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The Getty

The Getty is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles and the first place I visited with my first DSLR back in 2008. Since that time, I've returned many times, with many cameras, and made many, many photographs. No matter how many times I return however, I never grow tired of the wonderful architecture or the inspiring exhibits. 

We spent some time people watching in the garden during our trip this weekend and I noticed how much fun everyone was having capturing the flowers throughout the garden with every type of camera imaginable. I thought back about my first trip with my shiny, new DSLR and the fun I had experimenting with depth of field and shutter speeds. It was a good reminder of the simple joy I use to get from looking through the viewfinder, clicking the shutter, and seeing the image on the back of my camera. It sounds so simple, but then again, that's kind of the point. Photography can be as challenging and difficult as we make it, but sometimes it's important to let all that go and just snap away for the sake of making pictures.

Exploring Waterfalls with the Fujifilm X100

We recently returned from a week in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and I've spent the last few days editing my images from the trip. During our time in the parks, I had the opportunity to photograph three waterfalls: Topoka Falls, Grizzly Falls, and Roaring River Falls. While reviewing my images of these waterfalls, I was once again reminded of just how versatile the X100 is as a travel camera. Before leaving, I picked up a step up ring so I could use my ND filters with the X100. This, combined with the built-in 3 stop ND filter gave me the ability to extend my exposures even when shooting in bright midday sun. 

The following images, which were all edited in Lightroom 4 and Silver Efex Pro 2, are some examples of the long exposure capabilities of the X100. Even though I am enjoying my new X-Pro1 (and had it with me the entire week), the fact that I can travel light with the X100 and a small tripod may make me think twice the next time I pack my gear for a trip.

Roaring River Falls - 25 seconds at f/16

Grizzly Falls - 12 seconds at f/8

Topoka Falls - 1/2 second at f/16

Rework with Silver Efex Pro

Since I didn't an opportunity to shoot this week, I spent some time reworking one of my photographs posted a couple weeks back of the Newport Pier using Silver Efex Pro 2. The original image I posted was converted and edited using Lightroom 4. Since I shot the original image in raw, I started by converting it to black and white using the Red Hi-Contrast Filter preset in Lightroom. From there, I made the normal tonal adjustments using the Basic panel and finished by applying a Graduated Filter to the top, left, and bottom of the image. I did this instead of applying a vignette because I wanted to darken the edges slightly without completely losing the blacks in the pier. 

Newport Pier original

To compare the results from Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro, I created a Virtual Copy of my original image and reset all the adjustments I made except for cropping. I then opened the image in Silver Efex Pro from Lightroom and applied the Full Contrast and Structure preset. Of all the available presets, this one seems to be my favorite so far. As you can see in the screenshot, the image quickly took on a very different look from what I created in Lightroom.

After applying the preset, I did some fine tuning using the Brightness, Contrast, and Structure sliders available in the right pane and used the Burn Edges adjustment to slightly darken the edges.

Newport Pier in Silver Efex Pro 2

Here's the final image from Silver Efex Pro. Comparing the two outputs, they're obviously very different. But that has more to do with the edits I applied and less to do with the tools I used. I've been using Lightroom for years so I have a good idea of what I can and can't do. Since I've only been using Silver Efex Pro for a couple weeks, it'll take some time to get my workflow down. Seeing and comparing the results from both tools, I can imagine lots of possibilities when using the two together and look forward to many, many more images created using this combination.

Newport Pier rework

Revisiting Silver Efex Pro

I downloaded a trial for Silver Efex Pro a few years ago and was blown away by the black and white conversions I was able to create. Up to that point, I was using Lightroom to do the conversions and was satisfied with the workflow and results. After seeing what I could do with Silver Efex Pro, I never looked at my black and white conversions done in Lightroom quite the same way. The only problem was this was back in 2010 when the plugin for Lightroom cost $199. As good as it was, I just couldn't justify spending that much on a single plugin.

With the recent announcement that Nik Software (now a part of Google) had dropped the price of their entire collection to $149, I decided to give the latest version of Silver Efex Pro a try. Using Silver Efex Pro 2 as a Lightroom plugin is still quick and painless and the results it helps to create are still stunning. The presets provide a great starting point for the conversion and the localized adjustments make it possible to really fine tune an image. I'm only 5 days into my 15 day trial, but I've pretty much already decided that this time around, Silver Efex Pro is here to stay. Here are some of the conversions I did of my recent long exposure photographs made of various piers around Southern California.

Long Exposures at the Newport Pier

I have always been intrigued by long exposure photography and the sense of motion that can be conveyed in a photograph. I have fond memories of sitting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art trying to capture the movement of the museum's patrons with my Sony Cybershot camera. Since the camera didn't have manual mode and I wasn't yet familiar with the effects of shutter speed on an image, I simply experimented by changing the settings I could control to create photographs that showed the movement of the people around me.

Fast forward a few years to 2008. Armed with my first DSLR and a better understanding of the use of shutter speed, I visited Newport Beach to capture some of my first long exposure photographs of the Newport Pier. Since that time, I've visited the Newport Pier many times and made many photographs of this fascinating structure. I'm not really sure what it is about this particular pier, but I never seem to grow tired of photographing it.

Having recently acquired some ND (neutral density) filters for the 35mm lens of my X-Pro1, I thought it was only fitting to head down to one of my favorite places to create some long exposure photographs of the Newport Pier. Luckily, the weather cooperated and provided a beautiful backdrop for creating some of my favorite long exposure photographs to date.