Tag: Fall Leaves

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Landscape Photography Nature Photography Travel Photography

Remember The Fall – Part 2

Remember the Fall

This finishes up the set for remember the fall. These were all shot at Brookside Gardens using my Sony RX10.

When I do sets like this I like to break them up into smaller portions. I will tend to push it to no more than 10 images. This is because when you review so many images at once you tend to lose the details as your brain is trying to focus on so much visual input. It’s one of the primary reasons why I stick to a single image a day for the most part. With me doing 5 days a week it is just not feasible to edit a large number of photos. Even with a fast workflow its still time consuming.

Editing was simple again. Just Lightroom for camera profiles and gradients. Then into Photoshop for curves adjustments. Dodging and burning for local contrast.

Enjoy.

Remember the FallRemember the FallRemember the FallRemember the FallRemember the FallRemember the Fall

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Landscape Photography Nature Photography Travel Photography

Remember The Fall – Part 1

Remember The Fall

This is part one of a two part series. These were all shot on my Sony RX10 at Brookside Gardens. I just now got around to editing them. Plus using remember the fall sounds more dramatic.

These were all taken while I was playing with my Sony RX10 as I indicated. I had no real idea what I was going to get when I arrived. I just wandered around and shot a lot of landscape stuff along with the fall leaves that were left. I was lucky to get what I got since I usually travel when its peak leaf season.

There is nothing fancy editing. Just straight up camera adjustments and then curves. Lots of local dodging and burning to get effect. I kept is simple because I actually edited far more than even this series since I am on business travel and wanted to edit ahead.

Enjoy.

Remember The FallRemember The FallRemember The FallRemember The FallRemember The FallRemember The Fall

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Abstract Photography Landscape Photography Nature Photography Travel Photography

The Abstract Fall

This is from Brookside Gardens when I took out my Sony RX10 for a test spin to see how it would perform. The final image reminds me of an abstract painting.

I took this picture strictly because of the light coming through the leaves. It backlit the leaves perfectly. I believe I used the camera’s built-in 3-stop neutral density filter to give me a bit more dynamic range. While never a real substitute for a real filter it does work and it’s easier than carrying a real one and taking it on and off.

Editing wise nothing special. Normally I do all my curves adjustments in Lab Mode in Photoshop but this time I did my initial curve in RGB Mode. This allows me to punch color much more effectively. I then went into Lab Mode for additional contrast adjustments. I did the usual dodge and burn then called it a day.

Enjoy.

The Abstract Fall

 

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Abstract Photography Nature Photography

Burst Of Red

If you read my post yesterday you read that I was struggling to edit. I turned on some Tool and opened up another set of images and started to edit. I believe Tool’s – The Pot or Vicarious was on when I was editing this one. Either way, the edits came much easier.

This was one of the first images I shot with the Sony RX10 I purchased. I really like the camera and what I can get out of it. Supposedly it’s the same sensor as the RX100III I own. It just seems I am able to get a bit more out of it versus the RX100. May be just because it’s new to me but I am able to push these images a bit more.

This is more or less straight out of camera. I didn’t mask in layers. I did bump the hue/saturation a bit to get the red to punch a bit more and bring out the yellows of the leaves in the background. I then dodged and burned various areas to do local contract adjustments. I paid attention to the lights just because they lead in towards the leaves. I deliberately left them in the frame when I took the image.

Enjoy.

PS – Still listening to Tool as I wrote this. This time Forty Six & 2 and Hooker With A Penis. No, Hooker With A Penis is not about a transgender person. Look up the lyrics and it will make sense.

Burst of Red

Categories
Landscape Photography Travel Photography

Sunset On Fall

This is from Brookside Gardens and was near the end of the day with the light starting to fade and the sun setting over a hill in the distance. I was literally hanging over the creek bed trying not to fall in as I balanced off a rock trying to get this shot.

I should point out that I shot all the Brookside Gardens stuff with a new camera that I purchased. I had been looking at a Sony RX10 (original version) and I finally saw one on eBay at the price point I was looking for. All other buyers were gunshy since the seller had only a few ratings. I took the very low risk since Paypal would handle any dispute and got it.

So far I have been very pleased with the output of this camera. It’s great because I can carry a light kit of one camera and no lenses and reach 24-200 which is mostly what I shoot anyways. While not a full frame sensor like my Sony A7R or Nikon D810 the output is beyond my expectations since it’s the same sensor as my Sony RX100M3.

Editing I didn’t do too much. I bumped the saturation and masked in a bit here and there. It’s mostly straight out of the camera.

Enjoy.

dsc01684-ic

Categories
Landscape Photography Nature Photography

Fall From Above

Working on the 11th floor does have its advantages. Since it’s one of the tallest buildings in the area I have the ability to shoot relatively unobstructed from certain sides of the building so I take the opportunity from time-to-time.

I recently aquired a Tamron 28-300 lens for those times when I need a bit more reach. It was cheap and it gets decent reviews. Sure it won’t match my Sigma Art 24-105 or my Nikon 70-200 in quality but when you need that little extra it will do well enough.

