Posts from the ‘Nik Filters’ Category
These boats have been in dry dock for the last 5 years we have visited Cozumel. I’m not sure when they are scheduled to return to sea? They made for a wonderful image when the sun setting behind them. I was really hoping to get a sun star shining through the windows, but I was just a bit too slow to the draw. Good thing we visit Cozumel yearly, I will have another shot at it…..unless of course they decide to re-comission these vessels.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 58 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (8 Images)
NX2 Raw Conversion
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
NIK Define 2.0 (Noise reduction)
Photoshop (Curves adjustment global contrast)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Tonal Contrast)
Photoshop (Curves adjustment – selectively reduced the green in the foliage)
NIK Define 2.0 (Noise reduction)
Photoshop (Vibrance/Saturation selective to the boats)
Photoshop (Resize for web)
NIK Sharpener (Display adaptive 35%)
LightAsMagic.com
I’m going to go ahead and classify this image as ‘forward-recon’. I have been meaning to get down to the Gates Rubber facility knowing that it would offer some interesting subject matter. The traffic and weather weren’t very cooperative tonight, so I am planning on another trip. It will be either earlier in the morning, or later in the year. The sun needs to venture a bit further into the northern hemisphere for my vision. Until then, here is a preview from the scouting mission. Hopefully I can make it back before it is cleaned up…..I think I have plenty of time.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture: f/5.3
Focal Length: 65 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Gitzo Traveler
Processing Notes:
Capture (5 Images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
NIK Color EFX Pro (ProContrast – Color correction)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Tonal Contrast – Desaturate and mid tone/shadow textures)
Photohop (Saturation/Vibrance selective to graffiti)
Photohop (Resize for web)
NIK Sharpener (Display 30% adaptive 60% output strength)
LightAsMagic.com
I believe great images lurk right outside your door. You don’t have to travel far to find beauty and interest. I spend my summer days running by this tree and I knew northern clouds would compliment it beautifully. This afternoon the clouds were building in the north, but the sky remained a brilliant blue. I knew this would be the time to visit my running partner. It just so happened to be the end of a year!
Nikon D300
Tokina 11-16
Gitzo Traveler
Capture Notes:
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (8 images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
Photoshop (Curve adjustment)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Tonal Contrast)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Brilliance/Warmth)
Photoshop (Crop to 4×5)
Photoshop (Size for web)
LightAsMagic.com
After an arduous day of car shopping, we decided to take a quick break from wheelin’ and dealin’….I don’t think the sales guy wanted us to leave, but my wife made it pretty clear we were going to. Just down the road, we found this great old silo. It towered above the suburban sprawl that surrounded it. You felt he had stories to tell. Hopefully, I was able to help him tell it.
In the video below, we grant the Tin Man’s wish and give him a heart using Photomatix and NIK Define 2.0, Color EFX Pro, and Viveza 2.
Note: Email subscribers will need to visit the site to watch the video.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture: f/16.0
Focal Length: 16 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (9 images)
NX2 (Raw –> TIFF conversion)
NIK Define 2.0 (Automatic entire image)
Photoshop (Global Curves adjustment)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Tonal Contrast selective to the silo)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Brilliance/Warmth selective to sky)
NIK Viveza 2 (Brighten to of the silo)
NIK Viveza 2 (Saturation and structure boost to sky)
Photoshop (Size for web)
NIK Sharpen (Display 40% output)
LightAsMagic.com
Processing Video:
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).
To find out more about NIK Software and their suite of filters visit their website at:
To find out more about Photomatix 3.2 visit HDRSoft’s website at:
You can use the coupon code LIGHTASMAGIC to receive a 15% discount on Photomatix
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
Sometimes you stumble upon a collection of colors and lines that you can’t help but fill your viewfinder with. After a scheduled photo-walk of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, I was headed back to the car when this scene presented itself to me. I used a longer focal length to try and draw the compositional elements closer together. The brass star was pure luck.
