Driving into town to run a couple errands this morning and the light on the Sierras was great. I processed this while waiting for the afternoon light to make some close up images in the yard.
Bracketed exposures just to make sure, then processed in Photomatix and PhotoShop, with an On1 Photo Raw filter.
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
Wow! Time is sure blasting by. In the short time since my lovely ride retired, I’ve only been out shooting once, but we’ve been working on the yard and having a blast (although my sore and tired muscles might disagree that it was fun!). Watch for the pictures of our accomplishment soon!
For now, however, I offer this shot of an Asian Lily taken in the Garden Department at the local Home Depot. It’s an exposure bracket processed in Adobe Camera Raw, PhotoShop, and a Nik Color Efex filter that I created. I’ve learned there’s more tools in ACR than I thought and they’re wonderful!
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
Happy May Day every one! (I’m celebrating Spring in the United States, not the USSR’s holiday – just to clarify.) Temperatures are moving upward, so it’s shorts weather. Also time to start those outside projects that have waited until winter came to a close. I have 6 cy of soil to move, then the planting, topped off with ground cover rock. We’ll see how motivated I am.
Today’s PS Challenge image comes from Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City, taken during our visit on Saturday. This is an old sign advertising a show at Piper’s, on display in the lobby area. The light was terrible and the best view obscured by its placement on the wall opposite the grand staircase. I bracketed exposures to improve my chances of getting a good, usable image. I processed the bracketed exposures in Photomatix, then cleaned things up in PhotoShop. I had to ‘warp’ the image to make it fully presentable, due to the camera optics and combining the exposures. I like the result.
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
Today’s PS Challenge image is representative of many things. First, I took it ‘selfie-style,’ which is a big challenge because I don’t take good selfies and the PowerShot G9 doesn’t have a forward camera setting. Second, my lovely bride and I were on the V&T Railroad just leaving the Eastgate Station (east of Carson City) and heading for Virginia City. We were celebrating Susan’s retirement and had a wonderful time. The Carson Valley Pops played well and Piper’s Opera House was an excellent setting! Last, it’s the end of April – 2017 is a third of the way over! Temperatures are starting to rise and I’m going to mow my lawn for the first time this year today. Wahoo?
But anyway – this little camera continues to amaze me with its simplicity, complexity, and most important, its ability to make great images – even of me ‘selfie-style.’
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
Today’s PS Challenge image comes from the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park. I was hoping the coming storm front would provide good light and great skies for shooting the Home Ranch. Alas, the light didn’t cooperate with me.
To make this image, I used the exposure bracketing feature of the PowerShot G9 X camera to make the three exposures, then combined them in Photomatix. I caught this Momma cow in mid-chew, then she and the calves all ran away.
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
One of my favorite magazines is Outdoor Photographer. I enjoy the content and have been getting wonderful ideas and information for improving my photography. The April 2017 issue had a great article titled ‘Grand Landscapes, Intimate Details’ by Dave Welling. The focus (pun intended) of the article was summed up nicely by the subtitle, ‘Tell a deeper story of a place by adding close-up images to your location portfolios’ The concept is simple – while you’re shooting that grand landscape, take a look around your feet and find something that connects the audience more intimately to the location.
I had the opportunity to employ this technique just yesterday. My lovely bride and I ventured into the mountains during yesterday’s storm, specifically driving CA 89 south of Markleeville CA. The road was wet from the occasional rain and snow, and there were few travelers besides us and a couple government vehicles. The sun appeared and disappeared, the snow blew and stopped, the mountains were covered and uncovered during our visit. (All the images below were taken within an hour of each other. You know what they say – if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes!)
The small valleys were running with water from the rain and the snow melt. Occasionally, the weather made rather ominous scenes in the recently burned areas.
I converted to grey tones to show the desolation of the fire, but the promise of renewal with the snow and running water.
