<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" ><channel><title>The Mansurovs &#187; Landscapes</title> <atom:link href="http://mansurovs.com/tag/landscapes/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><link>http://mansurovs.com</link> <description>The Mansurovs provide various digital photography tips, tutorials and guides to photographers</description> <lastBuildDate>Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:23:03 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1</generator> <xhtml:meta xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" name="robots" content="noindex" /> <item><title>Best of 2011 &#8211; Landscapes (Part 2)</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2011-landscapes-part-2?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=best-of-2011-landscapes-part-2</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2011-landscapes-part-2#comments</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:27:11 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscape Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wallpapers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Best of 2011]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=26363</guid> <description><![CDATA[This is part 2 of my 2011 landscape favorites. Please note that some of the images you will be seeing in the “Best of 2011” wallpaper collection have already been posted earlier last year in various articles, but in much smaller resolution. If you are looking for technical data, like Camera type, Lens and Exposure... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2011-landscapes-part-2>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is part 2 of my 2011 landscape favorites. Please note that some of the images you will be seeing in the “Best of 2011” wallpaper collection have already been posted earlier last year in various articles, but in much smaller resolution. If you are looking for technical data, like Camera type, Lens and Exposure information, you will find it in the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/what-is-exif-data" title="What is EXIF data?">EXIF data</a>. Summary of cameras used for the below images: <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-1-v1-review" title="Nikon 1 V1 Review">Nikon 1 V1</a>, <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-d5100-review" title="Nikon D5100 Review">D5100</a>, <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-d7000-review" title="Nikon D7000 Review">D7000</a>, <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-d700-review" title="Nikon D700 Review">D700</a>, <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-d3s-review" title="Nikon D3s Review">D3s</a> and Sony A65.</p><p>Enjoy!</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Colorado-Fall-Colors-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Colorado Fall Colors"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Colorado-Fall-Colors-650x406.jpg" alt="Colorado Fall Colors" title="Colorado Fall Colors" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26366" /></a></p><p>1) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Colorado-Fall-Colors.jpg">Colorado Fall Colors 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Canyonlands-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Canyonlands"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Canyonlands-650x406.jpg" alt="Canyonlands" title="Canyonlands" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26365" /></a></p><p>2) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Canyonlands.jpg">Canyonlands Sunset 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Colors-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Fall Colors"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Colors-650x406.jpg" alt="Fall Colors" title="Fall Colors" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26367" /></a></p><p>3) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Colors.jpg">Fall Colors 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Snow-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Fall Snow"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Snow-650x406.jpg" alt="Fall Snow" title="Fall Snow" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26369" /></a></p><p>4) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Snow.jpg">Fall Snow 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Snow-2-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Fall Snow 2"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Snow-2-650x406.jpg" alt="Fall Snow 2" title="Fall Snow 2" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26368" /></a></p><p>5) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fall-Snow-2.jpg">Fall Snow 2 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Grand-Tetons-Reflections-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Grand Tetons Reflections"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Grand-Tetons-Reflections-650x406.jpg" alt="Grand Tetons Reflections" title="Grand Tetons Reflections" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26370" /></a></p><p>6) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Grand-Tetons-Reflections.jpg">Grand Tetons Reflections 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Green-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Ying Yang"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Green-650x406.jpg" alt="Ying Yang" title="Ying Yang" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26371" /></a></p><p>7) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Green.jpg">Ying Yang 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Hot-Pool-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Hot Pool"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Hot-Pool-650x406.jpg" alt="Hot Pool" title="Hot Pool" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26372" /></a></p><p>8) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Hot-Pool.jpg">Hot Pool 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mountain-Flowers-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Mountain Flowers"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mountain-Flowers-650x406.jpg" alt="Mountain Flowers" title="Mountain Flowers" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26373" /></a></p><p>9) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mountain-Flowers.jpg">Mountain Flowers 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Petrified-Dunes-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Petrified Dunes"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Petrified-Dunes-650x406.jpg" alt="Petrified Dunes" title="Petrified Dunes" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26374" /></a></p><p>10) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Petrified-Dunes.jpg">Petrified Dunes 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Reflections-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Reflections"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Reflections-650x406.jpg" alt="Reflections" title="Reflections" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26375" /></a></p><p>11) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Reflections.jpg">Reflections 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunrise-Colors-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Sunrise Colors"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunrise-Colors-650x406.jpg" alt="Sunrise Colors" title="Sunrise Colors" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26376" /></a></p><p>12) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunrise-Colors.jpg">Sunrise Colors 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunrise-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Sunrise"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunrise-650x406.jpg" alt="Sunrise" title="Sunrise" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26377" /></a></p><p>13) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunrise.jpg">Sunrise 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Waterfall1-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="Waterfall"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Waterfall1-650x406.jpg" alt="Waterfall" title="Waterfall" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26378" /></a></p><p>14) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Waterfall1.jpg">Waterfall 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/White-Sands-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[26363]" title="White Sands"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/White-Sands-650x406.jpg" alt="White Sands" title="White Sands" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26379" /></a></p><p>15) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/White-Sands.jpg">White Sands 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p>Hope you like these!</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2011-landscapes-part-2/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>29</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Best of 2011 &#8211; Landscapes (Part 1)</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2011-landscapes-part-1?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=best-of-2011-landscapes-part-1</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2011-landscapes-part-1#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:54:20 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscape Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wallpapers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Best of 2011]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=25382</guid> <description><![CDATA[Happy New Year! The Mansurovs are back after a short holiday, with some photos to share from 2011. At the end of each year, I go back and start reviewing what I have photographed. It is a very long and painful process, because I have to sort through tens of thousands of images and pick... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2011-landscapes-part-1>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Happy New Year! The Mansurovs are back after a short holiday, with some photos to share from 2011. At the end of each year, I go back and start reviewing what I have photographed. It is a very long and painful process, because I have to sort through tens of thousands of images and pick the ones that I think are worthy of getting published as wallpapers on our website, in addition to being featured in our portfolio (I know, the images in the portfolio are very old, but I am working on updating it). While the process is very time consuming, if you have not gone back and reviewed your images from last year, I highly recommend that you do. It is a great exercise to re-evaluate your work and understand your weaknesses. You should be a better photographer now than you were a year ago, so see what you like and you don&#8217;t about your pictures. Are you seeing a significant improvement in your work? How do the images from last year compare to the images from the year before? Once you pick your favorites (which you should limit to 100 images max and don&#8217;t forget to flag them in Lightroom), invite your friends and family to look at your images. If you have any photographer friends, ask them to help you out with this. Tell them to be very critical and only pick the images that communicate with them. Let them vote on each images and give a star rating from 1 to 5. Walk out of the room and come back when they are done. Filter Lightroom by 5 stars and see how many images you are left with. Then ask your friends/family to tell you why they chose those particular images, find out what they felt about each photo. Also ask them what they feel is missing in each image they picked &#8211; perhaps there are some things they see that you did not see before. Trust me, this kind of feedback is invaluable. It is OK if the feedback is very harsh &#8211; you should welcome any criticism. In fact, you need to learn to be very critical of your work.</p><p>This is the first part of my 2011 landscape favorites. Please note that some of the images you will be seeing in the “Best of 2011” wallpaper collection have already been posted earlier last year in various articles, but in much smaller resolution. If you are looking for technical data, like Camera type, Lens and Exposure information, you will find it in the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/what-is-exif-data" title="What is EXIF data?">EXIF data</a>. Enjoy!