My Unexpected 24-70mm Usage

As a landscape photographer, I tend to go wide-angle a lot… Actually, I don’t particularly “like” (not facebook-like, like-like) being called a “landscape photographer” — but I know people like to categorize, and it’s better than being called a “underwear tester”.

So back to the wide-angle bit. I love my Nikon 14-24 lens… and when I go on trips, I expect to use that the most! However, I notice that this current photo-adventure in Iceland, I am using my 24-70 most of the time. About 70% of the time! I find it gets me the compression and framing I need for so many landscape situations.

I’ll have to add more photos soon to my Nikon 24-70 Review here on the site… but it is a very versatile lens!

Daily Photo – A Night with Harley

These bikes are really a fun subject for photography. I get excited every time I head out for one of these events. There are so many styles, customizations, and characters behind them… you never see the same thing twice.

Setting up for these photos is also somewhat of a fun challenge. Getting the right “background” is very important to me… sometimes it just does not work out, so I have to move on and leave a pretty bike alone. The other thing about these bikes, which you don’t realize until you take thousands of photos of them, is that you probably only have a 12.5% chance of getting a good composition and background. I break it down thusly:

• 50% chance that the bike is on its kick stand and leaning the direction you want.  These are just too hard to shoot from the downward-leaning side.
• Compounded by a 50% chance the background area is boring, distracting, inappropriate, or otherwise unpalatable
• Compounded by another 50% chance that the bike will be blocked by another bike, since these tend to travel in flocking patterns, like their riders.

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

HDR DVD getting closer!

I know there is rampant demand for the HDR DVD, and I wanted to give you an update. The production is about to come to a close, and we can get it to everyone as soon as possible. I’ve been getting early cuts of some of the sections, and they look really sharp. They are filled with many, many examples of my exact workflow, showing how I make layers in Photoshop, how I do my settings in Photomatix, the best order of operations, how I “think through images”, and more. You’ll love it!

To make sure you are the first to know, be sure to sign up for the free newsletter right here!

Daily Photo – The Driskill at Night

Here is one of the photos that I process on the HDR DVD.

During the Austin Workshop, we had a professional team in place to make sure everything went off without a hitch. We started the weekend with a long photowalk through the streets of Austin. I stopped to take a photo of The Driskill hotel, which happened to be the same place we held the actual workshop. I talked through the shot a little bit and what I was trying to accomplish.

During the actual workshop, I did not process this photo. But I have since done so, and I recorded the whole session to be on the DVD as well. It’s one of those classic “problems” where there is a lot of ghosting from the car movement.

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

Photoshop Tools

I’m in the middle of my weekend workshop here in Tokyo and we are having a great time. People flew in from Hong Kong and Shanghai for the event – cool! I gave everyone a bunch of homework… we will see how they do!

During the class, I’ve been showing people some of my other tools that I use regularly. In case you do not have them, I suggest you check out the:

• Nik Review – A really fun and easy set of tools.
• OnOne Plugin Review – A rich set of products that has a very deep toolbox!

Daily Photo – Mozart’s Coffee in Austin

This is one of my favorite places in Austin!  Like many other are coffee shops, it’s one of those spots that techies go to be alone, together.  If you know what I mean.

It’s full of Macbook laptops, coffee, coffee-related products, and sweet sweet Web 2.0 geeks.  It used to be uncool to be a geek… but now it is quite socially acceptable.  The ironic thing is that geeks gave up the concept of social acceptability a long time ago… so we are all somewhat aloof to this newfound status.

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

Special Post – SXSW at night in Austin

I’ve been having a great time at SXSW. I decided to walk around one night with my camera to take a few shots of the streets at night… I know most of you are not coming down for the event, so I am doing my best to bring it to you!

This style is a little different, but I hope you like it nonetheless. For some of you, I’ll see you at the Austin American Statesman Social Media Awards ceremony tonight! I’ll be there, with camera in hand… the big question I keep wondering about… 50mm 1.4 or 85mm 1.4? 50 or 85? Hmmm…. hmmm !!! I must decide… the pressure is intense. Anyway, if you are at the event, please feel free to come up and say hello!

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3S, Texas, Travel

Poster design by the great Fabien Barral

I know I know… I always get comments I am not coming to YOUR city!  Sorry about that… believe me, I’d love to make it an around-the-world tour.  But for now, we are just doing three cities, Austin, New York, and Chicago.

The Austin one will also feature a Photowalk where the best photo wins $500 in Driskill gift cards.  Cool!  Also, I’ll be debuting the next Stuck In Motion video.  It’s going to be a 140-second job that I’m entering into the Nikon Festival.  It’s very cool, and I’ll be sharing it with everyone else the day after the party.  Get ready!

And no, you of course DO NOT need to buy a book to come to the party… It’s not a sales-thing at all… the book is just an excuse to have a little party!

I’ll be giving a short talk, signing books, meeting people, and giving more details on the photo contest.  After the event, everyone can share their work on the FB Event page, just like last time.

