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.

62 degrees!!

An interesting problem presented itself last week when I was on location in the small town / village of Horn on the shore of lake Constance.

My brief was to photograph the Spa area of a luxurious hotel. The spa area has recently undergone a complete refurbishment and my friend, the lighting designer, Renato De Toffol, asked me to provide images of the finished lighting.

I arrived early and scouted the location which comprised indoor pool with a lake view, a sauna and a massage area. Due to the fact that the whole complex was still in use, I had to wait until ten in the evening to begin shooting to ensure that all the guests had gone.

After a meal in the restaurant, I collected my gear from the car and bought it inside. I attached my 17 - 40 zoom to a 5d body and entered the pool area. Condensation formed all over the camera and lens immediately due to the warm humid temperature in the pool area compared to the outside.

I didn't want to wipe the lens with a cloth in case it left smear marks.  Normally, I would have left it in the pool area to acclimatise but there was no time. The cleaning crew were anxious to begin work and there was lots to photograph.

Seeing an open fire nearby, I had an idea. I held the camera pointing lens first at the flames from about 50 cm (about 19 inches)away. After about three and a half minutes, the lens had cleared and I could start shooting.

The pool area with fire

After the pool area we moved to the sauna area. I opened the door of the main sauna and a wave of very hot and dry air hit me. I looked at the LED temperature readout on the wall. It was 80 degrees. That's 176 degrees Fahrenheit!!

As I was still dressed in jeans and a T-Shirt, I decided to cool the room a little before beginning my shoot. I tried opening and closing the door to try and "waft" the air out, but the building manager came and told me not to as it would trigger the fire alarms. The temperature was now somewhat "cooler" at 62 degrees. That's 143 fahrenheit.   :o)

 Somewhat warm

There was no other option but to go in and work through the heat. I set up my tripod and the sweat immediately began running down my back, my legs and dripped off my nose. The lighting in the sauna was quite dim and it was a struggle to focus. Even the built in autofocus was finding it difficult. Eventually I found that an exposure time of 13 seconds at f13 was just about right for the conditions with the ISO set at 400.

 The finished image. 13 sec at f13 at 62 degrees.

When I finished the sauna shoot my clothes were wet through and luckily that was the end of the shoot and I could get myself back to my hotel for a shower and a well earned sleep.