As I walked to a bridge to capture an image of the raging river, a Stellar Jay landed on a rock about 15 yards away. He proceeded to dance about on the rock, as if to say ‘Where’s your big camera? You can’t take my picture with that little camera in your hands!’ (I had grabbed the PowerShot for the river image.) I got my river shot…
East Fork of the Carson River…the Grand Landscape! The Jay was on a rock to the right of this image.
…and ran back to the PhotoRanger for the big camera. Amazingly, the Jay stayed put as I returned and grabbed a few shots, moved a few feet and grabbed a few more shots, moved a few more feet and grabbed a few more shots, and so on.
Stellar Jay…the intimate detail!
There you have it, an example of Grand Landscapes and Intimate Details.
I hope you are enjoying the PS Challenge – I sure am! The process of using the PowerShot – learning its capabilities and limitations – helps to reinforce the principles of photography and composition.
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
My apologies for the long break between posts. I’ve been busy shooting, but I took a little break when my friend and photo buddy, Richard Hawkins, lost his battle with cancer. Many of you are familiar with one of Rich’s best pictures.
Richard and I were out with the wild horses a couple years ago. I had just made a few images and turned around when he grabbed this shot of me. Shooting with him was always fun – he had a great eye for images and helped me look at things a little differently. Rich bought a 1964 Olds 442 just before he received his cancer diagnosis. He dated his wife in a car just like it many years ago. At his first car show, he won the ‘under construction’ category. He also asked me to take his picture in the same pose he was in when he had his original 442. I was very happy to do so. God Bless You, Rich – my cameras and I miss you.
On to the images from this month. I picked up a point and shoot camera, a Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II, to enhance my camera bag. I’m learning the capabilities and limitations of this tiny little camera (it’s only 3.75″ wide, 2.5″ tall, and a narrow 1.25″ thick), but it makes marvelous images. I’m getting very nice landscape images, as you can see, and there’s potential for close up and macro photography, once I learn the camera a lot better. The PS challenge can be either ‘point n shoot’ or PowerShot, depending on my feeling that day.
I made this image just south of Woodfords CA. That’s CA 89 on the left. I made this image with the PowerShot.
I’ve driven by this section of the East Fork of the Carson River several times, and finally stopped to make the image. Great sky and great light!
The beauty of the PowerShot is the ability to stop and jump out for the quick shot. This image was made from the side of CA 89 (the Carson River is just behind and downhill from these trees) in an area where a wildfire burned a couple years ago. The tree on the left was completely burned but the other two were only burned on the bottom half. I hope they survive.
The last PowerShot image for this post – the West Fork of the Carson River in the middle of the Carson Valley. The Town of Genoa is visible at the base of the mountains, and Duane Bliss Peak is reflected in the river.
As much as I love my PowerShot, it will never replace the big camera for many things. The PowerShot will bracket exposures and focal length, but the big camera does it much better.
This is an HDR combined from an exposure bracket of the West Fork of the Carson River, in the mountains. There’s lots of ice in the stream still, as this section of the river gets very little direct sunlight in the winter months.
Another HDR of a usually dry wash feeding the East Fork of the Carson River.
This is the Bower’s Mansion, an historic structure on the west side of Washoe Lake, just south of Reno.
The Eagles are long gone, except for the nesting pairs, and the other Raptors are slowly leaving the area as spring approaches. Smaller birds are returning, so we have subjects to shoot and new challenges in shooting. Small birds are more likely to move as you approach, so a long lens and quick reaction to spotting them is critical.
I found this Western Meadowlark on a fence post in the wildlife viewing area on the south end of Washoe Lake. Chilly morning, so it was trying to fluff up and stay warm.
This Western Meadowlark landed on a branch near me, and posed nicely.
These Black Tail Deer are part of the Town of Genoa herds, although these 4 can be found a couple miles north of town on Foothill Road.
I’m not sure they were more worried about me or something to the right, but they held still long enough for me to make this image.
I had the opportunity to try a new technique I saw in Outdoor Photographer magazine – the wildlife panorama. I usually try to get my wildlife images as close and detailed as possible, but I love the concept of combining wildlife and landscape photography. Watch for more images like this.
