Category Shrimp Boats

Mar 3 2013

A day in Georgetown with the Fuji X-E1


Travel and the Fuji X Series, a match made in Heaven!

1 camera, 3 lenses and a good filter system and we are good to go!

Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8 Lens

Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8

I spent last Sunday in Georgetown, SC.  I had a gallery change out in a gallery that I am a member of (Co-Op).  The change out only took about an hour so I decided to take the rest of the day to scout new locations and just shoot!

There are several places there that I love to visit.  As you drive North on Front Street out of the Down Town area you start passing several side streets on the right.  Each of these leads to a marina with several Shrimp Boats (and in 1 case many!).  I like walking around the docks and working each group of boats then moving in closer and doing detail images. These vessels are not long to be with us so if you have the chance to visit and photograph them you should youmake it a priority to do so!

The 3 Shrimpers!

The 3 Shrimpers!

The choice between Color and B&W is a tough one for most photographers.  For me, I like B&W much better but I will porcess both for each and every image that I take.  So I will have the choice as to what I eventually use readily on hand!

Sun in the rigging...

Sun in the rigging…

I do not normally shoot intentional lens flair but for this image I composed the image with it in mind! This generated such a perfect series of light beams that they were visible in front of the boats cabin door! Again, the choice between Color and B&W was a no brainer for me!

The 3 Bows...

The 3 Bows…

Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens

Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens

In the end I will still offer you a Color Shrimp Boat selection.  These boats are old, and full of color!  Rust, bright paints, bottom paint, lines and life rings can make for a bright and eye catching display if you present it properly with a composition that is pleasing.

At the very end of Front Street you will find several parks along the edge of Winyah Bay with pilings in the fore ground which make idle compositions for long exposures.  Plus there is a boat launch that you should walk out on and look north across a long line of pilings!

Lee Seven5 Filter System

Lee Seven5 Filter System

What fun I had!  I found some really great Shrimp Boat compositions and did some long exposures with the Fuji and the Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8 Lens with the new Lee Seven 5 filter system! Consider, that the Lee system is a bulky but light system (look at the image to the left), when you add in the camera and lens the entire combination can become bulky and heavy making it difficult to use.  I also used the Voigtlander Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6 Aspherical and the Fuji M to X adapter for several of these Shrimp  Boat images.

This is the main reason that I switched to the Fuji X system (aside from the fact that it generates stunning images!

Ok, as the day go away from me I went further North to the parks looking at long exposure locations for sunset.  After looking at all of the locations there I decided to set up at the boat launch and setup looking to the North across the pilings there.  The sun was setting fast and I setup using the 75mm f/1.8  and the Lee Seven 5 system with a solid 3 stop ND and a soft Graduated ND to darken the sky. The result was this 90 second exposure:

Boat Launch Pilings, Deep Twilight

Boat Launch Pilings, Deep Twilight, 90 second exposure

With the sun totally gone and deep into twilight, I simply turned the camera 90 degrees to the right and looked at the industrial complex across the bay with great columns of smoke spewing into the sky!  I removed the 3 stop solid ND and kept the soft Graduated ND in place to further darken the sky. So the resulting image was a 240 second exposure and full of color, smooth water and blowing smoke:

240 second exposure, deep twilight.

240 second exposure, deep twilight.

Do you see how a light weight high quality camera/lens system like the Fuji works to our benefit when traveling and needing the ability to shoot in all conditions?  With the X-E1 system there is no limit to my shooting styles including Lightning, Water Drops and Long Exposures.

Please let me know what you think!

Jan 21 2013

Death by neglect….


Lila Lee, in the boat grave yard…

There is something about Shrimpers… I cannot get enough of them and find myself visiting them again and again.  I love the dilapidated nature of them and even though they are in such rough condition they seem to venture out into the deep time after time.  Perhaps they are a reflection of the men who sail them, rough hewn, salty men, eking out a living from the sea.  Regardless, they are things of photographic beauty and deserve to be documented for history. You see, they are vanishing from sight.  Shrimp seems to mainly come for fresh water farm ponds in the lower americas and soon these beautiful boats will be a thing of the past.

The Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi:  “connotes a way of living that finds beauty in imperfection and accepts the natural cycle of growth and decay. Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.

Thus begins my exploration of Sabi…

You had better get out and enjoy them while you are able too..

Here captured in Black and White, is a detail shot of the shrimper Lila Lee.  She is resting in the boat grave yard in Georgetown, SC. The older shrimpers seem to be abandoned along the shore here in Georteown till they sink.  We have some sitting on the bottom growing trees and weeds from their decks.

This image was captured on the Fuji X-E1  with a MC Soligor 70-300mm C/D manual focus macro lens, another relic of the past…

Lila Lee

Lila Lee

Dec 30 2012

Putting the Fuji X-E1 Thru Its Paces…


Or, the Fuji X-Pro 1 is soon to be 830nm Infrared…

Stormy Seas Pano, Fuji X-E1 & Fuji 18-55mm lens

Stormy Seas Pano, Fuji X-E1 & Fuji 18-55mm lens

Why?

Well, while the X-Pro 1 is a much finer camera than the X-E1 due to its hybrid viewfinder, but the E1 offers some minor upgrades that make it more attractive to me.  First and foremost was the addition of an electronic remote shutter release!  This one single change allows me to attach the camera to both my High Speed Water Drop system as well as my Lightning Trigger.  I can also use it now with high speed hummingbird photography!  This is in following my plan to completely remove my Canon equipment from my photographic tools in order to achieve a leaner lighter photographic system (click HERE for an explanation as to why this is so important!).

I am REALLY HAPPY with this decision.  The camera is light and small, people around me rarely notice it in my hands!  It generates GREAT images that I can use in place of images generated on my Canon 1DSMK3 and 7D without the need for a donkey to carry it around! (if you did not follow the link in the above paragraph as to the WHY reason, please do so, it will explain sooooo much!).

B&W Foggy Dingys, X-E1 and the 18-55mm lens

B&W Foggy Dingys, X-E1 and the 18-55mm lens

Now that I have completed the evaluation and testing of the new E1 camera I have decided to send the X-Pro 1 off to LDP in New Jersey to be converted to 830nm Infrared.  I have a Panasonic GH2 Micro 4/3 system already converted to 590nm IR so I am thinking that the X-Pro 1 will be a novel deep contrast B&W IR system to have.  I really do like the X-Pro 1 and love the hybrid viewfinder so I will likely be watching closely next year to see what its replacement can do!

Dingys in the Fog, Georgetown, SC with the Fuji X-E1 & 18-55mm lens

Dingys in the Fog, Georgetown, SC with the Fuji X-E1 & 18-55mm lens

CV 75mm f/1.8 lens

CV 75mm f/1.8

So with all of these photographic paths in mind I jumped on the X-E1 camera system.  I also ordered the new Fuji 18-55mm lens as a walk around lens further allowing me to reduce the camera bag by three extra lenses, the 18mm, 35mm and the 60mm.   Now all that I carry is the 18-55, 8mm fisheye, Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8 Lens with two 5mm Leica extension tubes (I LOVE the Leica and Voightlander M mount lenses for this system!) and a Pin Hole lens!  This makes for a much lighter camera case.

Rotten Meat Mushroom, member of the Stinkhorn family. Fuji X-E1 with the Fuji 60mm macro lens.

Rotten Meat Mushroom, member of the Stinkhorn family. Fuji X-E1 with the Fuji 60mm macro lens.

There is no sense in evaluating the new camera, it has been done a thousand times all over the world, and basically it is identical to the X-Pro 1 in all ways except for the Viewfinder and the LCD panel and has the addition of 2 separate inputs for an electronic remote shutter release.

