ValenTime

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Found her fading on the wall of an antique shop. Something about this time of year seemed to moan out for restoration, paint up... and fix up... Right?

Night Grit

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Vic left the club at eleven. He was late... It was the night that was early.

No filters, no textures. It is what it is....

OILY - A Tutorial

NOTE: all images in this posting can be enlarged by clicking upon them....

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How about some tutorial? Or comparison? Or review? Or - wuddever of what I was up to here. Let me type out some thoughts about the what and why of this image of my grand-niece Katelyn Rose.

You'll recall I raved about the quality of low-light images that come from the Canon 7D, even at 3400 ISO. Well, that's not the case with the Canon G10.

A touch of background. The G10 is Canon's 'professional' point-and-shoot. It allows full override of all automatic controls, plus unlike any other point and shoot I could find, it has an optical range finder as well as a real-time LCD. So when the sun is at your back - washing away the LCD preview - the viewfinder does the job. It's a terrific camera, and just about pocket sized - if you have a generous pocket. The G10 has a quarter frame sensor coated with 14.7 mega-pixels (MP).

Which is a LOT of pixels for a small camera. Previously the Canon G9 had 12.1 MP, and the bump up in these things in the G10 was Canon's attempt to ratchet onward in the sensor-size wars. OOOPS! Since the camera has a quarter frame sensor the smaller pixels just do not take as large a sample of the light falling upon them. Which leaves more room for error... and error turns into what appears to be grain- which we all noise. In fact, Canon's brought out the G11 with just 10 MP! What? About 20% fewer than its G9 and double the reduction over the G10? Why? They installed a bigger computer chip to allow the larger pixels to do a lot more. In fact, more, but smaller, MPs - beyond some point in low light - actually seem to increase noise, decrease tonal range, and add little sharpness. To be sure, the G!0 is wonderful at ISO settings up to 800, but beyond that those hailstones grow bigger.

Now I took this photograph at 1600 ISO with the G10.

The lighting was lovely, though dim coming principally from a windowed patio door to the left on a very gray winter afternoon. The fill light was tungsten from various table lamps. No flash or artificial fill was used. Okay, take a look at this blowup of the details of her face from that un-retouched photo... See: A hailstorm of grain makes the image almost unacceptable.

Now, I've recently seen ads from the Topaz Labs (http://www.topazlabs.com/) for their Topaz DeNoise 5 (http://www.topazlabs.com/denoise/) filter. Okay, I really like Topaz filters. For a reasonable outlay the one I own, Topaz Adjust (http://www.topazlabs.com/adjust/) is robust and totally productive. "So," I says to myself, "Self... what if you use Topaz DeNoise 5 on images shot at higher ISOs with your Canon G10? Might that not compensate and turn the G10 into a real competitor for the 7D at lower light levels?"

Which led me to download the thirty day trial version of Topaz 5 and apply it to this image of Katelyn. Here... What do you think of the same expanded area after it was cranked through Topaz 5?

Surely there is considerably less apparent grain, but the skin tones look a bit as if they were in a thin plastic film. Still, with some adjustment layer tweaking of the dynamic range, the result can be turned very easily into this.... Which is good enough for government work, huh? But... but... Well, the image lacks the lighting of the grand masters, and has, of course a ton of distractive background through no fault of the G10. Fine... now onto the diddling to suck out the good stuff from this image.

And that's where I turned to my AlienSkin filters - three of them in fact. First I popped Katelyn out of the image and copied her to another layer above this original. Then I copied the original image to a new layer to which I applied the AlienSkin :Bokeh filter and masked it back in around her to throw those pesky distractions out of focus. Then I applied AlienSkin's SnapArt: oil filter to that carefully blurred backgroung image to create an oil painted background. Finally I applied the SnapArt:watercolor filter to Katelyn's image on the upper level - and went back to allow each of them to carefully fit together. To these I added some adjustment levels to mask in appropriate areas of shadowing, vignetting, and tonal range to the introudctory image way up there atop this posting... and I added an additional custom green screen on a higher level which I blended with an overlay adjustment to suggest a warm Rembrandt mood.

So? Think at me. I think the G10's a pretty good backup for the big apparatus - Comments? Does Topaz DeNoise 5 save the G10 at the higher ISO?

Peach Spa

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We look
For hooks
To which
We Can
Hang an
Order,
A map,
An under
Standing.

