Robert H Clark Photography Blog

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

Hipstamatic Photography – Fun With the iPhone 4

Abstracts, Black and White, Flower Photography, Flowers, Hipstamatic, iPhone Photography, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Photography Tools 2 Responses »

Apr 142011

Daffodils No. 1. Shot with an iPhone 4 and the Hipstamatic iPhone App with Claunch 72 Monochrome Film and the Lucifer IV Lens.

Daffodils No. 2. Shot with an iPhone 4 and the Hipstamatic iPhone App with Claunch 72 Monochrome Film and the Lucifer IV Lens.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Well, I have fallen under the spell of my new iPhone 4 and my digital life may never be the same. Ok, that may be over stated but I have thoroughly enjoyed my iPad and found it quite a useful device for checking into my Facebook and Blog sites as well as housing my digital portfolio and providing hours of entertainment while on the road. So I did not think I could have much use for an iPhone. Well I am wrong. I really like it and I can do many of the things I do on my iPad but in a more portable fashion. And then there is the photography aspect.

I downloaded the Hipstamatic App for the iPhone and have a great time experimenting with all the film, lens, and flash options available through a variety of upgradeable Film Paks. The basic dowload comes with a few rolls of “film type” and lens and flash combinations. But you do not want to stop there. Just go on and buy all the Film Pak options to get all the various combinations. There are Black and White films, Infrared, Color, and Tonal Colorized Film options and most come with a lens or flash. The fun comes in trying out the various options. The camera looks like an old range finder and there are simple controls for setting the image quality, which affects the output size, selecting the film, and the flash. You can change lenses by swiping your finger across the iPhone screen. When you are ready to shoot you touch the screen and the camera flips over and you can compose through the viewfinder. It is a bit like looking through an old Box Camera. You can only see a portion of your composition which is part of the fun. All the compositions are square and come with various borders depending on the film type selected. My favorite combination so far is the Claunch 72 Monochrome with the Lucifer IV Lens. The two images above were shot in my garden this evening using that combination. The files are stored on the iPhone and can be downloaded into iPhoto. You can also share the files straight into Facebook or e-mail out to your friends. I shot each image in the highest quality mode and each .jpg was imported into Photoshop for a little curve work. Simple and fun. In fact its just liberating. Give it a try.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Vortex – Upper Antelope Canyon

Abstracts, Arizona, Black and White, Colorado Plateau, Desert, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Navajo Lands, Photography Trips, Sony α900, Upper Antelope Canyon, Zeiss Lenses 4 Responses »

Feb 122011

Vortex, Upper Antelope Canyon, Page, Arizona. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 24mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f11 for 30 seconds.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This image was shot on a recent trip to Upper Antelope Canyon just outside of Page, Arizona. It is one of those images that if I look long enough I can see many things. Carol Bigthumb told me once that the rocks hold many stories and if you look long enough they are revealed to you. When I look at this shot I immediately think of Jonah and the whale. Swallowed by the mighty whale, I am looking through the teeth of the great beast at the light beyond. As I peer from the darkness the light gives me hope that all is not lost. I also see waves on a rolling sea; the solidity of rock transformed into a symphony of continuous movement. I see stellar storms and gaseous nebulas in the far reaches of space. The stories are limited only by our imaginations.

To give you some perspective this image was made looking straight up through a slot in the canyon. The great shadowed forms of sandstone, and the waves beyond, become a metaphor to their very creation. During flash floods water rolls through these slots; violent, swirling waves carving stone into stories and images. Reduced to the simple tonality of black and white the image becomes a negative. The rock is carved by water and when the water recedes it leaves behind a picture of its formation. Water revealed in solid forms. Solid forms that evoke continuous motion. Yin and Yang.

What do you see?

Thanks for stopping by today. Hozógo nasádo. (From the Navajo, “Walk in Beauty”) Thanks to my friend Tom for leaving me that message.

