CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-22 06:41:34 (15 comments, 7 reshares, 88 +1s)

Mesquite Dunes of Death Valley
These Dunes are in Death Valley California just off the road. I actually had a lot of fun walking around here and taking photos. Except it's kind of exhausting since you're walking in soft sand that's always sliding out from beneath your feet. So fun though. Hopefully I can go back in this next year at some point. 

http://alikgriffin.com/blog/may/21/rolling-mesquite-dunes-death-valley

2013-05-21 07:23:51 (21 comments, 24 reshares, 217 +1s)

Yutoku Inari Shrine - Japan
This is the Entrance to the Yutoku Inari Shrine in Southern Japan. It's also the first photo I ever processed using textures, which I've been doing a lot more of lately.

I miss Japan. Need to go back soon!  Not being a billionaire sucks sometimes.

http://alikgriffin.com

2013-05-21 01:14:04 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

Are there any plans to build something like Google+Blog for Drupal? I see all the wordpress bloggers on google+ using this now an it looks pretty awesome. It imports your comments from google+.
I tried the current G+ comments module on drupal but it simply doesn't cut it. 

Check it out: https://plus.google.com/u/0/103697821787469756035/posts/SSsdBaMZfYn

2013-05-20 23:11:20 (7 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

Holy Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Batman! +Thomas Hawk How did you get google Chat on your blog? Is this a new feature?

2013-05-18 22:29:10 (9 comments, 3 reshares, 53 +1s)

Rainy Day at the Kintai-Kyo Bridge - Japan
This was one of those photos where the location was cool, time of year was cool, but the weather sucked. It was raining and grey. I messed around with this photo here and there for the last few months never able to find a look I liked. I finally decided to use couple textures on it to give it a unique and artsy feel.
http://alikgriffin.com/blog/may/18/rainy-day-kintai-kyo-bridge

2013-05-15 23:32:10 (24 comments, 1 reshares, 41 +1s)

WTF just happend to Google+?

2013-05-15 05:44:02 (8 comments, 7 reshares, 64 +1s)

The Mighty Sequoias of The Mariposa Grove
The Mariposa Grove is part of Yosemite National Park. About a 30 minute drive from the valley.

The base photo of this is an HDR that I decided to texture up a bit. I used a single texture that I layered a few times with various opacities and blending modes. Overlay was the primary blending mode set to 100% then I added a duplicate of the texture at 24% Hard Light and another at 11% Darken Color.
I did  

I did a few other cool tricks as well like sharpening with the High Pass filter. I added some color into the shadows by using 'apply image' to a layer mask then added that to a solid color that I set to soft light. It creates a nice color effect on only the shadows or highlights, depending on how you're inverted. Then I added a layer of neutral grey and set it to soft light, with another apply image to affect onlyth... more »

2013-05-14 21:44:54 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Canon 5Dmkiii was hacked to record continuous raw video - What are your thoughts?

I'd love to get a discussion going on this on G+ since everyone on here is pretty smart with this kind of stuff.

To me this seems really cool but at the same time, impractical for your average consumer. Would you use the 5Dmkiii to shoot raw or would you rather shoot with the default H264 or even the 10bit HDMI out? After all, final output on almost all the videos we make is for online or DVD, which is usually some form of an overly compressed 8bit AVC MPEG4. 

I could really seeing this being useful in the wold of C.G. for shooting greenscreens or various plates. Or cheap B cameras for film shoots.  But that aside, the implications of this are going to create a huge ripple that will change the whole industry and price points of various cameras.

I posted more informationab... more »

2013-05-12 19:35:50 (13 comments, 4 reshares, 42 +1s)

The Pinocchio Whale at Disneyland
So I went to Disneyland last weekend. There are so many people there it's kind of unbelievable. It's not what I remember from when I was a kid. It's also really hard to shoot photography there because you're just in one constant sea of people, like Tokyo.
I did some research to try and figure out how much this one park makes a day. A ticket costs $80 dollars and there where hundreds of thousands of people there. I found a site that was saying just this one park in Anaheim probably makes around a $1 million a day. And Disney CO makes about $5 Billion every year. That's nuts. You'd think they could lower ticket prices a littler bit. Instead of raising them every year. :)

This photo was part of a blog post from yesterday about custom camera modes. http://alikgriffin.com/blog/may/11/using-your-cameras-custom-modes. It was a... more »

2013-05-12 09:15:33 (24 comments, 12 reshares, 175 +1s)

The Great Monuments of Yosemite
This taken with my telephoto looking down Yosemite Valley. It's a pretty epic view and such an epic place.