Filed under the categories: Austin, Texas

Twitter Contest Winners

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Twitter Contest to win a free copy of theHDR Book, “A World in HDR”! I think Peachpit was completely overwhelmed with the results. I hope it gave you a chance to discover and share some great art on the web. Thanks to John P from OneMansBlog.com who was The Judge. Visit his website below and see the winners!

• Day 1 Winner – Theme:  Landscape
• Day 2 Winner – Theme:  Vehicle
• Day 3 Winner – Theme:  Architecture

Less than 24 hours left on eBay Auction!

The first in the Limited Edition Numbered Print for the book is on eBay.  It looks to be a hot item…  only for the true collectors out there.

Daily Photo – The Harleyfest on 6th Street

This is one of the best times in Austin for HDR Photography!  I really think it’s perfect perfect conditions to really show off what this style of photography can do.  Long exposures just don’t do the trick.  The wonderful thing about being there is that the human eye really can see all these colors and light levels at the same time.  At least… to those of us that see like this.  I’m convinced that after talking to countless groups that not everyone “sees” in the same way.  It’s not that one way is better than another – just different. What do you think?

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

This is a photo of a strange place on South Congress. I was down at a restaurant in the area and I saw this when I was walking back to my car. As usual, I had my tripod and camera ready, so I set up for a shot. It was actually a store that sold all kinds of pop art and a lot of neon. I thought it looked cool through the frosted glass. Any of you Austinites know the name of this place?

Also, recently I had the pleasure of hanging out with RC Concepcion when he came down to Austin to host a photo-editing seminar along with Dave Cross in Austin. Here is RC’s HDR he shot here in Austin. I found out he was coming to Austin on Twitter, so we tweeted up a little get-together in a well-orchestrated 140-character tennis match. We went out to shoot the SRV statue in the rain, ate a leisurely dinner full of philosophical thoughts, and then I had him over to show him the “Stuck in Motion” video over at my home before it was released. I was happy that this guy, the know-it-all (in a good way) host of Layers TV could not even figure it out! BTW, if you are looking to bone up on all your Adobe products, be sure to watch some Layers TV or subscribe to the free video podcast in iTunes.

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

Here is the next in the series of my collection of the classic spots around Austin. I actually shot this on the same night that I took the Austin Hotel shot. You can probably see a similarity in the deep blue sky that we had just after dusk that evening.

People always look at me suspiciously when I set up the tripod for a major shooting event. I’m sure that if you use a tripod that you end up with the same reaction. It’s typically 90% confusion and 10% wonder. Either way, I tend to just ignore everyone, like I’m playing a game and they are NPCs milling around.

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

This is shot from the backside of the Texas capital. Austin-area photographers know the spot well!

I don’t really believe in government conspiracies because it really requires a large group of very intelligent well-coordinated people to carry off a conspiracy.  I just can’t think of enough people in the government that could pull something like that off!

We ended up over here during our Photowalk last month… I saw a few people over in this direction shooting away, and some of these shots showed up in the post-photowalk sharing.  Thanks again to everyone that came out to that deal!

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

When I went up to have an interview in the ABC Newsroom here in Austin, a gentleman there named Ed Sparks was nice enough to take me back to the inner sanctum.  Ed is a frequent here in the community (hi Ed!) and quite the camera enthusiast.  Before and after my live appearance (from a few weeks ago), he took me back into this control room so I could set up for a shot.  As usual, I’ve uploaded the full-res version so you can see all the little details in the room. To see the full-res version, just click on the photo to go to the Flickr site. Click on “All Sizes” at the top of the photo. Last, click on “Original”.

They explained to me how the room worked and how everything was customizable.  The crew can pull in whatever feeds they need and position them on the screen accordingly.  They even can save templates, since each producer that comes in and out during the day can have their own setup.  It was quite fascinating to watch these guys operate in precision…   I had to catch myself and remember to take photos, since I would sorta stare at the screens at get mesmerized for a bit!

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

This is a classic motel here in Austin.  It’s on South Congress, and one of many examples of unique neon in the city.  It looks positively phallic (if that wasn’t in your head, it was now, excuse the pun) and you just can’t miss it when you’re driving down the street.

There is a long and rich history, starting even before when it became a hotel in 1938.  One thing I remember as a kid (and still hear now from the backseat), is that my primary feature in any Texas motel was a swimming pool.  I understand they still have a kidney-shaped one out back.

As you can tell, I’ve been working my way around Austin, doing my best to grab some of the classic spots.  It takes a lot of time, because the conditions aren’t always perfect.  I like the sky and everything to be just about right…  but, sometime by the end of the year, I should have the major spots of interest captured!

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

This is the subject of one of the other new videos in the newsletter. It speaks to a common problem many people have when uploading photos online. Sometimes, I’ve noticed, they don’t look the same on Flickr as the do on my home computer! That’s no good… I figured out the best way to do it and put it in a little video for you. You can get to it here at the ColorSpace Video.

Filed under the categories: Austin, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel