Category Archives: Photo Tour
Death Valley does COLOR!
In looking back at my last ten blog posts, I realized I’ve been in B&W mode! I figured it was time for a color image. This one is from the abandoned Eureka Mine area. On our scouting day we had a cloud that was cooperating and the sun even reflected a hint of color as it disappeared over the horizon. I scurried up the hill to the car, moved to a position where I could best use the cloud, and make just a few captures as the light faded.
A teaching moment if I can. I’ve included an alternate version of the posted image below. In it you will see the sky had more color which I preferred. The issue I had was, in my haste after running up the hill to catch the color, I was not paying attention to where the car was in the frame. Below, you’ll note is was merging with the sky just a bit. I quickly changed my position to fix the issue but lost some of the color. Its a small nit picky thing, however, I was reminded by Tony Sweet this weekend (we presented together for a group along with Denise Ippolito) how important being nit picky is. A friend I was sitting with said, “thats what separates Tony from the rest and makes him so good.” I agreed.
Be sure to check back as my next post will be by guest blogger and Master Black & White photographer Chuck Kimmerle! Shout it from the roof tops, tell your neighbors, tell your friends, tell your mom, dad and siblings too… Everyone will want to read his great post.
Stumbling Upon Magic
Sometimes you just stumble upon magic. While randomly wandering down yet another street in Trinidad we found this wonderful scene. Could we have found a better scene? I think not! Come on, a blue car with its door open in a garage with colorful doors. And then, (see below) a young boy in his school outfit popped out of nowhere. Magic! Don’t forget you can click on a image to make it bigger.
Chasing the light
One evening in Trinidad, yes Cuba, we were in town as the sun was setting. The gold light bathing the gold building was too good to pass up!
I’m watching you…
Upon arrival in Cuba, we immediately went to lunch. After we finished and were heading to the bus, this little scene happened. It was quite comical to see all the cameras pointed at this dog. For one brief moment, he poked his head all the way out of the window and I managed to make this capture. It was a great way to start the trip! Image taken with my Fuji X-E1
My next post will include some creative processing ideas as I’ll show how I created the look of the image I’ll be posting. Check back to see!
Merry Christmas!
A big thank you to all who have visited my blog, attended a workshop, went on a tour or clicked on a discount link. I appreciate your support!
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful happy 2013!
Today’s blog post is another from the Eastern Sierra, this time a wonderful Sunrise at Mono lake.
Some spots open for our Charleston S.C. and Fall In New England Tours
The tours I do with Dan Sniffin were officially announced just about a month ago. As usual, the spots fill up very quickly and we are grateful for that! Thank you! I thought an update on the status was in order so you might be able to plan your trips for next year.
We are full for Death Valley.
We have 5 spots available for Charleston
We have just one spot left for the Palouse.
Iceland is Full.
We have 5 spots open for the New England Tour.
As you can see, we have essentially 11 spots left for all of our tours! We hope you’ll consider coming along for one if you’ve not signed up yet.
Today’s image is from the Eastern Sierra of California. Specifically the Bishop area. I made this capture back in 2010 but have never had success in processing it until today. Yet, another good reason to keep your images. My processing knowledge has improved over the last 2 years, allowing me to make something out of a tough exposure. I’m posting a copy of the Raw File for comparison below. I should point out that I also have an underexposed capture in which the sky looks much better in RAW processing. The challenge, was to make the shoreline bright enough. For this the brighter (not overexposed) capture was much better as it did not generate any noise to speak of in processing. And, I had plenty of data to bring the bright sky, color and saturation back to what I remember seeing.
Back to the Poconos
Here is another from the amazing two days I had in the Poconos this fall.
Gold Light
On Saturday we were up early to walk out to Hatches Harbor. Its about a 20 minute hike and worth the effort. We were greeted by warm light an interesting sky, and low tide great for adding foreground interest. Here is a favorite from that morning.
Cape Cod Workshop a Wrap
What a great time we had! Sure it was COLD, however, we were treated to a number of great moments to photograph. The gold light at this time of the year was just yummy!
Today’s post is from our 2nd full day. As we arrived at the beach cottages we were greeted with this amazing display over the water. The “god” rays were a wonderful bonus to an amazing display of light and clouds above. As a side note, I waited until the sun went behind the darker cloud allowing me to capture this contrasty scene with one exposure.
A good day on the Cape
Today was our first full day of the workshop. We had variable skies and were chasing things most of the day. That said, I think we did well for the conditions we had. The blog image was taken early this morning. I woke up and was excited to see a bit of blue sky as overcast/cloudy had been forecasted. I jumped out of bed and wandered in front of the house I’m staying in. Loved the sky and knew I could process it into something. Of course the boat added just the right amount of color.
The group is excellent with amazing talent, open to each situation Jeff and I are bringing them too. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow.
