Backlighting

I recently attended a training session by David Guy Maynard on using speed lights for location portraiture.  Fascinating topic!  He brought along a couple of professional models that we photographed after his presentation.

The problem was that twenty or so of us were standing side-by-side using our camera-mounted lights.  

How boring.  So I decided to crank up my ISO, turn down my flash, and move to the side so I could use his modeling light to backlight the subject.  Much better!

 Needless to say, I prefer these shots. Backlighting certainly makes for more interesting images.

Photoshop Taketh, Photoshop Giveth Back

I was new to digital photography and Photoshop when I took this picture on a misty morning.  I loved it!  Couldn't wait to get home and play with it in Photoshop.  Knowing computers, I backed it up and then backed it up again.

Over the next several months I continued playing with it until I finally decided to make a print.  It was horrible!  Then I discovered I had accidentally "dumbed" it down to a very small file size, resulting in severe posterization.  No problem, I had backups.  Wrong.  I had overwritten my backups with the new, downsized file.

I now know what I did wrong; original in JPEG rather than RAW, not saving original file in a safe place, and not understanding Photoshop.  Over the years I have mourned the loss of this image but have kept it with the hope that someday I would figure out a way to salvage it.  

Voila!  The other day I came across the image and thought of the technique that radically alters colors.  The result lacks the mystique of the original but certainly is an interesting image.  Posterization is reduced and its effects minimized by color and texture.  Photoshop has truly given back what it took away years ago.

Library Opening Reception

My photographs are now on permanent display in the Brunswick library, 3649 Center Road, Brunswick, Ohio.  They are located on the back wall of the computer room in the adult section.  The opening reception was held on March 2nd and I want to thank everyone who attended and Friends of the Brunswick Library.

Angela Huston wrote a very nice article about it in MedinaCountyLife.com and her husband, Russ, took the photographs.  Thanks to them also.

 MedinaCountyLife

The following link shows larger images.  The first five are photographs in the collection.

Photos in Collection