[FrankMi]

Week 11: The view from Mirador del Rio

The goal for this week's execise is to capture an interesting subject with high depth of field and detail.

The subject is the view from Mirador on the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Lanzarote was probably the first Canary Island to be settled by the Phoenicians around 1100 BC. Mirador is on the north end of the island and is about 480 meters above the ocean. It was once the site of a fort built to initially protect the inhabitants from pirates and in the 19th century housed the "Batería del Río", a line of cannons used in the war between Spain and the pesky Americans over the sovereignty of Cuba.

The name of Rio, or river, comes from the thin stretch of sea of approximately two kilometres which separates La Graciosa and Lanzarote.

The first island to get a look at from the Mirador is the island of La Graciosa . Behind La Graciosa we can see the Montaña Clara and the Roque del Oeste and finally the isle of Alegranza. Last but not least we need a far view to the East in order to catch sight of the Roque del Este.



If we look over the edge of the rock wall at the base of the Famara Cliff and to the left we can see the oldest salt refinery of Lanzarote called Salina del Rio which has been exploted since the Roman age.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

So are you done making all of us jealous now? You really did a great job with that little camera. Just goes to show you it's not the equipment but the person behind it that makes all the difference.

[Wendy Stanford]

Wow Frank, what a wonderful vista of images, the underground lava tunnel are stunning, I have learn't so much about taking panoramas,
Thankyou for the explaination of what you were trying to achieve and the history of what you were capturing, great stuff

[FrankMi]

So are you done making all of us jealous now? You really did a great job with that little camera. Just goes to show you it's not the equipment but the person behind it that makes all the difference.

Thanks Malcolm. I'm sure that everyone here knows that at these tiny resolutions, even a cell phone camera image looks pretty good. I wouldn't dare try to print any of these!

[FrankMi]

Wow Frank, what a wonderful vista of images, the underground lava tunnel are stunning, I have learn't so much about taking panoramas,
Thankyou for the explaination of what you were trying to achieve and the history of what you were capturing, great stuff

Thanks for the kind words, Wendy. The main image in the lava tube was done with multiple exposure shots and the second shot at Mirador was a multi-image panorama but the remainder are fairly normal images. I did use the Topaz DeJpeg (for noise) and InFocus (for capture sharpening) on all the images I shot with the Canon SX40.

I have found that I really appreciate the background information provided by others to help me understand what their image is about so I have started trying to make my images more interesting by using the same technique. It's kinda strange that a totally non-photographic technique can enhance an image's enjoyment! Thank you so much for noticing.

[FrankMi]

Week 12: Enforcing the Pax Romana

For this weeks exercise, I asked myself "Did you ever try to get a picture in a public place only to have pesky tourists right in front of what you wanted to shoot?" If so, and it happened frequently when we were on vacation last month, what can be done about it?



With a little planning and forethought, you won’t have to yell ‘FIRE’ to get them to move. You can take a shot or two, noting where the people are standing, and take another each time someone moves to a different location.



In this way, you can combine the parts of all of the images where the people aren’t blocking the view and if you have enough images, potentially get a completely clear image of your subject!

This can also work for vehicle traffic and it is usually easier because other than for a stop light, they are usually constantly moving.

If that doesn’t completely cure the problem, you may still have to clone out bits and pieces but there is another trick you can use as well. Put something complementary in the image that covers up the pesky tourist that decided to fall asleep standing up right in front of your subject.

As we often see in tourist locations, there were plenty of budding actors available hamming it up and trolling for tips so I decided to put them to work.



In the image below, all three techniques were employed:



Edit: The above image was replaced with one that has a shadow under the nobleman as per post # 105.

So, what are we looking at? This is the Gate of Mazeus and Mithridates in ancient Ephesus, Turkey. It is a colossal Gate built by two slaves in order to pay honors to Augustus and his family because he had set them free. It was used as the south gate of the Commercial Agora. It was 16 m tall and it had four niches. Inscriptions had been engraved on the top of its façade.

[Teton Chuck]

Thanks for the explanation of how you went from "senior" tourists to budding actors. I haven't even scratched the surface of doing that kind of PP, but you are filling my head with ideas. Now in all honesty, if the pesky tourists were a group of beautiful young women, would you have cloned them out?

I have enjoyed all of the last three postings.

[FrankMi]

Thanks for the explanation of how you went from "senior" tourists to budding actors. I haven't even scratched the surface of doing that kind of PP, but you are filling my head with ideas. Now in all honesty, if the pesky tourists were a group of beautiful young women, would you have cloned them out?

I have enjoyed all of the last three postings.

At my age I might have just done that if they weren't in period costume! By the way, can you spot the goof, Chuck?

The nobleman on the left has no shadow! This wasn't meant to be perfect (Oh, yes it was!), but rather to show how you can use various techniques to get a 'clear' image of your subject. (Just who are you trying to kid? You screwed up and you know it!) So it really doesn't matter, (Fat chance on passing that one off on an unsuspecting public. These viewers are photographers, not snapshot junkies!) so long as the technique is clear. (Right on, dummy.)

This 'error' was subsequently corrected!

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Well, I for one would never have thought about "tidying up an image" by being that creative. It's a great thought and as usual you're making me realise just how much I could really develop my PP skills if I put my mind to it!

[FrankMi]

Well, I for one would never have thought about "tidying up an image" by being that creative. It's a great thought and as usual you're making me realise just how much I could really develop my PP skills if I put my mind to it!

If there's one thing that Project 52 seems to have done, it's to get folks to reach out and explore new areas of creativity!