Robert H Clark Photography Blog

Bryce Canyon Sunrise – Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, Photography Technique, Photography Trips, Robert H Clark Photography, sunrise, Twilight Photography, Utah 2 Responses »

Oct 282012

Bryce Canyon Sunrise • Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

Hi everyone and welcome to todays post. I know it has been a little while since my last post but it has been a whirlwind of a fall that has included the installation of my first one-man show at the City Meat Gallery in Winchester, Virginia, a major shooting trip to Utah, and a trip to Photo Plus Expo in New York. I am just now able to slow down and start looking at some of the files from my recent shoots. Todays image was shot in Bryce CanyonNational Park in Utah and was shot at dawn just below the canyon rim along the Navajo Trail. I found this “hoodoo wall” while scouting a potential morning shot for Thor’s Hammer, one of the more iconic hoodoos in Bryce. I made a mental note of the forms but at the time did not think too much of the shots potential. It was only while checking the rising sun angles with the Photographers Ephemeris on my iPhone that I realized I could capture the rising sun through the window openings in the wall. Scouting and pre-visualizing a shot is an important part of the photographic process. This is especially true when you need to arrive very early, before the sun rises, to set up the shot. As a general rule I like to be on-site and in place at least an hour before sunrise. This gives me time to get into position and an opportunity to watch the “lights come on”. I will always be enthralled by this phenomenon. In the darkness the landscape is seemingly a place of quiet shadows. It can be an eery time as well with thoughts of things that go bump in the night. But as the earth rotates into astronomical twilight, approximately an hour before sunrise, the eastern horizon begins to glow with the promise of a new day. By the arrival of civil twilight the landscape begins to glow with reflected light bouncing from the sky and clouds. Light at this time is generally even and shadowless allowing the forms of the landscape to be revealed. It is my favorite time to shoot.

On the next morning I made a few twilight exposures of Thor’s Hammer and then raced up the trail to set up my camera on the largest window in the hoodoo. I marked the brightest point along the horizon, the point where I thought the sun would rise, and made sure it was visible through the window. I made a few test exposures for the composition and then waited for the sun to rise. It came right on time and light burst through the hoodoos window. In order to get the starburst effect I stopped the camera down to f22. The smaller aperture focuses the light and creates the star. Additionally I wanted to make sure the sun was partially blocked by a piece of the hoodoo which aids in creating the effect and helps to eliminate a lot of the potential flare. I did have a little bit of correctable flare however since I was using my Tokina 16-28 which has a pronounced front lens element. The intense color evident on the hoodoo came from reflected light off the canyon wall just behind my camera position. The RAW file was processed in LR4.2 and finished in PS5.1

Camera: Nikon D800E | Lens: Tokina 16-28mm, f2.8 at 20mm | Exposure: ISO 100 at 1/15th of a second at f22

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

First Light on Bandon Beach – Oregon Coastline, Oregon

Bandon Beach, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Oregon, Oregon Coast, Pacific Ocean, Photography Technique, Photography Trips, Reflections, Robert H Clark Photography, sunrise, Twilight Photography No Responses »

Jul 122012

First Light on Bandon Beach • Oregon Coastline, Oregon

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This image of complete calm and relaxation was taken at Bandon Beach along the Oregon Coastline. Bandon is a frequent stop over for many photographers because of the beautiful wide beaches and wonderful sea stacks. But the light here can also be amazing. To be quite honest I was hoping for some clouds with open horizons so I could shoot for color and reflections in the left over pools of water. But alas that was not to be. But in the landscape photographers world we have to take what Mother Nature gives us and feel blessed to be in such a beautiful location.

What I got when I arrived was a massive amount of wind. It was really blowing a gale and it made my afternoon scouting trip a little difficult. If this continued the evening shoot would not go well. While back at the hotel the clerk assured me the daily pattern had been calm in the mornings, lots of wind during the day, and calmer by the early evening. So I took him at his word. After all if you want to know the weather it pays to go to the local sources. The evening shoot went off without a hitch and I awoke in the early morning to some very calm conditions. This image was made just before the sun broke the horizon. Fog particulates over the ocean glowed with the yellow tones of the sun and the beach reflected the blue light of the morning sky. This formation is known as the Witches Hat though its shape is not quite as evident from my shooting location. To frame the shot I positioned the Witches Hat in the left third of the frame and used a strong leading line of water to help bring the eye into the shot. The image was made from one exposure and processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Bob

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

Clearing Storm over the North Rim • Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Arizona, Desert, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon Photography, Grand Circle, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Mountains, National Parks, Photography Trips, Robert H Clark Photography, sunrise, Twilight Photography, Winter 5 Responses »

