Northern Arizona Photo Adventure

photographers at the wave at coyote buttes
When we left the trailhead, it was very cloudy but we kept good thoughts and were rewarded
with some moments of sun and extreme blue skies. Then it started spitting snow which cut our
visit very short. I mainly shot movies.
hiking in the snow
So….what’s worse? Hiking to the Wave in the heat or worrying about getting out during a snow storm.
Tough call 🙂

Lost my Marbles

photoshop marble
If you lose your marbles, just create your own in Photoshop 🙂

A group I belong to has been having fun with an old tutorial for creating planets, glass balls, orbs;
whatever you want to call them. Depending on the subject matter, they can turn out really interesting.
You can’t predict what the edge color will be except if you have predominance of one color.
The most fun can be had with a skyline of buildings against blue skies or a night sky.
In that case, the buildings can have the apperance of projecting from the sphere. It’s very cool.

Whatever you come up with, the process is just plain fun! Here’s a link to the original tutorial: http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/create-your-own-panorama-planets/

Senita and Vines in HDR

senita cactus in hdr
After my class at the DBG yesterday, I took some time to photograph with HDR in mind.
In the photo above of a Senita cactus, the HDR process intensified the red and orange
coloration which happens when cactus are stressed. We’ve had cold weather and they
don’t like it. (Canon S5)

Below is another HDR image showing vine orbs that were created by a vine sculptor on-sight
at the DBG. He made several out of local material. I’ve photographed it before but have never
been happy with the outcome. With the HDR process, I could stand inside one, photography
out and still have everything show up. As you may have noticed in both images, I like pushing
the process to give more of an artsy look. I’m having lots of fun with HDR at the risk of boring
everyone else 🙂 (Canon S5)

Conservation Photography