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Wow, four blog posts in one week.  Not bad!

Each of the images in this series were captured using a custom B&W
in-camera preset AND a custom tone curve etc. preset in Bridge CS3. 
Plus one secret ingredient, in-camera...

Nikon D300  -  Sigma 50-150 2.8  -  80mm  -  f/8  -  1/1000 sec  -  ISO 400  -  Aperture priority

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/4  -  1/4000 sec  -  ISO 200  -  Aperture priority

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  55mm  -  f/16  -  1/90 sec  -  ISO 200  -  Aperture priority

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/2.8  -  1/350 sec  -  ISO 3200  -  Aperture priority

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/11  -  10 sec  -  ISO 200  -  Manual exposure  -  Tripod

Alright folks that's all for the B&W's for now.  Next week I'll blog some color photos, a mix of Sevilla and recent weddings...

Take care,
=Matt=

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Adventure / outdoor photographers, definitely email me if you think you
can swing a mid-week trip to Zion in the next couple weeks!  As much as I'm a
hermit when it comes to landscape photography, having company on the
trip itself would be awesome...  We can share nature photography
secrets!

---

Each of the images in this series were captured using a custom B&W
in-camera preset AND a custom tone curve etc. preset in Bridge CS3. 
Plus one secret ingredient, in-camera...

Most of these shots were taken on my last days in Sevilla, when I was by myself and knew the city pretty well.  Most of these images were taken amidst crowds of tourists, and I either excluded them from the photos or patiently waited until my frame was empty.

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/11 -  1/60 sec  -  ISO 400  -  Aperture priority + 1/3

Nikon D300  -  Sigma 50-150 2.8  -  150mm  -  f/4  -  1/350 sec  -  ISO 200  -  Aperture priority + 2/3

Take care,
=Matt=

---

Adventure / outdoor photographers, definitely email me if you think you
can swing a mid-week trip to Zion in about two weeks!  As much as I'm a
hermit when it comes to landscape photography, having company on the
trip itself would be awesome...  We can share nature photography
secrets!

---

Each of the images in this series were captured using a custom B&W
in-camera preset AND a custom tone curve etc. preset in Bridge CS3. 
Plus one secret ingredient, in-camera...

As I posted before, I approached much of this photography from an entirely different standpoint-  Shooting JPG, (sometimes equated to shooting a slide on film) shooting at a high ISO if I needed to, in fact for most all of my B&W shots I just left the camera at ISO 400 / 800.  Lastly, I shot wide open if I had to, even for "critical" photojournalism shots like the 2nd one here.  A very street-photographer approach, and I must say it has been an interesting experience.  I really like the combination of being conservative in my vision but with a "shoot from the hip" mentality...  Making each shot count, thinking them through before clicking the shutter, ...but doing whatever it takes to get the shot, whenever the critical moment is...

Rest assured, I had my tripod with me.  I'm not giving up proper landscape photography or anything.  I just decided to shoot so many of these images the way I did because it felt like the right thing to do.  I mean, you're in a foreign country, wandering the crazy, convoluted streets of some city that is thousands of years old.  It just felt RIGHT to pretend that I was shooting an old manual Nikon FM2 camera with rolls of my favorite B&W film...

Shooting in B&W has given me a huge appreciation for simple tones and contrast.  I can really feel my shooting style evolving away from color for all but the most firey of sunsets etc...

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/16  -  1/60 sec  -  ISO 800  -  Aperture priority

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/3.3  -  1/45 sec  -  ISO 1600  -  Aperture priority

Take care,
=Matt=

---

Adventure / outdoor photographers, definitely email me if you think you
can swing a mid-week trip to Zion in about two weeks!  As much as I'm a
hermit when it comes to landscape photography, having company on the
trip itself would be awesome...  We can share nature photography
secrets!

---

Sevilla, Spain is an intricate city that wholly begs to be seen in Black & White.  I felt compelled to capture many images in B&W right away, completely skipping the popular "step" of viewing a color image and then converting to gayscale it in Photoshop.  This was one of the first times in 3+ years that I captured "critical" nature / travel images in JPG format...  I know I could have shot RAW + JPG just to play it safe, but one aspect of travel photography is to conserve your battery power and memory card space.  I brought home something like 14-15 gigs of images, and that was even shooting a little conservatively.  If I had shot RAW or RAW + JPG, I might have easily needed 30-50 gigs worth of (redundant) storage!

