Sunrise at Big Meadows – Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

I wanted to capture Sunrise at Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park.  When we planned the trip we had planned on camping inside Shenandoah National Park, but when we arrived all the campsites were taken. After a brief bit of panic we found a private campground with space just outside of the park. The good news is it was close enough to get up and catch sunrise in the park. As it turns out it gets cold in Shenandoah National Park in late October. The temperature was at or near freezing every night we were there. So by 6 am our tent was very cold and we were ready to get in the car and warm up on the drive into the park. After driving around and shooting sunrise we would stop and eat breakfast in the park.

After driving south the first morning to look for shots, the second morning we drove north from Swift Gap Entrance toward Big Meadows.  After stopping at a couple of places early before sunrise I stopped at Big Meadows,  and wandered the open space. I think this is my favorite image from my short hour at Big Meadows.

Prints and Licenses

prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $120.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Hot Press Bright Fine Art Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Licenses are also available, click contact below

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

Puzzles

This image is also available as 1000 piece custom Ravensburger Puzzle. After looking a lot of different options for offering my photos as puzzles I chose Ravensburger because of their high standard of quality. I want everything that I offer on this site to be the highest quality possible.

You can purchase this puzzle for $99. This includes shipping to your door direct from the factory in Germany. It takes about 10-12 days from order to arrival of your puzzle. Each puzzle will be individually made and shipped direct to you. Each puzzle is 1000 pieces: and measures 19.5″ x 27.5″.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Photographers:

This started out as a 6 shot bracket processed in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 from the NIK Collection. I used the default flat setting and then adjusted color in light room and added a simple Black border with a white key  and a touch of Hollywood Glow  in Onone Software’s Perfect Effects 4.

The Lonely Dragon – Stone Arch Bridge – Hebei, China

This is the first take from my first sunrise shoot in China. I was able to take a cab to cover the couple of kilometers from our University to the park. I woke up at 5 expecting to leave and have lots of time to get there and prepare, but the sun rises insanely early around here. When I walked out the door it was already very light. I didn’t miss sunrise but it was close. I thought that I would be the only one there and I would have the place to myself….wrong. By the time I got there, there were already hundreds of people there walking exercising, singing and playing music.

I saw this stone arch bridge on my first trip to the park over two months ago, but the trees were still brown and it was the middle of the afternoon. I’ve been watching it for several weeks and two weeks ago it was finally ready. The lonely dragon boat floating beyond the bridge moves around the lake. On this morning it was in the perfect spot.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Moab Metallic Pearl Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

Licenses are also available Contact me for more information

Puzzles

This image is also available as 1000 piece custom Ravensburger Puzzle. After looking a lot of different options for offering my photos as puzzles I chose Ravensburger because of their high standard of quality. I want everything that I offer on this site to be the highest quality possible.

Stone Arch Bridge Ravensburger Puzzle

You can purchase this puzzle for $99. This includes shipping to your door direct from the factory in Germany. It takes about 10-12 days from order to arrival of your puzzle. Each puzzle will be individually made and shipped direct to you. Each puzzle is 1000 pieces: and measures 19.5″ x 27.5″.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Photographers

This is a 6 exposure HDR processed in HDR Effex Pro 2 from the NIK Collection by Google. After blending the exposures I finished up in Lightroom 4 and Color Efex Pro 4. I did a little dust spot cleaning and cloned out a person exercising in Adobe Photoshop CS6.

A note to photographers, if you do not have Photoshop CS6 or plan to purchase it in the near future. Adobe has announced that it will not sell indivudual Photoshop products after CS6. It will only be sold on a subscription basis through the Creative Cloud. I currently use the creative cloud and love it but if you want the software and the discs in hand. They will not be around long.

Myrtle Beach – Under the Pier

We stopped at Myrtle Beach last fall the day after Hurricane Sandy passed by in the Atlantic. The night we were there the waves were still rather high, so I really didn’t have an opportunity to get out and look for interesting places. The second evening we were able to walk the beach and see the pier and all the sights along the shore. So the on our second morning I woke up before sunrise and drove down to the pier to try and get some good sunrise shot of the pier and the ocean. It was amazingly beautiful and calm considering that one of the largest hurricanes on record had just passed by. While doing another round of edits of my photos from that trip I came across this shot from under the pier and it caught my eye. I’m not sure why I missed it in the past but I really like the way it came out in the end.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Moab Metallic Pearl Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

Puzzles

This image is also available as 1000 piece custom Ravensburger Puzzle. After looking a lot of different options for offering my photos as puzzles I chose Ravensburger because of their high standard of quality. I want everything that I offer on this site to be the highest quality possible.

