SBIPG Q & A from August 16th

SBIPG member Dennis asked questions about this shot (see more).  I wanted to share that with rest of the members.

I have a question about your image of the two radio towers. Is the image exactly as it was captured by the camera or did you use Photoshop or something similar to alter the image?
Yes, it is how it was shot.   It only went through Photoshop for color conversion to create sepia-tone image for more dramatic look rather than using white Sun and deep deep blue sky with dark dark black hill in the foreground (see below).  I wanted the power of the Sun, and I felt those colors were dull and weakening the image than helping it. (What do you think?)  I also noticed that a little speck of dust between two towers when I posted it, but ah… I was too lazy to do anything to about it.  Bad Kenji  :-(

I see what apears to be a little bit of flare, which I’m sure you could get rid of if you wanted to. I think it adds some realism to the presence of the sun.
Yes, Photoshop can take care of that flare, but I definitely left that bit of flare there for the reason you mentioned above.  If I was making this shot for advertising or commercial purpose, I bet the client would want it removed or replace it with more “attractive” looking flare to promote beautiful reality versus chaotic reality (unless that’s what they want to sell).  I didn’t feel it was destructive enough to make a fuss over, ya know?  I agree with you, it totally adds to the presence of the Sun.  I like that.  “the presence of the Sun”.  “I want to feel the presence of the Sun”, that should be my daily motto!!

Is the pattern of the sun based on how many aperture blades there are in the lens?
I’ve read about that number of blades affect the pattern of flare, but I don’t know enough to say anything about it, Sorry!  All I know is small aperture will give me a star, so I used f/22, and that’s what I got.

I have photographed those towers a number of times in the last 25 years. A local photographer I met on Flickr has some images that show how close the fire got to the towers. As you no doubt saw it got very close.
Yes yes, I saw that one.  That was a spectacular shot!!!  It was in a local paper, wasn’t it?   I wish I got that shot!

Field Original

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Thanks for the great question, Dennis.  Keep it coming!!

SBIPG has meeting this Saturday (tomorrow) and Sunday.  Come on down and join us!

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