iPhone Photography, Travel Photography and Camera Reviews
I met this gentleman late one afternoon while walking along the pedestrian mall in the heart of Playa Del Carmen. There was no doubt about it, he played a mean Accordion. I would have enjoyed hearing him with his full band, but today he was rocking it solomente.
Question for Nikonians – I’m considering upgrading my 85mm 1.8D (the lens I used for this photo) to either a 1.4G or 1.8G. I’d love to hear your thoughts about either of them. Thanks!
When I am out exploring a city, it is the musicians I often end up conversing with. I am a guitar player, so approaching them is very easy because we share a common bond. Miguel, pictured here, has played the accordion for over 30 years. Later in the day he serenaded us as we ate lunch. When I photographed him, I was using my favorite street portrait lens the Nikon 85mm 1.8. I like this lens for street portraits because of its intimidation factor (or lack thereof). It is small, sharp, and produces some killer bokeh.
The name of this sculpture escapes me. I know it is something…schizophrenic. Just looking at it, I would have guessed something along the lines of ‘Corporate Greed’, or ‘A Dagger In The Heart Of Corporate America’, or ‘Capitalism, a Tragic Love Story’. Something Michael Moore meets Stephen King. But then again, I have a hard time naming my own images. Whatever its name, it was an image shot while on the Illuminate Workshops monthly photo walk. This is a quick reminder that it is coming up again this weekend, Saturday April 4th. If you are in the Denver area, you can find more information about the photo walk here. I am 50/50 if I will be able to make it.
http://www.illuminateworkshops.com/
Also, I published this month’s ‘Songs For Post Processing’ playlist. If you are looking for a couple of song recommendations for your Digital Darkroom, feel free to take a listen. Just click the image below and iTunes will load it up for you. This month I added a little bounce to it.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 85mm 1.8
Gitzo Traveler
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 85 mm
Exposure Bias: +1/3 EV
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture 1 Images
Photoshop (Curves adjustment)
Photoshop (Vibrancy adjustment)
Photoshop (Resize for web)
Nik Sharpener 2.0 (Display 30%)
LightAsMagic.com
Saturday was going to be the day. We received a moderate amount of snow the night before and the waters were warm from the previous week’s spring like weather. I woke up early and was confident I was going to return with a Moose Petersonesque image of our resident pelican awakening in the soft fog rising from the calm waters. I outfitted myself if earth colored outerwear, grabbed my biggest/badest piece of glass (300mm f/4), and headed out the door. I arrived on scene to find my subject resting peacefully off shore. It was cold, but I was focused. I approached quietly, to a position I thought would be well within the range of the 300mm lens (450mm with the DX crop). I brought the camera to my eye, expecting to see the pelican fill the frame. The fog rising from the lake would be obscuring the view of his legs. The rising sun’s golden light would be illuminating his bill. This was it! This was going to an image I would treasure for a lifetime. As I looked through the viewfinder I saw the Pelican, along with about 25 other geese. I wasn’t anywhere near close enough. I guess I will need to keep saving for the 600mm f/4 if I’m going to ever photograph the wild.
The good news is that my wife called and reminded me to pick up the comforter from the dry-cleaners on my way home. Good thing she did. I found my eye in a much more familiar environment. I am realizing that I should leave the wildlife photography up to Moose and focus on album cover art. With this image from the dry-cleaners, I am introducing a completely new category to the site. If you are a rock star, in the final stages of recoding an album, feel free to browse the ‘Album Cover’ category for my suggested images. If you find one you like, just have your people contact my people and we can work something out.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 85mm 1.8
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.0
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
Processing Notes:
Capture (1 Image)
Aperture 3 (Cross Processing 2 Preset)
Aperture 3 (Export and size for web)
LightAsMagic.com
Songs For Post Processing:
John Mayer is in heavy rotation today. We are going to see him tonight so I thought I would throw out a couple of song suggestions from his live album ‘Where the Light Is’. Full disclosure: I am a guitar player, and we stick together.
Acoustic Set:
In Your Atmosphere – 
John Mayer Trio Set:
Good Love Is On the Way –
John Mayer (Musical Sound) Set:
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room – (Take a good long listen to John and Robbie MacIntosh in the final lead).
The Story: This image is from the local open space where I love to trail run. This summer they offered a race series along the very trails that I train on. Normally I enjoy my runs as I take in my surroundings. However, durning the race the trees were a blur.
The Process: Capture –> Adobe Raw Converter –> Nik Color FX (Ink) –> Photoshop (contrast/saturation boost) –> Flickr
Tip: If your surroundings are dull and lifeless, breathe some life into them! I made this image by setting my shutter speed to .8 of a sec and panned the camera up as I turned the shutter over.