Shem Creek Shrimpers in B&W, Fuji X-E1 & 18-55mm lens

Shem Creek Shrimpers in B&W, Fuji X-E1 & 18-55mm lens

What is important here is to show that in operation, the camera handles just like the X-Pro 1 and generates great images.  I shoot in RAW and currently am using Adobe’s ACR within Photoshop CS6 and I am anxiously awaiting the release of Phase One’s Capture One V7 with Fuji support!  Capture One has been my main tool for RAW conversion for years and it is just killing me to have to wait so long for this update!

I hope that you can see why I am so excited over this smaller sister to the X-Pro 1 camera!  It really will fill every of my photographic needs in time.  I am anxiously waiting for the release of the 55 to 200mm lens in 2013!

Salt Marsh in the fog...

Salt Marsh in the fog…

Please let me know what you think and of your own experiences with this marvel camera system!

Sep 25 2012

Fuji X Pro 1 and the Soligor MC C/D 70-300mm f/3.8 FD Lens


The Need to Reach Out and Touch Something!

These three old shrimp boats were in the boat graveyard in Georgetown, SC. The trouble is that they are just too far away to capture with any of the Fuji Lenses.  I have several other 3rd party lenses like the CV 12mm and 75mm f/1.8 but even the latter is just not long enough.  A friend dropped by my gallery last month and gave me a bunch of old Canon FD/FX lenses and one of them was the Soligor MC C/D 70-300mm f/3.8 FD Lens.  This is a big lens, about 10 inches long closed and 13 inches  zoomed out to 300mm.  It is a push pull design and surprisingly, clean of dust for a lens so old!  It is an amazingly smooth and sharp lens and a real pleasure to use.

One of the problems with the Fuji is that there are currently no long lenses out there.  Normally, this doesn’t bother me too much but once in a while I need the reach!  I am always keeping my eyes open for longer lenses hence the CV 75mm f/1.8 and the Soligor 70-300.  I also have a Canon 70-200 on the way from Roberts Camera which cost me $49.00.

I had to spend the day in Georgetown today so I decided to bring this lens along and give it a try!  This lens was designed to be the Canon L glass killer back in the day of FD/FX lenses. It is amazingly sharp. Now that the  X Pro 1 2.0 firmware is here manual focusing is EASY and SHARP!  When in focus the details just jump out at you.  I had a FD/FX to Fuji adapter on hand and after fussing with it and discovering that you had to adjust the position of the aperture lever inside the lens then mount the adapter I was in business!

As I said, focus is amazingly easy.  The glass is sharp and the combo works very good.  If you can find this lens out there in net land grab it, but I have NEVER seen one and searching online does not even turn them up!

The Three Shrimpers, Fuji X Pro 1 and Soligor 70-300, F/11, 1/2500, 400 ISO

 

Here is the color version:

The Three Shrimpers, Fuji X Pro 1 and Soligor 70-300, F/11, 1/2500, 400 ISO

 

I also wished to do some detail images for an upcoming magazine article so I took this camera/lens combination over to Stormy Seas and looked for boots and/or Gloves in the rigging!  Here is what I found:

The Work Gloves… Fuji X Pro 1, Soligor 70-300mm at 200mm, f/8, 1/1000s, 400 ISO

 

I was quite pleased with this combination.  As stated, the lens is quite large, but that is OK as I will not use it that often.  The new/old Canon 70-200 is only about half the size and hopefully it will work quite well also!

Jul 16 2012

Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens and the Fuji X Pro 1


Good things that come in small packages!

Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens

Fuji M Mount Adapter

I have been testing the Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens with the Fuji M mount adapter on the X Pro 1 for the last week or so and have to admit that I am both impressed and love use and feel of this lens! It is well made and smoooooth to operate!

 I have tested it both on the Kipon adapter and the new Fuji M mount adapter and have to say that the differences between the two are major due to the fuji’s ability to adjust corner color and darkened corners live with version 1.11 firmware!  Pincoushion adjustments still require you to shoot and adjust.

