Monthly Archives: January 2013

11 years, 1 month ago 4

 

As the Super Bowl draws nearer, the traffic is getting worse and we are having to get in earlier, so no shooting this morning, and it was raining last night.  Hope to do some shooting this evening, but this morning I need to answer a request from an emailer.  I got an email asking what we were going to teach about digital filter programs at the Old Car City Workshop,  actually a lot, but I thought I would walk everyone through one short lesson.

 

Above you will see 5 shots I made of one of my favorite trucks at Old Car City.  The old Dodge has a great rusted mirror which will be the subject in this image.  I shot five shots one stop apart to do an HDR image.

 

The image below is Step One.  All five combined in Photomatix and processed into a HDR leaning very slightly to the HDR look side.  (This is accomplished by running the first five sliders back and forth until you get the look you want, and then processing with those settings.)  This is my quick method to do the HDR look without all the gymnastics.

 

 

Step Two: Below,  crop, use dodge and  urn to control highlights and adjust exposure with levels.

 

 

Step Three: Below, take the image into NIK Efex Pro 3 or 4 and apply Tonal Contrast, adjust the sliders to get the look and feel you want.

 

 

Step 4: Below, Take the image back into NIK Efex Pro 3 or 4 and apply Glamour Glow.  Finished!!!  Takes less than 5 minutes!

 

These are the kinds of techniques and processing tips that Jim and I will share at Old Car City. Hope this helped!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Just for grins, Brien just shared this with me, pretty accurate Weather Forecasting stone!

 

 

11 years, 1 month ago 13

 

Got up this morning to pouring rain, as a big storm front has moved over New Orleans.  Probably won’t  get to shoot today, so I thought you might like to see what an NPS set-up for a major event is like.  We finally got all the banners and tables covered, un packed the cases, they shipped in four large rolling cases for the event.  We went some of yesterday doing a complete inventory that includes checking the serial number on every piece of equipment!  So, pictured below, this is what we have to loan to credentialed shooters at the Super Bowl!

 

16 D4 camera bodies

8 D3s camera bodies

4 D800 camera bodies

4 D600 camera bodies

2 D700 camera bodies

8- 24-70 lenses

3- 14-24 lenses

8- 70-200 lenses

4- 300mm f2.8 lenses

6- 200-400 f 4 lenses

6-400mm f 2.8 lenses

4- 500mm f4 lenses

 

Plus a bunch of other lenses including;  16mm fisheyes, 10.5mm fisheyes, 16-35s, 17-35s, 85mm f 1.4, 35mm f1.4, 50mm f 1.4s and 4 – SB-910 flashes.

 

 

* Just in ase you were wondering, this is a relatively small consignment!!!  The Kentucky Derby for example gets about four times the gear!!  The Olympics?  Don’t even ask!!!!! 

 

We will have two repair technicians starting later today to do sensor cleaning and minor repairs all complimentary, and we maintain  a table with snacks for our shooters, with soft drinks and snacks.  We will have the depot open form 9:00 to 5:00 each day until Sunday, Game Day when we will operate from 12:00 noon until after all the gear is turned in post game, everything in inventoried and packed for pick up on Monday, we usually get back to our hotel around 3:00 a.m.

 

 

So that is what it’s like to run and event, the best part is seeing lots of old friends from Sports Illustrated, USA Today, the AP, EPA, and many of the papers and magazines we cover.  It’s fun to see all the sports personalities we enjoy in person!  Yesterday, while walking in the French Quarter, Brien, quiet literally, ran into, Mike Greenberg of Mike & Mike In The Morning, on ESPN, almost knocked him down leaving a restaurant.  he was very nice and cordial, we got a chance to tell him it was nice to meet a guys we spent a lot mornings with!

 

 

So for those of you that have asked that’s what this gig is like!

 

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

11 years, 1 month ago 5

Day one in the Super Dome, doesn’t look “Super” to  you???  Well this is usually what our facilities look like, somewhere under the stands, the pipes, and heating ducts!  Such is the life of a lowly tech rep!  Oh whoa is me!!  O.K. just having fun with you!!  No that really is our room, but hey, it’s not and Afghan prison!  Before the day was out we had all our equipment cases and started to get things organized, I’ll show you that tomorrow after we put the finishing touches on it.  After the work was done we went back to our hotel to pick up some cases that had not been delivered.  We stopped in the French Quarter for some lunch and I did the first attempt at my DSLR vs Compact Camera Shoot-out.  Today it was the compact cameras turn!   In the restaurant we had some nice opportunities and the quiet small camera served it’s function well and did not attract attention to itself!  The shot below of a young lady using her camera was easy to make and she was never aware that she had been captured.

 

 

This image below was little different, this young lady offered Brien and I a sample of some Praline and I just had to ask if I could take a photograph of her, said, “I love your hair can I make picture of you??!!”  She said sure and then posed for me!  My little unassuming camera didn’t cause any problems at all, she was off guard and natural and I think the image bares that out!

 

 

The images below were a piece of cake with the small camera;

 

 

I’ll let you be the judge, but I think the little fellow, did right well on it’s first time out!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

11 years, 1 month ago 2

 

Brien and I got into New Orleans around 1:00 p.m. and went all afternoon getting credentials and supplies packed into the depot at the Super Dome.  In the morning we will meet the freight truck around 6:30 a.m. when the consignment gear trunks are delivered to the stadium.  Lots of preparations for the big game Sunday.  We did give ourselves a little treat at one of the best Cajun restaurants in Now Orleans, a big bowl of Gumbo for Brien and we shared a piece of their fabulous Bread Pudding, best I’ve ever had!

 

 

Hey, after all, all work and no play, makes Brien and Bill dull boys!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

What do you think, Coolpix or DSLR???   iPhone…….