Snowy dawn

Snowy dawn. Get a print.
Handheld panorama from 5 images, Nikon D50, Nikkor 18-55 mm at 18mm, f/8.0, 1/800s, ISO 200.
Image on flickr. Image on facebook. Image on Google+.

One of the joys of shooting raw is that you get the chance to redo images shot a long time ago but with new technology. Amazingly the above image for example has many times more resolution than when I originally assembled the panorama in 2008. It also has much better color gradation and noise characteristics. Regardless of that, I have always loved the image but I like this interpretation best. This image was taken while we were leaving from the Goodwin/Greene hut in the mountains south of Aspen. The sun had just come up and was peeking through the clouds after a fresh snowfall. One of the best views ever in my life.

Storm over Dunes

Rainstorm looming over the Great Sand Dunes in Southern Colorado. Click for bigger. Flickr. Google+. Facebook.


Storm over Dunes. Buy a print.
Tech data: Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 at 36mm, f/8.0, 1/800s, ISO 200

Mount Falcon sunset

Mount Falcon sunset

Today was a bad day. This morning I heard that one of my nephews died. I am really sad for his family and especially my uncle Ger. Then later today my friend and colleague Manuel was found dead in Mount Falcon open space park after going missing yesterday. My thoughts are with his family. He was a great friend and coworker and I published several really nice papers with him. For him I dug up this panorama I made several years ago (2008) but never posted anywhere. It was taken near the ruins of the summer presidential house that is up near the top of Mount Falcon. Manuel loved this park for biking and hiking probably even more than I do. Click the image for a bigger version. Facebook post.

Canyonlands sunrise

Taken from Gooseberry on the White Rim.

Dish. Buy a print.
On Flickr. On Facebook. On G+

Lightroom does support retina displays! (but only partially)

I broke down and bought myself a new retina Mac Book Pro a while ago. This is an amazing machine and that display is absolutely stunning. One thing that I thought is that Lightroom needed an update to support the retina display (Aperture and iPhoto already support it and they look fantastic) so I wasn't expecting that much from Lightroom. However after browsing for a while through my library I started noticing that the Library previews were really sharp. Taking a screenshot and blowing it up confirms that Library actually is using the full retina resolution, regardless of what setting you use for the display scaling. That is superb. Unfortunately Develop doesn't yet know about the retina display so there you still get the low resolution which makes for a big difference in feel for the image. I did notice that it is probably a good idea to turn up the size of your standard previews to get the full benefit. Here is the proof using 1:1 screenshots.
Left: Library fit view. Right: Develop fit view.

Ironically you will see the difference between these two better on a non-retina display as the browser doesn't automatically scale 1:1 but you get the gist.

Update: for retina owners, here the same screenshots at what should be 1:1 if you use "best for retina"

Suwon, Korea during a typhoon

Going through my Lightroom library I came across several images from beautiful Suwon, which is a town just South of Seoul, South Korea. Suwon has a world heritage site because of its gorgeous ancient castle that encloses most of the city. I was there for just a short while (rest of the time was taken by an excellent workshop organized by an old friend at Sungkyunkwan University) and happened to be there in a typhoon that was just passing over there. Horizontal driving rain and such made for a difficult time keeping my camera dry but did provide for some interesting clouds. You can also find these images on Google+. Facebook, and flickr. Click on the images for much larger versions.


Suwon castle (actually just one of the gates). Buy a print.
Stitched from two handheld images from D300, Tokina 11-16 mm at 11mm, f/8, 1/400s, ISO 200


Hot hot hot. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 20mm, f/5.6, 1/40s, ISO 280 (probably some auto ISO)


Lined up. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 26mm, f/5.6, 1/50s, ISO 200


Rainy Smoke. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 135mm, f/5.6, 1/40s, ISO 200


Love Push. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 70mm, f/5.6, 1/40s, ISO 220


Gate (one of the mountain gates to the castle). Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, f/5.6, 1/60s, ISO 200


Drugstore Warrior. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 mm at 11mm, f/8, 1/60s, ISO 200


Bridge to somewhere. Buy a print.
Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 mm at 11mm, f/8, 1/60s, ISO 200


Entry (actually one of the archery towers). Buy a print.