I adjusted the pincushion by taking a picture of the pattern of 2×4’s on the surface of a deck. This allows you to maintain straight lines. I found for the 12mm that an adjustment of +4 was perfect.

I took the  12mm out to two locations for testing, Shem Creek in the Charleston, SC area and the waterfront in Georgetown SC.  Both locations provides nice vistas and shrimp boats full of color and character.

Stormy Seas at the dock. Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens. Notice the focus from about 3 inches to infinity.

As you can see, the DOF of the 12mm is simply amazing.  The cleat was about 3 inches from the camera.

Here is a monochrome of the same image.

Shem Creek with approaching storm, Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens

Shem Creek Shrimpers, Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens

Notice the light rays coming down from right to left thru the clouds!  The lens is VERY sharp and a real pleasure to use!

Let me know what you think!

May 5 2012

Using the Fuji X Pro 1 for Pinhole Photography!


All of this Perfection and Pinhole too!?!

Pinhole

Oh boy!  I do so love the use and functionality of the new Fuji X Pro 1 camera system!  I have it plus the Fuji system lenses (35mm, 18mm & the 60mm) and haven’t touched my other camera systems since it arrived!   But, the point of this post is Pinhole Photography!  Last Sunday was the World Wide Pinhole day.  This got me thinking earlier in the month that I ought to be able to use the X Pro 1 for this as well.  No one makes a pinhole plate for the Fuji X mount lens system as of yet, so what to do?  Well, I had purchased the  Kipon Leica M converter for the X Pro 1 in advance of getting the Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 M  lens and thought: “Why don’t I find a pinhole plate to fit the Leica M?”

Skink Pinhole Plate For Leico M

Well, sure enough there it was on EBay!  Skink out of Germany and they had several models and one of them caught my eye.  It is 24mm wide and has a aperture of f/110.  It is all black and came with the pinhole, a zone plate and a sieve plate!  So I ordered it and had it arrive before the pinhole day.   I did some initial testing and found that if you select the 24mm frame lines that it matches up perfectly with the pinhole plate with the optical viewfinder!  What more could you ask for? Of course with any pinhole work you are required to work on a tripod and this is no exception.  The nice thing about using the X Pro 1 for pinhole is that the gain of the LCD view changes dynamically and allows you to see the image on the back of the camera for setup and composition!  There is no focus of course so it is just basically point and shoot from the tripod.

I have always been passionate about the old ways in photography.  I still have film in my freezer and a 4×5 film camera in a glass case waiting for the day to be used again! But I also have various pinhole systems in film and adapter plates for ALL of my digital camera systems.  I have purchased several from Linex Laser and many from Skink, I even have the Pinwide adapter for micro 4/3’s.  The point is, that shooting with pinholes is just plain fun.  People walk by and always ask what I am doing since they see no lens.  If you have not tried this old technology you should give it a try. It is inexpensive (well except for the X Pro 1 since you also have to have an adapter) and will amaze you with the results!

Now, REMEMBER, pinhole photography does NOT use a lens of any type!  It uses a simple hole in a metal plate thru which the light passes and diffracts!  The resulting image on the film or sensor is slightly diffused but equally sharp from the lens to infinity!  All of this with no glass lens!

Well suffice it to say, Pinhole day was a great success and filled with fun!  If you have not tried it you really should.  You do not have to purchase a pinhole, you can modify your camera body cap and create one yourself, it is very easy!

Here are some images for you to consider.  Most are taken with the X Pro 1 but one or two are on a Micro 4/3 body only to show that ANY camera system will do for this!

Pawleys Marsh Pinhole. X Pro 1

Pawleys Island Marsh Pinhole, X Pro 1

Fuga City Detail Pinhole, GH2

Apr 28 2012

Tybee Island, GA, Hidden Paradise!


Once here it is difficult to leave!