I found these 4 another day, but they moved into a grove of trees as I approached. New challenge to get a good shot through the trees. This one moved in and stopped, not exposing more head for me. Changing my position wouldn’t have helped, as other trees blocked the view.
Spring is here – evidenced by the blossoms on some of our fruit trees. These are from the Flowering Plum in the corner of the backyard.
First close up of the year – almost a macro. Each blossom is only 3/4″ in diameter. As more flowers bloom, I’ll shoot more macros. Hopefully, the wet winter will cause the desert to bloom, and not delay too much the mountain meadows blooming.
Welcome Spring and the changes it brings. Thanks for reading this blog!
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
So, there I was, reading the March/April 2017 issue of Popular Photography magazine (specifically an article by Glen Van Slooten on ‘seeing the trees for the forest’) which included this quote from Henry David Thoreau. The words resonated deep inside me. A few days later, I was reading about the cover shot for the March 2017 issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine. In his own words to describe the picture and his process for making it, the photographer, Robert Glenn Ketchum, said this, “…As you look at this image, I want to call your attention to an “old school” idea about taking pictures: The camera doesn’t matter; it’s what you see that’s important…” My technically oriented engineer’s brain almost exploded. I called one of my photo mentors to discuss this interesting concept. He laughed and said something like, ‘why yes, and that’s the subject of a presentation I’m making next week.’ (Though I didn’t hear it specifically, I’m sure that he covered the telephone and said something like ‘he FINALLY gets it!!’)
As I thought about the quotes and my mentor and his presentation, I realized that I have been subconsciously wrestling with the concept for some time. When I look at something, what am I actually seeing? I had always wondered why people making images from the same place and time that I was were making better images. In many instances, they could see an image that I didn’t.
What does it mean? Simply, there’s one more item on my list of things to learn about photography. This one, however, is not a setting on the camera – it’s consciously looking at an item, animal, or scene and visualizing the image it could be, or taking an idea and making it into a reality. We’ll all see if I can actually do it – the challenge is there.
I had the opportunity to go inside the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City before it re-opened last weekend. The Museum suffered damage from flooding last January and has been closed for repairs and cleanup. I’m happy to report that the Museum staff and volunteers did an excellent job and the displays and exhibits are in excellent shape. Here are some images from my visit.
This is the Glenbrook. I made this image from three exposures processed in Photomatix, a High Dynamic Range (HDR) software, and finished as a monochrome image. HDR utilizes multiple images made at different exposures to bring out the best highlights and details in the shadows. (I discuss HDR in more detail in this post, https://photorogr.com/2016/03/29/an-amazing-week-for-me/ – go take a look!)
Same image as above, but rendered in color.
The drive wheels on the Inyo. Note the reflection in the floors – Museum staff thinks the floors look better than ever and I agree!
If you think the names on cars are obtrusive, take a look at this! We can clearly see that the Inyo was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. This decoration/advertisement is displayed between the drive wheels and can be seen in the previous image.
I’ve got to learn the names of the things that make these beautiful machines run. This is an HDR image.
The firebox and surrounding area of the Glenbrook, processed as an HDR image.
As you can see, I worked on my HDR skills. I also tried a new technique that I’ve been exploring – focus stacking. In focus stacking, images are made at different focal planes and then blended together to achieve deep focus in subjects. The Museum was probably not the best place to work this technique as many of the subjects have curved surfaces, making focus stacking a challenge. I did it, however, and learned lots about the technique and its challenges.
One of the drive wheels on an engine. I focused on the face of the bolt (at left center), the washer, the face of the drive shaft, the bolt heads on top of the drive shaft, the wheel spokes, and the machinery behind the wheel. The light was at the top of the drive shaft, so everything below was in shadow. I liked the composition.
Inside the cab of one of the engines, a focus stacked image (8 focal planes).
Same image as above, rendered in monochrome.
I was intrigued by this control lever, and made a focus stack using 8 focal planes along the length of the lever. This wouldn’t be possible in a single image, even at a small aperture maximizing depth of field.
