Hiroaki Kobayashi's Blog

Jeff Cruz – instant art Exhibition

Hiro — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:46:55 +0000

The biggest news this week among photographers must be announcement of D800 by Nikon. Although I usually do not pay attention to new products, this time I read an article from truly beginning to the end. Now I really want this 36 megapixel camera. But wait a minute… think about what I CANNOT do with my rangefinder camera. Do I need auto focus? IF I start wedding or event photography, I may need autofocus …or I can do a job with a rangefinder camera. I don’t know at this point. I know dynamic range of my camera is not as wide as current Nikon or Canon DSLRs. But can I overcome the limitation by some photographic techniques?…yes, I can. I use HDR, flash and grad filters even though they are really difficult to use with rangefinder cameras. Unless I become an aerial photographer or a sports photographer, the narrow dynamic range is not a problem. I found that catalog specifications tend to go out by themselves and photographers (especially male) are easily tricked by those numbers. But I believe knowing limitations of the camera comes first. When photographic expressions expand, I need to think about new system. I guess this right way to go. (Well, still I want D800E. Used Nikon PC 85mm has been in a showcase at the Camera store…Devil’s whisper)

Actually, I am not supposed to write about such a thing. I should talk about my fellow photographer, Jeff Cruz. He will h ave one-man exhibition at Resolution Local Art Gallery in Calgary, AB from February 14th to March 4th. The special about this show is all images are taken by iPhone. “The best camera is the one in your hand”; achieving creative works with whatever camera you have now. It does not need to be D700 or 5D mark II. Jeff is going to prove it.

When I met Jeff first time was at Stampede Western Photo galeery 2011. Although he is a professional commercial and editorial photographer, he exhibited beautiful landscapes at the Stampede show. Actually, He started taking pictures with plastic toy camera from a Bazooka Joe gum wrapper, so iPhone may have been already part of his DNA. Anyway, the opening reception of Jeff Cruz’s Instant art show will be Feb 17th Thursday from 5pm. I am going to see this nice guy as well as great photographer.

Play with shadow

Hiro — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:03:43 +0000

At a location photo-session, I found the interesting wall decorated with some English writing Beyond the SHADOW of a doubt, I had to use the wall. As I mentioned before, I almost always set a concept before starting shooting. This time I tried to play with shadow. Well… Idea was good but it took long time to figure out the lighting set-up to create the shadow effectively. I had to ask Janet to keep posing for long time. I wish I had an assistant.

Please click on the photos for larger images

While I was post-processing, I found this image looked like a music album cover, so I cropped to squire format.

The model was fabulous Janet Tran from Calgary.

Fredau Hoekstra – Photo session at Studio 35 (3)

Hiro — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:55:56 +0000

I have been Beatle mania since I was 14, and read widely anything about the Fab Four. They left so many episodes about their album covers. For example, their 2nd album, “With The Beatles”. You will find episodes like “B&W photo for an album cover was revolutionary in early 1960”, “the photographer was Robert Freeman”, “he used only window light” and so on. Anyway, for some reason the half lit faces of the Fab Four left an impression on my mind.

Now I know that the lighting technique of the half lit and half shadow is called split lighting. I like the dramatic lighting maybe because of the Beatles album. I tried to use the lighting technique for Fredau Hoekstra at the model photo session at Studio35. However, she was so classy and split lighting looked too dramatic for her. So the key light was moved to higher than split lighting and it became close to Rembrandt lighting. I think I could achieve bewitching but still classy Fredau.

Model – Fredau Hoek stra (www.fredauhoekstra.co.uk)
Hair & Makeup – Mallory McGowan (www.mallorymcgowan.com)
Wardrobe – Maria Serpico
Location -Studio 35 Photography

Film vs. Digital – Pinhole

Hiro — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:09:32 +0000

As I notified in my last blog I would like to show the Film vs. Digital part 2 in this blog. This time is a comparison of pin-hole images.

I still listen to vinyl records because I can feel more sense of fulfillment and euphoria than when I am listening to CD (MP3? no way!). Vinyl or any analog audio devices have noise and distortion (over clipping). They should be minimized as low as possible but not avoidable. However, the noise is not a totally unacceptable or unforgiving enemy…because I guess the noise is not that unpleasant. Same thing about the distortion. Actually, it give a certain warmth and punchy to the sound. They can be a part of musical sound. On the other hand, noise and distortion of digital sources are so unpleasant and annoying. They do not have musical quality anyway.

Left is film and right is digital. Both images are taken with the same pin-hole. Please look at sky. Highlights are washed out in the both images. However, the washed -out part of the film is not as harsh as digital one. If I would say “this is my photographic expression”, the comment can be accepted. In general, I prefer film in this case.

