George D. and Jake

 George D. and Jake, his beloved Austrailian Sheep Dog.

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Simmicron lens, Fujichrome film

 

George David Queener was larger than life. He was one of the most unforgettable characters I've ever met. 

George D., as he was usually known, came to Mclemore Cove in the northwest Georgia mountains in 1946, just out of the army, to work at Mountain Cove Farm. He had been a corporal, and was newly married to Mary Ellen, who was older than he, and had been, interestingly enough, a lieutenant. George's ambition was to be a cattleman, and to that end, he told Mary Ellen that he wanted to go to medical school so he could become a doctor and earn enough money to own cattle. With her characteristic common sense, she told him, "If you want to be a cattleman, go to work in the cattle business." 

Eventually, they were able to acquire a piece of property and put some cattle on it. Through years of scrimping and saving, going into debt when necessary to buy more land when it became available, they in time found themselves owners of the GDQ Ranch, with more than 800 acres and 350 head of purebred Polled Hereford cattle.

George D. and Mary Ellen Queener

and the old Chevrolet pickup George always called his

"good truck," even though he had newer ones.

Olympus OM2n, 35mm f2 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome film

 

 George D. was considered by many to be a hard man, and perhaps he was. But he sold us our land, and he was a good neighbor to us. Mary Ellen was one of the most gracious ladies I've ever known, but George D. was could be a bit obstreperous now and then. It usually ended when Mary Ellen looked at him and said, "Now, George D. . ." 

I guess he never forgot that she outranked him.

Photographs and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

Tags: Dave Jenkins, photography, Leica M3, Summicron, Olympus OM2n, Fujichrome, McLemore Cove

 

Basic Equipment for Architectural Photography

Randolph County Courthouse, Cuthbert, Georgia

Photographed with Canon 6D, 17-35mm f2.8L lens

Vertical lines corrected in post-processing 

 

Blog Note: This series of posts is adapted from my article Architectural Photography the Digital Way, which appeared in  Rangefinder Magazine in 2010. 

Digital architectural photography is mostly a full-frame, wide-angle-lens proposition. Ordinary wide-angle lenses can be used -- I completed my first few assignments with only a 17-35mm zoom – but a perspective control lens will make for more efficient work in the field, will save time in post-processing, and will result in better final files.

Briefly, the primary purpose of a perspective control lens is to make it possible to photograph a building or other object in such a way that parallel vertical lines in the subject remain parallel in the photograph. With a non-PC lens, it may be necessary to tilt the camera to take in the top of a tall building. Tilting the camera will cause parallel lines to appear to converge, an effect which makes the building appear to be falling backwards. Below is what you get when you point your camera up at a tall building.

Entrance to Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Showing the effect of pointing the camera up at a tall building

Canon 5D, 17-35mm f2.8L lens

 

A PC lens, however, is designed to allow the front of the lens to be moved independently of the rear of the lens and the camera body. The camera remains stationary, with the sensor plane parallel with the building, while the front of the lens is raised by turning a knob until the top of the building comes into the frame. In addition to rising/falling front elements, current perspective control lenses also have a tilt feature which allows the photographer to either increase or reduce the depth of field. For this reason, they are often referred to as tilt/shift lenses. The basic focal length for architectural photography is 24mm.

 Finley Stadium Entrance, Chattanooga

Showing the effect of photographing with a Perspective Control lens 

 

 Canon has had a complete range of perspective control lenses for several years, their TS-E series in 17, 24, 45, and 90mm focal lengths. After deciding that architectural photography was something I wanted to pursue aggressively, a 24mm TS-E lens was my first purchase. 

Making the Work Flow

I shoot everything in RAW mode for the greater flexibility of the digital negative. The RAW vs. jpeg capture debate has been going on for years, but according to a poll conducted by Alan Blakely, founder and director of the Association of Independent Architectural Photographers, every architectural photographer who responded shoots RAW. 

 First Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Chattanooga

  Canon 5D, 24mm TS-E (Perspective Control) lens

 

After downloading my cards, I open and sort the files in a nifty, inexpensive, little  program called Pixort (pixort.com) and tag the keepers. These are opened in Capture One, adjusted for color and density, and converted to Tiffs. Any remaining work is done in Photoshop. To be continued.

Photographs and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

Tags: Dave Jenkins, architectural photography, Canon 5D Classic camera, Canon

6D camera, Canon 24mm f2,8 TS-E lens, Canon EF 17-35 f2.8L lens, Capture One,

Perspective Control lenses

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

A New Way to Photograph Architecture

Entrance Area

Heritage High School, Catoosa County, Georgia

Canon 5D, Canon 24mm f2.8 TS-E Perspective Control lens

 

Blog Note: This series of posts is adapted from my article Architectural Photography the Digital Way, which appeared in  Rangefinder Magazine in 2010.

Things rocked along for a few years, with weddings becoming a larger part of my business. By 2007, though, weddings were not doing so well. The wedding photojournalism niche in my local market, which I had pretty much to myself for years, began to be invaded by a few others and there was a great increase in the overall number of photographers pursuing weddings and driving prices down. At the same time, I became increasingly concerned about the ability of my 70-year-old body to handle the physical demands of wedding photography. (I need not have worried -- I photographed my most recent wedding at the age of 83.)

Public Library, Chattanooga, Tennessee 

Canon 5D, Canon 24mm f2.8 TS-E Perspective Control lens 

 

But I felt I needed to find a new specialty in which I would be dealing with professional clients who knew, and were willing to pay for, the difference between semi-pro and high-level professional work.

The stage was set for a phone call, in March, 2007, from an art director with whom I had worked for many years. Commissioned to design an ad for a contractor who built commercial buildings, she felt the photography provided by the client was not up to her standards. I photographed seven buildings, both exteriors and interiors, with a Canon 5D and a Canon 17-35 f2.8L lens. It was a revelation to be able to photograph exteriors with nothing but a light camera body, a medium-weight tripod, and a few lenses. I realized very quickly that I was onto something.

Siskin Rehabilitation Center, Chattanooga

Canon 5D, Canon 17-35mm f2.8L lens

 

Digital files print exceedingly well at high magnifications, well enough to satisfy just about any client, whether architect or magazine. Personally, I quit worrying about enlarging digital files when I found that a file from my original, six-megapixel 10D would make a 16x20 print indistinguishable from one made from a fine-grain film negative shot with my Pentax 6x7.

Working digitally with a small camera made it easy to move around and shoot a greater variety of angles. The smaller format also meant greater depth of field at every aperture, which, coupled with the stellar performance of the 5D at ISOs such as 400 and 800 meant higher shutter speeds could be used. This factor, combined with the small size of the 5D body, meant less likelihood of camera shake or wind-induced camera movement. To be continued.

Photographs and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

Tags: Dave Jenkins, architectural photography, Canon 5D Classic camera, 

Canon EF 17-35 f2.8L lens, Pentax 6x7 camera,