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.

Create a blue sky with your infrared image...

Shooting in infrared can transform a scene into something magical and otherworldly! A creative way to alter the look of an infrared image is to create the blue sky effect by "channel swapping" colors. This is very easy to do with the Channel Mixer in Photoshop. Images created with converted cameras using the enhanced (665nm) or super color (590nm) infrared filters work beautifully for this technique. Certain standard R72 type infrared images such as the one above work too. Here's how you do it..

Step 1: Choose the Channel Mixer from the Adjustment Panel.

Step 2: Adjust the source channels, moving the red channel slider from 100% to 0, and increase the blue channel slider from 0 to 100%. (You can type in the values).

Step 3: Change the output channel to blue, and increase the red source channel to 100%.

Step 4: Change the blue source channel to from 100% to 0% to exchange the blue channel for the red.

Save this as a preset so you never have to go through these steps again! Click on the small preset options box next to the preset drop down menu "Save Channel Mixer Preset" (at the top of the channel mixer). I saved my settings as “Blue Sky" for easy reference and a one click adjustment.

You can use a Hue Saturation adjustment layer to enhance the color of your blue sky. Choose the Blue or Cyan Channel and adjust the Hue slider to the desired shade of blue.  Make great pictures! ~ Deb

Nik Radio and Deborah Sandidge talk Infrared...

Recently, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by super host of Nik Radio, Scott Sheppard! It was a lot of fun! We had a wonderful discussion about infrared photography, different filter choices that are available for infrared conversion, camera conversion options, compact vs. dSLR, and about my workflow for infrared images. Scott was interested in my book Digital Infrared Photography, and also about some of the courses I teach at BetterPhoto.com. We also talked about HDR and other fun stuff too! You can listen to the interview right now, it's up and running on iTunes! Click on Pro Talk with Deborah Sandidge.
Have a wonderful weekend! ~ Deb

Infrared Photography with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2...

Infrared photography is a wonderful and creative way to tell a photographic story.The timeless look of black and white photography along with infrared creates a surreal look to an image. Light, shadow, texture, tonality, patterns, become more important in a composition without the connotation of color. There is something very enduring about black and white (and infrared) photography, it remains a constant favorite for both the photographer and the viewer.

The photos above are a few of my favorites from Cuba. They were photographed with a camera that is converted with an R72 type standard infrared filter. With infrared, there is a small amount of visible light that reaches the camera sensor. To create a completely black and white image, I use Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. This gives me the most creativity over how I want to interpret the image in black and white. This software is very intuitive. I can start with a preset that best suits my image, and fine tune it from there. The wonderful part about the workflow is being to make selective adjustments using control points within my image. If I want the sky darker, or clouds brighter, I can add control points for each. If I need more structure and definition in architecture or other areas of an image, I can create it by using a control point. Control points = creativity points! Nik Silver Efex Pro allows me to portray an image in an expressive and artistic way.

Summer is perfect for infrared! I'm teaching infrared to a fantastic group of photographers at BetterPhoto.com. They are doing beautiful work, I'm inspired, and impressed, and this is only the first week of class! Make great pictures! ~ 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

Cemetery in Cienfuegos, Infrared with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2...

I just returned from a two week visit to Cuba. one of my favorite places on the planet thus far! Cuba has several cemeteries with the most wonderful angel statues. I like the gentle waves of clouds in the background that seem to frame the angels. I photographed this scene in infrared which is one of my photographic passions!

Black and white infrared creates a traditional look that has timeless appeal.  My favorite software for black and white conversion is Nik Silver Efex Pro 2,  as it provides many options for fine tuning images.  Infrared photography, and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 are a perfect fit. Black and white allows a photographic story to be told in a unique way, without the connotations of color. Light, shadow, texture and tonality become more important in the composition, and infrared adds to the surreal quality.

Interested in infrared? Please check out my book available at bookstores or Amazon, Digital Infrared Photography, published by Wiley. If you would like to try a beautiful way to convert your images to black and white, download a trial version of Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, DSANDIDGE is your promo code for everything Nik! Have fun shooting! ~ Deb

Hope to see you at the Canadian Camera Conference June 29 - July 3...

I hope to meet you at the Canadian Camera Conference, June 29 - July 3 in London, Ontario! I'll be covering a little bit of everything through my presentations (Creative Techniques with Infrared Photography, and Creative Expression through Photography). Wonderful keynote speakers are Ellen Anon and Nevada Weir! Great field trips and presentations are planned for this event and you can celebrate Canada Day with us! Follow this link for more details... Canadian Camera Conference.

Stroll in the National Museum of Rome...

The National Museum is a wonderful place to visit in Rome. There is much to explore! I liked the woman admiring the artifacts, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to create a black and white interpretation. Black and white imagery has a timeless appeal, and classic traditional look. Converting to B&W can create a more dramatic and expressive image, without the connotations of color. This allows the viewer to take in the wonderful texture, pattern, shape, light, shadow and tonality throughout the image.


