Everglades National Park Workshop...

Have you visited Florida's Everglade's National Park? Winter provides a wonderful opportunity to photograph a wide variety of bird species, including Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Anhinga, Glossy Ibis, Cormorants, White Ibis, Black-Crowned Night Herons, and many more animals including alligators. The Everglades boasts some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country, perfect for the photographer in search of unique imagery.

I'm pleased to announce an upcoming workshop in Florida's exquisite Everglades National Park, January 21 & 22, 2012 - mark your calendar! I'll be co-leading the workshop with professional photographer and expert guide Maxis Gamez. This weekend workshop has a maximum of 12 participants for personalized instruction and attention. You'll come away with unforgettable images!

Navigating the Everglades and finding the top locations to photograph is key to a successful photographic excursion to the park. Maxis Gamez is an experienced Everglades guide, and artistic bird photographer, getting you to the most active locations at the right time of day. Click here to check out Maxis' informative website to see how he creates elegant photographs of birds and landscapes.

Along with bird photography, you will learn how to create dramatic story-telling images through the art and technique of HDR (High Dynamic Range) imagery. By combining a variety of exposures through HDR processing software, you can create high impact images with exceptional dynamic range. I'll cover techniques for combining HDR images, single image HDR, and also artistic enhancements with plug-ins and filters.

Interested in participating in the Everglades workshop for phenomenal photographic opportunities?  Click here for more information. I hope to see you in January! ~ Deb 

PS... If you have an interest in infrared, I'll have a few infrared cameras on hand! Here's a link to my book Digital Infrared Photography on Amazon. I also teach infrared online at BetterPhoto.com.

Moody Blues - Vancouver HDR...

Vancouver is beautiful rain or shine. With this photo, a looming storm creates dynamic clouds, and a great opportunity for HDR photography. For this image, I used a Nikon 28-300mm lens with a Feisol CT-3442 tripod, both of which are perfect for travel. Nik HDR Efex Pro was used to combine the various exposures. I started with the Realistic (Strong) preset, and modifed the sliders to suit the image. I like that the water is silky smooth in areas and wind textured in other areas, yet the boats are (luckily) sharp. Vancouver is a wonderful location for photography. Aside from a few overenthusiastic hockey fans, it's a very mellow place! Have fun shooting! ~ Deb

Ford Racing... HDR fun...

Classic cars can be a lot of fun to photograph, even under the hood like this cool Ford racer! The engine detail has highly reflective chrome parts, and wonderful vintage colors. This is an HDR image merged with Photomatix, with just the needed exposures merged to bring out the detail and color in the image. The gas station and classic cars in the background are actually painted on the inside of the hood, which makes for a playful composition. The finishing touch is a edge treatment modified from one of the presets in OnOne Photoframe, made to resemble engine lube or grease. I admit I'm not an expert on that end of an engine, I only know the gas pedal part! You can use coupon code debsandidge for anything OnOne. Enjoy taking pictures! ~ Deb

Animal Cracker box, graffiti style...

In the photographic world, there is an expression that goes something like "shoot it when you see it" which is very true. What you see at the moment, may not be there when you get back. This applies to most every type of subject, landscapes, cityscapes, street photography and even these trains with this fantastic "animal cracker box" urban art painting. I loved animal crackers in those little boxes when I was little! I was glad to get a few shots before the train moved on.

To photograph the trains, I made several exposures and merged them to HDR using Photomatix. The area I was shooting was dark in places, and this helped create a better balanced overall exposure. I try to use a variety of techniques and lenses with a good subject. This 8mm Sigma circular fisheye lens created an interesting viewpoint.  Photo tip: Always carry a camera! Have fun shooting! ~ Deb

Graffiti art - Creative, colorful, and very cool...

  

One of my graffiti artist friends mentioned how artists take on new names, and dubbed me "Photo-graff-er" which I rather like! Urban art is definitely one of my favorite subjects to photograph. I'm fascinated with the color and creativity that goes into a painting. The art is ever changing, and a location is never the same twice. This first wall belongs to artist Dolla Lama, one very cool and creative dude!

