Background: A few days ago, I posted an image on my “It’s My Nature” blog (see link in the right hand column) entitled “Pre-Sunrise Abstract”. I thought I would just say a bit more about what goes into making this abstract and, indeed, all types of blur abstracts be they vertical pans, horizontal swipes (like this one) or just simple “jiggle” blurs.

I find it interesting that so often when we first start out in photography, we find our images to not be as sharp as we would like. In other words, the images are blurry. Maybe not terribly blurry but blurry enough to detract from the image. The culprit is, in may cases, simple camera shake. We hand hold the camera. For some reason (maybe we have stopped down the aperture to f/16 or more or we have dropped the ISO at 100 or it is just darker than usual when you are shooting or … whatever), the shutter speed is slow… not too slow… but slow enough that we move the camera during the exposure and the image is blurred. I have a friend who get blurred images frequently when trying to photograph a very active child. I won’t belabor the point. Accidental blur happens… to all of us at one time or another.

Eventually most of us figure out how to keep the shutter speed up, use a tripod and we solve the issue of blurry pictures. Then the darnedest thing happens. We start to get progressively more and more creative and then it happens! We begin to strive for blurry images, not as mistakes but as our creative goal. We reverse the process. We lengthen the shutter speed, we hand hold and we introduce very deliberate movements to create blur… not just a little blur but a pronounced blur. We are letting our creative juices flow and we have come full circle. Well sort of!

Set-up: For this image, I used my Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens; handheld.

Creative Considerations: Creating a blur is easy; creating a good blur is harder and creating a REALLY GOOD blur can really be quite challenging. Even though your objective is to blur the image into an abstract, you still need to start with a good subject and solid composition. In this case, I had a really great pre-sunrise sky to work with.

Now it’s time to set up the camera. As I said, getting the correct shutter speed is key. Now there is no absolute correct shutter speed. But you want it long enough to be able to introduce the movement you wish without being so long that you run out of movement and either stop or begin to introduce other random movements. I find that I like shutter speeds between 0.6 sec and 1.3 sec. They just work best for me. So it is time to start tinkering. As I’ve said elsewhere, the easiest way may be to switch the camera into TV mode. Set the shutter speed to what you want – say 0.8 sec and let the camera do the rest. But I am so used to shooting in AV mode that I usually begin by dropping the ISO 100 and stopping down the aperture to whatever it takes. In this case it was f/18. And that is what I used – ISO 100, 0.8 sec @ f/18. But keep in mind, there is no set formula to get you where you want to go. Sometimes the light is so bright that I can drop down to ISO 50 and stop down to f/22 (or farther depending on the lens) and still not slow the shutter speed enough. Then it is time to add a Neutral Density (ND) filter to the lens. I use a Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter that will given me between 2 and 8 stops depending on how I set it. But it is a very pricy (~$450.00) filter. A simple 2-stop or 3-stop ND filter will also do the trick as can the polarizer that you may already have in your bag. Whatever it takes to get that shutter speed between 0.6 and 1.3 seconds. And finally, sometimes you may find that it is too dark and you need to raise your ISO to 200 and open up your aperture to f/8 or whatever to get you where you want to be. Do whatever you must.

Now you need to set up your composition. In the case of the sunrise image, where do you want the horizon line to fall in the image. Keep that in mind. And then think about how you are going to keep that line where you want it while maintain the free movement you need to create the blur. And look at the total sweep you going to make. What is going to be in your image? Think of it as a panorama compressed into a standard frame.

This is what I do. No big secret here. While handholding the camera, I set up the composition. Then I depress the shutter part way to activate the autofocus. And then, while keeping the camera steady in the vertical direction, I start to pivot at the waist going left to right to left to right until I feel I have established a smooth rhythm. Only then do I depress the shutter the rest of the way and make the exposure. Just remember to maintain that motion until the shutter closes.

To this multiple times (doesn’t have to be 100; I usually do between 5 and 10 these days) to be sure you have one or two that fulfills your vision. And there you go. You hopefully end up with something that you really like.

Processing: Don’t be surprised if all that motion leaves to with an image that looks a bit dull straight out of camera. In this case, I took the image into Nik Viveza 2 where I decreased brightness, increased contrast, push up the saturation just a little and played around with adding a little structure. I then used the Graduated Neutral Density filter in Nik Color Efex Pro to further enhance the colors in the sky. Remember, at no point am I adding anything to the image that was not already there. All I am doing with Nik is pulling out the color and detail that exists in the image I made. And here is the result!