Taken at Calgary Stampede 2011. Obviously film is more dramatic, but I guess there was about 10 min time gap between the digital image which I took first and the film. The 10 min difference in this time of the day may bring huge difference in lighting condition. So this is not a fair comparison. Just an idea.

In my limited experience of pin-hole photography, the pin-hole seems to work better with film. Grain of the film gives a certain character and the uncontrolled exposure often gives ethereal feel to images.

Film vs. Digital

Hiro — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:19:46 +0000

Just recently Kodak announced that their film segment will be divided into other 2 other segments. When I watch movies, geek myself like to stay to the end of the end-rolls, and I check the movie used Kodak or Fuji film. But I have found movies which do not show either Kodak or Fuji’s company logo in the end-rolls. I guess “Avator” speeds up the invention of the digital processing and distribution in movie entertainment business. Although James Cameron may say digital is more environment friendly, film is like Na’vi now to me, under attack by digital.

In the spring of the last year, I found unused Fuji Provia 100F in my fridge. I bought this film in the end of 2008 when I started digital, in order to check how the newly purchased Zeiss lenses behaved with film. So I tried comparison the film and digital from same lenses. I used a tripod for all images and the same exposures between film and digital. Only the difference is camera body. The film was scanned by Nikon Coolscan 5000 and the digital images (row files) are adjusted by only “Auto Tone” function of Adobe Lightroom 3.6. Fuji Provia is designed to achieve neutral color balance compared to Velvia.

Left is film, and right is the digital. Obviously white balance is different between the 2 images. To me film has more tonality, on the other hand, digital has more contrast and a punch in the image. I would not be surprised if someone picks the digital image over film in this case.

Looking at sky, exposure of the 2 images are pretty close. But film has more contrast this time. Hmmm? Anyway film shows desireble mood, dont; you think?

It is obviously impossible that film will expel digital, like Na’vi ousted humans from Pandora, but I am hoping film won’t be eradicated entirely. Next time I can show you the same attempt I tried for pin-hole photography.

Fredau Hoekstra – Photo session at Studio 35 (2)

Hiro — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:00:40 +0000

I would like to talk about Fredau Hoekstra, the model for the photo-session at Studio 35. Before that, I would like to talk about Jazz. I am a Jazz aficionado. Why I love Jazz? Because it is conversation with musical notes! Players decide which song to play so they have a fundamental melody and chord progression. As a tune goes, it moves to solo part by each players. This is the true charm of jazz because the solo is played by improvisation. While a player is improvising solo, they actually listen to each other and quickly response to what other players are doing. That is why jazz is so thrilling.

Fredau Hoekstra is a full-time model from Edinburgh. Just google her name and you will find so many her images. For the photo-session, I brought a photo frame for some poses. While I was checking my equipment, she was passing her body through the frame. As soon as, I saw what she was trying to do, I quickly changed lens to wide-angle and I lie on floor and shot some images.

I like this type of interaction. Model-photo-sessions are like jazz, collaboration work among a photographer, models and assistants. I had concept like a song to play, but outcome was not the one I predicted.

In addition, I tried time-lapsed photography of the photo-session. Stupid myself, I forgot charging a battery for the camera so I could not take the frames of images as many as it is supposed to be, but just for fun.

Model – Fredau Hoekstra (www.fredauhoekstra.co.uk)
Hair & Makeup - Mallory McGowan (www.mallorymcgowan.com)
Wardrobe – Maria Serpico
Location - Studio 35 Photography

Fredau Hoekstra – Photo session at Studio 35 (1)

Hiro — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:48:19 +0000

I had a model shooting session at Studio 35 in Airdrie, Alberta last Saturday. The model was Fredau Hoekstra, full-time model from Europe. I brought a picture frame and I had already had an idea to ask a model to hold the frame and place herself in the frame by photoshop. However, Adam Kuzik brought up even better idea to place the frame between two of Fredau. So I had to clone 2 times (one standing Fredau and her in the frame from other photos). It took whole 2 days for post processing.but I guess this image is quite successful.

Model – Fredau Hoekstra (www.fredauhoekstra.co.uk)
Hair & Makeup – Mallory McGowan (www.mallorymcgowan.com)
Wardrobe – Maria Serpico
Location – Studio 35 Photography

Fredau was an amazing model. I would like to talk about her in next blog as well as more photos. Stay tuned.

I like shooting portraits, too!

Hiro — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 07:07:03 +0000

I have been publishing mostly nature photography. But when I got a digital camera at the end of 2008, my favorite photography still was street photography, so actually I like shooting people as well. However, a difference is, compared to 3 years ago, I am more into more sophisticated lighting techniques. Find good light, read the light, it is the nature photography. On the other hand, you can create light; that is fun part of this type of photo session. Also it is collaborative work with models and assistants. It is a great charm.

