I'll be posting my recent images on this blog…
Azalea Buds - D700, 85mm PC
Some azalea buds that I shot earlier in the spring. Processed with Topaz Simplify and additional color work in CS5 using the Dan Margulis, “Man From Mars” move in the Lab Colorspace to get some additional color separation.
Leaning Tree, Children's Lake - D200, converted to IR, 18-35mm
Leaning Tree, Children's Lake 2 (re-edit) - D200, converted to IR, 18-35mm
This is one of my favorite trees in the area, one day it won’t be there, it seems to defy gravity every day. I am always looking for a different and better way to shoot this tree. Today I used the IR converted D200 and looked to optimize the diagonal framing from a different perspective. I actually had the camera on the ground and snapped a bunch of images panning up, down and side to side. This is a combination of two of those images. A fair amount of post production work was done in CS5 to get the final image.
After a wonderful critique of this image by Craig Tanner at The Mindful Eye site, somewhere you all should visit, I re-edited this image incorporating Craig’s suggestions. I must say I like this image a whole lot more now…thanks Craig for your excellent vision.
Click on the images to view a little larger…
Catching Minnows - D200, IR converted, 18-35mm
Went for a walk along the creek today with my IR converted D200. Some young boys were in the creek catching minnows in a net for fishing. Brings back memories of my youth when I spent the summer days in the creek catching minnows and went fishing all day long…
Processed this in CS5 using some Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 filters, the high contrast effect seemed to work well for this image. Click on image to view larger.
Clematis Take 3, Texture - D700, 85mm PC
Some really nice light in the morning produced this image. I added some texture with the Totally Rad, Dirty Pictures plug-in using one of their included textures. Here’s a version without any texture added so you can see what it adds (or detracts, depending on your taste)… Continue reading ‘Clematis Take 3 – Texture’
Impressionistic Clematis No.1 - D700, 85mm PC
The light was great in the garden this morning so I did some experimenting with some in camera multiple exposures. Ten exposures rotating the camera between each exposure and moving in a little each time…oh and don’t forget to refocus each time too. Some additional post production work was done in CS5 using some Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 filters.
I can’t decide which one I like better soooo I posted both versions. I like the softness in No. 1 but also like the detail in No.2, go figure? Click to view larger.
Impressionistic Clematis No.2 - D700, 85mm PC
St Mary & St Finnian Church - CS5 HDR
Well I made the jump to CS5 after having skipped CS4, just don’t see the need to do the upgrade thing for every version. I read a lot about the improved HDR in CS5 and wanted to see if it lived up to the hype…soooo here’s my first experiment with HDR in CS5.
I have to say that it’s not too shabby, to steal one of Tony Sweet’s lines. The reduced noise and the ability to select one image for ghost removal worked pretty good. The tone mapping will take some time to get use to what the sliders do. This is NOT a review of the new HDR features in CS5, just some of my initial observations.
The image above is a 5 image HDR, using 1 stop EV with a D700 and a 24-70mm lens. I tonemapped in CS5 and did a lot of additional processing in CS5. Some processing included, Nik Color Efex Pro plug-in filters, Nik’s Viveza, Topaz Adjust and Simplify and the sky was dropped back in without any of the above filters and worked separately.
Click on image to view larger…
This is an image of St. Mary & St. Finnian Church along the Road to the Isles in Scotland. Somewhere I would surely like to visit again…we’ll see.
Lilly of the Valley, Fractalius - D700, Lensbaby Composer
Playing around with the fractalius filter this morning, I was trying to get a glowing feel on some of the Lily of the Valley images I shot last week. I kind of like this one…it’s a combination blend of different layers with different fractalius filter effects. Click to view larger…
Clematis & Bud - D700, Lensbaby Composer
Some clematis shots from this morning…got to shoot it while it still looks good. Processed these in CS5 using some Nik Color Efex Filters… Continue reading ‘Clematis Take 2′
Orange Poppy - D700, Lensbaby Composer
The light was really good this morning for shooting flowers in the garden, especially with the Lensbaby Composer. Nice semi-bright overcast skies work well with the Lensbaby, not too much contrast. I used an extention tube and the tele converter to compress the scene to get just the depth of field I was looking for. More things are starting to bloom in the garden, soooo more things to explore…
Here’s a version using the Totally Rad, Dirty Pictures texture plug-in…
Orange Poppy Texturized - D700, Lensbaby Composer
Clematis No. 1 - D700, Lensbaby Composer
My wife planted a clematis last year and we didn’t get very many flowers from it…this year IS a different story. Lots of flowers and buds so maybe I’ll get to shoot some more photos of it. Love the color!
Clematis No. 2 - D700, Lensbaby Composer