September Print of the Month: The Wave
September Print of the Month: The WaveThe September Print of the Month has just been released. Not only is this image the September Print of the Month, but it will also make its debut in my upcoming Atlanta show this weekend. So be the first to see the print either at the show or by ordering your special print of the month today!
The mix of color is made up of reflecting light bouncing off of side canyon walls in addition to the bright blue sky lighting up rock formations that are exposed to the sky directly.
This particular image is a blend of 5 frames to compensate for the very high dynamic range of the scene. The light in the final print is certainly faithful to the light one experiences while there in person. The limitations of the CMOS sensor in the camera must be overcome by utilizing high dynamic range blending techniques.
This image is stunning in its archival framed or matted presentation. Each framed presentation is complete with museum quality glass which provides anti-reflection enjoyment of the print as well as protection against harmful ultraviolet light rays. The framed print looks fantastic in any room.
Please contact me with any questions you may have on the print and I hope you find a place in your home or office for this very special piece.
Shadyside Art Show
What a lovely art show in a wonderful part of Pittsburgh. The weather was perfect (well it could have been a degree or two cooler) for the Shadyside Art Festival held this past weekend. It is a pleasure to meet and discuss our great natural world with so many smart and compassionate people. I must extend a big "Thank You" to Cappy's Cafe! They were extremely gracious toward me and my fellow artists during the event with great food delivered to our booth, free ice water, restrooms, and an electrical hook-up for Saturday night. I met many new collectors of my photography and signed folks up for the newsletter and workshop. It was a very tiring weekend and I am still recovering a bit.
The promoters of the event paid a visit to my booth on two separate occasions. Debbie and Howard Alan of Howard Alan Events stopped by to discuss the booth presentation and setup. They were both very complimentary on the booth and offered some wonderful suggestions. One of which is to extend the booth panels higher with the extension pieces from ProPanels. That is exactly what we are doing for the Atlanta show. We are going to try and knock the socks off of Atlanta with the biggest display yet. I am very thankful to Debbie and Howard for their advice and very kind comments on the art display.
The booth has now had 3 designs for 3 shows. Perhaps that is a consistent theme? I am keeping the show design flexible so that it may be optimized for each art festival. It is very exciting to consider new show designs for each festival and something I enjoy doing a great deal. So Atlanta look for a great show from us in September.
One of the things I enjoy the most about art shows is meeting inspiring artists. I was very fortunate to have one as my neighbor in Pittsburgh. Nicholas Yust of Cincinnati is a fine metal artist and his work is amazing. I encourage you to visit his website for more information and images. Artists like Nicholas are why it is worth visiting regional art shows that showcase national artist. Terrific work and highly recommended!
Much more on all things photography in the next few days. Take care and thanks again to Pittsburgh and Howard Alan Events for a great show.
Light Room 3.0 for Astronomical Images
I recently upgraded to LR 3.0 and had an opportunity to work up an Omega Centauri Globular Cluster image. One of the upgraded features in LR 3.0 is an enhanced noise reduction tool. The new noise reduction seems to have smarter power. Meaning that is applies a stronger smoothing effect to the image while still preserving detail. Now remember some of these astronomical images contain the worst noise you can imagine. The particular screen shot here is of a 1 minute exposure at ISO 6400. I couldn't even take this photograph one year ago at those settings. So technology and software have come a long way in noise reduction. The screen is a split screen image. The image on the left is before noise reduction and the image on the right is after noise reduction has been applied.
The settings I use in this screen shot are for demonstration purposes. You can clearly see the benefit is strongest in color noise reduction. While there is still some color mottling, it is reduced greatly and the high value color noise levels are reduced dramatically. The ISO 6400 images were used to capture the extension of the globular cluster and ultimately a lower ISO image was used for the stars and background sky. But it is very encouraging to see such a noise reduction capability with ISO 6400. I tend to not apply too much luminosity reduction as the image will realize a noise reduction through stacking of multiple images. But the color noise reduction is one that really helps smooth the background sky and when stacked leads to a very clean and neutral sky background.
Once again, when it comes to utilizing a DSLR for astronomical imaging things are only getting better.
To learn more about image processing please see my "Learn Digital Photography" menu item above for customized education in Light Room or Photoshop.
The Granddaddy of Them All
Omega CentauriThe grand-daddy of them all. The globular cluster in Centaurus is the biggest and brightest in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is estimated that over 10 million stars are rotating around the cluster's core. The cluster is designated as NGC 5139 on star charts and lies over 18 thousand light years away. The cluster is 150 light years across and is estimated to be over 12 billion years old! It is a glorious sight in a telescope and is best viewed from southern latitudes. This image was taken during the 2010 Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys.
Technical details: Images were acquired with a modified Canon T1i on a Takahashi 85 FSQ with focal reducer. The tracking mount used was an Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO. Images were converted in Adobe Light Room 3.0, combined with DeepSky Stacker, and enhanced in Adobe Photoshop CS5. There are approximately 60 images combined with varying ISOs to obtain the final image.
The image may be seen in larger portfolio presentation in the Color Astrophotography Gallery.
An Early Favorite...
West Fork of Oak Creek, Sedona, AZIt is impossible to carry all of my prints framed. So I display some prints in matted presentations in various sizes. One print is quickly becoming a crowd favorite, "West Fork of Oak Creek." The print is stunning in color and detail and represents a glorious day of hiking on the West Fork of Oak Creek trail from 2006. The trail is just north of Sedona, AZ and is a wonderful day hike for any visitor to the area.
The print is now receiving full gallery treatment with a wonderful new frame available from Mayne Framing. The framed print will now be a "featured" print in the Shadyside Show in Pittsburgh next weekend along with 5 other landscape prints and 5 astronomical prints.
If you are in the Pittsburgh area please come by and see the show and the new presentation of "West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon." I think you will find the print very enjoyable and perhaps one you cannot live without.
Jeff's Blog
Join me on photography journeys from desert landscapes to deep sky wonders.
