pam_r

<p>I would choose one of Joe McNally's <a href="http://www.time.com/time/2002/faces/"><u>"Faces of Ground

Zero"</u></a>. Why? Because they are epic, historic, and inspiring.</p>

<p><i>"That is a pretty common technique for architectural photographers. You control what you can --your

lights-- and base the overall exposure on the the light you can't control."</i></p>

 

<p>Yes, I understand. But usually the ambient has to drop fairly significantly to balance the interior, no?

Unless he's using some darned strong interior lights. That shot seems to have been taken midday.</p>

<p>In addition, if you look at the bottom left of the page I referenced above (the little girl/sofa shot), you

can see a shadow on the wall beneath the beam near the ceiling. Seems to be a large strong light positioned high

up, no?</p>

 

<p><a href"http://www.chadholder.com/#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=4&p=6&a=0&at=0"><u>Girl/sofa beam shot</u></a></p>

<p><i>"A client of mine had their house in Dwell at one point and said the photographer just showed up with a

Hasselblad and nothing else. </i></p>

 

<p>Do they know it was Chad who did the shoot? That's a statement that could pretty much be tossed out of this

discussion without seeing the results of the shoot or knowing more of the details.</p>

 

<p>The shots on Chad's site seem to be from a larger format camera. There is a mix of natural lighting (most of

the outdoor shots), artificial lighting, and blended exposures. In particular, the following (right half of the

page), seems to be a blend of exposures. Either that, or he's patiently waiting (and hoping) for the ambient and

interior lighting to balance perfectly:</p>

 

<p><a href="http://www.chadholder.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=4&p=6"><u>Chad Holder Dwell lighting

example</u></a>

 

<p>I think he's just blending exposures on some and using lights in a very subtle manner in others. In any case,

you'd be hard pressed to get this look just from PP. PP is just a small part of it. Maybe post your question in

the Lighting forum.</p>

<p><b><i>"depend of what you want; free with a learning curve / $ with the push of a button"</i></b></p>

 

<p>Can we make this a sticky, or maybe engrave it somewhere? :-)<p>

<p>The umbrella holder you referenced above is a light stand adapter. It is made for use with studio umbrellas,

which are made to work with studio lights and flashes, not outdoors for shade.</p>

 

<p><a href="http://www.filmtools.com/boumho29.html"><b><u>Umbrella adapter for light stands</u></b></a></p>

<p>Here are a couple of options used by artists painting outside, who face the same issue of having their

equipment blow over.</p>

 

<p>This one attaches to the tripod leg, but the tethered umbrella slides into the holder. In a gust of wind, it's

designed to lift off the holder:</p>

 

<p><a href="http://www.artworkessentials.com/products/UMK_40/UMK40.htm"><b><u>Plein air umbrella kit</u></b></a></p>

 

<p>This one is a stake holder for an umbrella. The advantage is that the umbrella isn't attached to the tripod:</p>

 

<p><a href="http://www.pochade.com/Product.asp?record=1632"><b><u>The Shadebuddy Umbrella Holder</u></b></a></p>

<p>The most precise dodge/burn technique is using curves. Lasso the area loosely, then adjust using a curves

adjustment layer set to "Luminosity" mode. Fine tune using the mask and/or adjusting opacity.</p>

 

<p>If you use the dodge and burn tools in PS, it's best to use them on a layer set to "Luminosity". Then you

won't have the saturation issues.</p>

 

<p>Using the soft light/overlay method affects all tones equally. I find it good for large areas of even

tonality. But if there are mixed tones and I want to just affect the highlights, for example, I prefer the d/b

tools or the curves method described above.</p>

<p>Ahhh...that holder doesn't seem to rotate. Cokin makes a magnetic holder that looks like would allow the

filter to rotate.</p>

 

<p>

To use any type of polarizer, you need to rotate the filter. A polarizer is used to reduce reflections. This has

the effect of deepening the color of the sky, and removing/reducing reflections from glass and water. It can also

increase color saturation by removing glare.</p>

 

<p>

The polarizing effect will be strongest when you're at right angles to the sun. Basically, keep the sun lined up

near your shoulder and the effect will be strong. The nearer the sun is to your back (or front), the weaker the

effect.</p>

 

<p>

The Cokin blue/yellow polarizes, but at the same time, it alters color. A regular polarizer doesn't alter color.

So the blue/yellow is a special effects filter. To get an idea of what it does, take your filter outside and look

through it. Stand at right angles to the sun and rotate the filter as you look through. Notice what it does to

water, sunlight on leaves, and the sky itself. Position yourself 45 degrees to a window with reflections. Hold up

the filter and rotate it as you look at the window. You should notice that the reflections are reduced.</p>

<i>"I bought this filter and wasn't aware beforehand that it doesn't rotate. Is it ok to use my standard hoya

circular-polarizer?"</i><p>

 

Unless you want to hand hold it in front of your lens (works, but it's clumsy), you'll need to buy the Cokin

filter holder. The filter holder itself rotates. Using your standard polarizer will work, but the Blue/Yellow is

a specialty filter. You can't the same effects with a standard polarizer.</p>

 

<p><i>"I took it outside and it does turn the image completely blue, or yellow, depending on the rotation.

