Hoodoo

King of the Hill – Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

 Abstracts, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Lightroom Workflow, Arizona, Black and White, Desert, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Grand Circle, Hoodoo, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Nikon D3x, Photography Technique, Photography Trips, Photoshop Technique  2 Responses »
Dec 092011
 

King of the Hill, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This is an image I have affectionately named “King of the Hill”. It is a rather large pedestal of Navajo Sandstone perched on top of layer upon layer of serrated and swirling stone. To be honest this was a disappointing day. I was scheduled to make a trip into Canyon X but a massive front several states away brought clouds and flat, contrasty light. Not exactly the kind of conditions suitable for slot canyon photography. So with the Canyon X trip cancelled, and determined to shoot something, I wondered out into some slick rock areas near Glen Canyon. I do not like to shoot in desperation as it usually leads to uninspiring images and frustration. But here I was anyway. At the very least this would be a scouting trip for a future trip. I wandered for hours up, down, and through an amazing landscape of sharp-edged stone. They were like giant red layer cakes rising upward through a series of dimensional swirls culminating in a large rock “cupcake” with a cookie on top. But the light was just horrible – flat, contrasty, and featureless. Light brings form, shape, and definition. With it we can separate the elements of an image and bring it to life.

But even without the light I knew there was a shot here in this garden of stone. In conditions like this black and white can save the day. To begin to see the possibilities I set my cameras display setting to black and white. Immediately the possibilities began to surface. The flat red color and grey sky became more cohesive and interesting in black and white. And with a little Lightroom and Photoshop work I knew I could bring out the drama and detail in the stone. I also had to be a little patient with my subject. At time during the day a hint of form would appear in the featureless grey sky. For this shot I waited almost 45 minutes for a band of clouds to form over this formation. Waiting for just the right moment I was able to not only capture some interest in the sky but to also use this to frame around the sandstone pedestal. All day I played this “cat and mouse” game with vary degrees of success. With this image everything fell in to place and I was able to bring home a winner.

Technical Details: This image was shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikkor 17-35mm lens at 24mm. The image was exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 30 seconds. Even though I had my screen display set to Black and White the RAW captured all the color data. I experimented with the RAW processing to bring out as much color detail so I could make the B+W conversion in Photoshop. For the final however I made the conversion in Lightroom using the Color Mode Sliders. I have found I have a great deal of control with these sliders and can produce an excellent file for final work in Photoshop.

My workflow in Photoshop followed my typical pattern with one exception. I began, as usual, with “digital gardening” on a filter layer to clean up a few dust spots and applying my Smart Sharpen layer to bring up the micro-contrast of the file. The RAW file brought from Lightroom, though solid, still needed some punch. To do this I “Merged Visible” to create a new Image Layer. Note that here that I could also have flattened the file but I almost never do this as I might want to make some adjustment to the Sharpening and I need the Layer Stacks intact for this. With the new Image Layer active I changed the Blending Mode to Soft Light. You could also use Multiply Mode but this usually requires reducing the opacity of the effect. With Soft Light I find I get a nice punch to the file by increasing the density of the pixels. It is a great technique in certain circumstances to add depth to the file. From here it followed my usual Layers including White and Black Point, several Contrast/Curve Adjustments through Luminosity Masks and extensive dodging and burning. Dodging and burning is where I paint with light and manipulate the highlights and shadows to add visual dimension to the file. Using a combination of the Brush Tool and D+B Tools I work light and dark values at low opacities along edges and flat areas to separate tones and emphasize light and shadow.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Bob

 

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Petrified Log – Petrified Forest National Park

 4x5 Photography, Arizona, Grand Circle, Hoodoo, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Petrified Forest National Park, Photography Trips  No Responses »
Aug 182010
 

Petrified Log - Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Shot on Velvia 50 with a Canham 4 x 5 and a Schneider 90XL lens at f32 for 4 seconds.

Hi everyone. Welcome to today’s post. This image is one from the vault. Recently I have been going through some of my 4 x 5 exposures in an effort to organize my image archives. It is quite an undertaking and it is amazing what you can uncover when you get organized. This is one of my favorite images from a trip to Petrified Forest National Park and is the result of scouting the location and being blessed with excellent weather. I was wandering through the Blue Mesa area of the park when I cam across this massive log perched on a precarious pedestal of eroded earth. The problem was the logs “best side” was completely in shadow and would be best shot in the early morning. So I set up my 4 x 5, composed the shot, left everything in place, and hiked out to the car to head back to the hotel. Ok, so I know what you are thinking. Yes its true. I left a perfectly good, and expensive, 4 x 5 in place for the next morning’s shoot. But it was in a remote area that was not typically open to the public and I was the last one out of the park as the rangers closed the gate. I had already arranged for early morning access with the park so I was pretty sure everything would be in place. And sure enough it was. The sun rose right on time, the beautiful wisps of clouds moved in, and I had my shot.

