FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY OF OLD FARM MACHINERY

Ever since we arrived here in Idaho—some nine years ago—I’ve been photographing all aspects of the old farmsteads that are quickly vanishing in the cities (Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Eagle, etc.) around us with an emphasis on old farm machinery, like tractors and harvesting equipment, barns and out buildings. We have some tractor salvage yards where the concentration of old farm machinery to photograph was excellent as well.  But, my favorite setting is to photograph these subjects actually at the old farms. I prefer to have them in their natural environment to give them context. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to find some farm equipment in the last stages of decay so symbolic of the vanishing family farm…

f8.0 @ 1/200 sec., ISO 800; Lens @ 70mm

I love the rusty wheel, but the lichen on those wooden rollers was marvelous. Those wood components are actually disintegrating into the soil. What’s great about Idaho is that even though these farms are disappearing in the cities you only have to drive 15 or 20 minutes from any of the cities in Ada County to find lots of farm land with great subjects like this…

f13.0 @ 1/80 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 32mm

Typically I go out about an hour and a half before sunset and then stay on site until the sun actually sets.  (The “Magic Hour”!) The setting sun is truly magic when it plays across rusting metal.

As a special reminder to my fellow outdoor photogs doing this kind of photography—always watch your back when on location towards sunset!  I was so engrossed with these great pieces of farm machinery that I almost missed this scene behind me!

f20.0 @ 1/100 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 90mm

Classic Idaho farm country, a terrific cloudscape, and rain as well!  This spot is only 15 minutes from my home in the suburbs of Meridian.

Anyway, back to the farm equipment basking in that setting sun….

 f13.0 @ 1/50, ISO 400; Lens @ 55mm

An old John Deere, off its wheels, rusting into the ground. Love that peeling paint! I really love going in close to show the details…

 f6.3 @ 1/160 sec., ISO 800: Lens @ 120mm

These were the controls on some kind of harvesting equipment. Again, lots of rust and that colorful lichen; didn’t know lichen could live on metal or rust?  Anyway, still having fun in Idaho…can’t wait until fall and then Winter!

Let me know if you have any comments or questions…’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

…AND THEN SOMETIMES A B&W IMAGE SHOULD BE IN COLOR!

In last week’s blog I talked about the why, when and how of converting color images to B&W. In previous blogs on this topic I suggested that today’s digital photographers should always capture their images in color (RAW) and then decide after wether to proceed to B&W conversion. That way you have the most choices and the most to work with in your file size.

However, back in 2001 our choices were not so flexible or simple. At that time we were just starting to transition to digital so I was still using my medium format film cameras for most of my work. Back then when it came to fine art photography I would not decide on what film to load until I was in front of my subject. Usually the decision was clear cut wether to load color or B&W film. Sometimes I would load and shoot both, but the subject had to be something special to merit the extra expense. 

The image in question was taken at the Monterey Yacht Harbor on an overcast morning. As I walked up to where the boats were moored looking down into the water were these marvelous wiggly reflections of the sail boats. Seeing there was NO Color in the scene (the overcast made the sky grey) and knowing that a proper exposure for the sky would turn the boats and their rigging black I loaded B&W film into the camera back and had some fun with composition.

So, here’s the B&W image from that morning…

It’s not bad, but it didn’t have the kind of impact I was looking for. You see at that time in 2001 I was heavily involved in annual PPA (Professional Photographers of America) international print competitions and only needed a couple more Merits to earn my Masters Degree.  And, at the top of the list in PPA’s “12-elements for a merit print” is IMPACT. That’s when the idea came to me to digitally convert this into a realistic impactful rendition of…”Red Sky at Morning…Sailor Take Warning; Red Sky at Night…Sailor’s Delight”.  That’s important because a good Title on a PPA competition print can help it’s score.

Here’s the final competition image…

Red Sky at Night

It was a pretty easy job for my lab (Bay Photo Lab) to just layer a sunset gradient OVER my original image, after they had scanned the B&W negative, in Photoshop.

