
Part of being a photographer is finding ways to express your creativity. I thought I’d experiment with a “selfy” shot that I did a while back to give it some more character. Ok, those of you who know me are probably saying, “dude, you don’t need any more character.” But I digress. Let’s have a little fun.
The original shot was done using my Nikon D3s and 105mm f/2.8 AFS G VR Micro-Nikkor lens (a very good portrait lens). I used a single SB-900 Speedlight off-camera on a stand, controlled by the Nikon SU-800 commander. The out of camera result was this:

I brought the image into Photoshop, where my goal was to apply plug-ins effects via layers for complete control. Now it was time to get down and dirty! I duplicated the background layer and I used single-image tone-mapping in Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro 2.

Yes, this is extreme, but hang on… Continue reading I’m not that tough, really!