Tech Talk: Long Exposure Workshop in Calgary!
Hello everyone,
I went to Calgary last weekend to teach the first Long Exposure Workshop there. The response had been overwhelming from the day the workshop was announced, and I was looking forward to meeting everyone and do some great shooting in the locations I have been working in for the past 2 years. For those who haven’t seen my series on Prairie Grain Elevators Series, you can find the here.
The weekend went amazing. I met some really nice folks, and loved being so close to old grain elevators and barns that all made for excellent shooting opportunities for the workshop participants. Had a chance to see a bit of downtown Calgary as well, and was impressed by what the city had to offer. I’m already looking at my calendar to see when I can return…
Calgary Long Exposure Workshop Group August 2011
The image above shows our workshop group at one of the shooting locations, including photo assistants Hajo and Richard (and I am in there as well). It was great meeting everyone. We had students travel from as far as Scottsdale, San Francisco and Winnipeg. A big thanks again to everyone! It was great meeting so many nice and enthusiastic photographers!
For today’s ‘Tech Talk’, I wanted to share how I worked on one image I took during the workshop, and how I gave it its final look.
Calgary Long Exposure Workshop with Marc Koegel - Camera Setup
The image above shows my ‘setup’ for taking the shot of an old barn. I used a Phase One medium format digital back. The final image was a panorama assembled from 2 images and then cropped to a ‘double square’ aspect ratio of 1:2.
Calgary Long Exposure Workshop with Marc Koegel - Final Image: 'Old Barn'
Above you can see the final image: ‘Old Barn’.
Exposure time was 512 seconds, @ F11 ISO 50.
I used a total of 16 stops of ND filtration to allow me to get such a long exposure in bright day-light. Here’s a link to one of the filters I used.
Now let’s take a look at how I arrived at the final image:
Merging multiple images to a single Panorama using Autopano Pro Software
I loaded both RAW files into Autopano Pro Software. This software generates panoramas of great quality. You can use Adobe Photoshop as well, but I generally get better results with Autopano. Give it a try sometime, they have a free demo download!
Cropping the final panorama to 'double square' aspect ratio of 1:2
Next, I am cropping the panorama that Autopano Pro generated to my desired aspect ratio of 1:2 or the ‘double square’. The resulting image has over 45 megapixel, thanks to using the Phase One Camera. I could make huge prints from such a file.
Silver Efex Pro Software converts color to Black and White
I use Silver Efex Pro 2 Software to convert to black and white. This can be done in Photoshop as well, but I get amazing results in much less time with Silver Efex. Above you can see how the ‘simple’ black and white above was transformed into a more dramatic black and white image using the tools available in Silver Efex 2 Software.
You can download a free trial and if you’re doing lots of black and white conversions I am convinced you will love this software!
Final image tweak in Adobe Photshop Softare
For my workflow I like tweaking what Silver Efex generates in Photoshop. This let’s me have ultimate control and fine-tune my images even more.
There you have it. Let me know what you think and don’t be shy to ask questions about the workflow above.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Marc
Keep up to date with all our future events on www.vancouverphotoworkshops.com
Nice shot, Marc!
Medium format now, eh? I’m guessing that Michael Levin workshop we attended influenced you! Which Phase One back did you get?
Mark
Hello Mark,
great to hear from you! I am using the P45+. The new IQ backs don’t actually let you do exposures beyond 2 minutes, but the ‘older’ P series gives you up to a full hour at great quality with little or no noise….I’m gonna’ check out your website now and see what you’ve been up to. If you’re ever in Vancouver give me a shout or come by visit the studio….Take care!
Looks amazing Marc. A couple of questions…
1. Did you use CaptureOne for image capture. If so what do you think of it against Lightroom?
2. How does the back handle long exposure noise? Is it different from Nikon?
3. What the native aspect…Did you shoot 645 or 6 x 6?
Hey Marc…thanks for this. It’s all very good to see long exposure images but it’s even better to have some information on how to get to those final images. Some Photogs are very secretive and unwilling to share…thankfully, you aren’t one of those.
Richard W.
1. Did you shoot square or 645? I can’t tell what body you’re using.
2. Did you use CaptureOne or Lightroom? Have you used Capture One. I hear it’s good.
That’s an amazing looking shot. Thanks for the peek behind the curtain. Gotta give Silver Efex a try.
@Ian:
I did not use Capture One for this, just Bridge. Capture One is great software, but it doesn’t offer the same image library / organization features as Lightroom does. I did use the P45 on the Phase DF body. It’s a 645 body setup (and you would get this aspect with a film back attached), but the back is actually 4 by 3 in aspect ratio. Closer to the square. This back handles long exposure noise incredibly well. better than any Nikon or Canon actually. I have done full 1 hour exposures and saw almost no visible noise. Only negative is that it is somewhat more influenced by outside temperature. On a real hot day with continuous shooting, you can start seeing noise building especially in the shadows.
@ Richard:
Thanks for your comment. I think Photographers who are ‘afraid’ of sharing must be insecure in their process…
Hello Marc
I’m disappointed I missed your workshop. Been trying to get to Vancouver to attend a workshop but travel conflicts are usually the issue (for me that is). Oh yes, forgot to mention, I do live in Calgary. But I was transferred for work from Thunder Bay ON.
Have you considered extending your grain elevator series to the concrete and steel of a port where the grain is cleaned and sent over seas? Such as Thunder Bay. I worked in the industry for a short period and I can assure you there are lots of photo opportunities.
If interested send an e-mail and I can give you some tips and locations.
Great information on your article. Thanks
Hello Barry!
thanks for your message. I just added a new date for a long exposure workshop for Calgary! And Vancouver will get a new date soon as well. Hopefully we’ll pick something that syncs up with your schedule…see you soon, Marc