Lightroom 4

Niagara Falls

December 19, 2012 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

Today I thought I would share two photos from Niagara Falls to illustrate a lesson in Scale. I love the fluidity and motion in the top image, however we just don’t know how big those falls really are. Because of the tourists in the bottom image, we have a pretty good idea about their size. I share this lesson with you so that next time you are faced with a massive wonder of the world, make sure to include something us viewers can use a reference. If only I could have been there when barrel jumper made an attempt!

Filed Under: Canada, Lightroom 4, Niagara, Tips, Travel

Haystack Rock

December 16, 2012 by Justin Balog 24 Comments

I’d normally check in and ask if you had a good weekend, but this has been a tough one. I really don’t know what to do or say other than continue on and try to be light for good. What I can say is that they are in my heart as I am sure they are in yours.

Today’s Photo – This is Haystack Rock off the coast of Cannon Beach, OR. I had always wanted to photograph it, and this summer I finally had an opportunity to. Have you ever photographed it? If you have, please leave a link to your photograph in the comments. I would love to see it!

Winter Book Club – Creativity & Awesome Prizes

The winter book clubs continues to roll on. We have given away some great prize from NIK Software, ThinkTank Photo, and Craft & Vision eBook. If you have been announced as a winner, but didn’t receive your prize PLEASE EMAIL ME! I want to make sure you get it.

Ryan – Won something from the Nik Collection
Scott – Won the card organizer from Think Tank
Rob – Won a free eBook from Craft & Vision
Pam – Won a free eBook from Craft & Vision
Mel – Won a free eBook from Craft & Vision

This week’s book: I think many of the folks participating in this year’s book club are landscape photographers so I decided this might be a good read for all of us. I hope you enjoy it! Portraits of Earth (by David duChemin)

Click here to get it!

Weekly Prizes: Each Monday for the next 5 weeks I will choose a book for us to read. Sometime that week leave a comment on that post about your favorite part. I will then choose a 5 random winners each week.

1 person will win a Think Tank card organizer!
3 people will win a free eBook!
1 person will win software from Nik Software! (It could be Define 2.0, Color Efex 4, Silver Efex 2, Sharpener Pro, Viveza 2 or HDR Efex)!

Grand Prize!

This is the best part! At then end of the six weeks, I will choose 3 lucky winners that have participated regularly. Those winners will receive either a ThinkTank Retrospective 5 or Nik Software’s ‘Complete Collection‘ or every eBook Craft & Vision has ever published.

Filed Under: Cannon Beach, Lightroom 4, Nikon 24-70, Nikon D700, One Click, Oregon, Really Right Stuff, RRS Versa 24, Sunsets, Travel

Inside The Texas Capitol

December 13, 2012 by Justin Balog 2 Comments

Today we are going inside the Capitol of Texas! I made this image while visiting some friends down there last year. While we were there, we had the opportunity to participate in a wine tasting on Twitter. Hundreds of wine lovers gathered on the internet, opened pre-delivered bottles of the same wine, the tweeted about them. I’m not a big wine person, but the folks we were with knew all about it. It was pretty fun.

Photographer’s Notes: This is a 7 image HDR photograph. If you know about HDR photography, you know that people running around while you take your photos is sometimes a problem. You get what we call ‘ghosts’…you can see plenty in this photo. Sometimes you work for hours taking them out. Or, in the case of this image, I thought they were kind of cool so I left them in. What do you think?

After I generated an HDR image, I finished the processing off with a couple simple adjustments in Lightroom 4. Which has quickly become my favorite tool in the Digital Darkroom. Oh yeah…if you didn’t know, I shot it with a fisheye lens. That’s what give it that crazy 180 distortion.

Filed Under: Austin, HDR, Lightroom 4, Nikon D700, Photomatix, Processing Notes, Really Right Stuff, RRS Versa 24, Sigma 15mm Fisheye, Texas, Travel

Celestial & Terrestrial Friends

December 9, 2012 by Justin Balog 6 Comments

Howdy! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a biq weekend of tech support. I upgraded my God Mother’s iPhone from iOS 4-6. Taught a little iPad 201 to my mom (for someone who doesn’t like technology…she sure love the iPad….I’m guessing that’s why it’s so successful). Then, in exchange for a new water heater, I helped out a good plumber buddy get his new computer set up. Three days of tech support, across a bunch of different platforms can make you a little crazy….

Today’s Photograph

I found this place along the shores of La Jolla beach. I’m not sure what it is…I think it’s an event center? The star and palm tree at the end of a long walkway caught my eye. I remember being exhausted at the time, but knew I couldn’t pass up this photo. I’m glad I had one last image in me that night. Do you ever get tired and have to force yourself to make a photograph because you know you won’t be able to live with yourself in the morning?

Winter Book Club – Creativity & Awesome Prizes

The winter book clubs continues to roll on. This has been really fun! Thanks for joining in. I really hope you are getting some new found inspiration out of it. Here’s this week’s winners.

Rob – Won something from the Nik Collection
Ryan – Won the card organizer from Think Tank
Scott – Won a free eBook from Craft & Vision
Pam – Won a free eBook from Craft & Vision
Mel – Won a free eBook from Craft & Vision

This week’s book: I’m a people person, so this book is kind of a personal one for me. But I thinks it applicable to all of us. I hope you enjoy it! Forget Mugshot (by David duChemin)

Click here to get it!

1 person will win a Think Tank card organizer!
3 people will win a free eBook!
1 person will win software from Nik Software! (It could be Define 2.0, Color Efex 4, Silver Efex 2, Sharpener Pro, Viveza 2 or HDR Efex)!

Grand Prize!

Filed Under: Book Club, California, La Jolla, Landscape, Lightroom 4, Nikon 17-35 2.8 AFS, Nikon D700, One Click, Really Right Stuff, RRS Versa 24, Travel

Sunflowers Lots Of Sunflowers

December 6, 2012 by Justin Balog 10 Comments

Howdy everyone! I hope your day is starting off right. Here is the another look at an image before it hits Ligtroom 4 (below) and after (above). Next week I’ll show you a few more radical examples, but this is still a good example of the difference the digital darkroom can make. In this image, I used a graduated neutral density filter to darken the sky a bit and balance the exposure. Then I boosted the blacks and clarity to help with the colors. Finally, I adjusted a few hue sliders to create the beautiful golden light you see here.

Question for you… Should I put together an online course about Lightroom 4 similar to my Snapseed course. Would anyone be interested in something like that if it was reasonably priced?