Shooting the Spires

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Welcome to another Monday. I hope your week is off to a great start.

Yesterday I posted the following photo, along with a message that I would post more about it tonight.


ISO 125, f/16, 1/125, 85mm.
This shot is straight from the camera. I applied some sharpening to retain detail during the resize, but no other edits were made. By placing the spires to the right, and using the clouds to create interest in otherwise negative space, mood is created and enhanced.

This photo was made in Regensburg on Saturday. Dachauplatz has a nice garage, located to be within a few minutes walk to just about anywhere in the old part of town. Parking on the roof and scanning the other roofs, this scene just begged to be photographed. The sky was stormy looking, and clouds appeared ominously ready to ruin our afternoon. I metered for the bright clouds and added about 2/3-stop exposure. This left the dark clouds about 1 and 1/3 stop below the meter reading on my 7D.

Composing to minimize intrusion of the garage and several other out of place structures, I made 2 shots about 1/3 stop apart. The mood of the image captured the light, sky, and feeling of that dreadful appearing scene.

After getting the image onto the computer, I decreased the exposure 1/2 stop, brought in the shadow levels to just right of the edge, the highlight levels a slight amount, set contrast to 3, and shadows to 2. I set the color temperature to 3500K, and adjusted the curves for maximum impact. Under the RGB tab, I reduced saturation to 0 and tweaked the curves again to create a balanced scene, resulting in the following B&W image. I applied maximum sharpening on both tabs, and felt pretty good about this image.

The rest of that afternoon was incredibly nice, the weather was on our side, we enjoyed some nice family time, and of course, some ice cream at Eis am Dom, in the Domplatz. Of course, no visit to Regensburg can be complete without a visit to Fotohaus Zacharias. I got to see their latest offerings in the old camera department and pick up some 120 film. They always have so much to choose from. I get lost dreaming about the cameras! I saw a couple old time large format cameras that were incredible. It’s definitely a place to spend a couple hours just looking!


Here's the finished version. It looks old fashioned in monochrome, and the mood is enhanced without color to distract. Converting images can often be a very simple process when you shoot for a mood.

Well, that about wraps it up for today, but I’ll be back with some more photos from the trip and techniques to get that B&W image you visualized!

Did you get any exciting images this weekend? If so, feel free to share them on our Faceboook page. Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Continuing Yesterday

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Another rainy day and pleasant evening pass through Hohenfels.

I had planned a post about converting color to black and white today, but didn’t get it done. Instead, we’re going to put up a couple more pointers on bringing your vision to life.

The first tip comes from a Facebook post by Clyde Butcher. Clyde is one of the greats. His photos of the Everglades and Florida in general, are incredible. Clyde’s working hard to preserve the Everglades. His tip of the day is to move forward a few feet when you’re shooting wide-angle lenses. This will bring your composition into your visualized range and remove some of the stray elements from the scene. This can be done through cropping, as mentioned in my edit on yesterday’s post, but combining the 2 can make your shots that much easier to edit. Take it from Clyde, he’s waist deep or higher in swamp water and shooting an 8x10 inch Deardorf view camera or an 12x20 Wisner. Check out his homepage, you’ll be amazed.

Our second tip comes from Strobist. The tips is simple, make an idea list. Taking it one step further, make a short term or single trip list, and make a long-term list. I won’t go into a lot of detail here, click the link and read the article. This site has some great stuff!

Our last tip comes from Photofocus. Try to look beyond the obvious. See what you don’t see right away. Try taking in the scene, closing your eyes, and visualizing the scene. You’ll notice more this way and may find your new subject. Again, I’m paraphrasing. Check out Scott’s page, you’ll be glad you did!

Well, that it for this evening. I hope to have the promised conversion post up Monday! I hope everyone has a great Friday, and an even better weekend! Enjoy and get your dream shot. Make sure to share it with us, too!

Do you have an image to share? We’d love to see it! Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Creative Exercising

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Today, starting out gray and rainy, leaves Hohenfels in the clutches of a very pleasant evening!

