26 Jan 16. Another MT Baker shot today for B&W Tuesday. While working with this image I got the idea that it might be capable of taking on an Adams look, so after I had finished rendering it in 5 different presentations, I returned to the B&W (1 of the 5) I had created and started playing with it. I intentionally limited my tools to that which were available in clarity, and spent most of my time working with the mid tones. I did have to employ a mask to keep my adjustments away from the triangular patch of ice on the left side near the summit, as that was on the edge of being blown out in the original capture, which was where it should have been. I also had to do some selective lightening of the trees in the foreground at the bottom of the frame, but the majority of my manipulation was on the mountain. I've neither added nor subtracted anything form the original shot, just played with the different zones of light to get the best contrast I could. It is not an Adams quality image, but I feel like I'm getting closer and am reasonably pleased with this attempt. You might enjoy playing with it to see if you can get it closer, perhaps making it a bit brighter. I took the base image and added some small amount of detail enhancement to bring out the detail in the snow and the trees at the base of the shot, then converted it to a B&W, and then brought the B&W into Clarity to play with the tones. The adjustment to the mid tones account for the majority of the contrast in the image. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.
27 Jan 16. Last year I shared a couple of shots taken from this location just down the road from our home. The shots I shared then were pretty dramatic when compared with the one I'm sharing today. We had two days of this type of lighting in one week, the first of which I caught at the tail end of the show and the second which I got to watch and capture for the better part of 30 minutes. It is a constantly changing scene and one which you need to just keep shooting as you never know how it will look minute to minute. This shot clearly shows the rays while also showing the surrounding countryside which the shots last year didn't. If you saved the shots from last year you might enjoy comparing them. We occasionally see deer in this field and one of these days I would be delighted to find them in the field enjoying the show while I'm there capturing it all. Unfortunately no deer were cooperating on the day of this shot so for those of you who want the deer just clone them in. The shot is basically what was recorded. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f /11.
28 Jan 16. Something pretty tame for this Thursday's Theatrical submission, but next week stand by for something very different, and something I think all will appreciate. Meanwhile, today's image is theatrical only in the sense that I've heightened the colors a bit and added a small amount of glow to the overall scene, but that shouldn't be obvious. The colors I'm showing are actually very close to how the area looks in bright sunlight but bright sunlight is a hit and miss proposition whenever we visit, so I thought I'd create a scene that we occasionally get to observe but seldom get to capture. But that is part of the fun, and frustration, of photography, trying to accurately capture all you see when what you see can be somewhat of a flighty experience. This is one arm of the Madison River and you reach it by traveling east out of West Yellowstone on HWY 20 heading for Idaho Falls, ID. At this point it isn't much of a river, you could even call it a stream without exaggeration. I'm standing on the edge of the highway with the water traveling underneath at a depth of maybe 12 inches max and a width of less than 20 feet. But what a great location for wetting a fly and just enjoying the surrounding countryside. No park restrictions at this venture, so you can enjoy the area as you deem fit. The base image was adjusted in ACR to remove some distracting chromatic aberrations, then I applied the glowing effect using Topaz Glow incorporating the multiply blending mode to achieve the final look. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.
