Canon 5D MKIII, EF24-70 f/2.8L @ 68mm, f/8.0,1/400 sec, ISO 400
Well, we tried for a White Christmas. The 60-70 degree temperatures we’ve had during the last several days melted all the snow. The temperatures are dropping again and we will have a clear and brisk Christmas Day. No snow, but is still should be a beautiful day. We are thankful for each and every day. Each one is beautiful in its own way.
Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!
Trees and woodland areas always capture my interest. The horizontal fallen trees in the foreground and the vertical living trees in the background caught my eye. When was re-looking at this image taken 11 months ago, the same lines caught my eye. However, the color tonality was very subdued and boring. I felt in a “painterly” mood, so Topaz Simplify came to the rescue. I used Topaz to give it that “artistic” look as well as bring out a little color and enhance the edges of the trees and leaves.
Here is the straight out of the camera image. Today I prefer the “painterly” view.
Canon 5D MKIII with EOS 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/22, 1/15 sec., ISO 400
These charcoal kilns seem to be in the middle of nowhere in Wildrose Pass. They were built by Swiss engineers in the the 1870’s to feed the smelters of Modoc Mine about 25 miles away. This was the closest source of wood.
The most difficult part of taking this image was to avoid the row of other photographers trying to take the same image. See below.
Canon 7D, EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS with 1.4X extender @ 110mm, f/11, 1/60 sec, ISO 200
On one of our workshop “sleep-in days”, a few of us went out to capture the early morning sunrise at Mesquite Dunes with Chuck Kimmerle. Chuck got us set up to catch the first light then took off on his own to explore. You can see Chuck in the upper left of this image.
When working with the “Pros”, I like to just watch and see what catches their eye as they explore an area. So I took this opportunity to follow Chuck’s foot steps across the sand and see where he stopped and milled around or set up his tripod. It was a good learning experience. At some of his stops, I saw nothing that caught my eye. At other stops, I looked around and saw a WOW image that I would have easily overlooked. Also, I stopped at many places where he did not stop to capture what I thought was a great image. It was a great learning exercise and a lot of fun too!
This is one of my few photos where I captured an overall image of the surrounding area. For most of my images, I tried to capture the details of the light and shadows as they passed over the dunes. To do this I added a 1.4X extender to my 70-200mm lens and used my Canon 7D cropped sensor camera. Because we were in a harsh environment in the sand, I did not dare change lenses. Next time I will make the hike with a normal lens to capture the overall beauty of the dunes against the purple mountains.
Canon 7D, EF 70-200mm f2.8 IS @ 125mm, f/16, 1/90 sec, ISO 400
Just a few moments after I took the image on my previous post the sun popped over the ridge and lit up Zabriskie Point. The point seemed like it was on fire. The subtle tonalities were severely washed out. I had to add a lot of structure in NIK Viveza and tonal contrast in NIK ColorEfex Pro to bring out the contrasts.
Canon 7D, EF 70-200mm f2.8 IS @ 200mm, f/11, 1/20 sec, ISO 400
Sunrise had just broken on the mountains on the far side of Death Valley. Zabriskie Point was still in the shadows, but there was enough light to bring out the tonal differences in the ridges and valleys leading down from the point.
Canon 5D MkIII, EF 24-70mm f2.8L @ 34mm, f/11, 1/100 sec, ISO 400
Last weekend we visited family in Los Angeles. We started talking about photographic adventures and Death Valley came up. I thought I would go back through my images from earlier this year and post a few more from my trip to Death Valley with John Barclay and Chuck Kimmerle.
This image is from the “infamous” racetrack basin. Nobody knows exactly how these rocks move across the basin. Which direction did this 18-inch rock come from???
Anyway, it was an awe-inspiring site to visit and explore. Staying with the Black and White theme of the workshop, I focused on the contrast between the elements within the frame. I darkened the tracks slightly to help pop them out from the flats.
I haven’t been very active in expanding my photographic knowledge and experience during the last several months. Something was always in the forefront. I fell into a real slump. When I did shoot, nothing seemed to pop out to me. I continued following my favorite photographers on-line and became more and more envious on what they were doing. My work seemed to be so mundane.
Today, I took a few moments to look back on some of my work last summer. I saw this image of the Limekiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island and felt that it wasn’t so bad after all. It provided me with a stimulus to go back out and continue to shoot and enjoy the outdoors that I love.
Today is a thought of Peace. The stillness and peacefulness of Peace Valley Park is always a wonderful place to escape to. We are so lucky to have a place like this so close by.
Just turn around and see a whole different world. The last 3 posts looking West showed peaceful images without a cloud in the sky. Looking East was a totally different story. These clouds were just flying across the sky along the eastern horizon. I was intrigued by the wispiness of the clouds. There must have been quite a high jet stream up there. B&W provided the sharp contrast between the clouds and the bright blue sky.