Category: Photography – Canon 5D Mark II

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Black and White Golden Gate Lightroom Nik Software Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon 5D Mark II San Francisco/California

New Year’s Day 2012 at the Golden Gate

New Year's Day - San Francisco - 2012

In what’s become sort of a tradition for me, on New Year’s Day I head for the Golden Gate and see what I can find to start the new year off right.

Today, my favorite venue was blocked by construction fencing – so I headed to my next favorite venue – Baker Beach. I happened to arrive just as the California Hornblower sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge.

This image was shot in RAW with my Canon 5D Mark II and then processed tonight in Photoshop using Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4 and Silver Efex Pro 2 before importing into Lightroom 3 for final cropping (16:9), toning, sharpening and noise reduction.

There were a lot of people enjoying Baker Beach when I shot the original image – but they were removed using the content-aware healing brush in Photoshop CS5 – yielding this final image. I’m sure they don’t mind! 😉

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iPhone 4S iPhoto Nik Software Photography Photography - Canon 5D Mark II Photography - Canon PowerShot S100 Photography - Canon PowerShot S90 Photography - Canon PowerShot S95 Photomatix Pro Photoshop

What I’ve Learned about Photography in 2011

IMG_7971
“I’ve got you babe!” – Battery Mendell, Marin County, California

2011 turned out to be a big year for me in my pursuit of photography skills. As I reflect back on my learnings, I thought I’d try to write down the highlights of the year for me in this New Year’s Eve post.

Beginning with my purchase of my first digital SLR about five years ago (a Canon 30D which I purchased immediately after reading Doc Searls post about his evaluation of this camera!), I’ve been making steady progress learning more about both the most important shooting skills for capturing images as well as the post-processing techniques that can really help enhance an image.

For me, it’s all about trying to get it right at capture time in the camera – but then also maximizing the image’s beauty in post-processing. Among other things, I’ve learned that even if the capture isn’t perfect, the end result can still be stunning with the right post-processing. But, it all begins with trying to get the right image at capture.

Continue reading “What I’ve Learned about Photography in 2011”
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Blogs/Weblogs Cooking HDR Photography Living Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon 5D Mark II Photography - Canon PowerShot S90 Photography - Canon PowerShot S95

The Most Popular Posts of 2011

The Golden Gate - New Year's Day - 2011
Clearing Winter Storm – Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, California

As we’re wrapping up 2011, I took a look back at what posts on this blog generated the most page views during 2011. Here’s the top twelve list (in honor of 2012!) – along with my commentary on each post:

Continue reading “The Most Popular Posts of 2011”
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Black and White Living Marin Headlands Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon 5D Mark II Rodeo Beach

Time Together

Time Together - Rodeo Beach - 2011

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Here’s one of my favorite images from last Saturday’s Rodeo Beach photo walk with Doug Kaye. Sort of like street shooting – except on the beach.

We were heading down toward the dramatic rocks at the south end of Rodeo Beach when I happened to notice this couple – hand in hand – walking toward the water.

They later explored together – looking for shells and other objects that had washed up on the beach.

But I’ll always remember them this way – hand in hand…

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Black and White Marin Headlands Photography Photography - Canon 5D Mark II Rodeo Beach

A Beautiful Day at Rodeo Beach

I Got You Babe - Battery Mendell - 2011

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My good friend Doug Kaye and I headed out today to the Marin Headlands – in particular, Battery Mendell up high on the cliffs and, down low, Rodeo Beach itself. I’ve yet to process most of the photos from this walk with Doug – but I did especially like the image above – a couple walking along the cliffs near Battery Mendell. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Doug is helping plan a photo walk at Rodeo Beach after Christmas – details here.

[Update: here are some great shots taken from the photowalk posted over on Google+.]

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Photography Photography - Canon 5D Mark II Photoshop San Francisco/California

Painted Ladies – Victorians in San Francisco

Painted Ladies - San Francisco - 2008

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Here’s another view of the Victorian homes across from San Francisco’s Alamo Square known as the Painted Ladies. There are usually several photographers up on this grassy hillside shooting this scene with the combination of the Victorians in the foreground and the San Francisco skyline in the background.

On this particular morning in February 2009, there was a clearing winter store and the sun had just begun lighting part of the city as the clouds remained in the sky. I had been up on Twin Peaks as the clearing began where I saw the opportunity to capture some interesting light and sky in this classic San Francisco shot.

This image was post-processed first as a single image HDR (from my Canon 5D Mark II) using Photomatix Pro and then in Photoshop CS5 using a combination of techniques that accentuate the drama in the sky and the colors and lighting of the Victorians themselves. Click on the image itself to see a larger version.

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Palo Alto Photography Photography - Canon 5D Mark II Photoshop

New Photoshop Learnings from Jaime Ibarra

I recently took a 1:1 workshop with Jaime Ibarra – wanting to learn more about his technique for post-processing images. His approach to post-processing is strikingly different – and one which I enjoy. And he’s also an amazing photographer as well!

Jaime and I spent a couple of hours together via Skype video talking about both his approach to photography, some new challenges for me, and then his approach to post-processing images in Photoshop. I’ve been to several photography workshops over the last couple of years – but this one was really unique and different – and I learned a lot!

Frankly, I expected our time together would focus mostly on post-processing – but we spent a lot of time upfront talking just about photography, what it means to us, how we approach it, how we’re challenged by it, etc. That discussion was surprising for me – and enlightening. Great fun. Perhaps even more useful to me in terms of my wanting to learn about portrait shooting than the post-processing techniques Jaime subsequently shared.

So, what did I learn? Here’s an example of an image I both shot and post-processed earlier today using some of what I learned from my workshop with Jaime. The colors are different – not exactly unusual, but different. Different enough to matter and capture the mood. The venue is the California Avenue Farmers Market in Palo Alto. The image is titled “Karmel Korn” – shot with my Canon 5D Mark II with the Canon 135mm f/2 lens.

Kettle Korn -Palo Alto - 2011

Thanks to both Trey Ratcliff and Victor Cajiao for introducing me to Jaime.

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Black and White Nik Software Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon 5D Mark II San Francisco/California Selective Color

Stars and Stripes – San Francisco – 2011

Stars and Stripes - San Francisco - 2011

I was out on San Francisco Bay yesterday for the Fleet Week Air Show with the Marin Photography Club. Here’s a shot I took in between the air show flights – this lovely old sailing vessel with a huge American flag flying off the fantail.

This image was shot with my Canon 5D Mark II using the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L lens. It was post-processed using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 with a bit of selective color on the American flag – and a touch of blue toning overall.

If you ever have the opportunity to get out on the Bay for the Fleet Week events, do so! It was an incredible experience for me – and not just for the airplane pictures!

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Black and White Nik Software Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon 5D Mark II Selective Color Stanford

Undercover in the Stanford Quad – 2011

Undercover - Stanford - 2011

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Earlier this summer, there was a lot of work going on in Memorial Court at Stanford. On one of my visits, I came across the Burghers of Calais all wrapped up. This image was processed using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 with a bit of selective cover over the one Burgher.

Hold me tight!

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Lightroom Photography Photography - Canon 5D Mark II

Blue Pumpkin

Blue Pumpkin - Menlo Park - 2011

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This morning I headed out to Nativity School’s Posh Squash annual fund raiser – selling all manor of glass pumpkins. A couple of my other shots are over on InMenlo.

This was one of my personal favorites – love the blue tone, the texture, and the twirling stem! Minimal post-processing was involved – just adding a bit of a vignette in Lightroom. This image was shot using my Canon 5D Mark II with the Canon 135mm f/2 L lens.