Sections of Buildings in San Miguel de Allende

The photos displayed in the blog article focus mainly on parts or sections of buildings in San Miguel. While some photos, such as the image below, are clearly understood.  The rest have more of an abstract genre and for these the lines become the main compositional elements.

Within the city, the walls along with the sidewalks are continuous, except for the odd entrance to an inner courtyard or alley way.  In the photo above, this wall is most likely not part of a house, but used more as a high fence to an inner courtyard. Inside could be a rubble heap or a grand garden and fountain. Never knowing what you'll find behind these walls is one of the intriguing aspects of San Miguel.

On the  walls in the courtyard of Bellas Artes (the National Institute of Fine Arts)  these lanterns hang on the abutments on the adjacent walls. The darker brickwork along these abutments were darkened and made more gritter to enhance the texture of the lanterns.

This image is from the same courtyard of Bellas Artes, the photo above with the lanterns, but here I'm looking from across the street and the 3 curved protrusions are form the top of the outer wall.

Atotonilco is a UNESCO world historic site (church) about 20 mi out of San Miguel. It's only a short distance from here to the Hots Springs which is a favourite spot for many people in San Miguel. On Saturdays in the village (50 people)  there are many street vendors  selling unique religious objects.

Within the core of San Miguel is a Bull Fighting Ring. Only a few blocks from the central square (el Jardin) of the town. In the photo above you can just see the top the homes which abut to the walls all around the Bull Ring.  There were no events or spectators on this day and this allowed me to take photos of the beautiful curved lines of a circular bull ring.

While walking around I just couldn't resit this bit of abstraction with the 2 different lanterns and their corresponding shadows.

Niels Henriksen

The Making of a Fine-Art Print 'Man, Lantern and Orange Wall'

I am once again in San Miguel de Allende and for the last 2 weeks I've been like a young boy running around in a large candy shop. It feels great to be back and there have been so many favourite places to visit and most importantly eat some great food.  I have managed to photograph some new scenes and these will be the subject of future articles.

Last year I photographed the image below from the section of the Casa Mission on Cerrada de Pila Seca which is only a walking street that runs behind Cafe Monet. I was initially struck by the strong primary colors, the lantern and its shadow and the texture on the wall, but when I printed it, it seemed to lack something to give it extra punch. Some extra texture.

Man, Lantern and Orange wall   12” x 16.5”

Final image with texture added

I tried several generic textures that I had on file, mostly splatter type patterns but none provided the effect that I wanted. Not that I knew what I wanted but I felt that when I saw it, it would feel right.

From the article title you may wonder about the man. If you look closely at the image you should be able to see a man walking in amongst tall bare trees and their branches. It is subtle and that's what I wanted but it's there in the image. Only by accident, I decided to try other B&W images that were actual images. I came across one image with a man walking amongst tall trees and when I overlaid on colorful wall image it worked for me.

In the detailed close-up below the man becomes clearly visible.

The print I made is 12” by 16.5” and to all I showed the print, no one could see the man. In fact, several people showed other areas that they thought was man, which became an added twist to the print.

The overlay photograph is shown below.

A fine-art photograph is about what inspires you. It not about what others are doing with their art or what people think is right or wrong.

Don't be intimated with experimenting or concerned that others don't get it. If you like the results and it provides meaning for you then it's a perfect piece of art work.  With so many people on the planet you can be sure that there will be some that find your work inspirational.

When I printed my final proof photograph which I keep around to ensure that my impressions don't change, one was immediately spoken for.

This photograph is printed on 300 gram, 13” x 19:, Ilford pearl paper. Usually, I tend to print on textured fine-art matte/watercolor paper but this image called for more vibrancy in the colours.

My prints are limited within a series and these are normally sets to 5. If I do another series they will be different in some form, either paper selection and other tonal attributes or printed larger. But any future series will  be sold  at a price that is higher by a reasonable margin than the highest price for the previous series.

2 prints, unframed,  are currently available at the

Orange Gallery   near the Parkdale market in Ottawa

It's just a coincident that the major color of this print and the art gallery are the same.

Niels Henriksen

Giant Flying Saucer Cloud

The sky and especially cloud, stormy being the best, have always held a special interest for me.

There is something about their majesty and untold patterns that can form and re-form as the wind passes before you.

Sometimes they are downright scary and deadly and at others more cerebral and safe which works well for a photographer.

