Before The Coffee » Photography

I made a significant step in my own photography. I left my Nikon D3 at home and ventured out with my Sony NEX-7.

The NEX-7 is a mirrorless rangefinder style camera with interchangeable lenses. It’s compact, lightweight and it’s a breeze to take on a long hike. The Nex-7 has lots of lenses too. I got the kit lens which is 18-55mm but adding the 55-210mm will definitely complete the full range. Not to mention, lens adapters are available to fit your Nikon or Canon lenses. The mirrorless rangefinder style cameras are fast becoming my camera of choice and I believe will be the future of photography. Check back for my review and tips on using the NEX-7.

Shooting HDR image sets with the Sony is pretty easy after you get the workflow down.

 

This is a vertorama – one pic taken of the ground with some sky and the next taken of the sky then stitched.

Another vertorama of this magnificent sky. Both shots are taken back to back then processed in Photomatix and stitched together.

 

The rays of sun peeked through and what would have been an OK shot turned into something much better. I’m glad I hung around, I’m usually home having coffee at this hour.

 

Posted in Chesapeake Bay,Maryland,Sony NEX-7Tags: ,,,
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  • Mike - January 24, 2014 - 12:33 am

    Yum, Yum. Very, very nice work and delicious colour – evocative. I wonder how the A7R would have rendered this set? 🙂ReplyCancel

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It was a wonderful morning along the coast. The beach swash was making some interesting shapes but even with trying, it seemed the best shapes were just outside my reach. I wanted a cool swash right in front of me as part of the foreground. When I realized it was the beach surface, I crouched down like Tiger Woods and found the best position for getting the swash to be arch-shaped in the foreground. Goodness gracious, there’s all kinds of ways to control the outcome in a shot.

A brisk walker emerges from an early morning fog along the South Carolina Coast.

Posted in South CarolinaTags: ,,
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  • afu - September 10, 2013 - 11:12 pm

    Hi and hello from Maldives.I have gone through your entire blog in one sitting. I must say this is awesome and thank you for the amazing tutorial.All the best.ReplyCancel

  • James Schiller - September 30, 2013 - 2:30 am

    What a lovely photo! Greeting the sunrise while jogging on the beach is a nice form of exercise. Staying at beachfront homes in Charleston SC is ideal to be able to do such activity.ReplyCancel

  • Margaret Martin - October 6, 2013 - 5:34 pm

    I LOVE this “swash control” concept. Beautiful, beautiful curves, arcs, layers, texture, light, even walked. Thank you for sharing them, as ever.ReplyCancel

  • Carolina Fog - November 28, 2013 - 7:21 pm

    Absolutely stunning shot! I can almost hear the surf crashing in. 🙂ReplyCancel

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The sunset is behind my right shoulder and fortunately some clouds caught some sunlight just before it dropped below the horizon. I’m shooting east – southeast.

 

This is fairly straight forward processing of an HDR image. I tend to like images that are not too far from reality, I like the “Keep it Real” approach to HDR.

1. Bring 5 images @ 1EV spacing into Photomatix.
2. Process those images using Details Enhancer (default settings).
3. Open the 0EV image in cameraRAW and add vibrance and a small amount of clarity.
4. Open the HDR and the 0EV image in PS. Layer them.
5. Using a soft brush begin blending the 0EV image into the HDR image. The grass on the right and left is the 0EV image and the sky is the HDR image. The grass ghosting is eliminated.
6. Notice the sand pathway is a bit brighter. I added a levels adjustment layer and blended in the brighter sand.
7. Final step was a little cleaning up, rotate horizon, crop and very minor sharpening ( I don’t like over sharpened images).

Here is a vertical taken a few minutes before.

Have a wonderful day!

Posted in Chesapeake Bay,MarylandTags: ,,
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A beautiful morning along the Atlantic Ocean, Garden City, South Carolina.

I had my Sony NEX-7 with me and saw the little girl collecting shells on the surf. I lined up the fisherman and waited a few seconds for the moment that she was reaching for a shell. The NEX-7 is cool because the LED tilts outward so I can compose without having to lay on the ground.

 

Two horizontal HDR pics make up this panorama. I shot handheld with the Sony NEX-7 and processed them in Photomatix and stitched in Photoshop.

 

Posted in Landscape,Sony NEX-7,South CarolinaTags: ,,,
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  • Myers, Don - August 11, 2013 - 12:59 pm

    Excellant – just starting to learn this challenging tool.ReplyCancel

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