Posts from the ‘Colorado’ Category
Sorry for the quick post, but I am spending a bit more time behind the camera this week than the computer. I hope the new images next week will be worth it. The lesson I learned from this image…be courteous and honest with security guards when photographing private property and they might let you photograph a fertilizer plant.
I had big plans for this image. I love making images that contain captivating light and massive reflective surfaces. If you have ever visited Denver, you know the Denver Performing Arts Center (DCPA) fits the bill quite nicely. One thing I didn’t account for was it being closed. I’m not sure why I thought it was open to the public at night? It must be the Utopian in me……
When I first starting using the Nikon 45mm PC-E, the doors of creativity were first shrunk, then busted wide open! I really couldn’t get enough of the creative possibilities that this lens had to offer. Not only are you able to control the depth of field, you can actually control where the plane of focus is within your composition. I hope you are enjoying this lens as much as I am, if not, please bear with me as I wean myself off of it….hang in there, it shouldn’t be too long.
It seems like summer is just getting started. The calendar tells me it is over halfway gone. We are trying our best to take advantage of what summer has left to offer. No better way than an evening hike in the hills near our house. As you know, I have been putting the Nikon D5000 through its paces, and I am pretty darn surprised by it. If you can get over the fact that it has only one command dial and get used to doing your adjustments in the menu system, you have yourself a very capable camera. One thing that I have been wanting to test is the exposure bracketing feature. The D5000 will only allow 3 brackets, but the nice thing is you can bracket by 2 full stops. 2 stops is usually enough for most of my HDR work. For very high contrast scenes (think super bright light out the window of a room) you need more than 2 stops on either side of the anchor. However, for most of my bracket sequences, the D5000 is proving to be a great companion.
For the non-photographers out there, that interested in knowing more about this ‘photographer speak’, feel free to drop me a line. I would be happy to help you get started making images!
A couple weeks back I decided to schedule up solo photo-walk. I hadn’t been out on one lately, and I was itching to get out and explore. If you remember from a previous post, photo-walks are a big component of my ‘Creative Scheduling’. These are great ways not only to create, but to relax as well. Something goes on the in the creative brain the tends to silence all other stresses that are begging for your attention. So I checked the weather, charged the batteries, put together a route, and quieted my mind.
Another addition to my Spaceship Suburbia project. After reading Christian Cantrell’s Containment (a great sci-fi read I might add), I started looking around for an image that resembled a polymeth structure from a remote planetary colony. I found it; a fragile atmosphere contained within the conventions of humanity.
I hadn’t been down to Denver lately so I decided to glance at the weather and schedule a solo photo-walk up. It turned out to a nice evening and quite an adventure. Right before I made this image, I grabbed a quick photo of a newly engaged couple out taking some engagement photos. I passed the photo of their photo shoot along to them, and I think they were quite happy. Remember a previous tip (rule) of mine? If you promise someone a photo, make sure you get it to them. Don’t give us photographers a bad rap!
Tip: It is subtle, but I wanted to keep the focus on the structure and blur the right side of the image. I did so by using a Nikkor 45mm PC-E lens and adjusting it so that the tilt was left to right, then I tilted the lens slightly away from the subject.
Probably not what you were expecting based on the title. The Pepsi Center, here in Denver, is affectionately known as the ‘The Can’ by locals. It hosts the Avalanche, Mammoth, and Nuggets. It has also provided the stage from many a concert. Red Rocks is still the better venue for concerts. However, if you are a stadium rock band, the ‘The Can’ is where it’s at. Well, unless you are U2, then you have to look at 80,000 person arenas….not too many bands like that left.
As you have noticed lately, I am pretty big on using a Nikon 45mm PC-E lens. I don’t really use it for its indented purpose, which is to increase depth of field, and help reduce converging lines in pictures of tall things. I will be going into more detail when my review of the lens hits the blog next Sunday. As for this image, I wanted to test the Perspective Correction feature of the lens. With any other lens, because you would have had to point the camera up at the building, you would have seen the straight lines getting closer towards the top of the photo. Not with the Nikon 45mm PC-E lens! You simply keep the camera (film/sensor plane) parallel with the building and raise (shift) the lens up. It is hard to visualize, but the difference is incredible to witness. That is only one of its tricks. It is a finely tuned, razor sharp, optical engineering wonder!
The attendant at the Denver Convention Center was nice enough to let me seek shelter from a very large and curious blue bear. After several, apparently quick, compositions I thanked her for letting me make a couple images. As I left, she noted I was a very efficient photographer. You have to be when photographing 40ft tall bears.
A while back I was searching for a reasonable backup camera to travel with over the summer. After quite a bit of deliberation, I decided on the Nikon D5000. I have been putting it through the paces and I am quite pleased. Here is a simple capture from the camera while we were out on a drive over the weekend. I will be writing up a more formalish review of it shortly, as for now, here are a couple things I like about it.
- Same image guts as its big (D90) and bigger (D300s) brother.
- Quiet shutter mode. It helped when shooting some street photos in France. Very stealthy.
