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Mini Tutorial: Creating Impressionistic (painterly) effects with movement.
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Mar 14, 2012 12:05:03   #
ShelterCove Loc: Nowhere, CA
 
Since I already like to make some of my photos painterly, I think these are really cool. So far I've used the filters in Photoshop Elements and a Topaz plug in called Simplify. This is a whole new world. I don't think "sharp" is the point and not only doesn't it bother me, it would negate the effect you have achieved. :)

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Mar 14, 2012 13:30:41   #
Clicker2014 Loc: Canada
 
I am trying to get a handle on Topaz. I downloaded its trial versions. Having a few issues with it, but probably won't have time to figure it out before my time is up. I may order one or two if I do find them helpfull. For now I like my Elements. I hope we can share more of this type of photos/art in the future!

ShelterCove wrote:
Since I already like to make some of my photos painterly, I think these are really cool. So far I've used the filters in Photoshop Elements and a Topaz plug in called Simplify. This is a whole new world. I don't think "sharp" is the point and not only doesn't it bother me, it would negate the effect you have achieved. :)

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Mar 14, 2012 13:35:51   #
docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado
 
jenny wrote:
Ah, docrob,yes,yes,yes! This was why i bought the Minolta 8000i yrs. ago. Top of the line, just to overcome the "insurance of not getting double exposures" that had been built in to prevent them. That camera had not only incredible bursts (not called that then),but included "fade-in" and "fade-out",not merely double exp. but multi...3 to 9,x# of them today and the rest tomorrow etc. When Kodachrome was taken from us i gave up for awhile to go for painting. I am definitely not so much interested in what's in front of a lens, unless it has some good reason such as news or portraits,but rather what else one can do with a camera.Anything,absolutely anything, merely in front of a lens, is basically a "record shot". Thank you so much for sharing my kind of photography with us all.
Ah, docrob,yes,yes,yes! This was why i bought the ... (show quote)


Ahhhh Jenny, please what is "fade out n fade in?" Your words made me curious so i looked the 8000i up and as i read it occured to me that this might be the model of camera that Freeman Patterson uses or used. Freeman is one my mentors if you do not know of him just give him a google.

and yes yes yes to what you said about what else a camera can do - so am more curious - do you still paint?

:-) thank you very much for your sharing and i would love to know about fade in - fade out if you can articulate it :shock:

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Mar 14, 2012 13:41:22   #
docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado
 
ShelterCove wrote:
Since I already like to make some of my photos painterly, I think these are really cool. So far I've used the filters in Photoshop Elements and a Topaz plug in called Simplify. This is a whole new world. I don't think "sharp" is the point and not only doesn't it bother me, it would negate the effect you have achieved. :)


hi. I've seen you around :-) thank you. I don't know Topaz or Elements but i do know that these kinds of images require a certain amount of processing skill and that there are many platforms that allow the user to grow in those skills the more they play and the more they pay - attention to what happens. You do. :thumbup: :thumbup:

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Mar 14, 2012 13:42:05   #
docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado
 
me too! thank you

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Mar 14, 2012 13:55:11   #
jthomas Loc: Lancaster, PA
 
docrob wrote:
Prelude to getting on with it:
I've never written or explained what I do and how I do it and thus how others can start learning how to do it too - if they have a mind too. This last clause is not accidental - one's mental state plays a critical role in creative acts. Earnest Haas (a shoulder all color photographers stand upon) said "I am not interested in shooting new things, I am interested to see things new."

(I have a blog so if anyone's interested pm me and i'll send you there).

There are three basic ways I know of to utilize motion or the appearance of motion in images to create what is loosely called "Impressionistic Photography," and at least one way is camera brand dependent. The Nikon's (I use D200) have a multiple-exposure feature that allows you to dial in 2-10 shoots which will be layered in some way I suppose by the camera to form 1 composite image.

A second way to create similiar effects is by moving the camera and a few people are quite skilled at this way of perceiving and these folks use Canon. A third way is to use a time exposure and simply allow the subject to move as it will.

This is not HDR. None of these methods create HDR like images and cannot be processed the way HDR images are processed but they do tend to require different processing skills which I might share later if there's interest and I can articulate it....

In the sample images below I used the technique of taking in camera multiple exposures to create impressions of a mood, a feeling. The first image (slow day in greenmont) was as follows: Overcast light, light breeze, Birch tree in cemetary, D200 on Tripod; Nikkor 70-300 zoom; 5.6. SS unknown. Set camera to take 9 exposures using JPEG; focus on bark of tree, watch tree, watch leaves realize I have no clue what will happen so I just do it.....Bursts work well and sometimes it pays dividends to pause between shots as well. This was a burst taken as the wind rose over the hill. Timing is always illusive it seems...

# 2 Another burst of 9 exposures as I and this tree stood together on the rim of a mesa with the wind blowing around 30 mph. Contrasty lighting conditions (This and other in camera techniques especially camera /body motion seem to benefit from high contrast scenes). Handheld this time so an image like this becomes truely unreplicable...The tree is moving....you are moving....one can only play and maybe pray that the two will synch up. Sometimes you have to keep repeating till it does or you stop.

#3 Five shots - hand held, shooting straight up into the tree, into the light which is quite bright. I am composing using color, space, and shape. This image has a slight variation in that I am also blurring out the backgrounds and using space and focus to play with the light and the colors. Movement will be added by the tree itself and there is no control over that.

