and more dead trees

I told you I like dead trees…This was taken up near Mt. Nebo in Utah.  The trees and greenery are a little dark because I wanted to get the detail in the clouds.  This was taken in the middle of summer so I must say that these must truly be dead trees (?).   There is another one similar to this taken at the same location at the same time.  I think the other one is better, there is more blue sky.  It’s back aways in one my earlier posts… which I could link you to but I really don’t know how to do that. 

My favorite dead tree

This is a great tree don’t you think?  I love the thick branches and how it reaches up toward the sky–as yes most tree branches do.  I took this at Arches National Park, of course, notice the pink clouds.   Love that reflection thing, well okay actually it kinda bugs me because pink clouds, in my opinion, should only be seen at sunset but it is a pretty cool phenomenon.   And this photo even had some color adjusting in Photoshop–I took a bit of the magenta out yet the pink is still pretty obvious.  I really need to get some snow pics going, dead trees in the snow…maybe I will give myself that assignment.  I will be driving along and say, wow look at those dead trees against those beautiful snow covered mountains!  Must put my camera in my car so I can show you what I mean the next time I drive by.  Cheers!

Dead Trees…

You may or may not have noticed that I have a thing for dead trees (Well, maybe dormant trees would be a better term).  Don’t get me wrong, I love colored leaves in the fall and the full greens of summer, but I just absolutely love dead trees because you can see between the branches, it’s like a mish mash of total inconsistency.  They are like snowflakes, however with snowflakes you just believe none is like the other because who really takes each tiny fluttering snowflake and inspects it before it melts or hits the ground only to be lost forever?  So please, take and inspect these photos, you will see no dead tree is like another.  I’ll start with this one:

(Taken at Snow Canyon State Park in St. George, Utah.  One day I am going to have a great view of this place from my house.)

If this doesn’t make you feel cold, let me tell you about it….

This was actually, if you can believe it, taken at Gunlock Reservoir near St. George, Utah.  Utah has been in a major cold snap lately.  On the drive down South, hoping to find warmer weather the temperature actually dropped to -8.  Frost was forming on the inside of our window, and my kids were enjoying making lovely designs with their fingernails.   We took a drive out to the Reservoir and were greeted by ice, but not just any ice.  I must say that this is most definitely the coolest (no pun intended, okay maybe) ice I have ever seen.  It was smooth and shiny and so cold that I stood out there in the 27 degree temp with a windchill I swear of like -40 and snapped a few shots and then that was it, I was done.  There is only so far I will go to get a good shot.  And just for the record, my ears are still defrosting…

Moab Series–really I didn’t forget

Okay, actually I did.  No, not really forgot.  Just put it off.  I really do have a problem with taking a ton of pictures, filing them away fully intending to get back to them later.  Later being when we have finally settled in our new home and I can enlarge a ton of images and place them all over my walls.   But since I have not really ventured out with my camera lately and gave up on the lights for the time being, I am back-tracking a little and posting some sunset images from my Moab series that I promised earlier.   A thunderstorm blew over us right before I took these, and, I must note, I am NOT a storm chaser.  Infact I was terrified that either I, or my children, might be struck by lightning.  We survived, so did my camera and so did these images.  So here ya go…

Storm Chasing….

You must check out this website…

www.extremeinstability.com

A few days ago I got an email from my cousin in Nebraska telling me to go to this website and see the latest pictures of the ice storm on the plains.  They were taken by her second cousin who is a storm chaser.  Being as he is her second cousin and she is my second cousin then somehow we must be related.  And what an honor it would be to be related to such a talented photographer!

Cold…..

I walk out my back door and this is what I see *sigh*, I am afraid that I am not much of a winter cold person.  My dad sent me a pix today from his cell phone of the beach where I grew up in Goleta…..*sigh* again, I’d really like to be there about now.