Result: Taking a somewhat ordinary sunrise and making it extraordinary!

In some twisted fashion, this bring me to the subject of this post. I spent yesterday morning scouting around the Delaware Water Gap. If you are interesting in seeing images from there, visit my other blog at www.itsmynaturephotography.com/blog and look for a post entitled “The Rise and Falls of Ed Vatza”. Now its not posted there yet but will be either tonight or tomorrow evening at the latest. Depends how long this post takes me. Today, we drove over to Sandy Hook to do some more scouting around there. The composition that I will be discussing rather briefly here is from this morning at Sandy Hook.

Set-up: Canon 50D with a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. (I chose the lens since that is the longest lens that I would expect a workshop participant to haul along to my workshop.)

Creative Considerations & Evolving the Composition: I went to Sandy Hook to scout around and determine whether it would be a good location for one of my 3-day “Creativity, Composition and the Camera” workshops. So I came with no preconceived notions of what I was looking for. I was open to anything and everything. I started off shooting several Snowy Egret in habitat shots before moving along the shoreline of the back bay. As I said, I was just looking around hoping to find interesting subjects to work now and make note of for future reference. As I walked along the shoreline, I came across a long and relatively wide strip of cockle shells lining the beach. I must have walked along the line of shells for a minute or two before finally feeling “motivated” to stop and make an image… one single image of the shells. The image didn’t do much to excite me. Here it is.

As I said, the image didn’t really excite me. It seemed flat. It seemed lifeless. Oh I am sure I could have done some magic in post-processing but this was not what I was hoping for. But it was a start. It got me thinking about the subject and the composition. As I continued to walk along, I came across shells that were wet. They looked brighter, with more definition. So I stopped and made another image (Realize what I am saying here. With a DSLR, it is so easy to rip off 10 or 20 or 50 images. I made one and then another one.). The image was better but still not what I was looking for. For one thing, I needed the frame filled more than it was. But I also needed life. Here is that second image.

I needed a full frame like the first image, the brightness and definition of the second image and I still needed to add vibrance, life to the image. And then it came together. The line of shells. The incoming tide. The wave washed over the shells. The life I was looking for. I found a nice grouping of shells and waited for the water. And here is the result… the image I was looking for. Through a series of what totaled just 7 images (it doesn’t take hundreds), I had evolved the composition to an image that I really liked, an image that breathes life through the bubbles and textured layers.

Processing: Processing was kept to a minimum. I used Viveza 2 to adjust contrast and structure. And I sharpened the image with Nik Sharpener Pro. I cropped the image to an 11×14 because I needed an 11×14 image for a local competition.

Result: Making the ordinary extraordinary! I hope you will agree.

I am reading an excellent book by David duChemin entitled “Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision“. In it duChemin points out that every image that we create is really made up of three images, if you will. There is what we actually see with our physical eyes when we look out upon a subject and begin planning the composition. There is what the camera captures which is based on the physical limitations of the camera coupled with our skill in using it. And there is what we ultimately produce with our post-processing which, with each additional bit of software added, feels more and more limitless. All three impact the final image. Personally, I think I would add a fourth image or at least maybe expand on the first. I think there are two kinds of “sight” that occur before the camera is activated. Certainly there is what we see with our physical eyes. But even before that, there is what we see with our mind’s eye… what we envision, what is pre-visualized.

Another question raised is the nature of the relationship between the “first image” (what we see with our mind’s eye and/or our physical eyes) and the final product (what comes out of post-processing). How far we push the envelope is often determined not by what we see with our physical eyes but rather by what we see with our mind’s eye. To tie this back to the previous post, I sincerely believe that if the final image produced is not tied back to the first image (at least to what we pre-visualized in our mind’s eye), then all we can say is that we produced that final image the way we did simply because “we could”… we have the post-processing tools and skills to do it. I guess rather than pre-visualized, the image is post-visualized.

Anyway as I drove to the lake yesterday morning, I was scanning the pre-dawn sky. What I didn’t see was a bit disheartening. I didn’t see many clouds in the sky and felt that that lack of structure for the sun’s rays to bounce off of would result in a somewhat flat sunrise over the water. But then in my mind’s eye, I started to see more. I saw the marina, the boats, the water and the sun rising above the horizon. And to take it one step further, I also saw, in my mind’s eye, the processing that it would take to create the look that I wanted. In other words, in my mind’s eye I knew what I would see with my physical eyes, I knew what the camera would capture and I knew what I would need to do to get the final product that I wanted. It was as if the final image had been created before I even got to the lake and pulled the camera out of the bag.