This wall is incredible. The gradient from red to yellow, vivid purple stencil work, and the anthropomorphic tree are all magnificent! The scale of the art is also makes it impressive, a small photo can't capture how it feels to see it. I'm compelled to photograph graffiti/urban art as walls are painted over frequently, the art I like might not be there when I return.

I couldn't leave this location without putting together a few images for HDR. The graffiti walls were photographed early in the afternoon. HDR allowed a little leeway for creating a balanced exposure in the bright sun. Nik HDR Efex Pro was used to merge the images to HDR. To photograph this location, I used a Nikon 14-24mm wide angle lens, and 24-70mm zoom lens. Gotta be well rounded, I also used my iPhone, and a cool app called Pro HDR.

Paint isn't isolated to the just the walls, the pavement has very interesting artwork as well! So how does a graffiti wall come together? With a lot of inspiration, creativity, and hard work... see the mini time-lapse below. Have fun shooting! ~ Deb

St. Augustine's Birding & Photo Fest... fun at night!

We had beautiful weather last week in St. Augustine for Florida's Birding & Fest. Lots of opportunities to photograph birds, landscapes, and cityscapes at twilight like the ones we did for my two night photography workshops. We worked through some rain issues the first night, however everything turned out great! Special thanks to my wingman Lewis Kemper who helped with both night workshops. This gave our Canon and our Nikon attendees, equal attention! We hope to do nighttime workshops again next year, and we have some great ideas for even more creative fun!

Here, both churches and towers light up the night sky during twilight, when the light is most balanced and beautiful. Dialing in a white balance setting of 4000K set the cool blue tones. We had fun exploring downtown St. Augustine for fun places to shoot. We even did a little light painting at the fountain outside of the Flagler College.

Nothing too fancy here, just the view outside my hotel window at dawn. It was a treat to be able to watch the sky change by the minute. I actually saw three meteors in St. Augustine during the festival, I think that means good luck for me! Do I have three wishes pending? Or do I have to make them right away...

A fisheye view from inside Flagler College at night. A Sigma 8mm circular fisheye on a full frame Nikon D3s camera creates a perfectly round version of the subject looking straight up. Lots of fascinating detail throughout the buildings, magnificent to take in. I like this kaleidoscope effect! One of the workshop attendees has the same lens, and came away his own version of this elegant architecture. This is also an HDR image, which I covered in my HDR presentation at the festival, along with presentations on infrared photography, and another on creativity with your camera and Photoshop.  

It was great to catch up with everyone at the event, and meet new people, lots of fun! The keynote speaker was Arthur Morris who gave a stunning presentation on birds and his travels throughout the years, so very inspiring! There was a fantastic group of presenters with a wide variety of topics covered, it's not just birds! Hope to see you at Florida's Birding & Photo Fest next year! ~ Deb

A lovely old church in Trinidad, Cuba

This beautiful old church is one of my favorite places to photograph in Trinidad, Cuba. It's fascinating from many angles, aged to perfection, and has a lot of history and character. I could not decide which version I liked best, the HDR image above, or the infrared version below, so I uploaded both! I hope everyone has a wonderful day today! Happy Easter! ~ Deb

Venice at Twilight...

Many photographers pack up their gear right after sunset, however the most magical time to make pictures can be twilight! Patience is key as the sky slowly takes on a vivid shade of blue. Everything looks beautiful during twilight, subject matter can be anything from architecture, to trees, to mountains, nothing is off limits! 

Here, I photographed Venice during a very cold and wintery evening. The lights warm up the scene and the pink glow on the background buildings creates a more inviting picture. This image was also photographed in HDR for more dynamic range in the composition, and a finishing touch of Topaz Labs Simplify added a slight painterly touch. Twilight is a visual treat that you can capture with your camera! You'll come away with very expressive photographs.

Tips for shooting at twilight...

• Tripod, cable release or camera self timer, low ISO
• Small aperture for starburst effect 
• Long exposure to capture streaks of light from passing cars
• HDR for more dynamic range in the scene (image composites)
• Shoot cityscapes during the week for the most office lights and car traffic

I hope to see you at one of my night photography workshops at Florida's Birding & Photo Fest in St. Augustine next week! I'll also be covering infrared photography, creativity with your camera, and HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. St. Augustine is a beautiful historic city with a lot to photograph. Plus, they have the best seafood ever! I hope to see you there! ~Deb

How to create a textured look with Topaz Clean...

