Summer sucks for photos

[elTwitcho]

Having alot of difficulty adjusting from overcast skies to sunshine and it's associated changes in contrast and saturation and shadow. I pretty much spent the entire winter perfecting my photography under overcast skies, and suddenly conditions are completely different. I love summer, but as far as photography is concerned, this really sucks.

Anyway, just so people don't go thinking I've stopped taking photos, I still do, I'm just not too happy with them. I think in time they'll get better as I get used to it, and it's not necessarily that they're bad, they're just not the kind of look I want at all.

I really need to get that studio set up so I can at least do something on these awful sunny days, hah.

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/59356363.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/59356365.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/59356367.jpg

Hope everyone has been well this past little while as well :)

[Disturbed]

I always love seeing your images Twitch. I gotta agree with you though. This doesnt seem like the kind of stuff that I've associated with you. Not to say it's bad. Just different.

[elTwitcho]

Yeah, I think maybe I'm going to buy a raincoat, wrap my camera in plastic and learn a raindance :)

[Transportithere]

It is not summer yet. It is spring. A time for rain and sun. Don't forget the lawnmower.
Rain and sun, make the lawnmower repair person have a happy day.

[dissembled]

Love the first one.

[Rich Brown Photography]

that first one has a great juxtaposition of elements to make a great composition. I will agree that it is different from stuff that I've seen you do, but i really like the first shot. The others are good, but not as strong as some of the other work you have posted. Keep it up in the sun, you may learn to enjoy it.

[condyk]

Yes, it's all about light eh? The first one I really like. I'm wondering if it's time for you to get a fast MF lens? This will help with the Bokah side and that's all I can fault with number one. The composition is great. Really fantastic spot there. Could be worth an ebay look for a 1.4-2.00 kinda range. My Pentax 1.4 and 1.7 are great as well as the Helios 58mm and Jupiter 85mm f2.0's. You can pick 'em up for silly money. The other two seem more like my straight 'documentary shots' where the point is recording rather than saying anything. But that is fine.

[peacock]

Have you thought of moving to the UK our summer skies are gloriously overcast;)

[delinian]

someone needs to invent a "cloudy sky" filter! lol

[Keiffer]

Rich, Your a very talented Tog and I know you will adapt and rise to the top as you have with your high contrast shots. Adapt quickly please I kinda miss seeing your shots.

[jenne]

I really love your shots but I've really been craving the sunny days. I guess I've got a little more ways to go before my shots under overcast skies turn out anything remotely decent. Any tips would be much appreciated because the weather here has been fluctuating somewhat the past couple of weeks...

p.s. I love the first pic with the tulips... great composition!

[BottomBracket]

Hey Rich, glad to have you back! Yeah, this series of yours is your brightest yet, maybe an ND filter will coax it back to the El Twitcho look. I love the trademark contrast though. Have you gotten an MF lens yet?

[bikerider]

I like the first two Richard.......#1 has a surreal quality about it and yeah a shallow dof would have improved it....#2 the saturation and contrast is striking but not overdone.
Roger.

[Nidz]

You should try living here where I am. You get 4 seasons in 1 day...

[adam*]

Different shots but very well done, nice to have you back rich!

[drisley]

Honestly, I love the contrast in the first two images. I think they are superb, even if you don't :)

[sprinkles]

love the first one :)

[BIGTUFFGUY]

i'd like to know more about the second photo, its flawless!

CP used?

[elTwitcho]

that first one has a great juxtaposition of elements to make a great composition. I will agree that it is different from stuff that I've seen you do, but i really like the first shot. The others are good, but not as strong as some of the other work you have posted. Keep it up in the sun, you may learn to enjoy it.

Thanks. I think the important thing for me is to have a vision of what you want to present, and when you have that you can give 100% percent towards realizing that vision in the photo. It's hard to explain I guess, but I feel like when I have a clear vision for my photos everything complements that vision. In this case, the vision got kind of muddled because it just wasn't going to happen with that lighting how I wanted it to so I think as a result they ended up a little bit weaker than what I'd normally be happy with. Oh well, I imagine I'll learn to adapt, I was just starting to really get into my groove over the winter. Bah.

Yes, it's all about light eh? The first one I really like. I'm wondering if it's time for you to get a fast MF lens? This will help with the Bokah side and that's all I can fault with number one. The composition is great. Really fantastic spot there. Could be worth an ebay look for a 1.4-2.00 kinda range. My Pentax 1.4 and 1.7 are great as well as the Helios 58mm and Jupiter 85mm f2.0's. You can pick 'em up for silly money. The other two seem more like my straight 'documentary shots' where the point is recording rather than saying anything. But that is fine.

