Falls River

Falls River, Rocky Mountain National Park. This is a 2.5 second exposure at mid-day using a really thick neutral density filter.

I recently went to a Tom Murphy seminar where he recommended an ND filter to slow the shutter to 1 second when shooting water. I probably went a little overboard with the 3.0 filter and if you want to try this I'd suggest something a little less extreme, maybe 1.8 or 2.0. But this is fun stuff and I love what it does with the image.

The B/W conversion is custom, starting with the LR low contrast preset. I added an LR graduated filter to darken the rocks in the water at the bottom of the frame - kind of the opposite of it's typical use.

Nikon D3, Nikkor 18-35mm @ 18mm, 2.5 seconds @ f/8, GPS

Japanese Bridge, MOBOT

Mid-morning at the Missouri Botanical Gardens this past Saturday, the light is higher and flatter than I generally like, but the colors are still saturated.

Technical: Nikon D700, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8, ISO 200, f/8.0 @ 1/800s, hand held.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 2.6.

Leaf Mass #3, Climatron

If there is a shade of green missing here, I'd be amazed.  This is my third attempt to find a composition in this mass of leaves on the Climatron floor and I'm really not that happy with it.  However, the colors really snap, so I thought I'd share it here as a Polaroid transfer.  

Technical: Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-85mm f2.8-f4, ISO 200, 85mm @ f/8.0 @ 1/60s, hand held.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 2.6 and Nik Color Efex Pro.  

Waterfall, Tree and Contrail at MOBOT

I seem to get more contrails in my landscapes than most other photographers, maybe because I like them.  This is from the Japanese Garden at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Technical: Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-85mm f2.8-f4, ISO 200, 75mm @ f/8.0 @ 1/800s, hand held.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 2.6 and Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Climatron Detail #3, MOBOT

So, the Climatron turns 50 this month - Happy Birthday!

Technical: Nikon D700, Micro Nikkor 105mm f2.8, ISO 20, f/11 @ 1/640s, hand held.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 2.6 and Nik Vivenza.

Grid #10, Yellow

Another building as seen from the St. Louis City Garden, supplying a yellow grid for my collection.

Technical: Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm f1.4G, ISO 200, f/8.0 @ 1/640s, hand held.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2 and Nik Color Efex Pro.

Grid #9, Green

Detail of a building as seen from the City Garden in downtown St. Louis, processed as a heat treated Polaroid transfer.

Technical: Nikon D700, Nikkor 180mm f2.8 "Leni lens", ISO 200, f8.0 @ 1/400s, handheld.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2 and Nik Color Efex Pro.

Grid #8, Blue

One of aspects of digital photography that I enjoy most is the way you can still "think film" for creative control, but most decisions can be delayed for post capture processing in Lightroom.  An example of those choices is film stock and filtration.  Shown here is what a picture would look like shot on Polaroid in daylight using a Wratten 80A filter, then transfered to art paper.  I like the effect because it slightly subverts the rigid pattern of the grid and helps to further abstract the overall picture.

Technical: Nikon D700, Nikkor 180mm f2.8 "Leni Lens", ISO 200, f/5.6 @ 1/250s, hand held.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2 and the Nik plug-in suite.

Grid #7, Green

A new entry to my grid collection, a small detail from curved glass and steel building.  I like how the lines are almost, but not quite, perfect.  The green color is enhanced slightly by the Polaroid Transfer style in Nik Color Efex Pro.

Technical: Nikon D700, Nikkor 180mm f2.8 "Leni" lens, ISO 200, f/5.6 @ 1/250s, hand held.  RAW file edited in Lightroom 2.6 and the Nik Suite.

Mercury #3

This is a very bronze from 15th century Italy.  It looks curiously modern to me, almost Art Deco.  This rendition is a faux-Fresson.

Technical: Nikon D700, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8, ISO 1600, f/5 @ 1/30s, WB tungsten, hand-held.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2, Nik Dfine and Nik Color Efex Pro.

Apparition #1

This is really just an upside down reflection of a statue in a highly polished granite floor.

Technical: Nikon D700, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8, ISO 1600, f/5.0 @ 1/6s.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2 to correct color and contrast, and spots on the floor, then Nik Color Efex Pro for the Kodachrome 64 Professional film effect, finally back in Lightroom, crank up the grain all the way.

Chinese Demon Bust

This piece from 5th Century China would feel at home in a Wes Craven film.  The eyes are amazingly powerful.  The tattoo illustrations are very faded, but the original detail must have been awesome.

Technical: Nikon D700, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8, ISO 1600, f/4.5 @ 1/40s.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 3 Beta 2 and the Nik Suite of tools.  I've been reading some negative criticism about the bokeh for this lens, but I think it is actually very good.