Canyon Country Alpenglow

• Nature Photography

Alpenglow? I have always wondered if alpenglow only happened in the mountains but according to Wikipedia the answer is NO. This was 20 minutes after sunset, the perfect time for alpenglow, and it added a warm ‘purply’ reddish tint to the files which were shot at daylight WB. Processing becomes a challenge in trying to replicate the true color as experienced but then does it matter? Probably more important than processing it perfectly, is avoiding processing it imperfectly where it looks overly processed. Canon 5D, 28-70mm @ 50mm.

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Wigwam Motel on Route 66

• Architecture Photography, Image Processing, Software Techniques, Special Effects

Oh this was so fun! Drove through Holbrook AZ on our way to New Mexico. Stopped in Holbrook to shoot Petrified Forest and when driving through town we saw the Wigwam Motel. OMG–gotta shoot!

Came back at dusk and it started pouring down rain. Perfect! LOL. I did get pretty wet but who cares? I did a non-grungy HDR, then accentuated lighter areas by painting highlights in Photoshop, added a vignette, and a little more burning and dodging for effect. A teeny weeny bit sharpening. And I am done…for today that is.

The Lucky Guy

• Nature Photography

I am without a doubt, the luckiest person in the world…next to you of course! To be able to spend so much time outdoors in amazing places like this one here from Northern Arizona, would make anyone feel like the luckiest person in the world.

To trek out here and find such amazing geology and then have a camera and tripod in hand allows me to record and relive this forever. My presence in this landscape takes my creative ‘self’ to a higher level of awareness. My adrenaline kicks in. It is so exciting! Is that what being ‘high on life is?’ If so, I am an addict!

I was excited about the leading lines and textures and shot it with a 5D and 16-35mm lens. Little processing was needed.

Photo of The Day: Canyon X in Arizona

• Nature Photography

This was an amazing location: Canyon X in Arizona. This location is on provate property and requires a giude and a group of us hired one.

I think this slot canyon is deeper than Antelope Canyon, but I am not sure. It seemed much darker and that could be due to different geological formations, but again, I am not sure.

It was tough to process and it went very blue at the bottom and warm at the top, so I added a B&W adjustment layer and dialed some color out and painted back in the warm colored slit.

Photo of The Day: Cracked Mud

• Nature Photography

I took an afternoon hike in the middle of the day, mostly for exercise since I was on the computer all day. I saw this cracked mud and had to shoot it.

I processed it in Photoshop and added contrast and a slight brown tone to exaggerate the colors.

B&W and HDR

• B&W, Image Processing, Software Techniques

I have been experimenting when time allows with variations of B&W images. I like HDR although admit that the days of super grunge are over for me. All the color globs and noise….been there, processed that!

HDR has come a long way and now I use it more for creating natural looking images with lower contrast like some architectural assignments I get for time to time.

I have photographed some objects over time where i went crazy with grungy HDR but now I prefer to process more normal and then maybe with a hint of grunge…then converting to B&W.

Here is a piece of equipment at an old mine in Arizona that I processed in HDR and as color then converted to B&W and pushed around a few of the tones with a B&W Adjustment Layer. The HDR does a good job of adding edge to textures and then those are converted to tones in B&W. This next image

I Photographed the Lost Dutchman Miner

• Flash & Strobe Lighting, Outdoor Adventure Photography, Portrait Photography

This past spring I was enjoying quite a bit of time wandering and photographing the Arizona deserts and mountains. While down in the desert I was stunned when I came across this old miner in the desert with his donkey.

We started talking and I asked what he was doing down here in the middle of nowhere. He told me he was the Lost Dutchman Miner of the infamous Lost Dutchman mine. He continued by telling me that he was truly lost in his attempt to relocate his mine.

I replied that he was a long way from the Superstition Mountains, where history suggests the mine is located. He did not comment obviously fearing if he said anything I might start searching for the mine myself. This got me thinking that the mine might not be in the Superstitions after all.

He asked if I had anything to eat as all he had to eat for sometime was beans and hardtack. I happened to be carrying in my camera bag a crab salad sandwich from Subway and one of my favorite beers: McTarnahan’s from Portland Brewing, and it was still ice cold.

I told him I would give him the sandwich and beer if he posed for a picture and so he did not move as I grabbed this shot. I did use flash fill because the sun was high noon and created the shadows in the eyes.

He scarfed down the sandwich and guzzled the beer (I don’t think he liked it. Never had a beer like that) then without saying a word, headed off into the sunset so to speak, in search of the Mother Lode. I grabbed my gear and went looking for the mine.

In Photoshop,

Cool Springs Arizona is Very Cool!

• Image Processing

During our winter wanderings through Arizona we discovered Cool Springs, Arizona along Route 66. From a photographic standpoint, this was a must-shoot location. It is now a vintage museum of memorabilia from the bygone era of Route 66 and interstate travel in general.

It is out in the desert and on the slopes of the Black Mountains and while we enjoyed a 85 degree day, this location is no doubt a harsh environment during hotter times of the years. Built in the mid-1920’s, the road was designated Route 66 in 1926 and as you head west from Cool Springs the road gets steep and windy.

You cant help but wonder what it must have been like to travel from Los Angeles to Chicago in August. Cars slogging up the hill in intense  heat and travelers thirsty and dehydrated. Cool Springs would have been a wonderful site.

I thought this was a perfect location for a light grunge HDR image. I did not like the distortion I got with my super wide, so I shot this with a 35mm, vertically, and in sections. I then did the HDR processing in Photomatix and finished by stitching the 6 image