Scott Fillmer » nikon

Starting the 4th of July Holiday Weekend :: Friday Feet

Scott Fillmer — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 01:46:42 +0000

This 4th of July holiday weekend seems to have snuck up on me. I didn’t realize it was the holiday weekend until about mid-week, days just seem to be flying by at such a fast pace, can’t believe we are already basically mid-summer. I tried out some test shots on Deb tonight, something she is always thrilled about. I picked up this used lens (10-12 years old by the serial number) for my Uganda trip. I decided last year that I was going to forgo the big expensive, heavy, pro, zoom lenses and opt for shooting with prime lenses (a fixed focal length lens). They are cheap, fast, and extremely sharp, when you shoot them well.

This is Nikon’s Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D classic prime that came out back in the late 1980′s (see photo below), which converts to about 30mm on my DX crop sensor. Not the best portrait focal length in the bag for a crop sensor but it worked pretty well. Not so sure about the focus, it seems like it might be off front or back a bit but it will do the job. I shot some black and white film with it too but of course I can’t see that yet. It hasn’t been easy getting use to using primes, but it has forced me to look at shooting more creatively. Somehow shooting those big fat pro zoom lenses years back made me lazy. Primes may take a bit more work but I love the end result.

Hope everyone is going to have a chance to relax and enjoy the 4th of July weekend. As hot as it was today we may not leave the air conditioned house until the fireworks go off on Monday. Have a great weekend.

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Backyard Photo Walk with a 35mm Lens and Some Bokeh :: Photos

Scott Fillmer — Sun, 08 May 2011 19:43:17 +0000

I love doing the back yard photo walk, mainly because you really don’t have to go anywhere to shoot. Every time you go out in your yard you will be surprised at how many new things there are to shoot each time you try it. It doesn’t seem that way at first, especially since you look at the same setting every day, but if you look hard, everything changes as the seasons move on, and there is always something new to shoot. Yesterday I went to test out this Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX and this is what I came back with. Years ago when I was shooting Nikon’s FX (Full Frame sensor) I loved to shoot specifically at 50mm using a fast 50mm lens. Over the last few years I have been shooting with a crop sensor (or DX), which makes my 35mm lens a 52mm. All that to say this is about the same as something like this but with a different lens.

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone.

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Classic Lamp and the Brick Wall

Tumble — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:56:34 +0000

The photo of the day today is one I call a classic but it is really just because I like to take photos of lighting in hotel rooms, especially when they are accompanied by the classic exposed brick wall. Similar to this shot in Colorado, but with no ambient light here.

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Catalyst One Day in Atlanta and No Film or CF Card?

Scott Fillmer — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:01:01 +0000

I am in Atlanta right now getting ready to shoot the Catalyst One Day event at Northpoint Church and later the Off the Blogs at Buckhead Church. This was one of the most last minute shoots I was ever asked to do, but being that it was Catalyst (and the Off the Blogs) I was pretty excited about accepting the last minute offer. Step one as a photographer is always always pack your film (or in this case digital compact flash cards). Without a medium to record any images on, it makes your equipment and time pretty useless, and up until this month, over the last 10-12 years, I have never forgotten those precious cards (or film), but I did today.

I did the same thing a few weeks ago when we went to the Butterfly Day Center at Callaway and wanted to make sure I never did that again (same reason as today, I switched camera bags at the last minute) so I guess this makes number two. Thank goodness there is a Best Buy in the same parking lot as my hotel and I can go pick up something I already have tons of, but can’t do the shoot without.

I am really looking forward to the day today and can’t wait to hear and worship with everyone at Northpoint. I doubt I will be able to post any pictures throughout the day here but you might look for some over on Twitter, but I should have some shots of Andy Stanley, Fee Band, Carlos Whittaker, Anne Jackson, and several more posted here over the next few days. Now off to our favorite neighborhood Best Buy.

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A Real Nikon D700 Birthday Cake is Amazing

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:11:22 +0000

I was sent this (the info not the cake) from Deb this morning and I just had to do a blog post about it. For any of those spouses of photographers, especially those Nikon freaks, it is time to step up to the plate and buy him or her that cherished Nikon D700 Birthday Cake. This thing is a replica of a Nikon D700 DSLR camera body with a carrot cake and vanilla buttercream (see Surprise Camera Birthday Cake and Camera Birthday Cake) insides. The attention to detail is wild but it sounds delicious too.

What was even more funny about the cake was the party was Maggiano’s restaurant in Bridgewater, NJ, one of my hometowns for more than some 4 years growing up. I would love to see some photos from the birthday party if any were uploaded to flickr. In the mean time, check out these awesome photos of the Nikon DSLR and NIkon D700 DSLR birthday cakes. I didn’t see how much these cakes cost, but I am fairly certain they won’t put you back the $3,000 that the Nikon D700 costs and it looks far more tasty.

Thanks to Pink Cake Box for the cake images. I love seeing businesses go out of their way to help their customers and the likeness of the D700 is just incredible. I am still finishing up Tribes by Seth Godin and he talks a lot about building a following like Pink Cake Box seems to have done with their masterpieces of sugar and flour. I spend a lot of time with my D700 and the likeness is great. Check them out if you are in the market for a wild looking cake.

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Update Old Photos with New Nikon Picture Controls // Part 2

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:27:38 +0000

This is an extension (or part 2) of my previous post, Nikon Picture Control Modes, NX2 // Part 1, and shows an example of why RAW NEF files are so good to have. I have been adjusting my post processing methods to include the Nikon ViewNX and Capture NX2 and have found some amazing uses for both.

Update Your Old RAW Files with New Nikon Picture Controls

One good thing about shooting in RAW file formats (NEF for Nikon) is that you can adjust or edit files in the future for advances that haven’t even come out yet. As I was working through all the different Nikon Picture Control modes I realized that I could take an old photo, shot in RAW NEF, and apply the new Picture Controls that are now commonly used in the Nikon D3 and D300.

Many people don’t like shooing in a RAW format. It takes up to much space, to long to process, the images don’t look good right out of the camera, and so on, but they are the only file format type that you can use for post editing effectively. When you take a photo in a jpg format, the edit process is complete when you pull the trigger.

Examples in D2X-RAW, Standard, and Vivid

These three images below were taken in 2005, well before the Nikon D3 or D300 and before the Nikon Picture Controls that are used today were ever released. The first image is the raw file as shot in the camera, at the time using the D2XModeII picture control. The second one is with today’s Standard picture control applied, and the third one is with the Vivid picture control applied.

As shot in my Nikon D2X, RAW NEF, Mode-II

Processed using the Nikon Picture Control Standard Mode

Processed using the Nikon Vivid mode from D3/D300

The Vivid Picture Control here probably needs to be toned down just a little in the saturation but I like heavy saturation. The whole reason I used Adobe software to process my images years ago is because the first RAW image above is what came out of my camera.

The software roles have shifted a little now where Nikon’s Capture NX2 and ViewNX (although still not friendly to use or graphically pleasing, to me) has made it easy to get the results you were looking for when you shot the image. Adobe still will not process the Nikon Picture Controls properly and just strips the data away, making for a bland image without a lot of work.

That is why many people dislike RAW (NEF) files, but in this case it shows me exactly why I shot RAW NEF files in the first place. Now, years later I can still open and adjust exposure, saturation, and of course the new Picture Controls.

Update May 2010

While the information in this post is still accurate and shows the process, I am in the process of creating a new guide to post-processing and my digital workflow, mostly based on John Shaw’s book on post processing that I refer to in How to Convert a PDF to ePub that will including information about the Nikon Picture Controls.

At this present date of May 29 2010, the Nikon Picture Controls are now part of ACR (Adobe Camera Raw), current version is 5.7 for CS4 and ACR 6.0 for CS5 and Lightroom 2. John Shaw’s book called Digital Processing, My personal Workflow Using Lightroom 2 and Photoshop is an eBook covers how he uses Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 to process his digital files. While CS5 is now released, this book still has a great explanation of how to do everything that deals with digital post-processing.

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Nikon Picture Control Modes and Nikon Capture Review

Scott Fillmer — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:16:49 +0000

As indicated in the title, if you are not a photo geek looking for some geeky information them perhaps you might want to just over to my gallery and just look at some photos and come back next time, but, if you are a DSLR user, this is for you. [I also have a post (part 2) that includes some photo examples called Update Old Photos with New Picture Controls if you would like to see the Nikon picture controls in action.]

