Colorado Plateau

Mar 102012
 

Twilight over the Sinking Ship • Grand Canyon National Park, AZ.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Just a short post today featuring a recent image from a February trip to the South of the Grand Canyon. I was there for some NPS work but got out for a little photography in between meetings and surveys. To say I had some incredible weather would be an understatement. I have been to the canyon many times but I have never had the sustained atmospheric conditions I witnessed on this trip. On successive days clouds rolled over the canyon creating dynamic and dramatic light. Clouds passed over the buttes and also dropped into below the rim to drift in and out of the formations. In the evening the clouds moved up allowing beautiful twilight shooting conditions.

This image was shot at one of my “secret”, favorite shooting locations along the South Rim. A short little off-trail scramble brings you to a series of rocky ledges that affords eastern and western views within the canyon. Looking east you can see the giant mass of Coronado Butte, and west affords incredible views of the Sinking Ship formation, aptly named as it appears to be an ocean liner sinking into the water. This image of the Sinking Ship was shot about 10 minutes into civil twilight. The clouds had begun to lift and some subtle re-lighting illuminated the foreground rocks and large buttress to the right. I used these elements to frame the vista to the Sinking Ship.

Technical Details: This image is a composite of two exposures, one for the sky and one for the foreground. The two files were processed in Lightroom and opened as layers in Photoshop. The two files were hand blended using a luminosity layer mask before completing the usual contrast and color layers I typically employ.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Google+Share
Mar 032012
 

Cathedral Wash • Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Az.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Today I am leaving the interior of the Lonaconing Silk Plant and returning to a different kind of interior shot. This image was taken in Cathedral Wash, a beautiful open-top slot canyon that empties into the Colorado River near Lee’s Ferry. I made the hike in with Tony Kuyper and was treated too an other-wordly landscape cut by the powerful forces of water and erosion. Though the hike begins rather benignly it soon drops through a series of cuts that require navigation and down climbing along protruding shelves of layered stone. The surrounding walls are steep and tower over the canyon. Inside, reflected light bounces off the canyon walls creating a subtle glow to the orange rock. The scale is immense and even with this image it is hard to imagine that if you stepped into the deepest cut your head would not even come up to the first line in the stone. That cut through the lower stone is over 10 feet deep.

The best time to shoot is in the mid morning to early afternoon with clear, blue skies. We started the hike around 10:00 am and finished up by 2:30 or 3:00 pm. The light can be challenging and the trick is to learn to see the subtle reflected glow to form your compositions. In most cases brackets are necessary. This image is a composite of three exposures blended in Photoshop. Extensive dodging and burning was performed to bring the color and contrast tonality of the image together. Though a challenging place to shoot it remains, for me, one of the best hikes you can take at Glen Canyon.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Google+Share
Feb 242012
 

Twisted Tree and Winter Light • South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. I am currently sorting through about 3000 exposures from my last trip. I have been shooting differently on my last few outings which includes more bracketing of shots for manual blending in Photoshop. I am after more dynamic range in the light and though the Photoshop work takes more effort I think the results are much better.

Today’s image was made from Maricopa Overlook on the Hermits Rest Road. During the winter months the Canyon stops the buses and visitors are able to drive on the Hermits Rest Road which makes access to some of the more dramatic overlooks easy. On this morning there was a fairly heavy cloud cover and I was not to hopeful for a sunrise shot. It was also quite cold at 16 degrees. Still recovering from pneumonia I was not to eager to leave the warm car or my cup of hot tea. But a cold fog had descended on this side of the Canyon and some of the trees were painted with a coat of light hoar frost. No matter how I played with the compositions I just “wasn’t feeling it”. I found this gnarly tree on the walk back to the car just as a bit of soft sunlight began to break through the cloud bank. The yellow glow as very nice and gave a nice halo around the top of tree. So I began to work with this composition placing the top of the tree against this light. In post processing I used several Selective Color Layers to target the Reds, Yellows, Blues, and Whites and followed up with a Dodge and Burn Layer to sculpt the form of the tree. The amazing contortions in the tree truck are testimony to the harsh environment along the South Rim. Beaten by wind, snow, and cold temperatures in the winter this tree is an amazing survivor. In a funny way the tree became a metaphor for how I felt-not feeling well, but surviving.

