Monochrome Photography – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Trick or Treat 2024

Don’t be here, when the sun goes down tonight.

Our neighbors here in the backwoods of Indiana are friendly, but I don’t know about their dog.

Happy Halloween and stay safe,

Ken

Yosemite National Park – Part 4

After my early morning photography, my wife and I returned to the park to drive to Glacier Point. It is a long drive, but well worth the time, as the views from the stops along this route are spectacular.

Half Dome, Sub Dome, Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls – iPhone Photo

I shot with both my iPhone and my DSLR with 24-70mm lens and 80-400mm lens with an extension tube. It was not optimal time for the best light for landscape photography, but this was the only opportunity I would have to be here for the foreseeable future, so I captured many images while I could do so.

Half Dome and surroundings, iPhone Photo

Sub Dome blends into the background in some of these shots, but it is just above and to the left of the two waterfalls, which might appear small in these images, but those are quite large.

Sub Dome towers above Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls.

The bridge over the stream feeding Nevada falls and the many people around the top of the falls only became apparent upon using the 80-400mm lens.

There were some people standing near the top of Vernal Falls in this image, but I removed them in Lightroom. I think there may be other people in the far background, but I did not attempt removing those small, fuzzy objects.

These images are representative of the views from Glacier Point and Washburn Point overlooks.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Yosemite National Park – Part 2

My online research suggested that Tunnel View at sunrise was a favorite Yosemite NP location for many photographers. I had not been happy with my evening photography at Tunnel View, so I decided to try again at sunrise.

I knew that this would require photographing directly into the rising sun and would be a challenge for getting a good exposure and timing would be critical for catching the first glimpse of the sun as it rose over the horizon.

The evening prior, I had shot with a 24-70mm lens, which did not let me acquire much detail of the distant rock features. So I opted to use my 80-400mm lens with a 1.4x extension at sunrise.

The sky was totally clear this morning, which was a disappointment, since the sky would be bland and uninteresting. Largely due to that bland sky, I converted the only reasonably good images I got this morning to monochrome.

Pre-Sunrise Monochrome at Tunnel View, Yosemite NP

I say pre-sunrise, only because the sun had not shown itself above the horizon that I see, but it is obviously already above the horizon behind this view.

The shadows in the sky cast by some of these rock features was a pleasant surprise and add interest to that bland sky. I especially like that dark streak radiating from the peak of Half Dome.

The sun rose at the right edge of Half Dome and this is the best image that I captured. I could have used software to enhance the sun’s starburst and brought up the shadows a bit more, but I like this more natural look, except for the bright halo behind the sun, which is a highlight that I could not avoid.

Until next time,

Ken

Yosemite National Park – Part 1

After spending a few days in San Jose, California where we enjoyed their annual Jazz Festival and visiting with our son and daughter in law, we traveled to Yosemite NP, staying in lodging just outside the park.

Getting into the park during peak hours of the peak season requires a permit. Fortunately, I was able to secure a permit good for three days, so we were able to drive into the park during the daily peak visiting hours and when going into the park for sunrise or sunset photos, I entered before or after peak hours, so I did not have to wait in line or stop at the entrance station.

Our lodging was not far from Tunnel View, which I had been informed was one of the best locations for photography, so I chose that site as my first sunset shoot. Even though we had driven around main portions of the park, after checking into our lodging, I had not scouted Tunnel View. So I really had no idea what to expect at that location.

As I was driving the route to Tunnel View, I noted that the big rock features along my route were getting some really good late day light, which made me think this would be a good photography outing and I was noting other possible locations for shooting at sunset.

There are two parking areas at Tunnel View, where there were many people, but I had no problem finding a place to park at this late hour of the day. After looking around, it appeared the best place from which to shoot was atop the stone wall bordering the parking lot in which I had chosen to pull into.

I made a number of iPhone images well before sunset and converted these to monochrome, since the color images were not all that interesting. The big feature on the left is El Capitan and in the distance, left of center, is Half Dome.

Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, iPhone Monochrome

When golden hour arrived, it was obvious that due to the tall rocks behind me, most of the big rock features of Tunnel View would be in shade.

I cropped in more closely for Tunnel View 2, trying to emphasize more of the golden hour light that only appeared on the very tops a few features here.

The image above is a focus stack of several images shot with a 24-70mm lens.

There were clouds in the sky, which got some sunset color, but even that was not spectacular and faded quickly.

I waited and watched the clouds as the sunset progressed, hopping for at least some last minute spectacular colors, but that never happened.

This is a wonderful natural scene, but I came away disappointed in my photography experience today. Maybe I was not creative enough, or picked a poor place from which to shoot or maybe I was here at the wrong time, not in the best season, or I should have captured more images prior to golden hour. Whatever…, I do not think I captured this scene very well today.