Tybee Island Beach in front of our rental!

Every year I try to make it down to Tybee Island, GA for a visit.  It is one of the hidden treasures of the Southeast coast!  There are two lighthouses there, shrimpers, beaches, birds and many more photographic subjects!  Last year, my wife Ellen made arrangements for a family vacation there with a rental right on the beach.  There were 9 of us there in all and we had a great time!  For me the exciting parts of the week were the photographic excursions out and about.  I am always excited to visit the same places many times as they will always present themselves in a different fashion on each visit!  Below is a small selection of the many things to experience while visiting…

The sand on the beaches there is a fine off white sugar sand and the kids loved to play in it.  There were ALWAYS large ships lined up  to leave and enter the river going up to the port!  Every morning there were shrimp boats going back and forth just off of the beach fishing!

The Tybee Island Lighthouse is a MUST SEE!  It is one of the better looking lighthouses on the coast and always makes a great photographic subject!

Tybee Island Lighthouse in 590nm Infrared.

Cockspur Lighthouse , the 2nd local light house is up the river a mile or so from the Tybee Island Lighthouse.  You can visit it by heading north off of Tybee Island and stopping just before the first bridge and taking the small dirt road off to the right to the marina.  You will then have access with a longer lens to photograph it.  I have done this many times but for this trip we took a Dauphin boat trip out into the river and went around the lighthouse several times.

The Cockspur Lighthouse in Tybee Island.

One of the more interesting things about Tybee Island is the fact that during the summer there are usually daily thunderstorms the come thru the area and this makes for a good opportunity to grab some high speed lightning shots!

High speed daylight lightning capture from the deck of our rental!

Tybee Island is worth taking the time to visit anytime of the year.  Go for a day or a week, you will not be disappointed!

My grandson Jordan pondering the lighthouse keeper's hat as he gets ready to climb the lighthouse stairs!

Apr 25 2012

Going Back To Momma…


Falling In Love With The Fuji X Pro 1 Camera system..

Or, what does a camera system have in common with a good doggie?

Fuji X Pro 1 System

A little history:

I started in photography over 45 years ago (yes I am an old fart)… A long time for sure!  I started using and learning on an Argus C3 35mm rangefinder camera then just started working up through many many more rangefinders.  Along came SLR camera systems and like  most other photographers of the time I decided that I too must have one of these so that I could actually see through the lens to see what I  am going to get.  Many years passed and every time I would pass a camera store I found myself looking with lust  at rangefinders of all things.  At first I thought that there must be something wrong with me, why else would I be drawn to an older technology after the many thousands of dollars I had invested in the best Canon bodies and lenses over the years?

Skittles the Dashound, #9

After much reflection I decided that it must be like dogs!  You know… your parents purchase you your first dog which you fall in love with,  and you are forever imprinted with love for the dog and the type of dog.  Then for the rest of your life you desire only that type of dog!  I am on my 9th dashound now and wouldn’t dream of any other type!  So, back to the point, cameras, like dogs are imprinted upon us at an early age and we tend to gravitate back to momma so to speak!  After coming to grips with this fact I went out and spent another $2500 on the Hasselblad XPan II rangefinder and was forever re-hooked.  Yes, I still have and shoot Canon bodies and L glass, but my true passion is for rangefinders and dashounds!  I have accepted this fact as part of who I am. I find that I even occasionally purchase an old rangefinder camera to display in a glass case in my studio!

Ok, enter Fuji!  Last year, Fuji introduced the X100, which is a digital rangefinder styled camera, not a rangefinder focusing camera.  It looked great and got great press. I wanted one from the very first but held off for a year.  Last fall I actually purchased one and was instantly in love with the thing!  It was small and light and SILENT…  It has a fixed 23mm lens and did I mention that it is totally silent in operation!!  Oh yea, in love to be sure.  This February (2012) my wife and I went to Italy for 11 days of photographic heaven and the only cameras I took were a small Infrared camera (Panasonic GH2) and the Fuji X100.  It was a match made in heaven for travel.  Light,  small and no work to lug around!  I got amazing images with the Fuji even though it had a wide fixed lens.  I simply had to rely upon my sneaker zoom to get close!