Set-up: Canon 5D mark II; Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens; remote shutter release (I keep forgetting to mention that) and a tripod.

Creative Objective and Considerations: The creative objective here was to create a sunrise image with the marina and boats serving as a key element strengthening the composition and offsetting what I felt would be a weak sunrise. Personally, I like shooting sunrises as 5-image HDRs. I often get questioned as to why because it would seem I could get the full range out of a single image. But I disagree. I particularly think the HDR helps pull detail out of the early morning shadows. As I mentioned above in the background, I knew what I wanted to do in processing with this image and will describe that below. What I will say here is that I often pride myself at creating HDR images that don’t look like HDR. They don’t have that overprocessed look that one so often sees and associates with the technique. But this time, I wanted to push the HDR and strive for that overprocessed look because again I felt it would help to strengthen the composition and counterbalance the weaker sunrise.

So where did we start? Well here is the base image shot at 1.0 sec @ f/22; ISO 50; 0 EV. Note the relatively weak pre-sunrise sky.

Processing: The image above was combined with identical images shot at -2, -1, +1 and +2 EV to create a 5-image composite HDR image using Photomatix Pro. The image was then tone-mapped in Photomatix using the default settings. While it is possible to begin making adjustments to the image in Photomatix, I prefer to hold that until Photoshop. I then took the HDR composite image into Photoshop and began work using the Nik Complete set of filters. The first step was to remove any noise that resulted from the composite process. That was done using the automatic feature in Nik Dfine. Next I applied the Nik Viveza 2 filter and, using the control point technology, made adjustments to the blues in the sky and water, the pinks, the yellows and finally the greens in the trees. The objective was to adjust brightness (going negative on most points), boost contrast into the 25-35 range, tweak saturation just a bit and kick up the structure (maybe to around +35).

Next I took the image into Nik Color Efex Pro and used the graduated neutral density filter to give the sky and water a deeper, richer color. This is a case of playing with the sliders until you get a look that you like. Finally, I applied the tonal contrast adjustment filter driving up the shadow contrast (from the default of 20 to around 65) followed by the midtone contrast (to around 50) and the highlight contrast (to around 45). Finished by sharpening the image with Nik Sharpener Pro and voila!

Result: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary! And creating the final image that fulfilled the one I had pre-visualized in my mind’s eye as I was driving to the lake.

The creation of the multiple exposure, if you shoot Canon, must take place in Photoshop. The process isn’t necessarily difficult but it is time-consuming. Each of the images to be combined must be set up on a different layer with a different opacity (Layer 1 100%; Layer 2 50%; Layer 3 33%; Layer 4 25%; Layer 5 20% … Layer 10 10%) and then the layers are combined to create the single multiple exposure image. I always felt this was a very laborious process and it kept me from doing many multiple exposures… until recently when a fellow photographer named Uwe Steinmueller took the multiple exposure process taught by Tony Sweet and created a script for Photoshop that does all the work for you. Select the images, press the button, sit back and watch all the layers, opacity adjustments, and combining just happen before your eyes. Suddenly there was no reason not to do more multiple exposures.

Fast forward to a month or so ago. I was reading an excellent book by Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant entitled “Photo Impressionism and the Subjective Image”. In it, they described a slight variation on making impressionistic multiple exposures that really interested me. Up to this point, my multiple exposures had been made with pre-planned movement from image to image. Take the image, move up slightly, take the next image, move up slightly and so on until I was done. Patterson and Gallant spoke of more random movements that took advantages of the fact that no one can really handhold a camera perfectly still over a series of say 10 to 20 shots. There will be small random movements that, when combined, will produce very interesting impressionistic images. It sounded interesting and like something I wanted to try.

Set-up: Canon 30D; Sigma 70mm f/2.8 Macro lens; handheld.

Creative Objective and Considerations: The creative objective here was to create an artistic, impressionistic image of cherry blossoms on a tree in our backyard. I chose to go macro because, while I didn’t want to focus in on a single flower, I wanted to be able to fill the frame with as much color as possible from a spray of blooms and eliminate as much of the ugly background (fence and garage) as possible. This is what a single image of the cherry blossoms looked like without any processing at all.

