How long for post process?

Nikon D200, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35 mm f/2 ZF

Here is another picture from last weekend's "driving-around-and-looking-for-clouds-tour". Landscape photography isn't always easy in Iowa, especially in the summer, but if the big clouds move in or out you have your chance for some drama, even if you just stand between corn and soybean fields… ;-)

This time it was not done with HDR processing and it is just a single image. I did my usual adjustments in Adobe Lightroom. I increased the highlights with the tone curve so that the white in the clouds showed its full potential. After the export to Photoshop, where I do usually the fine tuning and downsizing of the picture for the web, I realized that the image was still a little too hazy for my taste. Bringing up the contrast in the clouds with an adjustment layer and a layer mask took care of the problem. I think I still take too much time processing my images in post. I guess I still have to fix too many things that aren't done correctly while taking the image. But it's getting better. This one took less than five minutes to finish and to output three different copies (1x original full size, 1x jpeg 948 px long for my web gallery, and 1x jpeg 620 px long for this blog). It would be nice to know how long it takes you to process a RAW file and to create an image that you like. I'm just curious…

Clouds again, but also color contrast

Mississippi River at McGregor Marina, Iowa

This would have been another candidate for B&W but I decided for the colors. The color contrast between the boat cover on the left and the sky give the picture the punch that I like. The clouds provide drama, no matter what. The image was created from four bracketed shots in NIK's HDR Efex Pro. I actually had five pictures but didn't use the one with the longest exposure. I may try a B/W version as well but for now I hope you enjoy the colors.

Update and book recommendation

Even if I'm not able to post anything on my blog, there are people and friends that check it almost every day. I want to tell you, I'm very thankful for this fact. I guess I owe you an update about what's going on. I have been on the road or in the air during the last four weeks, mainly related to my job, and with very little time for photography.

Last weekend I spent a few hours with some German friends in Chicago, made some clicks, and was hoping to post them here, while I'm still on a business trip in Indiana. To make a long story short, I didn't bring all my gear as usual and one of the things I left at home is the CF-card reader. Means, my latest pics are still in the camera and I have to wait until I come back home. :-(

Thank you again to all of you who stop here regularly or even just ones in a while! You guys rock and your comments and emails encourage me to continue with the challenge to write this blog!

Above image was made in Norfolk, Nebraska. It is a trial with HDR photography and was created from five handheld pictures. I just finished reading Raphael Conception's  "The HDR Book" and can't wait to apply the new knowledge to my photography. If you don't know yet what photography book to take on your next business or vacation trip, that's the one I like to recommend. RC's writing style is straight forward and even for someone like me, who is not a native English speaker, this book is easy to understand and a great source of photography education.

White-tailed Deer with background problem

Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3

This picture is already three weeks old but I still like to share it with you. It was taken in the Mill Creek Valley on my way home from a visit at the Trumpeter Swans. We have many White-tailed Deer here in Eastern Iowa and it is not a big deal to see one. This one made me hit my car brakes hard. It stood like frozen for a few seconds and gave me so the chance to grab the camera from the passenger seat and shoot a few pictures through the open car window.

The bokeh of the background does not always please me with the Sigma 50-500. At 500 mm an aperture of  f/6.3 is your best choice and In this matter the texture of the field made it even worse. The deer didn't really stand out from the background, despite the image was sharp. I used a basic technique in Photoshop to minimize the problem. Here is how I did it:

1. Make a copy of the background layer.

2. Apply a blur filter to the top layer (I used Gaussian Blur, 10 pixels).

3. Create a layer mask for this layer.

4. Paint with black on the layer mask over the contour of the deer and the foreground. Use a lower opacity for the area of transition in the background.

Nature clicks #33 - Eastern Black Swallowtail

Nikon D200, Sigma 150 mm f/2.8, 1/320s, f/4, -1 EV, ISO 200

Today we got the rain that nature needs so much here at the moment. As a result and also because of a busy working schedule I have not made a single click today. A big advantage of working from a home office in the middle of the woods is the fact that I can have my camera always nearby and ready for shooting. Usually it is mounted on a tripod near the door. Quite often I just run outside if anything interesting shows up in the yard or the surrounding woods. Yesterday morning, while filling the hummingbird feeders, I saw the first swallowtail butterfly of this season. It was a male Eastern Black Swallowtail, just sitting near the ground and still very sluggish. This gave me all time in the world to go down on my knees and make two dozen clicks.

