P3D Painting

[markaren@xxxxxxxxx (Karen Obusek)]

I started shooting holiday lights for my complimentary viewers. Using
the steal the light viewers I wanted to brighten up the images and
reduce contrast this time around. To enhance depth I made sure I found a
near object ( bush, mailbox, fence etc) and attempted to paint the
foreground with an ordinary flashlight. Last year I felt the foreground
objects were too dark and contrasty. Adding exposure time was sure to
wash out critical areas of the scene.......so I used a straight edge of
black paper to dodge the lighting ( covering a portion of the lens)
while Karen  painted the foreground objects with the flashlight. Then
exposed the entire scene for the few remaining seconds. Since the
mirrors flip up during exposure with the X4, I had to align the black
paper in the viewfinder and hold very steady. The dodging technique
would seem easier using the Realist viewfinder however the lenses are
much smaller.....this would be just as difficult I suppose. I used a
pair of 80A filters on the X4 to correct for the flashlight, and to
achieve a cooler look.  I'll report my results early this week.           
                                                     Mark Dottle