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

[Shadowman]

Nice edits.

[ShaneS]

Wow Frank...I haven't the time to read through this thread in detail right now but am impressed with the effort that you put in to achieve technical perfection in your imagery! I will definitely look in from time to time as I know I am sure to learn something

[FrankMi]

Thank you for viewing and commenting Binnur, Mark, John, and Shane. I am glad that you find the process sufficiently interesting to want to review and possibly incorporate some of the ideas into your own workflow.

It is still very much a work in process for me. I am looking for ways to incorporate the best features of Lightroom 5 into my workflow but other than cataloging, I'm not yet ready to delve too deeply into that change just yet. I'll need to play with some test images to see what works well and what doesn't first.

I'm also trying to develop what I think will become a style for landscape imagery that is based on research I've been doing. I want to start looking for and incorporating a kind of Image Symbolism in my photography that uses elements in an image to help communicate a thought or feeling.

Thomas Kincaid, the Painter of Light, used certain elements in many of his images to capture the viewer’s interest and stimulate a positive response to his oil paintings. For example, he found that the presence of purple/burgundy created a pleasant feeling for the viewer’s so almost every painting he created contained this color shading. That sounds like it flies right in the face of White Balance, but in reviewing a number of his paintings I have yet to see white snow, as an example, in any of them!

Here are some of the most common elements he used along with the associated symbolism and the feelings it brings out in most viewers.

1. Bird/Eagle – Personifies Peace and Freedom.
2. The way the “Light” flows – Represents God’s presence and influence. It also illuminates and guides.
3. Smoke of a Chimney – The warmth of home.
4. Lights on in the Houses – Family Values, someone is always there.
5. Stairways – Struggles through life. Think of the movie ‘Rocky’.
6. Bridges – Cross over from dark to light. One end is always lighter than the other.
7. Gates – The gates represent the many passages we face in our lives and the discoveries we have yet to make. The gates are always open to welcome the viewer into another area to explore.
8. Any Type of Movement – Constant changes in life.
9. Lamp/Light Post – Reminds us to share our light or to light the way. Also, welcoming friends and loved ones.
10. Boat – Adventure.
11. Pathways, Trails & Tracks – Path of life. Paths that are lit can help show us the way. Often there are two to choose from with different destinations.
12. Windmills – Symbol for the untamed human spirit.
13. Dogwoods – There is a story that has been passed down regarding the Dogwood tree. Tradition depicts that during Jesus’ time, the Dogwood was a strong, thick, and straight tree. When Jesus was crucified on this tree, God cursed it into a weak and crooked tree so that no man would ever be crucified on it. When the tree blossoms, there are five pedals on the flower symbolizing the five piercings. The center of the flower is red, representing the blood of Jesus.
14. Clouds – Represent the lives that have past.

Most of Kincaid’s paintings contain a large number of these symbols which may be part of the reason his paintings are so popular. I suspect that photographic compositions that contain several of these symbols might likewise be widely acceptable.

Unlike a painter whose image can be expressly controlled by his/her imagination, in a photograph, I would need to look for scenes that incorporate some of these symbols. In post processing it might be possible to influence the lighting to accentuate these symbols.

Who knows. It might all be an exercise in futility. On the other hand, I have been watching some post processing videos where these kinds of changes are being effectively incorporated, if only in a limited way.

For example, here are some of the guidelines Kinkade used when creating his oil paintings:

• Creating a "cozy look" by darkening the images towards the edges
• Using a "color key" to create mood
• Including hidden details
• Using "dramatic sources of soft light" with "classic compositions"
• Having a short focal length to create a center of interest and keep "mid-distance and distant" parts "blurry"
• Focusing on the "concept of beauty" and getting rid of the "ugly parts", to have "a general sense of homespun simplicity"
• Using atmospheric weather conditions, and nostalgia

So I ask myself...

What is the 'cozy look' if not a vignette?
What is a 'color key' if not a Color Temperature and Tint?
What is 'dramatic sources of soft light' if not Dodge and Burn?

Sometimes finding the right scene to work with is the hardest part for me.

