Traveling the Journey of Light | Photoblog Thoughts, feelings, and techniques behind the photography of Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston

From the Photo Archives: A Touch of LightPosted by drfl on August 31st, 2009

In summer of 2006 I had the pleasure of photographing the Columbia Gorge region of Oregon. Since Nebraska is not known for waterfalls, I really wanted to get out and see the many that the region had to offer. Unfortunately, due to multiple issues with United Airlines, we missed over an entire day of visiting this serene area, but I did make a point to visit the grand Multnomah Falls.  Besides photographing the waterfall in its entirety as many do, or even half of it with the bridge, which is also common, I choose to put on my 70-200 with a 1.4x teleconverter and selectively photograph various sections of the falls. In this particular image, I focused on the rainbow that was created as a small slice of light was hitting the falls.

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 70-200 f/4l + 1.4tc @ 198mm, f/16, 1/8 sec.
Multnomah Falls, Oregon

This image can be viewed on my website at: http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/photo.asp?pictureid=ATouchofLight&xmlfile=/journey06/xml/color/pacificnorthwest.xml&x=0

Photo Friday - Stand By MePosted by drfl on August 28th, 2009

While processing some photographs from my western Nebraska trip in May, I came across this image which I almost archived, but something about this composition drew me back. Here, two trees stood for an eternity, alone on a vast empty prairie yet they remain together. For me, this image evokes a calming feeling, one of togetherness and companionship. Two united against the elements and time.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 109mm, f/13, .4 sec.
Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/photo.asp?pictureid=StandByMe&xmlfile=/journey06/xml/color/midwest.xml&x=27

That New Camera Smell!Posted by drfl on August 27th, 2009

I came across a post entitled “6 things you forgot to do when you first got your new dSLR“.  There is some good information there.  I only have a couple of things to add:

1. Check the autofocus accuracy with all your lenses.  This may seem time consuming and tedious, but in the end it is well worth it.
2. Buy a second battery (or do this when you order the camera).
3. Photocopy your registration card and make a note of the serial number.  I save this information by scanning it into my hard drives and keeping all my serial numbers - lens, cameras, software, in a common folder.
4. Breathe.

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 17-40 f/4l @ 31mm, f/9, 1/60 sec.
Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington

The Evil Ones Who Lurk in the Dark Destroying the BytesPosted by drfl on August 26th, 2009

Before my days as a photographer, in February of 2003, I was working as a Senior Engineer at the largest privately held credit card processing company.  It was supposed to be one of the happiest times of my life - I was young, I was about to be married, my career looked good.  Then “The Intrusion” occured, and in an instant everything went out of control.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dew Drops of SummerPosted by drfl on August 25th, 2009

Unfortunately, I was ill last Friday and through the weekend, so I did not complete my “Photo Friday” post.  As a result, I am posting a new photo today.  About two years ago I wanted to start focusing (no pun intended - well ok maybe) on my macro photography.  My wife purchased an extension tube for me and I went out looking for itty subjects.  It’s been a challenging two years to say the least!  When you’re used to wide-angle everything with the occasionally telephoto for wildlife, small subjects can be a bit daunting.  Add to that the fact that every little breeze may move your subject around and the fact that crouching in all sorts of unnatural positions can really torque your back I began to wonder if macro was for me.  Well, I stuck with it and I can now say that I’m glad I did, there are so many great little worlds in nature to explore. 

A couple of weeks ago my brother-in-law’s graciously took my father-in-law and me to his cabin near Cedar Rapids, Nebraska.  Besides casting a fishing line in the lake, I spent the two cool mornings looking for some little things to photograph.  This reed with dew drops fascinated me and I spent probably a good 45 minutes trying different compositions (between breezes of course).  I wanted to capture a bit of the surroundings reflected in the big dew drop and then I stopped down a bit to give the specular highlights on the smaller drops a star-like look.  This effect is visible near the top of the reed on the right side. 

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM lens, f/9, 1/160 sec.
Near Cedar Rapids, Nebraska

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/photo.asp?pictureid=DewDropsofSummer&xmlfile=/journey06/xml/color/midwest.xml&x=36

Top Six Photoshop Plugins Used In My WorkflowPosted by drfl on August 24th, 2009

1. Nik Viveza– Viveza contains a great interface for isolated brightness, contrast, and saturation control. This is by far my most used filter to complete some minor (or sometimes not so minor) adjustments to my image. Before Viveza I used masks and color ranges to accomplish these things, but now I found my workflow time has improved.
2. Nik SilverEfex – Black and white conversion program on NOS. This allows granular control on how the image is converted to monochrome and any film/style that may accompany this conversion.
3. Nik ColorEfex Pro – A collection of some good and some great treatments and effects. In version 2.0 I found myself overusing the Skylight filter, but now I use the effects sparingly or when I want to. My top three favorites within the collection?

• Tonal Contrast– For adjustments to local contrast for highlights, midtones, and shadow areas.
• Vignette (and Vignette Blur)– Two similar effects that produce a darkening or blurring effect on the edge of images.
• Graduated Neutral Density– To simulate the use of a grad filter on an image.

4. Genuine Fractals – The best program to enlarge photographs for bigger prints. Genuine Fractals extrapolates the information in the image and then uses that to intelligently place additional pixels to reduce the jaggies that can be produced when an image is enlarged.
5. Noise Ninja – The best program that I have found to reduce noise in photographs. I use this program sparingly, however, as I have found it can cause an unnatural look to some images.
6. Photomatix – A good program to create HDR images. This program can create some unusual (sometimes desired, sometimes not) looks to photographs.

With the photograph above I used a combination of these programs.  I began with Nik Viveza to slightly darken the background and add more brightness and contrast to the eyes and face.  I then processed the image through SilverEfex to convert it to black and white with a bit of tinting.  Lastly, I used ColorEfex to give the final image a bit of a vignette at the corners.