Colorado aspen pics

Here are a few shots from last month's Colorado aspen trip.

While probably 98% of the images we shot were 'traditional' landscapes we also
shot a few abstracts and half the eight images shown here come from those, just
to show something different. Since it's a 'technique' NG if you have questions
fire away.

When I showed these to a Distinguished Panel of Experts they had a couple of
questions, including "Did you do the abstracts in Photoshop?" (No, everything
is on medium format Velvia) and "Did your camera malfuncion?" (No, we meant for
them to look that way and "Were you taking psychedelic drugs?" (No, just
overdosed on Freeman Patterson, I guess).

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/aspen/trunks.htm Enjoy.

Bill

"Were you taking psychedelic drugs?"


Well, if you were taking some, I want in, because those images are
great! Very refreshing take on a common Colorado subject. I'd hang
any one of those on my wall. Thanks for sharing.

Brent D
www.doerzmanphoto.com

Very Nice Bill, enjoyed them
Gary

"Bill Hilton" wrote in message
...
Here are a few shots from last month's Colorado aspen trip.

While probably 98% of the images we shot were 'traditional' landscapes we
also
shot a few abstracts and half the eight images shown here come from those,
just
to show something different. Since it's a 'technique' NG if you have
questions
fire away.

When I showed these to a Distinguished Panel of Experts they had a couple
of
questions, including "Did you do the abstracts in Photoshop?" (No,
everything
is on medium format Velvia) and "Did your camera malfuncion?" (No, we
meant for
them to look that way and "Were you taking psychedelic drugs?" (No,
just
overdosed on Freeman Patterson, I guess).

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/aspen/trunks.htm Enjoy.

Bill

Very good ...



"Bill Hilton" wrote in message
...
Here are a few shots from last month's Colorado aspen trip.

While probably 98% of the images we shot were 'traditional' landscapes we also
shot a few abstracts and half the eight images shown here come from those, just
to show something different. Since it's a 'technique' NG if you have questions
fire away.

When I showed these to a Distinguished Panel of Experts they had a couple of
questions, including "Did you do the abstracts in Photoshop?" (No, everything
is on medium format Velvia) and "Did your camera malfuncion?" (No, we meant for
them to look that way and "Were you taking psychedelic drugs?" (No, just
overdosed on Freeman Patterson, I guess).

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/aspen/trunks.htm Enjoy.

Bill

A very nice selection of images.

Since no one else asked, I'd like to know the different techniques used for the
abstract ones.

Thanks,
Dukephoto

From: (MDCORE)

A very nice selection of images.

Thanks to those on the NG who had kind words, and also those who sent emails.
Glad you enjoyed them.

Since no one else asked, I'd like to know the different techniques used
for the abstract ones.

Sure.

'reflect' is just a reflection from a small pond near Telluride close to
sunset. The wind rippled the water just enough for this effect.

'mul' is a multiple exposure of 9 shots with the camera moved slightly between
shots. Soft edged subjects (like vegetation) works well with this technique,
hard edged objects (buildings, rocks for example) don't work as well for me as
the edges tend to be too sharp.

To calculate the effective asa either take the square root of the number of
shots and underexpose by that many stops (ie, 9 frames = 3 stops or 16 frames
= 4 stops) or simply multiply the asa by the number of shots (so asa 50 film
with 16 shots would be asa 800, or 4 stops). Don't forget to reset the asa
when you're done.

'trunks' is a 15 second pan. You need to pan smoothly (I just line up the
tripod with the front leg pointing at the object and then slowly lift the front
leg and lower it again over and over until the shutter finishes). You might be
able to do the panning with a 3 way pan tilt head but I use a ballhead and get
better results by lifting the tripod. (Now that I'm writing this I realize the
Wimberley pivot head I use with my super-telephoto would be ideal for the pans
.... next time maybe I'll try that instead!)

The lighter colors will "write over" the darker ones so the yellow leaves wash
over the shadows and darker branches in this shot. I wanted the foreground
trunks separate and bare with no leaves, with thicker leafy trees behind to get
this effect and finding the right aspen grove was probably the hardest part.
Since the exposure is so long you may need to add additional compensation for
color shifts due to reciprocity failure and a bit of extra exposure (check the
data sheet for your film ... for Velvia at 15 seconds I usually bracket 1/3 and
2/3's extra stop). Most of my failures (I had a lot) were due to not panning
smoothly enough during the entire exposure.

'dm22' is different in that the others were all on one piece of film but this
technique requires that you shoot two frames and sandwich them. One shot is
sharply focused and over-exposed by 1.5 - 2.5 stops (if you want to bracket ...
if not, just try it at +2). This delineates the lines and shapes. The other
shot is over-exposed by only 1 shot (plus/minus 1/3) but is out of focus and
provides the colors. To make sure it's enough out of focus you should shoot
this one wide open (so you don't get extra depth of field when the lens stops
down), and throw it WAY out of focus (but not TOO much).

When you sandwich these two films it looks great (for certain subjects), what
some call the "Dream Montage" effect. Works best for vegetation and some
lighter rocks ... we have some spooky ones from a Day of the Dead celebration
in Mexico last year with flowers on tombstones that seem to glow. You can also
do this on one piece of film with a double exposure but you don't get the same
color saturation.

If you want to scan this then sandwich the two frames and scan it, but you may
get Newton Rings if the films aren't perfectly flat on each other. In this
case you have to scan them separately and in Photoshop move one on top of the
other as a new layer and change the Blending Mode to 'multiply'.

To see more examples of this check out the work of Michael Orton and his book
"Creative Landscapes" or especially the Freeman Patterson / Andre Gallant book
"Photoimpressionism and the Subjective Image". Carol and I took a week-long
course with Freeman and Andre last year and they are exceptional teachers.

Here's an example from Orton of the Dream Montage effect that's better than
what I posted (he recommends using a zoom and as you shoot the out of focus
frame try to zoom a bit to keep the colors the same size as the lines, since
going out of focus causes the colors to expand). I think this was the best
image in his book using this effect.

http://www.michaelorton.com/VIGallery/VIGallery3.html

Here's Andre's web page, with DM examples scattered about ...
http://www.andregallant.com/Galleries/Galleries.html

And for the 'motion' blurs or pans check out Freeman's images at
http://www.freemanpatterson.com/ and click the 'prints' link and then again
until the "Photo Impressionism 1" and "Photo Impressionism 2" images are
visible (he's using frames so I can't give you a direct link, sorry).

Bill

Thanks for the info on how you did them.

Duke