Tag Archives: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

ART, Blog, Kansas, Lightroom 5, photography, Travel, work

Revisit and Revive the Old

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_DSC9749

Need something to do but want to be productive?  Revisit your old files and take a fresh look at them.  Perhaps you missed an interesting image or, it just wasn’t edited right. Here are three images that I shot in 2012 back in Kansas, where I grew up.  _DSC9612 This one I particularly like.  I missed originally that it was sitting in a pocket of light shining through the trees.  Once I started working on the file I also saw the subtle pink and magenta tone sitting in the low laying clouds.  _DSC9604I was stoked.  I’ve shot thousands of images from Kansas over the years and many views get a repeated look.  Different times of the year, different times of the day.  You never know where that special light will occur, or if it’s already in your images.  Revisit….

 

My website:  www.zwink.com  Techy stuff:  post production in Adobe Lightroom 5.

Business, camera phone, career, Travel

So What’s your hurry pt2?

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One of my regular gigs (hate that word) is shooting commercial real estate.  It doesn’t excite me but I’m good at it, my clients appreciate my ability to make their multi-million dollar listing look good.  I do hope it helps them sell quicker.  But this not about them.  It’s about opportunity, photo ops.

Earlier in my career when working out of town I’d do the project and then head back home.  Why the hurry?  All these locations offered opportunity, the chance to improve my skills, to learn about the area I was in, to go home with a story.  So, as one of my mentors preached to me I slowed down.  Now after a shoot I like to explore.  Maybe I find something, maybe I don’t.  Then I look one last time at my project.  The change in the light and shadows has often made better images.

I like to shoot, whether for my client or myself.

Techy stuff:  all image with the Apple iPhone 6+.  Processed in Snapseed.

Above Location:  Battery Spencer.  From 1897 until 1943, Battery Spencer was a cold, isolated, and vital military outpost protecting the Golden Gate Bridge and SF. Several buildings and placements for the large cannons that used to stand guard on the hill remain.  It offers one of the best views of the bridge and SF but when we went it was fogged in….. we’ll just have to go back.

Travel

Aloha and Mahalo

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Kauai_JDZ_043ALOHA:

Everyone should have their own special place.  Even though Patti and I have done a fair amount of traveling Kauai is ours.  It is where we go to refresh our bodies, physically and mentally.  During the year we get caught up in the rat race, the day to day reality.  Pressure to perform, meet goals and expectations slowly build up and affect who we are.  Time for a break.  You don’t need to run off to Hawaii, but we do.

MAHALO:

Being on the island helps us refocus, relax and regain clarity.  There is a feeling of the beauty that nature is sharing through the lush tropical landscape, cascading waterfalls, the myriad of hidden beaches and the power of nature as the north swell arrives increasing the waves from 1-3 feet to often over 10 feet.  Kauai has been our home away from home for over twenty year.  We always find or have a new experience.  I return to San Diego more centered ready to share my refreshed vision.  Mahalo Kauai.

Kauai_JDZ_002 Kauai_JDZ_065  Kauai_JDZ_023Kauai_JDZ_013

techy stuff:  Nikon D810 camera with a 14-24, 24-70 and a 70-200 lens with a 1.4 convertor.  Images processed in Adobe Lightroom 5.

ART, camera phone, career, Iphone 5, location, location shoot, music, photography, San Diego, Snapseed, Travel, work

On The Road…Again

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I’m no expert but it appears the economy is improving.  The first two months of 2014 were the busiest I’ve ever had.  I know it’s a small sample to base the year on but other photographers have told me they’re off to a good start also.  If photographers are working, businesses are marketing and looking to growth.  That’s what we do, we help our client market, sell and grow their business.

I spent a lot of the month on the road.  Several trips to Orange County surrounded a couple San Diego projects and then I went to the Bay Area for a couple shoots up there.  After a quick respite back home and starting a new local project, I went to Alaska for a quick shoot.  I know, why send a San Diego photographer there, it’s because my client trusts me to get what they need.  Maybe an idea for a future blog.

Well I need to wrap this up.  I have another couple projects in Orange County and LA this week.  I hope everyone else is busy.

About my image gallery:  All images shot with my iPhone while traveling.  Post was in Snapseed.

