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California's Central Coast
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Older Gallery: 16-21 June 2010
16 17 18 19 20 21 June 2010 Tech Details
These are snaps from my trip with Dave Wyman and our group along California's glorious central coast.
These shots are all exactly as they came out of my D3 as JPGs. I explain everything at Tech Details.
16 June 2010, Wednesday
Today I drove to Los Angeles to meet Dave, and the southern half of our group, for our trip to San Luis Obispo.
As I'm packing, this little guy wakes up and comes to see what I'm doing:
Ryan, 9:21 AM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 450, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4.2 at 1/30. Details.
Since I had my color set to SCORCH, I lowered the saturation in Photoshop, and I also dodged (lightened) Ryan's face.
Tripod, please? 9:31 AM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 560, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/1.8 at 1/125. Details.
I had my tripod out in my "away" pile, and Ryan wanted me to put my D3 on it so he could take some pictures of mom and I. I have no idea why; I don't use tripods, but the D3 is so heavy that it probably makes it much easier for Ryan to shoot.
Ryan explores the D3, 9:32 AM.
Canon 5D Mark II, Auto ISO 200, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/2.2 at 1/40, no flash.
Dad adds the SB-600 flash to the D3, 9:33 AM.
Canon 5D Mark II, Auto ISO 200, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/2.8 at 1/40, no flash.
Take my picture! 9:34 AM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 320, bounced Nikon SB-600 flash with small (1 x 2") kicker card as shown in next photos, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/5.6 at 1/60. Details.
After Ryan took some pictures of mom and me, he wanted me to take his picture.
This is cropped from a horizontal shot. I dodged (lightened) Ryan's face.
Ryan likes! 9:33 AM.
Canon 5D Mark II, Auto ISO 200, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/2.8 at 1/50, no flash.
Ryan checks his results, 9:37 AM.
Canon 5D Mark II, Auto ISO 200, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/2.5 at 1/40, no flash.
Ryan photographs with the Nikon D3, 9:38 AM.
Canon 5D Mark II, Auto ISO 200, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/2.8 at 1/50, no flash.
I got lucky: I just happened to catch the flash from the D3/SB-600 combo with the 5D Mark II as Ryan fired the D3. Whoo hoo! I use a small piece of paper as a "kicker" on top of the SB-600. It's slipped between the flash and the warming gels I have Velcroed to the the flash.
Ryan's hand, 9:35 AM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 360, Nikon SB-600 flash, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/5.6 at 1/60. Details.
If there's one thing I've taught Ryan, it is to try everything yourself and not read it on the Internet. Ryan wanted to take a picture of his hand, so he put it on the lens and took the picture. I told him it wouldn't be in focus, but that was old grumpy me speaking. Ryan did the right thing by ignoring me and seeing for himself. If I had learned to ignore conventional wisdom when I was his age, I would have experimented more, and learned much more much faster. Especially with digital, if in doubt, try it out.
Dada, as photographed by Ryan, 9:38 AM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 500, Nikon SB-600 flash, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/5.6 at 1/60. Details.
Can you tell that I'm saying "CHEESE!?"
OK, OK, enough of the kiddie photos, let's head north. Next trip, Ryan's coming with me and doing all the work. He wanted to come this time.
Octagon Barn Mailboxes, San Luis Obispo, California, 7:40 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 200, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/8 at 1/250. Details.
The mailboxes are in shadow, and the white building is in sunlight. Do you think this shot came out of the camera looking like this? No way! Roll your mouse over to see how it looked before I dodged (lightened) the mailboxes, and burned (darkened) the distracting white building. I do this in Photoshop with adjustment layer masks.
Octagon Barn Mailbox, San Luis Obispo, California, 7:40 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 200, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/5.6 at 1/125. Details.
This, as most of these images, is exactly as it came from the D3.
Lamps, Los Padres Inn, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:09 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 200, 70-300mm VR at 210mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/5.6 at 1/125, hand-held. Details.
I simply point-and-shot this as we unloaded at the motel.
Red Planter, Los Padres Inn, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:09 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 320, 70-300mm VR at 155mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4.8 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
I cropped this from a sloppy horizontal snap.
Boxster across the street from the Los Padres Inn, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:12 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 500, 70-300mm VR at 300mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/5.6 at 1/30, hand-held! Details.
Goodness, this snap is hand-held at 1/30 of a second, at three-hundred millimeters! The 70-300mm VR is incredible for hand-held night shooting. Here's a crop from a small section at 100%, or from a 42 x 28" (110 x 70 cm) print:
Crop from above, from 40 feet (12 meters) away at dusk!
