marcadamus

Not too bad as these HDR renditions go, though still obviously HDR.  I don't mind it personally, but a careful eye for light balancing is required.  Looks like this is in need of some touch-up balancing of the lighting on the buildings and a few hot halo spots around the edges of them.  Note that some buildings are very dark and others very bright in spots under the same lighting.  Perhaps this is artistic choice to some extent as well, but I'd personally like it to appear a little more true to life just for the sake of putting the viewer there, as it appears otherwise of documentary intent.

Yeah, nature never is quite perfect by our human standards of aesthetic design, eh?  I figured given the tree's girth at over 12ft in diameter, 'stick' might not do it justice.

The sunset stirring something of the power a part of this ancient, one

of the oldest trees on Earth.

Quite frankly, I never saw any personal attacks or anything off-topic about the discussion above. I thought it was neat how people expressed their thoughts on the art, like it or not.

It's your problem, Alex. You are the one who does not like it, not the photographer. No photographer can please everyone. I took many images with faster shutter speeds and did not like any of them as much. Sorry.

>> "In fact, they simply average out to a general dullness that one tries to eliminate in the post processing."
No, not at all. I tried to enhance the mistiness and fog as much as possible in post processing because it's what adds the 3'rd visual dimension - depth.

>> "Certainly the treatment of the water falls and the stream bed is technically sound, but the rainfall and mist that are part of the live scene just can't be captured in a time exposure."
Yes, the rainfall could have been captured. But what you may be missing is the fact that if I had captured it, there would be no depth. It would be a flat image with no mist. It's the rain throughout a long exposure that makes mist.

>> "Even in a rain storm you will see much more detail of the distance with your own eyes than you can with a photographic long exposure."
Yes, which is why I wanted a long exposure. I didn't want to be able to see as far, as clearly. The creation of mist, or 'dullness', as you put it is the most important element in this scene IMO. Without it, it's just another picture with no sense of depth and distance. Just look at the works of a landscape painter, for example. The HRS comes to mind. Look at the way contrasts are subdued in the distance to give the sensation of a 3rd dimension and you'll see what I'm talking about.

>> "At life-speed, mists move in the breezes and sometimes you get a crystal clear glimpse of distance and other times they coalesce and your vision is obscured."
True, and if there really was mists here and they were moving, video would have been a better way to capture it.

Stephen, the river is a very easy ford in late summer when it's flowing at 500-900cfs, but not at 5000cfs in mid-spring on a heavy snow year.  It's just impossible then, but you get the amazing greens of spring.

Anders, I appreciate the comment and have seen numerous great examples of what you're talking about with bracketing exposures. Usually, when a photographer chooses a very smooth effect it's because it's being used as an element of simplification. The water here on the canyon floor was merely a complimentary element to lead the eye. The canyon itself and side falls were my primary objective. By introducing a lot of texture into the water below (which I tried extensively) I felt it was too busy and not as effective artistically. Just IMO of course.

John and Alex, what do you want? Leprechauns? It is a green environment, afterall. Would have helped to have a rainbow too though. Now that would have been unique! ;-)

My focus as a photographer is this: Make photos of pretty places. I make a very good living at it, actually. I enjoy it thoroughly and it does not get old for me. There have been times I have pioneered or refined new techniques to do so throughout my career and I've also learned a lot from those that came before me. While this particular piece isn't one of my most evocative works (or even close) it does absolutely capture this place in conditions that are very, very rare and also employs effects that are not often used (such as shooting in pouring rain to create mist, for example). You could likely not find a like shot from this heavily photographed canyon for those reasons.

In landscape, it's been done. It's been done a zillion times, but hey, there's a zillion photographers and a zillion pretty places that are readily accessible to the public. If I want to record the type of big, sweeping vista that will best describe to the viewer being a part of the landscape in which I stood, I usually don't have an option that hasn't already been photographed. The difference between people that really understand landscape photography is they see those subtle differences in artistic decisions, rare conditions, rare light, processing work, etc. that separate something like this that often requires dozens of visits and years of experimentation from what your average Joe gets in his first visit.

The combination of my style, which relies heavily on those large, all-inclusive landscapes and a totally unique and/or deeply evocative approach is simply not always compatible, and to some number of folks out there these images, no matter how much creativity, determination and effort they took to create, will always look like postcards. However, looking at the light, mood, conditions, etc. contained within my pictures I would hope that you at least realize every attempt at creating something a little more interesting than the ordinary was made.

I spent more than two weeks this spring returning day after day to

Washington's Columbia Hills in search of the best blooms, best light

and anything that caught my interest. This particular image here is

one I had been working on for several years and happened to catch the

right conditions just a week ago, in mid-May. The details were

alluring to me. The light subtly complimenting the tree, the water in

a normally dry stream, the green leaves coming out and of course,

Lupine and Balsamroot flowers that seemed destined to be photographed.

The technicals included shooting for 3 different focal points and

using a combination of manual and automated processes to merge the

three together for optimal depth of field and focus at f/16 from 10cm

away to infinity.

We started by canoe, crossing the Queets river near the boundary of

Olympic National park. The river was high from spring snow-melt and

the use of a boat allowed us access to a faint, all-but-abandoned

summer trail up the river which helps cut through the thick rainforest

foliage for almost ten miles. After the trail's disappearance at a

series of landslides, our journey was just getting started. We

continued upriver, reduced to hands-and-knees innumerable times,

taking it slow and marveling at the groves of Spruce, Fir, Alder,

Maples and all that surrounded it.

