Aperture

Azi mi-e dor de mare si m-am gandit sa va impartasesc 2 poze facute la inceputul verii, dimineata devreme in portul Tomis, Constanta:

Ce vezi si ce este?

Ce vezi este un jet continuu de apa. Ce este sunt stropi ce se misca in aceeasi directie cu rapididate, astfel incat ochiul percepe o miscare continua care este.

Pentru a “ingheta” apa in miscare este nevoie de un timp de expunere de cel putin 1/640, uneori si mai mic, depinde de rapiditatea cu care apa se misca. Nu exista o reteta aici, doar trial and error. Ca regula, cu cat timpul de expunere este mai mic, cu atat stropi ce se formeaza apar mai clari. Cu cat e mai rapida lentila cu atat mai bine.

Rapiditatea lentilei este data de marimea diafragmei. De ce? Cu cat diafragma este mai mare (f1.2 de exemplu) cu atat iti poti permite timpi de expunere mai mici 1/1600, 1/2500, etc ==> “rapiditatea” lentilei.

In cazul de fata, poza a fost facut cu o lentila primara de 50mm f1.4 cu deschiderea f2.8, ceea ce mi-a permis un timp de expunere de 1/1600 fara ca rezultatul sa fie subexpus.

Din nou senzational! Aurora boreala surprinsa pe aeroportul din Praga!

Frumos effect, nu? Prin fereastra unui Boeing 737 gata de decolare pe aeroportul din Praga. Geamul dublu din plexi-glass al avionului impreuna cu polarizorul circular (multistrat si ultraslim cu montura de 77 care m-a costat o avere). Polarizam ce polarizam pana cand nu mai putem. Fara polarizor “aurora boreala” dispare. Cacacios.

Dar asta nu e important, 2 stewarzi ne arata cum sa punem si sa dam jos centura, unde sunt iesirile de siguranta, cum mastile de oxigen se declanseaza automat la scaderea presiunii din habitaclu. Masca trebuie pusa pe fata si trebuie sa rspiri normal. Da exact! Cred ca respiratul normal poate fi o problema cand sfincteru’ iti zvagneste in ritmul batailor inimii si singurul gand care-i trece prin cap este ca ai fost un bou toata viata si nu ai facut niciodata ceea ce te-a inspirat.

La un momendat te linistesti probabil, iar daca ai norocul chior sa fii intr-o cursa trans-atlantica, te poti relaxa de-a dreptu’! Avionul va ateriza pe apa! Asta este si motivul de fapt pentru care ti se cere sa inchizi echipamentele electronice (eu chiar va recomand sa le scoateti bateria). Stim cu totii ce face apa cu curentul electric… Era sa uit un lucru important. Sub scaun se afla vesta de salvare. Trebuie sa ti-o pui pe tine in timp ce avionul e in picaj. Ce e misto e ca poti sa n-ai nici o treaba cu innotu’. Ea (vesta) te tine la suprafata.

Ajungem la altitudinea de croaziera. Semnalul luminos deasupra capului se stinge, semn ca iti poti da jos centura de siguranta. Perdeaua de la business class este trasa de o tanara stewardeza, semn ca acolo va incepe curand dezmatul. Sampanie, caviar, marijuana, sex. Din cand in cand se mai aude cate un chiuit de placere…

La economy in schimb, atmosfera este calma. Se serveste masa. Nu stiu daca coincidenta sau nu, dar stewardeza nostra e trecuta de 40, ajutata de un steward plictisit. La dus am avut de ales intre sandwich cu salam sau cascaval. De data asta insa suntem intrebati: “Salami or chesse sandwich?” I’m one lucky bastard! “I don’t know, what do you recommend?”

The Orton Effect, originally discovered by Canadian Michael Orton consists of overlaying 2 exposures of the same subject (with the camera in the same position). The first exposure is in clear focus, while the second, overexposed with 2 f-stops and deliberately out of focus.

This particular effect dates back to film era. At that time, to achieve this effect, the camera was positioned on the tripod, focus was set on the subject the the shutter fired the first exposure. Without advancing the film for the next frame, manually the subject was put out of focus, eposure time increased and a second time the shutter was fired, exposing the same frame. The amount of effect can be controlled during the second exposure (the more out of focus, the more powerful the effect). Not any film camera allows multiple exposures on the same frame, therefore, not everybody expressed their creativity this way.  The final result was a picture that appear to have been taken from a dream world (focused subject which diffuses colors in the background).

Nowdays, you don’t need expensive photographic gear to replicate the same result. Here is how to recreate the Orton Effect from a single exposure via digital post processing tools (like Adobe Photoshop:)

Fig. 1 – Original Photograph

Let’s open the picture from Figure 1 in Adobe Photoshop (does not matter the version).

Step 2: Overexpose the duplicate select the duplicated layer (named “screen” in our example) and change the blending mode to “Screen”. You will notice the overexposure.

Step 4: Merging down “Screen copy” layer right click the 3rd layer (named “Screen copy” in our example. select “Merge down” a new layer will emerge. There will be a total of 2 layers on your layers palette in this moment (namely Background and Screen).

Step 6: Underexpose the “Screen copy” layer resulted from previous step. Select the “Screen copy” layer and choose Multiply as a blend mode. What Multiply does is to multiply the layer color with the color on the back. In our case, both images (Screen and Screen copy) have the same color, therefore, the result will be a multiplying of green tones (darker greens ==> sort of underexposure)

Step 7: Gaussian Blur The resulted “Screen copy” layer with Multiply blending mode is “defocused” via Gaussian Blur Filter. You can choose here a value between 15 and 30 pixels. The more blur you apply (defocusing the image) the more powerful Orton Effect you’ll have. Play with the values, but do not exaggerate as when you go above 60 pixels, quality of the effect tend decrease.

Step 8 (optional): Add more color saturation On the freshly blurred layer create channel mixer adjustment layer. Play with values as you prefer. Here I’ve intensified the Green channel a bit (20% more saturation)

Final result. The Orton Effect image:

Fig. 2 – The Orton Effect (mouse-over to see the differences from original)