Gainesville Photo Club

Found a great tool for picking out a color scheme for your studio shots. Check it out at: http://colorschemedesigner.com/. Don

GPC member's theme pictures for January.

Studio Photography Techniques – Resource List

Equipment:

Photoflex Reflectors, diffusers, and holder – Adorama.com or bhphotovideo.com

Artograph LightPad Light Box – Amazon.com   (Mine is 9” x 12”. Get a little bigger one, if you can).

Light Stands – calumetphoto.com

Background Stand – made with PVC pipe and fittings from Home Depot. Go to: http://www.ehow.com/how_5416966_build-own-background-stand.htm for complete instructions. You will need a small hack saw to cut the PVC pipe.

Bogen Super Arm / Clamp – Adorama.com.        FM Photography McClamps – Amazon.com.

Kenko Auto Extension Tube Set – Amazon.com (Note: Don’t buy these from Canon or Nikon – they are way overpriced).

Foam Board for Reflectors – Office Depot.       Pieces of cut up cardboard for gobos.

Gaffers Tape – Amazon.com        LED Accent Lights - Jo-Ann Fabrics

Looking for a tripod, check out this one: Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 Carbon Fiber 3 Section Tripod with Q90 Column – Amazon.com.

Basic Color Theory - http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-harmonies.htm      Google: color wheel images.

Materials and Props: Get very familiar with two stores; Jo-Ann Fabrics and Home Depot.

Fabric for Backgrounds – Jo-Ann Fabrics or Fabric.com

Mirrors and Floor Tiles – Home Depot

Foam Board – Office Depot

Colored Sand – Jo-Ann Fabrics or SandBlastEntertainment.com

Textured Glass - store.allstainedglass.com

Scrapbooking Paper – Jo-Ann Fabrics

Marbles – Hobby Town USA (a local store) or rainbowturtle.com.        Flowers – Home Depot or Publix.

Rocks – Jo-Ann Fabrics or Hobby Town USA         Shells – Jo-Ann Fabrics

Dead Artists to Follow for Lively Inspiration:

Vincent Van Goug, Georgia O’Keefe, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Paul Signac, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, NC Wyeth, Norman Rockwell

Photographers, Dead and Living, to Follow for Inspiration:

Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Tony Sweet, Brenda Tharp, and Harold Davis

Recommended Books and Videos:

Photographing Flowers by Harold Davis

Creative Close-Ups by Harold Davis

Tony Sweet’s Visual Literacy- Videos

Van Goghby Tomsin Pickeral

Impressionismby Tomsin Pickeral

A Book of Colors by Shigenobu Kobayashi

Color Image Scale by Shigenobu Kobayashi

Studio Photography Techniques

Foundational Principals

1.) Live by a simple philosophy of photography:

·        Keep your eyes open!

Always look for beauty in the light, in the line, in the form, and in the subject itself.

·        Keep your heart open!

Fall in love with your subject. Otherwise, please, for everybody’s sake, lay the camera down and go do something more useful like mowing the grass, washing clothes, or washing the dishes! The world is full of mediocre pictures. Don’t add to the garbage heap by not loving your subject. Take a break from photography and come back to your subject when you feel you can love it.

2.) Apply these five “Be’s” for better studio photos:

A.)   Be a minimalist. The minimalist photographer sets out to expose the essence, the essentials, or the basic identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features, or concepts. Studio photography is especially suited for minimalism because you control what’s included in the photo.

B.)   Be a “beginner” (at heart, not in knowledge). Never lose the simple thrill of looking through a camera and taking a photograph. Thoroughly learn the craft of photography, but don’t become dulled by your supposed “superior knowledge” of the photographic process. Be humbled by the awesome experience of capturing light on a sensor. Don’t lose the magic of it all! Get rid of the training wheels as soon as possible, but never lose the joy of riding the bike.

C.)   Be feminine! When we think of femininity, we think of gentleness, empathy, sensitivity, caring, compassion, tolerance, and nurturance. There is a certain pleasing, yet innocent, loveliness associated with feminine qualities. Photographically seeing in a feminine way produces photographs that are soothing to the eye. These images nurture the eyes, and thereby, the mind.

D.)   Be color-coordinated. Utilize the color wheel in your choice of backgrounds and props.

