Posted by Jack Brauer on February 19, 2015 at 12:33 PM
Wow, it's been quiet here!!! I'll go out on a limb and post a photo here just in case ANYBODY is visiting this forum any more!
I shot this one last week at Canyonlands NP. The weather was freakishly warm that week, with 60º+ temps during the days and not even that cold for camping in the evenings. Basically like April weather in February. Oh, and hardly anybody was around, and the park was free! We did a couple long day hikes in the Island of the Sky area, and one evening we hiked down to False Kiva for my only real photo attempts of our trip.
I'm not one for icons, but at least this one is slightly more involved to get to. In any case it's a cool place and I always enjoy a nice big alcove!
I tried to achieve a slightly more unique photo from this iconic spot by shooting a wide-angle pano of the entire alcove, and playing with various lighting strategies at night.
This is a stitch of about six vertical 30-sec, high ISO shots with the Sony A7R + Canon 17mm TS-E, all at least 50% overlapped in order to achieve a successful stitch for such a wide-angle view. The only light was a headlamp placed inside the kiva.
Posted by Jack Brauer on February 19, 2015 at 12:40 PM
Oh, hooray, not only does NPN resize my photo down but it also strips the sRGB color profile. I can understand the need to downsize photos, but why strip the color profile??? And we wonder why attendance is low here, when easily-remedied issues like this linger for years... (What, me bitter? )
Anyhow, here's another shot from a little earlier in the evening, with different lighting. For this one I shined my headlamp on the alcove wall in one spot off to the side behind the kiva. This resulted in a soft, yet directional lighting. It's interesting to me how profoundly the different lighting effects the "feel" of the two images!
Posted by Doug Koepsel on February 19, 2015 at 5:19 PM
Jack, I am not seeing any color profile on the first either. I prefer the second as it is more nightish and like the side-lighting on the outside of the "kiva" as opposed to from the inside.
Posted by Jack Brauer on February 19, 2015 at 5:44 PM
Hi Doug, yes both images were resized and stripped of color profile upon upload. Oh well, I don't have time to create special files just for NPN!
Anyhow, yeah, the second one is definitely more natural looking. But I do like the surreal-ness/strangeness of the first, which earns it my preference personally. I almost want to photoshop a bonfire into the center!
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on February 20, 2015 at 12:50 AM
Jack, I find the bright ceiling in #1 very distracting. It's not that interesting, but dominates the composition.
I much prefer the headlamp lighting in #2. Sweet!
The bluer skies and hint of sunset also add a nice touch. I assume it was shot earlier?
Posted by Doug Beezley on February 20, 2015 at 10:36 AM
Jack, I, too, prefer the second image - it's more subtle, has an aura of mystery to it and lets my imagination fill in the dark. The nice deep blue sky adds to the image. Maybe, the pano composition would be really effective in daylight so the expanse of Canyonlands can be seen from the alcove point of view.
I don't know anything about the color profiles being stripped out but what I see is very pleasing. I hope you won't stop posting because of this and I hope NPN will wake up to the changes needed. I've gotten a great deal of enjoyment from this forum and learned a great deal photographically from it also. I think I've been able to improve my skills (?) by studying compositions, exposures, techniques, even locations from this forum and am disappointed not to see much contribution in the past months. I looked forward to the submissions and critiques from the various members - I've learned a lot from critiques by photographers like yourself, Grant Collier, John Mumaugh, Doug Koepsel and others. The facebook version is so lacking (and filled with ads) that I don't even bother. It's just a visual jumble. I hope you and the other members continue to share your excellent images inspite of the obstacles from NPN.
Doug Beezley
Snellville, GA
Posted by Jeremy Kessler on February 21, 2015 at 2:10 AM
Beautiful Images Jack. I love how your photos looks so natural. I think in a few years we'll all look back at the popular photos on "those sites" and wonder what we were all thinking..." I know I've struggled in the past with wanting to overprocess some of my stuff after looking at the current trends..and its been so tempting to..and I know I pushed my limits on some (I look back at those now and want to gag ) but I think I've finally got comfortable just doing my thing and not caring what others think.
Anyways what I'm trying to say is I think your stuff is pretty timeless and that they will continued to be enjoyed for years to come. Your an inspiration!
Posted by Ken Henke on February 21, 2015 at 1:10 PM
Jack,
FYI...For the reasons you mentioned about image quality on this site and some other issues, a Facebook Rocky Mtn NP group has now been established. It is where most of are posting these days.
Although I'm not sure the FB is the place to view images at high quality... (unless you enjoy banding and macro blocking!)
Posted by Monika Chace on February 22, 2015 at 8:50 AM
Jack,
I also prefer the 2nd image as the lighting is warmer and the sky is a much more uniform blue instead of the blue to red to green in the first one. I admit that my first thought was that you had used a fisheye as I recall the alcove not being quite so round. As I look again, the "kiva" looks squarish (is that a word?)
