My Camera World

White House up in the Clouds

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 12:02:00 +0000

Opportunity, timing and position are well know cornerstones in capturing fleeting moments. Sometimes it's even a suggestion.

While sitting on the patio in San Miguel de Allende my wife suggested that I photograph a white house on the cliff-side that was surrounded by clouds.

When I first looked up it didn't look that interesting but after getting the camera out and setting it up, the above cloud formation moved in creating a striking visual effect. The columns and rounded domes of the house are re-enforced by similar but looser structures in the cloud.

original image out of camera

The original image looks interesting but is a little flat and static.
The changes I made were to add clarity +87 to increase contrast of clouds and house, increase highlights +60 to make the clouds and house even brighter and reduce both luminance and saturation of the blues and cyans in camera RAW.

In Photoshop, I decreased the saturation and luminance of the greens and oranges to keep mainly 2 dominant colors of white and blue.

Adding contrast to the clouds almost make them appear to explode around the house.

Niels Henriksen

Fine Art Print – 'Dancing Flames'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:09:00 +0000

As with the previous print, this is also one of those lovely peonies flowers but from a closer view.

For this image, which I kept B&W, I wanted the soft petals to appear to be like dancing flames in a fire.

The image is low contrast and there is not a lot of fine detail. Therefore I wanted the paper to add tones in the soft areas. This paper, which I can no longer get, is very close to the water paper I use for my paintings

Ilford Smooth Fine Art Paper
weight: 190gsm
Paper size:13”x19”
Image Size 9” x 14″
Print Series No. 1,
Prints made 5

Price: $135.00
Availability 5

Special price only for readers of My camera World $100.

This price is only available until 5:00pm EST Tuesday, 25 September, 2012
Shipping world wide $20.00 via regular mail. Contact for price request if faster delivery is required.

Send email request to Niels Henriksen Artworks

Niels Henriksen

Fine Art Print - 'Fire Within'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 18:59:00 +0000

Peonies provide wonderful opportunities for close-up photography with their delicate streamer like petals. Almost like flags waving in the breeze.

There was a soft warm glow within the centre of the flowers which may either be due pollen tinting or the stronger blue sky light on the outer petal tips when adjusted to more neutral whiter of the petal, causing the inner parts to become warmer with temperature adjustments.

Either way, I focused on this yellowish-orange color cast as the dominante part of the image, with its strong contrast found here. Since one primary color is the yellowish-orange I then ensured that the darker greyer background petal had a slight blue hue to act as a compliment with the yellow.
The Sugar Cane paper has a warm tone to further enhance the yellowish-orange tones.

Print Details

Hahnemuhle ‘Sugar Cane’ Fine Art Paper
Weight: 300 gsm
Paper size:13”x19”
Image Size 11” x 14″
Print Series No. 1,
Prints made 5

Availability 5

Special price only for readers of My camera World $100.

This price is only available until 5:00pm EST Friday, 21 September, 2012

Shipping world wide $20.00 via regular mail. Contact for price request if faster delivery is required.

Send email request to Niels Henriksen Artworks

Niels Henriksen

Fine Art Print – Boat in Grass on Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:45:00 +0000

This photograph is another image from my trip to Denmark. While the bicycle was taken in the large and historic city of Copenhagen. The image of the boat in the tall grass was taken on a secluded beach on the Isle of Mors which is situated within Jutland but is surrounded with salt water due to an opening on the west coast.

Denmark, especially on the Jutland peninsula jutting up from Germany, is mostly composed of sand and therefore relatively flat and low lying. This creates wonderful long stretches of beaches and if there is not a lot of people traffic, then long swaying grasses reach down to the shore line.

Being an inland sea, with a short distance to the main part of Jutland, there is little fetch for waves to develop and erode the shoreline.

It was while I was doing my 8GB Walk-about Part 1 and 8GB Walk-about Part 2 as I called the article, that on a lonely stretch I found this overturned boat in the tall grass. It was the classic red color for boats but was definitely weathered and the bare wood of the hull showed through. I doubt it would ever sail again unless someone took the time to restore it.

While the boat is an anchoring point in the photo supporting interest is the swaying grass which helps to create movement within the photograph. By keeping it to B&W then the colors don't compete for other interest within the image.

This movement is hard to show in a web sized image but this is where a large print does justice to the sublet tones and movement of the grass.

Close-up of moving grass – 75% actual size

Hahnemuhle ‘PhotoRag’ Matte Fine Art Paper
Weight: 308 gsm
Paper size:11”x17”
Image Size 9 1/4” x 14″
Print Series No. 1,
prints made 5

Availability 4

Special price only for readers of My camera World $100.

This price is only available until 5:00pm EST Tuesday, 18 September, 2012

Shipping world wide $20.00 via regular mail. Contact for price request if faster delivery is required.

Send email request to Niels Henriksen Artworks

Niels Henriksen

Fine Art Print – Bicycle and Orange Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:56:00 +0000

Fine Art Print – Bicycle and Orange Wall The photograph, which looks more like a watercolor painting, was taken at the entrance of Square of King Frederiksberg's Castle grounds in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Many layers were used to bring in the tones and textures, some detailed, others lost, to create the final version shown below. See the original article about techniques used Painterly Effect with Photo Enhancement

Hahnemuhle ‘Sugar Cane’ Fine Art Paper
Weight: 300 gsm
Paper size:13”x19”
Image Size 9 1/4” x 14″
Print Series No. 1,
prints made 5

Availability 1

Special price only for readers of My camera World $100.

This price is only available until 5:00pm EST Friday 14 September, 2012

Shipping world wide $20.00 via regular mail.

Contact for price request if faster delivery is required.

Send email request to Niels Henriksen Artworks

Each print comes with a full refund guarantee and a Certificate of Provenance.

Each print is hand titled, numbered and signed and comes with a Certificate of Provenance

Regular Price $135., Price increase November 2012, $165.

Niels Henriksen

Any Fans of the Photographic Artwork of Niels Henriksen

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:47:00 +0000

That is certainty a self serving title and its fraught with many definitions of term 'fans' but it is also a chance for me to understand something about my readership.
This blog is just a few members shy of 1200 subscribers. I'm very grateful that so many find the photographs and articles enjoyable. There are also those who arrive by way of search engines, but from this total group I wonder how many committed fans of my photography I have.

Taken in San Miguel de Allende

I take many photographs, photo-edit them and then display these on the web just like millions of others do. But as a photographer the biggest pleasure is actually seeing the photo printed on photographic paper and how the texture and tone of the paper support the artistic vision.
But out of the entire collection of photographs I capture per year, only about 5 -10 actually have that extra quality or uniqueness that compels me to print large, frame and mount on a wall for display.

