Bisti Badlands Fall 2018, Day 2, Early Morning

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 4
Early 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.

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