Harold Davis's Blog, page 46

Quick Flashes from the Photography Webinar Front

Item 1: In a synergistic coincidence, legendary photographer William Neill and I are both having new books published by Rocky Nook. Bill and I are combining to present a free webinar on Saturday, The Solace of Nature, in honor of our publications. There’s still time to register for the webinar, and still some space available. Click here for more info, and here to register.

Item 2: Tomorrow (Thursday) I will be presenting Hand-HDR Processing, an explanation of a post-processing technique that should be in every serious photographer’s toolkit. Click here for more info, and here to register.

Also of note: Special Pandemic Print Pricing offer.

Special Pandemic Print Pricing

I have been asked a number of times about special print pricing during the pandemic, and have already made prints available on reduced terms to several collectors. I am particularly happy when one of my prints goes to another artist, or to someone who loves photography.

We’ve decided to generally extend a pandemic print-pricing offer. Most of my images are available as prints.

So here’s the deal: Prints are $200 each plus shipping ($25 domestically, $50 internationally). In addition:

These are top-quality, handmade prints on premium paper that I personally sign
Exterior paper dimensions approximately 11″ X 14″ (or 12″ X 12″ if the image is square)
U.S. residents add California sales tax ($18)
Payment is in advance by Paypal, credit card, or check
These prints are intended for retail customers only (click here for my normal print-price schedule, and for information about other print sizes)
Offer may be changed or withdrawn at any time

Please let us know if you have any questions, or would like to buy a print.

Lady Pink Apple Slices with Lemons © Harold Davis

Webinars Coming Up Soon

If you are a photographer bracketing exposures in your practice, it is time to move beyond automated HDR processing and add hand-HDR to your toolbox. Please join us on Thursday September 3, 2020 at 10am PT for Hand-HDR Photography (click here to register; more information here) for a not-to-be-missed post-production technique session.

I am very excited to host distinguished photography legend William Neill, who will be joining me on Saturday, September 5, 2020 at 11am PT for a discussion and presentation, The Solace of Nature, featuring a new book from each of us. This is a free, not-to-be missed webinar. Click here to register, and here for more info.

Photography on Black, on Saturday September 12, 2020 at 11am PT, will feature a live-action photography segment showing how to create striking images on a perfectly black background. In addition to showing how to capture multi-shot black-background images, this webinar will demonstrate successful post-product of images on black. Click here to register, and here for more information.

Upper White River Falls © Harold Davis

Flowers Made from Beet and Radish Slices

These two images show virtual flowers constructed on my light box from thin slices of root vegetables. The Chiogga Beet slices have been cut vertically, as opposed to the horizontal slices in image shown in an earlier story.

Flower Made from Radish Slices © Harold Davis

Chiogga Beet Slices Arranged as a Blossom © Harold Davis

The Beet Goes On

In parts of the Caribbean, edible root vegetables are often called “ground provisions.” Yesterday was a ground-provisions day.

I primarily photographed beets and radishes. This is a continuation of my light box sliced vegetable and fruit work, some of which is shown in Sliced Fruit on My Light Box, Making Mandalas from Fruits and Vegetables, and Melange of Slices.

I’ve titled the image shown below of sliced Chioggia Beets (Beta vulgaris) “The Beet Goes On”, after the Sonny and Cher song, with a homophonic relationship between the second word in the name of the song and the ground provision I photographed  (e.g., “Beat” and “Beet”).

The Beet Goes On © Harold Davis

Check out the new interview with me about garden photography on the PhotoActive Podcast: Episode 75: Creative Garden Photography with Harold Davis!

Melange of Slices

Just like the aggregation of pear slices, it is possible to create interesting melanges of all kinds of sliced fruits and vegetables. The sliced kiwi fruits (below) remind me of paper lanterns. Perhaps the seeds running vertically are the writing on the lanterns, in some kind of Kanji characters. The red onions (bottom) are certainly more pleasant to look at in their painterly and patterned abstraction than they were to slice!

Kiwi Fruit Slices © Harold Davis

Red Onion Slices © Harold Davis

New Webinars Coming Up Soon in Early September

Phyllis and I would like to call your attention to three live webinars coming up in the first half of September! These webinars are now open for registration. Click here to see all our upcoming webinar offerings. We very much hope you can join us for some or all of these.

Hand-HDR Photography will be given on Thursday September 3, 2020 at 10am PT. Just like good photographers know when to get their camera off automatic, in post-production sometimes automatic HDR programs simply won’t do. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to recognize situations that call for hand-HDR photography and processing, and how to use layers and layer masks to create your own extended dynamic range blends. Click here for more info, and here to register for the webinar.

The Solace of Nature with William Neill and Harold Davis: This free webinar is scheduled for Saturday September 5, 2020 at 11am PT. Noted photographers William Neill and Harold Davis present work from their recent books, Light on the Landscape (Neill) and Creative Garden Photography (Davis), both published by Rocky Nook. After the presentation, Neill and Davis will discuss the influence of nature on their work and lives, and invite questions from the audience. Click here for more info, and here to register for the webinar.

Photography on Black on Saturday September 12, 2020 at 11am PT. This webinar will feature a live photo feed showing Harold at work, as well as post-production issues involving black backgrounds. The idea is to use extended dynamic range bracketing to create a truly black background, specifically in situations where without this set of techniques the background would be dark, but not entirely black. Click here for more info, and here to register for the webinar.

Upper White River Falls © Harold Davis

Making Mandalas from Fruits and Vegetables

Traditionally, a mandala is a geometric shape that symbolically represents the cosmos or the universe, or perhaps a search for unity and completeness within oneself. I always enjoy creating mandalas, and there is something particularly wholesome about making mandalas on my light box with fruits and vegetables. Taken themselves, consuming fruit and vegetables can be seen as a kind of sacrament—and these mandalas can end up on the table as part of a yummy salad or fruit dessert once the photography is done.

Fruit Mandala © Harold Davis

Atomic Cucumbers © Harold Davis

Salad Mandala © Harold Davis

Sliced Fruit on my Light Box

Where do ideas come from? In the case of these translucent fruit slices, an art consultant showed me an image of translucent fruit. I immediately thought of photographing fruit slices on my light box.

I’d never want to specifically imitate someone else’s art, but it seems fair enough to use a general idea as a leaping off point. I’ve seen plenty of images styled after my own flowers photographed for transparency in this fashion. I guess a moral is to keep looking at art of all styles and stripes. You never know when this will lead to an actionable idea.

Pear Slices © Harold Davis

Another benefit of photographing fruit in addition to photographing flowers: not only do the subjects not require a release, but also you can eat them once the photography is done.

Lemon Slices © Harold Davis

X-Ray Bouquet

The upper photo is an X-Ray of a bouquet of dahlias, nemesia, and kangaroo paw flowers. It was made in May, 2019 using medical x-ray equipment, and processed yesterday while waiting out the foul air in the Bay area in Photoshop from the DICOM file. More x-rays can be found here, and I’ve also posted a photo of a recent print of one of my favorite x-rays, of a sunflower, below.

X-Ray Bouquet of Dahlias, Nemesias, and Kangaroo Paw Flowers © Harold Davis

Print of ‘Sunflower X-Ray’ © Harold Davis