Use Analogous Colors: These are colors like green, blue-green and yellow-green. These are colors right next to each other on the color wheel. They usually match extremely well, but they also create almost no contrast. They’re good for very serene-feeling designs where you want the viewer to feel comfortable.

Use Complementary Colors:These are colors like red and green, blue and orange, violet and yellow. These are the colors directly across from each other on the color wheel. They’re called “complementary” because, when used together, they become extremely vibrant and have heavy contrast. Complementary colors are useful when you want to make something stand out. For example, if you use a green background and have a red subject on it, the red subject will seem to jump off the page. You have to be careful because, at certain intensities, complementary colors can become harsh looking, and jarring to the eye.

E.)   Be sharp!

·        Use a tripod, a cable release, and mirror lock-up (if your camera has that feature).

·        Use the “sweet spot” of the lens for maximum sharpness and control the depth of field with focus stacking. The “sweet spot” varies with each lens, but it usually between 2 to 4 stops down from the maximum aperture of the lens. The studio is a great place to use focus stacking, since there’s no chance of the subject moving. (Please see my article on the club web site for a detailed explanation of focus stacking).

3.) The two basic kinds of photographs:

A.)   Found photographs – taken on location.

·        The photo is taken in the subject’s natural environment.

·        The background occurs naturally.

·        Lighting is greatly influenced by the time of day, the position of the sun, and how much cloud cover there is.

·        Basically, Mother Nature is in control, although you can modify the light with reflectors, diffusers, and gobos.

B.)   Photographs using previsualization – taken in the studio. The photograph is seen in the photographer’s mind before she or he even start the actual process of taking the photograph.

·        The subject is brought to the studio to be photographed.

·        The background and props are supplied by the photographer.

·        The lighting is consistent and is completely controlled by the photographer with the use of reflectors, diffusers, and gobos.

·        In the studio, you basically become Mother Nature; you become the creator (with a small “c”) in that little world of the studio.

4.) As Thomas Edison said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

The Practical Issues

1.) A brief overview of equipment, props, and materials.

·        Light table, light stands, background stand, extension tubes, holders, and clamps.

·        Materials and props.

2.) Studio lighting (without the use of electronic flash units):

    A.) The two main light sources:

          The Window

·        There should be no direct sunlight coming through the window that you choose. If you get direct sunlight for part of the day, you can control it by hanging up a transparent shower curtain liner to diffuse the light. Just remove it when there is no more direct sunlight.

·        The bigger the window, the better. My window is 5 ft. x 5 ft., but you can use a smaller window. A larger window will give you more control over the light.

·        You can modify the size of the window light by partially closing the shades or blocking portions of the window with opaque cloth.

·        The light can be modified by hanging up transparent cloth like lace.

·        The light can be modified at the subject with reflectors, diffusers, and gobos.

·        Window light can be used in conjunction with the light table.

          The Light Table

·        Great for subjects with some transparency.

·        Produces mainly back lighting, although reflectors can bring it to the front of the subject.

·        A combination of transparent and opaque objects can produce a dramatic effect.

·        The light can be modified with reflectors.

·        The light table can be used in conjunction with window light.

                                        Deconstructing Some Studio Shots

Woven Sun– used light table with reflectors plus HDR.

Skeletal Leaves– used light table plus focus stacking.

Peach Phalaenopsis– used widow light with reflectors plus textured glass and long exposure.

Rocks that Rock!– used light table and window light with diffuser and reflector.

Minimalized Wild Flowers– used window light with variable ND filter and long exposure.

Orchids Primping in a Mirror– used window light with reflector and mirror.

Flying Orchid– used window light with reflector and mirror plus focus stacking.

Red Berries– used window light with reflector plus focus stacking.

Backlit Ferns– used light table with reflector plus HDR.

Marbles in a Jar– used light table plus HDR.

Guts of a Cat’s Eye– used light table plus focus stacking.

Transparent Shells– used light table with reflector plus HDR

Red Poinsettia - used light table with LED accent lights plus HDR.

The Gainesville Photography Club meets every third Monday of the month at 7:00 pm at: LifeSouth Community Blood Center 1221 Northwest 13th Street, Gainesville, FL 32601-4111.  Our meeting room is on the north side of the building, second floor. Take the exterior staircase to the second floor meeting room.  A map to our meeting location is displayed under the "Meetings" tab.