These fine-art photographs, as I describe them, go through a process of printing them on heavy mate papers (approx 300gsm). Depending on the detail and tonal qualities of the photograph I will print smaller versions (8”x10') on a series from 4-8 different papers to determine which paper best suits the image. After several weeks of just looking at them in different light settings I will select a paper for the final version.

In this image I combined 2 photographs to make the composite above as I wanted the boy to appear that he was searching for his princess.

Each of these fine-art prints are printed in a small edition series, currently 5, and then titled, numbered and signed and then made available for sale either through my Art web site ' Niels Henriksen Artworks' and through galleries.

As part of my marketing strategy, periodically (approx 18months), I increase my prices to reflect the larger, albeit still small, demand for my photographic prints.

Prior to this increase in November, I am offering to readers of 'My Camera World' a 25% discount on the current price for a period of 7 days after print is posted on this blog.

Guarantee
All prints purchased from me come with an unconditional full refund guarantee. If you don't like it for any reason you get a full refund.
This makes purchasing a print from me completely risk free.
Each print comes with with a Certificate of Provenance. See example below

Over the next 2 weeks I will post an article about each of these prints that articulate my vision and story behind the photographs.

I hope that some of you will see a photograph that you enjoy and will sequentially purchase. I think it's important as a photographer and artist that we also collect other artists work and if not mine then someones else's. I am starting to have a decent collection of artworks already and will continue to collect new pieces every year.

By collecting several pieces I can then rotate them on the walls in my house and experience the same joy as when they were first hung.

Niels Henriksen

Patience - a Photographer’s Special tool

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:37:00 +0000

Many times we see wonderful scenes and landscapes right in front of us. Our emotions are stirring especially since for the last few moments our vision and senses are taking it all in. Therefore, it must make a wonderful photograph.

We take the photograph and move on knowing that we have a great shot because that's how we perceive our visual and sensory experience for this site.

But when we get home it seems to lack that something special we experienced back at our location.

Others who see the image may say it's nice but in reality it's just another tourist type shot. The experience we had is missing.

The key ingredient missing is patience, or just plain waiting for the scene to evolve in either light-shaping or the actors in the scene. These actors can be real people or elements in the changing landscape.

Light, it's strength or absence, is the key to all photographs. After this, it's the context of element within the science that further define the photographic experience.

As an example, the photographs of a set of wonderfully painted stairs help to demonstrate the importance of patience to wait out a scene until the elements define it in a new perspective.

There is a set of beautifully paints stairs just across the street from the Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa.

But to photograph them is to only copy someone else's work. This is fine if all you want is to show others the beauty of these stairs.

But there could be more if you only wait for people in this particular case to add the extra element to make this your own original photograph.

I knew people walking up and down the stairs would add interest to the image but without staffed actors I could only wait for what?

A few minutes later a solitary well dressed soldier from a ceremony on Parliament Hill was approaching the steps to walk down. Luckily there was no one else nearby to also transcend these steps.

I waited until his eyes were near the wolf's eyes and took 3 rapid shots. It's hard to get the arms and legs just right so with 3, one should work well.

It wasn't a busy place as these steps are slightly hidden. I felt good with the shot and started to walk on but a short distance later I felt there could be more if I just waited longer, so back I went.

After about 15 minutes of waiting a bunch of young children and their parents started to head up. The little girl was leading the pack and it looked like she would head right for the wolf's ear.

There were many others on the steps but I knew I could immediately afterwards take a photo of just the stairs and then edit everyone out.

The photograph now looks like the child went up the steps to whippers into the wolf's ear.

In many locations, taking the time to wait for something to change within the scene will make it a better photograph. The shadows created by the sun as it sculpts the landscape or intermittent clouds that create highlights within the scene. It could even be the addition of people, or removal of too many or the right combination of their colourful clothing that augments the photograph. Either way, occasionally take the time to explore the environment in front of or behind you and sit and wait for that extra photographic element.

Niels Henriksen

Ottawa Lumiere Festival of Lights – Full Camera Skills Needed

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 14:44:00 +0000

The Ottawa annual Lumiere Festival of Lights is not just a wonderful events for kids and spectators it's also a great chance to get some interesting and new photos for your collection.

ISO 400; f6.3; 13 sec; -0.67ev; 123mm; tripod mounted; Nikon D300

This is my 3rd time attending this event and each and every time I go there is something new to see. The festival is all about light and for this event it means candle power. There are activities for kids in the leading-up week where they make wonderful colorful paper mache objects that have holders inside to take those small candles in metal cans. These candles go inside the object and are lit at dusk. This creates a wonderful glow emanating for the colorful paper mache objects.

ISO 2,500 f5.6; 1 sec; 48mm

Hundreds of these lit lanterns in the shape of many different forms from faces to animals line the many paths around New Edinburgh park in Ottawa.

For the photographer it's visually stunning but also provides many photographic challenges in order to capture the event as the night unfolds.

When you first arrive around 7:30pm, you are at the golden hour of light and normal settings gets most of these shots. You may need a bit of fill light from your flash and here an attached strobe flash is necessary to get just enough light to fill area and the ability to reduce the exposure (-ev) so as to not over power the ambient light. See image of man on stilts below.

ISO 200; f5.6; 1/60 sec; 40mm; Flash -1ev

With hundreds of kids moving around and depending on their activity in front of you, a long exposure shot may create interesting photo image. The children in the image below are playing a large chess game. I wanted to show motion blur to create effect of action within the photo.

ISO 80; f25; 3 sec; 32mm

As dusk starts to envelope a more stronger flash is necessary to freeze motion and completely fill subject as with the Tango dancer.

ISO 200; f5.6; 1/60 sec; 100mm; Flash

There are other areas like the lit swans in the river where flash won't work and a long exposure is needed to amplify available light to avoid the noise of higher ISOs. But when there is some wind movement then you will need the higher ISOs as in the photo below. In these photos it's all about the soft glow of candle power.

ISO 2,500; f5.6; 0.3 sec; -0.3ev; 190mm; tripod mounted

ISO 2,500; f5.6; 2 sec; -1ev; 28mm; tripod mounted

But a near full darkness only longer exposure times and a tripod will get you those interesting photos like the girls with their glowing and twirling hula hoops.

The main event at this festival is a giant maze on a baseball diamond (to reduce chance of grass fire) covered with lunch paper bags filled with a little sand for stability and then a small candle. There are hundreds of children walking around this maze but with long exposures they do not show up in the photo because of their darkness. It's only when they are carrying candles or light that they show up as a moving white line.

ISO 1,000; f5.6; -1ev; 3sec; 1230mm; tripod mounted

At this event I did use my new Nikon D800e and I found it worked well. I did forget to bring my small flashlight to light the buttons on the camera. Thankfully there remained mostly the same from the D300 and I could with some ease figure where to press to make changes to seetings.

