I try to seldom re-visit a photo once I have taken my first cut at it... unless I botched it the first time. The old version of this I made my wallpaper this morning, and when I looked at it I mentally slapped myself on the forehead and vowed to take another whack at it. So I did, tell me what you think!

A Little Eclectic Trip to Salt Lake City

Finally, finally, finally! Got a chance to do a little photography this weekend. In the midst of moving it is hard to find the time to decompress though that is when you need it the most. Realizing that, my lovely wife encouraged me to take a few hours Saturday to run away. THANKS BABE!

On to the photos: All shots were taken with my K 24mm f2.8 on my K200d in RAW. The first three shots are from the same area, an art installation next to the Capitol Theater that is a placeholder until something gets built. It is made from flexible fiberglass rods that have been cemented into the ground with gravel spread around them. I have always thought of them as "Fiberglass Grass" and enjoyed the whimsicality of the whole exercise. Intending them as abstracts, I tried to process each one completely differently as a mental exercise. Mental Floss if you will.

This first one is pushed beyond... well.... anything really. It was taken wide open at f2.8 and near to closest focus. The processing involved a high radius and high percentage unsharp mask. A little crazy but it made it more eyecatching.

The second is a much more simple composition, f4 if I remember correctly, I felt that monochrome would emphasize the shapes and curves which is the basis of this photo. I pulled all my colors to 0 except for Red and Magenta. Those I moved till I felt I had the right separation of background and object without getting the background too light.

The least amount of processing went into this one. Simple levels, brightness/contrast & hue/saturation layers and a smidge of USM.

This was almost directly behind the upper right hand corner of the above photo though you cannot see it. The purple was very bright and the statues seemed to be dancing on it. Simply ridiculous to look at. I had great difficulty pulling the statues out of the building but then decided to make it about the purple and see if anybody noticed...

These two cracked me up, dressed as Brigham Young and one of his wives, they were there to encourage the participants of some charity walk as they went past. Not one to pass up an opportunity to photograph whimsy of course I asked them to pose, and they were more than willing to do so.

I took this simply because I LOVE the building. It strongly reminds me of being in the United Kingdom. Plus the name was cool!

Thanks for looking!

The Shot That Wouldn't Load.....

OK, this is the shot that wouldn't upload for the last post. I had to downsize it from: 14040 x 3862 = 54.22 MP, to: 7271 x 2000 = 14.54 MP to get it to upload... Sheesh picky picky picky!!!!! Anyway, this was 12 shots taken in portrait mode (i.e. taller than it was wide) @ 107.5mm and f9.5. I placed my camera on a tripod, set up the first shot and proceeded to take as many shots as I needed to cover the scene with at least 1/3 of a frame overlap from the last shot. If I am being picky I will do 2/3 overlap from the last photo just to make sure I have what I need.

I had to process and stitch it from the RAW files twice. The first time I didn't adjust my exposure as I converted them to TIFF and had some cruddy looking sky. The second time I did more adjustments and got a much better looking sky to work with. I hope to have the money to print it. Could look really good.

Flotsam and Jetsam Before I Go Offline For Awhile.

So... I have had a busy last few weeks, due to an impending move and just life in general. But I did find the time to shoot a few photographs a week ago Saturday. Due to the new Blogger interface I loaded them in reverse order so I will blog about them in reverse order too. The above shot is a three shot panorama taken at the end of the day, I have a larger one that is 12 shots but it is too big and I don't have the time to go in and compress the file. Will put it up later. Lenticular clouds are some of my favorite cloud formations EVER! We don't get them much but when we do I run for my camera.

Prior to that we had taken a trip to downtown SLC to visit my Sister-In-Law, Father-In-Law and his new wife. I chose to go relax with some photography prior to doing that simply because I needed to decompress. I went to the new City Creek Center in Downtown, I think I like it and I will need to go back there again and again. I think Night time could be interesting.....

Both of these shots were taken with my 8mm Fisheye lens, and they are both HDR with slight processing differences.

 I have been wanting to try a shot like this for awhile, need to get better at it, but I like the perspective and adding the foreground flowers. It is a trifle overdone at times, seems like everybody takes one of these, but it is important to take the time to try different perspectives sometimes. Helps you to grow.

Two examples of the difference that aperture makes. I am fooling with a lens given to me by a friend an old screwmount Soligor 200mm f2.8. The first shot was at f5.6 or 8 I cannot remember. The first wide open at f2.8. The lens is not a great performer wide-open but is reasonably sharp by f5.6, but is subject to longitudinal chromatic aberrations in out of focus areas. I like the background blur but I am still at a bit of a loss to visualize the focal length when assessing a shot. It will take time.

Here are some more test shots going from f8 to f5.6 to f4 to f2.8. I have to say that the handling of the lens is fun, it is built like a tank and could kill a water buffalo if it got too close.

Cheers! Will be back up in a few weeks once the move is completed and I have time to shoot again.

Lunchtime Meanderings.......

