Glorious.

Well, it took 5 years and almost $1 billion in contributions sourced from across the planet (yours truly included) and Notre Dame reopened today, recovering from unspeakable tragedy. While one sour note is sounded by the presence of the Pig of the Western World, as morally degenerate a human as has ever occupied the White House, all churches attract vermin and Notre Dame is no exception.

So let’s rejoice that the world occasionally does something really right. The Grande Dame is back:

The reopening ceremony. Click the image for the video of the ceremony.

The new spire.

Vive La France!

Night photography.

When I think of night photography two names immediately come to mind – Brassaï and O. Winston Link. The former for his mythical images of Paris at night, the latter for the greatest steam train images ever made.

Back in 2013 I determined to photograph the festive season windows at night in that up market retail paradise, Carmel, and related the experience here. It bears adding that I have owned many 35mm focal length lenses but two stand out – the 35mm f/2 Asph Leitz Summicron for its contrast and the 35mm f/1.4 Sigma for its sensational definition – assuming you can get one that actually focuses correctly. The resolving power of the Sigma is unquestionably the highest I have enjoyed on any camera and the stellar definition is abundantly in evidence in my images. So it was the Sigma, attached to a Nikon D3x, which was the optic of choice for the night images of Carmel’s magnificent shop windows. Anything but lightweight, this combination was mounted on the outstanding Sirui K-40X ball head attached to an ancient and massive Linhof tripod. Looking at the data exposure times varied from 1/15th to 8 seconds and apertures were mostly f/5.6 or f/8. I let the Nikon do the exposure figuring though I had the camera set to underexpose by 1 stop, knowing that burned out highlights in these very high contrast images would not be recoverable in post processing. And speaking of processing, the new to me features of Lightroom Classic compared with my ages old Lightroom v6 made the already fine images even better, specifically the sophisticated masking tools and the ‘Texture’ slider which made the many images of clothing really come alive. Why, I almost feel good about sending Adobe $10 monthly for these enhancements. A couple of images were round tripped through Affinity Photo 2 to square things up.

Anyway, of the 56 images 42 were winners and you can view the slide show by clicking the picture below. The music is Cole Porter’s “I’ve got you under my skin” and the slideshow was generated using LRc. I encourage you to view this on the largest screen in your home, the TV, as the quality of the photos is nothing short of spectacular.

Click the image for the slideshow.

Did you catch that?

North Beach, San Francisco.

If the streets of North Beach, San Francisco are always interesting, the people are fascinating. Two dozen favorites:

Mostly snapped on the Panasonic GX7 or the Nikon D3x, many with the fabulous Sigma 35/1.4 Art lens.

Eclectic.

During the five years through 2015 I visited San Francisco weekly from my home in the Bay Area peninsula. Looking at the catalogs in Lightroom two areas have the most images from those trips – the Italian North Beach and the Hispanic Mission District. It’s almost impossible to take bad pictures in this eclectic city and North Beach makes the task even easier.

Here is a baker’s dozen favorite snaps:

Mostly snapped on the Panasonic GX7 and the Nikon D3x.

For people snaps in North Beach click here.

Three dozen formal portraits.

Once I got my home studio set up with an elevated platform I set to collaring local dog owners for a session with their dog. The platform places the animal at eye level so that no neck craning is involved, and the cement breeze blocks supporting the sturdy plywood and steel base permit easy height adjustment. Sturdiness is key, with the largest animal portrayed weighing in at 150lbs! I have a variety of backgrounds to suitably set off the animal, and a supply of squeaky toys and quality treats to keep the dog involved. Most of the direction is by the owner. After all, who knows the animal best?

Dogs are far harder to photograph than humans. They have short attention spans, are easily distracted, often disregard instructions and can be quite unruly. I have found that, after letting the animal roam my home for a few minutes to get settled, the first ten minutes of the session are vital. In that time I typically take 40 images and a free large matted, mounted and framed print is given to the owner after a favorite is picked on the wall mounted display.

Because dogs tend to be active, I use a zoom lens on the Nikon D800 to permit easy framing of both full body shots and big head close-ups. Lighting is by my three decades old Novatron strobes which have never failed me. Look at the image below and you will see I use three strobes – the top one for the ‘Hollywood glamor’ effect, the right one for catchlights in the eyes (essential to bring the dog alive) and the umbrella one at left for fill lighting. The model in the picture below is my teddy bear who is as old as I am but unlike me has glass eyes. That allows me to check that the main light at the right is delivering good catchlights.

To keep cabling down I use an inexpensive RF trigger on the Nikon with the receiver plugged in to the Novatron power supply. The Nikon is tethered by a physical cable to an old repurposed MacBook Air running Lightroom and connected to a wall mounted monitor, permitting viewing of the images a couple of seconds after pressing the button. This is an invaluable tool in helping the owner select favorite images. Instant gratification and there’s at least one image in each session which generates the “Wow!” reaction. Because the connector for the USB cable in the Nikon is flimsy I reinforce the attachment with a cable tie around the cable and through the left strap eyelet. Otherwise it will typically fall out right in the middle of a session.

Click the image for the gallery.

This project took nine months. All photos were made using the 28-300mm Nikkor AF-S zoom, mostly at f/9.5-f/11 at ISO 100-200 with the strobes on half power. With stepped muzzle dogs where the nose is distant from the eyes – and you ideally want both sharp – I spot focused on a point half way up the muzzle. An 85mm f/1.8 AF-S Nikkor and a Nikon Micro-Nikkor 105mm AF-D were used for a couple of images. The blue rug is far more than decorative, serving to cover the power cables to the strobes, making for one less tripping hazard.