It is always a blast shooting Kevin Burdick (www.pianorockstar.com). He’s wildly expressive, has no inhibitions and is just an all around great guy. And I’m not just saying that. We’ve been friends since high school, made music together then and even some very screwy home movies and music videos. One of them included a scene that almost resulted in Kevin’s death, but instead, thanks to Kevin’s strong neck muscles, and our quick response, we ended up only with a massive rope burn around his neck. Come to think of it, I think we continued filming for a while before we realized he was in trouble. Flailing legs and a red face can either mean great acting, or eminent death…
I’m glad he’s still with us. He has made some great music since then and he’s always been a great friend.
So, this is a fun little set of images to wet your whistle. We first shot a few studio shots and Kevin went to town with the facial expressions. The best way to see them is in connection with each other. Tomorrow I am posting the fantastic images we got from the on-location portrait session, which include Kevin, various umbrellas, lots of wind and a vast empty landscape. Until then, enjoy this funny little set of photos and go listen to some of Kevin’s music at www.pianorockstar.com.
My workshop on the 13th of February in Phoenix sold out in three days. That’s great for me, but there are a lot of people who still want to come, so I have opened up 5 more seats. I think that is all we can fit. If I still get more inquiries about it, then we’ll have to mover the venue to somewhere much larger. So sign up, if you are interested and it you get to the store and can’t find the workshop, then that means it sold out. Send me an email and let me know you are still interested and we’ll look into changing the location.
Thanks to everyone who has already signed up. I am looking forward to this one. Because it is being filmed, I have to be on my best behavior…
I shot portraits of Golf’s Long Ball Champion, Sean Fister on the ASU Kasten Golf Course. He hits a very long ball. He uses a drive he designed called the Punisher and hits Dixon Golf Balls, which are the world’s first recyclable golf ball and a really long ball. If you have been keeping up with my posts, you have already seen the video of my golf lesson with him. Here are a couple shots from our photo session.
Sean can throw the ball up in the air and hit it like a baseball right out of the air. It is absolutely amazing. He has a lot of control over that club and apparently a healthy dose of hand eye coordination.
Did I mention we shot these in the winter. I love Arizona!
Just thought you might want to get brushed up on your golf game.
While I was shooting a portrait of Long Ball World Champion Sean Fister, he offered to give me a little golf lesson, which the film crew got on camera, and now it is in the Dixon Golf You-Tube Promo. Sean Fister is a funny guy. I had a lot of fun shooting the portraits. Now I just want one of his Punishers (his driver) . I hit it, it is a very nice club! My drive was long!
Dixon Golf makes the Earth Ball. It is a long hitting ball that also happens to be the worlds first and only completely recyclable golf ball. Oh, and did I mention that it is a LONG ball? It’s a long ball. Put that Punisher together with the Earth Ball and you’ve got a long drive. (Yes, I golf).
My golf lesson is at 2:20. Let me know what you think of my form.
I just received my copy of Professional Photographer Magazine where I wrote an article on burning and dodging in Photoshop. It is a great article with a great photograph. The reason the photograph is so perfect for the article is that it didn’t need a lot of retouching or manipulation, but still opening it in Photoshop was worthwhile. There are so many subtle shadows and tones that can be enhanced by the process of burning and dodging, a photograph is just better once it has been burned and dodged. My philosophy is very simple: I do not burn and dodge to change the photograph, but rather to enhance the natural shades and highlights that are already there. You can see the final enhanced photograph below and on my portfolio web site at PlattPhotography.com.
Look for the magazine on the racks now. If you don’t know how to burn and dodge your images in Photoshop, or if you are currently burning the actual image layer, you need to read the article. If you are not a photographer and don’t know what I am talking about, it might get a little technical, so let’s just say, Jared wrote a cool how-to-article in Professional Photographer Magazine and his photographs are really great!
The photograph I chose to use for the article was one of my favorite images I shot on a wedding in Rome, Italy. We woke up very early in the morning to get out before all the tourists. This was the first image of the day, the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps are so crowded with tourists and locals during the day that there is no way to take a great photo. So we hit the them just as the sun was rising, as the vendors were preparing for the day, and the carriage operators were preparing their horses. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation to take a beautiful photograph. And let’s face it, who wouldn’t want a wedding portrait on the Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy?
When looking at this photograph, pay close attention to the incredible detail on the walls and the shutters. All of these details, the stains and the cracks exist on the buildings naturally, but it was the process of burning and dodging that brought them out and made them so vivid. This is the kind of detailed attention that every one of my “Art Prints” receives as I prepare them for my clients. I personal work on every “Art Print” myself and each one is printed under my careful supervision.
I look out at the heavy thunderstorm here in Phoenix tonight and say a prayer of thanks that I have a warm home and complete safety from the storm. While there are hundreds of thousands without any shelter or dead in Haiti from the earthquake there.
We are blessed here in the US with such prosperity and ease. Even in a bad economy, we live comfortably and without much fear. My biggest fear tonight is that the storm will create a power surge and damage the computer.
So, everyone say a prayer for and do what you can to provide something for those who now have absolutely nothing in Haiti.
