D3x – It's official!

Nikon has made it official, the D3x is now a reality.

NIKON UNVEILS A DIGITAL MASTERPIECE: THE D3X DIGITAL SLR

D3x – It’s official!

Nikon has made it official, the D3x is now a reality.

NIKON UNVEILS A DIGITAL MASTERPIECE: THE D3X DIGITAL SLR

Why We're Photographers

While at Photo+, Scott told me the story behind his photo essay of a New York drug store. Ever since I keep going back to his gallery and just gaze at the photos, they are really well done.  The time warp they represent is amazing. During this time when we need to reflect on the fruits we’ve been blessed with, it seemed to me a good time to view the images again. It then occurred to me that more need to see these images, read the message and turn their cameras for the same social awareness. Make it a great weekend, turn your camera to do the same good!

Why We’re Photographers

While at Photo+, Scott told me the story behind his photo essay of a New York drug store. Ever since I keep going back to his gallery and just gaze at the photos, they are really well done.  The time warp they represent is amazing. During this time when we need to reflect on the fruits we’ve been blessed with, it seemed to me a good time to view the images again. It then occurred to me that more need to see these images, read the message and turn their cameras for the same social awareness. Make it a great weekend, turn your camera to do the same good!

View from across the street

We rose this morning to one thing we’re always thankful for seeing this time of year, new snow. The skies were blue, the trees white and the scent of turkey, was in the air.

And of course just as if I’d never seen snow before, I’m out with the camera trying to make an image (and I didn’t even slip, an annual ritual with first snow). I had a heck of a time between just not seeing things and the distraction of the boys being home and getting turkeys in the oven. The challenge was to act on the light fast enough when I saw it through the windows. Not that I was very successful, but looking at the images warms up the Peterson household of thoughts of the winter to come.

Oh yeah, I took these photos from the deck of our home, this is the view across the street.

Photos captured by D3, 200VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Who Said Happy Turkey Day?

WRP wishes all a Happy Turkey Day!

The Genius named RC

There we were on the tranquil Convict Lake photographing the massive granite that makes the Sierra, embraced by the chill of the morning when, ka-splash! A few moments went by and than another, ka-splash. I turned from the photo you see above to see what was disrupting this pristine scene.

What do I see when I turn, the grinning RC. Why’s he grinning, he’s making ripples, at least, that was the excuse. We all know though what happens when you take a little boy to the edge of a lake where there are rocks. Yeap, you gotta throw them in. RC was definitely on to something though, you can check out his images, including the ripple here.

Past experience though told me, well, watch…..

Photo captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Moose Cam captured by P6000 on Lexar UDMA digital film

Mono Lake Pano

Well, the guys are gone, the office is quiet again and technically we’ve increased our competition. Our gang were not only really, really nice folks, but pretty darn good photographers too. RC is bouncing off the walls with excitement from the You Can Do It Too week and with ideas to make the next one even better. Either that or he’s on a sugar high from all the desserts he’s consuming.

The image above is a 6 image (2×3) Ultra Wide Pano. I created this on our first morning shoot down at Mono Lake. The Moose Cam was present, so here’s a little more insight into this technique which takes just second to employ to create panos.

Photo captured by D3, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

I ain't no Ben Willmore!

RC & I wanted to move onto another challenge. So to the boat rental shack we went. We knew from the get go we were going to use the Ben Willmore Dynamic HDR to finish the image.  Ben does Dynamic HDR (Dynamic  being my term for the drama he builds into his photography) better than anyone else, probably because he really invented it. I really, really love his work mainly because he approaches it from the moment he puts down the tripod to be a DHDR image (compared to those who use it because it’s the in fad or have no other idea how to create a photo). That’s one reason why Ben’s my hero (the other is he saves my butt when it comes to learning the latest version of PS, thanks Ben!).

RC & I started by trying to get the framing for this scene. That was a big challenge because of the ugly bush on the left and the ugly sidewalk on the right. Well, DHDR we knew would kinda take care of the bush because the color of the canoe and building, but the sidewalk, it would look worse. So, I told RC of an old trick, make the cement all wet to hide it (you see it all the time in car ads). How to do that in the Sierra? I had a coffee cup and we were standing next to a lake. You got it, after 15min we had hidden the sidewalk (which turned all blue with DHDR). Than, it was simply a Photomatix Pro treatment, a little Color Efex Pro and a giggle to finish. Watching us carry the lake cup by cup for a photo that isn’t an earth shaker is just that, a giggle.

Photo captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

I ain’t no Ben Willmore!

