I am a scientist by training (Eckerd College, BSc; Caltech, Ph.D.). I worked for 27 years as a Chemist in the Pharmaceutical Industry developing processes to manufacture medicines for human and animal health. I now spend my time as a photographer and world traveler. My interests include the natural world, wildlife, landscapes, sky, and seascapes, travel, and astrophotography. I look for unique ways of viewing the world and presenting my images. I have traveled to over 55 countries in six continents, often on Semester at Sea voyages. While at home in New Jersey, I spend time on home renovation and expansion of a wildflower garden/meadow.
Gone to See America 2010. Big Sur Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Day 1: Redwood Gulch.
Comparison of HDR Image Processing Programs. I’ve used 5 images from a Photography Workshop in Big Sur taken a year ago to compare two of the newer HDR image processing programs: HDR Express from Unified Color, and HDR Efex Pro from Nik. The image is of a waterfall in Redwood Gulch where there is a very wide range of light levels. To smooth the moving water in the waterfall, I used a couple of Singh-Ray filters (Vari-N-Duo and Mor-Slow ND). The exposures ranged from 2.5 to 30 seconds. The initial raw images were processed with Capture One Pro, cropped to a square image and converted to tif. The images were then imported to Lightroom, then processed with the HDR programs. The first image is the 10 second exposure without any HDR processing. The next 5 images were processed with HDR Express using the following defaults (Optimum, Linear, Natural, Vivid, and Artistic). This is followed by 3 images processed with HDR Efex Pro using the following defaults (Realistic Strong, Realistic Gradient, and Vibrant Textures). Please let me know which (if any) you like or dislike.
Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Initial Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 10 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro..Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Image(s) taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5 to 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, HDR Express: Optimal.Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Image(s) taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5 to 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, HDR Express: Linear.Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Image(s) taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5 to 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, HDR Express: Natural.Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Image(s) taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5 to 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, HDR Express: Vivid.Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Image(s) taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5 to 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, HDR Express: Artistic.Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Image(s) taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5 to 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik HDR Efex Pro – Realistic Strong.Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Image(s) taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5 to 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik HDR Efex Pro – Realistic Gradient.Redwood Gulch Waterfall, HDR Exercise. Image(s) taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens Singh-Ray filters (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/16, 2.5 to 30 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Nik HDR Efex Pro – Vibrant.
Gone to See America 2010. Big Sur Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant. Day 0: Piedras Blancas Beach.
A year ago today, I drove from San Franciscio to San Simeon for a Big Sur Photography Workshop run by Michael Mariant to begin the following day. With time to burn I visited the Elephant Seal View Point on Piedras Blancas beach, just seven miles north of San Simeon on the California central coast. Link to an aerial view of Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal View Point. The sun was slowly going down over the Pacific ocean as I took this series of images.
Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec).Young Male Elephant Seals Jousting at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec).Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 180 mm, f/8, 1/200 sec).Elephant Seal at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/160 sec).Young Male Elephant Seals Jousting at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 220, 210 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Young Male Elephant Seals Jousting at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 360, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 360, 70 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Elephant Seal at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 320, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 220, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 250, 300 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Elephant Seal at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/160 sec).Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 300 mm, f/8, 1/160 sec).Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 210 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).Herring Gull at Piedras Blancas Beach, Central California Coast. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 210 mm, f/8, 1/250 sec).
Creepy Crawler on the Ceiling — Or Why I Can’t Sleep at Night. I saw this above my bed tonight (or is it this morning?). Out of focus image taken with a Leica D-Lux 5 (with flash). Raw image processed and converted to B&W with Capture One Pro.
Creepy Crawler on the Ceiling Above My Bed. Snapshot taken with a Leica D-Lux 5 (ISO 100, 19.2 mm, f/3.3, 1/125 sec)
Why Are You Pointing That Big Black Lens At ME??? As usual there were several deer in my back yard this afternoon. I took this image hand held with a Nikon D3x and 200-400 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and converted to jpg with Photoshop CS5. It was 85°F (unusual for this early in the Spring) and I am sure that the deer wanted to stay in the shade. They obviously have forgotten the one they lost in my garden last winter.
Why are you pointing that big black lens at me? Deer in my back yard. Spring in New New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 200-400 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec).
Snapshot of the CSX 7683 engine at a rail road crossing near my home in New Jersey. Getting a “grab” shot with a point & shoot camera is a challenge. After coming to a stop at the RR crossing, I had to get the camera out of my pocket, remove the lens cover, turn the camera on, adjust the zoom, and try to compose the image through the front window of my car. This was the second shot, and I was lucky get the train in the center. I didn’t get the best composition with the full rail road crossing sign being clipped at the top. Composition with a point & shoot camera requires a lot of luck with the delay between hitting the shutter button and the actual shutter release, and trying to compose the image with the rear LCD display. The other problem I discovered after the fact, was the camera was in “manual focus” mode, so focus for this image was just lucky.
CSX 7683 Engine at Local Rail Road Crossing in Skillman, New Jersey. Snapshot taken with Leica D-Lux 5 (ISO 100, 14.9 mm, f/4.5, 1/800 sec).