 So I went camera shopping, or…camera looking I guess.   I went and played with the Nikon D200, and D80, as well as the Canon Rebel XTi and 30D.  After playing with them all I have to say that the Nikon D80 was my favorite and would be the one I would choose, should I decide to switch systems.  The Canons just felt so….plastic-like, not durable at all.  Of course they are extremely light weight but I just didn’t like how they felt in my hands.   I was hoping, however to get a hold of the Canon 5D which the local retailers did not seem to have in stock.  My conclusion is that my Sony is not so bad after all.  It has, by far over all of them the best viewfinder.  Through the viewfinder or LCD you can see a histogram, all of your settings including flash and white balance and as you adjust your settings the viewfinders changes.  So if I am shooting really low light, as I open up the iris and lengthen the shutter speed the viewfinder actually brightens.  Very cool, and I did not realize others did not have this feature.  I couldn’t even find the histogram on the Canon.    The other feature I love about my 828 is the way the camera grip swivels.  So if I have my tripod at it’s tallest and I can’t see into the viewfinder-because I am short-I can swivel the camera back to point down at me while the lens stays fixed on the subject.  Also, very cool.

So, my conclusion…..I’m going to stick with my 828, and if I do decide to upgrade, unless the Canon 5D can blow me away, will probably go with a Nikon (no offense Canon users).

Indoor practice

Boy have I struggled getting this lighting set up.  My instructors at BYU would cringe if they ever knew I was have lighting difficulties.  Oh how many hours, most times LATE into the night did I stay in the KBYU studio getting ready for my lighting practicals, and lighting sets for projects.  My issue is with the noise on my camera.  By raising the ISO on my camera, I am allowing more light in, but with my trusty (or not) Sony, the higher the ISO setting the more the noise.  I hate noise, with a passion.  I posted on Sony Talk to get some answers and I have concluded, use a tripod, keep the ISO low, and move the lights closer.  Too close, I think.  But closer nonetheless.  The question I have is why my camera’s light meter is reading the light so low, with 8 halogens you think that would be plenty!  Bob Sink, if you are reading this, I am so embarrassed….

 Here’s one from today…just a fun candid one in the lights, however what three year old will stay put….so he’s sorta on the edge of the light.  The edge of the light–oooh there’s a great phrase.

Watermark

Thanks to Lisa at ILP for sharing this watermark action!  For those of you who don’t know, in Photoshop, actions are wonderful.  You open an image, go to the action box on the right and click the record button.  PS will then record every step you make as you “fix” your photo.  Then when you are done, press Stop and then pull up another image and press play.  The action will perform all of your steps in the blink of about 5 seconds.  Boy does this save time!   For some images this is difficult since exposure, etc may be different for each photo.  However, for watermarking such as this, it’s heaven and saves a whole heckofa bunch of time.  I will be using this from now on…but may change the logo, still playing with it.

Winter Sun

I love the way the sun sits so low on the horizon in the winter time.  The sky is such a deep dark blue.  Shooting the sun is something I really don’t usually do, but I had an idea and this is the result. 

 

For Christmas I got several halogen lights and have created a small studio space with them.  Since I am so anti-flash, I figured I had plenty of light to shoot without it.  I did but not without adjusting my ISO to 400.  How can that be?  I have 8 halogens pointing to one subject and my ISO has to be at 400?  And when shot at 400 the noise was really bugging me.  I did some research and found that my camera, the Sony F828 is known for this problem–noise at high ISO.  Arg.  I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to spend so much money on a camera and then find problems that cannot be fixed without post processing.  Of course, with the post processing everything is fine.  But because I am a perfectionist I want it to look perfect straight off the camera.  So I decided to get the Sony R1 which, after reviews seems to be a great solution to the high ISO problem.  Of course the fact that it is now discontinued it also a problem….  I am considering switching systems, (did I just say that?).  I have been loyal to Sony for so long.  I must say the 828 has been good to me and I anticipate will continue to be for a long time but only as long as I have Neat Image around to save the noise problems.   It’s not enough for me to go buy a new camera today or even tomorrow, but is enough for me to vent about in this blog.  Done now.  Cheers!