[Kaye Leggett]

In week one, I like the wider version rather than the square crop. For me, in the square crop the sockets are too prominent and the wider version gives the image more context. Overall I like the treatments and look forward to seeing more

[FrankMi]

In week one, I like the wider version rather than the square crop. For me, in the square crop the sockets are too prominent and the wider version gives the image more context. Overall I like the treatments and look forward to seeing more

Thank you Kaye!

I like the wider one for the additional detail that is available but I also realize that there are those that would prefer the simpler image that concentrates attention on the reflection so I posted both.

[FrankMi]

For this week I am trying to present the grandeur of a subject that won't hold still!

Sometimes I see a scene that is captivating because it is dynamically moving and try as I might, I just can't seem to capture the elegance of that movement in a static two-dimension image.

When I first saw this the fountain that was recently created in downtown Rock Hill, South Carolina, all I had with me was a cell phone.

I captured the following image of record so that I could plan my return visit.



By being able to view the results on my monitor at home I realized that because I couldn't easily move further back, I would need a wider view to take it all in, better sky conditions to avoid losing the top of the spray in the clouds, and a time of day where I could get the sun lighting the fountain from the side.

I also had a chance to do some on-line research on the park.

The fountain features a 90-by-70-foot modified quatrefoil design with 16 inches of water depth. The recirculating fountain holds about 50,000 gallons of water, with 16 feature pumps totaling 318 horsepower.

There are 144 jets in five nozzle groups, all of which are governed by an anemometer to limit heights in windy conditions. If all nozzles run as high as possible, the recirculating fountain can put 10,000 gallons of water in the air per minute.

When I returned, the conditions were better and I had the D7100, Tokina 11-16mm lens, and a sturdy tripod.

Having captured several images I contemplated creating an GIF to show the effects of the water movement but quickly realized that the file size would by far too large. Hopefully, you can get a sense of the changes by opening the first image below in Light-Box and using the arrow keys to switch between the images.

View One



View Two



View Three



View Four



View Five



View Six



The patterns changes about every 3-5 minutes and after watching for over an hour I came to realize that I hadn't see the same pattern twice in that entire time.

About the point where I was ready to pack up and head home to see what I had captured, the center column went completely out of the frame! I had to reposition the camera and make a vertical panorama to get it all in!



I have since learned that park visitors can control eight of the nozzles by using a tablet or smart phone. To access those controls, log into the free Wi-Fi at the park and go to fountainparkrockhill.com.

Comments and criticisms welcomed!

[purplehaze]

Oh, well done, Frank! Your images are beautifully detailed and sharp and make for a terrific series. (I could use some lessons in sharpening from you.) What shutter speed were you using?

Wonderful fountain; I think it is very cool that visitors can control its operation.

[ShaneS]

That is a lovely fountain Frank and some good captures. Did you explore other vantage points that have the bell tower of the church on on side or the other as you captured in the image from your phone?

As presented shots #1 and #3 don't show the drama of the fountain as #6 does but we get to see the lovely tower.

So here is my question...do you obscure the tower as in #6 or try to incorporate it into the composition? Further, if you include it does the tower add to the composition or distract from the fountain?

You have an interesting subject to explore and now you can control the water with your phone which should save you some time on site

[IzzieK]

Frank that is very beautiful to say the least...I am glad you decided to upload even just a sequence of it...You could have used an intervalometer and do a movie of it...but then these shots were done in 2014...

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[FrankMi]

Thank you for taking an interest and posting comments Janis!

Unlike a waterfall where the scenery around the falls is just as important as the water itself and somewhat streak or milky smooth water could be quite appropriate, I feel that for a fountain like this, the interest is in the shape and detail of the water itself.

To accomplish that detail look, I needed to have the sun creating a late afternoon bright side light to model the airborne water shapes and a relatively fast shutter speed to keep them from blurring. In this case I used a shutter speed of 1/160 second.

I started with two images of View One, one focused on the near side of the fountain and one focused on the church and then blended these on a two shot focus stack to remove any soft areas. Because the wide angle lens was used, only two shots were needed to get the DoF I was looking for.

