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The Celery Harvest

Celery Harvest, Holland Marsh, Canada, Nikon d800 400mm lens
Celery Harvest, Holland Marsh, Canada, Nikon d800 400mm lens

I spent the last few days in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada with Michael and Chris doing Luminous Landscape business. On the way Michael and I stopped in Holland Marsh(Canada) where we had a beautiful fog. I shot these celery harvesters there.  I love shooting in fog and the subject matter here especially the guy with the big knife makes it work beautifully.

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Controversy For Dolomites Image #3

Seems there is a bit of controversy about the image I posted on Luminous-Landscape.com the other day.  A lot of people liked it and a number of readers had a difficult time with it.  Yes, I could have made a regular straight image as shown below (further down in the article).  It would not have had the appeal at least for me and many readers as the final image did.  So let’s see how the image evolved.

This is the image that was posted.
This is the image that was posted.

It has been worked on to bring out the details lost where there was no light and to generally give the image some pop.  I used a few techniques that have been coined by friends as being “Raberized”.  I like to think of it as RaberEYES.   So, to the people that want to know, I liked this image the best.

The image below is the original image straight out of Capture One with no work done to it.

Original Image with no adjustments straight out of Capture One
Original Image with no adjustments straight out of Capture One

Pretty bland if you ask me.  So, I made some adjustments in Capture One and began to see improvements but still not there.

After some contrast, saturation adjustments, as well as shadow and highlight recovery in Capture One.  Still not quite there.
After some contrast, saturation adjustments, as well as shadow and highlight recovery in Capture One. Still not quite there.

So, at this point maybe some people would like this.  I didn’t.  I ultimately went into Photoshop and with the help of Third Party Tools as well as some Photoshop tools and ended up with the image that I published.  I suppose we can argue to the cows come home what is right or wrong.  For me the only thing that is right is that I liked the published version.  Seems a lot of other people did too based on emails, comments and remarks published elsewhere. and on LuLa.  I am the artist I take full responsibility for my actions, techniques and images.  I had a lot of fun taking this and making this.

And,  just for sake of qualifications, I can make Capture One, Lightroom and Photoshop do amazing things.  I am an accomplished photographer and have been doing this my whole life.  I have fun taking and making my images and every now and then as the artist I take certain liberties with my images and stretch it just a bit.   when I do I get a lot of people that notice.  I love sharing and I like it when an image stirs up discussions.

Thanks for visiting and reading.

 

 

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Dolomites #8

A fifty image stitch pano of one of the majestic Dolomite Mountains
A fifty image stitch pano of one of the majestic Dolomite Mountains

This was a fun shot to do.  We were on top of a mountain looking at the top of an even bigger mountain.  I did a small hike and came to a location where I could see everything at once.  It set the focal length of my 24-70mm zoom to 50mm and found the optimal exposure.  I then did a series of shots in 4 rows.  Photoshop stitched these together.  I love panos and this one works to show the whole mountain.    I’ll publish a few more here over the coming days.

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Dolomites #6

Dolomites, Italy
Dolomites, Italy

The light and clouds keep blessing u this week.  Last night we had another excellent evening with the moon to make for some marvelous images.  The PODAS workshop week continues and we are having a blast shooting a lot of different locations.  I am too tired to even download images tonight but will try to catch up tomorrow.  Hope you enjoy this image.

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Dolomites #5

Church and Mountains, Dolomites, Italy
Church and Mountains, Dolomites, Italy

Some things here in the dolomites are too hard to describe.  It’s all rather post cardish and just plain pretty.  Like this image.  Here is a church with these great mountains as a background and beautiful skies to go with it.  These images are all being made as part of the Phase One PODAS workshop presently going on.  We will be shooting through Saturday so expect more images.

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Dolomites #4

Dolomites After The Sun Goes Down
Dolomites After The Sun Goes Down

For the last few days we have been blessed with amazing light and clouds.  This makes for some great early morning and late shooting.  we are typically leaving at 5AM and coming back by 9:30.  Then, we leave again around 3:30 and return around 9PM.  It’s all about getting the shot.  Once again for this shot I stretched it a bit but made an image with impact.  I guess I am going through a phase .  This was shot after the sun went down and the sky took on an amazing after glow.

 

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Dolomites #3

Dolomites, Immense Landscape
Dolomites, Immense Landscape

I am awed by what I am seeing and photographing.  I usually plan to come back from a trip with maybe 3-6 keepers and I have 15 already and it is just the second day.  The Dolomites is just spectacular.  Here is a shot that was part of a half hour series.  The clouds and light evolved with every minute.  I love this one because I cover more of the immense size of this landscape and was able to include something in the foreground.  We are going to this location for sunrise in the morning.  Watch for more.

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Dolomites #2

After Glow - The Dolomites
After Glow – The Dolomites

Today we set the room up and prepped for the upcoming PODAS workshop here in the Dolomites.  We shot at many locations today and I’ll post other images in the coming days.  This image which I will call after glow was photographed at sunset.  It was an amazing journey of light as it played off the mountains across the valley.  Earlier the mountain generated some lenticular clouds that were incredible.  Tomorrow (sunday) we pick up the attendees in Milan and get this workshop rolling.  More images to come.