landscape photography

projects

Of all the photography topics of interest to me, landscape photography is my favorite. As someone who likes multi-tasking, I can engage in three activities at the same time whilst out and about shooting landscape. When planning a shot, I can be meticulous and take the time necessary to create images I will enjoy. As I hike the desert for an interesting location to shoot, I'm outside engaging in a fun fitness routine. But most of all, it's time alone for me. Time to escape the BS; slow down... and just breathe.

images on this page

1. There's an alternate road between Sedona and Flagstaff, away from the I-17, that passes through beautiful forest landscape. The bridge in the image is part of that road just outside of Sedona. It was my first opportunity to photograph a bridge of its size. As part of the editing process, a black and white filter was applied and its opacity slightly reduced to reveal some color.

(f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO 200, 24mm)

2. Canyon Lake has a tributary that offers many locations for photographing the marina, bridge and landscape. This image was taken from my favorite spot. It works for both wide and medium lenses. There's enough light from the marina to shoot on moonless nights and the north orientation is perfect for capturing startrails.

(f/8, 121 sec, ISO 100, 32mm)

3. Another shot of Canyon Lake at night. This one was taken from the marina dock. The mountain reminds me of that in the Prudential Insurance ads. A challenge to taking this photo was standing on a floating dock while shooting a long exposure. However, of all the nights I've observed this view, the water was never as still, allowing for the buoys to remain sharp in the image. Note the school of fish at the bottom right. The lights in the distance are on Mormon Flat Dam.

(f/7.1, 15 sec, ISO 200, 85mm)

4. If I titled images, this one would be called, "But It's A Dry Heat". :) While on a hike the day before this was shot, the sun had already descended below the tree. I showed up the next day and waited for the sun to be in a postion where the tree kind of curved around it. Unfortunately, some losers knocked down the tree soon after, so this image can never be taken again. To keep the sun sharp and glare controlled, the original image was underexposed. Lots of dodging (lightening) was carefully done during the editing of this image to make it as it was seen.

(f/22, 1/250 sec, ISO 250, 50mm)

5. Spending a lot of time roaming around the desert at night, not many places give me an uneasy feeling. Except for the location where I shot this image. It's the farthest picnic area away from the Canyon Lake Marina. And there's something spooky about it late at night, even when there's plenty of moonlight. The first time there, I immediately thought of the old Universal monster movies and imagined the Creature From The Black Lagoon emerging from the lake, or the Mummy making its way across the parking lot. Neither scenario has happened... yet. Anyway, under moonlight, the reflection of the mountain ridge on the lake with the marina in the background has made for a very nice set of images. More of the set will be shown when images in the gallery are changed.

(f/4.0, 425 sec, ISO 64, 19mm)

6. This image is one of my first attempts to shoot startrails. It was taken on a very cold night in Cave Creek after finding an area away from the lights of the city. I had no idea there was a beautiful field of cactus in front of me until I began editing the image. Since the camera cannot capture the lights, darks and midtones at the same time, a copy of the master file was created so one could be edited for the terrain and the other for the sky. Using a layer mask, the two were then combined.

(f/8, 1024 sec, ISO 100, 20mm)