Not bad from 40 feet (12 meters) away!
Oranges, Los Padres Inn, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:25 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 1,800, 70-300mm VR at 250mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/5.6 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
Another shot in the dark with the 70-300mm VR. The blue highlights are from the deep blue dusk sky.
Lamps, Los Padres Inn, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:27 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 200, 70-300mm VR at 300mm, shifted Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/8 at 1/60, hand-held. Details.
Now that the sky was deeper and bluer, this blue-and-gold shot comes off better than before. I had to dial-in -1.3 stops of exposure compensation, otherwise it was much lighter and washed-out.
Now that we were all checked in, we walked downtown for dinner.
Tin Wall, Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:29 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 200, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, shifted Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
Tin Wall, Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:32 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 640, Nikon 16-35mm VR at 16mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
The splines on the wall showed some obvious curvature from the 16-35mm VR's heinous barrel distortion at 16mm. I fixed it with a value of +8 in Photoshop's lens distortion tool. Roll your mouse over to see it before correction.
Splash Cafe, Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:34 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 1,400, Nikon16-35mm VR at 24mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
I snapped this as we crossed the street. It's a swell, colorful snap, but it has no focus. What's the point? Let's FART a moment and see if we can make a stronger photo by thinking a little.
Red Lights by Splash Cafe, Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:34 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 2,500, 70-300mm VR at 70mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4.5 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
The nice thing about Auto ISO is that I make these night snaps at exactly the same settings as daytime snaps. All I have to do is compose; I have my D3 set so everything sets itself exactly as I would.
This snap has three parts: the two red ellipses, the big blue "T," and the dark gray in between them.
Splash Cafe, Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:36 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 1,600, Nikon16-35mm VR at 16mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
Aha! This is what I wanted. I pulled out the traffic signal by taking one step forward, and now we have just one thing going on: a big orange triangle poking up into blue.
Since there are no lines near and parallel to the frame edges, the lens' distortion isn't visible.
Mural, Splash Cafe, Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:36 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 1,600, Nikon16-35mm VR at 26mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
If you look at the times, you can see that I'm snapping these as we walked along. In this instance, I used a curves layer to add some snap.
Petite Soleil, Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:37 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 1,100, Nikon16-35mm VR at 26mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
This was a thoughtless snap. I never noticed the dude hauling in a bed until I put the image on this page!
Futon, Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:39 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 2,800, Nikon16-35mm VR at 16mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
There are straight lines, and they are near the edges, but since they don' run parallel to them for any length, the distortion is invisible.
These colors, like everything here, are exactly as they came out of my D3 as I have it set.
Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:49 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 800, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/1.8 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
I used the Vertical slider in Photoshop's Lens Distortion Tool to force the vertical lines to be vertical, saving myself having to haul a view camera.
Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:52 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 6,400, Nikon16-35mm VR at 22mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/4 second, hand-held. Details.
Just another snap. I'm knocking these out in the course of a few minutes as I walk to dinner. When you go out at dusk, everything becomes vibrant. My camera wasn't straight, but at least there is no lens distortion visible at 22mm. If I had shot at 16mm, the 16-35mm would show obvious distortion with the line parallel to the right edge.
Thai Classic, Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:54 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 1,400, 70-300mm VR at 100mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4.5 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
I added +1 stop of exposure compensation so that this looked like this. Otherwise, it was too dark.
Set in Signal Light, Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 8:58 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 6,400, 70-300mm VR at 122mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4.8 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
I added +1 stop of exposure compensation so that this looked like this. Otherwise, it was too dark.
The green light on the bench is the glint of a traffic signal. The orange light is the street lighting.
Hotel Wineman, Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 9:04 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 1,000, 70-300mm VR at 90mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4.5 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
I added +1.3 stop of exposure compensation so that this looked like this. Otherwise, it was too dark.
F. McLintock's, Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo, California, 9:12 PM.
NIKON D3, Auto ISO 2,500, Nikon16-35mm VR at 26mm, Professional exposure (P) mode chose f/4 at 1/30, hand-held. Details.
I added +0.7 stop of exposure compensation so that this looked like this. Otherwise, it was too dark. ISO 2,500 looks brilliant on the D3 as-is.
F. McLintock's, one of the world's best steak houses, closed at 9PM, so we had to eat elsewhere. Oh well!
16 17 18 19 20 21 June 2010 Tech Details
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