It's nice to see them so big!

I work for an international company and as such, I get to see my pictures used all over the world in everything from brochures, posters, newsletters, catalogues and in magazines etc.

The images normally range in size from small postage stamp dimensions for use in pocket catalogues to A3 (29.7 cm x 42 cm) in books.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised recently to see some of my images blown up to 3 meters and used to cover walls at exhibition stands.

The following two images were taken at the "Restauro Ferrara" exhibition in Italy. The original image on the wall was snapped last year at the "Giannada Fondation" when I was in the French speaking part of Switzerland on a photo-tour last year.

What I find especially pleasing is that it was taken with my EOS 5d and a 17 - 40 L lens! That's right. A 24 x 36 sensor. Granted, a bit of post production work went into the image (not from me though. My thoughts of after image editing are here.)

This second image was taken at the "Sisseg" exhibition in Paris.

You can see two images on the walls. One was taken again with my 5d and the 17 - 40 The other was taken with a Rolleiflex SL66 and a 40 mm wide angle lens, using Kodak EPT tungsten balanced film in one of my studios in Basel. Which is which? Well the 5d is the one on the left.

 

On closer inspection, they both look equally sharp.



I took delivery of a digital Hasselblad earlier this year and am already blown away by the amount of details recorded. It'll be interesting to see what level of enlargement we can achieve with it.

 The old

... and the new (pic by Marcel Brodbeck)

As a side note. Both of the exhibition stands you see here were conceived, designed and produced by our in-house Visual Communications director Marcel Brodbeck.

Comments anyone?

My favourite fourteen

I’ve just been sorting through the images that I took last year in my job as photographer for Regent Lighting here in Switzerland.

I took literally thousands of images and these have now all been categorised, sorted and saved along with their associated backups etc.

I was distracted by reading some of the many “best of” type posts that inevitably appear every year’s end on the ‘net and in print.

With that in mind I decided to choose my favourite images taken in the course of my work last year and remark on a few of them.

All were taken with my Eos 5d. I used my 17 – 40 F4, the 28 – 135 or my 24mm f2.8. The 17 – 40 proved the most popular with the majority taken using that lens.

My work, when I’m on location requires that I reproduce the lighting effects as faithfully as possible. That means no extra lighting. Just me, the camera, a lens and a tripod. Sometimes it’s relatively straightforward such as photographing at dusk of an exterior building lit from out or inside.

These images were all taken using the HDR method of combining three exposures and blending them into one in which details can be seen everywhere.

 Bracketed exposures of 2.5, 1 and 6 seconds. f10

400 ISO. 28 - 135 zoom at 28mm setting.

 Bracketed exposures of 2.5, 1.3 and 5 seconds. f13

400 ISO. 17 - 40 zoom at 17mm setting.

Sometimes however, it gets a tad trickier. I will have to photograph a room where the lights are burning. A “normal” exposure will lead to the lights being “burnt out” on the picture. The same is true if there is a window in the shot, as the daylight can often burn out and look false. This is where HDR again comes to the rescue rendering details in the highlights and shadows.

  Bracketed exposures of 1, 1/2 and 2 seconds. f18

200 ISO. 17 - 40 zoom at 17mm setting

 Bracketed exposures of 1/2, 1/4 and 1 second. f18

400 ISO. 24mm Lens

 Bracketed exposures of 1/2, 1 and 2 seconds. f18

400 ISO. 24mm Lens

  

Bracketed exposures of 1.3, 1.5 and 3 seconds. f13

400 ISO. 17 - 40 at 17 mm setting

  Bracketed exposures of 1/4, 1/2 and 1/8 seconds. f20

125 ISO. 17 - 40 zoom at 17mm setting

Bracketed exposures of 1/5, 1/10 and 2.5 seconds. f18

200 ISO. 17 - 40 zoom at 17mm setting

Lastly there are street scenes which are also helped with the HDR method.

