Sand dunes provide great opportunities for abstract photography. I hope that the few such photographs shared in this post will illustrate such possibilities.
This image is created via focus stacking 4 images in Adobe Photoshop, with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 64.
Wind creates large expanses of ripples and repeating patterns in sand dunes, such as those shown above. These can be rendered effectively in color, if the light is favorable. I like monochrome for such photos, since one only needs the light to provide shadows and highlights, meaning one can shoot at times other than just the “golden” hours.
By excluding moving objects, one can use focus stacking quite effectively in such images, getting sharp images over a large depth range.
Sandhills Abstract. Nikon d850, Nikon 24-70mm at 55mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
I really like this photo with the diagonal ripples superimposed on the orthogonal wave in the dune. Obviously, the shadows in the troughs, alternating with the highlights on the crests of the ripples, produces these interesting features.
A composite of three images focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 200.
This is another of my favorite abstracts from the sandhills. In this case, I like the highlight in the depression near the top right of the image and the way the ripples flow into and around the depression.
A composite of three images, focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop, with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 200.
Another image with interesting, bifurcating, ripple patterns with faint wisps of plant matter (look closely to see these) across the ripples.
This is a composite of 6 images focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 200.
The animal track across these subdued ripples adds interest to the pattern. The original color version also shows variations in the color of the sand, producing streaks of color crossing the ripples.
Natural artwork in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm (before crop), f/11, 1/15s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
I’m sure some of you have seen images of circles swept into sand by plant fronds or limbs. Here is a variation on that with the lower frond producing long streaks across the sand ripples and the upper frond pecking out an intricate, dimpled pattern along the direction of the sand ripples. To me such natural art work is fascinating. These are also short lived, since the next wind will probably erase these or maybe produce a variation. So, if you see an interesting one, photograph it before it is gone!
Here are a few more early morning and late day photos from this park.
Animal tracks and corrugated shadows in sand dune. This is an Adobe Photoshop focus stack of three images, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 50mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.
In this early morning scene, I like the curved shadow cast by this twig and the way the sand ripples give it a corrugated look. The animal tracks passing by also adds some interest.
Muted footprints, sand ripples and sunset shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
Late days in the park were always cloudy, during my visit, which muted the sunset light, but at least added some interest to the sky. In the above photo one can see the evidence of human activity in footprints in the dunes. Those on the left side were softened by the wind, while those in the distance are more recent. I rather liked this wide open view with the late day shadows encroaching from the left. There are also a number of people and some human infrastructure in this photo, but these are only visible, when the image is enlarged.
A small bush cast long shadows at sunset in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/100s, ISO 100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
While being a bit subtle, this little distorted bush and its long shadow caught my eye as I wondered around the sandhills just before sunset.
Sunset light on sand dunes in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
The light on this dune went from none to fairly good as I composed this image. I was able to exclude most of the human disturbance within the nearby sand, but one can still see the muted footprints in the right side portion of this image. I like the soft, swirly look in the blue sky above the dunes here.
Late day shadows in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
A trio of almost buried desert plants with their long, late day shadows, below the softly, windblown clouds in the blue sky makes this one of my favorite images here.
A small tree casting long shadows at sunset in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
Another small, subtle bush casting a long shadow in the late day sunlight.
Sunset light illuminating the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
The remnants of a windblown bush, highlighted by late day sunlight, and the disturbance it caused in the sand ripples caught my eye here.
A cropped portion of a previous photo. The tumble weed creates interesting perturbations in the windblown sand ripples.
Thinking that the most interesting portion of the previous photo is that little broken bush, with the sand ripple perturbations it caused and the highlights on those and the bush, I cropped out this portion of that image. The larger image offers context to the photo, but I think the cropped portion is more interesting and offers a bit of mystery. What do you think?
Park visitors walking the crest of a dune, below wispy clouds. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 22mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software
The sky here is the most interesting portion of this photo, but the three people along the sand dune ridge add a bit of scale to the image.
Sunset light illuminates the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 320. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
I spotted this fallen tree with the last rays of the day highlighting it and I knew I had to capture it. I made this shot, fearing that I was going to lose the light at any time, then I moved in closer, hoping to get another composition before the light went away.
Sunset light illuminating a fallen tree and the sand dunes. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 800. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
The clouds made the light intermittent, but I managed to get this shot before it was entirely gone from the fallen tree.
Sunset at the end of day 2 in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1.0s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
This is my final sunset shot before calling it a day in the dunes. I had planned to come back out the next morning for one final shoot, prior to heading to my next destination, but the extensive human disturbance of the sand over the weekend, made me think that I had captured all the best for this trip, so I decided to sleep in the next morning and get an earlier start on the road.
I have a few abstract images from the dunes that I will share in the final post for this park before continuing to my next destination.
Before I continue with photography within this park, I will offer a brief review of the park and facilities. There was some work being done at the visitor center at the entrance, when I was there. This required one to go into the center to confirm one’s arrival and pay any fees that were due, rather than pay in the typical way at a reception window. However, I was a bit confused by the signage at the entrance, thinking that I needed to drive on into the park to find the place to check in. So I continued, following the signs to the camping area. Upon getting to the RV area, I found a ranger helping another RVer with a big rig get into his assigned spot. He came over to chat with me for awhile and told me how to best get to my reserved spot and told me I had a good spot adjacent to a sand dune on one side. He also told me that he could come by, when he made his early morning rounds, and take me back to the visitor center to check in. I informed him that I would probably be in the dunes in the early morning hours and late day hours. I did not tell him why and he did not ask, but he looked a bit confused, since apparently few visitors get out that early into the dunes. Anyway, even though I saw him passing by my place during my subsequent stay, he never stopped by and I never got any note on my vehicle, even though I did not have the typical sticker or receipt that the parks require on vehicles within the park. I did stop by the visitor center as I was leaving the park to be sure all was ok and I was informed that all my fees were paid by the online reservation and I was all set to go. I knew that I had paid the campsite fee, but I still thought that I had to pay the entrance fee, since my annual membership card was expired.
This is an old park and the facilities need some refurbishing, especially the restrooms and showers. The showers are open with no privacy doors. The shower water valves do not operate the way I expected and I initially thought there was no hot water. This is a sandy place and visitors using the showers naturally leave much sand in the shower area.
The park is just north of I-20 and a railway that parallels I-20. Being in the heart of the Permian Basin, there is much oil field truck traffic on I-20 and there were numerous trains passing by through out the night, so it can be rather noisy at night. I must admit that the train whistle sound during the night was a bit nostalgic, since I recall hearing these during the night in my childhood home.
The days were mostly pleasantly cool during my visit, but the late night and early mornings were cold. Even with chemical hand warmers in my fleece mittens, that opened to fingerless mode so that I could operate the camera controls, my finger tips got numb, especially just before sunrise, when I need them to not be so numb.
This is an Adobe Photoshop focus stack of 5 images, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 31mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 64.
Apparently, there is much night life activity in the sand dunes, too. The evidence of such is reflected by the many animal tracks in the sand, especially in the early morning hours before people walk through the dunes, disturbing the surface.
This image is created via focus stacking 5 images in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1.6s – 2.0s, ISO 64.An early morning photo of multiple animal tracks across sand dune ripples. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 42mm, ISO 64, f/11, 1/30s. Two images focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop, edited in Lightroom and DXO Nik software.This is a composite of 5 images, edited in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 29mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.
In the late day excursions into the sandhills, I could hear coyotes yelping and they did not seem very far away. I saw numerous coyote tracks in the dunes, so I’m sure they were hunting prey in the night time hours within the dunes.
You might note that all of the images above are created by focus stacking a number of images in Photoshop. I like doing this to get sharpness through out an image, but there can be problems with doing this. In particular, if there is motion, such as movement of vegetation or clouds, while taking a series of shots, the focus stacking might not work out well. Since I knew I had this taking place in many of my shots, I inspected the results of each focus stacked image. If there were movement effects noted, I would either abandon the focus stack method or try again with different photos. If the movement effects were far in the background, where the image is not extremely sharp, anyway, I might ignore that and keep the resultant image. This is ok as long as the image is not enlarged to such an extent that the movement or misalignment is apparent. This is just a judgement call one has to make for such shots. I’ve also noted that Photoshop sometimes selects the portions of images that it uses in the focus stack in what appears to be a non logical way, with blobs of images included within an area where most of a separate image is selected. I’m sure that this is just a limitation of the software’s ability to distinguish sharpness for some portions of an image. This might be corrected by manually stacking the images, but that gets into a lot more work in the editing process.
In a couple of my initial focus stacked images, I noted glaring misalignments that could not be attributed to motion. Upon inspecting the original images, I noted that even though I typically sync adjustments across the images to be used in the focus stack process, the lens profile correction did not get applied to all images. This might have been my error, not the software’s problem. Upon correcting this, the focus stack misalignment issue went away. So just something else to be aware of when using this technique.
Early morning in Monahans Sandhills SP. This is a composite of 5 photos, edited in Adobe LR, Photoshop and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 64.Coyote footprints in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 22mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
Readers might note that this is a great place to use the “leading lines” technique in photography. There are very evident lines of multiple kinds in most of these photographs that serve to lead the eye through the photos.
Early morning light and shadows in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/10s, ISO 64.
I like the long shadows streaking through the late day sunlit highlights on the dunes and the numerous animal tracks in the sands in this shot.
Early Morning in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 64.
In the photo above, I am not pleased with he sky. Note that it is very blue on the right and much too bright on the left. I first considered cropping to remove the sky, but I did not think I could get a pleasing crop. Subsequently, I considered deleting this photo due to its obvious defect, but then I thought that this can be an example from which to learn. The dark blue is probably due to the effect of the polarizing filter in a wide angle shot. I usually try to minimize this effect, but I apparently neglected to do so in this shot. I do not specifically remember using a graduated neutral density filter in this shot, but I think it most probable that I did. I tried to edit the sky color to even it out a bit, but I did not like the results, so I just left it as it was. Someone with great patience and skill in Photoshop could probably fix the sky, but I’m not so inclined.
I still have a few images from this park to share, so it looks like I will need to continue this in a separate post or two.
I finally got time to get away for a couple of weeks in March. My destinations were largely determined by weather patterns and the distance between those possible destinations. The first stop was Monahans Sandhills State Park between Odessa and Monahans, Texas. This is a place that I first visited briefly in the 1980s, while on a business trip in the area.
I arrive at the Sandhills about mid-afternoon on a Saturday, where I had reservations in the RV camping area for two nights. My campsite turned out to be in an advantageous site, adjacent to a dune that helped block the prevailing winds. It had been very windy here just a few days prior, which is good, since the wind erases the surface disturbances created by visitors to the dunes. However, I was there during a weekend, so I expected to have to work around the weekend visitors and their tracks in the sand dunes.
The park was fairly busy, as I expected, but the nightly winds helped mute the daily human disturbance of the sand dune surfaces. Initially, I was not impressed by the photographic possibilities in the dunes and many of my photos lived up to those low expectations. However, in the end I think I managed to get a few descent photos. I will let the readers judge the results for themselves and maybe provide some feedback on the posted photos.
Sunset light and shadows in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.Sunset light in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 29mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
It was rather cloudy, especially the first day at sunset, so the late day light was intermittent and not as good as one would have liked for landscape photography. The clouds added drama to the sky, but I never got the brilliantly lit or colorful clouds that I had looked forward to.
Late day in the Sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 26mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 400. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
It was a bit of a challenge to find large areas of undisturbed sand, but as you can see in the above photo, I managed to find a few such areas. Although, there are muted footprints in the sand in the upper left side of the photo. In the previous photo, there are muted footprints evident in the right portion of the photo. I do not think these are so strongly apparent as to distract from the natural appearance of the sand.
A composite of three images, edited in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm (before crop), f/11, 1/60s, ISO 200.
The two trees in this photo are weather beaten and scraggly, but I like the glow in the sand at their base and the alternating dark to light in the sand ripples leading from the base of the photo to the trees. This originally started out as a wider landscape view, but there were distracting elements on the right hand side, so I cropped the photo to remove the distraction.
Sunset in the Sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm, at 36mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 640. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
This sunset photo was taken at the end of my first day in the sandhills. There are notable human infrastructure item along the horizon, some of which I removed or muted via editing, but I could never get all of those features removed without leaving unattractive artifacts, so I left most of them in the photo. These are only visible and distracting, when one enlarges the photo.
This is enough for this post. I will continue with more photos from the sandhills in the next post.
One of the things that makes me angry and sad is the litter that I see left by visitors to our public parks and public lands. It is bad enough that there is litter and graffiti almost everywhere in public places and even marring private property, but why do those visiting our parks have such a disregard for the prominently displayed and publicized rules for being allowed to enjoy such places?
One would think that those seeking enjoyment of our great and scenic outdoor areas, would want to have those areas as unspoiled by human visitors as possible. Apparently, this is not the case for many visitors. Unfortunately, I think that we are failing as a society in inculcating respect and care for our environment, respect for public and private property.
This seems to be a universal problem. I spent some time in Europe in the early 1970s. When I visited again in the early 2000s, I was horrified by the level of graffiti and litter in the cities that has been so much neater and cleaner just 30 years earlier. How is it that people think that marking buildings (public and private) and leaving their trash in public places is acceptable behavior?
I now encounter more and more litter and defacing of property or natural features in every public park and wilderness area I visit. I found numerous beverage cans, bottles, clothing items or other litter in the sand dunes of Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas during my recent visit. Many of the items noted had been recently left there. I’m guessing those leaving such items sometimes felt that they were being funny or cute with the way they left their trash. It is neither funny nor cute. It distracts from the natural beauty of such places. Just stop it! If a full beverage container or food package can be carried into an area, the empty package or container can easily be taken back out and disposed of properly.
Remember, take only memories (or photos) and leave only footprints, which nature will wipe away.
This piece of litter appears to have been purposely left in place. Please do not do this. Visitors to such places as this do not want to see your trash and will not think highly of you for leaving your trash, nor will they think this is funny or cute.
It is bad enough that one wanting to photograph our natural areas has to work to find places with no trace of human footprints, but those are mostly unavoidable and will eventually be erased by nature; but trash such as the beer can in the above photo will linger for many, many years.
I know that sometimes people drop items accidentally, but I have witnessed some purposely dropping or throwing trash away in public places. If you see such behavior, please offer a friendly suggestion that they “accidentally” left some trash behind. Maybe this will let them know that such behavior is not acceptable.
If you find such litter in a public place, especially our great natural parks and public lands, if possible take it to a proper disposal place.
I’ve just returned from a two weeks road trip and, as usual, after such trips there is much to do before I can get around to reviewing the photos taken during such trips. Added onto the usual catching up with items around the house, I’ve had to work to correct some software issues, at least some of which I created myself due to the way I decided to use a portable hard drive for Lightroom photos and the Lightroom catalog, so that I can work from both laptop and desktop computers.
In addition, I decided to upgrade my old Nik software, which has not been supported for some time now, to the new DXO Nik version. The software installed and ran on my MacBook Pro, but it did not want to run properly on my iMac. It took quite a bit of work over a couple of days to sort this out. In the end, I’m not sure what action(s) actually cured the problem, but at least now it is operational. In the process I learned how to remove the links to the old Nik versions from Lightroom. One would think this would be an easy, straight forward task, but no search of Adobe’s Help yielded any results on this topic, nor was DXO support completely helpful. Finally, I got suggestions from the Adobe community forum, none of which related directly to my installation, but at least got me onto the right track, allowing me to find and remove the problem files.
So now back to the subject of this post. Experienced landscape photographers need not read any more of this post, since I’m not revealing anything new here. However, beginners or novice landscape photographers might benefit from information shared here.
Light is the essence of photography. It is light that allows one to make photographs and the properties of light affect the resulting photographs. Readers may have heard the term “Golden Hour Light”, used by landscape photographers. This term refers to natural light just as the sun is rising or setting. At these times, when the sun is low in the sky, sunlight has to travel through more of the earth’s atmosphere, which favors the transmission of the warmer colors, filtering out the cooler colors. It is the “warmer light” that really bring to life objects illuminated by such light.
In this post I am showing an example of a scene shot with only the beginnings of this light and one with much more of this golden hour light.
A shot with just a hint of golden hour light peeking through the clouds.
The photo above, while lacking in great depth of field, shows the effect of muted late day light. It was a cloudy day and only a little golden hour light is getting through the cloud cover. This photo is taken looking north with the sunlight coming from the west. This is referred to as sidelight and is good for casting shadows, adding depth to a 2 dimensional photo. Note that there is only a sliver of brighter light going diagonally from the lower left corner towards the upper right and there are minimal shadows, but at least the light alternates in a repeating cycle from dark to light across the photograph. The overall tone is dark. Compare this to the photo below, taken just moments later.
A shot with almost full golden hour light.
The cloud cover is still muting the light in the second photo, but it is obviously much brighter and warmer with stronger shadows. The original image files for each of these final images are raw camera files with adjustments in Adobe Lightroom and Nik software. I’ve applied essentially the same edits to both photos. The difference the light properties make in these images is obvious. The second image “pops” much more than the first image.
As a side note, there is a photo shoot within these photos, which I did not fully realize, until enlarging these images during the processing. In the first photo, near the upper center in the sand just below the sky there are three figures, one female on the left in a red dress and two males to her right. At the time I took the photo, I just noted that there were three people walking in the background. While processing the second photo, I noted these same three people now grouped together just below the skyline on the left side of the photo. The enlargement shows a lighting umbrella device on a tripod, hence the conclusion that this is a photo shoot of the female in the red dress. These figures are only clearly visible (but not in sharp focus), if one enlarges the photo.
That is all for this post. I will have much more to share from this trip in subsequent posts.
For various reasons (weather, holidays, family matters, personal matters, etc.), I have put off travel (for outdoor photography) for much too long. Consequently, I have no new photography or journey about which I can blog. I have plans to remedy this soon. In the meantime, I have made a few improvements to my Sportsmobile.
Sportsmobile – before adding extra fuel containers.
As readers know, I acquired a Sportsmobile last year to get to places and provide a place to stay, while on photography expeditions. Previously, I had to stay in motels, requiring getting up in the very early hours of the morning to drive, then hike to the desired photography site for early morning photo shoots. If out late in the evening and tired, having to drive back in the dark, trying to stay alert and avoid road hazards, like deer in the roadway. After a few days of such activity exhaustion is inevitable.
To stay out in a wilderness area for a few days might require extra fuel, so I acquired three two gallon Rotopax diesel fuel containers and mounted them on top of the rear storage box. These containers are designed to be stacked, either horizontally or vertically.
2 Gallon Rotopax Diesel Container.
Rotopax makes various sizes for gasoline, but for some reason they only make the diesel containers in a two gallon size. These can be mounted onto a vehicle in various ways. In my case, the top of the rear bumper mounted storage box seemed like the most logical place to put these. The rack on top of the storage box was just barely wide enough to squeeze in the first container on the bottom of the stack. In fact, I had to slightly tilt the first container at just the right angle and force it into the confines of the rack railing. While I thought this was ok, I later realized that getting that container out took more effort than I liked, even with an empty container. I’m sure with a full fuel container, this might prove to be a more difficult and unpleasant task..
Single container with locking accessory.
To stack the Rotopax containers, there are extensions that go between the containers.
Rotopax extension.
One extension per container is required. Each extension screws into the base or the extension below it and secures the container below it. There is also a locking extension accessory.
Locking extension with lock and key.
The Rotopax locking accessory will only secure one container, as putting it on the top of a stack, still allows the entire stack to be rotated, unscrewing the extensions below the locking extension. I solved this problem by installing an angle bracket onto the storage box such that the upright portion of the angle fits through one of the cutouts in the tank. This prevents the tank from being rotated. I covered the angle with a foam materiel held in place by electrical tape to prevent chafing of the fuel container by the bare steel angle.
Rear view of the anti-rotation angle. Note that I had to severely shorten the bottom of the angle and drill another hole for mounting the angle to the storage box.Back view of the stack with the anti-rotation angle extending up through the side cutout in the container.Looking down from the top of the stack. Note the locking extension on the top of the stack.Initial installation of containers onto the top of the storage box.Interlocking plastic pieces provided by Rotopax can be installed into the container handles to help hold the containers together, which I’ve concluded are not necessary in this installation.
The reviews of the Rotopax lock noted that it was prone to rust with prolonged exposure to moisture. The Rotopax manufacturer suggested covering the lock to prevent mud and water from getting into the lock and even only using the lock, when security was required and using a lubricant on a regular basis. So one could travel with the unlocked stack, then put the lock in position when away from the vehicle. This seemed a bit too awkward to me, so my first thought was to just put a small tarp over the stack; but a tarp would not keep out dust, which could still accumulate on the fuel containers, maybe resulting in dirt getting into the vehicle fuel tank, when transferring fuel from the container. Dust getting into the lock might also be a problem and a tarp would just not look cool. Maybe having a bit too much of “Tim The Tool Man Taylor” in my psyche, I decided to build a box around the unit and remove the rack on top of the storage box, which was already an issue with fitting the bottom container and getting it out of the rack.
But what materiel to use for the cover? Wood is easy for me to work with, but it would have issues with weathering. I also though that additional security could be added, if a more robust materiel was used. So I looked into aluminum, some of which I could acquire from local big box hardware stores, which had the framing materiel readily available, but solid sheets, were more problematic. Upon further research, I discovered a number of local and online metal suppliers that would even cut pieces to order. One of these suppliers even had a facility not too far away, where I could order on line and pick up there or have it delivered. Their price was also about a third of that at the local hardware stores. So even with paying for shipping, rather than driving 30-45 minutes each way to pick up items, I could save money by ordering online, at least with a substantial order.
After designing the cover, deciding upon the materiel and thickness, I ordered the solid sheets cut to order and lengths of angle, which I could easily cut myself, for the box frame. The aluminum parts arrive a couple of days after ordering and I set in to working on the cover.
Initial assembly to insure proper fit of parts, end view without top. Note the plastic protective wrap is still in place.Initial assembly, top.Initial assembly, top, underneath side. The extra holes in the long side angles are for mounting the rack.
I made a few minor modifications to the initial design, as I went along, as I discovered that I had not thought through the details for some aspects as much as I should have. So I ended up with a couple of items that I did not use and had to acquire one additional item from the local hardware store, resulting in a bit more cost than had I gotten the proper materiel with the original order.
The bottom framing mounted onto the storage box. This keeps the cover positioned properly. Note the base for the Rotopax container stack mounted onto the storage box top.
In the initial installation with the rack in place, I had centered the Rotopax base on the top of the storage box. In hindsight, had I had in mind this installation without the rack on the box and a cover box, moving the base towards one end of the box, would have left more room inside the box on one end for other storage, like funnels and a self venting filler tube. (The filler tubes that are inside the Rotopax containers are not self venting to meet certain (California) environmental regulations. The non-venting spouts make getting fuel out of the containers very slow. Reviewers complained about this feature and there are self venting spouts one can buy to replace the Rotopax spouts. I have one of those spouts now. The containers have to be manually vented anytime the pressure (altitude) or temperature changes significantly, so the emissions regulations, have a limited effect, anyway).
I could still modify the position of the mount and angle; but at this time, I’m leaving well enough alone. After final assembly, I noted that I can put quart size bottles of oil and/or fuel emergency additives, if desired, at each end of the containers and these fit snugly between the containers and the base angle frame.
The cover with the top removed, being used as a guide for proper placement of the mating angles mounted on top of the storage box. The angles on the box top keep the cover in the proper position.
The anti-rotation angle, seen in the above photo, could have been left out, since the covering box will be locked; but the cover’s security is not great, so in the event that some determined thief manages to remove the cover, that thief will still have to devote a significant effort into removing the containers with the angle and Rotopax lock in place.
I used stainless steel bolts, screws and locking nuts to assemble the items, so one cannot back out the fasteners without access to the inside. I did not try to make the box completely water proof, since that is not really necessary. My initial idea was to thoroughly seal the cover at the seams and around the bolt holes; but as I began the final assembly, I realized that due to the simultaneous fitting together of multiple parts and layers, sealing with any type of sealant would get really messy and my favorite silicon sealant might start to set up before I could tighten all the bolts and screws. A non-hardening butyl caulk would have worked, but that can be a sticky mess. I think there might also be sealing tapes that would work or o-rings or rubber washers, but the tape was not readily available and my design did not allow for the thickness of o-rings or rubber washers, which would deteriorate over time, anyway.
Any water that gets in should drain off of the top of the storage box (which I have made sure is sealed) onto which it is attached anyway. If I find that I want to seal the cover, I can do so later, just by sealing each seam inside the cover. My fear with this method, is that moisture will be trapped in some places and might result in other problems. I can seal from the outside, but this can be messy and I might ruin the esthetic appearance of the cover, so I will wait to see whether sealing is really necessary or not.
My original plan was to paint the entire box black to match the existing storage box; but when I removed the plastic protective sheet from the aluminum panels, prior to final assembly, I really liked the way it looked. So I just put on multiple coats of automobile wax, which I hope keeps the finish looking good. I painted the framing parts black and I think the final product looks good as it is.
Final Assembly, end view, before adding the rack on the top.Final Assembly, side view, before adding the rack on top.
I had also planned to give up the original top rack on the storage box, which had to be removed, as previously mentioned for this design. Then I realized that I might be able to put the rack onto the top of the cover box. It turned out to be a tight fit, but I was able to make this work and I now have use of the original rack.
Box with rack on top in place on the storage box. Note the latch on the end.
This modification obviously reduces the already limited visibility out of the rear window, but I do have a back up camera and really good side view mirrors and cameras, so I do not think this will be a real handicap.
To keep the box in place, I used marine grade, stainless steel, adjustable latches on each end, with padlocks to keep the latches from possibly coming undone with vibration. The padlocks and latches only provide minimal security, but I’m not overly concerned about that and it is much better than a tarp.
End latch in place.Lock on latch.
I thought that I might need to add some cushioning materiel where the bottom edge of the cover sits on top of the storage box to prevent chaffing, but the fit is rather tight and can be made even tighter via the adjustable latches, so I do not think this will be a problem. I will monitor this area and take necessary steps to prevent metal to metal wear, if necessary.
While I can remove the cover and install it while standing on the ground and put the containers in place from ground level, locking and unlocking the Rotopax from ground level is not possible for me. I can stand on the bumper to do this, but each of these tasks is much easier, if one has a small step stool or ladder upon which to stand. I looked online for suitable items to use, but I could not find exactly what I wanted and reviews of most lightweight, compact such items were discouraging. After thinking about this, I realized that the cover box is exactly the right height and it is strong enough for me to stand upon. But I do not want to stand directly on the top, scratching the finish, and the rack could be a tripping hazard. I realized that I had plenty of left over suitable lumber from previous home projects for making a standing platform to go over the rack and I have left over aluminum angle that can be used along the edges of the wood to keep the platform in place, when it is in use. I can store the platform away, if I need to use the rack area for storage or maybe even fit small items into the space below the platform.
The standing platform on rack above the extra fuel containers cover
I made the rack fit so snugly inside the upper rack rails that it has to be forced into place and I think the fit is tight enough that the platform will not vibrate loose; but just for insurance, I used 1/2 inch pipe clamps over the center vertical rail rod. The rod is 3/8 inch, so I placed plastic tubing over it to make the clamp fit tightly. The clamp is fastened with stainless steel wing bolts and self locking nuts.
Close up of safety clamp. The velcro wire bundle fastener is used to hold the split plastic tubing securely in place.Fuel containers cover with rack and platform
While I’m at it, I might as well throw in a couple of other handy items that I added. To clean the front windshield requires a long handle cleaner and squeegee. Most ordinary fuel stations do not have a long handle windshield cleaner. After my first road trip in this, I found a long extendable window cleaner and squeegee. I made a couple of modifications to the extension handle to allow it to be mounted behind the spare tire carrier and allowing for a quick change of window cleaner sponge and squeegee. I stow the window cleaner and squeegee in a storage compartment within the driver’s side door. Upon using this for the first time at a fueling station, I noted that the window cleaning sponge is too wide to easily fit into the typically available water box at filling stations. So I knew I needed to change out those items.
Recently, I found an extendable automobile windshield cleaner that is suitable for use, even though it is not long enough to reach the very top of my windshield. I thought I could just unscrew the combination windshield cleaner and squeegee and screw it onto the longer handle, but the threads are different! So I will live with the shorter extension handle, which I mounted behind the storage box.
