A Dash of Color
- At March 07, 2011
- By Jay
- In Uncategorized
0
After a few black & whites in a row figured it was time to roll with some color again.
First up, a view out my window from an unreasonably early Monday flight. One good thing about it I guess. Last glimpse of home for a few days…
…with travel taking me back to Toronto and area. Stop and start traffic on the 401, with me as a passenger, gave me the opportunity to grab these backlit bullrushes along the highway. More interesting than the taillights in front of me, that’s for sure.
Later in the day has me arriving in Windsor with a hotel located along a nice boardwalk across from downtown Detroit, and a rapidly setting sun. Nice place to have a seat and relax.
Heavy
- At March 07, 2011
- By Jay
- In Uncategorized
- 0
Reviewing images from travel last week. A couple of them popped out at me. Both dark. Both a little odd. Both very heavy in their black and white treatments.
The first, strangely enough, is a hallway facing a bank of windows in my hotel. Walking past and the early evening sun hammering in against the wall struck me. Stood there for a minute then turned around to grab my camera from my room. Extremely high contrast – here’s where knowing a thing or two about how cameras think comes in handy. 😉 All I wanted were the highlights and set up my shot accordingly, knowing this was going to be the end result.
Just columns of light. That’s all I wanted.
A couple days later. New room. New view. This time overlooking the Detroit River from Caesar’s Hotel in Windsor, Ontario. Morning light bounced off of the spectacular GM Renaissance Place (more to come of that) into the water, while on the near shore broken ice was making its way downstream.
Light, dark. Frozen, thawed. Warm, cold. All contrasts, with a conversion to match.
Propellers
- At March 05, 2011
- By Jay
- In Uncategorized
- 0
Travelling in Ontario this week and found myself driving the 401 West towards Windsor. Halfway’ish there these windmill farms starting appearing. With the light starting to drop I thought they could make an interesting image. Took a bit to find the right group – these are arranged to illustrate depth and scale, with a bit of movement at the edges of the blades.
Crack Cocaine
- At February 25, 2011
- By Jay
- In Uncategorized
- 2
Silver Efex Pro 2 is my addiction this evening:
Taken on a very blustery day in Cannes last June. Stomach was churning just looking at those guys out there.
Mmmmm… Silver…
- At February 24, 2011
- By Jay
- In Uncategorized
- 1
Big day. Nik Software just released their second generation of Silver Efex Pro. This plug-in for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture is widely regarded as the best in the biz for high-end black and white conversions. And for good reason. It looks simply amazing. Tonnes of control and the ability to simulate traditional black and white film stock.
I needed to do something to test the new engine so jumped into my (way long overdue for completing) France catalogue. This scene from the amazing palace in Versailles was the first thing I saw and thought it would be a good candidate for conversion.
To wit:
After a neutral raw conversion this took a hit of Nik Dfine to clean it up, Nik Sharpener Pro to give ‘er edge, and then Silver Efex Pro 2 for the final conversion. New to the engine is greater control for individual tones. What’s really cool is the edge generator to simulate raw film edges. Looks very cool.
This will be printing out tonight on Epson Exhibition Fiber which rules for black and white images. Thanks Nik!
