I’ve mentioned before that sometimes color plays no role in an image. When this is the case, look to desaturate:
Nightscene during lunar eclipse
This was created during the lunar eclipse, and referred to in this post. Completely orange in the original due to tungsten lighting, but it somewhat works in black & white. It’s not an earth-shaking image, but I do like the contrasts of the organic & mechanical, as well as the deep dark of the sky.
Post processing with Silver Efex Pro.
Lunar Eclipse over Orion
Mentioned in this post, an image of the lunar eclipse in its relation to other celestial bodies. Now that I’ve had some time to look over the images, I think that this is my favorite of the evening. But it took some work.
One interesting thing: the street lights are all effectively done with tungsten lighting – they give everything a solid color cast. But the moon & the stars – they’re reflecting what is effectively normal sunlight. Completely different cast.
If you color balance for daylight (I usually have it at 5600K), then the street lights are orange, but the moon is proper. Balance for tungsten and the moon is drab.
The solution: smart objects in Photoshop. One for the main area, one for the sky. Each one with a different color balance. The original was created in RAW, so this didn’t damage the image. Minor masking & everything displays as it should.
Does Orion look too bright? It should, and it’s deliberate. Several curve layers spiking the intensity there, just to bring ‘em out. It’s almost overpowering on a large view, but when you look at a smaller view the stars disappear. This preserves those stars in thumbnails.
Other post-processing: two-pass sharpening on the trees, and a mild blur/ghosting to the tree/snow areas. That was to bring out the calm/softness of the snow, while retaining sharp edges.
Oh, and this is cropped. I was shivering so much when setting this up on the tripod that it came out crooked.
OK, maybe not – a lunar exlipse on the solstice is pretty cool. But it is a fair amount of waiting, and staring at, and shooting… the moon. A big round rock in the sky.
Really, after you capture a few frames, what else is there? Everything else, in fact.
In other words, show the moon in its environment: with stars in the background, or in its relation to other celetial bodies (coming soon, I’m still processing that one), or the landscape (also coming soon), or the neighbors.
Meanwhile, at the neighbors...
In this case: while waiting for a long-exposure shot to finish, I was playing around with my Canon G11. Took this – it’s a slow shutter, and completely hand-held. What I was trying to capture: a lightly cloudy evening, with surprising shadows, and… the neighbors ignoring the eclipse & watching TV, instead.
Yes, the blue light you see is coming from a TV.
From yesterday:
Moon, at Solstice, being eclipsed
All shots came out slightly blurry – I’ve done better hand-held shots of the moon. Overall not impressed, and overall I can see that I need to practice this.
One reason for the blur: some shots had longer exposures. In two minutes the moon will travel approximately its full width across the sky.
I didn’t know this until the day after…
It seems that Lloyd Chambers has made a bit of a splash on the TOP site. He’s offering a sort of online book about perfecting sharpness, but it’s sold as annual subscriptions. Comments on TOP’s post aren’t really leaning in the direction of giving Lloyd a positive review, either.
I’m a bit torn on the subject. I admit to not being a fan of online learning, and I expect “books” to be purchased. Electronic books? Garbage, to me. I want my cellulose interface.
This isn’t really a book, though – even though it’s described as one. It seems to be more like online non-interactive instruction. A subtle difference, to be sure.
Ultimately, I’m not sure why people even care. It should be easy enough to grab a one-year subscription & save copies of any content that you care about. Even though that may not be strictly legal, I doubt that anyone could possibly get a conviction so long as it’s used for personal use. Shoot, a typical browser will cache the content.
So I’m torn, but I’m thinking I’ll go for it. Ultimately, I’ll doubtlessly save copies of text that I find useful, and read what I can stand. And maybe print off a bunch of pages so I can stand to read it in the first place.
At the very least, at least the money is going to the content creator, not the publisher.
Lunar Eclipse with Stars
Not happy with the sharpness, but I do like how the colors came out…
Two Friends
From this weekend. My daughter had a dance recital, and this is a pair of spectators.
Normally I don’t like showing people without their permission, but I figure they’re not really identifiable, except to their parents.
I completely missed that Jay finally had his site refreshed. It’s looking pretty sharp, and he’s even added a blog. It’s early, but there’s a lot of promise there.
Four posts in and he’s already making more relevant content than this blog is.
Add it to your feed reader!
I just returned from a quick jaunt out of state. Every time I go somewhere I try to make at least one good shot through (or out) the window of the room in which I’m staying. Here is my favorite from this trip:
Tree in Parking Lot
I don’t travel all that often, so this is a good exercise for me. It really comes thanks to Jay Maisel, who made the statement at the 2008 NAPP conference in Vegas (and doubtlessly, many more times).
Check out a previous favorite here.
Pulled off my first full 2x push on TMAX the other day. I’m sure my perspective is a bit off due to lack of familiarity with the film, but my initial reaction is positive. I’m surprised at how much detail survived. Take a highly extreme snow image:
'Twas a snowy day
(image straight off the scanner)