Photoblog 2.0

Magic Carpet Ride, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

This is a variation on a theme via Photoshop, with the shadow of wicker on a Persian rug the starting place.

The original version of these images was a digital macro shot of a marble, digitally painted in Photoshop. At the request of a client, I prepared these variations.

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“Thanks for All the Fish” is, as you likely know, a reference to the inimitable Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. It’s the message the dolphins leave just before they abandon an about-to-be-destroyed earth. I used the reference because the modified marble reminded me of the earth in danger.

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Wicker, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Briefly noted: Sunlight streaming through the bedroom window, the shadow of wicker on a Persian rug. To me, the effect looks like stained glass.

[Nikon D300, 18=200 VR Zoom lens at 52mm (78mm in 35mm terms), 1/200 of a second at f/8 and ISO 200, handheld.]

Nicky on His Seventh Birthday, photo by Harold Davis.

Nicky is seven, and it’s hard to understand where the time has gone. I remember him the day he was born, even then all mischief and sweetness and obvious intelligence.

Nicky celebrated his birthday with his first-grade class (the photo above is in his classroom), in after-school, and (of course) with us and his grandparents. The photo below shows the aftermath of opening birthday and “unbirthday” presents.

I don’t mean to give a false impression of extravagance with this photo. This year, like so many others, we are watching every penny. Each brother got a book, a lego toy, and a set of Kapla blocks. Once again, Phyllis made her famous castle cake (a/k/a Faulty Towers Cake). The boys sure enjoyed the presents, and the fierce rush of joy of present opening.

After all the toys were open, Nicky said, “Dad, this is my best birthday ever!”

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Other Nicky photos: Nicky is 4; Nicky on Flickr.

Kids, Family, and (other) Weird Things, photo by Harold Davis.

This slide goes with a presentation, Less is More: Photographing Kids, Family, and Weird Things, I’ll be giving Monday, November 24, 2008 at the Golden Gate Computer Society, Embassy Suites Hotel, San Rafael, CA at 7:15PM; click here for more information.

With the holidays upon us, the thoughts of many of us turn to taking photos of family, friends, turkeys, and other weird things. In this presentation I’ll discuss:

• Simple, straightforward, and foolproof processes to take photography from capture to display or printing
• Ideas and techniques for turning everyday photos of family, friends, and surroundings into special and interesting images

Other topics I plan to cover include:

• Don’t gain the world at the expense of your soul: personally engage.
• How to control light with a point-and shoot camera, avoiding “exposure modes from Hell”
• Using pre-visualization as a key photographic skill.
• Making the mundane fantastic—using composition to avoid boring family pictures.
• Photographing children for the precious individuals they are
• Leaving the shoe box behind…Displaying and preserving photos in the digital era.

There will be time for Q&A. Bring questions with you!

Casserole Reflections I, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Starting from an already fairly experimental image, like the view of reflections on the stove top that is the basis for this pair of abstracts, it’s fun to experiment with the shapes, forms, and colors to see what one can come up with.

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Related sequence: Variations.

Stove Top, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

There’s a bit of magic in any kitchen. Food is life. Looking in the reflections on this stove top I am transported to the peculiar working world of food magic—one that is different but not pristine. You can see the scratches and patina from use. But beyond the surface the world bends in curvature. If you look carefully, you can even see my tripod in the mirror world.

[Nikon D300, 105mm f/2.8 macro, 20 seconds at f/36 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]

Amy wrote, “I was impressed with your photos and one of your flowers in particular helped inspire a design for my tattoo.” She sent me a link to a photo of her tattoo by Erik Grieve at Tribe Tattoo studios in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I’ve seen my images used for many things. But this is the first time (to my knowledge) that one of my photos has inspired a tattoo.

Here’s more of the story of Amy’s tattoo: “I got it the day I graduated college. I was studying English in Scotland through a program with my college. I took my classes abroad for my very last college courses, so I actually finished college abroad. After the last test, I headed to the tat shop. For me the cherry blossom represents seizing the day, because they only bloom once a year. I also love the water drops on it (like on your pictures) because it reminds me that there are good times and bad times, too.”

In life, as in photography, carpe diem. Amen.

Check out my series of cherry blossom images that inspired the tattoo; you can read about the images in Cherry Blossom Special.

As I’ve noted, being digital means you never have to be done. When I originally post-processed the images in this story, I was a little drunk with the power of mult-RAW processing and cross-channel LAB operations. The original scenes were glorious. But I may have over done the post-processing a bit. You be the judge.

View this image larger. Check out the original version.

View this image larger. Check out the original version.

View this image larger. Check out the original version.

Four Arms and Two Heads, photo by Harold Davis.

When Mathew and Julian horse around it’s hard to resist a smile. Even though chaos often ensues.

Glory, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Crawling out of my sleeping bag to the sounds of a massive rock slide (here’s the story), I found the Yosemite Valley floor filled with dust. Whatever the cause, the crepuscular rays wrought by the rising sun struck me (and the other observer in this photo) as glorious and spectacular.

Essentially monochrome, I converted the image to black and white in Photoshop using multiple black & white adjustment layers (my process for b&w conversion is partly explained here).

[Nikon D300, 18-200 VR Zoom lens at 32mm (48mm in 35mm terms), 1/400 of a second at f/5 and ISO 100, handheld.]

Prize Specimen, photo by Harold Davis.

This week Katie Rose went to see her pediatrician, Dr. Cuthbertson. Katie Rose weighed in at almost eleven pounds. She’s shown here being held by Dr. Cuthbertson for all the world like a prize specimen of some special fish.

Dr. Cuthbertson explained that she likes being held this way because it gives her the most possible head control, and she feels the effects of gravity less in this position.

Door Knob, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

Briefly noted: I gave Julian a lesson in macro photography, and for practice I showed him how to photograph this door knob.

[Nikon D300, 105mm f/2.8 macro, 25 seconds at f/40 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]

Chins, photo by Harold Davis.

At the pediatrician yesterday, Katie Rose weighed in at nine pounds and seven ounces. This is up a pound since her last visit two weeks ago. Katie Rose is gaining roughly an ounce a day. She is definitely a chunk, amazing considering that she started out so tiny.

Spin, photo by Harold Davis. View this photo larger.

This is a photo of one of the Ferris Wheels on the Santa Cruz boardwalk (the spinning Ferris Wheel is also shown here). I took the photo shortly before a security guard kicked me and my tripod out of the amusment park.

To create this photo, I used a polarizer (to saturate the colors) and a neutral density filter (to lengthen the exposure time). I like the way the evening ocean mist softens the edges of the spinning wheel.

[Nikon D300, 18-200mm VR Zoom lens at 18mm (27mm in 35mm terms), circular polarizer plus 2X neutral density filter, 1.3 seconds at f/29 and ISO 100, tripod mounted.]