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A few uploads ago I posted an image titled "Chain the Monte" showing our old red montecarlo with chains we put on at this rest stop up in Mesa Verde six months prior to this image with the xterra. At that time we had no idea that the rock formation known as Knifes Edge was right over our heads as it just wasnt visible through the snow.
You dont need a 4X4 in Mesa Verde when the weather is nice like this but it would have come in handy back in the March of 2006.
After four days of Mesa Verde we head down to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico where the capabilities of this vehicle really came thru for us. Rains were coming in every afternoon in the four corners region that September and many of the dirt roads around Chaco were washed out or flooded. In order to visit some two of the outlier ruins we had to sort of make our own roads thru mud. Had we still been driving the Monte we would never been able to visit those sites on that trip. When we got back home the xterra was covered in mud. I have been very impressed with this vehicle and its abilities to get us places that were before out of our reach.
House made of petrified wood, partially reconstructed for our veiwing pleasure. Nearly a thousand years old.
Spray painted on the closest corner are the words "keep out", not sure if that would keep the type of person who would even think about going in from doing so.
I'm working through the images we made in the big old Portland home everyone first met at.
Please see the Bogville Creature Show.
[Strobist Info: AB800 with shoot-thru umbrella close high camera left, AB1600 with reflected large umbrella level with camera far right, white cloth backdrop, wee-bit-o-processing to taste.]
There are so many things to learn and experience. Each step I take seems to go deeper into the kinds of images I was only in my wildest dreams ever hoping to create.
Has anyone mentioned that image making can be fun? LOL!
The red was so violent against the plain background. I can't count how many times I've stopped to take this photo, only to continue on my way without the subject captured. This time I had a clear idea of what I was after. This nearly matches my expectations and hopes.
Qtpfsgui 1.8.12 tonemapping parameters:
Operator: Fattal
Parameters:
Alpha: 1.5
Beta: 0.8
Color Saturation: 0.6
Noise Reduction: 0.09
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PreGamma: 1
In yet another Irish Pub. The food was OK. The waitress and my wife had a good conversation. It was blowing like h*ll outside. Petaluma this time of year can be fairly brisk. And the breeze this visit was particularly stiff.
This image was processed from a stack of three images (+/-2EV, 0EV), put through Qtpfsgui, and then further processed using the GIMP. I have left the Qtpfsgui parameters in place, but please remember; these were just the starting place and the Gimp further modified the original source images.
Qtpfsgui 1.8.12 tonemapping parameters:
Operator: Fattal
Parameters:
Alpha: 1
Beta: 0.8
Color Saturation: 0.7
Noise Reduction: 0.1
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PreGamma: 0.5
On your way in to Chaco Canyon from the east side you might see this sign.
Shot taken with my little 1.2mp vivitar and I think its the perfect camera for such a sign.
Story behind this shot told here
involves precarious heights and a nervous photographer blowing the chance to shoot one of the best and largest specimens of Tarantula Hawks I have ever seen.
Interesting film clip on this creature www.desertusa.com/video_pages/thawk1.html
Somewhere off Butler's Wash in a canyon cutting into Comb Ridge is castle.
The moat doesnt excactly go all the way around.
After visiting my brother, we headed over to see my wife's daughter in Petaluma. The rail station there has been completely renovated. However, the old rail lines sit out back in an open field largely ignored. On this latest trip I noticed how a large construction company has put up a fence along the south side of the property. This made photography rather difficult of the old engine.
I have worked these with Qtpfsgui and the GIMP. Still, I wanted to include the Qtpfsgui parameters. They are only a vague starting point for where this image ended up.
Qtpfsgui 1.8.12 tonemapping parameters:
Operator: Mantiuk
Parameters:
Contrast Mapping factor: 0.001
Saturation Factor: 0.8
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PreGamma: 1
The floor of the yellow parking garage is old and "charactered". The HDR tone-map technique enhances the micro-contrast in such a way as to reveal details that the minds eye can feel, but the camera rarely captures in one shot.
This, like my other Canon G7 AEB images, was created using the camera's +/- 2EV AEB function. This allows me to capture a lot of information about highlights and shadows, then map them into a pleasing 8 bit jpg space.