In summary for an event like this you need to be able to switch between:
Aperture, Shutter priority and Manual mode – Flash will freeze when necessary.
Low and high ISOs.
Normal shutter speeds and long exposures of 2-3 seconds.
Flash power adjustments for fill light strengths.
Hand-held and tripod shooting.

I do hope you all get a chance to try events like these or a an amusement park or fair ground.

Niels Henriksen

Test of Nikon D800e, a DX lens and a Teleconverter

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:59:00 +0000

I was fortunate to finally get a Nikon D800e (36 Mpx) after a brief 3 month wait. I didn't, and I also think its the same with Nikon, expect that there would be such a huge demand for this camera. I don't know why Nikon seemed to leap so far ahead with its next generation but I'm grateful. I think there are millions (well a whole bunch anyway) more who also think the same.

This is a full frame camera and a DX lens will work but is cropped due to limited image area. The camera even has mode where it will auto detect a DX lens and crop accordingly. Knowing that there is still a little more image available with the DX crop I decided not to crop and use whatever was available.

Nikon D800e with 70-200mm f2.8 VR. The image on right is actual size of window pane

My favorite DX lens is the 18-200mm f3.5 VR and as I travel around I notice others who like this lens. While it may have some pincushion and barrel distortion, thanks to Photoshop lens correction, this is almost all eliminated.

Nikon D800e with 70-200mm f2.8 VR set to 1.2 crop. The image on right is actual size of window pane. I didn't realize at first that the crop factor also applied to FX lens.

It was while I was performing a resolution test with my D300 and the new D800e by using both the 18-200mm f3.5 VR and the 70-200mm f2.8 VR that I noticed that when full zoomed on the DX lens that vignetting seemed to disappear, but looked like a dime at 18mm.

This excited me more than the current test and therefore I decided to pursue this further.

The 18-200mm is really like a 24-300mm on a DX camera due to the 1.5 crop factor and this range will meet about 90% of my needs. With a 1.4 teleconverter on the FX camera it's now almost the same range as on a DX camera.

The test I performed was hand-held as I didn't need with this test to check for perfect resolution. I stood in front of a large apartment building in the parking lot across the street and remained at the same position while I changed the lens focal length.

In the 1st test, see film strip below, there is significant vignetting in the 18mm and slowly reduces as the focal length is increased. Even at 200mm there is still slight vignetting at the corners.

When the teleconverter was added then magic seemed to appear. At 18mm there is only slight vignetting at the corners and disappears by 24mm. The film strip below shows the changes with teleconverter added.

Now a favorite lens becomes useful on my full frame camera.

Most lens that have such a wide range of focal lens is all about compromises when being designed and built. The same with the 18-200mm f3.5 VR. Photoshop easily handles the barrel distortion. But this lens at the glass edge, maybe more is being used now, also has a fair amount of chromatic appellation. This is also handled well with Photoshop. Since most artistic images don't need to be sharp or well defined at the corners of a photograph then any additional distortion caused by using more lens area is not really a problem with digital-editing.

So when and if you do decide to go full frame one day then your DX glass can be useful with a teleconverter.

The reason this works is because the lens is now further from the sensor and therefore increases in size on sensor chip. Take a magnifying glass and hold it to show an image appearing upside down on a piece of paper. Now move the magnifying glass further away and watch how the image on the paper grows larger. The same happens with a teleconverter attached.

Niels Henriksen

Flickr Update for Niels Henriksen

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:56:00 +0000

Just a short note to let my readers know that I have reached 10,000 plus viewers on Flickr.

So a little jump for joy.

While for many this may not be momentous, for all those who have photos on Flickr, it is a step for me in trying to get more exposure for my photographs. While I joined in 2007 I did start to add image until a couple of years ago after my first trip to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico.

F/24 @ 1/6 sec

I like this image because it takes a moment to figure out that this is a person on a bike jumping, flying through the air in a skateboard park.

F/16 @ 1/250 sec

These photos are 2 examples where controlling the shutter speed is important. In the first photo a slower shutter speed is used to blur action and the other photo a faster shutter speed to freeze it. Do take the time to drop by and view some of my images and do take the time to connect on Flickr so that I can view your photos.

You can view my photo-stream here .

Niels Henriksen

Photographing Metal Sculptures and Art Objects

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:51:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to photograph metal artwork for an artist friend who lives near Lynhurst Ontario. For those unfamiliar with this little village, it is about 45 km north of Kingston Ont. along Hwy 15.

Noah, the metal-sculpture artist, has a large manicured estate with a man-made pond that is just perfect to have his animal based artworks scattered all about. Almost like seeing a herd of deer in the fields. In fact I did mange to see one deer at the edge of his lawns. But having a couple of Noah’s dogs playing around me meant that I could not get close enough to the deer for a great shot.

The reflections on the screen worked to create great contrast with the darker pond water, which meant I didn’t have to do much to have the artwork stand out. Just moving about for greatest contrast. I cropped the right wind since it's a mirror of the other and including it would make it appear smaller.

Most of his sculptures are made out of scrap metal parts and therefore, for the most part, tend to have a dull rust color. Dark and mid-tone oranges do not usually stand out well against bright green fields.

Even the biker (bicycle and motorcycle) sculptures that have figures on them have muted tones in their clothing. To make them stand out better I desaturated the greens, as with the above example, to an almost grey tone to give the figures more prominence. There are 5 of these along the front near the road.

Some artworks, like the bug series below, are painted, but even here we still need to have darker background (hedge in shade) to give more punch to the colors.

Even in the above image with its strong yellow and reds, the green has been slightly muted.

Most of the bug pieces have long insect like legs but if you include the whole art piece then the main body parts become very small in the photo. Focus on the main sections but include just enough of other parts to give context to photo.

For some images I wanted the distortion created by a wide angle lens, where objects nearer are larger and distant objects becomes smaller than reality, to change the perspective in how we view the artwork.

I had to use HDR on the photos where I was looking up and a bright sky was behind the sculpture. In the above photo the rust is made more vibrant and the green and blue colors muted a bit.

I now know that I need to come back again when the sun is near the evening horizon so that for some sculptures the shadows will add to create a larger subject.

Who couldn't love this old Flintstones type car.

Some close-ups to focus on the texture of the artwork.

And finally a photo for the biker in all of us.

Many of his artworks can be seen on Noah's Metal Art and he also has a link with the Frontenac Arch Biosphere

And here's the photo of the deer in the field.

Niels Henriksen

Sections of Buildings in San Miguel de Allende

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:04:00 +0000

The photos displayed in the blog article focus mainly on parts or sections of buildings in San Miguel. While some photos, such as the image below, are clearly understood. The rest have more of an abstract genre and for these the lines become the main compositional elements.

Within the city, the walls along with the sidewalks are continuous, except for the odd entrance to an inner courtyard or alley way. In the photo above, this wall is most likely not part of a house, but used more as a high fence to an inner courtyard. Inside could be a rubble heap or a grand garden and fountain. Never knowing what you'll find behind these walls is one of the intriguing aspects of San Miguel.

