Today we decided to get out of the valley smog and go for a family drive. We left the smog of the Wasatch Front and went out towards Eureka, Utah. Eureka is a small mountain town in the West mountains of Utah. It was founded on silver mining. Along the way I stopped anywhere I could see some old farm equipment or an old rusted truck. We found plenty. This was the last photo of the day, and by far my favorite. All of the photos were hand held and three exposure HDR. For this one I had to turn the saturation down just to keep the orange under control. The last edit was to apply a small amount of Topaz Adjust to bring out the details.

I like the deep blue of the sky.
I like the texture of the clouds.
I like the orange and blue and the interaction of the burnt brownish red clay soil.
I would like to have the orange a bit more toned down.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

For today’s post I thought I would do a before and after of an image I took last summer. The first image has no processing done at all. I took this image into Photoshop and resized it for the web.



This image received the standard processing and sharpening. The difference was that after I processed this image I created a duplicate layer in photoshop and using Topaz Adjust I enhanced the entire photo. This made the photo look to over processed. I then erased the overblown areas. I made a few more adjustments on the waterfall and merged the layers and masks.

I like how in the final photo the water and rocks are the highlight.
I like the detail in the rocks.
I like the detail in the water after it falls from the fall.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

Last fall I took my daughter to the High Uinta mountains in Utah. As we were about to leave the Provo river and come home I saw a few bubbles on the far side of the river that were moving in a circular motion. I set the camera up with a neutral density filter, a low iso and the f/stop of f/22. These all allowed the shutter to be open for a long time. This was a six second exposure. Having this long exposure gave the appearance of the bubbles forming a circle.

To process this photo I ran through the normal steps, but the photo still looked a bit dull. I then used the pluging Topaz adjust this brought out the details on the trees and in the river bed. I didn’t like what it did to the rocks. It made them look a bit to over processed. They all had a strong blue color to them. I decided to bring both of them into Photoshop. The Topaz photo was the top layer. At this point I erased the rocks on the Topaz layer thus allowing the more natural processed rocks to shine through.

I like the colors of the water.
I like how the rocks center the circle.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

Over the weekend we had a nice snow storm throughout Utah. The storm was clearing as the sun was setting. There were enough clouds in the air that it had the potential for a great sunset. I headed for the foothills, but as luck would have it the sunset fizzled. As I was heading home Timpanogos Mountain began to come alive. I decided to head down to Utah Lake and take a straight on photo of the mountain. The sun had now fully set, but the light was bending towards the mountain in a way that it just glowed. I missed the best light on the mountain, but there was still enough that Timpanogos stood out from the rest of the scene.

The specs.
38mm
30 second exposure
iso 200
f/22

I like the darker blue of the sky. There are a couple of small star dots starting to show.
I like the dark color in the middle of the scene with the lights. It show that dark has come.
The dark and light of the mountain draw the eye to the city and the mountain.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

We were in Zion’s National Park right after I had purchased my first DSLR. It was winter and we only had a couple of hours to look. The trails had ice on them but there were some good photo opportunities. This picture is a perfect example of getting to know your equipment. I had just purchased a 70-200mm lens and I was experimenting with it. Normally I won’t shoot landscape photos hand held and with the lens wide open. This photo turned out ok, but it could have been a lot better if I had been more familiar with my equipment.

The Specs:
f2.8
Shutter 1/3000s
exposure +.3

I like the interaction of the clouds, moon, and sky.
I like the colors of the cliffs with the rich blue backdrop.
I like the moon centered in the “V” of the cliffs.
I would like to have more depth of field.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

This silhouette is of my two oldest children pulling a handcart in Wyoming. We had taken a group of youth to Martin’s Cove Wyoming to reenact the Willie and Martin handcart companies trek to Utah. We had better conditions then the pioneers did. Our equipment, clothing, food and weather was better then the pioneers had to endure. By the end of the few days we were in Wyoming these kids had a better understanding of the hardships the pioneers had endured. The trip was a success.

This photo is pretty straight forward. I set the exposure to the sunset. In doing so the foreground and the subject became a black silhouette.

I like this photo because it shows the subjects facing the elements. It gives a sense of loneliness. Yet with the sunset there is a feeling that they can rest. The grass blades show to me that they are in the plains or an isolated area. Martin’s Cove is an incredible place. The elements can change quickly. After spending a few days here I have a much greater appreciation for those who helped settle the Western United States.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~