Colby Brown Photography » Blog

Iceland…Here I Come

Colby Brown — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:32:43 +0000

Iceland is becoming one of the most sought after locations to shoot photography in the world. Every year I have seen more and more of my professional colleagues visit the island nation of Iceland, only to return with amazing stories and photography work that has only made me jealous…that is until today

"Iceberg Alley" ©Brian Rueb

This morning I am jumping on a plane and heading for Iceland with two good friends and fellow professional photographers, Ken Kaminesky and Patrick di Fruscia. I will be spending 10 Days exploring the Island while these lucky guys get 14 (I am a keynote speaker at the Google+ Photographers Conference, which has forced me to cut this trip short by a few day). As a group we will have Internet connect throughout most of our time in Iceland, so be prepared for a ton of behind the scenes reports and images.

The Google+ Photographers Conference

Colby Brown — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:08:03 +0000

If you haven’t heard by now, Scott Kelby and his production team have been working with Google together the first annual “Google+ Photographers Conference” being held on May 22-23rd at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco California. The idea behind the conference is to bring together some of the top photo instructors and social media gurus into one place to share their knowledge and experience to help you improve your photography skills and better understand social networking as a photographer. There will be photo walks, live photo shoots, one-on-one portfolio reviews, panel discussions, photography workshops and more. HERE is a break down of the schedule for the conference.

The introduction to the G+ Photographers Conference

I am stoked to be one of the featured speakers, panelist and photography instructors presenting at the conference. Here is a list of all the speakers…

Registration for the Google+ Photographers Conference costs $349 which gives you access to all of the events of the conference + the ability to join one of the many photo walks happening around the Bay Area on the day before. I will be leading one around Union Station on May 21st at 3pm PST. Click HERE to register as well as to see the other photo walk opportunities that are tied to attending the conference. On top of this, if you happen to be a student with a valid Student ID Card, it will only cost $99 to register. So for less then $100 you will have the ability to connect, engage, network and learn from some of the top photographers in the photo industry for two full days. The value kind of speaks for itself.

The Google+ Photographers Conference also has an amazing list of sponsors that will no doubt be giving away a ton of free goodies.

Technology Partners

I hope to see many of you there!

Monk Walking Through Angkor Wat

Colby Brown — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:09:27 +0000

When I first started my career as a photographer I ended up purchasing a one way ticket to South East Asia and traveling around the region for nearly 8 months, building up a portfolio and taking every photography/writing job I could find. By far one of my favorite countries in the region is Cambodia, home to Angkor Wat, one of the best ancient temple complexes in the world. It is for that reason that I am stoked to publicly announce my 2012 Cambodia workshop that I am hosting with the insanely talented +Elia Locardi this October (12th – 19th). More info can be found here: http://bit.ly/M08KRk

"Walking to Nirvana" - Angkot Wat, Cambodia

Camera Info:
Canon Rebel Xti
Tamron 28-75 Lens
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/200 sec at f / 9.0

Processing Info:
The was purely processed in Lightroom 2.0. I increased the sharpness and adjusted the WB slightly, but being my first true trip as a photographer, all my images were shot in JPG, not RAW. Needless to say things have changed

*It is not always about the gear. This image is still one of my favorites and hangs in my office to this day…

Portrait of Haitian Boy in Port au Prince

Colby Brown — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:54:48 +0000

Throughout my travels as a humanitarian photographer, it is occasionally difficult not to get attached to the subjects I document. After the 2010 earthquake that devastated the island nation of Haiti, I co-founded an organization called “Lespwa Haiti” thats purpose was to provide support services to small NGO’s on the ground in the struggling country in an effort to make sure their stories were being told. This photo was taken on one of my multiple trips to the country in 2010. I meet this teenage boy on the streets or Port au Prince. He and his family was living in a tent in one of the many “tent cities” that now occupy the capital. It is estimated that nearly 1.5 million people live these IDP camps to this day. There was something about the look in this boy’s eyes that captured my soul and it is the same look that has me going back to countries like Haiti, year after year.

"Lost Innocence" Port au Prince, Haiti

Camera Info:
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-70 2.8 Lens
ISO: 640
EXPOSURE: f / 8.0 at 1/400 sec

Processing Info:
I cropped this image in slightly to get the composition what I was looking for. The black and white conversion was done by Nik Software ‘s Silver Efex Pro 2, by far the best B&W processor available. I used the localized adjustment brush in LR to bring out some shadow detail in the eye, allowing you to more easily see my reflection while capturing this image.