Bob

Juniper Root – Navajo Lands, Arizona

Abstracts, Arizona, Badlands, Black and White, Colorado Plateau, Desert, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Navajo Lands, Photography Trips, Sony α900, Zeiss Lenses 2 Responses »

Feb 082011

Juniper Root, Navajo Lands, near Page, Arizona. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 35mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f14 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. The winds are howling today, part of an arctic blast of air moving down from the north. By tomorrow we will see single digit temperatures. Though we are ever so close to spring winter still has its icy claw around us. When it gets like this I think of the desert. It is a powerful and emotional draw that can only be satisfied by feeling the ground under my feet. In my mind I can picture all the formations along the highway from the east rim of the Grand Canyon to Page, Arizona. Today’s image was found near Page, Arizona on Navajo Lands. On this day the wind was also howling. It just would not stop. Gusts of sand were swept up and thrown at me, stinging my face and lodging in the folds of my clothes. Quite frankly the wind was distracting and for a period of time put a damper on my spirits. Wind is not the photographers friend and with this much sand it was sure to lodge in my cameras. But there was a lot to see and I carried on. I climbed higher dropping into a saddle surrounded on both sides by sand dunes. The wind abated, diverted over my depression by the mounds of sand. Climbing higher still I came upon a stark reminder of the harshness of the desert. This juniper, once alive and thriving, had lost in the struggle to live. I thought about a passage from Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey that “the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in a spareness and simplicity . . .”. Indeed existence, that delicate balance of life and death, are emphasized here. So to are spareness and simplicity. Once vibrant and green the juniper would have stood out; defying the odds against the barren rock and moving sand. But the desert is a harsh mistress, relentless and unforgiving. What stresses were brought to bear are unclear but death occurred leaving only the tendril remains to bake in the sun. Over time sand piled against the gnarly remains forming a shallow grave. In time the dunes will move onward swallowing the juniper. And somewhere on the dunes a new juniper with take hold, drawing a line in the sand, daring to survive against the odds. The cycle continues.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Blair Pittman – Terlingua, Texas, Big Bend Country

Big Bend, Big Bend National Park, Black and White, Desert, Photography Trips, Portrait, Portrait Photography, Sony α900, Zeiss Lenses 9 Responses »

Feb 042011

Blair Pittman, Terlingua, Texas, Big Bend Country. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f2.8 for 1/125 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. I would like to introduce you to Blair Pittman, award winning photographer, writer, and folklorist. For several decades he has been telling and listening to tales on the Terlingua Ghost Town porch. On a beautiful late afternoon I found myself next to Blair as he recited a few yarns about the history of the old ghost town. With my beer in hand I sat back and soaked in the afternoon sun. I could smell the desert stretching out before me. Life just seemed to happen that afternoon. I had already spent time with Dr. Doug and here I was ending my day with Blair. I retreated to the trading post for another beer and as I paid I saw a small display featuring two books by Blair; Tales From The Terlingua Porch, and More! Tales From The Terlingua Porch. I bought them both and Blair signed and personalized each book. In one book he wrote “To Bob – If it ain’t the truth, it otta’ be. Viva Terlingua”. And in the other he wrote “To Bob – See you on the porch”.

The two books are a special reminder of an incredible week I spent in Big Bend. Small and easy to read the stories take you into the heart and soul of this place. That day on the porch life just happened and I was lucky enough to be there when it did. I did not intend to shoot an image of Blair but like life it just happened. As he was talking he looked off in the distance and I just brought the camera up and snapped the shot. For me it captured a lot about this man; wise and grizzled, but kind and reflective. If you let it, life just happens. And that is the truth.

Thanks for stopping by today. See you on the porch.

Bob

The Edge of Light – White Sands National Monument

Black and White, Desert, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, New Mexico, Photography Trips, Sony α900, sunset, Twilight Photography, White Sands National Monument 2 Responses »

Jan 212011

The Edge of Light, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 20mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 4 seconds.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This image is from White Sands National Monument. When I was at White Sands I tended to gravitate to the south western dune fields. It is an easy area to access yet few people seem to make the trek away from the parking areas. In fact most of the parks visitor’s stay within two to three dunes adjacent to the road or parking areas. The further away from the road the more pristine the dunes. It is an alluring landscape that draws you in, beckoning if you will, to explore it’s subtle twists and turns.

