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Short and sweet today, I'm sure everyone is busy. I'm going out on a limb to say I think 2010 is going to be a much better year overall than 2009. You can only keep people down so long, people want to thrive. Maybe it's too soon yet. I'm not sure, but I know I'm an optimist.
So I say "cheers!" Let's do it. We can make it a great year. Feel free to record your New Year's wish with a comment below.
W.R. Hearst Beach, guest photographer Nick Towery
Canon 50D, 10-22mm F/3.5, f/22, .6/sec, iso 100
It's a twofer today here at the Dream Tomorrow blog. As you know, we are on a trip in the California Central Coast area. On Monday we drove from Monterey south through Big Sur. We stopped for the sunset at WR Hearst beach in Cambria.
As sunsets go, it was a bit of a fizzle. Typical Pacific Coast deal where the marine layer prevents the setting sun from lighting up all the clouds, and these ones would have been spectacular. But anyway, we did our best. Son Nick was trying the medium length exposure trick to "blur" the water. He got several good ones, and asked if I would do a guest photographer post with my favorite one of his. And here it is! When we get back home I'll be putting up some nice images from this trip.
Let him know what you think of this shot with the comment link below.
Eastern Sierra Sunset
Canon 1D Mark III, 70-200 F/4.0L, f/5.6, 1/200, iso 400
Showing this image on the blog might be a stretch, no pun intended. It's really a panorama best enjoyed in a larger format. But it is a very pleasing image, so I thought I'd put it up anyway.
This was taken during my family trip down to Yosemite in November 2007. We were closing in on the Lee Vining area, in preparation for shooting Mono Lake at sunrise the next day. This viewpoint was an actual turnout/vista point. We got there just as the last sunlight was skimming the tips of these mountains, it was very beautiful, and you got the sense of the enormity of these mountains.
There are so many great images of this area, by very talented photographers. You see an image like this, taken from the side of the road with all of 30 seconds of effort, and you realize what a special place it is. There isn't much time left to comment in 2009, so you may want to give it a shot with the comment link below!
Our Little World
Canon 1D Mark III, 85mm F/1.2, f/2.8, 1/80, iso 1000
Continuing with our holiday theme, today we have the Topaz version of a snow globe. I took this shot at my uncle's house on the 20th. He was about 10 of these large globes. I picked the two I liked best and took just one shot of each.
When I looked at it on the screen, that it is "a little world" was the first thing that popped into my head, and so decided to try to process based on that theme. So let's begin the processing with Lightroom.
The first thing I did was fix the white balance. Canon DSLR's do a poor job of white balance selection in indoor incandescent light situations (i.e. normal indoor lighting). White Balance is too big a topic for my blog, but suffice to say that the camera has to make a determination, in any given scene, for "what is white?"
If you shoot JPG, you must make a determination at that time as to "what is white?" Most people do this by selecting a given "preset" on the camera, like outdoors, or cloudy, or tungsten, etc. If you leave it set to Auto, which I assume most people do, at indoor nighttime shots will be very yellow. When you shoot RAW, you can set it yourself in the post processing software. Super easy, just with a slider, it's actually quite magical.
So after fixing the WB, I cropped, then added vignette to darken the area "outside the world." I had to do a little cloning to darken all the areas I wanted. Now into Photoshop, to use Topaz Adjust.
I tried numerous presets, figuring I would want that "Topaz Look," but in the end I decided on a "smoothed" look that you get with the "Portrait Smooth" preset. I liked this effect, but the colors weren't punchy enough. So I used a slider called Saturation boost, which is pretty interesting, it's different than just saturating all the colors. I'm not exactly sure what it is doing, but I like the effect.
Back in Photoshop now I just add the borders and my name, and I'm good to go. Click on the continue link if you are interested and I'll show you a bit more about the processing.
Canon 1D Mark III, 24-70mm F/2.8, f/6.3, 1/320, iso 200
I chose this image today for several reasons, which I'll tell you about. Today we are leaving for the Central Coast: Avila Beach, Pismo, Arroyo Grande. This is the area we want to move to within a couple of years. So we try to vacation there once or twice a year to learn more about it.
This image is from that area, Montana de Oro state park, actually.
And as you may know, I'm a water person, salt water preferably. I like the idea of an image that draws one to the sea, as I feel drawn to it.
The other thing is that I have a very specific photographic goal for this trip. Several actually, but the most important involves shooting something in the ocean. I have been pretty fortunate, results-wise, when I am specific about a photographic goal, so I hope that is the case this time as well. We will see, won't we? Wish me luck!
Blackberry Red
Canon 20D, 70-200 F/4.0L, f/6.3, 1/125, iso 200
Well since we are still in Christmas week, I thought I'd share one of the reddest plants I have ever had the pleasure of photographing. This image was made some years ago, a wet and cold morning. But with the intense color shown here, I must have had some sun peeking through.
In those days, I didn't yet have a macro lens, so I used my telephoto lenses as macros. The 70-200 F4.0L is a honey of a lens, probably the best bargain in the "L" lens lineup. Nice bokeh, wouldn't you say? (that's the out of focus area in case you are not familiar with the term.)
Hope everyone is having a great Christmas week.
Fall Color Finale
Canon 1D Mark III, 70-200 F/4.0L, f/13, 1/200, iso 200
I think this shot represents fall color succumbing to the coming winter. Most of the leaves are gone. Those remaining are dried and crumpled. I took this shot just outside Yosemite back in 2007.
If you are interested in the post processing that achieved this look (or wish to comment!), click on the continue link.
Fall Color Kiddo
Canon 20D, 70-200 F/4.0L, f/5.0, 1/320, iso 200
Here is a little cutie, from a portrait session I did some time back. I always tell people that when my kids were this age - that was the point where I rediscovered Christmas. It's so magical for them, there's really nothing else like it. Those were great times.
For this shoot, I was trying to do something simple. We just put the little guy back a ways, told him to stay put, then said "GO!" He did all the rest. Just a nice park setting. The 70-200 focuses well, and did create a pleasing image.
And I'm putting up this picture today, Christmas Eve, in honor of all the kids out there, all over the world. I hope you each have a memorable and wonderful Christmas!
Christmas Pendant
Canon 5D Mark II, 180mm F/3.5, f/3.5, 1/125, iso 160
Another image from a shoot at The Tattered House. They have tons of ornaments in this window, and I took several of the entire window, but I also liked the idea of focusing on this pendant. It almost looks like I used Topaz on this image, but I have not. In Lightroom, I moved the Clarity slider all the way to the right, which has a nice effect on this particular image. I added a bit of Vibrance. Then I tried the tilt. Decided I liked that better than my straight and level original.
Then for reasons unknown to me I wondered what it would look like in B&W? So I tried this, and strangely I like this quite a bit! Doesn't make sense, with the pretty colors in the original, but maybe it is because the subject is sort of nostalgic and timeless.
Well anyway, that's why I just had to show both to you.
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