I then used View One as the basis for all the other shots except the panorama which was taken about a hour later with the clouds having significantly moved in that time. For the remaining shots, focus was on the close side of the innermost column ring. Just the water was then blended with View One to get the remaining views. This controlled the people and vehicle distractions that would have taken attention away from the fountain as you switched from view to view.

The fun part was cloning out vehicles and people that were clearly seen through water. I wasn't able to do that with the panorama shot so you see a white car that was parked behind the fountain for most of the shots after View One was taken. In some shots, there were bright yellow construction vehicles, a school bus, and kids running around in bright red jackets that needed to be cloned out. Under most circumstances I would have left them in for the human interest and street photography look but that wasn't the purpose of this shoot.

[FrankMi]

That is a lovely fountain Frank and some good captures. Did you explore other vantage points that have the bell tower of the church on on side or the other as you captured in the image from your phone?

As presented shots #1 and #3 don't show the drama of the fountain as #6 does but we get to see the lovely tower.

So here is my question...do you obscure the tower as in #6 or try to incorporate it into the composition? Further, if you include it does the tower add to the composition or distract from the fountain?

You have an interesting subject to explore and now you can control the water with your phone which should save you some time on site

Great questions Shane! Yes, I did spend a fair amount of time scoping out the area before I settled on this vantage point. I was limited by the shape of the fountain basin to one of four viewpoints.

From this view, the left side was too low and the right side was too high to get a good basin shots. All other viewpoints had building construction and less than desirable backgrounds.

I was very fortunate that the remaining view could be shot with a side light sun in either the early morning or late afternoon and the cloud coverage favored afternoon on this day.

Having settled on the viewpoint and background, the choice was how much brightness to apply to the background to complement the bright white water. From my test shots I knew that a darker background would work better than a lighter one so for the background image I underexposed the background slightly as most of it was already in shadow and underexposed the sky sufficiently to help the bright water stand out without making the clouds too obvious and taking attention from the water columns.

Although I didn't have much horizontal 'wiggle' room. I decided to use the tower as a way to compare the height of the columns from shot to shot so I wanted it to be close the water column but still visible in all the shots except View Six which, by totally covering the tower would provide impact to that image.

I had spent about a hour working the scene and testing with my cell phone to see what worked and what didn't during my initial visit to the park.

View One, in particular, was used to establish a baseline for the images to follow so on its own, it is not very dramatic. If it were to be the only image, I would have moved in closer and included people looking at the fountain as the point of interest.

I considered darkening the brightly lit building on the right but felt that it helped create a diagonal with the brightly lit fountain basin and matched the pattern of clouds in the sky. It also provided a good base for the triangle of the wind-blown column in the panorama image.

[Downrigger]

Incredible, Frank. I amazed, as always, at the detail and thoughtfulness of your strategy and execution.

[FrankMi]

Frank that is very beautiful to say the least...I am glad you decided to upload even just a sequence of it...You could have used an intervalometer and do a movie of it...but then these shots were done in 2014...

Hi Izzie, actually this shoot was planned for my 2015 Project 52 in December as part of getting prepared. Now after 3 weeks of P52 postings I haven't got a clue for what to do for next week! I have a number of things I'd like to look into but haven't had much time to work out the details. Thanks for the kind words!

John - Thanks for taking the time to comment!

[mknittle]

I really like your tutorials Frank thanks for taking the extra time into putting them up..

[FrankMi]

Incredible, Frank. I amazed, as always, at the detail and thoughtfulness of your strategy and execution.

LOL! Thanks Mark. It is always good to do your homework and spend some time in thought before making a decision but in the end, what really matters is if the plan actually worked or not!

[FrankMi]

I really like your tutorials Frank thanks for taking the extra time into putting them up..

Thanks Mark, it is my way of hopefully being able to give back to CiC for all that has been shared with me by the folks at CiC.

[Brownbear]

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.

[Wavelength]

Excellent images; i like the ones with more color saturation.....

[Mark von Kanel]

Great information Frank, thanks for taking the time.