Recently, I’ve found myself looking at older photos I’ve taken, and giving another stab at retouching them. Why retouch again? Well over the last year, I’ve dedicated a lot of my time educating myself in different methods of retouching and with new tricks up my sleeve I can go back and look at older photos with a more critical eye, to make a better final image. One of my favorite retouching methods is using a series of exposure bracketed images to composite a final image.
The image above happened to be one of my favorites from this process, and I thought to myself, why not include the CameraPorn readership and see what your eyes see to make this image the best it can be. After the great fun I had with the Epic Edits Project, “Editing Brian’s Photo,” I realized that everyone looks at any image differently. Throw in 3 bracketed exposures, and the possibilities could be endless.
Full project details, RAW files, and entry information after the jump…
Continue reading ‘CameraPorn Project #1 - Revisit and Retouch’
Old Cocoa House
Canon 30D : 1/250th : f/4 : 70mm : ISO640 : Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L
As an entry to Jim Goldstein’s most recent blog project, I’ve gone through the painstaking process of trying to pick my 10 Best photos from 2007. Let me tell ya, this was not easy. I am submitting just a bit past the deadline but I hope Jim will still accept my entry. 
It’s funny how happy hour after work on a friday can make a plan to post by midnight a bit foggy. Anyways, I’d love to hear what you guys think of my picks. All the photos after the jump!
Continue reading ‘My 10 Best Shots From 2007′
So I made it back safe and sound from my Trinidad trip, and it was great. No gear damage or theft to report, thankfully.
I didn’t shoot quite as much as I would have liked, but it was my first major outing with the new Nikon D300 and I would consider it a success. I shot a variety of things ranging from low-light portraits to sunsets, and I did some experimenting with long telephoto landscapes as well. I continue to be impressed with the quality of the images I’m able to capture with the D300.
Photos and a list of the kit I brought after the jump…
Continue reading ‘Photo Porn - Trinidad & Tobago’
Ryan has already written up some tips for taking concert shots. Over the second half of this year, I’ve had the opportunity to shoot at a bunch of shows so I thought I would also weigh in with some of the things that I’ve managed to figure out so far. I concur with him that it’s an interesting kind of challenge. You’re in very low light, and if you’re shooting rock shows as I have been, the subjects are typically moving pretty fast. So, without further delay, here are some pointers that you may find useful if you’re in a similar situation.
Continue reading ‘More Thoughts on Concert Photography’
Happy Eel. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago Canon EOS 30D + 24-70 f/2.8 L | 1/60 | f/2.8 | 70mm | ISO 800
In an effort to bring you guys more posts, this is the first of our new “Quick Tips” category, where we will briefly go through some tried and true methods for different types of photography and share some good old photo porn. Get the tips and photos after the jump…
Continue reading ‘6 Tips for Bulletproof Aquarium Photography’
No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. What you see above is Nikon gear and a LOT of it, courtesy of a friend (thanks Scott!) who had the whole kit basically sitting in a closet collecting dust. Yes, I know, sacreligious to let this much gear to sit idle, so your friends at CameraPorn have come to the rescue! Kit breakdown after the jump…
Continue reading ‘Nikon Gear CameraPorn? Hell Must Have Frozen Over…’
The Before
Lonely Bird - Before^
Brian Auer of Epic Edits recently posted a new project challenging his readers to post-process one of his photos, shown without post-processing above. Though I generally tend to sit back and watch rather than participate in blog projects, I decided to jump headfirst into this one because of the enjoyment I get from post-processing images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and to support Brian and his excellent photographry blog. I used Lightroom exclusively for the processing, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
The After
Lonely Bird - ^After
For me, the big challenge to process this image was the washed-out colors and lack of contrast. To work with washed out colors, I originally tried to work with them, adjusting saturation and luminance, but I was not satisfied with the results I was getting. I decided to take another approach by using Lightroom’s grayscale conversion first. From there, the image was still seriously lacking in contrast. To work with that I used several adjustments including tweaks to Recovery, Fill Light and Blacks. At this point the image still wasn’t where i wanted it. I then used Lightroom’s targeted curves adjustment (ctrl+alt+shift+t on a pc or command+option+shift+t on a mac). I placed the target on the middle of the sky and dragged upwards, which increased the Lights within the Tone Curve Adjustment module to add contrast by brightening the sky.
At this point, I was fairly happy with the image’s overall contrast, but I felt it was still lacking a bit. I then used the Lens Correction tools within Lightroom to add a slight vignette to draw the eye into the picture, specifically where the bird is looking and there we were, basically done. I finished by straightening the horizon, applying mild sharpening and cloning out the buoys floating in the water.
Read Epic Edit’s “PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT: Edit My Photo”
So my first participation in a blog project on the books. I’d love to hear what you all think of the retouching job as well as your opinions on blog projects. Until next time…
As you all can tell from the previous post, I shot the moon last night, well not just the moon but a total lunar eclipse. It was a late night, and a long, tired day at work today, but it was worth the loss of sleep to shoot a rarely available subject, the eclipsed moon. The following explains the methods, settings and gear I used for the shoot and some general tips for moon and night sky photography.
Since there are probably hundreds of sites out there explaining moon photoography, I’ll keep this part as short as possible . The single most important thing to think about when ’shooting the moon’ is camera stability. Without a completely stable camera, your shots will come out blurry and unimpressive, but with a few simple tools that should already be in your kit, and a some basic methods, getting sharp moon images is actually quite simple. The tools you will need aside from Your DSLR:
Essential Gear
- A sturdy tripod
A staple to any DSLR kit, and required for stable night photography at low ISO speeds. Try to get one with a quick-release and adjustable head. (I use a Bogen Manfrotto 30001N Tripod with 804RC2 3-way pan/tilt head.Shop for yours on Amazon
)
- A shutter release cable
Imperative to eliminate camera shake when the shutter button is pressed, but you could use the self-timer in a pinch.(wired or wireless - I use the off-brand Dot Line variety and it works great, but make sure you get one with a bulb exposure option. Shop for yours on Amazon)
- A telephoto lens
A zoom or prime, but for the moon I suggest a minimum zoom of 300mm.
(I use the inexpensive Canon EF 75-300 f/4-5.6. Shop for yours on Amazon)
- A camera with "mirror-lockup" funtionality
This one isn’t absolutely required, but it does eliminate any mirror/shutter movement related camera vibrations and ensure maximum stability.
So you have the gear together, now comes the fun part…
Continue reading ‘Shooting the Moon: How I Shot The Lunar Eclipse and Tips For Better Moon Photography’