</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunset-Rainbow-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Sunset Rainbow"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunset-Rainbow-650x406.jpg" alt="Sunset Rainbow" title="Sunset Rainbow" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25397" /></a></p><p>1) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sunset-Rainbow.jpg">Sunset Rainbow 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mono-Lake-Sunrise-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Mono Lake Sunrise"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mono-Lake-Sunrise-650x406.jpg" alt="Mono Lake Sunrise" title="Mono Lake Sunrise" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25394" /></a></p><p>2) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mono-Lake-Sunrise.jpg">Mono Lake Sunrise 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Snow-and-Aspens-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Snow and Aspens"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Snow-and-Aspens-650x406.jpg" alt="Snow and Aspens" title="Snow and Aspens" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25396" /></a></p><p>3) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Snow-and-Aspens.jpg">Snow and Aspens 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Puerto-Rico-Flowers-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Puerto Rico Flowers"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Puerto-Rico-Flowers-650x406.jpg" alt="Puerto Rico Flowers" title="Puerto Rico Flowers" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25395" /></a></p><p>4) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Puerto-Rico-Flowers.jpg">Puerto Rico Flowers 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Dead-Horse-Point-Sunrise-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Dead Horse Point Sunrise"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Dead-Horse-Point-Sunrise-650x406.jpg" alt="Dead Horse Point Sunrise" title="Dead Horse Point Sunrise" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25392" /></a></p><p>5) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Dead-Horse-Point-Sunrise.jpg">Dead Horse Point Sunrise 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Bridge-over-Waterfall-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Bridge over Waterfall"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Bridge-over-Waterfall-650x406.jpg" alt="Bridge over Waterfall" title="Bridge over Waterfall" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25390" /></a></p><p>6) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Bridge-over-Waterfall.jpg">Bridge over Waterfall 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Glacier-Mountains-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Glacier Mountains"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Glacier-Mountains-650x406.jpg" alt="Glacier Mountains" title="Glacier Mountains" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25393" /></a></p><p>7) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Glacier-Mountains.jpg">Glacier Mountains 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Canyonlands-River-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Canyonlands River"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Canyonlands-River-650x406.jpg" alt="Canyonlands River" title="Canyonlands River" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25391" /></a></p><p>8) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Canyonlands-River.jpg">Canyonlands River 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Waterfall-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[25382]" title="Waterfall"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Waterfall-650x406.jpg" alt="Waterfall" title="Waterfall" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-25398" /></a></p><p>9) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Waterfall.jpg">Waterfall 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p>Hope you like these, more to come!</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2011-landscapes-part-1/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>24</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Best Nikon Lenses for Landscape Photography</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/best-nikon-lenses-for-landscape-photography?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=best-nikon-lenses-for-landscape-photography</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/best-nikon-lenses-for-landscape-photography#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:37:04 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Gear]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscape Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lenses]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Photography Articles]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Nikon]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Telephoto Lens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wide Angle Lens]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=24514</guid> <description><![CDATA[What are the best Nikon lenses for landscape photography? After I posted my last article on &#8220;Best Nikon Lenses for Wedding Photography&#8220;, I have been getting many requests from our readers to also talk about lenses for photographing landscapes, nature and wildlife (another post on best Nikon wildlife lenses will be published soon). In this... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/best-nikon-lenses-for-landscape-photography>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What are the best Nikon lenses for landscape photography? After I posted my last article on &#8220;<a href="http://mansurovs.com/best-nikon-lenses-for-wedding-photography" title="Best Nikon Lenses for Wedding Photography">Best Nikon Lenses for Wedding Photography</a>&#8220;, I have been getting many requests from our readers to also talk about lenses for photographing landscapes, nature and wildlife (another post on best Nikon wildlife lenses will be published soon). In this post I will not only talk about which Nikon lenses I believe are the best for photographing landscapes, but also when I use a particular lens, along with plenty of image samples from each lens. Please keep in mind that the information I present below is a personal opinion based on my experience so far, which is subject to change. No third party lenses are presented either, although some Zeiss, Sigma, Tamron and Samyang lenses are phenomenal for landscapes. If you have a favorite lens of yours for landscape photography that is not listed below, please feel free to add a comment on the bottom of the page with some information and links to pictures (if you have any that you would like to share).</p><h3>1) Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G</h3><p>I want to start out with a lens that I have a love and hate relationship with. On one side, the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-14-24mm-f28g">Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G</a> is one of the sharpest lenses ever produced by Nikon. It has phenomenal optics (center to corner, throughout the frame and aperture range), beautiful colors, super fast autofocus and an extremely useful focal range for wide-angle photography. On the other hand, it is a heavy, bulky and expensive lens that cannot accommodate filters. Sadly, not just circular filters and filter holders but pretty much any kind of hand-holdable filter. Its round front element shape and the built-in lens hood just make it impossible to use filters. Sure, you can buy a <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/693472-REG/LEE_Filters_KIT_SW150_SW150_Filter_Holder_Kit.html/BI/5562/KBID/6400" rel="external nofollow">filter holder system from Lee</a> and other manufacturers for this lens to accommodate filters, but it is not cheap and you would have to purchase a set of large 150mm filters, so forget about using your existing filters. I really wish Nikon allowed us to use small replaceable filters close to the lens mount, just like on telephoto lenses and this lens would have been irreplaceable.</p><div class="noborder"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Nikon-14-24mm-f2.8G-300x200.jpg" alt="Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED" title="Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED" width="300" height="200" class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-10454" /></div><p>If you do not heavily rely on various filters like I do, then you will never be disappointed with this lens &#8211; yes, it is that good. If ability to use filters is a must, the only other full-frame lens from Nikon I would consider would be the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-16-35mm-f4g">Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR</a> lens (see my <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-16-35mm-f4-vr-review" title="Nikon 16-35mm VR Review">Nikon 16-35mm VR Review</a>). If you are a DX shooter, the <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/277227-USA/Nikon_2144_12_24mm_f_4G_ED_IF_AF_S.html/BI/5562/KBID/6400" rel="external nofollow">Nikon 12-24mm f/4</a> is superb.</p><p>Here are some sample images from the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Castle-Tunnel-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Castle Tunnel"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Castle-Tunnel-650x406.jpg" alt="Castle Tunnel" title="Castle Tunnel" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14165" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/20100505-Puerto-Rico-1264.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Windows"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/20100505-Puerto-Rico-1264-650x432.jpg" alt="Windows" title="Windows" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-10586" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/20100505-Puerto-Rico-1240.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Lighthouse"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/20100505-Puerto-Rico-1240-650x432.jpg" alt="Lighthouse" title="Lighthouse" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-10605" /></a></p><p>See my detailed <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-14-24mm-f2-8-review" title="Nikon 14-24mm Review">Nikon 14-24mm Review</a> for more information on this lens.</p><h3>2) Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G</h3><p>Year after year, the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-24-70mm-f28g">Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G</a> has been my #1 most used workhorse lens for landscape photography. While its performance is not as impressive as on the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G, especially in the corners at large apertures, it just needs to be stopped down to f/5.6 and smaller to unveil its true performance. It has a lighting quick AF, beautiful color rendering, extremely useful zoom range on full-frame cameras and it takes filters! But similar to the 14-24mm it also has a few problems &#8211; it is bulky, heavy, expensive and has no VR.</p><div class="noborder"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Nikon-24-70mm-f2.8G-300x170.jpg" alt="Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED" title="Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED" width="300" height="170" class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-10945" /></div><p>Ever since the superb <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-24-120mm-f4g">Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR</a> (see my <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-24-120mm-vr-review" title="Nikon 24-120mm VR Review">Nikon 24-120mm VR Review</a>) has been released, I have been thinking more and more about switching to it. I have not done it for one major reason: lens build and weather sealing. The Nikon 24-70mm is built like a tank and has suffered all kinds of abuse from me. I have dropped it, exposed it to sub-zero / extremely hot temperatures, used it in very windy and dusty environments, exposed it to extreme humidity and the list goes on and on&#8230;it has survived it all and it is still performing like a champ. I honestly do not think the 24-120mm would have survived all that.</p><p>I would not recommend it for DX shooters, because it has a not-so-useful 36-105mm equivalent focal length due to the 1.5x crop factor, so something like the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-16-85mm">Nikon 16-85mm VR</a> would be a great low-cost alternative. I had a hard time picking my favorite images from this lens, because there are too many, so here are a couple from this year:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-8.