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Gitzo Traveler
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (7 images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
Nik Define (Automatic entire image)
Photoshop (Curves adjustment global)
Nik Color Efx Pro (Tonal Contrast selectively applied to buildings and stairs)
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com
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
By no means do I consider myself a wildlife photographer, I don’t have the patience for it. If you want to see great wildlife photography visit Moose Peterson’s site. His name says it all. I discovered this little fox, along with his brothers and sisters, on my way to the post office. I had my camera with me and thought I would try my hand at ‘Dancing with Wolves’. After a deliberately slow approach, I settled into a seated position and waited. I would yawn, blink, look away, etc; Everything you might learn from watching episodes of the Dog Whisperer. The one thing I didn’t do was immediately start shooting. After about 20 minutes, a reluctant mom let her kits out of the den. She didn’t let them walk up and sniff me, but they were allowed to make eye contact and observe me from a distance. I stayed there as long as a 1 gig CF card would let me (in 2002 that was a boat load of memory). Actually, I stayed a bit longer than that. It was an experience I will always remember.
Nikon D1x
Nikkor 80-200 2.8 AFD
Processing Notes
Capture
Photoshop (Curves Adjustment)
NIK (Sharpen selective to the eyes)
LightAsMagic.com
Tip: In a situation like this you might be tempted to open your lens up as wide as it will go to try and soften the background and emphasize your subject. However, at 2.8 in this case I was barely able to get the eyes in focus if I was focusing on the bridge of their noses. I think f/3.2 – 4 might have been a better choice.
If nothing else, photography gets you involved in your environment. You take your time and see things you normally might not. This image was from a weekend photo walk I had scheduled a couple weeks back.
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Gitzo Traveler
Processing Notes:
Capture (7 images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
NIK ColorEFX Pro (Tonal Contrast for textures)
Photoshop (Curves adjustment)
NIK Sharpen (Display adaptive 30%)
LightAsMagic.com
Had I had my wits about me, I would have been posting an incredible image of a full moon rising above the Denver skyline. It was an amazing moonrise and the image was ready for the making. Missed it! Ah well, thanks to Ptolemy I will be ready next time. I noticed the moon sets tomorrow morning at 7:17am. Check back to see if I woke up in time!
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Gitzo Traveler / Markins Q3T Ballhead
Processing Notes:
Nik ColorEFX Pro (Bleach Bypass)
Nik Viveza 2 (CP Contrast/Structure Boost)
Photoshop (Resize)
Flickr
Reminder: Just a reminder, the Illuminate Workshops evening photo walk is next week (Feb 6th). I’m not affiliated with them, but I do like to support the local photography community. It is a great group of folks who photograph the town red! To find out more, just visit their website.
A cold day of training reminded me of a tree I had been meaning to make an image of and I thought the storm behind it might do well for the backdrop. Nature’s studio cooperated. Sure, a bit dramatic, but after 5 hours of riding in the cold I felt dramatic!
Nikon D300
Nikkor 35mm 1.8
Gitzo Traveler
Processing Note:
Capture (7 images)
Photomatix (HDR Tonemapping)
Nik ColorEFX Pro (Bleach Bypass)
Nik Define 2.0 (Manual selectively applied to sky)
Photoshop (Crop Re-size)
Nik ColorEFX Pro (Vignette)
Nik Sharpener (Display adaptive selectively applied to tree and foreground)
LightAsMagic.com
Tip: I’m not sure if this necessarily falls under the category of a tip, but I had a friend of mine ask if I would write a bit more about my process. I wasn’t sure where to start, so I figured I would start with a concept I have decided to call ‘Creative Scheduling’. We are all busy doing everything but making art. That is one of life’s common denominators. My personal way of dealing with this is to schedule the creative process. It sounds crazy, but hopefully I can try to shed some light on it. I break my photography time into 4 broad categories.
- Photo Walks: These are times that I have set aside to grab my gear and throw myself into an environment. Just like meeting friends for dinner, or going to the doctor, the appointment is on the calendar.
- Photography of Opportunity: This is just a matter of being prepared. Put together a kit that your are comfortable taking with you wherever you go. It could be a small PointnShoot or an SLR with a select set of lenses. Just make sure it is portable enough that you like to have it around. That way, when the images show themselves, you are ready for them. Here is what I take.
