Lily and Nik Silver Effects Pro

Posted on June 25, 2011 by admin

So, here is Lily again – the day before her two week birthday. For this one, I used Silver Effects Pro to convert to black and white. Looks good.

I am also using my new Canon 430EXII (since the good ole Sigma that I had for the last 8 years gave up the ghost with a blown flash tube).

The Canon 430 Speedlight (no flash designation for these babies) is fine. Small, light and easy to use. All features work better than the Sigma but it is not nearly as powerful. Also. I do not have a diffuser for it.

I chose the 430 vs the 530 for the cost. But now I am thinking that I will soon spring for the 530 model. I am wondering how this speedlight will handle the large groups that I have been taking. I can use the 430 as a slave to the 530 – a good feature.

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Lily & Grandpa

Posted on June 20, 2011 by admin

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Here is my new granddaughter, Lily, in my arms having a nice nap.

This image was taken by Lily’s dad and I had a bit of filter fun with Aps on my iPad.

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Reflections in Infrared

Posted on June 16, 2011 by admin

This image was taken as part of a series on a lake behind my daughter’s home in Westchester (NY). The early morning stillness and shadows produced a nice reflection in this lake surrounded by trees.

I processed the RAW file in Lightroom and transferred it to Photoshop CS5. After applying the red-green swap in Channel Mixer (using an action to speed up the process), I added levels and curves (not much needed there). Then I converted to B&W using the PS filter (rather than using Nik Silver Effects Pro).

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A Man with His Daughter

Posted on June 13, 2011 by admin

Brad and Lily on the day of her birth (Also, my new granddaughter)! The photo was taken in Nicole’s hospital maternity room on June 12. There was some great light coming in the window – a low and bright overcast day. I put a chair facing the window and shot entirely with natural light. This is one is a series of images taken with the Canon 40D + Tamron 17-50mm F2.8.

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Multiple Manipulations

Posted on June 9, 2011 by admin

Here is an IR of trees with the sun backlighting the leaves. After some adjustments in Lightroom 3, I used Nik Silver Effects Pro to convert to black and white.

Then I applies the Polaroid Transfer filter from Nik Color Effects 2 to produce this colorized image. I made sure to remove the filter from the “sun-burst” so that it did not blur. The filter also produces a funky border to enhance the “Polaroid” effect.

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IR Image

Posted on June 3, 2011 by admin

Trees display as white in infrared. What about other green vegetation? This cactus is a shade of green and has a white range.

The detail is often lost but sometimes elements of the plant can be seen where they do not show up easily in visible light.

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At the Cemetery Using IR

Posted on May 31, 2011 by admin

I spent this afternoon at the Bethlehem Cemetery. Officially known as the Bethlehem Cemetery Association, it was established 140+ years ago on 30 acres in the town of Bethlehem (Delmar), NY. Only about 3/4 mile from my (northern) home, I took at walk there to see if there were some interesting photo opportunities. Indeed there were!

Although it was HOT (90 in the sun), the shade was pleasant. As the sun began to get lower in the sky, there were some interesting shadow plays with the headstones and the trees. I used my Canon 300D converted to IR + the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens.

I tried post-processing using Photoshop CS5 and created an action to do the red-blue color swap in the color mixer. Then I did a bit of exposure correction in levels and curves. The results were OK. The sky was blue but I did not especially care for the effect. My camera was converted to almost completely eliminate visible light so there is little opportunity for the so-called “faux colors” of UV filters letting in less than 720nm of light.

So, I went back to working in Lightroom where exposure and other elements were adjusted as I would with any other photo. I then brought the images into Nik Silver Effects Pro and applied my personal B&W preset as a starting point. Most of the time, the effect was fine.

I did experiment with getting the sky a bit more dramatic in some of the photos using the “U-point” technology of the Nik software. In the second of these two images, I then applied the Nik Color Effects Pro tonal contrast filter to bring out details. I love the effect of the IR with the backlighting of the leaves in the tree. It is a great foreground element and nicely frames the subject of the photo.

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IR in B&W

Posted on May 30, 2011 by admin

Here is another infrared image taken of some small palms in my backyard. The original was taken as a jpg and converted to black and white with Nik Silver Effects Pro.

I printed the finished image on RedRiver Paper’s Polar Perl Metallic paper. I got outstanding results. While the photo looks great on RR UltraPolar Glossy paper, the metallic paper really brings out the luster and details. I final found a good use for this paper. I am still trying to evaluate whether to take images in jpg or RAW.

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Infrared Photography

Posted on May 27, 2011 by admin

On the Boulevard

The images in this post were taken with my newly converted infrared camera. I sent my ancient Canon 300D (Digital Rebel) away to LifePixel to get it converted to infrared.

I chose the standard filter conversion which is equivalent to the classic Hoya R72 (a glass filter that is used in front of the lens of a non-converted camera). The resulting camera surgery results in very little visible light getting through to the sensor. The image straight out of the camera produces a redish tone, especially in the blues (like the sky). It can be converted in the Photoshop channels mixer so that the red channel is swapped for the blue. This produces a blue sky.

House on Kenwood Ave.

However, conversion to black and white produces a rich black sky and white foliage (all green becomes white in IR). There are a number of ways to do the conversion to black and white and I have been experimenting with a few. So far, I have discovered that I can get a fine image by using Silver Effects Pro. But first taking the photo into Photoshop and using levels and curves and then back into Lightroom for the Silver Effects conversion often works best.

Sometimes, I run Color Effects Pro on the image using the Pro Contrast filter. Other images do well with a touch of Topaz Adjust (the filter depends on the subject). I will be experimenting more and write about the results here.

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Space Coast

Posted on May 18, 2011 by admin

Unveiling of the Stamps

We recently returned from a visit to the Kennedy Space Center and had the privilege of meeting the oldest daughter of the late astronaut Alan Shepard. She and her extended family attended the first day issue of a stamp honoring her dad’ s 5oth anniversary as the first American to orbit the earth.

Present for the event was Scott Carpenter, one of the original Mercury seven astronauts and the second American to orbit the earth. Mr. Carpenter is on the right and the US postal official is on the left. The event also honored the Mercury Messenger space ship and satellite. We got Ms. Carpenter’s autograph as well as the Mercury Messenger mission manger on our first day covers.

Shuttle Endeavor

We toured the Space Center and were lucky to get a photo of the space shuttle Endeavor on the launch pad prior to its launch on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the gantry was around the shuttle and we could only get a picture of the booster rockets.

This was Endeavor’ last mission and Rep. Gabby Giffords was on hand to see her husband and astronaut Mark Kelly as Endeavor’s commander liftoff on May 16.

Fantastic!

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