Harold Davis's Blog, page 99
October 7, 2017
Announcing a new session of Photographing Flowers for Transparency—June 23-24, 2018
We’re pleased to announce by popular demand a new session of Harold’s acclaimed Photographing Flowers for Transparency weekend workshop, to be held in Berkeley, CA Saturday and Sunday June 23 and 24, 2018. Enrollment is limited. Registration opens Jan 1, 2018 on a first-come-first-served basis.
Click here for more information about this workshop, here for the Photographing Flowers for Transparency FAQ, and here for Harold’s upcoming event, workshop, and destination photo tour schedule. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
The Photographing Flowers for Transparency workshop is a great deal of fun, and covers Harold’s light box techniques as well as related topics (see the partial list below). If you are interested in Harold’s unique approaches, this is the best way to learn. Each participant will produce their own fully processed images following Harold’s lectures and demonstrations, and with Harold’s personal hands-on supervision.
Flowering Dogwood & Friends © Harold Davis
Topics covered in the Photographing Flowers for Transparency Workshop include:
Floral arrangement and composition
Botanical art in the digital era
Shooting on a light box
Understanding high-key post-production
Working with Photoshop layers
High-key HDR
LAB color effects
Backgrounds and textures
Preparing to make floral pigment prints
Tips & techniques from Harold Davis
Implementing one’s own vision
Flowers at School © Harold Davis
Here are what some participants in Harold’s recent Photographing Flowers for Transparency workshops have said:
“Harold is unmatchable! An honor to be able to be able to have him as a mentor…. for photography and for life.”
“AWESOME!!! Harold has a great teaching style, and it was great to learn some new shooting and post-processing techniques.”
“Excellent!!! Recommend to anyone who wants to take their flower art to the next level.”
“Amazing teacher! Patient, knowledgeable, thoughtful and sharing, easy to learn from. Looking forward to many more workshops with Harold! What a total gem… “
Floral Composition © Harold Davis
From Harold’s introductory note to workshop participants:
My belief is that folks learn most when they are hands-on, and having fun. So we will be doing a great deal of flower arrangement and flower photography—and I think along with new ways of seeing, you will learn some techniques, and ways of using your camera, that may not have occurred to you before.
These new approaches are great with flower photography, but also go way beyond floral subject matter, and are really applicable to many kinds of photography.
Besides floral photography, floral arrangement, working on a light box, and various kinds of special lighting effects, we will be exploring high-key HDR, post-production in Photoshop, backgrounds and textures, and LAB color, and much more. As you can see, it will be a very special, busy, and creative weekend!
Click here for more information about this workshop, here for the Photographing Flowers for Transparency FAQ, and here for Harold’s upcoming event, workshop, and destination photo tour schedule. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
Kiss from a Rose © Harold Davis
October 6, 2017
A Tale of Two Flowers
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Some flowers were naughty and some were nice. The question was, would the naughty flowers find their inner goodness and be willing to wilt to save the innocent blossom? Would the madness of the revolting peasants—truly deplorable this time—prevail, or would society pull back from the brink of chaos? Stay tuned, and put your money on the Dahlia or the Sunflower.
These are the kinds of fantasies we amuse ourselves with as we wait for sixty second exposure to conclude, camera on tripod, hardly daring to breath!
Sunflower Central © Harold Davis
Dahlia in Scarlet © Harold Davis
October 5, 2017
Dandelion Center for Triptych
I prepared this black and white split version of a dandelion core for a triptych, with the split black/white version flanked by an LAB inversion of the image on the left and a “straight” version on white on the right. I think the image works well on its own, but you can also see a version of the triptych assemblage as designed at the bottom of this story.
Dandelion Center for Triptych © Harold Davis
Here’s the way I intend the triptych to be displayed (these prints are fairly large) from black through gray to white:
October 1, 2017
San Francisco Sunset from Port Oakland
Yesterday I hosted a Meetup primarily to provide a forum for Rafael of PhotoPills to explain the PhotoPills planning software to interested photographers, and also for the fun of hanging out with fellow photographers. There were old friends and new friends, but first we almost ended before we began, as the original location at Middleshore Park in Oakland was usurped by a concert. Quick on our feet, we changed the location to Port View Park, a short distance away, where we socialized on a pier, listened to Rafael, and photographed the spectacular sunset.
San Francisco Sunset © Harold Davis
Image above: three combined exposures, each exposure at 78mm, f/7.1, and ISO 64, tripod mounted; exposure times 2.5 seconds, 5 seconds, and 8 seconds. Image below: photographed at 300mm, handheld, 1/8000 of a second at f/5.6 and ISO 200.
San Francisco Sunset from Port Oakland © Harold Davis
September 29, 2017
Exploring Cathar Country: Detailed Itinerary Now Available
The detailed itinerary for this photographic pilgrimage into the historic and spiritual world of the Cathars and southwest France is now available. Click here to download the PDF.
Click here for overview information and here for the Reservation Form (early-bird discount applies through November 15, 2017)
In the twelfth century in the part of the world that is today southwestern France, a new set of religious beliefs coalesced and came to be known as the Cathar heresy. The Cathars believed in a supreme being and god of light, utterly unconcerned with matters of this world, and in a direct individual interaction with this god with no need for inter-mediation by the hierarchy of an established religion.
