Desperate for Spring - Part 1

Yes, I am desperate for Spring 2008. I want to see sunshine, feel the warm breeze and watch nature's green carpets get rolled out after the white carpets are rolled away. In the meantime, here are some last, lingering winter pictures taken over the last few weeks


Here's the original in all its greyness.


Grey images are great for split toning. This one is called Silver Sand.


This one looks a little more cheerful. It's called Cool Bluetone.


Now for a little more dramatic look. This is a Sepia and Blue split tone.

The original image was shot on a Canon G9. Lightroom 1.3 was used to process the RAW image and then to add the split tones.

Copyright 2008 James D. Fisher
All rights reserved.

There's snow in them there mountains

Imagine our surprise! It was raining, hailing and even some snow fell on the mountains surrounding Scottsdale, Arizona. Locals said they hadn't seen this much rain in years. I'm so glad that we were here to see it.

So it rained in Phoenix, what else is new? Isn't this place where a just last night 13-point underdog knocked off an undefeated team? Only in Phoenix?


Image captured with Canon G9.

Copyright 2008 James D. Fisher
All rights reserved.

A Bratenahl Lamp

I'm still trying to get out of the winter doldrums. The best thing about winter images is that you can convert them to grayscale. Then you don't have to worry about bleak white/gray skies, lifeless color and low contrast.


On my way to downtown Cleveland, I hopped off the highway at Eddy Rd. and cruised along Lakeshore Blvd. I love the incredible mansions along the road built during a time of great prosperity in Northeast Ohio. I spotted this street lamp at the front of a long driveway. Using Adobe Lightroom I did the usually color treatment,--converted from RAW, white balanced using the eyedropper, cropped, added some vibrance and clarity, and finally, sharpened things up.

So now it's time to play!


First, I went for a more subdued version of the original at the top. Instead of rich color, this one goes for the faded. This is called cross processing which means doing a reverse of the normal way to adjust colors. Lightroom users have provided a number of "presets" you can use to experiement with cross processing or you can create your own presets.


This is a brownstone effect, not quite a sepia tone, but darker. It gives it the 1920's look it deserves.


Finally, I went for a faded color look. I wanted it to look like it was a print from the 1940's but starting to deteriorate. After reading the book, Nash Editions, I learned about how so many of the color images printed on Kodak paper in the 1940-50's faded out, especially the magenta color channel.

This image was captured on the Canon G9.

Copyright 2008 James D. Fisher
All rights reserved.

More Canon G9

The lobby at the new TCP Inc. headquarters in Aurora, OH. They make more compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) than anyone.


Here's an image showing the dynamic range of the Canon G9. Bright sunlight to the left, CFL's above. No noise at ISO 80. Decent depth-of-field at f2.8. Here's the specs:

ISO 80
1/60
f2.8
7.4mm (about 35mm)
RAW capture.

Copyright 2008 James D. Fisher
All rights reserved.

Heavy Metal(s)

I went back to the Pollock Hot Bottle Car at Steelyard Commons to play around with the Canon G9.


Big rivets along the side of the car. The streaks come from rust.


Big springs that hold up this solid steel, multi-ton car.

To see the other Pollock picts click here.

Copyright 2007 James D. Fisher
All rights reserved.

Light in the Storm

A little burst of light before the storm from Lake Erie starts barreling into town.


Camera: Canon G9 using the 16:9 Widescreen format.

Copyright 2007 James D. Fisher
All Rights Reserved.

Some Black 'n' Whites from a Gray Day

The sky turn neutral gray yesterday. So here are some black 'n' whites to check out.


A wooden door from Gates Mills, OH.


An old well from Bentleyville, OH.


A field in Hunting Valley, OH.

All images shot with a Canon G9 camera.

Copyright 2007 James D. Fisher
All Rights Reserved.

Three Color Variations on Tiles from the Floor of a Deli

Photography starts in the camera but is brought to life in the digital darkroom. In this case, it's Adobe Lightroom. Here a simple exercise of taking an artifact (tile floor) and working out some color variations. Why? Because we can!


Here is what the floor looks like with normal enhancement.


Next is what is called the "300" look which is desaturation of all but one color.


This variation goes after a "negative" look, in other words reversing the lights and darks similar to a b&w negative (but with color).


Finally, let's freak out the colors a bit by split toning or separating the colors.

The image was made with the Canon Powershot G9, another incredible camera.

Here's the dirt on the exposure:

200 ISO
25mm
1/5sec. @ f4.0

Copyright 2007 James D. Fisher
All Rights Reserved.