Category: Photography – Nikon D600

The Leader of the Band at Cafe Taberna in Havana Cuba

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date January 30, 2014
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This is one of my favorite images from our trip to Cuba a year ago this week. It’s a shot of the lead singer in the band the night we were at Cafe Taberna – which plays that wonderful Ry Cooder / Buena Vista Social Club style of music. By the end of the evening, the band had us on our feet with lots of folks dancing in the aisles. Such a great memory!

I re-processed this image last night and uploaded it to Flickr. Today, it got picked up by Flickr Explore and went viral – resulting in thousands of page views and many new followers to my Flickr photostream. Pretty amazing to watch! The re-processing I did last night primarily involved a new Photoshop action being worked on by Dan Margulis which does some magic to portrait shots. I then processed it into monochrome in two steps – first using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 and then applied a platinum gradient map to give a gentler look to the monochrome treatment.

If you’re curious, here’s the original image straight out of the camera – my Nikon D600:

Cafe Taberna - Havana Cuba — Cafe Taberna – Havana Cuba

Tags cafe taberna

Berkeley Lightroom Photography Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

That Postcard Shot – San Francisco Skyline from Berkeley Marina

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date December 22, 2013
1 Comment on That Postcard Shot – San Francisco Skyline from Berkeley Marina

Last August, Doug Kaye and I met up at the Berkeley Marina for one of our photo walks. I didn’t think it was such a great venue at the time – but, now, in December, looking back at some of these images, I think we had a good couple of hours there!

This is a shot from the shoreline of the marina looking at San Francisco – with the sailboat, some interesting hues and colors, and a layer of trees in the lower left foreground.

Shot with my Nikon D600 – post-processed in Lightroom 5.

Berkeley Lightroom Monochrome Photography Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop CC

Ah Berkeley!

We’ve got a lot of Berkeley in our family! I went to Cal in the late 60’s during the protest movements featured in this sculpture by Scott Donahue on the east end of the Pedestrian-Bike bridge that spans Interstate 80 in Berkeley. Ah, memories…

Shot with my Nikon D600. Post-processed in Lightroom 5, Photoshop CC, and Nik Analog Camera.

Black and White Lightroom Monochrome Photography Nikon Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 Point Reyes

That Photographer Working at Point Reyes

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date December 20, 2013
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Here’s another shot from a great day on Point Reyes with Doug Kaye back in January.

The photographer had the high ground up on the rock – and he looked at us suggesting that it was his turf!

Shot with my Nikon D600 and post-processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC. A bit of platinum toning adds to the depth and color – of this monochrome image. A personal favorite of mine – this one is getting printed and hung on the wall!

Black and White Monochrome Photography Nikon Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Nikon D600 San Francisco/California

San Francisco’s Ocean Beach at New Year’s

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date December 19, 2013
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For the last few years, I’ve headed to San Francisco on New Year’s Day – mostly to the Golden Gate Bridge.

This year I did that as well – but had fun stopping along the way at Ocean Beach.

Here’s a shot taken with my Nikon D600 – converted to monochrome using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro.

I love the movement in this image – and the contrast that the monochrome treatment provides.

Tags ocean beach

Black and White Faces of Cuba Monochrome Photography Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop CC

That Dangling Conversation #2 in Havana

Post author By Scott Loftesness
Post date December 14, 2013
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After putting together and reviewing my Portfolio 2013 book, I realized that I should experiment a bit more with this particular image – shot in a produce market in Havana, Cuba this past January. Doug Kaye and I were there for a week – and on our first full day we visited this market.

This particular couple was backlit by light streaming in through windows up high on the wall behind. The contrast of the light and shadows, her cigarette smoke, and the rich textures make this one of my favorite images from the trip.

My post-processing of this image was done using Photoshop CC and some of the techniques taught by Jean-Michel Berts in his video tutorials. Using the Berts’ techniques, I adjusted the toning of the image to darken certain areas and, with subtlety, lighten others. The Berts’ techniques are an extension of the old dodge/burn techniques that have been used in the darkroom for years.

I then used some of the techniques that Aaron Nace of Phlearn.com explains in this video tutorial – in particular the two step high pass sharpening along with the subtle addition of some grain in the shadows of the image after it had been resized down to 2048 pixels on the widest dimension. As a final touch, I added a 60px wide black border all the way around the image.

You can see the color version here.

Cuba Lightroom Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop CC

Checking In – Havana

People check in from everywhere!

Shot on the streets of Havana, Cuba in January 2013. Nikon D600 with the 24-85mm kit lens. Post-processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC.

Cuba Lightroom Nikon Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop CC VSCO Film

Two Brothers in Havana

Here’s a fun shot from our visit to Havana earlier this year – taken outside our hotel with my Nikon D600 with the Nikkor 24-85mm kit lens.

Post-processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC with VSCO Film 04 Fortia SP and Topaz Simplify 4.

Tags havana pedicab

Cuba Lightroom Photography Photography - Nikon D600 Photoshop CC VSCO Film

Four Men in Havana

After reading about Saul Leiter’s death early this week, I started scanning back through some of my images looking for some vivid color shots with either scarcity of stuff or an abundance of stuff in the image.

I came across this one – shot in Havana in late January. That’s my friend Doug Kaye out of focus in the lower right looking at this scene. The title comes from the four men I see in the image – maybe you can find even more! What’s fun to me about this image is how my eye just keeps exploring around the scene – it’s so chock full of interesting stuff, color, and texture.

Shot with a Nikon D600 and the 85mm Nikkor prime lens. Post-processed in Lightroom 5 with VSCO Film and in Photoshop CC.