You can purchase this puzzle for $99. This includes shipping to your door direct from the factory in Germany. It takes about 10-12 days from order to arrival of your puzzle. Each puzzle will be individually made and shipped direct to you. Each puzzle is 1000 pieces: and measures 19.5″ x 27.5″.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

You can find the pier just south of the Myrtle Beach BoardWalk and Promenade

For photographers

This image started as a 6 shot bracket from -3ev to +2ev. I processed it in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2 and Onone Software’s Perfect Effects 4. In perfect effects I added a glow and played with contrasts and blending to get the effect that I wanted. I forgot to write down exactly what I did so unfortunately I cannot share the exact recipe with you.

We visited the supreme court building while we were in Washington, DC on vacation in October. It is an amazing building, Marble everywhere. There is a lot of amazing history that has taken place in the building. Of course it is packed with people touring the building and learning about everything that has gone on there. I found there are at least two of the these marble staircases in the building. The workmanship that went into these is amazing, the steps are all individually fit and hold each other up. There is no center support for the staircase.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

You can find these amazing stairs in the Supreme Court building, in Washington, DC

We camped at Greenbelt National Park in DC and took the train downtown. The park was really nice and the train was very easy to take, Definitely a good way to beat downtown traffic.

For Photographers

This is a single image processed in Lightroom 4. The black and white conversion was done in Lightroom, then I worked with the clarity brush and added a vignette. It was shot at ISO 1600 so I had to do some noise reduction as well. In Photoshop CS6 I did some burning on the shadows to enhance the character in the marble.

U505

Our first stop on vacation last fall was at the Museum of Science and Industry and Chicago. It is an amazing place with all kinds of character. They do an amazing job with the cinematic lighting, and then make it extremely difficult to capture it by banning tripods. I took hundreds of photos, and got very few that I would classify as keepers. It is just too dark to get a good solid shot without a tripod.

On the flip side I love wandering the museum. They  do an amazing job of drawing a your eye and creating beautiful exibits. This is the U505 submarine in the very bottom of the museum. It is a German Submarine that was captured during World War 2.

For Travelers

You can find the museum and this exhibit in downtown, Chicago. More information is available on their website

For Photographers

I started with a 5 shot bracket that I took hand held resting on a steel railing next to the sub. I processed it in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2 I started with the deep preset and then played around with it to get it where I wanted it. This is straight out of HDR Effex.  You can get the preset I created when processing it here.

By the time you are reading this post my family and I will be just beginning our next adventure. We are moving to China to teach English in a Local University. We love to travel and explore and experience new places and cultures. You can follow our adventures as I have time to post about them by click on the travel tab above.

My family loves the beach, sand, sun and water. So we drove from Panama City Beach to Okaloosa Island, one evening to see the Island and the beach, on the way back we were hungry and craving Chinese food. Well my wife and I were, the kids will eat rice and maybe noodles. So we stopped at PF Changs to eat. I walked in took one look around and knew I had to go get the camera and tripod. I have love HDR images of the interiors of buildings. There are a few restaurants that I am dying to get an image of, the one closest to us in Omaha, is the Cheesecake Factory.  I love all the work and planning that goes into creating the atmosphere. I think all of this in theory is there to make you think what your eating is more expensive and fancier than it really is. But anyway, I really liked the look of the place, so I hauled in my tripod and camera bag and took a couple of bracketed sets while we waited for our food. If you want to see some more great interior HDR work check out RC Conceptions blog

For Travelers

A great place to stop for dinner if your in the area, the atmosphere is great after dark.

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For Photographers

This started as a six shot bracket processed in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2, I started with the “dramatic” preset that comes with the software, then made some changes to make it less grungy and noisy looking. You can get the preset here. I then exported it to Onone Software’s Perfect Effects 4 and added the “Glow Baby Preset” to smooth out the long exposure noise and clean up the tones a little.

Staircase, Savannah Riverfront, GA

When planning our fall road trip this summer we knew we wanted to see and explore Savannah, Georgia. We did not plan out our camping site in advance, so we had a  little trouble finding a place to camp. However we did find a place and were able to spend a day wandering through Savannah. We made sure to include the riverfront area, in our walk through the downtown, historic area. There were all kinds of amazing shops with artwork, candy, foods, and all forms of tourist memorabilia.