I found that I was not totally satisfied with the X100 because it was limited to a single lens.  So I ordered the new digital Fuji X Pro 1 interchangeable lens system with the 35mm f/1.4 and the 60mm f/2.4 lenses, and I have the 18mm f/2 lens currently on order.  It arrived at the end March and I was amazed by its light weight but enhanced functionality that the camera system provided!  now after a month of shooting with it I feel like I have returned to momma and have again found myself through my roots in photography!  God, please help me.. I am so locked onto this camera system that I can not  see any way to ever break away, hooked, addicted with a big fuji monkey on my back!  Fuji also says that  later this year they are offering a 14mm and a 18mm to 72mm zoom!  Then 3 more new lenses next year!  I can feel the dollars slipping away now.. I hope that my wife can forgive me for these future purchases.  I WILL keep the X100, it is after all a rangefinder styled camera and it is silent in operation!  I will purchase new lenses for the X Pro 1 and look to the future for the Pro 2 and Pro 3 bodies…

It seems as though I have found yet another addiction…

X Pro 1, 30 second exposure, 35mm f/1.4 lens, B&W Seascape of Pawleys Island Groin

This post is not a review of the X Pro 1, there are a ton of those out there on the web. It is simply a short series of statements and facts about the camera and why I love it so!

It will NOT replace my Canon 7d for (5%):

  • Lightning Photography, because it does not have a electronic shutter.
  • Water Drop Collision Photography, because it does not have an electronic shutter.
  • Macro Photography, well, it might actually work out for this one.
  • Birds in flight, focus is not fast enough.
  • Sports Photography, I simply don’t do this anyways.
  • Movies, has HD movies but no external mic hookup.

I will use this camera for(95%):

  • Landscapes
  • Seascapes
  • Hummingbirds in flight, works great.
  • Grist Mills & Covered Bridges
  • Long Exposures, works great.
  • Travel, light with many lens choices.
  • My MAIN every day camera system!

Leica Pin Hole pancake

I was considering the Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm f/4.5 M Mount Lens instead of the Fuji 18mm but there have been so many web posts on how bad this lens is on the Fuji that I have decided against it.  I instead will use a Leica M mount Pin Hole plate from Skink on the Leica to Fuji adapter!   I love Pin Hole photography and have them for ALL of my camera bodies!  There is just something very peaceful and satisfying about using technology for the early 1800’s and the resulting images are very etherial!

Ok, more to come on this great new camera system in the future, I have to have a chance to actually go out and shoot the thing!

Antique Gas Pump, Fuji X Pro 1

So…

Returning to the love of our roots can mean:

Camera Love <= Really does equal => Doggy Love

Told you I was a sic person…

Smile!

Apr 24 2012

Galleries Are Here!


The Gallery pages are coming online!

Sunrise on Folley Beach, Light painting on the driftwood with a white LED light! Very LONG Exposure...

 

On the top menu of the blog you will find several pages listed across the top.  The one labeled Galleries is actually a series of drop down menus which will let you select several organized image galleries containing my favorite work from over the years.  So far, I have 4 galleries populated but will be expanding over this month to around 15.  Please stop by for a visit and come back often to see the changes there!

I hope that you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed creating them!  They cover about 15 years of my work since living in the Low Country of South Carolina and cover about 19 different states and 6 different countries! I even have some high speed water drop photography thrown in as good measure.

Oct 10 2011

Comparing Color To B&W For Viewer Impact


Mattamuskeet Light, B&W Conversion

B&W or Color, The Eternal Question!

