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Stormy Tuesday

On my way home from work yesterday, July 13, I stopped to get a few shots of a rain storm.


You could actually see where it was raining and which direction the storm was moving. I sat and watched it move left to right in front of me.


I pulled out the zoom lens for this one. The sun was setting behind me and was not obstructed by clouds so the light on the green farm was amazing! It really made the green glow against the dark bluish gray sky

Nashville at Night

I recently met up with the Nashville Photography Meetup Group for an evening of shooting in Downtown Nashville.

Since this is a photography blog and you didn’t come here to read, I’ll just post the pictures 🙂


(for a full tutorial on how I processed this image, click HERE)

This Week at the Lake – 18/52

Moving right along! Week 18 already….

I visited Radnor Lake on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

Monday I was off work, so I took the kids to the zoo, after which we picked my wife up from work and headed to the lake. My son loves riding his bike so we brought it with us:

The kids enjoyed themselves, we were able to find deer, squirrels, birds, turtles and we even saw a couple owls!

On Tuesday I stopped by before heading to work. Along the path I found a fawn with, I presume, her mother

Heading back to the car, I got a flower shot. A Rose of Sharon, growing near the house on the dam walkway

The next day I again got to go before work. Arriving at 6 am I wandered up to the spillway bridge to take in the view of the lake from there. Noticed this Lightning Bug on the bridge railing

That’s some major depth of focus! Achieved by using a long focal length (180mm) and a wide open aperture (f2.8)

Further down the path I got another black and white deer portrait

This deer was walking along the path with everyone else!

Thanks for looking!

Check out all the previous weeks by Clicking HERE

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How I Did It…. Part 2

I figured it was time for another “How I Did It” post. In this tutorial, I’ll show you everything I did to turn this

into this

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Once again, this is an HDR or High Dynamic Range Image. To create an HDR image you need to take multiple exposures (usually 3 but can be us many as you want) of the same scene.

To do this, I put the camera mode in Aperture Priority and set the auto bracket to (-2, 0, +2). This will make the camera take 3 consecutive shots, one exposed properly, one underexposed by 2 stops, and one overexposed by 2 stops.

Here are the 3 shots with their exposure values:

0 ev 2.5 seconds @ f/5.6


-2 ev 0.6 seconds @ f/5.6


+2 ev 10 seconds @ f/5.6

These 3 images are opened directly into Photomatix. I use Photomatix for all of my HDR’s. If you are interested in buying Photomatix, use the coupon code “malcolmphoto” for a 15% discount! It’s already at a great price ($99) and even better with the discount.

You are then presented with “Generate HDR – Options” – here is what I choose:

I always use the “Details Enhancer” option. Here are my settings there:

It’s important to remember that while I used these settings on this image, they may be completely different for my next image. You really need to play with the sliders and get a feel for what they do to your image. Then you can make adjustments that suit your taste. It’s also important to remember that is doesn’t stop here! There are many things that need to be corrected/adjusted in photoshop.

At this point I save it as a .tiff and head to photoshop……….

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The first thing I need to do in photoshop is correct the lens distortion. Because I shot this with a super wide angle lens (Sigma 10-20 @ 10mm) the buildings all look as if they are leaning.
To correct this – go to Filter => Distort => Lens Correction
In the “Transform” sections, grab the “Vertical Perspective” slider and drag it to the right until the buildings are straight:

After this, you will need to crop out the blank spots at the bottom of the image.

Now we are ready to work on the image.

The first thing I did was do a “Levels” adjustment layer – Layer => New Adjustment Layer => Levels
I made this pretty dramatic because I wanted to darken the sky a lot to hide the lens flare and the noise (and to make it look more like night should look!)

Once I did this, you can see I “masked out” the bottom part of the image where the building are. To mask something out, grab the brush tool and paint black on the areas you don’t want affected by the adjustment layer.

You can see this really darkened the sky but there are still a few areas that need some work. So I did a “Stamp Visual” (ctrl/cmd+shift+alt+e). On the new layer, I painted black directly on the image to blacken out the few remaining areas

Next I wanted to tone down the terrible orange/yellow light from the street lights. To do this I used a “Cooling” photo filter.
Layer => New Adjustment Layer => Photo Filter

This kind of took away too much color in my mind, so I did a new “Saturation” adjustment layer
Layer => New Adjustment Layer => Saturation

Then I did a separate saturation adjustment layer where I desaturated the yellows

and the reds

Now it’s looking better!

