On road trips, I am always amazed and intrigued by the many abandoned, deteriorating houses and business building that I see, especially in rural areas. I’ve taken more note of these on my most recent trips through northwestern Texas and portions of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Tennessee.
An abandoned farm house along US 287 in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nike Silver Efex Pro 2.
It has occurred to me that an interesting photographic project would be to seek out, photograph and document many of the more prominent and interesting abandoned buildings, perhaps, even documenting the history of those structures, the ownership and the stories behind how these came to be abandoned. One would also need to get permission from the appropriate people to photograph those that require getting onto private property to do so and this would take time and effort. A project of this magnitude would be a major undertaking and one that I am not likely to have sufficient time to pursue. However, I might try to take more time to photograph some of those easily accessible ones that I encounter on my journeys.
An abandoned house in rural Texas along US 287 with a newer farm house in the background. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
On the last leg of my most recent trip, between Amarillo and DFW, I eventually decided to take time to photograph a few, after passing up many other interesting looking abandoned houses. I only shot a few of these dilapidated structures, as I had a travel schedule and I could not take too much time stopping frequently for photos.
An abandoned farm house along US 287 in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Abandoned house along US 287 in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.An abandoned business type building in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.An abandoned house in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
A dedicated project to photograph these abandoned structures could take much time, especially, if one were to try to get the photographs from early morning to about mid-morning or middle to late afternoon. Photographing during various seasons would also be good, maybe getting fall color or spring flowering plants into the compositions, where possible, and maybe winter photos with snow on and around the old homes.
Abandoned farm buildings in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I will keep this idea in the back of my mind and maybe take a trip just to photograph these nostalgic buildings. I’m sure there are many of these scattered throughout the countryside near me; but those might take much exploring to find. On the other hand, there are many visible along major US and State highways throughout rural areas near many small towns, where changing economic conditions result in the displacement of people and businesses.
I will welcome readers’ suggestions on this topic. Maybe some of you are aware of interesting, abandoned houses and can share information about those.
I rested during the day, after my early morning shoot, and spent some time studying the photographs in the book gifted to me by John Eric Hawkins. John Eric went out a bit earlier than I did that afternoon and I headed out again around 5PM.
My destination for sunset photos was again The Nursery, where I would shoot with my Nikon 24mm PC-E lens. I do not have much experience with this lens, but I thought this would be a good place to use it. In my morning conversation with John Eric Hawkins, I asked him what he thought of my idea of using the tilt/shift lens in The Nursery. He agreed that would be a good place to make use of this type lens.
As I neared my destination, I saw John Eric shooting in an area with small features, that I had scouted the previous day. I recognized that area as a good place to shoot and I had thought that I might get back there at some point during my visit, so I was intrigued that John Eric was shooting there. We chatted for brief while. He really liked that little area for shooting and contrasted it to The Nursery. As we were chatting, he told me that the 85mm 1.8 lens was a good one for shooting here. I had recently seen other landscape photos taken with that lens and I could easily see that he was correct in his assertion. I had a Nikon 85mm 1.8 lens back in my vehicle and I had hoped to get a chance to try it out for landscape shots somewhere on this particular trip, but I never had time to do so. Not wanting to distract John Eric for very long from his shoot, I continued on to The Nursery, which John Eric pointed to from our location, indicating that I could walk more directly to it than the route that I had set up on my GPS via a satellite map view.
Arriving in The Nursery, there was no one else around and I had the place completely to myself for the duration of my shoot. Again the late day light was very good.
I began experimenting with the PC lens before the golden hour, just to get comfortable with the technique of using this unique lens. I’ve blogged about this lens and technique previously, but here is a brief description of how to use this type lens. The general procedure that I use, after setting my composition and determining a starting point for an exposure, is to focus on the nearest object in the composition, using a large aperture, then tilt the lens to bring distant objects in the composition into focus. At least with large apertures, the focus on the very nearest point in the composition tends to fall out of focus as those in the distance come into focus. Decreasing the aperture a little helps with this problem.
I found shooting with the PC lens was a challenge, especially determining when I had proper focus on distant objects, as I tilted the lens. It appeared that only a very small tilt on the order of 1-2 degrees was required to bring distant objects into focus and it was very difficult to determine when the focus was optimum. The PC-E 24mm is an entirely manual lens, with the exception of metering prior to tilting or shifting the lens. I was also trying to use large apertures with the tilt and still get good depth of field, since this is one of the capabilities with this lens.
I had what I considered good compositions, with the “cracked eggs” in the foreground and the hillsides in the background or an array of the “cracked eggs” and the focus looked good to me in the field. However, after reviewing my photos on a large screen, I was very disappointed. Nearly all of the images were poorly focused or had very shallow DOF.
So what went wrong on this shoot? There may be several possibilities. Firstly, the very slight tilt range with very slight changes affecting the focus made it difficult to fine tune the focus. It is also possible that the tilt might have moved slightly after it was set, even if I locked down the tilt mechanism or maybe locking the mechanism might have resulted in a slight tilt. Secondly, maybe my eyes can no longer properly detect sharp focus. Thirdly, maybe I expected too much DOF from this lens with large apertures in landscape photos with lots of depth and maybe I should have shot f/11 to f/16. In hindsight, I certainly should have made each image with a range of apertures, since I had so little experience with this lens.
On the positive side, this was an experiment, which even though, it was mostly a failure, I can at least learn from the poor results and hopefully get better results with the next trial with this lens and I must practice more with the lens before depending upon it in a shoot of this type.
If any readers have experience with using the PC-E 24mm (or any other tilt/shift lens) for landscape photography, I would appreciate your feedback on this topic.
