Fall in New Hampshire

A couple of weeks ago we traveled to upstate NH to catch a glimpse of some fall colors. This year the fall has been very inconsistent here in new england. As we reached closer to Vermont we saw all the colors had already receded. So we decided to take old Route 10 back home through winding NH countryside. Found an old broken down bridge near the road, i do wish i had some more time to shoot there as the sun was still higher up here, but nevertheless i still got to shoot with the camera after a very long time.

Tempramental Photographer

First of all i have to thank Swati here for asking me to take up the blog again. It has been a while since i posted anything here at all and i've been busy with a lot of other things this summer. Thankfully I'm back in New England area with my family after a stint of working 5 months in Maryland.

Other hobbies have taken up my time away from photography. I had a good summer of riding motorcycles, playing tennis and finishing up our basement to make that media room i always wanted. Amidst all this photography has take a back seat and especially landscapes. I don't know when i would get to load up the gear early morning and shoot the glorious dawn again. Hopefully sometime this year, but not counting on it.

I know a lot of creative people go through the same cycles i do, getting on and off the things they love to do. It's probably for the better since you get to recharge your batteries and 'hit the ground running' again when you decide to go back to it.

Lone Juniper

As marvelous as Grand Canyon is, it's very tough to shoot as a photographer.

When i visited the Canyon in 2008 i had a particular photography mindset that came from closely following peculiar styles of some photographers..

I've now realized that while that may not be a necessarily a bad idea in the beginning's of a photographer, it certainly hampers the progress as one is constrained to some notions. Gradually over the last year or two my perspective has changed quite a bit on what and how I shoot.

This has mostly to do with compositional choices and what goes in a photo or not. I was getting too constrained with the idea of having a great foreground elements to stack up my shots and it simply does not work in all the situations. Since then I have been trying to let go of everything i first learned about composition when i started shooting and 'go-with-the-flow'. Composition rules are good, but they only take you so far.

^Rant over^ So coming back, I found shooting the Canyon was tough because i was searching for good foreground elements and with the Canyon there really isn't much of that.. at least not from the rim. If you do trek down to the Canyon floor things might be different, but having 2 little kids and being short on time didn't afford me that luxury.

This is a shot from our first and only evening at the Canyon from the South Rim. The sky was totally overcast for the most part till the very end when the sun managed to peek through the clouds just for a couple of minutes to light up these trees. Since orange and blue tones are complimentary colors i think they did work to light up this scene quite nicely.

Cheers!
Daman

Firehole drive, Yellowstone

Yellowstone is a very curious place.. one of a kind for sure. Though i was enamored more by Grand Tetons, the beauty of Yellowstone is undeniable though hard to capture as it does not have the sweeping vista's of say Yosemite or Tetons for that matter.

This photograph was taken early morning as i was returning from shooting midway geyers(shot below in an earlier post). Firehole lake drive literally takes you through a steaming lake bubbling with sulphur springs. I saw a bunch of smaller trees outlined against the much larger one's behind and instantly wanted to take this kind of shot.

Since i had forgotten my whole camera kit at home i had to make do with the kit lens(70-300) that comes with the Canon Rebel package that i got from the local Costco. Hopefully stopping it over to f8 gave me the best sharpness i could have got.

This image was originally in color but since there was so little color info in the first place i decided to convert it to B&W and then ran an infrared filter in CS3 to bring out the steam/treeline contrast. I'm really hoping to get to visit some more parks this year.. let's see how it goes as the year progresses.

Light and Shadow, Antelope Canyon

This is an image i reprocessed from one of my older trips, this one being to Antelope Canyon. Just looking at this image reminds me of what a magical landscape the west is. The best time to visit the canyon is normally mid morning when the sun is the highest. That is the only time when you can get direct sunrays illuminating the canyon floor, but as was my luck.. it was quite overcast on the only day i had a chance to visit it. Nevertheless i'm very happy i got a chance to visit it.

Technically taking a photo there is a bit of a challenge due to the large variation in luminosity, this being an overcast day was actually helpful for the exposure challenges as the light was not that intense. This was a single shot that has been then worked upon using luminosity masks in photoshop. I recently started using luminosity masks in my work and have found them to be extremely helpful in controlling the light in my captures after the fact.

Sharing some good links

Here are a couple of very good articles i've book marked,

About shooting Star Trails:

http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0509/fv0509-1.html

LAB Color conversions in Photoshop to 'Pop' your photos

http://digital-photography-school.com/turn-ho-hum-color-into-wow-with-photoshop

The Steams of Yellowstone

I can still feel the cold as i type this post.. it was my first morning at Yellowstone and the
temperatures were well below freezing. By habit I try to reach my shooting spots a little early. So i was at midway geysers way before sunrise in the intense cold. If i were to guess now i would it was close to 10 Fahrenheit or so that morning.

I can also remember the very pungent smell of the sulfur springs as well. One would think that being so close to hot geysers would help alleviate the cold but it was as good as a torch for a blind man. So i was left off to stomp my feet and rub the hands, i did not want to run back to the warmth of the car either because i would have to set up all the equipment again.

But when the sun did come out it was worth all the effort, it back lit the rising steam magically as a giant spot light in the sky. I took a few shots of just the pier and the steams at first.. but i felt the photos did not convey the awe i felt looking at this spectacle. So very unlike me i decided to include the photographer in the photo. I felt this works better to convey what i felt. I would be interested to hear your opinions if you would like to share them.

The Wild West

We got a chance to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in late fall of 2008. I was very excited for the trip as i really wanted to visit these places i had so often read/seen photographs of.

Midway between changing flights we realized that i had left my whole packed camera bag at home. After much brain storming of our options Shweta and I decided to buy a dslr from the local Costco there. I was left without my GND's, 5D as well as my favorite lenses to shoot, but the Canon XST that i got proved to be a great little camera.

I was surprised at the exposure range of the XSi compared to my older 5D. But the XSi did have its negatives in the amount of noise it produced in the darker areas. I would love to upgrade to the newer 5D Mark II just for the exposure range improvements, but i digress.. Yellowstone proved to be rich in wildlife, but the Tetons really captured my heart with its breathtaking landscape beauty.

I normally do my homework before visiting any spots i plan to shoot and i had tried to gather as much information about shooting spots, whether they work as sunrise or sunset spots etc. Among the famous things about Tetons are the Moulton Barns. These barns are dated from the early 1900's and were of the early Mormon settlers in the area.

I had been shooting pre dawn at Schwabacher's landing and drove over to these barns quickly to catch the sunrise. Since the sun was almost directly behind me i had to work a little in finding the composition so as my/camera's shadow did not intrude the scene.

The dream of America, Yosemite

This is going to be my first post in the photo blog, and hopefully i will be able to continue this trend.
To kick it off, I'm publishing a photograph i took when i first started to get into landscapes.

Yosemite is the pearl of America and probably one of the most beautiful and calming places i've been to. It has been immortalized by the great Ansel Adams, but the beauty the eyes see is hard to put across in a picture.

Nevertheless here's showing my first humble attempt to capture some of its majesty. A spot which has been photographed by numerous other photographers, by as an artist everyone has his/her own take on it. Here is mine. Hope you enjoy it.