It can sometimes be a tough decision whether an image will work better in black and white or colour. Certainly many of the images in this session worked well in colour: a cold, clear winter’s day with the sun low on the horizon produced deep blue skies and high contrast on all that sand and wood texture.
But as the sun dipped lower, at this angle the colour drained from the image and inspired by some more Minimalist Photography, I dropped the colour out of the image and I kind of like it.
I use Lightroom to do the conversion, then work on the contrast and tonal separation.
It seems to have been a week of Professional Profile Images – or Headshots as a lot of people call them (although that always sounds way to FPS for my liking).
I’ve had everything for an individual profile image for a speaker profile, to 30-odd staff profiles, student profiles for UCC and a ‘quick headshot’ at a corporate event.
Thankfully over the years I’ve perfected both the technical set up for nice professional images on-site and the technique of getting them done quickly and painlessly for all concerned.
The thing is, no one really wants to be sitting in front of a camera. Even when they understand how important it is to get the right image for their personal profile.
None of us are really comfortable with the idea – and that’s where a lot of my work comes in. It’s up to me to make the whole process comfortable so that people can get relaxed, confident, trusting-looking photos that represent them professionally.
And although most people come in the room and say ‘I hate having my photo taken’ I’m glad to say they all leave saying ‘that way better than I expected’ and they are delighted with their finished photos in the end!
Another day, another room, a similar set-up for professional profile images
While most people opt for a neutral background, there are options in terms of a natural 80% white or the 100% full or 255 white background. But the screen here also filps for a back or darker grey background and it can be lit for a gradient too depending on your choice of styling.
The Full White creates a ‘float’ on a white website background which is (was) contemporary. The 80% white is probably more natural and more flattering.
I do also like to use the business as backdrop – it provides a little more context – but more on that in another post…
A student on my evening class asked about taking pictures of the moon. It’s a facinating subject and I think it’s become current with a prominent mobile phone Ad boasting the ability to take amazing moon photos.
I’ve never really dabbled but I know the theory, and my course notes have been updated with the following about taking photos of the moon:
It’s very far away so it is very small. We often think it’s larger than it looks as our brains have the ability to ‘focus’ on the details of small things. But to the camera it’s small. You are going to need a long lens (or a telescope)
It’s very bright, especially in the night sky so balancing the detail of the moon and anything lit with ambient light (or moonlight) on earth is tricky.
It’s moving faster than you think. So if you are going for long exposures to balance out the ambient darkness then you can’t go too long before the moon itself will blur as it moves.
Most of the stunning moon images you see on the internet are
Double Exposures
Dramatically enhanced in Photoshop
Just pure fake (two images mixed: one of the landscape and a completely different photo of the moon taken with a completely different lens – and maybe not even at the same time).
Having recently finally acquired a long telephoto lens (the Sigma 150-600 Sport) I decided that I should really try and see just how hard it is to take a nice photo of the moon. And this weekend I was in the garden and notice a nice Gibbous Moon by twilight. Now I didn’t have a tripod at home so this is hand-held, so I had to tweak up the ISO and turn on the OS to keep it steady but I think it’s quite nice.
However, this isn’t just the a long lens shot:
Taken at 600mm
With a x1.4 teleconverter
On a crop sensor camera (Nikon D500) – which is worth another x1.5
And finally cropped about 50%
Equivalent focal length, over 2000mm! Or around x40 magnification
Now this isn’t my specialist field. I do understand that the ‘large’ moons that we see on the horizon appear bigger partly because the light travels through more atmosphere (also making it less clear) but my understanding is that a lot of this is still pretty perceived so I stick by my belief that most of those dramatic moon-rise photos are faked!
So the question remains, how does a mobile phone, with it’s tiny sensor and lens package create stunning photos of the moon? It warrants more research but I read something that seems to suggest that the AI in the phone recognises that the moon is in the photo and ‘intelligently’ blends in stock or reference moon photos to your scene to make the moon look great. Don’t hold me to it, but it makes more sense than it being better than all the tech I used to create this simple image.
