Saving Detail in Low Contrast Images

Deadly Dance, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.BIZ).

I've had this image for nearly 3 years but never produced an edit that was good enough to show anyone. The original RAW file was pretty low in contrast straight out of the camera, and the gray on gray color tones didn't enable the funnels to stand out well enough. The standard dodge feature in Photoshop was an awkward tool to try to use accurately.

My first epiphany upon rediscovering this shot this week was to try the Automate -> Singel File Conversion feature in Photomatix 3.1 (HDR) software. That allows you to perform tone mapping (detail and contrast enhancement) on a single file.

The second productive technique was to bring the output result from Photomatix into Adobe Lightroom 2.3. In addition to an overall contrast boost, there's a preset called "Punch"(in the Library features) that among other things seems to increase local contrast. It may increase middle grays, as opposed to operating strongly on the lightest and darkest areas, but whatever it does, it works. I also used the adjustment brush (in the Develop section) to select the funnel clouds and increase contrast. The adjustment brush tries to identify, help you select, and operate on the content you're trying to modify, so it can be more efficient and effective than a simple dodge or burn.

Lightroom also lets you adjust the radius of the tools you're using simply by rolling your mouse wheel, and its dust spot removal tool lets you see where it's selecting replacement data and pick new data to substitute, making dust spot removal much more flexible, effective, and faster. You can even copy your dust spot removal steps to other photos, since the other photos probably have the same defects (you can go back and modify ones that don't work well due to different underlying image data).

Overall, image editing tools have gotten more powerful, flexible, easy and efficient to use, and more effective.

Interview in Photographer Magazine

Sand Snake, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Truckee today).

Coming soon to newsstands... my interview in Photographer Magazine.

No, you can't read it!

Well, probably not.

It's the Ukraine edition! If anyone knows a good Web site translation tool, I'd like to read it myself! The interview article hasn't been posted to Photographer Magazine yet, but I'll publish a link when it comes out.

A Thought on Long Exposure

Cascade Creek Long Exposure, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Truckee today).

Exposures of .8, 2 and 5 seconds were combined in Photomatix HDR software to get this result. The longest exposure contributed the detail in the moss and rocks. The middle exposure contributed a lot of the water detail. One advantage of merging in shorter exposures (such as the shortest one) is that you can get a bit of the spray to keep the result from abstracting too much.

Night Rainbows by the Light of the Moon

Upper Yosemite Falls Moonbow

You may not have ever thought about it, but the sunlight reflecting off of the full moon is actually bright enough to create rainbows at night! This phenomenon is easiest to see in the mist of waterfalls, when the angle between the moon's light and your position is just right.

Fortunately if you'd like to know when they're most likely to be visible in Yosemite Valley, Don Olson of the Department of Physics at Texas State University has made it easy for you, publishing predictions for Upper Yosemite Fall and Lower Yosemite Fall.







Lower Yosemite Fall from Cook's Meadow.










Moonbow reflected in a vernal pool in Cook's Meadow.















From the short hiking path to the base of Lower Yosemite Fall.

Dogwood Season in Yosemite Valley

Yosemite Dogwood, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Truckee today).

The dogwood are in full boom in Yosemite Valley, with no new buds apparent. The trees have most of their leaves showing, which can obscure the flowers somewhat (for photography it's best to catch them a little on the early side).

Up at higher elevations the dogwoods are just starting to bloom, with a few early ones showing up in the 5000 to 6000 foot elevations as you leave the Valley South through the Wawona Tunnel and on both sides of Crane Flat. I'd give those areas another week or so.

The redbud trees are also blooming. For this shot I chose somewhat of a reverse composition, where the framing element is the subject, and what normally would be a strong subject (Lower Yosemite Falls) is a background element to show context.





Yosemite National Park's Glacier Point road is open, so I headed up to Sentinel Dome for sunset. Tioga Pass is targeted to open Friday, May 22.







Not the best of my photos, but I thought it was a cool thing to see, so I'm sharing it anyway.
I counted at least 9 climbing parties camping out, although their lights were not all visible at once.
I understand that it generally takes at least 2 to 4 days to climb El Capitan. The camps do seem pretty well divided into three levels that a four day, three night climb might require.

California's North Coast

Fern Canyon, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

Once or twice a year I head up to Mendocino to go diving for abalone, and I also occasionally reach the California Coast further North on trips to and from the Oregon Coast.  Here are some notes for travelers and photographers if you're heading up that way.

Van Damme State Park just south of Mendocino has a fern canyon (photo at top above) a couple of miles hike from the campground. The cove there can be good for sunset or sunrise if there are clouds in the sky, and you can get a reflection of any sky color in the creek lagoon.

