The Denver Botanic Garden is having its annual orchid exhibit from January 12, 2012 through February 20, 2012.  The event has more than 200 flooring orchids on display.  The garden is open from 9 AM to 5 PM.  The exhibit is put on by the Denver orchid Society. Below is a video of our recent trip to the Denver Botanic Garden. This was a great photographic opportunity to photograph these beautiful exotic flowers.

Music by Jimmy Gelhaar. All music made available through the www.jimmygelhaar.com website at:
www.jimmygelhaar.com — Film Composer and Music Downloads

Books on Orchids

Understanding Orchids: An Uncomplicated Guide to Growing the World’s Most Exotic Plants [Hardcover]

Four Seasons of Orchids (Gardening) [Paperback]

Orchids For Dummies [Paperback]

Adobe has just announced its release of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 beta. I am really excited about the new features in this version of Lightroom. I would like to also introduce Chris Orwig photography instructor. Chris has just released his free new 2 hour training video on Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta at Lynda.com. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is an elegant powerful photo organizing and editing tool that will improve your workflow. It is for both professional and advanced amateur photographers.

Lightroom 4 Beta

First, we’ll start with some of the new features on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta.

• Highlight and shadow recovery — Bring out the detail in the shadows and highlights more efficiently.
• New Tab — Create photo books — Easily create photo books with easy-to-use templates and then publish right from Lightroom to blurb or a PDF file.
• New Tab location-based organization — You can now organize your photos by GPS locations with GPS enabled cameras and display them in Lightroom on Google maps within the program.
• White balance brush — With the new white balance brush. You can now adjust the white balance of a specific area of your photograph.
• Local editing controls — You can now reduce noise to a targeted area of your photograph without affecting the rest of the photograph.
• New Tab expanded video support — easier organizing and viewing of videos plus adjusting exposure and trimming of video clips right within Lightroom.
• Soft proofing — Easily preview your images before they are printed.
• E-mail directly from Lightroom — You can now e-mail your photos directly from lightroom using the e-mail account of your choice.

With these new features Lightroom 4 will be an exciting new upgrade that is going to come out sometime in March 2012. But you don’t have to wait to try out Lightroom 4.  You can Click Here to download the beta version of Lightroom 4 right now or you can Click Here to try out the current version of Lightroom 3.6

learn Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 with Chris Orwig

Chris Orwig one of my favorite authors at Lynda.com and has just released a new two-hour training video on Lightroom 4 beta.  You can view the entire video tutorial series for free. Just Click Here to view the entire course or watch 2 introductory video bellow. Either way, this is a great way to try out Lynda.com for free and see why Chris Orwig is such a great instructor. Chris Orwig is a photographer and  a teacher at the Brooks Institute of photography in Santa Barbara, California and has also produced 33 courses at Lynda.com. There are over 1000 courses at Lynda.com and a good majority of the courses our on photography, video editing, graphic design and many other business software titles.

The New Book Creation Tab

The New Video Tab

Topaz Labs Lensing Effect is a Photoshop plug-in that adds realistic depth of field simulation and creative filters like  neutral density, polarizing, fog, prism affect, soft focus, and much much more.  This gives you the flexibility after the shot to add some pretty cool effects without the cost of expensive lenses and add-on filters.  The plug-in works with Adobe Photoshop CS 3 – CS 5.5  (32–bit and 64–bit),Adobe Photoshop elements 6–10, Adobe Lightroom 2 and 3 via Topaz fusion express (free with Plug-in), Irfanview, paint shop Pro, photo impact,Serif photo plus.  In the Mac world it works with Adobe Photoshop CS3–CS5.5 (32–bit and 64–bit), Adobe Photoshop elements 6–10, Apple Aperture 2 & 3, Lightroom 2 & 3 and iPhoto via Topaz fusion express. The slideshow video below is a demonstration of before and after photos using Topaz Labs Lens Effects. Some of the photos effects have been exaggerated to show what this program can do.  Just making subtle adjustments to your photos can make a big difference in the mood and quality of the photos.  Don’t forget you can try a full version of Topaz Lens Effects or any of the other Topaz Labs plug-ins for 30 days free.  Just below the before and after slide show are a couple of YouTube tutorials on how to use Topaz Labs Lens Effects.

Overview of Topaz Lens Effects.

Introduction to Topaz Lens Effects.

Tutorial Topaz Lens Effects.

