Thursday, June 29, 2023

Time's Running Out.

 

Stranger Things, Deming, ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site

Hey friends, the big Luminar Neo Summer Sale ends really, really soon. Like tomorrow, (6/30/23) at 7:00AM EDT! Reminder: Best prices on the most fun, creative editor since Black Friday last year. If you, like me, find Adobe too technically challenging (and expensive!), you owe it to yourself to go give Luminar Neo a risk-free try! And don't forget, you can save an additional 10% with my special code, 

AFS-rdFDRy

when you check out. Time to finally have fun with your photography! Click below:


Huh. It doesn't look so scary in the daytime.

Un-strange Things, Deming ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site


Fine Print:

Posts may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these, I may receive a small commission at no increased cost to you. Thanks.

Sunday, June 25, 2023

It's Your Choice

 

White Sands Golden Hour ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site

As a photographer, I tend to classify myself as an "opportunistic generalist". What does that mean? Simply that I'll shoot anything! Landscape, wildlife, street, portrait, pet, event, ruins, whatever. There's a hashtag on social media: "ipulledoverforthis". That's me in a nutshell. That doesn't mean I don't have my favorites, landscape photography being probably at the top of the list.

Baker Blue Hour ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site
That said, it's uncommon for me to actually plan out a photo shoot. I've done it a few times, possibly the first being the HDR session in downtown Deming, NM that resulted in one of my most commercially successful images (a framed enlargement hangs in a villa in the south of France!), that being the Baker Hotel sign in blue hour. This was planned out weeks in advance. 

But for the most part, I'll just grab the camera and go. Oh, there's a car show in town? I'm on that. Full moon coming up over the mountains in the back yard. I'll shoot that. Look! Look there at that old car in the yard of that abandoned house. Get the shot! 

You getting the picture? 

So anyway, some time back in January, I decided I wanted to shoot the full "Snow" moon rise, and I wanted to use the PhotoPills app to get the right time and location.. and that location was going to be White Sands National Park! In other words, a meticulously planned photo shoot! It happens sometimes.

Photo Bro Dale and I got a late start on February 5, but it didn't matter much... everything we were going for was happening late in the day. The moonrise for me, and a very short time before, the sunset for Dale. I was planning on getting some sunset images myself.

Typically, there wasn't a cloud in the sky when we arrived. We hung around the visitor center for a while, flirting with the ranger on duty, then headed out to stake out our spots. I tried out a couple dune tops, took some basic White Sands landscapes, but I didn't like the way the light was going to act when the sun started to set. I hiked to the hill Dale was set up on about the time the sun began to dip. 

There was still almost an hour before the moon would show itself above the Sacramentos, so I set up my tripod and aimed the camera towards the a notch in the San Andres Mountains where the sun would descend. I decided on portrait mode because it accentuated the layers of dunes between my location and the mountains. Then, well, then I just shot the hell out of it while the sun did its disappearing act.

Being a little unprepared clothing-wise for nighttime in the desert, we decided we couldn't stay where we were to shoot moonrise. We rushed back toward the parking lot to set up there.

But hey, if you looked at the image that leads off this post, you've probably figured out by now that this isn't about the moonrise. It's about the sunset, and what I chose to do with it.  

Back home again the following day, I opened up Luminar Neo on the ol' desktop and commenced to editing. When I got around to the sunset shots, I chose the image at the top of this page. I only needed basic edits.. a little masking to bring out the pinkish tones of the dune ridges, brought up the whites in the develop tool. A very minor vignette to direct the viewer's eye. And that was pretty much it. Or was it?

Revisiting the image a day later, I decided that while it was a nice landscape, it was pretty pedestrian; certainl y not one I would put on a notecard and sell at Readers' Cove (our used book store), or the Arts Center.  But I had a plan...

One of the things I really like about Luminar Neo is that I can create fantasy images, and do it way easier, and more intuitively than with those other guys.  More than a year ago I'd gotten this PNG butterfly layer as a gift from Luminar, for completing a survey or something. I tried it out. I liked it, but I wanted to fill the page more, so I loaded another copy and added it, then flipped it so it wouldn't be an identical duplicate of the first layer. I then lightened up the top third of the layers using the mask tool, so it appears the sun is shining through the wings. I sat back feeling pretty damn satisfied with myself.  When printed on metallic surface paper this should pop! I'll know this week when my latest print order arrives at the Homestead.