Qtpfsgui 1.8.12 tonemapping parameters:
Operator: Fattal
Parameters:
Alpha: 1
Beta: 0.72
Color Saturation: 0.9
Noise Reduction: 0.03
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PreGamma: 0.7
The tear in the fabric of the Multiverse that have allowed these photonic creations to pass between Ages appears to be weaving itself closed. As time passes, the photonic creations have become evermore tattered and torn. Significant amounts of information is being lost.
These must be amongst some of the last photonic creation to pass through. However, if anything further passes my way, I will be happy to share them.
Once I realized I had all the resources and tools needed to create unique one of a kind hand bound books of my images, I knew I had to re-process my rail images. The preparation for publishing has been a long process. I think I'm nearly there.
Damned river where people go float boats and jet jets.
More interesting is the point from which the shot was shot.
Reavis Ranch Trailhead.
I havent hiked it yet but someday...
There are so many things to learn and experience. Each step I take seems to go deeper into the kinds of images I was only in my wildest dreams ever hoping to create.
Has anyone mentioned that image making can be fun? LOL!
I didn't think I would post so many versions of this particular image. But it might be interesting to see how something like this develops during processing...
Last Fall someone grew this fabulously shaped squash. I tried looking at "straight" photos of these, and they just didn't excite or move me. So... I went back to the hyper-real technique I've been playing with.
These are in pure color. Next, I'll post a few in pure B&W (well, OK, so they'll be tinted, still, they'll be monochromes, so how's that?). Afterward, I will post a few images that show the final results of my messing around with squash.
Qtpfsgui 1.8.12 tonemapping parameters:
Operator: Fattal
Parameters:
Alpha: 1.3
Beta: 0.78
Color Saturation: 1.3
Noise Reduction: 0
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PreGamma: 1
This is one in a series of 6 leaf images. It's getting pretty late in the Fall season, yet there are all these wonderful leaves still laying around. Even after all the leaf blowers and gardeners have plied their craft all these wonderful little worlds of beauty are still to be found.
This is the last pass through these images. As you can see from comparing other renditions here, I like to work and work and work and image until I get several samples that appeal to me.
Working in the idea of living in a multi-verse, rather than a uni-verse, I thought it would be fun to see where the mind might take me. I'm sure for some folks the mind has taken me WAYYYYYYY out there. :-)
I wanted to revisit some of my earlier images from the Roundhouse. I was disappointed in Canon's pano-stitching software and looked around for something from the Open Source community.
It took me awhile to figure out how to use the applications. So these are my first attempts, and I can see where I can improve things. Still, it's pretty exciting! I'm liking what I see.
3:45 seems so early (4:45 NM time) to be closing the site, winter hours in springtime just kind of sucks. All the good light coming after and before the place even is even open.
Sun is low enough in the sky for contrast but the clear cloudless sky is thick with juniper pollen and turns white at the horizon in the direction of the sun.
I am re-processing earlier images as well as new work to see what might fit best into hand bound books.
I checked the resolution of these images against the files straight out of the camera. I was concerned that my processing was somehow softening the edges and delivering less resolution. Good new! My processes retain all the resolution I could ever want. This is fun stuff.
After working through the Bogville series, I wanted to return, briefly, to an earlier set of images and re-process them using my newly developed techniques.
When I return, these will be bundled and shipped off for publication. It may take a few months to hear something, but I'm hopeful that I get to share these with a wider audience.
[Strobist Info: AB1600 with cone over left camera shoulder, AB800 with cone on white backdrop camera right, liberal processing to taste.]
Original photographs from the era are seldom this distressed and faded. Yet, from the perspective of my eye in current times, it wouldn't surprise me to someday find images in worse shape than this. Its the feeling and expectation of age that drove me to make the images in this manner. I hope it "works".
The Holiday Season brings out the lights. Businesses along Division in near-in SE are brightly lit.
I wanted to see what happened when I compared the output of a couple different tools using several different parameters. To my eye, these are the more pleasing results. I like the slightly desaturated effect along with the extreme contrast control and micro-contrast effects.
