15 Minutes of Fame: I Shoot Reno Makes Instagram Popular Page (Thanks to Pretty Lights)

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(top right)

it all started around 10PM on Monday night.  Seeming out of the blue, I noticed a bunch of new followers appearing in my Instagram News Feed.  Somehow I missed the original @mention from @prettylights, but thanks to several other shout-out’s, I caught on pretty quickly to what I now refer to as “my 15 minutes of fame on Instagram“.

I’m pretty sure that the count was somewhere around 1200 likes in 25 minutes when comments mentioning the “pop page” started to filter in.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic.  Not to say I haven’t been in the grace of Pretty Lights before, but this time seemed a lot more personal.  I mean, c’mon, he personally selected one of my works of art to share with his following of 51k+ on Instagram (and who knows which other networks).

Fast forward to 10:50PM and his post is still on the popular page…

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Somewhere in-between well formed breasts and jewelry advertisements, my sunset shot over Sharlands Ave. here in NW Reno sat ever so proudly.  But wait.  Earlier in the day there was an ever-so-kind feature from one of my favorite sun-related IG feeds, @nooneownsthesun.  Yep, I had not just one but TWO features under my belt that glorious day!

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I mean TWO features in ONE DAY + a trip to cool kids of Instagram land?  Who the hell am I?

Then I saw this…

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First and foremost, yes.  I love sick drops.  Of bass.  All over everywhere.  Exploding in my mind like puberty in that neighbor kid’s pants.  But that’s not the point.  The point is that ANOTHER account I follow for EDM-related awesomeness, aka @ilovesickdrops, picked up on the PL feature and had melted me (via @meltingmusic).  Shit’s kinda Dali-ish, ya?

What a day.  And then I looked at the clock, 11:44 PM Pacific.  Still on the popular page.  No f—ing way!?

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Then I worked on my shot for Tuesday morning’s posting pleasure… Had to check the numbers before hitting the sack.  Looks like 3200+ likes in a short (3) hours.  Not too shabby…

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Now it is two evenings later and there are nearly 5k likes total on @prettylights’ post.  This is absolutely incredible!  Thank you everyone for your support!

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The Calm Before The #NNVStorm Pt. II

#NNVStorm Pt. II | Click to Enlarge

As mentioned in Pt. I of “The Calm Before the #NNVStorm”, I haven’t been shooting very much with my Nikon D7000 and it’s been getting me down.  Not in a depressed sort of way, more in that “I spent a bunch of money on this thing that isn’t getting as much use as it should be” kind of way.

Recently, an Instagram user I have come to find a deep respect for turned me on to a piece of HDR software for Mac/PC that has pretty much blown my mind titled Photomatix Pro.

Basically, this application allows you to take several (3 preferred) bracketed DSLR shots (0, +2,-2 exposures work EXTREMELY well) and combine / tone map them to HDR perfection within moments.  There is an anti-ghosting feature which also seems to work wonders, even if you weren’t shooting on a tripod with a remote control, although this is my preferred setup for HDR styling.

Within the app, you’ll find many preset templates for different HDR styles, all of which are customizable and allow for your own custom presets to be saved and used again in the future.  The software also doubles as an Adobe Lightroom plugin, which is another great way to include Photomatix Pro in your everyday workflow.

Using my standard concert photography setup of the AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens attached to the Nikon D7000 body, now coupled with tripod and wireless (ML-L3) remote control for HDR landscape shooting, I embarked on creating some dark and eerie HDR shots of the impending #NNVStorm set to hit our area over the weekend.  For the shots comprising this image specifically, I was shooting in shutter priority mode, at 1/25th of a second, with an aperture of f/2.8 and an (auto) ISO range of 800 – 6400.

What you see above is Pt. II of several more forthcoming shots in the series.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have in their creation.  Have questions about the process?  Drop me a line!

Note: The only difference between this post and my recent Instagram post of this same image was (square) cropping using the iOS app Camera+.

Camera(s) Used:

Nikon D7000

Lens(es) Used:

AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED


Go On, Treat Yourself to Something Nice!

Do you buy stuff online? Do you buy camera stuff online? If this post or anything else on ishootreno.com was helpful to you, please consider supporting this site and making your next photo gear, music or general purchase through one of our affiliate links:

Every time our readers buy new gear through our affiliate links, it helps us bring to the table more of that which brought you here in the first place — the ‘money’ shots!

The best part?!  It doesn’t cost our readers anything extra to show their support!

If our readers do pick up some new gear, please drop us a line … we always love to hear about your new additions!

Comments, Praise, Feedback?  We’re all ears!

Please let us know what you thought of this post on ishootreno.com!