I only deemed 4 (or parts of 4, cropping some of the images to remove out of focus portions) of the 70+ images that I made on this shoot to be presentable and those are included here.
Bisti “Cracked Eggs”. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Bisti “Cracked Eggs” in “The Nursery”. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/8, 1/160s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Bisti “Cracked Egg” Texture. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm (severe crop), f/3.5, 1/500s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Bisti “Cracked Eggs” in “The Nursery”. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/3.5, 1/50s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Bisti “Cracked Eggs” in “The Nursery”. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/3.5, 1/50s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
As usual, these images are posted to my Flickr page, where they may be more easily viewed.
I had planned to get up early the next morning and shoot again at sunrise in the area with the many wing like hoodoos with the Nikon 14-24mm wide angle, which is easier to get more DOF with than the 24-70mm; however, as I walked back to the parking area with the desert rapidly going into darkness, feeling the tiredness setting in, I realized that with a long drive ahead the next day, that it would not be a good idea to start that drive after a short night of sleep and after hiking into and out of Bisti again. A morning shoot would have resulted in a late start on my long drive, so I slept in until just prior to sunrise Monday morning. When I peeked out the window, just after awaking, I saw that it was going to be a glorious sunrise with colorful clouds in the eastern sky and I immediately regretted my decision not to do the early morning shoot.
After getting everything packed away and ready for the road trip, I wrote a note to John Eric, since I had not seen any activity from his RV. As I was about to leave the note on the driver’s side door of John’s RV, he called to me from inside, telling me to come around to the sliding door side. He and Jean were just finishing breakfast and they were planning to leave that morning, too. He commented that I must have had a very good morning for shooting and I had to inform him that I had not gone out. I thanked John again for the book and we chatted for a few minutes before I got underway.
It was only late in the day, as I approached Amarillo, that I realized that my decision not to shoot that morning was for the best. Otherwise, I would have probably been driving after dark, tired, and less alert, resulting in less safe driving.
There may be only one more minor post related to this fall trip. I do not know when I will get time for another photo trip. I expect it will be in the New Year before I get time for another trip, so either there will be an extended break in these posts or, maybe, I might blog about much earlier trips, as I do have several interesting stories and photos that I could share from past years.
Here’s hoping and wishing that you all have a happy end of the year holiday season!
I got up early Sunday morning, September 23, left the Bisti south parking area about 5AM and headed out into the dark wilderness area. I started out with a headlamp, but soon switched to a brighter flashlight, as the normally bright headlamp just did not seem bright enough this morning. It is one of those headlamps with multiple functions and it would not switch to the brightest mode. This is a good reason to have backup light sources, when hiking in the dark. I had another headlamp in my Camelbak, but the flashlight was easier to get to.
There are landmarks that are an aid to navigation during the daylight hours, but in the dark it is not possible to see those landmarks from a distance. Fortunately, my GPS device, linked to my iPhone via Bluetooth, with a preset route made it quite easy to navigate towards my destination in the dark. Before I got to my destination, an area with many hoodoos of various sizes and wing like or fanciful shapes, it became light enough that I no longer needed the flashlight.
I scouted the area for awhile before it got very light, looking for a good place to begin the early morning shoot. I made a number of photos prior to the sunrise. Since the light was still dim, getting good images was a challenge and those images required more extreme editing to bring out the details and produce more attractive images.
Early dawn in Bisti. This is an HDR image created from 6 images in Skylum Aurora2019. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11 at various exposures.Early dawn in Bisti. This is an HDR created from three images, using Skylum Aurora2019, with final edits in Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, various exposures.Pre-dawn in Bisti. Converted to monochrome in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 44mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 250.Pre-dawn in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 31mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro4.
I am never really satisfied with these low light images in which the heavy handed editing often produces unnatural results and, even though, it is an artistic expression, being artistically handicapped, I’ve never felt completely comfortable with the results.
When the sun rose above the eastern horizon, there was magnificent light on many of the hoodoos.
Early morning light in Bisti. This is a composite of three images focus-stacked in Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 65mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/25s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4Early morning in Bisti. Several images focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm, at 62mm, f/11, 1/25s, ISO 64.
Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64. Edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 45mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.
Note that I focus stacked images to extend the depth of field in many of my photos here. This requires a bit more work in capturing sufficient images and much more time in the editing process, especially on my old, slow iMac.
I continued to shoot even after the “golden” hour, which is very limited in duration and I wanted to make the most of the limited time that I had for shooting here. I felt that the contrast and shadows would still allow for the making of good images.
Early morning in Bisti. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64. Edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64.Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 52mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64.A small Bisti Hoodoo and its shadow in early morning light. Focus Stack of two images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I am becoming more interested in monochrome photography and this area is superb for this, since the colors are mostly muted, but the contrast, textures and shadows make for interesting monochrome compositions.
An unavoidable progression. Three small Bisti Hoodoos and their shadows in early morning. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nike Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 42mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.Three small Bisti Hoodoos and early morning shadows. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Bisti Hoodoos and early morning shadows. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.Early morning in Bisti. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.Small Bisti Hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nike Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 62mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64
As the morning wore on, I meandered around the area looking for additional subjects and for ideas for shooting at another more appropriate time of the day.
Alien Woman? Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 56mm (prior to crop), f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I had spotted the above hoodoo on the previous day’s scouting. I think it may be one that I saw referred to as an “alien woman” in someone else’s post, but the GPS coordinates of that post do not coincide with this hoodoo. So either there are more than one of these or the coordinates in the other’s post were incorrect, which I think may be the case, since in that post the photographer commented that he could not find the “alien woman” in a subsequent visit to Bisti. Of course, these hoodoos are temporary and one of this sort might disappear over a relatively short time interval.
