Bali

  1. The Evil King Ravana From The Bali Kecak Dance

    The Evil King Ravana from the Kecak Dance in Bali. I'm working on a series of the various characters of the Kecak Dance in Bali. They'll all look similar to this and it's already looking pretty cool. It's such an amazing dance and such and amazing culture. 

    To create this look I used various textures all colored and touched up specifically for this character. It's almost all done in Photoshop with final color done in Lightroom.

    Today's Photo - The Evil King Ravana

    The Evil King Ravana. The Evil King Ravana from the Bali Kecak Dance. . . I think. This is part of a series of the various characters from the Bali Kecak Dance.

  2. Rocky Bali Reef Break

    The beautiful rocky reefs of Bali make for some really interesting and picture perfect beach landscapes. I've been playing around more with some retro light leak looks with photoshop in my last few photos. Seems to add a new life to some of my old photos I never bothered processing because they didn't have that magical touch that landscapes really need in order to be great.

    I today for the first time also signed up for an account on Deviant Art. I've always love Deviantart but never was a member, so I'll be posting some of my photography there as well. The community there is amazing.

    Today's Photo - Rocky Bali Reef Break

    Rocky Beach Break of Bali The beaches in Bali are so awesome. Everywhere you go it seems there is a picture perfect beach landscape. Bali has some of the best surf in the world and it's because of these rocky reefs.

  3. Jungle Rice Fields of Bali

    While touring a temple deep in the jungles of Bali, we immerged to this awesome sight. Some rice fields in the clearing. It seems that in Bali Indonesia, where there are no trees you can almost always count on there being rice fields. 

    You can actually see my wife in the picture way in the back. In this temple we had to wear a covering over our legs so they were not exposed. 

    Today's HDR Photo - Jungle Rice Fields of Bali

    Jungle Rice Fields of Bali. While in Bali, we went to this awesome temple deep in the jungle. On our way out we found this awesome sight. In the clearing between the trees they were managing to grow rice.

  4. My Experience with the HDR Software Photomatix

    If you're looking to get into doing HDR photography, I recommend trying out Photomatix. It's easy to use and fun to play with if you're looking for some new photography techniques.

    You've probably noticed I do a lot of HDR photography, but really I think only about half or maybe 60% of my photos are HDR. A lot of times I get that HDR look out of a single raw image since you don't always need to take three shots to get the Dynamic Range you need. And I often do it in either Photoshop or Lightroom. Photoshop has a nice Shadow/Highlights function that helps compress an images dynamic range to give that HDR look. I use that often times when I'm doing a single raw, like a long exposure on the beach where I'm not able to shoot bracketed shots. But Photomatix works great too even on single raw images. 

    Be sure to check out my Photomatix Pro Review it's really a great software for HDR photography.

    Sample Image from the Photomatix Review

    To get this look I used Photomatix Pro for the HDR look then used one of my Lightroom Presets.

    This photo is from the Ricefields of Bali Indonesia. 

    Palm in the Fields, Walking through the rice fields of Bali was an awesome experience. Everywhere you looked it was so beautiful and clean.

  5. Batu Bolong

    Photography Tips Page

    Last weekend I finished up a few video tutorials that I've been wanting to create for awhile. For now they are just the basics but I plan on getting a bit more advanced with them and eventually sharing all the tricks I use in my photography.

    Hopefully this month I'll be able to make a completely HDR photography tutorials that cover every little thing about HDR. It seems to be a hot topic in the photography tutorial land and I've never been able to find really good and detailed HDR video tutorials that are free and made by people that actually produce consistent good HDR photos. And I refuse to pay for a tutorial since I believe knowledge should be free, so I've spent much of this last year learning HDR photography on my own and now I want to share it with new photographers looking to get started with this type of photography. So that means all my tutorials will be free and they will be awesome. So for now you can find them on my Photography Tips page. Have fun!

    Today's Photo

    Batu Bolong is just West of Tanah Lot which is the famous temple in the water of Bali. It seems there are temples just about everywhere in Bali. I'd like to see more of Indonesia one day. It's such an awesome country. If you ever go there you'll want to spend a full week. It's not the type of place where you can just stop by for three days. There is just too much stuff to do and see.

    Batu Bolong - BaliBatu Bolong Temple is just West of Tanah Lot in Bali Indonesia. I preferred shooting here since there was way less people along the beach and on the cliffs.

  6. Kecak Monkey Performer of Bali

    This is one of the monkey performers of the Kecak dance in Bali Indonesia. He was quite the character during the performance often interacting with the audience. A few times he would jump into the crowd and take their sunglasses and put them on, which is I guess what monkeys really do. He gave them back of course.

    For this photo I colored it with a red tint and a washed out look to give it a retro mood. 

    Today's Photo

    Kecak Monkey PerformerThis is one of the performers of the Kecak dance famous in Bali. Tinted red for coolness.

  7. Bali Plumeria

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    The Plumeria of Bali reminded me of Hawaii. They were so healthy and full and in bloom everywhere. We can grow some plumeria in Southern California but they are never nearly as healthy looking as they are in Bali. So I took the opportunity to get a few shots when I could. This one I colored with that old film look which I am becoming more and more a fan of. 

    Today's Photo

    Bali Plameria When I was in Bali last year the Plumarias were blooming. I'm not a huge flower photographer since that's a whole art in itself but I took this opportunity to get a few nice shots when I could.Be sure to check out my photos at http://alikgriffin.com

  8. Bali Rice Field Tower

    This is a photo from when I was in one of the rice fields of Bali. I don't know about you but this shot reminds me of old Chuck Norris movies. Missing in Action or something. They loved blowing these things up with grenade launchers.

    This photo I took originally as an HDR and decided to give it an old film look in the processing. Not something you see everyday, HDR with an old look. It's actually part of a lightroom plugin package I've been building. After I did my Photomatix 32 bit HDR I literally just click one button for my presets and exported. So far these retro presets are looking pretty good and almost ready for public. 

    Today's HDR Photo

    Part of the Retro Collection

  9. Bali Kecak Dance Ceremony

    When I was in Bali I went to one of the famous Kecak Dances. At the beginning there is this ceremony a priest starts by lighting the fires and gives the dancer a blessing by splashing them with water. I was able to get a pretty cool shot of him lighting the fire with the sun setting in the background.

    Today's Photo

    Kecak Dance Ceremony The priest of the Kecak Dance begins with an opening ceremony. He lights the fire and splashes the dancers with water.

  10. Path to Sari Organik

    In Bali Indonesia there is this famous cafe called Sari Organk that serves all organic food grown by themselves. To get there you have to hike 20-30 minutes through some rice fields. Along the way I stopped a few times to snap a couple photos. I saw a lot of people rent little scooters to ride to the cafe, but the hike was so cool I'd hate to rush it. So we walked.

    To see the view from the cafe check out my post on The Rolling Rice Fields Of Bali

    Today's HDR Photo

    The Path to Sari Organik in BaliTo get to the Sari Organik Cafe in Bali you have to walk about twenty minutes through rice fields that look like this.See this photo at AlikGriffin.com

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