(In case you've noticed a little extra geekiness on this blog lately, it is because I am intentionally neglecting my CameraTalk blog for a little bit, in order to economize on my time...  I apologize to the readers who don't care about techie stuff, and I hope that any who do enjoy it will subscribe to CameraTalk for future posts!)

I want to do a short series this week of images that were captured in-camera as B&W.  I have arrived at a form of capture and processing that is very technically ambitious yet artistically impressive...  Let's just say that I've named my new in-camera B&W preset and Bridge CS3 preset "Fuji Acros", and I believe aptly so.  For those readers who may not know what Fuji Acros is, well, basically it ws just one of landscape photography's favorite B&W films in 35mm, medium and large format alike...

Each of the images in this series were captured using a custom B&W in-camera preset AND a custom tone curve etc. preset in Bridge CS3.  Plus one secret ingredient, in-camera...

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  1/500 sec  -   f/16  -  ISO 400  -  Aperture Priority

Nikon D300  -  Sigma 50-150 2.8  -  135mm  -  1/750 sec  -  f/4  -  ISO 400  -  Aperture Priority

Take care,
=Matt=

---

Adventure / outdoor photographers, definitely email me if you think you
can swing a mid-week trip to Zion in about two weeks!  As much as I'm a
hermit when it comes to landscape photography, having company on the
trip itself would be awesome...  We can share nature photography
secrets!

---

Love is an ultimate example of yin & yang philosophy:

If you are in love with someone enough, you are willing to ACCEPT THEM for who they are, flaws and all.

If you are in love with someone enough, you are willing to CHANGE who YOU are, to address flaws and become a better, more worthy person...

This goes both ways; two people loving each other and accepting each other as they are, yet at the same time loving each other ENOUGH to be willing to actually do something FOR the other...  Yin & Yang...

You WILL click here and view a higher-resolution version!
British Columbia Moonrise, 2005.
Nikon D70  -  Nikon 80-400 VR  -  80mm  -  f/8  -  ISO 200

I have revisited this image's original file as many as twenty times over the years, and have printed it innumerable times.  I believe that I have finally arrived at a satisfactory "version" of my vision and memory of that exciting moment...  Deep shadows, a bright moon, a "wedge" of pink glow on the horizon... (one of my favorite things in nature, truly a gorgeous sight to discover...)  ...And a slight panoramic crop, to help accentuate the ultimate feeling of being in a teeny, tiny corner of such a wide-open world...

Lovingly,
=Matt=

---

Adventure / outdoor photographers, definitely email me if you think you
can swing a mid-week trip to Zion in three weeks!  As much as I'm a
hermit when it comes to landscape photography, having company on the
trip itself would be awesome...  We can share nature photography
secrets!

---

Alright, gonna try and get back in the groove of things here.  Gotta blaze through some wedding photos from Sept. Oct. because I wanna try and make time in early November to hit up ZION National Park for the GORGEOUS fall colors.  But that all depends, if I can clear my plate of the massive pile of current work before my first November wedding...

If anyone is free mid-week of election week, (vote early at your city hall?)  ...I'd like to go Monday or Tuesday, thru Thursday, to avoid the tourist crowds. (And because, as a self-employed professional photographer, that's how you MUST roll since all your work falls on the weekends!)

Alright, an image!  I'm just loving, loving loving the groove I've gotten into lately with my particular camera + lens.  Images are just looking beautiful.  And all my weddings this summer have had beautiful people and gorgeous light!  Woohooo!!!  Wait till you see some more of the portraits from this summer / fall...