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Glacier NP #8"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-8-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #8" title="Glacier NP #8" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15670" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-5.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Glacier NP #5"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-5-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #5" title="Glacier NP #5" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15667" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-11.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Mt Rainier NP #11"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-11-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #11" title="Mt Rainier NP #11" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15700" /></a></p><p>Most of the landscape <a href="http://mansurovs.com/category/wallpapers" title="Wallpapers">wallpapers on this website</a> have been shot with this lens. See my detailed <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-24-70mm-f2-8-review" title="Nikon 24-70mm Review">Nikon 24-70mm Review</a> for more information on this lens.</p><h3>3) Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II</h3><p>I&#8217;m sure you saw this coming &#8211; how could I not have the whole &#8220;lens trinity&#8221; with the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-70-200mm-f28g">Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II</a> in this article? I was once approached by another photographer, who asked me what lenses I typically take with me when photographing landscapes. When I showed him my lenses and told him that I rarely leave without my 70-200mm, he was rather surprised. He thought that the 70-200mm was too long for landscape photography and asked me why I would even bother taking this bulky and heavy lens. I showed him a couple of pictures from the day before that I shot with the 70-200mm lens and right after he saw my images, he told me that he would buy it as soon as he returned home.</p><div class="noborder"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Nikon-70-200mm-f2.8G-ED-VR-II-300x188.jpg" alt="Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II" title="Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II" width="300" height="188" class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-4944" /></div><p>Landscape photography is not always just about capturing wide-angles and endless panoramas. I find myself often discovering interesting subjects that my 24-70mm is not long enough to capture and that&#8217;s when I switch to the 70-200mm to get close and tight. The Nikon 70-200mm is not just a portrait lens as you probably have come to known it &#8211; its optical performance is phenomenal for pretty much any kind of photography. The only thing you have to be careful about when shooting landscapes, is not to include any foreground elements that are close to you, or you will have a hard time getting everything in focus, unless your goal is to isolate a subject. The lens is ideal for shooting overlooks or other subjects from a distance. Every once in a while, I use the 70-200mm to shoot large panoramas as well. The only downside of this lens is its bulk and weight.</p><p>Here are some image samples of landscapes that I have shot with the Nikon 70-200mm lens:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Formations-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Formations"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Formations-650x406.jpg" alt="Formations" title="Formations" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14052" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Waterfall.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Waterfall"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Waterfall-650x432.jpg" alt="Waterfall" title="Waterfall" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24776" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-15.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Glacier NP #15"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-15-432x650.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #15" title="Glacier NP #15" width="432" height="650" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15677" /></a></p><p>If you have a DX camera, I would skip this lens and rather have a two lens kit comprised of the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-16-35mm-f4g">Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR</a> and <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-24-120mm-f4g">Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR</a>, which would cover most of your needs. These two lenses are also great for full-frame cameras as a lower-cost alternative to the Nikon &#8220;trinity&#8221;.</p><p>See my detailed <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-70-200mm-vr-ii-review" title="Nikon 70-200mm Review">Nikon 70-200mm Review</a> for more information on this lens.</p><h3>4) Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E</h3><p>The <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/545664-USA/Nikon_2168_Wide_Angle_PC_E_Nikkor.html/BI/5562/KBID/6400" rel="external nofollow">Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E</a> is a special-purpose wide-angle tilt/shift or &#8220;perspective control&#8221; lens that is ideal for landscape photography. One of the biggest challenges of landscape photography is to bring everything from the closest foreground element to the farthest object in the background into perfect focus. While stopping down the lens certainly helps, you will often find yourself in situations, where you have to emphasize a foreground object by staying very close to it and yet stopping down the lens will not provide sufficient depth of field to capture everything in focus. In addition, stopping down lenses beyond f/11 on full-frame cameras and beyond f/8 on cropped-sensors cameras reduces image quality due to an optical phenomenon known as diffraction. Hence, it is often not a good idea to stop down too much. One option is to use a focus stacking technique, where you take a series of images focused at different points and then use post-processing software to combine those images. However, focus stacking only works well if your scene is very still and none of the objects are moving, so wind and immediate changes in ambient light could spoil the result.</p><div class="noborder"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Nikon-24mm-f3.5D-PC-E-300x211.jpg" alt="Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E" title="Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E" width="300" height="211" class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-15483" /></div><p>By using a tilt/shift lens, you can tilt the focus plane in such a way that you could bring the entire scene in perfect focus even at large aperture values. The lens physically tilts up, down, left and right to give you full control over depth of field. There are several potential issues with using this lens. First, it is a manual focus lens. Second, it is a fixed focal length lens, which means that you will have to move around to compose your shot. Third, it only properly fits pro-level DSLRs like <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-d700">Nikon D700</a> and <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-d3s">Nikon D3s</a> and has limited movement on smaller DSLRs. And finally, it is not an easy lens to use and you will have to learn how to properly use the tilt/shift capability and compute depth of field depending on the tilt position. Once you master this lens, it is hard to find anything else that could beat it. Needless to say, its sharpness, contrast and colors are top notch.</p><p>Here are some of my image samples from this gem:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Sample-10.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Sample #10"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Sample-10-650x432.jpg" alt="Sample #10" title="Sample #10" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15576" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Sample-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Sample #1"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Sample-1-650x432.jpg" alt="Sample #1" title="Sample #1" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15567" /></a></p><p>See my detailed <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-24mm-pc-e-review" title="Nikon 24mm PC-E Review">Nikon 24mm PC-E Review</a> for more information on this lens.</p><h3>5) Nikon 24mm f/1.4G</h3><p>If you are looking for the sharpest lens Nikon has ever produced, check out the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-24mm-f14g">Nikon 24mm f/1.4G</a> &#8211; it is practically flawless in terms of optical performance. This is one lens that I would not hesitate using on any camera body, even the upcoming high-resolution full-frame Nikon DSLRs, because it is one of those lenses that will out-resolve any sensor out there. Aside from its astounding sharpness, contrast and colors, it has a very wide aperture range from f/1.4 to f/16, giving you the versatility to use it for multiple photography needs &#8211; from landscape photography to portraiture (especially low-light situations).</p><div class="noborder"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Nikon-24mm-f1.4G-300x228.jpg" alt="Nikon 24mm f/1.4G" title="Nikon 24mm f/1.4G" width="300" height="228" class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-10037" /></div><p>Some photographers initially complained about autofocus issues with this lens, but I believe that they might have gotten some bad samples from the first batch, because I have shot with three different samples by now and I did not have any AF problems whatsoever. Lola and I rely on this lens quite heavily for our photography work. Here are some image samples from this beautiful lens:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/San-Juan-Streets-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="San Juan Streets"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/San-Juan-Streets-650x406.jpg" alt="San Juan Streets" title="San Juan Streets" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14171" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Ocean-View-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Ocean View"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Ocean-View-650x406.jpg" alt="Ocean View" title="Ocean View" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14169" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Beach-at-Night-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Beach at Night"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Beach-at-Night-650x406.jpg" alt="Beach at Night" title="Beach at Night" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14164" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Great-Sand-Dunes-Sunset-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[24514]" title="Great Sand Dunes Sunset"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Great-Sand-Dunes-Sunset-650x406.jpg" alt="Great Sand Dunes Sunset" title="Great Sand Dunes Sunset" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14053" /></a></p><p>See my detailed <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-24mm-f1-4-review" title="Nikon 24mm f/1.4G Review">Nikon 24mm f/1.4G Review</a> for more information on this lens.</p><p>Please let me know if you have any questions!</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/best-nikon-lenses-for-landscape-photography/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>147</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Mount Rainier and Olympic Photos</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/mount-rainier-and-olympic-photos?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=mount-rainier-and-olympic-photos</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/mount-rainier-and-olympic-photos#comments</comments> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:09:48 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Flowers & Macro]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mount Rainier National Park]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Olympic National Park]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Washington]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=15689</guid> <description><![CDATA[The drive from Montana to Washington was beautiful. I really wanted to stop in many different locations and take more pictures, but I had a set and compressed schedule that I did not want to change. It was rainy and wet at Mount Rainier, which is quite normal at this time of the year. The... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/mount-rainier-and-olympic-photos>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The drive from Montana to Washington was beautiful. I really wanted to stop in many different locations and take more pictures, but I had a set and compressed schedule that I did not want to change. It was rainy and wet at Mount Rainier, which is quite normal at this time of the year. The snow was everywhere though and it turned out that I was there too early. Should have done my homework. I wanted to take pictures of wildflowers, but because of the high snow accumulation this year, there were very few areas in the park where you could find them. Apparently, the best time to be there is late August to early September. Oh well! I still managed to take some good waterfall pictures though:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #1"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-1-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #1" title="Mt Rainier NP #1" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15690" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-2.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #2"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-2-432x650.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #2" title="Mt Rainier NP #2" width="432" height="649" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15691" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-3.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #3"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-3-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #3" title="Mt Rainier NP #3" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15692" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-4.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #4"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-4-432x650.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #4" title="Mt Rainier NP #4" width="432" height="649" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15693" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-5.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #5"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-5-432x650.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #5" title="Mt Rainier NP #5" width="432" height="649" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15694" /></a></p><p>So many waterfalls and streams there, I had a hard time deciding where to stop and take pictures.</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-6.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #6"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-6-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #6" title="Mt Rainier NP #6" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15695" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-7.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #7"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-7-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #7" title="Mt Rainier NP #7" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15696" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-8.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #8"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-8-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #8" title="Mt Rainier NP #8" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15697" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-9.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #9"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-9-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #9" title="Mt Rainier NP #9" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15698" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-10.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #10"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-10-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #10" title="Mt Rainier NP #10" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15699" /></a></p><p>Took this picture on my way out of Mount Rainier, where I only got to spend a day. Wildflowers was what I was after, so there was really no reason to stay there further.</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-11.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Mt Rainier NP #11"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mt-Rainier-11-650x432.jpg" alt="Mt Rainier NP #11" title="Mt Rainier NP #11" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15700" /></a></p><p>When I got to Olympic, I was disappointed with the bad weather. From the rainy and wet Mt Rainier, to sunny coast, the sun disappeared behind the thick clouds and haze during sunset and I unfortunately did not get to take any good images. Here are a couple I took, but I am not happy with any of them:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Olympic NP #1"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-1-650x432.jpg" alt="Olympic NP #1" title="Olympic NP #1" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15701" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-2.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Olympic NP #2"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-2-650x432.jpg" alt="Olympic NP #2" title="Olympic NP #2" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15702" /></a></p><p>Here is a giant snail that I encountered in the rain-forest:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-3.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Olympic NP #3"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-3-650x432.jpg" alt="Olympic NP #3" title="Olympic NP #3" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15703" /></a></p><p>I then headed to the rain-forest, hoping to take better pictures there:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-4.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Olympic NP #4"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-4-432x650.jpg" alt="Olympic NP #4" title="Olympic NP #4" width="432" height="649" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15719" /></a></p><p>This one is my favorite:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-5.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Olympic NP #5"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-5-432x650.jpg" alt="Olympic NP #5" title="Olympic NP #5" width="432" height="649" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15705" /></a></p><p>The weather next day was not any better and it was cloudy all morning:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-6.jpg" rel="lightbox[15689]" title="Olympic NP #6"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olympic-6-650x430.jpg" alt="Olympic NP #6" title="Olympic NP #6" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15706" /></a></p><p>The weather forecast was showing bad weather all week, so without waiting more I packed up and left to Yosemite National Park in California.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/mount-rainier-and-olympic-photos/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>14</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Yellowstone and Glacier Trip Photos</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/yellowstone-and-glacier-trip-photos?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=yellowstone-and-glacier-trip-photos</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/yellowstone-and-glacier-trip-photos#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:12:32 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Animals]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Birds]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Glacier National Park]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Montana]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Panorama]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wyoming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Yellowstone National Park]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=15651</guid> <description><![CDATA[Here are some photos that I decided to share with you from Yellowstone NP and Glacier NP from my trip across the Western USA. I have not done much processing on these yet, which I am hoping to do during the next few weeks. The images from Yellowstone NP are from the Nikon D5100 that... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/yellowstone-and-glacier-trip-photos>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here are some photos that I decided to share with you from Yellowstone NP and Glacier NP from my <a href="http://mansurovs.com/back-from-a-two-week-long-trip">trip across the Western USA</a>. I have not done much processing on these yet, which I am hoping to do during the next few weeks. The images from Yellowstone NP are from the Nikon D5100 that I was testing &#8211; all images from my Nikon D3s were on the card that I unfortunately lost somewhere in Yosemite NP. All landscape images of Yellowstone are lost, so I only have some wildlife + wildflower shots to show.</p><p>While in Yellowstone, there was not a day when I did not see black bears. First day I was super excited about seeing a bear cub walk alone and eat flowers, so I took several hundred pictures of him eating, resting and playing. My favorite picture was with the cub sitting in between many wildflowers. Of course those pictures are all gone, so it is only a memory. During the next bear encounters, I only photographed when the bears were close. For the first couple of shots, I would use the Nikon D5100 and then switch to my D3s, due to better and more accurate autofocus. Here are some images of bears from the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/go/bh/nikon-d5100">Nikon D5100</a> + <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/688212-USA/Nikon_2187_AF_S_NIKKOR_200_400mm_f_4G.html/BI/5562/KBID/6400" rel="external nofollow">Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR</a> combo.</p><p>This is a black bear that some call &#8220;Cinnamon&#8221; bear:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #1"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-1-650x430.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #1" title="Yellowstone NP #1" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15652" /></a></p><p>This guy was rubbing his back on a tree trunk:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-2.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #2"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-2-430x650.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #2" title="Yellowstone NP #2" width="430" height="649" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15653" /></a></p><p>And then eventually moved on:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-3.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #3"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-3-650x430.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #3" title="Yellowstone NP #3" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15654" /></a></p><p>Another bear that got very close to us (less than 100 yards):</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-4.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #4"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-4-650x430.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #4" title="Yellowstone NP #4" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15655" /></a></p><p>By the end of the week, whenever I saw black bears, I would just move on, since I was more interested in seeing grizzlies instead. A video of a grizzly bear roaming around will be posted shortly.</p><p>We saw plenty of other wildlife in Yellowstone and I took many pictures of coyotes, hawks, falcons and eagles, pronghorns, mountains goats and more. Don&#8217;t ask me where those images are! The biggest loss was pictures of 6 coyote cubs playing and one adult coyote catching and eating a ground squirrel. My <a href="http://mansurovs.com/nikon-300mm-f2-8g-vr-ii-tc-20e-iii">previous coyote pictures</a> were a joke in comparison. Oh well, let&#8217;s move on.</p><p>I rarely even look at bison in Yellowstone. Because they are just everywhere. While driving through one of the roads, I noticed a calf feeding at sunset and took a picture from the car window:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-5.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #5"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-5-650x430.