Tuesday, June 12, 2012

...the lost art of black and white

...I've never had much luck with black and white...I mean I see some great stuff, but MY stuff always looks like soft-serve grey scale...Yecch !... so, I recently shot some Hot Rods at the Good Guys event in Colorado this June...thought maybe, I would try converting some of the better shots into B/W, in the camera (yes, the K-01), using the Monochrome digital filter and sliders... the sliders allow a red, green, blue or infra-red filter to be applied to the grey scale...or something like that, as the only thing I'm certain of is that B/W is a science to itself... and the variations are continuous and never ending






...kind-of-snappy, huh ??? you decide... they are BOLD ! and will generate a lot of comment...hate mail can be sent to ronnie_b@comcast.net...but hey, you may like them...I do, and I think these, like the posterization pix shown earlier would make interesting wall art for some part of a home, but NOT the main living area... actually, these would do well on garage walls, as the Posterization pix are already lining the men's room ...enjoy !

...posterization, not pasteurization !

... so, I picked up the new Pentax K-01 mirrorless camera (I'll have a K-01 review upcoming)...it, like the Q, has the ability to apply a pre-process or a post-process to the image...in the camera, rather than having  to use a computer based post processing image editor...that was a lot of words to say, "do it in the camera",  Verge !

...the K-01 has an assortment of post-process digital filters that you can select, like monochrome, extract, toy, sketch, others, more others, and of course POSTERIZATION, which is not the same as Pasteurization... ...as it turns out, PS is actually a technical problem to be avoided by maintaining adequate bit depth...got it ??? but the interesting part is that the poster problem (PS) creates a bold, vibrant image, that in limited quantity you may like or hate...kind of like the K-01 itself... got it ?

...the K-01 has a plethora of these digital filters available...ALL with adjustable sliders that allow a true "custom" blend or layer of a final pix, to your taste... ...gimiky ? yeah maybe, novel ? somewhat, but bottom line, the option is YOURS, and the process is a breeze...all before you ever download the pix...neat-o !!!






...these pix were shot at the recent Good Guys Hot Rod Show in Colorado, then Posterization applied in camera... I think they would make good "framed wall art" for a man's office or a boy's room, or maybe a men's room, but I do believe they would generate a lot of attention, one way or the other, people will comment ! ...buckle-up-buck-o !

Monday, June 4, 2012

Pentax Q ... the last straw !


in a previous post, I discussed the most maligned camera in today's market, the Pentax Q...I gave it a quick workout in the studio and discovered  the Q was no laughing matter, in fact, the IQ was quite exceptional with the prime 8.5mm (50mm approx) f1.9 lens. And, the overall studio performance was really quite clever and enjoyable, it was a blast... but what about an outdoor shoot, c'mon, the Q does not not even have an EVF, or worse yet for the purists, a GVF...just a rear LCD panel that would have to be next to useless in an open sun venue.

...and speaking of SUN, Colorado has easily over 300 days of sunshine a year, ranked number 2 in skin cancer in the US...we are talking SUN in this state ! ...think I'm kidding, well for you fair haired folks, spend 30 minutes in direct sun here and you will rival a pink lobster in a look-a-like contest...nuff said !

so off I went to Leadville, a land from long ago in a far, far away place...yep, the sun was ready for me, so let's see if I can find that elusive straw, to break this camel's back...

Leadville is over 10,000 feet in elevation, they leave 'em where they lie...they eat there own dead. But I was ready, this time I had the Q with the Pentax 5~15mm (27mm ~ 82mm approx) f2.8 ~4.5 zoom. The 5~15 is a bit pricey at about $250 so I was expecting good to great results, thinking this performance should be just short of the 8.5mm prime lens. So, I began roaming the back streets looking for my usual prey. They were there... and waiting. The scuffle began, and the Q was up to the task. Even the dreaded bright sun was manageable. Not like looking through a VF, but manageable all the same.

I could not find the damn straw. The Q was a blast to shoot, just do a quick frame job and shoot away, nothing missed, even in the continuous sun. But DO remember to bring extra batteries, they go quickly. The ONLY camera I took to Leadville was the Q...a bit gutsy, but it is a solid performer ! I LIKE this machine !!!





Judge for yourself. The photos are all  JPEG's direct from the camera. Pretty much shot wide open at 2.8 You can see more of this post at www.ronster.smugmug.com ...and one of the pix was processed in camera with Color Extract...you'll spot it

Muy Bien to the Q !