Sedona, Arizona – Part 1

Sedona, Arizona is in a picturesque setting with massive, colorful rock formations all around.  It is also a popular tourist city with all the trappings of such a city, many shops, restaurants and art galleries.

In the outlying areas there are many popular hiking trails, scenic destinations and places popular with rock climbers.

My wife and I drove around the local area around the city to check out the scenery.  I made mental notes about possible places to return to at sunrise or sunset to engage in my photography hobby.

My first chosen destination, Bell Rock, for a sunset shoot is just off of a major road and is a popular tourist draw.  As I left our motel in Sedona, an afternoon thunderstorm erupted with lots of lightening and heavy rain.  The local rock features that are visible from the city streets were surrounded by clouds with intermittent breaks in the clouds allowing sunlight to illuminate those features for a short while.  There would have been great photographic opportunities during the storm, if only there had been a place to safely pull over out of the heavy late day traffic and not be exposed to the heavy rain and possible lightening.  I could only observe and admire the views, wishing I were able to photograph the storm.

I hoped that there would still be some of the storm around when I arrived at the Bell Rock parking area, but the storm had moved on into the far distance by the time that I arrived.  The nearby sky was mostly clear, but the distant storm clouds were still visible.

There are a number of hiking trails around and near Bell Rock.  Most tourists opt to hike up the slope towards Bell Rock.  I decided to hike the less popular trail that went around behind Bell Rock towards other rock features nearby.  I only recall encountering two or three others on this trail.  The parking lot was not nearly as full, this late in the day, as it had been during my scouting pass through it earlier in the day.

Red Rocks against a Dark Sky
Red Rocks against a Dark Sky 2

As these first two images reveal, the distant clouds caused the light to constantly vary from entire shade to partial shade and the sky to vary from dark to light.

The Gold at Rainbow End

I made numerous, not so interesting, photographs of the distant rock outcrops as the late day light changed.  While the distant storm clouds added interest, it was not until I noted a faint rainbow appear that I began to hope for something more interesting.  Indeed, as I watched the scene that rainbow became brighter and a double rainbow appeared, seemingly terminating on the rocks with a golden glow from the late day sunlight.

Veneration

As I prepared to photograph this old, majestic tree skeleton (old trees like this are one of my favorite subjects), the clouds in the sky began to glow with the golden color of sunset light.  The golden cloud was perfectly positioned above the tree, as if forming a crown of honor and remembrance for the old tree.

Veneration 2

This is not the same tree as in Veneration, but it is nearby, with more of the local environment in the background.

Arizona Sunset Sky

As I walked the trail back towards the parking lot, after my late day shoot, I had to stop to capture these colorful, post sunset clouds with the silhouette of rock formations in the foreground.

After Sunset

When I turned to look back at this rock feature, I noted that the color was a deeper red just after sunset.  In researching this area, I had seen information that said these rocks looked best for photography just after sunset sunset.  My observation confirms that statement.

Until next time,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot (Continued)

This is the final post for my March 2023 visit to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

Desert Gold
The Midas Effect

Sunset light turns these desert rock features into gold.

Gold Veins
Transformation 11
Fringe Light
Fringe Light 2

Sunset light fades away on the peaks.  I’m so grateful for the natural lines and textures in the amazing geology and natural sculpture here, without which the photographs would not be nearly so interesting.

Peak Gold 2

With a cache of fallen rocks in the eroded portion below the peak.

Getting the Shot

I could have yelled at this photographer for intruding into my composition, but I think he adds to the theme of photographing the geology here, as well as giving a human scale for reference.

Regular followers of this blog might recall that in an earlier post about this final sunset shoot I made a statement about thinking that there must be a better composition in the area where I made an early shot before sunset.  Well, there was. I came back to that area, as the sun was very low in the sky, where I shot some of the images above.  As I moved around the area, I found rocks that made very interesting foreground  objects.  These last three images are my best (I think) images from that location.

The Cast 1

The rocks of Valley of Fire are the stars of this series, so it seem appropriate to name these last photos for those rocks.

The Cast 2
The Cast – Final Bow

Thanks for following this long series of blogs with photos from Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Until the next journey,

Ken

 

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 27 – Final Sunset Shoot (Continued)

Transformation 4

The natural features in the foreground rocks made great leading lines into the desert background for this image and the muted color of the rocks in the shadows contrasted with the sunset light enhanced color of the background rocks.

Crease Life

I know, this is not a wonderful photo, but as I sat in the shadows on the rock ledge on this image’s right side, I noted (again) how desert life tends to accumulate in the creases between rock units. And the ledge, which is not as wide as it looks near the camera lens, seems to be disappearing into the distance.

Transformation 5

I kept with the “Transformation” theme for a number of photos, shooting from the shadows into the sunset light on the background.  In this one, I liked the fracture leading upward toward the cylindrical rock feature, then the rock/skyline edge merging with the shadow line leading down into the sunlit valley.

Transformation 8

For Transformation 8, I was inspired by the foreground rock layer that appears to be flowing downhill.

Complex

The title “Complex” is in honor of the complexity of the geology and rock details throughout this image.