Last spring we made a trip down to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We decided to take a different route home than we normally take so from the Sand Dunes we headed north on Highway 285 in the San Luis Valley towards Poncha Springs, Colorado. On the way we discovered there was a turnoff (CO Rd L156) close to the small town of Villa Grove which took us to the old ghost town of Bonanza, Colorado with a current population of 14.  The town was originally settled by Lieutenant Kerber sometime after the Civil War.  The town, at that time, was called Kerber City after the  Lieutenant along with the Creek, which still bears his name, Kerber Creek.  Sometime around 1880 silver was found upstream from Kerber City.  After the silver was found, the town took on the name Bonanza because the miners all thought they were going to get rich, which didn’t happen.  At one time Bonanza had more than 500 residents. There are still many old buildings standing in and around the almost forgotten community. Autumn would be a great time to visit and photograph Bonanza as there are many aspen trees in the area. Below is a slideshow of some of the old buildings still standing around the ghost town of Bonanza.

Click on the photo below to view the old buildings around Bonanza, Colorado

Books on Ghost Towns of Colorado

Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps [Paperback]

Guide To the Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps [Paperback]

Treasure Tales Of Rockies [Paperback]

Lynda.com has over 65,000 tutorials and all at a very reasonable monthly price. Lynda.com has an extensive list of courses on photography, including lightroom, Photoshop, video editing, graphic design and other applications, such as web design, WordPress, programming languages, operating systems, Microsoft office, Apple applications and much much more. Give the gift of education at Lyndy.com. It’s a great place to brush up on your computer skills or learn something new for a new job or promotion.  I have been using Lynda.com training library for two years now and can highly recommend it. Don’t forget to check out the Creative Inspiration section of Lynda.com. It has full-length interviews with leading industry professionals.

Give the gift of education at Lyndy.com

The new year is almost here and it’s time for a new calendar. I hope you enjoy our new 2012 vintage car calendar. You can print it on plane or photo paper, save it to your computer, share it with your friends.  I will also be producing a 2012 Colorado calendar in the next couple of weeks.

Click on the calendar below to download.

On our last trip to Moab, Utah we decided to take a side trip through Colorado National Monument which is just outside of Grand Junction.  We’ve driven by Grand Junction many times and stopped for dinner or lunch just off the freeway as we passed on by, but never really stopped to see Grand Junction before. Passing through the busy little community made me realize that Grand Junction is a beautiful small city on the western edge of the Colorado Rockies. A short distance from downtown Grand Junction is Colorado National Monument.  I’ve been traveling and photographing Colorado for many years now, but have never visited this destination in the National Park system.  Entering the park and driving up the switchbacks to the top of the rim we fell in love with its beauty and splendor along the Rim Rock Drive as the sun began to set. Taking it slow as we drove into the sun, the road meanders along the edge of the rim with drop-offs of up to 500 feet and few guard rails. Stopping at many of the turnouts along the way gave us a chance to photograph one of Colorado’s hidden gems. The sandstone cliffs and huge monolithic spires rising up from the canyon floor is reminiscent of Monument Valley in Arizona but instead driving on the tops edges of the sandstone cliffs. Colorado National Monument was established 100 years ago in 1911 with the help of John Ottos outdoorsman and promoter of this Colorado natural wonder. We only spent an overnight visit at Saddlehorn campground, but then vowed we would return and explore more of this amazing natural wonder of Colorado’s endless beauty.  So, if you’re in the Grand Junction area don’t forget to visit Colorado National Monument.

Click on the photo below to view the slideshow of Colorado National Monument.

Books on Colorado National Monument

Colorado’s National Parks & Monuments [Hardcover]

Rim of Time: the Canyons of Colorado National Monument [Paperback]

A Guide to the Rimrock Drive-Colorado National Monument [Paperback]

]]> http://dougniedermillerphotography.com/2011/12/11/colorado-national-monument/feed/ 2 http://dougniedermillerphotography.com/2011/12/04/shooting-with-the-nikon-d7000-at-lynda-com/ http://dougniedermillerphotography.com/2011/12/04/shooting-with-the-nikon-d7000-at-lynda-com/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:57:27 +0000 Doug Niedermiller http://dougniedermillerphotography.com/?p=4478

