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.
Zion poses in the gap between some shadows from the late afternoon sun.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/500
- Aperture: f/2.8
- ISO: 200
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
Composition and Processing
- I had Zion tilt her head up partly to make it look like she was enjoying the afternoon sun, but also to reduce any shadows on her face and arms.
- I like using internal elements of an image to frame the subject — sometimes that’s a window frame, or other people — but in this case it was simply the shadows cast on the wall. As a plus, the diagonal shadow runs in the same direction Zion is facing, tying the two together.
Original:
May 07 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.
Zion poses against a wall in the early evening light.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/125
- Aperture: f/1.4
- ISO: 800
- Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
Composition and Processing
- I wouldn’t normally want the subject looking right off the edge of the frame when they’re that close to it and with so much negative space behind them. But Zion’s pose, with the arm crossed over the body, is closed off and somewhat fits the indifferent look away. We’re not sharing this scene with Zion, merely observing from afar, something further reinforced by the large empty space around her.
- It’s subtle, but the shadow at the top matches the angle of the arm across her body, connecting the two (and perhaps keeping the eye somewhat in the scene instead of trailing off the right edge).
Original:
May 01 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.
Shot #5 from the SF architecture experiment.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/500
- Aperture: f/4.0
- ISO: 200
- Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV
- Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM (at 135mm)
Composition and Processing
- I liked the contrasting patterns here. The lines are so simple and basic, even after I rotated it, but the shadows from a nearby group of trees created a very different set of patterns on the surface. I like that sort of thing, where the image is grounded in very stable, hard-edged shapes, but then made internally dynamic by a bunch of round and soft ones.
- Cropped vertically, this wall looks like what it is: a staggered set of vertical strips casting shadows on the one further back. Rotating it created a small visual disconnect where it looks less like a wall and more like a pure pattern, closer to my goal for the image.
Original:
February 27 2012 | Photography | No Comments »