Fan Stump
A decaying stump in still water.
A decaying stump in still water.
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Aug, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in a wilderness area near Bennezet, Pa. The area is know for Pennsylvania's elk heard and this is one of the many areas to view wildlife.Time
This photo was take late afternoon @ 3:37 PM, November 26,2006. So it's one of my older works.Lighting
The late day lighting was pretty flat, so nothing dramatic was going on this particular day.Equipment
This image was shot with a digital Rebel from Canon. My first digital camera. Lens used was a 28 to 105 Sigma. There was not other equipment involved.Inspiration
Short answer is the reflection. The longer answer is that there was little wildlife action this day and the lighting was too flat for any dramatic landscapes. Really an oh hum kind of day, but I really wasn't ready to call it quits and started trying to think "our-of -the-box" and this reflection caught my attention.Editing
Yes I do post processing, and get upset at the accusation of "Photo shopping" an image. I don't like over processed images, but all images need processed. I shoot almost exclusively in raw so processing is a must. Besides that before there was Photoshop there was Ansel Adams. He pushed the boundaries of processing in his day and would have embrace Photoshop if he were still around. I use Lightroom as my main asset management and "darkroom". I do have a full color capable darkroom with capacity to 4x5 negatives and prints, but haven't used it since going digital. My process is very similar to what you would do with film in a darkroom: 1. A great image always starts in the camera. No amount of processing can make up for a bad negative. Period. 2. Now we go to the darkroom (Lightroom); a. Any cropping is done first. I was taught to shoot loose and adjust later. b. Set white balance. In manual processing even this decision is made by the photographer. c. Set black point. All images should have some pure black or they look flat. d. Set white point. Same reason as black point. You've now established your dynamic range for the image. e. Adjust shadows for good detail. f. Adjust highlights for good detail. g. Adjust for any needed color corrections. h. If needed do any burn/doge work now a readjust steps c. through g. if needed. I. I also add some clarity and vibrance at this time. j. I also adjust saturation at this time. Usually I don't adjust saturation but have actually toned down an image a bit. k. Next is sharpening. Be careful here. Over sharpening isn't good. l. Now noise reduction. Again be careful here. Over processing is obvious and accounts for that "photo shopped" look. That's basics of my processing philosophy/ technique.In my camera bag
That's a loaded one as my collection is rather substantial. The basics at this time are: Canon 1D MK4 and a D50 as backup. 100-400 zoom 180mm macro. 400 f2.8 Tele Various wide angles and primes. A couple good tripods. You get the idea. There's a lot of support equipment as well.Feedback
Learn to think out of the box. Get out of your comfort zone and try something new. I could have packed up and went home because there "wasn't any thing to shoot" but because I took a chance out of my comfort zone I came home with this, What's been called my "stupid stump picture." For a picture that I've been picked on for wasting a frame its collected a lot of attention. Numerous ribbons from local shows decorate my wall and after ten years many viewers still give me awards for it. It got me here writing a blog post. Who would have believed it at the time. It's added a new dimension to my work. All for taking a chance on something different.