On the walls in the courtyard of Bellas Artes (the National Institute of Fine Arts) these lanterns hang on the abutments on the adjacent walls. The darker brickwork along these abutments were darkened and made more gritter to enhance the texture of the lanterns.

This image is from the same courtyard of Bellas Artes, the photo above with the lanterns, but here I'm looking from across the street and the 3 curved protrusions are form the top of the outer wall.

Atotonilco is a UNESCO world historic site (church) about 20 mi out of San Miguel. It's only a short distance from here to the Hots Springs which is a favourite spot for many people in San Miguel. On Saturdays in the village (50 people) there are many street vendors selling unique religious objects.

Within the core of San Miguel is a Bull Fighting Ring. Only a few blocks from the central square (el Jardin) of the town. In the photo above you can just see the top the homes which abut to the walls all around the Bull Ring. There were no events or spectators on this day and this allowed me to take photos of the beautiful curved lines of a circular bull ring.

While walking around I just couldn't resit this bit of abstraction with the 2 different lanterns and their corresponding shadows.

Niels Henriksen

Alien Skin Exposure 4 Photographic Software Review

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:36:00 +0000

There is nothing more wonderful than exploring new tools or ways for something you are passionate about.

A B&W Infra-Red (IR) processing of a red barn and green fields

What is the Purpose of this Software?
Exposure is an add-on photo-editing application for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Elements that provides almost a complete list of film types, both B&W and Color, for processing for the digital darkroom. I say almost as I didn't count the list of film types in this application and I don't even know all the films that have ever been made, but they sure seem to be all here.

'Sepia – blue Finish (modified)' setting with a layer set to 'Lighten' mode (31%) for an Expsure 4 ver. of 'Kodak HIE (Halation moderate)'

One test of software is to see how it feels right out of the box. A lot like taking a performance sports car for a test drive. You may not know everything about it but you know how to drive and turn corners.

I never read the manual first as I believe that a person with reasonable skills on the computer and with digital editing should know how to turn it on and drive around a little.

Exposure 4 did not fail here. It was easy to install and when launched, the layout and buttons were intuitive. The only problem I had was that it was almost 2 hours later when I realized how much I had been playing with the different types of films.

How would I use this Photo-Editing Software?

Exposure 4 has a great repertoire of classic, vintage and just plain old films both in color and B&W. Combined with these types of film selections are the various processing adjustments you might make in a wet darkroom, such as contrast, toning, bleaching, cross-processing, calotype, platinum and much more.

Some of these are obvious as the IR and Platinum and High contrast B&W I have shown above. Even old color films with faded color can provide unique approaches to the photographic images.

Without having access to the original old photograph, an older reproduction could be re-made. This could be cast against another image to create a story of 'then and now' and subject of an interesting photographic book.

In the image above I took 2 photos and I applied old color film technique to the bordered version to create the effect of laying an old photo on a new photo to show a change over time.

How well does it Perform?
Having a 7 processors and 12TB of RAM there should be no speed issues with loading and applying application settings. It was just over a sec to load and less to applying any film setting. The window is originally set up with 3 panels. Large central being the photo being edited. The panel on the right is the main adjustment panel color. See composite below. There is enough functionality to do almost everything you want.

A minor problem with the numbers dialog boxes. When you enter a number it doesn't apply until you click the panel and if you use the Enter key it applies the Exposure 4 application. I would rather have that only happen when I click the OK button.

The panel on the left are all the pre-set film settings which are based on some combination of settings on the right panel. This is great because once you found a style that suits your needs you can then tweak it to best suit the photograph.

I did find that using the color filter produced better color (brighter) for me than using the same color on a layer in Photoshop. It might be the preserve luminosity check box.

With my sample photos the rendering of effects was clean with no noticeable distortions unless of course you cranked the saturation way up.

I like that both side panels can be minimized and it's easy to zoom into a section for better clarity. With a 24” monitor some apps don't allow full screen editing.
I also like how you can save your own presets.

The above image is from one I tested since I had created a B&W version previously. The software did produce versions that I liked as well and maybe even better than the original.

Who is this Software meant for?
For anyone how wants to experience the look of chemical film technology and its variant processes.
Definitely for commercial ad type photographic needs. Here with the press of a button, a vintage effect can be created without much time spent by the user.
For creative types who may want to create story-line or books where the type of photograph is integral to the story experience
For fine-art photographers that require a specific look, as with my image of the tree and bench, that is not easily achieved in Photoshop.
To create new layers that can be set to one of the blend modes. There is a practice to create a B&W version of your image that looks best and then set this to luminosity for your color photo. While I haven’t experimented that much with these I suspect I will find some of the film output useful as a blend mode.

Recommendations
This is a good solid product that provides a wealth of film types and genres. It is easy to use and intuitive.
I would give this software a 4 – 4 ½ rating. The limiting factor would be price for a new user at approx $249. but an upgrade is only $99.
As an investment, I view software the same as a lens. It's a tool to help you meet your needs or goals. Many people find the cost of software somewhat prohibitive and yet see no problem with spending more on a new lens. I love a lens also as there's something about that precision instrument you are holding. But I photo-edit every photo I show to the public. I always want to bring out the very best and convey the feelings and experience I had at the time I took the photograph. The straight out-of-the-camera version doesn’t give me this. It is a mechanical device and not a human.

Definitely do download a trial version and play with it.

Niels Henriksen

Disclaimer: Other than receiving a copy of the software to review, I did not or will not receive any remunerations, gifts or any considerations from this review from the company, its agents or any of its distributors

Buildings of San Miguel

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:17:00 +0000

This is a story that evolves over time. Every year as I explore new parts of town or even revisit other parts at different times of the day, there are new buildings emerging. Not new in the sense of being just built but new in the sense of discovery. Especially when its not your town and even not your region, everything is so different.

Along the side of the Biblioteca on Relox

This is almost an abstract image with 3 main sections. I wanted the yellow to be dominant so I increased the contrast in this section and a bit in saturation. On some monitors if not calibrated it will display as very bright yellow, whereas it should be a bit soft. I darkened the blue and decreased saturation to make the yellow appear brighter. I didn't want to lighten the whole road so I increased the brightness in the highlights and strengthened the yellows.

Sometimes you get a 'batch perfect apples in the basket' so to speak. In the image below, the house was painted a blue to match the strong blue skies of San Miguel. The sky is also a darker blue here at approx. 7,000 ft. Strong blues ranging from this sky color to almost navy-blue can be found on several homes.

Near the corner of Aldama on a walk-only side street between Xichu and Oje de Agua
Google map reference (20.90370, -100.7432)

A very skinny house. Not sure what it's used for. I guess someone wanted to build a house in an alleyway. I seen places like this in Toronto where the house is 3 storeys high and 10' wide. This building in San Miguel may be actually skinnier.