Technical Details: This image is a blend of three exposures using Enfuse for Lightroom. It was composed for three exposure, one for mid-tones, one for highlights, and one for shadows. The resulting file is sent to Photoshop for final finishing. I like Enfuse as it prepares a very natural looking file without the artifacts that can come from HDR Software. You can get the plugin from The Photographers Toolbox.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Google+Share
Oct 142011
 

Blue Light Special, Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona. Creative White Balance Setting and Photoshop Exposure Blending.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Fall color is just around the corner and we may see the full display by the end of next week. So while I wait for nature to take its course in the next few weeks I am bring you some intense color of a different type. Many of you who follow this blog, and my work, know that I have shot quite extensively in Antelope Canyon. I love the sinuous curving formations and how light plays off the sandstone walls. It is light that brings the canyons to life. I other posts I have talked about some of the lighting in slot canyons including bounce, or reflected light, chiaroscuro light, and blue light. All can have a dramatic impact on your shot. Today I am going to show you what happens when you apply some creative White Balance Settings in-camera during your exposures.

But first just a small bit on Color Temperature which , in photography, is often associated with White Balance. Essentially color temperature is a characteristic of the visible light that we see, or in some cases, we don’t see. Color temperature is conventionally stated in the unit of absolute temperature, K, on the Kelvin Scale. Color temperatures over 5,000K are called cool colors (blueish white), while lower color temperatures, 2,700–3,200 K, are called warm colors (yellow white to red). In photography, the daylight or normal color temperature, is deemed to be 5000K. If you set your White Balance selector on your camera to Daylight Setting you will be shooting at 5000K. But what happens when you go indoors and shoot with incandescent lights on a 5000K setting? Your image will appear very warm and red/orange. If you lower your White Balance Setting to Tungsten, somewhere around 3200K you can compensate for the warmer color and render the scene more naturally. In this case you are bringing the color down from the warmer side of the spectrum to the cooler side.

You can use this information to do some creative White Balance shooting in your photography. Today’s image was shot in two separate exposures-one at 5500K, what I call my “normal” White Balance for slot canyons, and one at 2500K to bring the warm tones down to a bluer color. I can then combine the two files to create a dynamic image expressing blues in the shadows and oranges in the warmer highlights. When I looked at the “blue” image I noticed I picked up some slight magenta tones which gave me the opportunity to process a third, magenta toned, image to use in the composition. The resulting blending in Photoshop would give me an image that moves from blue to magenta to orange. So lets take a look at the files I processed to achieve the final image.

Image 1: Canyon shot at 5500K White Balance Setting.

Image 2: Canyon shot adjusted to 5800K in Lightroom.

Image 1: This is the first image shot with a White Balance setting of 5500K. I typically shoot just at a WB of 5500K for most of my work and make adjustments depending on the light conditions. You will need to check your manuals for setting a custom WB. On the Sony a900 I can set this right from the main menu screen. On the Nikon D3x I can set this from the WB controls on the back of the camera. Both cameras also give you the opportunity to adjust the color temperature further with by hinting the color towards the Green or Magenta side. Setting this to zero is fine.

 

 

 

Image 3: Canyon shot adjusted to 3500K in Lightroom.

Image 4: Canyon shot at 2500K White Balance Setting.

Image 2: In RAW processing of Image 1 I increased the WB to 5800K and made some adjustments to the Green/Magenta Tint using the slider in Lightroom. The intent here was to brighten up the warm tones.

Image 4: This is the second shot in my bracket set and was made with the camera WB at 2500K. This is below the Tungsten Setting of 3200K. In a situation like this, having shot so much in slots, I go for a lower K-number as I can get much cooler tones in the shadows. You can just note a hint of magenta color in the far part of the image. This led to processing out a third image to accentuate this color.

 

 

Image 3: This is the Magenta file processed from Image 4. For this I simply raised the WB in Lightroom to 3500K and adjusted the Tint Slider more towards Magenta.