Processing: I’ve already alluded to some of the processing but let me reiterate. I made 10 images consecutively by handhold the camera as still as possible and shooting in burst mode. I then created the multiple exposure composite image using the aforementioned Steinmueller/Sweet script for Photoshop CS4. I cropped the composite image in order to better fill the frame with color. And I processed the image using Nik Viveza and Color Efex Pro and voila, the finished product! Now I wouldn’t and don’t consider this multiple exposure perfect but I like what I have done here and am encouraged by the impressionistic result.

Result: Making the ordinary extraordinary!

Addendum: Normally I end these little examples of taking our photography to the next level with the conclusion: “making the ordinary extraordinary”. But this one doesn’t end there. I originally entitled this post “Because We Can” for a reason. We have so many wonderful tools available to us these days starting with cameras and lens and carrying right on through to all the software, plug-ins, etc that let us do such wonderful things to enhance our images. With just the three posts here on this new blog, it should be painfully clear that I am in love with the Nik Complete suite of Photoshop Plug-ins. And I use Photomatix HDR software and the Steinmueller/Sweet multiple exposure script a lot. An on and on.

But recently I received two comments to images of mine on Facebook that really got me thinking a lot about what we use, how we use it and why we use it. The first came from a local friend, Buddy, who looked at this image and wrote: “Ed, I continue to miss something on these. Why couldn’t one take a single image, make several layer copies and use free transform to shift them to the side or up and down then merge to create a similar effect?” My response was “You could. My way is just a different, more old fashioned way of doing it. Harkens back to film days…” But again it didn’t end there. I kept reflecting back on the question, thinking about it, maybe more than I should. In my mind, I kept coming back to the “old-fashioned way” and “film”. And I kept thinking that my approach, to do as much as possible in camera, is the photographic approach while the approach suggested by my friend is more of a graphic design/digital art approach. Nothing wrong with it… just different.

Then came the second comment to a very different image made with the Lensbaby selective focus lens. Another Facebook friend, Mario, wrote: “I like very much the type of subject and the evocative outcome you have produced, while I am not yet convinced that Lensbaby has added something special to this particular image. You know well how selective blurring (or conversely selective focus) can be obtained in various manners, including also the postproduction editing with PS and PS-based applications. One good reason for adding blurring effects in PS is that you place exactely the amount of blurring you want and exclusively where you want it…” Once again I have to agree. There are multiple ways of doing things. But once again, I believe the Lensbaby offers a photographic solution while the other is a Photoshop/Design solution. I guess when I have a choice, I prefer to use what I consider the photographic solutions probably because I consider myself to be much better behind a camera than in front of a computer screen.

I do recognize that I am on a slippery slope here because this quickly becomes one of those “where do you draw the line” issues. But I will say that I find am finding myself, more and more, looking at images and asking myself the question “why did she/he do that?” And the answer often seems to come back “because we can!”. Your thoughts?

How many times though have we read or been told to always look around us while shooting because there could be other equally, or more, interesting compositions right behind our backs? So I looked around and what did I find? Some beautiful sky behind me with the setting moon still fairly high up.

Set-up: Canon 5D Mark II; Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens; Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter;  and a tripod.

Creative Objective and Considerations: The creative objective here was very straightforward and is summed up in the title. I sought to capture “the other side of sunrise”.  Just as sure as day follows night, the sun rises and the moon “sets”. I’ve always focused on the sun rising. Today was the day to focus on the other side of sunrise, night and the moon disappearing before our eyes.

I knew that the moon over the lake and the brightening sky  could make for an interesting composition but not from where I was shooting the sunrise. So I gathered my gear, hustled up the hill back to the car and drove around the lake to a viewpoint where I felt I would have a stronger composition. As times like this it is good to have a working knowledge of your surroundings. When I got to my chosen destination, the sky was brightening quickly but the moon still shone albeit a bit more dimly.

I set up the gear and decided to start bracketing my shots with the hope that the bracketed images, HDR and my Nik filters could help me recreate what I saw in my mind’s eye.

Here is the base image as it came out of the camera (0.6 sec @f/16; ISO 100; 0 EV; pattern metering; FL 70mm/other images at -2, -1, +1 and +2 EV).