NYNY
Canon 7D

Canon 7D, NYNY

Over There: See?

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Brambles always return. We are only so far in front of life’s jungle. But as long as we’ve got the energy and tenacity to keep ahead of the suckers…. To whack ‘em off when they’re little more than scratchy stubble – Well, it is as if civilization’s here to stay. But it takes a bunch of individual effort – an every-day-thing.

Because the jungle’s really just below ground, and sometimes – even in the middle of a city its fingery brambles claw back through like… like…

Over there: See?

Underneath

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KatelynRose and Rocco. Sweet stuff, babies and doggies. Too easy?

Storm

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When the heavens open in the tropics - it's as if the air abruptly becomes solid.

Hopper Sunday Morning

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Hopper revisited as I continue to study and grow from his haunting work....

From high up Edward Hopper smashed light against substance – to invariably watch substance flinch. In buildings he found his fears and desires. Or did he release ours?

He revealed in the struggle between light and substance outcomes that mattered. But… but… even dreadful stuff matters. And somehow, in his torridly lit frames there remained an intangible alienation of a visitor’s shadowy dread.

*
Sunday morning rooftops, Lancaster, PA.
Canon 40D, PS4, AlienSkin: Snap Art:Oil paint, custom brushes and filters.

Watercolor Dreamy

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Christmas cannot bear too much reality. Or... or maybe I can't, and Christmas fends it off. Once a year I want a quiet reverie in flickering candlelight where my inner-child gets in touch with me. Failing that, I find an outer-child to get the peaceful glimmers flickering. Y'know?

GEEK STUFF: Canon 7D at ISO 6400/f5.6-1/30sec. PP: PS4:Topaz, Alien Skin: Bokeh & SnapArt2: watercolor, custom brushes.

Moment

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Here's my wife's grand-niece KatelynRose on Christmas day. Magical moment. But doubly magical. As you can see it's naturally lit, primary from window in front on cloudy morning, and filled with tungsten light from the room. I balanced them in PS4. Simple operation there. But the magic was from my new Canon 7D. I used my 17-85/mm cranked out to 85mm at f5.6/.30sec. at an ISO of 3200. Lookit that last number.... ISO 3200!!!! And I've done NOTHING to obscure the grain. Those skin tones are like butter. At 3200 ISO! That's three full stops over 400 ISO. With imperceptible grain/noise. ZOWIE! Thank you Canon.

2011 - Merry

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My little buddy Rocco suffers through New Year's Eve. Lancaster has a midnight fireworks show atop a parking garage a block or so away from our home. We usually sit out front and watch it explode above us - adult beverages in hand. Unfortunately my fuzzy guy is NOT a hunter. He's been bread to be a watch dog, suspicious of the odd noise. He suffers from fireworks overload. Which leaves him an exhausted fur ball. And maybe that' the best metaphor for 2010, it's left us... thank Zeus... exhausted with a "Good Riddance!" taste. Like Rocco... I'm tired of it and looking forward to awaking in 2011.

Wish you a mellow one.

Pacem In Terra

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And away they all flew
Like the down of a thistle...

But I heard him exclaim
Ere he drove out of sight,

"Merry Christmas to all,.
And to all A GOOD NIGHT."

We're at a moment of worry with respect to things economic, with a real possibility that a gale of creative destruction will whip through our places in 2011. We face a moment of challenge which this time I hope will see, as that gale recedes.... Pacem In Terra.

Which is truly the hope we have been waiting for.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Ted

History's End

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There’s only one track now
Coming to or
Going from?
Castel Gandolpho.

Where once the Popes
Ruled the West
In summer heat
That hasn’t cooled.

Though history
Has…

I wonder if this track is there to fill the now tiny town or to empty it out? I wonder if the devil lies, as they say, in the details? That is to say that the devil dares to lie anywhere near a papal palace.

Geek Stuff
Cannon 20D, Post Processing in PS:CS4: Topaz, Alien Skin: SnapArt – Colored Pencils, custom textures and brushes.

What To Call 1 & 1/4?

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I'm hearing a lot about diptychs. This is their big fashion moment. But I didn't have a diptych... just a dip and a quarter. Or is that a one and a quarter tych?

Well anyway... there's a thing about winter. It's always pushed into the city by a big storm. On one side of the thing it's fall, and winter on the other. A couple of days ago was on the other side of the storm. Then it got things wet, cold, and brrrrrr....

