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Three 19

Three 19

Today’s image is from the Bordeaux riverfront in France. This area of the city is magical at night. All along the water front are miles of beautifully manicured gardens where friends gather to enjoy wine and share stories. In the midst of these gardens is a massive pool which reflects the city behind it. I will always remember walking along this river listening to the sound of a young French man singing Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’. I couldn’t help but smile and whistle along. Someday I will head back to Bordeaux. It is one of those places you long to return to because you left so many images behind. Well, that and I didn’t try any of the wine……

Also, in case you haven’t noticed, LightAsMagic.com has joined the ranks for 1 out of every 14 people in the world. We are now on Facebook, so if you are one of the folks, drop on by. If you like, please suggest it to a friend or two. Thanks!

http://www.facebook.com/LightAsMagic

Fitness Challenge Update: We are growing in numbers. Thanks to our first female team member, we are now five people strong. Thanks Jill! If you are on the fence, now is the time to jump in. Think of your goals and get ready to post them on Friday. This will be a great way to stay motivated. As for the prizes, here is what we are working towards.

1) I will be giving away 5 8×10 signed prints of an image YTDB. If more than 5 people participate, I will randomly select 5 people from those that have participated to receive the prints.

2) The first prize winner will be randomly selected from the group of participants. First prize will be a 20×30 signed print of your choice. You can find my current print selection here.

3) I am still working on a couple of other prizes so stay tuned. I will keep you posted.

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Auto-Piloting The Fjord?

Auto-Piloting The Fjord

I know the captain isn’t immediately responsible for steering the ship, but it was still a bit unnerving when we saw the captain ignoring his bridge duties to capture images of glaciers calving. I think he was more focused on the massive sheets of ice being shed from their host glacier than the passengers of the ship were. I can’t really blame him. If I were the commanding the ship, I would have ignored the planned course and sailed north towards the arctic circle to chase the Aurora Borealis.

Tip: A mono-pod is a good accessory to take with you on a cruise. I wish I had brought mine……

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Revisited

Revisited

I’m always envious of those that live near the coast. The ocean is such a dynamic entity, you can find an interesting piece of shoreline and make hundreds of images there all year round. When I was working on my series from last week, ‘Where I Run’, I found this little peninsula of rocks hidden away on along the shoreline. Assuming the waterline remains constant, this might be a place I return to over the course of the winter.

Tip: Reflections kick ass, so don’t forget about them. Sometimes I see a distant sunset, and it will distract from the beauty that is in the water right in front of me. So I slap my self and I try to get my camera as close to the water as I can.

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Up In The Air

Jill_web

This weekend I had the opportunity to help a friend out with a shoot. I rarely pass on an opportunity to make images, and I never pass up on an opportunity to help a friend. I showed up at the shoot just after sunrise. I was still wiping the sleep out my eyes when I was told we were going to be making images for a DVD cover, instructional video, and promotional material for a website. All of that in the middle of a local suburban park? Talk about a challenge. I felt like we were dropped in the middle of a reality TV show challenge trying to win ‘America’s Next Top Photographer’. Well, what do you do when you have a beautiful model full of energy surrounded by the distractions of suburbia? You grab a wide angle lens (Nikon 20mm AFD 2.8), lay on your back, and ask her to jump over you and your flash. Bingo! It also helps when you have someone who can jump off a slippery rock and land on a goose poop covered hillside while smiling at the camera. Oh yeah….and she made it look natural!

Lighting Diagram: Rarely do I shoot flash, let alone document a lighting diagram. However, I thought some folks out there might be interested. So here is my best McNallygram. Complete with coffee stain.

On 3.....jump!

Capture Notes:

Nikon D700
Nikkor 20mm AFD
Nikon SB800
Wescott Umbrella
Lexar UDMA

Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 20 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV

Processing Notes:

Capture – 1 image
Adobe Camera Raw – Raw conversion
Cropped the rock she jumped off of out.
onOne Software PhotoTools – Bleach-By-Pass
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com

Where I Run – My Favorite Trail

Where I Run I - My Favoite Trail

This is my favorite part of the run. I actually go out of my way to run it. Its a mysterious little section of the forest that lies between a meandering stream and a small pond. I wanted to convey a bit of fantasy, so I used the 45mm PCE. It was able to keep a majority of the image out of focus and allow your imagination to fill in the blanks.

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…