I did a write up about using your camera custom modes c1, c2, c3 and just decided to include some sample photos. This is one of them. Taken handheld with my telephoto.
You can check that out to see how I customize my camera settings. 
http://alikgriffin.com/blog/may/11/using-your-cameras-custom-modes

2013-05-11 20:26:01 (7 comments, 3 reshares, 15 +1s)

Do you use your Camera's Custom Modes? - C1,C2,C3
Here is a brief explanation on how I use mine. 

http://alikgriffin.com/blog/may/11/using-your-cameras-custom-modes

2013-05-10 07:39:19 (14 comments, 9 reshares, 97 +1s)

The Great Yosemite Valley
This is the view of Yosemite Valley as you're entering from the upper road. It's definitely up there with one of the most amazing things I've seen.

http://alikgriffin.com/blog/may/10/great-yosemite-valley

2013-05-08 06:20:23 (17 comments, 13 reshares, 100 +1s)

Venice Beach Walk
Took this while hanging out at Marina Del Ray with my wife. We walked  from the marina down to the Venice Beach Pier which is about a mile walk. It was such a nice night. Perfect for testing out my ND500. If you're looking for a great relatively inexpensive 9 stop ND filter check out this one. The Light Craft ND500.

More photos with it on my blog.
http://alikgriffin.com/blog/may/07/venice-beach-walk

2013-05-08 08:00:26 (22 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

What does clean HDMI really mean for the 5Dmkiii?
I saw everyone blogging about this clean HDMI firmware update but nobody ever really explained its advantages. So here it is. This is why Clean HDMI is yet another game changes for that 5Dmkiii. 

2013-05-05 01:05:48 (6 comments, 6 reshares, 69 +1s)

Top of the Yutoku Inari Shrine - Japan
This place was awesome. It was a spot I visited last time I was in Southern Japan. 
It was a tricky one to process because of the dominant orange and red colors. I actually ended up processing two extreme HDR versions of this. One with too much contract and not enough vibrance, the other with a ton of saturation and not enough contrast. Then I layered them and blended them together in Photoshop with Opacity until they met somewhere in the middle. I recommend doing that when you can't quite get the look you want out of your HDRs.

For the texture I used something off DeviantART and used the blending mode 'Hard Light' with adjusted opacity until it looked good. Then set a layer mask on the texture and painted out some of the texture in the middle. So it was mostly along the edges.

For final color I used my Retro... more »

2013-05-01 05:10:54 (13 comments, 9 reshares, 99 +1s)

Low Tide at Miyajima Japan
This is my second time to this amazing island off the coast of Hiroshima Japan. It's like visiting a time capsule of Japanese Culture and Tradition. It's unbelievably beautiful there especially in the fall.

Update: I decided I wasn't in love with what the HDR processing did with my sky so I brought in the sky from my middle exposure and replaced it. You can see that updated post on my blog. It's a slightly better quality image. I still wish Google+ would let you replace your images. So many times I'll post a photo then leave my computer for awhile and come back realizing there is one thing I don't like in my processing. I can redo it on my blog but not here.

http://alikgriffin.com/blog/apr/30/low-tide-miyajima-japan

2013-04-28 21:37:48 (37 comments, 12 reshares, 105 +1s)

Rocky Bali Reef Break
A shot of one of the many awesome Reef Breaks of Bali Indonesia.

http://alikgriffin.com/blog/apr/28/rocky-bali-reef-break

2013-04-25 07:55:39 (19 comments, 8 reshares, 108 +1s)

Jungle Rice Fields of Bali
While visiting this awesome temple deep in the jungles of Bali, we came back out to find this beautiful sight. It seems they can grow rice just about anywhere in Bali. It's a pretty amazing place. 
http://alikgriffin.com/blog/apr/25/jungle-rice-fields-bali

2013-04-23 06:47:24 (16 comments, 10 reshares, 89 +1s)

Trail Through Mariposa Grove
On our way out of Yosemite Valley we stopped by the Mariposa Grove to see the Sequoias. It's really amazing how big these things can get.

http://alikgriffin.com/blog/apr/22/trail-through-mariposa-grove

2013-04-21 19:26:43 (11 comments, 16 reshares, 97 +1s)

Old Couple of Yosemite Valley
HDR photo of Yosemite Half Dome. There was this old couple that pulled out some lounge chairs and just sat for awhile soaking up the beauty of Yosemite Half Dome. It's refreshing seeing people stop and just enjoy the world around them. Our younger generation including myself doesn't do this anymore. We are too busy taking pictures and playing with our tablets. 

http://alikgriffin.com/blog/apr/21/old-couple-yosemite-valley

2013-04-21 04:41:23 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 77 +1s)

The Adventurer
My wife the Adventurer while we were hiking up to Vernal Falls in Yosemite. I did a bunch of color enhancements to this one. Lots of light leaks and lens flare effects. 