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #5" title="Yellowstone NP #5" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15656" /></a></p><p>Here are some other pictures of Yellowstone taken with the Nikon D5100:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-6.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #6"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-6-650x432.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #6" title="Yellowstone NP #6" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15657" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-7.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #7"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-7-650x430.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #7" title="Yellowstone NP #7" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15658" /></a></p><p>These two crows were enjoying the early morning at Yellowstone:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-8.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #8"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-8-430x650.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #8" title="Yellowstone NP #8" width="430" height="649" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15659" /></a></p><p>And wildflowers were everywhere:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-9.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #9"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-9-650x430.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #9" title="Yellowstone NP #9" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15660" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-10.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #10"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-10-650x430.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #10" title="Yellowstone NP #10" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15661" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-11.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Yellowstone NP #11"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Yellowstone-11-650x430.jpg" alt="Yellowstone NP #11" title="Yellowstone NP #11" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15662" /></a></p><p>It turns out July is a great month to be in Yellowstone.</p><p>On the road to Glacier, I found this old truck and took a picture:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #1"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-1-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #1" title="Glacier NP #1" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15663" /></a></p><p>We started our first day at Two Medicine, which is the southern part of the park. There was a waterfall, very close to our campsite and we hiked there to take some pictures. This is one of the first pictures from Glacier:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-2.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #2"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-2-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #2" title="Glacier NP #2" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15664" /></a></p><p>Never take pictures of waterfalls in sunny days!</p><p>Again, wildflowers were everywhere:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-3.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #3"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-3-650x439.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #3" title="Glacier NP #3" width="650" height="439" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15665" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-8.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #8"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-8-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #8" title="Glacier NP #8" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15670" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-14.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #14"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-14-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #14" title="Glacier NP #14" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15676" /></a></p><p>Lakes and waterfalls were breathtaking:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-4.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #4"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-4-650x339.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #4" title="Glacier NP #4" width="649" height="339" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15666" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-5.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #5"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-5-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #5" title="Glacier NP #5" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15667" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-6.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #6"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-6-650x244.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #6" title="Glacier NP #6" width="649" height="244" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15668" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-7.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #7"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-7-650x281.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #7" title="Glacier NP #7" width="648" height="281" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15669" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-9.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #9"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-9-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #9" title="Glacier NP #9" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15671" /></a></p><p>Some more pictures of the Two Medicine lake:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-10.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #10"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-10-650x330.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #10" title="Glacier NP #10" width="650" height="330" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15672" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-11.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #11"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-11-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #11" title="Glacier NP #11" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15673" /></a></p><p>Here is Saint Mary lake during on a windy day:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-12.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #12"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-12-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #12" title="Glacier NP #12" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15674" /></a></p><p>And more waterfalls:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-13.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #13"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-13-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #13" title="Glacier NP #13" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15675" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-15.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #15"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-15-432x650.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #15" title="Glacier NP #15" width="432" height="649" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15677" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-16.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #16"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-16-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #16" title="Glacier NP #16" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15678" /></a></p><p>Here is Avalanche Creek&#8217;s rain-forest:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-17.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #17"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-17-650x430.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #17" title="Glacier NP #17" width="649" height="430" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15679" /></a></p><p>Sunrise at Saint Mary Lake:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-18.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #18"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-18-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #18" title="Glacier NP #18" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15680" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-19.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #19"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-19-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #19" title="Glacier NP #19" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15681" /></a></p><p>This prairie chicken showed up while I was taking pictures of mountain peaks and just stood there. I switched from my Nikon 24-70mm to 200-400mm f/4 and took this picture while it stood still:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-20.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #20"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-20-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #20" title="Glacier NP #20" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15682" /></a></p><p>Another sunrise shot of St Mary Lake on a clear morning with the moon:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-21.jpg" rel="lightbox[15651]" title="Glacier NP #21"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Glacier-21-650x432.jpg" alt="Glacier NP #21" title="Glacier NP #21" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15683" /></a></p><p>Hope you like these, although it is a pity that most of the good pictures have been lost.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/yellowstone-and-glacier-trip-photos/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>15</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>How to Take Black and White Pictures</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/how-to-take-black-and-white-pictures?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=how-to-take-black-and-white-pictures</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/how-to-take-black-and-white-pictures#comments</comments> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:47:10 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscape Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lightroom]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Other Software]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Photography Articles]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Photoshop]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Post Processing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Black and White]]></category> <category><![CDATA[DSLR Tips for Beginners]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Howto]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Photography Tips]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=14283</guid> <description><![CDATA[If you are inspired by the works of Ansel Adams, James Nachtwey or other masters of black and white photography, you probably want to try doing some B&#038;W yourself. If you don&#8217;t know how to take black and white pictures and where to start, then this guide might help you to get into the world... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/how-to-take-black-and-white-pictures>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you are inspired by the works of Ansel Adams, James Nachtwey or other masters of black and white photography, you probably want to try doing some B&#038;W yourself. If you don&#8217;t know how to take black and white pictures and where to start, then this guide might help you to get into the world of B&#038;W photography. I must admit that I am no guru when it comes to black and white photography, but I have been experimenting with it lately and would like to share what I have learned so far.</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Tree-BW-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Tree BW"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Tree-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Tree BW" title="Tree BW" width="650" height="406" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14100" /></a></p><h3>1) Colors in Black and White Photography</h3><p>As strange as it may sound, black and white photography is not about the tones of white, grey and black colors that we see in B&#038;W images. Instead, it is all about the <strong>colors</strong> that are recorded by the camera and how those colors are converted to different shades of grey, whether in-camera or through post-processing. Back in the film days, photographers used color filters in front of their lenses while shooting B&#038;W film, then would employ special darkroom processing techniques like dodging and burning on top of that to lighten or darken particular parts of a photograph (some landscape photographers still do it today with medium and large format film).