Now I’m off to find a landscape to paste this beauty in to…
The New Year brings a time to generally sort things out. I’ve fixed up the web site a bit so it’s all WordPress now and works better on mobile devices (still more to do on the content). It’s also the time of year when I think I need to do more personal work. Previous projects include Shooting Nana which in time has become something that I’m very happy I took the time to do.
So far this year I haven’t come up with anything significant for a personal project but the urge to take some more photos has had me outside with some unusual and unused combinations of cameras and lenses. Just to try out, maybe learn something, add a few strings to my bow.
I’ve always been a fan of the Fisheye lens. I have an old 16mm f3.5 manual lens from the early 70s and it’s served me well when the fad has taken me over the years.
So I put it on my usual work camera (the D850) and took it for a spin on Sunday. The results were … underwhelming. I loved this lens. I love the weird and simplistic point of view. But it looks kinda dull on the D850. I’m not sure if it’s picked up some fungus or the newer, higher resolution sensor is just showing it up for what it is or maybe the subject and lighting just didn’t suit it.
Railway Bridge Fisheye. The intention was to show the unusual construction of this bridge over the old railway: the way that the stones are laid radially with the arch and then slope into the arch underside
More testing required and it may be time to look for a more modern replacement – even though I don’t use it that much (and hardly at all professionally). There are a few new Fisheye being made for the mirrorless cameras that look interesting.
So I went back today with the rectilinear wide-angle. These are more complex (and expensive) wideangle lenses which try to correct for the natural distortion that a simple lens like the fisheye creates.
Again the aim here is to try and bring out the unusual structure of the bridge by using the extreme wide angle to exaggerate the geometry.
Railway Bridge at 14mm, fully corrected. The wide angle gets you in to the arch and shows up the shape while the rectilinear lens hold the horizontal lines as straight as possible. The black and white conversion brings your attention to the geometry of the stone work.
Hopefully it’s easy to see the different characteristics of these two lenses. Although the are very similar focal lengths, their rendering is quite different. The Nikon 14-24f2.8 has done a far better job of rendering the details and contrast of the image (in fact this was taken on the Z6 as an experiment and to take advantage of the maximum dynamic range).
I still like the Fisheye. I might put it back on the D700 and do some more testing before replacing my 16mm f3.5 AI-converted lens (which is nearly as old as I am!)
Freshwater Steps. The glory days of the 16f3.5 fisheye: paired with the Nikon F4e
You have to be practical with young kids – especially with the summer we’re having. This little fella was nice and comfy on the ground on the blanket and smiled his little head off for the camera.
Mum wanted to be outside with the flowers and although it was still early in the season for Fitzgerald’s Park there were plenty of daisies around – and they were just right to provide a background but not to take the focus away from the star of the session!
After a summer of good intentions I’m finally getting to work on updates to the web site. I’ve nearly finished working on updating the Galleries with more recent images and they should be uploaded in the next week or so.
But I’ve started with an update to the Terms and Conditions of Business on the site.
I know these look a little scarey but I believe all professional services should clearly state the terms and conditions under which they normally do business. This about being open.
The other thing to note is that if anything in these conditions does not match the way in which you want to use my services then it is possible to vary these terms on a job by job basis.
I can’t believe it’s a week since the election already (no sign of a government yet?). I popped into the count on Saturday evening and bumped into a few people – some of whom had been there for the duration (and weren’t going home). It’s great that the count is open to the public: democracy in action.
Senator Dan Boyle looks out over a changing political landscape
I was also passed this link – especially for those of us who weren’t there all day!
Well done to everyone concerned with last week’s CCRC Runway for Research at the Radison Blu. Great style on show and lots raised for research into treatments for Gynaecological Cancer at CCRC.
In particular well done to Kathleen Fitzgerald and Michelle Stack who were treated to a full makeover and got to close the show with a walk down the catwalk.
After some glorious sunny days in Kinsale, the Clipper fleet left Cork in drizzle. We had an image of sitting on the grass next to Blackrock Castle with a picnic and watching them sail past – but it was not to be. Still, it was a great sight to see them motoring out to the harbour.