On a late summer evening with several rain squall line moving through, there came with the last a giant thundercloud. It wasn't until it was passing and with evening side-lighting that the grandeur of the cloud became apparent.

2 images combined. Each image at 18mm (27mm @ 35mm equ)

From the backyard and out over the fields, it looked like a giant flying saucer with the pillars at the edges of the spacecraft.

The cloud was about 10km (6mi) across, which I also confirmed later from the radar.

It was hard to get a full unrestricted view, as smaller clouds would drift underneath. The cloud's scale was only revealed as different parts became visible over time.

I also took many overlapping images of this cloud at 65mm (100 @ 35mm equ) so that one day I might print a large version of this. Somewhere about 17 ft at 240 dpi, at least in theory.

The above image is made from 2 of the zoomed sections and show the pillar-like cloud texture from the top right of the saucer cloud.

Below is another closeup of an area that is just right of the middle tree top (1st image) and below. This cloud had so many areas with different types of textures and patterns that it would be lost in a web image. It would need to be printed very large for a viewer to appreciate all facets.

I warmed (yellow) the lighter portions and cooled (blue) darker sections of the cloud to increase the visual contrast.

And just to the right of the above image, there was another area that appeared to be like streamers raising from the ground.

I enjoy clouds and I have quite a collection of clouds in all shapes, sizes and intensity.  When I look and subsequently photograph clouds, I enjoy the freedom of not being bound by preconceived items and therefore, I can explore their forms more.

Niels Henriksen

10 Great Photography Projects – The Assortment or Grab Bag List

This is the last article in the series of 10 great photography projects. This final article is not so much a project but a list of challenges that can be project-like if approached with the intent of learning about photography, skills and the art of seeing.

Photography should be a life long passion of constant learning and exploration. If you are continually doing the same types if photo styles such just walking around and capturing interesting images then your learning opportunities quickly diminish.

With the previous articles I hope that you may have found a challenge or interest that you might choose in the hopes of pursuing something new. If not I hope this list may find more interest with you.

The key to growth is just to keep doing what you are doing and at the same time to always have opportunity (challenges) for growth.

I have several photography projects underway this year, first and foremost is SoFoMoBo that kicks off in June. Challenging but definitely rewarding.

Next, and this project derives itself from sitting too long in a spot (backyard patio) and getting strange ideas, is about the scenery around you. Just over the hedge are 4 birch trees that always seem to get my attention. I have decided to do a year long study of those 4 birch trees in all light, seasonal weather and other climatic changes. All the same in framing but each at a different time. Then select 12, not necessarily monthly, photos to convey a time story of these trees.

Taken with the setting sun hitting the left face only

This image, viewed on the computer, may not seem more than a bunch of fine squiggly lines. The final image (12,000x9,000 pixels) is a composite of many more detailed images such as the photo below shows. The section is from the birch tree just right of centre and going up the left wavy branch to where the branches start. When printed full size, if I ever decide to make this set, they would be approx 4 ft by 3 ft'. This is a very good size to observe all the fine details.

I will also be looking into a collaborative photo book production, not with photos but the written word. This one may slip into next year.

A List of Ideas

Tell a Story in 10 or 'X' number of photos

If its true that a photo is worth a 1,000 words then 10 photos should make a story, at the very least a short story.

With only 10 or any number photos, but ideally the number should be decided before you start, develop a story that viewers can take away by just observing the set of images. No titles or any descriptions to give the thread away. Ask viewers to describe, in a sentence or two, their thoughts or feelings they have about the set of photos.

Web – Blog Project Contests

The web is full of many interesting nooks and crannies and in some of these corners there are great opportunities to challenge yourself and even measure your skills against others. They are not prefect but each site seems to have its own preferred tastes.

DPChallenge has about a dozen challenges a month. Some are free and some are closed to paying members.

Fred Miranda runs both weekly and monthly challenges.

Digital Photography School (DPS) while not only being a great provider of photography related information also runs numerous challenges and weekend projects.

Epic Edits by Brian Auer is another wonderful resource blog has run challenges.

Life and Learning through the Lens by Darwin Wiggett has run several photo contests and takes the time to display daily on blog the entries with a photographer's description.

PhotographyBB runs monthly assignments as well as providing and in-depth monthly e-magazine.

PhotoChallenge.org has 4-week themes and monthly challenges.