Russian Gulch State Park

Russian Gulch just North of Mendocino has a nice view of a bridge past a cove and tree-topped sea stack. You'll see some wildflowers on hikes in either Van Damme or Russian Gulch State Parks. There's also a small lighthouse just North of Russian Gulch (it requires a 1/2 mile walk to reach). There's also a botanical garden in the area (Fort Bragg I believe).

There's an old railroad trestle just North of Fort Bragg that can have nice backlighting just before sunset. You may enjoy shooting around Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg as well.

Point Arena is about 45 minutes South, and it has the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast, which you can capture in good compositions from half a dozen directions.

Sunset at Greenwood State Beach

About halfway from Mendocino to Point Arena is Greenwood Beach, available via a short hike, where the sun will set near offshore rocks.

Three miles or so further south are Schooner Gulch and Bowling Ball Beach (visit Bowling Ball at low tide to see the round rock formations). Osprey are often diving for surf perch off of Bowling Ball (I watched up to 9 or 10 of them fishing at once).

If you drive up Highway 1 you can stop at Kruse Rhododendron State Park . The flowers peak in May, but may still be around by June. You can catch some fern and redwood shots there anyway.

You'll see some interesting cliff and surf views just North of Salt Point State Park.

The Sea Ranch area has a tiny church with bizarre architecture just East of Hwy 1.

Church in Bodega Bay

Further South, the town of Bodega Bay has a large white church that Ansel Adams took a well known shot of.

Whether you drive to the coast from Santa Rosa to Bodega Bay or Jenner, or via the Anderson Valley, you will drive past vineyards and wineries that could provide photographic opportunities, especially if you call ahead and identify one that will give you a cellar tour.

Driving down the Russian River towards Jenner there's a unique golf course set in old growth redwoods. Just past the town of Jenner near the mouth of the Russian River are a lot of sea lions and elephant seals waiting for steelhead and salmon to snack on.

Further North there's a great fern canyon (photo above) at Prairie Canyon State Park, which is co-managed as part of Redwood National Park. TV host Huell Howser said it was his favorite State Park, and he had seen hundreds of them (literally).

If you want to do something a little different, there's a dive shop in Fort Bragg that can rent you everything you need to dive or snorkel. Call ahead to see if they rent underwater housings that will fit your camera. The cove at Van Damme has abalone, nudibranchs, etc., but the kelp may be getting pretty thick by early June, and the somewhat warmer water in the cove a bit clouded with algae (Russian Gulch may be a better dive spot then, or you can get a recommendation from the shop). Check for particularly low tides during your visit and you may be able to catch some nice shots in tide pools.

Update May 2015: I've been busy exploring Southern California for my 320-page guidebook coming this September (www.PhotoTripUSA.com).  Now that it's off to the printer, I'm looking forward to resuming my broader travels!  In the meantime, if you'd like to buy the Northern California guidebook in the series, written by Gary Crabbe, I've placed Photographing California Vol. 1: North - A Guide to the Natural Landmarks of the Golden State" in my recommendations on Amazon.  If you access Amazon through this link, your purchases there will help fund these travels and reports: http://astore.amazon.com/jeffsulliphot-20 

Point Arena in the fog, across Stornetta Public Lands

Storm over Mono

Storm over Mono, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Truckee today).

There have been great clouds in the Mono Basin over the past couple of days. Now that the lake is warming, there's also a lot of algae growing, but the brine shrimp and alkali fly larvae aren't present in large enough numbers to keep up with it, so the water is a very interesting emerald color.

My day started near Mammoth Lakes in the Owens Valley. I was exploring some salt falts and enjoying the sunrise color on the Sierra Nevada.

An area of dried, cracked mud provided nice foreground detail for some vertical images.
At this point I had been working straight for minutes, so I decided that I needed a break, which I took in a nearby hot spring (it's a tough job, but someone has to do it).

While the morning air remained still, I stopped by some nearby vernal pools to see if I could catch a reflection of the Sierras. At one of the bigger ones was lined with a reddish algae, which contrasted particularly well with the blue sky and white clouds and snow-capped mountains.

Later in the morning I met landscape photographer Bill Wight to share a few of my "secret spots" in the Eastern Sierra with him, and to try to scout out a few new ones for the landscape photography workshop we'll be leading here June 3-6. Many sagebrush stripes and undercarriage drags later (my minivan doesn't have the clearance of his pickup truck, but that rarely stops me from trying), we had made our way up to Mono Lake and explored several of the less visited and lesser known sites.

First we focused on the exotic "sand tufa" limestone formations which form as calcium-laden water runs through sand.








