Harold Davis's Blog, page 138
February 23, 2016
Cold is the colour of crystal
“Cold is the colour of crystal the snowlight
That falls from the heavenly skies”—Annie Lennox
Upper White River Falls © Harold Davis
Related image: White River Falls. Thanks to @estatik on Flickr.
February 22, 2016
White River Falls
On my long drive up eastern Oregon, shortly before I got to the Columbia Gorge, I passed White River Falls, shown in the photo. White River Falls State Park was still officially closed for the season. I parked beside the locked gate, put on my hiking shoes, grabbed the tripod, and clambered down to a spectacular view of the falls. The sun set (and it does set early this time of year!), it started to get quite cold with the wind and spray off the water, and I made a few exposures.
White River Falls, Oregon © Harold Davis
February 21, 2016
Human Spiral—Nautilus
This nine-image multiple exposure, combined in-camera another image in the same series, Rondo, reminds me of a living organism, or spiral shell such as the Nautilus.
Nautilus © Harold Davis
February 20, 2016
Rondo
Rondo © Harold Davis
About the image: This is an in-camera multiple exposure. The ten exposures were combined in the camera using auto-gain. The model was Amelia Simone, who was wearing the red underwear you can see in the image.
I was standing at the top of a ladder, and photographed hand-held down on the model, who moved around a black cloth on the floor, and synchronized her movements with the individual exposures. I used a Nikon D810 and a 28-300mm lens at 45mm. Each of the ten sub-exposures were shot at 1/160 of a second, at f/14 and ISO 400. Each exposure was lit using two studio strobes, one on each side, modified to soften the light.
Italian Sketches
Here are a few iPhone images from my photography tour to Italy in 2015. They were photographed on my iPhone 6s, and processed just now while waiting for the kids using “the computer in my pocket” (e.g., my iPhone) and the Waterlogue app.
Door in Capri © Harold Davis
Garden in Capri © Harold Davis
Stair in Cinque Terre © Harold Davis
Some related links: Italy on my blog; iPhone on my blog; From iPhone to Art workshop (May 21, 2016); Venice and Waterlogue blog post.
February 19, 2016
Audrey Hepburn: Paris is always a good idea
Kira at Passy Station © Harold Davis
Paris Sunset © Harold Davis
Paris, as Audrey Hepburn said, is always a good idea. Please consider joining my small group of photographers in Paris (and, oh yeah, at the Monet gardens in Giverny!) the first week in May, 2016.
Click here for the detailed day-by-day itinerary (PDF), here for the Prospectus, and here for the Reservation Form. Very limited availability, on a first come, first served basis.
Audrey Hepburn: Paris is always a good idea.
Kira at Passy Station © Harold Davis
Paris Sunset © Harold Davis
Paris, as Audrey Hepburn said, is always a good idea. Please consider joining my small group of photographers in Paris (and, oh yeah, at the Monet gardens in Giverny!) the first week in May, 2016.
Click here for the detailed day-by-day itinerary (PDF), here for the Prospectus, and here for the Reservation Form. Very limited availability, on a first come, first served basis.
February 16, 2016
Cymbidium Orchid
The Cymbidium orchid shown below in four variations photographed for transparency on a light box was to feature in its own drama of creative destruction: with the blossoms surgically taken off the stem and photographed against a teal background in a little water in a blue bowl on black velvet. Which variation do you like best?
Cymbidium Orchid © Harold Davis
Cymbidium in black and white © Harold Davis
Cymbidium Colorized © Harold Davis
Cymbidium © Harold Davis
February 13, 2016
Lonely Islet Print Collected
A large print of my Lonely Islet was purchased for the collection of the international law firm Simpson Thacher. My print will hang in the offices of the appellate practice of Simpson Thacher in Palo Alto, California. Click here to learn more about my prints.
Lonely Islet © Harold Davis
February 12, 2016
Orchids in a Blue Bowl
I photographed these Cymbidium orchid blossoms in a blue bowl placed on a black velvet background. Lighting was natural, ambient sunlight bounced off white boards and reflectors. Exposure and processing info below the image. I like the way the image looks like a mandala!
Orchids in a Blue Bowl © Harold Davis
Exposure data: Nikon D810, Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4, six exposures at shutter speeds from 1/10 of a second to 1.3 seconds, each exposure at f/11 and ISO 64, tripod mounted; exposed using mirror lock-up and the Nikon MC-36A remote release.
Processing info: Exposures initially processed in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) and combined in Photoshop as layers using layer masks and manually painted-in with the Brush Tool.
I added a “kicker” layer for additional punch created by running five of the six exposures through Nik HDR Efex Pro.
The resulting layer stack was merged down, cropped to a square format, retouched, and spotted in Photoshop.
Next, I applied creative color and sharpening effects selectively, and at low opacity, from Nik Color Efex, Topaz Adjust, and Nik Viveza.
Merging the layers down again, a final pass applied filters—once again selectively at low opacity—provided by Topaz Simplify.
