Our adventure seemed liked it only started yesterday. However, tonight is the end of an trip that spanned thousands of miles over 12 days. The adventure began in Alaska with a visit to Denali National park and ended with a relaxing weekend in my new favorite city, Vancouver. In the middle was a cruise to celebrate my folks’ 40th wedding anniversary (Congrats team!). There are gigs worth of images and several great stories to tell over the coming months. Look for a week’s worth of posts that will tell the story of our flight to Denali and the landing on a glacier at its base. Personally, I am having a hard time waiting on that one. I can’t wait to share it with you! For now, I wanted to share an image from the beginning of the adventure, our trip into Denali National park by bus. If you ever have the chance to visit this park, take it. It is an incredible place. If you do visit, I have two tips for you. 1) Expect bad weather. That way you aren’t too bummed out when the clouds shroud Denali. Only 30 percent of the folks that visit actually see the mountain. Don’t worry, there is still an incredible amount of wildlife to experience. We saw 6 grizzlies over the course of our trip. This leads me to my second tip. 2) Bring long fast glass!

Capture Notes:

Nikon D700
Nikkor 80-200 AFD
Lexar UDMA

Processing Notes:

Capture – 1 image
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com

Over the last month or so I have been testing out the Nikon D5000. For me, it is a great back-up camera as well as a light travel companion. If you are looking to upgrade to a digital SLR, or wanting to get started in photography, this camera is a great option. In order to complete the review I thought it would be interesting to hand it off to my wife for a trip up to Alaska. She has the eye of a photographer, but lacks the patience to deal with all the various dials and settings. So I put the camera in program mode, set the auto ISO, and put her in front of grizzlies, glaciers, whales, moose, and mountains. You will see other images from her portfolio in the final review. For now I thought I would share this one. No question about it, she didn’t let this one get away!

Capture Notes:

Nikon D5000
Nikkor 70-300 AFS VR

Processing Notes:

Capture – 1 image
Nik Silver Efex Pro – B&W conversion
Sized for web
Nik Sharpener 2.0 – Display 30% selective to tail
LightAsMagic.com

That Anchorage Museum exceeded all my expectations. We visited it while wait for our Motor Coach (bus) to take us south to pick up our ship. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but one thing I wasn’t expecting was full gallery dedicated to HDR photography. Pretty darn progressive! I wonder if we will ever see an HDR image in Nat Geo? If you are ever in the Anchorage area, make sure you stop by the museum. The architecture alone was worth the visit.

Capture Notes:

Nikon D700
Nikkor 17-35 AFS
Gitzo Traveler
Lexar UDMA

Processing Notes:

Capture – 7 images @ 1ev
Photomatix 4 – HDR/Tonemapping
Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 – ProContrast
Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 – Touch of some glamour glow
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com

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……

Capture Notes:

Nikon D700
Sigma 15mm Fisheye
Gitzo Traveler

Processing Notes:
Capture (7 Images @ 1EV)
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Noiseware – noise reduction (landscape profile)
Nik Color Efex Pro – ProContrast
Photoshop – Global Vibrancy Boost
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com

This is another image from my visit to the local rail yard last year. You can see a previous composition from the same location here. It was one of those days where I knew I was going to pass something interesting on and errand, so I decided I would grab my gear and tack on 30mins to my commute. I wonder how much memory my brain is wasting trying to efficiently plan photo errands? I should formalize a documentation strategy so I can save space for things like remembering to mow the lawn.

Capture Notes:

Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Gitzo Traveler
Lexar UDMA

Processing Notes:
Capture (9 Images @ 1EV)
NX2 Raw Conversion
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Nik Define 2.0 – Noise reduction
Photoshop – Global curves adjustment
Photoshop – selective Desat adjustment
Size for web
LightAsMagic.com

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!

Capture Notes:

Nikon D5000
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Gitzo Traveler
Lexar UDMA

Processing Notes:

Capture – 3 images @ 2ev
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Photoshop – Global curves adjustment
Nik Color Efex Pro – Soft Focus (experimenting a bit with it for that dreamy look)
Photoshop – Selective saturation boost
Photoshop – Selective saturation cut
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com

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.

Capture Notes:

Nikon D700
Nikkor 45mm PC-E (a big help here with converging lines)
Gitzo Traveler
Lexar UDMA

Aperture f/6.7
Focal Length 45 mm
ISO Speed 200

Processing Notes:

Capture – 6 images @ 1ev
Photomatix 4 (public beta) – HDR/Tonemapping
Photoshop – Curves adjustment
Sized for web
Nik Sharpener 2.0 – Display 30% global
LightAsMagic.com

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.

Capture Notes:

Nikon D700
Nikkor 45mm PC-E
Gitzo Traveler
Lexar UDMA

Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 45 mm
ISO Speed 200

Processing Notes:

Capture – 9 images @ 1ev
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Topaz DeNoise 5 – Noise Reduction
Photoshop – A Good Tip Form Trey Ratcliff’s eBook I will let Trey tell you.
Photoshop – Global curves adjustment
Nik Color Efex Pro – Glamour Glow selective to the sky.
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com

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.

Capture Notes:

Nikon D700
Nikkor 45mm PC-E
Gitzo Traveler
Lexar UDMA

Processing Notes:

Capture – 9 images @ 1ev
Photomatix – HDR/ToneMapping
Photoshop – Global curves adjustment
Nik Color Efex Pro – Glamour Glow (25% mix)
Nik Sharpener 2.0 – Selective to structures
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com

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!

Capture Notes:

Nikon D700
Nikkor 45mm PC-E
Gitzo Traveler
Lexar UDMA

Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 45 mm
ISO Speed 200

Processing Notes:

Capture – 7 images @ 1ev
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Photoshop – Curves adjustment
Nik Color Efex Pro – Brilliance warmth (selective to glass)
Nik Sharpener 2.0 – Selective to door and marquee
Sized for web
LightAsMagic.com