White Sands Golden Hour Fantasy ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site

I didn't have to do it this way, but I chose to. It was my choice. You might not do this with your images. I know a lot of my friends have no interest in these flights of fantasy, and that's their choice. Just like it's your choice. What would you do if you had these creative tools at your fingertips?

Right now, is the very best time to find out, because Luminar Neo Summer Sale is on till the end of the month! These are some of the lowest prices since way back at Black Friday in November. There's no risk.Try it, and if you don't love it like I do get your bucks back. And I can sweeten the pot, because I've got a special code you can copy and paste at checkout, and get an additional 10% off! 

Here's the code right here: AFS-rdFDRy

Just click the ad below, or any of the other links in the post to hit the info page. It's time you tried it, guys. Prices probably won't be this low again... new features are coming later this year!


Oh! And what of that full "Snow" moon rise that was the whole purpose of this "Photo Bro's Roadtrip"? I got it. And you can see it on my Instagram, when you  go there to follow me. 😎


Fine Print:
Posts may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these, I may receive a small commission at no increased cost to you. Thanks.

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Ice, I̶c̶e̶ , Land, Baby

 

Iceland Photo By Matt Hardy


Luminar is again hosting a week long photo expedition to Iceland, a place forever on my bucket list- where it will no doubt die.  But just because I can't afford to take this trip doesn't mean maybe one or two of my followers can't. I know people with the financial means to go, but they're not all that interested in upping their photography game; and I know people who'd kill to spend a week in Iceland with 6 master photographers, but they can't afford to take the trip. Somewhere... somewhere out there is the happy medium: Someone with the bucks, and the desire. This post is for you!

This trip is limited to 36 lucky individuals, and will run from August 24-31.  I'm told there are still a few slots available. You can find all the pertinent details by clicking here 

It's not a lot, but if you decide to take the plunge and sign up for this trip of a lifetime, I can save you $200 off the package price, when you use the code, ICEMANDAN, when you check out.  I envy you!

Monday, May 15, 2023

YouTube Is My Fox News

Most Caucasian men my age spend their entire lives planted in their recliners being spoonfed weird conspiracies and right wing white supremacist talking points, till the drool puddles in their laps and their wives kick them out of the house sending them to the golf course to meet with all their red-hatted buddies.

Not me, though. When I get up in the morning, I grab a cup of black coffee, plant myself in the recliner (similar so far, but WAIT!), turn on the TV and start scrolling through YouTube videos... sometimes until lunch time (or beyond), just seeing what there is to see.

Of course, I have my selected favorites... cycling shows, like The GCN Show, GCN Racing News Show, and the GCN Tech Show, plus any racing highlights I haven't already seen on GCN+. Can't leave out politics... probably the best being Beau of the Fifth Column (watch, and you'll see... just don't judge that book by its cover!). I'll also always stop by at least briefly at the live cam for the Soo Locks.  Miscellaneous sports programs, home improvement, science, music (check out The Daily Doug!), cooking, baking, and on and on. The list is endless. Oh! How could I forget Looper?

But some of the best things I find are just from looking at the thumbnail and thinking, "hmmmm that might be interesting." Or, as was the case yesterday: "Oh! this will be awesome" when I saw this trio of crossroads blues soul selling:



And, as you know, once you view one type of video on YouTube, the algorithm won't let you go without showing you many many more of the same type. So, check out this master class!



Since this was so much fun, I may make it a point to plop a few of my favorite discoveries here once or twice a week. Would you like that? Sure you would.

A Tale Of Two Images

The False Slot - ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site

"False Slot"? This is nowhere as big as it looks. A kind of optical illusion, if you will. It's actually a massive boulder immediately north of the Pony Hills Petroglyph site in Luna County, New Mexico. Sometime in the distant geologic past it had broken into two parts. In reality, what looks like a one hundred foot long slot is closer to 20 or 30 feet, and about 12 to 15 feet high, and let's just say way too narrow for a slightly plus-sized septuagenarion like myselft to traverse. So,  kind of an entertaining illusion, right?