Nik Silver Efex Pro is my favorite method of B&W conversion. I use it for my all my infrared photography, and it works perfectly for color images as well. For black and white printing, please check out Digital Silver Imaging. I saw their stunning prints at PDN PhotoPlus Expo in New York. They do beautiful work, and they also convert cameras to infrared! You can use this Deb-IR for infrared camera conversion, and DSANDIDGE for everything Nik. Have fun shooting! ~ Deb

Infrared Photography and the Process of HDR... Exploring a C-47 Vintage Aircraft

One of the many great things about High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is that it's not just limited to color, HDR works beautifully with infrared photography too! The process of HDR brings out extreme detail that isn't always possible with a single exposure. For example, I photographed the engine detail of a C-47 vintage aircraft after the cowling was removed. All the wonderful components of the engine were visible as the engine was being worked on. From my angle, I was able to photograph this warbird using a Nikon 70-200mm lens and capture the amazing clouds in the background. The process of shooting infrared enhanced the clouds and sky, while HDR provided definition for the intricate parts of one of the engines of this magnificent aircraft. If you are interested infrared photography and HDR, please check out my book Digital Infrared Photography Photo Workshop.  Tip for shooting HDR - The dynamic range of the scene you are shooting may often be greater than two stops over and under the metered exposure. Double check your exposures to be sure you've captured enough detail in both the highlight and shadow areas by reviewing the camera histogram.  Have fun shooting!

Hope to see you at my Infrared Workshop...

Interested in digital infrared photography? Come on down to Orlando on Sunday, October 17 to Harmon Photo. I'll be teaching the tips, techniques and artistry of infrared photography.  We'll also be going to Lake Eola for "in the field" workshop, followed up by a demonstration on how to process and work with your images creatively. Lots of fun and learning!  Follow this link for more information. I hope to see you there!

Round Out Your Photography - Shoot Infrared...

One of the most wonderful things about photography is that you have so many destinations to explore. There's something new and different just waiting for you to discover! I've always had a passion for infrared photography. The way light is interpreted by the camera and infrared filter is just beautiful. This photo was taken with an infrared converted camera (standard R72 type filter modification). There are several conversion choices for color effects, however the classic black and white imagery remains my favorite. An infrared image is very different from a color image that has been converted to black and white. Foliage in infrared is generally interpreted as white because it is reflective of infrared light. If this was a color image converted to black and white, the foliage would look gray. Infrared light can be magical, a whole new world!

I hope to see you in my BetterPhoto.com Infrared Photography course coming up Wednesday September 8th! There is already a great group signed up, so don't miss the fun! If you would like to read up on infrared, you can find my book, Digital Infrared Photography at local bookstores or online at Amazon. I'll be giving a workshop here in Orlando in October, and also in New Mexico with Naturescapes in December. Events are posted in the sidebar of my blog along with Photoshop plug-in coupon codes. Don't forget you can use code DEB at Life Pixel for infrared camera conversion.  Make great pictures... in infrared! ~ Deb

Expand your creativity, shoot infrared!

Our visual experience is limited to the world in color. Just beyond what our eyes can see is the incredible world of infrared. Light in this range can be recorded by a digital camera with the use of an infrared filter or infrared converted camera. It gives you a whole new way to take pictures, broadening your photographic horizons!

Years ago, I started out by using an infrared filter on the lens of my camera. This required setting up the camera on a tripod, composing the scene, attaching the filter to the lens for each shot. The filter is too dark to see through once mounted on the lens. Having a digital camera converted to infrared allows you to take pictures just like a "color" camera. The really great thing about photographing in infrared is that you have several filter choices. You can create beautiful traditional black and white infrared images or photos in infrared with a little color like the dancing apple tree above.

Summer is the perfect time for infrared photography! Want to have fun and learn more? Please join me for my online course, Digital Infrared Photography  at BetterPhoto.com starting Wednesday, June 9th. Hope to see you there!

Dancers...

There's an old apple orchard in North Carolina overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. The orchard is covered with ancient elegantly shaped trees. For some reason, they remind me of dancers forever frozen in midst of an enchanted performance.

The trees are beautiful. To see them portrayed in infrared light is just magical, taking on another dimension of reality. Photographed in color, the tree doesn't tell the same story. Infrared photography isn't as daunting as it was with film. The camera I used was converted to photograph in infrared, using a standard R72 type filter. The camera was handheld with a normal exposure time. I used a fisheye lens to enhance the surreal quality of the image. No film, chemicals or darkroom needed.

I'll be in St. Augustine, at Florida's Birding & Fotofest this April. I'll be talking about infrared photography, and a creative approach to photography. Those who know me, know I love everything infrared, and everything creative, so it will be a lot of fun! I hope to see you there!  ~ Deb

Super Color in Infrared...

The best of both worlds, infrared AND color! What a great combination! When I first started out with infrared photography, I used an R72 filter on the lens of my Nikon D100. The surreal factor of infrared is very addictive, and I ended up having my camera converted. Now I'm on my third infrared converted dSLR and a couple of infrared converted compact cameras, wrote a book on the subject that was published by Wiley, and I'm teaching infrared online at BetterPhoto.com. You can safely say I'm quite passionate about infrared photography!