This “alien woman” hoodoo is in a difficult place to photograph at anytime of the day, but it is probably best shot in the afternoon, rather than the morning. I did not think I would get back here again on this trip, so I shot it anyway, if for nothing more than a record of it’s existence and location, recording its GPS coordinates on my InReach Explorer.
Bisti Hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 38mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 64.
The above hoodoos are in the vicinity of the “alien woman”, just a bit more to the east. These are moderately sized ones and would probably be best photographed earlier in the morning. One can see that these are fragile and easily damaged. I have seen photographs of people standing on some of the larger hoodoos in Bisti, which is not a good thing to do, it is not only dangerous, but could result in injury to oneself and possibly destroy or damage the hoodoos.
Hoodoo Window. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.
The “elephant head” like hoodoo above bridges a gap in the supporting structure, making a window in the rock.
The Seal Hoodoo? Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 56mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 64.
The smaller hoodoo in the background (above) looks like one that I have seen referred to as “The Seal”; although, I thought “The Seal” was located more to the west, so maybe this is not “The Seal”.
The aquarium/fish face hoodoos. Focus stack of several images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 58mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.
I can imagine that the caps on these hoodoos look like fish faces, so I am calling this the “Aquarium” or “Fish Face Hoodoos”.
Dark Tower. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 26mm (prior to crop), f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I made numerous images of the features above with the intention of focus stacking them; but when I looked at those photos, they just did not measure up to what I thought I saw when making them. Consequently, I cropped one image to include the major features on top of this hill. Since the back side of the tallest feature is in shadow, converting to black and white, makes it look like a “dark tower”, surrounded by guardian hoodoos. (The one on the far left looks somewhat like a shark). This image contains a view of “The Seal” from another angle, just to the left of the dark tower.
Finally realizing that the best of the morning light was gone, I headed back to the parking lot. Just as I approached my vehicle, the photographer, whom I had met at The Nursery the previous afternoon, came out from his RV to greet me, saying “I knew when I saw you leaving at 5AM that you were serious about photography”. Standing in the parking lot between our vehicles, we chatted for quite a while. I was entranced as he talked much about his background and experiences as a photographer and as he offered suggestions on photographic topics that I questioned him about. Near the end of this impromptu discussion, he said, “If you don’t mind, I have copies of a book that I offer to those I find with a serious interest in photography and I would like to give you one”. Of course, I accepted and he autographed the book for me. The book, The Ancient Shape of Man, is filled with beautiful, very sharp, large format monochrome images.
The gift from John Eric Hawkins, whom I chanced upon in Bisti.
Meeting and conversing with John Eric Hawkins and receiving his book as a gift was the highlight of this trip. I found his website listed in the book, which he told me he has not updated for awhile; nevertheless, his website has beautiful images and more information about John Eric. His website is worth a visit for those of you interested in fine art photography.
Be sure to check out the images in this post on Flickr, where these appear in higher resolution and in a larger size.
Thanks for following and please feel free to offer comments, suggestions and critiques of the images and the writing within this blog.
I left Ridgeway Colorado Saturday morning, September 22, via the San Juan Skyway, deciding to take that route to the south towards New Mexico, rather than travel the most direct route via US550, AKA The Million Dollar Highway, which I had just been on in July. I wanted to see some different scenery and I was not disappointed, even though, I know US550 from Ouray to Durango would have been a great, if somewhat scary with its hairpin switch back turns on a mountain roadway with steep drop offs with no guard rails, route, too.
There were some really good fall colors, more reds than I had seen in the past few days, along the chosen route in southern Colorado. I pulled over at one scenic pull out, needing a snack and to stretch my legs for a few minutes. Others pulled in and out of this area, to take a look around, while I was there. Before I got out of my vehicle, I saw, via my side mirror, the driver of a van behind me taking photos of my vehicle through his windshield. After my snack, I got out and walked back past that van. The driver was just coming back and he commented that he really liked my vehicle. The Sportsmobile does get a lot of attention, so it is not one to travel in inconspicuously.
As I was standing by the guardrail, looking out over the roadside mountain view, a group of motorcyclists, decked out in their riding apparel, pulled into the parking area. Most of the bikes appeared to be Harleys, but I noted one near the middle of the pack that looked different. I walked over to it to get a better look and commented to one of the nearby riders that I had never seen one like it before. He pointed out that it was a Spyder, a three wheel motorbike, and the rider was a “middle age” (not sure what this is now) female, who was really chatty about her tricycle and pointed out another “sportier, more powerful” model near the back of the pack, also ridden by a female. I asked one of the riders, if they were members of a particular club and he said they were just friends out for a ride. Most were from Wyoming, but a couple, he said, were “Idaho Potatoes”. He then held up his phone, asking if I would take a group photo. So of course, I did. Afterwards, I wished that I had had the presence of mind to ask their permission to get a shot of the group for my blog,
Nothing else of note happened along the route, but it was an enjoyable ride through countryside that I had not seen before.
I arrived at the south parking lot for Bisti access early Saturday afternoon, which, as expected on a weekend, had a number of vehicles in it, including a full size tour bus. I parked near the entrance of the lot between the bus and a long wheel base Mercedes Sprinter RV. After setting up, having lunch, gathering my selected photo gear for sunset photos, checking my Camelbak and InReach Explorer GPS device with previously set routes across the wilderness area, I relaxed a bit. Later, seeing the tour bus driver, I went over and chatted a bit with him. He turned out to be a very talkative person. He was originally from the northeastern US, but had moved to Colorado years ago, as had other member of his family. I learned that the tourists he was driving around were Latvian. It was a small group, too small to be profitable, he said, but the tour company had to host them, nonetheless. They had a guide to conduct them around Bisti, which was fortunate, otherwise they would, most likely, have no idea how to navigate to any of the interesting sites within Bisti. I was surprised that they were out there during the heat of the day.
