Luminar Workflow: Grand Canyon Sunset

Here's my latest Luminar tutorial, showing how I edit this HDR photo of a lovely sunset at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I stack many filters (nearly 20) over several layers, and even use some filters twice. I also struggle with some indecision but find my way to the final result.

Take a look, let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for looking!

In this video, I take a base HDR and bring it into Luminar to stylize it. I add nearly 20 filters over a couple of layers - including repeating some filters - and struggle with some indecision before finally settling on a finished product.

Crafting Epic Landscapes with Aurora HDR and Luminar

Here's my latest video - and it's all about editing epic landscapes!

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I love to shoot landscapes as much as everyone else does, but sadly I don't get to them very often. However on this epic family roadtrip we are doing, we stopped for a week in Banff, Canada and I was able to capture a LOT of landscape photos.

My favorite destination there was Moraine Lake. It's a glacially-fed alpine lake surrounded by amazing mountain peaks. the water is an incredible blue color and you just can't argue with the scenery. It's pretty amazing.

So I take a 3 exposure bracket set shot at sunset, and merge them to HDR in Aurora HDR before taking that blended image over to Luminar for some stylizing. It's about 10 minutes of video, but I cover a lot of ground and offer up a bunch of tips, too. Enjoy!

Blue hour at the BC Legislature

I've wanted to shoot this for years and finally made it here!

I have been to Victoria, BC before but it was prior to me really being a photographer. Over the years I've seen countless shots of the BC Legislature building here and just wanted to get my own chance to shoot it. Finally it happened.

We spent 3 days or so here on this family road trip (which is still happening...we are now in California) and one evening I got out to shoot around the harbor. I had hopes for a good sunset and Mother Nature delivered! It's wasn't amazing, but the light was great with some color in the sky and I was quite happy to stand here and fire away. It's great when a long-imagined photo opp comes to life!

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Aurora HDR 2017 72 Hour Flash Sale!

AURORA HDR 2017 - 72 HOUR FLASH SALE! 

Get Aurora HDR 2017 + 26 presets from Trey Ratcliff for the lowest price ever! 

OFFER AVAILABILITY: Tuesday June 27th - Friday June 30th

You already know that I love Aurora HDR, and I use it to create all of my HDR photos. It's the best out there by far. Now there is this SWEET deal on it, so if you have been on the fence about buying it, now is the time! Check it out and let me know if you have any questions!

Pricing:

• $79 instead of $99 - for all the new users
• $59 instead of $69 - for Aurora HDR Basic/AppStore users
• $39 instead of $49 - for Aurora HDR 2016 users

You Get:

• Aurora HDR 2017 - The most awarded HDR photo editor for Mac
• Trey's Expansion Preset Pack - 26 presets from Pro Photographe and HDR guru, Trey Ratcliff

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Need some resources to help you learn how to use Aurora HDR, or create HDR photos? Sure!

1. My full-length Aurora HDR tutorial
2. My review of Aurora HDR 2017
3. My Aurora HDR videos on YouTube

Also, if you would like some additional presets, I have a beautiful preset pack I created for Aurora HDR that sells for just $5. It's called Bella Italia, and contains 25 different presets to give you some one-click excellence for your shots! You can find it here.

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Blue hour in Prague: Aurora HDR + Luminar workflow

Here's my latest video, showing how I start with Aurora HDR to build my base HDR image, and then take it into Luminar for some stylizing work. This was shot on my recent trip to Prague. I was up super early to get out on the Charles Bridge, specifically so I could avoid all the tourists. Worked out perfectly! I had the bridge nearly to myself for a couple of hours!

Watch me build an HDR then stylize it, using both Aurora HDR and Luminar. I begin in Aurora HDR, build the base HDR photo then apply noise reduction. After that I move to Luminar, apply a preset selectively with a mask, then add some final touch adjustments.

A stunning sunset in Anguilla

I got three amazing sunsets in a row!

My first three nights in Anguilla all had spectacular sunsets. I thought I had finally found photographic heaven. You know, you get three in a row and you start to believe it's like this every day. Literally, they were all gorgeous. Thankfully, I did not get lazy, despite spending the afternoon at the beach and sipping on cold beer. I got up and got busy. It was awesome. Sadly, the sunsets fizzled for most of the rest of the time we were there, but boy did I fire away like a maniac those first 3 nights!

This is a 3 exposure HDR made in Aurora HDR by Macphun, which I use for all my HDR photos. You can read my HDR tutorial here and download a free trial copy right here. But, maybe do that in the reverse order. You know, download the free trial, then come read the tutorial. ;-)

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Aurora HDR Workflow video: New Mexico sunset

Finally I had time to make another tutorial video! The benefit of being home for a change!

