Toluu

Digital ProTalk

David's latest images, tips, techniques, and news for Digital Photography, Photoshop & Lightroom

"Artist Among Friends"Today

"Artist Among Friends"
©David A. Ziser

This image was made for this gentleman as a part of a special portrait series. His specific request was that the kids in his inner city art class be represented in the image as well. I managed to get them arranged randomly and comfortably in the background, climbed a fairly tall ladder (it had to be a vertical portrait), brought the light in from the left, balanced the flash with the ambient exposure, and shot away. I think the shot tells a great story but most importantly I superseded his expectations and he loved the finished image. Camera specs; Canon 5D fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 24mm, F7.1 @ 1/80 second, ISO 800. Enjoy! -David

Heads-Up Wednesday: No Photos In Westminster Abbey & The Analysis Of A Wedding Shoot - Part 1Today

Good Morning Everybody,
We had a great second day in London, walking about 10 miles up, down, and around just taking in the city. One BIG disappointment though was getting to Westminster Abbey and being told that no pictures were allowed. It seem the place is, get this copyrighted! Go figure, 500,000 visitors from around the world walking through history and a "No Photos, please." policy in force. In any event, it was a wonderful experience to walk through 1000 years of history.

A good friend of mine from England and I always used to discuss the different aspects of our respective countries. I made a comment about how old our buildings were in the US. His reply back to me was, "The paint wasn't even dry on most of your buildings in the US." It was his second remark that has remained with me the most through the years. He said, "You tear down your history after a few hundred years, we live in ours for 1000's of years." Food for thought.

Anyway, we still had a great time. Today is the BIG day - our play, "Imagine T

"Wild Blue Yonder"Yesterday

"Wild Blue Yonder"
© David A. Ziser

I had another image planned for today, but after looking at some of the images I made during the flight to London, I decided to go with this one. I love the colors. I remember looking out the window of the plane as we lifted off. After a few minutes, the evening sun started to do it's thing. We were on the opposite side of the plane for the sunset. But still, the way the light caught the clouds in the distance, lit up the sky, and glinted off the jet wing right outside my window. It was just beautiful. I couldn't wait to get a better peek in Lightroom. Here the image, one of my favorites, slightly tweaked in Lightroom. Camera specs; Canon 40D fitted with (my new) 18-200 IS lens at 32mm, F 5.0 @ 1/160 second, ISO 1600. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday: Lightroom Or NIK Viveza? That Is the QuestionYesterday

Good Morning Everybody,
WOW! Look at the comments from yesterday's post about me coming out of the RAW closet - thanks to everyone for your comments - fun and funny.

Anyway, after a shot nap upon arriving and settling in at our hotel here in London, we were ready to go. As we checked in, we got the word from the front desk that the hotel is officially changing to a Hilton Doubletree on Wednesday - LaDawn can't wait - she loves those warm chocolate chip cookies every Doubletree hotel offers their guests - yum!

I mentioned that we were over here with fellow Cincinnatians to see the opening of a new play in the West End. The name of the play is entitled, "Imagine This" - a brand new original musical opening Wednesday. We actually flew over with Lyricist's, David Goldsmith, mother, a very nice lady - that's LaDawn with our travel buddies in the picture to the right. Imagine (no pun intended) to our surprise when we saw a large poster advertising the play as we were going through th

"Showing A Little Attitude"November 17

"Showing A Little Attitude"
© David A. Ziser

I love this image of this young lady - how she's dressed, that look in her eyes as she peers directly back into the camera, and the subtle lines trailing off in the background combine to create a quite strong connection with the viewer. This image was made outside where the ambient light was quite bright. I used my "Cheatin' Flash" technique to darken the surrounds an appropriate amount so that the subject would "pop" from the scene. Illumination was provided by my off-camera flash positioned to the subject's right to give that beautiful loop lighting to her face. Camera specs; Canon 30 fitted with 70-200mm IS lens at 170mm, F7.1 @ 1/320 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! -David