After we got the finished 16x20" competition print back from the lab, I knew I had a winner! I named it “Red Sky at Night…” The last thing I did to make the image “read” better was to invert the image opposite from reality. That was the easiest part—with a physical print, you just turned the print upside-down and draw the “this side up” arrow on the back!

Yes, it all came together and I got the merit I needed at the PPA Western States Convention. In July of 2002 I was awarded my PPA Masters Degree.

Well that’s all for now, should you have questions don’t hesitate to ask.  ’Til Next Week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

WHEN AN IMAGE SHOULD BE CONVERTED TO BLACK AND WHITE

Black & White has been my second favorite photographic medium since I started printing in the early 1970’s. My first favorites were Kodachrome and Ektachrome (Info-Red) films. I either wanted NO-Color or really Radical Color! Anything in between was just too boring for me—and still is.

I’ve lost all my favorite films, but with the many, many, flavors of software and Photoshop Plug-ins we can alter our digital RAW (Color) files to become ANYTHING we want.

My criteria for converting digital color files to B&W are exactly the same when I used film.

The Best B&W Images Must Have:

1. Directional Light (that means shadows).
2. Good Blacks and Whites.
3. Texture and/or Detail.
4. A strong center of interest.

Here’s one of my images that Had to be in Black & White….

f5.6 @ 1/30 sec., ISO 800; Lens 15mm

I created this image at the old Idaho State Penitentiary (est. 1870) in the prison laundry. These old, super large capacity, belt driven, washing machines were ideal for B&W conversion.

The scene met all four of my criteria:

• the top and back light created direction and shadows.
• which I knew would give me good blacks and whites.
• old machinery usually has great texture and detail.
• I made this machine a strong center of interest by moving in close with my 15mm fisheye lens.

How I converted my color file to Black & White.

For this image I used NIK’s Silver Efex Pro-2 software. I like NIK’s Silver Efex because it has many choices in looks and styles to offer:

• It has 38 preset conversions that can be adjusted.
• It has 18 film emulation modes that you can apply to any of the presents.
• Plus adjustments for grain, toning, vignettes, and finishing effects that burn edges and create borders.

For this image I used the Wetrocks Preset and modified it for deeper blacks and more contrast.

Here’s the original color file….

Original Image

As you can see the color file is really weak on color mostly due to these grey/blue institutional colors found everywhere in the prison! In addition that red door in the background is an unwanted distraction.

I think this conversion illustrates how well B&W can create drama and interest in otherwise hum-drum subjects like a washing machine.

Have a question? Don’t hesitate to ask…’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

GOING IN CLOSE; MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY REVEALS MORE!

One of my mottos has always been, “showing less can reveal more”. That’s why I prefer to use a telephoto zoom lens (instead of the wimpy 50mm prime, so many amateurs adore) when doing nature photography.  I love to slice-up my subjects into tantalizing bite size pieces of yummy detail. Because it’s in the details that we can really learn the true nature of things. It’s in the details that we can witness the results of evolution or the hand of God—either way it’s awe inspiring to see it when I stumble across something as simple (?) as this dead leaf….

f9.0 @ 1/500 sec., ISO 400; Lens: 100mm

I found this decaying leaf in my front yard at the end of February. Somehow I missed it when I raked up the fall leaves and it remained intact, through our Idaho winter snows, frozen to the dormant grass. So, I let it dry out and photographed it in the cross light of the setting sun to clearly show its marvelous detail and texture.

It was so fragile after it dried that I could barely touch it without its disintegration leaving me nothing to photograph. So, I decided to go in close and use my Canon EF 100mm, f2.8, Macro, USM, Lens to photograph the tallest part of the leaf where the light picked up the most detail; the part that had the least destruction from my handling! Macro photography is the ultimate expression of my “showing less can reveal more” motto; unless you start using a microscope—but that severely limits your subject choices!

