Charting Your Course… v3.0
The shot was originally taken as a spec studio still life project for a very excellent (graphic design) client. They loved it. And used it for many different ma...
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The shot was originally taken as a spec studio still life project for a very excellent (graphic design) client. They loved it. And used it for many different marketing communication materials. But the real reason ‘they’ loved it was because the CEO was an avid sailor! After all he founded the company. On Cape Cod…
Anyhow that was a very long time ago. And I (still) like the shot myself. So I’ve been experimenting with some variations. And will post a couple here on ViewBug for your critique. I’d really like to know if-which you like. This one is a ‘vintage’ version. I used my magic Photoshop sauce on it...
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Anyhow that was a very long time ago. And I (still) like the shot myself. So I’ve been experimenting with some variations. And will post a couple here on ViewBug for your critique. I’d really like to know if-which you like. This one is a ‘vintage’ version. I used my magic Photoshop sauce on it...
Read less
Oct, 2015Views
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Awards
Winner in your favorite but most unapprecuated image Photo Challenge
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
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Virtuoso
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Categories
PRO
ThauerK
November 02, 2015
I love this shot. The composition is so great, but then the editing makes it almost seem surreal. Fantastic
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Platinum
acglock
January 25, 2016
Congratulations on the Challenge win! Well earned honor! I will look at your Gallery for the other versions, but at the moment, I cannot imagine any other topping the vintage. Well done!
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CapeScapesCoastal
January 25, 2016
Photoshop is fun to explore. Sometimes I like to visualize in my mind a variation on the basic image (maybe it's the 'art director' in me…) - then try to accomplish it on my Mac. But often you can find an even better variation than you've been thinking about…
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CapeScapesCoastal
June 17, 2020
Thanx Kimberly. You have some nice 'nautical' shots too - You should note some details (where, etc). Keep shooting.
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Behind The Lens
Location
“Charting Your Course, v3” is a studio shot. It was taken in my own design & photo studio on Cape Cod. A long time ago… I think around 1987 (way back in prehistoric - I mean pre-digital/pre-computer days)…Time
The time of day was ALL day… It was a full day shoot. Having gathered the props in the days before, most of the day was spent setting them up along with the lighting. If I remember correctly it went well into the night (did shoot few different versions).Lighting
In my studio still life and product wotrk, I most often use hot lights – very soft wide overhead and side lighting. I don’t normally go for strobes, or fancy/trendy/‘fashionable’ lighting tricks or gimmicks. Only what best makes the product or subject the star, not the photgraphic technique. This one was the same – nice, very soft shadows (generally from the upper left).Equipment
I created the shot with my 4x5 Sinar view camera with a normal lens (150mm), and a big heavy Bogen tripod. And Ektachrome color reversal film (commonly called “E-6” – for you youngsters out there not familiar with the old ‘film’ way of doing things…). I always use hot lights. I like to really see exactly what we’re getting as setting and lighting the shot is happening I always do my own styling and set building, as well as art directing. I even built my own lightbox (some call a ‘soft’box). And I usually use luxo lamps and cheap clamp lights with reflectors and scrims for front and side lighting articulation.Inspiration
This was a speculative shot for an international software company’s educational conference brochure I was designing. Since the company and the conference were on Cape Cod, and I had previously designed the Cape & Islands chart used as the major element in the shot as a promotion for the client a couple months prior, getting some other props that exemplified “Charting Your Course” (the conference theme) made sense to me. So I checked out some local antique dealers and rented the nautical props (sextant, telescope, compass, etc). But I was speculating… the client didn’t have the budget for more than a stock shot for the brochure cover (even though I offered quite a reasonable rate for a buyout…). But it was fun to shoot, and I figured I might be able to make my investment back in later stock sales. But the story doesn’t quite end there… The brochure was a success. But even more important (to me), the CEO LOVED the photo itself. He is a sailor and that's why the company was located on the Cape in the first place!... So… They ended up using the shot for many more sales brochures over a couple years – paying my stock fee each time! Let’s just say I made my investment back many times over...Editing
The previous description is for the original version. Actually several orientations and crops were shot that day. Now flash forward to current (digital) times. I explored Photoshop to see if I could ‘vintagize’ the image… Here’s what I did: 1. Started with normal image (original “Charting Your Course…”) - bottom layer. Normal adjustments. 2. Then developed a sepia-toned version (see my v2), which included a low opacity blurred overlay of original. Adjusted curves, saturation, color, etc until I was happy. 3. For this final version (v3) I added to the original: an ivory-colored antique/textured paper overlay (tried varying opacities) and a low opacity blurred version of original, and then used the smart blur overlay edge. Kept adjusting curves, saturation and opacities of layers until I was generally liked what I saw. But It seemed to need bit more depth. So I flattened it, set to multiply, and added two more low opacity layers under – the sepia and a blurred sepia, which did the trick…In my camera bag
These days my current normal equipment (mostly for landscapes – especially coastal places & subjects), isn’t the view camera anymore (since I’m semi-retired, and the overhead is so high with the ‘big camera’). My normal bag now has my Nikon D850 with a few zoom lenses. I have been a Nikon fan since college, when I rented one in 1968 (first time using an SLR) to do a school project – shot 20 rolls of film and every single slide came out perfect!… The F2 was my favorite film camera for many years. Now love the D8150… Full frame and more info on the file is always the way to go.Feedback
When shooting a still life in a studio (or even on your kitchen table…), the main ingredient for a successful shot is your own passion. The best results happen when you care the most about your subject… in other words when to take the time to fuss over all the details. And planning is crucial... Make sure you have all the props and subjects you need. And make sure they are ‘perfect’ (especially if food is involved). Try to visualize the shot in your mind – even to drawing a sketch. Or several… Even if they’re rough or simplistic. Then simply start adding the elements to your set, beginning with the most important. Looking through your lens with each addition. Have your basic/overall lighting set at the beginning. When you finally have what’s in your mind’s eye then finesse the lighting with reflectors and scrims to your satisfaction. From an old art director… Here’s a few tips about setting items in a still life (they often work for outdoor landscapes too!) • Use props (and surroundings for landscapes) that help you tell your subject’s story. - Never cover the main part of your main subject – but sometimes okay to partially cover some of it (for example, for landscapes, don’t let a tree branch impede on you main subject too much - keep to the edges). - Position them carefully. On my image see how the telescope points to main map area and crosses, but doesn’t cover, the center of the compass rose. And note how the parallel ruler covers some of the flags (less important than the map), but still leaves main map title visible (which explains the map location). - Frame your main subject – with props (or trees, buildings, secondary mountains, etc…) - Think about the corners of each element in the viewfinder. My rule is whenever possible, don’t let corners be covered by other elements – EG: If I were shooting my shot again, I would nudge the rope in the upper right corner to just show the corner of the map border (same goes for building corners in landscape shots too). Now if we could just get the ViewBug guys to add "still life" to the category list...
