I now have the new blog up and running and will no longer be posting to Blogger due to our impending move to Ethiopia.  As I mentioned earlier, the Ethiopian government blocks access to Blogger.  Why it has not done so with other blog providers is a mystery but I hope I'm not jinxing myself for writing about it.  Rather than transfer all of the old posts and statistics from here, I decided to keep things simple and start anew.  Thanks for visiting and for those who subscribe, you can easily do so at wordpress as well.  See you there!

Cheers,
John

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

Future Blog Site Relocation, Mid or Late June 2010

This may be one of my last posts to the blog until I have time to relocate it to either http://www.faroutphotographic.net/ or another blog hosting service.  Our move to Addis Ababa for the forseeable future is prompting the change due to the dictatorship that controls its citizens' access to the internet and blocks many popular sites, including Blogger.  Hopefully, the move will be made sometime in mid-late June.  If you follow the site or just happen to stop by once in a while, please check back during that time and I'll post the new address. 

This image was made on my way to Ethiopia.  Benyam and Sampson are two brothers and photographers in their own right - we had some great conversations while crossing the Atlantic.  I'm hopeful we'll have some time exploring Ethiopia together in the future.

Canon G11, ISO 400, 1/25s@f8

Reflecting Puddle 2010

Returning from errands in DC yesterday, I was passing the Reflecting Pool and noticed it was drained for leak repairs.  Having my camera (always, just in case!) with me, I parked near the Lincoln Memorial and walked into the reflecting pool.  All but a few large puddles attracted small waterfowl to feed on the algae.  These ducklings, only part of a huge flock of more than twenty, began to walk across the reflection of the Washington Monument.

Canon 5DmkII, 200mm 2.8L, ISO 400, 1/320@f14

Morro de Sao Paulo 2008

This HDR shot was optimized and cleaned up by layering one frame in Photoshop to eliminate ghosting among the moving palm fronds.  Hue adjustments also eliminated the magenta cast in the clouds that is a common result using default HDR settings.

Note to Self 2010

We had the pleasure of listening to a superb jazz trio yesterday at our friends' house.  I didn't  spend too much time shooting but felt a couple of images from the set were worthy of a post.  These two illustrate that a tight crop (in-camera, not in post-processing) can make all the difference in balance and structure.  While both work, I prefer the second because of the position of the musicians relative to one another (inverted triangle/rule of thirds).  The three also are in a more pensive state in the bottom frame, giving more of a sense of concentration.  However, the second shot deserves additional curves processing to bring out additional contrast whereas the first frame is about right.  When converting these to black and white, I realized I liked the softness of the high ISO noise with the G11 - instead of blotchy noise, it appears as fine film grain.  A slight increase in yellow split-tone provided warmth.

Canon G11, ISO 1600, 1/160@f8