I am in a VERY busy period of my life and as such I have not a lot of time to take photos. This cramps my style to a certain extent yet it also focuses me on the moment. All in all I prefer the more leisurely pace of having a long period within which to shoot and look at the scene before I even put camera to eye. That said, better to have shot and flexed your creative muscles a little than to have not used them at all!

I have a.... desire? Philosophic imperative? Contrary streak? Whatever.... that keeps me coming back to wanting to carry only two primes at most, and often just one single lens. That lens often now is my 100mm f2.8 macro lens, first because it is water resistant just like my camera body and just really well built and a pleasure to handle. Second because it is sharp and lets me get just as close as I want to so I can isolate details from the vast mass of visual detritus and debris that confronts us at every turn. To me that is the essence of photography: finding the bits of beauty in, or the details of, a single scene that make it memorable. That is how I remember: one detail that makes the scene or place unique.

This day I simply chose to open myself to the scene and ask: Why did I come here to eat my lunch, what makes it pleasing?

First thing I realized was that there were flowers. Not that this is a particularly unique thing to just this spot, far from it, the silly things are everywhere. But they are why I was sitting on that chair at that moment.

Now, flowers are pretty much a cliche or joke among the more "pro" elements of the photography community unless they photograph them professionally. Many amateurs shoot way too many mediocre flower shots, I think the last two fall towards this category, but at the same time they have value as practice.... or what not to do. (I am trying to be a more self aware and self critical photographer, which is hard, as I love my photos.....)

I next found myself becoming aware of this vista that often captivates me, the play of clouds and light has mesmerized me on many occasions and left me awed by the majesty of my surroundings.

This last set is the product of multiple trips to this building to simply look and enjoy the uniqueness of this buildings design. I have been frustrated at my inability to truly capture the sight. I think I now have found my focal length and spot, and I simply now need to await the proper light and sky to make the image I want to capture.

I chose to shoot this image to demonstrate the tension between the open and free sky and the sharply jutting corner of the building, this building houses a cancer specialty hospital. Just the thought gives me tension and this reminds me of that.

This image becomes more about the shapes and textures of the building as simply an object in and of itself. I planned to shoot it and convert it to B&W from the start and produced the image I envisioned when I captured it. That is the light at the end of the tunnel that I have been waiting for photographically. To simply see something, knowing what the camera and lens I have will do and getting the shot as I saw it. Deep satisfaction in those rare moments.

This shot exists simply because the folks on one of my photography forums indicated that they would like to see the second shot in color since the liked it more than the first. So I whipped one up. Not sure I like it as much, though the color does have much to recommend it. It just becomes more about the color than the shape... which loses something that I deeply liked about the monochrome version. What do you think?

Ah..... Blossoms on the trees. Could Spring really be here?

I usually don't get giddy when spring hits but this year I am determined to do so. What other reason could be better? The earth is going to be pretty and green again!!!!

Got home from work yesterday and noticed immediately that the swelling buds were starting to blossom. Needless to say my camera hand started to itch and I immediately grabbed my tripod and Macro lens and set to work. Most of these shots were taken at close to 1:1, the buds are really tiny, 1/4 inch in diameter tiny.

For depth of field I shot this at f16, a f-stop I would normally avoid, but is necessary to get a useable amount of depth of field.

I really wondered what this would look like in B&W, so I did a quick conversion. Not convinced that I have it right, need to fiddle with the Levels and Brightness a smidge. Do kinda like it though.

I opened the aperture up a bit and moved a little bit further back, I wanted to balance reasonable sharpness of the buds with blurring the background as best I could. I rather like the blur in the background, another reason to like this lens.

I then thought it would be fun to go for ultra thin depth of field. I tried to get just part of one bud in focus and then the rest progressively more blurry. I achieved what I wanted, but I am not sure if the photo is a failure or not.

Back to f6.7 for a more reasonable amount of DOF, I love the color and light/shadows on this blossom.

I then wanted to experiment a little with very deep depth of field, stopping down to f22 gives me a much deeper field, but I do loose some overall sharpness, I think the tradeoff is worth it.

This is the exact same shot but at f2.8 as wide of an aperture as the lens can go. At this close of a focus my DOF is about 1/8 of an inch. That makes getting the salient stamens in focus on a tree that is moving a pretty chancy thing. I think I did OK, need to play with it more.

Stay tuned for more flower shots. You will probably be sick of them by summer.

San Rafael Swell: HooDoo's and Wildhorse Window.

Had another chance to visit the Goblin Valley State Park vicinity, this time with a scout troop. This afforded the chance for some interesting photographic opportunities as well as the intended purpose of getting some camping time in for the boys and most importantly... lots of fun.

We set up camp after dark, though it was well lit by lanterns the boys were not really able to see where we were and what the landscape looked like, greatly enjoyed their faces the next morning.

The boys did have a lot of fun on the ridgelines and sliding down the slopes on their behinds. Not for me, but fun nonetheless.

At dawn, we had short periods of sun that later evaporated. Knowing that this often happens I was ready to rumble and caught one of my most favorite vistas with low morning sun. The southern end of the San Rafael Swell is simply gorgeous!