Bracketed exposures of 5, 2.5 and 10 seconds. f13

200 ISO. 28 - 135  zoom at 28mm setting

 

 Bracketed exposures of 2.5, 1.3 and 5 seconds. f10

400 ISO. 28 - 135 zoom at 38mm setting

 Bracketed exposures of 2.5, 1.3 and 5 seconds. f10

400 ISO. 28 - 135 zoom at 28mm setting

 

The only image amongst my favourites for 2010 that wasn’t an HDR is this one.

 Single exposure of 13 seconds. f13

400 ISO. 17 - 40 zoom at 17mm setting

I did make three images but ended up choosing this one as there were enough details already. You can read about the circumstances regarding the taking of this image in a previous blog post here.

All images were taken one of the three lenses mentioned above, normally at the widest setting (in the case of the zooms) with the camera on manual and set to f 10 or above

The 17 – 40 and the 28 – 135 are both nice sharp, contrasty lenses. The only corrections I’ve made are for distortion where the edges of wall etc., are curved. To correct this distortion I use “PT lens” from Tom Niemann. This can be used as a standalone programme or as a plug in for Photoshop. The newer versions of Photoshop have (I believe) this functionality built in. I however am using Photoshop version 7.0. It is a fantastic programme and recognises the camera and lens in use. It then corrects automatically or the user can further refine it. New lenses and Bodies are constantly being added. Take a look. It’s well worth the price.

That's it for now. As usual I appreciate your taking the time to read this and would welcome some comments.

Happy 2011.

I'm a Philistine...

I'm on two weeks holiday at the moment but I still went into work today.


"Why?" I hear you ask?


Well after my series of nine photoshoots in Lausanne last week, I came home and began my holidays but the images were still stored on my camera's memory-cards. I am of the opinion that the images don't really exist until there are at least two copies of them. So With this in mind, I backed them up first to my laptop and again to an external drive.


Today I popped into work and transferred them to my work's machine which will later (when I return in two weeks time) be mirrored onto another external drive. Only then will I feel safe  :)


Now a couple of things about the Lausanne job. Nine jobs may sound like a lot but everything was meticulously planned and apart from one or two small run-ins with over zealous security staff, it all went really well.


One of the jobs was at the Giannada foundation who's owner is Léonard Giannada. Mr Giannada is a generous benefactor whose altruistic endeavours support the arts and the less fortunate in our society.


The Foundation's art gallery (where I did my photography) is built on the site of a Celtic temple which has been left largely undisturbed. The light levels inside the gallery (where I did my photography) ranged from bright to very dark. For this reason, I shot three exposures of everything which I'll convert later using HDR. That way I'll be sure to get details visible in the highlights and the shadows.


The park outside the gallery houses sculptures and installations by artists such as Chagall, Miró, Moore and many others whom I must confess, I have never heard of. One online dictionary defines "Philistine" (apart from the ancient people who lived along the coast of Canaan (present-day Palestine and Syria)), as "a person who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits". I think that's me.


I just don't understand modern art. For me, an artwork (specifically sculptures and paintings) must resemble something. 


Squiggles, stripes and splashes do absolutely nothing for me. Give me Constable, a Turner or even a Van Gogh and I'll look at it. Picasso's and other modern art stuff leave me cold. 


It's all above my head as I cannot understand it. Or maybe it's akin to the Hans Christian Andersen tale of " The Emperor's New Clothes "


Wandering through the sculpture park, I found myself drawn to one particular sculpture by the "French Sculptor and Assemblage Artist" Cesar.


It was a bronze recreation of a thumb! Yes. That's right. A THUMB!

It's called "Pouce" (Thumb)

Did you ever (as a child), see the cartoon of an artist busily painting at his easel? He had the brush in his right hand and has his left arm extended with his thumb raised? The painting on the cartoon artist's canvas is that of a thumb  :) Well that's what this massive bronze sculpture reminded me of.  :)

I can see where the idea came from

One of my evening jobs in Lausanne was to photograph some LED street lights supplied by the company for whom I work, which illuminate the way to Lausanne cathedral. I've chosen this one to show you. I used the HDR procedure to give more details.

As always, I value your comments and emails. If you have a photographic subject that you'd like me to cover then please get in touch.


That's it for now.