Interesting things occur when you play around with this kind of seeing. It is an approach it is not merely a technique. It is not something that can be well replicated by software applications because one of the very interesting things that you will start to observe is the subtle interplays and dynamics of light. Your pics will have a glow you did not see when you took it. If there is interest I'll try to be more fluent in techno-speak but no promises.

Yeah I know nothing is tack sharp and a question I ask: does it need to be?

Feedback humbly asked for......please
8-) :roll:

feel free to bump me Mr Snarling Wolf if this does not quite add up to what you have in mind.....
Prelude to getting on with it: br I've never writt... (show quote)


docrob: Thanks for all the info and the time to write it out. Maybe I'm not comprehending the obvious but what do you do w/ the multiple exposures if you don't over-lay them as in HDR processing?

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Mar 14, 2012 14:59:21   #
docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado
 
HDR images are 3 or more separate captures of a given scene - each with a distinctly different exposure factor. These images are then put together by a software program.

Multiple exposed images are created in a sense, backwards. Each image is layered onto the previous image in such a way so as to assure a more or less workable exposure such that no single layer dominates any other layer in terms of density (composition is whole nother matter).

Do not however take any of this on faith alone. Try it for yourself if your camera allows - will it?

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Mar 14, 2012 15:30:15   #
hayuya Loc: Glendale, Arizona
 
Ahh! The beauty of photography. Nothing has to be the same always.

Docrob, You and I were thinking about the same effect. But, with different "views". Let me explain; when you were thinking of "impressionistic", I was thinking of "movement".

My thought was, If photographs of water movement are made, why not make the same for other nature subjects. So, I selected the tree (probably the next easiest to water). I just used a slow shutter speed.

Here's a photograph of my view:

The Flowing Nature
The Flowing Nature...

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Mar 14, 2012 16:30:00   #
Dadvin Loc: California
 
Wow! #2 is my personal favorite but all three are incredible Thanks for the lesson.

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Mar 14, 2012 17:13:10   #
Josephus Loc: Los Angeles
 
Thanks. Your pictures are grand and your tutorial intriguing. I plan to experiment with the ideas you present. I look forward to further post. This shot of a pelican was a complete accident. Long exposure of moving bird in limited light.
Josephus



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Mar 14, 2012 17:13:41   #
Josephus Loc: Los Angeles
 
Thanks. Your pictures are grand and your tutorial intriguing. I plan to experiment with the ideas you present. I look forward to further post. This shot of a pelican was a complete accident. Long exposure of moving bird in limited light.
Josephus

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Mar 14, 2012 18:00:19   #
docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado
 
hayuya wrote:
Ahh! The beauty of photography. Nothing has to be the same always.

Docrob, You and I were thinking about the same effect. But, with different "views". Let me explain; when you were thinking of "impressionistic", I was thinking of "movement".

My thought was, If photographs of water movement are made, why not make the same for other nature subjects. So, I selected the tree (probably the next easiest to water). I just used a slow shutter speed.

Here's a photograph of my view:
Ahh! The beauty of photography. Nothing has to be ... (show quote)


Hayuaua - yes! i was just starting to think people should post and you came along and did it. Thank you! That can open stuff up for others I hope.

Exactly - why not?? And your intuition is right on target - trees are easier to start for some reason and you are right you can let the trees / branches/leaves/light dancing as movement occurs all sort of paint itself on the chip. This is a great way to open up to new ways of seeing. Post again if you have something.

thank you for adding to the discussion.

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Mar 14, 2012 19:06:47   #
Clicker2014 Loc: Canada
 
I love this!!! Yes!!

docrob wrote:
hayuya wrote:
Ahh! The beauty of photography. Nothing has to be the same always.

Docrob, You and I were thinking about the same effect. But, with different "views". Let me explain; when you were thinking of "impressionistic", I was thinking of "movement".

My thought was, If photographs of water movement are made, why not make the same for other nature subjects. So, I selected the tree (probably the next easiest to water). I just used a slow shutter speed.

Here's a photograph of my view:
Ahh! The beauty of photography. Nothing has to be ... (show quote)


Hayuaua - yes! i was just starting to think people should post and you came along and did it. Thank you! That can open stuff up for others I hope.

Exactly - why not?? And your intuition is right on target - trees are easier to start for some reason and you are right you can let the trees / branches/leaves/light dancing as movement occurs all sort of paint itself on the chip. This is a great way to open up to new ways of seeing. Post again if you have something.

thank you for adding to the discussion.
quote=hayuya Ahh! The beauty of photography. Noth... (show quote)

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Mar 14, 2012 19:17:20   #
docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado
 
Josephus wrote:
Thanks. Your pictures are grand and your tutorial intriguing. I plan to experiment with the ideas you present. I look forward to further post. This shot of a pelican was a complete accident. Long exposure of moving bird in limited light.
Josephus


yeah accidents happen even when your not trying to allow for them to happen on purpose. Sometimes those accidents - images that we have no memory of taking - are harbingers of some future ways of seeing. Lest that's been my experience but you have to pay attention or at least maintain a level of curiosity...

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Mar 14, 2012 19:23:00   #
jkaye65 Loc: Chico, CA
 
I saw this thread this morning and it intrigued me. So while I was out today I snapped some shots to try this effect. I did try different techniques. For the blossoming tree that I took pics of, I ended up liking the result of using a single shot and copying the layer several times then playing with the layers a bit in photoshop.



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