Technical Notes on Macro Photography

• I prefer to use a true dedicated Macro Lens instead of extension tube(s) on a non-macro lens for this kind of photography.  Why?
• I want to be at 1:1 with no loss of light—easy for a macro lens. With extension tubes I may have to stack 2 or 3 tubes to get to 1:1 and with every tube less light reaches my sensor. (You can lose 2 or 3 stops because of this.)
• When at 1:1 I don’t want to be too close to my subject. With the Canon 100mm Macro I’m no closer than 1 foot at 1:1. With extension tubes you can end up only inches from your subject, which can be detrimental to your direction of light.
• I want the highest optical quality and sharpness. The Canon Macro is extremely sharp Wide Open (@ f2.8) unlike most lenses and it’s designed to be sharp edge to edge as well.
• In addition the Canon 100mm Macro has an internal rear focusing element that eliminates any movement of the front element of the lens that is common with many lenses.

That’s it for this week.  Let me know if you have any questions or comments…’Til next week…

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

PHOTOGRAPHERS, LOOK BEHIND YOU—IT MAY BE THE BEST VIEW!

Even after 50 years doing fine art photography I still remind myself, when I’m outside on a session, of that simple old adage some photographer said, “Look Behind YOU, when you’re walking, it may be the best angle!” And it’s so true—I can’t tell you how any times I’ve walked down a trail at a national or state park not being jazzed about what was in front of me and then I turned around to see a stunning scene. It’s the same basic subject—I just walked by it! But, from the reverse angle now the Lighting is Magical!

There are those photographers that look but don’t see the best view or angle of a subject. Many times they just use the “scenic turnout” and Lemming-like they copy the view that thousands of tourists have photographed before. 

Then there are those (way too many I might add!) photographers that just don’t see the light, and by that I mean the Good Light—Directional Light. All light isn’t equal in fine art photography (or any art). We as photographic artists must know not only from where, but when to capture the image.

Here’s an image of mine that illustrates ALL these points….

f11.0 @ 1/320 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 75mm

One of my passions, here in Idaho, is the photography of old, derelict, tractors. So, when I came upon this old tractor, on the side of the road, one morning, I pulled over and got to work.  Walking up to the tractor (the view you see here) I looked behind me to find a spectacular sky and clouds that had to be the background for the tractor! Then I turned around again to compose this view and did a bunch of images and because I was so fixated on my tractor I had missed what was right in front of me in the background!  That old door was Great—but what attracted me to it was the shadow of the Lamp over the door—that’s my kind of Lighting!

f11.0 @ 1/500 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 50mm

I started with this full view of the doorway and that great overhead lamp and shadow being created by nice Directional Light at 8:30 in the morning—a time I’m rarely up for photography! I tend to do most of my outdoor photography at the other (evening) magic hour.

Here’s a Black & White crop of the same image….

B&W Crop

My Black & White conversion was done with NIK’s Silver Efex Pro II using the “wet rocks” preset that I modified to MY B&W tastes.

This crop makes the lamp and shadow really stand out as the primary center of interest. I guess I’ll have to do a Blog on the main reason I stopped to Photography the tractor.

’Til next time…and none of us forget, Look Behind YOU, but also pay attention to what’s right in front of you too!

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

WEDDING CAKE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS FROM A MASTER - PART 3 - A PIECE OF THE CAKE

In the first two parts on Wedding Cake photography I talked about how I do portraits of the whole cake in different lighting scenarios. This part will focus on our next step in the process—the details. I really enjoy this part because it’s where we can be the most creative in our compositional set-ups. It’s very much like doing table-top product photography in the studio except I don’t have all my lights, tools, or the time. In my studio I can mull over the composition and lighting for hours, but at a wedding reception the challenge is to create studio quality images in minutes!

So, to make this possible while I’m doing the overall cake table photos, Kathi is raiding the bride & grooms’ head table for additional items (we already have their bouquettes) to include in the detail set-up like: toasting goblets, favors, the wedding invitation, and of course, their rings.

