My Idea of an Environmental Portrait?

Albert loves to have his photograph taken. He’s been in countless Hollywood movies and lord knows how many times he’s posed for tourists and yet, he never tires from it. So when K&M Adventures group first meet up with him at his home at Ford’s Point, he instantly asked if the group wanted to take his portrait on his bud, Pistol. While the view is gorgeous, Albert & Pistol get lost in the scene. Now when you look at it mathematically, the duo take up less then 1% of the entire frame. With that small percentage, can we still make them standout?

By moving physically to my left and then down a little, I put the duo in a place were they don’t meld into the background as much. Albert & Pistol are still small in the frame, but at least now they don’t look like an accident. It’s a very simple thing to do but I see many photographs where this simple technique isn’t being used. I just got Tiffen’s Dfx pluggins for Photoshop so decided to give them a whirl in finishing. I used one of their polarizers on these images. I like the effect, I might have gone a little heavy handed but I do like the effect. More to learn…I’m happy!

And here’s Albert & Pistol up close. Neither one are spring chickens but they still are both full of life. I enjoy all the time we get to spend together talking, much to learn from this soul of the earth!

• In the Bag
• D3s
• 70-200VR2
• Lexar 32GB 600x UDMA

The Shadowy Side of Monument Valley

When you drive the loop in Monument Valley, half the time your subjects are front lit and the other half, they are back lit. Because your subjects are so large, if you’re on the backlit side, you have a whole lot of time with no direct sun to work with. Because your subjects are so large, you’re missing some large photographs. The rock of Monument Valley isn’t all red. It’s every shade of red with a whole lot of veins of gray and black sprinkled in. When you shoot the face in full sun, you loose a lot of those veins and to me, a lot of the character that is the Valley. So I do tend to haunt the shadow side thinking about bringing out the character that is the Valley.

Here’s two approaches I use when going to the shadowy side. They both have one thing in common, HDR. To pull out the character in the rock, I need that range of clicks while also preserving the detail in the sky. After that, I want something in the sky and this is typical, I’ll put either clouds or the sun. I want that element for both the white aspect of a B&W photo as well as space and visual depth. The sun can add drama when done correctly. I posted this photo of an example of it not being done correctly. What’s wrong with it? I forgot to clean the front element. That dust on the front element is what’s creating all those circular UFOs in the sunburst. What a pisser! Understand that if I didn’t use HDR, you wouldn’t see any information in the rock, it would be all black. While there are times when that is cool, when working the shadowy side of the Valley, I tend to want to bring out the character in the rock.

• In the Bag
• D3s
• 24-70AFS
• Lexar 32GB 600x

Chasing the Light in the Valley

I do enjoy greeting the day watching the sun rise. There is just something about that moment that all seems right in the world as the light comes up, the birds begin to sing and the clouds race to meet the coming sun. Last week in Monument Valley on our K&M Adventure, it was one of those mornings. We were out early heading around the loop to be in place in case the balloons launched (which they didn’t this morning). When I looked out of my room at the View, what you see in the top photo was what got me excited except the cloud had already changed alot by the time we got in place to shoot. I love clouds, they simply add a whole new dimension to anything subject. Kevin did his best to get us down in place but the same winds that kept the balloons from launching just scattered that beautiful cloud.

A classic case of chasing the light in the Valley. Just because there is pretty color in the sky, I don’t stop to shoot. The romance everyone associates with a sunrise or sunset if the very minimum that needs to be in our photographs. So with the color has to be the foreground, middleground and background and a lot more. You need shapes in silhouette as well and then finally, you need them clouds to take you eye and heart around the entire photograph. At least, that’s what I shoot for. So in the top photo for example, it’s no mistake that the break in the cloud rims the left side of Merritt Mesa.

These three photos were taken over a period of about 18min and over a distance of about 150 yards. The first photo we were at the bottom of a wash and as the clouds scattered and the sun rose, I didn’t like the foreground so I ran up slope to make the middle image and then to the top of the ridge to make the bottom photo. I like all three, each has a little something different but of these three, the top is my favorite. John Wayne rode over that dirt road and on the morning chasing the light in the Valley, I could imagine him doing it again.

• In the Bag
• D3s
• 24-70AFS
• Lexar 32GB 600x

The Delight of Light!

Light is such a magical thing! There are many times if you watch me, I seem to be staring out into space when in actuality, the light has simply caught me imagination. I’ve never seen or experience the same light twice which is probably why I’m always out chasing it.

