AOP Assignment 1: Variations

The Assignment

Pick one scene and photography it 10 ways, like Bach’s Goldberg Variations ir Monet’s Haystacks. You want to be forced out of your usual algorithmic thinking.

What this Assignment is to Me

I’m exploring improvements to my capacity for Creative Thinking. From where I am photographically in my own skill and creativity skill set. So I’m not trying to compete with anyone. 

I took something that was something I see everyday, but never thought much about it: my front courtyard.

It turned out at the end that of the 10 shots I presented, the most meaningful shots were ones I learned the most from, and more importantly, had more curiosity and could visualize expanding possibilities after the assignment.

My Imposed Constraints

I will shoot B&W jpegs, as that is what I’m trying to improve. For the most part, completed assignments will be straight out of the camera. I know I can improve with LR6/plugins/Photoshop, as I’m fairly experienced in post-processing. But my challenge is in getting the image, not improving in post-processing what I’ve shot.

If I need to make post-processing improvements, it will be to make the image understandable to me. BASIC changes only, except for panoramas, and then only in LR6. I will not use HDR.

Normal ISO (100-800) and apertures (f2.8-f11) will be used, unless it will be very High ISO variations.

Learning How to Increase My Capacity to be Creative

Of the over 200 B&W shots I to make these images, here’s what I learned from trying to increase my capacity be creative:

a. View from My Eye Level, Walking Out the Front Door into my courtyard.

Picking an everyday scene was a good choice, rather than seeking a new place. It forced me to be more innovative, rather than shooting the newness of another scene.

Normal Front Garden View

b. Pano Vertical

I know how to do horizontal panos. I’ve always struggled with vertical panos. And struggle I did, from how to mount the camera to how to overlap pictures (vertically). Not only did I do one vertical Pano, but I had a double set of Panos, in order to capture the whole picture, without doing too wide angle, thus making the background too small (without pano). I spent most time with this item, and there’s a lot more to learn.

Double-stitch Vertical Pano

c. Depth of Field (DOF)

I’m fairly used to Near and Far DOF. But not with motion (changing focus while exposing image. And this led to a sub-assignment to shoot many DOF of self-portraits to understand by focal length, how much DOF each aperture lost. Work in progress for portraits.

Near Focus                                                                               Far Focus

d. Point of View (POV)

I’ve done low POV, but need to get lower. And not much high POV. May need to explore POV within and between objects.

Low POV

High POV

e. Very High ISO

I’ve never shot Very High ISO 25,600 in normal (or even very low light…). So I decided to combine this shot with multiple exposure. I loved the grain and halation of this Very High ISO. and the ability for the B&W to create great contrast (as opposed to color). I found I like overlapping images. Later I intend to combine images in Affinity Photo to overcome the limit of 3 multiple exposure in the Nikon D7200.

Very High ISO with Multiple Exposure & Movement

f. Multiple exposures with Movement

Most challenging. Never shot much, and was always confused about how to do it, and what scenes speak to this for me. I took many shoots to discover I needed a darker background than the foreground--and movement to make the shot more creative. Lots of desire to expand this area with portraits. Not much with landscapes, however.

Multiple Exposure Movement, side to side

Multiple Exposure Movement, up & down

g. Moving Focus with Slow Exposure

Not much, unless I can change exposure during the move. The image turned out to remind me of IR photos.

Moving Focus, Slow Exposure

h. Moving Zoom with Slow Exposures

Most challenging. Learned I like overlapping images that are grainy (using very high ISO’s).  See f. above. I also would like to shoot some portrait profiles that a offset a very small about—and shoot for 9-12 shots.

Moving Zoom, Slow Exposure

i. Time of Day (TOD)

Not much, except for night shots. Will be most challenging to get a different image. Early morning and mid-afternoon were pedestrian. Am looking forward to getting a picture in the night. Dark and mysterious, with some light in the courtyard.

Morning

Night

Night at Holiday Time (others weren't)

j. Creating Physical Changes in Photo by Tearing Out Image(s)

Moving Picture with a Torn Picture Pasted on.

