Here’s another photograph from my recent travel photography workshop in London. The Albert memorial stands in tribute to Queen Victoria’s late prince consort. On this unusually cloudless afternoon in London, we waited until early evening to photograph the memorial and avoid harsh shadows.
In the late 1990s, as the digital camera age dawned, I was shooting with a Nikon N70 film camera and whatever lenses I could afford on a graduate student’s (miniscule) salary. For me, the idea of switching to digital was something that I didn’t even fathom at the time, simply because a $5500 camera was so far out of my price range that I was never going to realistically own one.
Of course, when something costs a lot of money and you know you can’t afford it, you start to rationalize with yourself as to why you don’t really need one. And by “don’t really need” I mean we find ways to explain why our current gear is as good or better than some new technology. As the new century dawned, the “film vs. digital” debate bloomed across the Internet in chat rooms and discussion boards. Recently, that debate has returned, as some photographers are switching back to using film for certain clients. Continue reading Is Film Making a Comeback?
Digital Infrared Capture with Nikon 1 V1 (590nm).
I took a drive through the high country yesterday, and I stopped briefly to photograph this great antique fire truck with my IR-converted Nikon 1 V1 camera. This shot was hand-held using the 16-35mm f/4 AFS G VRII zoom-Nikkor lens via FT-1 adapter (it’s a great combo on the IR V1). I processed this image in Lightroom 5.2 (just updated) and then converted it to monochrome with Silver Efex Pro 2 (guidebook). The tint/glow effect was courtesy of the “Sunlight” filter in Color Efex Pro 4 (guidebook), which I applied selectively via Control Points.
Thanks for looking.
Of the 55 filters in Color Efex Pro 4, one of the most versatile is “Glamour Glow.” This filter creates a softening effect with a mild glow that is most often used in portraits. However, I’ve found it to be a perfect choice for smoothing out skies in HDR images and landscapes. To get this effect, you’ll want to add the Glamour Glow filter in Color Efex Pro 4 and dial up the saturation slider a bit. Then, use Control Points to restrict the effect to just the sky. You may need to use a combination of plus (+) and minus (-) Control Points to get the look just right.
Here’s a video tutorial of how I use Glamour Glow on HDR/Landscape images:
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Master all 55 Color Efex Pro filters with the complete guide from Jason Odell
The Photographer’s Guide to Color Efex Pro 4.
This is a sunrise image from my recent trip to the South Dakota Badlands. It’s a typical scenario at sunrise: pretty clouds and a back-lit foreground. I captured a standard ±2EV bracketed exposure series with the Nikon D800e (5-shots), and then processed the image in the Nik Collection (discount here). Continue reading Photo of the Day: Look to the East (with free Color Efex Pro Preset)