Due to all my recent travels, it's been about 2 months since I last created a video. Two months! And to think I was doing about 1 every week. Well, I am home at least for a little while, and I had some time to make a new video.

Truthfully, I have really missed doing this. It's a lot of fun for me, and I sure hope that yo enjoy seeing them. I have a long list of videos I still want to make, so I hope to get busy doing some of that here pretty soon!

In this one, I take a 3 exposure bracket set and merge it to HDR in Aurora HDR, and then make further adjustments to achieve my vision for the shot. If you want to see my comprehensive HDR tutorial for Aurora, you can find that right here.

Take a look and let me know if you have any questions!

A beautiful sunset in New Mexico is brought to life thanks to the wonders of Aurora HDR by Macphun. I make adjustments to the tone mapping settings, split toning and more to achieve my vision for the photo. Enjoy!

Aurora HDR + Plotagraph Pro offer

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Here is a GREAT offer for those of you interested in Aurora HDR - and if you are curious about Plotagraph, you will love this deal!

I have used Aurora HDR for all of my HDR photos for a long time now. From the first time I opened it, I knew it was the best and I quit using the other stuff immediately. It was a game-changer for me. 

Curious about Aurora HDR or HDR photography? These links will help:

• Read my review of Aurora HDR here.
• Check out my 12 page HDR tutorial.

Now you can get this amazing software - plus a 3 month membership with Plotagraph - for as low as $89. It’s a great deal, and you will love both products.

Yes, I have used Plotagraph too and its quite fun. I have shared two of my Plotagraph creations below. Check them out! Aren't familiar with Plotagraph? It's allows you to animate a single JPG image and bring it to life. Very cool stuff!

Aurora HDR 2017 + 3 Month Plotagraph Pro+ Membership for as low as $89. This is a total value of $186! Yes, my coupon code JIMNIX will work at checkout so use that, too!

Availability: Tuesday May 23rd - Sunday June 4th

Click here to see the offer details on the Macphun site.

You Get:

• Aurora HDR 2017, The world's most powerful HDR image editor for the Mac.
• Plotagraph Pro+ Membership (3 month membership) - Bring your photos to life, animate from a single JPEG. 

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Here are some Plotagraphs that I have made. Due to all my travels lately, I have not had much time to experiment with it - and I will admit there is a learning curve - but it's VERY COOL.

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Blue hour in Prague

An incredible morning on the Charles Bridge in Prague!

I have so many photos from my recent trip - I am still trying to get through them and figure out what I want to edit and then find the time for it. But I have some real gems in there, if I do say so myself!

One morning in Prague I headed out to shoot sunrise, which involved setting my alarm for 4:30am. That was pretty brutal, I will admit, but once I was up and out in the city I was pretty pumped. I basically had the town to myself, which is an amazing feeling.

My primary destination was the Charles Bridge, and I shot the hell out of it! It was an amazing morning and as soon as I can find the time I will share more pics of it. In the meantime, here I one that I captured that morning. Oh, I love this town, it is so beautiful!

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A morning on the Charles Bridge

A lovely spot in Prague, especially at sunrise!

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I was just in Prague barely a week ago, and I've been missing it ever since I left. It's such a beautiful town, and there is so much to shoot there. You'll be seeing a lot from Prague in the coming weeks, as I work my way through all these photos. I did my best to capture it all, and spent one morning up early so I could get shots like these from the Charles Bridge.

The Charles Bridge is an iconic structure in Prague and believe me when I tell you that it can get seriously crowded. During the daytime it is literally elbow-to-elbow. There are so many tourists walking around and vendors selling their wares that it's a bit of a madhouse.

Hence, I got up one morning at 4:30am so I could get my butt over here and fire away in the pre-dawn quiet. It was incredible. There were less than a handful of people on the bridge - some apparently returning home after a rather lengthy night out - and a couple of other photographers. Otherwise, it was miss and it was blissfully empty. So nice.

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Just another amazing Italian church

The churches in Italy are just mind-blowing.

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Everywhere we went in Italy resulted in me popping my head into a church.  It seems there is something amazing on every street.  It's really hard to get anywhere because of it.  I just have to take a look at these things!

This one is a perfect example.  We had a water taxi drop us at the train station as we were departing Venice (sad emoticon).  We had a little time before the train, so I popped over to this church which is next door to the train station.  I only had a few minutes to see it, but curiosity won out and I ran over here.

