Holiday Bears

Holiday Bears - Lensbaby Composer

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…

Lensbaby – Soft Focus Optic

Ben - Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic

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.

Lensbaby Fisheye Fun

Kitchen Sink - Lensbaby Fisheye Optic

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

Doorway - Lensbaby Fisheye Optic

Tony Sweet Soft-Ray Filter

Kitchen Still Life - Tony Sweet Soft-Ray - D700, 24-70

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

Stairwell Still Life - D700, 24-70mm

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 in Crail

Cottage Window Crail, Color - D700, 24-70mm

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 - Softer Version

Crail Cottage Window - Enlarged Detail

Cottage Window, Crail - Enlarged Detail

Cottage Window, Crail B+W - D700, 24-70mm

Cottage Window, Crail, B+W - D700, 24-70mm

Black-Eyed Susans

Black-Eyed Susans - D700, 80-400mm

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

Crail Oceanview - D700, 24-70mm

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…

Scotland in Sepia

Cockburn Street, Edinburgh - D700, 24-70mm

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

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…