Photo Tip: Avoiding Tunnel Vision

Posted on by
3
For the final image, I added my "Flowers" recipe of three filters in Color Efex Pro 4.

This image of a tulip started out with a major compositional flaw. Fortunately I was able to notice the issue in the field and recompose.

Part of the art of photography is visualizing your shot through the camera viewfinder (or LCD panel). When you’re in the field, you tend to scrutinize your subject. After all, you want the subject placed in the frame properly, you want to focus precisely, and more. Unfortunately, this often leads to “tunnel vision.” Your mind subconsciously blacks out the other elements of the frame, especially the corners and background. Continue reading →

Submit to StumbleUpon

Photo of the Day: Capturing the Sun

Posted on by
Reply
This old tree in Colonial Williamsburg captured my attention.

This old tree in Colonial Williamsburg captured my attention.

I loved this old tree in Colonial Williamsburg. The problem was that the morning sun was in my face. Had I shot this tree from the other side, I would have had a distracting background. Therefore, I decided to shoot it as an HDR. I used a 7-shot (±3EV) bracket on the Nikon D800e, and I stopped down to f/16 to create the starburst pattern in the sun. I tone-mapped the image in HDR Efex Pro 2 and then finished it off in Photoshop with Color Efex Pro 4 and some minor layer tweaks.

The Nik Collection now includes all six pro plug-ins by Nik Software for a new low price.

Submit to StumbleUpon

A Storybook Ending

Posted on by
3
House in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Captured with a Nikon D800e and 16-35mm f/4 AFS G VRII Nikkor lens.

House in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Captured with a Nikon D800e and 16-35mm f/4 AFS G VRII Nikkor lens.

I just finished up teaching a four-day photography workshop in Williamsburg, Virginia with Deborah Sandidge. We got lucky and had amazing light on each of our photo shoots. On our last day, we returned to Colonial Williamsburg in the morning and we found this lovely house that looks like it came from a fairy tale.

One of the main themes of our workshop was encouraging participants to combine multiple filter/plug-in effects. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that we have many tools available to us in our digital darkrooms that span multiple plug-ins. For example, while you can create a black and white image in HDR Efex Pro 2 or Color Efex Pro 4, why limit yourself to those tools if you can use the unique controls in Silver Efex Pro 2? Continue reading →

Submit to StumbleUpon