Landscape

Delicate Arch

May 22, 2013 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

If you ever make it to Arches, NP make sure you hike to Delicate arch. It’s a beautiful 2 mile hike. Sure, there will be other people there. But they’ll all be drinking wine and eating cheese. It’s a great atmosphere and the positive vibrations are contagious. You’ll love it! Heck, it even made me feel alright about dropping my Fisheye lens the day before. It was still working…I shot this image with it. I needed the perspective to include the people in the right side of the frame.
Do you see them?

Filed Under: Landscape, Lightroom 4, Moab, Sigma 15mm Fisheye, Travel, Utah

Buffets & Mountains

May 6, 2013 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

Howdy! I hope you all had a great weekend. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I was a big cruise type of guy. However, when we took an Alaskan cruise to celebrate my folks 40th wedding anniversary, I was game. I had visions of spring breakers splashing around in a pool and 3000 people over-eating at the buffets. Boy was I wrong…well, the spring breakers part anyway. I saw quite a few folks get their grub on. But the Alaskan cruise is the way to go. This is the kind of scenery you just casually sail past. Crazy cool stuff! I’d go back in a heartbeat.

If you would like to see the before/after I posted it over in the Nik G+ Community (click here).

Filed Under: Alaska, Black & White, Landscape, Nik Software, Nikon 5100, Nikon 70-300 VR, Processing Notes, Software, Travel

Brighten Our Day

April 17, 2013 by Justin Balog 1 Comment

I thought we could all use a little sunshine today…if you’d like to put it on your desktop, just click the image, click ‘X3′ the right-click (pc) or ‘ctrl’-click (mac) and set it as desktop. Enjoy the light!

Filed Under: Hawaii, Landscape, Lightroom 4, Maui, Nik Software, Nikon 20mm 2.8, Nikon D700, One Click, Really Right Stuff, RRS Versa 24, Travel

Visions Of Belize – The Mayan Mountains

March 18, 2013 by Justin Balog 3 Comments

As a SCUBA diver, prior to visiting Belize, this is what I had always imaged what it would be like. 30 miles off the coast is the world’s 2nd largest barrier reef. The reef itself is dotted with small islands, which in Belize, they call ‘cayes’. That being said, this week I want to share with you the Belize we discovered when we made our way through the Mayan mountains to the west. This is the Belize we fell in love with and will surely return to visit.

This is the Belize we will surely return to! The Mayan mountains are full of citrus orchards, breathtaking vistas and friendly little farming communities. You can reach this valley by traveling along the Hummingbird highway. You actually drive across the entire nation from the coast to the Guatemala border in about 2 hours. I hope you enjoy this week as we share in an adventure along this highway. We will see beautiful Saba trees, Mayan ruins and the Milky Way!

Photographer’s Note – This is a single image shot with a Nikon D700, Nikon 24-70 lens, Singh-Ray 2 stop GND filter. I brought it to life with Lightroom 4, a few NIK filters and a couple moves in Photoshop.

Filed Under: Belize, Landscape, Lightroom 4, Nikon 24-70, Nikon D700, Travel, Visions of Belize

By The Dock At The Bay

February 17, 2013 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

Howdy! I hope you had a great weekend. I processed a bunch of images for the next couple of weeks. It should be fun and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you.

Today we are looking at a great place to read a book, watch a sunset, or just relax. It’s hard for me to quiet my mind, it’s always on, but places like this do the trick. Do you have a place where you like to think?

Stay tuned, this should be a fun week!

Photographer’s Note – This is a single image processed in Lightroom 4 then spiced up with some Nik CEP 4.

Filed Under: Cozumel, Landscape, Lightroom 4, Mexico, Nik Software, Nikon 18-200 VR, Nikon D7000, One Click, Travel