By the way, earthquakes are another reason I love Arizona. We don’t have them.
Think snap shot. Think completely auto exposure. Not 3200 ISO, not 6400 ISO, but 12,800 ISO. Here’s what I would expect:
First, this shot is a problematic one for an auto exposure. It is 100% back lit and as a result, most cameras are fooled into believing that the brighter light is the primary exposure, so the face (the only truly important element in this photo) would be underexposed. But without any forethought or exposure compensation, the Canon Mark IV nailed the exposure. The face was exposed perfectly and the highlight on the side of the face didn’t even blow out, and this was a JPG, not a RAW. I would anticipate even more latitude from a RAW shot. My first auto exposure expereince with the camera was a very good one. The camera made all the right decisions and maintained information in every important highlight and every important shadow. We’ll see how it performs over time, but this was a problematic situation and it got it right.
Furthermore, I would like to point out that at ISO 12800, I was able to shoot an indoor photo with a small 40 watt lamp as a back light with no other lighting and get a nice little snap shot. 1/80 sec shutter speed (fast enough for a 50mm lens) and f2.5. Any other camera in my bag can’t get that done at those settings.
Second, at an extreamly high ISO, bulky grain structures that would soften the photograph and disrupt the thin lines of an eye-lash or other fine details. Thus making a sharp focus look soft. But the Canon Mark IV has a pretty fine grain structure at 12,800 ISO. Notice in the detail below, the eyelashes are indeed sharp and do not look fuzzy like they might on a 5D Mark II at 6400 ISO. This is due to what appears to be a much finer grain structure, which describes these fine details far more accurately.
I would also expect major color noise. In fact, my 5D Mark II at 6400 ISO is always turned to balck and white. They look nice, but color is problematic. In fact, as you can see, I initially turned the photo to black and white to avoid color noise. But again, I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of color noise. You will recall yesterday’s post, I was impressed with the color noise of the lower ISO settings. Now I am really impressed. Using the default color noise suppression settings in Lightroom of 25, I got absolutely no color noise at 12800 ISO. This means that I can use this camera at every ISO setting in color or black and white.
I have to admit, I am thrilled so far with the camera. The lack of color noise and the fine grain structure at even the very highest ISO settings is just short of miraculous. I’ll be tracking a bunch of moving children with auto focus tomorrow. We’ll see how it reacts to that rigorous test. For that matter, we’ll see how I react to that rigorous test…
I looked around my home tonight and still can’t bring myself to take down the Christmas decor. It will stay up for at least another week. So I thought I would record my favorite decorations and Christmas elements before we pack them up for the year. This Charlie Brown Christmas Tree is a recent addition, but one of my very favorites. I shot it tonight in available light, with just the general can lights on. As you can see in the info detail later in this post, it is shot a very comfortable 1/250 of a second because I have my 50mm 1.2 and an ISO of 3200. On my 5D mark II, this ISO is a bit noisy, but just fine in Black and White and on my Mark III was completely impossible. But the Mark IV does a create job with the grain structure and the color noise is non-existent. Now, keep in mind, I am using this practically, I am not trying to be a scientist here, but rather a practical user. I am shooting RAW and using Lightroom to produce the final jpg you are seeing. I have added a vignette and adjusted the color to suite my taste and I have used the noise reduction in Lightroom, but nothing heroic has been done to the image. Basic Lightroom noise reduction has produced a file that I would be completely happy showing my clients. The grain looks good and the color noise is great for such a high ISO. Tomorrow, I will pump up the ISO even more and see how it fairs at 6400 and 12800 ISO.
In the detail crop you can see all of the basic setting for this Mark IV exposure and see the grain structure and look into the monochromatic background, that is where you should see the color noise, but without heroic noise reduction plug-ins (just normal Adobe Lightroom – Camera RAW color noise reduction) the file is fantastic for such a high ISO. And I am so thrilled with Canon’s grain structure, both here on the Mark IV and on the 5D mark II. Both feel so much like film, that I almost prefer shooting at a higher ISO to give my images a bit more depth and texture to them. We’ve become so sterilized with digital that we almost can’t imagine a world without smooth continuous tones. That’s why film shooters always “feel” so different. They have grain, even in the lower ISOs.
Grain is beautiful! Say it again and again! Never grow tired of that mantra.
Folks, that’s a Canon Mark IV on my table! Canon has sent me one to evaluate. So, I will be posting photos and reviews of my experiences over the next six weeks. If you are thinking about getting a Mark IV or just curious, tell me what you want to know and I will test it out.
Check back here for new photos daily (yes I will be posting at least one photo shot by the Mark IV here on a daily basis and I will tell you a bit about my experience with it. I have now taken it out of the box and started charging the battery. I will tell you one thing, the buttons feel very sturdy. The multi-controler (the joy stick kind of button on the back) has a very nice gasget on it and feels about as sturdy as I have ever felt on any Canon cameras thus far. I was never thrilled with the Mark III’s multi-controler button.
So, if you are interested in the Mark IV, send me a note here or on my email and let me know what you would like to see from the camera and I will try to put it into my to do list.