In the late afternoon, just before the sun sets the world of light and shadow meet. Once hidden by the harsh midday sun, distinctive edges that I call the edge of light emerge revealing sinuous curves and soft ripples. From a high point you can trace unbroken lines of light from dune to dune until they disappear in the far horizon. It is not enough though to simply trace these lines. Instead they become a path-a way into the very heart of the dunes. When the sun sets cool air descends to wash away the afternoon heat. All is quiet as twilight envelopes you with it’s soft light. As night falls, the lines begin to fade. The edges become solid forms again-black shapes against the sky. What was once revealed by light is thrust into darkness waiting only for the suns return.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Half Dome Light and Yosemite High Country – Yosemite National Park

Adobe Lightroom, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Mountains, National Parks, Photography Technique, Sony α900, Yosemite, Yosemite National Park, Zeiss Lenses 11 Responses »

Jan 022011

Half Dome Light and the Yosemite High Country, Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 50mm. Image exposed at ISO 200 at f14 for 1/4 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Happy New Year to all my friends and thank you for visiting and supporting this site. Today’s image is a view of Half Dome and the Yosemite High Country taken near Glacier Point. In my mind it is arguably one of the most spectacular views in country. It is certainly one of my favorites. I was in the Valley for most of the day and watched as incredible bands of clouds drifted overhead. I though about staying in the valley to shoot sunset but I though with all the clouds the horizon might be blocked and there would be no color. I decided instead to drive up to Glacier Point thinking that the clouds might provide a more fitting backdrop from that vantage point. Well I was treated to an amazing show. Bands of clouds drifted over the high country and the light was amazing. Just before sunset the clouds opened up an sunlight lit up Half Dome and the higher peaks and snow-capped ridges of the high country. The light did not stay for long however. My suspicions about the horizon proved true and once the sun set the light and color were gone.

I processed the RAW image in Adobe Lightroom and prepared two files in Photoshop. The color version above and a black and white versions shown below. I like them both but find myself drawn to the black and white. I think some is this my conditioned response to viewing the Yosemite work of Ansel Adams. The other is that often reducing an image to simpler tones makes it more powerful. For the black and white version I used the Black and White Layer Conversion and adjusted the sliders in the Blue, Red, and Yellow zones. So what is your vote? Color or the black and white. I would love to hear your views.

Half Dome Light and Yosemite High Country. Black and White Conversion in Photoshop.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Terlingua Creek Sunrise – Big Bend National Park

Adobe Lightroom, Big Bend, Big Bend National Park, Black and White, Helicon Focus, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Lightroom, National Parks, Photography Technique, Photography Trips, Singh-Ray Filters, Sony α900, sunrise, Texas, Zeiss Lenses 4 Responses »

Dec 172010

Terlingua Creek Sunrise, outside of Big Bend National Park. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f8 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to todays post. This image is a sunrise shot along Terlingua Creek just outside of Big Bend National Park. This area of the creek is located a few miles from the Terlingua Ghost Town along Highway 170. This was my second visit during the week that I visited this area so in a sense I had prescouted this shot. All I needed were the clouds. On this morning I was blessed with some amazing clouds. They rolled in as a single mass and then began to break apart over the bluffs along the creek. I positioned the camera to take advantage of the strong series of repeating leading lines of the creek, creek bed, reflection, and the bluffs. The clouds added a hugh dynamic component to the shot.

The image was shot in three focus brackets and combined in Helicon Focus software. Additionally I used a 3-stop Singh-Ray Soft Edge Split Neutral Density Filter dropped in along the top of the bluffs. The filter was rotated to account for the angle. The image was converted in Adobe Lightroom and finished in Photoshop.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Dr. Doug – Terlingua Ghost Town

Adobe Lightroom, Big Bend, Desert, People Photography, Photography Technique, Portrait, Portrait Photography, Sony α900, Street Portrait, Texas, Zeiss Lenses 4 Responses »

Nov 182010

Dr. Doug, Terlingua ghost Town, Terlingua Texas. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f2.8 for 1/500 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to todays post. I will be out of town again for a week and thought I would get this story up before heading out. I would like to introduce you to Dr. Doug, a man I am glad to call an acquaintance, and one I would be proud to call a friend. Dr. Doug leads guided mental health sessions and group therapy from the porch of the trading post at the Terlingua Ghost Town. Whatever your issue just grab a bear, have a seat, and just let it go. If you have time stay and watch the sun set for his expanded sessions. I met Dr. Doug during my last Big Bend workshop. Craig Tanner, from The Mindful Eye, had asked us to shoot a series of portraits of workshop participants, and if time permitted, grab one of the local inhabitants and shoot a portrait of them. Craig was really pushing my buttons on this assignment. I just do not consider myself a people photographer, with more of an inclination to shoot rocks, plants, and landscapes. I find that human interaction from behind a camera is tough for me. It is a learned skill and I do try to engage people who interest me whenever I can. When we operate from a place of fear we can invent all kinds of stories that keep us from overcoming that fear. The trick is to recognize it, accept it as irrational, and work proactively to overcome the fear. Easier said than done.

