en plein air

[Dennis Bishop]

This image of an artist painting at an en plein air art festival was taken the same day as the last post (kayaks and sailboat) but several hundred yards farther east along the southern shore of Lake Erie. This is one of only a handful of photos I've shot in the last 10 or 15 years with a person anywhere to be seen, let alone featured. (Permission granted by the artist.)

nine exposure HDR at 1 EV intervals
Nikon D3s, f/22, ISO 2500, zoom lens at 50mm

processing

• Photomatix tone mapping to achieve a good histogram
• Adobe Camera Raw -- some darkening of highlights, a bit of clarity, and some tweaking of color saturation and luminosity
• Select>Color Range . . . to change the color of the clothing of some people on the pier
• evicted a water bottle that was on the fold-down part of the easel blocking part of the saucer
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- Oil Paint largely masked off artist and painting
• Nik Color Efex -- Darken/Lighten Center with the same mask
• Curves -- custom lightening layer
• Curves -- Lighter preset masked to some extent everywhere but mostly over artist, easel, and painting
• Warming Photo Filter adjustment layer (Wow, what a difference . . .)
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- Stylize Line Art b&w at Multiply blend mode masked partially off artist and painting
• Fractalius -- b&w preset based on Sketch at Multiply blend mode masked partially off artist
• gradient vignette partially masked off bottom

[denise ippolito]

Dennis, I think all of the filters you used added just the right touch to the overall effect which BTW I love. The tree frames the scene nicely.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dennis, I'm in the same boat when it comes to photographing people and I just did the same thing at a Plein Air Paint-out in Kanapaha Gardens. This gives me lots of ideas on the one image that I took that I was semi-pleased with. It is the perfect combination of filters and techniques and I love it

[Nancy Bell]

This is really lovely and I like the perspective of looking over the painters' shoulder and capturing what she is capturing. You work the filters with the same expertise that the artist works her brushes.

[Judy Howle]

I too like the perspective of looking over the artist's shoulder, creates a splendid composition. Excellent processing as always!

[Hazel Grant]

Yes, I'll explore this technique. May I ask, because such an idea has always confused me...why, if the artist is not identifiable, did you have to get permission to take this photo? Was it a legal concern or simply courtesy?

[Paul Lagasi]

Very nice composition, I am drawn to the canvas....well done

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . May I ask, because such an idea has always confused me...why, if the artist is not identifiable, did you have to get permission to take this photo? Was it a legal concern or simply courtesy?

I've never tried to figure out why newspapers can publish photos of anybody but commercial photographers need a model release. I just asked her -- and a couple other painters -- if it was okay to take the photos (no model release). They all seemed quite flattered. This one asked me to e-mail her a copy, which I was more than glad to do. I wasn't concerned about posting this image without a release because I figured she's unidentifiable.

[Hazel Grant]

Thanks, Dennis. I think that is what I would have done. I don't think if the person is identifiabe, that there would be a problem, but I know that there is a release and I've been confused about that. Then, there's the problem of photographing people around the world, that person in India, etc that is a great closeup when you get home but, what to do re release? I wonder how National Georgraphic photographers do that????:)

[Bob Miller]

Dennis....i like your perspective idea ...very clever!