You will notice that after all the adjustments the final files used for the blend all have the same relative luminosity and tonal consistency. Other than the various changes for WB and Tint the RAW processing for each file was the same. I applied the same development to the curves, noise reduction, and pre-sharpening. This must all be the same so the file set can blend together properly. When I was satisfied with each file I returned to the Library Module in Lightroom, selected the three files and then went to Photo > Open as Layers in Photoshop. All three files were processed and placed in Photoshop in a Layer Stack. The Layer stack for this image is shown below.

I ordered the files going from warm to cool in the Layer Stack. For this processing I preferred this as I wanted to paint on top of the warm file as I felt I could see the changes better visually. I added a Layer Mask filled with Black for the Magenta and Blue Layers. Using the White Reveals and Black Hides concept I went from Layer Mask to Layer Mask painting in and out the color changes until I reached a blend I liked. I used a soft brush and adjusted the size and opacity as I worked on the various layers. It is important when blending files like this to pay attention to the Blend Zones – the areas where the colors overlap. Here you must be subtle and work the masks to eliminate hard edges.

Photoshop Layers for Blue Light Special.

Each of the Layers also had a Selective Color Layer where I adjusted the color intensity. Keep in mind this is a salt to taste function. For this file I wanted more intensity in the colors so I pumped up the blue and magenta. I finished off the file  by setting the White and Black Point, adding several Curve adjustments, Dodging and Burning, and Creative Sharpening. Dodging and Burning is an important Layer as painting in darker and lighter tomes adds additional detail and helps to blend in color at Blend Zones.

Technical Details: The image was shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 28mm. The image was exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 1.0 seconds.

If you have any questions on this post just send me an e-mail. Thanks as always for visiting and supporting this blog.

Bob

Google+Share
Aug 042011
 

Escalante Butte and the Unkar Plains, Lipan Point, Grand Canyon National Park. Shot with a Nikon D3x and Nikkor 70-200mm lens at 150mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f11 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This one is short and sweet. I am leaving early Saturday morning for the North Shore of Lake Superior for my workshop with Alec Johnson. Alec and I are heading up early on Saturday to set up for the workshop and to get in a little shooting before everything starts in earnest on Sunday. We are looking forward to a great photography event for the week. I might be able to get in a post but time will be limited so for now I will leave you with another view from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This view is from Lipan Point on the South Rim. The massive formation in the foreground is part of Escalante Butte. This is a late afternoon shot with an open, cloudless sky, and a hard blowing wind. I used the rock outcrops on a point away from the parking area to find some shelter from the wind. With the bright sky and no clouds I choose to shoot some of the canyon details and after some exploratory compositions settled in on this view of Escalante Butte and the Unkar Plains along the Colorado River. The low sun angles lit up the Escalante formation which provided at beautiful contrast to the diffused, soft light in the inner canyon.

As to technique I shot from a low tripod position for a more solid platform to combat the high winds. I also use mirror lock-up to help eliminate any other potential camera shake. The light was not changing too quickly so I had plenty of time to wait for the winds to cycle. Pretty simple, I know, but in windy conditions it pays to be patient and consistent in your shooting methods.

Well that is about it. I’ll send out an update if I can from Lake Superior.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

Google+Share
Aug 032011
 

Sandstone Flow, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikkor 24mm PC lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 1/2 of a second. The white balance was set to 5500K.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Only a few days now before the Lake Superior Workshop. The usual last minute details from work and family commitments, in addition packing, are consuming my time. It is interesting how everything becomes an issue or at the very least appears in the flow of energy while you are trying to get away. The trick I think is to prioritize them on a list and take care of the important ones first. Some of the issues, like a squeaky, spinning wheel, are loudest but will have no impact and therefore should be tabled until your return. I have given up on perfect, calm, trip preparation. I have tried it all. Pack late in a rush, pack early to get a jump on it, but in the end all the “monkeys are trying to jump on my back” to get attention. Oh well, it is what it is. And it is the price we pay for pursuing our passions. I do pack early. Often a week to two ahead. This is simple preparation of cameras and equipment which I manage off of a checklist. Then clothes. I keep outdoor gear in separate bins so it is easy to pull out and select based on the predicted weather conditions. I just try to stay in a defined flow as I get ready not trying to have too many ups and downs along the way. I am the type that likes to have all the ducks in a row so to speak. It just gives me a little peace of mind when I am away. So stay in the flow. I highly recommend this approach.

