Bordeaux

French Women

February 5, 2013 by Justin Balog 5 Comments

Not to sound creepy, but I shot this image with my camera hanging around my neck and a shutter release cable running down my sleeve. Hmm, on second thought…that sounds pretty creepy. I made a lot of photos using this technique in Bordeaux that day. I read about the technique from a great street photographer so I decided to give it a try on a walk between my hotel and the Saint-Andre Cathedral. I thought it worked out pretty good. Something you might not have considered is that it provided a unique perspective because the camera was about a foot and a half lower than eye level.

Photographer’s Note – In terms of processing, this image is a single photo processed in LR4. The B&W conversion along with the selective coloring was all done within NIK SEP 2.

Filed Under: Bordeaux, France, Lightroom 4, Nik Software, Nikon 20mm 2.8, Nikon D700, One Click, People, Tips, Travel

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2013 by Justin Balog 6 Comments

I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable new year. This is one of those image, that having grown up in the states, just fuels my calling for travel. I shot this image from the hallway of a tiny little hotel in Bordeaux, France. I’m pretty sure I could travel this great nation, and never find a scene like this from any hotel windows, let alone an open window without glass. I can feel the wanderlust kicking in……next stop Kayak.com!

Here’s the original image prior to the magic of Silver Efex Pro 2…

Book Club Winners

Speaking of Silver Efex Pro, we have some prizes to give away. I hope you have enjoyed this year’s book club! eBooks are amazing and the future of publishing, so make sure to keep on reading! They’re not only inexpensive and full of great stuff, they support the artists that publish them.

Also, a BIG THANKS to the sponsors! Please email, tweet, and recommend these companies to your friends. Without them this would not have been possible. These are the companies that support our creativity, so please do your best to support them!

Drum roll please……

Mel – Won the entire C&V collection!
Pam – Won the ThinkTank Photo Retrospective 5
Scott – Won the entire Nik Collection
Ryan – Won 3 eBooks from C&V, a copy of my new upcoming book, and a 8×12 print of his choice…
Robert – Won 3 eBooks, a copy of my new upcoming book, and a 8×12 print of his choice…

Thanks again everyone, and I’m already looking forward to next year!

Filed Under: Bordeaux, France, Nik Software, Nikon 45mm PC-E, Nikon D700, Processing Notes, Travel

The Tour de France!

July 9, 2012 by Justin Balog 12 Comments

I hope you all had a great weekend! I was busy trying to get my gallery online to make it easier for you to buy a print if you see something you like. I’ll get to that later this week. For now…..it is that time of year again! I’m not much of a football guy, but it’s basically like watching the Superbowl ever yday for 3 weeks in July.

Today’s Photo is of Levi Leipheimer in the final time trial of the 2010 TDF. He is competing in this year’s tour, but because he was hit by a car earlier this season, his form is suffering. I hope he does well in today’s time trial, he’s a nice guy and I’d like to see him succeed.

Here is a movie I shot while visiting the Tour in 2010. You might have seen it, but I break it out every year around this time!

Filed Under: Bordeaux, Cycling, France, Moving Pictures, Nik Software, Nikon 80-200 D 2.8, Nikon D700, One Click, Tour De France, Travel

Hermosa Beach Photo Walk

December 6, 2011 by Justin Balog 7 Comments

I was wandering the streets of Bordeaux alone the night I made this image. The town was buzzing from the Tour de France passing through earlier in the day. Cafes were glowing and folks were chatting well into the night. It was a special day, and a fun night to be out exploring. If you show up to the photo walk we are planning, I’ll tell you a story about running into Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz at this movie theatre.

Hermosa Beach Peir To Peer Photo Walk

The When: Dec 17th @ 4:00pm (you can rsvp on Facebook if that makes things easier). If you are interested in learning a bit more about how I use Nik Software please leave a comment or email me and I will conduct a casual workshop from 3-4 at the hotel showing you how I processed the image above.

The Where:Let’s meet at the best beach hotel on the strand…The Beach House.

The What: Basically, a bunch of creative folks are going to be getting together to have some fun and photograph the Hermosa Beach Pier at sunset. Then we will photograph our way to The Shores to have dinner and drinks while listening to an acoustic set performed by reality TV show star Jett Pink (you can read his blog here). The event is totally free and open to folks of all levels and cameras of all types. That means the iPhone! I will be shooting with my iPhone. Get there early because I will be hosting an impromteau workshop on iPhone Photography. I’ll show you how you can make images these. If you are planning on bringing you iPhone, take a look at my iPhone Photography Tutorial so you can load up with the apps I use.

Either leave a comment, RSVP on Facebook, or email me to let me know if you are coming.

Sponsors And Prizes

A couple companies that really believe in supporting the photography community have kicked in some sweet prizes for those of you who attend.

Nik Software – They will be giving away a couple of copies of their iOS software Snapeed. They will also be giving away…drum roll please…..a free copy of their new Color Efex Pro 4!

ThinkTank Photo – They are going to be giving away a photo bag to one luck winner. I will also have both a Retrospective 10 and 30 for you to take a look at.

Filed Under: Bordeaux, France, Gitzo Traveler, HDR, News, Nikon 17-35 2.8 AFS, Nikon D700, Photo Walks, Travel

The Streets Have No Names

October 26, 2011 by Justin Balog 7 Comments

I made this image while wandering the streets of Bordeaux on a beautiful summer night. I had no idea where I was going, simply exploring with my camera. There were illuminated street maps at a few of the corners but it was almost impossible to decipher the complexity of these medieval streets. They were built long ago without a 700yr ‘master plan’ in place. Today’s streets get us where we need to go as efficiently as possible, but city planners have sure taken the romance out of going to the grocery store. I hope to return to Bordeaux someday, simply to find out what’s around the corner.