Moose Peterson is one of my favorites

I was out of town for a while visiting family in Portland Maine. My son, grand children and I did a photowalk out to the Portland Head Lighthouse. We had a great time. Of course, they have been there many times since moving to Maine, but anything to humor grandpa.

As I was processing the above image (click on the image to view in a larger size), I remembered that I saw a shot of this lighthouse on Moose Peterson's blog. I do follow his blog but it's been a while since I looked through the links around the different menu items. I checked out the "Landscape" folder under the "Photography" Menu. It hit me, Moose is one of my favorites.

CS5 introduction on Monday April 12

Adobe will introduce CS5 and you can watch it all here.

Also for you NAPP members, NAPP is planning a week long introduction of CS5 with a Learning Center, tutorials, webinars and a ton of other stuff.

I can't wait to see what the new version of Photoshop holds. I suggest you be there.

Evan Gearing has a wonderful blog

As you know, I'm a frequent contributor to HDR Spotting. For those of you who don't know what that is, I suggest you take a look at the site. I like to look at other photographers submissions. All those HDR images in one place, it's a great way to learn. I don't try to copy any one particular style but every once in a while I ask myself, "how does he/she do that?".

Evan Gearing is one of those photographers. His compositions are excellent and there's something about his processing style that, for me, is intriguing. I found his blog where he tells something about each capture and his precessing method.

It's a great place to visit, see great images and get some good ideas for HDR processing. He uses some filters that I have never seen mentioned before, and they work. Give it a look.

Evan's Expo

Let me know what you think.

Single image HDR

Before


After
(Click the images to see them larger)

Single image HDR processing can be very successful. At the point of capture there are a few things to consider.

Shoot in RAW to capture as much information as possible.

Capture the light avoiding, as best you can, clipping in both the shadows and highlights. Use your histogram.

Low to medium contrast subjects have the best chance to be successful. (But as you can see from the images above, you never know.)

Process the single image in Photomatix, Topaz Adjust 4 or both. Use all the tricks you know.

As always, if I can help, you can email questions.

" I'm just an amateur, but. . . "

I have posted a few articles by one of my favorite photographers and writers, David duChemin. In his latest masterpiece, he discusses the amateur and professional photographer titles. It is well worth a few minutes of your time. All I have to say about it is "AMEN".

Laurie Excell "Tech Tuesday" blog

I have been following Laurie Excell's blog for quite a while. She has some very interesting and informative incites into photographing the natural world wonders and wildlife of North America.

In addition to her own photography, she works with 2 of my other favorite photographers and teachers. Joe McNally and Moose Peterson as instructors in Digital Landscape Workshop Series.

Now she is producing a Tech Tuesday blog. I'm sure it's going to be a worth while read.

Topaz Adjust 4

Topaz Adjust 4 has been released as a free upgrade to current users. The upgrade includes many new presets, the ability to handle larger files, a new interface and faster noise reduction. You can upgrade here.

If your not a Topaz user, you should be. They have a fine line of very affordable plug-ins. Take a look at their entire line, here.

Rick Sammon says, "Make a picture". So I did.

Click on the image to see it larger

Rick is one of my favorite photography teachers. He's smart, funny and imparts lots of "number one" tips. Here are 2 of them. "The camera looks both ways" and "don't just take a picture, make a picture".

Recently my wife and I were in Dominica (not the Dominican Republic). Walking down a street in the capital on a very hot and sunny day we saw this woman beautifully dressed. We stopped and talked to her for a few minutes. After asking each other questions I politely asked if I could take her picture next to my wife. She smiled and agreed. I showed her the image on the back of my camera. I then asked if I could now take her picture alone just a few steps away, in the shade.

Much better lighting. Thanks Rick. Check out his blog, here.

Trey Ratcliff at Google

Trey gave a lecture at Google headquarters. You can see it here. I've heard him speak on a few occasions and each time there are a few words or sentences that clarify some issues that I'm having while processing my HDR images. Listen closely and I'm sure you'll pick up a few pointers. He also shows many of his images and that helps me with subject matter and composition. I know you'll enjoy it.

In other news, Photoshop is 20 years old. Click the above to watch a short documentary and see how it all got started.

And the HDR beat goes on. . .

I've been away for the last 2 weeks. Not all by my choice. We couldn't get home because of the large snowfall on the East Coast. But even while I was away there has been more discussion about HDR. For the life of me, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. It's just another tool to use if the lighting situation calls for it. I took the image above for the owner of the hotel we stayed at. Now can anyone tell me they could get all those exposures with 1 image.

I see that Dave Cross and Scott Kelby, on Feb. 15, have posted some interesting thoughts on the subject. Please take the time to see the comments that they got back.