This is my favorite piece of art, The Blue Room by Picasso.
For me, it captures that wonderful point in time each evening where the remains of the day are barely clinging to the the textures and shapes of our surroundings. This is the moment in time that seems the most filled with the depth and emotion. The light is simultaneously intense and subtle, poignant yet elusive, shadows have weight and highlights are just brighter versions of the shadows. Ordinary objects reveal their deep, soulful existence ordinarily obscured by the starkness of daylight or the emptiness of the dark. It is my perfect time of day.
The nice thing about that special blue time, is that it happens every day regardless of time of year or weather. You just have to notice it. This was my blue time tonight, the last of the light falling into the garage.
I am obviously no Picasso. The point isn’t necessarily the subject matter, but the richness of the moment. I’m going to use this image as my raw shot of the day, a photo challenge issued by TheChrista.
I admire the Florida-based photographer called Christa Watson, she has a fantastic eye and her people pictures express a certain truth that has always seemed to elude me. Her recent blog post encourages photographers to kick out the crutch of editing by trying to capture a great scene with only the camera. It seemed right up my alley considering I have been caught in this sort of over edited haze, and I am anxious to shake it. This challenge seems like the perfect opportunity to address the problem.
I approached the challenge pragmatically, the scene I had in my head was a simple shot from my garage. North light pours in over stone steps, across a weathered green door, onto an old ladder. The scene is only 10 feet from my desk so it met the convenience/laziness requirements as well as the interesting lighting requirement. I wanted no editing whatsoever. I set the ISO to 400 to reduce the noise while still being able to shoot handheld. I opened the aperture of the 12mm Sigma to 7.1, enough to accomplish a deep DOF without reducing the shutter speed (1/40th) to a point where I couldn’t control it.
Here is the shot:
Now, it’s not bad. Jen likes it. I wanted to capture the softness of the light with the texture of the wall, enhanced by the subtle green door. After looking at the shot for several minutes, I came to the realization that while it has a certain tone, it needs more attention. The cement wall texture was not clear enough, the details in the dark parts of the ladder were lost in the shadows, and the colors were flat. The more I tried not to think about it, the more the thought that the shot needed editing kept creeping into my mind. While grilling tonights chicken I kept thinking how a nice 4×5 crop and a little added contrast would go a long way to capturing the tone of the image, and a targeted increase in the saturation/white balance adjustment in the door would make things pop a bit more.
The fact of the matter is, for me at least, is that the editing is at least as important as the capture when it comes to expressing the feeling behind a photo.
Here is the edited version:
I like it better. But I think that it’s entirely in my head. For years I have loved photos that people have been indifferent to, and I have been embarrassed by shots that people ended up loving. I still have no idea how to purposely target an emotional response from someone, I generally let my heart do the work and people seem to respond.
I loved this challenge because it reminded me that creating a photo is sometimes more than having tech skills and being at the right place at the right time. For me, editing is part of the meditation of photography, a chance to get personal with the pixels.
Well, there was finally a clear sunset here in Seattle. It wasn’t particularly colorful, but it wasn’t gray. And that’s a bit of a change from seemingly relentless gray evenings.
The tide was out and there was plenty of pooled water that made great reflections, and the rocks were covered with texture and color.
The image above is an example of how to use minimal equipment to achieve natural tone to a complex image.
I needed to be able to show the three separate elements (living, dining, kitchen) in one shot while highlighting the space and the layout . The challenges in this composition include bright natural light from the dining area and an almost fully shadowed area in the hallway behind the fireplace. There are also three levels of overhead incandescent cans and lamps PLUS dark floors.
Composition:
Each shot is different, each photographer is different, and equipment differs. The best advice I can give on composition is to try several different angles and see what works best. For this shot, in addition to the details I mentioned earlier, I needed to be able to place a slave flash in to the frame without being able to see it. More on that in the Lighting Details section.
Here is the equipment:
Nikon D300, Sigma 12-24mm, Two SB-800 Speedlights, Tripod, and small tripod for slave.
