Recoleta Cemetery Buenos Aires, Argentina

Recoleta Cemetery Entrance, Canon 5D Markii, 24-105 at 24mm, f14, 1/60sec, ISO200, Black and White

I passed few weeks visiting La Recoleta Cemetery, during a trip to Buenos Aires, in Spring 2011, I had the chance to do a lot of shooting  my subject where mostly "Statues", for me they represented the spirit of the place, they are in fact the residents,

This cemetery is an amazing place, 14 acres of history, I used a map to find my way around, if your time is limited the best option will be to go on a tour. 

That cemetery contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Peron, most of Argentina Presidents, Nobel Prize Winners, etc..., and a lot of cats.

The location is great in the heart of La Recoleta BA best neighborhood, very cultural, with the  National Fine Arts Museum, a lot of great shopping and BA best restaurants.

For our stay like always we rented an apartment from  http://www.bytargentina.com  they are great and affordable.

 If you have any questions about BA, don't hesitate to ask me, I may not be able to know the answer but I can find out, I have a lot friends in Argentina that can help.

For the shooting I used my Canon 5D Markii, and different lenses, including Lensbaby,  I wrote the shooting info under each image, you can find more images by visiting my website gallery Fine ArtRecoleta Cemetery BA 2011

The Little Angel, Canon 5D Markii,16-35 at 18mm, f18, 1/85sec, ISO200, Black and White onOne Soft

The Man Canon 5D Markii, Lensbaby, double glass optic  50mm, f4, 1/1600sec, ISO200,

The Queen, Canon 5D Markii, Lensbaby, double glass optic  50mm, f4, 1/2500sec, ISO200,  Black and White on

The 2 Brothers Canon 5D Markii, 24-105 at 105mm, f5.6, 1/1250sec, ISO200, Black and White onOne Software

The Bird on the Cross, Canon 5D Markii, 24-105 at 24mm, f9, 1/400sec, ISO200, Black and White  

 The Good Over Evil,   Canon 5D Markii, 24-105 at 67mm, f4, 1/800sec, ISO200, Black and White

 Angel,  Canon 5D Markii, Lensbaby, double glass optic  50mm, f4, 1/500sec, ISO200

The End of the Day, Canon 5D Markii, 24-105 at 105mm, f7, 1/80sec, ISO200, Black and White onOne S

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Black and White Filters

I use black and white filters all the time, I like the flexibility, and all the options.

The 4 programs that I used the most are onOne Perfect BW 8, Photoshop Plug In and Standalone, Nik Silver Effex 2, Photoshop Plug In, Alien exposure 5, Photoshop Plug In, and Topaz BW effect 2, Photoshop Plug In, they all offer a lot of flexibility, all of them have free trial, try one at the time, play with it, see if that respond to your needs, you can also try Film Noir, a Standalone Program just got it, very interesting program.

I took these 2 shots during a trip to Louisville Kentucky, these girls where promoting the day of the little black dress Oct. 19, never heard of it before, but apparently it’s to celebrate Coco Chanel introduction of the little black dress 85 years ago, quite interesting, now on I will wear my little black dress every year on that date.

I found these 2 street shots interesting, I am using black and white to change the mood of each image, have a look, and if you have any questions about the programs, use the comment section.

For all the black and white transformation, I only click on the preset, didn't play with it, except for my custom one, I normally play with each options a lot but for this post I didn't want to change the look of the presets I used, the only thing I took out was the frame, when it came with the preset and reduce the grain effect.



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This is the original, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 50mm prime lens, f6.3, 1/125 ISO200

 

I used Alien Skin Kodak Tech Pan Preset

I used onOne Holliwood Portrait Latte Preset

I used Nik High Structure Preset

This one is very different, Topaz as a lot of different filters, this one is Cyan and Pink,

This one is my custom transformation, using Nik, starting with Pinhole Preset, changing the film for Agfa APX 400, Toning Sepia 20, lowering contrast, and protecting the shadow, I also used a control point to add a bit a of brightness on the face of the girls in the corners. This custom one was done to send the attention to the 3 girls in the middle, and their interaction.

