The Before and After series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
Heather rehearses for the KDH Dance Company.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/500
- Aperture: f/2.8
- ISO: 3200
- Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV
- Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM (at 153mm)
Composition and Processing
- So I know I’ve given all kinds of reasons in the past about why I stick to black and white for rehearsal photos, particularly at this location, and I’ve given a couple key exceptions that favor color instead. This is actually a fine black and white photo. But how can you resist all that color? I further went down the magenta spectrum by adjusting the white balance that way, and then used a bleach bypass filter in Photoshop to make the skin a little less pink and give it a more gritty feel (I did another version without that, but it was too pastel).
- I cropped this vertically to remove distractions and make the shot a bit more personal. Most of the lines run north/south too, including the gaze. I think if the hand didn’t join the inward bent hip at the bottom, there may have been a tendency for the viewer to start at the face and run straight down and off the bottom of the image. But the “trap” at the bottom, with hand bent flat, keeps them in the scene.
Original:
March 26 2012 | Photography | No Comments »
The Before and After series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
Another shot from the 2009 Houston AVP Tournament.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/2000
- Aperture: f/2.8
- ISO: 200
- Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM (at 73mm)
Composition and Processing
- Shooting doubles, you can get some pretty good diving passes by standing close to the net on the opposite side from where the other team’s hitter favors. That mean’s the blocker for the defending team is on that side too (seen in the original here facing back to the camera) and her partner is likely going to be digging the shot along the far sideline or across the diagonal. Or in this case, due to either a cut shot or deflection, diving in the general direction of the camera. My point is that it’s a position to shoot from where a high percentage of shots have the subject in profile or facing the camera. The only shot you miss is if the other team rolls the ball high and the defender has to chase it down away from the camera (although if they’re fast enough, they’ll be orienting their body back toward the net when they pass).
- Tilting the crop gave it a little more room for the subject to move (into the upper left corner) but also exaggerates the reach and makes the pass look more difficult than it is. I’ve got the player more toward the bottom half of the frame too as a result, since she’s both looking up and trying to pass the ball in that direction.
Original:
February 20 2012 | Photography | No Comments »
The Before and After series focuses on the two or three key creative choices, in terms of composition and processing, that go into creating an image. Specific technical details about the shot have been left out — you won’t hear me talking about tone curve adjustments and whatnot unless it was a key component of the end result.
For the bulk of my 18 month stint in San Francisco I stayed in an apartment just outside the financial district. This shot was taken from my apartment window on a rare clear evening at sunset.
Exposure
- Shutter: multiple settings
- Aperture: f/2.8
- ISO: 200
- Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV
- Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
Composition and Processing
- It’s all well and good to take sunset shots at the horizon, just after the sun goes down. But I often find it more interesting to shoot what the light is falling on, particularly if that happens to be a bunch of shiny buildings. By pointing in this direction, the contrast with the deep blue sky is more dramatic, highlighting the warmer colors of the buildings.
- This is obviously an HDR shot, but I also lightly applied a bleach bypass filter using Nik Color Efx after I was done with Photomatix. That didn’t have much impact on the oranges and yellows reflected in the glass, but it gave the concrete in the buildings an earthier tone (more noticeable in the structures to the left of the image).
Original:
February 05 2012 | Photography | No Comments »