Photographed with Pentax 67 (medium format film) around 1984. Obviously in the Bronx. Allerton Avenue section.
Jul 032012
Jul 022012
FULL RAW FILE FROM CANON T4i*
F1.4
1/90th of a sec
Noise Reduction Off
RAW Mode
Hand Held
SMALL WEB VERSION OF SAME FILE (8.6 MB) You should save link as…
WEB SIZED VERSION
My worflow. Imported from Canon T4i into Lightroom 4.1 with a preset that sets everything to ZERO. Zero contrast, Zero Exposure, zero sharpening etc. No Noise Reduction (NR) within camera since this stuff only works on JPGS not on RAW and this was shot at full-size RAW.
Then very minor NOISE REDUCTION in NIK DFINE. Default settings.
Colors boosted a bit and green cast removed with NIK Pro-Contrast Preset in Color Efex.
The full file was then exported in Lightroom with no sharpening at 90%. And that’s what was uploaded. It should give you some idea of what you will be working with at 12,800.
* * *
UPDATE
If you set the control dial to NIGHT HAND-HELD, and your ISO is at 12,800, YOU WILL GET A NOISELESS IMAGE. The camera takes four shots in sequence, and then uses a program to reduce the noise to just about zero.
There are caveats to using this mode: you’ve got to hold the camera fairly steady, though it can be done without a tripod, and more importantly the thing(s) you are photographing can’t be moving. Those movements are not going to be cleaned up. But if you are shooting a handheld night shot, or dark shot and whatever it is isn’t moving (say you’re in a church or dark building) and you can hold the camera fairly steady, you can get some excellent noiseless images.
Jun 302012
Grade Pending
Jun 302012
Neighborhood Jeweler
Sitting outside his shop in the 100 degree weather.
Jun 302012
Found Suitcase
I’ve been having a wonderful time with the new camera (T4i). It doesn’t mean that I’m taking “keepers” with it, but no camera can increase your ratio of “keepers” it just means that I’m taking the camera with me wherever I go and look forward to trying different techniques. I’m mostly experimenting with pointing the lens in one direction and using the swivel screen to look in another direction.
The other thing I’m using a lot is the grid that you can have on the swivel back. I’m playing around with how different elements are placed on the grid. It gives you a chance to play with compositional stuff like the golden spiral etc.
I posted this because it’s the easiest one to show. Anyway – it is a lot of fun and it gets the motor running again. I know that it must be revving me up because I’ve been going out even in the hundred degree weather.
But I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time trying to bring in money. I even went so far as to ask for donations again – this time on my home page which I’ve never done before. I’ve been invited to take an all-paid trip to do a photographic assignment and it looks like it would be a great adventure but I’ve got to get my finances into order before I can do something like this.
I’m also beginning to work on putting together a Guggenheim Grant application – something I’ve never taken a crack at before.
On top of that I’ll be published in July in a Chinese magazine with a large circulation. I’ll post a PDF of it as soon as it’s out. If I can raise a few thousand dollars in the next two months, I’ll be able to do take this two month photographic trip which would do me wonders. I’ll write more about it as I get more details.
Jun 292012
Jun 292012
This is actually how the cookie(s) crumble. You can find this outside the cookie shop on Second Avenue in the gutter almost any Sunday morning during the summer.
Jun 282012
click for larger image
We are privy to the sadness, happiness, and mysteries in the live’s of complete strangers; and we get a feeling, even without understanding the language – that something important is going on.
And so as street photographers we step into the privacy of our fellow denizens because we are voyeurs at heart. But if we let the image age for ten years, it takes on a new meaning, as the psychological distance increases. As our physical distance for taking these sorts of shots decreases – the eyes become signposts and expressions draw us in.
Photographed with 30mm lens.
Jun 282012
click to enlarge
Experimenting with the LCD swivel – and suspicion it is. I’m there reflected, looking away from this fellow while camera is pointed at him in the window of Starbucks. This is actually the only “what is that guy doing” shot. I had a pretty good cloak of invisibility in my other shots, either because I was looking down at my swivel screen, or the camera was pointed to the right while I was looking straight ahead. The swivel screen has it’s uses for street shooting and I’ll post a few later that were shot without my being stared at.
Jun 282012
I wrote recently about how an old friend sent me the Canon EOS T4i. I had been hankering for the T2i, and then the T3i. The T4i was really out of my price range as I continue to struggle with the mundane crap like paying my bills.
However, the T4i arrived from a friend in a small brown square box from B&H Photo and I was overjoyed. When you are working, and have a steady income (as I once did – 13 years ago) a $850 camera is just no big deal. There was a period when I couldn’t even buy a lens (the Leica days) for that amount of lucre.
But those days are long gone. And I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time and energy keeping my head above water. Right now I’m breathing through the tip of my long nose.
However – this isn’t about cash flow. This is about how some of us simply need a new camera every once in a while, or some sort of new gadget, to crank up the imagination and get going again. Frankly, he could have sent the T2 and I expect I would have had the same reaction, which was that suddenly I began putting the camera somewhere that I would see it before going out on errands, and soon I was taking it with me everywhere again.
And this isn’t to say that the new pictures are any good. My percentage of keepers to garbage has always been about the same, and it isn’t a high number. I used to think that if I got one good shot on a roll of 36 (or 37) I was in good shape. That’s when I was in street shooting mode.
Static work on a tripod was a different thing altogether. If you didn’t have a decent keeper to exposure ratio, maybe one decent shot for every 10 shots – then you just weren’t any good.
At any rate – with the new street camera (yes, for me the T4i is a street camera) going along with me wherever I go, my imagination perks up, and the number of shots taken during a day increases, and I rediscover the fun part of photography. I think that’s the surprises you pick up as you walk to UPS or wait for your lunch at the bodega.
Slowly the camera begins to feel like it’s a part of you, or at least part of your arm, and you annoy people (even friends and family) by shooting while they’re telling you a story. When you get to that point where you are annoying both friends and strangers – you are back in the groove and it is jsut about having a new toy to play with.
I suspect that I’m not the only one to need that sort of kick in the pants. And though I can’t say I’ve taken any classic timeless images yet with the new camera (it’s only been a few days after all) but I have about 1000 new RAW files to go through. Thank you for that, James (I will give you an alias) as I don’t think you want people to know what you did for me, and it is also a biblical name.
Jun 272012
Before I run into a crisis like what happened a few months ago I thought I’d be preemptive so VOILA you can pick up a signed limited 8×12 inch for as little as $45.
Nuf said.
I’ve tied it in with independence day and can only say you can really get good deals on the larger prints. Some go to 30 x 40 inches.
Enjoy.
And thanks for all your past support
Oh, the whole $1 file thing was a waste of time and a failure. Price for the files is at $20 now and is going to go up again.
db
Jun 272012
I’ve put the best YOU CAPTION IT images up on my new facebook page. Have fun. I am certain there will be a few good giggles to be had.
YOU CAPTION IT ON FACEBOOK
YOU CAPTION IT FACEBOOK ALBUM #1