There are a couple of these winding curved stone stair cases that lead down to the warehouse area by the riverfront. We found a guy making roses out of palm leaves, he gave the kids and my wife each a rose and we gave him a donation for his generosity. Definitely a better way to buy a keepsake in my opinion.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 16 print to be matted into a 20×20 frame for $80.

Shipping to US addresses included

Print will be professionally printed on Moab Pearl Metallic Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

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For Photographers

This started out as all my HDR images do, with a tripod. I think I have mentioned before the importance of a tripod. For shots like this you need the stability it provides to keep all your images the same.  I manually focus these shots in live view then I take my exposures manually adjusting the shutter between each exposure. This one was six exposures total from -3ev to +2ev in 1ev increments. This might be a little over kill but I don’t plan on being back there anytime soon and I want the shot to be there when I get home.

I combined the exposures in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2 and used the default setting, with all the detail in the image the NIK Software wanted to add more detail than I wanted for the first pass.

In Lightroom 4 I added two of my presets to get the colors to pop the way I wanted. You can get those presets for free here. This image sat at this point for a while waiting for inspiration to hit. Then Peter From posted a video tutorial on adding light rays to a photo and I realized that this is exactly what this image needed so here is the link to his video it is an excellent tutorial. To finish off the image cropped it square and add a black border in Onone Perfect Effects 4

Cades Cove,  Great Smoky Mountain National Park

While driving around  Cades Cove,  Great Smoky Mountain National Park, We stopped to wander through the historic Dan Lawson place. This is the view looking away from the Dan Lawson cabin across the center of the Cades Cove.  This was taken early in the morning,  in the middle of  November. The frost was amazing, I think the temperature was just hovering around freezing. The fog hanging over the mountains shielded the frost from the sun, keeping it alive well into the morning.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

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For Photographers

This is a 5 shot bracket processed in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2 I used the “deep preset” to darken and bring some extra vibrance to the scene. After saving back to Lightroom 4, I added my Lightroom 4 preset “ U505″ I made some brush adjustments and adjusted the blacks then added my” Smoky Mountain River” preset. You can download both of these Lightroom 4 presets for free here. I finished by fixing dust spots in Photoshop CS6.

When I parked at the Dan Lawson cabin, I was first interested in the old barn and cabin at the site, but the view across the cove was just too amazing. I decided to include the fence in the frame to add a foreground element to give the image a sense of scale and dimension. I chose to keep the image dark and moody, to reflect the feeling of the chilly, early morning. I chose to leave the colors cool and on the blue side of the scale, again to portray the chill and the ambiance of the scene

Foggy Morning – Cades Cove – Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee

I woke my poor family up at 5am to get this shot of a foggy morning in Cades Cove on the west end of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We were staying with family in Knoxville, TN so we had about an hour and a half drive to get to the entrance to the park. When we arrived we were behind about 8 other cars waiting for the rangers to open the gates to Cades Cove. Due to the fog and cold temperatures there was a think layer of  boar frost. There was still a beautiful patchy dense fog hanging over the low lying areas. We drove around for a while because I didn’t want to stop and get stuck behind a long line of tourists driving through. It took a while to get to this spot, but it was worth the early morning. The  Sunrise breaking over the mountains with the fog in the valley was truely breathtaking.

Prints and Licensing

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Licenses are also available, click contact below

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

I highly recommend taking the time to visit Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is one of the few National Parks that do not have an entrance fee. We went in November and it was very cold, however that allowed me to get some different looks than you normally see coming from there. I would love to live in the area sometime in the future and explore all the hiking that the park has to offer.

Below is the map to the approximate location the photo was taken.

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For Photographers

This is a seven shot bracket processed initially in Nik HDR Effex Pro 2. In HDR Effex I used a preset that I created for another Image from Great Smoky Mountan National Park. After saving back to Lightroom 4 I used on of my landscape presets to get the colors to where I wanted them.You can get the FREE PRESETS HERE I then opened the image in Onone Perfect Effex 4 and used the Angel Glow  to soften the fog and smooth it out a little, I also added black from the simple borders collection. This was a fairly short and simple editing process, the exposures were perfect and sharp and the landscape was stunning in every way.