We did this kind of still life at most weddings….

My PPA International Print Competition Merit Print General Collection, (c) 2000

I’m proud of this award winning image because it embodies my lighting philosophy, showcases our attention to details and composition, was done at the actual wedding reception, and the Bride and Groom Loved It!

How I got the image:

Lighting:  Natural Light through a window of course! This is the First thing I look for when I walk into a reception site. 

Placement:  With the cake table near a window then I rotate the cake so its best side is being skimmed by the soft directional window light.

Invitation:  With my camera’s point of view established I let Kathi know the best spot for the invitation and she places it and all the other elements around it.

Exposure:  This was done on medium format film, so, I don’t have the exact exposure data, but I did most of these still life portraits on Fuji, 800 ISO, Color Negative Film.  So this was probably done with a shutter speed of around 1/4 to 1/2 sec., to get to an f-stop of f11.0 or f16.0. I always did these still lifes locked down on a heavy tripod.

The competition print of this image gave me one of the Merits I needed to earn my PPA (Professional Photographers of America) Masters Degree in 2002.

Close Up of the Rings

The next step in our process is a close-up of the rings.  Kathi will again gather some of the table decorations and use something that will prop up the rings. She put the bride’s bouquet in the background for this composition…

f8.0 @ 1/60 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 50mm

How I got the image:

Lighting: Sometimes you get a reception site that just does NOT have any windows.  That’s when YOU must provide the light or use what’s available.

A SpeedLight as a Source: I’ve always detested any hot-shoe mounted flash being pointed directly at any subject. So, I was always looking for the next best flash diffuser that would soften the light and increase its size as a source. In addition I wanted one that would work well when in a bounce mode, which is where I always had my flash set when doing weddings.

The diffuser I used for this image of the rings has been my favorite for many years—The Gary Fong Lightsphere.

The Placement and Set-up:  Kathi placed the rings on one of the glass beads in an up angle, which made it easier to get light into the diamonds. Then I flipped the flash head pointing straight up (you can see the Lightsphere’s shape in the reflections on each glass bead); this gave the rings and set some front light and some bounce light off the ceiling. 

Here’s another at the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay….

f8.0 @ 1/20 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 45mm

Because this was an evening reception I had no window light so I used the same set-up as on the previous image of the rings. Kathi and I liked the “fall” of flowers doing down the side of the cake so…

Placement:  We went for a vertical composition with one flower petal under the rings so they would stand out better (more contrast) on the cake.

Lighting and Exposure:  I use the Fong Lightsphere, again pointed straight-up, to get some bounce off the ceiling. I slowed my shutter speed to 1/20 sec., to “drag-in” some ambient room light. This makes the resulting image look less like a flashed image.

So, with these three blogs I think I covered any likely lighting scenario you may encounter in wedding cake photography. If you have had a difficult lighting situation that I did to touch on here tell me about it!  ’Til next week….

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training Site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client Site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

WEDDING CAKE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS FROM A MASTER - PART 2 - MIXED LIGHTING

My 40+ years doing fine art photography, with over 25 of those years doing weddings and portraits, I’ve learned that as a professional, drama sells. The best way to create drama (especially of a static subject) is with dramatic lighting—that means Directional Lighting; Light that Does Not come from camera position!

That’s because directional light creates:

1. Three Dimensionality
2. Texture and Detail

In Part 1 of this blog series I discussed this topic using “unmixed lighting”—that is single source lighting, which is pretty easy to deal with.  This week’s topic covers “mixed lighting” and outdoor natural lighting, but my rules still apply—I’m always looking for or creating directional light. 

So, What is Mixed Lighting?

In weddings it’s often an interior setting where we have artificial lights (lamps, chandeliers, or overhead fluorescents), natural light from windows, and sunlight that can be seen through those windows. This challenging scenario can happen in churches, homes, hotels and often in reception halls. This is why wedding photography is one of the most technically difficult photographic occupations. In addition we must be able to solve all of these technical problems in minutes (not the hours or days that commercial photographers have with their subjects) while our clients watch and wait within a timeline that we have NO control over!

