Foto Friday - Bug Lighthouse

Foto Friday - Bug Lighthouse/Hiatus

Hell everyone.

This week's Photo is one that I captured in the cold weather yesterday with my colleague Bob Bicknell (www.robertbicknellphoto.com). It was about 30 degrees throughout our travels, but being on the coast line, the wind made it feel much colder. This is a shot of Bug Lighthouse in South Portland Maine. One of the many lighthouses that we captured on our Lighthouse Tour of the Maine Coast.

For the Technology Geeks, this was a relative straight forward shot. I captured a three shot HDR (High Dynamic Range) with the base shot at 1/250s, F8.0, ISO100, and at 36mm (24-70 Sony Lens). The shots were blended in Lightroom, Right Click -> Photo Merge -> HDR. Minor adjustments and the shot was complete and ready to post.

As you see in the title of this post, I am planning to take a Hiatus from my Foto Friday duties. Not sure when I will re-start, but I will keep you posted. Your feedback and input to my postings has really been enjoyable and greatly appreciated!

Dennis

www.drfineart.com

www.instagram.com/drfineart

Foto Friday - Kousa Dogwood

Foto Friday - Kousa Dogwood

Hello everyone.

Today's photo is a Focus Stacked Panorama of a `Kousa Dogwood Branch that I may have cut off of the tree in my front yard when my wife wasn't home. There are no photos or video of the "act" actually happening, and it is still under investigation.

For the Technology Geeks, the final photo was shot in two halves. Each half was a 9 shot Focus Stacked combination, and then combined using Photomerge in Photoshop. All shots were captured at 1/200s (sync speed of the two strobes), F16, ISO 200, with my Nikon 60mm F2.8 Micro Lens. Each of the 9 shots were Focus Stacked in Helicon Focus, and the two halves combined in Photoshop using the Photomerge command. Also if you pay close attention, there were a few flowers missing on the right side of the brach, so a couple were "cloned" into place for the final artistic panorama I was trying to create.

Hope you enjoy!

Dennis

www.drfineart.com

www.instagram.com/drfineart

Foto Friday - Making a Christmas Card

Foto Friday - Making a Christmas Card

Hello everyone!

Today's Foto Friday is how I took the second picture shown here and turned it into our Christmas Card. The original shot was taken in the Acton Arboretum, of which I placed a wreath on it that I took from home. After some work and doctoring, I ended up with the final Christmas Card cover.

For the Technology Geeks, the original shot was captured as a three shot HDR in order to capture the entire dynamic range. The base shot was 1/400s, F4.0, ISO 100, 32mm (24-70mm Sony Lens). Each shot was two stops apart and combined in Lightroom. After that the photo was taken into Photoshop, straightened, snow cleaned up (removed my own foot prints), and readied to be Christmas-ized. I then ran Nik Filters Color Efex Pro4, and the Oil Paint Filter in Photoshop. After that I added a Snow Flake Frame, two Snow Flake Overlays, and then added the text. After closer inspection my wife noticed the original shot did not have snow atop the wreath it, as did the rest of the bench. So, a snow cap was added and finalized.

Hope yo enjoy, and Merry Christmas to you and your Families!

Dennis

www.drfineart.com

www.instagram.com/drfineart

Foto Friday - O'Hanlon's Bar

Foto Friday - O'Hanlon's Bar in NYC

Hello everyone.

Today's shot is one that I captured while we were walking around in New York City. I've posted the Black and White processed photo, along with the original capture. Obviously todays's shot is all about the processing of a bland photo to a shot that possibly could go into your portfolio.

For the Technology Geeks, the original shot was captured at 1/320s, F7.1, ISO 640, and at 24mm. Once I completed the initial adjustments in Lightroom, including Transform (to straighten it up), I then started the process of re-lighting the photo. In Lightroom I brought the Exposure down by -2.25 stops, and added a dark vignette around the edges. I then started to re-light the picture using the "Radial Filter" in Lightroom. Each Radial Filter was adjusted to +2 stops on the exposure slider, and the Temp slider was moved to +80 (more of a yellow hue). I added about 90 Radial filters to the base photo until I was happy with the look and results. I then ran a Nik Filter, Silver Efex Pro 2 on the shot to turn it into a B&W. After that I ran another Nik Filter, Color Efex Pro 4 that added Detail Extractor and Pro Contrast to finish the look I was after.

Hope you enjoy!

Dennis

www.drfineart.com

www.instagram.com/drfineart

Foto Friday - Christmas Time on Beacon Hill

Foto Friday - Christmas Time on Beacon Hill

Hello everyone!

Today's photo is one that I captured during an evening stroll through Beacon Hill. This is one of Rouvalis Flower Shop all decked out for the Christmas season.

For the Technology Geeks, this was a three shot HDR due to the wide dynamic range of the scene. The base shot was captured on a tripod at 0.8s, F5.0, ISO 400, and at 28mm (16-35 Sony Lens). Once the three HDR shots were merged in Lightroom, the shot was brought into Photoshop where a Nik Color Efex Filter was applied, and then the shot was dodged and burned using a 50% Grey Layer.

Hope you enjoy!

Dennis

www.drfineart.com

www.instagram.com/drfineart