Color lessons

Photoshop. Lightroom. Edit your images. Ok!?

I know the lighting was poor. It was room lighting which has a yellow color cast. Fix it? Voila! Well, almost, not quite… it’s easy to remove the color cast. I am unable to really sharpen the image. The dim light left me with an ISO of 51000. Hey! The room was nearly dark! The pagoda is blue. When I was done with adjustments there was still a blue cast to the wall. Our eye becomes accustomed to yellow tint of a light bulb to the point where we hardly  notice the intrusion. And it is also amazing how simple it is to shift the color cast back to a bit more normal.

Color of light II

During the day, light changes color. Morning bright sunlight is white – blue. And evening sunset is pink – red. There is a scientific explanation. Who cares? It is the color of the picture that I am interested in. I like evening light.

Color of light

The color of light (bulbs) varies. Did you know that? I got a few spot (lights) high overhead. How high? High enough that it would take a very tall ladder (which I do not have) or a scaffold to reach the socket. They are (the socket) crooked. No easy task to change the bulb!! And my 17,000 hour LED blew way sooner than expected. New bulb. Pain in the ***. Hey! The new one is blue (light). Daylight vs Tungsten (incandescent) – yellow. Dam(n), dang! But Colleen said it was alright – the color. … I love it when she says things to be nice to me.

Color cast

Slide film comes color balanced for daylight which is a little bit blue. Incandescent lighting is yellow – tungsten. It wreaks havoc whenever you try to shoot indoors at night. Hence, flash, it compensates for the yellow and makes color appear more natural. One never knows what you will get indoors in natural light with slide film. Ok, so Photoshop can compensate… but there is nothing can be done about a wild and colorful shirt. It must have been a present….

Light

Do you think about the color of light? Do you consider the time of day? Light changes with day to night.

Daylight is bright blue, a little bit harsh at times. At night it is dark, ha ha, but light is dependent upon the light source which has its own characteristics. And in sunset or sunrise light is more toward the red spectrum. I am always amazed at how people seem to ignore the change of light as the day passes.

Test

Test. Limits. I test mine all the time. I test the camera all the time. Sunsets, the moon, they test the algorithm of the camera manufacturer in low light conditions. You pick you choose you shoot. Sometimes you win and sometimes not.

Detail, color, focus, all are factored in to make the image of my imagination. Then we see whether or not the camera was up to the test. In doing so there are compromises and choices to be made. Post processing can only get you so far. The idea, “I’ll fix it later in Photoshop.” is so wrong on so many levels.

Worthy

It seems I looked long and hard for a worthy single image today. Stained glass, religion, peace be unto you.

It’s not hard to shoot stained glass. Aim and fire away. It would help if I framed without diagonal lines. Or, maybe that was intentional to give the image tension. Ha ha. I doubt I pondered the issue – at all. Vertical. If you would notice, I shoot way fewer vertical compositions in my posts. I shoot few verticals. It is because my laptop has a horizontal screen and vertical pictures leave too much border. Yeah, simple. Um, no. Verticals are proper shots for portrait work and so forth.

Today I was just looking for something worthy to post and comment. A single. It’s hard. There are so many stories in my head. I find blue to be soothing. I need some peace and serenity right about now. After this I am going to hug my cat and then find Colleen. Nary a day goes by that we don’t hug many times over.

My best dog

Story? Picture? Both?

Willow. My best dog. He acts/feels like a dog sometimes. He is a cat. Duh! But it feels like he reacts more like a dog ocassionally. He begs. He’s always hungry. He will come when I call. He will show up for petting. He sometimes acts more a dog than my old dog Nellie.

Mute. Willow does not speak. He squeaks. No meow. Squeak. I wonder?

The photo has sharp focus on the eyes. Good. The color cast is blue. Shade. There is a distraction in the background – black hose. Good? Sometimes it is the story? Or does the picture trigger the story?

To Flash… or Not To Flash

… that is the critical question. Fleeting moments, it’s an instant call. You get one try… pick. It doesn’t come very often you get to shoot one with and one without flash. It’s a choice. Here David sat long enough for me to get two shots. The Canon G11 white balances automatically. Great! But it’s still ambient light you deal with. So it’s not quite right. The natural lighting gives less detail in the eyes and no gleam or catch light for the eye. Flash is a little too bright and a bit too artificial for my taste. I would pick the natural light. I’m not a fan of obsessive manipulation in Photoshop, so this is what it is.

 

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iPhone

Julia’s on the move again. New apartment and she’s letting me have a look. It’s not art. It’s illustration. That’s my photo there in the corner. Julia had it framed and she has taken it to hang in the new place. Thanks. It’s home for now. She’ll be on the move again in a year. Yup, that’s the plan. All the best.