Processing: I began by taking the set of five images shot at -2, -1, 0, +1 and +2 EV into Photomatix Pro, which is probably the best HDR-generating software available (and very reasonably priced). Once you’ve selected your images to be composited, you just sit back and let Photomatix do its thing. (I like that!) Once the HDR image is created (it looks horrible, by the way), I tone map it (also in Photomatix) and immediately export the image into Photoshop CS4. I used to try to work with the tone-mapped image by making adjustments right in Photomatix but I’ve learned that it is easier (and I like the results better) in CS4 (particularly with the Nik filters). Using Viveza 2, I backed off the brightness considerably and added significantly more contrast. Then I used the structure feature to pump up the detail. The image was looking much better. It just needed a little more punch. So I took the image into Nik Color Efex Pro and used the Graduated Neutral Density filter to add a bit more contrast to the sky and generally just punch things up a bit more. I finished post-processing off with a healthy dose of sharpening (I find I am not being as light-handed with the sharpening as I had been in the past and I am liking the result more)  using Nik Sharpener Pro and voila, the finished product!

Result: Making the ordinary extraordinary!

Set-up: Canon 5D Mark II; Canon 70-200mm F/2.8L IS lens; tripod.

Creative Objective and Considerations: As I walked along the stream, I had my eye out for areas of white water that would provide me with a nice silky look and feel at a longer exposure time. When I finally found the kind of water I was looking for, I had to first decide from what perspective I wanted to create the image. I looked from the side. I looked from downstream actually getting into several inches of water while looking for the right perspective. I finally decided to shoot from the side angle since it best captured the “flow” of the water. It was important to take a low perspective so I left the tripod legs fully collapsed and got down on the stream bank.

Now I need to slow the flow. I almost always (99.9% of the time) shoot in Aperture Priority mode. I just feel comfortable with it. I varied the aperture value and ISO to slow the shutter speed and made a series of images with shutter speeds between 2.0 and 8.0 seconds. Ultimately, I settled in on the following camera settings: 2.0 sec @ f/16; ISO 100; 0 EV; AWB; Pattern Metering; Focal length 135mm.

Here is the image as it came out of the camera.

Definitely a nice enough image. The slow shutter speed gave me the nice silky look and feel that I was looking for. Just a little post-processing and we’d be good to go. Work the brightness a bit. Add some contrast. Very dreamy. Very nice.

Processing: I took this image into Photoshop CS4 and went to work primarily with the Nik Complete suite of filters. Using Viveza 2, I did kick up the brightness just a wee bit and added more contrast. Then I used the structure feature to pump up the detail a little. The image was looking better. It was looking good. But then I took it one step farther. I took the image into Nik Color Efex Pro and went to work with the Tonal Contrast filter. The highlight, mid-tone and shadow contrast default settings are all 30%. I made some subtle adjustments to the highlight and mid-tone contrast that were to personal taste and had precious little effect on the overall image. Then I boosted the shadow contrast more and more and more until I got the look I was seeking. I finished post-processing off with a touch of sharpening using Nik Sharpener Pro and voila, the finished product!

Result: Making the ordinary extraordinary!

Your thoughts? On this format? This example? Anything at all?

I am hoping to add one (maybe two) such posts each week.

Over the past couple of months, I have started to work on a couple of seminar and workshop concepts that I hope to launch in 2011. One I have entitled “Creativity, Composition and the Camera” and will focus on expanding ones creativity and applying those creative juices to one’s photography. More on that one in a later post. The second I have entitled “Making the Ordinary Extraordinary: Great Images from Your Own Backyard“. This seminar/workshop will focus on developing great artistic images in your own backyard, figuratively speaking. You don’t have to go to Yosemite or Tibet or Alaska or Antarctica to make great images. You can do it right where you live. In both seminars/workshops, I hope to provide participants with the skills necessary to take their photography to the next level.

Those workshop ideas have provided the impetus for re-launching this blog under a new name: “Making the Ordinary, Extraordinary!”. The address will remain the same –  http://itsmynature.wordpress.com. The focus will change from sharing my latest images to showing the before and after images with discussion on how I got from one to the other.

The first post should happen within the next day or two. Stay tuned. And stay tuned for more on my “Creativity, Composition and the Camera” and “Making the Ordinary Extraordinary!” seminars and workshops in 2011.

In the meantime, by all means please visit my website at www.itsmynaturephotography.com and my  blog at www.itsmynaturephotography.com/blog. Those site will stay very active even after I resurrect this blog with it’s new focus.