Lately, I’ve been so busy with the business side of things that it’s been hard to find time to shoot and edit photos. For me, photography has always been about passion and the pure act of creating artwork that I love and that I’m proud of. I find it interesting that the more successful I become as a photographer, the farther I seem to be pulled away from the actual photography.
I’m certainly not complaining – far from it. I love the way things are going and how rapidly my photography business is progressing. I just strive to maintain a balance between the business and creative side of things, while keeping the quality of my photography the top priority.
Here’s a photo from my very first trip to Iceland in September 2012. I’ve visited Jökulsárlón quite a few times and this was by far the most amazing I’ve ever seen it. While the sky exploded with color, I was able to capture so many beautiful variations of this scene that it’s taken me months just to choose which version to process. Certainly a good problem to have.
Technical Mumbo Jumbo
Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 16mm)
Tripod: RRS TVC-33 / BH-55 Ballhead / RRS L-Plate
ISO: 100 at f/5.6
7 Exposures Shot / 4 Used
Location: Shot in Jokulsarlon, Iceland – September 2012 and post-processed in Central Java, Indonesia – July 2013
Hardware: 15” 2013 Macbook Pro Retina, Wacom Intuos5 Small Tablet
Software: Lightroom 5, Photoshop CS6, Nik Color Efex Pro 4
Post-processing: 7 exposures were shot and 4 were used in the blend. Though not much color was enhanced in the sky, the icebergs required quite a bit of attention. There was so much bounce light on the surface that I had to exaggerate the color separation in both the blue and red chanel. By doing this I was able to pull out the crisp, cool, and natural detail of the ice. Noise reduction applied with NIK Dfine.
Espresso: Cold pre-brewed Lavazza Rossa