Behind the Lens: Preparing for Bolivia

Colby Brown — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:35:53 +0000

One aspect of traveling to “exotic” locations around the globe that is rarely touched upon is preparation. This morning I was injected with a live yellow fever virus. Why? It certainly wasn’t for fun, I can tell you that. It turns out that entering the country of Bolivia requires documentation of having received the Yellow Fever vaccination. Over the years I have had my fair share of both injections and stomach bugs /parasites from all my travels. While I wouldn’t trade my life for any other, there are times then I have been keeled over on the floor of a hostal, dreaming of a profession that didn’t involve things entering my blood stream. Such is life my friends

Behind the Lens - Preparing for Bolivia

Next month I will be in Bolivia with +Scott Jarvie , +roma g and +Natalia Stone after working in Peru with 6 other amazing participants on one of my +The Giving Lens workshops to work with orphans in Cuzco.

A live GPS feeds of these trips will be available here on the website

Sunrise over Cuernos del Paine – Patagonia

Colby Brown — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:45:08 +0000

Exploring Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile and not catching sunrise over the Cuernos del Paine is like visiting Agra in India and not going to see the Taj Mahal. Even though there are hundreds of thousands of images of these peaks, you still can’t help but want to bring home a keeper. Much like the rest of my time in Patagonia, I was fortunate to get pretty amazing weather while shooting this location. While some intense storm clouds wouldn’t of hurt this scene, I was very happy with the end result. I used two stacked soft GND filters to help balance the contrast of light between the sun lit mountains and emerald green Lago Pehoe while also using a 6 stop ND B+W filter to help slow down my shutter speed to give the lake a glass like feel. What are your thoughts on the final results?

"Cuernos del Paine Sunrise" - Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 2010

Camera Info:
CAMERA: Canon 1D Mark IV
LENS: Canon 24-70 2.8L at 38mm
FILTERS: .9 Hitech soft GND Filter + .6 LEE soft GND filter + 6 stop B+W ND filter
ISO: 250
EXPOSURE: 6.0 sec at f / 11

Post Processing:
Because I utilized my set of Lee filters while taking the shot, I was not forced to manually blend two photos together to create this image. In Adobe Lightroom I slightly darkened the mountains while pulling out some sharpness utilizing the brush tool (localized adjustments). I then pulled some of the green color of Lago Pehoe back out as well as brought some shadow detail out of the mountains using the same technique. I wrapped up the image using Adobe Photoshop to do some selective sharpening on the rock in the foreground and clean out a few dust spots.

Sunrise over Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe

Colby Brown — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:57:30 +0000

Growing up in California, I was very fortunate to have a family house in Tahoe. As a child I remember building forts in the woods behind our house and jumping in the beautiful yet chilly water that makes up Lake Tahoe. As a photographer, this area of California is amazing. One of my favorite locations is Emerald Bay, located near the south end of the lake. While extremely popular for visitors and photographers alike, there are still plenty of opportunities for unique compositions if you look hard enough. While I usually prefer dramatic skies, the clean feel of this image is what I enjoy the most.

"Leaving Emerald Bay" - Lake Tahoe, California 2009

Image Information:
CAMERA: Canon 5D Mark II
LENS: Canon 24-70 2.8L
ISO: 200
EXPOSURE: f / 9.0 at 1/125 Sec

Post Processing:
I balanced the light reflecting off the water with the sky by using Lightroom’s local adjustments (brush) as well as the split toning feature. I cleaned up a few ripples in the lake via content aware in Photoshop and then slightly enhanced the color of the image using +Nik Software‘s Viveza 2.

Adobe Releases Photoshop CS6 – 10 Videos Demonstrating Its Features

Colby Brown — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:25:03 +0000

Photoshop CS6

Adobe recently announced the release of Adobe Photoshop CS6 after a short beta period. After having spent the last month digging through the BETA version, I am happy to report that CS6 is a very worthy upgrade to the Photoshop program. Between the increase in speed, ability to save while managing other tasks and the amazing advancements in content aware, it is hard not to like Photoshop CS6.

One of the most interesting announcements along with CS6 is the new Adobe Creative Cloud. Basically it is a subscription fee of $49 a month which will give you access to the entire CS6 Creative Suite (over $2600 in value) which includes: Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4, InDesign CS6, Muse, Acrobat X Pro, Adobe Flash Professional, Adobe Dreamweaver CS6, Fireworks CS6, Premiere Pro CS6, After Effects CS6, Audition CS6 and more…

Photoshop, like many Adobe products, can certainly be confusing to fully utilize. I have complied these videos that Adobe released to give you a much more in depth look at Photoshop CS6 ands its many features. Enjoy!

Introduction to Photoshop CS6

Julieanne Kost’s Top 6 Photoshop CS6 Features

Content Aware Patch

New Blur Gallery

All-New Crop Tool

Selectively Blurring Images

Tilt Shift, Iris Blur and Field Blur

Adobe Camera Raw 7.0

Top 10 Time Saving Enhancements to the Layers Panel

Adaptive Wide Angle

Adobe Releases Full Version of Lightroom 4 At Half Price

Colby Brown — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:12:52 +0000

After an incredibly short BETA program, last night Adobe released the final version of Lightroom 4 to the masses. Many of us have been experimenting with the BETA version for the last few months and I can tell you without a doubt that it is a worthy upgrade to LR3.