Even with a 18mm lens I needed to stitch 2 vertical photos to get the whole building in one combined photo.

San Miguel, like most Mexican towns, is always undergoing some sort of building repainting. The standard building colors are yellow, rusty-orange, burnt-red, and some white. They may be repainted these same colors or even repainted a vibrant new color such as blue. That's why in Google Street View the photos of the buildings may not now be as shown in Google. Sometimes as in the photo below there has been some new painting with bolder colors.

This small section of buildings has all the colors of the rainbow and a few extra. Corner of Aldama and Terraplén

This colorful green building with just enough red to give it some accent caught my interest I. It wasn't until after I looked around that I realized that it was beside the entrance to the Bull Fighting Ring.

And sometimes with luck a car drives by, whose color enhances the photo of the building.

Next year I will be in San Miguel for six (6) months and I be conducting photo-walks again. If you are in the area then drop me a line and we can go out and photograph this lively town together.

Niels Henriksen

Festivals in San Miguel de Allende

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:21:00 +0000

It seems like there is always some sort of festival going on in San Miguel. In fact, there really is. Most of these are tied to religious or Mexican national events, but at times there also those unexpected festivals. When they involve children they can make for extra special photographic events. And who doesn’t love the smiles and special faces that children can make. Add a few costumes and now there is magic in the air.

Last year and again this year there was the multicultural school event with kids coming from many districts. I wasn't paying special attention to the date as I didn’t even know it was happening again. I only came by the festival when I was heading by the Jardin. Which is a daily ritual for me in my treks around town. I didn't notice the festival event in the local paper Atencion which is great for highlighting events in and around town. There is always so much going on that it's easy to miss one, or sometimes the festival's name is in Spanish and it may not be evident by its title.

I asked one of the girls participants to pose with the rose as she seemed to have the best smile of all of them.

She and the boy in the image above were the central characters in their school skit.

The pair of them started off sitting on a bench and the boy appeared to reject the advances of the girl. I believe that this was part of a Valentines theme as every person had a heart on their palms.

After a short interval, with the music was playing all the time, the rest of their class mates joined them on stage and performed a choreographed dance.

It was great fun to watch and in this photo you can see all their hearts on their hands.

A few weeks later I came across an art festival called “Thank You Art' project. This is were kids and some adults, me included, glued coloured tissue paper to a clear plexiglass sheet.

They were allowed to cut the sheets into strange shapes or with cut-outs and even write messages on their sheets.

Then they were glued on top of each other in a multitude of different colors. When the panels were hung in a lighted area they glowed like stained glass panels.

During my photographing of the kids enjoying themselves one of the directors of the project asked me if they could use some of my photos for the up coming display of the final glass sheets.

I was fortunate to have several of my images selected for the Art show in the Biblioteca that ran for 2 weeks.

They printed my images 39cm x 52 cm (15” x 20”) and hung them on the wall around the 2 plexiglass sheets that looked like large stained glass windows.

When in San Miguel you should always, and I mean always, have your camera with you as you never know what's just waiting around the next corner. Three times during my winter stay I did not take my camera with me and I regretted it each time. Now I don't leave home without it. It may be a bit heavy so I carry it in my backpack.

Niels Henriksen

Why Photographing Hats Can Improve Your Street People Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:40:00 +0000

This wasn’t something that I consciously knew, maybe deep down we all tend to know these types of things, but something I discovered while undertaking a new photography project in San Miguel de Allende.

There are many, many ideas to photograph in San Miguel. Doors are a very common theme, I did one last year and one I am continuing this year. I was looking for something different and with the almost constant blue skies and bright sun, even stronger at 6,800 feet, most people if not all the gringos wear hats.

Everyday I walk around photographing almost anything and everything. Great fun and focusing on Hats gave me a new challenge.

I am reserved when it comes to photographing people out and about on the street. I feel reluctant to invade their privacy but deep down I love how people relate and engage the city streets. Here in Mexico, being such a tourist destination, the locals are even more wary of being photographed and many times hide there face or just look away. If a person is not comfortable with their photo being taken I won't take it.

A different type of sun covering

When I photographed street people I tended to hesitate too long (should I or not) with taking the shot and the impromptu moment was lost as they tended to now be aware of the camera.

This man is not praying but doing close-up photography of the cactus

I found out after the fact that when I was just focusing on people's hats I tended to think less of the person and more on the object of the hat. This allowed me to be quicker with the decision to shoot and also it allowed me to shoot more often.

Who wouldn't love this big Mexican hat

Because I was focusing on an object it even allowed me to approach people and ask then if I could photograph them with their hat as this was a project of mine. I think people felt more comfortable in letting me photograph them because I wasn't really just photographing them. It was an inanimate object and somehow that was OK.

A hatted man with lots of hats

I suggest you give yourself a try at this project and see if you don't now photograph more people.

Niels Henriksen

An Explosion of Colors at the El Señor de la Conquista Festival in San Miguel de Allende

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:13:00 +0000

The one thing I enjoy most about San Miguel de Allende is that you'er busy. I'm taking photographs everyday, meeting old and new friends and enjoying lots of events. There are many artist shows opening every week and then there's the special film showing and theater plays. The downside, at least for my blog readers, is the problem with actually getting down and writing a new article.

I was working on a theme and then on Friday the 2nd of March there was the 'El Señor de la Conquista' Festival in San Miguel de Allende in and around the center square called 'el Jardin'.

There were 5 different groups from local towns nearby each with their own style of dress and costumes. Withh such a display of colors and action it was not hard to keep photographing as they almost performed continuously for 10 hours. There was a small break in the afternoon as they started around 10:00am and continued until 9:00pm.

Even the people resting provided good photographic opportunities.

It's easy to see from the next photo how much these dancers enjoyed and were engrossed with their performances.

During breaks they laid their headdress on the ground.

The music playing and drums resonated over the whole town all day long and if you wanted a quiet spot you almost had to head out of town.

Great costumes and action.

Even fathers and sons participated.

San Miguel is first an historic town with stunning architecture but the festivals which almost happen every weekend during some months add that extra spice and color to your stay here.

Niels Henriksen

Using the Camera GPS to find the Sunken Church In San Miguel

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:26:00 +0000

I've now been in San Miguel de Allende for almost 6 weeks, about half way through our winter stay here. I have been enjoying all flavours and experiences that this city has to offer. I've even experienced some of the standard tourist events such as fighting with the Aztec gods (Montezuma of course). This laid me low for a few days but unfortunately after a few days when I thought I was getting better I developed a secondary infection that required visiting the doctor and getting medication. Now after 2 weeks I'm finally starting to get the spring back in my step and venturing back out. This does curtail your photography.

