Photo of the Day - Sunrise at Waterton Canyon

Not the best skies this morning but you work with what you got..

This morning I decided to go out with a friend of mine to Waterton Canyon to see if we can get some nice sunrise shots and also get some wildlife work in.  Like the days before this one, the skies did not have any clouds and today was no different.  After hiking a mile or so into the canyon, we decided to climb up a hill in hopes of catching the alpenglow to the west of us.  After getting some of shots of the glowing mountains, I looked to the left and noticed this really old tree that I thought looked rather interesting.

I would have liked to have clouds in the sky to make it more dramatic but mother nature would have it otherwise and like most things in life, you work with what you got and in photography, it's no different.   When I processed this photo, I wanted to give it an "aged" look and the way I accomplished that was by overlaying a texture over the original photo and tweaking it just a bit until I got look I wanted.  Normally I do not add textures to my landscapes but as of recently, I have been experimenting with this technique just to see what I can come up with.

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After climbing up this hill, I realized that I am a bit out of shape.  A little less beer and a little more exercise is definitely in order. 

(7) bracket HDR * 1/1000 * f/13 * ISO 800 * 16mm

Photo of the Day - Winter's First Daylight

Almost the start of the snow season

It has been raining for a better part of the afternoon today and the forecasters are saying that we are expected to possibly receive up to 6 inches of snow by the end of tomorrow.  Since we are going to see snow tonight, I figured I would post a nice wintery scene from Castlewood Canyon State Park.

Hope you all enjoy and I expect that the winter this year will be a bad one.  I could be wrong though ;-)

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When I took this photo, it was very cold.  So cold in fact that not even five minutes of being out here, my camelback tube had frozen solid

(5) bracket HDR * f/13 * ISO 100 * 16mm

Photo of the Day - Sunset on the Bridge

Just after the storm passed by...

If you are shooting into the sun and want to get a similar photo such as this, HDR is pretty much the way to go if you want to ensure that you capture the entire dynamic range of a scene.  Given the amount of contrast in this particular case, one exposure would not have been enough as I would have had to either expose for the highlights while crushing the shadows or expose for the shadows and blowout my highlights.

I will admit that my HDR workflow is a bit convoluted and tedious but at the end of the day, I enjoy creating something that shows what I was able to see and feel in the photograph.  In this HDR, I used a total of (3) HDR programs to create the photo you see here which to most, can be considered a bit overboard.  My HDR workflow in a nutshell is to run my brackets through various HDR programs and the outputs are brought into photoshop where I mask each part of the photo I like from each output to get the final result.  Now if I remember correctly, I used HDR Efex Pro for the sky since I really loved how the algorithm brought the blues and oranges in the clouds.  I then used the 16 bit tonemapper in Photomatix to bring out the texture/detail in wood on the bridge and for everything else, I used the 32bit Photomatix plugin for Lightroom since I find that the greens with other HDR software can be a bit too "electric" for my tastes.  

I think I will make a video tutorial using this HDR at some point so I can better explain my HDR workflow.  Stay tuned....

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I had set out to capture this bridge in hopes of catching the sun peek through the clouds and luckily I was able to catch it within the 5 minutes it was out. This was one of those instances where I was at the right spot at the right time and to me, I think it really paid off.

(5) bracket HDR at 16mm@f/8 ISO 100

Photo of the Day - Peaceful Abandonedment

Green but Empty

I am willing to bet that if you are looking at this photo, you are probably thinking that this is in a secluded place somewhere in the countryside and your probably wondering why somebody would leave such a beautiful place and go somewhere else.  If that is the feeling you got then I have succeeded as this is the reason why I chose this particular composition.

In actuality, this is near a very busy street and only a few miles away from downtown. You would not know it by looking at this photo which is one of the reasons why I think composition is so important in photography.  On the other hand, if the composition of a photograph is weak, then the photo as whole will be weak.  Good composition is the base of a good photograph.

I think Ansel Adams said it best - "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept"

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I really like shooting landscapes in the spring since everything is so green and full of life.

(7) bracket HDR f/10@16mm ISO 400

Photo of the Day - Sunset on the Cherry Creek Trail

Didn't even get to see the sun today...

It's been raining here in Parker for the last two days now and its expected to clear up by Friday afternoon which is a good thing since It will at least give me the opportunity to possibly catch a sunset shot before my wife heads out on her weekend trip.  As much as I love the warmth that late spring and summer provide, this cold and wet weather has brought fall, at least to me, a reality.  Since it's pretty dreary outside, I think a warm feeling photo is in order

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Cherry Creek trail is a trail that I frequently walk to get a bit of fresh air and to take photos.  I always find something interesting to photograph here and in this particular case, the setting sun along with the warm tones really lends itself to another peaceful evening on the trail.

(7) bracket HDR f/8@16mm ISO 100

Photo of the Day - Sunrise at Slemmer Barn

Waking up early has it's benefits..

With a full time job, photography, and a 2 year old running around the house, I don't get as much sleep as I should but after shooting this wonderful sunrise at Slemmer Barn, I think I need to shoot more sunrises. To me, the light seems just a bit different in the mornings and coupled with the fact that the days are getting shorter, I am less likely to capture sunsets given my current work schedule and family life.  For the fall and winter months, expect to see more sunrise photos. Hope you all enjoy!

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Coupled with the rising sun and the cloud cover, it really made for a colorful morning.

(5) bracket HDR 16mm@f/5.6 ISO 400 

Castlewood Canyon at Dawn - Good start to 2015!

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Beautiful way to start the first Sunday of 2015!

I woke up pretty early and decided to see if I can catch a sunrise at Castlewood Canyon State Park. On the way there, I kept looking at the sky and did'nt see any clouds to the east so I thought that I may have been wasting my time. Once I arrived at 6AM, the sky became more lively and shot photos as I hiked.

It was very quiet and quite cold. I brought my camelback with with me to keep myself hydrated and when I set up/took my first shot, my drink tube froze solid. I hiked the whole canyon without water which sucked but what can you expect at 5F? Lesson learned and love the photos I came back with.

Look forward to doing this again in better weather :)