I've added a new page to the gallery this month, which I'm calling Frost Designs.
Here's the story behind it:
Last winter's Polar Vortex dominated the weather news and brought bone-chilling temperatures to most of the midwest, including Mineral Point. I can't deal with really cold weather as well as I used to, so I stayed inside most of the time. It was nice to be warm, but I was upset that I wasn't getting any winter photographs. And then something interesting happened; one of our double-pane windows in the dining room developed a leak which allowed cold, moist air from the outside to seep in and mix with the warmer dry air trapped between the panes. As the outside pane became cooler, the warmer, moister air began to stick to the inside of the pane creating beautifully intricate and delicate shapes and patterns. (At least, that's how I think it worked.) Anyway, Ol' Jack Frost was doing his thing and I was grateful for his assistance. Finally, I thought, I'm going to get some winter photos--and stay warm at the same time!
I began by photographing a large portion of the entire design, as shown in the accompanying photo. After that, I moved in closer to shoot very small areas of the overall design to show the intricacy of Mr. Frost's work. Since I don't have a true macro lens, I used my set of three extension tubes on lenses of various focal lengths, which worked very well for this application. I didn't keep records, but I think most shots were taken with a 28-105mm zoom combined with a 25mm extension tube. This allowed me to fill the frame with an area about the size of a wine bottle cork. That will give you an idea of just how small each original image is.
Altogether I shot more than 200 images over a week's time, eliminated all but about 30 of them, then spent several hours improving those in Photoshop Elements 10. Making improvements was primarily a matter of dodging, burning in, and eliminating spots--things I learned to do many years ago in a real darkroom. I hope you enjoy the results.
Here's the story behind it:
Last winter's Polar Vortex dominated the weather news and brought bone-chilling temperatures to most of the midwest, including Mineral Point. I can't deal with really cold weather as well as I used to, so I stayed inside most of the time. It was nice to be warm, but I was upset that I wasn't getting any winter photographs. And then something interesting happened; one of our double-pane windows in the dining room developed a leak which allowed cold, moist air from the outside to seep in and mix with the warmer dry air trapped between the panes. As the outside pane became cooler, the warmer, moister air began to stick to the inside of the pane creating beautifully intricate and delicate shapes and patterns. (At least, that's how I think it worked.) Anyway, Ol' Jack Frost was doing his thing and I was grateful for his assistance. Finally, I thought, I'm going to get some winter photos--and stay warm at the same time!
I began by photographing a large portion of the entire design, as shown in the accompanying photo. After that, I moved in closer to shoot very small areas of the overall design to show the intricacy of Mr. Frost's work. Since I don't have a true macro lens, I used my set of three extension tubes on lenses of various focal lengths, which worked very well for this application. I didn't keep records, but I think most shots were taken with a 28-105mm zoom combined with a 25mm extension tube. This allowed me to fill the frame with an area about the size of a wine bottle cork. That will give you an idea of just how small each original image is.
Altogether I shot more than 200 images over a week's time, eliminated all but about 30 of them, then spent several hours improving those in Photoshop Elements 10. Making improvements was primarily a matter of dodging, burning in, and eliminating spots--things I learned to do many years ago in a real darkroom. I hope you enjoy the results.
RSS Feed