I spent an hour photographing a potted Hydrangea plant with a zoom and a macro lens. In this image, I like the full range of tones from blue through to magenta and how they seem to be gently floating.

Several Images of macro Hydrangea plants were combined into Photoshop and by adjusting the blend mode of layers and sometimes inverting the colours...very unique patterns emerge.

Collage and overlays

If you have the use of digital photo-editing tools with layer capabilities, such as Photoshop or GIMP, then try combining or blending the layers together to create new composite or collages. You can blend texture into areas or even add new sections from other images. It's easy and fun with no preset rules. Just the imagination and time to play.

Slide Show to Music

In some ways, this is similar to the "tell a story in 10 photos" but with this version, the goal is to link a series of images to a musical score or song. There should be some harmony (a pun) between the photos chosen and the music.

Video

Why not try some video compilations. As a photographer we, through many techniques, try to convey a sense of motion, action or drama from a still image. Not always easy.

Find a video recording device, preferably portable and create video sequences. Intersperse stills with video clips.

B&W

If you are primarily a colour photographer, then for a period of time only shoot Black and White images. This is not the same as taking a colour image and converting to B&W but where you choose a scene or subject beforehand because of its B&W characteristics.

B&W, because there is no colour information being presented to the viewer, is even more about the compositional elements such as lines, curves, tones, negative spaces and all those other good design decisions.

Purposely photographing in this manner will help you better focus and compose images with those design decisions in mind. Colours, while wonderful in their own right, can bias your views on what makes a good subject and can cause you to miss those other important elements.

One again I hope that some of you will have found and idea or variation on a theme in this series that you want to pursue. I find that when it comes to learning projects at least artistic ones that there is really no right and wrong with outcomes. It should be more like you have a sandbox (a frame) and a rake (texture) and just playtime. Who cares how it looks.

Niels Henriksen

For about a month I have been without Photoshop program. The older CS3 version was not migrateble to Windows 7 and I didn't want to buy CS4 since CS5 was due to be out in a short while. I was able to confirm that the CS4 64-bit version worked well but the trial period has been over for a while and I just sit and wait patiently. Since all files are in NEF, its a problem to get a converter. I did try Ufraw that is supposed to integrate with GIMP. But had driver problems.

10 Great Photography Projects - Create Photos that Nobody likes

Create these photographs on purpose, not by accident. There is a standard easy route and it is enjoyable to create good expectable photos that everyone admires. But do they really speak to what drives you as an artist? Find a subject, theme, or whatever and develop images that speak to you and that others just don’t understand. When this happens, you are creating your own art and this art is not always to be consumed by the masses.

Difficulty: harder than you think. There is this voice, or is it many, that seem to constantly guide to the safe and predictable routes.  Find the rebel voice and create your art. This means breaking the rules about composition. If you want subject small and in the center because it speaks about the isolation then this is what works for you.

The image below, while it does have shape and it may make you wonder about form, is all about the texture of the veins on the dead leaf.

Wings

Some banana leaves had dried on my indoor tree. The leaf had great texture but with the house background, didn’t work well.

This is a close up of leaf against interior wall before conversion to B&W above. The little bit of colour on wall is from a rainbow prism in window.

These new types of photos are meant for you and you alone. Freeing you from any sense of confinement or limit imposed by those wonderful masses.

At this stage you are no longer bound by standard convention of what is acceptable but by what drives your passion and creativity. You will be surprised that after a period of time, a theme or good collection of photos will emerge that you could probably hang in a gallery.

Rust on Water Wheel

I once asked a local junkyard owner (purveyor of historical charm) if I could photograph objects around the yard.   So much metal, rust, wooden objects and basically odd parts that it was like a candy store for kids.

To make this effort into a project, produce 10 final photos that you enjoy for whatever reason or desire.  The objects you are photographing could, because of the texture, patterns, lines and shapes, have hidden meanings and as a set it might unveil something. Take the image below as an example, which is some grate work in that refurbishing yard.

Grate Covers

There is a reaction I get from the pattern of lines and elongated holes. The split between the top 2 grates and the different texture of each create disharmony.

Round rings in rocks

The ring patterns formed in the Ottawa River, which were originally stone pillars, eroded down over the eons.

One of the challenge sessions at my camera club was to produce 10 photos on the word ‘Dark”.  The photo below was from one of the set and showed the handle on my old but still working barbecue. It doesn’t have to be pretty to fit a theme.