You can check out the before and after and another look I did at
http://alikgriffin.com/blog/apr/20/adventurer

I think I'm going to start posting a lot more of these before and afters on my blog. I like to see what people do with their raws so I'll show mine to you. It's fun. 

2013-04-19 05:40:17 (5 comments, 6 reshares, 106 +1s)

Sun Flares at Yosemite Falls
This one was a fun one to process. I've been using a lot more Photoshop lately and more gadgets like my ND 500. I really need a week off to go through the rest of these shots. :)

You can check out the before and after and workflow at: http://alikgriffin.com/blog/apr/18/sun-flares-yosemite-falls

2013-04-17 08:05:02 (23 comments, 25 reshares, 122 +1s)

Looking Up at The Yosemite Falls
I was lucky enough to get to go to Yosemite again this weekend. Last time I went was last spring when I had just started shooting photography again. This time I got a few new lenses and a whole new perspective.

And thanks to the community of great photographers here on Google+ that shares their knowledge and techniques, I've also gotten a bit better at my techniques. Thank you!

+1 and Share please :)

There will be more coming this week.
My blog: http://alikgriffin.com

2013-04-12 05:41:29 (12 comments, 9 reshares, 96 +1s)

It's my favorite and least favorite time of year - Allergy Season
This was taken from up near Pismo Beach. Everything up there is so green and in bloom this time of year it's almost like a little mini Paradise. I stayed a night at the Sycamore Hot Springs. Such a fun cool little get away spot. I recommend.

2013-04-11 01:24:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

►Top Photographers Circle 3.0 / A-K◄ - of ►Top Photos on Google+◄
+10000 PHOTOGRAPHERS by +Robert SKREINER
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
In this Circles are included all ►Top Photographers,
who contributed and participated in the daily photo theme:
#10000photographers since the G+Page and Group 
+10000 PHOTOGRAPHERS by +Robert SKREINER
is established, respectively all, whose photos were shared as
►TOP Photos on Google+◄ until today.
This circle is renewed and expanded regularly! Those who have once or even several times not shared this circle are not included in this circle. Who wants to be included in the next circle again, please share this circle. This is only a fair rule. Whowants to be promoted must also concede this to the others.
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░... more »

2013-04-03 22:00:56 (22 comments, 5 reshares, 90 +1s)

Praying Mantis in Japan
Found this guy while hiking through Southern Japan. We have them in SoCal but the ones in Japan have magic powers. 

2013-03-27 20:22:37 (7 comments, 6 reshares, 101 +1s)

Many Beacon of Zabriskie Point
Kind of strange name for a rock formation. But I'll go with it. 
This is a really interesting and cool place in Death Valley. So many different colors all in one location. It's really unlike anything I've ever seen.

http://alikgriffin.com
https://www.facebook.com/AlikGriffinPhotography

#landscapephotography  

2013-03-26 02:38:22 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 28 +1s)

My Photographer Friends check this out. - Google Slashes Prices on Nik Photo Editing Bundle.

I'm not affiliated with them at all, but this is something I want to share because I love Color Efex Pro so much I would marry it. Except I'm already married.

http://alikgriffin.com/blog/mar/25/google-slashes-prices-nik-photo-software

2013-03-21 07:19:50 (22 comments, 17 reshares, 181 +1s)

That's a lot of Sand
I kept one grain as a souvenir under my focus ring on my lens, so every time I focus it grinds a little bit to reminding me of this wonderful place.

2013-03-17 20:23:30 (18 comments, 13 reshares, 130 +1s)

The Golden Mudstones of Death Valley
These are the mudstones located at Zabriskie point in the Badlands of Death Valley. From here it looks like the mountains are made of sandstone but they're actually made of compressed mud. When you walk on it you can feel it give under your feet with each step. The ground feels very light and almost hollow. It's really cool.

I set up a feedburner on my blog you can follow here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/alikgriffin  There I post lots of other stuff related to photography besides just pictures.

http://alikgriffin.com
http://facebook.com/alikgriffin.com
#landscapephotography  

2013-03-16 17:07:22 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 22 +1s)

Some more DayZ action coming up. My good friend and DdayHollywood producer +Xtian Bretz started an Indogogo campaign for season two. Check it out so we can keep making these!

