On January 14, 2022 the Beacon Photography Group 2023 Members Showcase had a reception for club members, their families and friends at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, New York. About 90 people attended and everyone mingled and chatted.
If you happen to be in Beacon or coming to Beacon for a visit, please drop in on Saturdays or Sundays from 1pm to 5pm. The showcase runs until February 26th.
My Photos in the Showcase
I have three photos in the showcase and one of them – Sunset at Long Dock in Beacon – sold in the first 15 minutes of the show’s opening.
Sunset at Long Dock in Beacon
The two other photos are titled “Black Water and Ice” and “Ice Flows on the Hudson at Cold Spring”
Black Water and Ice
Ice Flows on the Hudson at Cold Spring
This last photo is a panorama consisting of five individual photos stitched together. It is 55 inches wide. The sepia color makes it look timeless.
The Reception
I took my Leica Q2 camera to the reception and snapped quite a few photos. It was dark inside as most of the lights illuminated the photos. I developed them using Capture One and then I discovered, via YouTube, a program called DxO PhotoLab 6.
I exported the DNG (Digital Negatives) I had developed in Capture One, along with their adjustments, and then processed them in PhotoLab 6. PhotoLab does not import the originals, rather it leaves the originals in place and adds a separate file with suffix “.dop” with the changes that have been applied to the photo. PhotoLab has a number of “AI” (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms which I applied to the various photos. The program impressed me and you can download a month-long free trial from their site.
Below is a gallery of photos I took at the reception. If you click on an image in the gallery, you will see the photos in full-screen mode and will be able to the use the arrows at either end to scroll through them. The small ‘X’ in the right-hand corner can be used to leave the gallery and come back to the article.
Proud owners of my photo: Mr. and Mrs. Ray Herbst
Philomena Kiernan, Tom Conroy and Markie Baylash
Conclusions
In addition to documenting the Showcase reception with my photos, I was able to process them using the DxO Photolab 6 program. One quickly realizes that the image the camera takes is just the beginning of a process to make that image what we want the beholder to see. Now, I cannot imagine just using an image “straight out of the camera”. The digital negative has a lot of information that can be used to bring the image to the point at which one is willing to share it with an audience.
Ironically, the ‘Sunset at Long Dock in Beacon’ photograph that was sold was taken with an iPhone. The others were taken with the Leica Q2. I am always amazed by the quality and focus of the iPhone images. Apple has coined the phrase “Computational Photography” and there is a lot of background processing going on before the image goes into your Photo Library. In future articles I plan to explore the range of algorithms used by these cameras to assist us in creating lovely photographs that capture the great moments in our lives.
All photographs in this post are copyright by Larry Kerschberg, All Rights Reserved.