Return to Delicate Arch

Here's one last image of Delicate Arch. In the sky above is the Moon and Jupiter (probably).

When setting up for this shot, I didn't have a lot of light. A long exposure would have exposed more of the foreground, but too long would cause the Moon and Jupiter to become elongated (due to the Earth's rotation). A shorter exposure might have lost Jupiter, but exposed the moon better. It’s a tricky exposure problem capture both the foreground and the bright objects.

In order to get a short shot, I pumped up the ISO on my camera, knowing that noise would be an issue. I really didn't want the noise, but, I couldn't think of another option. I was hoping that I could somehow mitigate the noise at home. In this case I decided to add more noise; I applied a crinkled paper texture to the photo. Sometimes, a little noise is annoying, while more is pleasing (hopefully).

You may note that moon has flares and is overexposed. I believe the flairs are due to the very small aperture is used to capture the scene. Overall, the moon looks more like the Sun than the Moon and lends a surrealistic feel to the image.

Be sure to visit Sky Watch Friday for other views of the sky from around the world.

Splash of Color

A field of flowers seen in Denver, CO. I spent some time in this area taking a variety of shots with different compositions - from macros to wide-angle. It's good practice for novice photographers to take a subject and takes lots of shots in different light, angles, formats, compositions, closeup and far away. It's a great way to see what works and why.

Be sure to visit Mellow Yellow Monday!

Duck and Cover

This is my first attempt at this type of picture. I've always loved those cool pictures of lightning. Colorado Springs has a lot of lightning, but it's usually not visible to a large extent, at least near where I live.

Last weekend when I went to Albuquerque I ran into an amazing sunset. I wanted to get to the hotel a descent hour and passed the photo-op by. I reckoned that I'd have a good chance the next evening. Armed with some suggestions from my cousin Leslie, my mom and I took off for a spot up near the Volcanoes. I setup my tripod and took a few test shots. I was good to go! Only the weather didn't cooperate. I started seeing lightning from an approaching storm. In the back of my mind, I keep thinking of how lightning and a metal tripod would interact. I pulled out a list of alternative spots that Leslie suggested. With my eye on the evolving sunset, I drove around and tried a few. Sadly, none of the spots offered the view I was looking for.

By the time the sunset was history I had no photos worth keeping. However, the lightning from the storm was putting a quite a show. We started brainstorming on where to find a good vantage point with which to capture this show. I used to live in Albuquerque, but left almost 20yrs ago. I remembered a “make-out” spot of old and guessed that it would be a good vantage point. We had to drive all the way across town to reach it. We followed a couple of dead ends, but finally found it. It turns out that it is a decent spot, not great, but OK. It’s also still a “make-out” spot. It was a bit strange being there with my mom (not to mention a camera – what a perv, right?).

I took around 30 shots, each 2-3 minutes of exposure. This final photo is a stack of 5 photos that actually captured lightning (while still being sharp). I mentioned in the Storm I post of the difficulty of using a gorilla pod to attach to a car window. Because this is not a steady arrangement for the camera, the camera shifted position between some of the shots making it a challenge to align the photos for the stack in post production.

For those interested in trying the same sort of shot, here’s what I did:

• Used the shortest focal length I have (17mm) to capture as much of the sky as possible
• Put the camera in manual mode and used a fairly small aperture (f/11).  You need good DOF and a long enough shutter to randomly capture lightning bolts, but not too long as to get a lot of noise.
  
• Focused at the approximate hyperfocal distance
• Used a cable release to minimize vibrations when taking the shot
• Stack the photos (fairly complicated procedure that I'm not sure I could explain)
  
• After stacking the photos, cropped out the uninteresting upper section of the sky

This composition has room for a lot of improvement, but I’m happy with this first attempt.

Be sure to visit Sky Watch Friday for more views of the sky.

Mysterious

What can I say?

Be sure to visit Wordless Wednesday and Sepia Scenes.

Someone need new glasses?

A field of wildflowers at Roxborough State Park. I applied an Orton Effect to the photo. I really like this effect on some photos. It gives the image a real painterly feel to it. What do you think? Do you like or dislike this effect? How do you feel about manipulating photos in the first place?

Starting tomorrow, I'll be on vacation for the next week. We have some family visiting and we'll be doing some travel around Colorado. I may or may not have a chance to post.

Until then, happy shooting!

Expectations

This photo blog has been a very interesting experience. It has lead to some personnel growth and has taught me some unlikely lessons. I'm an engineer by trade and thus have spent years exercising left-brain activities (heck, I use a spreadsheet to plan vacations!). I've never considered myself an artist. Photography started as a hobby for me, a way to record memories. It was never meant to make art. So, I was so surprised and pleased on that day that a film developer asked to display one of my photos on their wall. What a kick! Still, coming back from a vacation and having a $200-$300 bill to develop all the film lead me to eventually start to leave the camera in the closet.

I decided to start the blog last year, after I took the plunge and bought a digital SLR. I reckoned that it would be a good way to journal my attempt to becoming a better photographer, and to share stuff with friends and family. I certainly did not expect other people to read it!

I was looking for feedback when I started posting photos in public areas. It was a bit frightening when I first did. I was hoping for constructive criticism, but fearing ridicule or, worse, disinterest. I was ecstatic when I received some criticism. I learned a lot from it. The linked post is a result of that.

Then, I discovered the concept of photo memes. For awhile, I just lurked. There are so many people out there with interesting stories, beautiful poems, and gorgeous photos! I learned lot by lurking. When I stopped lurking and decided to contribute to a meme, I was, again, full of trepidation. But the response to my first post was, to me, overwhelming.

That’s when I learned that having a audience is fun. I’ve never liked being a center of attention, so, this surprised me! However, I also found that this brought with it a certain amount of pressure. After that first post to Skywatch Friday, I wondered what I’d post next. Looking through my collection, I saw nothing that I thought was as good as that one. I felt pressure to perform well. I’ve used that perceived pressure as a goad to get out and take a lot pictures, try need styles of shots (portraits, for example) and new techniques. I believe that I am a much better photographer than I was 10 months ago when I started the blog.

This, finally, brings me to this photo. A few days ago, I posted a photo. In that post, I mentioned that I took another that is one of my favorites, and that I’d post it today. The response to that was amazing. Now I’m obliged to post this one. What’s interesting is that in the past, I’d be nervous about the implied expectations, now, not so much. If nobody else likes it, I still like it, and I guess that’s what really matters. But, all you readers have helped me to gain some confidence in “my art”. I don’t yet consider myself an artist, but perhaps, I’m getting closer. Thank you all very much!

About this image: I saw the rays of the setting sun striking the tops of the grass and saw a cool photo. I took a number of shots, different compositions, and camera settings, etc. One of them I took with a slower shutter speed to capture the waving of the grass. I got the blurring of the grass in the foreground, but it didn' look right. But I still liked to overall image. So, I applied the Orton Effect which softens the overall focus. In the end, the result of that helped the image convey what I felt when I was standing there.

Sorry for the long post - I didn't expect that when I started writing :)

Be sure to visit Scenic Sundays or other great scenes.

Cruising

Male and female Blue-Winged Teal at Old Bent's Fort National Historic Site near La Junta, Co.

Original photo had flat grey, hazy sky. I replaced it with a sky with some interesting clouds.

I like the feeling that the viewer is flying along with the Teals.

Be sure fly on over to Camera Critters.

Geologic Layers

Earlier this year I spent some time shooting at the Paint Mines Interpretive Park. I got there early on a clear morning. Although the light was gorgeous, it was unsuitable for photographing the canyons. In retrospect, I realized that I what I really needed was diffuse light. I reckoned that it would fill in the shadows. Friday, I got the chance to test this hypothesis. This time, the sky was overcast. I arrived at the park around 11 AM. The light was bright and very diffuse, lighting up the interior of the canyon nicely. Overall, I think the light was easier to work worth. I can't wait to try again - in this canyon and others. I will be back to the Paint Mines as I don't feel that I've captured it adequately yet.

Follow this link for other scenes from a very Scenic Sunday

Crusty Old Cowboy

When we were growing up, my brothers and I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. My grandfather, Bill Chick was a wood carver. He would spend hours out in the garage carving stuff, and I would spend hours watching him.