What is very cool about the new Super Color infrared filter (590nm) is that you can attain a more colorful image, compared to the standard infrared filter. If you want a traditional black and white infrared image, that's easy - just convert to black and white. Infrared is a great way to creatively round out your photography. Life Pixel offers the new Super Color infrared filter and other options. Feel free to use coupon code - DEB. Have fun exploring infrared!

Infrared Dreams...

Infrared photography offers the photographer limitless options in creativity. This image was captured in infrared using the new super color infrared filter (590nm). This filter offers the most vivid and beautiful colors, while retaining the classic features of infrared photos. A simple texture background was added for depth and dimension. Topaz Adjust 4 works beautifully to enhance texture, and brings out small details in infrared images. I especially like the "Feature Enhancement" preset with this image. There's only a few days left on the coupon codes, newadjust for Adjust 4 and for the Topaz bundle, adjustup. By the way, my BetterPhoto.com courses start this week... Photoshop - Enhancing Images & Creating Works of Art, and Digital Infrared Photography! There is still time to sign up. I hope to see you there! ~ Deb

Getting Creative with Photography and Photoshop...

Fisheye lenses create a wonderful distortion that you can use in favor of your photographs. With this photograph, I used a Nikon 10.5mm fisheye on my infrared camera. This allows all the elements of the composition to come together in a creative way!

The camera I'm using is converted to infrared using the new Super Color infrared filter (equivalent to 590nm compared to the standard 720nm filter). More visible light reaches the camera sensor, more fun to work with while still retaining the surreal quality of infrared photography!

This photo is the result of three different exposures merged together using Photomatix, creating an image with more dynamic range. I used the Tone Mapping filter, and several filters in Photoshop to enhance the image. For a painterly touch try Venice Painting, a new preset in Topaz Adjust 4.  Make great pictures! ~ Deb

Ghostly...

Okaaaay, so I remember typing on a typewriter! Please tell me I'm not the only one! At this point, they're kind of vintage objects, collectors items, and fun things to photograph. My compact infrared converted camera came in handy for this quick close-up shot. I used Topaz Adjust 4, and one of the very cool presets called "Dark - Ghostly." It just seemed to fit this image! Make great pictures! ~ Deb

Topaz Adjust 4... New!

Check out the new Topaz Adjust 4! This is the latest version of everyone's favorite Photoshop plug-in. If you haven't tried it, now is your chance to take advantage of a fantastic photo editing tool. This is the effect you might have noticed in beautiful photos and wondered just how it was accomplished. To make your photos "pop"- it's the plug-in that will make a big difference in your photography.

If you already have Topaz Adjust 3, the upgrade is free for you! If you want to purchase it, now's the time and here's your coupon code - newadjust. (You'll save $15) and have fun with the new presets included.This code is only effective March 1 - 15 however. If you would like to get the Topaz Bundle, use this code - adjustup. You'll save $30 towards the this excellent set of tools, including Adjust, Simplify, Clean, DeNoise, Remask, Detail, and DeJPEG.

Take a look at the new user interface, very clear and easy to use... Here,  I chose Photo Pop to subtly enhance the color and detail in my image. Do try Spicify, it's another one of my favorites! See below.

You can create a variety of effects by using Topaz Adjust 4. I use and recommend everything Topaz!   Clean 2 creates wonderful effects (browse through my past blog posts to get an idea. Have fun working with everything Topaz! Please send me your photos, I'd love to see what you are creating!

I use Topaz Adjust in a variety of ways as part of my work flow with both color and infrared photography. Want to work a little more with this idea? Join me for one of my online BetterPhoto.com courses starting March 10... Photoshop - Enhancing Images and Creating Works of Art, or Digital Infrared Photography. Hope to see you there!
~ Deb

Cool info about infrared!

Thinking about a creative way to make pictures? Try infrared! You can convert your digital camera (compact or SLR) to photograph in infrared with one of a variety of filters from Life Pixel. I just had my camera re-converted to the new Super Color Infrared filter (that's 590 nanometers for the techie's out there). You can use this coupon code for a discount... DEB. In the meantime, check out my online course Digital Infrared Photography starting up in March, at the best online photography school around, BetterPhoto.com! 

You can also pick up my book from your local bookstore or order online right now, Digital Infrared Photography published by Wiley. Check out the great pros that contributed photos and tips, Lewis Kemper, Kathleen Carr, Joe Farace and many more! 

Read about this amazing technique used with an infrared camera to define how Renaissance artists created the foundation for their art, click here. 

Interested in listening to a presentation on everything infrared? Come on down to St. Augustine for Florida's Birding & Fotofest April 22-25. Check out the programs and workshops (and the really great food, my favorite coconut shrimp and the best calamari around)!

Want your own private workshop in photography or creative techniques in Photoshop? Contact me for individualized instruction. You'll learn a lot, and have fun in the process!

~ Deb