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.

The Photo

The photos that make the most effective tilt shift photos are ones that have a wide depth of field (everything in the frame is in focus) with a downward perspective.  Photos with a lateral perspective or that have a narrow depth of field are not good candidates for the tilt shift process.

The Process

The process to convert a standard photo into a convincing tilt shift is very simple.  It takes a bit of practice to apply the mask in a way that is effective, but it is certainly within the grasp of anyone with a little bit of patience.  Follow the short screencast below to see the step by step process.

Tutorial: Tilt Shift via Photoshop from rudy lopez on Vimeo.

This is the final part of the HDR tutorial, covering the processing and data management aspects of creating an HDR image.  The process is better understood when presented in a way that follows a standard workflow, so I have created a few screencasts that will follow my regular process.

Screencast 1: Generating an HDR image

HDR tutorial 1 of 3: Generating an HDR from rudy lopez on Vimeo.

Screencast 2: Processing and Data Management

HDR Tutorial 2 of 3: Processing and Data Management from rudy lopez on Vimeo.

Screencast 3: Editing and Export

HDR Tutorial 3 of 3: Editing and Exporting from rudy lopez on Vimeo.

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It is important to remember that the key to success is practice, practice, practice.  The more you shoot, the better you will like your results.  If you have any questions, please comment and I will respond quickly.

I was equipped with my standard rig: Nikon D300, 3 lenses, Garmin eTrex GPS.  I arrived at roughly 5pm, allowing approximately 2 hours of walking and shooting.  The weather was clear with scattered clouds, no wind and  mild temps.  It was Sunday afternoon in early March, the throngs of tourists that usually crowd the streets are still three months away.  I parked at the PERA building and walked to the plaza.  From the plaza, I headed east into the neighborhood adjacent to the downtown area.  My goal was to photograph as many interesting textures as possible, I was thinking mostly about windows and doors.   After a nice walk and plenty of strong images on my CF cards, I left Santa Fe.  It was a fantastic afternoon.

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1. Must you stand so close? It doesn’t matter if you are taking a photo of a person or a landscape, it is important that you get as close to the subject as you can. Our brain interprets distance and size differently than the camera does. In other words, be aware of how much of the frame is occupied by what you think is interesting. If the interesting part of your photo is a mountain in the distance, and it only takes up 5% of the frame, no one will ‘get it’ because they don’t know what to look at. The same thing goes when photographing people. Viewers will be distracted by all of the other things in the scene and wont see what you are trying to get across. The subject should take up most of the frame.
2. Hey pal, you got the time? A common mistake is trying to capture dramatic nature shots when the light is not right for the scene. Pay close attention to the time of day. Generally, the light 2 hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset has more color and warmer tones than mid day sunlight. If you are forced to shoot during the day, do your best to keep the sun behind you.
3. Nature wins. Deal with it. It is extremely frustrating to drive for hours to a location only to find conditions completely unsuitable. That isn’t to say that you cannot get good shots during bad weather, but the shot you came for simply isn’t going to happen. How does this tip help you take better photos? I will ask the questions around here, if you don’t mind. Since you asked, it’s not so much about taking better photos, it’s about not letting bad photos get out. If you present a shot that isn’t exactly like you want it, people will ONLY see that version in their minds from now on, regardless of how awesome subsequent shots are. Ask yourself, would your favorite musical artist release a song before it’s ready?
4. The low down. Everyone pretty much sees the same view of the world, between 5′ and 6′ above the ground. In order to take people out of the regular world mindset, it sometimes helps to lower your perspective. Literally. Don’t be afraid to bend, sit, lay, kneel, squat, jump, twist to get a different view. A different perspective on a common item is a very popular subject.
5. Courage. When I was first starting out, I would see great photos and be too intimidated by the conspicuousness of photography. People are curious about what you find so interesting and they will look at you. Don’t be like me, take the shots. One more note, be aware of photographing areas that might be sensitive, like bridges, important buildings, airports, you might attract more attention than you really want. Also, it is perfectly fine to ask someone if you can take their photo. Most people will agree (some will say no, just thank them and walk away), but have no idea what you see in them. Do not photograph people without permission, it is very rude.

It is really simple. Imagine the scene with lines drawn horizontally and vertically at each third of the image. You end up with what looks like a tic tac toe board. The intersections of these lines is where you want to put the interesting part of your photograph. Many of today’s DSLR’s have a ‘grid’ setting for their viewfinder, this will place the lines automatically in the viewfinder. Very handy.

The Rule of Thirds

Aperture 2 can be a daunting program without any guidance. The following video is the first tutorial in a series designed to make using Aperture 2 easier to use. This video covers workflow from beginning to end, importing photos and getting organized.

Excerpt from the video:

1. Create a folder called “dump folder” on your desktop. This is a permanent folder, you will use it to temporarily hold all new pictures until they are uploaded into an Aperture 2 Library.
2. Create a folder with a name you would like to have for the project. We will call this folder “House Plant Photos.”
3. Set Image Capture to import into the “dump folder.” Download Images.
4. Drag the images from the “dump folder” into the project folder.
5. Watch the video below to learn the rest!

Learn more about Data Management and Workflow with Aperture 2.