Black Barbecue

How about looking at a scenery from a different perspective.

The photo below is looking up at one beam of a steel covered train bridge.

Bridge with Many Angles

Some images, as with the blue coloured tubing and ceiling, if shown to your friends, they may politely say interesting or neat, but I am sure they just don’t comprehend why I might find this an interesting photograph.

Blue Industrial Ceiling

Even landscapes, done at what may seem resembling bad lighting, can have their own compelling moods.

Many Colours on Fall Pond

Niels Henriksen

Photographer Showcase

Darrell Larose

A Good friend and long time member (webmaster) of the Camera Club of Ottawa has now finally transitioned to the photo blogging sphere.  He does great portraiture photography and his latest articles demonstrate his talent.

The eyes have it

Human Form (note: nude content)

10 Great Photography Projects - Copy-Cat

Difficulty: hard to get every element the same.

This work involves copying and learning from another artist’s works. Not to claim it as your own but to learn, to really learn how the image was created. If possible find a photographer that inspires you and select a collection of images (5-10) that have a style, a theme or any focal interest that truly inspires you.

Copy them. Try and copy them perfectly if you can, so you almost can’t tell the difference.

The key here is to take notes, have a journal, to record the shoot and events around it.
Include some of the photos in your notes and mark these up with differences or parts that work and record why.  Normally it’s the lighting that causes the biggest discrepancies especially in the mid-tones and shadows. Sometimes it’s the camera and lens combination that make it hard to duplicate.

It may look easy to duplicate an image but it is a lot harder to get it right in all aspects.

If the photographer is still living, contact him or her to let them know of your desire to learn that style of photography. Don’t forget to inform them that no image will be displayed publicly or made available for distribution in any form.

Always respect copyright and when publishing your own photos do give recognition to where the ideas came from.

If you are photographing out doors, landscapes, then it can never be the same and sometimes if you love the Rockies and live in the Australian Outback well, good luck.

This year I will try and copy the style of one genre of photos by Michael J. Carl.
The images I came across are in the Silver Shotx  Folio 2009 magazine (page 17).




There are some really interesting photos in that edition. Get a copy and take a look.

I need summer time to get some images of Hostas as I can’t seem to find them under the snow right now.

The above images are not intentionally related but an attempt to show how one image of the Japanese gates could be related to the red poles of the Ottawa transit station if trying to achieve a red receding vertical pattern.








Niels Henriksen

Next Project - Digital Play

Obsession, Madness or Just Good Photography

The other day, while sitting on the back patio enjoying the late warmth in November, I saw this singular leaf sitting on the patio stones. You might rightly think, “well this is fall, what do you expect?” but there was something different.

It could be that the leaf was all alone but what really caught my eye was these huge rain drops sitting on top and from the angle I was looking, each drop radiated brilliant crystalline light.

The sky was lightly overcast and the droplets where reflecting the bright white sky in my direction. As I moved around the leaf the droplets would change from a silvery white to magnifying (like a lens) the patterns and textures contained under the droplet.

I wonder if I could make something wonderful with my camera and ran inside to get the camera. There have been times when I have waited too long to go back to photograph an item, only to find that the conditions have changed and it was, now, no longer possible.

There was nothing really unique about the leaf or the stone background in itself, to make an interesting composition. I decided maybe with some close-up shots I might be able, with unique perspective, to capture an interesting composition.

With that view in mind I grabbed my tripod and 90mm Tamaron Macro lens.

With the aid of a cushion, I explored every inch of that leaf and probably did it several times over. It was until I was finally finished that I realized that I had taken 313 images.

This is where the title links in. Was this an obsession or just good work on my part?

As yet, I don’t know. To be fair to myself, I was shooting macro mode and therefore focused incrementally over all parts of the leaf, in case I wanted to combine them into one clear image with greater DOF.

I wanted to create the effect of a snowstorm in a globe that contrasted against the delicate and muted tones of the rest of the leaf.

I did 3 different scans with the camera over the leaf and few others for artistic effect.

The one good part is that while the shooting was going on I was completely lost in my world, exploring different angles and lights and that alone was fun.

Now, what to do with all the images. I have learned not to be too obsessed with previously taken images. One day I may find a good reason to dust them off. I just need that brilliant idea to mirror with the right images.

I enjoyed playing around with changing the colours of the drops.