Brief Background

A brief background to my work flow. I have been shooting digital since I bought my first Nikon D100 in 2002. Prior to that I was shooting all slide film like Velvia and Kodak 100s.

I had used a similar work flow process when I was shooting with my Nikon D2X up until 2006 when I switched to some very casual shooting back to my Nikon D100 and did not mess with much of a workflow process. Now that I am once again shooting with the Nikon D300 (and soon to be D700, possibly the D3X), I have gone back to learning the process I did back then.

Digital Postprocessing Workflow

In the world of digital photography, the dark room has been replaced by the editing process after you finish shooting. Same as with film, except there seem to be more and more steps involved in the process now to get the image you want, the one you took in the camera.

Some people look at the images directly from a digital camera and think they look terrible when shot in RAW. That is because most of the time, they do, unless you have a specific workflow process for the image. If you are using the standard jpg file, then that is different. The jpg’s are pretty much done when you press the trigger. You can’t effectively adjust for anything in post processing with a jpg file.

Since I shoot Nikon, this is based on a Nikon workflow, but Canon shooters do the same sort of thing. I usually take my RAW files, same them to my HDD, then convert them to a DNG (Adobe’s digital negative format), then view them in Adobe Bridge, opening the file in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw), make some minor adjustments, then the file opens in CS3 (Adobe Photoshop 3) to do my final touches and output a PSD file copy and a jpg for web use.

This was all fine but not giving me the results I wanted until I remembered how Adobe handles Nikon’s Picture Control Modes… they don’t.

Nikon Picture Control Modes Default to Download

Nikon Picture Controls are basically preset points for saturation and contrast. A very good explanation can be found on Ken Rockwell’s website (review here). You can also read where some believe these picture controls will fade away, read The Slow Passing Away of Nikon Color Modes, although I am not so sure as popular as they seem to be, and another good place is the Nikonians Forum or dPreview Forum (see this post).

These picture modes for the Nikon D300 are called Standard, Neutral, and Vivid. You can manually adjust each one and they give you the same sort of effect that different films would. If you wanted to shoot something in nature with saturated colors like reds and greens, you would use the Fuji Velvia 50 film. Today, you would choose Vivid picture control mode on the menu.

If you were use to the picture controls from the Nikon D2X, you can still download these and use them on your D300 or the newest D700. These are called D2XMode I, II, and IIIa from the D2X or today on the screen they are D2XI, D2XII, or D2XIII. These are the same picture controls used on the D2X, and are totally different from the D300 options.

Nikon also just released two new picture controls called Landscape and Portrait. All of these can be downloaded from Nikon’s website (download Nikon Picture Controls here). I am going to post some examples in the upcoming parts but you can see some good ones from the Ken Rockwell website.

Photoshop CS3 and Nikon Capture NX2

So, I setup, take the shots, then proceed into my post processing workflow. One thing I had totally forgotten is that Adobe will not read Nikon Picture Control modes. There are many aspects that determine how a final image will look besides how you took the image. Color space, picture controls, and of course the software you use to edit the images.

Since I just purchased the $200 upgrade to CS3 I wasn’t real happy to find out (or remember) that it doesn’t matter what picture control mode I use, it isn’t going to even show in any Adobe workflow process. If you want to ditch the color modes, then process away. Bridge will start out by removing your color mode that will show in the preview, leaving an image (to me) less than what was shot.

The solution is to use a large combination of software and workflow processes to get what you want, unfortunately. As I said before, if you are just using the jpg files, no need to bother. If you aren’t using a picture control mode, no need to bother.

But, if you shoot in RAW format, using a specific saturation you want, you will need to use Nikon’s Capture NX2 software to utilize the color modes. Of course that’s another $200 to Nikon I didn’t want to spend, but who’s counting at this point.

Workflow Process AND Using Nikon Picture Control Modes

If you followed me this far, you might wonder how anyone ever gets a final image they want, or why anyone would bother with all this, don’t we just pull the trigger and email the photo to someone? Well, all the more serious photographers I know are pretty particular about their images, so they (we, I, us) tend to go to these lengths in the post editing phase, although, many don’t care for the editing process.

