Maroon Bells II - Alpine Glow

Pre-sunrise view of the Maroon Bells.

Different Perspective

The last post was a view of Pike's Peak and some of the rock formations in the Garden of the Gods. In that image the rock formations really dominate the image framing the peak.

Today's photo is also of Pike's Peak and the Garden of the Gods, but from a very different and distant perspective. In the lower right quadrant of the image are the rock formations of the Garden of the Gods.

This photo is a panoramic consisting of 6 images stitched together.

Shadow Sandwich

Here is one of the frames from the time lapse experiment that I posted about last week. One of the things I learned is that one need not take the photos at the full RAW camera resolution in order to create an HD video. I glad that I didn't know that when I made the time lapse. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to have a full resolution version of this image.

Flare

I used a little arch in the formations to create this star burst flare (actually, 2 flares, can you see the smaller one?) during a recent sunrise in the Garden of the Gods.

Be sure to visit Skywatch Friday!

Big Mountain, Bigger Sky

I got bored recently with photography. Or maybe, I should say I've gotten bored taking pictures of the same old thing. I mean how many photos of Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods do I need?

I guess the answer is more! Truthfully, I never get bored of watching the many faces of the peak. I just have this personality that gets obsessed with something and focuses a lot of time, energy and learning on that thing (photography, a game, dancing, poker, birding, etc). I devote myself almost solely to that subject. At least until the next interest comes along. It's all about ebb and flow. Time to catch that wave again.

Be sure to visit Skywatch Friday!

Peakview

Pikes Peak crowned in clouds, hidden by red rocks at Garden of the Gods

Mesa Arch Sunrise II

Here's another view of a sunrise at Canyonlands National Park's Mesa Arch.

Mesa Arch Sunrise I

Kelly and I spent a long weekend in Moab. Kelly is a coach for Team in Training, and we were in Moab for the Canyonlands Half Marathon.

As soon as we arrived in Moab on Thursday, we headed to Arches National Park to run the Devil's Garden Trailhead. What a great place for a trail run.

Friday morning, I awoke early to attempt a sunrise shot of Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. Unfortunately, the sunrise was a bust due to the heavy cloud cover. A rain/snow storm blew in later that day. This wasn't a waste though, as I got to experiment with various compositions and angles.

Instead of watching the marathon on Saturday, I again headed to Mesa Arch for the sunrise. This time the dawn skies were clear. When I arrived, I found 6-7 other photographers already setup. Luckily once the action started, we all moved around a lot to try various angles.

Afterwards, I went for another run along the Murphy's Point trail.

What a glorious day!

Sunrise on Pikes Peak and the Kissing Camels

I just returned from a long vacation in the Moab area, and a longer break from photography. There are a number of "reasons" for the break. I'm trying to take up running again, Kelly and I have been taking dance lessons, and I'm recovering from some surgery on my wrist. The surgery was no big deal, but it did leave me one-handed for awhile. To be honest, I'd have to say I've been a bit lazy as well.

This photo is not from the Moab area. It is from Colorado Springs. I'm only now posting it because I'm trying to learn how to use some new tools. I've been using Adobe Photoshop for a couple of years now. Recently, I got a very good deal on Lightroom and PS CS4. Currently its taking me much longer to do many tasks. However, I believe once I learn the tools, I'll be much faster.  For instance, I never had to take this photo into Photoshop.

One of the really nice things about Elements was the easy integration with uploading photos to Flickr or Smugmug. To do this with Lightroom 2, one must down load a plugin (for each sight).

Oh well, progress marches onward.

Sailors Warning

Red sky in morning, sailors warning. Red sky in night, sailors delight.

Luckily both are a photographer's delight.

Be sure to visit Skywatch Fridays!

Something Blue

This was the view from my campsite in Arches National Park on my first morning there. I used my 200mm lens to isolate the silhouette of rock formations against the various shades of blue from the background. Occasionally, a blue morning is a great way to start the day.

Inspiration

The weather for most of my sabbatical was quite pleasant. By the time I reached Bryce Canyon, however, the temperatures had begun to fall. Every morning in Bryce was cold and very windy. That did not stop the numerous intrepid photographers from practicing their craft. This photo was taken at Inspiration Point in Bryce canyon. There were about a dozen other people around snapping shots at the same time. It must be very busy in the summer when the temperatures are much warmer.

Towers of the Virgin

The Towers of the Virgin, Zion National Park. The flat peak on the left side is the West Temple and is the highest point in Zion at 7810 ft. On the far right is the Altar of Sacrifice (named for the red stains on the white Navajo Sandstone).

This photo is the first that I've taken with a Graduated Neutral Density filter.  This filter is dark at the top and gradually clears until it is completely clear at the bottom.  Without the neutral density filter, the foreground in the resulting image may have been too dark (or if the foreground was properly exposed, the sky and cliffs may have been blown out).  Without the filter, I might have been forced to use photoshop to bring out the foreground. 

Cliche?

Since last we chatted, I spent two days and and night in Joshua Tree National Park and a couple of days touring around the Newport Beach, CA area. Tomorrow is David and Nicole's wedding. It looks to be a wonderful event!

After this, I'll spend almost a week in Las Vegas. Besides playing a little poker, I hit the Valley of Fire park, Hoover Damn, and Death Valley.

This picture is the last of the series of photos I took at the Whitetank Mountain Regional Park near Phoenix. The third morning was very overcast in the eastern sky during the time in which the sun was supposed to be rising. Unlike the day before, the sun never made an appearance. Luckily, the moon was setting around the same time. I covered a lot of ground looking for a shot like this before it disappeared.

Be sure to visit Skywatch Fridays!

Bad Weathers yield Good Photos

When I first went got to the Phoenix area, I went to the Whitetank Regional Park to scout out the area for a morning shoot.

After driving and hiking around, I finally found this spot. I thought that the cactus in the foreground against the sunrise light mountain in the background would make for an interesting picture.

However, the next morning was heavily overcast. I thought for sure that I would get no sun. But, I setup up the tripod and camera and prepared to wait.

And wait.

About the time I was ready to give up, the clouds starting opening up, allowing intermittent light to shine though. What a glorious sight. I hope that my photo captures some inkling of the reality of the scene.

I went back again this morning to capture some other subjects. This time around, the sun never did come out. Still, I'm glad that I put myself in the position to capture such a serendipitous moment.

Blue Morning

Early morning at Avalanche lake in Glacier National Park. This was the last, and only morning that I got up early for photo. The next morning I work up with the flu. There went my motivation for the next few days.

This is another HDR made up of a set of 6 images. The parameters were chosen to push the image towards the more surreal end of the spectrum.

Be sure to visit Scenic Sundays.

Calibration

The sun rises on the distance peak behind the ruins of an abandoned mine near Leadville, CO.

What color is this photo? On my home system, it is a nice Sepia toned image. At work, its a bit of a sickly radioactive green color... Hopefully the monitor at home is the correctly calibrated monitor! Perhaps its time to get the necessary hardware to properly calibrate my monitor.

In other news, I'll be out in the sticks in and around Glacier National Park all next week. So, I will not be able to post anything next week (I can almost hear the wife cheering). But, hopefully, once I return, I'll have lots of new photos. Have a great week everyone!

Be sure to visit Sepia Scenes!

Pikes Peak Marathon

The Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon were held this weekend. On Saturday, the race starts in Manitou Springs, elevation 6,300' (1,920m) and finishes at the Pikes Peak summit, 14,115' (4,302m). That's a 13.1 mile climb of 7,815' (2,382 meters) with an average grade of 11%. On Sunday, the Marathon is held. It's pretty much the same route, except that, at the summit, the racers turn around and run back down.

If you think the marathon is hard, consider that a number of people complete both the marathon and the ascent in the same weekend.

The photo above shows both the starting line and the summit house on top of the peak.

Kelly ran the marathon this year and finished in 7:09:41. That's about 1 hour improvement over last year. Awesome!

Sunrise on the peak before the Marathon start

That's part of my world. Be sure to visit My World Tuesday!

Dawn of a New Age

Old mine structure near Leadville, Co.

I've been playing with Photomatix (software for creating HDR images) for awhile. This is one of my better attempts. There are a rather complicated and bewildering assortment of adjustments used to control the effect.  I still learning which types of images and situations that I think work well with HDR and how best to process them.

This shot was made up of 3 images taken at -1, 0, and 1 EV.  One interesting side effect is that the clouds are very soft due to the movement between shots.  I find the sharpness of the building against the softness of the clouds rather pleasing.

Be sure to visit Skywatch Fridays.

First Light

First light from the rising sun on mountain looming over Turqoise Lake near Leadville, CO.

Be sure to visit Ruby Tuesday for other photos containing the color Red.