Blue Mesa is a spectacular area and I was humbled to have access to its splendors. As I sat an waited for the sun to rise I could only imagine what it must have been like for our early ancestors to have walked in this place. I sat huddled in the morning chill and looked out upon the landscape. It was quiet and peaceful and as night gave way to the brilliance of dawn I existed completely in that moment. It was as if all time just slowed down. I watched as the disk of the sun broke the horizon and felt the first rays upon my face. Light rolled towards me across the barren desert and in seconds enveloped the log. A few seconds later I knew it was time to go to work.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

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Toadstool Hoodoo – Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, HDR Processed with Unified Color’s HDR Expose

 Colorado Plateau, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, High Dynamic Range, Hoodoo, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Photography Technique, Photoshop Technique, Photoshop Workflow, Sony α900, Utah  No Responses »
Aug 042010
 

Toadstool Hoodoo, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony 20mm lens. Image is an HDR blend from three exposures all shot at f16 at 1/2 stop intervals.

Hi everyone. I will be gone for the next few days and have been diligently trying to get this image prepared for today’s posting. Generally speaking I am not a proponent of most HDR processing primarily because I do not like the over-processed look common to many of these images. But I am intrigued by the possibilities of using the software to to accentuate the shot through blending of several exposures. I had the opportunity to secure a copy of Unified Color’s HDR Expose software to make some test images. This image, from the Toadstool Hoodoo’s in Grand Staircase-Escalante, was processed through the HDR Expose software and is a composite from three separate exposures.

I found the software to be very easy to understand and you can see the changes happen almost immediately. The three files for this image received some initial processing in LR before being transferred to HR Expose. Transferring is very easy with a drag and drop of the RAW files into the HDR Expose window. This automatically launches the merge function. And here is the really nice part. Once the software has crunched the numbers the resulting image is not that “wacked out” non-tone mapped image you get from other software. For all intents and purposes it looks just like a flat RAW file prior to image enhancement. The software gives you a great suite of slider based controls to adjust Brightness/Contrast, Shadow/Highlight, Sharpness, Saturation, White Balance, Fine Color Tuning, Dynamic Range Mapping, and Veiling Glare. The Veiling Glare tool can help remove some of the atmospheric haze associated with many merged HDR images. It essentially helps to add contrast and detail back into the image.

Toadstool Hoodoo after merging in the HDR Expose Software and prior to final processing in Photoshop.

Learning the controls takes some time but there is a great manual that explains most of the steps, tools, and processes along with some video instruction through the website. The video instruction is better at explaining the various tools within the program. The program is easy to use and I think the results are great. It blends well into my own workflow and the merged files can be exported in a variety of formats including tiff, jpg, bitmap and the softwares’s BEF format. The software supports a full range of Camera RAW formats and the program supports color managed files. This image was exported to Photoshop as a 16 bit, Profoto RGB, tiff file.

The exported files have none of the usual color shift problems associated with HDR images.  32 bit image editing with full fidelity is possible without having to resample the image to 8 or 16 bits. Additionally there are plugins for Lightroom and Photoshop that support the native BEF file format.

I really like the possibilities with this software and it supports my vision and workflow methodology. I am only beginning to tap into the power of this program. The processing of the final file was complex and involved quite a few luminosity layer/curve masks, color adjustments, dodging and burning and color burning. The last bit of sunlight striking the hoodoo was fleeting and gone within a few minutes of setting up for this shot. I wanted to capture the luminous glow I saw that evening and I think the HDR blend helped in achieving the final image.

Its quite a departure for me to process an image this way but I do like results. Is it a little over done? Maybe so but I like the fact that I could really pull out the details in the hoodoo and rocks and hold on to the glow. What do you think? Drop me a note and let me know. I will continue to work with this program to get a better understanding of the controls and see what else I can achieve. To find out more about HDR Expose visit the Unified Color website.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

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Ghosts – Wahweap Hoodoos, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

 Grand Circle, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Hoodoo, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Photography Trips, Sony α900, Utah  No Responses »
Jul 242010
 

Ghosts at Wahweap Hoodoos, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Shot with a Sony α900 and Sony SAL 20mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 1/30 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. As a heat wave envelopes West Virginia I am sequestered inside trying to stay cool. Though the weather is not cooperating for photography it is nonetheless a fine time to slow down and revisit some files I have not had a chance to process. This image was shot at the Wahweap Hoodoos, a grouping of eroded Entrada sandstone formations along the Wahweap Wash in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. I came upon these formations and immediately thought of them as ghosts. Not ghosts in the traditional sense of course, but more like early trick or treat days, with a simple sheet pulled over our heads as we headed out to collect candy from our neighbors. The far formation actually reminded me of Cousin It from the Adam’s Family.