Here is a mixed lighting example….

f5.6 @ 1/15 sec., ISO 800; Lens @ 63mm

This reception room has these great floor to ceiling windows that I just had to use; window light is my favorite! The good/bad things were:

• good:  the sun was setting knocking down the outside light.
• bad: the windows were tinted and the light on my cake was low.
• good: I have window light!
• bad: too many windows creating light on both sides of the cake creating Non-Directional Light.

How I got this image:

• I moved the cake table towards a wall on camera left until I got a shadow side on the cake; now I have Directional Light. This is called Subtractive Lighting—a technique I use in outdoor Natural Light portraiture.
• Using my Incident Light Meter I measured the light falling on the Highlight Side of the cake, while I raised the meters ISO to get to an f-stop with good depth-of-field and a shutter speed that I knew would drag-in the light from those candles: ISO 800 got me f5.6 at 1/15 sec.
• I did my test shots (I LOVE digital cameras!) to check how the outside looked. Great! We got lucky with the time of day.
• Put my grey card on the highlight side of the cake and did a Custom White Balance.
• I checked my histogram to make sure I was not Clipping the Highlights.
• While I was doing these things Kathi was busy decorating the cake table. She gathered the bridal and attendants' bouquets and arranged those various elements to create what you see.

NOTE:  No matter what the reception staff do to decorate the cake table we usually redo it. In some cases they seem to do their best to sabotage our cake photography. One of their favorites is to stack ALL the serving places ON the cake table to make their job easier to serve-up cake slices to the guests. We remove them and then put them back.

An easier mixed-lighting set-up….

f8.0 @ 1/30 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 55mm

This was done at the Ritz-Carlton in Half-Moon Bay, California. We were on their preferred vendor list and we never had to redecorate or fix “sabotage” to the cake table. They were always a class act. They put this small cake table between a set of windows, but their decor was so elegant that I used that decor as my background. They had placed flood lights behind and from above left on the cake.

How I got this image:

• I used my Incident Light Meter to measure the light from the flood light hitting the left side of the cake.
• I wanted a couple things here; I wanted good depth-of-field to handle both the cake and the background. And I wanted that pink flood light behind the cake to be seen since it matched the colors in the cake.
• I experimented with shutter speeds form 1/8 sec., 1/15 sec., and 1/30 sec., with their appropriate f-stops at ISO 400, I settled on 1/30 sec., @ f8.0 since that gave me enough color around the cake without polluting its surface and good depth-of-field.

Using Natural Light outdoors….

f3.3 @ 1/250 sec., ISO 800; Lens @ 92mm

This was done at Nestledown (Los Gatos, California), one of my favorite wedding venues because the place looks like it was designed for photographers. Everywhere you look there are fabulous backgrounds and settings for photography.

The basic rule for cake placement outdoors is to have the cake placed in the Shade and then I just deal with the ambient lighting.

Planning the Cake Portrait:

• Before I let Kathi decorate the cake table I rotate my camera position around the table looking at backgrounds. You can see why I picked that multi-colored floral hillside as my background—those colors went perfectly with the floral colors of this wedding.
• The Lighting is coming from the Left (open sky) with additional top light. There’s a steep tree covered hillside on the right.

Then the light changes….

f2.8 @ 1/500 sec., ISO 1600; Lens @ 200mm

I got the overall cake table portrait and decided to go for a close-up with a Bokeh background. The light level is low so I go to ISO 1600, back-up and zoom to 200mm @ f2.8 and then the sun peaks through the trees lighting up the cake!  Rolling my shutter speed up to 1/500 sec., (spot metering) I get this nice close-up.

In Part 3; “A Piece of the Cake” I’ll cover the close-up, detail, set-ups we do on the cake table…’Til next week…

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training Site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client Site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com