Topaz Clean can create very cool textured effects with an image! The photo above is a composite of an HDR image of the warbird with a fisheye lens, combined with a photo of clouds. To add a textured look, I used Topaz Clean, which added the wavy bendy detail throughout the image without the need for a separate texture layer and blend mode. Try Curly Smooth, which is one of my favorite presets! 

In case you missed it, here is a link to my webinar on Creating an HDR look with a single image! Certain subjects present a real challenge with HDR, especially people. Using a single image for an HDR look is often an easy solution. The webinar was a lot of fun to do, and I hope you enjoy it!  If you like classic cars, you are in luck! Classic cars are a passion of mine, and I have a couple of ideas you may be interested in. Thanks to those who signed on, I appreciate it very much! Try a little creativity with with your image, and feel free to use coupon code DEBORAHSANDIDGE for everything Topaz!

Create an HDR look with Topaz Labs Spicify...

Cuban Colonial architecture is wonderfully textured and colorful!  There's a lot of detail in the scrollwork and interest in the old signs. The paint is worn and aged to absolute perfection, creating great photo opportunities everywhere you look!

One of my favorite filters is Topaz Labs Spicify, as it can make a dramatic difference with the overall look of an image. This filter enhances detail, color and exposure and can create a dimensional HDR look with a single image. The effect of Spicify looks differently with each photo. For a more detailed appearance, it's often just the finishing touch that an image needs.

Here's a timesaving tip to intensify the effect. After using Spicify (or another filter), Photoshop can automatically run the filter again for stronger results. Press Ctrl/Cmd F, or choose Topaz Adjust at the very top of the Filter menu. Adjust the opacity of the filter layer to suit your image.

I hope you will join me for my webinar on creating an HDR look with Topaz Adjust! Here's a link... Topaz Adjust Webinar.  You can use coupon code DEBORAHSANDIDGE for everything Topaz. Make great pictures! ~ Deb

HDR - Florence, Italy after the rain...

Night is the perfect time for HDR photography. The dynamic range in the scene is often too great for the camera to record in a single exposure what we can see with our eyes.. Detail can be lost in both the highlight and shadow areas, making a balanced exposure tricky! This scene was photographed in Florence after a rain, which made the cobblestone roads shimmer with light. Nik HDR Efex Pro worked beautifully to combine the images to HDR, creating a single image that reflected more of what I saw when I made the picture. With HDR, you are the artist! You can create an image that is illustrative, or photorealistic, or somewhere in between! I am very much looking forward to my Nik HDR Efex Pro webinar this Wednesday at 5pm Eastern Time (2pm Pacific). I hope you will be there! Make great pictures... ~ Deb

Black and White, or Color? HDR in Downtown Orlando...

Black and white photography has a timeless appeal that can create an emotional response that's different from color. Light, shadow, pattern, texture, and tonality work beautifully together to create an expressive image independent from the connotations color. Black and white can romanticize an image, look at the wonderful work of wedding photographers! Much of the appeal for me started with film photography, and making my own prints, messy but a lot of fun! This was taken in downtown Orlando at twilight as a three shot HDR merged in HDR Efex Pro. The image was converted to black and white with Nik Silver Efex Pro which can create an elegant traditional film look. Try it and see! You can use my coupon code for a discount for everything Nik! Have fun in the digital darkroom! ~ Deb

Creativity with Nik HDR Efex Pro - Upcoming Webinar

Please join me for an exciting webinar on February 16th at 5:00pm EST with Nik Software: Creativity with Nik HDR Efex Pro! I'll be sharing tips and techniques to create inspirational HDR images through multiple and single image HDR processing with landscapes, cityscapes, and more!

The art and technique of HDR allows the photographer to create dramatic story-telling images. From illustrative to photorealistic, you are the artist when it comes to how you wish your HDR image to be defined!

The process of shooting a scene and merging the images through HDR Efex Pro is easily accomplished, revealing incredible detail, color, and definition throughout the highlight, mid-tone, and shadow areas. One of the great qualities of Nik HDR Efex Pro is the ability to use control points to make targeted adjustments to select areas. This is a huge plus for the photographer working with HDR images. 

