The drive into Spearfish from Douglas was relatively short (about 200 miles and less than four hours). The drive is very nice. The last sixty or so miles are in the Black Hills National Forest and the final few miles are through Spearfish Canyon, which offers many great views. JD and I were the last to arrive. Sandy had driven from Cincinnati, Ohio, Alice and Sue had driven from Evansville, Illinois and Tim had flown-up from Florida.
Upon arriving, everything was normal. My two sisters were in the kitchen making sure that they had everything the night’s dinner and my three brothers were in the back room playing their guitars.
Here, I would like to plug my brother Steve’s guitar shop—Black Hills Guitar. It is a great guitar shop with a lots of character. Steve and his three fellow instructors have a full teaching schedules. In addition, Steve does guitar repair. The shop has lots of great little things to photograph and definitely worth a visit if you are ever in Spearfish.
The lighting in the back room of the cabin was great—soft, even lighting everywhere. Naturally, the camera came out and naturally, I had to hear from everyone something like: “You are not going to stick that thing in my face every two seconds. Are you?” My response was: “Of course not!” I then started sticking the camera in everyone’s face.
Today’s photo is of Sandy’s hand while he plays a “too-much-guitar for-me” from Steve’s shop. In this photo I wanted the focus to be Sandy’s hand and its reflection. I wanted all the background colors to be soft and muted, so I set my aperture to f/3.
Enjoy.
Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8, shot at ISO 1,600, f/3 and 1/125th of a second.
Post Processing: Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity, cloned a few hot spots out and adjusted the saturation of red, orange and yellow.
Nice shot with a great muted color pallet and soft focus - job well done. Sounds like a great time at the cabin to me.
ReplyDeletePleasing colors, simple framing and a photo that evokes emotion, even without a back story. Though the back story is always a nicely added touch.
ReplyDeleteHow about black and white? Did you try it?
ReplyDeleteI like everything about the shot except for the color (and that could be my monitor) becasue I see a blue cast to his fingertips and nails that distracts me a little. Its very minor but I saw it (or thought I saw it) even on the small version of the photo. Lots of good things to like about the shot as is though!
Cheers!
Barry
Mr. Cropman, I cannot believe that I am actually suggesting an alternative crop to you. Did you consider cropping the image closer to Sandy's hand? I like the colors in the background and the bokeh, but I do not think it adds to the story.
ReplyDeleteGood focus and use of depth of field.
Anne
In retrospect after seeing Anne's comment, a square crop would work better for me also. In reference to Barry's comment, I think there is a reflection from something casting that color onto the guitar. This is what I believe makes the fingers in the relection look bluish. I guess I didn't note it until his comment, but it doesn't bother me.
ReplyDeleteDHaass
People. Yes, there might be a little blue cast in the tips of his fingers, but I think you need to look at the rest of his fingers. There is no blue cast there. If you have a blue cast in only one part of an image, it must because of the light reflecting from the guitar's surface. Do you want Larry to remove a cast that would be there normally? Personally, I think you all are making much to do about nothing.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Anne, a little different crop may make it a stronger image. Surprise she got you on this one, Mr. Cropman.
Ted