EXIF: RAW, ISO640, 22mm(equiv), f7.1 @ 1/50th
I choose a relatively high ISO in order to maximize the Speedlight’s cone, while also keeping lower flash levels to avoid harsh shadows (I apply noise reduction and minor sharpening in Lightroom). If I need to make adjustments, I will open the aperture if it’s too dark, and increase the shutter speed if it’s too bright. The idea is to keep both adjustment as even as possible, going too far in either direction will provide undesirable results.
Exposure
first exposure
The first exposure I make is a plain shot at the meter setting with an aperture of f9. This will give me a starting point. My goal is to adjust the shutter speed until the incandescent lights (maybe a lamp or can) in the frame are at the point where they are barely about to be blown out. From that point you can begin to add light (and place the slave) until you have the results you want.
The first exposure for this shot happens to be right on the money (thank you very much), the artificial lights are bright but not blown out. I can now proceed to add my own light.
Lighting Details:
Camera: pop up the on-camera flash. This will trigger the slaves. You will need to go to the camera flash settings and set the on-camera flash to fire at the minimum level. This will be enough to trigger the slaves but not cast shadows in the shot.
Slaves: To turn the SB-800 into an adjustable slave, hold the SEL button for a few seconds until the menu pops up. Navigate to the flash settings, and press SEL to select. Choose SU-4 from the menu. Press SEL to save, then hold SEL until the menu disappears. The display will now say REMOTE , you may need to press the MODE key to enter manual mode. Now you will be able to adjust the light in increments as necessary.
Slave 1: Hand held. I use this unit to light the foreground of the shot. Usually at a bright setting (1/4) straight up with the diffuser on. The good thing about having this flash hand held is that you can move it around easily if you need to mitigate a shadow or something. There is definitely an art to doing this, and it is really fun to find what contortion works for a certain space. I set the camera timer for a few seconds, and that’s plenty of time to get into the best position.
Slave 2. On a tripod. I use a cheap pan head tripod, fully collapsed its about a foot tall and expands to about 4ft.
For this shot, I held Slave 1 three feet to the right and behind the camera with a flash level of 1/4, straight up with diffuser. Slave 2 was two feet tall behind the slim wall near the kitchen with a flash level of 1/64, straight up with no diffuser. It took me a few shots to fine tune the lighting and placement, but it’s easy to make adjustments.
Generally, the slave needs to be in the line of site of the main flash, although I regularly place the slave around corners or in different rooms with fantastic results.
Results:
The effect is very nice, all of the elements are lit evenly and naturally. Now, there is a shadow thrown from the slave by the dining room chandelier, anyone seeing it would not know that it was an artificial light, it looks very much like sunlight reflected off the table. By moving the light slightly, I could have thrown that shadow somewhere else without affecting the tone, it’s depends on what you like to see.
This shot took me five minutes to compose, setup, and shoot. With a compact setup and a good plan, you can cover a large house in just a few hours.
The relocation from Denver to Seattle is complete. My father-in-law and I were the advance team for the big move. We arrived in Ballard 8 days before my wife and daughter so we could set up the house and make the transition as smooth as possible, and I am pleased to say it was a success. By the time they arrived, a vast majority of the work was done, leaving a few details that needed the full family input.
By Sunday, January 10, I had enough accomplished around the house to go shooting. It was my first chance to explore the area outside of the Seattle, and I was quite excited. I headed north and west along the coast to the towns of Marysville, Laconner, and Bellingham. Bellingham is a very large city and is worthy of many trips, but the shots I was able to get on this trip were a great start. In Laconner, I found a beautifully weathered warehouse on the waterfront just a few yards from the main tourist drag. It was falling down, but there were still plenty of stuff being stored inside. The exterior walls were covered in blue/green moss, adding great texture to the scene.
In the days up the arrival of my family, I took an hour or two in the afternoon to get some shots of the very impressive Seattle skyline. Since the sun goes down about 4pm this far north in the winter, golden hour comes very early. Golden hour around here, of course, is more like gray hour. But the light is still very good, and great shots can be had. I imagine there will be a time where I will find shooting the Space Needle sort of boring, but for now it’s fantastic. I have never had such an interesting element to work with on such a large scale. I found a great location at Kerry Park in the Queen Anne neighborhood, as well as some great perspective shots from the beach at Alki.
