Lincoln Memorial 2010

Due to an impending move, I haven't had time to post, let alone move the blog over to wordpress.  However, I did manage to get around DC one afternoon with my brother and sister and happened on these two kids reading at the memorial.  They were like statues.  Even after taking several frames, neither moved.

The point of the post is revisit your favorite places once in a while.  Opportunities are always present!

Canon G11, ISO 100, 1/80@f8

Firewood, Ento'to Mountain 2010

I really like both of these images.  Why one is in color and the other in black and white?  They both intimate something different to the viewer. Both are environmental portraits, however the top image speaks more to the environment of the subject and the world she lives in while the second frame is more about their faces.  The magnitude of the weight of the burden is very apparent from the top photo while the second leaves the viewer unaware of the mass the two are shouldering, save for the slim cotton straps around the shoulders of the woman in the foreground.    The first image also shows where the woman is - walking downhill on an asphalted road, shared by vehicular traffic (my hired taxi in the background).

Both frames evoke a different mood.  While the woman in the first frame is smiling, I asked her how heavy the wood and leaves were.  She guessed 70 kilos (approx 160lbs) and I think I winced.  She was smiling, likely only in anticipation that I would make a good picture in exchange for payment.  Listening to their slapping feet along the pavement told me just how grueling the daily ritual was for them.  I usually try to shoot at eye level or below because I believe shooting above a person reduces their dignity that is palatable to the viewer.  However, in the second frame, that size difference between me and the women gives the viewer a sense of mass they carry.   Note how she is weighting herself on the walking stick above and in the first frame, the frayed ends.

Why I chose color for the first and monochromatic for the second?  Maybe it was the way the colors jumped at me the first time and maybe it was the way the faces spoke to me in a very direct way for the second.  The bottom line is, it's just how I felt at the time of exposure.

Canon G11, ISO 200, 1/80@f8 (both images)

Ento'to Mountain, Addis Ababa 2010

I made this image while on a quick, self-guided tour through an old church and palace.  At the time, this was one of those shots where I set the camera, brought it up to my eye and pressed the shutter - no bracketing, no adjusting the frame, just this one.  

As I sit in Frankfurt during a long layover, I realized some quick Lighroom adjustments that yielded a tone-rich scene that I hadn't attempted before.  By default, LR makes auto brightness and contrast adjustments (50% and 25% respectively) to every image.  This is bad.  Any automatic algorithms a software program makes to images deprives the creator of personal control.  Set them to zero.  The only way I found to make this a default setting is to add it as a preset in the left-hand frame in the Develop module.  Then, during import, this preset can be applied to all images as they are rendered into the library.

Next, with the brightness and contrast subdued, I boosted the Clarity slider to 100% and found the result was a deep black in the window frame while leaving smooth mid-to-light gray tones in the background of the stone wall and thatch-roofed house.  The clarity adjustment was followed by a slight increase in sharpness (the new Adobe Camera Raw 6 is amazing and sharpens as good as, if not better than using the Photoshop High Pass method - it can be downloaded as a LR plugin and works fine - however, Raw 6 will NOT work in Photoshop versions prior to CS5).

Finally, I applied a preset I made that warms black and white images (Hue 61, Saturation 3) without looking too sepia.

That's it.  

Canon G11, ISO 200, 1/200@f5.6