Once we packed up we went into Goblin Valley proper, last year we found this cave but I was unable to locate it when I went back. This time I had a guide and was able to shoot it with a tripod and lower ISO, really helping the noise levels. Don't know that I have completely finished this spot, but I like what I got.

Climbing to a new spot I had not visited before afforded vistas that were incredibly scenic. I found myself wishing for the opportunity to go back to the spot for a winter sunrise with snow on the ground.

Unnamed knob with Gilson Butte in the background.

Looking back across Goblin Valley proper with Wildhorse Butte in the background. The incredible wildness of the terrain is indescribable.

I don't know what the plant is called but it is all over the place and really beautiful.

Wildhorse Window area (a.k.a. known as the Eye of Sinbad) these two caves are interesting monuments to the power of water and wind on stone.

Inside the cave on the Right as you look at the mouths, there is a hole shaped quite like an eye. The remnants of an old pothole that wore through to the cavern below. I have a strange desire to rappel down through that hole... I find that rather disturbing in my own mind actually....

The interior of the cave is positively awe inspiring, though dark which required pushing my HDR skills a bit to capture something even close to what my eye saw.

One highlight is the presence of petroglyphs on one wall. These fancifully done figures are well preserved due to the protected nature of this cavern.

In case you were wondering the reason Doug looks like he is falling is the distortion caused by my Fisheye lens that I was using. From corner to corner is 180 degrees, sometimes this type of lens is the only way to get a certain shot.

Hope you enjoyed a brief tour of the area.

San Rafael Swell: Slots and HooDoo's!

I have a very good friend who has been a partner in adventure before, who has never been to the Goblin Valley area, but has been wanting to go for a long time. We finally decided to make a date months in advance when he did not have any performances scheduled. We succeeded and finally got to go. FINALLY!!!!!

We had to make it a bit of a whirlwind due to scheduling, but we made it work. We left Salt Lake City @ 3:00 am, and made the Goblin Valley area just at sunrise. Our first stop was to do some canyoneering. Which means we were going to hike in narrow slot canyons, wiggle around and over boulders, and generally try to get sore and scraped without breaking anything important.

We started with the Ding-Dang loop. These are not the prototypical slot canyons that twist and wind for hundreds of feet with nice sandy floors. These are a little more... athletic. They were also a blast! I had not been able to finish the full loop before due to lack of light and equipment when we got to the scrambly bits. We had to turn around and go back whence we had come. Determined to make it this time.

It was too cold with too poor of light to get much going up Ding, this is up at the mouth "Behind the Reef" the hill is the Ding-Dang-Dome. Just love saying that.

Also the Ding-Dang-Dome, you pass between the slope to the left and the dome to drop into Dang.

This is where I got stuck before. I have to say that despite what the guidebooks say, this really needs a rappel to get down easily. Fortunately there is an anchor, a single anchor. I prefer doubles.

This next obstacle was somewhat unexpected, there was little water prior to this and I did not expect to have to deal with any. sigh. This is where canyoneering gets athletic, this technique is called "Stemming". You put your butt on one side and feet on the other and just scoot along inches at a time. This is especially fun when you have several thousand dollars of camera equipment in your backpack and didn't think to bring a dry bag. Got over it OK though, it is fairly akward to do this with your backpack behind you so it has to go in front... also awkward.

Getting around the ripples on the side wall is rather interesting as well. Or should I say challenging?

Back to a more photographic mien. I really was arrested by the textures and shapes in this spot. I loved the strong diagonals with the crossing shadow. Just... LIKE it.

The exit from Dang. This is just down from the wet spots, and it was very nice to be back in the sun. It was rather chilly down in the bottom.

Next we moved on to Little Wild Horse Canyon. I have been there many times and focused more on just enjoying rather than shooting pictures. Did have to repeat this shot though, it always amazes me the amount of gravel and sand that gets washed out. The first time I went there it was easier to go over.

After going through and around behind the reef, again, and descending Bells Canyon, we sat tiredly, rested then went into Goblin Valley proper. I love this place, you can just sit and let your imagination run wild. The shapes and humps take on life and character and become fodder for your imagination. It is even better in moonlight! ;-)

I never get tired of the color or the textures. The eroding ground is simply striking when seen in the right light.

I intentionally like to convert some to B&W, thus making the photos even more about the shape and texture. It is really hard to take a bad shot down here.

This is a jazzed up frame I played with. I think I sorta like it, and sorta don't. Will see if it grows on me. What do you think?

I saw Snoopy here, could just be my imagination.

Or maybe a whale?

The sky and the red rock are stunning to behold, and amazingly can become familiar enough that you stop thinking about it. Until you look at your pictures again.

Wild Horse Butte in the distance dominates the skyline, though less so in an ultrawide angle shot like this.

These two shots were processed quite differently, the second with much less saturation and contrast. Though it is somewhat washed out relative to what my eyes see, it pleases me nonetheless.

Hope you enjoyed the trip.

Lloyd