Around 5PM, I set out into the wilderness, heading to an area referred to as the “Nursery” or “Cracked Eggs”, to which I had not yet been on either of my other two trips to Bisti. I loosely followed a pre-determined route that I sketched out via a satellite map view of the area with points of interest marked as waypoints, using GPS coordinates gleaned from online searches and a few from earlier photos that I had taken with GPS coordinates recorded via a device attached to my Nikon D90 some years ago. The one way distance to my destination was about 2 miles. So the resulting hiking distance was a bit longer, since I scouted a few interesting looking areas just off of my route for future possible destinations, recording a few new waypoints on my GPS device and getting a few reference photos with my iPhone. My Garmin InReach Explorer connects via Bluetooth to an app on my iPhone, which has an easier to use interface than that of the GPS device itself.
Routes that I set up prior to my visit. I only had time for portions of the south (red route) on this trip. The waypoints shown as 2011 photos were where I had shot in 2011 during my first visit here.A satellite map view of my possible south area routes. My first day destination was “The Nursery” or “Cracked Eggs”.
Along the way, I encountered a few of the Latvian tourists heading back to the parking area. They were not youngsters, mostly female, all looked a bit bedraggled and did not respond to my greetings. Maybe they did not understand English very well or were just too tired, hot and thirsty to speak.
When I arrived at The Nursery, I was pleased to see that there was only one photographer there, since it is a relatively small area and multiple photographers there could easily get into each others way. I chatted with him for a few minutes, then left him alone to finish his shooting, while I scouted the area, being careful to stay out of his way. It was still a while before the “golden” hour prior to sunset and I was a bit surprised that he was shooting prior to that time, since he was obviously a professional. However, he appeared to be shooting close ups of details in the “cracked eggs”, so I think he only needed the shadows and the contrasts. When he finished shooting, he hailed me, saying “It is all yours”. We chatted a bit more about gear, cameras, photography, etc. before he began his trek back to the parking lot. In our conversation, I learned that the long wheel base Mercedes Sprinter RV in the parking lot was his.
The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 20-70mm @ 35mm, f/16, 1/15s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Soon afterwards, I proceeded to shoot a few compositions, even though it was still a bit early. I noted a small Z shaped hoodoo and, as I looked it over, I thought that one edge of it had a facial shape and I could imagine the top of it as long hair streaming back from the head. So I’ve dubbed this the Bisti Automobile Hood Ornament Hoodoo. To shoot it from the most interesting direction and angle, I could not isolate it against the sky and I could see that the hillside in the background was going to be problematic, unless I just left the background blurry, which would be ok; but I did not want a blurry background. To bring out the hoodoo from the background, I made a couple of images to focus stack in Photoshop, then played around with a couple of ideas for merging the images. I decided that the best looking result was a color background with a monotone image of the hoodoo, blended in Photoshop. I selected “seamless color and tones” for the blending during the focus stacking process, which muted the color in the background, but I still think it contrasts well with the black and white hoodoo image in the foreground.
Bisti Automobile Hood Ornament Hoodoo. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 64. This is a composite of two shots focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop, with prior edits in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
As I was shooting, a couple of more people showed up and we greeted each other. Recognizing a German accent, I struck up a conversation. The man (Wiener) and his daughter (Anna), who was a student (university, I surmise), were on a tour around the western US, having started in Los Angeles. He and his family had visited the US on numerous occasions and he commented on how crowded the National Parks are now as compared to his first visits.
As the sun went low on the horizon, we each went about our shooting, being careful to keep both ourselves and our shadows out of the other’s shots. Weiner did most of the shooting, but occasionally shared his camera with Anna. Both shot hand holding the camera, as most tourist tend to do and I expect they were shooting with their camera in Auto mode. There were clouds on the horizon, which intermittently blocked the best sun rays, so we would stop shooting and chat a bit, then resume shooting when the clouds moved away.
The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Cracked Egg. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/5s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4Cracked Eggs. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/10s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 0.6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.The hillside, with emerging hoodoos, to the east of The Nursery with moonrise. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Cracked Eggs. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/16, 0.5s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Cracked Eggs. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 52mm, f/16, 1/6s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Cracked Eggs. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There was a beautiful sunset that afternoon, which we both shot, before heading back to the parking lot. When I put a reverse graduated neutral density filter into the filter holder attached to my camera lens, Anna was intrigued, as she was not familiar with the use of filters. I explained to Anna why that particular filter was useful for photographing sunsets; but I gathered that Weiner knew about the use of neutral density filters.
Bisti sunset silhouette at The Nursery. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/4s, ISO 64, Progrey 0.9 Reverse Graduated Neutral Density Filter. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There was nothing of interest in the foreground for this sunset shot, so I was satisfied with a silhouette shot.
Anna, learning that I lived in Texas, asked if I had been to Big Bend NP. So I told them about my first disastrous visit there, as we hiked back to the parking area. (I should write a blog about that trip sometime. It was a very memorable experience, although not a really successful photography trip).
We arrived back in the parking lot, where Weiner and Anna were tent camping, just before it got really dark. They were planning to go out again in the morning, but not prior to sunrise, as I was. We said goodnight and I did not see them again, other than from a far distance the next morning, so I did not get a chance to learn more about them.
