Here is another fall color image, taken with the X-Pro 1 and the 18mm lens. This was taken on a week long trip to Montana and a quickie visit to Yellowstone. We had a great time visiting some friends and doing some photography. I am woefully way behind on my editing but I hope to have that done pretty soon and the images up and posted. I hope you enjoy this view of some fall color in the Lamar Valley.
Well hope you are not tired of sunsets, I love watching them, the pastel colors and setting moon caught my eye. Watched a pod of dolphins swim by, on their way somewhere, very relaxing after a day at the job…. Fuji X-Pro1, 60mm macro. Enjoy.
After coming back from a trip we were greeted with this wonderful sunset, taken with the Fuji X-Pro 1 and 18mm lens. Handheld 3 panel panorama.
Well at least I am getting closer to being on track, this weeks image is kind of different. I call it a “water color”. This is how it came out of the camera with only some contrast adjustments and a slight crop to get ride of some distracting leaves. The painterly look is completely natural! This is a reflection of a pond at Descanso Gardens, the water was being stirred up by some rapidly moving koi carp, the waves caused by them caused the reflections to blur if I lowered the shutter speed at bit, so a natural abstract. Take with the Fuji X-Pro 1 and 35mm lens. Enjoy.
Portraits of Earth is the new ebook from David DuChemin. David is a photographer who has been known for taking people portraits and showing the human side of events, so what is he doing writing a landscape photography book? Well, like David mentions in his ebook, landscapes are really just portraits of the Earth. They can inspire as well as inform the viewer, emotions can come into play and just the sheer beauty of nature is something to share. This ebook is not so much about gear, but about looking for the possibilities and crafting your shot with more care to complete your vision. He also gives some tips for gear, and how to use it to capture the light that you see when exploring new vistas. He talks about filters and how they can enhance an image and the best ways to use them. He also talks about some general gear, like tripods and other useful items. He also goes into details about how to handle specific types of scenery, like fog and snow. Also there are some nice tips for some processing techniques and can give you some ideas to try in your own images. The book is filled with pictures from his travels around the world, visiting places most of use are not going to see, I know I wish I could go to some of these places. So does that mean you have to travel to exotic locations? No it does not, but he does show you through examples of how to apply leading lines and to use light to tell your story and capture your vision as well as composition topics and some discussions on why and how he made the images as well as the exposure information. 
So why should you consider this ebook? Well for me I like the way David writes, his writing style is easy to read and understand and you feel that you are having a conversation with him, he explains his motivations and tries to not make it too technical. Photography is a an artform that requires some technical knowledge but it also requires the artist to “see”, so there are fuzzy concepts to go with the geek. You can purchase this ebook for a very low price of $5, however if you click on the link and use the code EARTH4 before Sept. 9, 2012 you can get it for $4, Click here for Portraits of Earth While you are on the Craft And Vision site you might want to check out their other ebooks. I have personally found the following titles to be very useful, The Power of Black and White, Light and Land, Exposure for Outdoor Photography, and Close to Home, all of the ebooks on the site are well written and informative, and if you want to get several ebooks use the code EARTH20 for a 20% discount on 5+ ebooks, this code also expires Sept. 9, 2012. So get some good, cheap, informative ebooks and inspire yourself to get out use what you learn. I know I have.
Well another glorious sunset this week, taken in Laguna Beach. The clouds started building in the afternoon and as it got closer to sunset they were not disappearing, so grabbed the camera gear and headed out and took this shot. Just before sunset there was a nice large rainbow. Shot with the Fuji X-Pro 1 and the 18mm lens on a tripod. Enjoy.
This shot was from a quick trip out to Joshua Tree NP. I was hoping to run into some thunderstorms with some lightning but just a few clouds formed and no real storms. I did take a lot of timelapse shots that will probably get used in something, fun to watch the clouds building, amazing how fast they build and change. While I was waiting for the timelapse sequences I walked around took a few pics with the Fuji X-Pro 1. Converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2. Hope you enjoy it.
I love watching sunsets and ones that get all kinds of nice colors and clouds can be especially nice, I never get tired of watching sunsets. Here is a sunset from Wed. evening that was pretty cool, some nice colors and then a few minutes later it all changes. Taken with the Fuji X-Pro 1, the first was taken with the 35mm f1.4 and the second was with the 18mm f2.0. Both are very minimal processing, pretty much just straight out of the camera. Enjoy.
The last beacon of light for the day as the sun slowly sinks in the west. Taken in Laguna Beach, Fuji X-Pro 1, 60mm f2.4 macro at f2.4 and 1/3300 at ISO 400.
Hard to believe half the year has gone by, I guess that is the sign of getting older, time flies! Here is this week’s image, it was more an experiment but I like how it came out. I got an adapter for my Fuji X-Pro 1 to use my Canon lenses, so this is taken near Temecula with the X-Pro 1 and a Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens, taken at f2.8 and a 30 second exposure at ISO1600. I thought it turned out pretty well, the yellowish glow in the bottom right is the light pollution dome from San Diego. The summer Milky Way always a neat thing to see. Enjoy.