Nikon D200, Sigma 150 mm f/2.8, 1/125s, f/5.6, -0.5 EV, ISO 200

Today, when I looked in my image catalog, I found out that I haven't made a good picture of a Black Swallowtail since 2007. I manage my photos with Adobe Lightroom and I apply keywords to each single image. It is sometimes time consuming, but this is when it pays back to use keywords. It is so much easier to find photos about a particular subject and allows a review and learning from older images. Yesterday's photos of the Black Swallowtail will replace the old picture in my IOWA WILDLIFE GALLERY (which needs an update anyway ;-)  ).

Stop at Millstream Brewery Co.

The text on the barrel bottom says: "Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts" Which means about: "Hops and malt, may god maintain them!"

Last week on the way home from a business trip I stopped at the Amana Colonies. If you are not familiar with this location, feel free to check it out HERE.

I wanted to buy some beer in the Millstream Brewing Co., which is Iowa's oldest  microbrewery. It has nothing to do with photography, but I have to tell you, they brew some of the best beer you can find on the planet! I grew up in the Upper Lusatia, an area in Germany that has borders with Bohemia, which is a part of the Czech Republic. Believe me, people on both sides of the border know how to brew beer and how a good beer tastes. The beer from the Millstream Brewery can easily keep up with the beer in the old home country!

Oh, I get carried away, lets get back to photography… ;-) . I cannot resist making a few clicks if I see a building or structure that has a nice rotten charm. The old brewery building falls in that category. The processing was done in NIK Silver Efex Pro. I really love this software for my B&W work. I know, the perspective is not ideal. I guess I have to go back again… ;-)

Old No. 6

Three weeks ago I made my first steps with NIK's Silver Efex Pro (click the tag "NIK software" below to see my earlier posts). Yesterday I downloaded the new version Silver Efex Pro 2, and of course, started working with it immediately. More presets, more sliders, more ways to give your image the look you have in mind. A powerhouse for B&W photography!

15 mm, 1/80 sec. @ f5, ISO 200, -2/3 EV,

This picture of "Old Number 6" was taken during our last year's vacation tour through the Cascade Mountain range in Washington. This steam locomotive is located in Newhalem along the North Cascade Highway. "No. 6" carried supplies and equipment to built the dams and powerhouses for the Skagit River Hydro-electric project, which supplies the City of Seattle with low cost electricity. The steam engine was used until 1954 and has been restored to operating conditions in the 1970's by the "Skagit River Railway Volunteers".

I used a sepia tone for this picture because I believe this style harmonizes with the subject and reflects  the age of that wonderful looking "No. 6" very well.

NIK Silver Efex Pro – next steps

I couldn't resist to browse through my archive and look for pictures that would make good B&W images. I really like how easy it is to use Silver Efex Pro. The presets on the left hand side provide good starting points for different styles you may want to apply.

This photo was taken already in 2008 during a hike in Glacier National Park. The magic of this landscape is incredible and I believe this picture tells the story.

Nikon D200, Sigma 10-20mm, f4-5.6

NIK Silver Efex Pro - first trials

Nikon D200, Sigma 150mm/F2.8

Since quite some time I looked for ways to boost my B&W photography. Until now I used Adobe Lightroom for the conversion to B&W and for the tweaking of colors and tones. I believe some progress was made during the last couple years but I'm still not satisfied with some of the results. Many other photographers rave about NIK's Silver Efex Pro. I gave it a trial a little while ago (they have a 30 days trial version), and finally bought the software. I really liked it from the first moment on. The user interface is intuitive and you can find many good video tutorials on their website.

The image above was made on a sunny day earlier this month. We had snow on the ground and this mushroom on a fallen log caught my attention. Used a little fill flash for the shadows. I selected this shot for one of the first tests with Silver Efex Pro because it has many tonal values spread spread over the entire image.

Early flight

We missed our connection flight in Detroit the night before and got booked on an early one next morning to Portland, Oregon. I was still tired on my way to the gate but all my bells ringed when I saw the fountain with the Boing 747 behind the glass. Flash was not really an option because of the glass and the tripod was of course checked with my luggage. There was not much time to fiddle in this low light situation. I used the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35/f2 with manual focus. I took eight images and liked eventually the one with the plane of focus somewhere between the jets of water the best (1/5s, f5.6, ISO 250).

I felt that the color version didn't really reflect what I had in mind when the image was captured. I tried different things, including B&W conversion, and ended up with an ocean blue split tone that creates a cool "early morning" effect. I used a preset in Adobe Lightroom that I got some time ago from Matt Kloskowski's blog Lightroom Killertips.