OK it’s not perfect but it was a decent first stab. I couldn’t believe how bright it was at 9 PM. It was kind of looking at the moon, you think it should be darker, but it’s not. Also, I thought I was pretty good at masking until I tried to fix all the blown out signs. Ugh. I still need a lot of work

OK so maybe I’m getting a little cutesy with the titles here, but I’m assuming “The Rock” and all variants there of have been used to death. I shot this two ways, the first on the other side where you can see the statue of Prometheus (hence fire) in all of his glory, and then again from behind. Both images are good, but I like this one better.

I had to shoot handheld because the security guards were looking at me with a “don’t even try it fat man” look when they saw my tripod. That’s fine. Just guys trying to do their job. I fired off three quick frames at +/- 2 on my Nikon D7000
and went on my way. Most of the post-processing was done in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and the Lightroom 4 beta. Man I can’t wait for the final release. LR 4 rocks.

Hope everyone is having a good day.

This image is a total rip-off. I know it and don’t care. Let’s call it a tribute to one of my favorite photographer\educators out there, Brian Matiash. Brian used a similar photo during a recent OnOne webinar he hosted. When I had the chance to shoot a similar shot in Manhattan last week, I jumped at the chance. While the shots are not exact there is no doubt where the inspiration comes from.

Thanks Brian. I continue to learn a lot.

It was freezing when I took this picture. Maybe that’s why I didn’t do it right in camera. That’s my excuse anyhow. See I was shooting wide – 10mm wide – on my D7000 and saw this statue at the entrance to Central Park. I had this idea of pushing in close and capturing the monument in all of its glory. The sun was peaking through the trees throwing this gorgeous golden light on the stone. Perfect moment for the perfect shot.

Sadly the difference between perfect moments and perfect shots is often vast. When you are shooting that wide you better make sure that you line the shot up correctly. The distortion is going to be a nightmare if you don’t.

I didn’t.

I was a little off. I didn’t have my little hot-shoe level on my camera and relied on the cameras artificial horizon to tell me if I was straight. I wasn’t. I was tilted back a bit. Also I wasn’t directly centered on the statue. I wanted it to be center-line straight on and I was off a few degrees. Not “bad” but not what I wanted.

Did I mention how cold it was?

I snapped off a series of brackets and didn’t notice that  I was skewed (screwed?) until later. When I imported them into Lightroom I noticed immediately that they were off. So much for getting it right in the camera.

So what I could have done by spending  an extra five minutes in the field took almost  an hour in post-processing. I’m sure some of you could have done it faster, but I’m not that guy. Whenever I have to use the perspective correction tools, I get dizzy. A little more to the left, a little further  back..no no forward. no a smidge to the right…wait is it level?….Ugh. I hate it. It’s a nightmare. Then when  I finally did get it basically straight and fixed the perspective I noticed the BIG problem – the foreground base was warped.

Like Salvador Dali warped.

It looked like one of those melting clocks.Not good at all.

Luckily a fix for that came to me pretty quick. I opened the file up in CS5 and use the puppet transform to squish the base more or less correct. I couldn’t get it “perfect” but until I pointed it out, how many of you noticed it? I’m betting not many. All I can say is thank goodness for Photoshop.

I still like the picture. I wish I had done it correctly in the field but the end result is pretty close to what I had in mind. I guess in the end that is what matters most.

I just got back from a fantastic (if not cold) weekend in New York City. I was there as on a part interview\part photo exploration trip. Both went really well in my opinion. I’ve only just now started to look at the photos but I wanted to share this one. I know it’s been done to death and it’s nearly as ubiquitous as it is iconic, but it was still on my bucket list.

The weather didn’t want to cooperate, but when life hands you lemons….well you know the rest. Between some snow, rain, cold wind and artic temps, it wasn’t exactly a picture perfect photo weekend. I didn’t let it stop me though – I think I walked half of Manhattan going from one place to the next. I didn’t get every shot I wanted, but I got more than I can believe. It has to be one of the most photo-friendly places on the planet.

Looking forward to the next trip…once it warms up a little that is.

Cheers.