Leighton Photography & Imaging

Seeing the Light

2009-12-23T18:30:00.000-08:00

Greetings and welcome to my first all Macintosh/PC-free post and photos for this blog. Life just got considerably easier! That said, I think I put together a unique and quirky set of photos nicely connected with a unifying theme .... light.

All of these images were the result of a few hours' walk around Tallahassee, Florida the night before last. It was a very crisp and chilly night, so I had the added benefit of the clarity that often comes with cold nights. My intent was not so much the subject I was photographing, but catching the light just right to make dramatic or strong images stand on their own merit as photographic art.

~ click on any of these images to enlarge ~

Practically outside my front door, I was assaulted with this crazy sunset which I just knew I had to get. As I was setting up the shot, a friend called me on my cell to tell me that I should be out getting that sunset. It's good to have friends like that!

Crossing the street to Lake Ella, I had my pick of interesting shots, but the light was changing fast, and I had to stay focused, or I was going to lose this wild sky. I've been seeing a lot of photographs of this beautiful lake in the center of the city recently around the social mediaverse (did I just make that word up?), and I just wanted to blow their shots out of the water. What can I say? I'm competitive!

After losing the light at the lake after a couple of shots - I went downtown to see what could be seen. The first stop a no-brainer. Florida's capitol building is one of the most beautiful and perfectly lit buildings I've ever seen. The important thing here is getting the light right. Of course you frame your composition in a pleasing and effective style, but here I wanted lots of detail, contrast, and no blow-outs (lights that are too bright and wash out detail). This meant some long exposures, which in turn meant waiting and shivering and wanting a hot coffee while waiting for the shutter to close! Totally worth it!

Ok - you can only photograph a great building for so long in the cold..... time to get out of the wind!

A couple blocks away, tucked in between the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science and the Challenger Learning Center is an incredible parking garage with the coolest spiral stairway going many levels down below the city - topped by an elaborate dome that is perfection in itself. I've used this location many times for portrait work. You just can't get a much better backdrop if you are a photographer who prefers outdoor portraiture over stuffy indoor studios.

Not only concentrating on composition here - my goal was to catch and record the available light with its interaction on a multitude of surfaces, textures and materials. I used no lights of my own, or flashes. These geometric patterns and lines really added to the overall image and the look I was trying to achieve.

This last one was shot inches from the floor at the bottom of the stairwell. With a good highly adjustable tripod, you can get the camera this low so you can shoot a long exposure.

Finally at the bottom of the stairway, this is what was directly behind me. So cool! Almost no cars, and all these lights, colors and lines had me grinning like a Cheshire cat! When would I ever see this garage so empty again? Never? Lots of people out of town for the Christmas holiday! Focused and upbeat - I went to work, and these two images are what I came up with.

Afterward, it was time to head to Park Ave. where all the trees were lit up with lights, reflecting shadows and silhouettes of the Spanish moss hanging overhead from the old oak trees that line the central sidewalk. I'm so lucky to live in such a beautiful city!

To wrap up my walk around downtown Tallahassee, I wanted to get a nighttime street shot from the corner of Monroe St. and Park Ave. The lights in the trees, the traffic lights, and the passing cars were the paint on my canvas. The content wasn't so important as the illumination. Now that is what I call seeing the light!

Rich Leighton
December 23, 2009

All images are property of Leighton Photography & Imaging and cannot be used or copied
without express permission by either Richard or Galina Leighton.

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A Quick Note to Our Readers and Followers

2009-12-23T18:06:00.000-08:00

Whew! We are finally back into the groove! After a series of highly frustrating computer crashes (four to be exact) we were faced with the need to change a number of things that were drastically affecting both our photography and our business. The most prominent change was switching to Macintosh. The difference is incredible, and now that I'm past the learning curve and know how to do all the things I did on the PC, and have replaced all the software and digital tools that are part of my everyday workflow, we are ready to charge into the new year with eagerness and gusto!