One of the really sweet things about Monument Valley is it plays right into my love of light. No matter the time, day or night, the light loves to play in this valley of stone. And it plays in ways you can often not expect. On this particular morning of our K&M Adventure, we were out in position on the second morning of the balloon festival waiting for the Mitten launch. It was a windy morning to say the least. The balloonist pulled in mass where we had parked and launched a couple of helium balloons testing the wind. We watched them race away and thought it was too windy for the big balloons. But they seem to see what then needed and headed down deeper into the Valley.

The sun wasn’t up yet but was lighting up the horizon when the vehicles took north on the road to the launch zone. No sooner than the last vehicle made the crossing when the sun sneaked over the eastern horizon. Right then the dust cloud from the vehicles lit up and the magic of light once again delighted my imagination.

Here’s the photographic problem. Our cameras can only capture 5 stops, the difference in light between the lit up dust cloud and the Mitten in shadow had to be at least 9 stops. What I was seeing with my eyes was information in the deep shadow of the mitten and the glow of the dust. That’s what I wanted to share with you. That’s the subject, that’s the delight of the light. With that knowledge, the photography part was pretty darn simple. All that was required a simple handheld, 5 image HDR that when processed, was done with my Basic Settings in Photomatix Pro. The key was to not let the shadow go black or gray but keeping it just right. Sharing a shadow my mind’s eye saw.

While the vertical is THE image for me, I shot both just to share with you the possibilities. Why is the vertical image THE image for me? All that extra blue sky on the left of the horizontal image takes away from the brightness of the glowing dust. I wanted you to just see that and only that. Because after a very short period of time, the wind had dispersed the dust and the show was over. But that’s often the delight of light!

• In the Bag
• D3s
• 70-200VR2
• Lexar 32GB 600x UDMA

My Favorite Balloon Image

Why is this one my favorite? It could be it was the moment the moment all clicked for me. It could be the informal balance. It could be the clear view of both balloon and mesa. It could be the way color moves the eye around the frame. And you know what, I don’t really care why it’s my favorite because, it’s my favorite. It has nothing photographically to do with the photograph, it is strictly an emotional response to the one image that for me, the one who experienced it all and photographed it all is summed up. Photography has given me many gifts, I’ve been very blessed. This photograph is just an example of that good fortune and the best part, I was able to share it with not just other folks with me, but all of you as well!

• In the Bag
• D3s
• 70-200VR2
• Lexar 32GB 600x UDMA

That Magical Morning in The Valley

I am one very, very, very lucky and very, very, very fortunate photographer! Someone likes me somewhere because the blessings that have dropped in front of my lens are at times just way too hard to believe true! I’m infamous for planning things using all the modern tools with old school traditions to make luck happen for me when I can. And with all of that said, I still get skunked. Be it wildlife, landscapes or aviation, many a time my best laid plans end up with not one pixel dying in the creation of a photograph. And when that happens, I tend to be just that more determined to make it happen the next time out.

When I selected dates for our first K&M Adventure in Monument valley, I did my usual schtick and went information hunting. Figuring out the phase of the moon as a snap. Where we’d stay, who we’d use for a guide and our destinations were pretty much in the bag. Then I saw the Hot Air Balloon Festival dates and my mind started to race. I mean really, how cool would that be! It just so happened the dates corresponded with the moon phase I wanted for star trails so it was a done deal. I don’t know what I read during this time, but somewhere in the back of my mind, the balloon thing was not a for sure thing. Time would tell.

We arrive at Monument Valley and the signs are up about the balloon festival but I didn’t see any of the telltale signs like vehicles with big baskets until our second day. It started the next day but information about the launch was pretty sketchy so I still had my doubts. The next morning we rose to a pretty overcast day, not the best light or background for a subject I think of as being airey and festive. No matter, off we headed to The Valley. We got down in time to see some of the balloons inflate, a couple were in the sky. This all happened when the overcast had cleared and gorgeous skies opened up with great light and backdrops.

To say it was magical is an understatement. The balloons started to dance around The Valley, going up and down, floating from mesa to mesa, riding the breeze and the romance for an hour. We shot and shot and shot! The opportunities were anywhere you wanted to point your lens.

Then from behind the mesa beside us there was that unmistakable sound of a heater blower. There were three launch sites for the festival. We were at the North Window, in front of us was the Mittens and behind us Artist. Floating in from Artist and now behind us was the balloon Skywalker. It was like a dream as they rose over the mesa, floated around and then landed just feet from us to the east. The nicest folks, they were talking up a storm with us as they launched again floating literally right over our heads.

As they floated overhead they call out, “Where would you guys like us?” I’ve never had a floating model before but this was great! They worked the breeze and the hearter unit the best they could to make our wishes come true. Little did they know that they didn’t have to do a thing to make our wishes come true. The sound of shutters slamming echoed off the mesas as 10 cameras on astroblast screamed through the pixels.

