Robert H Clark Photography Blog

Trees

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

Morning Fog on the Shenandoah River – Harpers Ferry, WV

Harpers Ferry, Heliopan Filters, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Mountains, National Parks, Photography Composition, Photography Technique, Potomac River, River, Robert H Clark Photography, sunrise, Trees, Water, West Virginia, Zeiss Lenses 3 Responses »

Oct 122011

Morning Fog on the Shenandoah River, Harpers Ferry, WV.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. In my last post I admonished myself for not getting out and enjoying the many scenic possibilities that exist in my own backyard. I received quite a few comments via e-mail from folks all coming clean about falling prey to the same malady. It is easy to do of course. When you plan a shooting trip, say out west, your whole focus is on that trip and the physical and mental act of scouting, shooting, chasing the light, composition, and the list goes on and on. It is different at home however. Because all the home obligations from family to work to putting a roof on the house take over. It is natural because unless we live totally in a self-absorbed vacuum we still have to take care of the business end of life. And that means manage our commitments. It is just life. But, and here is a really big but, if we do not take the time to pursue what we love then it will pass us by. Lost opportunities will turn into the “I wish I had done that”. I for one have a big bucket list of places I want to go and things I want to see, do, and experience. It is quite long and I may never get to the end of the list but I am going to try. If you want something to happen then you have to take matters into your own hands. You can’t wait for it to come to you. You must throw you aspirations out into the karmic airwaves and step by step begin the journey. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Oddly enough the journey, for most of us, begins at home.

I am fortunate to live and work in a very beautiful place. Just twenty minutes from my house the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers meet just below Harpers Ferry. The Appalachian Trail passes below my office and Loudoun Heights and Maryland Heights, part of the Appalachian chain, tower over the the confluence of the two rivers. Needless to say it is not only beautiful but an amazing barometer of the changing seasons. Fall color has started to appear and it will not be long before sheets of ice will stretch across the river. Though constantly changing the river is the catalyst which draws me to shoot. Fall brings some incredible fog events caused by the temperature inversions as the weather changes. So I have been spending a few days at “home” now just getting reacquainted with the river. As I have discovered it has a lot to offer.

Technical Details: I was on the river fairly early in the morning. The fog is generally thicker at this time and depending on the temperature swings can hang low to the river, obscuring all but the closest details, or float higher revealing more of the landscape. On this day I waited for the fog to begin to burn off just a bit and set up the shot to play on the various converging lines. The image was shot with a Sony a900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 24mm. The image was exposed at ISO 100 at f11 for 6 seconds. I used a Heliopan Circular Warming Polarizer to remove specular highlights and a Singh-Ray 3-Stop, Soft Edge, Split Neutral Density Filter over a portion of the sky and background to hold in the sky and fog.

Thanks for stopping by today. Remember where your journey starts. Get out and shoot.

Bob

Morning Fog – Shenandoah River, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

Harpers Ferry, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Lightroom, Robert H Clark Photography, Shenandoah River, Sony α900, sunrise, Trees, WV, Zeiss Lenses No Responses »

Sep 122011

Morning Fog, Shenandoah River, Harpers Ferry, WV. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 35mm. Image exposed at ISO 200 hand held at f11 for 1/60th of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. The drive in to work this morning was simply beautiful. Low lying fog in the cornfields gave way to a blue sky full of wispy, cirrus clouds. I grabbed my camera before leaving the house this morning in the hopes of something special along the river. Often in the early days of fall we will get an inversion that will hold the fog low and floating just above the river. Sometimes the fog envelopes Loudon Heights and the Virginia mountains on the other side of the river. And sometimes you get the view that greeted me when I got to the office this morning. A long band of fog hung low, drifting parallel to the line of the river. Above the cirrus wisps gained form and structure as the high winds moved them over the mountains. This view, from the patio of our office, greets me everyday I come to work. Every morning I walk to the edge and take in the view, tracing the course of the river until it turns the corner and disappears from sight. This view, like life in general, can be plain and ordinary. But when you least expect it the view, like life, can be full of surprises. Today the river gave me a surprise gift. And the funny thing is I knew it before I even got in the car. Some days are like that. Days when you are so in tune every fiber of your being vibrates and resonates with the world around you. The kind of day when everything just seems to go your way. Magic really.

Thanks for stopping by today. Walk in peace.

Bob

Yoshino Cherry Blossums

Lensbaby, Sony α900, Trees 6 Responses »

Apr 022010

Yoshino Cherry Blossums. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Lensbaby Composer with a f4 insert. Image exposed at ISO 100 for 1/200 of a second.