I wasn't sure the image above was going to come together. I had taken the two images below, with slightly different exposures, trying to get something that was balanced. I wasn't crazy about either, but I decided I would see what I could do with it back home at the computer. 

 
By now, you know that my editor of choice is Luminar Neo, and I was just itching to get this into the HDR Merge extension. There was a problem, though. These two images were just hand held. I did have my tripod with me, but pure laziness on my part kept me from setting it up.  As a result, when I pulled the two images into the HDR Merge extension, I had to opportunity to try out a function of the tool I hadn't needed in previous images:  Auto alignment.  Turns out it works pretty damn well. As you can see from the third image below which is a composite of the two images at 50% opacity, they weren't lined up very closely at all. Compare it to the finished image at the top of the page, and it put them together nearly perfectly. I say "nearly" because while the viewer will not see any fine details that didn't quite mesh, I can. I can always see the faults.  It's my curse. 😐

  

Have a look at the top of the right sidebar, and you will see an ad for the Mothers Day Sale, which has just a few more hours to run... till 7:00 AM EDT, May 16 to be precise. If you look and the ad's no longer there, you missed out again. 50% off. Or 60% off if you also use the code, PHOTODAN at check out. Later, all.











 

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Happy Anniversary Neo!


Not that Neo! Luminar Neo! 

Luminar Neo was launched a year ago. Until the end of the month Skylum is celebrating the incredible success of the platform with a BOGO sale. You can see the details HERE. 

The sale runs until February 28th at 7AM EST. Don't miss out this time! And remember to use my discount codes at checkout: "DanGauss" ($10 off), "PHOTODAN" (10% off)  They tell me you can use them both.


Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Channeling My Inner Maxfield Parrish

Wood Nymph  ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site

Once again, a blending of the old and new.  The leaf strewn path and very photogenic tree were shot just 48 hours ago, (see below),  while the "nymph" was a product of many days of glamour shots in the mid 1970's.

Photo Bro Dale was ahead of me on the Arroyo Trail at Dripping Springs Natural Area, when he yelled, "Wow, here's a great black and white opportunity! Wait till you get down here and see!" I got down there, and I saw, and I shot: 
Unedited RAF Raw ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site

Yesterday, when I sat down at the computer to edit this image, I did indeed take a look at a black and white conversion, and it just didn't do anything for me. So I cropped it, first, to a 4x5 format and began doing simple editing tasks: sharpening, highlight and shadow, structure, etc. I still wasn't excited about it.  My eye kept getting drawn to that light area just visible at the end of the trail where it exited the trees. That held a promise of maybe bringing this photo to life. 

And that's when I entered the rabbit hole.

The editing of the final image took exponentially longer than probably 90% of my edits, because I decided on the spur of the moment to go the "fantasy" route. So much trial and error, with all the tools at my disposal in Luminar Neo. I probably tried them all, along with various textures and crops (at some point it occurred to me the tree trunk leaning off to the left was a distraction, and went with a square crop... better for Instagram anyway) and overlays to make it a cohesive whole. About 2 hours later I decided it was a completed work. I hope it was worth it.

Of course, if I'd tried this on another editing program from, you know, the "big guys", it not only would have taken longer... much longer, I would probably also have a broken window in the office where the computer was defenestrated, and the hair I've been growing out since last spring would have been pulled out and laying on the floor by my chair.

So, If you're frustrated with the needless complexity of your current editor, and want something much simpler and intuitive, you've still got a few days (5) to save some money on Luminar Neo Subscription or Lifetime License. The Secret Sale ends next Monday morning at 8AM ET.  And as always, if 20% off isn't enough for you, use "DanGauss" at check out for an additional $10 off, and "PHOTODAN" for yet another 10%. Is that nuts, or what? Click the link above, or the ad in the sidebar, or below.

And if you're wondering if there was an area along this trail that gave me a satisfying black and white image, well, wonder no more...

Trees in Bondage ©Daniel Gauss/Shot On Site


Posts may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these, I may receive a small commission at no increased cost to you. Thanks.