Slickrock and Shadow

Pololu Cliffs at Sunrise.  The glow on the water is enhanced in post-processing. Processing a photo after taking it is often underestimated in the importance of the photographic process.  There is a lot more glamour in climbing a mountain with all of your camera equipment at sunrise to take a picture.  Comparatively, sitting in an office looking at a computer screen adjusting the contrast and color saturation is not as thrilling. There is also quite a bit of secrecy about how processing is done.  Everyone seems to have their own special technique.  I typically shoot with one exposure and try to process the photograph in my RAW processing software.  Currently this is Aperture from Apple.  (Unfortunately this particular software will not longer be supported by its maker and I will have to switch to light room at some point.  That's a whole another subject.)  After doing the standard adjustments for exposure, highlight recovery, black poi...

A-Bay Sunset with Palms Trees, an Orange Sky and the Pacific Ocean Highly contrasting situations landed themselves to photography of silhouettes.  On my recent trip to the Big Island I found myself gazing at a wonderful sense over "A-bay" in Waikaloa.  The palm trees clustered together in a way that allowed the sunshine to come between a couple of them.  Moving slightly to one side I was able to get the composition I desired. The next artistic decision related to exposure.  If I decided to try to expose properly for the trees, the sunshine and the sky would be "blown out" white.  That would lose the beautiful colors of red and orange.  Instead I exposed for the sky and allowed the palm trees to simply go to black. In another situation on the other side of the island, I did the same thing at sunrise. Pololu Silhouette at Sunrise

Pololu Valley Overlook Sunrise Watching the glowing ball of sunlight rise from the flat ocean is a wonderful experience.  Everyone ought to see an ocean sunrise.  While visiting the Big Island of Hawaii, I used a very helpful tool to figure out whether Pololu Overlook would be a good or bad sunrise location.   SunCalc  is a tool that shows the position of the sun at any time of day on any day of the year.  I checked it out for January in the Big Island and found out the sun would rise just left of the landmass.  Therefore, I felt confident this would be a great sunrise location with the alignment of the Kohala Cliffs and the glowing sun.  Enjoy. Please visit my  Big Island of Hawaii gallery  to see more photos from this awesome place! The Wider View:  Pololu Valley sunrise

Warner Valley just outside St. George is a beautiful desert jewel Warner Valley sand dunes is a hidden location just outside St. George.  Local no about it although I have not seen it in a guide book nor are there any signs on the roads to this destination.  It is a small gem but easy to reach and beautiful in the morning light.  From downtown, it takes nearly 20 minutes to reach this gorgeous location.  I love living in southern Utah! Warner Valley Sand Dune Sunrise

Marching Men:  Arches National Park Marching men are located in the northwest corner of Arches National Park.  This area is also called Klondike Bluffs and is located at the end of the dirt road.  The drive up to that point is relatively easy.  A hike is then necessary to reach the marching men.  This takes about one hour of hiking (one way). There is a climb just north of the marching men that has quite a bit of sand as well as vegetation and rock.  These are all choices for foreground subjects when composing a photo.  With the sun creeping low, the shadows across this sand dune caught my eye. A word on camera settings:  the marching men are are in the distance, so a small aperture of f/16 and hyperfocal distance were used.  I shot two different configurations:  each as the 3 largest "men".  The horizontal was shot at 32mm focal length.  The vertical at 45mm focal length.  You may notice that the higher focal leng...

Arches Windows Section Panoramic Sunset Having only one sunset in Arches National Park, I thought long and hard about which location to choose.  This was near the end of my trip to Moab and I felt weary.  I'd previously debated between the Windows section, delicate arch, and the marching men.  Perhaps choosing the easy way out, I decided to shoot a panorama of the Windows section.  However I did not simply take one picture and call it quits.  Instead, it shows the location far away from the Windows and set up my 300mm f/2.8 lens on a heavy tripod.  Shooting quickly but deliberately level at sunset, I captured more than 20 images from the left to right.  The golden hour was truly beautiful. At home, I stitched these together to create my most successful and beautiful panorama.  The power of a panorama comes out when these are viewed very large.  I encourage you to visit my website where you can see this in original size.  It's huge...