ART, career, family, Kansas, Lightroom 5, location shoot, photography, Travel

Been there, Done that?????

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_JDZ8515A

Have you?  Have you been to that place more that once where you start to shoot the same photos the same way?  STOP……. don’t go into autopilot.  You know what works, now look for something different.  Whether a different angle, different lens, different time of day or a new technique, explore it.  Dare to be different, that how you become better.  Don’t go home with the same or similar images.  STIMULATE YOUR VISION!!!

Techy stuff:  camera-Nikon D800 and Nikon D600.  Lenses Nikkor 14-24 and 70-200.  Processed in Adobe Lightroom 5.  Locaton, Macksville, Kansas, population aprox. 500.

More of my work:  http://zwink.com

career, Lightroom 3, location shoot, photography, San Diego

Image taker or maker

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Which are you?  I am a Image Maker.  Even with my iPhone (yes I admit I have and use one) I think before I hit the shutter.  I think that is the difference.  Good Image Makers, aka photographers and videographers think and don’t just react to a scene, situation or event.  Another good qualifier is to look at a body of images and see if they make sense.  Yes, make sense, do they tell  the story or stimulate a response?  So…… even if you’re an amateur next time, look and compose before you take that picture.  Happy shooting…

Techy stuff:  All images shot at Sunset at Mission Beach, Ca. with a Nikon D3 and processed in LightRoom3.

career, Lightroom 4, location shoot, photography, San Diego, Sports

I used to shoot Sports

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I am an architectural photographer who also does corporate and commercial work.  I used to shoot sports but due to personal reasons have stayed away from the genre.  BUT……. the more things change…

My friend Stan Liu, an accomplished sports photog himself generously offer me a credential to go shoot the San Diego State v. UNLV football game.  What a great time.  The game was sloppy but being able to capture athletes in an intense competition was exhilarating and made me remember why I had chosen that lifestyle for so long.  If only I could have figured out how to make money doing it.  Thanks Stan.

Techy notes:  Shot with a Nikon D700 with a booster for the motor, Nikkor 400 f2.8 lens and images processed in Adobe Lightroom 4.

Websites: http://www.zwink.com and my archived sports and editorial site:  http://bigstudioz.com

Lightroom 3, location shoot, photography, Travel

Don’t throw it Away

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  I couldn’t sleep last night.  So, I worked on another blog, decided to look at some old photos and came across these images from a day trip to China many years ago.  I was not very good back then, and the slides showed it.  And to make it worse when we first started scanning slides there was not a lot of info about how to do good scans, let alone to anticipate the need for larger files later.  A couple years ago I would have just closed these files and put them away.  But now with the advent of Adobe Lightroom and the use of some great WOW Presets I was not only able to restore colors but to also use it (LR) to see different renditions of the same files.    While not advocating it as a replacement for creatively looking while shooting I do think it helps open your mind to new ideas.  Now it’s time to get some shut eye……

more of my travel photography can be seen at:  www.zwink.com and wwww.bigstudioz.com

HDR, Lightroom 3, location shoot, photography, Photoshop, San Diego

Not so quick Fix

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  Being a smart shooter is knowing when to ask for help.  I was recently asked to photograph this interior at UCSD for the builder.  The primary use was to enter in a competition.  The big problem was that the location was not going to be finished until the following Thursday, with the deadline that Monday.  Thursday would be too late.  So after a fair amount of negotiating my assistant Abbey and I decided to remove the cardboard off the desktops in the whole auditorium.  After a quick call to my retoucher, Holly of Spitting Images we decided to remove temporarily the plastic off three rows of the chairs.  That would give Holly enough of a sample to clean up the image.  Additionally we shot a section of paneling which she also layered on top of the black wood to complete the retouch portion of the project.  I then lightened the top projection screen and wal la……. image done, ready to send to the client.

As a pro you need to be a problem solver.  When someone say no as the project manager answered when we asked to clear all the plastic we came up with another solution.  Develop and utilize your resources.

Techy stuff:  camera: Nikon D3, lens 14-24, image processing in Lightroom 3, Photomatrix and Photoshop 5.  Additional retouching by the wonderful Holly Nelson-Kramer.

More of my work…… www.zwink.com