Photo of the Week # 188 - Before and After

For something different, I thought I would show a little before and after. I really think there are a lot of people that have difficulties with the editing process, although it is really a lot of fun to do if you try it. I shoot everything in RAW format so it requires attention before it becomes a finished image. I believe in RAW images as I wish to have control over the processing instead of letting the camera make those decisions like if you shoot JPG.

My wife was taking our granddaughter to a play in Toronto and I had a couple of hours to kill so I decided to go and see if I could get an image of the flatiron building on Church Street.

The above image is the RAW shot from the camera, directly into Lightroom. The only thing I had done to it was to crop. My main objective was to get the information for the sky so as not to blow it out.

The second image is after my editing workflow. It was right around sunset so I worked with the colours a bit, warming it up a little to reflect that, enhancing the orange from the sunset. I did a little colour grading to accentuate the warm light in the streets. I straightened buildings as best I could. Since my main subject was intended to be the flatiron itself, I began to work on it, bringing up detail and textures. The light hitting the front of the building was introduced as I thought that would look natural but I wasn’t seeing it in person. I also put subtle light patches on the sidewalk under the existing lights just to add depth to the overall images. I also lit one of the lights that was burned out while I was working on lights.

The overall scene looked cluttered and chaotic with all the wires, signs, lights and such so I took the wires out as much as possible. I think that helped to make things look a bit more clean. I toyed with removing the signs but decided against it, after all, it is a city, right?

For the most part, the finished image is pretty much what I saw with my eye, which is usually what I try to accomplish. Some may like it, others might not but I shoot to please me first

Before

After

Photo of the Week # 187

Photo contests are an interesting thing. Some like them, others don’t. We all like some recognition for our work but not everyone likes the critique from judges. You have to listen to the critique without taking it personal as it isn’t meant that way. It is critique to hopefully help you to understand how an image may be better, that’s all. Sometimes you won’t agree, we are attached to our images after all. You have to take a step back and be objective, maybe that judge knows what he/she is talking about.

A version of the photo below was entered into a contest where it scored mediocre and garnered non favourable critique. I created the composition very deliberately the way I did but I was told the subject was too central in the frame and the foreground was too dark. I was confused as other judges have said if you want to bring attention to the subject, do it with light, darken the foreground to guide the eye to the true subject.. I got to playing and cropped to a new composition, avoiding most of that foreground this time and pushing the subject off-center as suggested.

Comments welcome.

Photo of the Week #185

The pandemic has made a mess out of the music business as we all know but it is starting to come back now and I have had the opportunity to shoot a few full concerts recently. Alan Doyle is always a good time with his authentic Newfoundland music and world class band, The Beautiful Beautiful Band. The Grand Theatre in Kingston has seats right to the stage so there is no pit. We have to shoot from places where we are not getting in the way of paying customers. I was tucked into a corner way off to the side, out of the way but Alan still found me and connected with my lens.

Photo of the Week # 184

I’m not a religious person but for some reason I find myself drawn to the architecture of old churches. They are unique buildings and they are no longer made like they used to be. Modern churches just don’t have the character they used to have. Many rural places in Canada have great churches to photograph. The Canadian Maritimes have many and from time to time when I have found one in good conditions, I sometimes photograph them.

Tracadie, Nova Scotia