There’s no other word for it – majesty. Yosemite’s Half Dome is majesty. Sheer majesty indeed.
This image was taken three years ago from Glacier Point looking across at Half Dome with my Canon 5D Mark II. It was an amazing day in early June that brought me close to majesty.
Stop, take a deep breath or two, and appreciate how we’re so lucky to see such wonders.
Earlier today, I was looking the Ansel Adams Gallery’s special sale of platinum-palladium prints by Kerik Kouklis – which got me exploring some new techniques using a Curves adjustment layer for toning in Photoshop.
I decided to try the technique on an image shot in October 2010 along the Merced River in Yosemite. My son David and I were doing a private workshop that day with Michael Frye – and this location was one of the special spots Michael shared with us. A color HDR version of some other photos of Three Brothers is one of my favorites from that day.
This image is a single shot RAW image taken on a tripod with my Canon 5D Mark II using the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L lens. I processed it in Photoshop CC using a few of Tony Kuyper’s basic luminosity masking techniques, converted it to black and white using a gradient map, sharpened it using the Sharpen 2013 action of Don Margulis’ Picture Postcard Workflow – and then toned it using a curves adjustment layer using a curve from Paul Butzi.
Last Friday morning I had a business meeting in downtown San Francisco – just a couple of blocks away from SFMOMA – the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I have been wanting to catch the Garry Winogrand photography exhibition before the museum closes shortly for a three year makeover – so I headed for SFMOMA once the meeting finished.
The Winogrand exhibition is massive in its scope – and striking in so many ways to a novice like me. All black and white – beginning on the streets of New York City and ending up in the deserts of the southwest, and the political conventions and beaches of California – Winogrand’s images are so “in the moment”. That notion – the decisive moment – seems to define the essence of great street photography – and it’s strikingly shown in his work.
From an earlier time, there’s the differences in dress and – strikingly – the effect of cigarette smoke in so many of his images. He was amazingly prolific – must have appeared almost to be non-stop – and seemingly uncaring toward the processing – and, indeed, any editing – of his images. One wonders what he’d be like today with an iPhone camera in his hand – or Google Glass on his forehead – snapping away! The exhibition closes shortly – and is then on to shows in Washington, at the Met in New York City and then on to Paris.
As I was leaving, I visited the SFMOMA Museum Store and happened across this book – How to Read a Photograph: Lessons from Master Photographers
When I got home, I checked on Amazon.com and found mostly good reviews – and a bargain price on the book (currently $15) compared to the $37.50 I paid for my copy at the Museum Store. If you’re interested in diving a bit deeper into the history of some of the great photographers of the last hundred years, I highly recommend this book. You’ll enjoy it.
By the way, SFMOMA published an extensive catalog to go with the Winogrand exhibition – here’s that title: Garry Winogrand (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
Last Sunday I headed to the San Mateo Event Center for Maker Faire Bay Area 2013 – joining my photo buddy Doug Kaye for the third year we’ve shot this event together.
This image is from the Steampunk area at Maker Faire – one of my favorites spots – where they had a table setup for folks to create their own Steampunk Goggles.
This image was shot with a Nikon D600 and post-processed in Lightroom 4.
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This image is a composite of two of my images shot over in Half Moon Bay. For some reason, these two images popped into my mind as I was watching the CreativeLive session today with Brooke Shaden. I decided to try merging the two into something more creative.
The trees are one of the classic views of the cypress tree “tunnel” in the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.
The fishing boat is from Princeton Harbor – where the boat has run aground a couple of years ago.
I combined the two images in Photoshop – adjusting the angle of the boat’s list to roughly line up with the trees. I converted it to monochrome using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 and added a bit of sepia toning to finish the image.
Here’s another view of that decaying piano outside of the Submarine Cafeteria at San Francisco’s Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. It’s stuck in a corner around the back of the building – looks like it’s been there for 50 years!
This image was taken with a Nikon D600 and post-processed in Photoshop CS6. It’s got a subtle “warm black” toning created with an action developed by Doug Kaye with thanks to Ming Thein.
Earlier today, Doug Kaye and I headed to Open Studios at Hunters Point in San Francisco.
We had a great time talking with one of my favorite local visual artists – Pep Ventosa – at his studio in Building 101. I love Pep’s work – with multiple exposures and blending in Photoshop. Beautiful work.
Afterwards, we headed over to another area of Hunters Point for some photography…
This is a shot of +Doug Kaye working one of the more interesting subjects we came across – a sculpture of a woman seated – made of nails. Doug’s shooting with his Sony NEX-7.
Shot with my Nikon D600 and post-processed in Photoshop CS6.
Last January, I headed to Havana, Cuba with my photo buddy Doug Kaye for a wonderful week of photography organized by Kip Brundage of Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.
One of the best things about this week was that we had Cuban photographers out with us as we walked the neighborhoods in Havana. They really helped us see – and opened our eyes to the beautiful people and places in Havana.
One of the Cuban photographers we really benefited from working with was Raúl Cañibano. It was such a treat to be out in the neighborhoods with him – and watch him as he captured images along with us. Raúl works very quickly – with minimal gear. He’s got a great gift for seeing an image in the moment – and capturing it quickly.
While we were out working with him in Havana, he had a small portfolio book of his photography that he shared with us. It’s a beautiful small size – with some amazing black and white photography both in Havana and out in the countryside in Cuba. We wanted to buy a copy of this book – but he couldn’t sell it to us.
Raúl’s book recently become available for ordering on Amazon.com – and it’s a real delight. I keep it in my home office alongside my desk – for inspiration! Raúl’s eye and capture is a real treat for the eye! If you enjoy great black and white photography of real people, you’ll really enjoy Raúl’s small book!
Here’s another image from the exhibition of China’s Terracotta Warriors now underway at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum.
This image required a bit more work. One of the challenges of shooting images of the warriors as they’re displayed is the combination of lighting and reflections – which bring extra “stuff” into the images.
Plus, when we were there, it was really crowded inside the darkened exhibition gallery. Lots of folks moving around – and bumping into each other – a challenging photographic venue for sure!
But the gallery that the Asian Art Museum created for the warriors is really is superb in terms of how the terracotta warriors are placed and, in particular, how they’re lit.
So, to deal with the issues in the image, I did a quick selection in Photoshop to isolate the warrior from extraneous background elements. I then faded those elements into the background while adding some contrast to the warrior.
Then we made a trip into Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 to do two steps: bring out more detail and add a subtle bit of glamour glow.
Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 was used for the conversion to monochrome – adding a bit of structure to the midtones and highlights while removing structure from the shadows. A bit of soft contrast adjustment helped with lighting.
A quick pass with Doug Kaye’s Warm Black action helped tone the image just ever so slightly.
For the final sharpening step, I used the Sharpen 2013 action included in the latest version of Dan Margulis’ Picture Postcard Workflow panel in Photoshop.
San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum is currently featuring a beautiful exhibition of China’s Terracotta Warriors.
Here’s an image from a recent visit – of a horse carriage driver. He’s out in the lobby – before you get into one of the three galleries with the other warriors and related sculptures.
This image was shot handheld with my Nikon D600 and post-processed in Photoshop CS6 along with Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2.