Running into one of our friends in the grocery yesterday, I was asked about some exercises for creativity, and photographing some beautiful scenery. I thought a great subject for a post was seeded in that great question, so today, we’ll outline a couple simple ways to get the shot that has others wondering how you did it.

We’ve been posting about exercises to improve your composition, exposure, and creativity, so this is more of a review. It also reinforces how simple photographic techniques can create some winning shots.

The first thing to mention is never take the first shot. Most folks will see something, maybe a statue or other landmark, and take the easy shot. If you have to, take it just to get it out of your system, but then look for some other way to create your unique image. Walk around, check it out from every available and possible angle, view it through your lens, and try moving through a range of focal lengths. Once you’ve settled on the shot, make your image a reality. Remember, part of the creative shooting process is visualization! Edit- Take the first shot, if you pass it up, you may never get the same feeling you had at first. Thanks to Bodensee Bob for that cool tip!

Another simple exercise is to either shoot a prime lens, or use only 1 focal length on a zoom. Remember, doing this forces you to look for other ways to get the shot. You may have to move in closer to tighten up the scene, or move away to add some context. It’s a great way to change how you view the world around you!

The last 2 things are color and scale. First, on color, see how you can use it to create mood. Use your color to balance the mood and feeling, remember complimentary colors? Perhaps shooting a scene with a large red subject, shoot the subject at about 1/3 the frame and use green to fill out the other 2/3. You’ve given importance to the subject through size, and emphasized it by making the color stand out. This is also nice if you use 3 colors in a split complimentary scheme.

Using size and scale to emphasize a subject or restrain non-subject elements is a proven method of increasing interest in an image. It not only adds context, but also can be used creatively. Everyone shoots the trick photos of someone holding up the Leaning Tower, or holding someone in their hand. Moving beyond that, the ability to trick the eyes through scale can make for magic images. Using our first tip combined with this to make an image of a local landmark will stand out. Make the scale of the subject the subject. Instead of taking the Eiffel Tower, take a piece of it, and use the size as part of a composition to reference the actual tower. The same can be done with buildings, statues, and just about anything. Your photo will stand out as more than just another shot of the local scenery. Edit- Another tip from Bodensee Bob is to take the shot of the bigger piece and crop to your liking during editing. Great tip, thanks for sharing!


ISO 125, f/8, 1/125, 56mm, 125 C/ft2 metered at the wheat.
A field of grain in Hohenfels. Using f/8 and 56mm gave me a reasonably shallow DOF, allowing the hills to blur out, and only the foreground section to remain in focus. This combined with the color of the wheat against the color of the sky brings out the wheat as the subject. By shooting from below, I was able to fill the majority of the image with the front wheat, and allude to the size of the field with the shallow DOF. Taking a higher angle allowed more of the field to be seen, yet seemed to lack scale and impact in the final image.

Of course, your best tool for creative and magic images is your mind. A really great photo can convey your reaction and feelings to the scene. It doesn’t have to be a literal rendering; the values you decide to place in each area of exposure are part of your creative process. Making the clouds a little darker than reality or the trees a little brighter is part of spreading your reaction.

I hope this post has helped get your creative regions revving. I can’t wait to see you’re your shots. Tomorrow’s post will hopefully be ready tomorrow. I’m hoping to show a method for converting color images to monochrome in a way that recalls the images of the past. Be sure to check it out.

Do you have an image to share? We’d love to see it! Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Happy Independence Day

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Another Tuesday draws to a close, as America prepares to celebrate Independence Day.

For those of us who love photography, this is a wonderful opportunity to give our camera a workout. Between picnics, barbecues, and fireworks, the range of photographic expression can be experienced to its fullest. From brightly lit fun in the sun, to dark skies lit only by the bursts of those lovely blossoms reminding us of our celebration, the conditions are ripe to get in your dream shot! I hope everyone will be out chasing theirs.

