Silverback Gorilla

Very cool to watch; but he looks bored.

Take My Picture

So I was out practicing with my Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 35mm 1:1.8G on the outskirts of downtown Heidelberg, Germany when this guy just ran up out of nowhere. I snapped this shot from the hip and was amazed at the quality considering I didn't prepare for it. What you see here is an in camera (Nikon D5100) edit with an exposure adjustment in Photoshop Elements 11. The copyright symbol and the text are my standard edits with CS2 because I haven't figured out how to do this in PSE 11.

Old Benz

I saw this car in Stuttgart and the headlights caught my attention. I'm not sure what model it is because it wasn't on the back of the car and I can't find pictures of a model with this headlight configuration. It is very similar to the W114 models made between 1968-1976. Based on my recent research these headlights were on the North American version.

NitrOlympX 2013

This was an awesome day. I always wanted to go see this event but never made it. But thanks to meeting new people I was able to score a weekend pit pass.

This is one of my favorite shots from the event. Here are the original details from the shot:
Nikon 5100
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6G
150mm  - ISO 200
1/1250s f/4.5
Edited in LR4.4 & CS2

Link to NitrOlympX: http://goo.gl/nQ5qlK

Memorial

Memorial Day Ceremony

Saint Sebastian Catholic Church and the Old Town Hall
Mannheim, Germany
Built in the 18th Century Baroque Period

Multiplicity

Hmmm...the elephant tree as my wife calls it was a great place to try my stint at multiplicity.  You know YouTube is a great place to find tutorials for anything you want to try. This is my first try at it and it was not too hard at all.

Stuttgart on a January evening

  This was shot from Panaramastrasse around 18:50. I always wondered why my photos were never producing the detail that some professional guys were putting out when I was using the same software that they were. Well I of course do not have the cameras that they have (D3x or D4) but I still felt that I could step up my photos to get closer without spending more money on a new camera. Well I just had to listen closer to the pros and I'm improving. My camera (Nikon D5100) is not a bad camera but it will only shoot 3 photos when in bracket mode. So when I was listening to one of the pros his camera can take 5 photos in bracket mode (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2). So his photos were an HDR merge of 5 pics versus the 3 that I was merging. So since my camera is on a tripod when I take photos like this I just shot additional photos at various settings in bracket mode in order to get the 5 shot variation (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2). Now this picture is not the best but I just had to go and test my theory out and based on previous photos I can see more detail over my normal 3 shot HDR.


Camera & Picture Info
Image Quality: Compressed RAW (14-bit)
Device: Nikon D5100
Lens: VR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G
Focal Length: 32mm
Focus Mode: Manual
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR: OFF
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 200

Merged with Photomatix Pro
Edited with CS2

Black Forest Trip to Altensteig

Altensteig located in the Northern Black Forest. I just looked for a place on the map that seemed interesting and off we went. You can find more information about it at http://www.black-forest-travel.com/altensteig/



Camera Info
Device: Nikon D5100
Lens: 10-20mm f/4-5.6G
Focal Length: 18mm
Focus Mode: AF-A
AF-Area Mode: Auto
Aperture: f/8
BRACKETED 3 Shots:
Shutter Speed: 1/320s
Exposure Comp.: 0EV

Shutter Speed: 1/1250s
Exposure Comp.: -2.0EV

Shutter Speed: 1/80s
Exposure Comp.: +2.0EV


Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 100
White Balance: Auto, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: Auto
Software: Photomatix Pro & CS2