Over the course of sixty miles spent vastly off trail we encountered

hundreds of elk, many bears, eagles and dozens of other citizens of

the forest world. The forests themselves are beyond spectacular. No

photo nor words could ever be suitable to describe them. The mere

thought of returning there for a long time occupies my every thought

today.

Almost all of our trek was spent simply figuring out which creeks to

follow up, where to ford the rivers, how to traverse the terrain,

setting-up camps and admiring grove after grove of the best temperate

rainforest on the continent. At times, we were three long days from

the nearest road or; presumably, person. This image was taken there,

in a place we named Paradise Forest.

The photograph is my simple and humbling attempt at doing anything

that would hope to stir the emotions we felt in this magnificent

place, so far from anything.

I used an 8-second exposure with polarizer and mild ND filter at 40mm

to capture this reflecting pool of greenery in soft light. To achieve

the dreamy effect I blew a layer of fog over the lens near the end of

the exposure, keeping all details in tact. In processing, I started

with a very dark file and layered light back in with types of dodges,

an attempt at simplification, depth and mood.

Hi Kani, my artist's statement on my website has a section called "Photoshop in Today's Age" that talks about my artistic decisions in great detail.  It answers your question and probably offers more insight into my study of artistic philosophy.

www.marcadamus.com

About 20 minutes sitting here, enjoying the impressive scenery and

getting really wet.

I have seen a lot of photographs of Oregon's unique Oneonta Gorge. I

have taken a lot too. Over many years, I have found one favorite way

to shoot it - in the pouring rain. I came out here many times and

finally, on the heels of two days of rain as it was, got the type of

deluge I was looking for. The effect of the rainfall on a 10-second

exposure is the misty atmosphere you see here and the additional side

waterfalls which rarely occur within the canyon. For me it brings

about the essence of the temperate rainforest.

Mount Hood, moonset and wildflowers from Washington's Columbia Hills.

The image was made at 120mm focal length using DOF blending/correction

techniques to ensure sharp focus throughout.

A faster shutter freezes the reflected light and water action on

Oregon's Eagle Creek.

Raghuveer, thanks so much.  After a quick Google search of images I would conclude you are right about the ID.  I appreciate it! 

Zsolt, thank you.  In my many years as a full-time landscape photographer I'd have to say this may have been the best foreground to background light, color, subject, etc. that I've had the chance to combine...or at least close.  It was a good thing I narrowly missed that snake as I don't think I would have stuck around after being bit.   In fact, I was ready to pack it in anyway having been pretty satisfied to get some nice skies and a really neat collection of blooms but just a minute or two before the sun disappeared below the horizon it burst out again, illuminating the peak.  It was really a sight to see in person - some of the best light I've ever witnessed, no doubt.  The 14mm focal length doesn't quite do it justice, as this peak was enormous, right next to me, and absolutely on fire!  However, had I not used the ultra-wide I'd have sacrificed depth and all the other elements that add uniqueness and sense of place to the shot.   It was a very careful hike back to the car. 

There's a place I call Salt Creek Flats in Death Valley that fills

with water from nearby springs in some years given the right

conditions. The playa stretches on almost forever, as do several such

valleys in this, the lowest place in North America. I hiked out to

these shallow channels several times on several evenings over the

course of a couple months. On the evening pictured here, I knew this

was my opportunity to capture it. The water that was barely visible in

the inch-deep streams during the day came alive with the fire of

sunset and lead my eye towards infinity.

If anyone can identify the species of cacti in the foreground here I would most appreciate it!  Thanks!  There were very few of them in these mountains but every time I came up on one it was in bloom. 

Days spent scouting around Arizona's Kofa mountains, almost stepping

on a Rattlesnake 50ft from this shot and a lot of luck with the light

and skies.

Hi Ben, thanks.  There were 4 exposures used here.  I made the sun-star exposure at f/22\.  You see the 'star' appearing through the trees.  I had some flare when the sun-star was at its best so I waited until it was subdued by the trees more and blended a small piece of an image without flare to remove it.  I then controlled the sky highlights with another exposure at 1/20 second, f/11 and everything else at .8 seconds, f/11.  A polarizer was used on all, as I didn't want to bother taking it off standing almost waist-deep in the freezing water.

A new interpretation of an old idea of mine from Oregon's Columbia

Gorge. A recent landslide opened up a new view of these falls this

past winter and I tried to take advantage of it. Any thoughts or

questions are welcome.

Winds were really making for some great opportunities on this day in

Death Valley. I ran up this dune to catch 10 minutes or so of fleeting

light as the sun dipped towards the horizon. My friend James was down

below. You saw his shot about 20 minutes prior to this.

Interestingly, the light would catch the blowing sand only after it

was separated from the dune a little bit, leaving mostly shadow to the

left of the ridge. Initially I wasn't sure if that would work as well

in the picture but I ended up liking it. Ideally, I might have liked

to shoot this around 1/500 to completely freeze the sand in the air

but it was already late in the sunset I just didn't want to push the

ISO that high.

1/50 second, ISO 400, f/8, single exposure, Canon 1Ds III with Nikon

14-24 at 24mm. Processed intentionally high contrast.

Larry, absolutely.  I have many images that show off the Tufa in more detail, so just branching out a bit here.  Lonely simplicity on display in this one.