Knock Twice BW
Singer Castle door. Thousand Islands
Singer Castle door. Thousand Islands
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Oct, 2021Views
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Awards
Winner in doors in black and white Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
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Top 30 rank
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Behind The Lens
Location
I had the opportunity to visit Dark Island where the Singer Castle was built. This is the main entrance door to the castle. Singer Castle is located in New York State in the Thousand Island area. You can see the Canadian Border from Dark Island.Time
We arrived at the castle late morning, I photographed this soon after our arrival.Lighting
Late morning sun was diffused by the surrounding trees on the property.Equipment
I used my Sony A7R with a Kinoptik 75mm lens.Inspiration
I never had an opportunity to photograph a castle door. The door was grand and solid which offered great inspiration. It is the entry way to the castles story. It made me to wonder who all walked through that door to enter this historic property.Editing
I use several editing tools in post-processing. I import my RAW files to Lightroom and make a few adjustments. After that I am in Topaz Studio where I spend the most time post-processing. I end up with some finishing touches in Photoshop. Most of my life I spent in the darkroom printing for professional photographers. Often you would here professional photographers say a lab can make or break the photographer. That still stands true in today’s digital environment, most photographers now post-processed their own images. I see so many nice images photographers have posted only to end up being a ho-hum, spiritless image due to poor post-processing or even over processing. When I worked with negatives in the wet lab, I would have a final print sitting in my work area that I felt was a winner, the next day I would come in and say to myself "What was I thinking"! It is the same with digital post-processing, sometimes walking away and leaving it for another day can be your best decision.In my camera bag
I use a Nikon D850 with a variety of modern lenses as well as vintage film camera lenses with adapters to fit my Nikon. I really enjoy using vintage c mount lenses designed for 16mm cine camera on my Sony A7R. The lenses I use with my Sony are Kinoptik 9mm, 32mm, 40mm and 75mm. I also use Wollensak, Schneider and Angenuiex lenses. I also enjoy free-lensing also called lens-whacking with a Helios 44m, some Russian lenses and any other vintage lenses that will produce nice flares and pleasing bokeh. I recently had my Nikon D700 converted to infrared, but I have a lot to learn about infrared post-processing.Feedback
Personally, I must take a deep breath and slow down. I’ve struggled with mental focus my entire life, I have to really concentrate on slowing down my mind as well as not getting discouraged while shooting. I still think of the acronym FAST - Focus, Aperture, Shutter and Think. I enjoy exploring several different camera points of views to find something that may tell an interesting visual story. Post-process is as important as the capture, invest in creative editing software then learn your software. There are many free tutorials out there that can teach you and give you the edge you have been looking for in your images.