Wow, talk about a loaded topic!  I have ALWAYS preferred B&W over color, but until recently the public voted with their dollars for color over B&W about 3 to 1.  Along came Infrared and the trend totally reversed!  So I find myself looking at B&W conversions of my color images each and every time I sit down in front of the computer!  This is especially true in Infrared also.

What this means is that as I post process my color images I also do a B&W version just to be sure…


After doing my RAW conversion and basic cropping for my master image library size I use the Nik filters in the following way…

Color Work Flow:

  • Nik Define 2.0 – In the auto mode simply select the defaults and check OK to complete.  If needed you can switch over to Manual and add extra control points in noisy areas but make sure you select the measure noise button before clicking OK.  This process cleans up the  the image but doesn’t reduce clarity!
  • Nik Color EFX 4.0 – I usually run the Tonal Contrast recipe but always try the Warmth and Brilliance and others as well.  This is to sharpen and adjust the saturation levels!
  • Nik Viveza – Overall spot corrections.
  • Flatten Layers and save as a 16 bit PSD file with a usable name keeping the camera image serial number as part of the name.

B&W Work Flow:

  • Always run through this workflow after finished with your color processing.  Never switch your camera over to it’s B&W internal mode.  You will get better conversions using the Post Processing!
  • Nik Silver EFX 2.0 – Boy this is a tough one.  There are so many recipes plus millions of individual adjustments.  For me I usually use the Basic recipe, or the Full Spectrum recipe (my choice most of the time) but for some images the Wet Rocks recipe is too magic to overlook!
  • Under Image > Mode select B&W than flatten the layers keeping the image in the 16 bit mode.
  • Save As giving the image a new name with BW in the name field.

That’s all there is to my workflow from the color world.  Infrared is much different and you can read great volumes about it on my IR blog at:

infraredatelier.wordpress.com

OK, here are some color/B&W comparisons for you to ponder over…

Capt James, Very Moody & interesting image

But, check out how the B&W version draws you into the image and smacks you around a little!  Both images are good but the B&W works better for me!

Emotionally Charged, Moody... Perfect!

B&W - Down & Out, Moody, Nice but a little plain don't you think?

But the Color image is something else!

The Color version tells more of a story and works better!

As you can see, I like the Color version much better.  This goes to prove that you never know which is going to work out the best so you should process for both each and every time!

What do YOU think?

Oct 9 2011

Shrimp Boats from the NC Infrared Workshop!


Infrared vs. Color/B&W, So Many Choices – So Little Time!

Shrimp Boats & Crab Pots!

I know, it really was an Infrared workshop given in the Swan Quarter area of North Carolina!  BUT, (really big but!) I wanted to capture these shrimpers in color.  The lighting was perfect, the clouds were moody and there were literally hundreds of the boats in port in both Swan Quarter and Englehard.  It was a dream come true!

Joane B. - Englehard, NC

Just look at these colors!  This first image was taken in Swan Quarter.  The fleet infrastructure was dismal and beyond poor condition.  Some (most) docks were physically crumbled but yet still had boats tied up!

The difference between Swan Quarter and Englehard was simply amazing!  Englehard was well maintained and full of boats.  Everything was sparkling (well, as much as a fleet of shrimpers can be!)

And yes, I did shoot in Infrared as well but will post those images on the IR Blog at infraredatelier.wordpress.com.

Ok, and now for some of my favorite shrimp boats of the weekend.  All were shot with the 7D switching off between the 24-70L f/2.8 and the 17-40L f/4 lenses!

Wonder Woman, Englehard, NC

Swan Quarter Fleet

Mary Elizabeth, Englehard, NC B&W

I did mention B&W shrimp boat images didn’t I? Sometimes, B&W images can be so stunning that they can take your breath away.  They pack and incredible emotional punch that can grab the viewer by the throat and scream “Look At Me!”

Swan Quarter Fleet, B&W

Mary Elizabeth, Englehard, NC

All images were processed in Adobe CS5 using the Nik Filter set.

Please let me know what you think!