Way back in the day when I used to be a member of the Camera Club of Ottawa and we met at the
NRC building on Sussex Drive the most usual criticism of my photos
was that they were “good record shots”. I did not see that as
much of a criticism at the time because then I mostly thought of
photography as capturing what was there, rather than as artistic
expression, and that composition was the main skill required. At that
time I was using a
Konica Autoreflex T3 35 mm camera shooting mostly Fujichrome 100.
When I got into
digital photography and realized what one could do with photo
software I began to see photography more as an art form, Of course
even back in the days of film one’s choice of film to use and
settings to use, not to mention darkroom work, meant that photography
was always an art form.
Currently I do All
my photography with digital cameras, my main go to camera being my
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100. However the photo used in this blog post was taken with my Panasonic Lumix TS5 compact waterproof
and shock resistant sports camera that I can easily carry in my small
bike pouch at the front or in the pocket of my PFD when kayaking.
So far the best
single click photo optimizer I have discovered is Simply Good Pictures 5 .For all around photo
editing (and for display map creation) I tend to use Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023. However more often
than not I am using Franzis Color Projects 6 Professional for the interesting
effects it can create. For conversion to Black and White my choice is Franzis Black & White Projects 6 Professional with it’s large
selection of options.
Franzis Color
Projects provides an extremely large number of preset effects, some
that just enhance the quality of the photo, but also many that
provide artistic effects that create a whole new look to the photo.
Each preset choice can be further refined within the program. The program can also emulate many specific types of film.
For this
demonstration project the original photo, taken on the Old Quarry Trail in the Ottawa Greenbelt, was shot with my Lumix TS-5
and then auto enhanced with Simply Good Pictures and then the
individual effects were applied with Franzis Color Projects
Professional 6.
Original
from Panasonic Lumix TS5
Interim
Phase - Simply Good Pictures Auto Enhancement
Franzis Color
Projects Edited Versions
Natural
Structure Dark
Natural Colour
shift 1
Natural Colour
shift 3
Surreal
shifted
Landscape Blue
filter
Architecture
Monochrome
Architecture
Sketch
Portrait Low
key
Artistic Water
mirroring
Painting
Bright sketch