Really long extendable handle and storage mountExtendable handle for windshield cleaner and squeegee and storage mount
To hold the handles in place I use 3/8 inch diameter hitch pins through the hitch pin tang on the storage box and/or the tire carrier and support the other end with curtain rod supports. I found the curtain rod supports in my surplus items in my garage and they are perfect for this purpose. I could have used the hitch pins that serve to lock the storage box and spare tire carrier in place, when these are swung out; but I figured I will eventually lose one of these, so now I just leave the original hitch pins in their storage holes in the bumper.
Since I will be traveling to cold climates, I also thought it best to acquire an ice scraper. I found a combination snow brush and ice scraper, which is suitable for a car, but much too short to use on my vehicle. So I modified that and the longer extension handle, so that I can put either the ice scraper (which I found that I could remove from the snow brush handle) or the snow brush onto the original longer handle.
I also acquired more self rescue items: Maxtrak boards for sand, mud, snow traction (in case of being stuck), tow strap and shackle, tow hitch receiver with shackle, jack base and wheel chock. I will be most happy not to ever have to use these, but it is good to have these along, just in case they are ever needed.
Maybe on my next trip into the wilderness, I might get some use from this most recent modification and have something more interesting to write about with photos to share. I do have one week of a two week trip fairly firmly planned with the second week still uncertain. The last week’s destination(s) will depend upon the weather.
In the spring of 2018, my oldest son and I visited Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. We photographed in the park in the early morning, late afternoon and night. During the middle hours of the day we scouted for places to photograph and/or we hiked several of the easy to moderate trails within the park. This post is not really about hiking so much as just exploring an area along Geology Road with illustrations via iPhone photos.
One can drive much of Geology Road in an ordinary passenger vehicle; but there are portions where a high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicle is recommended.
We drove much of the easier part of the road, including some of the rougher portions, stopping to explore around one boulder area.
A boulder field along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.A boulder field along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
There were some clouds to add interest to the photos and I am again contrasting color processing and monochrome processing.
A boulder field along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
My son standing on one of the rocks in the above photo gives one a sense of scale here.
A boulder field along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.A boulder field along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
One can always find interesting features within the boulder fields. In the preceding photos, note the window near the center of the photos.
The rock at the center of this image looks like a modern sculpture in the shape of a bear. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
Climbing around on the boulders, my son spotted what he referred to as a “bear” rock, nestled down within an opening between other large boulders. It looks like a modern art sculpture of a bear cub to me; but maybe others see something else.
The rock nestled within these big boulders looks like a bear sculpture. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Color Efex Pro 4.
A boulder field along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
Flowering bush amid the boulders, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Plants seemingly find a place to grow in the most unlikely places.
A panorama within a boulder field along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
This panoramic image give one a sense of the openness of the area, even though there are large boulder piles and mountain peaks apparent in this vast desert area.
Boulder field, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Boulder field, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Boulder Field, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Fittingly, there are a few Joshua Trees scattered around within the boulder field.
A scene along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Other desert type scrubby vegetation also populates the area.
A view from within a boulder field, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A gnarly tree trunk within a boulder field, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
A remnant of an old tree found within the boulder field.
A gnarly tree trunk within a boulder field, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Even a few California Barrel Cacti are present. A couple can be seen in the background of the gnarly tree trunk.
A colorful California Barrel Cactus within a boulder field, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A colorful California Barrel Cactus within a boulder field, Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
My son had found an outcrop of quartz in the desert opposite this boulder field on an earlier visit and he recalled how to hike to it again on this visit to the park. It is quite an impressive amount of quartz.
A quartz rock outcrop in the desert along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A quartz rock outcrop in the desert along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4A quartz rock outcrop in the desert along Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
This post is short on words and maybe a bit long in photos; but at least that makes for a fast scan of the blog.
In the spring of 2018, my oldest son and I visited Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. We photographed in the park in the early morning, late afternoon and night. During the middle hours of the day we scouted for places to photograph and/or we hiked several of the easy to moderate trails within the park. This post is about the Lost Horse Mine Trail with illustrations via iPhone photos.
A view of a portion of Lost Horse Mine Trail, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
In the early history of this area there were numerous mining operations, which have since been abandoned. Remnants of equipment and/or facilities remain at some of the mine sites. Hiking trails to the abandoned mines often follow the original roads made to access the mines.
Some of the equipment remaining at Lost Horse Mine, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Lost Horse Mine Trail is an easy trail about a 4 mile round trip and only 480 feet elevation gain from the parking lot to the mine site. One can do a longer version, resulting in about a 6 mile hike, climbing a steeper, narrower loop from the mine back to the parking area. A long interval of the trail is visible in the photo above.
A view of a portion of Lost Horse Mine Trail, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
The trail is through a desert area with wide views of the local area with typical desert vegetation.