Next I do another levels adjustment layer for the buildings.
Layer => New Adjustment Layer => Levels

Then I do a slight curves adjustment
Layer => New Adjustment Layer => Curves

Next, I do a Color Balance adjustment
Layer => New Adjustment Layer => Color Balance

I make both the “Shadows” and “Highlights” have the same settings

Now we are just about through!

I do another stamp visual (ctrl+shift+alt+e)
I then sharpen this layer using unsharpen mask
Filter => Sharpen => Unsharpen Mask

Then I use a noise reduction software called Imagenomic. This really is an awesome plugin! I use it on every single image now. It does an incredible job at reducing the noise without reducing the sharpness. I tried several other noise reduction plugins but none worked near as well.

Last but not least, I grab the “Dodge” tool and I dodge some areas of the image. In this one in particular, I dodged the windows with the reflections to the right, the building to the left and some of the cars on the street. This brightens them some and really makes them pop!

And then I was finished!

The Final Product:

Thanks for looking! I hope you found this helpful. Please ask questions if you have them, I’ll try by best to answer.

Remember,
If you want to know “How I Did It” for any photo on my flickr photostream, leave me a comment on this page or send me a flickr mail. I’ll be glad to make it my next “How I Did It” entry!

Also, as I mentioned in my first How I did It post, here are some helpful links for learning more about HDR:
Stuck in Customs
HDR Exposed
HDR (a flickr group)
Tutorial Collection at My First HDR flickr group

Helpful links for learning more about Photoshop:
chromasia photoshop tutorials
Photoshop Support Group
Photoshop Tutorials by Allan Gengler
Actions by Allan Gengler
CoffeeShop Actions

Cades Cove Round Two – The Wildlife

Cades Cove Round One was for landscapes, Cades Cove Round Two is for wildlife! I was absolutely amazed at the amount of wildlife we saw in just the few short hours we were there.

This Week at the Lake – 17/52

This Week at the Lake - 17/52
Can you believe that?! ( I paid her $20 to walk there!)

This was a great week at the lake. The weather has cooled some and it was so nice. I had Monday and Tuesday off work, Monday I went to Cades Cove and we came back home Monday evening. Since I already had Tuesday off work, I went to the lake! I got there about 6:15 am and was able to walk the entire loop – something I haven’t done in a long time.

I had a feeling I was going to see the same sun rays I saw in Week 15. I was right, as the sun started coming through the trees, the rays began to shine down. I spotted a few deer nearby and decided I was going to sit there until one crossed the path. It took about 20 minutes, but finally one did. I was shooting away as she watched me the entire time she crossed! I was so excited, I kept checking the viewfinder the rest of the hike to make sure it really happened!

Further along the trail I came up on some more rays:

I did see an owl that morning but could not get a good shot of him before he flew off.

I was sitting on the side of the road watching a Great Blue Heron when this little bird flew up. I’m not sure what type of bird he is and he didn’t stay long.

The Heron I was watching started flying away so I tried some in-flight shots. I followed him all the way back around to the spillway trail. Every time he flew away he just flew further down the trail so I met up with him again and again. I’m sure he was tired of me!

I had made the full loop now and saw that people were filming a commercial there were packing up (they were setting up when I first got there). They had a car waiting and Governor Phil Bredeson came walking out to get in.

You never know what you’ll see at Radnor Lake…..

Wednesday was so nice so I decided to go to the lake during my lunch break. I spotted this fawn sleeping on the edge of the lake

I sat and watched him for a while and he got up to stretch and laid back down.

I went on my lunch break again on Thursday. It was quiet there, I didn’t see much but it was still so nice. I did get this little bird just singing away…

On Friday, I was meeting the Nashville Photography Meetup Group Downtown at 7pm so I had some time after work. I headed to the lake and was able to walk the entire loop again.

A distorted self portrait 🙂

This deer was busy eating the duckweed

Here is a deer that came walking up to me and got so close! This shot is only at 100mm

Cades Cove Round 1 – The Landscapes

I had the pleasure of visiting Cades Cove, part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in East Tennessee, on Monday June 28.