Shooting with the Nikon D7000 digital SLR camera – The author, Ben Long, provides a detailed overview of all the functionality of the Nikon D7000 digital SLR camera.   Ben has authored 9 photography training videos for Lynda.com to date.  The course starts off with what is a DSLR then moves on to how to attach your lenses, using the different modes, changing image format size, how to use auto exposure bracketing, shooting videos, cleaning your camera  and so on. I found Ben’s presentation of this course very easy to understand and complete. After completing this course,  you will be able to use your camera and all its functions. Though you may not use every single function on this camera, but by viewing the entire course you will have an idea of what functions are available and be able to determine what are most important to you. I have had several digital SLR cameras and find the best way to get up to speed in a short period of time with these cameras is to view a video like this one on the Nikon D7000. The manuals are nice for quick reference out in the field but, spending hours reading these manuals is enough to put anybody to sleep.  So, if you have the Nikon D7000 or would like to learn more about Nikon D7000 try out the video samples below and see if this video tutorial is right for you.  The duration of the complete course is 3 hours and 33 min.  It was released on 10/28/2011.  There are several other cameras available like the Nikon D 5000,Canon 60D and the Canon Rebel T3i (600D and Kiss X5),  These, and many other video tutorials are also available at on DVD at Lynda.com.

This video below is on all the buttons and controls on the Nikon D 7000

This video below is about using the continuous shooting mode.

This video below is on using and setting the white balance on your camera.

This video below is about how to use the auto exposure bracketing feature on this camera.

Topaz labs has just announced its release of Topaz adjust 5. As an owner of Topaz adjust. I get a free upgrade. The new version has 107 new presets, a selective brush that allows you to dodge burn smooth and brush out adjustments, a new apply button which allows you to stack multiple effects and presets. During the same workflow and a finishing touch tap which adds a few more options like warmth, grain, transparency and more.

I had a chance to try this plug-in out last night and these are major upgrades to the plug-in. You can check out the video below to see more about how Topaz adjust 5 works. If you have Topaz adjust already you can upgrade it for free. If you don’t you can try it out free for 30 days. From now until 11/30/2011 Topaz labs is offering a 30% discount on Topaz adjust 5. Just enter the coupon code “ADJUSTME” when purchasing.you can also get that same 30% discount towards the Topaz bundle or any on the lot great as well. along with Topaz adjust 5 they have nine other plug-ins, including topaz B&W effects, Topaz simplify, Topaz clean, Topaz DeJPEG, Topaz lens affect, Topaz, the noise, Topaz detail, Topaz three mask and Topaz in focus. All of these plug-ins are included in the Topaz bundle.

Other related articles

• Fun With Topaz Labs Adjust
• Fun with Topaz Labs Simplify 2
• Topaz Labs B&W Effects Plug-in

20th Annual GOOD TIMES CAR SHOW.

The Good Times Car Show was held at Bancraft Park in Old Colorado City on Sunday, August 21, 2011. Hosted By Colorado Cruizers ~Rocky Mountain Mustangers ~ Southern Colorado Mopars ~ Modern Mopar Muscle Club of Southern Colorado. Up to 400 Mustangs, Muscle cars, Hot Rods and Classic cars.

I have been photographing local car shows for the past couple of years. It was a beautiful clear day at 70° and a perfect day for a car show. I am always impressed with the care and detail the goes into the restoration of these classic cars. Talking with the owners of these cars is interesting. It’s fun to hear the stories of where they found these cars and how they restore them. You can really see the pride they have in their vehicles.

Click on the photo to view slide show

Now for the photography. The photographs in the gallery below were shot and processed for HDR or High Dynamic Range photography. Each photograph is actually nine photographs. Each shot at the same f-stop and all shot at different shutter speeds then combined with the HDR program called photomatix Pro 4. The program takes the best exposed part of each photograph and combines them to give you more detail in the highlights and shadows and has the ability to also create some pretty cool special effects like the surreal look you may see in some of the photographs in this gallery. If you are interested in learning more about HDR. Just click on the related articles listed below.

Learn High Dynamic Range Photography (HDR)

Cameras For HDR Photography

The Ghosts Of Leadville Colorado in HDR

For more infomationon the good times car show goto http://www.goodtimescarshow.com/

Books on Cars

Mustang: An American Classic [Hardcover]

Art of the Hot Rod [Hardcover]

Million-Dollar Muscle Cars

The Art of the Automobile

The Encyclopedia of Classic Cars [Hardcover]