Jan 292012

Clearing Storm over the North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. As most of you know who follow this blog I have been away on a combined work/photography trip to the Grand Canyon. I was anticipating a great time with my shooting pal Tony Kuyper. We had compiled a list of places I have not been and was looking forward to bringing back some new images. Alas however that was not to be. Going back nearly a month to my shooting trip to Death Valley I contracted a nagging cough that weeks later was still with me. By the time I arrived at the canyon I was feverish and in quite a fix. I spent most of Sunday in the hotel unable to move and by Monday was in the Grand Canyon Medical Center with several IV’s stuck in my hand. The diagnosis was pneumonia. Needless to say everything was cancelled and I made the flight home two days later. Just to fill in the rest of the story I am on a new antibiotic that is working and I am on the mend.

Despite my condition, on the way out of the canyon to get to the airport at Flagstaff, I still managed to capture a few images. Well let’s just say I was bound and determined to shoot something despite how I felt. Over Monday night it snowed 8″ on the South Rim turning the canyon into a magical sight. Across the way on the North Rim it looked like nature had dropped white sugar sprinkles over the spires and buttes. A layer of clouds had dropped below the rim and was drifting among the canyons formations. As the sun rose and kissed the buttes with light the composition was complete. In this shot you can see the Cheops Pyramid (right), and the Isis Temple (left). Overhead the early morning light turned the clouds a subtle magenta. This was a special sight to see and though I really did not feel well I was bolstered, even if only for a brief period, by the experience. Nature has powerful healing forces. At least it does for me. This image will forever be linked to one of the worst trips I have had. But every time I see this image I will remember it fondly.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

A Thin Line of Light – Salt Creek, Death Valley National Park, Ca

California, Death Valley, Death Valley National Park, Death Valley Photography, Desert, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Lightroom, Photography Trips, Robert H Clark Photography, Split Neutral Density Filters, sunset, Twilight Photography 2 Responses »

Jan 152012

A Thin Line of Light, Death Valley National Park, Ca

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. The other day I glanced at the image count in the Lightroom Database for all the shots I took on my recent Death Valley trip. Alec, Travis and I had 8 total shooting sessions. The amount of time we shot during each session varied based on the quality of the light. In general though we shoot early morning sunrise and late afternoon to evening sunset. During the day we scouted, ate, downloaded and backed up images, and other housekeeping details. So the final image count which included brackets of the same shot to ensure I had all the data needed to process the RAW files was 1795 shots. That works out to an average of 224.375 shots per shooting session. I am still scratching my head on this one. The numbers from the camera do not lie. But I for the life of me just do not remember shooting that much. But in a recent discussion with Alec we did conclude that the overall quality of light and shooting conditions we encountered was extraordinary. In addition Death Valley offers so many compositional possibilities. The end result we surmise was a perfect storm of shooting conditions.

Of course this does not mean that every shot I took was a winner. This is far from possible. But there were a lot. And Alec and Travis and I do agree that pound for pound we all got more keepers than we normally would get on an average shooting trip. The trip was also a bit of a departure for me in terms of how I shot. I began to look beyond just the shot and consider the processing possibilities. In the past, and this is based largely on my days with a 4 x 5 camera, I would seek to capture intact the shot I saw. I used whatever filters and other conventional means at the time to effect that capture. In Death Valley, save for occasional use of my trusty Warming Polarizer, I left all my filters in the bag. I did not employ a single Split Neutral Density. Instead of fumbling with the filters I was free to really shoot and explore potential compositions. And apparently shoot I did. The door opened and a thin line of light led me down a different path. I set my camera to record bracket sets in one-stop, and on occasion 2/3-stop, increments, composed and shot. The freedom allowed me time to watch the light and react to changing conditions. Quite honestly it was liberating.

Today’s image came from one of my bracket sets. I passed this over several times before returning to process the RAW files. Here I was drawn to the convergence of lines of water into a single flow that disappeared into the horizon. The water was beautifully illuminated by the rising sun, and for me, came to represent my new path. I do not know how long I will be here. Such is the nature of photography. But for now I will just follow the light.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Dawn Sky – West Virginia Farmland, Shepherdstown, WV

Landscape, Landscape Photography, Nikon D3x, Photography Composition, Robert H Clark Photography, Shepherdstown, Singh-Ray Filters, Split Neutral Density Filters, sunrise, West Virginia, Wide Angle Photography 2 Responses »

Nov 082011

Dawn Sky No. 1 and West Virginia Farmland. Shot near Shepherdstown, WV.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Over the last few weeks we have had some incredible “cloud events” here in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. I am fortunate to have a beautiful drive to my office. It winds through rural land plowed and planted with corn, winter wheat, soybeans, and other crops. On many mornings a misty fog settles into the low spots obscuring the landscape like a veil. From the high points in the road I can see the mountains of Loudoun Heights, and farther still, the water gap at Harpers Ferry, where the Shenandoah and Potomac join together.