This picture is of one of his little carvings that I have. In the background, is a windmill that either my grandfather, or my Uncle Gary made. If you know, please let me know.

One of my projects is to photograph the arts and crafts created by my family. At least as long as I can do it justice. Some of these items will be a challenge. My uncle Tom writes stories - how do you photograph one of those?

The shot was taken in my little DYI studio. The main lights are a couple of diffused fluorescent lights. The background is white poster paper lit by a halogen lamp (to give it sunset feel). In post-process, I opened up some shadows and sharpened the image some.

Sunset over Pikes Peak

Last night I hiked up onto a ridge in Ute Valley Park to take some sunset shots. The sun set behind Pikes Peak, throwing the face into shadow. About 15 minutes later, the clouds lit up. I was not sure that I could capture a shot that included both the foreground (in deep shadow) and the clouds. I was correct - no single shot could handle both. Knowing this ahead of time, I bracketed my exposures. At home I fiddled around with the RAW files and was able to build a 'poor man HDR' image using two different RAW files from one bracket set. My imaging software, Photoshop Elements, does natively support HDR.

The result is not perfect, but not bad either. This technique is definitely one keep in the toolbox.

Rework

Here's a shot I took at the Paint Mine's park near Colorado Springs. Although I liked the original, I thought it lacked some punch. Here's a slight edit of the photo. I reset the black and white points, removed some color cast and added a little sharpening. I think this is pretty good...

Self Portrait

I was playing around last night trying to take a self portrait. I think this one is kinda interesting. I converted it to black and white and added some noise. Kelly tells me she thinks it makes me look mean! Whaddya think?

DYI Lightbox

I have a ton of pictures to process from the recent holidays. However, I took time off from the computer work, and built a DIY (do-it-yourself) lightbox to play with. It was pretty easy, and the results are decent. What do you think?

As always, click on the picture to see some others.

Playing around

When I was at the Paint Mines, I took a number of shoots that I planned to use while experimenting with Photomatix. Photomatix is software that can be used to blend photos of various exposures in to a single high dynamic range (HDR) photo. I have a trial copy of the software, so please excuse the watermarks. Here's the slightly edited results.

Sunrise at the Lake

One morning, while driving over the Old Folsom Bridge, I noticed how cool the American River Bridge looked as the morning sun reflected off of the bridge onto the flat surface of Lake Natoma. So, I got up early this morning to catch the first rays of the sun.

I cropped this shot, and added some diffuse glow to try and capture the mood. I don't know if I did - what do you think?

Edit for emphasis

Here's a picture I took of Golden Gate Bridge. It's a bit of an abstact shot. I really like the texture of, and the quality of the light falling on the post in the foreground. I didn't include it in the original SmugMug gallery because it I didn't feel that it worked. In the original shot, the background was too bright - way too much of a distraction. So, I played around with various techniques to darken the background.

By the way, as with all the current pictures, if you click on the picture, it'll bring up the real picture in SmugMug.

Burn

Here's a version of the Bronze in B&W with some of the highlights burned.

I left the light from the main lamp alone.

I also "removed" a light that has float above the girls head. If I re-take the picture, I'll try to recompose to avoid that.

Whaddya think? Better?

B&W Two

Here's another attempt. I've used some slightly different techniques.

Black & White

There is something about black and white photos. With the loss of color, other elements of the composition become important; the photo becomes a bit more abstract and emphasizes lines, textures and tones.

Creating B&W from color is not just as simple as removing the color and this is a skill I'd like to learn. Here is one attempt.

The first picture is the color photos. The only enhancement done is the application of a 'unsharp mask' (used to sharpen the image). I'll be using this photo is a series of B&W conversion.

The second photo is my first attempt at converting to B&W. I performed the following enhancements: crop, B&W, burn (darkened) the roof, dodged (brightened) the shell signs.

Whaddya think? I think my habit of creating dark images is showing.

Brightness Experiment

A reader on photoGRAPHICA suggested that I lighten up the Rose photo.

Here is a side-by-side comparison.