Photography or Graphic Arts?

There seems to be a lot of discussion over "HDR" (High Dynamic Range) theses days. The question is this, are most of the HDR images really HDR or are they just interesting graphics?

My understanding of HDR is the process combines images to depict the full dynamic range of a scene that the film or digital camera can't. Pretty much if you expose for the shadows you blowout the highlights or if you expose for the highlights you lose detail in the shadows. Our vision has a higher dynamic range than film so that's why sometimes when we look at a photo it disappoints since it's not depicting the scene the way we remember it.

HDR takes an image exposed for shadows, a normal exposure and one exposed for highlight, combines them and renders the full dynamic range of the scene.

I've done HDR images this way and the pictures are amazing. I've tried to get the same results by saturating, adding contrast, sharpening, etc. but never got close to the same results as combining 3 or more exposures.

That said, this picture would be considered HDR by some. It started as a RAW file, manipulated in Adobe RAW, rendered, dodged and burned, blurred, etc. 20 minutes of post production and a single image file.

HDR? maybe. Can I sell these? Maybe to a limited clientele. They are interesting, I like the look but is a snapshot and 20-30 minutes of post production a photograph or graphic arts?

I'm not trying to take anything away from artists that do this type of work. Believe me when I say that I only wish I had their imagination and skill with lighting and Photoshop. Art is in the eye of the beholder and very subjective and I think this is truly art, I just wonder what Ansel Adams would say? Hey, I'm just sayin.....

Abstract art with smoke

"Demons and Angels"

Named for the flight of 3 Angles surrounded by Demons on the four compass points.

We started with a picture of smoke from a burning incense. The smoke is extracted from a photograph and layered on a black background and rendered in Photoshop.

The process is fairly time consuming but the results are worth it. (Watermark does not appear on purchased prints)

Http://www.Enviouslens.com or Http://www.EnviousLens.blogspot.com

Opening the Fine Arts gallery

As the Envious Lens website progresses I thought I would start adding photos to a "Fine Art" gallery. These are some current and past photos that I found to be interesting. I also thought I would do some "High Dynamic Range” photos as well; this is where three exposures of the same photograph are merged into a single picture covering a wider dynamic range than that captured by a single frame of film or a single digital image.

Now that we have this wonderful, vibrant image, the next challenge was setting up my Canon i9900 printer to work correctly in the RGB verses the sRGB color space. After about a week of calibrating printers and monitors, the results are well worth it.

Prints can be purchased on a limited basis, please visit the Envious Lens web site for contact information and availability.

Anytime is a good time for pictures

I had an opportunity to get together with a couple of my Harley buddies for a short ride today. We met up for coffee with a friend that was unable to join us on the ride. After visiting for awhile the three of us took off to a bistro in north Phoenix for breakfast (it was a welcome change from the typical roadhouse/diner/greasy spoon dives that we usually end up in; someday we’ll talk about the fresh fruit story but I digress).

This was a true artisan bistro/bakery; I’m talking breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, confections…digressing again.

We ordered, got our coffee and took a seat, the table we chose was on the south side of the room and the morning sun was filtering in and casting this beautiful light on an arrangement of flowers that was the centerpiece of the room. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to capture this interesting image so I took out my camera and started shooting while 50 or so people look at me like I was a little crazy.

I guess the point to this is that we’re surrounded by the opportunities for beautiful photographs every day; we just need to slow down and take a moment to unleash our imagination and enjoy these brief moments of light and life. As long as you’re not interfering with someone’s breakfast or invading their space, let them think you’re crazy, better yet hand them a business card.

Working on the portfolio

Today I was working on the revamp of my portfolio to go along with the new and improved wesite. I have posted some of my favorite glamor photos in the portfolio section of the website but I thought I would share one or two on the blog.

New twist on an old photo

I thought I would take a little time today and play with some new Photoshop filters on an old photo.

I 'm using Alien Skin Exposure which renders the photo according to actual film types (for those of us who still remember film), this photo was done to look like Fuji Provia 400F. The grain is added and adjusts to the picture size giving the photo film like realism.

I like what it's done for this photo, it adds nice effects to the sky and dramatizes the clouds. Definitely a plug-in worth playing with.

(Shameless Plug) By the way, if you like any of these photos, prints can purchased. Email me for pricing and size availability.

Welcome to the Envious Lens Blog

This is our new Blog site so we'll be having some fun posting updates and new photos, Also visit our main gallery site EnviousLens.com
We're launching a new site and stepping back into the wedding photography and portrait business after a little hiatus when we moved from California to Arizona. As things get rolling we’ll be adding to our portfolio albums at EnviousLens.com