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 Moonlite Diner near Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA. A few nights ago I had just finished up running two weeks of photo workshops in Florida and I was craving an old-fashioned American hamburger. I found this place called the Moonlight Diner near Fort Lauderdale and figured they ought to have some big ol’ greasy burgers. I’m happy to say, their double-patty cheese and bacon burger hit the spot. The waitresses were all running around with “Got Shakes?” t-shirts and spoke in the unique diner language of “honey” “sweets” and “what kin I git fur ya?”
After the burger and fries, I decided I had to immortalize my experience with an HDR image. Since I had my Nikon D700 and 24-70mm f2.8 with me, I bracketed a sequence of 7 exposures. This shot was about 45 minutes after sunset, so there was just a little bit of blue left in the sky. My goal was to include the real crescent moon in the sky, but it was hidden by the evening cloud cover. Oh well, I’ll have to come back some day and try it all over again!
I’m down in sunny Florida running workshops for the Nikonians Academy and had a few hours this afternoon to hang at the beach near Fort Lauderdale. I took along my Nikon D700 and 24-70mm f2.8 lens just in case any interesting shots came up. While shooting the Dania Point fishing pier, a nice couple came over to ask me to take their photo. Of course, I said yes! Look at these beautiful people. They are from New Jersey and were taking some time to enjoy the sun. After the quick shots, she had her husband take a couple pics of me with their camera. It was a veritable festival of cameras right there on the beach.
 Two love birds kissing in the Florida sun.  Kissing each other seemed so much nicer than the standard pose here. But, you gotta do what you gotta do as a photographer.  An HDR shot of the Dania Point fishing pier.
The Question
Over the last few weeks I’ve been involved with three different conversations with photographers about when to crop a photo in post processing. One person suggested cropping at the beginning of the process, one suggested cropping at the end and the other just wasn’t sure.
I tend to crop differently depending on what software I’m using. The cropping process in Lightroom is different than in Photoshop because of the way they handle your image files. Let me explain:
Lightroom/Aperture
When using Lightroom or Aperture, I can crop at any point in the process without really worrying about the workflow. The reason why is that all of the edits in LR/Aperture are applied globally and the crop doesn’t affect these settings. If you crop the image at the beginning of the process and then continue editing the image with saturation, contrast and noise reduction, then LR/Aperture allow you to change the crop later on while still applying all your settings to the entire photo.
In other words, crop instructions in LR and Aperture are only a virtual crops. They don’t really remove pixels or image data from the file. For this reason, I often crop at the beginning of the process in LR/Aperture because I know it can be easily changed or reversed.
Photoshop
The workflow in Photoshop is different though. When you crop an image in Photoshop, you are actually eliminating pixels from the picture. Let’s say that you decide to initially crop your photo in a square format, then convert it to black and white. Then, you do some more work on the photo such as cloning out dust or adding contrast. Finally, at the end of the editing process, you decide that you also want to create a 5×7 image with the same settings as the square crop. With Photoshop, you can’t easily to this because you cropped at the beginning. You’ll have to undo all your editing steps, crop it as a 5×7, then re-do all the editing steps. Therefore, in Photoshop, I recommend cropping at the end of the process. That way, all of your edits are in place and you can crop for output as your final step.
Example
Take the image below as a workflow example. Notice the blown-out area of the sky in the upper right corner? I know that this isn’t going to reproduce well when printed, so I’ll need to crop it out. The question isn’t if, but when I should crop. In the Lightroom/Aperture workflow, it doesn’t matter when I crop. I can crop at the beginning or at the end of the process since all the edits I make are just instructions.
 Zion Mesa Color. When working on an image in Photoshop, I'll typically apply all my edits to the entire photo, then crop at the end of the process. In LR/Aperture, I'll crop at any time. On the other hand, if I was working on the image in Photoshop, I tend to wait to the end of the process to crop. That way, my edits are applied to all the pixels, and my final step can be to crop the image for my desired output. This gives me the most flexibility with my files, since I might want to make one image as a panorama and another as a 4″x4″ square with the same settings.
 Here's a black and white version of the same photo. When working in Photoshop, I crop at the end of the process.
Our January 2012 newsletter is posted here: http://www.outthereimages.com/12_01_newsletter.html
 January's GOAL Assignment is to fill the frame. Topics this month include an update on our new book (Thousands of Images), a review of Joe McNally’s new book (Sketching Light), tips on using Evernote and much more. Here’s the list:
- Thousands of Images, Now What?
- Stuff I Like This Month
- January GOAL Assignment: Fill the Frame
- Book Review: Sketching Light by Joe McNally
- Digital Tidbits: Evernote Service as a Photography Tool
- Photo Techniques: Dealing With Camera Condensation on Cold Days
- Workshop and Business Updates
Enjoy!