For these reasons and so many more, this is my favorite balloon and favorite images from that morning. Of these, there is one favorite. It comes next.

• In the Bag
• D3s
• 70-200VR2
• 14-24AF
• Lexar 32GB 600x UDMA

The Mittens, HDR or Not?

You must understand, this is an incredibly gorgeous, inspirational landscape! I could pull up a chair and sit and stare at the Mitten ALL day long all year long and be very happy! That’s not the same as saying I could sit in the same spot and take photographs of the same view all day long and be happy. The difference? Sitting there you feel the breeze, the bite of the air, the smell of frybread (a real weakness) and the sounds of life. You get NONE of that from a photograph. That’s when the creative, the romantic needs to step in and turn the photo into a feeling that someone not sitting on the edge can feel from the photograph. That’s a huge task!

The top photo is what I saw. While it’s a gorgeous view and I love it, the photograph is….ho hum. I mean, does it really make you want to get out to Monument Valley and stand in the cold to get the same photo? If you’re a romantic, perhaps but it’s a stretch. What’s missing to pull you in, to grab your heartstrings? If you look at any Navajo art, you’d see rich reds and dark blues. Why, because those colors tug big time at the romantic in any person. What two colors are missing from this original capture? Blue and red…ouch! What you see above is the original image processed in just ACR. Using the Luminance panel, the blues are brought down and the reds brought up and while better then the straight capture, it’s still not that romantic capture. That sounds over simpliflied but that romance is so important. (Really, see my Romancing the Landscape 3pt class at Kelby Training if you think I’m kidding)

Looking at the out of the camera view, you might now think HDR was needed. Most think of HDR for times when the light range is beyond the five stop range of our HDSLR. There are two aspects to light I’m always personally thinking about when shooting, quality and quantity. Under the quality category comes color and that’s what we’re missing here in the out of the camera image. We get a little back when processed in ACR but look what comes from a simple 5 image HDR…amazing! Where I start with -1 to -2 dialed in for my normal HDR, in this case I started at Zero because I wasn’t going after Quantity of light but rather Quality, the color aspect. What is here is straight out of Photomatix Pro, no PS added. We now have that Navajo blue and red in our photo. I wanted to show how using realistic HDR for color rather then compacting exposure can bring romance to a photograph. If there is any place on this planet where you should have your love standing next to you to watch the sun set, this is top on the list. That’s what you want in your photograph!

In the Bag
• D3S
• 24-70AF
• Lexar 32GB 600x UDMA

Horseshoe Bend – Van Talk

Horseshoe Bend, AZ just outside Page is a pretty popular place. I’d never been there so we decided to take K&M Adventures over there and give it a gander. After the short walk up and over the hill down to the edge, you see it, a big bend in the river that looks like a horseshoe from a plane. Oh, I get it, that’s how it got its name! Any who, the skies were my favorite, bald. The light, nice and hard…yummie! I walked up the edge to the north from where the trail stops (it’s just a 1000 foot drop) to an outcropping where I could comfortably sit, have no rocks on the edge sticking out in the frame and enjoyed the view.

With the 14-24AF, I set the camera to a 5 image bracket starting with a -1 and shot five frames to create this image. Really a pretty simple image to make at this point. This is what the eye saw sitting on the edge

We spent quite some time on that ledge shooting, watching, talking and then after a couple of hours we hiked back over the hill, got in the van and headed down the road. That’s when I asked, “What’s the subject” and with no answer per say I asked “So, how are you going to finish that photograph?” In my mind when shooting you’ve got to know the subject and if you’re going to finish it in post, you most definitely have to know, what’s the subject. So the van talk began.

We’re shooting Horseshoe Bend, that alone provides information on how we need to finish the image. To me, the first big problem is the major shadow on the left side of the frame. If you look at the “eye” view, it’s pretty massive. Ya, we shot HDR but that shadow is still pretty massive. On the flip side, that big piece of rock jutting out at you that makes the “bend” is lit pretty darn flat. That rock is anything but flat but the light doesn’t support reality. With that knowledge, we know the light is pretty contrasty, harsh, nasty, ugly and colorless all adding up to sucks! But here it is, you’re traveling on vacation and you’ve allotted just this one afternoon to see and photograph Horseshoe Bend. You get there and find what we found, very unromantic light and no real photograph. Do you turn around and go home without the photo or like us, click and make lemonade? How do you make lemonade out of this?