RC & I wanted to move onto another challenge. So to the boat rental shack we went. We knew from the get go we were going to use the Ben Willmore Dynamic HDR to finish the image.  Ben does Dynamic HDR (Dynamic  being my term for the drama he builds into his photography) better than anyone else, probably because he really invented it. I really, really love his work mainly because he approaches it from the moment he puts down the tripod to be a DHDR image (compared to those who use it because it’s the in fad or have no other idea how to create a photo). That’s one reason why Ben’s my hero (the other is he saves my butt when it comes to learning the latest version of PS, thanks Ben!).

RC & I started by trying to get the framing for this scene. That was a big challenge because of the ugly bush on the left and the ugly sidewalk on the right. Well, DHDR we knew would kinda take care of the bush because the color of the canoe and building, but the sidewalk, it would look worse. So, I told RC of an old trick, make the cement all wet to hide it (you see it all the time in car ads). How to do that in the Sierra? I had a coffee cup and we were standing next to a lake. You got it, after 15min we had hidden the sidewalk (which turned all blue with DHDR). Than, it was simply a Photomatix Pro treatment, a little Color Efex Pro and a giggle to finish. Watching us carry the lake cup by cup for a photo that isn’t an earth shaker is just that, a giggle.

Photo captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

You Can Do It Too day3 AM

Still dealing with bald skies (and no snow), the group went to another of my favorite local haunts, Convict Lake. The group is just started to get a blurry eyed, either from early mornings, lots of learning or, a combination of both.

The background was the spectacular Mt Morrison, the foreground are the boulders of the shoreline and the harbor. The light on the peak being the subject, I tried a couple of different foregrounds taking your eye back there the fastest.

Personally, the top image is my favorite of all my foreground options that I found. The bottom is the least favorite, The difference for me is the bottom one throws up to much of a visual wall for the viewer to enter the scene. After the sun creeped down the slope some more, RC & I went lookin for another challenge. We found one.

Photo captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

You Can Do It Too day2 PM

I just don’t know how come we’re so fortunate, but thankfully we are! We have a marvelous group of photographers here and our dear, dear friend RC (who loves Sharon’s desserts) as we just plow through this photography business thing.

After taking care of business, we headed out this evening in the hopes of taking advantage of the smoke from a control burn for a colorful sunset. As it turned out, the wind had taken the smoke north. That’s OK, the light didn’t suck and the location, our favorite fishing hole on the Owens River, performed as I knew it would.

All three of these images were captured using the technique I’m still trying to perfect. I say this because of the 19 attempts today, only 7 worked to my standards. That’s a higher ratio than a month ago, so I’m making progress. You might be wondering where the Moose Cam is because this would have been a great place for it. Well, embarassed to say but I forgot to charge the battery and bring the spare. Next time

You go out now and make it a photographic weekend!

Photos captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Moose Cam goes Mono

My preferred method of working Mono Lake it to get there around 2-3AM, do a star trail and then get the Tufas and photograph them prior to the sun breaking the horizon. The rich, unique color of the Eastern Sierra sky prior to sunrise always makes for a great background. You can see for yourself what I’m talking about by comparing this photo to those below.

Finishing the photo was real simple, Color Efex 3 > Tonal Contrast and then >Darken/Lighten Center. the finishing was simple because of the work done at the point of capture. There’s that part for ya.

Photo captured by D3, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

Moose Cam captured by P6000 on Lexar UDMA digital film>

You Can Do It Too day2 AM

Even though it was a cloudless morning, any day you greet standing on the shores of Mono Lake is a good day.

No clouds meant though that once the sun started to kiss the top of the tufas, light was hard

So I went into experiment mode in my contunuing attempt to perfect my technique for bringing into one frame all the light my eyes see. I learned some more today which makes it a double header of great, sunrise at Mono Lake and learning.

What’s even funner is bringing new folks to Mono Lake for their first visit. RC was definitely one of the funniest. Be sure to check out his images and comments here.

Photos captured by D3, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

You Can Do It Too day1

We’re back home but the teaching continues with another eager group of photographers. RC is here keeping them entertained so at the very least, they’ll go home with a laugh. Actually, he’s sharing the latest in Web marketing, I’m even learning new things.

After a great start it was off to the lakes basin to scare up some images. Now, shooting in my own backyard isn’t new to me so personally, shooting is a challenge. I tend to look at the more, well, less conventional approach to saying where I am. That means typically looking up like the B&W image (finished with Silver Efex Pro) or straight down on the ice (finished with Tonal Contrast). Either way, it’s just darn good to be home and this time, with new friends sharing photography.

Photo captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

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