The photo compositional possibilities here are only limited by one’s imagination. I have so many photos that I like from this photo session that it is not practical to include them all in this post, so I have selected only a few to include here, but others will be put onto my Flickr page.
The last night camping along Owl Creek Pass Road was the coldest night I experienced on this trip. When I awoke in the pre-dawn hours the temperature inside the Sportsmobile was 45 degrees F. I turned on the furnace to bring the temperature up to a more pleasant 55 degF, as I dressed and prepared coffee. As I was preparing to leave the campsite for the final day of photography, I noted a patch of frost on the inside of the windshield and a bit of frost on the exterior. The frost quickly disappeared after starting the van and putting the heater setting on defrost.
I drove on Owl Creek Pass Road towards Silver Jack Reservoir and pulled into a wide pull out just before a cattle guard just south of an access road to Silver Jack Reservoir. This area was a mile or so further north of the area where I had shot the morning before. I gathered my gear, including knit hat and gloves, since it was still a bit frosty prior to sunrise. I walked down a slope in a pasture towards the broad drainage into Silver Jack Reservoir, looking for a good vantage point from which to shoot the mountainside to the west, dodging cow patties as I went along.
A frosty cow pie. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I set up the tripod and camera in a place where I thought the view was best and one that allowed me to move around a bit, if necessary, then waited for the sunrise, choosing initial compositions and taking a few test shots.
The sky was clear, much different than the previous morning. I made a number of photos, as the morning light moved from the top of the mountainside downward towards the drainage, from a couple of slightly different vantage points.
A fall scene off of Owl Creek Pass Road near Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Skylum Luminar 2018.An early morning fall scene near Silver Jack Reservoir, Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/5s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
The compositions from my chosen location were a bit limited. It was difficult to avoid the foreground clutter, with the 24-70mm lens that I had elected to use this morning, and many of the shots looked so similar or otherwise just did not turn out as I wanted, that I am posting only a couple that I liked best. I chose to shoot with the 24-70mm, since I was rather sure that the 14-24mm wide angle lens, that I had used the previous morning, would be too wide for what I wanted to shoot today. It is possible that the 80-400mm lens might have been a better choice in this location for shooting beyond the foreground clutter and I certainly could have gotten some good shots of the mountain peaks with that big lens.
Finished shooting here, I drove north on Owl Creek Pass Road, exploring the area and looking for favorable places to maybe get mid-morning shots of the colorful Aspens. I walked around in an Aspen forest, shooting with the wide angle 14-24mm, which I found to be a bit difficult to work with in the woods. Nearly all of the shots that I had high hopes for, turned out poorly, but I do like the one below with the long shadows cast by the trees.
Fall forest shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 15mm, f/11, 1/100s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
After shooting in the forest, I continued driving along Owl Creek Road, enjoying the great fall day and the scenery, stopping occasionally to shoot with my iPhone.
A scene in one of the Silver Jack camp grounds that are run by the forest service. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A side road off of Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A mid-morning fall scene along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Along the roadway, I encountered a lone cow that stood in the middle of the road, staring at me. I stopped to wait for it to move along. As it continued to look at me, I picked up the iPhone with the intention of getting a photo of it. As soon as I did this, it turned and started to walk away down the road. I followed, slowly. Eventually, it moved to the edge of the roadway and I pulled up beside it, stopped and it stared up at me. Again I picked up the iPhone, aimed it at the cow and it immediately turned and walked away. Again it stopped in the middle of the road to stare back at me. Again I started to shoot it with the iPhone and again it began to walk away. I can only surmise that it was a camera shy cow. I really wanted a shot into its eyes as it stared, but I only got shots of it walking away.
The camera shy cow. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Owl Creek Pass Road near Silver Jack Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Aspens in fall color and evergreens along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I began to make my way along Owl Creek Pass Road towards highway 550 and Ridgway, where I would spend the night in Ridgway State Park before heading to Bisti in New Mexico the following morning.
Along the way, I was hailed by someone driving a jeep coming up the road in the opposite direction. I stopped to see what was going on, thinking that they might be wanting to warn me about road conditions ahead. It turned out to be the couple that had visited my first campsite (the ones that wanted to use my campsite the following day). They easily recognized my vehicle since it was the only one like it in the area and they just wanted to chat. We only had time for a brief conversation, since other vehicles began to accumulate behind them. I also had conversations with others (campers, tourist, photographers, hunters) that I encountered at various locations in this area. It is always interesting to learn about others and their backgrounds, experiences, etc. and surprising how many times we find people with similar backgrounds, who are familiar with seemingly unusual places we or our family members have lived.
Future posts will cover the couple of days that I spent shooting in the Bisti Wilderness area in New Mexico, which is becoming one of my favorite places for photography.
After the previous post, I realized that I had forgotten to include a few iPhone photos of my final campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road. So this is just a brief post to add those photos. Thanks for your indulgence.
The final campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. Fall 2018, iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A panorama at the last campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado. Fall 2018, iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Panorama of last campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road, Colorado, Fall 2018. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
After early and mid-morning photos on day 3 along Owl Creek Pass Road, I drove around exploring other areas and spur roads off of the main forest road, looking for another suitable campsite that would put me near a place for sunset photos. Many of the best campsites were already taken and I ended up across the creek from my first night’s campsite, where I saw a couple of hunters breaking camp. I pulled into the site, struck up a conversation with the hunters, the younger one a chemical engineer from Missouri and son-in law of the older one from Arkansas. The older hunter has been coming to this area since the 1970s. They had been elk hunting, unsuccessfully; but they had an antler shed, which they offered to me. Having no desire for the shed, I left it at the campsite for someone else to find. After they finished loading their considerable camping and hunting equipment, including an OHV, onto a trailer and into their pickup trucks, they headed out and I moved into the flattest area of the site. This campsite was very open and it was a sunny day, so I put out the solar panels and allowed them to charge the Sportsmobile batteries, until about an hour before sunset, then I packed those away, since I did not want to pack them up after dark and I expected it would be dark soon after my sunset shots.
