New Years à la July 4th

FireworksComp7-12-14aSignatureOne of the prime motivators for this post is not necessarily New Year’s Eve but the fact that it is New Year’s Eve in the 67th year of my life. In other words, I can no longer deny the fact of aging, despite the reality that I am in good health, physically and psychologically. I know this because of a core of happiness within but also from the realization that many of my generational cohorts have not had such success or fortune. I count myself blessed in this regard, and am not stating this to boast.

I would like to state that this photo is of New Years but it was taken in July 2014 while watching the intermittent fireworks across Narragansett Bay. I used the bulb setting on my Canon. The photo is actually a compilation of many individual photos. I loaded the lot of them into Photoshop all on individual layers and then used the blending mode of Lighten to only show the light of the fireworks themselves and nothing else (note that also the reflection on the Bay was captured which I thought enhanced the shot).

Extremes

IMG_1966SignatureI am adding to the theme developed in recent blog posts of shooting in difficult or variable elemental conditions. This was a constant challenge while in Yellowstone Park. There were so many contrasts but where to start or where to shoot created a quandary. By choosing one or two elements to compensate for one was eliminating the other equally desirable contrasts.

One such area of shooting was the many geysers, fumeroles, or simply hot springs. There was a lot of mist, haze, and steam in the air, all with mineral content. Protecting one’s camera was a concern. Also, shooting to avoid the many groups of people constantly viewing the scenes was a challenge. Added to all of this was how and what to capture since it was a fluid landscape, either in the foreground or background. The added hard to accept fact was the realization that of the surrounding foliage and countryside was muted in colors, beautiful, but nonetheless muted.

This has led to doing more post-processing than I am usually used to, but again am open to try to understand different avenues of approach to the varying elements IMG_1966DxOPPS8Burnof the photograph. Consequently, I offer this blog post photo as an example. The first photo is unaltered as taken in situ at the Porcelain Basin which lies within the larger Norris Geyser Basin within Yellowston National Park. It is what the camera captured (f/13.0, 1/80, ISO 100, Canon 24-105mm/4L IS USM @ 24mm). The second photo has been processed through Adobe Camera Raw, denoised and tonally corrected (as well as corrected for haze using Clear View) thru DxO Optics Pro, and finally finished stylizing with OnOne Perfect Photo Suite 8. Within OnOne PPS 8 the sky’s contrast was increased (as well as the geysers’ steam plumes) using the Adjustment Brush, while using the same Adjustment Brush to warm up the background (Warm Filter), and cool the blue spring pool (Cool Filter). Finally, within Photoshop I darkened (actually blackened) the lower right corner using the Adjustment Level’s Threshhold.

Vision Melding

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The blog post title is a take off on the words, mind meld, suggesting a sharing of two autonomous entities. Since taking Maxfield Parrish as my guiding spirit on this photo journey, I’ve been attempting to share visions with him.

The current photo composition is from Parrish’s illustration in Italian Gardens; the background being that of the Turquoise Pool in Yellowstone Park. It is an attempt to learn the subtleties of his style and apply what may be compatible to my ongoing work.

The Dark City

IMG_3620DxO10The western states presented challenges due to the extreme conditions of not only temperature and landscape, but also in regard to light. Daytime photos were compelling in regard to the many stark colors of the landscape, esp. in places as Bryce Canyon and Sedona Red Rock country. My attempts at evening shooting turned out to be a bust simply because of the pressure of time (too little allocated) and the lack of a tripod. My only recourse was to shoot silhouettes to capture some of the sky (very similar to the red hues of the countryside) and the ruggedness of the terrain.

This was a happy coincidence for while in Sedona I discovered that the city does not have lights on any of the streets, especially those leading out of town into the near “suburbs.” This realization occurred one night driving back to my bed and breakfast. The road and area were totally and I mean totally dark. The only way I was able to find my way was through the iPhone maps/gps. The next day when talking about this experience I was informed that indeed Sedona was designated as a Dark City by the International Dark-Sky Association.

The above photo is of western Sedona taken from the airport hill where everyone seemed to congregate at this time of day.