A dead tree in Glacier National Park on the Going-to-the-Sun-Road. This photo has been enhanced with adjustments to color, white balance and ‘low key’ filter. Shot with Nikon D90 with Nikon 18-200mm VR lens. Shot from a moving vehicle in bright day light.
Sunset at the Flathead Lake. We were taking a cruise in the lake while this photo was taken with Nikon D90 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens. I have used a Brilliance/Warmth filter to enhance the orange glow in the sky and also done some retouching to adjust the color of the sky.
There was very little snow left (none in this photo) on the hill/mountain tops in Glacier National Park by the time we were there. This is Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. Shot with Nikon D90 with Nikon 10-24mm lens.
A flower. Family hiking in Spring 2010 in Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, OR. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 10-24mm lens without tripod.
A popular photo spot opposite the New York New York hotel in Las Vegas. I had taken same photo some 12 years ago at the same spot. Compare to notice the advances in technology. I had to work a lot on old photo (shot with film camera and then scanned negative) to remove noise, get correct white balance and remove some blemishes on the negative. This time around you see pretty much exactly what came out of my camera (digital this time) with only cropping and color cast removal. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens without a tripod.
Hotel Excalibur, Las Vegas. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens, without a tripod. Brilliance/Warmth filter used to enhance the warm colors.
A lucky shot in the fading daylight while we were having dinner in a outdoor restaurant opposite Bellagio. Believe it or not, I have not done any retouching on this photo beyond a simple crop and some noise reduction. The colors are as they came out of camera. I use +3 Vivid setting all the time. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens, handheld.
Hotel Bellagio in the fading light of the day. The color of clouds has been enhanced with the Brilliance/Warmth filter. Shot handheld with Nikon D90 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens.
Two iconic hotels from Las Vegas in day time. The water body is the man made lake in front of the Hotel Bellagio. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 10-24mm lens. I used a Brilliance/Warmth filter to add warmth and get better color out of the hotel buildings.
A closeup of flowers in Bellagio Conservatory, Las Vegas. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens.
Bellagio Conservatory is a nice place for kids and adults for a few minutes of amusement. This ant (especially the big beady eyes) caught my attention. The light here is very good for photos. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 18-200 VR.
Forum Shops, Las Vegas. This huge shopping mall has magnificent views. We just watched the scene than actually shop here. It’s expensive! Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 10-24mm lens. This wide angle lens gives a typical wide-angle distorted feel to the picture. I used the Brilliance/Warmth filter to enhance the warm orange glow of the indoor lighting.
Hotel Monte Carlo, Las Vegas. Shot with Nikon D90 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens without a tripod. I added a ‘high key’ filter to enhance the lighting.
This Harley Davidson sign with bright red, white colors was very interesting. In reality the colors came out slightly different than what I saw them there. I didn’t bother playing with the white balance settings later. Shot with Nikon D90 with Nikon 18-200 VR lens without a tripod.
Planet Hollywood and Paris. Two iconic hotels in Las Vegas in all their night glory. Shot with Nikon D90 without a tripod. The newer digital cameras are getting very good at high-ISO performance that you don’t need to carry a tripod for a decent photo. I have done some post processing to remove noise and boost contrast.
I took this photo from the top floor of Polo Towers which is right opposite to Aria Hotel in late afternoon on a bright summer day. You can see the reflection of other buildings in the glass surface of the Aria and Mandarin Oriental and other hotels in the area.
A visit to Las Vegas right in the middle of summer. At noon, streets are deserted (it’s too hot outside). I liked this scene with the color scheme of construction barriers, black/grey asphalt road and McDonald’s and Circus Circus Hotel in the background with blue skys.
Northwest Forest. This is a post-processed photo, to increase dynamic range called high dynamic range (HDR). Human eye can see approximately 20-24 F-stops worth of light intensity variation while most digital cameras can only capture 8-10 F-stops. What it means is what we see in a real scene can never be captured on a digital photo as it is. But with computers we can combine multiple images captured at various settings (called bracketing) and increase the dynamic range. This technique is most useful when shooting a subject with bright background like sky, snow, beach. In a normal photo, you either get a very bright overexposed sky and properly exposed object or very dark object and properly exposed sky, but never both. HDR image can depict both objects properly exposed by combining these two (or even more exposures). Notice in this photo that I’m pointing the camera directly at the sun, but still the tree barks, leaves etc. in the foreground are properly exposed. In a normal photo you would see them completely black in such case. Table Rock Trail (near Molalla, OR), Summer 2010.