<br /> <br /> With modern digital cameras this cumbersome process is no longer necessary, since most of the effects, including the effects of color filters, can be simulated in post-processing software like Photoshop and Lightroom/Aperture. The nice thing about digital, is that you can non-destructively (meaning without damaging the original file) experiment with black and white as much as you want and get many different &#8220;looks&#8221; of B&#038;W by playing with colors and adjusting some sliders. Before jumping to B&#038;W techniques, let&#8217;s go over color filters and camera settings first.</p><h3>2) Color Filters</h3><p>When a specific color filter is used in front of a lens, it absorbs other colors and lets the same color as the filter pass through. For example, if you use a red color filter, it will let the red color through, while blocking green and blue colors. Since all colors are combinations of red, green and blue (RGB) colors, filters are capable of blocking certain colors from a color combination. For example, a green filter will make a yellow object (which is a combination of green and red) appear green, because the red portion of the color combination is blocked. Now that&#8217;s what would happen in a color photo. What if we are converting colors to black and white? One thing you need to remember, is that filters lighten their own color and darken the colors that get blocked. So if you were photographing a landscape with a blue sky using a blue filter, the sky would be very bright when converted to black and white. If you used a green or a red filter, on the other hand, the sky would appear much darker. Take a look at the following example with different filters:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Color-Filters.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Color Filters"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Color-Filters-650x202.jpg" alt="Color Filters" title="Color Filters" width="649" height="202" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14452" /></a></p><p>Now pay attention to what happens here. When a blue filter is used, the sky looks very bright, but the green and the red colors are very dark because they are blocked. When a green filter is used, the green leaves on the tree appear lighter than the red and the blue colors. When a red filter is used, the red colors appear bright and green with blue are much darker. That&#8217;s how color filters affect images in B&#038;W photography!</p><h3>3) Camera Settings</h3><p>Many of the current DSLR cameras allow you to switch from color to black and white/monochrome inside camera menu and some of the advanced DSLRs even allow you to pick different types of color filters for better black and white conversion (Nikon DSLRs have a &#8220;Monochrome&#8221; Picture Control to convert to B&#038;W). While it is nice to be able to shoot in B&#038;W from DSLRs directly, since you are stripping the colors from images, you are basically limiting your post-processing options if you shoot in JPEG format. Once colors are converted to B&#038;W, there is no going back. On top of this, in-camera B&#038;W processing is often poorly implemented and the camera gives you no control on how specific colors or regions of the image should be treated. Therefore, it is best to take pictures in color, then convert them to black and white in post-processing.</p><p>If you shoot in RAW, no matter what color profile you apply on your camera, the file will contain all information you possibly need from the camera for successful B&#038;W conversion. If your intent is to shoot in B&#038;W and see the effect on the camera, feel free to set the camera to B&#038;W mode. During the import process, if you use software like Capture NX2, your images will be imported as black and white, although you can change them back to color any time later. If you use Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, the images will be imported in color and the black and white settings you used on your camera will be lost. That&#8217;s because Adobe products do not have the capability to read the proprietary manufacturer information from RAW files. So shoot in RAW and you will be good to go.</p><p>Here is what I would use on my camera:</p><ol><li>Image Quality/Format: RAW</li><li>RAW Bit Depth: 14-bit (if available)</li><li>ISO Sensitivity: Lowest ISO (base ISO)</li><li>White Balance: Auto</li></ol><p>Similar to color photos, you want to shoot in RAW with the highest bit depth available in order to be able to pull as much data as possible for color filters, with a minimum amount of noise. As for White Balance, I personally set mine to &#8220;Auto&#8221;, since WB settings are not important when shooting in RAW. The only thing that you need to make sure, is that your White Balance is corrected after you import your photos to Lightroom/Photoshop &#8211; or you will have problems with colors during the B&#038;W conversion process.</p><h3>4) Methods to convert color images to B&#038;W</h3><p>When it comes to converting color photographs to black and white, there are many ways to skin the cat &#8211; from a very simple method of desaturating colors to rather complex methods of applying different shades of gray on particular colors. Let&#8217;s go through some of these methods in detail and see the type of results we can get from these different methods.</p><h4>4.1) Simple Black and White Conversion</h4><p>The simplest (and the worst) method to convert color photographs to black and white, is to simply desaturate or &#8220;discard&#8221; the colors. You can do this pretty much in any image editing software. If you use Lightroom, you can simply go to Develop Module, then click &#8220;Black &#038; White&#8221; under the &#8220;Basic&#8221; tab. If you use Photoshop, you can achieve a similar result by going to &#8220;Image&#8221;->&#8221;Adjustments&#8221;->&#8221;Desaturate&#8221; or press Ctrl+Shift+U on the keyboard. Here is the color version of the first image on top of this page:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Tree-in-Color.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Tree in Color"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Tree-in-Color-650x432.jpg" alt="Tree in Color" title="Tree in Color" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14441" /></a></p><p>And here is how the image looks when I desaturate the colors:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Desaturate.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Desaturate"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Desaturate-650x432.jpg" alt="Desaturate" title="Desaturate" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14442" /></a></p><p>The tree and the ground look fine, but the deep blue sky and the clouds are now mixed together and look very pale together. That&#8217;s what you get when you desaturate colors &#8211; you cannot control which colors you want to emphasize and how bright/dark they should come out in the final image. Let&#8217;s move on to better ways to convert color photographs to black and white.</p><h4>4.2) Lightroom Black and White Mix</h4><p>Lightroom has a much better method to convert color images to Black and White besides the method shown above. It is located in Develop Module, under the &#8220;Tone Curve&#8221; tab. You will find three different selections you can click on and one of them is &#8220;B &#038; W&#8221;. Once you click on it, the information below will change to &#8220;Black &#038; White Mix&#8221; with some color selections. Here is how it looks:</p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Black-White-Mix.jpg" alt="Black &amp; White Mix" title="Black &amp; White Mix" width="252" height="239" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14445" /></p><p>The initial look of the image will be similar to an image that was desaturated and you will have to play with the colors and tweak the image to get a better result. The above colors sliders (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aqua, Blue, Purple and Magenta) allow you to control how dark or light each color will be in the final image. When I desaturated my sample image earlier, the sky and the clouds got mixed up in a very similar shade of gray. Let&#8217;s see what happens when I move the blue slider to the left to make it darker (-40 value):</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Darker-Sky.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Darker Sky"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Darker-Sky-650x432.jpg" alt="Darker Sky" title="Darker Sky" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14446" /></a></p><p>Not bad, the sky is now darker than the clouds and I am getting a good separation between the two. I can do the same thing for other colors like orange and red and control how dark or light they will be in black and white.</p><p>One very powerful feature of Lightroom a lot of people do not know about, is the &#8220;Direct Adjust&#8221; functionality that can be found in some of the tabs, including B&#038;W. Here is where it is:</p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Black-and-White-Direct-Adjust.jpg" alt="Black and White Direct Adjust" title="Black and White Direct Adjust" width="252" height="239" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14448" /></p><p>What it allows you to do, is instead of moving the sliders on different colors, it allows you to click on any part of the image and change its brightness by moving the mouse up or down. Give it a try &#8211; once the little dot is clicked with your mouse and transformed to a dot with up/down arrows, left-click on any part of the image you want to brighten or darken and then move your mouse up and down to see what happens. Moving the mouse up will increase the brightness, while moving the mouse down will decrease it.</p><h4>4.3) Photoshop Black and White</h4><p>Photoshop has a very similar functionality as Lightroom that allows you to move sliders to control the different shades of gray in black and white images. You can access it through &#8220;Image&#8221;->&#8221;Adjustments&#8221;->&#8221;Black &#038; White&#8221; or by pressing Alt+Shift+Ctrl+B shortcut on your keyboard. Here is how it looks:</p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Photoshop-Black-and-White.jpg" alt="Photoshop Black and White" title="Photoshop Black and White" width="415" height="510" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14449" /></p><p>The nice thing about this tool, is that it comes with different &#8220;Presets&#8221; to choose from. Before you move any sliders, I would start off with the presets and see if any of the particular presets looks good on your image. Once you pick a starting point, you can then adjust different colors to brighten/darken certain colors. I recommend experimenting with the tool to get the desired result.</p><h4>4.4) Photoshop Channel Mixer</h4><p>Another popular method to convert color images to black and white is using Photoshop&#8217;s Channel Mixer. You can access the Channel Mixer by going to &#8220;Image&#8221;->&#8221;Adjustments&#8221;->&#8221;Channel Mixer&#8221;. Compared to the Black and White method above, the Channel Mixer works more like the traditional method, where a color filter is used on the camera lens. Here are the available color filter presets:</p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Photoshop-Channel-Mixer-Presets.jpg" alt="Photoshop Channel Mixer Presets" title="Photoshop Channel Mixer Presets" width="400" height="394" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14451" /></p><p>You can pick Infrared, Blue, Green, Orange, Red and Yellow color filters with the Channel Mixer tool. As I have pointed out under &#8220;Color Filters&#8221;, different color filters affect how light/dark certain colors will be. So if you have a scene with a blue sky and you want the sky to appear dark, pick any color filter except blue and see which filter works best for you. The only caveat with using this tool, is that whatever changes you make to each source channel, the total of the three (Red, Green and Blue) should be 100, or the image will be either brighter (if over 100) or darker (if under 100):</p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Photoshop-Channel-Mixer.jpg" alt="Photoshop Channel Mixer" title="Photoshop Channel Mixer" width="400" height="394" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14454" /></p><p>Once again, I would encourage you to play with the Channel Mixer and see what settings work best for each individual photograph.