As one would expect, this view was anathema to the Catholic Church. In the early 1200s the church unleashed the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heresy under the aegis of the notorious Simon de Montfort. Power, religion, spirituality, and politics mixed, and by the end of the crusade the formerly independent country of Languedoc was firmly under the temporal sway of the King of France and the religious sway of the Catholic Church.
Pont Vieux, Albi © Harold Davis
Against the backdrop of this romantic and dramatic history, we will explore the ancient centers of Catharism. In Albi, the birthplace of the artist Toulouse-Lautrec, we will walk across the bridge that spans the River Tarn and has been in continuous use for a thousand years, and marvel at the Basilica of Saint Cecile, built as a symbol of religious intolerance. In Carcassone, we will spend time exploring the incredibly romantic reconstruction of a medieval citadel by Viollet-le-Duc.
Carcassone © Harold Davis
Moving into the mountains, from a comfortable base we will explore the crags and remote fastnesses of the Pyrénées-Orientales. No one will ever forget a visit to the melancholy Montsegur, where following a devastating siege, hundreds of Cathars hurled themselves into the abyss or were burnt at the stake rather than renounce their faith, or to the Château de Quéribus, where the last of the Cathars eked out their wilderness survival against a world that seemed to have gone mad.
Château de Quéribus © Harold Davis
Wild, craggy peaks and deep canyon valleys dominate the Pyrénées-Orientales in scenery somewhat reminiscent of parts of the American West. The Pyrénées-Orientales and old Languedoc is a region where the wildness of the landscape and the flavor of Spanish cuisine mingles with traditional French culture to create a unique and very special world apart.
While the primary emphasis of this journey will be photography, we’ll also take the time to learn more about Catharite beliefs, enjoy the unique culture, wild scenery, and cuisine of Cathar Country and the Pyrénées-Orientales.
Château de Saissac © Harold Davis
The detailed itinerary for this photographic pilgrimage into the historic and spiritual world of the Cathars and southwest France is now available. Click here to download the PDF.
Click here for overview information and here for the Reservation Form (early-bird discount applies through November 15, 2017).
Light Box Floral Composition with Sunflowers, Irises, Alstromerias, and Glads
I’ve been taking advantage of my interlude at home (being at home for me has become increasingly rare in recent years and hence an unexpected pleasure) to photograph flowers on the light box. It’s fun doing this surrounded by family, as in “Don’t move, Daddy’s exposing!”
I photographed this relatively complex composition using my Photographing Flowers for Transparency set of techniques in two panels, with six exposures each. In post-production, first I combined the exposures, then I put the two panels together to create the composition.
Floral Composition © Harold Davis
I used an LAB color invert adjustment, and some fairly simple LAB tweaks, to created an inverted version of the original composition, on a black background rather than on white.
Floral Composition Inversion © Harold Davis
What do I do when I am at home fooling around with flowers? Here are some other recent stories: Black Dahlia; Rose Rose in Rose and Black and White; Pretty in Pink; and Flowers for Kwangsik. Also check out Of Beauty and Art, The Long and Winding Road Takes the Path Less Traveled; and an announcement of an upcoming exhibition of my work (opening November 9, 2017).
September 28, 2017
Black Dahlia
Two Dahlias in black and white, photographed on the light box (above) and as an extreme macro (below).
Black Dahlia © Harold Davis
Dahlia Doodles © Harold Davis
September 26, 2017
Rose Rose in Rose and in Black and White
Patterns in these roses intrigued me, and I decide to photograph up close. My “Georgia O’Keeffe” red rose was something of a stylistic inspiration.
Rose Rose © Harold Davis
I started with a macro lens and an extension tube. This worked pretty well, but I soon decided I wanted a little more flexibility, of the sort you can can get with a focusing bellows. Who knew that my old Nikon PB-6 bellows on a rail still worked just fine? There’s nothing really changed about this photographic appliance with the advent of digital, and I have kept mine all these years.
White Rose with a Pink Blush © Harold Davis
I found the PB-6 bellows in a box named “Macro Things”—a surprisingly accurate categorization. After cleaning a little dust from the flanges, I attached the bellows to a tripod, a macro lens to the front, and my D810 to the rear.
By the Light of the Rose © Harold Davis
This session with my roses was so much fun! I couldn’t resist converting some of the images to black and white!
Rose Rose in Black and White © Harold Davis
By the Light of the Rose in Black & White © Harold Davis
Which rose do you like best?
Celebrating 2,000 Members in the Photography with Harold Davis Meetup
We are celebrating passing the 2,000 member milestone in the Photography with Harold Davis Meetup with a free book giveaway: “We are celebrating you—and all the wonderful, creative photographic education, travel, and fun we have had across the years on our way to 2,000 members…”
Click here to learn more, or to post your black and white photo to the event!
Pont Vieux, Albi © Harold Davis
September 24, 2017
The Long and Winding Road Takes the Path Less Traveled!
To fully understand my art and the man behind the lens, one needs to understand the unique path I’ve taken—which is definitely a “Road Less Traveled”—and learn a bit more about who I am. The definition works both ways round: my work in part defines me, and who I am defines, energizes, and bounds my work, and gives my art the power that it has.
In other words, since I have been at it a while, my work as an artist and photographer can be said to be the face I deserve. My work in large measure defines me, although of course I am also a husband, father, and lover of wild things.
Read Behind the Lens with Harold Davis on the Topaz Labs Blog, which I wrote to give some idea of the long and winding path less traveled that I’ve taken to become the artist and photographer I am today.
Road Less Traveled © Harold Davis