This is the first in a new series with BetterPhoto.com and Nik Software! I hope you'll join me to see how easy it is for the novice to the professional to easily create beautiful HDR images.  You can download a 15 day free trial from Nik Software, and use coupon code DSANDIDGE for anything Nik. Follow this link to sign up! Hope you can join me! ~ Deb

Cafe in Rome - Create a dreamlike quality with an HDR Image...

For a dreamlike quality evocative of a memory, try using a vignette blur around your image.  The softness creates a nostalgic feeling, and taking away some of the detail makes the image a little more artistic.  The contrasting sharpness and softness adds a little interest and mystery to the composition.

The original image is a 3 exposure HDR 0, -2, +2 processed through Nik HDR Efex Pro. When I came across the scene, I had a general idea of the direction I wanted to take the image, emphasizing the wonderful texture, color and detail of this vintage Italian cafe. The subject often determines how the image might be processed, photorealistic, artistic or somewhere in between. The presets in Nik HDR Efex Pro gives the photographer a variety of starting points and directions to work with. You can experiment with a few ideas without taking up a lot of time. Have fun shooting and try something different!

Bicycles in Rome... HDR with Nik HDR Efex Pro

The city of Rome is a most exciting place! The cars are mostly small, and so are the motorcycles, actually scooters. I saw one Harley Davidson, and a ton of Vespa's.  I believe people live there by divine intervention. I have lived my entire life without ever getting close to getting hit by a car, but count three times in Rome including a police car while I was in the crosswalk!  I'm not counting the scrapings, and a few near hits (misses?) in taxi's, but, I lived to write about it.  :-) 

There are a lot of bicycles too, including this pair that I photographed in an alley. What attracted me to the composition was the texture of the stone and stucco, and the trio of posters above the bikes. It rained a lot in Italy, creating a look that the world was saturated with color. The bicycles were the perfect pairing for an HDR image. I made a series of three exposures using a Nikon D3s and 24-70mm lens, which is one of my favorites. 

Tips for HDR: Use a tripod, and remote release which is helpful for low light levels to prevent camera shake when pressing the shutter. Check the histogram to make sure there is detail in the exposure for highlights, and also the image for the shadows. You may only need to make three exposures in most cases, however in contrasty situations you may need to make additional exposures. Nik HDR Efex Pro worked beautifully to bring out the color and detail throughout the image. The presets are a great springboard to customize your image, and you can fine tune and save your settings to customize your HDR image. Have fun shooting!

#HDR at Twilight, extending our HDR workshop at Naturescapes...

The quaint town of Socorro, New Mexico is a wonderful place to visit, and it's very close to the most beautiful Bosque del Apache where Naturescapes was held. Greg Downing, Tim Grey and myself led several workshops and presentations in this picturesque part of the country.

My creative photographer students started out our HDR workshop with an interesting caboose and railway, and we ended up extending our time into twilight with a few HDR photos of the historic area, much fun! One of the students had a tilt shift lens and was able to make very cool photos during the workshop. Several used fisheyes, one of my favorite lenses! Twilight is a wonderful time to make expressive photographs. The magic light of the "blue hour" lasts only for a short time. For HDR and/or twilight photography, use a remote release, tripod and low ISO. HDR allows the photographer to capture the entire dynamic range of the scene, and twilight provides the the vivid blue sky. A small aperture provides the starburst effect. This is affectionately called the "Tim Grey" effect by everyone at Naturescapes after Tim's informative and fun presentation!  Have fun shooting! ~ Deb

HDR in Socorro, NM - Maximize your opportunities with a great subject!

I just finished up teaching at Naturescapes with Greg Downing and Tim Grey in beautiful Bosque del Apache in New Mexico. We stayed in a cool little city called Socorro that has a couple of interesting places to photograph -- especially in HDR!  This ended up to be one of the locations that I took my HDR workshop photographers to. We had a lot of fun exploring this colorfully painted and aged-to-perfection caboose. We photographed from the wide view, to the details and came away with a lot of interesting and creative interpretations of this location, including really fun fisheye views. One of the participants had a tilt shift lens which worked beautifully with the uneven terrain around the caboose. It was great to see what everyone came up with! Our HDR workshop segued into a twilight workshop with a vivid blue sky and twinkling lights of of the downtown historic area. We finished the evening with a wonderful dinner among friends!

