Photography

Something from Jeff’s backyard

10 Comments

A photographer buddy of mine, Jeff Link, shared this wonderful image of liquid amber seed pods.

It was taken “in situ” with them still on a tree in his backyard.

Mouse over the image and you’ll see the image before Jeff added his magic.

While I have your attention, do go and visit Jeff Link’s website and see if you would like to buy some of his beautiful landscapes.

This striking image brings home the point that “you don’t actually have to travel far to find good images” but you do have to pick up the camera and use it.

Sure, if you had lots of time and unlimited resources, you could travel the world and capture picturesque scenics of famous landmarks.

The artistry is in knowing your camera so well in how it meters and to be able to predict the outcome so that the adage “luck favors the prepared” becomes true.

Sure there are lucky shots and there are lucky shots.

You know you happen to be there with your camera and the shutter just happened to be open and something remarkable happened in front of your lens.

In photojournalism circles, that’s the “F8 and be there” rule.

Thanks Jeff for sharing your image with me.

Post production

Jeff shared what else he did with his image in photoshop. It doesn’t sound too involved, quoting him:

“I changed the black point, vibrance, contrast. Clarity was increased a little…then I added the border and kicker stripe matching black background and the yellows in the seed pods. I used NIK noise reducer Define 2.0 and finally I sharpened the pods using NIK’s Sharpener. That’s it.”


10 thoughts on “Something from Jeff’s backyard”

  2. I love what he did to it in PS but then again I love PS and Peters site!

    I think it brought the focus to the marvel and beauty of those lovely ornaments made by mother nature.

  4. If you think I was ranting about you hating Photoshop Jo, then I’ve made an error and I apologize. Please forgive me.

  5. I don’t hate photoshop! And technically, Jeff’s re-make of his photo is striking and impressive. I just prefer the original for its evocative blurred background and the lovely muted colors.

  6. Dang Peter, I didn’t know people did that or that it was a problem. I learn something from you every time I stop by.

  7. Hi Jim,
    How nice to hear from you. I think it’s kind of clever of Jeff to use a the black matte board. Saves a lot of time in photoshop.

    That said, the problem with Photoshop is that it is so powerful that a generation of “photographers” may never venture away from their computers.

    They can just go online and find high rez pictures or buy them online, then they just need to sit and play in photoshop all day long.

    Sort of like some modern day recording artistes (DJs) who re-mix music without every writing a single note then becoming superstars. But don’t get me started.

  8. Hi Peter,

    I really like the effect Jeff used in his adaptation of that photo. While the original photo could stand on it’s own it seems to me he was going for something other than a simple photo of some flora in his back yard.

    Photoshop gets a lot of comments from those who love it and those who hate it. Like you Pete, I don’t use it very much, but it’s not much different than using a darkroom when all we had was film. A classic example is Ansel Adam’s Moonrise over Hernandez that no one has duplicated because no one knows what he did in his darkroom; Adams said %80 of photography happens in the darkroom so I’d bet he would use the heck out of Photoshop if he were alive in our digital age.

    Jim

  9. Hi Jo,
    I am very much a minimalist when it comes to photoshop and what Jeff has done is fine by me. But that’s a personal choice. I think using a matte board is definitely a lot easier than trying to go in and select the pods and branches in photoshop.

    Now that would be in the realm of computer graphics. I know I can always count on you to share your opinion, so thanks Jo.

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.!

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