Today’s image is all about flow. The flow of time and energy. I marvel when I see these formations formed by the forces of water and wind. Sculptures created by the slow processes of nature in the flow of time. Nature is a patient artist. It is a good thing though for we need a counter balance to human impatience. We are constantly on the move to the next thing often unaware that we just missed something really important. Personally I am the master of this behavior and I need to listen to my own advice. When I am in the field I do finally stop. The noises in my head and the constant pressures of the “monkeys” nipping at my heals are released and I am, for a brief moment, free to contemplate something as sublime as this sculpted stone. So much color, light and shadow, and connection from earth to sky with ripples that gave way to lines, that rolled into waves, that carried me away. For a brief moment in time all that defines me in “the real world” is washed away in the stone waves and I am left to simply contemplate its complexity. The real world will come back soon enough. But on this day nature asked me to stop and stay awhile. On this day I was caught up in a different flow and time stood still.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

 

Google+Share
Jul 312011
 

Portal Beyond, Lower Antelope Canyon, Navajo Lands, Arizona. Shot with a Nikkor 24mm PC lens. Image shot at f13 in five bracketed exposures then combined in Photomatix Pro.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. I thought I would slip in a quick post today that I prepared for practice for next weeks workshop at Lake Superior. We will be teaching some HDR techniques using Photomatix Pro and I worked up this image shot in Lower Antelope Canyon in the spring. The image was shot in five bracketed exposures, each 1-stop apart, using the bracket controls on the Nikon D3x. After import into Adobe Lightroom the 5 exposures were selected and exported to Photomatix using the LR Plug-In. I processed the file using the Photomatix Fusion controls which gives you a more realistic rendering. Finishing was done in Adobe Photoshop and included a series of steps to bring out details in the shot. This included a Multiply Blend Layer to add tone and contrast to the highlights, a Midtone Contrast Mask, and some extensive dodging and burning on an Overlay Layer set to 66% and filled with 50% Black.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

 

Google+Share
Jul 292011
 

Coronado Butte, South of the Grand Canyon. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikkor 24mm PC lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 0.7 seconds.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. I am a week away now from the North Shore of Lake Superior Workshop and I am busy balancing my work load and getting ready for the trip. Packing is not really a problem for me as I keep shooting and outdoor gear organized. I do not like last minute packing because this is where you can forget something in the mad rush to head out the door. I have also been working on several new blog posts and I have to pull images to present at the workshop. So its never a dull moment.

Light at the Grand Canyon can go from contrasty and dull to sublime in a matter of minutes. And sometimes it takes just a little longer for the magic to occur. Several days before I took this image I scouted this location which required an off trail climb to get out to the rim. It is a spectacular location that works equally well for sunrise and sunset. This is Coronado Butte looking east at sunset. To the west a massive cloud was blocking the sun and for over an hour I pondered my chances of the sun being able to clear the cloud bank and dropping along the horizon. I knew if the cloud shifted enough the sun would drop into a clear slot and light up the butte. Within minutes of sunset my patience payed off and Coronado Butte was bathed in a brief but beautiful light. The rim edge glowed in the warm light as the clouds overhead revealed a deep blue sky.

This image was all about pre-visualization. I knew the sun angles and given the right atmospheric conditions I would be rewarded with an atypical Grand Canyon image. I used a Singh-Ray 3-stop soft edge split neutral density filter to balance out the sky and foreground exposure. My white balance was set to 5500K which I adjusted slightly in processing the RAW file.