With the Tamron 28-300 on my Nikon D810 I took a few test shots out the window of the building. Some of the blur you may see on the edges could be from the windows not being the cleanest. If there is lack of sharpness it’s also me not being used to handholding a camera much. When I shoot with the big DSLR’s I am 95% of the time on my tripod. Sadly my tripod is in a shipping case somewhere between where I live and Las Vegas. So it was handhold this shot.

For post processing I wanted to saturate the colors but not make them go nuclear. HDR would have done that and many of my usual filters did too. So I found one that I liked and masked it in at a very reduced opacity. I then added bits from Color Efex to bring out a bit more. Just a quick sharpen to bring things out and called it done.

Enjoy.

Fall From Above

Categories
Landscape Photography

Breaking Dawn

I should just title this image too many damn layers and masks. I lost count how many were used in this image but there were a lot.

I shot this out of the window at work. Used a tripod and a delay shutter timer. Once I started to edit the trees turned muddy and I really wanted them sharper along with keeping the sky intact and not causing too much noise in the blue channel. Thats when the layers and masks started to appear until it got to a point where I said enough.

Oddly enough when this picture goes live I will be on a plane heading to parts unknown. For an adventure. I know where I will land and see dawn breaking and it won’t be my home country nor will it be the country I will end my journey in.

Enjoy!

PS – Happy Halloween. I missed it! It’s like how I left on a trip once that left on 12/31 and I woke up 1/2. The crew gave us champagne at some point. I was disappointed it wasn’t for every time zone we hit.

Breaking Dawn

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Landscape Photography Nature Nature Photography

Little Bit of Fall

I set myself a challenge. I found the first “real” camera, meaning one I thought I spent a lot of money on it; something like $179. This was 5 years ago and I had no concept of what photography equipment cost. You can tell by the price it was a point and shoot. I thought I had made a major investment. It was to shortly thereafter I acquired my first DSLR, a Canon XSi so this camera was relegated to the forgotten pile until I found it. Little did I know the path that purchase would set me on.

Seeing how I had some free time I went for a photowalk. I shot a variety of subjects but I figured I start with the fall leaves since they are turning color. The only thing I can control on this camera is ISO, meter mode, and exposure compensation. I shot all these at ISO 200 and in spot meter (rare that I don’t shoot in spot meter). No exposure compensation was used.

They were imported into Lightroom and then “flattened” then taken into Photoshop for the heavy lifting. I did not change my workflow for these images. Meaning curves adjustments, dodge and burn. Then a run through Nik Color Efex for Pro Contrast and Vibrance and Saturation. I then used the newer technique which is cheap and tawdry and I will reveal eventually to give it a bit more pizzazz. A quick layers mask adjustment then flattening the image and running it through Camera Raw Filter to remove the brutal color fringing. About the only thing I did different.

I get that this sounds like a lot but its about 5 minutes an image at most. I have the flow down to a science.

I realize that I have down sized these images because lets be honest, if we were pixel peeping the camera would show its weaknesses. I have found this true even on my modern cameras. So I kept it the standard 1000 pixels I use.

So the challenge is based on what I provided could anyone tell the difference with these images? Would anyone realize that this was all done on a 14.1 meg point and shoot that is 5 years old? I highly doubt it.

If you think you can guess feel free. The EXIF data has been stripped.

I’ll share more images out this week and go in to some of the challenges and frustrations I had with the camera. Still, I found myself enjoy the novelty of the experience. It also reminded me a camera is a tool and nothing more. As I have gotten deeper into photography I have come to view my gear as tools; each has their own uses. Neither one is more special than the other. You just need to use the right tool for the job unless you are Jeremy Clarkson and then its a hammer for everything while screaming POWER.

Enough rambling.

Enjoy the fall colors and enjoy trying to guess the camera.

Fall Colors

Fall Colors

Fall Colors

Fall Colors

Fall Colors

Categories
Landscape Photography

Early Fall Colors

While the weather has remained warm the leaves are starting to turn colors. Seeing how I look down on the neighborhood while I am at work I saw this view in a office I normally don’t wander into too often. I set the camera up on a mini tripod that I carry and set the shutter delay to 2 seconds and took several images. The scene reminds me of some some rural town. Reality is those are million dollar homes in a major metropolitan area.

This is the first time in post processing that I really used the haze slider in Lightroom. It basically adds contrast to the image which is why I avoid it. I just gave it a try because the image was shot through a less than clean glass window. I was very pleased with the result. After that brought into Photoshop and the usual magic applied. I do tend to use Nik Efex Pro and run Pro Contrast and Vibrance & Saturation filters on my landscapes. Just gives it nice results. Then a bit of dodging and burning and good to.

Shot with my Sony RX100M3.

Enjoy.

early-fall-colors

 

Categories
Nature

Fall Colors

I haven’t had a lot of success shooting leaves. They are hard to really get into focus on a camera without making them run together and look weird. So using my Panasonic G5 and my Minolta 50 1.4 I seemed to have found a balance that works for me. So enjoy the fall colors.

Fall Colors

Fall Colors

Fall Colors

Fall Colors