Thanks for following,

Ken

California – Pismo Beach and Highway 1

When planning this road trip and picking a route between Santa Fe, New Mexico and San Jose, California, I drew upon memories from years ago, when I drove a short distance along the California coastline during a business trip to Southern California. Looking at a map the place that I remembered driving through or near back then was Pismo Beach. I don’t recall anything about Pismo Beach other than walking along a pleasant beach, which might not have even been near Pismo Beach, where I was the only one on the beach.

So I booked a room for a couple of nights in Pismo Beach, as our last stop over prior to our San Jose destination. Pismo Beach is a busy tourist town with many lodging choices on or near the beach. So there was no problem finding a place with an ocean view and from which one could be walking along the beach within a few minutes of leaving one’s lodging.

On our first walk along the crowded beach, we walked beneath Pismo Pier and I made the image above with my iPhone. This type image is typical of those that everyone makes below a pier. I cropped closely to the pylons to remove people moving about near the pylons.

Staying in Pismo Beach was not very enjoyable. It was crowded everywhere and noisy everywhere.

On our second day in the area, we drove north of Pismo Beach along highway 101 and highway 1. Highway 1 is a scenic drive near the coastline for a long distance, but we only traveled a small portion of this coastal highway. Highway 1 was still closed north of Lucia due to damage, so we could not have gone much farther than we did.

It was a foggy morning as we began our day, but the fog along the highway mostly dissipated quickly, but there was heavy fog offshore and in patches above the near shore hills.

We stopped in the smallish town of Cambria, where a sign pointing to “Moonstone Beach” got my attention along Highway 1. There was a walkway along the shoreline, where I walked a short distance and shot a few photos.

I have seen wonderful photos of wildflowers along the California shoreline, but those here were thin and past their prime.

We saw a couple of Elephant Seals along this beach, north of Cambria, but I did not have my big lens on my camera and the seals were just a bit too far away for my 24-70mm lens. The heavy fog bank in the background completely obscures the landscape behind it.

If I ever come back this way again, staying in Cambria, which has many lodging choices, will be a much better choice than Pismo Beach.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Sedona, Arizona – Part 3

This is a continuation of my early morning shoot at Cathedral Rock, near Sedona, Arizona.

After the very brief golden “hour” at Cathedral Rock, I began to work my way back towards the trail and look for other photographic subjects.

There were numerous Agave around, so I made numerous images of those, converting this one to monochrome.

And scattered clumps of grass with curly blades.

Just after the sun’s brief appearance, the cloud cover became heavier and obscured the sun. There were interesting rock features across the valley, so I used those as fore and middle ground to capture those magnificent clouds in the sky.

There were a few ocotillo with vibrant greenery and other trees in the area. I used those as foreground with Cathedral Rock in the background. This required focus stacking images to get good depth of field.

This wraps up this morning’s shoot.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Santa Fe Impressions – Part 2

This is a continuation of my attempt to capture some of the charm of Santa Fe, New Mexico, while avoiding the horde of tourists.

I do not know the actual title of this work of art that is in the open plaza area behind the Santa Fe Museum of Fine Art. I made this photograph from the street, shooting through an iron picket gate. I simply called it “Iron Man” for convenience, but I expect it has an official name given by the artist.

I’m again using artistic license to label this photo “Angst”, as I’m imagining hands on head below a threatening sky, but I’m sure this was not the artist’s intention.

This is the center of a red Hibiscus flower and the white center is actually yellow in the color version.

Light Center 2 – Red Hibiscus flower in Black and White.

Light Center 3 – Red, White, Pink Hibiscus flower in monochrome

Thanks for following,

Ken

Santa Fe Impressions – Part 1

Santa Fe, New Mexico has a picturesque downtown area with its Southwestern Adobe architecture, but it is a busy, tourist filled city, which negates some of its charm. Walking down almost any downtown street one is sure to be accosted numerous times by business hawkers trying to give “free” samples with a spiel designed to lure a passerby into their shops.

The crowds make it difficult to photograph the city. I thought about getting out in the very early morning hours, even before daylight, to try to capture the city streets with no people in them, but I never did that. I still think that would be a good way to capture the essence of the city’s architecture and charm without the distraction of the crowds.

In any case, I wanted to try to photograph Santa Fe in a way that showcased its charm without the people. So one afternoon I went for a walk around the city and managed to capture a few images with my iPhone camera, while avoiding the crowds and mostly keeping people out of my images. While I’m not opposed to street photography with people in the images, some folks don’t like to be photographed and I don’t want to be involved in any altercations with those objecting to being photographed. So while I might photograph some street people and crowd scenes, I usually keep that to a minimum and exercise caution in posting such images.

In the Plaza, where there were often crowds, especially when there was entertainment, I spotted this “camouflaged” man standing against a tree. He would suddenly emerge to frighten those unobservant enough not to have noticed him, scaring little kids and adults. I’m not sure this is a good idea as some older folks with heart conditions might suffer from such a shock. Or some might even react negatively to being so startled.