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2001 Wine Odyssey


An astronaut with a day off from space walks, research, and mission tasks might want to take a break from the daily regiment of Tang to enjoy a nice pinot or cab with their protein paste. A quick trip to the wine cellar module on the International Space Station could provide such luxuries to our orbiting scientists. Although currently not available, or scheduled for production, a wine cellar would be a nice addition to the space based bed and breakfast. However, if there were such a thing, I believe this might be the wine cellar they would visit.

As a bit of an impressionist I commonly take creative liberties to realize my vision. Feel free to watch the video below to see how I use Photomatix 3.2 and a couple of NIK filters to build a wine cellar suitable for international space travel.

Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Gitzo Traveler
Markin Q3T ball head

Aperture: f/16.0
Focal Length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Processing Notes:
Capture (7 images)
NX2 (Raw Conversion)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
NIK Define 2.0 (Noise reduction)
Photoshop (Curves adjustment – global contrast/color correction)
Nik Color EFX Pro (Glamour glow – desaturate)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Tonal Contrast)
Photoshop (size for web)
NIK Sharpener (Display adaptive 35% selectively applied to the wine bottles)
LightAsMagic.com

…or, if you have time, you can just watch the video (length: about 10mins).

If you are interested in purchasing any of the NIK Tools, make sure you use the coupon code LIGHTASMAGIC and receive a 15% discount on their products.

http://www.niksoftware.com

To find out more about Photomatix 3.2 visit HDRSoft’s website at:

http://www.hdrsoft.com/

You can use the coupon code LIGHTASMAGIC to receive a 15% discount on Photomatix

Room 217


As you might know by now, my mother-in-law loves images of doors. She asked me to photograph one last weekend when we were visiting the Stanley Hotel. This might be one of the more famous (infamous) doors I have ever had the opportunity to photograph. It is the door to room 217. The great thing about being an independent, impressionistic photographer, I have the freedom to make the door as creepy as Kubrick did.

Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 17-35 2.8 AFS
Gitzo Traveler
Markins Q3T

Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Processing Notes:
Capture (5 Images)
Photomatix (Raw Conversion, HDR, Tonemapping)
Nik Color EFX Pro (Bleach Bypass – selective touch of desaturation excluded the door)
Nik Color EFX Pro (Tonal Contrast – selective boost saturation included only the door)
Nik Define 2.0 (Automatic entire image)
Photoshop (Curves adjustment global)
Nik Color EFX Pro (Vignette big-n-soft)
Sized for web
Nik Sharpen (Display 30% adaptive selective to the door)
LightAsMagic.com

Urbanscape


A photographer friend of mine, whose images you can see over on flickr, likes to make images of landscapes within landscapes. He will find a small patch of grass and flowers, or an interesting rock amidst a much grander scene. He calls these images ‘intimate landscapes’. I really like the idea. He tells me that I am an ‘intimate urbanscape’ photographer. I am pretty sure it is images like this that compels him believe that.

Nikon D300
Nikkor 35mm 1.8 DX
Gitzo Traveler

Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Processing Notes:
Capture (7 images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
Photoshop (Curves Adjustment)
Nik Color Efx Pro (Bleach Bypass)
Nik Color Efx Pro (Vignette)
LightAsMagic.com