Berry College Architecture – The archway revisited

Sometimes you come upon a scene and every angle seems to be just as interesting and amazing as the last. That is the way it was with this archway at Berry College, in Rome, Georgia. I started with from the perspective, that I showed last week, and worked through a progression,  This is the second in the progression, it shows a pair of benches in green space near the building. It caught my eye and made me think of a gentleman’s duel. Not with pistols but a duel of the minds, a debate. It inspires visions of top hats and tails, and passionate political dialogue.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 20 print to be matted into a 20 x 24 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

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For Photographers

This is an 8 shot bracket processed in NIK HDR EFFEX Pro 2.  I used the default settings and saved it back to Lightroom 4. In Lightroom 4 I added one of my favorite landscape presets which you can get for free here. In Photoshop CS6, I used the lens flare filter to add light to the lamps, I will try and post a tutorial on how I created this effect in the near future.  Then I burned the shadows and mid-tones to add definition to the walkway. and the shadows outside.

In OnOne Perfect Effects 4 I added a mixture of Autumn Effect, Return of the King and Dark Contrast. I finished off with the clarity brush in Lightroom 4 at the default setting, on the stone columns, and the walkway. Finally I added vignette 1 from the standard Lighroom 4 effects presets.

Berry College Architecture

Berry College Architecture is is the 3rd in the series from Berry College in Rome, Georgia. This is the walkway between the Ford Alumni Office and the Admissions office. I was so enthralled with the grand scale of the buildings and the reflecting pools I almost forgot to walk over and take a look at this archway. After wandering through I set up this shot to showcase the amazing brickwork in the high arches.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

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For Photographers

This is a 7 shot bracket from -3ev to +2ev, my camera does not have built in HDR bracketing so all of these are shot on manual mode to make changing the exposure as easy as possible. I also shoot all my landscapes on manual focus and check the focus by zooming in on the live view setting just to make sure that everything is as sharp as possible.

This was initially processed in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2, I started with the sinister preset and then changed the settings to get where I wanted the image to be. You can get the NIK preset in the download with the Lightroom 4 preset that I used on the image here.

To finish I burned the shadows in Adobe Photoshop CS6 to bring out a little definition.

I also added light to the fixture on the ceiling, by using the lens flare filter in Photoshop CS6. Then warming it in lightroom.

Berry College Admissions and Ford Alumni Office

This is the Berry College Admissions and Ford Alumni Office, the second in a series from Berry College in Rome, Georgia, I spent a couple of hours there over a couple of different days while on vacation this fall. It seemed like everywhere I turned there was another angle and more amazing light to try and capture. There is enough material at this amazingly designed campus to keep someone busy for a week of sunrises and sunsets. All of the photos in this series were taken in mid November.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

A map of the photo location

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For Phographers

I took seven bracketed shots to create this image. I processed it initially in Nik HDR EFFEX PRO 2, using the defaut setting.  In Lightroom 4 I used this preset to get a good start on the bringing the colors to where I wanted them. Next I opened the brush tool and selected the color box at the bottom of the panel and selected a nice lively grass color. I then after some playing with the color and different options I finally decided to set the saturation to +20 and the temperature slider all the way to warm. I used this brush setting on the grass to bring it back to life. It was mid November after all, there was still some green in the grass but not what what I wanted for the image to be complete. After closing that brush I selected the brush again and used the clarity brush set at +60 and the sharpness set to +8.

In Photoshop cs6 I worked on the bushes in front of the building. HDR Effex Pro 2 left them a little dark for what I wanted  so I selected the Dodge tool and set it to shadows and gradually worked my way up the opacity scale until I got it to make the adjustment I wanted, I think it was set on 95 at the end. I did the same with the mid tones, and finally used the saturation sponge to bring some green back into the bushes. I also used the sponge to saturate the sunset a little, I think it was set on about 30%. Then I selected the burn tool and worked on the shadows at about 20% to enhance the reflection in the water.

Ford Dining Hall – Berry College – Rome, GA

We Spent some time in Rome, Georgia on our road trip this fall. While there I was introduced to this amazing place, Berry College. The architecture on the main campus is absolutely stunning. We took a quick walk through the campus one afternoon, but the light was less than ideal so I made sure that I went back at sunset a few days later. They have a huge campus and I think I must have seen 50 different portrait photographers doing family photos that evening.

I found this colonnade and had to get a shot of it. there are actually two of them on either side of Ford Hall. They connect the residence halls to the dining hall.