The spherical object on the right presented the greatest focus stack challenge, as the gauges were all on the same focal plane.
This is the entire apparatus, 7 focal planes. I worked the image to bring out the patina of the brass as well as the deep focus.
This is a shot from inside the passenger car. I loved how the old glass caused the somewhat rippled appearance of the Inyo cab, against the straight and in focus wood paneling. This was made from two exposures and focal planes, one for the interior and one for the Inyo.
This is the ceiling of the passenger car. The artwork is amazing and the lamps are just gorgeous. I used 8 focal planes to make the image in focus from the front lamp to the wooden header behind the far lamp. As I refine my focus stacking technique, I will use more focal planes for better quality images.
I love focus stacking, and am happy to add it to my photography toolbox. Just like everything else in my toolbox, its best use is a work in progress. I hope you enjoyed my revelation and my trip to the Railroad Museum. A big thanks to the staff for allowing me to visit.
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
In my last post, I introduced the sharpening process and described my first footsteps into its intricacies (yes, I had to look this one up to make sure). The study is going well, but there’s an amazing amount of information to digest. I am surprised by the number of tools available. Unsharp Mask, for example, has its roots in film photography, where wet-darkroom magicians would use a duplicate negative to create a mask to increase the apparent sharpness of a photographic print by increasing contrast along edges. From the descriptions I read, it was quite a process. Other digital sharpening tools in Photoshop include Smart Sharpen and Shake Reduction. Of course, the flip side of digital sharpening is the introduction of digital noise. (Noise is the grainy appearance of a photograph, and is beyond the scope of this blog, so we’ll save it for another day.) Lightroom and Camera Raw’s sharpening and noise reduction tools work the same way – very easy to use, and the Nik filters have Define (for noise reduction) and Sharpener (for sharpening). My head is swimming.
In a feeble attempt to keep myself somewhat sane (those who know me will attest that it’s as good as we can expect) while I’m learning sharpening, I’m still out there looking for great subjects and trying new techniques. Here’s a few pictures from the last couple weeks.
Okay, this isn’t really a new technique for me, but it’s fun and worthy of continued exploration. For this image, I overlaid a picture of the Ward Charcoal Ovens onto a picture of a wood floor (beautiful texture). I’m looking for a little constructive critique (CC), please!
This is a Merlin, and it’s the latest capture in my quest for new raptor species. (Recall that I also got a Northern Harrier and a Rough Legged Hawk this year.) Merlins are in the Falcon family, and only get to about 12″ tall with a 25″ wingspan – just a little bigger than a Kestrel. This little one was in a tree in my neighbor’s yard and, uncharacteristically, sat for me for several minutes.
My lovely bride was with me the other day and she is an excellent spotter. She saw this Great Horned Owl in a tree as we drove by. Some of my friends thought it was a Long Eared Owl, but my resident expert on bird identification confirmed Great Horned (thanks Larry!).
Because I like to explore with different filters during processing, I used a vintage colors filter in Nik Silver Efex for this interpretation. This filter is one of my favorites
Okay, this is a new technique called focus stacking. I mounted the camera on a tripod and locked it down. I took 5 images of these crabapples on a tree in our backyard, each image using a different focal plane (focusing at different levels) and blended them in Photoshop to create this image with all the crabapples in focus. I’ll refine my focus stacking workflow and use it on flowers this summer!
While I was making images for focus stacking, I made this image of an ‘about to drip’ from another crabapple tree in the backyard. When I downloaded these images to the computer, I noticed the inverted tree in pretty good focus. I tried to get closer, but I would have bumped the tree and dislodged the drip. I’ll take it for now, but will look for other drips to shoot. Aren’t optics fun?
Well, that’s it for this blog. Stay tuned for more info on sharpening, focus stacking, and macro. Until next time – enjoy!
