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Hawaii Lab Color Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop

A Special Sunrise on Hawaii’s Kona Coast

Sunrise Surf - Kona - 2013

With several photographer friends, I recently attended a lecture by photographer John Paul Caponigro sponsored by the Palo Alto Camera Club. He spoke on the subjects of “Illuminating Creativity” and “Landscapes Within”. A 20 minute version of his creativity talk from 2010 is available as a TEDx video.

Caponigro’s purpose in his talk was to push us to explore our own creativity – to realize that we’ve got a lot more that we might not even realize. I’m not sure about that in my case (!) – but I tried to take some of what he taught to bear on this particular image.

It’s a morning sunrise shot from the Kona coast in Hawaii. Sunrise, of course, occurs in the east – and this image looks to the west – off the coastline of the Kona coast on the big island of Hawaii. There was a lovely bank of low clouds (not visible in the image) which were reflecting lovely sunrise colors down into the ocean waters – and that’s what I tried to capture as I processed this image.

Processing involved several steps – including an excursion into Lab color, selective use of Topaz Simplify, some luminosity painting – and other steps I’ve already forgotten!

This is one of those special images that brings me back – back to a very special early morning, walking along the coast in Hawaii and watching the light slowly shift and sparkle. Beautiful. A beautiful memory. For me, that’s what creativity is all about.

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Photography Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

Perfection at San Francisco’s City Hall

Perfection - San Francisco - 2013

Doug Kaye and I recently met up for one of our regular photo walks – this time choosing to meet at the City Hall in San Francisco. It had been years since Doug had been there – and I can’t recall ever having been inside although I’ve certainly driven by it many times and admired its splendid architecture from a distance! Beautiful from the outside, San Francisco’s City Hall is even more spectacular inside!

This particular shot, taken with my Nikon D600, shows some of that architectural perfection inside. I took it hand-held while sitting on the staircase that heads upstairs below the rotunda. It’s not quite perfectly aligned in the frame – but I find it beautiful – and perfect – just the same. As I was processing it, I was imagining the workers actually constructing this dome – with all of its amazing details. The blend of natural and artificial light just adds to the mood of perfection!

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Books Cuba Monochrome Photography Photographers Photography Photography - Black & White

Book Recommendation: Raúl Cañibano: PHotoBolsillo

Last January, I headed to Havana, Cuba with my photo buddy Doug Kaye for a wonderful week of photography organized by Kip Brundage of Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.

Raúl CañibanoOne of the best things about this week was that we had Cuban photographers out with us as we walked the neighborhoods in Havana. They really helped us see – and opened our eyes to the beautiful people and places in Havana.

One of the Cuban photographers we really benefited from working with was Raúl Cañibano. It was such a treat to be out in the neighborhoods with him – and watch him as he captured images along with us. Raúl works very quickly – with minimal gear. He’s got a great gift for seeing an image in the moment – and capturing it quickly.

While we were out working with him in Havana, he had a small portfolio book of his photography that he shared with us. It’s a beautiful small size – with some amazing black and white photography both in Havana and out in the countryside in Cuba. We wanted to buy a copy of this book – but he couldn’t sell it to us.

Raúl’s book recently become available for ordering on Amazon.com – and it’s a real delight. I keep it in my home office alongside my desk – for inspiration! Raúl’s eye and capture is a real treat for the eye! If you enjoy great black and white photography of real people, you’ll really enjoy Raúl’s small book!

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Photography Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California Topaz

That Ice Cream Man at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco

Ice Cream - Palace of Fine Arts - 2013

This afternoon I joined a Google+ photo walk in San Francisco. While the main group headed west towards Fort Point, Doug Kaye and I (along with his wife Cessna) peeled off and headed over to the Palace of Fine Arts – another one of our favorite locations.

Here’s an unusual shot from that venue – an ice cream vendor shopping his goodies. Shot with my Nikon D600, this was post-processed in Photoshop using several techniques – including using Topaz Simplify 4 to soften up part of the image and Lab color to brighten up some of the colors. This is a modification of a technique I first saw used by Chris Hilgert on Google+.