Aragorn’s Colonnade

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a limited edition* 16 x 20 print to be matted into a 20 x 24 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

You can find Berry College in Rome, Georgia. I highly recommend taking a driving and walking tour of the campus. They have a 27,ooo acre campus, with an insane amount of wildlife wandering around. There are hiking trails, ponds, an old mill, a beautiful church and a retreat center.

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For Photographers

This is a 7 Shot hdr from -3ev to +2ev. I process this initially in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2. I started with the deep 1 preset then made changes to get the image to the base Wanted to start from in Lightroom 4. In Lightroom 4 I added the Gandolf’s Chair preset. You can get both of these presets here in a convenient zip file.

Then I took the image into Photoshop CS6, chose the burn tool and selected shadows and set the exposure to 50% and worked on the dark stones in the path to darken them and add detail. Then I changed to the midtone’s and worked on the light stones on the to do the same. Finally I switched back to shadows and changed the exposure to 10% and did a little work on the columns and the door.

The last thing in did in photoshop was to add a light to the light fixture on the ceiling. I selected the lens flare filter from the render menu, next I selected the 50 to 300mm zoom setting and moved the placement to the center of the light fixture and set it to 50%.

After saving it back to lightroom I used the brush with the temperature set as warm as it will go and the tint set to all green to brush the light back to a nice warm yellow color.  Finally I set the brush to green tint and exposure of plus .60 and almost as warm as it will go and brushed the grass to get the greener color that I was going for.

Skidaway Island State Park

We camped at Skidaway Island State Park this fall on our east coast road trip. We took a sunset walk along one of their nature trails. I really love the look and feel of the area, the trees are all covered in hanging wisps of moss. there are marshes covered with prairie style grasses with the occasional palm tree sprinkled in among the trees.  We found this bench and tree on the hike, I immediately fell in love with this tree, it made me think of a mystic fantasy forest.

Prints

This photo is available for purchase as a signed limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20×30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

Skidaway Island State Park is just east of Savannah, Georgia off of hwy 204

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For Photographers

This is a 6 shot HDR processed in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2 I started with the artistic black and white preset them modified it to match the what I felt the image needed. The final finishes were added in Lightroom 4, you can get both presets here

 Kooser Run at Sunset

There is something relaxing and inviting about a small mountain stream, winding through the valley. Sunset filters its way through the trees adding a red orange glow, leaving you feeling warm and secure. The leaves are falling in brilliant orange and red colors carpeting the ground, covering the path, hiding the effects the natural spring is having on the path.  One good step in the swampy path sends you leaping for the edge and dry ground. You wander down to the stream and crouch on a rock near the edge, silently listening to the water flowing, birds sings and the gentle breeze whispering through the trees.  I am always torn between sitting and enjoying the scene and hurrying on to try and find the next scene.

This photo is available for purchase as a signed limited edition* 8×10 print to be matted into a 11×14 frame for $60.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions

For Travelers

You can find Kooser State Park, just off of Interstate 76 east of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on State Hwy 31 see the map below

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For Photographers

This is a single exposure at 2.5sec, I used a Promaster variable ND filter to get the longer shutter speed. When I bought the ND filter I bought an 82 mm filter which slides over the outside of my 67mm lens so I don’t have to screw it onto the lens to use it. I simply hand hold it over the end of the lens. This allows me to check focus and settings and then simply add the filter to reduce shutter speed. I use aperture priority mode for these exposures, that way when I add the ND Filter it adjusts the shutter speed speed to account for the reduction in light comming in.

I initially processed this in Lightroom 4, you can find the preset here. After processing it in lightroom I let it sit for a while because I wasn’t quite happy with it. I decided to take it into OnOne Software’s Perfect Effects 4.  I ended up adding the fall color enhancer from the included presets. I thought that it created a nice ambiance that drew me in.

Sunset Road

Take a drive with me down Sunset Road, on sunset road the sun is always glowing just above the horizion.  The grass is green and lush on both sides of the fence. The air is clear and fresh, a gentle breeze blowing from the south.  Horses graze in pastures behind barbwire fences along the road. The drive is forever peaceful, and your seat is always comfortable.

The road is calling.

Have you followed the a road for the sake of adventure, to chase a dream? Was it as amazing as you hoped it would be? I have found that sometimes it is even better and sometimes it is a little less amazing that I had hoped. They say life is what you make of it so I’m going to keep driving down roads looking for amazing things.