Hi everyone. I have hinted at the changing weather in a few recent tweets but now I have photographic proof. Quite honestly spring has seemingly pushed old man winter out of the door. The thought of all that snow that covered the ground is just a memory now. My Yoshino Cherries are in full regalia. So here is a lensbaby shot of one of the massive blooms. There was beautiful light this morning and the sky was that crystal blue that makes you want to spend all day under its cover. I shot this looking up into the tree and focused on the first set of blooms. The lensbabies unique selective focus does the rest and gave me a nice image hinting at the other blossums and the blue sky beyond. I think I may see a spring theme coming here. Can’t wait for my tree peonies to bloom. Wherever you are today I hope that spring is blooming your life.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Impressionist Landscape

Landscape, Landscape Photography, Photography Technique, Trees, Utah No Responses »

Mar 112010

Ice covered trees, Brianhead Peak, Utah. Shot with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 12-24mm lens at 24mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 2 seconds. One image shot straight, one with vertical camera movement.

Recently many landscape photographers have been experimenting with camera movement during the exposure to introduce deliberate motion blur into the shot. Done right the results are really beautiful. In this post I have taken this idea and merged a motion blur image with a non blurred image. In doing so I wanted to create a multi layered image merging the impressionist side with the reality side. The image is a grouping of ice coated trees from Brianhead Peak in Utah. The blurred image was placed on top of the non blur image in the layer stack. A layer mask was added to the blurred image. From there I simply painted in with a soft brush set to a low opacity to “tweak” out some of the branch detail. Simple enough. Though it won’t work for all images this is a neat technique that allows you to experiment with photographic abstraction to add a new layer to your images. Plus there is the element of the unknown and a bit of chaos theory thrown in. Every time you do it the image and the effect is different.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bob

Ice and Bridge Piers on the Potomac

Landscape, Potomac River, Trees, West Virginia No Responses »

Jan 172010

Stone bridge piers reflect in the Potomac River near Shepherdstown. Shot with a Sony a900 and Zeiss 25-70mm lens at 50mm. Image exposed at ISO100 at f11 for 1/3 of a second.

Alright I promise this will be the last ice image from the Potomac River. Well, at least until we have another winter storm. I like to visit my favorite places regularly. Conditions are always changing and you never know what you might shoot. As of todays post a weekend of rain has melted all the ice and for now the river is clear.

In this image I was drawn to the small swirl of water that cut around the boulder. No matter where my eye starts in the picture I always end up at the boulder. Leading lines in the ice help direct the movement and allow the eye to travel around the photograph. And don’t forget to check out the little tree growing from the top of the largest pier.

Thanks for looking at these recent images. I’ll be heading for warmer climates next weekend for work but I’m sure I can find something to shoot. Check back soon. Aloha, (Just a hint).

Bob

Ice and Tree Reflection

Potomac River, River, Trees, Water, Winter 2 Responses »

Jan 162010

Image 1. Initial RAW file before Photoshop work.

Image 2. Optimized Image after RAW processing and Photoshop.

We have had quite a bit of cold weather in West Virginia so I took the opportunity to explore the edges of the Potomac River in search of ice. Due to a bit of a warming trend most of the ice had dissipated but several areas were still intact. In this image the stillness of the river allowed the trees to reflect against a sheet of ice. It was a wonderful study in contrast.

The image was exposed with a Heliopan Circular Warming Polarizer. I stopped the polarizer down just a bit to allow some of the river bottom to show through. This gave me just a bit of warm color to contrast with the blue of the ice and river. Lens focus was directed on the sheet of ice and the trees were allowed to blur slightly.

Image 1 shows the file after RAW conversion in Adobe Lightroom. The white balance was adjusted and initial capture sharpening was applied.

Image 2 shows the file after work in Photoshop. The intent was to process the image the way I initially saw it which required applying a series of adjustment layer curves to separate the sheet of ice from the river. The river adjustment also equalized the contrast in the river allowing the ice to stand out.

I have several more images from this day which I will put up in a later post.

Bob

After the Storm-Update

Potomac River, Snow, Trees, Water, Winter 2 Responses »

Dec 202009

I just finished up with another image from this mornings shoot. This was shot from a bridge vantage point with a 70-300 lens at 300mm. There was beautiful light on the trees and a nice soft reflection in the Potomac River. The image was exposed at f16 at 1/80. The image was processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. In order to bring out the soft tones I created a filter layer and an inverse overlay with a Gaussian Blur at 10.0 pixels. This brings out the midtone details. The resulting print is full of detail and color.

Snow and Trees No. 4. | Sony a900, Sony 70-300 at 300mm, f16 at 1/80sec.

After the Storm

Potomac River, Snow, Trees, Water, Winter No Responses »

Dec 202009

Snow and Trees No. 1. | Sony a900, Zeiss 24-70 at 70mm, f16 at 1/80sec.

Snow and Trees No. 2. | Sony a900, Zeiss 24-70 at 65mm, f16 at 1/80sec.

Snow and Trees No. 3. | Sony a900, Sony 70-300 at 300mm, f14 at 1/25sec.

The big December storm has passed and dawn brought a sunny day. Suffering from cabin fever I ventured out along the Potomac River early this morning. The snow was deep and the air crisp and cold. As the sun came up a beautiful golden light washed over the river and trees. Snow still clung to the brunches and the river moved slow and still. These images are just a few of the shots I took. I had to finally come in when I lost all the feeling in my fingers. All in all a gorgeous morning.

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