I've got a few MF lenses on my "to buy" list, but they're underneath the big boy, which is getting a 5D. Not that the 10D is inadequate for this kind of work at all, if I were sticking to urban shots solely I'd never upgrade, but I'm gonna try and make a run of making money off this crazy hobby doing people shots (contemporary portraiture or whatever you'd call it, basically stuff similar to this (http://www.dpnet.com.cn/column/images/foto_painting_david_lachapelle.jpg) which likely doesn't have a huge market except maybe in magazine spreads. Combine it with naked models and I can think of a few websites that pay well and I can do a better job than half the photogs on it at any rate) and need the extra cleanliness as far as noise is concerned. Street wise, I rather like a little noise in the images, it gives a certain je ne sais quoi ;)

Where was I going with this again...

Oh yes. The other two shots weren't meant as documentary per se, but I can see I didn't communicate the theme properly. I blame the weather ;) I was about to explain the themes just now actually but looking at them again I'm struck with the magnitude of how much I missed the mark. Next time my good man, next time.

Have you thought of moving to the UK our summer skies are gloriously overcast;)

Mmmmm, sounds loverly. That big grey softbox above your head 25 days per month, gets me all tingly just thinking about it to be honest.

Rich, Your a very talented Tog and I know you will adapt and rise to the top as you have with your high contrast shots. Adapt quickly please I kinda miss seeing your shots.

Oh sure, no pressure :lol:

I really love your shots but I've really been craving the sunny days. I guess I've got a little more ways to go before my shots under overcast skies turn out anything remotely decent. Any tips would be much appreciated because the weather here has been fluctuating somewhat the past couple of weeks...

p.s. I love the first pic with the tulips... great composition!

I think people are leery about overcast skies because they aren't too comfortable with photoshop, because I see it like this. Overcast skies are about as low contrast as you can possibly get, and it becomes up to the photographer to put that contrast in where he/she sees fit as a result. An overcast sky is kind of like unsculpted clay in that you can do nearly anything with it because there are no hard shadows, extremely bright spots, everything is nice and nuetral. Straight from the camera yes they are uglier and less dramatic, but they have way more potential to work with. I think it's also worth pointing out too that I guess my personal style evolved to take advantage of overcast lighting as well. When you look at my photos you can generally tell that yes, they were taken under overcast conditions. I like that, some people live for that "golden hour" where the sun is low and they get nice strong sidelighting and golden tones, I personally hate it.

I'm thinking about maybe taking photos in the half hour after sunset when the only light is that bounced down from the sky to adapt to the lack of clouds. It might involve scouting out my locations before shooting them, but it's something anyway.

Hey Rich, glad to have you back! Yeah, this series of yours is your brightest yet, maybe an ND filter will coax it back to the El Twitcho look. I love the trademark contrast though. Have you gotten an MF lens yet?

Yeah I'd thought about a ND filter, but it's more that I need a "low contrast" filter, which I don't know if it's possible or not. I might try blended exposures now that I think about it, I'm sure this is something I'll be able to work around in time at any rate.

I like the first two Richard.......#1 has a surreal quality about it and yeah a shallow dof would have improved it....#2 the saturation and contrast is striking but not overdone.
Roger.

Thanks Roger. They're certainly not bad, but just not maybe what I like photo wise. Almost like I'm looking at someone elses shots rather than producing shots I like as my own. In some aspects it did come together, it's just not quite all there.

Honestly, I love the contrast in the first two images. I think they are superb, even if you don't :)

Thanks Dris :)

i'd like to know more about the second photo, its flawless!

CP used?

Nah, just taken in the opposite direction from the sun when it was low in the sky. I thought it looked circular polarizer-ish as well so I was a bit surprised at the image on my viewscreen when it came out. Truth be told I'm too lazy to bother with filters and such. Thanks for the comment.


And thanks a ton to everyone else who commented as well. You guys are a blast to have looking at my photos

[elTwitcho]

Ah and this photo was an "also ran" from the set. Because it was in the shade it was more to my liking colour/contrast wise, but the framing really sucks and I had to move before I could get a good composition. I think I'll head out again today (it's 5am here) and give it another shot.

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/59544738.jpg