Sunset Road

This photo is available for purchase as a signed limited edition* 16 x 24 print to be matted into a 20 x 30 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions.

For Travelers

You can find this scene just north of Beatrice, Nebraska on Hwy 77.  It is on the northwest corner, of Hackberry Rd and Hwy. 77.

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For Photographers

This is a 7 shot HDR processed in Nik HDR Effex Pro 2. I used the default setting in Hdr Effex pro because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to process the image and didn’t want to be locked into a certain style and look. By using the default I was able to start with a flat image, leaving my options open. It took me a while to decide how to I wanted this to look. I finally decided on some initial edits in Lightroom 4, you can find that preset here.

I thought I was done but I decided to take it into OnOne Perfect Effex 4 where I added a little Holywood Glow, and little of Spring from the landscape effects.

Sunrise, I was awakened by the sound of oars in the water of Gordon Creek. I got up and out just in time to miss a local rowing team gliding by on the motionless fog shrouded waters, Five minutes earlier and I could have had a shot of them gliding by. The park sits in corner created by Gordon Creek shallow and marshy and the Chickahominy River, large and busy. The sunrises over the shallow waters of Gordon Creek were amazing, complete with Herons, Pelicans and lots of fish jumping from the water.

I have a love hate relationship with sunrise. I love photographing sunrise, I hate waking up before dawn to make sure I can get the shot I want. It has taken me awhile to work up the motivation to get up consistently, especially on vacation. It just goes against nature to be on vacation and get up early. In the past year or so I have come to the realization that if I want to be able to take the shots that I want to hang up on my walls, I have to act like I am getting paid to get up and take those shots regardless of if I am or not.

I spent a good hour or so wandering around the grounds of Chickahominy Riverfront Park. Eventually I wandered away from the waterfront and found the fog hanging over the driving range in the park. I found this triangle of posts with another line of posts fading into the background.

This is the only perspective that I shot this scene from. Is there another angle to shoot it from? Probably. Do I regret not shooting any others? No, when I was there is how I saw the scene and I immediately knew how I wanted the shot to look. I’ve heard people talk about whether a photo is a realistic depiction of a scene, and debate the importance of it. I want my photo to depict the my reality of the scene. I want it to look like I felt standing there. Most of the time we take a photo , go to show it to someone and say “It really looked much more spectacular in person”.  I want to be able to say, I looked just like this and I want the feeling of being there to transfer to the viewer of the Image.

 For Travelers

We stayed at Chickahominy Riverfront Park while we were visiting Colonial Williamsburg. It is a nice place to camp if you are visiting Colonial Williamsburg. We spent so much time at Colonial Williamsburg that we really didn’t do much at the park, but they do have a nice swimming pool, driving range, boat ramp and lots of space to camp. It is about a 20 minute drive to Colonial Williamsburg from the park and about 10 min to gas, groceries and restaurants.

For Photographers

This is a Six shot bracket from -3ev to +2 Ev. I skewed it to the dark side because I knew I wanted a darker image that felt like early morning. I processed it in NIK HDR Effex Pro 2, Lightroom 4, and Photo shop CS6. You can get the NIK and Lightroom Presets here. After applying the preset I used the clarity brush to add a little definition to the fog, and used photoshop to remove dust spots and so some dodging and burning, specifically I did some dodging on the highlights to bring some detail and color reflection back into the fog.

Smoky Mountain National Park Waterfalls

About two weeks ago I was in Smokey Mountain National Park photographing some of its waterfalls, cascades, and streams. When we arrived it was cold, around 30 degrees, with a beautiful low hanging fog. As we drove up Hwy. 441 towards Newfound Gap we began to see a light dusting of snow begin to appear. At first it was almost like fairy dust on the leaves overhead, but the higher we drove, the heavier the snow became. It was a truly magical drive.

For Travelers

On Wednesday we hiked up the trail at the end of the road past the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont.  To get to the trail take Tremont Rd. off of Laurel Creek Rd. Stay to the right and take the road all the way to the end. It is a narrow gravel road most of the way but the drive is amazing, and low on traffic. I didn’t see another photographer the entire drive up or on the hike. There were a few other hikers, but no other tripod carrying  photographers to jockey for a position with.

On the hike up you pass a large cascade.  Farther along the trail you reach the only waterfall on the trail. It is not an extremely large one but the stream above and all the rapids that lead up to it create an amazing sound and atmosphere.

