Fogcouver

Fogcouver

Well its been around 2 straight weeks of fog sitting over the beautiful city of Vancouver, but today the sun finally came through and the fog dropped low enough to get some nice shots of Downtown Vancouver.  The sun was setting and I headed out to start shooting. The shots where taken on a Nikon D800 with a 70-200 2.8 VR 2.

I stitched together a couple of Pano's using Autopano Pro. Super easy amazing program that doesn't make your computer churn as much as when trying to process large files in Photoshop.

Here are some of the shots that I got.

 

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As the Sun set's behind Vancouver Island, you can just see the Lighthouse at Lighthouse Park clearing from underneath the fog.

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City of downtown and finally be spotted after almost 2 straight weeks of Fog Cover.

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West Vancouver's shore line has not seen the sun in weeks!

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Landscape shot of the city

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Sun setting behind Vancouver Island. The ships in the Straight of Georgia have been sounding their fog horns non-stop!

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19 image Pano Stitch---Keep Scrolling to the right on the picture to see the whole Pano. Or click the image to enlarge it.

Portrait Panorama

Portrait Panorama

The other day I ran across some information about the Ryan Brenizer Method. I would try and explain it, but I know right off the bat that I would explain it wrong. So basically  to sum it up, you just take a portrait shot of your subject with a telephoto lens (preferably 1.2-1.8 f-stop) and then you keep shooting all around your subject like you would with a Pano. Once you are finished, you then merge them together using some kind of Pano software and "voila" you get an amazing photograph with a impossible depth of field! You are really creating your own lenses!!

Here is his Website, which I highly recommend you check out. WEBSITE

or some video info on You Tube: Link

 

Here are my 2 attempts. I have a lot of work to do, but I am so excited to try and apply it so some of my Wedding Photography and Portrait work!

Portrait Panorama 1

This is my first attempt at the Method. This image is around 24 Images merged together. The high-res version is incredible, because you can basically zoom in forever. There is a defiant fine line of focus in the shot, but I am only shooting with a Nikkor 85mm 1.8 and would love to try it with a f1.4 instead.  Also, these shots where taken RAW on a Nikon D800 and it took forever for my computer to minimize them to jpegs and then attempt to crunch them into a Portrait Panorama.

Portrait Panorama 4

Here is a Sample of the images that where taken to create the image above. 24 images where merged together.

\Portrait Panorama 2

Portrait Panorama

Round 2. This image actually stitched together very easily. Around 25 images. No real fixing in postproduction. The image itself is not to thrilling, but practice makes perfect and I need to keep on practicing the technique to really feel comfortable applying it to my work.

 

Portrait Panorama 3

Ok so this image is not the method at all. I just took a couple of stills as well while I was shooting. This shot was taken with my New Sigma 35mm 1.4 lens, shot on a Nikon D800. I love the lens by the way. Super creamy Bokeh and super sharp, fast focus

 

Overall, I would recommend downloading and paying for a very long 2-hour video produced by Ryan Brenizer on the method. You can download it from his website. It’s a crazy interesting affect and I am super excited to practice and learn more about it. I am going to keep trying to post more samples as I play with this method, so hopefully I can start to shoot more overlapping images and not have to do to much crazy post in fixing messed up areas.

Software that I am using:

Lightroom 5 to sort the shots and to make the RAW files into JPEGS

Autopano Pro 3.0 to create the Pano's. Photoshop will work too, but you might wait forever for the program to rifle through the shots.

 

October Portraits!

October Portraits

October was the month of Portraits. I went on Vacation with a new Sigma 35mm f1.4 lens and loved every shot that this incredible lens could take. I had a great time taking pictures of my Nephews and Nieces and truly appreciated Sigma's fast quick focusing system; seeing as the kids would not sit still for a second.

Here are some samples of the images we got!

montanafall2013_3webAmazing 1.4 Bokeh in the background.

montanafall2013_20webJust checking things out!

montanafall2013_4webWalk with Poppie!

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montanafall2013_5webOk got them to sit still for 3 sec.

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montanafall2013_11webBest Picture EVER!!!

 

 

Grand Teton's Adventure

Grand Teton's Adventure

I had the pleasure of participating in the "Dirt Cheap Photo Tours" with Jeff Clow in the Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Our group managed to some how stay mostly warm during some very challenging weather conditions. The first couple of days brought us Rain/Snow/Wind. We still headed out there though to shoot and it defiantly paid off. After 4 days, we had photographed 5 Bears, 2 Moose (twice), Bull Elk and his Harem of Ladies, A couple of Mule deer and a HUGE heard of Buffalo. We had some very close encounters with some very large animals as well. Once the weather started to clear a bit, we then where able get some shots of the mountains and some beautiful Iconic Grand Teton Scenery.

I had such a great time on this trip and highly recommend anyone taking one of Jeff's Tours! Here are some samples out of over 200GB that I shoot in that 4 day period.

Check out Jeff's Web Site: Dirt Cheap Photo Tours

grandtetons_2013_38webFinally a break in the clouds to show us the amazing Teton Range. Also, the Aspen's started to turn Yellow!

grandtetons_2013_47webBuffalo rolling around.

grandtetons_2013_12webCharging Moose!!! The closest I have ever been to Bull Moose while it was running at full speed.

grandtetons_2013_14webThe Teton's where covered for the better part of the trip.

grandtetons_2013_25webSome beautiful Mountains drops with horses.

grandtetons_2013_34webLong Exposure of one of the Molten Families Barn.

grandtetons_2013_39webRandom Buffalo.

grandtetons_2013_13webAmazing Moose Experience.

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Cinnamon bear

grandtetons_2013_43webMolten Family Barn

grandtetons_2013_30webLots of Sage around the Jackson Hole

grandtetons_2013_24webWe saw this Bull Elk with his heard of Ladies, during a huge snow storm. I had to shoot at 5000ISO because it was so dark.

grandtetons_2013_27webBeautiful Aspen Tree's

grandtetons_2013_23webMoose hanging out in a little Lake.

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8 Picture Pano merged together in Photoshop.

Big Sky Fall

Big Sky Fall Fall is one of the best times to be in Montana. The trees are slowly turning, the weather is generally favorable and the day-by-day lighting is a photographers dream. I started my trip off with a little trout fishing in Holter Lake. The lake is a incredible intricate lake; one that Lewis and Clark navigated on their way through the State. I was fortunate enough to see some beautiful Big Horn Sheep, Antelope and lots of deer like usual.  Most of the shots are taken with a Nikon D800 or a Nikon D600. The animal shots are with a 300mm 2.8 1.7x Tele convertor.

 

 

holterlake_1webThe largest Trout I have ever caught! Beautiful Rainbow Trout!

holterlake_2webHolter Lake. The mountain ranges surrounding the lake are incredible.

holterlake_9webI was trying to be sneaky and get a photograph of some White Tail's feeding on some apples. I got caught and they took off running.

holterlake_12webA beautiful Morning on Lake Holter

holterlake_10webAmazing Skies and country.

holterlake_6webOur fishing Partner. Bim's!

holterlake_3webBig Sky Country!

holterlake_8webNice White Tail feeding on some apples.

holterlake_13webA nice big Antelope. He had a harem of females with him.

holterlake_7webCalm Holter Lake morning.

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holterlake_17webMissouri River, feeding into Holter Lake.

holterlake_5webLove the big skies!