Approaching storm at the Cape Florida Lighthouse, Bill Baggs State Park, FL (Click to enlarge)
Last week we took the workshop group to Key Biscayne, Florida to photograph the Cape Florida lighthouse. We had about 20 minutes to work with before a nasty thunderstorm rolled in.
Garden of the Gods & Pikes Peak, captured with Fujichrome Velvia 50 film.
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?→
Antique Fire Truck, Teller County, CO 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.
Orchid captured in infrared with a converted Nikon 1 V1 and 32mm f/1.2 1-Nikkor lens.
Here’s a digital infrared image of a Phalaenopsis orchid captured with my converted Nikon 1 V1 and new 32mm f/1.2 1-Nikkor lens. This new lens delivers good bokeh even on the small CX-format sensor Nikon 1 cameras. I converted the image to monochrome using Silver Efex Pro 2.