Print Information:

This photo is available for purchase as a signed limited edition* 16 x 20 print ready to be matted into a 20 x 24 frame for $80.

Print will be professionally printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber paper 

*Limited Edition –  25 print prints available.

Contact me to order or if you have any questions

For Photographers:

I shot a lot of different variations of this trying to get the best composition. I am finding that the LCD on the back of the camera does not always allow me to judge what composition I will like best when I begin processing. So I take a lot of shots with small changes between each one. This was shot with a Sony A-580 with a Tamaron 17-50 lens and a Pro Master Variable Neutral Density Filter.

I processed it in Lightroom 4.2. You can get the preset I created during the editing of this photo here. The preset does not save all the brush work so I’ll explain what I did in a little more detail.

After doing the main color adjusting and toning that the preset will provide I used the clarity brush at about 70 with sharpness set to about 8, to bring out the details in the water and the rocks closest to the water. I added a vignette manually in the post-crop vignette box at the bottom of the develop module. I tend to use the color priority vignette on my photos, I think it provides a more subtle vignette that blends with the image a little better.

To finish the image I spent some time burning and dodging to direct the eye through the photo and minimize distractions on perimeter.

I just released an update to Texture A Photo. You can read all the details on the Texture A Photo site www.TextureAPhoto.com. The Short verson is there are now over 600 textures, you can purchase smaller sampler packs, or purchase individual textures. Check out the site for all the details and to get started. We also offer text and video training on how to add textures to your photos.

Below is a photo I took recently at Shenandoah National Park. This is a bridge over the stream on the White Oak Trail. I used a variable ND filter to slow the shutter speed and smooth out the water. It was processed in Lightroom 4 first. The I took it into photoshop cs6 to clean up the dust spots, and do some burning and dodging to get the tone and feel that I wanted.

The Power of sharing.

Today i got to thinking about the power of sharing. Not sharing a cookie, but sharing in the terms of the internet, Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. It occured while browsing facebook over lunch that the majority of items and posts that get shared on facebook especially are nothing more than chain letters. The subject varies, the most common are subjects are politics, cats and fake vintage posters with witty sayings on them.

Why am I writing about this? Because I have an alterior motive. I want to use the internet to grow a business and I want your friends and family to be able to do the same. It all starts with the click of a button. However it is not the button  you think it is.

Moving Beyond the Like Button

I really appreciate the interaction/likes that I get when I post my art. However Likes are not what I Need to make my business grow. I need Shares! I did a little non scientific research on facebook and google+ before starting on this post. I went through the 5 to 10 people who I regularly see in my feed.  What I found is this: most people that I interact with on facebook and google plus have only 40 to 50 friends/contacts in common with me. If I post a photo, or my wife writes a post about her new book that came out this week,  or my friend Magdiel posts a photo of his, or my friend Bradley Jensen Posts a photo,  there is a reason we are posting/sharing these things with you our friends. In my case I want to sell prints of my photos so I can afford to the upkeep on my camera and computer to continue to create things, if I post photos from my latest portrait session I am hoping to connect with other people in the Facebook/Google+ universe that might want to book me to shoot their portraits. The same is the case for Magdiel, he wants to sell prints to help fund his cost of producing art. My wife wants to get her books in front of more people so she can afford the costs of publishing her books and sharing her ideas and dreams with others. Bradley Jensen wants to book wedding, and portrait photography clients. These are just a few of the people that I know, I know that there are hundreds more and chances are, you know a few that I don’t.

So Here’s the Deal

I want the best for my friends, I want them to succeed with their businesses and to be able to share their art with others. So what is the best way for me to help them? Click SHARE!! The share button multipliess the reach of a post, of a photo, of a painting. If I click share then my 400+ friends have a chance to see it, maybe I don’t have the money to buy a print or a book, but by Clicking SHARE , I pass the oppertunity along others. If one of my friends shares, it gets sent to that many more people, and so on down the line.

My challenge to you

My challenge to you is to SHARE at least one post from someone you know that is trying to build a creative/art business or  is doing it as a hobby and would really like to get it in front of more people.  Help promote a humanitarian project that is doing good in the world. I am going to try to do the same. I have a tendancy to be lazy and use the like button because it is quick and easy. I PROMISE that your creative friends will appreciate it much more than Mitt Romney or Barack Obama.