July 2015
PHOTO OF THE MONTH | Time for a rest  |South Dakota , USA
SPECS: Fujifilm X-E1 (590nm infrared conversion, processed in Lightroom CC)

July News from Jason Odell
Learn cloud-stacking with me August 8th in Colorado Springs, CO
Summer is officially here! In the USA, we're celebrating July 4th by setting things alight... grilling food and enjoying time with our families.

Summer is also a perfect time to work on learning new techniques. I love photographing summer clouds using long exposures and infrared capture.

I'm offering a Night Photography Workshop July 11th in Limon Colorado, where we'll capture the Milky Way and learn to create star trails with the massive wind farm as our setting. 

On August 8th, I'll be teaching the Fundamentals of Long Exposure Photography in Colorado Springs. In addition to traditional long exposures, I'll also be teaching time-lapse and image-stacking techniques. I hope to see you there!
 
Tip of the Month: Use Lightroom CC for HDR & Panos
I used Lightroom CC to merge this HDR image

When I first saw that Lightroom CC  offered the ability to merge HDR and Panorama images, I didn't really think that much of it. After all, I've been using dedicated software tools for these kinds of images for years. However, once I tried using Lightroom for HDR and Panos, I was sold.

For HDR, the results are clean and easily processed. This kind of processing is perfect for natural landscapes and interior shots. If you like this kind of natural HDR style, then it's perfect for you. The panorama merge tool is also very good. While neither of these tools are quite as dramatic and full-featured as the ones you'll find in dedicated 3rd-party plug-ins, Lightroom has a HUGE advantage in terms of workflow.

When you create an HDR or Panorama in Lightroom CC, the result is a DNG RAW file that preserves all your camera data. This is a MAJOR advantage because now you don't need to worry about pre-processing your files to minimize sharpening or contrast and color. The HDR and Pano files behave as though they came right out of your camera! The end result is that you'll get a high-quality master file in RAW format that you can work on with a normal RAW workflow.

Check out my HDR Image Processing with Lightroom (video & PDF) tutorial to learn more!

 
New Nikon Super Telephoto Lenses
New 500mm f/4E FL VR Nikkor
Nikon just announced new 500mm and 600mm f/4 AFS VR lenses. These new lenses are 20-25% lighter than the previous versions, and are sharper, too.

I did a brief comparison of the new lenses with the previous models over on my Digital Insights Blog. 

You can pre-order these lenses here:

Landscape Photography Guide now 50% off
The complete guide to landscape photography in the digital world.
For a limited time, you can get my complete guide to digital landscape photography for 50% off the list price. Download your copy today. 

This 200+ page, printable PDF guide is viewable on most tablets, and covers everything from cameras to composition and post-processing. 

Reader S. Fong calls this book: 

"A comprehensive, easy-to-understand MUST-HAVE for anyone interested in improving their overall digital landscape photography experience. Packed with practical information, this eBook will ensure that the next time you go out to shoot landscapes, you will come back with better images AND have more fun doing it."

Featured Deal: Think Tank Photo Bonus Items
Get a free bonus item with any purchase of $50 or more on Think Tank Photo camera bags.

Hint: the "Red Whips" are a great bonus item for keeping cables from going everywhere; I use mine all the time.

My personal favorite bags are the Airport Security Roller and the Streetwalker Pro backpack, but Think Tank has just announced a new series of bags; the Trifecta series. These backpacks hold a DSLR plus 3 lenses (hence the name) and are designed to have three different access points; top, side, and back.

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Educating Photographers, One Pixel at a Time