This is what we talked about in the van, how to make lemonade. We started with the HDR capture, a means of opening up the shadows a little while protecting highlights. But that wasn’t enough in my book. Using HDR to bust open that shadow will make the photo look like HDR and I don’t want that. So a simple Curve Adj Layer to lighten that left side was the first thing to do. Then, another Curve Adj Layer but this time to darken the right side of that jutting rock to give it some curve. Then I used Nik’s CEP4 Tonal Contrast to bring out the color. After all of this, we don’t have the photograph of a lifetime because when the light sucks, the light sucks. But we also don’t have garbage. We have a photo we can share the wonder of Horseshoe Bend and the viewer of our photograph doesn’t need sunglasses to view it. It’s a clean image which is the best we could do with what we were provided. Now you know what we talked about in the van as we headed down the road. Oh ya, that’s a photo of my fearless coheart Kevin sticking his camera over the edge to get the shot. That too is HDR

SR-71?

One of the many games I play in Monument Valley is “Find the Object” in its rock walls. I guess it caught on some how because after shooting the North Window, Bob simply yells out, “SR-71!” I got whip lash spinning to see this cloud up in the sky. It’s was better but had to change lenses. I still Like!

Optical Visual Depth

Visual depth, there are many ways to obtain it in our photographs. The way I typically do it is with a strong foreground, middleground and background. I’ve talked about this a lot over the years. The other method I use which for some reason I’ve not seemed to mention is optical visual depth. While in Monument Valley this past week with our K&M Adventures, it dawned on me while we were photographing North Window that this was a perfect example of what I’m talking about.

The top photo was taken with a 70-200VR2 at 200mm. This is more or less the classic shot of North Window. You have way off in the distance a couple of mesas and by clipping a little bit of the window on the right and left, the eye can stop there while the imagination goes off into the distance to see those mesas. The reference point in the foreground permits the mind’s eye to slip into the background and creates the illusion of visual depth. Why illusion? What are you using to look at these photos? A computer monitor. It don’t get no flatter!

The bottom image was taken with a 16Fish and part of a lesson of fisheye panos. Here, we used the road to lead the eye back into the frame. We use the tree on the left to “hide” a little bit of rock so the eye continues down that road. While you see the North Window way off in the background, it is no longer the subject. Both images have visual depth and while both pointed at the same formation, they both have a different subject (we had a long discussion in the van about What’s the Subject). They both have very different visual depth even though they both have visual depth.

This lead to a conversation whether just because you have visual depth, do you have a photography? Does including that mean you have a good or great photograph? In all realities, there is no answer to these questions. I saw photos with visual depth that sucked. I saw photos with no visual depth that were stunning. I know personally when working a landscape, I find it very important for the viewer to be able to “fall into the landscape” in my photograph. I want them to feel as if there were standing next to me taking in that grand view. That requires a strong visual depth at the very least as a starting point in the photographic experience.

• In the Bag
• D3s
• 70-200VR2
• 16Fish
• Lexar 32GB 600x UDMA

Old Tradition – Great Friend!

Many moons ago, on our very first visit to Monument Valley we were befriended by Albert Jackson. At the time, he was just a person at Ford Point selling jewelry but after a couple of hours of conversing, we’d become friends. We’ve been friends every since! His family owns Ford Point and Albert is a tribal elder with a very rich family history and sense of tradition. Albert is not one of Monument Valley’s guides but being dear friends, he was happy to take our merry band on a backcountry tour like I’ve never had before. His knowledge of the Valley, past and present and willingness to share made our day simply amazing! We went to places I’m not really sure if I should talk about, they are sacred and there were tire or foot tracks so no one else had been there for a long time. I just want to publicly thank Albert for all he did, and for being my friend!

Great End to a K&M Day

The view behind us and the view in front of us. This is such a gorgeous land, you can’t help but fall in love with it! Great end to a great day!

Monument Valley Screams Scale!

K&M Adventures – It’s How We Roll

The view from The View as K&M Adventures wakes for it’s first day in Monument Valley. It gorgeous!

I Wasn’t Going to Just Drive By Again!

I’ve driven past this sign in route to Monument Valley so many times and as I going wizing by, I mumble at myself for not stopping. Well, heading Monument Valley today on our first day of our K&M Adventures, I said I wasn’t doing to just drive by again. The clouds and light on this ’40s gas station sign was too cool to be ignored.

I have no doubt some in the van thought I was nuts for stopping, but I am nuts. Now I really like the photos, they are a part of our motoring past and mother nature has made the sign modern art as far as I’m concerned. Making the image was pretty simple. Set the camera to -1 exp comp, 5 frame hand held HDR and click. Assembled in Photomatix Pro then finish in PS with Color Efec Pro 4 > Tonal Contrast and a Levels layer. And now, I have the sign and don’t feel guilty for just driving by!

In the Bag

• D3S
• 14-24mmAF

« Previous Page — Next Page »