A Photographic and Cinematic Adventure On The Creative Frontier
The Meadowlark is a quaint little pub here in Denver. It’s one of those places you wished you could have seen someone like the Mumford & Sons before they played the Grammy’s. If you’re ever in Denver, I suggest you hit up Buenos Aires Pizzeria followed by an evening of music at the Meadowlark.
Lately I have been beating up my ‘photographic self’. I am bit frustrated creatively. Sure, I discover images while I am traveling, I throw myself into unknown situations to see what my creative self can do, and I consistently try to improve myself as a photographer. However, I haven’t had a project to focus on. I’m not pre-visioning my images. I’m not actively creating images in my mind, prior to discovering them. In the face of this lull, I decided to assign myself a project. If I wasn’t going to do it, no one else was. What did I come up with? I call it Spaceship Suburbia. The goal, to morph the everyday into images from the Cloud City. I’m not expecting a Pulitzer, or a show at the Guggenheim. I’m just hoping to have a bit of fun and force myself to translate what is in my head to a .TIFF. Wish me luck!
Here is my first image from the new project. To capture it, I deployed my stability system, mounted an 80-200mm light refractorer (made up space word), and set my white balance to stun (err…incandescent).
News: Remember the Heart and Lung benefit show this Friday night. Feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions. It is for a great cause!
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 80-200 AFD
Gitzo Traveler
Processing Notes:
In an effort to expose myself to new techniques, I decided to give a fellow Flickrer’s tutorial a try. It worked out pretty good.
You can find it here.
Thanks! jfdpl686
In preparation for my guest blog post on my fellow photographer and Urban HDR shooter, Brian Matiash’s website, I headed down to the rail yards. Paying attention to the sign, I laid my ear on the tracks listening for any approaching trains. When the coast was clear, I made my into position, quickly acquired focus, bracketed 9 frames, and fled the scene. Brain would probably want me back home typing as opposed to chasing images…but I promise, the text is well underway. Visit Brian’s site today for some incredible images, and in the near future to read my post “Looking Forward”.
To learn more about the use of selective curves, and other tips to help realize your creative vision, give the tutorials over at Chromasia.com a try.
Chromasia Photoshop Tutorials
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (9 Images @ 1EV)
NX2 Raw Conversion
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Noiseware – noise reduction (landscape profile)
NIK Sharpener – Selective to the sign (it was a bit soft)
Nik Color Efex Pro – Tonal contrast selective to foreground
Photoshop – (5 selective curves adjustments)
Size for web
LightAsMagic.com
This image of the the historic Brown Palace Hotel has been on my list of images to chase for quite a while. It has been on the radar, and falls under the ‘Out My Front Door‘ category of images. This weekend I headed down the monthly photo-walk a bit early to see what I would come up with. There was a tree in the way of my initial composition, so I decided to see just how wide the Tokina 11-16 could get. Boy, was I ever surprised. I didn’t think I had a chance to capture the entire elevation of the building, but the Tokina didn’t let me down. I was only about 6 feet away from the base of the building at 11mm (17ish DX). Also, there was a flag on top of the building that kept creeping into my frame. I sat outside for about 10 minutes waiting for the wind to finally die down. I almost gave up. I am glad I waited. I am sure the patrons in the Ships Tavern where happy to see me leave as well. It always makes me a bit nervous when paparazzi are around. Good thing my high school counselor directed me towards a steady office job, and away from Hollywood stardom.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Tokina 11-16 ATX Pro
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (9 Images @ 1EV)
NX2 (RAW -> TIFF conversion)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
Noiseware (Noise reduction)
Photoshop (Curves adjustment)
Nik Color Efex Pro (Tontal contrast selective to building)
Photoshop (Masked in underexposed sky)
Noiseware (Noise reduction) against the bracketed image being masked in)
Nik Sharpener (Selective to marquee)
Photoshop (Size for web)
LightAsMagic.com
Tip: Because I masked in an image from the sequence for the sky, I ran a Noiseware against the bracketed image prior to masking it in as a layer. That way I didn’t lose too much detail by running Noiseware against the entire image twice.
This is an image I have been meaning to make for quite a while. It is an industrial part of town that I used to have to ride through on my way to ‘greener pastures’. I was usually fully outfitted in tight shiny spandex, oversized shades, and a stars n’ stripes helmet. Yeah, totally out of place. This weekend an errand provided the opportunity to visit the location in more traditional attire. Upon arrival, I noticed the puddles of water, and I quickly changed my composition. I made the decision to to get my camera as close to the ground as possible to emphasize the reflections. After getting home and reviewing the image, I am happy I did.
You might have noticed that I have joined the Chromasia.com affiliate program. They offer some of the best digital photography tutorials that I have found so I thought I would spread the word. The tutorials are developed by David Nightingale, who also authored one of my favorite HDR Photography books. If you are interested in improving your post processing make sure to check them out. They are offering a 25% discount until March 31st. I took advantage of it, so I thought you might like to as well. (You probably need to have Photoshop to take full advantage of the lessons). Click the image below to visit their site.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Tokina 11-16 ATX Pro
Gitzo Traveler (Ground Set)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (8 Images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
Dfine 2.0 (Noise Reduction automatic profile)
NIK Silver Efex Pro (High Structure – selectively applied to building/layer luminosity blending mode)
Photoshop (Curves Adjustment)
Photoshop (Vibrance/Saturation Boost)
Noiseware (Noise Reduction – Landscape profile)
Photoshop (Crop 4×5)
Photoshop (Size for web)
LightAsMagic.com
Tip: Actually, it is more of a processing trick I picked up on. In this image I applied a Silver Efex Pro filter to the image. But its not a black and white image you ask? I changed the blending mode of the newly created layer in Photoshop from Normal to Luminosity. It was a good method to enhance the textures along the walls of the building.