The views from this site were very similar to those on my first night and first morning of camping, but with more trees and the creek between me and the mountainside. I walked around the area and down along the creek, looking for suitable places from which to shoot, then had a sandwich, potato chips and Gatorade for dinner, while waiting for the late afternoon light.
The photos from this site were so similar to those from the first day of shooting and with more clutter in the foreground, that I initially thought about not including any in this blog; but as I looked at them a second time, I thought some might look better, if converted to monotone or edited with one of my other image editors, in addition to Lightroom adjustments to the raw images. So I did just that, experimenting with Nik Silver Effects Pro and Color Effects 4 and Skylum Luminar 2018 software.
The photos posted here are also posted to Flickr (just click on an image), where the images will be sharper and brighter than in this post.
One of only two color photos chosen to post from this shoot. I’m not really enthralled by this composition and in particular the bland sky, but I think it might be the best of the color images that I captured during this shoot. I processed the raw image in Lightroom and Luminar 2018. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 160.This is the best sunset light that I saw on this feature. I might have brought out the colors in the foreground a bit more, but I wanted the emphasis to be on the rocks in the mountainside. Raw image processed in Lightroom and Nik Color Effects Pro 4. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/20s, ISO 160.I really wanted to see the cliff face in this image appear colorful in the setting sunlight, but it never got as much light on it as I wanted. At least, the color bands, shadows and highlight along the rock face add interest in this version. The trees in the foreground are colorful, with contrasting color and shapes, but just did not seem to work as well in the color image.This large cliff face was just south of my campsite. The rock is not colorful and the setting sun did not produce a colorful glow at any time as the sun went low on the horizon, so this and all the other color photos of this feature were bland. In this B&W conversion, I wanted to emphasize the rock along the edge and top of the mountainside, while keeping hints of the trees in fall color in the foreground. The sky was mostly bland, adding minimal interest, other than the cloud along the right side, so I made the sky go mostly dark, making the cliffside look as if it had been purposely light painted. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.Those of you who have viewed the photos from my first blog about this photo trip will recognize this feature. In this B&W version, I like the contrasts produced by variations in the tree foliage color and the shape of the trees in the foreground, as well as the highlight on the rock outcrops. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 160.This is a similar view to that in the above photo, with more sky, less of the trees in the foreground and more of the mountainside. The sky was bland, so I let it go black to emphasize the rock along the skyline, while retaining the hints of fall color in the deciduous trees. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/15s, ISO 64.The rock face in the original color photo is very colorful in the setting sunlight; but the foreground is distracting in the color photo. I have kept a hint of the foreground color in the trees in this image, while highlighting the rocks with its texture and shadows. I like the way the two tall evergreen trees appear to be pointing towards the rising moon and the diagonal lines formed by the tree lines and the jagged, horizontal line of the top of the mountainside, both converging near the rising moon. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/15s, IDO 64.I was trying to capture the reflection of color in the sky in the branch of the creek near the center of this image, but it just did not fit well with the rest of the image. I like this B&W conversion with the fall color in the trees, showing up brightly against the dark evergreens. I do not like the tree along the left edge, but I could not find a pleasing composition of this scene that excluded that tree. There is also a halo effect, produced by the Nik Silver Effects Pro software, that is quite noticeable along the top of the peak on the right side of the image. I do not really like this effect; but I currently do not know how to eliminate it. I’m sure there must be a way to tone this down. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 30mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 160.
The opinions expressed about the images here are my subjective ones. I welcome your feedback, opinions and critiques, as I can always use those to improve my work.
After the early morning photo shoot, I continued along Owl Creek Pass Road, enjoying the fall scenery and looking for a place for mid-morning photography and some experimentation with PC (Perspective Control in Nikon terms) lenses, commonly referred to as tilt/shift lenses.
Tilt/Shift lenses are typically used in product and architectural photography. The shift allows one to make vertical objects, like buildings, look vertical, rather than tilted, as they do with ordinary lenses. The tilt function of the lenses allows one to get a deeper depth of field with a large aperture, rather than having to go to a small aperture for a deep DOF.
Within the past twelve months I purchased a couple of used PC lenses from local photographers. The lenses are quite expensive, if purchased new and not cheap, when a good used one is found. The first one that I purchased was a Nikon PC-E 24mm. The photographer that I acquired it from had used it for wedding photography, a surprising use of this lens, I thought; but one can get some special effects with it that makes for unique photographs.
The second tilt/shift lens that I acquired was an older Nikon PC85mm. The photographer from which I purchased it had used it for product photography. I had seen some interesting landscape photos taken with such a lens, so I wanted to experiment with one and not wanting to spend a fortune on a lens that I might not use often, I knew it would be more economical and practical to get a good used lens.
These lenses are all manual focus, which can be a challenge for us older folks as our eye sight becomes less sharp. The metering is also manual with PC lenses. The PC-E (E designating electronic) will meter with the lens in the non-tilt, non-shift mode, so the exposure needs to be determined prior to shifting or tilting or one might shoot test shots and adjust the exposure by trial and error. I found it best to estimate the exposure prior to tilting, shoot a test shot after tilting and tweak the exposure as appropriate.