J. Creating Physical Changes in Photo with separate photos (2nd Try)

9 picture composite of Front Garden Details

How To Make a (Real) Bookmark, Using Lightroom

The bookmarks I’m talking about are real ones, for real books, as opposed to digital bookmarks for ebooks. I’ve always liked bookmarks, but was too cheap to buy them. At $2 a pop, I didn’t think it was worth the money. And besides, I never liked commercial bookmarks. Their photos or designs or words weren't me. 

So I thought, “if I can’t find something in the market that I like, why not make my own?”

Starting on the Wrong Path

I began by using Affinity Photo, a Photoshop alternative. After a few hours, it became evident that I spent too much time designing and setting up templates for photos to “drop” in. And I was not used to the Print Module to achieve the look I wanted with the bookmarks. My initial bookmarks were “okay,” but I wanted something more than that. I wanted something that said “Pow, this is me!’

Lightroom 6

As I noodled what to do to make my task easier, I looked at the print presets of Lightroom. I’m using Version 6 standalone, but you can use Versions 3, 4, 5 or 6. 

I wanted to fill the page with bookmarks, so as not to waste paper. I wanted their initial size to be 1 ¼” wide, and experimented with lengths of 5’-7”. For me, that worked out to be 8 bookmarks (Template below, #3) on a letter-sized paper of 8 ½” x 11”. The template preset allows you to determine any of these numbers and dimensions. Of course, the wider or narrower the bookmark you choose, the more or fewer the number of bookmarks you’ll have.

Here’s how the template appears. You can select 8 different photos (check Zoom to Fill, Template below, #1), or 1 photo (additionally check Repeat One Photo per Page, Template below, #2), which will be repeated 8 times. For the former, select Zoom to Fill, and for the later, additionally select Repeat One Photo per Page:

LR6 Template, Print Module

Examples of 8 different selected photos:

Example of 1 photo, repeated 8 times:

How does the Template work with Photos in LR?

As you can see, the template is a horizontal slice of each photo. You need to decide whether to rotate the photo in LR—or not. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes not. 

You can rotate in the Develop Module, or directly in the Print module. Or crop, say at a 30 degree angle, in Develop Module. Or enlarge the photo to fill your bookmark. 

While you can move the photo slice up and down, you cannot move the slide sideways in Print. To change this “sideways move go to the Develop Crop mode, if you must get the exact cropping, right to left. Go to Develop/Crop (⌘-R on Mac,  or Cntl-R in Windows). The example below takes the first image and crops a virtual copy so that there’s less space on the left. Note, the size is different: you may need to play with cropping or bytes, if you must have the same size (of bee, for example).

Changing Dimensions of Bookmarks

If you don’t like my dimensions for bookmarks, you can change them in the Print Layout section. Just change the Cell Size (See Template above #4) to the size you desire for your bookmark. Move the Left and Right sliders to get the size you want. Of course, you may have to change the Page Grid Rows or Columns or Cell Spacing (#5 or #6) if you change the layout I’ve provided. You can play, and LR is quite amenable to many layouts. Do be careful that LR may create another page, if the bookmarks don’t quite fit on one page!

Paper Selection

I needed a bookmark that flexed, but not too floppy. I loved matte finish, rather than glossy plastic. I tried my favorite, Epson Hot Press Natural, 18 mil thickness. This paper, though expensive, costs about 12¢/bookmark, including ink. I can make 16 of these bookmarks for what it costs to buy 1 small Starbucks black coffee! I feel it makes a much better bookmark  than the cheaper, thiner, Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte, 10.3 mil thickness. I encourage you to try different finishes, like glossy, velvet, or satin. I’m not into printing on both sides, but that’s an option. As well as encapsulating the bookmark in plastic with a heat-sealer. But I’m not into preserving these forever. I’d rather use a variety of bookmarks to suit my mood and the book I’m reading.

Finishing

After printing, cut out the bookmarks with a rotary trimmer. 

With 8 bookmarks in my hand, I found enjoyment in selecting which bookmark to use for the book I’m reading. And if I don’t like what I have, I just make some more…which I did, this second time with 1 ½” x 7”.