There was a beautiful quality of light on this afternoon where the cool blue shadows stood in contrast to the warm reflected light on the canyon walls. The hardened sandstone felt cool to my touch and the wonderful fluting from years of erosion gave each ghost a unique personality. In the quiet of the canyon I spent some time with the ghosts, my ghosts, with my thoughts far away from this place. I don’t remember what was on my mind that day or really how long I was lost to my thoughts. Perhaps it was just the power of being in a special place but I woke from my thoughts free and calm. All thoughts gathered in the folds of my ghosts and washed away. I moved on as the light began to change.

Thanks for stopping by today. Spend some time with your ghosts.

Bob

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Rimrock Hoodoo – May Print of the Month

 Badlands, Desert, Featured Image of the Month, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Hoodoo, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Photography Trips, Sony α900, Utah, Zeiss Lenses  No Responses »
May 092010
 

Rimrock Hoodoo. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70, lens at 24mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f14 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone. Todays post is the May Print of the Month available for sale over on my website at http://roberthclarkphotography.com. To view this image and see the over prints in the 2010 series just click on the Print of the Month Gallery.

This image was shot in an area of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument known as the Rimrock Hoodoos. This is the second print I have offered from this location. It is a geologic playground of red Navajo and white Entrada sandstone formations. Photographed in the late afternoon, the photograph features one of the more prominent hoodoos found in the area.

Thanks for stopping by today. Take a moment to view this and other images on my website.

Bob

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Badlands Sunset – Grand Staircase-Escalante

 Badlands, Black and White, Desert, Grand Circle, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Hoodoo, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Photography Technique, Photography Trips, Sony α900, sunset, Utah, Zeiss Lenses  No Responses »
Apr 292010
 

Badlands Sunset. Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 24mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f14 for 3 seconds.

Hi everyone. I am getting ready to depart for a few days to watch my daughter in a big track meet. So I thought I would post an image before head down the road. This shot was taken in the area of the Rimrock Hoodoos in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The site is easily accessible from Highway 89. A short hike brings you to a playground of hoodoos, balanced rocks, and colorful badlands. I spent the better part of an afternoon exploring this area and as I was about to leave late in the evening a wonderful band of wispy clouds moved in. This shot is looking almost due west into the setting sun. I really liked the contrast of the hard barren landscape and the ethereal clouds. I had taken a few shots when the little dark cloud rolled in to the scene. The darker band of foreground rocks leads the eye to the cloud which adds a nice layer of dynamic movement to the shot.

In order to capture this image I used a 4-stop Singh Ray split neutral density filter to compensate for the difference in contrast between the foreground and the sky. The sunlight was somewhat obscured behind the band of clouds on the horizon which helped keep exposure issues to a minimum. The image was processed in Adobe Lightroom and finished in Photoshop.

As always thank you for stopping. We will see you again next week.

Bob

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Bisti Badlands – Preachers Pulpit

 Badlands, Bisti Badlands, Bureau of Land Management, Desert, Hoodoo, Landscape, Landscape Photography, New Mexico  No Responses »
Apr 172010
 

Preachers Pulpit, Bisti Badlands. Shot with a Nikon D300 and a Nikor 12-24mm lens at 15mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f22 for 1/6 of a second.

Hi everyone. Todays post is from a remote area in northwest New Mexico called the Bisti Badlands. It is part of the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The site is located about 30 miles south of Farmington, New Mexico. Translated from the Navajo, Bisti means ” a large area of shale hill”. The Bisti Wilderness is a remote, desolate, and harsh landscape of deeply eroded hoodoos, badlands, and petrified trees. Time, wind, water, and the natural effects of erosion have created a fantasy land of strange rock formations and weathered hills.

Todays image is representative of the kinds of  hoodoos and formations you can find in the wilderness. When I stumbled across this shot the clouds were streaming by over  head. The whole formation seemed to be enveloped by the foreground rocks and the pulpit rose up from the middle and glowed from sunlight. In addition there is a beautiful connection of line that begins at the base of the rocks and extends upward into the clouds. The whole effect is one of dynamic motion, connection, and extension. All concepts I think about and like to explore in my work.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

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