Desert Waterfall near Moab, Utah As readers of my blog can attest, I love finding desert waterfalls.  Consequently I searched for a waterfall when visiting Moab, Utah.  I didn't take too long to discover Millcreek Canyon.  This little gem appears to be a local favorite and a wonderful swimming hole in the summertime.  When I visited, several hikers were going up and down the canyon but I did not find any other photographers.  It took several compositions but enjoyed the one above because of the submerged rocks, deep pool, surrounding canyon cliffs and the waterfall itself.  If you're in the Moab area,a short hike up Millcreek canyon leads to this wonderful wonderful.

Spectacular Druid Arch in Needles, Canyonlands This is the trail report of my hike from Chesler Park to Druid arch deep in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.  I slept at Chesler Park Campground number 4 and enjoy the beautiful sunrise in the park.  I then began hiking toward Druid arch.  The trail is well marked the entire way. This trail goes directly east from Chesler Park through a crack in the surrounding sandstone towers.  On the other side of this passage is Elephant Canyon.  When I first saw Elephant Canyon, I was very high above the canyon floor.  It is not direct or intuitive to reach the canyon floor.  Nevertheless, that is where you must go in order to continue hiking. Following the cairns, I traveled north over sandstone boulders for about 15 minutes before the trail dropped into another fissure in the rocks.  Following this down, the trail gradually works its way down a moderate cliff.  The hiking is not ...

Unexpected Beauty:  Wildflowers find a Home in a Sliver of Sand Planning for a specific shot in Chesler Park, I wandered all around the sandstone towers at dawn and sunrise.  After I had done a a lot of photography, I took a break for breakfast with my daughter.  We climbed on top of a boulder to enjoy the view.  Between our boulder and another boulder, a sliver of sand allowed yellow wildflowers to grow.  This was unexpected yet so beautiful, I had to stop and try to capture this.  This unexpected moment is now one of my favorite memories from that morning. Another view from my breakfast boulder

Rounded boulders of Devils Kitchen The Devils kitchen is an enchanting place to spend the night.  The scenery from Camp is breathtaking.  I have another post regarding that.  I wanted to share some other photographs from the surrounding area.  From the campground it is easy to climb to the east and south onto a plateau.  This plateau is filled with towers and potholes.  I spent one memorable sunrise hopping around here and enjoying the views.  I hope you enjoy them too. Sandstone Tower in Needles District Potholes photographed early dawn

Colonnade Arch shows 3 of its 5 holes Colonnade arch fascinated me from the moment I first saw it in a photograph.  I had never seen anything like it:  3 windows opening out over an infinite view of canyons and mazes.  It took a little while to figure out exactly where this arch is located.  It appeared promising enough to me that I decided to special detour into the San Rafael Desert on my way to Canyonlands' Needles District just to visit this spot. I began hiking early in the morning and was deceived by the landscape as well as other trails in the area.  I hiked down towards the edge of the cliff and did not find my destination.  Looking around in all directions, I found it high on a cliff above and to the east.  I hiked back up and up and up.  You must be above this arch and then descend to it.  This can only be reached by downclimbing from above.  The problem is that you can't see if you're in the right place.  As a resu...

Devil's Kitchen Sunrise at 105mm There is no quicker way to change a picture then to change the focal length.  If you have a zoom lens, simply twisting it back and forth can remarkably bring distant objects closer.  Twisting the opposite direction, a very wide angle can be obtained in which the whole universe seems to come into the lens. I thought it might be interesting and educational to show 3 different views of the Devils Kitchen, but a remote section of Canyonlands Needles District.  I traveled in there by car without any weight restrictions.  I brought my 300 mm lens and several other heavy photographic tools.  The first shot was taken at a focal length of 105 mm.  This is actually zoomed in quite a bit.  It helps bring the flowers and the spire is a little bit closer together in the photograph.  Nevertheless, the flowers are very small. Devil's Kitchen and Wildflowers at 50mm There is no quicker way to change a picture then to ch...

Stone Steps into the Joint Trail from Chesler Park Hiking sometimes is pure drudgery.  Other times it is a magical experience.  The joint trail is one of those magical trails in which the destination is not the only aim.  The journey to the destination can be just as much fun along a wonderful trail like this.  The narrow canyon walls, fun and silly "cairn room" are the destination among themselves along the way to the beautiful Chesler Park.  It is also very cool and pleasant deep in these slots, a nice break from the sun and heat.. Hiker on the Joint Trail in Needles District Cairns along Joint Trail