Starting Again

After a sojourn of 2 years, I've decided to start blogging about photographic topics. My Family History blogs (See my previous 2014 note below) will have to wait, probably in a totally new blog sphere.

My next blog will show you how to Make (real) Bookmarks, Using Lightroom.

Pictures into Family Stories

How do I begin to blog about my method of madness that resulted in my family stories?

How did I put together stories that threaded through my genealogy and history over several generations? Though my Chong history can be traced back more than a millennium, I have only been able to go back into the recent past of the last two centuries. My journey gifted me a deeper appreciation of the times, locales, events, and personalities that shaped who I am.

That’s my goal for the next few months. Not to go over the stories, Not to talk about my family. Instead I wish to impart what I learned in my ongoing journey to gather, document, and revel my family history. Much of this effort has taken many years, beginning when I passed sixty years old. Wish I started earlier, much earlier. However, no matter where you stand in your search, you can tag along and learn some lessons, as I have sifted through a distant past.

See Insights for "Testing My DSLR's Dynamic Range"

I finally performed some rigorous testing on my Nikon D200 DSLR. I followed Michael Frye's suggestions in his new ebook Landscapes in Lightroom 5 and his web-article "Testing Your Camera's True Dynamic Range."

Have a look at my testing:

http://weiphotoarts-insights.blogspot.com/


Wei Chong

BLOG & INSIGHTS Upgraded to New SmugMug

After a week of testing and upgrading my SmugMug site, WeiPhotoArts.com, everything seems to work. The new feel of Galleries is stunning. And everything works with BLOG and INSIGHTS, which had the least change; but needed to be tweaked to seamlessly work with my website..

In the coming weeks I intend to improve the sites even more. Please contact me for questions or suggestions by clicking the Comment button below.


Wei Chong

Blog Site NOW under Construction

With the change to the brand new, gorgeous website designs offered by SmugMug in the last few days, I've had to spend some time converting and upgrading and enhance the new site. This effort continues, as you read this blog, because this blog site itself will need various changes:

1. The menu system needs to be tweaked, so you might be bouncing between my old and new sites. The good news is that it is worth the wait. I'll let you know as soon as I convert over to the new SmugMug design.

2. My header and the look of the menu bar still needs some tweaking, but these items (as well as #1 above), have slightly lower priority than my main site, WeiPhotoArts.com.

Get ready to be amazed.


Wei

Bridge Over Mitchell Creek

Today I saw a bridge. A fairly simple footbridge not designed for multitudes of people. The span crossed Mitchell Creek, connecting Clayton Public Library to a few weathered buildings on Heritage Trail.

Most People swarmed the Library, eager to claim their prizes at the annual book sale. Meanwhile, I wandered about the other side, with a few others. A perfect morning for a few pictures.

Some ambled over the bridge. But I had all the time in the world to compose my image. The design lines on the walkway's side provided an inviting flow for one to follow.

Mt. Diablo from Downtown Clayton

 


The noon sun broke through the heavy clouds on Clayton. Just looking for a moment to light up the spring leaves and weaning grass. In the distance Mt. Diablo's lower peak felt the soft heat of a diffuse light in the distance.

Technical: NEF file converted to a digital infared rendition.

Minding My Own Business

Here I was in my own garden minding my own business. Actually, I crouched down on my knees and concentrated in taking some macro images of Spring Freesias between showers on Easter Sunday. What could possibly bother me getting those lovelies to response favorably? 

And then an imperious hummingbird buzzed me. He looked from behind the feeder with that "look." What was I doing beneath the feeder, contorted holding a camera. Right near his necter! Never mind, this bugger fed despite my presence. In my yard, many hummingbirds seem to enjoy feeding when I'm around. Despite my nearness, all of them throw that "look" into my mug.

I did manage a dozen photos, before my guest departed. Thank God for Aperture priority. And a sun muted by rain clouds that perfectly cross-lit my subject.

Oh yes, I did capture some Freesias. 

Sent from Wei's iPhone
Images from DSLR