Independence Day is also a day to celebrate our forefathers and their fortitude. The undertaking before them was ripe with danger and the constant risk of losing their lives. Once committed to their course, they were branded traitors to the crown, and became outlaws. They knew that, but they also knew that to embrace the security of loyalty was the same as living a life dependant on the whim of the king. They knew that future generations would be enslaved to a monarchy that held them in contempt, as colonists enjoyed far less privileges than those at home.

Every time the crown needed money, the colonies were forced to pay huge taxes, without any say in the government, or any value provided in return. Banding together, they risked all they had, including their lives, for the noble idea that freedom is worth fighting for, for the cause of liberty, that people should have a say in their government, for the belief that governments exist to serve their constituents, and for the future.

While you’re out getting that shot, remember what we’re celebrating, it’ll add meaning to your shots and give some depth to your vision.

Of course, the 4th means fireworks, also. Here's a link to a quick post on fireworks. It's worth a short read. Make sure to watch the video, too!

God bless and Happy Independence Day!

Do you have an image to share? We’d love to see it! Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Process Hang-ups

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! The skies and lighting these past couple days have created an environment rich with opportunities for making some great shots!

I hope everyone is enjoying the wonderful weather here in our Hohenfels area. Photography is a magic thing during this time, when the sun is up late, and the skies can work their mood into your images. The golden and blue hours can be used to great effect when shooting during this time, and add some drama or serenity to the image you’re creating.

Tonight’s post is based on something I read at Photofocus, by Scott Bourne, about pedantry in learning photography. To sum it up- there are those who are all about the process and sticklers for the “rules” and numbers. I had planned a post about making your image nearly perfect in camera to minimize editing time, but his article struck me as being something to share.

I’m familiar with the process concentration, as I tend to get wrapped up in the process at times. For me, nailing the process leads me to look at ways to improve my images by finding other ways to make the same thing. Learning to do it “correctly” is important to learning how to do it “right.” By correctly, I’m referencing the process and numbers, and by right, I’m referencing the final image I visualized.

The process is a vital tool in making an image, as this is where we start. Learning that reciprocity makes our exposures easier by allowing us to work the exposure triangle is a part of that. Learning that controlling DOF is done through focus and aperture is a part of learning the process. The key is in knowing that the process is not the end, but the beginning. Before we can make impacting departures from the process, we must know the process.

Ansel Adams, one of my favorite photographers and sources of knowledge and inspiration, was well aware of this. Throughout his books, he refers back to visualization and placements. Each book in his series on the Camera, Negative, and Print begins with a chapter on visualization. He constantly references expression while teaching the basic processes and departures from them.

By working together to share our knowledge, we can bring more to expressive and creative photography than just numbers and processes. By sharing our vision and visualizations, we help our fellow photographers in their journey through this wonderful endeavor. The important thing is how does your image feel and how does it impact you and your intended audience. Other than that, the opinions of others, especially the pedants out there, should matter very little. Their opinion requires weighing, and the helpful bits used while the rest are discarded like week old leftovers.

Don’t let those folks disappoint you, don’t let them bring doubt into your mindset, and don’t let them change your style. Your photography is for you, your vision, while shared with others, is still yours. The biggest point in all this is enjoyment. Make sure you’re getting the most enjoyment you can from the time you spend making images, and from those photos you worked to give life to.

You really should check out Photofocus, Scott posts some incredible photos and his articles are a great resource for those of us addicted to the magic of bringing that feeling to life in our art.


ISO 125, f/11, 1/60
This image is likely to be called too dark by those who think only of the process and "correctness" of an image. It was intentionally left dark to add to the mood and impression of abandonment. By departing from the process we can make our art more meaningful.

I hope you have some great plans for the weekend, and are ready to share your visions with us. We’re all eager to see folks sharing their images, their vision, and thoughts. Enjoy your Friday, and enjoy your time behind the camera!

Do you have an image to share? We’d love to see it! Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!