This HDR image was processed using Nik HDR Efex Pro, the new kid on the block for HDR that is a hit with the Naturescapes group!  You can use code DSANDIDGE for everything Nik! Put Naturescapes on your workshop must attend list and have fun shooting! ~ Deb

#HDR Vintage Style with Nik HDR Efex Pro...

I've been putting the last minute touches on my HDR presentation for Naturescapes in New Mexico this weekend. I can't wait to get to Bosque del Apache, my first trip! I'm just as excited to be able to talk about Nik HDR Efex Pro - the "new kid on the block" for HDR processing. This will be a great opportunity to share photos, ideas, and some of the things I've learned along the way. I love talking with other photographers, so much energy, enthusiasm, and a wonderful exchange of information.

There are a couple of interesting presets that look "vintage" and work well for a nostalgic look. This busy but fun composition seemed just right for an "old time" look starting with one of my favorite presets, "Granny's Attic." The technique for using Nik HDR Efex Pro for HDR processing will be familiar to those who use everything Nik. Global adjustments, followed by selective adjustments using U Point technology, and you can add finishing touches with levels, curves, and even add a vignette.

Try Nik HDR Efex Pro with single image processing, very cool! You can save on anything Nik with coupon code DSANDIDGE. Have fun shooting! ~ Deb

Parts Dept... #HDR, Wide angle lenses and Textures...

Wide angle lenses work beautifully for many compositions, including this HDR image photographed in the "Parts Dept" of this vintage auto store. A Nikon14-24mm lens takes in all the interesting features in the scene, while HDR enhanced the details, color and exposure, down to the last lightbulb. It's like opening a present to see the result of images processed for HDR!

I also like to add textures to my images, such as the texture in the wide angle HDR photo below. Texture adds depth and dimension, giving an image more character. One of my favorite textures was photographed in Charleston, SC - an aged cracked and peeling painted wall that has wonderful golden tones. You can experiment with blend modes and a texture layer. With the Move tool active, hold down the shift key and press the plus or minus key to scroll through the various blend modes and see the effect each has on your image.

Sounds like fun? Perfect! Join me and a great group of students from around the world for Photoshop - Enhancing Images & Creating Works of Art starting Wednesday December 8th. I can't wait to get started, we cover everything creative in my online course at BetterPhoto, and the best thing is, you can learn in your pajamas. My other course, Infrared Photography also starts December 8th and will be a lot of fun too. Interested in Vintage camera and film effects? Coming soon... I hope to see you in class! ~ Deb

PS - Students and workshop attendees, email me for a 20% discount on Photomatix, and for anything Nik Software using coupon code DSANDIDGE.

#HDR Times Square at night - fun with a fisheye...

I'm a big fan of the super wide view one gets by using a fisheye lens. This scene was photographed with a Nikon 16mm fisheye lens, which by tilting, created the distortion of the architecture. This lens pulls everything together in an interesting way. Technically, if the lens is held level, you get an ultra-wide view without the bendy look. Perfection can be obtained with a tilt shift lens, but this is kind of fun, don't you think? I'd like to go back and photograph this scene with a tilt shift lens just to be able to create a different look, on my list for next time!

Another way to create a different look is to convert an image to black and white. This changes the dynamics a bit. Instead of color, other elements in the composition become more important such as texture, pattern, light, shadow and contrast. Black and white has a nostalgic and timeless look, think Ansel Adams. I used Nik Silver Efex Pro to convert this image to black and white. However, if you want to have a little more fun, add a layer mask and brush back in some of the color in the image. This has a lot of impact if you have a singular subject to "color" in the composition, but it works well for general eye popping results too!

If you want to go for complete vintage, try a sepia look. You can do this right in Nik Silver Efex Pro using one of the Stylizing Toning presets. This is also super simple to do in Photoshop. Create a Hue Saturation adjustment layer. Check Colorize, and change the Saturation to 12 and the Hue to 36. Play with those numbers to suit your image. This Times Square photo is an HDR image created with Nik HDR Efex Pro, which allowed detail to be retained in both the highlight and shadows areas of this very high contrast composition. Can't wait to get back to NYC! ~ Deb