The sand tufa structures look like intricate and delicate sand castles rising as much as 3 feet out of the ground, up to several feet across.
By this point clouds were building in the sky, so I suggested an area which would provide many opportunities to catch reflections. I experimented with my circular polarizer, using it on some shots to maximize water color and minimize reflections, then rotating it to still help with cloud contrast and definition with minimal interference on cloud reflections (as shown here).

Some of the reflections were found in side pools featuring salt-crusted, cracked mud... a great foreground!

The wind was still up as susnet approached, so I selected a site that would be fairly protected by the wind but still have a decent view of any remaining clouds to the East that might catch color as the sun set. The color show to the East wasn't as intense as I had hoped, but we had completed a long productive day of exploration and photography, so I couldn't complain.

Help people find my photos!

Rock Star

Rock Star, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Recently I had the opportunity to take a few runs with pro freeskier Kevin Wherritt at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. I only wish that I still had the knees for these kinds of antics myself!

Photo of the Day on National Geographic Adventure

Ocean View Dining, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Check it out!

http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/daily-catch/adventure-photography

My photo of Horsetail Falls backlit at sunset appears 11 photos earlier in their lineup!

By the way, beware of the main National Geographic reader photo contests... read the terms carefully to understand what rights you may be giving away. They seem to allow people to download the winning images, which pretty much kills any commercial value that the image might have had for you in the future. In fact, by giving National Geographic a steady stream of free photographs, user submissions contribute to the death of a viable market for nature photographers. National Geographic used to be the one everyone always used to want to work for, now their practices may help put emerging professional nature photographers out of business?

U.S. Freestyle Championships

U.S. Freestyle Championships, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

It isn't often that you get to see the best of the best compete. Today I skied at Squaw Valley USA ski resort and was treated to the U.S. Freestyle Championships mogul competition.

Under the Red Dog lift on a steep expert slope the best U.S. freestyle skiers competed to determine a new national champion. Speed, style, and trick performed off of two large jumps would determine the winner. I parked myself near the jumps to enjoy the acrobatics.

Pull a rabbit out of your...

Pull a rabbit out of your..., originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

...engine compartment!!

I was driving my son to soccer tryouts yesterday on a highly curvy section of freeway at about 60MPH when I suddenly lost my power steering. I could still turn the wheel, so I figured that the power steering unit had failed, but I decided to try wrestle the steering wheel and make it to the next exit.

Next a warning light came on, informing me that the battery was not charging. So apparently I had lost a belt running to both the alternator and the power steering unit, but I should still be able to make it to the exit.

Then another warning flashed that informed me that the car was overheating. I glanced at the temperature guage, and it was in the red rapidly rising until it was pegged on high. So the belt went to the water pump as well. Time to pull over.

I found a spot with as much room as possible to get away from the trucks flying by, and opened the hood.

I jumped back, startled, as I found a medium-sized rabbit sitting on top of the valve cover, looking back at me. Apparently he had climbed up in the engine compartment to get warm the night before, then later while I was driving, somehow knocked the belt off that ran many of the engine accessories. I started laughing hysterically, closed the hood, and ran back to the car to get my son so I could show him the cause of the engine failure.

We had a good laugh, and the rabbit ran off (having transported himself to far greener pastures than the snowy elevation where he climbed aboard).

We were able to limp the van toa Chevy dealer ship by repeating the process of allowing it to cool down and driving it until it overheated. For or five cycles like that and one new and much less furry belt later, we were back on our way to soccer.

Amazingly the rabbit seemed to be fine. Clearly he was very, very lucky. Perhaps having four rabbits feet gave him some luck after all?

Bishop to Mono Lake

Magnificent Mono, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Mono Lake comes through yet again with a stunning sunset. It's hard to go wrong here!

I've always loved the BLM campground "The Pit" in Bishop. Well, it is a pit, literally, but it's up on a bluff with panoramic views, so the light at dawn is spectacular. For photography it sucks due to some power lines conveniently placed between the campground and the Sierras, but that doesn't stop your brain from catching a nice buzz from the dazzling alpenglow beaming off of the snowy peaks looming just to the West. (I'll post more pics shortly...)

In Transit: Amboy Crater to Owens Lake

Death Valley Moonrise, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Finding myself so disoriented that I didn't know what day it was, I had visited the Grand Canyon a day early, and was returning to California at such a pace that I was going to get back a day faster than expected... TWO days early!

So I would miss this full moon rise over the Grand Canyon, but I had the opportunity to catch it somewhere around the Southern end of the Sierra Nevada. Since the Owens Valley is 9-10,000 feet deep, I knew I'd have to drive up on the mountains to the East to get a low enough horizon to catch the Full moon with some color as the sun was setting to the West. The sparse Joshua tree forest near the entrance to Death Valley National Park seemed like a good bet.