Here are a few of the new features that a worth getting excited about:

Improved Development module (Local adjustments for WB, Noise, Moire + much more…)
Map Module to geo-tag your images
Book Module to create compelling books (both physical and ebooks via Blurb)
Soft Proofing
Easily Email Images
Some Video Editing Tools
more…..

Currently you can purchase the full version of Lightroom 4 $150 and the upgrade from Lightroom 3 for $79 from Adobe HERE. If you choose to download the program instead of having it physically shipped to you, you do not have to wait and can download it immediately.

Videos: What Is New In LR4

Develop Module Advancements

Soft Proofing

DNG Enhancements

Working with Video

Using the Map Module

Book Module Basics

Modifying Book Layouts

Photo Book Creation

Advanced Book Features

Understanding the Canon 5D Mark III

Colby Brown — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:01:44 +0000

On the the 25th anniversary of the EOS system, Canon finally has announced the 5D Mark III. It looks to overcome many of the shortfalls of the hugely popular Canon 5D Mark II DSLR camera with a much improved AF system, high FPS, better ISO performance and much more.

As more information is released, I will update this article. Below is a chart that compares a handful of semi pro and pro DSLRs from both Nikon and Canon to the 5D Mark III, a series of videos released by Canon’s very own Chuck Westfall that cover many of the new features of the camera and a series of press images from Canon of the 5D Mark III.

The camera itself is set to be released by the end of March 2012 and you can currently pre-order it at both Amazon and Adorama.

Spec Comparison

	Canon EOS 5D Mark II	Canon EOS 5D Mark III	Canon EOS 1Dx	Nikon D700	Nikon D800
Sensor	21.1-megapixel CMOS 4-channel readout 14 bit	22.3-megapixel CMOS 8-channel readout 14-bit	18-megapixel CMOS 2-line, 16-channel readout 14-bit	12.1-megapixel CMOS n/a 14 bit	36.3-megapixel CMOS n/a 14 bit
ISO Sensitivity Range	ISO 50 (exp)/100 – ISO 6400/25600 (exp)	ISO 50 (exp)/100 – ISO 25600/102,400 (exp)	ISO 50 (exp)/ 100 – ISO 51,200/204,800 (exp)	ISO 100 (exp)/200 – ISO 6400/ 25,600 (exp)	ISO 50 (exp)/100 – ISO 6400/ 25600 (exp)
FPS	3.9 fps 14 raw/310 JPEG	6 fps	12fps	5fps 17 raw/100 JPEG	4fps n/a (5fps with battery grip)
Viewfinder Coverage	100% coverage 0.71x/0.71x	100% coverage 0.71x/0.71x	100% coverage 0.76x/0.76x	95% coverage 0.72x/0.72x	100% coverage 0.70x/0.70x
Autofocus	9-pt AF 1 cross type	61-pt High Density Reticular AF 21 center diagonal to f5.6 5 center to f2.8 20 outer to f4	61-pt High Density Reticular AF 21 center diagonal to f5.6 5 center to f2.8 20 outer to f4	51-pt 15 cross type	51-pt 15 cross type; 11 cross type to f8
AF Exposure Range	-0.5 – 18 EV	2 – 20 EV	2 – 20 EV	-1 – 19 EV	-2 – 19 EV
Shutter Durability	150,000 cycles	150,000 cycles	400,000 cycles	150,000 cycles	200,000 cycles
Metering Range	1 – 20 EV	0 – 20 EV (est)	0 – 20 EV	0 – 20 EV	0 – 20 EV
Video	H.264 QuickTime MOV 1080/30p/ 25p/24p; 720/25p/24p	H.264 QuickTime MOV 1080/30p/25p/24p; 720/60p/50p	H.264 QuickTime MOV 1080/30p/25p/24p; 720/60p/50p	n/a	H.264 QuickTime MOV 1080/30p/ 25p/24p; 720/60p/50p/ 25p/24p
Audio	mono; mic input	mono;mic input; headphone jack	mono;mic input; headphone jack	n/a	mono;mic input; headphone jack
Memory Slots	1 x CF	1 x CF + 1 x SDXC	2 x CF	1 x CF	1 x CF + 1 x SDXC
Battery Size	1,800mAh	1,800mAh	2,450mah	1,500mAh	1,800mAh
Launch Price (Body only)	$2,499	$3,499	$6,800	$2,199.95	$2,999.95/$3,299.95
Ship Date	November 2008	March 2012	April 2012	July 2008	March/April 2012

Videos

Auto Focus System

Drive Modes and Shutter

HDR Modes

Comparison Playback Feature

Photos of 5D Mark III (From Canon)

* For sample Images and Video from the Canon 5D Mark III, click HERE