David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Image of a Green Gecko taken during the Thom Hogan photography workshop on the Big Island in Hawaii I attended four years ago.
It was just four years ago that I arrived in Hawaii to attend a photography workshop with Thom Hogan. The day before I was in Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge in northern Colorado. I had only been shooting with Nikon DSLR cameras for a year at that time. Soon after getting the first DSLR camera — a Nikon D200, I found Thom’s web site which became a very helpful resource. There was much I needed to learn about using a DSLR camera. I purchased Thom’s guides for the D200 (and subsequently the guides for the D2xs, D300, D700, D3, D3x, D3s). These guides are by far the best resource for understanding the capabilities of the Nikon digital cameras. Then one day in October 2007, I saw a note on Thom’s web site that there was a late opening for his Hawaii workshop over Thanksgiving week. I signed up right away since I knew that there was a lot more that I needed to learn to become a better photographer. I was working in Boulder Colorado at that time (which was closer than New Jersey) and a great way to use some of my vacation time.
Comparison of RAW image converters. Waipi’o Valley is located along the Hamakua Coast on the northeastern coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. The image was taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 12-24 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 17 mm, f/11, 1/200 sec). Four different programs were used to render the RAW image: 1) Capture NX2, 2) Photoshop CS5 with Camera Raw 6.2, 3) Capture One Pro 5, 4) DxO 6.5. The images were rotated 2.6° to level the horizon, sharpened with Focus Magic, and then converted to jpg and sRGB with Photoshop CS5. I am interested in feedback regarding the different renderings.
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Image Processing Techniques. A comparison of different HDR (high dynamic range) programs for rendering a series of images 7 images taken at different exposures (+3, +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -3 EV). The programs compared are Photoshop CS5, Photomatix Pro, and Nik HDR Efex Pro. I should note that I am not able to run the Nik HDR Efex Pro on my desktop computer as it causes Photoshop to crash. I had to use a different computer to process the images using the Nik HDR Efex program. The images were taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens.
We stopped at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens on our last day of the workshop. The Garden is located about 7 miles north of Hilo along the Old Mamalahoa Highway overlooking Onomea bay. This was a target rich environment. I do recommend mosquito repellent and possibly an umbrella. The hike down the trail from the gift center to Onomea bay takes a couple of hours, and is about a 500 foot elevation drop. Just remember you have to walk back up (although there is a golf cart for the physically challenged to take you back up). Thom spent some time helping me get the focus right for the image of the yellow orchid. I learned that Varilux glasses can be a problem when trying to get accurate/critical focus through the viewfinder.
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