I hope you also keep posting here. I don't have a FB account, but used my husband's to post a couple of photos on the FB page early on & got exactly zero comments.... I won't be starting a FB account.
Posted by Laurie Wendt on February 22, 2015 at 2:35 PM
Hey Jack,
Another vote for #2. I've always preferred more natural lighting for most photos. Although I think it's fun to see different ways of shooting the same scene.
I agree it's sad to see this forum becoming so inactive. I also hope you'll consider to keep posting here. I must confess I've been stalking you and Claudia for years (via your Photo Journal on your website).
All I can say about Nepal is WOW! and I hope you were wearing your seat belt when you snapped that photo of the runway out the front window of the airplane! I really enjoy following your travels!
I also don't have a FB account and don't plan on ever having one. This forum has been a great place to come when I've needed help with trip planning. I've learned so much from the great people on this forum.
Posted by Bob Falcone on February 25, 2015 at 10:18 AM
I like #2, mostly because of the lighting in the ceiling in #1 is distracting to me.
As for this site and Facebook... The Facebook page has been more active than here for a number of reasons. The Jim Erhardt has himself been active on Facebook asking what people want to see improved here, and hopefully there will be changes and improvements soon.
Activity on this or any other site is a product of the participants.
Discussion
11 repliesI shot this one last week at Canyonlands NP. The weather was freakishly warm that week, with 60º+ temps during the days and not even that cold for camping in the evenings. Basically like April weather in February. Oh, and hardly anybody was around, and the park was free! We did a couple long day hikes in the Island of the Sky area, and one evening we hiked down to False Kiva for my only real photo attempts of our trip.
I'm not one for icons, but at least this one is slightly more involved to get to. In any case it's a cool place and I always enjoy a nice big alcove!
I tried to achieve a slightly more unique photo from this iconic spot by shooting a wide-angle pano of the entire alcove, and playing with various lighting strategies at night.
This is a stitch of about six vertical 30-sec, high ISO shots with the Sony A7R + Canon 17mm TS-E, all at least 50% overlapped in order to achieve a successful stitch for such a wide-angle view. The only light was a headlamp placed inside the kiva.
Anyhow, here's another shot from a little earlier in the evening, with different lighting. For this one I shined my headlamp on the alcove wall in one spot off to the side behind the kiva. This resulted in a soft, yet directional lighting. It's interesting to me how profoundly the different lighting effects the "feel" of the two images!
Anyhow, yeah, the second one is definitely more natural looking. But I do like the surreal-ness/strangeness of the first, which earns it my preference personally. I almost want to photoshop a bonfire into the center!
I much prefer the headlamp lighting in #2. Sweet!
The bluer skies and hint of sunset also add a nice touch. I assume it was shot earlier?
I don't know anything about the color profiles being stripped out but what I see is very pleasing. I hope you won't stop posting because of this and I hope NPN will wake up to the changes needed. I've gotten a great deal of enjoyment from this forum and learned a great deal photographically from it also. I think I've been able to improve my skills (?) by studying compositions, exposures, techniques, even locations from this forum and am disappointed not to see much contribution in the past months. I looked forward to the submissions and critiques from the various members - I've learned a lot from critiques by photographers like yourself, Grant Collier, John Mumaugh, Doug Koepsel and others. The facebook version is so lacking (and filled with ads) that I don't even bother. It's just a visual jumble. I hope you and the other members continue to share your excellent images inspite of the obstacles from NPN.
Doug Beezley
Snellville, GA
Anyways what I'm trying to say is I think your stuff is pretty timeless and that they will continued to be enjoyed for years to come. Your an inspiration!
FYI...For the reasons you mentioned about image quality on this site and some other issues, a Facebook Rocky Mtn NP group has now been established. It is where most of are posting these days.
I also prefer the 2nd image as the lighting is warmer and the sky is a much more uniform blue instead of the blue to red to green in the first one. I admit that my first thought was that you had used a fisheye as I recall the alcove not being quite so round. As I look again, the "kiva" looks squarish (is that a word?)
I hope you also keep posting here. I don't have a FB account, but used my husband's to post a couple of photos on the FB page early on & got exactly zero comments.... I won't be starting a FB account.
Another vote for #2. I've always preferred more natural lighting for most photos. Although I think it's fun to see different ways of shooting the same scene.
I agree it's sad to see this forum becoming so inactive. I also hope you'll consider to keep posting here. I must confess I've been stalking you and Claudia for years (via your Photo Journal on your website).
All I can say about Nepal is WOW! and I hope you were wearing your seat belt when you snapped that photo of the runway out the front window of the airplane! I really enjoy following your travels!
I also don't have a FB account and don't plan on ever having one. This forum has been a great place to come when I've needed help with trip planning. I've learned so much from the great people on this forum.
As for this site and Facebook... The Facebook page has been more active than here for a number of reasons. The Jim Erhardt has himself been active on Facebook asking what people want to see improved here, and hopefully there will be changes and improvements soon.
Activity on this or any other site is a product of the participants.