Photographer in Colorado

On Thursday night (March 17), St Paddy’s Day, I gave a presentation on “High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging” to the Colorado Nature Camera Club. My presentation notes may be found on the Files page. The presentation was based on my 2008 version.

As I discovered again last night, Murphy really does exist. I picked the 2008 version instead of the updated 2010 version. This is a repeat of the last presentation. Those Leprechaun’s really had a party yesterday. Well, I should have worn green!

The files page has both versions. I have also created HDR processing notes. This document details the workflow steps that I use with Lightroom, Photomatix and Photoshop when processing HDR images. This document may also be found on the Files page. Enjoy.

Last weekend, Carey and I visited the Denver Botanic Gardens for a photo shoot. We spent the afternoon in the hothouses. We entered the hothouses, and after chatting for a while, we got to work. I set up close to this hibiscus plant with a huge red flower — certainly the largest hibiscus flower that I have seen. On looking through the view finder, I was greeted by… Fog! My lens was cold and became a magnet for the humid air. This was my first time photographing inside the hothouse so I was not prepared for the environment.

I was amused to discover my misfortune, so I decided to turned this to my advantage. This was the perfect soft focus filter! After wiping the front element, I was left with enough moisture to give a nice soft focus image.

Hibiscus With Soft Focus

Meanwhile, Carey had made many more images while I was wiping the lens and waiting for the moisture to clear. The hothouse had several cycad plants. I found this one in an area where there was very little air movement. This image was created from several images on different focus planes; these were then merged into a single image with Helicon. This black and white rendition gives the appearance of a metallic plant.

Botanic Garden Cycad

In the orchid house, several water features are present. One plant with purple and blue leaves was located on the edge of the water features. A Lensbaby allowed me to create an image where a select group of leaves was in focus, with the rest of the image blurred.

Purple And Blue Leaves

This violet phaelanopsis orchid got similar treatment. My dad used to grow orchids as a hobby. This hothouse reminded me of the collection that he had amassed in the years before he passed away. I could recognize many of the species that he had collected.

Violet Phaelanopsis Orchid

One of the ponds was stocked with Khoi fish. While making images of the bubbles on the surface of the pond, one of the Knoi swam towards the waterfall. A long exposure showed the flowing water. The Khoi was swimming around, rendered as a patch of orange.

Khoi Under The Waterfall

Finally, we headed to another hothouse, where several tulips and amaryllis were flowering, well ahead of their normal springtime season. This tulip caught my attention with the stripe running up towards the top left of the flower.

Pink Tulip

Soon after, Carey and I escaped the heat of the hothouses to take in the crisp Colorado air. Some of Carey’s images from this photoshoot may be found here:

• http://www.pbase.com/image/132959746
• http://www.pbase.com/image/133014545

We enjoyed the shoot, and discussed some locations for a future shoot before heading out.

Last night (Feburary 23), I gave a presentation on “Black and White Photography and Processing” to the Mile High Wildlife Photography Club. My presentation notes may be found on the Files page. Processing notes that detail processing steps and image manipulation may also be found on the Files page.

During the presentation, I made reference to a podcast where Vincent Versace was interviewed on Nik Software Radio. Take a look here for this podcast (dated 01/27/2011). Vincent has some really good information on black & white photography.

Last week I took the first bite into an apple. Looking at the apple, there were two chunks removed, like eyes in a face. So… another bite and there was the mouth. This is an iPhone image, processed with ShockMyPic.

Apple Face

Angela and I paid a visit to the Garden and Home Show at the Convention Center. There were several flower displays spread out through the hall. Another iPhone pic processed with GlowMe.

Glowing Hyacinth

The same hyacinth with shock treatment.

Shocked Hyacinth

Finally, a lily processed with glow treatment followed by shocking.

Shocked Glow Lily

Working With Artists currently have a non-juried exhibition titled “Extraordinary”. This exhibition runs from January 21 until March 6. More details may be found here. Four of my images are on exhibition.

Back in July 2010, Scott Kelby’s Third Annual Worldwide Photowalk took place. I covered this event in an earlier post for Week 31 of Project 52. Our group met at Auraria, where we spent most of the summer evening making photographs on the campus. Passing by the athletic fields, a notepad was caught in the fence. I was intrigued by the patterns formed by the pages of the notepad.

Abandoned Notepad, Auraria

During one of my Project 52 sessions, I visited Samson Park to make some infra-red images. The park is home to several sculptures spread around the grounds. Along one fence were these unusual sculptures constructed from intertwined vines and branches. Branches from the nearby trees had grown into the structure. When shooting infra-red, the leaves took on their characteristic appearance. After a conversion to monochrome black & white image, the leaves were stunning against the dark sky.

Samson Park Bursting Out

During the summer, Angela and I made a trip to the Platte River — Angela to watch birds and me for Project 52 images. As the sun moved lower in the afternoon sky, it lit a drain feeding the river. The pink concrete work was contrasted against the blue reflections of the sky in the flowing water.