That said, I'm going to get the photos and new blog ready to put together for our first all-Mac/post-PC blog!

Rich Leighton
December 22, 2009

Keeping it Simple - Outdoor Portrait Photography

2009-09-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I shot an engagement session with a good friend of mine and his lovely fiancée at Mashes Sands on the Gulf Coast of North Florida. John and Jackie are getting married in early October 2009 in North Carolina (I'll be shooting that as well) and I just wanted to share with you some of the images from that day - and include a bit of advice on outdoor portrait photography.

In Florida, we are blessed (or cursed) with a lot of very bright sunlight, which makes good professional outdoor portraits seem sometimes impossible. As a photographer who prefers outdoor portraits to all other kinds of portraiture, all the elements that I hope and wish for came together for this session. An early evening with clouds - particularly when threatening rain - often gives us a beautifully diffused light... especially when still in that "golden hour" that all of us photographers adore.

With this in mind - I was able to shoot with the simplest of all set-ups. Nothing more than a very slight fill-in flash to clean up any shadows. No reflectors, off-shoe flash, or special filters. Clean and simple - just the way I like it!

In closing this brief blog - I'd like to share a quick outdoor beach portrait photography lesson. First ask yourself - what makes these images so clean and simple. The secluded beach? Pretty landscape and clouds as a backdrop? Sure - in part. Everyone loves a good landscape, but it's only a minor part in this series.

It is in the clothes and relaxed easiness of this couple's poses. Organic colors and textures (I mean that as in "earthy" tones without strong patterns) that compliment the background instead of competing for attention. This can make or break an outdoor portrait. These colors are easy on the eyes, the clean and clear beach add a feeling of informality and repose, and an attractive young couple completes the composition. Keep it simple, pay attention to details, and most of all - have fun with it!

Rich Leighton
September 21, 2009

All images are property of Leighton Photography & Imaging and cannot be used or copied
without express permission by either Richard or Galina Leighton.

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Rusted and Busted

2009-08-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (8/2/2009) I went off to explore rural North Florida in search of interesting subjects to photograph. When you are out in the country, you never quite know what you will find. Within an hour, I watched fanboats patrolling on the Wacissa River, witnessed a baptism in a natural spring, watched a baby alligator snapping turtle hunt minnows, and nearly ran over the prettiest rooster I'd ever seen.

But what really caught my attention was two old and abandoned semi-trailer trucks partially hidden by overgrowth in Lamont, Florida. They had everything needed for a good photographic subject - bright colors with faded/peeling paint and they tell a story of what happens when a transport vehicle gets too old and is no longer needed. Abandoned vehicles are often interesting and spark curiosity, and one had a windshield that had been shot repeatedly with a BB gun.

For this blog, I'm going to show how you can take an interesting - but common - subject and make it truly unique. With some help from the digital darkroom and some photographic techniques at the location of the shoot, I was able to take these photographs to a whole new level.

***Note - For those "photography purists" who detest digital photography and Photoshop, and especially the HDR Haters, you'll have to get over it. Once upon a time, "real photography" was making your own glass slides, and not using rolls of film. Embrace technology - evolve with it!

All of these photographs were shot in HDR, or High Dynamic Range, using bracketed exposures of -2, 0, and +2. They were then edited for curves, levels, and noise reduction (annoying by-product of HDR) in Photoshop. All colors were punched up for my own artistic choice, with variations when I liked different versions too much to decide on one. I particularly liked the "cartoon" effect for these, although usually I don't like it. The photo on the right was re-edited using a split-toned effect with silver highlights and gold shadows. A bit of vignetting was added to give it a vintage feel. Same photograph - two very different outcomes.

Here is the other truck with the same settings as the first photo.. Remember - I'm not trying to create a realistic scene here... I'm trying to make an artistic impression, and show what can be done digitally with a little time and practice!

Same view, but desaturated in all hues except for the green tones, which are halfway desaturated to create a "pseudo" hand-tinted black & white look.

Every photographer has his/her own style, this just happens to be mine. When shooting for HDR images, make sure you use a very steady tripod, and shoot fast using aperture priority. The images have to be just about exactly the same, and a little camera shake can cause a blurry image that is not repairable. Wind can ruin a shot. This close-up is to show the detail and clarity preserved when all three photographs match exactly. Check out those BB gun pock-marks!

And another view just because I couldn't decide on just five photos! :-)

All images were shot using a Nikon D2X with Bogen tripod and head, and polarizing filter.

Rich Leighton
August 3, 2009

All images are property of Leighton Photography & Imaging and cannot be used or copied
without express permission by either Richard or Galina Leighton.

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Carissa and Anthony's Wedding

2009-07-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a fun post! Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of photographing a beautiful wedding in Southwest Florida for Carissa and Anthony Martinez.

Last winter, I'd done a photoshoot for a friend of mine, and a month or two later, her cousin called me and told me she was getting married over the summer, and asked if I'd like to photograph her wedding. Of course I said yes! Not only did I take an immediate liking to Carissa over the phone, it would also take me back to my old stomping grounds in the Fort Myers/Naples area. I was delighted!

Finally as the months passed and the big day got closer, I headed south from my home in Tallahassee and rolled into town the night before the wedding. After doing a last-minute inventory check on all my lenses, batteries, memory cards, and cameras, and all those other miscellaneous but necessary items, I was all set. The agenda was to do a quick session of all those involved getting ready for the ceremony at the Trianon Hotel in the Promenade at Bonita Bay, then to shoot over to the Hope Lutheran Church, followed by the reception back at the hotel.

For this post, I'll let the rest of photos speak for themselves......

Since I was working solo on this wedding, I had my remote trigger set up on one camera, so I was essentially shooting two different cameras at the same time.

Here is my favorite part of wedding photography - the part where I get to let my artistic side loose .... the group portraits!

It turned out to be a very beautiful day, complete with the nicest people, a stunning location, and the most pleasant couple I think I've ever photographed. It was a day they will remember forever, and I am very happy to have been a little part of it, in my own "behind-the-scenes" way!

Carissa and Anthony Martinez

~ Married June 27th, 2009 ~

All images are property of Leighton Photography & Imaging and cannot be used or copied
without express permission by either Richard or Galina Leighton - except for the bride and groom of course!
All rights reserved. Leighton Photography & Imaging ©2006-2009
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That Vintage Look!!! Part I - Flowers

2009-05-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

Hello again! I'm here with another post with flowers (it's Spring, what can I say?) This will be part of a loose series of blogs on how I get my photographs to look vintage, and some of the different ways I go about achieving this look.

For this blog - I'm going to show you what I've been up to in the way of textured and stylized photographic art, and then put you on the right track if you are interested in doing these yourself! This is not a step-by-step tutorial, but a general blueprint to make your own :-)

(click on any of these images to see in detail)

First off, you'll need to get a clear photo any flower with high contrast, or force a high contrast in Photoshop. Get lots of contrast and adjust your colors.

Now comes the fun part! You will need a highly textured photo or old paper, rust, wood, sand, concrete, dirt, or anything else that you find interesting. Maybe a combination - that works best for me a lot of the time. You can either take the photo yourself, or download one from one of these great sources:

CoffeeShop Free PS/PSE Actions!

Highresolutiontextures

Webdesignledger

The next step is extremely simple - copy this new textured imaged into a layer on top of your original image (flowers in this case) then play around with the blend modes for this texture layer until you find one you like. Multiply or Overlay work best for me. If the color is off, then you can use adjustments such as hue, saturation, etc. to make the layer look more natural.

If there is too much "stuff" or texture over important parts of your subject (ex - the flower itself), create a layer mask and gently clear away parts of the textured image with a low opacity brush so the subject comes through. I like to leave a bit of texture showing to make the image seem more natural. A vignette is a nice touch with this style to really give you that vintage look!

All of the textured jpegs used to create these images were downloaded from one or more of the above websites. These three are my favorites, and they are worth subscribing to for future projects! Have fun with your creativity, and let it take you where it will - you'll probably be amazed where you end up!

Rich Leighton - May 21, 2009

All images are property of Leighton Photography & Imaging and cannot be used or copied
without express permission by either Richard or Galina Leighton.

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The Night-Blooming Orchid Cactus

2009-05-11T23:38:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share this little photography session with you....

I waited 6 years for this very fragrant night-blooming orchid cactus to show this huge 7-inch flower. It blooms for one night and is gone. It bloomed the night before Mother's Day, which was nice because my wife and mother-in-law got to see it.

I was up for much of the night figuring out how to photograph it best - eventually using an off-shoe flash reflected off my hand to get the right amount of dispersed light to make it really stand out without losing detail. Most of these photos were taken around 4am when it was completely silent and still on my front porch, and even the armadillo that lives under my AC unit was quiet.

By mid-morning, the flower was starting to close, and by late afternoon, it had gone completely limp and then wilted. Sometimes, the simple and beautiful things are worth the wait!

Just as a side note - I picked this piece of cactus from a potted plant about six years ago from a plant nursery I was working part-time, and it survived being outside in SW Florida through Hurricane Charley (had to go find it a block away from where I left it before the storm) and through Hurricane Wilma (I found it in the backyard when I left it in the front yard). I eventually took it and another like it to Tallahassee last summer where it has been abused by cold and wind all winter. If someone knows a tougher plant than this cactus - please let me know!

Rich Leighton ~ May 12, 2009

All images are property of Leighton Photography & Imaging and cannot be used or copied
without express permission by either Richard or Galina Leighton.

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2009 Wildflower Festival in Estero Florida

2009-03-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I'm just letting you know that Galina and I will be displaying and selling our work at the 2009 CREW Wildflower Festival in SW Florida on March 28th!

I hope you will find the time to come spend an amazing day outdoors with experts in the field of Florida nature and stop by to visit us and check out some of our photography. Many of you we have met in person, and it would be great to see you again, and to make some new friends!

~ Click HERE to visit CREW's website for mor information and driving directions ~

NEW PRESET - Leighton's PortraitPro - Outdoor Enhancer

2009-02-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

LEIGHTON'S PORTRAITPRO - OUTDOOR ENHANCER

- Free Lightroom Preset -

Leighton's PortraitPro "Outdoor Enhancer" is our first Adobe Lightroom preset that is available free to photographers - from novice to working professional. I created and developed it for my own workflow and use it very often for my outdoor portraits that have a lot of shade, shadows, and when colors appear a little flat or dark. This amazing preset not only fixes skin tones, but adds a color pop to all "cool" colors, and darkens the edges while lightening the center of the frame. This preset will make the photograph both more balanced and bring out more detail - without adding digital noise.

CLICK HERE TO GET THIS FREE PRESET!

How to install:

With the presets panel expanded you’ll see the current folders of presets. Right click anywhere in that area and you’ll see some options including “Import…” Click “Import” and you’ll get a browser window from which you can select any preset file on your computer. Click import and Lightroom will bring them in. You can also make new new folders via the presets panel, into which you can drag presets into once imported.

Please let me know what you think of this preset and how it works for you! :-)

Comments are always appreciated!!!

How I Edit Digital Photographs

2009-01-31T09:14:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

I've been procrastinating like crazy on what to start with, so I thought I'd just post a few recent photos to "get the ball rolling".

These are all examples of my work, after it has gone through the editing process - meaning Lightroom, Photoshop, Nik Software, as well as a few other tools I use depending on what I'm trying to create. Lately I've been using the Mogrify plug-in for Lightroom to make cool borders with my own personal watermark.

