_MG_2818
Jul, 2016Views
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Awards
Fall Award 2020
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Beach at Presque Isle State Park in Erie PA. You are enjoying a sunset looking West out over Lake Erie.Time
About 7:00PM.Lighting
Yes, Several things. First is that the exposure was about the Sunset. Exposure was determined to make the colors of the sunset pop out and come alive. Secondly is that is that I didn't want the couple to stand out or even be identifiable. They were strangers among many enjoying the show. That said I also wanted them to easily be substituted in the viewers mind with themselves is a romantic setting. By keeping the couple in shadow I was able to capture mood.Equipment
My Canon EOS 50D, lens was my Sigma 28-105.Inspiration
I was out after sunset pictures at this place and time. Lake Erie usually puts on a good show. What caught my eye on this one was the couple sitting close together. For them this was a romantic close to a day of being on the beach. There were many on that little section of beach but they were in their own little world, and I wanted to capture that. They didn't even care about the guy with the camera behind them.Editing
I always post-process. Ansel Adams said it best, "Expose for the highlights and develop for the shadows." He would also spend hours burning and dodging to get the dynamic range correct. Even with today's fantastic electronics cameras still don't see as good as the human eye. Post-processing is the only way to correct this. I use Adobe Lightroom. It allows me to stay as close to the methods and processes I used in my darkroom. I have a Behind The Lens in which I gave a detailed account of my post methods. It's lengthy so I'll just reference it here. My photography started in the days of black and white with my own darkroom. I try to stick with what I did then and I'm not a fan of materially changing the contents of a photograph that I shoot. I also.work from the premise that "You can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear ." If you don't have it right in the camera no amount of post is going to make up for what was lost in the first place. Careful attention to exposure, focus, DOF, attention to composition and your story start in the camera.In my camera bag
I have a rather extensive collection of equipment and for this discussion that would make for a very long list. My main camera is 1D MKIV. The outing determines what else goes with me. In this instance the Sigma 28-105 and a Canon 70-200 F2.8. That's about it for this day as I wanted to travel as lite as possible. Everything else stayed in the trunk or at home.Feedback
Try to capture mood and tell a story when you're out. Any five year old with cell phone could point it to the sky on a day like this and snap a snappy, splashy colorful pic but it wouldn't make for an award winner. Look for a way to tell a story or in this capture a mood, i.e. Romance. I was taught three progressive rules for making a good photograph. First, is to know your subject. Was it the sunset? Well, sort of but I wanted to go beyond a splash of color and say something about the sunset. Ahhh, here we go now it was a romantic sunset. Now to the next rule. Secondly, Emphasize, Emphasize, EMPHASIZE. Here is where all the rules that we hear about come into play and make for many decisions to be made. Placement of the elements, the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, as well as things like judicious exposure and depth of field all come into play to determine if the pic is just a snapshot or a fine art photograph. Lastly is to Simplify. Simplification simply means that only elements that add to the story are included. You find away to do away with the rest. Notice the lack of clutter in this shot. It's simple and clean. What you have here is a couple in a romantic setting enjoying a sunset, and each other. I was laying on my belly on the sand with the camera only inches away from the sand for this one. I chose focal length, camera placement, and angle of shot to avoid the crowd. My parting thought is to slow down and think about each shot. I apply these rules all the time because it slows me down and makes me think about the WHY. Why should I press that shutter button.