- Travel: It is basically a blend of the above. When I am traveling I will conduct some forward recon on the net and schedule a couple of ‘Photo Walks’ during my vacation. The prior planning makes me very efficient when on location which still allows me plenty of time to hang out and relax with my family and friends. On vacation, I always have a Photography of Opportunity kit at the ready.
- Pre-Visioned: These are images that I have stumbled upon when I (or the image) wasn’t ready. These are things I see when I am out and about running, riding, or just too busy to stop. I will make note of these images and save them for later. In my mind’s eye I will try to imagine the ideal conditions for my vision. Then, when it fits into my schedule and the conditions are right, I will go make it happen.
Why use this post to describe my ‘Creative Scheduling’ process? Because it is an example of Pre-Visioning an image for later. I found this lone tree on a road I commonly ride and I knew that a southern storm would make the perfect backdrop for it. The storm arrived the same day I had to run an errand to the quarry. I grabbed my gear and stopped to make the image. Two minutes later I was back on the road, image in hand, and off to get some flagstone.
I was scared to setup my tripod at this overlook along Hwy 1. Actually, I was scared to get out of the car. The wind was howlin! My flapping clothes left me bruised. Whatever was over that hill was coming our way fast.
Processing Notes:
Capture
Nik SilverFX Pro (B&W Conversion)
Nik Sharpen (Display 30% adaptive w/ structure boost)
LightAsMagic.com
Nikon D300
Nikkor 60mm Micro
Tip: If you ever find yourself stuck in a dense fog bank along Hwy 1, thinking to yourself that this is hopeless. Don’t give up! Drive around the next bend. You might find a beautiful beach bathed in sunlight.
Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to the ice cream shop. Not for the ice cream, because it was below freezing Saturday night, but for the neon!
Note: Does anyone know if ‘but’ followed by ‘for’ is a violation of a grammatical rule? If so, let me know. It sounds odd.
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Gitzo Traveler
Processing Notes:
Capture (7 images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tone-mapping)
Photoshop (Levels Adjustment to correct color)
Nik ColorEFX Pro (Tonal Contrast to boost textures)
NIK Sharpen (Display adaptive 30%)
LightAsMagic.com
Tip: When photographing at night it is good to have a flashlight along. Make sure it is reasonably bright. You want to be able to illuminate a distant subject to aid in focusing. When I go out for an evening photo walk I carry a small MagLite in my bag as well as a head lamp.
My first evening photo crawl with a great local photo group started out in high fashion. We met at a local pub/coffee shop in Denver, got a quick route briefing, and then headed out. I began the night by making the traditional expansive images of highway lights. However, my eye began to be drawn to the details along the footbridge we were crossing. Maybe it was my heightened focus or an unconscious interest in civil engineering. Either way I found a composition that inspired me. It was a fun evening and I look forward to joining them again next month.
I took my Flip MinoHD camera with me, and made a quick video. It is in my standard directing style, but this time I added a little ‘Holiday Bop’ to it.
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Gitzo Traveler
Processing:
Capture (1 image)
Adobe Raw (Temperature and fill light adjustment)
Nik ColorEFX Pro (Darken/Lighter Center)
Nik ColorEFX Pro (Tonal Contrast cut highlights/midtone contrast, boosted saturation and shadow contrast)
Photoshop (resized)
Nik Sharpener (Output for display)
LightAsMagic.com
If you are interested in the photo walk, or some great workshops you can find more information about them here:
Tip: When working at night I have found that I primarily shoot in Manual Mode and set my shutter speed to ‘Bulb’. I will make an educated guess at the time, make the image, review (chimp), and then adjust. If you are taking a 5 sec exposure, don’t worry if you accidentally shoot for 6 sec. To overexpose a 5 sec exposure by 1 stop, you will have to shoot a 10 sec exposure. Even with a generous margin for error while working at night with long exposures, you still might want to take a stopwatch. Also, you will need a steady tripod and a cable release. The cable release is optional, but it always use it.