Nikon D300  -  Sigma 50-150 2.8  -  150mm  -  f/2.8  -  1/250 sec.  -  ISO 320 (auto)  -  Apeture Priority  -  Kelvin WB

I see everyone around me excitedly buying new camera bodies or dying for the day that they can soon get the newest ones on the market.   And I'm just now sliding into 2nd / 3rd gear with my now "old" camera!  Could not be more stoked with images lately.  Been shooting wide open at f/2.8 incessantly, probably 90% of my images were at f/2.8 (or faster) this summer...  Camera is just nailing focus every single time, I've seen so many tack-sharp eyelashes lately.... I'm getting really good at nailing color and exposure, and am able to get my workflow done in a matter of hours and days, instead of the weeks / months it used to take me in the past few years.  Those of you who have followed my blog for that long know some of the tough times I've been through, selling my soul to photoshop and work in general.  2009 looks like it will be a year when I actually have free time once a week, instead of once a quarter...

Which is a GOOD thing, cause I'm gettin' married in 170 days!!!

I gotta say, too, each new, beautiful wedding I photograph makes me REALLY look forward to my own.  Like, seriously.  All the couples I've photographed with this summer have been cute, young and oh-so in love, it's been awesome.  THANK YOU ALL for giving me the best work season ever!

Take care all,
=Matt=

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Adventure / outdoor photographers, definitely email me if you think you can swing a mid-week trip to Zion in three weeks!  As much as I'm a hermit when it comes to landscape photography, having company on the trip itself would be awesome...  We can share nature photography secrets!

---

Wrapped up Scott Robert's workshop yesterday.  I'm blogging from a little hostel that was walking distance away; I'll be staying here until Wednesday when I'll fly back to the US...  Have just shot a beautiful sunset along a river, and need to go to bed as it is just past midnight here.  (So this post will read 3 PM Pacific time?)  There is a perfect crescent moon at sunset and I'm really hoping to incorporate it into some photos in the next couple days...

The workshop was epic.  I've never had such glamorous settings in which to photograph...  Two days ago, the sunset just really popped and I managed to orchestrate this shot:

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  1 sec  -  f/11  -  ISO 200
Remote  SB800 @ TTL -1  -  Circular-polarizer  -  Tripod  -  Cable release
RAW image processed in BR CS3, burn & dodge + contrast in PS CS3

Take care all!

=Matt=

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Hello all, I am safe and sound in Seville!  I had about 7 hours total worth of delays at different airports along the way, but I made it, managed to get a taxi to take me to the right place without knowing much spanish at all.

So far the trip has been epic, the experience has been incredibly enlightening and I am so glad I came.  Being in a different country is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life.  Joy and I have now related in a lot of ways since she spent 10 weeks in Europe already.  Both of us are seeing what it is like to be a million miles away from your loved one in a totally different world, and / or to be at home "alone" with nothing to do because you miss the other.

Anyways, I am thorougly enjoying my experience, and I couldn't think of a better group of friends to travel with than all the cool photographers I am here with now.  Scott Robert is a great mentor and he really holds nothing back when explaining exactly how HE got to where he is, and how we can even surpass his own success.  Scott is one of the few people I know who speaks honestly about the current-day industry and what you have to do to not only survive, but how to succeed and excel...

I am so sorry but I have no time for image info!  Just enjoy...

Take care all,
=Matt=

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The ironic thing is, I HONESTLY did not realize what I had photographed until after I snapped the shot and looked at it on the back of my camera.  Even more ironc is the fact that this couple loves Disneyland as much as Joy and I do!  Haha!

That's all I'm going to say about the photo.  You should be able to "see"...

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  55mm  -  f/2.8  -  1/60 sec  -  ISO 1600
Apeture priority, A-WB.  JPG image with minimal processing in Bridge CS3. 

Take care all!  I may not be able to blog again before I head to Spain, so if this is it, I love you all and I'll miss you!
=Matt=

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Snapped a landscape photo down at an engagement session a while ago.  Hand-held, even!

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/16  -  1/125 sec  -  ISO 200  -  Apeture priority
Single RAW image double-processed in BR CS3 and merged in PS CS3.  Burning + dodging.

Nikon D300  -  Nikon 17-55 2.8  -  17mm  -  f/16  -  1/180 sec  -  ISO 200  -  Apeture priority
Single RAW image processed in BR CS3.  Burning + dodging and selective color in PS CS3...

Ah, REALLY looking forward to getting out some more this fall / winter and shooting some landscapes!!!

Take care all,
=Matt=

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