marcadamus

Sunset glow on Arizona sandstone. One of the rare opportunities I've

found to cohesively combine sky and stone.

I believe color contrasts can add much to a scene.  The image would be much more flat without the blues here IMO.   That said, they could be a tad too strong.

It was the darkest part of the canyon. This is my interpretation of

it. This photo captures the feeling I had, standing there.

This image was made in Utah's Boulder Mountain Wilderness as the last

light of sunset was catching a field of red willows in front of barren

Aspen stands. The impressionistic look comes from trying variations

of primarily vertical camera motion throughout a 1/2 second exposure

at 120mm.

Experiment #4

Wish you could see this larger in print somewhere. The web doesn't do

it justice.

This is from Washington's Hoh Rainforest.

An in-depth story on my recent 20,000-mile trip, including the making of this image, will appear in Nature Photographers Magazine online in the January issue.

This Aurora show was captured in the northern Ogilvie Mountains, Yukon

Territory, Canada in late October. The temperature this especially

cold night was in the -10's and the rivers were freezing, leaving

streaks behind as chunks of ice floated by and emitting a faint mist

(which wreaks havoc on ones lens cleaning at -15F) that added to the

scene.

The photograph is a blend of three exposures for DOF at f/2.8 and one

additional exposure for the sky. The landscape exposures were all at

20 seconds and the sky was taken at 10 seconds, about as long as you

can get away with if you want to record some of the textures and

details in the ever-shifting lights.

I photographed the scene for about four hours, marveling at the

displays. I can tell you honestly no photograph you will ever see or

take of the lights captures one tenth of their beauty, but this was my

best attempt in the few chances I've had.

Please view this properly in the darkest conditions available. Thanks!

A unique and detailed story depicting my recent travels and many other things photography will run in Nature Photographers Magazine online in the January edition.  Thanks.

Reminds me very much of the work of Pat DiFruisia

I mean both my 1Ds III and 5D II are currently broken, as a result of this trip.

Muhammad, there is one company out there that makes them.  You can order them through the website www.16.9.net who will send your order to Novaflex.  It usually takes 4-5 weeks to get an adapter but they are worth it.  The 14-24 is superior to any wide zoom ever made by anyone.  You do loose autofocus capability with the Canon adapter but it's not too important for a wide angle anyway.  Everything else is very easy to use.

This is the first image. Not the best, the most original, creative or

whatever - just the first image I thought I'd keep and have now have

decided to process from a 75-day trip recently that spanned twenty

thousand miles from Alaska to Arizona and more than a few other places

in between. The trip cost me both my 1Ds III AND my backup 5D II and

encompassed both many high-points and the challenging point of my

career. I was also fortunate to have lead several workshops during

this time and also to have met up with many friends along the way.

I plan to write about my experiences on this trip soon, perhaps on

Nature Photographers Network.

I'm very busy the coming weeks getting things back together around

here so it will be at least a week or more until I can follow up this

post or contribute a great deal.

About the image: This was the dramatic sunset we got our first night

out on my Glacier National Park Tour. Although it's hard to tell in

this image, we had been battling ocean-like 5+ ft. waves and 40mph

winds on St. Mary lake to get into position to shoot these beautiful

striations on its shore. Luckily, nobody's camera got totally dunked,

but what an experience! This sky was flat-gray until 8-10 mintues

before this happened, then POW, it just exploded! I managed to get

close enough with my 14mm and fire off only three total shots that

weren't ruined by water spots.

Let me know what you think about the comp/color/tone throughout. Thanks.

1Ds III, Nikon 14-24 at 14mm, 13 seconds (yes, cloud streaks at 13

seconds) for the sky and water at f/22 and 2 seconds at f/11 for

everything else, painted in.

Easily, far and away, your best shot.  Hard to top this.  Perfect conditions, subject, time of year, etc.

Lalit,

People have suggested that my work has changed repeatedly and constantly throughout all my years as a photographer, almost since day one.  In every case I can recall I am neither aware of this change nor have any conscious control over it.  I have never had any knowledge or understanding said changes (the one you mention or others).  All I can say is that I suspect I will continue to change.

I'm seeing blue/grey sky on my monitor.  Just a small hint of magenta in the background hills.

Yes, John.  Both of them quite a bit.  In fact, just this summer we spent ten days in the high-country of the Oregon Canyon, Trout Creek and Pine ranges just to the south and east of the Pueblos.  Best Iris bloom I've ever seen up there in early July this year amidst the Aspens.

No, we should probably leave that off the thread....  But yeah, I do make it out there.  I like the whole region, really.  The high deserts of Eastern Oregon are easily among my favorite places anywhere, though it's almost more a spiritual thing for me sometimes than a photo pursuit.  Funny, that I've spent so much time out there, particularly in winter, hundreds of days of traveling over the years and have so few photos from the diverse land that it is.   Certain areas really compel me to photograph them but many areas just compel me to be there more than anything I guess.   The Clarno Unit, Strawberry's, Elkhorn's, Ochoco's, Pine Mountain, Glass Butte, Lave Beds, Abert Rim, Hart Mountain, the Steens, the Freemonts, Owyhee, etc.  All absolutely amazing to me.  I don't have a lot of my own pictures on the wall, but above my desk here sits a 74x44 inch print of the Steens with a caption on it that reads "The Way Home".   Maybe someday I'll try to bring my photography to the whole area here....maybe not.

Brett, I did originally have more room up top but I cropped it.  I like it like this just a little better....rule of thirds and all ;-) 

Zsolt, I do understand what you're saying and thanks for your comment. 

Same stuff I always do.  Nothing special here for post-processing.  Just identifying the areas that I want to optimize, creating versions of the image that address those areas and painting it together by hand.   Thanks.

I have photographed Oregon's Painted Hills quite a bit before, but

last week the conditions were particularly nice.

Had to get out of the way for this one, as my own shadow was starting

to appear in the illuminated foreground. Some tricky tripod

positioning and selective dodging eliminated most all of it. The

bunch-grasses catching the light here were blowing in the wind during

the 1/15 second exposure but I liked the effect when seen larger. Wish

I'd gotten some lightning in the shot too.....

Thanks for any questions, critique or comments.

Crop from 14mm, no filters, single exposure processed multiple times.

By adding blue saturation in ACR and also a little selective highlight dodging.  Thanks.

Well, John.  You know in art you can't please everyone, ever, for any reason.