Platte River Drain Reflections

While working weekends in November, I could not help but notice reflections from Craig Hospital on the wall of this building across the street. Sun light reflecting off the hospital windows form these intriguing reflections. Each window reflects a circular pattern with “eyebrows”. The time of year is critical to getting this image, so I returned to this location en route to work the next day. The contrast range of these images are too extreme for a single exposure. I made several images of the reflections and merged these into a single HDR image with Photomatix.

Hospital Reflections

These four images were printed as 11×16 images on Moab Entrada cotton rag (my favorite), mounted and framed behind glass in an 18×24 frame for the WWA exhibition.

As the last week of 2010 progressed, I had several opportunities to make some images to close out the year. After the Christmas weekend, commuters were greeted by this cart, abandoned at the Arapahoe station.

Cart Abandoned At The Station

The fountains at the station have been turned down for the winter season and the water partially drained. On the other side of the fountain, these benches were awaiting visitors!

Benches At The Fountain

As I walked down to work, I passed these decorations hanging outside an office lobby. That’s me in the reflections of the balls — hiding behind the camera lens!

Reflections In The Balls

Returning to the station that evening, I passed by the fountains again. As usual, they are lit by lights under the water during the night hours, with the lights cycling through a variety of colors. These fountains have been the subject of several images. This time, I decided to make an image using in-camera multiple exposures, opening the shutter for each color change.

Fountain Multi-Exposure At Night

Yesterday, the sky was overcast on the eastern horizon, but still dark enough for the street lights to remain lit at 8am. I also included the crescent moon to provide some balance to the lamp.

Street Light And The Moon

Today snow was in our forecast — the first major snow this season! The day started out with clear skies and bright sunlight. During the last year, several storm drains were rebuilt with the new construction projects in the area. “Keep My Water Clean” announces one of these drains.

Keep My Water Clean

As I passed this bus shelter, the sun cast shadows on the green copper patina.

Copper Patina And Shadows

A few minutes later, I arrived at work. Within a half hour, clouds moved in from the north creating total overcast. Soon afterwards the forecast snow storm started. I looked out of the window at noon to see the roots of the maple tree outlined by a dusting of snow.

Roots In The Snowfall

At the end of the day, I walked back to the light rail station. The street lights on this parking lot lit up the snow. There was enough light to capture the sodium colored lights reflecting in the snow.

Snowstorm At Night

We have had very little moisture in the metro area since the summer. This snow storm should provide welcome relief to the trees in the area.

This is the last week of Project 52, that has kept me busy for much of the year, achieving the objectives that I set for myself. This last month has been especially challenging, mainly because I have been working during much of my free time and weekends; this made it difficult to find time to make images. I will continue to publish new images during 2011, but not as frequently.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone “A Merry New Year” for 2011.

This Christmas Eve I managed to get to Waterton Canyon. The trail has been closed since the summer and will be closed until the end of 2011 for removal of sludge that has built up over the years. However, for 6 weeks over the holiday period, the trail has been opened. I loaded my bike to make the journey a little easier to reach the weir on the Platte River before the sun went down. In previous years, December is a good time to find ice on the Platte River. I was hoping to make some images of ice, but this year has not been cold enough to create widespread ice formations.

The river has had several dams and weirs constructed over the years. Near one of the old weir sites, I pulled over. Water flowing around the concrete work left a trail of foam in the river. Sunlight reflected off the canyon walls and nearby trees to create a nice orange glow in the river.

Platte River

At this point in the canyon, the river cuts through granites and metamorphic rocks. The rock beds stand upright for much of the trail. Lichen and mosses grow on these rock faces forming yellow, green and orange patinas. I noticed that the rock face had failed on the far bank. Boulders had slid down to reveal the coral colored rock below.

Pine Tree And Rockfall

The leaves on the oak trees had lost their summer colors, turning an attractive orange-brown in the stark winter landscape. As usual, the oak leaves clung tenaciously to the branches.  At this spot along the trail, there is also a small creek that flows down to the river.

Winter Colors In Waterton Canyon

Several ducks were paddling in water near this point along the river. The rock below is covered with white guano, maybe from these same ducks?

Guano Covered Rock In The Platte River

Above the weir, the water has been dammed, creating a smooth reflective surface. The rock face creates symmetrical reflective patterns in the water. This image reminds me of an Ansel Adams image “Frozen Lake and Cliffs” that he made in 1932, but without the ice!

Reflections In The Platte River

Water flowed slowly over the weir, increasing in speed as it rushed down the concrete surface. This creates a dynamic textured backdrop to the static rabbit brush bush growing at the side of the weir.

Rabbit Brush And Weir

This image shows the laminar flow region of the water as it starts its journey down the weir. The imperfections in the concrete soon cause turbulent flow to create the white texture.

Weir On The Platte River

I packed up my gear for the ride back to the parking lot. It was a rough ride back. Although I checked my tire pressures before starting the trip, a few extras pounds of pressure would have made the ride much more comfortable!