MUTH PHOTOGRAPHY

Pano Niagara

Odd the sign doesn't mention Prospect Point.

Pictures with the Grandchildren

Using the same lighting diagram as below.

Kids move around a lot faster so it's harder for the speedlights to keep up but no cords to deal with so that helps.

I added some matching colors and texture to the background on the last one just for experimentation.

Niagara Rapids

Just more testing and experimenting with ACR merge to panorama modes.

Another 4 image pano of the rapids above the falls. I am super impressed with the Merge to Panorama mode in ACR. Maybe it's my old laptop or the program but it does take awhile for the images to merge, but when they do I am like wow great picture. Then a little polishing in Photoshop or Aurora 2019 and you're done.

This is a 3 image pano converted to B&W. You may click on any picture to enlarge.

Panoramas Scmanoramas

Here is an interesting tid bit I found in Camera Raw yesterday that I never knew existed. I can now make panoramas in Camera Raw direct instead of exporting to Photoshop.

Bring your selected pano images into Camera Raw and go to the top left menu and select all your images.

Then you also get the option to automatically enhance the images. I tried it out and it does a fine job cleaning them up. If you prefer to do it yourself just bypass this step.

Now choose Merge to Panorama and Camera Raw takes over all the heavy work and it seems to do a better job than Photoshop or any outside pano merge software I've tried. It does take longer but it automatically fixes a lot of things like content aware fill, perspective, layers etc. It gives you before previews which is really nice.

This is the final product. Made with the three images. I was pleasantly pleased with the results. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Portrait Lighting

The picture below of Greg and Chrissy was made without any soft boxes or umbrellas to modify the light. My studio has white walls and runs on the narrow side at 12"x24". I bounced two Nikon SB600's straight behind the camera and one SB900 used as a master bounced off the wall to camera right with the BFT. BFT ( black foamy thing ) invented by Neil van Niekerk. The guy's a genius so you should look him up. Anyway I liked the images so much I decided to follow up on this approach to my studio work. I added another flash to separate the subject from background, took some test selfies to see how it works. Below is a lighting diagram and the original shot and same image just cropped tighter. The major advantage of this technique is minimal eye glass glare on my subjects and the fact the speedlights are suspended from the ceiling I have no cords to trip over when shooting children and pets.

Greg & Chrissy

portrait session.

Upper Rapids

Blue Grape Hyacinth

Light painted with 3 second exposure. Lit with 13" laptop screen on camera right and 12" iPad camera left.

Same hyacinth with iPad moved to background with abstract colors painted on screen.

Two Buttercups

Rainbow Bridge

Morning fog behind Rainbow bridge.

Goat Island Bridge

Spring Morning

Upper Niagara rapids panorama made with four images merged in Photoshop and finished in Aurora 2019.

Dappled Sunlit Creek

Presque Isle Light

Five image HDR remake with Aurora 2019.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Looking up the spiral staircase inside St. Augustine lighthouse.

Portrait of a Doll

Simple portrait technique of My stand in Susan.

I used a blank non illuminated white wall for background which can be easily changed to any color. I cropped this image to 16x9 format just for effect.

Full specs on this diagram. The sb 900 on camera is pointed at a white wall behind and to camera left.

Old Falls Street

RGB

It’s all about the RGB's and how you light them.

Pachysandra Buds

Color and Texture

Macro image showing the colors and textures of banana plant core.

Select OK

Select OK button on TV remote macro image. Shot on Canon Powershot SX50hs. ISO 80, 1/640th sec at f-8, with Raynox 250 close up filter. Lighting on camera Nikon sb-600 with homemade modifier, set at M 1/8th power.

Who's Nuts?

Walnut halve macro.

Lego Scorpion Man

Macro attempt at Lego Scorpion Man.

Sewing Needle

Threading the needle macro.

Single Blue

Blueberry shot with Canon Powershot sx50hs zoomed to 400mm, iso 80, f-8 at 1/640 sec. also the Raynox 250 close up filter attached to the front of the lens. One of the finest points about the sx50 is I can sync. the flash up to 1/800 sec. Lighing is from on camera Nikon sb600 flash with tin foil modifier to extend the light out and down. The berry has filled the frame without cropping and I am very satisfied with the depth of field.

Another version with a couple more blueberries added.

A closer shot zoomed from 400mm to 600mm.

Beyond the Federation

In a galaxy far far away the watermelon planet waits patiently. When they will visit is anybodys guess. Created today just for fun in Photoshop to hone my skills.

Painted Peony

Light painting with penlight on single peony.

Still Life

Simple bouquet illuminated with pen light using varying degrees of white balance to achieve interesting light and colors.

Deep Red

Amaryllis with white background.

Big Red

I wanted to get a few nice images of Wendy's amaryllis while it is blooming. Today I used 2 Nikon sb-600's at full power in gridded umbrella with extra diffusion on camera left. One Nikon sb-600 with orange gel and a snoot pointed at the blossom on the right at 1/4 power. One Nikon sb-600 from above and behind with deep red gel at full power. All triggered with Nikon sb-900 on camera using Nikon CLS. Nikon D3, iso 200, f-11 @ 1/200 sec.

Amaryllis Painted

Wendy's amaryllis has bloomed so today I took the opportunity to light paint the largest bloom. Using colored gels and a pen light I used a long exposure to bring out the amazing colors.