Return to the Grand Canyon

Grand Lighting, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Afternoon light on a stormy day in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.

Tucson Area Parks

Gates Pass Sunset, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Sedona, AZ tonight).

This was taken in Tucson Mountain Park, adjacent to Saguaro National Park on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona.

There was a group of people having a memorial service on the hill behind me. At this point they were engaged in an impressive rendition of "Amazing Grace".

Kitts Peak Observatory

Kitts Peak Observatory, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Sedona, AZ tonight).

Have you ever wanted to take a photo of a nebula? I stopped yesterday at the Kitts Peak Observatory and discovered that they allow photographers to rent their telescope for an entire night. www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/

You can take amazing photographs of many remote features of the universe: www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/mainimages.html

Rental is $525 for an entire night for two photographers plus "room and board' for $75-90 more each, although you may not sleep. You can use their Santa Barbara Instruments ST-6303E CCD camera, but it is only 3072 x 2048 resolution. These 6MP CCD cameras normally need to take exposures using red, green, and blue filters then color and combine the monochrome results later to get color images. You can use your own digital camera, but film cameras can cature images in one exposure without the filters, so that might allow more efficient use of the telescope time: www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/filmprep.html

I wonder how any of those guidelines might change using the newest Canon and Nikon full frame DSLRs shooting at ISO 1600, 3200, or 6400.

One disadvantage is that it takes some time to calibrate the telescope to each DSLR, so it is may be best to use one DSLR for the night (or for two photographers to each take 1/2 of the night): www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/visprep.html

Organ Pipe National Monument

Poppies in Organ Pipe National Monument, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Saguaro Nat. Park AZ today).

Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona experienced decent rain this year, but they had freezing temperatures followed by a week of 90+ degree days. The wildflowers don't do well with wild temperature swings, so this year the flowers are scattered or found in small pockets rather than carpeting the desert floor.

When the light gets boring... kill some time with an "I was here" shot! At least get in the shade and use fill flash...

Desert Sunflowers in Anza Borego State Park

Desert Sunflowers (Gernaea canescens), originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Anza Borrego St Pk today).

A ton of people were enjoying field of sunflowers in the town of Borrego Springs, but apparently it wasn't as intense as last year. As one visitor described to her friend over the phone "the Chamber of Commerce must have written the wildflower report on the State Park Web site"!

The hills in the park should get a lot more colorful in a week or two when the brittlebrush gets going.

Return to Joshua Tree

Me and the Tree, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Joshua Tree N.P today).

The sun was rising to "boring' clear skies, so o looked for interesting rocks and shadows to focus on.

Desert Wildflower Trip 2009

California Poppies, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Joshua Tree N.P today).

I'm off on tthe road again! My first stop this time was Antelope State Poppy Reserve in Lancaster, California. There are very few blooms now, the peak is 4-6 weeks away, but it was nice to break up the drive with a photography stop.

Next stop: Joshua Tree National Park.

National Geographic Adventure!

Horsetail Falls at Sunset, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

National Geographic selected this photo of Horsetail Falls in Yosemite to display as their Photo of the Day on their Adventure Web site:
http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/daily-catch/adventure-photography

It's also available on their front page in their "Top Stories" (#2):
http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/

Woo hoo!

2011 Calendar Selection

Sunset over the Painted Hills, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

This photo has been selected by a prominent publisher for their 2011 weather calendar. I'll let you know when it comes out!

I currently have two photos in the California State Parks Foundation 2009 calendar:
flickr.com/photos/jeffreysullivan/2427336103/
flickr.com/photos/jeffreysullivan/2197562027/

In Search of Sunset Light on El Capitan

El Capitan Stormy Sunset, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Aftger popping into Starbucks in Coursegold for some Internet time, I continued on to Yosemite Valley just in time for sunset.

This is when the sunset light should have been striking Horsetail Falls as it spilled off or El Capitan, but the waterfall didn't seem to be flowing, and the light didn't reach that spot anyway. The sunset light selectively falling on Horsetail Falls is a rare annual event, so unless the weather forecast for this weekend clears up enough for me to make the trek to check it out, it looks like next Winter may be my next opportunity to catch this incredible natural light show.

Return to Joshua Tree National Park

Cholla Cactus Sunset, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (Yosemite N.P. today).

After a luck break with the weather at the Grand Canyon the evening before, I decided to see if I could get lucky again at Joshua Tree National Park. Obviously, I was not disappointed.

You have to be careful when shooting under these conditions. People often discover the arms from these cacti hitching a ride on their clothes, resulting in the name "Jumping Cholla". It's almost as if they jump up onto you!