On my last full day in the Palouse, I was by myself, and I decided just to drive around and explore the area. After grabbing breakfast before sunrise (before 5:00am), I headed south out of Colfax in the direction of Almota. Along the way, I could have stopped every five minutes to shoot the outstanding scenery. I tried to identify areas that were different than what I had seen earlier in the week. Somewhere along Almota Road, I spotted this section of fields that had some great "wheel" patterns. I also liked the one-lane dirt road that led my eyes past the lone tree and seemingly to the brown field in the distance. This is what makes the Palouse so cool to shoot. The shape of the mounds and hills, coupled with the very few trees and dirt roads, makes every mile unique.
Abandoned Farmhouse - Oaksdale, Washington
The Palouse is home to some of the most fertile farmland in the United States. Sixty percent of the estimated two million acres that make up the Palouse are farmland that have active crops growing. To my eyes, this sounds low, but I will go with it. Given the size of this farmland, of course there will be farmhouses that dot the landscape, although you can drive many miles without seeing one. Of these farmhouses, there are many that have been abandoned. It makes one wonder why these are so and what happened to the farmers who once lived there. Suffice to say, they still sit on private land, but there are often no signs telling you so. This particular abandoned farmhouse was somewhere near Oaksdale and the grass surrounding it was quite tall. A number of us went to the open windows and took some shots of the interior. Given the high dynamic range of the scene, I shot a nine-bracket series of images and processed this in Lightroom 6's new HDR Merge process.
Classic Palouse - Colfax, Washington
Before visiting the Palouse a couple of weeks ago, I had fallen in love with the beautiful shots that I had seen online of the area. I hadn't realized that most of those shots were from Steptoe Butte State Park at either sunrise of sunset. Now that I have been there in person for almost a week, I am even more impressed with the area and have realized that there is so much more to shoot than the butte.
The Palouse covers approximately 4,000 square miles in eastern Washington and western Idaho, which is slightly smaller than my home state of Connecticut. It is tough to truly set boundaries to it as there are no signs or boundaries. The best way to determine whether you are in the Palouse is to use your eyes. There is a unique look to the landscape.
The rolling green fields of the Palouse are everywhere. The challenge is to find a place high enough to get a good view of the land. I saw this scene in my rear view mirror and knew I was stopping at the first place that I could find. After taking it in, I decided that a panorama was in order to capture the full beauty of what I was seeing. The evening sun illuminated the shape of the landscape with light and shadows. To me, this is the classic Palouse scene.
This photo is better viewed by clicking on it.
Grain No More - Pullman, Washington
When exploring the Palouse, most of the photographic gems are located on remote one lane roads that appear out of nowhere and take you to somewhere unknown. Not so with this abandoned grain elevator. This cool looking grain elevator is located a few feet off of the major highway that connects Colfax and Pullman, Washington. It was really cool to photograph, although a wide angle lens was required to get the entire grain elevator into the photo.
A few of us wanted to explore the inside of the structure. While abandoned, these structures are still privately owned, and, coupled with the possibility of collapse, we decided to shoot from the outside only. We photographed this in the evening light to capture the light falling on the front of the grain elevator.
Barn Light and Shadow - Endicott, Washington
One of the cool things about the Palouse are the barns, farmhouses, grain elevators and farm machinery that dot the landscape. Drive down a remote dirt or gravel road (often one lane) and you will stumble upon one. Many of the barns and farmhouses are abandoned, which leaves one to wonder what happened to the farmers that built these structures that are now unlivable, or in such disrepair that they cannot be used.
Many of these roads have no posted names, and it is hard to figure out where you are. We came upon this abandoned barn somewhere between Endicott and St John, Washington. As we shot the barn, I was immediately attracted to the back of the barn that had lost its roof, leaving the sunlight to create a light and shadow pattern inside. I particularly like the two windows at the back that give a glimpse of the landscape behind the barn.
Steptoe Morning - Steptoe Butte State Park, Washington
Just got back from a terrific trip to the Palouse in Eastern Washington State. It has always been very high on my bucket list, and when the opportunity came to visit, I grabbed it. Now that I have been there, I have only one regret - not visiting sooner.
The landscape is amazing to photograph, and the best place to start is Steptoe Butte State Park. The butte is the tallest feature in the Palouse area, rising about 3,600 feet above the surrounding rolling hills and mounds. At the very top, you get a 360-degree panorama of some of the best farmland in the United States. Photographing from the butte can be overwhelming, as it is difficult to capture the whole thing. Instead, it is easier to zoom in on smaller compositions that convey the beauty of the contours of the landscape that are more pronounced during early morning or late evening light. This photo was taken just after sunrise on my first morning there.