A blooming Yucca along Lost Horse Mine Trail, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A blooming Yucca along Lost Horse Mine Trail, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Bees were swarming around the Yucca blooms. Looking closely (maybe zoom in on the above photo) and at least one bee is visible on the left hand side of the bloom about half way down the photo. Another photo had more obvious bees in it, but I did not like that photo.
The remains of a winch at Lost Horse Mine, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
As in the first part about hiking in Joshua Tree NP, I’m including a couple of duplicate photos, except for the processing (color and monochrome). I like the monochrome treatment best here; but I would like to hear reader preferences.
The remains of a winch at Lost Horse Mine, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
The old mill is largely intact, but it is fenced off, so one cannot get close enough to get detailed photos of the milling machinery.
Remains of a mill at Lost Horse Mine, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.A view from Lost Horse Mine Trail near the mine area. iPhone photo edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
If one looks very closely, a hiker is visible on the trail in the above photo. The hiker is on the right at the jog in the trail, where it appears to go from the wider close up to the narrow looking distant part.
As a reminder, all the photos in this post are via an iPhone. We elected not to carry our heavy DSLR gear along, since the lighting was not optimal at the time of day that we hiked this trail.
In the spring of 2018, my oldest son and I visited Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. We photographed in the park in the early morning, late afternoon and night. During the middle hours of the day we scouted for places to photograph and/or we hiked several of the easy to moderate trails within the park. This post is about the Contact Mine Trail with illustrations via iPhone photos.
The Contact Mine Trail is an easy one, with a gentle slope, gaining only 700 feet in just under two miles. As we hiked along the trail we began to notice a barrel type cactus with red spines.
A colorful California Barrel Cactus along the Contact Mine Trail, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Later research revealed that this cactus is referred to by its obvious common name “California Barrel Cactus”. As we hiked along, it became obvious that this area had many of these attractive red cactus, some with yellow blooms. My iPhone shots of blooms near the bottom of one such cactus did not turn out well, so none are posted here. I have seen other images with blooms on the top, but I do not recall seeing any with blooms on the top and most did not have blooms.
A close up of the spines on a California Barrel Cactus along the Contact Mine Trail, Joshua Tree NP. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
In the early history of this area there were numerous mining operations, which have since been abandoned. Remnants of equipment and or housing remain at some of the mine sites.
The Contact Mine Site has remains of old mining equipment, other rusty evidence of human activity and mine shafts that have been covered with steel cages to prevent people from entering.
The remains of an engine at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
Neither of us carried our heavy camera gear on this hike and I shot a number of iPhone photos just to record the scenes and the experience. I’ve edited the iPhone (jpg) images with some minor adjustments in Adobe LR, followed by edits in Nik software.
Rusty engine at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I’m including duplicates of some images to show the variations between color edits and monochrome edits.
Remains of machinery at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Rusty old mining equipment at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Edits can bring out texture, contrasts and colors. I tend to like the monochrome versions better than the color versions. The monochrome versions depend mostly upon the composition, texture, contrast and shadows. While it is possible to manipulate the monochrome images in many ways to achieve artistic effects, these type edits just seem more appropriate to me, than the color software edits.
Mine equipment remains, Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Rusty engine components at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Color editing software can allow one to emulate the effects of the “Golden Light Hours” in photos taken outside these magical times of the day; but the emulation is never quite the same as the real light effects, getting into the more artistic edits of the images, about which there can be much philosophical discussion.
Mine equipment remains, Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Rusty mine equipment at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I’m not getting into the debate over photo editing, since that is a subjective matter. I used to be of the opinion that one could only get good images during the Golden Light Hours of sunrise or sunset and, while I prefer to photograph during those magic light hours, sometimes it is not possible to do so. Rather than pass up photographic opportunities in places, where I know I will never be during the golden light hours, I’ve reconciled to working with whatever light I have at the time, then editing to get an image that I find pleasing from an artistic point of view.
Mine equipment remains, Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Rusty gear at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I do still feel that the color editing is more unreal than the monochrome edits; but maybe that is just because monochrome images have been in existence in photography for many more years and we study the works of the early pioneers in photography, whose work was entirely in monochrome.
Mine equipment remains, Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Rusty mine equipment at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Anyway, the early photographers manipulated the monochrome images in the dark room, just as modern digital photographers manipulate the images via computer software.
Mine equipment remains, Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Rusty gear box at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
I would like to hear readers’ opinions on this matter as well as critiques of any of my images (composition and/or edits).
Beaver Tail Prickly Pear in bloom, Contact Mine Trail, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Remains of a winch at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Remains of a winch at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.Equipment remains at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Contact Mine winch remains, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Old mine cart rails at the Contact Mine Site, Joshua Tree NP, California. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
A final note: I reverted to an older version of the WordPress editor for this post, since I could find no way to insert links into photos with the “improved” editor. Verifying that the links were correct, even with the classic editor, proved more awkward than previously. Please let me know if links do not work or are not correct.
