Uploads from Justin in SD, tagged 5dmark3, with geodata

Times Square Snack Box

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:22:19 -0700

I never ate at this place, but I thought the concept was really cool. I like the name SnackBox, and how it fits with the design of the place.

Oswald's Gas Station

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:49:04 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I went through a lot of my normal processing steps on this image, and then I exported it from Lightoom and looked at the finished image and realized the car was missing. Where did the car go?

I didn't realize it when I took the photo, and I don't know how long it's been gone, but now I'm curious. I'm sure someone on Flickr knows the story.

On the Strip

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:31:05 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

This view just makes me think of the movie Oceans Eleven. I'm not sure why, since Oceans Eleven had more to do with The Bellagio, I guess it's just the Vegas Strip from above that I associate with the movie.

Rushing to Grand Central

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:05:07 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

This is one of those places where nobody is standing still. Everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere, and even if they're not, they act like it so they fit in with the people around them.

Boat Parking

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Tue, 07 May 2013 00:40:21 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I first noticed this effect where blue hour clouds mix with reflected city lights when I was in La Jolla a few weeks ago. The camera picks up the effect really well, even though it's barely visible to the naked eye. I didn't add any colors to this scene that didn't exist straight out of the camera, I just tweaked contrast, clarity, vibrance and saturation.

PHoto Walking the Strip

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Mon, 06 May 2013 02:53:43 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

Once it gets dark the lights on the strip really start to sing. I didn't bring a tripod with me, but the low fences on either side of the pedestrian overpasses worked well to stabilize the camera.

Sunset Fountain Show

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Sun, 05 May 2013 15:34:02 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

The Fountains of Bellagio are on every tourists list of attractions to see. The center circle of nozzles is capable of shooting water 460 feet into the air.

Crystals City Center

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:17:59 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I'm a pretty big fan of almost everything at City Center. I really like the hotels, Aria and Cosmo are two of my favorite places in Vegas, I just wish they had a little more affordable gambling and hotel rates. I'm dying to stay in one of those Cosmo rooms with a balcony overlooking the Bellagio fountains. The problem is the rates start at $400-$500 on the weekend. The Crystals mall is really nice too, with some really unique designs, but you won't find me doing much shopping there, the stores are the same as what's on Rodeo Dr.

This is a mix of photomatix details enhancer, 32-bit hdr and source files. I didn't bring my tripod with me, so I raised the ISO a bit and steadied the camera on top of a narrow glass wall.

Cosmopolitan Sunset

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:17:50 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I spent last weekend in Vegas, I didn't come back with any money, but at least I got some photos.

I processed this with the HDRsoft 32-bit Lightroom Plug-in, then used Lightroom and Photoshop.

Manhattan Skyline Sunset

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:24:32 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

This is my favorite view of the New York City skyline, not this photo specifically, (many great photographers have shot here before me) but this location. I don't know why all these pillars are here, but they sure make an awesome photo. The colors in this scene were really intense, I actually had to desaturate a few colors so it wouldn't look too fake.

Rainy Day at Bryant Park

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:51:24 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I walked through Bryant Park the day before, when the sun was shining, and it seemed like the whole city was out in the park. Every table and chair was being used, people were sitting on the grass reading a book or playing a game. It was quite a contrast to come back the next day and see the park nearly empty. It wasn't raining hard, just a light drizzle, but it was enough to make the table and chairs wet, and the wind made it a lot colder too.

This was a handheld 5 exposure HDR. It is a 32-bit HDR, made using the HDRsoft 32-bit plug-in for Lightroom. Then I used Lightroom, Photoshop, and Nik Color Efex to add a bit of stylization.

Gaslamp Quarter 5th Ave

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:59:52 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I was reading about San Diego today and I learned one of the city's nicknames is "The City in Motion" which I guess isn't a bad name, but it seems more appropriate for a big city like New York. Then again, if you've been to the Gaslamp on a Friday or Saturday night, then you know San Diego can have a lot of people in motion too.

Looking Down on NYC

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:39:13 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

New York is so dense, that it can be difficult to see where the ground is when you're standing on the roof. I took this from the top of the rock, and this is one of only a couple spots where a street is visible.

This image is part Photomatix details enhancer, part Lightroom 32-bit HDR and part source file. Then some stylizing with Photoshop, Lightroom and Nik Color Efex.

Disneyland-Emporium-Books

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:04:09 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

This is one of the last shots I took before leaving the park a few weeks ago. About 30 minutes after closing time these bright flood lights turned on. It lit up Main Street pretty well, I'm guessing they turned them on because they had some maintenance work scheduled, I wonder what it was that needed such bright lights?

Washing Machine

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:43:18 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

The water motion in this reminds me of a washing machine. When I was a kid I remember being mesmerized by my grandparents front loading washing machine. At home we had a top loader, so it was something new and interesting when I was little.

My Flickr Pro Account expired today. When I went to look at my stats for today I got an ad page, so I went to renew my account for another year. Overall I've been pretty happy with Flickr, so I clicked through to renew my 1-year subscription and eventually got to the end of the process and was presented with this:

"You are about to subscribe to the Yahoo! service listed above. You will be charged the total due, on an auto-renew basis, for each term as shown above, until you cancel."