When people are considering going on a safari, one of the questions they commonly ask is, “what are the tent camps like?”
Their concern usually revolves around uneasiness about how rustic the sleeping arrangement will be or how exposed to the elements they’ll be. Rest assured that the accommodations are far from terrible! The reality is that our tented camps are stunning, beautiful and well appointed. Here are a few pics from our most recent Tanzanian safari.
 Sunrise at mobile tented camp in the central Serengeti.  Stars and luxury tents at Kikoti Tented Camp. Tarangire NP, Tanzania.  Moonset over the mess tent. Central Serengeti, Tanzania.
It is amazing to me that the cutest, most adorable baby animals on earth come from some of the toughest looking parents. For example, take a look at this lion pride and their current dominant male father. The lion cubs are absolutely adorable. The father? Well, let’s just say his better days are behind him. This guy has a broken tooth and a droopy lower gum line that looks like it was torn in a recent fight.
We photographed this pride of lion in the central Serengeti just after they had killed a wildebeest. All the lions were resting lazily in the deep grass, so capturing clear shots of the group was difficult, even with our long lenses.
 Awww. Cute baby lion cub. Nikon D300s, 200-400mm f4, 1.4x TC E-II.  Here's papa. He must have been a good looking guy in his youth. Nikon D300s, 200-400mm f4, 1.4x TC E-II.  Another youngster playing with papa lion's tail. Nikon D300s, 200-400mm f4, 1.4x TC E-II.  A slightly older cub fighting off the pesky flies. Nikon D300s, 200-400mm f4, 1.4x TC E-II.  This youngster is just about to pounce on papa lion. Nikon D300s, 200-400mm f4, 1.4x TC E-II.  Don't you find this guy adorable with his broken tooth and torn gum? Nikon D300s, 200-400mm f4, 1.4x TC E-II.  Two baby lion cubs finishing off what's left of the wildebeest meal. They were hidden underneath a low bush and we managed to squeak out a few images. Nikon D300s, 200-400mm f4, 1.4x TC E-II.
Luc Villeneuve is a colleague of mine and shoots some of the best 360 degree VR panoramas I’ve seen. His work is incredible and he’s posted his “Christmas Card” from Quebec City over at his website:
http://www.360-image.com/2012wishes/
Luc tells me, “These images are done with 72 different HDR images, merged then stitched together. I use a Nikon D3s and a shaved 10,5mm lens. I work with many panoramic heads, including a NN5 from NodalNinja and an Absolute from 360 Precision. I also regularly use a 20 foot long pole to give a different perspective.”
When you visit the website, be sure to click on the map to see all nine VR panos from around the city.
 Luc Villeneuve's Holiday Greeting 360 degree VR panoramas of Quebec City.
We were driving back to our lodge from the Mara River in the Northern Serengeti when we crossed over this small stream. Just as we passed through, we all spotted a tiny lizard sunning itself on a log. We all yelled “baby crocodile!” and stopped our Landcruiser. Upon further inspection, this little guy turned out to be a young monitor lizard. It was a neat find and a totally different photo subject from the lions, wildebeest and zebra we’d been photographing earlier in the day.
 Baby monitor lizard on a log in the Northern Serengeti. Nikon D700, 70-200mm f2.8.  Here's a closer crop of the little guy.
The Nikonian eZine issue #51 was just released with lots of images from our recent ANPAT trip to Zion NP and Bryce Canyon NP.
Follow this link to download the free PDF: Nikonian eZine 51
By the way, we also have a new iPad app for the eZine. Here’s the iPad link: Nikonian iPad App
 Nikonian 51 Cover  Mike's shots on page 22.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take a Nikon 1 V1 camera with me to Tanzania this November to test out. B&H Photo and Video provided the test camera that included the Nikon 1 V1, 10mm f2.8, 10-30mm zoom and 30-110mm zoom. I’m currently writing an in-depth summary of my experience with the camera that should be published within the next week or so. In the mean time, I thought I’d post a few pics from this ingenious new camera system. Enjoy!
 Cape Buffalo in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1, 30-110mm.  Young male lion on kjope. Serengeti, Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1 30-110mm.  Nogorongoro Crater at sunset. Nikon 1 V1 10-30mm.  Superb Starling, Tarangire NP, Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1, 30-110mm.  Red Headed Agama lizard, Serengeti, Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1, 30-110mm.  Rainbow at sunset in Lake Manyara NP. Nikon 1 V1, 30-110mm.  Two male lions in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1, 30-110mm.  Dusk landscape in Tarangire NP, Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1, 30-110mm.  Young zebra legs, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1, 30-110mm.  Masai boy, Northern Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1, 10-30mm.  Aloe plant, Serengeti NP, Tanzania. Nikon 1 V1, 30-110mm.
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