What I'm going to do, as an intro to this blog, is briefly describe what I did to get this photo to look the way it does. I don't have the "raw"photos handy, and want to get this off quickly, so I'll just show the post-processed photos for now. I hope this might get some of you pointed in the right direction - learning where to start with digital photography is often the hardest part!

(*NOTE - If any of this is confusing, I will go into more detail in future blogs on exactly what steps I use to get these images. This is meant to be a general overview on technique, not instruction)

Florida's capitol building in Tallahassee. This is a very simple shot - often something an amateur or beginning photographer would shoot. I wanted to make ordinary into spectacular - so I made a fake lens flare :-) Shhhhhhh ..... don't tell anybody it's not real! You can make a lens flare if you are artistic, or use some of Photoshop's tools to make one, then use it as a layer to place it on top of your image.

My wife, son and I were on a trip recently to the Atlantic coast on the Florida/Georgia state border to photograph birds, and we ended up at this Civil War/Seminole War era fort (Fort Clinch). I was doing a little HDR work when this man in an old sergeant uniform walked up and said hello. My wife prompted me to ask him to pose, which he was very happy to. Now - how do I get this image to look so old?

First thing - use any sepia setting or preset, then darken the edges AND lighten the center. There are plenty of "film" presets that will also let you add grain to the photo to make it look aged. Last thing - lighten up all the shadows. You never see solid black in these old images.

This old mill in Central Florida was a great subject for a photograph. I wanted to do something very different with it - in the sense that many photographers see an old building and go "Wow! that's just beautiful!", then change it into something else with editing (often sepias or black&whites like the last image)

For this one, I wanted bright color! I pushed the saturation in the yellows, blues, and greens, and sharpened the whole image for lots of detail. I already had a lot because I used a tripod, but I needed all the detail I could get because I was going to blur the edges, which I did, for an odd sort of contrast. Vignette blur - then a traditional square vignette on top of it.

This guy was a classical guitarist I found on Craigslist.org who was looking for a photographer to provide some shots for a project he was working on. This was a simple edit. I blurred the edges and added a square vignette like the last photo, then used Photoshop to get rid of all the color except his guitar. Just a little contrast tweaking was needed to finish it off!

Back to Fort Clinch .... I had a blast with HDR phtography (High Dynamic Range). I spent quite a bit of time on this photo, but essentially this is five different images taken with a tripod, each at a different exposure. Then through digital imaging, I was able to combine them into one image eliminating all the bright highlights and dark shadows. Then I adjusted the hues, clarity, vibrancy, and with a little cropping, had this super-high resolution image of a very significant piece of history of my home state.

I would really appreciate feedback and comments on what you think of this blog. I'm going to try all kinds of ideas with this blog, and it won't always be about photography, but art as a whole. I will welcome guest bloggers, opinions, new ideas, and different techniques and ideas.

Cheers!

Rich.

First Blog!

2009-01-06T23:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings and welcome to our first blog!

We are Rich and Galina Leighton (a family photography and digital art business in Tallahassee, Florida), and we will be broadcasting to the world all the things that we find cool, interesting, inspiring, that relate to (and) how we create our images.

The purpose of this blog is is to:

Draw attention to our website www.leightonphotography.com
Show other photographers how we go through the photo editing process
give away freebies - downloadable presets and other creative tools we make for our own workflow
enable a good way for us to receive some feedback on some of our "experiments"
inspire others to push their own creative limits :-)

We will show you some of the steps we go through to go from the above photographic setup, to taking the best images needed to be transformed in the digital darkroom.

... to create images like these examples of how we turn ordinary photography into something special!

Even if you are not an artist, photographer, etc, you are not excluded!
This is meant to inspire, entertain, and possibly light a spark in you that you might never have known was there .... in other words - get your creative juices flowing!

Creatively yours,
Rich and Galina Leighton

We are looking forward to hearing you comments, suggestions and feedback! Don't forget to sign up for our RSS feed in the top right menu (look for the little orange square icon).