Category: Photography – Nikon D600

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Black and White Cuba Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 Travel

Shooting Havana with Raúl Cañibano

Raúl Cañibano Ercilla - Havana - 2013

What a week it was. Seven days in the heart of Havana. Old Havana. Central Havana.

The best part of the experience was watching and working with several great Cuban photographers – including Raúl Cañibano. We learned by watching them work, taking us through the neighborhoods – and seeing things we might otherwise overlook.

I especially enjoyed watching Raúl work. He led us – slowly – on a very special Sunday morning photo walk in Central Havana. We’ll never forget that morning – in the drizzle and rain – walking with Raúl.

On our last afternoon in Havana, we went to an Afro-Cuban dance/drum rehearsal – and I happened to get lucky and catch this shot of Raúl at work. So many great memories – especially watching masters like Raúl at work.

Raúl’s portfolio is about to be published in a new book – available now for pre-order on Amazon.com. He shared the book with us while we were with him in Havana – it’s a master work by a great photographer. Here’s another link to Raúl’s work on the Lens blog of the New York Times.

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Nikon Photography Photography - Nikon D600

The Shooter on the Beach

Shooter - Drake's Beach - 2013

A week ago, Doug Kaye and I headed out to Drake’s Beach at Point Reyes for a photo walk with the long exposure group. I held back from the group – liking the light down at this end of the beach instead.

This is an image of one of those photographers – Jason – standing up on the rocks above the beach where I was standing. I loved the light, his silouette, and the other folks in the image! Hope you like it!

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Nikon Photography Photography - Nikon D600

Down the Line – Winter Sunset at Drake’s Beach

Down the Line - Drake's Beach - 2013

Sunset at Drake’s Beach on Sunday was gorgeous – lighting up the clouds. This image was shot with my Nikon D600 and post-processed in Photoshop with a few Lab color tweaks.

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Photography Photography - Nikon D600

A Photographer at Work – Drake’s Beach at Point Reyes

At Work - Drake's Beach - 2013

Wow, what a beautiful sunset we had on Sunday out at Drake’s Beach at Point Reyes. This is a great venue – you can drive right down to the beach, there’s a great Visitor Center right there as well as a Cafe where I was able to catch a late lunch before focusing on my photography.

I was there with my photo buddy Doug Kaye as part of a larger photo walk organized on Google+ – this was the last session of a three day, multi-venue series of photo walks organized by Nathan Wirth.

I loved the light looking west from this side of Drake’s Beach – and opted to stay over on this side. The rest of the gang was over on the other side – doing long exposure shots with that smooth water look. I wasn’t into that – and decided to stay with the light down this side of the beach. As the sun was setting, I noticed another of the photographers out shooting the sunset from perhaps the perfect spot. We’d spoken earlier when we were both in that spot – he was a week into a Nikon D800 – and having a great time.

This shot is my favorite memory of this special Sunday afternoon in January. A great time, a special time.

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Golden Gate Nik Software Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop San Francisco/California

Washed Up on Baker Beach

Washed Up - Baker Beach - 2013

On New Year’s Day, I’ve got a tradition of heading to San Francisco to take pictures. I usually head for the Golden Gate Bridge – exploring various vantage points as I get closer to the bridge.

Baker Beach is often a favorite – and this year the view was gorgeous. I headed down closer to the edge of the surf for this show – taken with my Nikon D600.

I processed it simply – bringing it into Photoshop CS6 from Lightroom, applying two Nik Color Efex Pro 4 filters (Brilliance/Warmth) and Tonal Contrast followed by a Lab color layer – before using Imagenomic Noiseware to remove the noise and then bringing it back into Lightroom. The colors in this version are much more postcard like (warmer) than the original.

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Black and White Golden Gate Nik Software Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop

Both Sides Now at Battery Boutelle

Both Sides Now #2 - Battery Boutelle - 2013

Another one of my New Year’s Day explorations at the Golden Gate Bridge was Battery Boutelle. The symmetry of this image is what captured me – shot handheld with my Nikon D600. I converted it to monochrome in Photoshop CS6 using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 – and then brought it into Lightroom and applied another one of Trey Ratcliff’s Lightroom Presents – A Crisp Start – to add this particular tone.

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Golden Gate Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop San Francisco/California

Head Strong – Golden Gate Bridge on New Year’s Day

Head Strong - Golden Gate - 2013
Head Strong – Golden Gate – 2013

While I was exploring around the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday as part of my New Year’s Day tradition, I parked at the parking lot on Merchant Road just south of the bridge entrance and walked briefly up one of the bluffs in the area to take this shot.

It was taken handheld with my Nikon D600 and cropped/tweaked in Photoshop CS6 using ALCE, some Lab color techniques, etc. The upper crossbeams in the south tower and the eastern side cable both seem to be in need of a paint job! Click on the image to see a larger version on Flickr.

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Nikon Photography Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

Burning Edge – Ocean Beach – San Francisco – 2013

Burning Edge - Ocean Beach - 2013
Burning Edge – Ocean Beach – 2013

Here’s another view of Ocean Beach from my New Year’s Day explorations. When I processed this image, I thought it sort of looked like some of the images I’ve seen from Burning Man – thus the title Burning Edge. This image was processed only in Lightroom 4.3 using Trey Ratcliff’s Lightroom Presets.

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Golden Gate Lightroom Photography Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

New Year’s Day 2013 – Dreamy at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach

Dreamy at Ocean Beach

For the last few years, I’ve had a tradition of heading out on January 1st for some San Francisco photography – always of the Golden Gate Bridge – but usually some other spots as well.

Today was bright and sunny – although not especially clear. My first stop was on the hill up by the Cliff House above Ocean Beach. This is such a simple shot – shooting straight down the beach – and it captures the late morning mood on the beach perfectly.

Shot with my Nikon D600, I post-processed the image in Lightroom 4.3 using Trey Ratcliff’s Lightroom Presets which added the dreamy effect and tones. This particular preset is named “Under the Stars” and is in package 3.

After Ocean Beach, I headed into the Presidio and on to Baker Beach where I caught this view of the Golden Gate – I titled it “Smooth”.

Smooth - Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco - New Year's Day 2013
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HDR Photography Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Photomatix Pro Photoshop

A Special Light – Pigeon Point Lighthouse

A Special Light - Pigeon Point - 2012

My photo adventure yesterday over to the coast was one of those rare ones – I captured so many great images very quickly in the beautiful light and cloudy skies. It truly was a photographer’s winter delight!

I enjoy exploring a wide range of post-processing techniques with my images. Realism is fine – and many (most?) of my images are exactly that – realistic as shot in the field.

But, sometimes, you find a special image that you just want to “push” – off into a different, more artistic direction. Yesterday’s lighthouse shots at Pigeon Point are just the latest example.

I processed this image as a single image HDR from the original RAW file shot handheld with my Canon D600. I used Photomatix Pro for that initial HDR conversion and then imported the image into Photoshop CS6. After a few tweaks in Adobe Camera Raw, I used Nik’s Color Efex Pro 4’s Brilliance/Warmth filter in two passes to shift the color of the sun. There’s something about the warmth of this kind of processing that adds to our appreciation of an image – and it seemed to work in this case.

Finally, I used a few Content Aware fills in Photoshop on various chunks of the sky to smooth things out a bit and remove some potentially distracting artifacts. And I was done.

A “special light” indeed – hope you like it!