Endless - Vik, Iceland

Do any of you Nikon D800 owners get a bunch of strangely colored pixels when you take long exposure ( 30 seconds+ ) + high ISO star shots? I have been seeing a bunch showing up in the lower ( foreground ) part of my Milky Way shots. Checking back to some older shots from last year I did not notice the issue... Interesting.

Who is interested in learning my Star Photography Post Processing Workflow, I have a new group workshop date that recently opened up. Full details and signup at my Online Post Processing Group Workshop Page.

The Shot
For all you world travelers out there, if you ever decide to head over to Iceland and want to avoid the Rain and nasty weather, stay away from Vik. It seems to be raining there every time I drive through, on the other hand it's an awesome town that I highly suggest everyone visit. The black sand beaches and beautiful fog are worth your while. I like driving through this part of Iceland late at night when the weather is really moving around and the ocean waves are rising and falling just over the hill you can see in the distance.

Post Processing Info ( Grab some discount codes to the programs below at bottom of About Me Page )

Processing Time: 15 minutes

Music: Pink Floyd - The Final Cut

Drink: Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

Lightroom 4  ( Check out my Learn Photography Page for all my tutorials )

1. Single Exposure at -1EV / f/11 / 1/6th of a second / ISO 100
2. Adjust RAW file in LR4 bringing out shadow details and highlights along with a small increase in vibrancy and decrease in saturation.
3. Export to JPEG.

Photoshop CS5

1. Midtones curves adjustment & bright highlights curves adjustment
2. Sharpen & noise reduction using Nik Software
3. DONE!

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Lost Worlds - Vik, Iceland

Driving through Iceland with a camera is a really tough task. First off you need to have enough self control not to stop and take pictures every few seconds, don't fall in to this trap, you will never see everything you want to:) Second of all, there are sheep all over the place, and third, well it's probably some strange hour of the night, at least during the summer months. All in all this is what some people such as myself call fun. 

NEWS & Events

Two weeks left to enter my Free Star Photography Workshop Give Away Contest. HELLO it's free:)

A few new updates and links added to the Free Star Photography Tutorial, as well as a cool upload and sharing feature for you to share your star shots. 

Two spots left in my Star Photography Workshops for the entire summer.

The Shot

Right before I went to meet up with Conor MacNeill & Greg Annandale, Meghan and I were driving top speeds through Southern Iceland chasing the sunset as some call it. For a while such strange beauty was happening that it was hard to shoot, let alone function. None the less we got outta there with some awesome shots. At least I think so! PS: Check out Conor & Greg's websites linked above, both very inspirational photographers in my opinion.

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The Triad - Vík, Iceland

Topaz Labs is having a sale right now, you can get their entire bundle for 100$ dollars off the list price. I really like their stuff, and find it to add a much needed flair to some of the shots posted on this website. I used a few of the presets and blended them in on the shot below. You can click through HERE, and use the coupon code july4 when checking out to get the discount:) 

I spent my afternoon doing some odds & ends as well as planning an upcoming China trip for the fall. Beijing, Hong Kong and Guilin look like awesome places to explore & snap some pictures along the way.

The Shot

Just getting back from Iceland last week, it seems like a good time to bust out pictures from my previous trip. Here is one from the quaint town of Vik which lies on the Southern Coast of the island. 

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Black & Blue - Vik, Iceland

Another long nearly sleepless weekend in the books that took us to Cannon Beach, Cape Kiwanda and some other random spots. The weather played along well and I have some amazing shots to throw in the folder with the 18,000 or so that are waiting to be processed! I'm happy to see a few more people signed up for my In the Field Star Photography Workshops. Spots are running out, grab one fast or let me know if you have some questions...

The Shot

When out shooting I always take a few "minimal" shots including just the clouds and sky. Sometimes these turn out really cool as this one from Vik Iceland did.

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5 Wise Guys - Vik, Iceland

I had a great weekend exploring the Olympic Peninsula and doing some camping at Crescent Lake & Second Beach. I would highly recommend each place to spend the night, make a fire and do some relaxing... I have provided the GPS coordinates and a fun iPhone shot from the weekend below. Just copy and paste the GPS into Google Maps and boom!

Second Beach - [47.887428,-124.624701]

Lake Crescent - [48.054261,-123.79976]

Saturday Morning sounded like a great time to adventure to Sol Duc & have some beers so why not mix and match.. Don't worry I provided a "REAL" shot for my daily post directly below this one:)

The Shot

Since I am sharing lots of water and ocean locations today, why not post a shot from an amazing small town on the Southern Coast of Iceland. If you go to Iceland, Vik is a must for their black beaches and famous little church that sits on the hill.

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The Gorge - Vik, Iceland

I really like having my photos shared online and make them very easy to share and enjoy, but when I see them shared incorrectly without providing my name & website next to the picture it makes me mad. Mount Rainier National Park is currently incorrectly sharing my picture on Facebook and will not answer me in email or twitter form. The best part is the White House Tweeted the picture on their twitter account which I do find really cool. The tweet below is interactive, go ahead and click...

RT @interior: One of the most stunning photos we've ever seen. The #milkyway over @mountrainiernps instagr.am/p/U7KGbSAu2Y

— The White House (@whitehouse) January 26, 2013

The Shot

This was the picture that I processed in my Free HDR Video Tutorial. I took it on the Southern Coast of Iceland near Vik. If you are ever in Iceland make sure you go to Vik, it is a really cool town with amazing black beaches, and beautiful landscapes. 

Lost in Iceland

Do any of you guys/gals use Reddit? I have been posting my star images on there lately and WOW, what a reaction. Granted most of them are hit and run but it's still nice to see all those views:)

The Shot:

Driving to Vik is terrific and my favorite part of Iceland minus the West Fjords.  The coast was especially awesome in June because the Lupines are blooming and they light up the once green fields with blue. Some of the most amazing landscapes I have ever seen came on this long stretch of road, here is one of the shots I captured just after the sun dipped below the horizon around midnight.

The Final Product

Processing Technique for the Picture Above:

Lightroom 4:

Minor white balance and contrast adjustment.

Photomatix:

Process 7 exposures in -3EV to 3 EV.

Photoshop 6:

-Blend Photomatix layer with 7 exposures -3EV to 3EV to bring out dynamic range.

-Lumonsity Masks on midtones, darks and lights to bring out detail and saturation.

-Saturation masks(to desaturate) & Vibrance masks(to saturate).

-Color Balance for small color adjustments in the sky.

-Nik Color Efex Pro Contrast 

-High Pass Filter on Soft Light blend mode to sharpen entire image.

-Nik Define for local denoise.

-Free transform to straighten the horizon.

-Final saturation painting on the lupines and desaturation on the road.

-Brighten the center line on the road with curves

-Save as Jpeg.

Before the Magic