For this set, I decided to select a few and see what I could do with them as I am not sure that they will all stand on their own without some retouching. There are interesting patterns and textures and in some parts, subtle colour transitions.

This is part of what makes photography interesting for me.

Niels Henriksen



Related Articles

How to adjust any color without effecting other colors.
Adjust any Colour of the Rainbow with Blend-If type Sliders

Sun, Earth and Moon Composite

First I want to mention and support a fellow photographic blogger Damien Franco of ‘Your Photo Tips Blog with the launch recently of his endeavour to open a new sharing forum for photographers called Exposure . Not only is this a great place to learn and share from others but also there will be 8 prizes given away with this launch.

I have become a member and I encourage you to join so we can all learn and enjoy photography from each other.

My Giveaway of 2 Signed Prints

Well it’s now September and as I stated in a previous articles, I will be giving away 2 signed prints of your choice by random selection. All that you have to do is leave a comment in any article published in the month of September that lets me know you want a free print. You do need to mention the word ‘print’ so that I don’t confuse a comment with a spam comment. If you don’t feel comfortable with a public comment then please contact me via email.

I will be collecting the requests during the entire month and at the end of September I will, with the aid of a random number generator, select the 2 winners. These will be shipped for free to anywhere in the world (I hope you are not in an Antarctic station right now) in a tube container.

The images will be your choice and up to a size of approximately 13in x 19in on archival paper. The prints will be signed but un-numbered as they will not be from my limited edition series of which there are only a few now.

You can either view the images I have on various sites and select one or if you wish, I will ask if you have any preferences and select sample images for your review.

Back to Sun, Earth and Moon Composite



In the fields I saw these flowers in several stages of opening to the full flower and one particular set reminded me of the planets with the Sun Earth and its Moon. I decided to take an image of each flower against a black backdrop and combine them as a composite.

I tried to do a similar image with the original flowers in situ but because of their short stature (8 inches high) and their various lengths of growth I was not successful in sufficiently blurring the grass and having all flower tops crisp and in focus. The image below shows these plants as found.


With this tripod setup I did take an image with each flower in focus and then another set progressively blurring the grass below. I thought I might be able to create a semi-real image with sharp flowers and blurred grass but when working on the images I soon realized just how much work it would be to finalize an image. The main problem was trying to blend in the different stalk DOF blurs into a realistic image.

Even the black background version took 2 hours with a Photoshop file of 250Mb and containing 16 layers.

I have a drop cloth that I use while painting and I tried a few with this as the background instead of the black as shown below.


While there is interesting texture I don’t think it was going to work as well in a 3-image composite. As I am accumulating more and more paint on this drop cloth I realize that this will form a very interesting abstract background that I can use for photography.

If you know a professional painter, you may buy him or her a drop cloth to use and wait a few months to collect your new background photographic cloth.

Blog Subscriptions

If you are not already a Blog subscriber but like to know when a new post is available then please subscribe in one of the blog readers or with the convenient method of receiving these articles via email. Just click on one of the subscription modes in the top of the screen and it will take you through the process effortlessly.

Niels Henriksen

Painterly Effect with Photo Enhancement Techniques

While deciding on an image to work on and achieve something special, I remembered a scene while in Copenhagen this spring. It was early morning and there was this lovely textured stucco wall in the dappled light with bicycles, benches and an old oak tree (at least some majestic type).

In reviewing file archives, I found that I had only taken 4 images in the entrance square to the Frederiksberg castle grounds in Copenhagen. Of the 4, there was only one that caught my eye. I now wish I had spent at least a couple of hours, if not all day, here to watch how the sun changes the light in the courtyard and how reflected light modifies the local colours.

The scene is interesting enough with good texture and detail but I wanted something more atmospheric of this place. The approach I took was to deviate from a photograph look and experiment with more layers made up of pieces of the original image. I wasn’t sure where, exactly, I was going with the outcome but it was fun just to watch as I adjusted the modes of the new layers.

The image below is the version that I like best in trying to achieve a glowing watercolour rendition. A light cream-coloured, watercolor textured paper would even soften some of the lines a bit more.

Click to see 1024 pixel image

In working with Photoshop or other pixel-editing tools you have key choices of color, contrast and edges. The effect I was after was to soften the image and add some glow while for some essential edges, enhance contrast to give extra texture and definition.

