Holiday Bears - Lensbaby Composer
In keeping with the post Thanksgiving, “Holiday Season Kickoff”, I offer my ‘Holiday Bears’. Shot this in January while we we doing some sale shopping after last Christmas. Just took my camera along with my Lensbaby Composer and took whatever looked interesting…
Ben - Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic
Here’s a image of my great nephew, Ben, shot with the new Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic. I shot this in available light using an off camera fill-flash with a LumiQuest softbox. This is the first time using the new soft focus optic and I think it will be useful. As always, it will take some time to see what situations will work best with this lens.
Kitchen Sink - Lensbaby Fisheye Optic
Just got my Lensbaby Fisheye Optic delivered today by UPS and took it for a spin around the house…I think I’m going to enjoy shooting with it. Opens up a whole different way to look at things. Added some Topaz Detail to both images.
These are just some quick shots from around the house to see how the optic works. I plan on shooting lots more real soon…
Doorway - Lensbaby Fisheye Optic
Kitchen Still Life - Tony Sweet Soft-Ray - D700, 24-70
I was reading a great post yesterday by John Barclay illustrating the use of the Tony Sweet Soft-Ray filter made by Singh-Ray. You should take a look at his wonderful image here along with the rest of his work. As I was processing some of my images from our Scotland trip I came across this image using the Soft-Ray filter. I thought this image also illustrates what can be done with this filter soooooo I’m posting it here.
This was shot at ISO 1600 at f13, I think I was just doing some quick sketching with the camera at the time, anyway that’s my explanation for ISO 1600. With the D700 it really didn’t do much damage to the file. The noise that was there could be easily removed with noise reduction software. No way I know of to get this same glowing look in post production.
This was shot at our friends home in Crail, Scotland and yes that was, at one time, an official government sign.
Stairwell Still Life – D700, 24-70mm
Continuing with the Scottish window theme from yesterday…this is from our friends house in Crail. Bob is an free lance illustrator, quite good I might add, so throughout their home were lots of still life vignettes. This was in the stair well going to the second floor. I could have just stayed in the house and shot still life’s for days….
Cottage Window, Crail, Color - D700, 24-70mm
This is the kitchen window at our friends home in Crail, if you think you see a pair of eyes in the window, you’re right. It’s one of the family cats, the BLACK one of course. Processed this with Topaz Simplify and Topaz Detail. Also added the edge effect with Nik Color Efex Pro, Vignette filter. For all you black and white fans, here’s a version using Nik Silver Effects Pro. I can’t decide which one I like best?
Post Updated: As requested by Betsy, I have added a soft focus effect to this image. I didn’t add a lot of softness to the image because it won’t show very well in this small version. Also just for Betsy a enlarged detail of the window with the cat…
Cottage Window, Crail - Softer Version
Cottage Window, Crail - Enlarged Detail
Cottage Window, Crail, B+W - D700, 24-70mm
Taking the Stairs - D700, 20-70mm
I think I’m going to just post this image without much of a description or explanation…we’ll call this my surreal image of the week.
Black-Eyed Susans - D700, 80-400mm
Took some time on our trip in Scotland to shoot some flowers around the hotel in Pitlochry. These black-eyed susans were in the shade. That gave them a nice soft light without any hard shadows. I used a 80-400mm zoom at 300mm and f5.3 to blow the background out. Also did a 2 shots in camera multiple exposure, one in focus and one out of focus for a nice dreamy feel.
Crail Oceanview - D700, 24-70mm
This is one of the beaches in Crail, Scotland. It was a pretty windy day as you can see by the choppy water. Right along the beach down by the water was a playground with swing and slides. Could by great for the kids in nice weather but on this day you might get blown into the water. No one was at the playground that day…
Cockburn Street, Edinburgh - D700, 24-70mm
Here’s an architectural shot from the streets of Edinburgh, Cockburn Street. I liked all the different turrets, texture and the shadows of the building across the street creating a shadowed skyline. Processed this with Topaz Adjust and Topaz Simplify, finished off in Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 with Paper Toner.
Harry Potter Bridge, Sepia - D700, 24-70mm
Here’s another take on the Harry Potter Bridge on the Road to the Isles. Used a slide sandwich effect for a softer look in CS3 and finished off with Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0, Paper Toner…