Thinking that a forest might be a suitable place for experimentation, I found a couple of places near Silver Jack Reservoir where I could walk into an Aspen forest just off of a roadway. A few of the test shots are posted below.
Experimenting with a tilt-shift lens, Nikon PC85mm. Note the line of focus in the upper third horizontal portion of the image with blurring to either side. Nikon D850, Nikon PC85mm, f5.6, 1/125s, ISO 64. Note the large aperture. It is possible to get a large depth of field with large apertures with tilt-shift lenses.
Many of the Aspen trees along the roadway into a parking area at Silver Jack Reservoir had initials or names, etc. carved into the trunks. I happened to note that the tree on the left of the above image had my initials on it. (No, I did not put them there). Your eyes are ok, the image is blurry except along a horizontal band in the upper 1/3 of the photo. The technique for getting such an image is to focus on a nearby subject, then tilt the lens to bring more distant subjects into focus. You will notice that the large f/5.6 aperture gives a good depth of field through a portion of the image.
Experimenting with a tilt-shift lens. Nikon D850, Nikon PC 85mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 64. Moving to smaller apertures gives a broader area of focus through the central portion of images.
The photo above is also taken with the PC 85mm, but with an f/8 aperture. Moving to a smaller apertures seems to widen the area of focus, as it increases the DOF.
A PC-E 24mm image in an Aspen forest. Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 64.
The 24mm PC-E is a bit easier to work with than the PC 85mm. It seems to give more leeway in acquiring focus while tilting than does the PC85mm. In the above photo, I first focused on the rough bark on the tree on the left, then tilted the lens to increase the DOF. Tilting the lens also affects the near focus a bit, so that a portion of the near object goes out of focus as the more distant objects come into focus.
Nikon D850, PC-E 24mm, f/6.7, 1/125s, ISO 64.
The lower photo above is the same composition as the previous one, but with a larger aperture.
Nikon D850, Nikon PC-E 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 64.
The same composition as previously, but at f/11. I think the wider focus area is apparent. The lighting changed, as well as the aperture, so the exposure is a bit different.
Perhaps these are not the best images for illustrating the effects obtained by these lenses, but I’m thinking the tilt function can be useful for emphasizing certain aspects in an image, perhaps with a “tunnel” vision effect.
These lenses also rotate, so one can put the tilt and shift at various angles. So far, I’ve only experimented with vertical tilts; but I think tilting at various angles to the camera will be appropriate in some situations.
These lenses all are configured by the manufacturer with the tilt and shift at 90 degrees to each other; but, as I have learned in my research on these lenses, these can be easily reconfigured to have the tilt and shift aligned in the same direction, making it possible to keep vertical objects vertical, while also increasing the DOF with the tilt function. I have not yet tried this, but I am thinking that I might. One might pay Nikon or a professional camera shop to reconfigure a lens, but it is an easy do-it-yourself operation, just be careful with the E versions, since there is wiring within these lenses and one cannot rotate the lens parts more than 90 degrees or damage to the wiring is probable. Information on how to modify these lenses (Nikon and Canon) can be found via an online search. Here is one link that describes the procedure for Nikon PC lenses http://www.achim-sieger.de/en/axis-change-pc-e-nikkor-24mm/
The 24mm PC-E is a very sharp lens and can be used in a non-tilt, non-shift mode as an ordinary 24mm prime. While shooting with no tilt and no shift, I noted that occasional breezes shook loose leaves and I thought shooting them as they fell might make interesting photos and maybe brief time lapse videos. I could not use the built in time lapse function of the D850 very easily, since the breezes were not predictable, so I elected to just shoot a series of shots using the remote release, whenever the leaves began to fall. I did not even take time to set the camera to continuous mode, I just used the remote release to shoot as quickly as I could press the shutter release button. It is best to view the following photos and time lapse videos on a large screen, otherwise the falling leaves are not easily observed, in this very brief video. To make a longer video, would have taken much more time and many more shots and I did not think it worthwhile to expend that much effort to do so. (This video is also posted to my Flickr page).
The falling leaves are fairly easily seen in this cropped version (just above) of one of my images.
Look for very brief yellow spots within the video to see the falling leaves. If nothing else were moving, I might have made gotten leaf trail type images (similar to star trails); but if nothing else were moving, there would be no falling leaves, either.
I got feedback from one of my blog followers regarding the video format (mp4). Apparently, not everyone can view these formats. While I can convert an mp4 to an avi and other video formats, I cannot view an avi on my MAC computer, so I have no idea how the avi looks or even if it will work in this post. I tried to insert an avi into this post, but I’m rather sure that it would not be visible, so I removed it. At this time I have no solution for this problem.
I later used the PC-E 24mm to photograph at Bisti in New Mexico and I will post photos from that shoot in a later post. I’ve not yet had time to review those photos in detail, so I hope I have suitable ones to share from that shoot.
Arising early on September 20, after coffee and a light breakfast, I set out in the Sportsmobile to select an advantageous spot for early morning photos along Owl Creek Pass Road just a short distance from my campsite. I drove back and forth along one particular interval on the road, before picking what looked like a suitable place, gathered my selected gear for the morning shoot and set out across an open range pasture towards the drainage between the pasture and the mountains to the east.
It was a very cloudy morning, after a rainy night, but not completely overcast as most of the previous day had been and the rain was gone, so I had some hope of getting some early morning light highlighting the mountainsides nearby. It was a bit dicey, as all of the clouds were moving towards the light from the sun, which was still hidden behind a mountainside to the east of the roadway.