On these crisp, fall mornings, the air is razor clear. The cool mornings coupled with the fog bring a hard rime that coats the land with a white ice. Everything seems crisp and clean; sharp with the expectations of a new day. With my morning coffee I breath in the day, gazing upward to see what treasures the sky holds. Most days are clear with maybe a passing wisp of cirrus clouds. Nothing spectacular really. Just another beautiful day in the panhandle. On this day if was different. Off to the east the first rays from the sun were just peeking over the horizon. The clouds hung low moving slowly on high winds. I just thought it was going to be special. On these days I always have the camera pack ready; batteries charged, cards loaded, camera settings dialed in. And don’t forget the tripod. I hit the road to my favorite cornfield. I arrived as the eastern light came alive. The clouds were slung low along the horizon, rising upwards, soft like flowing silk on the wind. The light hit bringing color and form to the sky. Everywhere I looked the clouds expanded over me like a shifting aurora of pulsing mist.

The corn, freshly cut, stood at attention; the long, even rows of cut stalks marching into the horizon. Overhead the clouds continued to morph into continuously changing organic shapes. It was like an unseen artist created pastel paintings and hung them in the sky. I barely changed camera positions opting instead to simply rotate the camera or switch from horizontal to vertical orientations as I composed on the fly. On this day it was all about the sky. I kept the fields low in the composition to expand the idea of the sky and how it dwarfs the landscape. The show proceeded from Act to Act with a final bow as dawn color faded bringing the high contrast light of the new day.

Dawn Sky No. 2 and West Virginia Farmland near Shepherdstown, WV.

Technical Information: The image was shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikkor 17-35mm at 17mm. Dawn Sky No. 1 was shot in one exposure at ISO 100 at f11 for 1/2 of a second. I used a Singh-Ray, 3-stop, hard edge split neutral density filter to balance out the exposure. Dawn Sky No. 2 was shot in three exposures and blended in Photoshop.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Bridge and Fog – Shenandoah River, Harpers Ferry, WV

Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Lightroom Workflow, Bridges, Harpers Ferry, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Lee Big Stopper, Lightroom, National Parks, Photography Composition, Photography Technique, Robert H Clark Photography, Shenandoah River, Sony α900, sunrise, West Virginia, Zeiss Lenses 4 Responses »

Oct 092011

Bridge and Fog, Shenandoah River. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 45mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f11 for 1-1/2 minutes.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Today’s is image is brought to courtesy of our recent influx of beautiful fall weather. The cool mornings and warm afternoons typically generate some fantastic fog along our rivers in the early morning. In a recent conversation with Alec Johnson we were both lamenting that our current workloads and obligations were preventing both of us from getting out and shooting. So I want to make a point about this conversation. Getting out and shooting for the two of us usually involves anywhere but home. For Alec it is the North Shore of Lake Superior and for me it usually revolves around some slot canyon or grand vista in the American West. The fact is that the act of photography, the mental and physical immersion we both have for this medium, is important to our sanity and well being. It seems like a lot of baggage to place on our choice of art but it is true. Both of us, in our own pursuit of photography, find peace and well-being. Much like yoga the process is one of contemplative and deliberate practice and within this we find a release of our demons.

With the arrival of the fog came a revelation. I travel so much and most of my shooting has indeed been in the far reaches of the country. But I live in an incredible place with a veritable playground full of photographic opportunities. What am I waiting for? Nothing was preventing me from shooting, but me. That’s right, me. I am coming clean here. It is so easy to put up the road blocks and complain about our situations. Our conversation and the influx of of fog gave me a new sense of clarity. Yes, I want to shoot out west but when I can’t be there I have great places at home to practice my craft. In the immortal words of Steven Stills, “if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one your with”. The river is so close and I can make the time without negating my other obligations. It is a good thing and I am glad I woke up to the possibilities. So “Chak” , if you read this far, this one’s for you.