Club member Don Bassett will demonstrate how to set up a simple in home studio for still life photography.  Pay close attention because one of this year's monthly themes will be studio still life in which  you will apply what you have learned from Don's presentation.

The assigned theme for January is "Places" (see the "Themes" tab for a list of our monthly themes for 2011 and a description of how to interpret each theme).  Rules for submitting your digital images for viewing at our meetings can be found near the bottom of the "themes" page.

Guest are welcome to attend and show pictures.   Anyone wishing to join the Gainesville Photography Club, should attend a meeting, and fill out a membership application and pay annual dues of $15.

The Gainesville Photography Club meets every third Monday of the month at 7:00 pm at: LifeSouth Community Blood Center 1221 Northwest 13th Street, Gainesville, FL 32601-4111.  Our meeting room is on the north side of the building, second floor. Take the exterior staircase to the second floor meeting room.  A map to our meeting location is displayed under the "Meetings" tab.

Our December photo club meeting  is also our annual holiday party.  We will meet at our usual location at 6 pm for a pot luck dinner and conduct our meeting at 7.  The theme for December is a slideshow.  Your slideshow can be on anything you want as long as it is no longer than about 10 minutes.  Some people, for example, show their best pictures of the year, others a slideshow of a recent trip.  There are several good and relative easy to use programs available for making slideshows set to music.  Windows Movie Maker, Windows Picture Story, and FastStone Image Viewer come to mind.  FastStone is by far the easiest to use but does not have as many features as the others.

For dinner, the club will furnish a cold cut platter, condiments, sandwich bread, and soft drinks. You may bring a small side dish for about 8 people. If you wish, you may also bring an alcoholic beverage.  Significant others are also welcome as there should be plenty of food to go around.

Hi everyone,

         Here's the web page for the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop that we mentioned in the meeting. Its free.

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/pixelbenderplugin/

Hi Everyone,

There was some discussion in the meeting about controlling the luminosity of the sky. Like we said, HDR is one way. Another is to use graduated neutral density filters. Singh Ray is not the only source, but they are the best. For full details, go to the link below:

http://singhray.blogspot.com/2011/10/from-archive-essential-filters-for....

Don

Focus Stacking

(Note: The following steps apply if you are using Bridge, Camera Raw, and Photoshop CS5. It shouldn’t be too complicated to change them to work with the specific software that you are using).

1.)         When capturing the images, take shots at several different points of focus, making sure the acceptable areas of focus, from image to image, overlap. Capture raw files. Use a tripod. Always maintain the same aperture. If you use a larger aperture to throw the background out of focus, plan on taking more shots at different points of focus, since you will have less depth-of-field on your main subject also. Depending on your subject and your chosen aperture, you might need anywhere from 3 to perhaps 20, or more, shots. Note: Focus Stacking doesn’t work well if there is much movement in the main subject.

2.)         Once the images are downloaded to Bridge, highlight all applicable images. Then go to File – Open in Camera Raw.

3.)         In the upper left corner of Camera Raw, click Select All. This way, when you make your adjustments to one image, it will be applied to all the images.

4.)         Once you have made the adjustments in Camera Raw, click Open Images.

5.)         Once all the images are open in Photoshop, go to File – automate – Photomerge.

6.)         Click Auto mode.

7.)         UNCHECK blend.

8.)         Click Add open files.

9.)         Click OK.

10.)      In Photoshop, highlight all the layers.

11.)      Go to Edit – auto blend layers.

12.)      Check Stack images.

13.)      Click OK.

14.)      After processing (this takes a while, so go have a snack), the composite image will come up named Untitled Panorama.

15.)      Go to File – Save As.

16.)      Give it a name and click Save.

17.)      Once processed, there may be a small exterior edge left over where the layers overlapped. You can crop that out or you can flatten the image and use the Clone Stamp Tool to get rid of it. Doing it this way is rather tedious work. It’s best to compose you original images with enough room to allow for this small amount of inevitable cropping. Before you flatten the image, save a copy of it with all the layers intact in case you need to come back to the original composite.

18.)      Now you can make whatever adjustments you desire in Photoshop.

Try it out. It's fun to defeat the old "shallow depth-of-field" problem.