As I walked across the open range pasture, I recalled the statement credited to Ansel Adams, “the secret to getting a good photograph is knowing where to stand”. Photographers are always going to extremes to find the best place to stand and sometimes get into uncomfortable or precarious positions in doing so. This morning I noted that a corollary to Adam’s statement had to be “knowing where not to stand”, as I carefully selected each step to avoid the numerous cow patties in the pasture. There were so many that I had to be very careful, not only where I stepped, but where I set up the tripod to avoid sticking one of its legs into a cow patty.
I wandered around in the pasture, looking for various possibilities for suitable places from which to shoot. The broad drainage area between the mountainside to the west and the pasture to the east of it was filled with scrubby vegetation, which would make for a messy foreground, no matter where I stood with my 14-24mm wide angle lens. There was no time to scout any other area prior to sunrise, so I had to make the best of this area.
Pre-sunrise test shot. The clouds are adding drama to the sky, but might prevent early morning light on the mountainside. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64.The clouds moving to the east might totally obstruct the early morning sun rays. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64.Pre-sunrise, early morning clouds and mist or campfire smoke in the valley. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 64.It is getting close to sunrise and the clouds are still a major concern. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64.Nice clouds, but I am becoming more concerned about getting good early morning light on the mountainside. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.8s, ISO 64.Pre-sunrise. I kept seeing either mist rising or camp fire smoke wafting in the valley, but I was never ready to shoot, when it looked the best. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 0.4s, ISO 64.A crop of the previous shot, better showing the mist or campfire smoke in the valley.Surprise! Even with the heavy clouds, sunlight is beginning to highlight the mountainside! Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.A crop of the previous shot.I’m liking the clouds thinning and the ribbon of light highlighting portions of the mountainside. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.A crop of a photo very much the same as the previous one, leaving the dramatic sky and emphasizing the diagonal mountainside slope with the streak of light along it.Rotating to the left, I get this view with a thin ribbon of light along the mountainside. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.A crop of the previous shot, emphasizing the clouds and the thin ribbon of light along the mountainside.With the light now highlighting the vegetation in the wash, I had to get a shot with the mud splattered Sportsmobile in the foreground. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64.This is entirely about the clouds sweeping overhead. I just happened to note that the thinning clouds, revealing the blue sky background, made the sky look very attractive. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 640.
This was, perhaps not the best morning nor the best location for sunrise shots, but the views were quite good, even though I might not have captured the scenes as well as I would have liked.
Part 2 of this post will continue with mid-morning shots and experimentation with tilt/shift lenses.
The sunrise photo shoot on day two of this trip was mostly a disappointment. The features that I had hoped would get good sunrise light did not get sufficient illumination and those that did get light did not make really good subjects. With a big zoom, I was able to get only a couple of fair shots of a distant feature with colorful foliage in the foreground and middle ground.
Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm, f11, 1/80s (soft)Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 400mm, f11, 1/160s (sharper, but no clouds).
I, also, tried shooting along the little creek behind my campsite, but the compositions were limited and not very appealing. There were some reflections of colorful trees in small portions of relatively still water, where I tried to get good images and even tried to get a number of images to focus stack, but I was not happy with any of those images.
The creek just to the west of my first campsite along Owl Creek Pass Road, Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f16, 1/20s, 09192018.
Soon after breaking camp and beginning to scout for another site for late day shooting, it became very overcast with intermittent rain. I managed to get a few good shots of Courthouse Rock, standing in a light rain, shooting from the far side of the meadow, where the scene from True Grit (1969) of Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) and Lucky Ned Pepper (Robert Duval) charged at each other with guns blazing. I shot a sequence of photos here with clouds passing across the rock face. The shots vary from ones with nearly completely visible Courthouse Rock to ones with Courthouse Rock completely cloud enshrouded.
Court House Rock in the clouds. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 80mm, f11, 1/40s.Court House Rock with clouds. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 80mm, f11, 1/50s.
This looked like a good scene for time lapse movies, so I experimented with the built in time lapse feature of the Nikon D850, shooting short sequences of shots to convert into time lapse movies.
It may take a few moments for the videos to begin, so be patient after clicking one.
{This is open range cattle country and the meadow from which I shot Courthouse Rock was so covered with cow dung that I had to calculate each step to avoid it. I assume this was not the case during the shooting of the True Grit scene}.
I drove around quite a bit on this day, scouting locations for the next day’s shoot and looking for other places to shoot on a rainy, overcast day. I ended up going all the way back down to just before the start of forest road 858 to a campsite/view point from which the entire profile of Courthouse Mountain is visible. I had hoped to be able to shoot sunset photos from that view point, since I had seen a brilliantly lit sunset view of this profile from Ridgeway State Park, but obviously today was not going to be the day to do that. However, since I was there, I hiked up and over a ridge to the east of the parking area and made a few images with the big 80-400mm zoom. The images are not great, but here are a couple.
Court House Mountain from a view point along Owl Creek Pass Road on a rainy day. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 120mm, f11, 1/40s.Courthouse Rock shot from a view point along Owl Creek Pass Road on a rainy day. Nikon D850, Nikon 80-400mm at 340mm, f11, 1/100s.
I did not find a campsite that really appealed to me more than the area near my first campsite. So I ended up setting up camp no more than maybe a half a mile from the first campsite. It rained off and on through the night and got fairly cold, but the temperature inside the van was still only down to about 50 degrees the next morning and I only switched on the furnace for a few minutes just after getting up, while preparing for day 3 along Owl Creek Pass Road, which will be the topic of the next post.