Road to the Red Hills - Kelly, Wyoming
On a rainy afternoon, our group headed out of Grand Teton National Park trying to find some drier locations. This took us toward the Red Hills, a bit east of the park. The road to the Red Hills is more of a dirt road and is narrow in places. A couple of us decided to walk down the road rather than ride in the car and get some different compositions of the countryside. As we started down the road and watched the road curve around, I thought I would channel my inner "Jeff Clow" and take a couple of road shots. Despite the lack of sun, the Red Hills still stood out and contrasted with the wet grass.
Catholic Bay Panorama - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Just back from the Palouse in Eastern Washington State. What a great area to photograph. I am still fighting a bit of jet lag and will start posting some of my Palouse photos on Wednesday. Until then, a couple of Grand Teton photos.
There is a spot just past Jackson Lake Dam that just screams panorama. The pullout is long enough to fit a number of cars, and you get this great view of the Tetons in all of their majesty. The body of water is Jackson Lake and this particular part of the lake is known as Catholic Bay. I have heard this also called Chapel Bay, but after a bit of research, I found a reference to it as Catholic Bay on the National Park Service's website. Regardless of its name, it still is a jaw dropping scene.
Fisheye Aspens - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Last Christmas, I got a fish-eye lens for my Fuji XT-1. Being a specialty lens, I hadn't used it much before my trip to the Tetons. Our group ended up on Buffalo Fork Ridge on our last day. For those of you you haven't been there, the ridge gives a great view of the valley with the Tetons as a backdrop. It also sits above this big wide stand of aspens. I overheard my new friend John McCaine mention that he was shooting with a wide-angle, and that reminded me that I should pull out the fish-eye.
After shooting a bit, I decided to go partially down the steep cliff to get some different compositions. Before I knew it, I was at the bottom of the cliff with a few others. We started to take shots of the aspens looking up, and that is when the fish-eye started to show what it could do. I took this shot standing up and did not try to fix the distortion. I really love how you can see the ground as well as the top of the trees.
Red Dog - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
When my buddy Jeff Clow scheduled his Spring Teton Tour, he decided to go earlier that he had ever gone to take advantage of the wildlife and their offspring emerging from the winter months. Even though I am not a wildlife photographer, I was very interested it getting a few photos of the newborn animals. It didn't take that long to find one. Jeff was kind enough to pick me up at the Jackson Airport along with John McCaine, who I had just met on the plane. Off we went to scout around and very quickly found these two somewhere on Antelope Flats. This mother and her calf (also known as a red dog) were wandering and were positioned so that they were backlit. A great start to a terrific week.
Clouded In - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
We had a lot of low-lying clouds that obscured the mountains when I was in the Tetons a couple of weeks ago. While a bit frustrating, there are still plenty of good shots to be had of this beautiful park. We had stopped along Chapel Bay and climbed down to the shore of Jackson Lake. A little rearranging ended up with this composition. I wanted to include a glimpse of the socked-in mountains, but, as I started to shoot this composition, the wind kicked up, causing some serious ripples. Undeterred, I slipped on the Big Stopper (a 10 stop ND filter) to smooth the water out.
Snake River Mist - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Typical shots of Oxbow Bend are of the Snake River winding its way to Jackson Lake past Mount Moran and its adjacent peaks. It is the classic shot at sunrise and I have plenty of those compositions, some of which you will see in the coming days. Somewhat overlooked at Oxbow Bend is looking away from Mount Moran toward the east. There always seems to be some great light when the sun is not blocked by the clouds, and, for whatever reason, there is a mist rising from the water every time that I am there. While not as iconic as the Mount Moran view, I am always looking backwards.
Oxbow Mirror - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
The iconic shot of Oxbow Bend draws photographers from far and wide. Usually, there are plenty of them lined up well before dawn to catch the morning light and the still water. I have been to Oxbow a number of times, but never this early in the year. My intention was to get Mt Moran and its neighboring peaks covered in snow. As we pulled up, I was surprised that there wasn't anyone else there. I guess visiting in May is a great way to avoid the crowds.
I wasn't sure that we would get that "aspen glow" off of the tips of the peaks as the sun kisses them for the first light of the day. Turns out that the light wasn't cooperating for that, and the sky was absent of the cumulous clouds that I also wanted. Despite that, Oxbow did not disappoint, as the scene was so peaceful and serene. Hard not to enjoy Oxbow no matter what the conditions.
Take-Off - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Many who follow my blog know that my focus is specifically on landscapes when I shoot photos. I do not go out of my way to shoot wildlife but will give it a try when animals or birds present themselves. There is some specific expertise (which I don't have) and equipment requirements (really big, long lenses that I can hardly lift) to get a great shot. On my Teton trip, I was fortunate to be with some very accomplished wildlife photographers who were knocking it out of the park. We came upon a a great gray owl that was all but asking for us to photograph him. This is not a common occurrence, so we all took advantage of the opportunity. Despite my limitations, I actually got a couple of decent shots, this being the best. I am sure that my fellow wildlife buddies would probably think this is a throw away shot, but I am happy with it. It reminds me what a great experience it was to watch this majestic bird in action.
