Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 19, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 Thanks for the great info Ken. Yup I know all about ND filters ..... I actually have in my filter collection, some ND filters by Tiffen and B+W....I don't have all the adaptor rings though......I have to suss that out and get with the program. Yeah I get to work with ND a lot....mostly gels, as I work in the film biz.There are optically correct ND acrylic panels also...I like that stuff but it's expensive. Ah, okay, forgive me for being pedantic then. I don't have any adapter rings at all. I screw them on to the lens and I'm ready. If I had the spare cash I would try the NIK HDR. I have the latest version of Photomatix and I love it. Not so much the HDR in PS CS5....... I also have HDRTist....kinda a cheapie one and of course the HDR in Topaz. I love the Nik Software stuff, and get really good results from it, and really love the interface, so for me, I would probably look at the Nik HDR stuff first if I were gonna get an HDR program. I like the B&W plug in in Topaz but would love to have the NIK one. That Silver Efex Pro 2 looks stunning. Tough at $200 though. I heard that Silver Efex Pro 2 is the gold standard for B&W. I've been using the black and white function in PS CS4 (not the desaturate thing but the actual black and white function in the pulldown menu) and been really happy with it, but I've never used anything else. Off for a mile or greater swim at the gym. Catch you later. Keep the great info and pics coming. I'm waiting on a call from someone, and then I'm going to the gym (hopefully) soon, then photographing my friend's Doors tribute band Break On Through this evening. Gonna see what happens with my sorta new Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 this time. I used the 50mm f/1.4 before and got great results, but this'll get something really different. Thanks for your compliments and encouragement. I really appreciate that. And like I said, any time you want to blab about photography (or music or recording, of course), let me know. I don't really keep any secrets, just like recording. No matter how much I tell someone, their photos (or music) are not going to be like mine anyway because we're two different people. And besides, anyone who was trying to keep secrets would not have a blog telling all their camera settings, how they took the photo, and detailing star trails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 19, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 But what was going on as far as the conditions, the time of day....was it hazy, overcast, bright....morning, magic hour etc etc and what filter did you use to stop down, ISO, shutter, F-stop....etc etc etc? I forgot to answer this. You were primarily discussing the long exposure photos of "The Secret Coast" shown here in this thread, I believe. All of them were taken between about 6:00 and 7:15 in the morning. Right now, 6am is approximately the time the sun rises, but because I'm facing west, it doesn't actually completely shine on the rocks until a little bit later. It was very clear that morning, not foggy at all, and little or no clouds (no clouds in my photos, that's for sure). If we're talking about the Santa Cruz and Mendocino trip, then the photos were taken either sunrise around 6am or sunset, which was I think around 8:30 pm. Most of my favorite shots from this trip were taken in the morning. That's probably for two reasons. One is that I thought the light was a bit better. But the other was that in every instance, I went to the beach twice, the first time in the evening, and the second time the following morning, so the evening shots also served as my "reconnaissance". I was shooting, sure, but I was also scouting where the light would be in the morning. And so all the evening shots were my first time ever to that beach. My Santa Cruz/Mendocino Virtual Photo Album details when I was taking these as well as all the camera settings and so forth for every long exposure shot, which is most of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rjt Posted August 19, 2012 Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 Ken, I do like walking all over to "get the shot" from the right angle. My last trip was a tour (as my former travel partner is now my ex) so nobody was waiting for me to shoot, they were all moving on. I haven't found anyone willing to fork out the $$, so next trip is a tour as well. Ah, at least I can wander down the Columbia Gorge or Oregon Coast at the magic hour!! Dodging and burning are pretty easy.... IMHO easier.....than combining pics and masking part of them (I only do that when I really want to develop two parts something very differently..... usually sky or water.) Anyway, select a tool brush and it will give you options......dodging lightens something and burning darkens it. Given the programs today often have "magic edge selection" so you don't spill over into the wrong area, you can just selectively lighten or darken an area. The brush gives you the ability to change exposure, contrast, saturation etc. etc. A program like Lightroom (my fav) will let you paint an area where several things are occurring (such as increasing exposure, increasing sharpness and decreasing saturation at the same time.) For broader strokes (in Lightroom) you can also do with with a filter (or just use a larger brush.) When you are working on a layer, you have the luxury of just blending it into the original, masking part of the original or just using the layer. My current work flow is: pre sharpen the RAW image, noise reduction, crop, tweaks to overall pic, tweaks to specific areas, output sharpening. Been working pretty well.... at least that is a decent flow in Lightroom whether or not you use plugins to help with any of the processes. I was an incredible equipment junkie when I was doing mostly music, so I have a self-imposed limit on what I'll buy for photography or put on my computer. I love the combo of Lightroom and PSP, but have PSE because it was cheap and runs PS plug ins that PSP may have trouble with. I have the complete NIK and Topaz lines and one or two freebies. As an aside, my latest "thing" is printing to canvas. Just had a small one made of the "Plaza de las Cruces" in Seville, taken at night with the lights looking green and yellow (I did not color correct the photo.) I'll bet some of yours would look outstanding in canvas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 19, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 Ken, I do like walking all over to "get the shot" from the right angle. My last trip was a tour (as my