2013-03-15 20:58:00 (14 comments, 8 reshares, 72 +1s)

Mesquite Dunes - Death Valley
The dunes in Death Valley are really awesome. It almost looks like they are painted because of the different colors of sand that all mix together.

It took me a bit of hiking around to find some dunes that hadn't been walked on. It was surprising at just how sharp and clean the line is at the top of these peaks.

http://alikgriffin.com
http://pintrest.alikgriffin.com
#landscapephotography  

2013-03-15 03:30:47 (11 comments, 2 reshares, 74 +1s)

Yumiko Lost in the Dunes

My wife and I went to Death Valley this weekend. I never really even knew too much about it until I started researching the desert flowers that are suppose to bloom there. These dunes here are I believe the Mesquite Dunes. Where a lot of Starwars was filmed. Some with from the first one where C3P0 and R2D2 are wondering lost, and some from Return of the Jedi.

And if you're wondering about those flowers I mentioned. It's not a good year for them. At least not yet. They bloom at various elevations, this time of year the flowers at the lower elevation are blooming, There were some here and there but nothing amazing.

2013-03-09 22:03:46 (14 comments, 5 reshares, 61 +1s)

Question for Photographers
What's your opinion on cropping photos to produce panoramas vs actually shooting and stitching three shots?

This particular shot I cropped from a full frame 5d mkii 21 megapixels. 

2013-03-07 22:38:58 (11 comments, 14 reshares, 98 +1s)

Into the Sun
Long exposure shot at the Venice Beach Pier. This has been my surf spot for the last six years. It's not great, but I can find free parking and there is never a lot of people in the water. 
#landscapephotography   #beachphotography   #oceanphotography  

http://alikgriffin.com
http://alikgriffin.smugmug.com
http://facebook.com/alikgriffinphotography

2013-03-06 20:12:08 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

Cheevos - Gears of War Judgment
Our latest TV spot from G-Net.
Some of my Editorial work. This was a fun one!

2013-03-05 20:15:10 (24 comments, 5 reshares, 84 +1s)

Where's Waldo
Just kidding. Looks like it though. This is a local market in Bali Indo. The amount of detail and texture of this place is amazing. Pull it up full screen and see what you can find.

2013-03-05 02:16:06 (9 comments, 6 reshares, 113 +1s)

Beneath The Venice Pier

I took my new 9 stop ND out for a spin last night at Venice Beach. Creates a whole new world for shooting sunset photos. I really like it. Usually I do HDR with shots like this but can never get the water smooth until well after the sun goes down. I think I might try some super long exposure HDR with my intervalometer next. 

To read more about how I created photo: http://alikgriffin.com/blog/mar/04/beneath-venice-beach-pier-long-exposure

http://alikgriffin.smugmug.com
http://facebook.com/alikgriffinphotography

#landscapephotography   #sunsetphotography   #longexposure  

2013-03-02 19:47:27 (5 comments, 6 reshares, 21 +1s)

Three really cool tricks for Photographers using Smugmug with their blogs

These are a few cool tricks I've figured out for embedding Smugmug photos with my blog. If you are a photography using Smugmug this might be useful to you. 

2013-03-01 21:27:49 (8 comments, 14 reshares, 125 +1s)

Solana Beach Sunset - San Diego

My old surf spot in San Diego. There was a rather interesting sunset going on with the direction of the clouds. I thought this was an interesting perspective. I like photography with lots of negative space. If anyone's seen a Chris Doyle movie you'll see he does it frequently.Especially in the movie 2046 which I used as a major inspiration to a film I shot a few years back. He's is the most amazing cinematographer. :)

http://alikgriffin.com
http://alikgriffin.smugmug.com
http://facebook.com/alikgriffinphotography

This photo was posted on my blog at http://alikgriffin.com/blog/mar/01/low-sunset-solana-beach

#landscapephotography   #sunset  

2013-02-26 04:49:49 (5 comments, 15 reshares, 150 +1s)

Niagara Falls from the Canada Side
This is an oldy of the Niagara falls from back when I was in Toronto Canada in 2011.
#landscapephotography   #waterfall  

2013-02-24 09:51:31 (16 comments, 18 reshares, 142 +1s)

Mohave Point - Grand Canyon
Last year was such a busy photography year for me I've actually neglected and almost forgot about my trip to the Grand Canyon. So I fired up my ol photo storage drive to poke around since I'm completely out of photos now and found some good ones that never got published. This is one of them.

http://alikgriffin.com
http://facebook.com/alikgriffinphotography
http://pintrest.com/alikgriffin

#landscapephotography   #hdrphotography   #grandcanyon  

2013-02-17 20:22:58 (7 comments, 7 reshares, 96 +1s)

Cool little Market on Miyajima Island
This little market is on the famous Miyajima Island of the coast of Hiroshima in Japan. It's a pretty cool traditional little spot. The whole island is one giant temple with lots of amazing shrines.