But back to the GPS item. Several weeks ago my friend Mike took me out to see the sunken church on the large shallow lake south-east of San Miguel. The lake is really a reservoir and during the dry season, winter here, the church becomes fully visible. The ground is still too mucky to be able to walk all the way out, but you can get close enough for some good shots.

If you look closely you can see some cacti growing out of the top portion of the church spire and therefore the church is not completely sunken.

What was really surprising when we first arrived was that we saw pelicans, which to many may not be unusual near water but this is at an elevation of 6,000ft and and 550 km from the nearest ocean.

I've been using on-camera GPS for almost 3 years, at least capturing the meta data with the image but I've never had to really use the info as until now I've always known exactly where I was. Not this time as this was new territory, so when I tried to use the Nikon format to enter into Google maps it took a while to find a site that would convert correctly.

Nikon gives a format such as:

Longitude: 20,52.1567N

Latitude: 100,50.1574W

Altitude: 1853m

Nikon is not DDD, MMM, SSS (Degrees, Minutes , Seconds but in format of DDD, MMM.MMMM)

Whereas Google maps required decimal degrees only in format DDD.DDDDD.

After some web searching I did find one site that would provide conversion in the Nikon format.

Nikon GPS Converter

In the Google map below the green arrow shows where I took the photo of the church above and the red arrow the top of church spire above the water. This Google map (satellite view) was taken when the area was flooded. It is a bit strange to see that where you were standing is now underwater. A little north east of red arrow is a round ring. This is visible in the last photo of this article.

Towards the hill on the south-east in the map above is another church, not sunken but still abandoned.

Most of the foliage,except for the cacti at this time of year, is brown. This make a colour image rather drab. But converting to B&W and adding some contrast can make the photo stand out more.

In the image below the green cacti with a blue sky does make a colour version work better.

Below is the map and the green arrow shows where I was standing taking the photo above with the cacti.

As you can see the camera GPS is very accurate in capturing within feet where you where standing at the time when photograph is taken.

Another version of the sunken church where you can see the round ring that shows up beside the spire in the Google water map.

Church with ring structure

Niels Henriksen

The Making of a Fine-Art Print 'Man, Lantern and Orange Wall'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:22:00 +0000

I am once again in San Miguel de Allende and for the last 2 weeks I've been like a young boy running around in a large candy shop. It feels great to be back and there have been so many favourite places to visit and most importantly eat some great food. I have managed to photograph some new scenes and these will be the subject of future articles.

Last year I photographed the image below from the section of the Casa Mission on Cerrada de Pila Seca which is only a walking street that runs behind Cafe Monet. I was initially struck by the strong primary colors, the lantern and its shadow and the texture on the wall, but when I printed it, it seemed to lack something to give it extra punch. Some extra texture.

Man, Lantern and Orange wall 12” x 16.5”

Final image with texture added

I tried several generic textures that I had on file, mostly splatter type patterns but none provided the effect that I wanted. Not that I knew what I wanted but I felt that when I saw it, it would feel right.

From the article title you may wonder about the man. If you look closely at the image you should be able to see a man walking in amongst tall bare trees and their branches. It is subtle and that's what I wanted but it's there in the image. Only by accident, I decided to try other B&W images that were actual images. I came across one image with a man walking amongst tall trees and when I overlaid on colorful wall image it worked for me.

In the detailed close-up below the man becomes clearly visible.

The print I made is 12” by 16.5” and to all I showed the print, no one could see the man. In fact, several people showed other areas that they thought was man, which became an added twist to the print.

The overlay photograph is shown below.

A fine-art photograph is about what inspires you. It not about what others are doing with their art or what people think is right or wrong.

Don't be intimated with experimenting or concerned that others don't get it. If you like the results and it provides meaning for you then it's a perfect piece of art work. With so many people on the planet you can be sure that there will be some that find your work inspirational.

When I printed my final proof photograph which I keep around to ensure that my impressions don't change, one was immediately spoken for.

This photograph is printed on 300 gram, 13” x 19:, Ilford pearl paper. Usually, I tend to print on textured fine-art matte/watercolor paper but this image called for more vibrancy in the colours.

My prints are limited within a series and these are normally sets to 5. If I do another series they will be different in some form, either paper selection and other tonal attributes or printed larger. But any future series will be sold at a price that is higher by a reasonable margin than the highest price for the previous series.

2 prints, unframed, are currently available at the

Orange Gallery near the Parkdale market in Ottawa

It's just a coincident that the major color of this print and the art gallery are the same.

Niels Henriksen

A Very Social Christmas and A Happy Connected New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:44:00 +0000

I want to wish everyone, whether you celebrate Christmas or other seasonal festivities, a very happy holiday season and a great new year with many new opportunities for creative growth.

From the title you may guess that I am talking about social media, which I am, but more about how I try to fit within that world.

Taken in 1955 in Denmark at 4 years old and trying to be a grown-up

I believe that, like many people, I seem to have those social connections that you need to link with other people. This works fine if I need to talk or connect with someone but I’m not sure how my articles about photography and other art works all fit within the new worlds of social media. How do I remain fresh and new with all these social outlets competing for the same information.

I have My Camera World Blog this and there is a corresponding Facebook page

FaceBook My Camera World

There is also my art blog ' Niels Henriksen Artworks ' where I post articles about my artwork, whether a painting, fine art photography or other mediums. This is again is matched on Facebook with Facebook - Niels Henriksen Artworks

Who says all self portraits have to be ugly. Well maybe they are.

There is also just plain old me on Facebook at Niels Henriksen. This Facebook page was initially just to connect with people I talk to regularly but I find I do post mostly about my photography and paintings.

I have also loaded some of my photographs on Niels Henriksen on Flickr

Please take the time to connect and I'll connect back so I can see some of your photographs.

My first studio work where I placed my model battle ships and tried to created a war scene. DOF and focus what's that.

Then there’s my Linkedin page which is only visible if you are on linkedin and we have connected.

Since we are heading back to San Miguel de Allende for 3 months in Jan I have contacted people about conducting walkabouts with some basic photography lessons included. More than 20 people have shown an interest. To help co-ordinate these walk-abouts and share photos I created a Facebook page ' San Miguel de Allende Photography Club '.

Even at 12 years of age I had penchant for the abstract. Honestly this was not an accidental shot, at least that's what I say now.

And just lately I've signed on to Goolge+ but as yet haven’t posted anything and that’s the dilemma. How do I remain somewhat fresh across all the media outlets? I just don't want to re-post the same material available on other sites. I don't mind using some of the same images if there is some contextual difference for the audience.

This year I want to get a better handle on the whole social media culture and ensure that on each site there is something new and relevant to the reader.

I sure would like to here how you are handling your multiple media streams with your content or any ideas about what would work.

Please feel free to connect with me on any or all these social sites as I'm happiest when I'm connected with you.