I came back with over 300 photos! Tons of landscapes and so much wildlife. It was my first time visiting so I got all the “touristy” shots out of the way! It really was a beautiful place, I can’t wait to go again.

I have to give a big shout out to my flickr contact Anthony for the inspiration to visit this amazing place. His shots from Cades Cove and all around East Tennessee are so amazing.

Here is Round One – The Landscapes:

Stay tuned for Round Two – The Wildlife!

This Week at the Lake – 16/52

A similar shot to start this week off as last week – but I really liked it!

My week at the lake started on Tuesday, I set the alarm clock for 4:45 am so I could make it before work. The problem I face with that is that it’s too dark to really get any wildlife photos. I was able to get the sun coming down Otter Creek Rd:

And then I tried to get a shot of the mist/fog rising on the lake with the sunrise:

Also that morning I met big time Ashville, NC wedding photographer Corey McNabb. He was on his way back from a wedding in Memphis and stopped to get some bird photos at Radnor. We looked for the owls but were not able to find them that morning. Check out his site, he’s got some great photos.

Next I went Thursday morning. Thursday was a great day to watch the owls but again, it was so dark because it was early I couldn’t get any good shots. I saw 3 younger owls and one adult. I watched one of the younger owls pretend to hunt in the creek bed, picking up sticks and tossing them aside, fun to watch!
Here is one decent shot of a younger owl:

Thursday is also when I got the top post, with the sun rising just over camera right.
Also got this bird photo that morning:

Since the owls were so active in the morning, I went back at lunch hoping to still see them. I only saw one then but he was too far away.
I’m not sure what type of bird this is but he was very cooperative, posing for me while I was looking for the owls:

I also spotted this doe and fawn:

On the way back to the car, I got this:

This Week at the Lake – 15/52

Another great week!
(In my opinion) I had another really great week at Radnor Lake. I got a lot of photos to share this week. I was able to visit everyday, Monday-Friday!

Monday
Monday was sooooo hot and humid! I went to Radnor on my lunch break. I saw 2 of the younger owls and 2 adult owls. Here is an adult (snoozing!):

The younger owls were in a tree straight up over the walking trail, while looking up at them I noticed the light comming down through the trees. I snapped this shot that I really like:

Tuesday
Tuesday was a great day, it was the first time in a couple weeks that I was able to go early in the morning. I got up extra early so I could be at the lake at 6am. I parked at the west entrance and made my way to the lake trail. I walked out onto the bridge that crosses the dam to look around. I was right at the middle of the bridge and I heard some noise behind me, I turned around and saw about 8 otter running across the path and into the water! Since I was in the middle of the bridge I wasn’t able to get a really good position to get shots but I was able to snap this quickly:

I continued across the bridge to get a morning shot of the lake (which is posted at the top of this post)

Then I headed back down the lake trail, I came up on this doe and her brand new fawn:

Once the sun started getting higher in the sky, it was able to start shining through the trees. It was soooo humid this morning it created some amazing sun rays!

I made it to this bridge (which is about half way through the lake trail) and figured I better head back

On the way back, I came across the doe and her fawn again, they posed for one more photo!

Wednesday
Wednesday was a lunch visit again, I could not find the younger owls, but perhaps some evidence??? Ha! I don’t really know if this is an owl feather or not!

I did catch sight of an adult owl though

Thursday
Thursday was again a lunchtime visit and again I saw a couple adult owls but none of the younger owls. I watched one adult owl catch some food and fly off with it, probably to find the younger owls to feed them


(snoozing again!)


Here you can see the food in her talon, looks like a large crayfish

Friday
It was so hot on Friday I did not stay long at all on my lunch break. I could not find the owls so I walked down the road a little and got this shot of a dragonfly:

After that, I headed back to the car…

And that was my week! A very hot week but worth the trips, I feel like I got some great captures – Hopefully I can keep it up…

This Week at the Lake – 14/52

Week 14 is an all owl week! I visited Radnor Lake on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday – each at around noon. Each day I saw multiple owls! The young owls are often hanging out while the parent is out hunting. I was only able to see the parent on two of those days. I watched her hunt and catch something on both Thursday and Friday. On Friday, she brought the food over and fed one of the younger owls. Unfortunately, I was not in a good position to get a shot of that.

Here are my shots of the Barred Owls at Radnor Lake: