Banff – F’n Beautiful
- At June 04, 2014
- By Jay
- In Black & White, Landscape
0
I had the good fortune to visit beautiful Banff, Alberta a few weeks ago but only now am loading my favorite shots from the trip. It’s been years since I have been there and, frankly, little has changed. The Rockies are still pretty damn rocky.
Read More»Technique: Noise Reduction Using… Noise?
- At April 07, 2014
- By Jay
- In Post-Processing, Technique, Tutorial
- 0
Digital camera and sensor manufacturers have made great strides over recent years in reducing image noise. Improved light gathering efficiency and processing has yielded dramatic improvements in high ISO performance to the point where one can use ISO 1600 and below with impunity, and generally ISO 3200 to 6400 with relatively little discomfort. In cases of the pro bodies and full frame sensors you can comfortably shoot in low light at insane levels from ISO 12,800 to 25,600 and expect good results (though you’ll pay a hefty price for this ability in the Nikon D4/D4s and Canon 1Dx). So why on earth would you want to add noise to an image in post? And, more paradoxically, use “artificial” noise to reduce image noise? Having been amazed by this technique for some time and recently working on new images/reprocessing old ones where it came into play it struck me as timely to post another quick tutorial.
Read More»Let There Be Light
- At February 22, 2014
- By Jay
- In Architecture, HDR
- 0
Early morning game today, first of the playoffs. At an out of town rink that I detest because it’s a) freaking freezing, and b) has craptastic light (slow and dim). I was glad to see the latter of those issues has been resolved as of late. Brand new, stable lighting that’s a good 2/3rds of a stop brighter than most of the other arenas I shoot. What I’ve always liked about this one, however, is the architecture. The ceiling is amazing. And now with that new blazing path of lights even better. I struggled between this wide crop and the original which reinforced that perspective of lighting with the reflection off the ice. Ended up going wide as just too much empty space otherwise.
Bracketed exposure set merged to a 32-bit HDR TIFF in Photoshop and then processed back in Lightroom with some final seasoning back in Photoshop (my vastly preferred HDR workflow compared to dedicated software like Photomatix or HDR Efex Pro).
All lighting aside, it didn’t help my fingers. Which I couldn’t feel by the end of the game.
Mexican Blues… And Yellows
- At February 15, 2014
- By Jay
- In Abstract, Architecture, Color
- 0
Photographically speaking I’m a sucker for a) color contrasts, b) interesting graphic forms, and c) negative space. If one or more of these fall into my line of sight I’ll generally stop and shoot or curse myself for not having a camera handy. Such was the case with the latter while exploring the beautiful RIU Santa Fe in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Read More»The Agony of Defeat
- At February 02, 2014
- By Jay
- In Action & Sports, Black & White
- 0
Shot my daughter’s ringette game yesterday. Pretty brutal affair (so far as 12-year old girl’s ringette is concerned) and equally brutal loss. Simple frame of our substitute goalie forlornly looking up at the final score when the buzzer rang. Character 1, Pride 0.
