Daniel Ruf

People, Too?

"There are many teachers that could ruin you.  Before you know it you could be a pale copy of this teacher or that teacher.  You have to evolve on your own."

Berenice Abbott

Yes, I too can photograph human beings,  but I try to capture a special moment and I usually am more comfortable around family.  In the case of the first blog image the family was in San Antonio to atttend the Valero Alamo Bowl and we happen to be walking along the beautiful River Walk.  My daughter and granddaughter were on the other side feeding the pigeons, a task that my granddaughter loved to do, and, with the backdrop of the various store fronts, the right pose presented itself.

My daughter has a surprisingly deep affection for our two granddaughters, which I find incredible considering the trend of a lot of today's young adults.  Yes, she is absorbed with her Ipod, her job and friends, but when it comes to her niece's she is a first class auntie and I'm so proud of the affection she gives towards the girls.

The capture is from a Canon 50D, processed in Photoshop CS5 and then worked in the Topaz B&W Effects plug-in.  I used a transparency filter to bring a little faded color back into the image and then added a slight blur to the entire scene.  With a layer mask I then brought some of the original color back into the primary subjects and the pigeons.

In this second scene at a court yard inside the Alamo area I was hoping to get a capture of the beautiful lighting in this fountain area, but finally went with the smallest amount of "human intervention" that would work.  This was processed in Photoshop CS5 with Nik HDR Efex and then converted to a black and white using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 which emphasized the lighting as well as the textural qualities of the scene.  Again, using a layer mask, I brought back a hint of flesh tones in the young girl.  I'm really glad that I didn't walk away from this scene and decided to wait for an opening when the crowd melted away.

I often surprise myself when I do these types of portrait situations since I spend a large part of my time searching for grand landscapes, clear waters or summer skies that are void of appearances by people.  I guess, when one really thinks about it, people probably have more of an influence on our lives compared to our surroundings which can define the person that one becomes.

Thank you for joining me today and please feel free to comment.

SIC 'EM BEARS!

My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" and new book "Take What's Given" can be purchased online at-  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

Looking For The Needle In The Haystack

"A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something."  Frank Capra

A few weeks ago I was chasing a few clouds along the southern border of Minnesota when I came upon this scene in a small clearing of farmland.  The wagon seemed so out of place for our time and I couldn't help thinking about how it had survived so long from the Minnesota weather.  As I started shooting the scene the center cloud was far to the left side, but while minutes went by I noticed that it was traveling in the "right" direction, meaning becoming a part of the scene.

Clouds are such a magical thing to me...that they are formed from mini water droplets drawn from the earth and then given back to us in the form of rain.....or snow, while during the process providing us with a myriad of forms and backdrops to witness.  It reminds me of a comment made to me by a west coast photographer regarding the lack of clouds as we see here in the midwest in his part of the country.  I was astounded since I only assumed that everyone had these same puffy white masses in their sky as well.

During the editing process I processed this image in the new Topaz B & W Effects and was pretty impressed by the amount of creative options that are available and the ease of doing custom adjustments.

It was then that I decided to take it a step further using the transparency adjustable slide to add a small amount of color to give the image the more vintage look seen below.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to comment on your favorite of this post.

My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" can be purchased online at-

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V