In addition to the big move, the great new locations, and all of that stuff, I have launched the new Curb Appeal Photo site. I am looking forward to building great relationships with the business community in our hew home.
Having good gear and finding great locations are critical elements in creating great photos. But without good composition, crossing the line from snapshot to art is impossible. Composition is the first place in the photography process where creativity comes in to play. There are guidelines to composing photos, it’s a good idea to read about the rule of thirds.
Ok, once you understand the rule of thirds, try to forget it. The idea is not to have a strict structure for your compositions, but an understanding that placement interesting elements in certain areas makes better photos.
In the example photo above, I have composed the image to be centered on the width of the room. The four corners happen to converge where the rule of thirds suggests, but there are also interesting elements within each of the sections. The photo at the head of the post does not follow the conventions described in the rule of thirds. The scene is interesting on its own, the key is capturing a natural HDR.
There are many different, interesting ways to compose this image. But composition needs to be at the front of your mind while you are shooting or you may not get the results you want. Some people find it difficult to separate their minds from their surroundings while on location. A trick I use is to imagine (when I look thru the eye piece) that I am looking straight down at a table with a photo on it, a photo that someone else took. Then I adjust the photo until it looks like something I would see framed in a museum. This is how I separate myself from the scene, to step outside myself to see it for what it is.
If you can find a way to separate yourself from the scene, you will be much more creative in your composition. Thereby, more likely to “move” people with your photos.
Sunday was a fantastic day for shooting. The weather was beautiful and I was anxious to get some good shots. I went shooting Friday, but it was one of those days where absolutely nothing was in sync. No new locations, boring sky, and very little motivation meant a long day of driving and nothing to show for it.
On Sunday, I stumbled across two places that I had visited early in the spring but had not been back to. The light was great and there was plenty of color, shadows, reflected light, and contrast to make things really interesting. It was one of the rare times where everything clicks and the time flies by. After an hour at the first location, I made my way north past Siebert, Colorado to the second location. This property is one of the most interesting , it is very close to the end of its existence as a standing structure. This house was once occupied, then it languished for years, and by this time next year, or maybe two, it will be gone. Rubble behind a stand of trees.
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Two things strike me when I am at a location like this. The lack of permanence of things, or more precisely, the illusion of permanence we assign to things. It only takes forgetting about something to destroy it. The other thing that strikes me is the power of nature. Throughout this spring and summer, I witnessed the power of nature in it’s most impressive form, scary ass storms. But the more subtle power, the more powerful power , if you will allow it, is the capacity the earth has to refresh itself. In 100 years, only people that know what they are looking for will know that this place existed. Very few things we build will be able to survive this ultimate fate.
The final location of the day was a fantastic abandoned farm on the outskirts of the little town of Arriba, Colorado. This tricky location is easily reached if you get off the highway at Arriba, but if you miss that exit, it is a round trip of 30 miles to return. I have missed it more times than I can count, and I rarely double back to a location. Must. Move. Forward. I was determined on this day to capture this farm at sunset, so I drove along the country roads until the time was right, listening to music, pondering things that need pondering. Mental maintenance, I guess. I arrived at the farm with about 15 minutes of sunlight remaining. The low sun poked through the pane-less windows, bathing the inside of the colorfully painted rooms with a very special kind of natural light. I spent the rest of the daylight in that zone where the camera is just an extension of the brain.
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The final 15 minutes of the shortest day of this year at a place like this. A fitting end to my time in Colorado. More daylight the next day, and a new season of adventure in a new place. I am very excited about the future and a brand new path. For me, this is what life is all about.
This is one a shot from one of my first trips to the plains, taken on Hwy 385 near Cheyenne Wells, Colorado. I had no idea how many abandoned places there actually were and this find seemed particularly lucky. Over the summer I would discover dozens of other places, some much more dramatic. But this location will always be one of my favorites simply because it was one of the first.