I expected it to be beautiful, but this little church, sitting next to the train station, was literally jaw-dropping.  And this isn't even a well-known church!  This is what awaits you in Italy my friends.  Just get over there as soon as you can!

Vatican sunset

It was a perfect evening for shooting The Vatican!

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There are many sunsets that fizzle out and end up being less than ideal, but this was not one of them.  I will admit that I lucked into some amazing light when I was in Rome.  I had several sunsets like this one while there.  No complaints!  ;-)

I had been all over Rome with the family that day, and as sunset approached we were headed back to our rented apartment, which was sort of behind The Vatican.  I had to stick around a little bit though because I could see the light was coming together, and of course I would hate it if I missed something this spectacular.

This sunset did come together quite nicely, as you can see, and I was frantically running around and shooting all sorts of comps from in front of the cathedral.  An evening well spent!

Golden hour in Strasbourg

A lovely view of a lovely town!

Late one afternoon back in December when we were in Strasbourg, I headed out with hopes of capturing some golden hour and sunset shots in the historic quarter of town known as Petite France.  It's a wonderful and scenic part of town and one that I thoroughly enjoyed exploring.

From our rented apartment, I meandered through town until I got to the river, and then followed that to Petite France.  It was a worthy detour and I stopped a lot along the way to take shots.  My wife and daughter opted to skip so I was alone and in my element.  As you can see, the light turned out pretty awesome and I was rather happy to be there firing away!

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Amazing bundle offer on Aurora HDR 2017!

Aurora HDR is celebrating 1.5 million downloads with a special offer!  Get the best HDR software and a fabulous video tutorial from Trey Ratcliff, too!

As you know, I am a HUGE fan of using Aurora HDR to craft my HDR images.  I have been using it for quite a while now, and it was love at first sight.  In fact, I was so inspired by it that I completely rewrote and expanded my HDR tutorial, which now is exclusively based on Aurora HDR and has grown to over 12 pages in length! 

Apparently, I am not the only one that loves it, because Macphun just announced that it has now been downloaded over 1.5 million times!  Isn't that amazing?  I'm really happy for the Macphun team, and they are celebrating by offering up a special bundle deal for a limited time.

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Here's the deal my friends...

AURORA HDR 2017 + TREY RATCLIFF'S COMPLETE HDR TUTORIAL 3.0 for only $89!

1. Total value of the bundle is $189, and you get savings of over 50%! 
2. Upgrade pricing starts at $49 for users of Aurora HDR, and is $69 for Aurora HDR Pro users.

You get:

1. Aurora HDR 2017, The world's most advanced HDR photo editor for Mac.
2. Trey Ratcliff's Complete HDR Tutorial 3.0: Perfect for everyone who wants to learn to shoot HDR images from beginners to advanced users. 
3. 6+ Hours of instruction
4. Trey's RAW image files

This offer expires on Saturday, April 1 so don't delay, order today! 

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That's a lot of stuff, and it's all good.  If you don't know Trey Ratcliff, he is a pioneer in HDR photography, a co-developer of Aurora HDR along with Macphun, and an all-around nice guy.  You will definitely learn a LOT from his tutorial, as well as being able to use his actual photos when you learn it from him.  

Click here to read more about the offer on the Macphun site.

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Enhance your Aurora HDR photos with my Bella Italia Preset Pack made specifically for Aurora HDR 2017!

After traveling to Italy last year (and using Aurora HDR on all of my photos that I took there), I was inspired to start crafting presets in Aurora HDR so I could more quickly get to the looks that I wanted in my photos.  After a while, I had quite a few, and this preset pack was born.  It's been wildly popular (thank you so much!) and you can get it for just $5.  That's a cheap add-on to your Aurora HDR experience that will give you an extra boost in your processing.  It's a perfect complement to this special offer.  Take a look!

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Thanks for stopping by today!

Well, that's it for today, folks.  Let me know if you have any questions about Aurora HDR and I will do my best to answer them.  Or if you have questions on my presets, feel free to ask me about that, too.  

A stunning sunset in Montpellier

This was one incredible sunset!

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I visited Montpellier, in southern France, a couple of years ago.  One evening I was wandering in their old town and happily firing away.  I could see the sunset was coming together and it looked like it might be pretty nice.  So I did what anyone would do - I looked for a place with a decent view.

Luckily, that wasn't hard to find.  I was near their Place de Peyrou, which was perfect.  There is this large arch there and since it's a park there is a lot of wide-open area.  This sunset just got more and more intense, so I stuck around for a while and captured a LOT of shots.  It was one of those nights that you just don't want to end, you know?

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