I never learned how to use a dark room and develop film. I don’t know the first thing about it. But this is the dark room of our current time, and to be a well rounded photographer it is important to know how our dark room functions and how to properly use the tools we have.

It looks like if I want to use the picture controls I have a few options. I can:

Download my NEF files, convert all to DNG for archiving
Use Nikon ViewNX to view my NEF RAW files and output to jpg or tiff immediately
Use Nikon ViewNX for initial edit, then move to Nikon Capture NX2 to adjustments
Output the needed file from NX2 in jpg (using color space ProPhoto RGB)
Open in Bridge, convert the jpg to a non 16-bit sRGB file for uploading
Save my edited NEF file to preserve the original

or if I want to use Photoshop CS3 that I just paid for I can:

Download my NEF files, convert all to DNG for archiving
Use Nikon ViewNX or CaptureNX2 to convert all NEF files to TIFF for opening in CS3
I can now open all files with the Picture Control Modes saved in the tiff… but… I loose all ability to adjust anything in ACR as ACR will not open a tiff file.

You can download Nikon Capture NX2 for free for a 60 day trial. Might not be long enough to learn the software, it is not the easiest piece of software I have ever used, but the more I use it the easier it gets. It does have some good innovations as well, but I am so use to, and like, CS3, Bridge, and ACR that using a combination of all these will take some adjustments.

If you are just interested in reading more about the digital workflow process, John Shaw has a great digital workflow process outline on his website.

What is your work flow process? Do you use the Nikon Picture Controls or does it even matter? Stay tuned for part 2.

Update:

Part 2 is located in post Update Old Photos with New Picture Controls, I have also started to review a few other alternatives to Nikon CaptureNX2 like Adobe’s Lightroom and Apple’s Aperture. After using Adobe Lightroom for a while I have to say it isn’t really my favorite. I can use Adobe bridge and CS3 with better results and it seems to be a little complicated to use. I am waiting to buy my MacBook Pro in a few weeks and I will get Apple’s Aperture and put it through its paces. I have read great things about Aperture, can’t wait to use it.

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Close Up Macro Photo of a Grasshopper on Barbed Wire

Scott Fillmer — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:34:54 +0000

We all just need a place to hang out sometimes. Of course, we can’t all balance like this guy. I love macro photography, it gives you a chance to look at something very close and expands the number of subjects you have on any given day. This grasshopper is not very large as you might be able to tell by the enlargement of the barbed wire fence. Many photographers below true macro photography starts when you photograph something at a 1:1 ratio, if so, this is pretty close.

I really love macro photography. I makes you look at things totally different and there is always something to shoot if you look close enough. This image was taken with one of Nikon’s true macro lenses, the Nikkor 105mm macro lens, but you can do “macro” or close-up photography with a lens filter on just about any camera you already have there at the house. Look for something called a close-up filter in your local camera store and make sure it will fit on the end of your lens (usually with screw on threads). Many newer digital point and shoot camera also have a “macro” setting in the menus that will allow for closer focus than you otherwise get with standard mode.

Image Specifics

Nikon – n90s
Lens – Nikon 105mm Macro
Film – Fuji Velvia

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High Res NASA Photos of Space Shuttle Endeavour in Orbit

Scott's Misc — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 14:18:55 +0000

No, I did not actually take these images this time, but I found them to be so spectacular that I had to go ahead and post them as the image of the day. I was forwarded the information on these photos taken by those on the ISS and the Space Shuttle on their last mission.

The detail on the full size images (see link below) is just incredible, so if you would like to see them in their full version just click on the link below (please be aware they are very large and will take some time to load). [Full Size Images]

Credits for the information go to: Texas Jim – photos found here and from Karen [KI4NGX]. Thanks for sharing these with everyone.

If I can find any more data about when the images were taken and with what equipment I will post it here. I know that NASA uses a wide variety of Nikon and Canon digital SLR equipment and lenses from the images they take when they first arrive in orbit, but I don’t know body type, lens focal length etc. on these. 73, KI4WLR

These are just a sample of the images shown that were sent over to me, enjoy. [Full Size Images]