A Slow Sunday

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Waiting
Today was a work day around the house. I ran some errands to a local Home Depot to pick up a few tools to try and replace an air conditioner that is literally built into a lower wall of the back extension. An air conditioner that's completely busted. It's a project that's taking a lot longer than I anticipated. So much for a movie and some riding around photographing. In the end the oldest, my wife and I congregated at a local Olive Garden next to Millenia Mall for an early evening meal. We weren't up for anything special so we made a meal out of soup, salad and breadsticks.
Demolishing Former Robb and Stuckey's
On the way out I spotted the former Robb and Stucky store that had closed down March of last year. The property is prime real estate right on the corner of Conroy and Millenia Blvd, directly across from Millenia Mall. Whoever purchased the property is in the process of demolishing the store. I' not surprised, as the store was very specific to Robb and Stucky's method of displaying and selling expensive furniture for expensive homes. It would have been difficult reusing the layout. It will be interesting to see what rises over this site. It wouldn't surprise me if it isn't turned into a gas station.
Shattered
I'm still playing with the E-PL1. Give it the right kind of lens and the E-PL1 can produce some richly detailed photographs. I still marvel over the price it dropped to. The Olympus E-PL1 is destined to become a classic along the same lines as the E-500.

Comments

  1. wjl (Wolfgang Lonien)May 28, 2012

    I agree about the E-PL1. Got mine brand new with the kit lens late last year for under 240€ - so I think there hasn't been any better bargain until now (except when buying used of course).

    About your photos: these black & whites look so contrasty lately - do you use a polarizer, or even a graded orange or red filter? Almost like using HDR techniques... or are those skies in Florida actually *that* dramatic during this time of the year?

    cheers,
    Wolfgang

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BillMay 28, 2012

      The images are raw out of the E-P2 and E-PL1 through Ligthroom 4 and then into Silver Efex Pro 2. I'm not using any polarizer filter. I pull all the detail out of the highlights I can (reflections, clouds) in LR4 with the highlights slider to the left (negative values). You have to be careful with highlights because if you try to compensate the overall brightness by moving the whites slider to the right you will make the colors very contrasty and punchy.

      I will sometimes accentuate detail in the shadows by moving the shadows slider to the right, but I have to be careful not to create too much noise in the shadows doing that. I then shift the complete exposure around a bit. Then I run that through Silver Efex Pro. In the top photo I deliberately underexposed a bit in Silver Efext Pro as well as used a blue filter to darken the foliage. The other two were Wet Rocks (which is where I run most of my B&W and which is now getting to be something of a rut).

      And yes, the Florida skys can be that dramatic this time of year. You should see how they look after a tropical storm or hurricane.

      I think I really need to move away from the "goth" contrast look. I need to move towards a lighter look with more mid-tones. But hey, that's what's fun with this, the endless variation and experimentation.

      Delete
    2. wjl (Wolfgang Lonien)May 28, 2012

      Oh, I wasn't critizising - just asking. And thanks for the explanation Bill!

      Delete

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