former travel partner is now my ex) so nobody was waiting for me to shoot, they were all moving on. I haven't found anyone willing to fork out the $$, so next trip is a tour as well. Ah, at least I can wander down the Columbia Gorge or Oregon Coast at the magic hour!! I'm one of those lollygaggers on tours. I'm always trying to either get ahead or lag behind the group. There's tons of beautiful places in Oregon to photograph that are not far from Portland. BTW, have you ever heard of Thor's Well along the coast? That looks intriguing and beautiful. And difficult to shoot. Dodging and burning are pretty easy.... IMHO easier.....than combining pics and masking part of them (I only do that when I really want to develop two parts something very differently..... usually sky or water.) Anyway, select a tool brush and it will give you options......dodging lightens something and burning darkens it. Given the programs today often have "magic edge selection" so you don't spill over into the wrong area, you can just selectively lighten or darken an area. The brush gives you the ability to change exposure, contrast, saturation etc. etc. A program like Lightroom (my fav) will let you paint an area where several things are occurring (such as increasing exposure, increasing sharpness and decreasing saturation at the same time.) For broader strokes (in Lightroom) you can also do with with a filter (or just use a larger brush.) When you are working on a layer, you have the luxury of just blending it into the original, masking part of the original or just using the layer. My current work flow is: pre sharpen the RAW image, noise reduction, crop, tweaks to overall pic, tweaks to specific areas, output sharpening. Been working pretty well.... at least that is a decent flow in Lightroom whether or not you use plugins to help with any of the processes. I was an incredible equipment junkie when I was doing mostly music, so I have a self-imposed limit on what I'll buy for photography or put on my computer. I love the combo of Lightroom and PSP, but have PSE because it was cheap and runs PS plug ins that PSP may have trouble with. I have the complete NIK and Topaz lines and one or two freebies. As an aside, my latest "thing" is printing to canvas. Just had a small one made of the "Plaza de las Cruces" in Seville, taken at night with the lights looking green and yellow (I did not color correct the photo.) I'll bet some of yours would look outstanding in canvas. Thanks for the description. Sounds simple enough. I've just begun blending two photos, and that works, but I'd like to try burning and dodging too. I've seen just a few of my photos on canvas. The people have chosen well because I don't think all photos look great on canvas, but the ones that they chose looked great. Alright...almost time for some homemade pesto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Huh? Posted August 19, 2012 Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 Thanks for the info buddy. Good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 19, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 You got it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rjt Posted August 19, 2012 Members Share Posted August 19, 2012 Ken, Amazing how you can live in a place and visit a place for a long time and miss stuff. I've been to and photographed the Devil's Churn multiple times , but never even heard of the nearby "Thor's Well." I guess I'll have to give that a try! Thanks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 21, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 21, 2012 Ken, Amazing how you can live in a place and visit a place for a long time and miss stuff. I've been to and photographed the Devil's Churn multiple times , but never even heard of the nearby "Thor's Well." I guess I'll have to give that a try! Thanks for the tip. I think so too. I really try and make an effort to look around and find interesting places to photograph here in Los Angeles. And a lot of people who live here don't ever take advantage of the beautiful mountains and beautiful beaches like El Matador, or realize that we really do have some beautiful art deco architecture. Oregon is gorgeous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 3, 2012 Author Members Share Posted September 3, 2012 Ken, I'd like to say "great minds think alike" but those who know me well would say mine wouldn't qualify. I think the NIK HDR (in particular) can leave you with some fairly realistic results (or let you get pretty wild.) So I've used it on occasion either when seeking that "HDR effect" or when cheating because I felt lazy. Usually, I do more combining two images by hand. Even more than that, the most common thing I do with photos (okay, beyond cropping and setting basic things like hue or saturation) is dodging and burning. I think that makes almost every photo a tad better. Thanks for the brush tools in PSE, PSP and Lightroom. Ray or anyone else, on Facebook, many people asked about how I combined the two exposures, so here it is on my photography blog:http://kenleephotography.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/photo-tip-of-the-month-exposing-for-sky-and-sea-dynamic-range-without-hdr-software/ Not too difficult at all. Something that some might find interesting is that many think that these are Photoshop techniques and are relatively new techniques. They're not. Gustav Le Page was doing it in the 1850s!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryst Posted September 5, 2012 Members Share Posted September 5, 2012 I think so too. I really try and make an effort to look around and find interesting places to photograph here in Los Angeles. And a lot of people who live here don't ever take advantage of the beautiful mountains and beautiful beaches like El Matador, or realize that we really do have some beautiful art deco architecture. Oregon is gorgeous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryst Posted September 5, 2012 Members Share Posted September 5, 2012 Ken, If you get a chance, please go up to Point Mugu/Sycamore Cove and take some pics and go hiking. It's a great spot. Here's a couple untouched pics from my iphone4. I think you could do a much better job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted September 5, 2012 Author Members Share Posted September 5, 2012 I went up this ancient 7000 year old Chumash trail in the area, which I have on my photo album: http://www.elevenshadows.com/travels/miscellaneous/lajollavalley/index.htm And took these photos in Sycamore Canyon: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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