Hopefully I can get out another post before heading out to Lake Superior. If not I will see you back here in a few weeks.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

Google+Share
Jul 232011
 

Fracture, Mountain Sheep Canyon, Navajo Lands, Arizona. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 24mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. One of the interesting aspects of writing a blog is finding out what posts are the most popular. WordPress offers a nice statistics section in their content management system that tells you the number of visitors, search criteria used to find your site, and a counter to the most visited pages. Interestingly, in my mind at least, there have been quite a few searches and visits to many of my Mountain Sheep Canyon images. Mountain Sheep is small, hidden jewel, located outside of Page, Arizona on Navajo Lands. The canyon is only accessible through a photographers trip offered by Carol Bigthumb of Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tours.

Unlike Upper and Lower Antelope, Mountain Sheep Canyon is what I refer to as an open top slot. It has a straight in entry and only requires a little bit of scrambling. It takes some effort to get out to the canyon through sandy washes but the canyon receives few visitors making it a special place to photograph. Because of the wide open top light can be intense and often many of the formations are blown out. The better photographs come by looking for the reflected light on the canyon walls and creating compositions that focus on the lower parts of the canyon. The light changes rapidly and you should look for compositions during the trip in and out.

Slots are formed by the erosive forces of water that flow during flash floods through the sandstone drainages. Rocks, sand, tree limbs and other debris contribute to the carving of the canyon walls and are often deposited along the floor after a flood. The fast moving water scours the walls revealing intricate and colorful layers of stone. In many cases the water is caught in whirlpool like eddies that over time carve out chambers and alcoves in the rock. Ultimately this is how rooms in slot canyons are formed. The image above shows the beginnings of a small alcove where the swirling water has begun to carve a semi circular space in the stone. The group of rocks in the alcove are transient visitors and may move on during the next flood.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

Google+Share
Jul 122011
 

Along the South Kaibab Trailhead, South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikon 70-200mm lens at 200mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. One of my favorite things to do when visiting the Grand Canyon is to get a cup of coffee and take and evening walk along the Rim Trail. It is a wonderful way to wind down after a busy day and experience twilight along the South Rim. Invariably I will meet other strollers and engage in the kind of general small talk reserved for such occasions. As the vastness of the canyon recedes in the dying light the subject of conversation often turns to the notion of scale. Many first time visitors, and even those who return often, are struck by the sheer enormity of the canyon. I have many trips to the canyon and never tire of its sense of scale, or in reality, my perception of it. It is of such proportions as to leave you spellbound. But the sense of scale can be confusing. Standing along the rim near the El Tovar you can see down to Indian Garden and out to Plateau Point on the Tonto Platform. As a rock falls, so to speak, it is not that far. But take the hike down and you soon realize that it is much farther than you thought.

Looking across towards the North Rim and the vastness is almost incomprehensible. When I was on a helitack crew at the canyon I had the opportunity to make many helicopter flights into the inner canyon and along the Colorado River. Dropping off the sheer cliffs of the Abyss towards the Tonto Platform was like taking a roller coaster ride. You soon understood how small you were in relation to the canyon environment. Huge, vertical walls, towering pillars of stone, buttes and temples, warrens of confusing canyons and washes all combined to overpower the senses.

Consider today’s image. It is a shot of the upper portion of the South Kaibab Trail. To find the trail just come down the upper slope from the rock pillars to a horizontal line that angles slightly down from right to left. Do you see it? This is still near the top and there are many miles to go before reaching the inner canyon and the Colorado River. Beyond is the North Rim. In a shot such as this, compressed by the telephoto lens, scale is hard to determine. Not even the trail helps. But take a look at the image below. It is an enlargement of the image. Look inside the white circle and you will see two small hikers. If you look very closely you can just make them out in the image above.

Detail from the South Kaibab Trail. Look inside the white circle to see the two hikers.

Now the immense scale of the canyon is evident. Dwarfed by the landscape the hikers have entered a world that can literally swallow them. The next time you make a visit to the canyon I would invite you to take the opportunity to experience this landscape up close and in person. Move away from the rim and let the canyon swallow you for a few hours. I can promise you will have a different sense of scale when you return.

Thank you as always for stopping by to visit.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

 

Google+Share

Bad Behavior has blocked 160 access attempts in the last 7 days.