Niels Henriksen

What to do When a Photo is Missing Parts

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:13:00 +0000

There are times when I'm walking around enjoying the scenery and occasionally taking what I think are interesting photographs around town and I forget to compose correctly. This is normally not noticed until I review them later as I tend not to look at each shot when taken.

This is a different shooting mode than when I really want something special. Then the histogram is reviewed and for images with strong contrast several exposures may be taken. And if tripod is available it will be used.

The above image is the final edited version that I wanted but failed to capture correctly.

Part of the problem is that I wear glasses and sometimes I don't remove them when looking in the camera view finder. I do when the image is critical but for shoot and grab shots I tend to place viewfinder only on the glass face and if I don't line up correctly the image is off centre to what I see.

If you have taken several photos then there may be parts in others that you can use to correct test perfect sections.

In the 3 photos combined below, the far left image is the one I wanted (#1) but as you can see, it's missing parts like the feet and sidewalk. The 2 other photos (middle #2 and right #3) are ones I used to fill in missing sections and cover parts that needed to be removed. The big problem with the other photographs is that they are from different angles and perspectives and therefore, a direct overlay to match parts will not work. You will need to stretch, twist and rotate a little to make the parts fit.

In the next composite photo below with the main image, I extracted the parts of each section that was used to reconstruct the final photograph.

Image #1 provides a good frame-work (base layer) for the whole of photo, except I wanted the lady in image #2

Image #2 was cut and placed on a separate layer and set to difference mode to make it easier to see when frame matches as it all turns black. I needed her bottom feet from another image (#3) to finish off her legs.

There was still the problem of the missing parts of the steps from part #2 which was added by image #4.

Rather than placing a whole copy of another image on top and using masking for desired parts and moving around, I recommend only cutting out the main parts from another file and copying to the working file. The reason for this is that when you zoom in on a large image to examine the fit, the handles are no longer available to use for positioning as these are at the edges of image. By only using a cropped parts, the handles for positioning are now just outside the smaller part and available for use even when zoomed in.

This is a lot of work and not for everyone. It would be easier to retake the photograph, if possible, but if you're on vacation or it's an impromptu moment, it may not be possible. This process allows you to get the photograph that you wanted but somehow missed.

I do realize that I need to be more careful when using glasses and maybe a monocle for the other eye would work. This is one advantage that EV viewfinders on back of camera work well for people with glasses.

Niels Henriksen

Book Review – Serengeti – The Eternal Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:45:00 +0000

I was excited to get the opportunity to review a photography book that wasn't technical in nature. It gave me a chance to read for once and not have to think about the technical merits about the subject material being discussed.

At first I thought it might just be a pure photography book, nothing but pictures and little text. When it arrived I realized that there was a fair amount of story that surrounded the photos. The story about the Serengeti was very interesting and unique and an important part of the book.

Book Title: Serengeti – The Eternal Beginning

Author: Boyd Norton

ISBN: 978-1-55591-593-3

Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing

Hard cover - 265 pages

The Review

One of the first things that struck me about the book was the experience and depth that the author 'Boyd Norton' had with this area of Africa. While its not exactly clear, it appears that he has spent more than 25 years visiting and getting to know this area intimately about the life and its nuances in the Serengeti.

The book is not only about Serengeti as its title suggests but also includes the Maswa Game Reserve, Ngorongoro conservation area, Loliondo Game controlled area and the Masai Mara National Reserve. As with most geographical features, country boundaries do not define its scope.

This geographical area defines the coverage, for the most part of the 'Great Migration' that we are all familiar with. Where thousands upon thousand of larger African animals such as wildebeests are seen to run for thousands of miles in search of food as the weather patterns change. While the predators lie in wait for the dinner train to run by.

The author discusses the parks earliest beginnings when there wasn’t a park but only early explorers and big game hunters. The early problems all countries seem to have when they want to control activities within an area with competing demands from indigenous groups, expanding farming base and other users of the resources.

This is not only a book about the big and small animals that are found here but about the life of the people who have lived here for aeons. It’s interesting to read how the locals, weather patterns and what was a perfect balance of nature all worked together to create a faultless ecosystem. Especially when you think of this place as the dawn of human kind some 3-4 million year ago.

The author’s writings give a life to photos that are not apparent directly from the photos. As an example, he discusses how certain rock outcrops called Gol Kopjes seems to have extra gravity that applies only to the big cats. In that whenever they arrive on these outcrops the local rock gravity immediately pulls them flat on the rock and holds them for hours.

The book covers the Great Migration when it seems most of the life in the Serengeti is on the move and about the carnivores who patiently wait for their turn at the Great Feast or migration as we call it.

The next chapter is about the lions which is a fascinating subculture all unto itself. Who gets to lead, who eats and who gets to live with the group.

The 4th chapter is about Ngorongoro which is the remains of a huge volcano called a caldera, like a giant cauldron. In this crater life is different due to its unique ecosystem.

The next chapter deals with creatures both large and small and how like any balanced system they each depend on each other for survival. From control of foliage to providing food for the predators. If your visit is to only see the big game animals then you are missing so much more about the life in the Serengeti.

The next chapters deal each with the other more famous of the big African animals such as the Rhino, Leopard, Cheetah and Elephant and how they live and communicate. There are personal stories around each encounter with the wilds of Africa and this is what makes this book more exciting than just a lot of photos.

There is Anna who can talk Rhino talk and the perception that they are stupid is really outdated. There are also the Acadia trees who can communicate when the giraffes arrive for dinner.

Recommended Audience

This book doesn’t tell you how to use your camera or take better photographs, which I'm glad as sometimes we just need stories that surround images we are seeing. Inspiration rarely comes from a technical how-to-manual.

I now know that if I were to go on an African photo safari I would not expect or want a 1 or 2 day quick tour and photo-op around the park. The book has conveyed to me that there is just so much more to see and experience that it can only be fully appreciated if you take the time to watch and wait. When there, live in the flow of the Serengeti's life.

If not for yourself then this would make a great gift for any friend who has been talking about going on an excursion to see those big game animals of Africa. A time before man, at least modern man, has had an impact on the natural world.

Link to:

Boyd Norton`s Wilderness Photography website with info on supporting the Serengeti.

Photo Safari excursions conducted in the Serengeti.

I have provided an amazon link for the book, below.

Serengeti: The Eternal Beginning

Niels Henriksen

Disclaimer:

Other than receiving a book to review, which will be given away, I did not or will not receive any remunerations, gifts or any considerations for this review from the publisher, author or anyone affiliated with this book.

Update:

Thanks to a comment from Mike I realized that I hadn't fully reviewed the book by also commenting on the photographs within the book.

I found every photo crisp and clear and representative of the its natural environment.

The photos are taken as found and therefore the lighting is natural and not staged. Nor are the images manipulated to give extra punch as I am prone to do. All are color prints with no B&W.

