Alex Koloskov's TOP Google+ Photos for Dec 17 - Dec 31

This comes to #ProPhotoTips:

Do not forget how compact and powerful modern LED flashlights are: have one in your photo-bag, one night it may help you to shot something interesting:-)

On the photo below I've used LED flashlight to brighten the stones and ocean waves. Without it everything at the bottom of the frame would be almost too dark to be visible.
I can imagine how cool might be to use a flashgun when shooting cityscapes at night :-)
And if you think about color filters for it,....

Despite the presence of a new toy (Google Nexus), got some juice to work on Behind The Scene video from the shot below (water ball? you name it) . So glad that we had recorded it that time, it was such a crazy and creative photo session!

Will post the video on www.MasteringSplash.com in a day or so. Stay tuned!:-)

Happy Holidays my dear Pluskins!
Wish everyone to win your fight, find destiny or just live in piece.. whatever you prefer :-)

Today I had 2 hangouts with +Jay Patel and met +Varina Patel . They are such a great couple and interesting people, we had fun time together!

Beside a pleasant dinner we have recorded 2 hangouts, and I am working on a videos right now.
One of the hangouts was an interview, where we have answered these questions:

1. what is your workflow of capturing multi-exposure HDR?
- Do you shoot (mostly) hand-held or on tripod?
- Do you use auto bracketing? -If not, why?
- what is your Ev step between exposures?
- how many exposures you usually have for your HDR?
- Is it always RAW or you shoot JPEGs as well?
2. Gear:
- Favorite lens and tripod?
- any special gear 9like remote shutter, etc) do you use?

3. Post production:
- How much time you spend in average to create HDR?
- What is you favorite HDR processing program (s)?

I'll post the interview as soon as it will be ready, but if you use HDR technique in your photography, can you answer these questions (by commenting to this post)?
This could be a really interesting thread!
I know it is a lot to answer, but you can pick the ones you feel like answering:-)

P.S Hey, +Trey Ratcliff being interviewed right now, do not miss it: http://goo.gl/KyaVc

Do you use UV filter?
I mean do you always have this piece of glass on your lens?
More I look around, more I see that people with DSLR has a filter attached to a lens, and in most cases it is UV.
I see this on a streets of Atlanta, on a beaches of California, and even inside, on any type of events.
When asked, they always say "for protecting lens".

I have used polarizer only about 1% of the time when shooting landscapes, have never used any filter inside.

What about you? Do you protect your camera and lens from taking high quality images too ? :-)

The Chase

Was testing capabilities of Canon 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 IS L lens. It was in 2006. Have sold the lens in 2011: it was collecting dust on a studio shell:-)

In any case, this is a great lens for such shots: pull-up design makes it very easy to find and track such targets.

P.S This is as-is, non-manipulated shot, if you were wondering.

Where do you go? Are you on your own way? And the most important, what are you leaving behind? …

#ProPhotoTips

Highlight the background, not a splash:
When working with clear liquid (water is the most common example of such), use lights to highlight the background, not a liquid directly. Obviously, this applies only to a clear liquids.

On this macro drop below, only background was lit: it produced reflection on the water surface as well as highlighter through the splash.

Somewhere on Hwy one, California.

One hour before sunset, the best time to shoot such landscapes, IMO. 2 RAW exposures were used to create this HDR.
Photomatix pro 4, then Photoshop CS5. As usually, the key is to reduce saturation so the image will look realistic... but still not boring:-)
Enjoy!

#ProPhotoTips of Friday

This come for Jewelry:
Use little mirrors to fire sparks on gem, while wrapping your subject with cone-like diffuser. This is well know trick of a jewelry photographer:-)

Faceted gems won't look good without direct light, while the metal surfaces will benefit from soft gradients, which is created by spot lights on a diffuser or reflector.
Examples below.