</p><h3>5) Adding Contrast and Clarity/Structure to B&#038;W Images</h3><p>No matter which conversion method you use, once the images is black and white, it will most likely look rather flat. For those situations, adding more contrast and structure to your black and white images will make them look more &#8220;punchy&#8221;. Let&#8217;s go back to my earlier example with the tree. Here is how it looks like after I used the Channel Mixer with a Red Filter:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Image-Sample-with-Red-Filter.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Image Sample with Red Filter"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Image-Sample-with-Red-Filter-650x432.jpg" alt="Image Sample with Red Filter" title="Image Sample with Red Filter" width="650" height="432" class="size-medium wp-image-14455" /></a></p><p>Indeed, looks rather flat. The clouds are mixing with the sky and there is definitely a lack of contrast here. The first thing to do in situations like this, is the obvious &#8211; increase contrast. You can do it by sliding the &#8220;Contrast&#8221; to the right in Lightroom and by going to &#8220;Image&#8221;->&#8221;Adjustments&#8221;->&#8221;Brightness/Contrast&#8221; in Photoshop (you can also use &#8220;Curves&#8221; in Photoshop to increase contrast). Don&#8217;t add too much contrast, as it will add too much black to the photo. I would start with +20 and try not to exceed +50 contrast. Once the contrast is added, go back and compare before and after to see how the image was affected. Now you should see a little more punch and structure in your B&#038;W image.</p><p>Next, we work on the image details or &#8220;structure&#8221;. If you use Lightroom, you have something called &#8220;Clarity&#8221; under the Basic tab in Develop Module. Slide that Clarity to +50 or more and see what happens &#8211; you should see more separation and structure in the photo, giving a 3-dimensional look to your B&#038;W photo. In Photoshop, the best way to do this is by using the &#8220;Unsharp Mask&#8221; tool. Go to &#8220;Filter&#8221;->&#8221;Sharpen&#8221;->&#8221;Unsharp Mask&#8221;, which will bring up a new window. Normally, when you sharpen your images, you would use a very small radius of 1-2 pixels to bring out the edges. In this case, our purpose is not to bring out the edges only, but to make the photo look very detailed. We achieve this by using a very large radius, which will not touch the detail edges, but rather will make everything look more detailed. All features, including the clouds, will look more separated from the sky and other plain areas. Let&#8217;s take a look at this effect in action:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Large-Radius-Unsharp-Mask.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Large Radius Unsharp Mask"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Large-Radius-Unsharp-Mask-650x432.jpg" alt="Large Radius Unsharp Mask" title="Large Radius Unsharp Mask" width="650" height="432" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14457" /></a></p><p>Not bad, the B&#038;W image now looks even better. Compare it to the previous image and you will notice a big difference in detail/structure. Here are the settings I used for the above photo:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Unsharp-Mask-Settings.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Unsharp Mask Settings"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Unsharp-Mask-Settings.jpg" alt="Unsharp Mask Settings" title="Unsharp Mask Settings" width="332" height="431" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14458" /></a></p><p>The amount and radius values you should use varies by photograph. In some cases, a larger radius with a 50% or more amount will yield better results, in others a smaller radius is sufficient. The radius will also depend on the size of the image you are working with. If you are working on the original image with large dimensions, a bigger radius will work better. For smaller resolution images, use a smaller radius.</p><h3>6) Sharpening</h3><p>The final step is now to sharpen just the edges of the photograph, so that the whole image looks sharp. In Lightroom, go to &#8220;Sharpening&#8221; under &#8220;Detail&#8221; in Develop Module and increase the amount of sharpening from the default value of 25 to 50 or higher. I personally use the following values as as default for my images:</p><ol><li>Amount: 50</li><li>Radius: 1.0</li><li>Detail: 50</li><li>Masking: 0</li></ol><p>When I export my images in smaller sizes to be published on my blog, I typically set &#8220;Output Sharpening&#8221; to Screen and Amount: Standard in the Export window.</p><p>If you use Photoshop, use the same &#8220;Unsharp Mask&#8221; tool, but we will have to drop the radius back to 1.0 or so. I recommend applying sharpening after resizing your images, not before. The &#8220;Amount&#8221; of sharpening depends on how much sharpening you have already applied before, but I typically pick between 50 to 75.</p><h3>7) Photoshop/Lightroom Plugin &#8211; Silver Efex Pro</h3><p>All of the above methods and steps I have shown are great, but they are somewhat limited in their functionality and require multiple steps to get the desired look. If you do not have the time to experiment with each individual photo and you are looking for simpler ways to instantly transform your color photos to beautiful black and white images, then I would recommend using specialized plugins that do the B&#038;W conversion. My favorite tool for the job is Nik Software&#8217;s &#8220;Silver Efex Pro&#8221;. I have tried several different Photoshop plugins and Silver Efex is by far the best one on the market. Its power is not only in providing lots of different presets to choose from and using color filters, but also in selective conversion &#8211; a unique, yet very useful feature that is common to Nik Software&#8217;s plugins. You can place a control point (or multiple control points) on a particular spot or color within the image and you can adjust its brightness, contrast and structure. You can change the radius of the control point, which allows you to limit the affected area. For example, if you have a blue sky and another blue object on the ground, using any of the above methods would result in both the sky and the blue object to be converted to a similar shade of gray. With Silver Efex Pro, you can make the blue sky dark and the blue object on the ground lighter by using the control points. Here is a screenshot of Silver Efex Pro in action:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Silver-Efex-Pro.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Silver Efex Pro"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Silver-Efex-Pro-650x483.jpg" alt="Silver Efex Pro" title="Silver Efex Pro" width="649" height="483" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14460" /></a></p><p>In the above screenshot, I selected the &#8220;High Structure&#8221; preset (I use it more than any other) and then added a control point to the sky. Next, I moved the &#8220;Brightness&#8221; slider on the control point to the left, which dramatically darkened the middle portion of the sky. Contrast and Structure were already set to +30 and +55, respectively (through the selected preset).</p><p>Silver Efex Pro has lots of different options to convert color photos to black and white. It even has the ability to give a different tone such as sepia to images through the &#8220;Stylizing&#8221; menu and can do other cool stuff like burning/darkening edges and vignetting.</p><p>The first image in this article was converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro. Here are some more B&#038;W images that were also converted in Silver Efex Pro:</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Turret-Arch-BW-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Turret Arch BW"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Turret-Arch-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Turret Arch BW" title="Turret Arch BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14101" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Layers-BW-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Layers BW"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Layers-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Layers BW" title="Layers BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14099" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Lake-BW-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Lake BW"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Lake-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Lake BW" title="Lake BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14098" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Dead-Horse-Point-BW-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Dead Horse Point BW"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Dead-Horse-Point-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Dead Horse Point BW" title="Dead Horse Point BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14097" /></a></p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Grand-Canyon-1024x640.jpg" rel="lightbox[14283]" title="Grand Canyon BW"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Grand-Canyon-650x406.jpg" alt="Grand Canyon BW" title="Grand Canyon BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-5674" /></a></p><p>The high-resolution versions of the above images can be found in the <a href="http://mansurovs.com/category/digital-photography/wallpapers">Wallpapers</a> section of the website.</p><p>The last thing I wanted to point out, is that when it comes to black and white photography, there is no &#8220;magic template&#8221; or workflow that works for every single picture. While you can have a standard set of settings for color photographs, you cannot apply the same B&#038;W techniques to all photographs, due to different colors and shades of gray in images. In addition, converting color landscapes to B&#038;W is also not the same thing as converting color portraits to B&#038;W. When you work with portraiture, you have to employ different conversion techniques and be more careful with color filters, contrast and structure settings.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/how-to-take-black-and-white-pictures/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>32</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Best of 2010 &#8211; Landscapes (Part 4)</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-4?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=best-of-2010-landscapes-part-4</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-4#comments</comments> <pubDate>Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:42:34 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wallpapers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Best of 2010]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscape Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=14146</guid> <description><![CDATA[This is the last, fourth part of the “Best of 2010” for my landscape images. The first part can be found here, the second (BW) part is here and the third one is here. I hope you enjoyed my wallpaper collection from 2010 and I will be posting more of these in 2011 as well.1)... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-4>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is the last, fourth part of the “<a href="http://mansurovs.com/tag/best-of-2010">Best of 2010</a>” for my landscape images. The first part can be found <a href="http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-1">here</a>, the second (BW) part is <a href="http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-2-bw">here</a> and the third one is <a href="http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-3">here</a>. I hope you enjoyed my wallpaper collection from 2010 and I will be posting more of these in 2011 as well.