Sunday, May 10, 2009

Another dilemma

In looking at the photos from this post I realized it would be very difficult to color-correct them in an aesthetically pleasing way...so, I'm wondering if black and white is the way to go?

From Star Island 2009


From Star Island 2009


Keep in mind I don't have much experience or knowledge when it comes to converting to black and white, and this is basically just the automatic conversion in Lightroom, plus a little exposure and contrast tweaking. Basically, I really like this group of images (there are many more than I've shared) and I'm trying to find the best way to present them.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Star Island - More Macro

First off, thanks Frank for your response to my last post. Having a fresh look at those photos made me agree that uncropped is the way to go - and made me realize they need more color correction! My monitor isn't really properly calibrated...maybe someday.

I've been continuing on the macro kick on the island...And yesterday was my birthday and I got the new Lensbaby Composer and the macro adapters, so I think I'll be doing close ups for a while. Here area few images from last week:

From Star Island 2009

What else but lichens?

From Star Island 2009

Sun-bleached crab shell

From Star Island 2009

More lichen...

From Star Island 2009


From Star Island 2009

Rosa rugosa starting to bloom.

Friday, May 1, 2009

A dilemma

I'm beginning to notice more and more how much I miss an art community. There are some times when you really need some critique and advice, and this is one of those times. Last week, I took quite a few pictures one night while a few of us on the island were hanging out. It was a dark, cozy space, and it feel like a good time and place to experiment a little bit. One of the many wonderful things about Star Island is that many of the people that work there are artistic or creative in some way. This means they are usually more comfortable being photographed, or at least seem to be used to it or able to ignore it or accept it. This makes my life much easier. I think I tend to get fixated on one thing or one person at a time when I'm taking pictures and for most of that night last week it was Mandy. The combination or lighting and gesture made her a really great subject, but I'm struggling with some of the images I got. I like the movement of her hand but I'm unsure about the framing. I think I'm a bit of a purist, so part of me gravitate towards the full-frame, the unadulterated shot as it was when first taken. At the same time I understand that there are times when extraneous objects are distracted, and need to be cropped out, and I really enjoy a square crop in the right situation. So, I'm left trying to figure out what feels right and I think this might be a good opportunity to get some outside input. So, what do you think?

(Just FYI, these are each a different image, but they all started basically the same in concept and composition. The gesture itself is the only difference)

Uncropped:
From Test Shots/Experiments


Cropped at the same aspect ratio:
From Test Shots/Experiments


Square crop:
From Test Shots/Experiments


Different square crop, excluding the spoon:
From Test Shots/Experiments