- It has video! I made a quick movie while I was in France that I am still editing. Once it is done I will post it along with a more detailed review.
- Super light and compact.
- You can get the same image quality of a D300s, for under $500 (if you are willing to buy refurbished).
- Swivel LCD – Much easier on the back when having to shoot in yoga poses.
Another addition to my on going Spaceship Suburbia project. I thought I would try and capture a “Cloud City Scape” by shooting a busy scene full of the non-traditional. This was a sunrise shoot on the outskirts of Denver. When I pulled the camera to my eye, I was sucked into the depth and variety of the shapes and shadows. I thought it would make a good addition to the project.
Answering The Call! A big Thank You is in order to all those that took the time to help me with my dilemma. I am truly thankful for the amount of time those that answered my Canon/Nikon SOS put into their responses. I am also humbled by the quality of photographers that visit LightAsMagic.com. I made my way to all your websites and photostreams, and I am inspired by your work. It is obvious by your responses that Canon is indeed a great company. But there is also something said about familiarity. There is a lot to digest, and I will take some time tomorrow to revisit all the comments and post a reply to everyone. Thanks again! Heck, even my wife and mother-in-law chimed in. If you go back and read the comments I am sure you will find the wonderful humorous perspective my wife added to the discussion. Let it be know my mother-in-law voted in favor of Nikon. Her vote counts double. I will keep you posted on my final decision and the reasoning behind it.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 80-200 AFD
Gitzo Traveler
Processing Notes:
Capture 1 Image
Adobe camera raw
Photoshop Contrast/Sat boost
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com
Tip: When I am trying to create a silhouette in an image, I will switch my camera’s meter to spot meter mode and meter an area that is pretty bright, but not the source of the light. In this scene this happened to be the area of the sky close to the horizon. After I have meter that area I will the lock the exposure, or make a note of it and reset it when I recompose. At that point, I will be shoot a couple of frames and review the images. You can rides you exposure compensation to quickly choke or expand the shadow areas.
A while back I wrote a piece about what I call ‘Creative Scheduling’, if you missed the post, you can read it here. The basic idea is that like anything in life we have limited time to do everything we want to, and creativity is no different. We need to make room for it in our schedules. This image is from one of those appointments I had with creativity. A couple weekends back I mentioned that my good friend Fred and I planned an entire day around the adventure of making images. We started at 5:30am, and were back home by 8:00pm. We left the house with nothing more than snacks, a map, and a lot of glass. Although it was an incredible day, and I will probably never forget it, by no means do you need to set aside a full day. Just ensure you are making time for your creative self, you never know what you might discover! Here I was hoping to discover a Gatorade. They weren’t open, so I decided to grab a refreshing serving of fisheye lens flare and chromatic aberration.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 10.5 DF Fisheye
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 10.5 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (11 images @ 1ev anchor, 4 above, and 6 below)
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Noiseware – noise reduction
Photoshop – Global curves adjustment
Nik Color Efex Pro – Tonal Contrast (just a touch to the bricks)
Small crop on the left (I think I could have avoided it had I paid more attention to the composition)
Sized For Web
LightAsMagic.com
Golf Tip: After today’s season opening round of golf, I learned you drive, mulligan, drive again, rescue-wood, short iron, and pitch for show. You putt for dough!
Apparently my wife knows me all too well. We were running a couple errands today, when she spotted this old garage. She quickly told me to turn and said, “Those textures would make a great HDR image.” Sure enough, she was right!
With images like this, I like to back up a bit and shoot with a longer focal length. In this image, I positioned myself across the street and zoomed in a bit longer than what your eye would normally see. It is a nice effect if you have the room to operate.
We are still trying to determine if this place is abandoned or not? The porch light was on.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Nikon CPLII
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 62 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Processing Notes:
Capture (9 images @ 1ev)
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Photoshop – Curves Adjustment
Sized For Web
LightAsMagic.com
When your good friend calls and asks “Are you getting this?!?!” You don’t ask what? You grab your camera a head out! That is exactly what happened last night. I got the call, grabbed my gear, and headed up the hill, realized I forgot CF cards, cursed like a sailor, headed back down the hill, ran into grab a my cards, startled my wife, headed back up the hill, and made some images!
Stay tuned for iPhone Friday tomorrow. I have a few new coupon codes to offer as well as a couple new features that I have added to the site. You can probably find them now, but I normally try to package all the news and notes into Friday’s post.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Gitzo Traveler
Exposure: 18
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 16 mm
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (1 image)
Adobe Camera Raw – Process .NEF
Photoshop – Cropped a bit of the sky out.
Sized For Web
LigthAsMagic.com
In today’s litigious society it makes sense to post a sign to save us from ourselves. However, even if I was (were?) a smoker, I’m pretty sure a reminder not to smoke around oil and gas holding tanks might be a bit much. We should consult legal counsel on this. Rick, any thoughts?
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 17-35 AFS
Nikon CPLII
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 20 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (9 Images @ 1EV)
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Noiseware – Noise reduction
Photoshop – Global curves adjustment
Nik Color Efex Pro – Glamour Glow
Sized For Web
LightAsMagic.com
