Photography

Zion National Park

Posted on January 26, 2015January 25, 2015 by Sam Kornstein in Photography

Laura and I had the opportunity to spend a couple days in Zion after CES. It’s actually a great place to visit in the Winter. The park was practically empty, places to stay were cheap, and it was perfect hiking weather. Angels Landing, with its steep narrow final stretch, was definitely a highlight. Quite a few people on the trail had turned back before reaching the end (and the signs continuously remind you that quite a few people have fallen off and died), so I was actually expecting it to be more narrow than it is. When I got to the end, I didn’t realize I was there because I was expecting to hit a point where I questioned whether I’d continue.

Lightroom 5 Preset: Highland

Posted on January 3, 2015April 13, 2017 by Sam Kornstein in Lightroom 5 Presets, Photography

It’s been over a year since I’ve added a new Lightroom 5 Preset. I’ve actually got quite a few new ones in the works, and over the next few months will plan to post them. Here’s my thirteenth preset: Highland. It’s a vintage looking filter, with nice oranges, reds, and browns. I’ve found that it’s often helpful to adjust highlights and exposure after using it. Below are some examples. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for all the support. A highland cow, which inspired the preset: An old Porsche that was parked outside my brother’s Vancouver apartment when I visited: A couple Mariachi’s waiting for the bus in Meixco City: And a few produce traders in New Delhi: Here’s the download: Lightroom 5 Preset: Highland

Dogs on the Beach

Posted on December 27, 2014December 28, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in Dogs, Lightroom 5 Presets, Photography

I spent the holiday in Narragansett with Laura’s family, and we took a long walk on the beach on Christmas day. The weather was perfect for this time of year – almost sixty degrees – and the light in the late afternoon was even better. I hadn’t taken my camera out since the late Summer, and it was great to spend the afternoon shooting. Here are a few action shots I took of Bella playing with some other dogs in the water:

The Center of People

Posted on October 24, 2014October 23, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in India Food Waste, Photography, Travel

Via Joost Bonsen, whose Development Ventures Class in the MIT Media Lab was among the best course decisions I made in grad school, a graphic that’s trending on reddit showing the world’s population by longitude and latitude: From the graphic alone, I would have guessed this was in northwest India, but after looking up the coordinates, it turns out the center of people is just over the border in Pakistan: Coincidentally, as a direct result of Joost’s course, I ended up conducting some research on food waste in India right by the border, just 100 miles from the above coordinates in Pakistan. Here’s what it looks like:

First Impressions of the iPhone 6 Camera: Callahan State Park

Posted on October 18, 2014October 18, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in General, iPhone Photography, Nature, Photography, Technology

I’ve had my iPhone 6 for almost a month now, but hadn’t really tested out the camera in a meaningful way until today. With all the warm weather we’ve had this week, Laura and I decided to head out to Framingham to meet up with my Mom and take Bella for a walk in Callahan State Park. In rained for the first part of the walk, but the sun broke out right around the time we got to Eagle Pond. The light was perfect. I’d read the camera was a big step up from my previous iPhone 5, and after looking at a handful of shots on a big screen, I’m very impressed. The hardware is great, but I also

A Few Thoughts on Rhinos

Posted on September 23, 2014September 23, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in General, Photography, Travel

I just learned that yesterday was World Rhino Day, an annual initiative to raise awareness about Africa’s big poaching problem. National Geographic has a nice series of pictures and history, including a picture that’s clearly from a very different time of a zookeeper feeding peas to a rhino while it’s carrying a woman on its back. Having just been to South Africa last month, where over 80% of the 26,000 rhinos in Africa live, I thought I’d share some of what we saw and learned. Previous posts on South Africa are here and here. While I had known that poaching has historically been and continues to be a huge issue, I hadn’t appreciated the extent of it. Over 1,000 rhinos were poached in

African Cat Rehabilitation Center

Posted on September 22, 2014September 22, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in Photography, Travel

Continued from my previous post here. On our second day in South Africa, we took a ride about 10 miles up the road from our lodge to the Emdoneni Lodge Cat Rehabilitation Center. The center takes in injured and orphaned cheetahs, servals, African wild cats, and caracals, and provides care for them, generally with the hope of releasing them back into the wild. In some cases the cats become too tame and comfortable around humans and can not be safely released, so these guys live out their days at the center. Somewhat surprisingly, after speaking with one of the center’s staff members, we learned much of the funding for these centers comes from hunting organizations. My understanding was that they

First Few Days in South Africa

Posted on September 21, 2014September 21, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in Photography, Travel

Laura and I recently returned from a visit in South Africa, planned around a package we “accidentally” won in a charity auction. The Auction was for Girls’ Leap, an amazing organization Laura volunteers with that provides self defense and empowerment training to girls and young women in the Boston area. By “accidentally,” I mean that we weren’t the high bidders and didn’t necessarily intend to win, as it was clear the other bidders were more enthusiastic. But once the highest bidder won, the auctioneer had a “surprise” for us. She happened to have more than one package on hand and conveniently offered it to us — in front of 200 or so other people — for our bid. It’s obviously

Happy New Year — Some Year End Website Stats

Posted on January 1, 2014January 1, 2014 by Sam Kornstein in Photography

Happy near year! Thanks to all my followers for continuing to support this site. While my written posts definitely declined in 2013 — in part due to a more intense schedule — I began providing Adobe Lightroom Preset downloads which drove quite a bit of traffic growth last year. I spent a little time today analyzing the data, looking at which presets were downloaded when, and came up with a few visuals to share. In total, there were over 44k free downloads of my presets in just over a year (this doesn’t count the subset of paid downloads). Here’s a high level interactive view across all the presets: Learn About Tableau Speakeasy, Behind the Scenes, and Bright Eyes were clearly

ShootTokyo Photography

Posted on December 29, 2013December 29, 2013 by Sam Kornstein in Photography

A friend recently sent me a link to ShootTokyo, a nicely done photography blog from a Boston ex-pat now living in Japan. He captures people very well, something I strive to focus on more often when I shoot, and I find his use of colors, or lack of use, very thoughtful. I’d imagine that in addition to his composition approach, his results are also a combination his post production work and his use of a Leica. I’ve always wanted to try out a Leica. Here are a few of my favorites: Check out more here.