Puddle
Voices behind me:
Whats he doin’? I dunno. Takin’ a picture of sumthing. I know dat, but what of? I dunno. Oh I know what he’s doin’. What? He’s takin’ reflections. Dat’s what. Ya think? Yeah. Must me reflections he’s takin’ of dose people comin’ out wit dere coffee. Dat’s cool. Hey, mista. Is dat what ya takin’ pictures of? Dose reflections…
Of course I’m stooped on 2nd avenue, pretty much ground level, pointing the dslr gizmo at the puddle and just waiting for people to walk by and hoping for good ripples. My knees hurt after a while and without getting anything great, I stand up, smile at the three people who have been so filled with wonder behind me, and continue on what must seem a mysterious way.
* * * *
One thing about Lightroom. It definitely seems to be funky with large files. I know about the 10K pixel limit, and this was a bit short of that. 9500 pixels (more or less) on the long side. It didn’t preview correctly in the print module. In fact it just showed up as gray. It was a tiff, no layers. I closed Lightroom, and went into photoshop and printed it on the 7800 without a problem. It’s the first bug I’ve run into so far with LR. I suppose there are more that I just haven’t hit yet. That’s why software is numbered 1.x
Comments
Comment from mcananeya
Time: February 28, 2008, 2:08 am
Dave,
Very nice picture. This is slightly off topic, but I just stumbled across this tutorial on B&W conversions in Lightroom that I found very interesting. You may already know this stuff, but I certainly picked up a few tips.
http://photoshopnews.com/stories/downloads/LRNgrayscale_STD2.mov
Best regards,
Adam
Comment from Charles Maclauchlan
Time: February 28, 2008, 5:19 am
and which privacy rights would those be again?
Comment from dave
Time: February 28, 2008, 9:11 pm
Adam — great link. Yes, I had stumbled around and discovered most of the tricks on my own — but there were a couple of things I didn’t know about — and this is an excellent resource for photographers who want to see the possibilities available with Lightroom and b&w conversions.
Comment from mcananeya
Time: February 28, 2008, 9:44 pm
Dave,
I own, use and like Lightroom as well, but if you really want to have fun with B&W, you owe it to yourself to try LightZone. It doesn’t replace Lightroom, but it is an excellent tool to use WITH Lightroom. You can pass images back and forth between the programs relatively easily. LightZone gives you far more power to really take control of your images by applying changes selectively. It may not be practical as your only image editor or for use on all of your pictures, but it is well worth it to have it on hand for particularly difficult pictures or where you really want to take the time to make an image shine.
They have a special offer running through March: 20% off. See http://www.lightcrafts.com/store2/
If you download it now, you can try it for 30 days and buy it before the March offer runs out if you like it. I have the Basic version, which I think really contains all the functionality you need, especially if you are using it in conjunction with Lightroom.
Best regards,
Adam
Comment from Lester
Time: February 28, 2008, 2:08 am
Now the moral and legal question arises whether a photographer violates privacy rights when his subject is a puddle and people in its vicinity are inadvertently caught in the reflection of said puddle, and are thereby humiliated when their images are distorted by the ripples on the surface of the puddle.
The image of the gentleman in the photo above, the one carrying a cup of coffee and smoking a cigar, has, for example, been terribly distorted in the facial region, causing a resemblance to Ralph Kramden or Peter Lorre. That in itself is grounds for litigation, yet the fact that Beckerman’s intended subject was merely a puddle, is he truly responsible for secondary effects caused by the physics of light?
I think in a case such as this, the street photographer could safeguard his person against a possible lawsuit by showing Ralph the shot and having him sign a release abrogating responsibilty for puddle effects.