Well, if I had not tackled this assignment I would not have spent a great afternoon drinking beer and talking about everything and nothing with Dr. Doug. It was a chance meeting that would have gone by and I would have been the loser. I had finished shooting my partner, so I bought a Lonestar and found an inviting seat in the warm, afternoon sun. Within minutes here comes this charismatic character with a long beard, befitting a civil war general, who sits down beside me. We started talking and soon we were trading our stories, laughing, toasting, and just soaking up the Texas afternoon. This went on for some time when I finally got up the nerve to ask if I could shoot a few portrait shots. “Why absolutely”, he said. A couple of beers and about 30 shots later I got this one. It is Dr. Doug to a “T”. The deep, caring eyes, draw me in every time I look at this image. To me it says a lot about this man who has experienced so much of life.

I started with basic shots to feel my way into the shoot and then moved in close. Close is where the magic seems to happen. If you and your subject can move past this comfort zone, or “discomfort zone” as I like to call it, I believe portraits that capture a persons real personna can be achieved. Doug turned away for just a second and as I moved in for a tighter, more intimate shot he turned back to the camera, raised his eye and I tripped the shutter.

The image was shot RAW and processed with a preset called Aged Photo in Lightroom. From there I applied my own processing tweaks in Photoshop.

Thanks for stopping by today. I’ll see you in about a week.

Bob

Wedding Chapel, Kona Coast, Hawaii

Architectural Photography, Architecture, Black and White, Churches, Hawaii, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Nikon D3x, Photography Technique No Responses »

Sep 162010

Wedding Chapel, Kona Coast, big island of Hawaii. Shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikkor 24mm Perspective Control Lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f16 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Well I am back from the big city of Philadelphia but still nursing the cold that knocked me out. I am afraid I have passed this one on to my family and a few friends as well. In any event I thought we would look at a classic architectural shot of a wedding chapel I discovered on my last visit to Hawaii. The chapel was adjacent to my hotel and I thought it would showcase an excellent use of the 24mm PC lens. For those of you who are not familiar with this lens it allows the photographer to shift the lens along a vertical or horizontal axis, depending on the how the lens is oriented, and provides a tilt function similar to the controls in a view camera. The lens shift function is important as you can mitigate against the distortion that occurs when you try to capture a tall subject in a wide angle lens. To see this effect aim a wide angle upward on a tall building and you will see the lines of the building begin to converge, and surfaces which should be straight, are no longer parallel. This can add to the dynamics of a photograph but is not desirable for most architectural shots.

I pre-scouted the location and determined what time, and where, the best light would be. I used an app called LightTrac on my iPad to determine the sun angle based on the time of day. In this case an early morning shot with the sun rising from camera right would serve to give me some beautiful side lighting to help define some of the chapels features. The other thing I had going for me was a small bank of palm trees which helped diffuse some of the light and cast some shadows on the facade. I was prepared for a totally blue sky but got some clouds to soften the composition. I had several angles I could work with but the straight on shot in my mind was the best. Shooting from the right would have put me in the palm trees and there was a hand rail blocking part of the shot. All this was thought through in the scouting as well as the exact placement I wanted for the camera. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to scout your shots. It is not always possible but the best results come from understanding the site, light direction, and previsualizing of the shot.

Aside from the clean lines of the church I was also intrigued by the positive and negative shapes of the cross on the steeple and at the back of the chapel. My hope early on was for the clouds to hold in place so I could capture the white cross on the steeple against the blue sky. Luck prevailed in this case. Another point I want to make is I was dealing with essentially three distinct colors; the white of the chapel, the blue sky, and the intense greens of the foliage, all of which convert very well to black and white. The conversion to black and white simplifies the tonal range and allows the chapel to “pop” within the composition.

Camera placement was centered on the chapel for a classic composition but I also achieved a nice balance to the photograph with the vegetation that framed the steeple. With the camera oriented in vertical the 24mm lens could not fully capture the top of the steeple. Not to worry of course because once I had the shot framed and all lines parallel I simply shifted the lens upward to capture the steeple and cross. All vertical lines remained parallel. But even with carful framing and set up there was still just a hint of distortion which was easily removed in Photoshop with the lens correction features.

Thanks for stopping by today. I have some other architectural shots I took on this trip and will post those as soon as I can get them processed.

Bob

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