</p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Lake-Reflection-650x406.jpg" alt="Lake Reflection" title="Lake Reflection" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14152" /></p><p>1) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Lake-Reflection.jpg">Lake Reflection 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Photographer-650x406.jpg" alt="Photographer" title="Photographer" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14156" /></p><p>2) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Photographer.jpg">Photographer 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Old-Mine-2-650x406.jpg" alt="Old Mine 2" title="Old Mine 2" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14155" /></p><p>3) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Old-Mine-2.jpg">Old Mine 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Mammoth-Hot-Springs-650x406.jpg" alt="Mammoth Hot Springs" title="Mammoth Hot Springs" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14154" /></p><p>4) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Mammoth-Hot-Springs.jpg">Mammoth Hot Springs 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Layers-650x406.jpg" alt="Layers" title="Layers" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14153" /></p><p>5) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Layers.jpg">Layers 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Fiery-Furnace-650x406.jpg" alt="Fiery Furnace" title="Fiery Furnace" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14151" /></p><p>6) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Fiery-Furnace.jpg">Fiery Furnace 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Maroon-Bells-at-Night-650x406.jpg" alt="Maroon Bells at Night" title="Maroon Bells at Night" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-13099" /></p><p>7) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Maroon-Bells-at-Night.jpg">Maroon Bells at Night 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Sunrise-650x406.jpg" alt="Sunrise" title="Sunrise" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-9642" /></p><p>8) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Sunrise.jpg">Sunrise 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Aspens-650x406.jpg" alt="Aspens" title="Aspens" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-13319" /></p><p>9) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Aspens.jpg">Aspens 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-4/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>8</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Best of 2010 &#8211; Landscapes (Part 3)</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-3?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=best-of-2010-landscapes-part-3</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-3#comments</comments> <pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 23:03:53 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wallpapers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Best of 2010]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscape Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=14134</guid> <description><![CDATA[This is the third part of the &#8220;Best of 2010&#8221; for my landscape images. The first part can be found here and the second (BW) part is here. As I have pointed out before, some of the images were already posted earlier as wallpapers, so I am simply reposting them.1) Hell&#8217;s Half Acre 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-3>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is the third part of the &#8220;<a href="http://mansurovs.com/tag/best-of-2010">Best of 2010</a>&#8221; for my landscape images. The first part can be found <a href="http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-1">here</a> and the second (BW) part is <a href="http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-2-bw">here</a>. As I have pointed out before, some of the images were already posted earlier as <a href="http://mansurovs.com/category/digital-photography/wallpapers">wallpapers</a>, so I am simply reposting them.</p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Hells-Half-Acre-650x406.jpg" alt="Hells Half Acre" title="Hells Half Acre" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14139" /></p><p>1) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Hells-Half-Acre.jpg">Hell&#8217;s Half Acre 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Canyonlands-Wallpaper-650x406.jpg" alt="False Kiva" title="False Kiva" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-11187" /></p><p>2) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Canyonlands-Wallpaper.jpg">False Kiva 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Road-Through-Aspens-650x406.jpg" alt="Road Through Aspens" title="Road Through Aspens" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14142" /></p><p>3) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Road-Through-Aspens.jpg">Road Through Aspens 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Old-Mine-650x406.jpg" alt="Old Mine" title="Old Mine" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14141" /></p><p>4) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Old-Mine.jpg">Old Mine 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Yellowstone-Lake-650x406.jpg" alt="Yellowstone Lake" title="Yellowstone Lake" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-13320" /></p><p>5) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Yellowstone-Lake.jpg">Yellowstone Lake 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Lake-Sunrise-2-650x406.jpg" alt="Lake Sunrise 2" title="Lake Sunrise 2" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14140" /></p><p>6) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Lake-Sunrise-2.jpg">Lake Sunrise 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Fence-Through-Forest-650x406.jpg" alt="Fence Through Forest" title="Fence Through Forest" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14138" /></p><p>7) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Fence-Through-Forest.jpg">Fence Through Forest 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Farm-650x406.jpg" alt="Farm" title="Farm" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14137" /></p><p>8) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Farm.jpg">Farm 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Delicate-Arch-650x406.jpg" alt="Delicate Arch" title="Delicate Arch" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-9641" /></p><p>9) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Delicate-Arch.jpg">Delicate Arch 2560&#215;1600 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p>Enjoy!</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-3/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>6</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Transformation v2</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/transformation-v2?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=transformation-v2</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/transformation-v2#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:52:49 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Colorado]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscape Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rocky Mountain National Park]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=14130</guid> <description><![CDATA[Are there places you go to several times a year? If you are thinking about the next photography project, I suggest finding something interesting/unique and then coming back to the same spot at different times of the year to photograph the location. Two of the three images below were shot by accident at the Rocky... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/transformation-v2>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Are there places you go to several times a year? If you are thinking about the next photography project, I suggest finding something interesting/unique and then coming back to the same spot at different times of the year to photograph the location. Two of the three images below were shot by accident at the Rocky Mountain National Park &#8211; I just liked the way the four trees leaned to the left and were all very unique and beautiful in their own way. I photographed the image in the middle first, then when I was at the same location in fall, I happened to photograph those four trees again. I was reviewing my images in Lightroom one day and noticed that I have two different images of the same trees &#8211; not sure how I even remembered them. Next time I visited the park in winter, I went to the same spot and took another picture (left) to add to the collection. Now I need another image in the spring and I will have a complete set :) Note that all three images were taken at different angles, which is why the backgrounds appear so different.</p><p><a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Seasons.jpg" rel="lightbox[14130]" title="Seasons"><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Seasons-650x132.jpg" alt="Seasons" title="Seasons" width="646" height="132" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14131" /></a></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/transformation-v2/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>7</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Best of 2010 &#8211; Landscapes (Part 2, BW)</title><link>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-2-bw?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=best-of-2010-landscapes-part-2-bw</link> <comments>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-2-bw#comments</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:58:58 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Nasim Mansurov</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Digital Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Wallpapers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Best of 2010]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Black and White]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscape Photography]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Landscapes]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://mansurovs.com/?p=14096</guid> <description><![CDATA[This is the second part of the &#8220;Best of 2010&#8221; collection for landscape photography. I have not done much of black and white photography, so the below images are sort of &#8220;experimental&#8221;. Let me know what you think of these! If you like the way they came out, I will post a quick tutorial showing... <a href=http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-2-bw>read more &#187;</a>]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is the second part of the &#8220;<a href="http://mansurovs.com/tag/best-of-2010">Best of 2010</a>&#8221; collection for landscape photography. I have not done much of black and white photography, so the below images are sort of &#8220;experimental&#8221;. Let me know what you think of these! If you like the way they came out, I will post a quick tutorial showing how I did it.</p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Turret-Arch-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Turret Arch BW" title="Turret Arch BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14101" /></p><p>1) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Turret-Arch-BW.jpg">Turret Arch BW 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Tree-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Tree BW" title="Tree BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14100" /></p><p>2) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Tree-BW.jpg">Tree BW 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Layers-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Layers BW" title="Layers BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14099" /></p><p>3) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Layers-BW.jpg">Layers BW 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Lake-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Lake BW" title="Lake BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14098" /></p><p>4) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Lake-BW.jpg">Lake BW 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p><p><img src="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Dead-Horse-Point-BW-650x406.jpg" alt="Dead Horse Point BW" title="Dead Horse Point BW" width="650" height="406" class="size-medium wp-image-14097" /></p><p>5) <a href="http://mansurovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Dead-Horse-Point-BW.jpg">Dead Horse Point BW 1920&#215;1200 Widescreen Wallpaper</a></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://mansurovs.com/best-of-2010-landscapes-part-2-bw/feed</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>24</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>
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