GEEK STUFF

7D through the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens. Sweet bokeh, huh? And then? Well I cranked it up with AlienSkin's Bokeh and SnapArt colored pencil. Simple....

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A Hindu friend once explained dars´san to me. "I go to temple not to worship Ted, but rather for dar´san. – to see divinity. Dar´san can be taken or given Ted. It is a blessing that comes from the sacred."

Okay, now I do not have my head around that concept. But I'm wondering if it has something to do with why our lenses are tugged toward objects like this? Is there an instinctual compulsion for dar´san? What do you think... does this give dar´san? Or is a rose by any other name just a rose?

GEEK STUFF
In the backyard with my Canon 40D: Canon EFS 17-85mm (f4-5.6) in macro mode. Post: PS4, Topaz, Alien Skin: Bokeh & SnapArt - Water color, custom brushes & textures

Sunday In The Park

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The lad comes with his mom and dad... his receiver. And he tosses with all his might. Aiming high and far, the thing spins like a bullet. And he tosses and tosses. And dreams...

Geek Stuff

My Canon 7D through the long, long Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens, Then afterward I searched for my feelings in PS-CS4 with custom brushes and textures.

Melancholy

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Autumn sometimes gets me down. Rita and I were homebound this weekend. Missed a nice evening at friends' home. It is true, Autumn is a time when one starts to miss things, huh?

Of course this is a rework of an image I did some Autumns back at East Dennis on Cape Cod.

The first freeze came this morning and killed the flowers. Some seemed startled in their crystal casings especially the youngest blooms which had only begun to blossom. They were caught in that clear syrup of glassy death which only after minutes of sun caused them to wrinkle, brown, and droop from their leafy homes. I'm guessing they felt pretty safe last night... but somewhere in their sleep... Their season ended.

And they are among the things that Fall causes you to miss, huh?

SIZZZZZLE!

<- Borrowed my friend Chris's Bugatti last Sunday and took it to Musser Park nearby to my home here in Lancaster. Wanted to pop this beast out of the rich lighting. I'm not a MotorHead. But the art of design makes me twitch. And the Veyron ... well now this is one manly beast! And probably a chick magnet, huh?


GEEK STUFF Here's Chris's Bugatti Veyron shot with my Canon 70D through the Canon EFS 17-85mm (f4-5.6) in macro mode. Post processing happened with CS/PS4 • Topaz • AlienSkin Bokeh, AlienSkin SnapArt/Water Color • Custom Brushes • Custom Textures all upon a background captured one night in Intercourse, PA.

Playin' W/Texture

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Nothing profound, deep, or even thoughtful powered this thing. Nope. Probably pretty shallow actually. My last post was an effort to pull mood from an idea through the use of textures. And the response has been amazing. Thanks to everyone who sent me email both ere and from the other forums where it's appeared. The reaction actually made me want to investigate texture technique farther. So.... I turned to my most accommodating model... Me! See, I wanted to see how textures could work in portraiture. But as you can see the results need not be flattering. And since almost everyone else who's trusted me to take their portrait was not interested in a purposely unattractive result... well that, you see, explains why I've again asked me to be the subject.

Moreover, I wanted to see how I could use both texture and AlienSkin's SnapArt together to create a dramatic result which would pop from the monitor. At a 4th of July picnic I loaned my camera and long zoom lens to a young friend who'd never used that kind of equipment before. Nice thing about a 70-300mm lens on camera w/ a crop frame sensor... the photographer can take candids virtually unknown to the subjects. Okay.... but then what?

Here's what happens when I recrop, diddle with the dynamic range, use Alien Skin's Bokeh to create a shallow depth of field... then carefully mask in a texture over key parts of the image.... and finally apply various parts of masked layers which were differently filtered through SnapArt's Oil option.

Of course I used PS4 to further enhance the dynamic range to deepen the drama of shadows while cranking up the highlights.

Lots of stuff. Now... seriously... Critiques anyone?

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Chill breeze puffs
The day before a
First frost
Crackles summer
Away with
The boat for
Winter.

GEEK STUFF: Chesapeake Bay, MD. • Canon 20D: Canon EF-S 10-22mm (f3.5-4.5), PS/CS4, Topaz, AlienSkin/SnapArt/Watercolor, Custom strokes, textures, brushes, filters.