However the colors on my point and shoot's LCD were shimmering-- is this filter not meant for digital use?"</i></p>

 

<p>

It does fine with digital. Just be aware that what you see in the viewfinder isn't necessarily what you'll get in

the image. Play around and get comfortable using it. It's a fun filter to play with. In the gallery below, I've

used it several times:</p>

 

<p>

<a href="http://www.pbase.com/pam_r/mexico">Cokin Blue/Yellow polarizer examples</a></p>

Yet another vote for buying separate drive/enclosures.<p>

 

I bought 2 Western Digital 500 gig hard drives and 2 Venus USB enclosures from Newegg.com a year ago. The

enclosures have built-in fans, separate power cords, are stackable, and the drives can be hot-swapped. The drives

stay very cool, they are never even warm to the touch, and they are very quiet. I haven't had a problem. Also,

Newegg ships fast and the prices are good.<p>

 

Here's a listing of <a

href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010090092%204802&bop=And&Order=RATING

"><u>Newegg.com's best selling enclosures, sorted by ratings.</u></a><p>

 

Newegg.com's <a

href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014%20103530090%204802&bop=And&Order=RATING"><u>best

selling 1 terrabyte internal drives, sorted by ratings.</u></a><p>

 

If you're still set on buying an external drive, here's <a

href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150414+131021336+1310221288&name=1TB&Order=RATING"><u>Newegg's

list of 1 TB drives sorted by ratings.</u></a>

- hit the D key to set your foreground/background colors to the default of black/white<p>

 

- choose the paint bucket tool<p>

 

- shift+click on the background to fill it with black. If you want other colors, just change the foreground color

and repeat the steps above.

Having never seen Sagrada Familia, it's hard to see what's changed from the "original" shot. Is it the contrast? What colors have changed? Do you have an original shot for comparison? Do you have a link to more of this person's work?<p>

 

Just off the top of my head, colors can be changed many ways in PS. Color balance, selective color, curves, hue/sat, etc. Each of them has their own characteristics. But it's hard to know what's been used on this without having a benchmark of some kind. At the very least, I see some burning and dodging. This alone can affect color.

@ Harry - Thank you! It's amazing what you can do with cheap stuff, and it's great for learning. <p>

 

@ David - Nice shot...and camera.

Excellent! Thank you so much, Ellis. Very interesting. That I find this fascinating probably qualifies me as a geek ;-) I hope you keep passing on the goodies!

<i>"Wish you would have posted the bigger version to begin with."</i><p>

 

Nice job, Herma. Just to clarify, Tim didn't post a larger version. I enlarged his original, then took a screen grab just to show the changes a bit better. So it's a bit pixelated, but easier to see hopefully :-)

The healing brush and clone stamp. Mostly the healing brush to blend in the areas between wrinkles/lines and the clone stamp to work the light/dark wrinkle lines into each other. Harder to describe in words than to actually do ;-) Also, after you've done the initial lightening, add a layer mask and use a gradient to blend the bottom of the "triangle" shaped selection you've made into the good shadow area. IOW, feather the fix.

Here's a larger before/after:<p><div></div>

Here's my quickie fix. It still needs a bit of fine tuning, but you'll get the idea....<p><div></div>

I should add that the image I posted above was lit with cheap Home Depot clamp on work lamps. Hot, but they worked fine for Ebay.

There are plenty of ideas on the web:<p>

 

Bill Huber has a very nicely described <a href="http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent">PVC based plan here</a> that I've made and used. It works very well. Following this is a sample shot I took using it.<p>

 

Here are a couple of cardboard box based plans that cost next to nothing:<p>

 

<a href="http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent/">Inexpensive cardboard light tent</a><p>

 

<a href="http://freshfodder.wordpress.com/2007/01/03/diy-ebay-photo-studio-0/">Another cardboard box tent</a><p><div></div>

I'm a little confused. Is #1 (the one we are trying to replicate) a print? How did you achieve v1? Did someone else pp it?<p>

 

The reason I ask is that there appears to be more going on in this image than just contrast, color adjustments, etc. It looks to me like there was a not insignificant amount of PP. You might get close, but without some pp after the color/contrast adjustments you won't replicate it.<p>

 

It would help us send you in the right direction if we knew more of the details.

Sheesh....and at the very least mention the name of the photographer/artist who has inspired you to the point of wanting to imitate/duplicate the style. There is a person behind that image, no?

Here's another idea...something bright and colorful just for fun...<p><div></div>

One more try to embed the image :-)<p><div></div>