April 23, 2013

A Few More Re-Works

I dug a little further back tonight and worked on a few favorites and a few I've never worked on.  Same process as the others, a dose of HDR then a B&W conversion.  Good stuff.


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV - EF400mm f/4 DO IS USM +1.4x
1/500 - f/5.6 - ISO 100 - 560 mm


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV - EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
1/1000 - f/2.8 - ISO 100 - 22 mm


Canon EOS 5D Mark II - EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
1/100 - f/5 - ISO 100 - 16 mm


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV - EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
1/4 - f/22 - ISO 160 - 25 mm


Canon EOS 5D Mark II - EF14mm f/2.8L II USM
1/13 - f/22 - ISO 320 - 14 mm

April 22, 2013

Something A Little Different

I had a good time re-working some old images last night, so I dug even further back tonight. This is an image I took while visiting Southern Alberta for my grandfather's funeral back in 2010. I tried a couple of different processes for converting to black and white, but I just couldn't find one that was quite right. The process I've been playing with starts by using the Nik HDR plugin to boost contrast and colors. I then use Nik Silver Efex for the B&W conversion. Like I said, I just couldn't get it quite right, so I tried Topaz B&W. It was getting better, but still not what I was looking for. As I was flipping through the options in the Topaz filter, I happened to click on the painterly filter. A few tweaks in Topaz, followed by a B&W conversion in Silver Efex was all it took. I had what I was looking for, even though it's not what I had in mind when I started out.


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV - EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
1/500 - f/4.5 - ISO 100 - 153 mm

April 21, 2013

A Few Re-Works

It's been a bit since I've been able to get out and shoot, so, with nothing new to work on, I went back to early last year and found a few images to work on. Some of these you've seen before, some you havent. I recently took advantage of the free download of the Nik suite so this was a great opportunity to play aroune with some of the plugins.


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV - EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
1/320 - f/8 - ISO 160 - 21 mm


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV - EF14mm f/2.8L II USM
30 - f/5.6 - ISO 320 - 14 mm


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV - EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x
1/8 - f/5.6 - ISO 100 - 140 mm


Canon EOS 5D Mark III - EF17-40mm f/4L USM
1/400 - f/9 - ISO 400 - 23 mm


Canon EOS 5D Mark III - EF17-40mm f/4L USM
1/250 - f/16 - ISO 320 - 17 mm


Canon EOS 5D Mark III - EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
1/320 - f/2.8 - ISO 250 - 100 mm

April 14, 2013

Sunday Flowers

I needed something to shoot tonight, so I grabbed a couple of flowers out of the bunch I got for my wife the other day and set up a couple of lights and a white seamless backdrop.

This first shot used two lights, one camera right with a 1/4 CTO gel.  The second was gelled blue and pointed at the background.

Canon EOS 6D - EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/160 - f/14 - ISO 160 - 100 mm

This one used the same lights and gels, this time with both lights aimed at the flower.  I like the touch of blue on the petals.

Canon EOS 6D - EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/200 - f/14 - ISO 160 - 100 mm

I added a third light here, pointing at the flower from behind with no gel.  The front lights were both gelled with 1/4 CTO.

Canon EOS 6D - EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/160 - f/22 - ISO 160 - 100 mm


Same setup as the previous image, minus the backlight.  Converted in LR4 with adjustments made to individual color channels.

Canon EOS 6D - EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/160 - f/22 - ISO 160 - 100 mm

Back to the three light setup for this one.

Canon EOS 6D - EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/100 - f/32 - ISO 160 - 100 mm

The final shot using the two main lights.

Canon EOS 6D - EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/100 - f/32 - ISO 160 - 100 mm

April 11, 2013

Water Drops

This past weekend, I spent some time working on water drops.  I think I have the lighting dialed in pretty well.  Now I need to work on getting collisions.  Here's a few of my favorites from this round.













  


Now, a little about my setup.
I used three speedlights to light my drops.  They were fired using my Radiopopper triggers.  The two lights at the back were fired at the white backdrop, bouncing light onto the drops from behind.  The third light was placed to allow a little bit of  spill light to hit the front of the drop, while most hit the backdrop.  I used various gels to alter the colors.  Part way through, I colored the water green.  
The drops come from a reservoir suspended above the glass.  They are controlled by an electronic valve.  The water was mixed with glycerin.  Roughly 1 part glycerin to 3 parts water.  The glycerin slows down the drops and "strengthens" the water for better formation of drops.  That's about it, I'm happy to answer any questions.


April 10, 2013

A Few More From Snowbasin

A few last shots from Snowbasin.


This is Ben and Ryan.  I'm not sure what it is they are doing.

Some of the athletes and the Terrain Park manager.  Thanks, guys!

I brought a sled with to haul gear.  Some of the guys thought it would be fun to ride it down the icy slopes of the terrain park.

The photographers and painters.  Or, a boy band.

April 8, 2013

Snowbasin Light Painting

So, the point of our excursion to Snowbasin Ski Resort was to do some light painting with the pro skiers and snowboarders.  It was a fun challenge to plan and execute the images.  In many instances, we had to do multiple exposures and then combine them in post.  I think I came away with some pretty decent results  and I can't wait to try this kind of stuff again.

Special thanks to the good folks at Snowbasin for access tot he terrain park and the athletes.









April 7, 2013

Sunset Skier

One of my favorite images from my recent shoot at Snowbasin Ski Resort.  This was taken as the skiers and boarders were getting warmed up before it got dark.  Still more to come from this shoot.


April 2, 2013

Night Riders

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a shoot at Snowbasin Ski Resort.  Basically, we were given free run of the terrain park and they even provided us with a handful of pro boarders and skiers for the shoot.  We started the shoot in the early evening hours and continued till well after dark.  We used studio strobes, speedlights, and a few light painting tools to create some pretty cool images.  Here's the first round, there's more to come.











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