Duplicating the base layer, increasing its size by 25 pixels on each edge and then doing a gaussian blur of 5 pixels would achieve the glowing effect (faux Orton effect). The final effect accomplished by setting the blurred adjustment layer was set to overlay mode and add a curves adjustment layer, attached directly, to fine-tune contrast adjustments within the image. Then opacity to taste.

I wanted various ranges of detail texture so, to achieve this I duplicated the base layer 3 times. Each of these 3 layers received a different gaussian amount of 5, 10 and 25. I then ran the Photoshop pencil effect on each of the different blurred images. As you blur more then fine lines start to disappear and others become stronger. This would give me possible overlays or masks from fine to strong detail to hand-tune different parts with detail.

With each of the 3 edge contrast layers I would step through the adjustments from Darken to Hue adjustment and observe the effects. If there was a section that interested me, I would mask it in and move on to the next layer and once again step through the various modes.


In the above photo image I like the pairing on the contrasting analogous colours (the orange wall, red hydrant and violet bike) being complimentary of the green foliage colours and the cool shadows and it’s these contrasts that I tried to magnify in the first enhanced version.

I now realize that there are so many more images from different angles and lighting, but it’s now so far away.

The 6 images below show the experimentations and progress towards the final version.


Do click image for a full size image or 1600 x pixels for the various versions I went through.

The changes affect the green leaves, window detail and detail and colour of shadows on sidewalk. The final image (first in this article) is made using the bottom right image on colour mode to the middle image top row.

Maybe you like one of these better.


Niels Henriksen

Blog Award and Photographs that You Need to Explore

I was very honoured last week to receive the ‘noblesse oblige’ Blog award from what I consider to be a very fine artist.





Life can seem strange in a good sense at times. Here is a blogger and artist whom I always visit to see his inspirational works of art and at the same time obtain motivation for my own creative juices. With this award from I now surmise that Lorainn finds my own artist interpretations, mostly with a camera, in a similar vein.

Do visit his site loriann signori's painting-a-day as he has an excellent impressionistic approach to rendering landscape scenes. This is a fluid style that I hope to one day to be able to render in my own approach. Even on the web, which tends to dull vibrancy at bit with the sRGB colour space; his images are vibrant and alive. I can only imagine that to stand in front of the original works, the colours must just sing.


With the 2nd pat of the article title I hope to present some images that encourage the viewer to spend some time to take in all the elements. I’ll discuss my approach to creating interest and maybe one or two will create this effect for you.

Many viewers at first glance, especially if you’re looking for that ‘wow factor’, the above image may not grab a hold of you the right way.

If you do take the time to examine and reflect you will realize that this image has many compositional elements that does keep your eyes moving over the scene and that is what many of us try to achieve in our photographs. Wow is great but with my own tastes, this can become boring quickly and an image that causes me to take in the features is one I enjoy more.

At first you see the strong diagonal lines created with the cast showdown of the roof structures. The line of square box shape shadows form diagonal columns, which is repeated with the shape of the brick column. Next the sun lit part of these columns form triangles pointing back to the shadow patterns where texture and colour are strongest. The green bushes support the patterns of the light rectangular patterns and colour is complimentary to the Reddish (orange) brickwork.
The left and right side of the image has darker objects that help frame the pattern. At first, the viewer may be left wondering in what setting this was taken but upon closer inspection you will notice that on the right in the dark recess is a patio with tables and chairs.


The above image is simpler with its harmonious colour scheme. The focal point is the lamp and the texture on the grey pipe, but I am not sure if that is what the eye goes to first. I do find that the lower right pane in the window on the red wall does hold my interest. Working on an image, you sometimes tend to loose your own first impressionistic instincts. There is texture and lines on the left, which is repeated on the red wall but here, there are dark areas to explore and maybe gaze inside these rooms.


In this image, I enhanced the blue/grays of the bridge to compliment the yellow/greens of the distant sunlit area. I also wanted to create a little mystery with the blue cast of the shadow to make you wonder about going over the bridge.


The above bicycle image is fun on many levels. The blue and yellow are complimentary colours, and also, the red and green pair. The red of the bicycle is re-enforced with the red in reflections and on the signs. The strong reflection in window almost creates a portal down another street, like you are on an intersection, which is not apparent just seeing the store front.


I hope you enjoyed the images and the attempt to create a little mystery or intrigue with each of these photographs.


Niels Henriksen

Photographing Black Objects

We were visiting the Vemork Hydroelectric Plant in Rukan, Norway which is now a museum. This is the site were the allies in WWI tried to destroy because the Germans were producing heavy water during the war.

In a previous article, Your Body of Work or Life Long Project , I discussed the train that was sunk on the ferry carrying the heavy water back to Germany. See link

Off camera flash. Blue colour added as a layer in Photoshop and set to color mode and the copper items masked-out Blue and orange are complimentary colours and I wanted to create contrast and conflict with this image. There are lovely tones and shapes in the blue areas and the 2 copper items disrupt these patterns and almost don’t seem to fit.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the hydro plant tour but I thought we would see more of the inner workings of the whole plant, maybe down the water tubes and other good tunnels and underground workings. This was not the case as we first saw a 12 hour film (British movie about the mission to destroy the plant) and then a tour guide explaining about the processes and equipment for electricity generation.

Being an electrical engineer I did not need a repeat of previous general course material and went off to film the generators in the other half of the large singular room. The photo below shows the area I was exploring while others were listening to the museum guide.


The room has very many windows facing the cliff side, which was now in the shade and therefore, no direct light striking any surfaces and thereby creating very large dynamic range from pure black to white, which would make it even harder to show any details in the image.

I only had about a half hour to shoot before the gang moved on. For these types of scenes that are new, complex to shoot and contains a lot of detail, I would have liked to spend at least an hour to walk around and visually inspect all the nuts, bolts and other doodads before planning what to shoot. I think there could have been a nice theme developed if I had the time as opposed to shooting a bunch of what may be interesting views but no connection.

Shooting black objects, unless it is documentary in style, will tend to focus on the abstract in design. There is not much colour available and at best you are probably only going to capture any reflected colours in the objects.


Off-camera flash set on the ground and to my right. The light from window was not striking this area and I wanted more contrast in objects and lines.

I decided to use my SB-800 off-camera and wirelessly triggered in the hope that these extra reflections on the shinny black generators would give more interest.


I would lay my flash all over the place on any other piece of equipment to see what kind of effects this would give.

One thing I did notice is that when the flash was behind me, there was not always enough reflected trigger flash from the camera to overpower the ambient light and the flash would not fire.


Photographing black objects is not much different than photographing any other object but there are a few hints that will make every shot more likely to be successful.


Correct Exposure

First, your camera, whether shooting RAW or Jpeg, will want to make everything mid grey. This means that if your image is mostly black with no specular highlights, it will turn the black object a nice mid grey. This is less of a problem with digital cameras as it is easier with digital editing to lower tones as this doesn’t introduce noise as opposed to white objects when you have to increase tones.

The downside, if not corrected, is that some of the information is lost when clipping occurs.

Camera RAW is very forgiving and in many situations any exposure and colour temperature corrections can be adjusted later.


Do check the histogram if you can. If the subject is shinny then it is ok to have some of the highlights clipped if these are only the edge or point reflections from light source.

Normally reducing by 1 ½ (-1.5ev) to 2 (-2.0 ev) stops should cover most situations.

Colour Temperature

Is the black object you are capturing really black? Black is not really a colour but the absence of colour. This can be achieved by no or little light coming from a coloured object or it could be painted black. I know from my oil painting experience when I lighten what are labelled as black paints with white I get nice blue, greens and browns.

If there is no reasonable areas of reflected light source, your camera may interpret some of the lighter black tones with a colour cast due to the true black colour.

This image has 2 light sources, Bounce flash on the left, which gives natural tones to rust and the blue sky light from the right which adds blue highlights to those edges.


Artistic Merit

For a lot of black items, the focal point will be the abstract lines created by the sources of light striking the object.

Taking images of mechanical or even architectural features may be great if that is your passion but for many others it can be boring if they are not connected in a theme or story. These individual images, since they are not ravaged by time, do not tell a story in themselves but only by connecting them together is a story told.

The direction of bare rock outcropping and shadows help to re-enforce the downward direction of the cascading water. By having the trees block some the bottom of the water we are not completely drawn out of the scene.

What is not apparent from this image is that the waterfall is less than half of the canyon wall. These canyons are very deep.

The power plant is situated half way up the canyon walls and this image captures some of the houses on the other side of the valley that are built precariously (at least for those venturing out late on a dark night) on nooks and outcroppings along steep cliffs.

Niels Henriksen