2013-02-17 00:03:52 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 37 +1s)

What is ISO in Digital Photography
I posted an simple explanation about what the ISO is and does. A lot of people around me are starting photography and I've noticed there are a lot of basics that I always overlook when creating photography tips. So last night I went back to the basics on my blog. Remember film days when we called it the ASA?

2013-02-11 07:04:08 (8 comments, 6 reshares, 110 +1s)

Bridge to the Westfield Century CIty Mall
This is one of those cool places that's only two miles from my house but I've never been there to take photos. I've been to China, Indonesia, and Japan three times to take photos but haven't been to this place right down there street. Next time I'm there I'm going to see if I can get a photo of the Die Hard building from the first Die Hard movie. I drive by it every day on the way to work and sometimes when the sky is stormy like today it looks awesome.

http://alikgriffin.com
http://alikgriffin.smugmug.com
http://facebook.com/alikgriffinphotography

#streetphotography   #hdrphotography  

2013-02-11 07:04:39 (8 comments, 14 reshares, 138 +1s)

Torii at the Yutoku Inari Shrine - Japan
One of the photos I got on my hike to the top of the mountain in Japan. You pass through several off these at the Yutoku Inari Shrine. 
If you ever visit southern Japan this place is pretty cool. One of the highlights of my last trip.
You can see a photo of the main temple here: http://alikgriffin.com/blog/nov/07/yutoku-inari-shrine-japan

http://alikgriffin.com
http://facebook.com/alikgriffinphotography
http://alikgriffin.smugmug.com
#japanphotography  

2013-02-11 07:05:13 (34 comments, 25 reshares, 243 +1s)

Batu Bolong - Bali
The Batu Bolong temple is just West of Tanah Lot. which is the famous temple in the water. I preferred shooting at this location since there were way less people obscuring the natural beauty.

If you want to know more about how I've been processing these photos I have started a Photography Tips page on my website at: http://alikgriffin.com/photography-tips

I don't have all the tricks I use yet since this is just what I made last weekend. But I will have more coming next weekend. As well as some full walkthroughs, so stay tuned friends! Oh yeah, I also got a complete HDR master workflow tutorial planned which should be cool for everyone. All free of course.

And this shot is not a 3 shot hdr for those wonders, just a single raw. I guess you could still call it HDR though. At some point that term hopefully will just go away and die andjus... more »

2013-02-05 07:47:34 (11 comments, 5 reshares, 105 +1s)

Sunset at Miyajima
As my wife was running back into a store she left her purse in, I patiently waited back by the boats and decided to grab some final sunset shots for the day. After about 20 minutes she returned with her purse and with nothing missing. (not even the $1,000 dollars in cash she for some reason was carrying inside) Don't you love Japan? And I was able to even get a few nice sunsets photos.
And so it's clear it was partly my fault she left her purse behind. She was kindly helping me carry a ton of my photography gear at the same time. And I carry a lot of stuff including tons of cloths for the cold, backpack, lenses in separate cases, a tripod etc. It can get daunting. I felt bad. I actually just need to get one big backpack to consolidate. Any recommendations?

http://alikgriffin.com
https://www.facebook.com/AlikGriffinPhotography
#... more »

2013-02-01 20:23:50 (13 comments, 5 reshares, 75 +1s)

Solana Beach CA

Shooting through some stairs at Solana Beach. I caught a pretty nice sunset there last monday. This was actually the beach I use to regularly surf at when I lived down there. It's one of the last places where you can still easily find free parking in the summer. A rare thing now in Southern California. The spot is known as "Cherry Hill." A secret spot. 


http://alikgriffin.com
https://www.facebook.com/AlikGriffinPhotography
#landscapephotography   #sunsetphotography  

2013-01-27 19:34:49 (5 comments, 6 reshares, 88 +1s)

Kanmonkyo Bridge, Japan

This is the toll bridge that connects the main island of Japan to the southern Kyushu Island. In Japan almost all the main highways are actually toll roads. So going on road trips can cost you. 
#landscapephotography   #travelphotography