So TLS starts tomorrow folks and I am pumped for it. Downed a massive amount of BBQ already enough to feed about 5 people and then went shooting (great idea I know). Settled down near the Llano river for a while to see what I could see and polish up on those long exposure skills. The water wasn’t flowing very fast, but the end it helped out a bit and I caught the shot below.
On the way back up the hill I found this old swing and snapped one more shot before the light was gone…
Yep, before you say anything or post a comment, I know I have been severely absent from all the blogs as of late. Sorry about that and I am doing my best to get back in the saddle so to speak.
But enough of that. As of today there is only 24 days left until I am kicking my heels up and hanging out with my great buddy Jeff Lynch on the next installment of the Texas landscape Safari.
I started thinking about the last trip out there and WHAT A BLAST it was to go to all these amazing locations. I dug up some images from the old files and decided to give folks a preview of what is out there in Texas. At the same time I thought I would play around with SEP 2 a bit more and have some fun…
If you are coming out to Texas for the event. I will be the guy in the cowboy boots and hat (can’t miss me )
I know that is a line from a movie somewhere, but for the life of me i just can’t seem to remember where…
So onto business, see that image below? Yep, it may look slightly familiar if you followed last years Life@50 blog. It was a shot I didn’t decide to publish at the time because I just couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to make it visually appealing. I mean I took it knowing I wanted to do something with it, and my mind’s eye was working overtime spinning all the creative goodness into it. However, when I got back and sat down at the computer it just did nothing for me. So it has sat for a while steeping in the back of my brain as to why I took a shot I know I wanted, but then somehow forgot how I wanted to finish it.
And along comes a new toy, yes this is a B&W image so you know what I am talking about, Silver Efex Pro 2 (ah if only digital downloads could shine, this would be the shiniest dam thing on the block!!) I don’t know what it is about playing around with new goodies that makes it so much fun, but the instant I started playing I couldn’t stop. I tried a little of this and that, and then started finding all the new goodness that there was to enjoy, and I have to say I am hooked on this amazing new release of this software. If you own the previous version of this program, and love it I like did, then I truly believe that you will be obsessed with this one. I used a modified Pinhole preset on the image above and then added one of the new natural borders into the mix to make it interesting. Personally, I dig it.
I don’t know how to describe it other than it just works great!! The new features are to numerous to mention and just the amazing fine tuning the guys at Nik Software did on this program make it simply the greatest B&W conversion tool out there in my opinion.
So why am I standing on the soap box and cheering the praises of this awesome program? Simple, I like it, I like everything about it and what it does to help me tell the stories of my images. Remember the old proverb, Photographers are storytellers, think of this as my story editor to truly make you see what I saw while I was out there clicking away…