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Cuba Nikon Photography Photography - Nikon D600

That Red Car on the Prado in Havana, Cuba

Red Car - Havana - 2013

On Sunday, January 27, 2013, I was in Havana, Cuba – heading out into Central Havana. We had an amazing day photographing – a light rain came down.

Late in the afternoon – after a rest stop – a few of us headed out again. Just around the corner from the hotel is this boulevard known as the Prado. As were heading out across the street, I caught this shot. Such a perfect red convertible captured my eye!

Categories
Black and White China Monochrome Photography Nik Software Nikon Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

Armored Kneeling Archer – China’s Terracotta Warriors

Armored Kneeling Archer - San Francisco - 2013

Here’s another image from the exhibition of China’s Terracotta Warriors now underway at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum.

This image required a bit more work. One of the challenges of shooting images of the warriors as they’re displayed is the combination of lighting and reflections – which bring extra “stuff” into the images.

Plus, when we were there, it was really crowded inside the darkened exhibition gallery. Lots of folks moving around – and bumping into each other – a challenging photographic venue for sure!

But the gallery that the Asian Art Museum created for the warriors is really is superb in terms of how the terracotta warriors are placed and, in particular, how they’re lit.

So, to deal with the issues in the image, I did a quick selection in Photoshop to isolate the warrior from extraneous background elements. I then faded those elements into the background while adding some contrast to the warrior.

Then we made a trip into Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 to do two steps: bring out more detail and add a subtle bit of glamour glow.

Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 was used for the conversion to monochrome – adding a bit of structure to the midtones and highlights while removing structure from the shadows. A bit of soft contrast adjustment helped with lighting.

A quick pass with Doug Kaye’s Warm Black action helped tone the image just ever so slightly.

For the final sharpening step, I used the Sharpen 2013 action included in the latest version of Dan Margulis’ Picture Postcard Workflow panel in Photoshop.

Categories
Black and White China Monochrome Photography Nik Software Nikon Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

China’s Terracotta Warriors

Driver - San Francisco - 2013

San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum is currently featuring a beautiful exhibition of China’s Terracotta Warriors.

Here’s an image from a recent visit – of a horse carriage driver. He’s out in the lobby – before you get into one of the three galleries with the other warriors and related sculptures.

This image was shot handheld with my Nikon D600 and post-processed in Photoshop CS6 along with Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2.

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Lightroom Photography Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California Street Photography

Breaking the Rules

Break the Rules - San Francisco - 2013

This image, shot recently at San Francisco’s City Hall during a photo walk with Doug Kaye, breaks many of the “rules” of good photography.

But, rules are made to be broken, right?

And, what’s most important is to enjoy and have fun with images – and this one seems to do that. Hope you enjoy it!

Image shot with my Nikon D600 and post-processed in Lightroom 4.4.

Categories
Black and White Maker Faire Monochrome Photography Nik Software Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon 5D Mark II

A Look Back at Maker Faire SF 2011

Maker - Maker Faire - 2011

A few days ago, I had a request from one of the exhibitors at Maker Faire SF 2011 for copies of the images I shot of her beautifully colored yarns.

While pulling out those images for her, I began to explore the rest of my images from that day – and came across this image of a maker – staring intently. The image seemed like a great candidate for a monochrome conversion – which I did using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 along with some other Photoshop CS6 tricks and a quick pass of high pass sharpening.

I just love his look and the “attitude” in this image! Hope you do too – please share your comments below!

Categories
Hawaii Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Textures

Fisherman on the Beach

Fisherman - Hawaii - 2013

I’ve been experimenting a bit more with textures – and picked this image tonight to experiment with. The base image has a couple of textures added on top – in Photoshop using Overlay and Soft Light blend modes. It’s very different from the monochromes I’ve been doing recently – but that’s why I like it!