PHOTOROGR
I can hardly believe that it’s already the first day in February! Tomorrow, the Groundhog comes out and we’ll see just how much longer we’re going to have winter – at least according to folklore. I’m betting we’re going to have more winter, partially because a big storm is coming into the Carson Valley tonight! Speaking of folklore, many of you have spent the last month trying to sustain the new year’s resolutions you made. I didn’t make any, nor did I set any specific goals for my photography. As I’ve continued my photographic journey, I’ve found that my best goal is to look for and be ready to pursue knowledge as I find new things.
In my last post, I announced that I was taking a winter photography course. The snow was deep and our outdoor shooting time was shorter than expected. The instructor was excellent – we shifted the program indoors to study light and shadow and photo processing techniques, which brings me to the ‘new kind of whet stone.’ Us old Boy Scouts remember that a whet stone is used to sharpen knives and axes. In the digital photography world, we use software as a ‘whet stone’ to sharpen our images. During the workshop, we spent quite a bit of time on sharpening. The most important thing I learned was that I’ve been doing it all wrong, and badly to boot. I now have a specific goal – become proficient in using software to sharpen my images!
In the book Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom, authors Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe begin the discussion on sharpening with, “…one of the ways our brains try to make sense of the world as seen through our eyes is by breaking down the scene into edges (objects) and non-edges (surfaces). If the edges in an image appear too sharp or not sharp enough, our brains tell us that there’s something wrong, and in the case of a photograph, the image appears unconvincing.” Bruce and Jeff tell us that, “Sharpening works by increasing the contrast around edges.” (Contrast is the difference between light and dark tonal values.) And so begins my journey into the wide world of sharpening! Since I’m just beginning my venture into sharpening, I don’t have anything to show you. I will soon – I promise.
What have I been doing besides reading about sharpening? Let’s look at some pictures!
From the winter photography workshop – this is the view across the road from Sorensen’s Resort in Hope Valley CA. As I said, the snow was deep. Sorensen’s got a foot of new snow the night before the workshop and several inches while we were there. They were expecting another three feet that night!
Same picture, just a little bit different editing technique. Could be a nice Christmas card!
I ventured into Diamond Valley looking for Eagles and found this tree covered in Pogonip (heavy frost). I made this image before the frost melted away.
A recent storm dropped several inches of snow at my house. This is a Spruce tree in my backyard…
…one of the Austrian Pines…
…and one of the clumped Crab Apple trees in my backyard. The apples help feed the little birds all winter long.
I found this Rough Legged Hawk near Genoa last week. As I was shooting, the Magpie flew into the shot. How lucky for me!
A couple days later, I found the Rough Legged Hawk again – this time on a fence post. He launched…
…soared gracefully, close to the snow-covered ground…
…and pounced on his noon meal!
The Kestrels have been out in force. I came on this little fella’ just south of David Walley’s Hot Springs on Foothill Road…
…and his friend north of Genoa. They always give me a good look before they take off!
This Cooper’s Hawk was sitting on the snow pile when I first saw him. He launched as I was taking pictures.
I added a new tool to my toolbox – a 2X teleconverter! My big lens now has a maximum focal length of 1200 mm! While this is wonderful, the longer focal length comes with a new set of challenges. Using a tripod is a must. Autofocus only works in Live View (not a bad thing on tripod anyway). The longer focal length exacerbates any movement or imperfections in focusing, and depth of field is very shallow at any aperture setting. It’s a tool, however, and only a matter of learning how to use it! This is the first image at 1200 mm. Not bad!
This is my second attempt with the teleconverter. This Eagle was 173 yards away (I bought a rangefinder) and the background looks like heat waves, although it was near freezing when I made the image. A little soft, but he looks good nonetheless.
The Eagles have been in town. I seemed to find this one hanging out at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park rather frequently.
I think he’s in his final year of being a juvenile, based on the coloring in his head feathers.
His ‘pensive’ pose…
This is a different Bald Eagle (note the lack of dark feathers in his head), using his ‘regal’ pose!
One of the fun things for me was having one subject in the same spot on different days and different lighting conditions, then playing with the processing for a different interpretation of each image. I hope you’ve enjoyed my images, and I promise to be sharper in the future!
Enjoy – PHOTOROGR
The PHOTOROGR Project 