Nikon 70-300mm ED AF

Bean Town In Black & White

February 14, 2013 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

Wow, this image goes way back…all the way back to the Nikon D300 days in 2009. We are looking at the Boston skyline from the MIT side of the Charles River.

If you are from Boston, or know someone who would like to put this image on their desktop, please share it with them. Just click the image, click the ‘X3′ (above it the new image), then right click PC/CMD Click MAC and select ‘Set As Desktop Background’. Did you know you could do that with almost every image on the site? If you didn’t, you do now. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Boston, Massachusetts, Nikon 70-300mm ED AF, Nikon D300, Travel

The One That Didn’t Get Away

September 2, 2010 by Justin Balog 4 Comments

A Humpback Whale Captured With A Nikon D5000

Over the last month or so I have been testing out the Nikon D5000. For me, it is a great back-up camera as well as a light travel companion. If you are looking to upgrade to a digital SLR, or wanting to get started in photography, this camera is a great option. In order to complete the review I thought it would be interesting to hand it off to my wife for a trip up to Alaska. She has the eye of a photographer, but lacks the patience to deal with all the various dials and settings. So I put the camera in program mode, set the auto ISO, and put her in front of grizzlies, glaciers, whales, moose, and mountains. You will see other images from her portfolio in the final review. For now I thought I would share this one. No question about it, she didn’t let this one get away!

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Filed Under: Alaska, Black & White, Juneau, Nik Software, Nikon 70-300 VR, Nikon 70-300mm ED AF, Nikon D5000, Processing Notes, Travel

The Power of Post

April 11, 2010 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

I’m not sure if it is universal, but a question I asked myself many times when I was starting out in photography was, “Why don’t my pictures look like that?”. I always wanted to see my heros’ captures. I wondered what it looked like on their LCD? After a while, I started to realize much of an image’s power and punch happened after the capture. By no means am I claiming that you can’t get it right in the camera to start with. There are plenty of people who do. But most digital photographs could use a bit of contrast and saturation boost to realize their full potential. That is why, in my Six Guiding Principles To Improving Your Photography, number 2 is ‘Know your software’.

One benefit of not having to maintain a professional reputation is I can show you the before images. I posted this image long ago, but because the capture was so bad, it was good candidate for this video. Yep, it was pretty bland. I shot this after a long run, and only had my camera and water bottle with me. I could have fine tuned the white balance and applied some in camera picture controls, but I was exhausted and ready for a meal. I knew I could save it once I got back home. Here is a quick glimpse at the power of post processing. Hopefully it will help you realize the full potential of your memories!

Video:

Before (not quite like I remembered it)

After (More like it!)

Note: If you are an email subscriber, you will need to visit the site. Also, if you are interested in the plugins I used to process this image you can find them here: http://www.niksoftware.com and use the coupon code LIGHTASMAGIC to receive 15% any of their products. For my overview of their entire suite click here.

Filed Under: Colorado, Gitzo Traveler, Nik Software, Nikon 70-300mm ED AF, Processing Notes, Tutorials
Tagged With: Copper Mountain Ski Area, Sunset

Public Service

January 31, 2010 by Justin Balog 0 Comments

A neighbor friend of ours, who also happens to be a great photographer, was telling me about her cross processing techniques of days past. You can visit her site by clicking here.
I really like the Lo-Fi vibe you can achieve with this process, so I decided to go out and find a subject to experiment with digitally. I have had this building on the radar for a while, and I thought it would be the perfect subject for this technique. FYI, the cross processing I applied was compliments of my favorite digital toolset, Nik EFX, and free fo any chemicals like the days of yore. I like it. It’s as if I am blogging from the 70s.

Nikon D300
Nikkor 70-300 ED AF
Gitzo Traveler

Processing Notes:
Capture (7 images)
Photomatix (HDR Tonemapping)
NIK ColorEFX Pro (Tonal Contrast for texture)
NIK ColorEFX Pro (Cross Process for lo-fi vibe)
Photoshop (Re-size and prep for web)
NIK Sharpen (Display 30% Adaptive)
LightAsMagic.com

Tip: To get the height required to make this image, I had to set the tripod up on the top of my car. Two things I learned here. 1) Tripods don’t work well if they are on a moving surface. Turn your car off! 2) You might think you stand still, but you don’t. Get off the car and use a cable release from the ground.

Filed Under: Album Covers, Colorado, Denver, Gitzo Traveler, HDR, Nikon 70-300mm ED AF, Nikon D300, Out My Front Door, Processing Notes, Tips

It Was Still There!

January 30, 2010 by Justin Balog 0 Comments

You all know I missed its rise yesterday, so I to set my alarm to see if it was still there in the morning. Sure enough it was! The image has its flaws, but I hadn’t had my coffee yet.

Nikon D300
Nikkor 70-300 ED AF
Gitzo Traveler

Processing Note:
Capture (9 images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
NIK SilverFX Pro
LightAsMagic.com

Tip: Something I discovered this morning is that the Moon’s orbit is faster than you think. I bumped up my ISO to 400 so I could increase my shudder speed to get 9 images shot as fast as possible.