Photo Techniques - David Mathre Photography

Friday (25-March-2011) — California

Gone to See California. Day 6: Death Valley Spring 2011 Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant.

We started the day before sunrise walking out to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park. The objective for this location was to focus on lines, shapes, and textures as the sun rose and the shadows moved across the dunes. The first image is of morning shadows on the sand dunes. The next two are the same image of the dunes taken by Michael Mariant using my Leica X1 camera. The first is the “out of the camera” jpg, the 2nd the raw (dng) image processed with Capture One Pro attempting to minimize the amount of the upper right being blown out.

Sand Dune Morning Shadows, Death Valley NP. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 50 mm f/1.4 G lens (ISO 100, f/8, 1/500 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and converted for web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Sand Dune Morning Shadows, Death Valley NP. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 50 mm f/1.4 G lens (ISO 100, f/8, 1/500 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and converted for web with Photoshop CS5.

Sand Dune Morning Shadows, Death Valley NP. Image taken by Michael Mariant with my Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/10, 1/60 sec). Out of the Camera jpg. (David J Mathre) — Sand Dune Morning Shadows, Death Valley NP. Image taken by Michael Mariant with my Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/10, 1/60 sec). Out of the Camera jpg.

Sand Dune Morning Shadows, Death Valley NP. Image taken by Michael Mariant with my Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/10, 1/60 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, and converted for web with Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre) — Sand Dune Morning Shadows, Death Valley NP. Image taken by Michael Mariant with my Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/10, 1/60 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro.

Monday (21-March-2011) — California

Gone to See California. Day 2: Working in South San Francisco.

A couple of images from my office while working in San Francisco on the first day of Spring. Although there was heavy rain last night and this morning, the sky cleared later in the day. The site where I am working near the UCSF campus looks over a large construction site for a new Hospital. I needed to work on the white balance since the image was taken through a window tinted green (auto white balance within the camera 6008 K) . The 2nd version has the white balance corrected (6514 K). Later on when I returned to my hotel I saw this sailboat at anchor in Oyster Bay.

View of Hospital Construction Site Looking Toward San Francisco Bay. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/11, 1/160 sec). (David J Mathre) — View of Hospital Construction Site Looking Toward San Francisco Bay. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/11, 1/160 sec).

Sailboat at Anchor in Oyster Bay. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre) — Sailboat at Anchor in Oyster Bay. Image taken with a Leica X1 (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec).

Three-Years Ago (27-February-2008) — Utah

Elderhostel “Photography in the Southwest” Workshop Day 3. Cow Canyon Trading Post and NIK Silver Efex Pro 2.

An additional example of the new NIK Silver Efex Pro 2 plugin for Photoshop and Lightroom. The image of the Cow Canyon Trading Post was taken on day 3 of the 2008 Elderhostel “Photography in the Southwest” workshop at while driving through Bluff Utah. The first image was converted to B&W using Silver Efex Pro 2. The second image is the original RAW image processed with Capture One Pro 6.

Cow Canyon Trading Post. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). NIK Silver Efex Pro 2. (David J Mathre) — Cow Canyon Trading Post. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). NIK Silver Efex Pro 2.

Three-Years Ago (26-February-2008) — Colorado

Elderhostel “Photography in the Southwest” Workshop Day 2. Silver Efex Pro 2.

An additional example of the new NIK Silver Efex Pro 2 plugin for Photoshop and Lightroom. The image was taken on day 2 of the 2008 Elderhostel “Photography in the Southwest” workshop at Kelly Place in Cortez Colorado. The first image was converted to B&W using Silver Efex Pro 2. The second image is the original RAW image processed with Capture One Pro 6. Lighting for this image is sunlight coming in through the roof entry and a gold reflector.

Kiva Sunbeam. Kelly Place, Cortez Colorado. Elderhostel "Southwest Photography" Workshop Day 2. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 20 mm, f/4, 1/50 sec). Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. (David J Mathre) — Kiva Sunbeam. Kelly Place, Cortez Colorado. Elderhostel “Southwest Photography” Workshop Day 2. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 20 mm, f/4, 1/50 sec). Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. (David J Mathre)

One-Year Ago (25-February-2010) — California

Photography Workshop “Yosemite in Winter: A Season of Contrast” with Michael Mariant. Day 1: Yosemite National Park.

NIK just released version 2 of their Silver Efex Pro plugin for Photoshop and Lightroom. I have been using version 1 of Silver Efex since it was released for converting digital images to monochrome (black & white). The new version has the look and feel of NIK’s HDR plugin. The first image is the original taken a year ago during the “Yosemite in Winter: A Season in Contrast” photography workshop (RAW image processed with Capture One Pro, and sharpened with Focus Magic in Photoshop CS5), the second is the B&W version converted using the new Silver Efex 2.

Yosemite Valley in Winter. Nikonians 2010 Yosemite Winter Workshop Day 1. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, f/8, 1/40 sec). Capture One Pro 6. Adobe Photoshop CS5, Focus Magic. (David J Mathre) — Yosemite Valley in Winter. Nikonians 2010 Yosemite Winter Workshop Day 1. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, f/8, 1/40 sec). Capture One Pro 6. Adobe Photoshop CS5, Focus Magic.