As a consumer I find this kind of policy offensive. It's a tactic used by second rate companies to collect recurring subscription fees even after a customer stops using the service. Some people find automatic renewal to be convenient, but for them there has always been an option to enroll in auto-renewal. This policy change was enough to get me to take a step back and reassess what I get from Flickr, and how it compares with other sites.

The best feature Flickr Pro offers has no competitive alternative that I know of, and that is unlimited storage of full resolution photos. This is the single feature that has convinced me to renew, at least for now. At some point I am planning to build a gallery with a service like Zenfolio, or Smugmug, or one of the other similar options. Once I do, this Flickr feature will become much less important.

The other feature Flickr has that I enjoy is their groups, but since Google+ added communities I find it to be almost as good. I still think Flickr's groups are better, especially with the way photos are added, but communities are close enough, and the activity and engagement from Google+ communities is actually much better than Flickr.

My Flickr presence had about a 1 year head start on my Google+ presence, so the group I interact with on Flickr was initially much larger. Now that I've spent time on Google+ I've found that my personal community is growing many times faster than on Flickr. It's also much easier to find active relevant and interesting discussions on Google+.

Flickr has Explore, which is a huge opportunity for exposure that doesn't really exist on Google+, and only kind of exists on 500px (if you can get to the front page). The problem is, despite having improved my photography (in my opinion), and definitely increased the engagement I get on the photos I post, the last time I had a photo in explore was March of 2012 (13 months ago). Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to complain about this, and I understand it's a complex algorithm that accounts for many different factors, but if I never have a photo reach explore, it's not a relevant feature to consider when I'm deciding whether or not to continue using Flickr, or renew my Flickr Pro.

The last feature Flickr Pro offers that I do really enjoy is stats. I like to see where my photo views come from. As far as I know, nothing like this exists on other social networks.

Ultimately, I renewed my Flickr Pro for 3 months (instead of the 1-year I was originally planning) and immediately canceled it so it won't auto-renew. In 3 months, I'll reassess my Flickr use, but for now, I'll continue on. But Flickr, I want you to know I'm not happy with your policy changes, and your competition is evolving much faster than you, so our days together may be numbered.

Cinematic Sky

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:30:51 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

The clouds over La Jolla were dense so the sunset was pretty uneventful, but as it started to get dark this really cool lighting effect started to form over La Jolla. The artificial lights from the city reflected off the clouds, but out over the ocean where there aren't any artificial lights the clouds took on the colors of a deep saturated blue hour. It felt very cinematic, and I was thinking about dramatic movie scenes as I took and subsequently processed this photo.

I was watching a video about color correction from Stu Maschwitz while I processed this. I didn't actually use any of his techniques, but I did crop to the anamorphic frame aspect ratio he mentioned. He said the anamorphic frame was 2.35:1, which according to Wikipedia was true until 1970, but now it is actually 2.39:1. Wikipedia also says it's still commonly referred to as 2.35:1, or sometimes 2.40:1, so I guess I can't completely fault his statement.

La Jolla Blues

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:21:12 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

San Diego has been cloudy for a few days now, although I will say I don't mind it much. I will take a cloudy sky, especially stormy clouds like this, over a clear blue sky any day.

This is from a single raw image (no HDR), processed with Lightroom and Photoshop (no plug-ins). I downloaded Trey Ratcliff's Lightroom presets and found them very interesting. I didn't use a specific preset on this image, but rather a combination of some of the effects he uses. I found the way he applies Lightroom tools to color and light images unique and different than anything I have tried. I'll definitely be applying some of the techniques to more of my processing.

Up on the Roof

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 19:09:13 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I wonder why more buildings don't finish their rooftops? The views are excellent, and it is much more peaceful on the roof. I think it's more common in New York where land is so expensive, but even in New York there are a lot of buildings with nothing but an A/C unit and no access. I wish there were more buildings with accessible roofs, especially where I live in San Diego.

A Disney Sunset

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 01:28:55 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I've always been envious of other photographers sunset photos from Disneyland. I've taken a few, but never really had one I liked. I think there are a few reasons I haven't got one, but it's mostly because I go to Disneyland with non-photographer family and friends and sunset is usually the middle of our visit. I don't mind breaking away at night when the others go home, but don't usually do it during sunset.

This night things just worked out, I was meeting my sister and her boyfriend, but I drove to Disneyland on my own. I arrived a little before sunset and the clouds looked great. There were these interesting wispy low clouds like fast moving clouds from a long exposure, and there were high clouds behind them that caught the light from the setting sun. I ended up spending 15 or 20 minutes around Paradise Bay before I met up with the others.

It's been awhile since I've done this, but I processed this without using Nik Color Efex. I used Photomatix, Lightroom, and Photoshop. Although I have to admit I did give in and use one plug-in filter, I used the "Photo Pop" preset in Topaz Adjust, but I used a layer mask and only applied it to the rides and buildings.

Disneyana

nobody@flickr.com (Justin in SD) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:23:03 -0700

Justin in SD posted a photo:

I don't think I've ever bought anything from this store, but it's definitely my favorite at Disneyland. It's the only store I regularly make a point of going in to see what's new. I like looking at all the art and memorabilia, especially the pieces hanging in the gallery in the back of the store.