Log of My Explorations
Doggie Abstract
I started out taking a picture of a small glass dog figurine. The pictures were kind of boring and I couldn't get the lights just right. I need to build some kind of diffuser tent and get fabrics and/or papers of various colors for potential backdrops. Anyway, this is what the dog sculpture figurine looks like.
I then decided to play with more focused beams of lights and noticed that these created some interesting colored diffraction patterns within the glass. So, I positioned the figurine at various angles and found one where the orange tongue produced a nice orange smear and the air bubbles within the ear produced bluish/purplish smears. I used an LED flashlight as the light source which is responsible for the blue tint.
This looked interesting but the colors did not seem vibrant enough. I enhanced the colors with the High Key filter in Color Efex Pro 3.0. The following is the final image.
Master Yoda - playing with lighting
To try out variations of lighting in my macro studio, I chose a small figure of Yoda. I then tried out two different lighting effects.
1) Moonlight illumination.
The first lighting style I tried was to simulate the effect of Yoda being lit from behind by moonlight with front illumination being provided by reflection of the moonlight from a pond in front to Yoda. I simply positioned one lamp above and behind Yoda and another lamp in front and below Yoda with the lamp reflector pointed just slightly up so only a bit of light from the interior of the lamp shade actually reflected up into Yoda's face. This is the image that resulted from this lighting setup.
For the most part I got the effect I was after, though the image was a bit too bright. I didn't have the latitude to adjust the front light output so I decided to adjust the lighting in post. First, I dialed down the overall brightness a bit and then I reduced the color saturation since colors are normally more mute in low light situations. After these global adjustments the light colored robe was still too bright and contained a pattern of light and dark that proved too distracting. I used Viveza 2 to selectively darken and desaturate the robe and then I selectively reduced both structure and contrast of the robe to mute the pattern. I also selectively adjusted the relative brightness and contrast of the face and the top of the head as well as the left shoulder and darkened the background to black. I then used the cloning brush in Aperture to clone the reflection from the right eye into the left eye so that the reflections match. I also removed the errant reflection from the left eye, removed some of the imperfections and minimized some of the specular highlights (especially in the upper lip). After cropping to remove excess empty space, this is the final image:
Since this image is a bit dark, it is better viewed on a dark background.
2. Sunrise illumination.
The second lighting style I tried to simulate was that of Yoda contemplating a sunrise. I decided on a profile shot with just the front of Yoda's face illuminated by the rising sun. At this point I do not have a way to color the lights so I just concentrated on the directionality of illumination and the degree to which the face was illuminated. I placed the light to the left and slightly to the rear of Yoda. This nicely illuminated just the front of Yoda's face. This is the original image.
Since the rising sun is a more reddish light source, I produced the desired illumination color with one of the cross balance filters (daylight to tungsten) in Color Efex Pro 3.0. This not only colored the face appropriately, it also changed the blue background into a somewhat purplish sky. Next, I applied a graduated neutral density filter in Color Efex Pro 3.0 at an angle to give the sky an uneven illumination. Interestingly, the gradation is somewhat streaked and uneven. It works in this case as cloud streaks, but I'll have to trouble shoot that for future use where an even gradation may be a must. I then used the cloning brush in Aperture to remove some of the imperfections in the face and removed a light reflection form the top of the eye. Finally I cropped to remove the back of the head placing the eye into right one third of the frame to produce this final image.
This image can also be viewed on a dark background.
Sea Shell Spiral
Picked up a sea shell on a beach many years ago. It was weathered then, but for many years it has been lying on the deck, getting weathered and sun bleached. The shape of the shell is interesting and some of the original color is still present. I decided to take a picture of the spiral end of the shell with a single side light and just a bit of reflected light from the other side to fill in some of the harsher shadows. The original picture looked like this.
Obviously, not very striking. On to post processing to bring out the interesting image. After some basic exposure adjustments in Aperture, I used the tonal contrast filter in Color Efex Pro 3.0 to bring out more detail as well as the faded colors. I then used Viveza 2 to selectively darken the right side of the shell to only highlight the spiral face. I also used Viveza 2 to selectively adjust contrast, light levels, and color saturation on the spiral face. Then I used the retouch brush in Aperture to remove a few distracting blemishes. While this picture was taken at ASA 100 and thus noise was not an issue, one of the drawbacks of the tonal contrast filter is that it does amplify whatever noise there is. So, as a final step I used Define 2.0 to remove the noise and sharpened the image with the Edge Sharpen adjustment in Aperture. This is the adjusted image.
I thought it looked good but after a while, I thought is was still a bit flat. I then used the color contrast filter in Color Efex Pro 3.0 to make the colors pop a bit more. This is the final image.
Kayaking Smurf
I am building a macro photography studio. Nothing elaborate and I still need to fine tune things a bit, but it is workable. Here is my first attempt at a studio picture. I had this kayaking smurf since my sea kayaking days in Detroit. I dusted it off and tried to place it in a "realistic" environment. True, I didn't get the look of the white water right, but at this point I'm not sure how to make it look more realistic. I'll describe the studio in more detail after I finalize it. Suffice it to say that I utilized three desk lamps with articulating arms as my light sources to provide the even illumination I was after.
The above is the final image. The original was corrected as follows. First, I applied a polarizing filter in Color Efex Pro 3.0 to mute some of the light reflection. Then in Viveza 2 I boosted color saturation and slightly lightened the background sky. I also muted the whiteness of the "white water" and added a slight greenish tint. Last, I used the retouch brush in Aperture to clean up various imperfections in the smurf and kayak that I found distracting. The original is below.
Creating a Visually Interesting Image
I like creating visually interesting images. Unless one creates all photographs in a studio, is is not always possible to control all variables such as light, background and composition. To create an interesting image, digital manipulation of the "out of camera" image sometimes becomes necessary. The purpose of this post is to show the steps of such a manipulation.
Below is an image of a butterfly taking flight. This is the original image of the butterfly taken at the Butterfly House at Callaway Gardens.
I was struck by this picture because of the feeling of soaring it evoked. The out of focus areas on the left wings (which look like motion blur) and the motion blur of the body give a sense of motion. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with this picture which take focus away from the butterfly. First, the background is light and the butterfly color is a bit bland. The first step I carried out was to use Viveza to darken the green background and to add brightness and color saturation to the butterfly. I also increased the color saturation of the purple flower.
While this certainly brought more focus to the butterfly, the bright spots in the image as well as the dark branch in front of the right wing were too distracting. I used the cloning brush in Aperture to remove most of the bright spots and also to remove the branch.
These changes did bring out the butterfly and I was almost satisfied with the image. Having just obtained the entire Nik Software bundle, I tried a number of filters available in Color Efex Pro. I really liked the effect I obtained with the Reflector Effects (gold reflector) filter. It made the butterfly pop a bit more by bringing out more of the yellow color in the wings and warmed up the green in the background. I also selectively applied the Flux filter to the rear of the right wings to simulate a slight motion blur and selectively sharpened the black pattern in the front of the wings with Sharpener Pro. Finally, I cloned out the brown stain on the trailing edge of the inner right wing with the cloning brush in Aperture.
For the most part I was satisfied with this image, but with the exception of the purple flower, the image looks a bit restricted in the yellow to green color range. As a final touch, I used Viveza to selectively change the yellow color in the wing to a warmer orange.
While both of the two final images bring focus to the butterfly, I think the orange color makes the butterfly stand out much better than the yellow color.
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