Michael O'Brien photographer www.michaelobrienphoto.com

NEWSLETTER

Autumn 2014 Edition

Quotation of the Month

"Photographic technique is no secret and - provided the interest is there - easily assimilated. But inspiration comes from the soul and when the Muse isn't around even the best exposure meter is very little help. In their biographies, artists like Michelangelo, da Vinci and Bach said that their most valuable technique was their ability to inspire themselves. This is true of all artists; the moment there is something to say, there becomes a way to say it."

Ralph Gibson - from his book D�j� vu

Getting It Together

In my ten years teaching photography one fact stands out - few things help improve our photography faster than receiving trustworthy, constructive feedback and guidance about our work. Over the next three months I'm

offering 90 minute private review sessions for $75.00. These can be purchased in advance for oneself or as a gift for someone else who loves photography. The sessions may cover topics such as:

making improvements to individual images

composition and light

concepts for personal projects

how to create series and sequences

finding the unseen themes and 'golden threads' that run through your work

finding direction - how to set photographic goals that can bring out the best you've got

To purchase a session now click here

To email for more information click here

Bringing Photos to Life

In the last newsletter there was examples of working with photos in post production. Since the response was good there will be more examples in this issue. With autumn around the corner we want to be out enjoying photography in the mild weather. We don't want to be bent over our computers spending hours nursing 'dead' photos back to life - the work on the photos below took about 10 minutes.

When you read through the captions below the pictures you might get a sense of what was done to get this photo where I wanted it to be.

It started by coming upon this spot while hiking in Lynn Canyon which is in my home town of North Vancouver, B.C. When making photographs in the forest I follow intuitions and the promptings coming from my surroundings, which could be sounds, feelings or just the way the spirit of a certain place speaks to me. That's what was done here, I set up the equipment, watched and waited.

Lynn Canyon, North Vancouver, B.C.

ISO 100 - F16 - 1.6 seconds

The photo above is shown with no post processing - the tripod was positioned here because the light coming through the canopy was gorgeous, although I wasn't sure exactly what was going to be done with the composition; something about stairways fascinates me, so seeing them in the forest evoked a magical feel and sense of mystery that attracted me. When I heard some people coming up the trail behind me, it felt like including them could bring something really different to the scene. In a split second it was clear exactly what this picture was going to say; we are never alone in these forests.

Lynn Canyon, North Vancouver, B.C.

ISO 100 - F16 - 1.6 seconds

I waited until they were both on the stairway before beginning the exposure - 1.6 seconds gave the image exactly the desired degree of blur to convey the concept - the sense of spirit beings moving through the woods.

SPIRIT WALK

Lynn Canyon, North Vancouver, B.C.

ISO 100 - F16 - 1.6 seconds

However, something about the previous version (#2) of this image didn't work for me. The tree to camera left, originally included for framing, felt like a distraction to me now. The new cropping (above) was intended to place the tree camera right to act as an asymmetrical anchor for the image whilst the 'spirits' walking diagonally across the frame towards the upper left created an upward energy vector i.e. movement in the photo. This gave a balanced dynamic that works for me.

The aspect ratio has been changed from 2x3 , native, to the classic 4x5 which somehow seems to add a contained feeling of volume and presence to some images. We feel like we could just walk into the scene. After cropping in Lightroom 5, clarity, vibrance, vignetting and sharpening were added to further enhance the luminosity and presence of the picture.

SPIRIT WALK

Lynn Canyon ,North Vancouver, B.C.

ISO 100 - F16 - 1.6 seconds

After all the work described above was done I was happy with the image but felt like playing in NIK Analogue Efex 2 'just to see'. The result, above, shows what the scene might look like had it been photographed with warm film in a camera like a Polaroid or Kodak Instamatic. I like playing with images in NIK software, however, it can be overdone, so I use Analog Efex mainly for personal work, like these photos made during a recent trip home.

That's it for now. Many thanks for taking a look at the newsletter. Feel free to contact me - I'd love to hear your feedback, thoughts, and comments about my photographs or the newsletter.

Michael O'Brien

416-778-6521