Since most of the animals by nature's design want to blend in with their surrounding there is not always a lot of high contrast, but they all stand out in the photos. The photos are all of the caliber that you would find in the National Geographic magazine.

The front cover image is representative of the quality of images whether they are up close or distant landscapes contained within the book.

Reviewing your photographs from Older Archives

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:35:00 +0000

Sometimes its just plain fun to go through your archive of older photos. Now with a distant memory of the scenes and events your photographs may appear better than previous scans. This is in part due to that at the time there are too many good photos and those not with the highest rating but still with merit tend to get drowned out.

This image was taken at one of the great Buddhas in Kamakura Japan. The hawk like bird may seem small but this Buddha is very large. Without the bird it would be hard to understand the scale of this image. It could be in anyone’s home garden. Besides scale the bird helps to give height to statue as there is the appearance that the head is up high where birds soar.

The next image with people in it does convey the scale of the Buddha. In theses type of metal statues the green colors are soft and muted and it is easy for green foliage to overpower the scene. That is why I have mute the greens in the background to give the Buddha statue more visual punch.

The Great Buddha of Kamakura (Kamakura Daibutsu) is a bronze statue of Amida Buddha, which stands on the grounds of Kotokuin Temple. It's the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan, at a height of 13.35 meters, surpassed only by the statue in Nara's Todaiji Temple.

The statue was originally built in 1252 and located inside a large temple hall. The temple buildings were destroyed many times by typhoons and a tidal wave in the 14th and 15th centuries. So, since 1495, the Buddha has been standing in the open ground.

Do take the time to review your collection as there may be hidden gold or at least fond memories of places you've been.

Niels Henriksen.

Playful Indulgences with Adobe Pixel Blender for Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:48:00 +0000

Sometimes I just find I have a need to play. Not the sand lot type, even though that might be fun, but more along the lines of creativity with my artworks. With painting I can just slop the wonderful colors around and see what happens but clean-up is more effort. But with photography it's not always as easy.

I could throw my camera up in the air with a timed shutter and see what happens, but I am afraid of dropping it and then seeing a lot on money becoming dust on the ground with a broken camera.

Digital editing allows me that freedom and the only cost is my time. Definitely less risky.

I came across a video that shows the use of an Adobe Labs plug-in for Photoshop CS 4&5 called Pixel Bender. Being also a painter I was more interested in the oil painting effects as demonstrated with the image I 'bent' below. I may take this further as I will need to get rid of those bright white objects at the top of frame to make this image useful.

The above image was run once in pixel bender to give texture in the parrot, but I found that the remaining detail was all too much the same and still too fine in detail for the background. I masked out the parrot, used the blending too to see if this would help. Not much, so I ran pixel bender again on several iterations on just the background to get the final image above. I didn’t realize until later that the smudging of texture actually added to the larger texture in pixel bender.

One again for above image I ran pixel bender to get the effect for the chairs and table and then playing around with iterations on just the background and with the smudging tool to get a less contrasty detail here.

In trying to use other images to see how they worked it became apparent that for it to work well there should be sufficient detail and contrast in image for it to produce better results. I also noticed that image size from 800 to 4,000 pixels each had different effects. The largest brush size was 15 pixels and with the large images the effects became smaller.

The 2 photos of the fall scene are identical except for image resolution. The above was 1,000 pixels wide and below was 4,000+ wide

It's easy to see the difference in effects. For the smaller image I even had tor reduce the brush size so as not to over-dominate the bending effect.

From the experiments, or is it playing around, I noticed that when areas were smudged in linear or curved arches it increased the detail effects to make them larger as in the parrot's background and with the same fall scene but with smudging on the trees in image below.

These may not be exactly to your taste but if you are digitally creating painting-type images then by combining different effects for areas within the photograph, a more pleasing painting effect can be created. It is important for any effect type that there be variation in texture detail, size and contrast, like a real painting to create harmony and vision flow within the image.

The most important aspect is to create images that you like and not for others and that you have fun doing this. While I was playing around I completely lost track of time which for me is a sign that my creative juices are really flowing and I'm exploring new avenues.

Please send me some links if you have any digital creations that were just fun and you enjoyed the outcome.

Niels Henriksen

Photographing Fall Colors – Where is the Vividness That I Saw

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:08:00 +0000

Many times I've gone out to photograph the beautiful colors that blanket the trees in Fall. My mind and inner vision is completely lit up with these glowing embers that dance in the wind on the trees. At this moment and place nothing seems more wondrous and somehow these colors seems to permeate deep into my collective thoughts where vivid memories live.

You may wonder why the need for all these flowery thoughts. Its because when I get home, what I see from the camera is nowhere near as spectacular as how I felt at the time. I do shoot in RAW format and I know that this format from the camera tends to be a little muted but even increasing the vibrancy, it still doesn’t come close to the mind's snapshot.

I think that photographing the wondrous colors of fall is actually a hard thing to accomplish if you want to achieve the vision you had at the moment the shutter clicked.

I believe there are 2 main reasons for this.

First is that the reds, oranges and yellow of the leaves are highly saturated & luminous and beyond the ability of the camera's color gamut to capture. The color space of sRGB and Adobe RGB just don’t extend far enough to record these highly saturated and bright colors.

Second the leaves normally have small moments in the wind and they appear to shimmer, thereby giving them the appearance in the mind's memory of being brighter.

When I took the above photograph the yellows on these 2 trees did appear this bright. They glowed in the afternoon sun and were even brighter, almost like a candle flame, but upon reviewing the camera's result it was duller and more greenish-yellow. The image below is from camera with white balance on birch tree set to neutral white 5300K.

You may find my modified version (1st photo) a bit gaudy but it does reflect how I felt about this scene. I darkened the sky to increase contrast between the 2 yellow tees. I also, for the greenish yellow leaves, shifted the hue to be more yellow and then increased lightness and saturation as much as I could and still retain detail. The grass was also darkened and made cooler, more blue-green, to again increase contrast with the yellow tops.

In the photograph below the sun peeked out near sunset just after the rain had gone by and lit up this singular tree. Again the camera made those leaves less bright and more orange. Once again I increased lightness and saturation towards yellow for the bright leaves. I also added a purplish tint to clouds, (complementary color of yellow) to increase color contrast. I extracted the yellow leaves and increased layer size by 10 pixels and then added a slight blur of about 2 and set this layer to overlay. A pseudo Orton effect to give a glowing effect.

In the next image below, the colors, except for a little vibrancy, remain mostly as captured. I did change the sky from a bright blue to a duller and less saturated version with clouds. The original blue negative space was too dominating and took viewers vision away from the tree colors.

Many of the good fall photographs have lots of cooler and darker tones surrounding bright trees that help make those fall colors more prominent within the scene.

If you have good photo-editing tools don't be afraid to play around and change anything to suit your needs and vision. After all, it's how you saw it at least in your mind.

Niels Henriksen