Aug 2008
sandy feet
15/08/2008 15:00 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM -
iso1600 - f4.0 - 1/200
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bollywood sleeps
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso100 - f8 - 30sec
Film City - a large studio complex in the hub of the indian film industry: Bollywood in Mumbai. The state government has built Film City at the outskirts of the National Park, Goregaon, where leopards, tigers and snakes call the shots. I took the shot from the rooftop of a 22-story apartment building, just before dawn. Luckily the guard at the entrance was sleeping, when I entered around 4 am, so no questions, what I would want on the roof in the middle of the night. It was a great experience to witness dawn over Mumbai from that height. Just had to stay in the middle of the roof, as there were no railings to keep me from a final flight...
The next image is a HDR (high dynamic range) composition of 3 single shots. I used Photomatix for the exposure blending to get all the fine detail in the shadows as well as in the highlights and the sky. The exposures were taken at -1.3ev, 0ev, +1.3ev. Sometimes a range like -2,0,+2 or even wider is better, that depends on the dynamic range, that a given scenery presents to your camera. For professional work on a movie set, I normally shoot 5 exposures from -4,-2,0,+2,+4 ev, or even 7 from -6 to +6 ev, that gives enough dynamic range in most situations for real HDR image based lighting in 3D computer graphics. For pure artistic photography, that dynamic range is in most cases over the top and produces a lot of data (the 21mp raw files of the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III are around 25 mb each). If the scenery presents an extreme range from shadows to highlights, one should measure the dynamic range using a spotmeter, then bracket the exposures accordingly. It doesn´t hurt too much, to have more exposures than necessary, but it definitely hurts, if you didn´t capture the necessary range and find that out back home after the shoot...
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8 - 2,5sec -
HDR exposure blending of 3 shots
dark fields
13/08/2008 17:03 Filed in: photos
he who walks behind the rows
12/08/2008 17:16 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 16-35mm 1:2.8L II USM - iso200/400 - f5.6 - 20sec/30sec
- composite of 6 images - Lighting by Udo Smutny and Michael Grobe
Another composite of my last lightpainting session in bavarian outskirts. Luckily there was no wind, so the leaves were kind enough to hold still for all the 20-30 sec exposures. Backlight is again a 1 million candle power halogen spot, front lighting is a rather blueish led-flashlight. The colors have been graded to taste and the layers have been handpainted on top of each other to reveal the right amount of light for key, fill and rim.
Inspired by Stephen King`s “Children of the Corn”.
togetherness
11/08/2008 05:41 Filed in: photos
the tree and the lamp
11/08/2008 05:14 Filed in: photos
holi - festival of colors
10/08/2008 12:09 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso400 - f4.5 - 1/2
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8.0 - 1/200
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8.0 - 1/200
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso1600 - f4.0 - 1/30
Holi - the festival of colors. A spring festival in February or March (this year it coincided with Easter) celebrated all over India. On the first day bonfires are lit to burn the demoness Holika, on the second people start early in the morning to throw colors in each others faces. That means dry color powder as well as liquid water colors. Children use balloons, water guns and their fathers don´t hesitate to pour full buckets over each others heads. As much as I would have loved to shoot right where the action is, I had no water proof housing for my camera and on the first night already a ballon full of liquid color missed my camera by only a few inches to explode on my chest. The camera is weather sealed, but you really don´t want liquid red color on your camera body and lenses... So next day I chose to wait inside, till the action is over and explore the aftermath in the afternoon. That little dog would be clean again after a few days I was assured, like the kids, who had fun with him...
reach for the stars
07/08/2008 08:23 Filed in: photos | techniques
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 16-35mm 1:2.8L II USM - iso200/400 - f5.6 - 20sec/30sec - composite of 8 images - Lighting by Udo Smutny
What do you do during a nice summer evening at the bavarian countryside...
First you have a proper “barbecue” - we call it “Grillen”, which requires lots of dead meat and beer or “Radler” for the ones like me.
Then at midnight you go into the wild for some shooting. Grab your camera, tripod, a few lenses and lots of light...
Lightpainting... a technique I used for some surrealistic photographs 20 years back and recently re-discovered. You shoot at night outdoors or in a dark studio indoors with a long exposure (e.g. 20 sec or as long as necessary) and reveal your objects by lighting them in painting style. You use your light source like a brush.
While often photographers try to light everything in one exposure, I prefer a different approach for static objects. I light every part of the image on separate exposures and combine them later in Photoshop. That leaves me much more control and freedom to create the desired lighting and I guess it is a tribute to my history as a Technical Director, lighting shots for feature films in the realm of 3D computer graphics.
For the shot above, 8 exposures were taken, a 30sec at iso400 for the stars and 7 20sec at iso200, while lighting the objects with a 1 million candle power (55 watts) halogen spotlight. The spotlight needs to be in constant movement to prevent hotspots, smooth circling provides softer light. The blue color was introduced later in Photoshop, easily possible, if the objects are lit on separate exposures.
I am going to get lights with 2 million candle power, as that will enable me to shoot at iso100 without extending the exposure times further, resulting in better image quality due to lesser noise.
Lightpainting is a technique, which I will explore deeper, it is great fun and delivers the unusual covered in darkness. It is for the night creatures, who love to be on the move, when others sleep...
faces of rajasthan
05/08/2008 05:19 Filed in: photos
