Tree View Two

My previous post featured a tree converted from color to glorious black and white because black and white offered a better rendering of the subject matter. Oftentimes a monochrome image allows for greater emphasis on contrast and texture. But color, in the proper lighting situation, can do the job just as well. This tree is from the same Royal Oak park, notice the characteristic lean, and was taken in early evening with the sun low in the sky. This time of day, with the sun setting, is one of the best times for picture taking. The lower angle of the sun increases shadow and texture, and the light takes on a warmer tone than what you typically see during the earlier hours of the day. There may be no better time to take advantage of the wonderful natural lighting available to us than the next few weeks of autumn.

Shoot a Tree

I admit it I'm a sucker for a good tree picture, whether it be drawn, painted or photographed, there is something visually fascinating about trees. The contrasts and contours of a tree can make for an ideal subject, and unlike photographing people or animals, a tree will pose endlessly without movement or complaint. Fantasy artists Michael Kaluta and Bernie Wrightson render the most incredible looking trees and I am always on the lookout for photo opportunities that will come close to matching their idealized versions. This tree with its leaning pose and hobbit hole caught my attention while walking through a Royal Oak park. To help emphasize the texture of the bark I converted the image to black and white in Photoshop. I created multiple layers in Channels, clicking the monochrome option on each, then changed the percentages of the green and red channels on the layers until I had one that gave me the look I wanted. For best results you should work with just the red and green channels, the blue channel can be ignored. You can vary the percentages of red and green however you like to achieve a pleasing result as long as the two numbers add up to 100%, 60% red plus 40% green for example.

Rock Photography

The release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 marked not only a new era for album recordings, it also opened the door for a new era in album jacket art. No longer would it be sufficient to have a simple picture of the performer with album title on the cover. In the years that followed a number of visual artists would make entire careers out of designing and creating elaborate album packaging. Vinyl was still king and artists had 12" x 12" surfaces for reproduction of their designs. Along with gatefold jackets and inner sleeves to augment their concepts, some album packages were more interesting than the music inside. The arrival of the much smaller CD format in the '80's signaled an end to the golden age of album art.

One of the most successful purveyors of this art form was the British photography and design studio Hipgnosis. Their concepts typically required a great deal of pre-planning to set up multiple photographs that were cut, pasted up and then re-copied for final production. Art that might be knocked out today in hours using digital technology would require days to produce using the traditional photo methods of the '70's. If you are interested in the subject of album art photography I highly recommend the site www.hipgnosiscovers.com/. Storm Thorgerson a founding member of Hipgnosis maintains the site that features numerous examples of their work. You may find inspiration for your own photo art projects there.

Cloudy Vision

Walking back from the mailbox early one morning with my copy of the Oakland Press in hand, I glanced up to see a sky filled with an awesome combination of clouds and color. It took just seconds to sprint into the house and grab my camera and yet in that short span of time the sky had changed. Fortunately I was still able to get a few shots of this beautiful sunrise display before it transformed entirely into a pleasant but much less exotic looking sky-scape. Once again, having a camera close at hand paid off. I now find myself paying much closer attention to cloud formations looking for another visual pay-off from God's handiwork.

Trees

Mention Ansel Adams and most folks immediately think of his majestic landscape photographs of the American west. And yet if you look at his entire body of work, Adams also produced many beautiful photos of relatively modest subjects like aspen trees and old fence posts. Of course under Adams' deft artistic hand even photos of simple objects take on a near three dimensional quality with their rich tonal values.

Traveling out west to photograph awe inspiring Adams-like landscapes may not be happening anytime soon for most of us, but simpler subjects like trees are all around waiting to be photographed. Right here in Oakland County, if you are willing to step off the main groomed pathway of the Clinton River Trail onto the more rustic side trails, you will find plenty of "barkscapes" for your photographic pursuits.

Strange Appearances

It must be all those episodes of X Files that I have watched through the years that causes me to view certain buildings and structures with a suspicious eye. I spot one of them and immediately flash to FBI agents Mulder and Scully sneaking into a heavily secured site, in the dark of night naturally, in search of an alien autopsy or some dark paranormal conspiracy. Of course the buildings I have photographed are nothing more than ordinary places of business, but it is kind of fun to imagine that there may be more there than meets the eye. I converted each image to black and white to give them a more ominous feel - can't have sunny days and blue skies brightening up my own personal X file.

Combination Of The Light

Normally when taking a picture with flash you want your shutter speed in sync with the flash exposure to create a perfectly sharp image. But if you are in the mood for a bit of experimentation you can combine your flash exposure with a slower than normal shutter speed. This method allows you to capture ambient light along with the light of the flash. Some photographers use this technique when shooting portraits to open up the background and keep it from going too dark in relation to the flash lit subject. But you can also use a very slow shutter speed of 1/30 or slower to include camera and/or subject movement. This renders a very cool effect which softens the edges of your subject as well as blurring the background It takes some experimentation to determine a shutter speed that gives the desired effect, but when you nail it you have a unique looking image.

Black and White Drama

An old railroad bridge, now part of the Clinton River Trail, in full color and monochrome. One not necessarily better than the other, just different.
All In Color For A Dime was the title of a book published in the 1970's detailing the history of the American comic book. In the 1960's TV shows often carried the tag line, "In Color" as part of their title since many shows debuted in black and white and didn't broadcast in color until the show had been renewed for a second season . Color was obviously a big deal for movies, TV, periodicals and photography. We take it for granted today but previous generations grew up in a black and white world when it came to various media. Flipping through my mother's shoe box of old photographs, the vast majority are in B&W - our family doesn't appear in full, living color until the Seventies. Over the years, color photography has become the dominant form, while B&W has fallen off the radar for many people. This is a shame since black and white can be extremely effective and dramatic for certain images. While I continue to shoot in color, I anticipate some shots going to black and white and make my conversion post-processing in Photoshop. Many digital cameras feature a monochrome conversion option in the menu, although this doesn't allow you to control contrast and density the way a software program can, it does allow you to check out your images in black and white. Give it a try - you may enjoy the results.