I took a table-top tripod and found suitable resting places. Then I used aperture preferred controls, set the A640 to f/2.8, then took three images, one each at +2, 0, and -2EV. These were then stacked and processed as a HDR tiff, followed by tone mapping.
I'm coming down to the last of the images from my Oaks Park outing. It was a LOT of fun seeing what I could see, and the processing the results. Sometimes photography is just too much fun! Makes me smile a whole bunch.
I enjoy wandering the local cemeteries. I seem to uncover or finally "see" something new to me every trip I make.
The Gothic iron and stone work really attracted me the last time I was there.
With so much lush greenery to feast on they really couldn't be bothered by our presence.
Even the one on the move is busy chewing on some of the bountiful vegitation the Chaco Canyon area has to offer.
My favorite cemetery called to me earlier this past Spring. I wanted to see the massive and very beautiful Copper Beech in full leaf. I wanted to study the headstones for their bas-relief and details. I wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet of this old place.
I wanted to see what happened if I were more careful with my panorama scene capture and then processed the images using Canon's Stitch application. Well, it's still not what I was looking for.
Perhaps I used too wide an optic and the software can't handle the distortions? Or maybe their stitch software just sucks? Who knows?
Anyways, here's a couple images from the roundhouse.
Foreground of this picture is warped with a filter in the gimp. The gimp is a free open source capable of just about anything and everything you would do with photoshop.
Among the Lomaki Box Canyon ruins this collared lizard strikes several different poses for me until he just gets bored of it all, he then slowly wanders off.
A lot of these little guys have yellow gloves on, nice look I think.
Best viewed large.
The background i should have either lightened or darkened as it really loses something if not viewed large.
Edited grass out of the face.
Same lizard as the previous image in my stream.
He really wanted to be in the cover of brush, he was moving fast and I just had to take the shots I could get.
Would be nice to catch one of these guys when theyre not feeling so shy.
As more photonic creations are revealed it becomes clear just how stressful the journey between Ages in the Multiverse can be. The original images must be of incredible beauty. Alas, by the time they reach our present Age, the images have certainly lost something. Its as if the Myst of the Ages lay upon them.
There are so many things to learn and experience. Each step I take seems to go deeper into the kinds of images I was only in my wildest dreams ever hoping to create.
Has anyone mentioned that image making can be fun? LOL!
It feels as if the earth is settling into a long cold damp winter season. Everywhere I look there are signs of seasonal change.
Soon the Winter Solstice will be upon us. Perhaps a large bonfire to burn through the night?
The way that tone-mapping brings out the micro-contrast and skews the details is really fun. For me it helps take the mundane and turn it into something that is felt with the heart as much as it is seen with the eyes.
Qtpfsgui 1.8.12 tonemapping parameters:
Operator: Fattal
Parameters:
Alpha: 1.5
Beta: 0.7
Color Saturation: 0.6
Noise Reduction: 0.09
------
PreGamma: 1
I find I am very much enjoying making images in the style and idea we have of old photographs.
This series leans heavily on my own ideas of photographic history. Early images are typically much more stable than what I am presenting here. Yet, hand tinted, stressed and distressed photos are easy to find in antique shops around the country.
It is with this that I pay homage to all those wonderful photographers who helped capture images in the past. I hope to do them and our ideas of history justice.
As I was taking photos, I heard someone walk up behind me a say "That'll be $5." When I turned to face the elderly gent, I smiled. It was his car and he was very proud of it. So we chatted a bit before he and his wife climbed in and motored away.
It was a lovely day.
I enjoy the tonal qualities these images achieve. Back in the day, I worked as a photo-lab-rat in Hollyweird and Irvine, California. I used to do this kind of work, though I felt quite guilty. It seemed a sinful photographic pleasure, particularly given the fact that many of my friends and I were enamored with St. Ansel and his hyper-clear B&W work.
In any event, using traditional analog techniques, it would take me one to four weeks to create a single image of this kind. I find I still love the effect.
Wandering around an amusement park that's closed for Winter is really quite fun. You never know what you'll stumble upon, which way your head will turn, things the eye will find pleasing.
I gave these photos the treatment I did because I find amusement parks hyper-real in any event. This closely matches what my mind constructs whenever I visit.