Open Heart

My first inclination was to title this image “Let Sleeping Rocks Lie”, as I think the rock with the sunset light on it looks much like a resting puppy and that rock opening behind the head looks like a floppy ear.  Then I noted that that opening was heart shaped.  This detail might be more clear, if viewed on a large screen.  Clicking on the image will take one to my Flickr page with this image.

Peak Gold

The rocks here have some incredible detail and textures that can best be seen on a large screen, too.

To be continued,

Ken

Teal Campground July 2020, Sunset Day 1

As sunset time approached during my first day at Teal Campground, I could see no breaks in the clouds in any direction and the clouds to the west were very thick and heavy.  Light rain sprinkled intermittently.  I decided there was no need to take my DSLR out this evening and to just check out more of the area for possible sunrise compositions.

I walked towards a rail fence line on the western edge of the campground, thinking that area and the mountains to the north and west might get good sunlight the next morning.

As I was taking a few iPhone shots of possible sunrise compositions, I began to notice just a hint of late day light begin to show up on the distant mountainsides, in spite of the 360 degree, very heavy cloud cover.

I thought about hastening back to my vehicle to get my DSLR gear, but I figured that any good light would be so fleeting that it would be gone before I could do so and it would be best to at least get a shot or two with my iPhone, rather than miss the sunset entirely.

So I waited and watched as the sunset light got better and better, moving across the mountainsides in the north and to the east.

Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Now it was definitely too late to get out the DSLR, but had I rushed back to my vehicle as soon as I saw the possibility of a golden hour, I would have had time to get a few images with a better camera.

Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I know others have had this same experience and I this is not the first time this has happened to me.  I always think, “Never again”, but it happens again, anyway.

After the golden hour, the clouds began to glow, too.  The iPhone camera is just not good enough to handle the dynamic range of a glowing sky at sunset, but I made a few images and managed to salvage this one:

Sunset at Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Having missed this opportunity to shoot sunset here with my DSLR, I decided that I had to stay over another night and hope to get a good sunset again.

Take care and stay safe,

Ken

 

 

Echo Park, July 2019, Sunset Shoot in the Yampa River

My son and I return to the area near our sunrise shoot and go down a steep bank into the river channel, crossing a narrow, mucky interval near the bank, balancing on a narrow, short tree branch and rocks, avoiding as much mud and water as possible, trying not to fall, wading through shallow water on the edge of a broad bar, before getting onto the dry portion of the rocky bar in the river channel.  We are just east of the confluence of the Yampa and Green Rivers.  The river is broad and maybe not deep, but we do not test the waters; even though, there is a large driftwood tree on the bar on the opposite side that would make a great foreground object.

Yampa River Reflection, Echo Park, DNM, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/13s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The river surface provides good reflections of the canyon walls, as we make numerous photos, while waiting for the sunset light.  The river and a good portion of the canyon walls are already in shadow.  A high wall to the west, will prevent full sunset light illumination of the entire canyon walls; but we expect golden light on the upper portion of these walls.

Yampa River Reflection, Echo Park, DNM, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/25s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I experiment with different compositions with the 14-24mm lens at various focal lengths, while waiting for the golden hour.  I use a 3 stop, soft, graduated neutral density filter to balance the exposure of the sky and the river.

Yampa River Reflection, Echo Park, DNM, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 17mm, f/16, 1/25s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The first of the golden hour rays are apparent in the image below and the light is already far up the canyon walls.

Yampa River Reflection, Echo Park, DNM, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/5s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I make a series of images as the light changes in its move up the walls.   Short, fractions of a second, shutter speeds make the river current ripples apparent in the images above.  The images below are made with long shutter speeds, using a 7 stop neutral density filter, smoothing out the ripples.

Yampa River Reflection, Echo Park, DNM, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 30s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The light is going away faster on the north wall than on the south wall, creating an asymmetrically lit image.

Yampa River Reflection, Echo Park, DNM, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 25s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Blurring of the reflections by the river current is more apparent in the longer exposures.

Yampa River Reflection, Echo Park, DNM, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 15mm, f/16, 25s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Finally, as the light disappears on the canyon walls to the east, I turn to check out possible compositions to the west.

Yampa River, Echo Park, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/16, 1/4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The sun is below the western rock face, the sky is bright and the river is in shadow, making it difficult to get a balanced exposure.  While this is not a great photograph, I still like the leading line of the river with its current ripples, reflected skylight, fuzzy reflections of the bordering walls, the bars on each side of the channel and the soft streaky clouds in the sky.  This view might be good in early morning sunrise light.

While waiting for the golden hour, I made a few iPhone images just to see what I can do with those and to show those who might use such a device to capture photographs, the possibilities for such images.

Yampa River at its confluence with the Green River. iPhone photograph edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I can brighten the lower portion of the image above, but I think this looks more natural.

The Yampa River and Canyon in Echo Park. iPhone photograph edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
Yampa River and canyon walls near sunset. iPhone photograph edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

That is it for this shoot.  We have one more sunrise in Echo Park before ending this trip.  Some of the images in this blog are posted to my Flickr page, where one can view them in higher resolution and viewing on a large screen will be best.

Until next time,

Ken

 

The Importance of Light Quality in Landscape Photography

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.

Until then,

Ken