This one was kind of fun, I like the different expressions, serious, laughing, and dreaming, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 50mm prime lens, f11, 1/20, ISO 200

I used Topaz White Chocolate Preset

I used Nik High Structure Preset

 I used Alien Skin Low Contrast Kodak x 400 Preset

I like this one a lot, I used Onone Grade 5 Preset

As you can see, the options are huge, just depend of what you are looking for,

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The Calgary Zoo

Montage "The 3 Amigos Bank Job" Canon 5D Markii, Canon 100-400 at 280mm, f5.6, 1/250sec, ISO200,

The Calgary Zoo, is an amazing zoo, it’s the second largest in Canada after Toronto.

The 3 Amigos, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 100-400 at 280mm, f5.6, 1/250sec, ISO200,BW using Onone software

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Located on St. George’s Island in downtown Calgary, a great location till June 2013 flood, the zoo suffered extensive damage costing over $50 million, the zoo fully reopened in November 2013.

For me like many Albertans and tourists the zoo is an oasis, a place to learn and relax.

The pictures on this post are some of my favorite, as you will see, I used some of them to create images that have nothing to do with the reality, but are part of my vision.

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 70-200 at 70mm, f2.8, 1/50 sec. ISO1250, using Corel Painter software,

The Other Side of the Glass, I like the interaction between the little monkey that in fact is outside, and the people the other side of the glass that are inside the building, it last just a fraction of second, just the time to capture it. Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400 at 400 f5.6, 1/200sec. ISO 400

The Thinker, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 70-200 at 160mm, f5, 1/1250sec, ISO 200

Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 24-105 at 100mm, f4.5, 1/640sec, ISO200

I love pink flamingo, I had that vision when I saw them, I started by the BW image above, but that wasn't what I was looking for, I wanted to keep the pink, and add a surreal mood, using liquify filter in Photoshop and Corel Painter I was able to recreate my vision, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 24-105 at 100mm, f4.5, 1/640sec, ISO200

The zebras are probably one of my favorite subject, love the lines, especially great for BW, Canon 5DMarkiii, Canon 100-400 at 340mm, f5.6, 1/320sec, ISO200, Software onOne

The zebras such an amazing animal, I really like the way they are position in the frame, when I am out at the zoo, I can wait for hours to get a shot, and sometimes is doesn't happen, but this time it did, took me many days working with Photoshop and Corel to get the image exactly how I wanted, some of my pre-visualisation are very difficult and sometimes impossible to create even with Photoshop and all the other digital darkroom tools. For this shot I use my Canon 5DMarkiii, Canon 100-400 at 260mm, f5.6, 1/400sec, ISO200

The Lioness, so beautiful and ferocious, she is the queen, I passed many hours shooting her and her friends, the other lioness and the lions, to do so I needed to put my big lens on a tripod in a safe location, the African Lions are very popular and with all the kids rooming around it takes time to find the perfect spot, when I found it, I kept it for a while, shooting for few hours, wasn't even affected by the army of mosquitoes!!!  So I did like always when it's possible I used my sturdy tripod, Canon 5DMarkiii, Canon 100-400 at 308mm. f7.1, 1/160, ISO 400,

The angry girls, gorgeous and ferocious, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400 with a Kenco 1.4 extender to get 560mm, f8, 1/400sec, ISO400

The King, how handsome, young and perky, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400 with a Kenco 1.4 extender to get 434mm, f8, 1/250 ISO400

The Look of a king, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400 with a Kenco 1.4 extender to get 560mm, f9, 1/200 ISO400

To be successful when going for a safary at your local zoo, bring your tripod, I normally rent a cart to transport all my gears, be patient and take the time to find the perfect view point, set your gears be ready to shoot, and wait for the perfect moment, patience is the essence, that's why I always go alone, that way I can take as long as I want and focus on what I am doing, with no distraction.

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