I had location-model photo-session at the end of August. For the day, I forgot wireless system for flashlights. So I could not try any fancy lighting techniques. But I was lucky enough that I asked my friend to be an assistant so we completed our works with only reflector. One thing I found from this experience was I could keep up shooting tempo with the only reflector. If I had set up multiple lights at different locations, it would have been so time-consuming. The concept of this session was a wondering girl in the city. I may be too shy to be like David Hemmings in “Blow-up“. (Austin Powers must be easier for you to associate with what I want to say.) So I ususaly set up concept for portrait sessions.

Please let me how you think about these photos.

For the last two images, I used HDR. I guess Photomatix did decent job, and I kind of like them. But still degraded sharpness looks problematic. So unless I want HDR feel, I would go with proper lighting setup. Or cut and paste the best exposure of the main subject into the HDR image. I should try the technique when I have time.

I HAVE TO to introduce the model. Her name is Krystal Shuhyta. One of fears of photographers’ side in the cases of photo sessions is poor communication and unprofessional attitude. But I really appreciate her professionalism. Krystal always responded to my email so quickly and she dealt very well with my strange concept. (I am bad one. I had to ask her to wait for me providing images for over 2 months due to the photo gallery.) She is highly recommended. Krystal is also a photographer and she has started her new business, Fly Free Photography. Please check out her Facebook page.

Lastly, while I was processing the photos of this session. I found I had not taken any close-up shot of her due to the concept. Here is her lovely close-up photo.

The green sweater by eleven:eleven Butique

Enjoy accidents

Hiro — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:15:46 +0000

I have developed some roles of films just recently. As processing by myself, I make a mistake and ruin a whole role of film once a while. This time, the film was accidentally exposed and signs of perforations appeared in the frames. These images are not totally usable but I usually keep these garbage because I can often find some unexpected but interesting results. They may be used in future. Ideally, an artist should master and control techniques to achieve inner images, but sometimes it may be fun to leave it to God’s hand and enjoy the accident. I will share one image I think it is interesting. Please let me know how you think. Is it artistic or just garbage? Kodak T-max 400 film. T-max is famous for its fine grain but grains in this image are so visible ??

Ethereal Photographic Art Show (7) – Darwin Wiggett

Hiro — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:24:22 +0000

So finally, It came to time to write about Darwin Wiggett. This is a very hard task for me. Me analyzing Darwin’s photographs is kind of ridiculous. But I have so many things to talk about his images. Maybe I should talk about why I am so attracted by his images. Before that, let me back to my musician era. It is easier for me.

I went to Jeff Beck concert just 1 week ago days ago. Jeff beck has been my guitar hero since I was a high school student (One more YouTube, Jeff plays Lennon’s song). This is my 5th time to see his concert. Every time, I was knocked out by his 1st note, only one note! His guitar sound came from his finger picking is so distinctive and cool. When he plays ballads, it is unbelievably beautiful and sad but 10 seconds later I hear sort of aggressiveness and anger. Among rock musicians, I cannot think of any other players who can express emotions at his level. There are many technically more advanced guitarists such as Edward Van Halen, Steve Vai, etc. However, Jeff Back really controls a guitar and the sounds. I guess techniques are just tools to express emotion for him. So although his songs are pretty easy to copy, it never be same. To copy his delicate nuance, I had to go up to different level.

Well I should come back to photography. Darwin’s images are, without question, very beautiful. But it is not that simple. I see joyfulness, peacefulness, liveliness; also I feel loneliness, sadness, mysteriousness even intenseness like Jaff beck’s play.

Initially, I thought Darwin’s style is toward high contrast and colorful so it was why his images were powerful, strong, dynamic, and masculine (Kind of opposite from Sam’s images). However, one day, I was looking through his photographic book, “Dances with Light” and I found very delicate tones in clouds, skies, water stream, green grass…everywhere. Sorry to Darwin, but it was a surprising discovery to me. You know…listening to a record after a long time, you get a different impression from before. Don’t you have such an experience? I believe truly great arts are like this….van Gogh, Mozart, Beatles, Django Reinhardt, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest …they contain all sorts of characters and emotions in one piece of the artworks. That is why whenever I revisit the piece, I discover something new and I can glow together.

Well…coping someone’s style or technique is not so difficult and everybody has to do “copy” at one point. But what I would like to acquire from Darwin is his artist sensitivity…from picking up a camera to present images in public. It is not easy and requires patience. Only I can do is to keep shooting. I hope people feel some sort of an emotion from my photos.

Please check Darwin’s web site “Natural Moments Photography” and his blog. Every day, I learn something new from his blog posts.

“Winter Dreams” by Darwin Wiggett