Technical Details: Today’s image was shot in the early morning and was conceived as a long exposure black and white. I wanted two things in the vision of this image. I wanted to soften the details and capture the beautiful soft light created by the fog. This required a long exposure to achieve. So out came my Lee Big Stopper. 10-stops of neutral density gave me a shutter speed at f11 of nearly two minutes. So during the exposure time the river softens and becomes “ice” like and the drifting fog softens the details rendering the image almost high-key. Just exactly what I was looking to do. In processing I kept the image light soft and put most of the detail into the first bridge pier. This in effect stabilizes the composition and provides a nice contrast.

Get out and shoot. Time is wasting away.

Thanks for stopping by today.

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

Cloud Reflections – Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park, Landscape, Landscape Photography, Mountains, National Parks, Oregon, Photography Composition, Photography Trips, Robert H Clark Photography, Singh-Ray Filters, Sony α900, Split Neutral Density Filters, sunrise No Responses »

Sep 042011

Cloud Reflections, Crater Lake National Park. Shot with a Sony a900 and a Sony SAL 20mm lens. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f11 for 1/30th of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. After a long stint in the field I am finally back at home saddled with the joyful task of sorting through quite a few images. Many of the images I took on this trip will require some time consuming post-processing as I shot a lot of bracketed exposures for Helicon Focus and Photomatix. I will get to these as soon as time allows. In the meantime please enjoy a new black and white image from Crater Lake National Park.

This shot was made early in the morning from the south rim side of lake and is looking across Wizard Island towards Llao Peak. When I arrived a little before 6:00am the lake was calm and a near perfect mirror for reflections. I fooled around for about 20 minutes trying to decide where to make the shot and by the time I had set up the had wind picked up on the lake surface. Intermittent gusts though only disturbed portions of the lake leaving some areas completely calm. I was immediately irritated with myself for taking too long and losing the opportunity to fill the lake with cloud reflections. But as I watched the lake surface change I found this turn of events far more interesting and liked the muted nature of the cloud reflections in the lake. Often the wind levels on the lake leave the surface featureless which makes composition difficult since you have to balance the thin line of the crater rim and the mass of the lake. On this day I could use the crater rim as a distinctive line that separated the cloud patterns between earth and water. Additionally the patterns in the lake became my foreground elements.

Technical Details: The image was shot with a Sony a900 and a 20 mm lens. The image was exposed at ISO 100 at f11 for 1/30th of a second. The white balance was set to 5500K. I used two Singh-Ray Split Neutral Density Filters: A 3-Stop Soft edge for the top, above the rim to cover the sky, and a 2-Stop Soft Edge, below the rim to cover the water. The RAW file was processed in Lightroom and the final file was finished in Photoshop.

There are more things to come including images from the Oregon Coast and the California Redwoods. So stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Journey – White Sands National Monument

Desert, Landscape, Landscape Photography, National Parks, New Mexico, Photography Trips, Reflections, Sony α900, sunrise, White Sands National Monument, Zeiss Lenses No Responses »

May 192011

Journey, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. Shot with a Sony α900 and a Zeiss 24-70mm lens at 70mm. Image exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 1/2 of a second.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. For the next few days I will be in Charleston at my daughters state track meet. She will be competing in the pole vault. I will confess that she is quite good at her event. But this year, her junior year, has been tough on her. She has faced the pressure of grades, competing, and some for the first time being under the microscope of expectations. She has cracked a bit under this pressure but has done an incredible job of working through the issues. Today’s world is so different compared to my day. It is just so much harder and our kids seem to face so many pressures that for many of us “old timers” were not around in our youth.

On a daily basis I remind my daughter that her life is a journey and will be made up of many events, some that will inform what she becomes, and others that are just minor blips along the path. Though this year was tough it will get better. Though she did not pole vault well this season it will get better. It can all change in the snap of a finger. I also remind her to try to be in the moment. The path of life is long with many twists and it is simply impossible to see around every curve. Many influences, both good and bad, will pull at you during your journey. Many things will happen that just do not seem fair. But a lot of good happens if you let it. If you let go of what holds you back and choose not to live in fear then amazing things will happen. This is tough for a 17 year old. And as I jot these thoughts down I realize it is tough for me as well.

I do not know what the next few days will hold for her. But I pray she finds the moment and the courage to face down the demons that are holding her. I pray that she steps on to the path of light and lives in the incredible moment of “now”. And I hope I can do the same.

This image was shot on a beautiful morning on the dunes at White Sands. As the sun rose golden light illuminated this beautiful ribbon that traversed the ridge between light and dark. To all my friends-walk the path. Life has much to offer if you let it. Let each waking minute be the your best. Let each waking hour be your best. Let each waking day be your best.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Hozógo nasádo (Navajo): Walk in Beauty

Bob

Older Entries

May 2013
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Apr
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31