Puerto Morelos – heath ofee dot com

The Hall

Heath OFee — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 19:35:36 +0000

This is another image created with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. The ease with which great black and white images can be created with Silver Efex is pretty impressive…I probably spent less than 10 minutes creating this black and white conversion. I still haven’t tried it out on any portraits, so that will be my next experiment.

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 7.1, ISO 400

Panoramic

Heath OFee — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:52:38 +0000

Okay, so this image isn’t a true panorama, it’s just cropped that way…sorry to get your hopes up. The image title actually comes from one of the songs on the Book of Eli soundtrack which I was listening to while editing this shot. It’s an epic soundtrack and I find myself listening to it at least a couple times a week while editing photos. Oh, and make sure you check out Mike Olbinski’s movie title Wednesday photo from this week inspired by the very same movie.

So, after seeing all the hullabaloo on Twitter today about the release of Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, I decided I should probably give it the old college try. I downloaded the 15-day trial last night, and produced the image you see below. I was very happy with how the software worked and I can definitely see myself shelling out some cash once my trial version has expired.

Canon EOS 50D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L, 24mm, F 11, ISO 100, 300 sec

Another Palapa Sunrise

Heath OFee — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:06:42 +0000

What better way to start off a -21 C morning than with a warm shot of a beach in Mexico! I really love going back to these shots I took in December because it brings all the great memories I have rushing back. That’s part of the magic of photography though, right? It enables us to capture a moment and hold onto it forever.

One lesson I’ve slowly been learning when out on a shoot is to always look back when walking away from a scene, because you never know what you might be missing. On this morning, I was absolutely exhausted from waking up to catch the sunrise and after the show was over, all I could think about was getting back to the cozy bed in my room for a little more shut-eye. But, I forced myself to look back at the sunrise as I was walking back…and boy am I glad I did!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 20mm, F 16, ISO 100, 5 Exposures

Wyld Stallions!

Heath OFee — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:54:41 +0000

Just a quick post this morning.

This is a shot from a small courtyard where we spent our honeymoon…these metal horse statues were just begging to be photographed. I knew as soon as I saw these guys I’d be naming my post ‘Wyld Stallions’ after the rock band Bill and Ted (of ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ fame) so desperately wanted to form. “69, dude!”

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 20mm, F 3.5, ISO 400, 5 Exposures

Footsteps

Heath OFee — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:29:46 +0000

Before I went to Mexico, I bought myself a B+W 10-stop ND filter with the hope of capturing some cool images while down there. It definitely took me a while to get the hang of using it, but it was a fun learning experience and I think I was able to get a few decent shots. The hardest part for me was getting these long exposures with no cable release, since I forgot to pick one up before I left. Basically I was stuck like an idiot holding my shutter button down for minutes on end trying to stay as still as possible to eliminate camera shake…not cool. A few of the long exposures came out a little fuzzy because of this, unfortunately.

Something about footsteps in the sand on an empty beach is very peaceful. This image brings me back to the morning I took it and the feeling of solitude I had while shooting. I hope you enjoy it.

Canon EOS 50D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L, 24mm, F 11, ISO 100, 221 sec

Vanishing Point

Heath OFee — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:50:43 +0000

This is a spot at the Excellence Riviera Cancun that I knew I had to shoot as soon as I saw it the first day. We walked through this long outdoor corridor at least two or three times a day, commuting from our room to the restaurants, the beach, and the pool. During daytime hours, this corridor isn’t anything too special, but at night when the lights are on it’s much more compelling. This photo was taken before one of my sunrise trips to the beach, so I was able to capture it without any other pesky tourists in the shot.

Originally, this shot included much more of the tiled floor in the foreground, but I felt the composition worked a bit better with the extra tile cropped out. I threw a few of my favourite Phototools filters on the tonemapped image, and then used the Midnight filter in Nik Color Efex Pro selectively to darken a few areas. This is exactly how I remember this hallway looking that morning:

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 7.1, ISO 400, 5 Exposures

Checkmate?

Heath OFee — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 13:14:00 +0000

I didn’t do this on purpose, but it seems as though I’ve completely bookended my trip with the first two photos I’m posting. Yesterday’s image was the first frame I took on the beach, and today’s HDR is the third to last set of brackets I shot before leaving Mexico.

This chess set is in the lobby of the Excellence Riviera Cancun where we spent our honeymoon. As soon as I walked in on the first day and saw these large table boards with the huge carved wooden playing pieces, I knew I had to get a shot of them before I left. I also knew I would be throwing on my 50mm to get some super shallow depth of field and some nice bokeh on some of those playing pieces. I don’t usually choose to go with an angled frame, but I thought it would work nicely here, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Canon EOS 50D, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4, 50mm, F 1.4, ISO 100, 3 Handheld Exposures