Snowy Reflection - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Today, I am headed to the Pacific Northwest to check off one of my bucket list locations, namely, The Palouse. I probably won't be posting for a couple of days as I will have no internet or cell service until Friday. I had a week to rest from my trip to the Grant Tetons last week and am raring to go. After this trip, I will be relaxing and resting up at home for most of the summer.
In my absence, I will be posting some of my Grand Teton photos. The Teton trip was a bit challenging from a weather standpoint. Rain, snow, low hanging clouds and cold made for an interesting week. Despite the lack of classic sunrises and sunsets, there were plenty of good shots to be had. This photo is from an abandoned dude ranch named Elk Ranch. We were hoping to get a decent sunrise, but as we travelled the park, clouds were the norm and the overnight had left us with a thin blanket of snow. The snow really made the trees at the ranch stand out.
Memorial - American Cemetery, Normandy, France
Today is a special day to remember those who gave their lives so that we can live free. I can think of no other place than Normandy, France, that symbolizes the ultimate sacrifice. This photo is from the American Cemetery that overlooks the beaches where D-Day occurred. Looking at all of the grave markers is a sobering sight and gives real meaning to this day.
Houseboats - Wahweap Marina, Lake Powell, Arizona
Being from New England, the American southwest is such a different place than I am used to. Over the past ten years, I have begun to explore the southwest and have fallen in love with its colors and landscapes. My list of places to visit seems to expand, even though I frequent there much more often than in the past. One of the places that was very high on my list was Page, Arizona. There are so many things to visit and shoot there, I could probably live there for a year and still have unexplored destinations.
We had just checked into the hotel and I was excited for the next morning's outing. We were going to catch an early boat to Rainbow Bridge National Monument. Since the boat was leaving quite early (it is a two hour ride to the monument), I decided to take a drive to the Marina to make sure I knew where I was going.
The light was great and the marina had quite a number of houseboats waiting to be used. I had heard that a lot of people vacation at Lake Powell by renting them for a week or two. Some of them are quite big and it must be really cool to move about the lake and take a swim wherever you want. I wanted to put these houseboats in the foreground of the photo to show the scale to the towering rock formations that line Lake Powell.
Life and Death - Spring City, Pennsylvania
Lightroom 6 New HDR Process
Last week I posted a photo using Lightroom 6's panorama merge function which worked quite well for me. Today, I am posting a photo using the other big feature of the new release of Lightroom, namely HDR Merge. I picked this photo to process because what better subject to pick than an Urbex shot of an abandoned building? This particular location is Pennhurst Asylum, a very eerie place to visit, with stories of mistreatment during its tenure.
When I first started with processing HDR, I used Photomatix Pro, which is probably the premier HDR editing software. It has been used to create some of the best and worst high dynamic range images over the past five years or so. I think most photographers go through a HDR phase as I did. Over the past few years, I have toned down my use of HDR, and, while I still occasionally use Photomatix, I started creating a 32-bit file in Photoshop and brought it back into Lightroom to edit (no editing was completed in Photoshop) instead. This worked well for me, as the 32 bit file had some very serious depth when using Lightroom's slider. For example, on a regular file, the Exposure Slider might let me change exposure in a +5 to -5 range. With the 32 bit file, the range was +10 to -10.
So what does the new HDR process in Lightroom do? It creates basically a similar file without having to go through Photoshop and does so much quicker than round-tripping the file. The file created by Lightroom is only 16 bit, but Lightroom's sliders still have the expanded range to it. In fact, I could tell little, if any, difference on how the edited the new file. Even better, the 16 bit file is a RAW (DNG) file that is significantly smaller that the 32 bit file created in Photoshop.
Does Lightroom's HDR process replace Photomatix? Depends on what you are trying to create. My more recent use of HDR is to bring out the dynamic range and have it appear natural, so for me, I will primarily use Lightroom. For others who want the more artistic use of HDR, I don't believe that Lightroom has the capabilities to do it well, and Photomatix would be where I would go for that type of result.
Strata - Badlands National Park, South Dakota
As one travels through the Badlands, the rock formations are almost extraterrestrial looking. The formations themselves look very different from one another as you move throughout the park. Some are extremely jagged while others form mounds. The one common characteristic is the layers of sedimentary rock that is commonly known as strata. Each layer has a distinct color that usually means that that particular layer is made of a different substance than the others (e.g. sand, lava, etc.). The cool thing is that each layer often looks perfectly parallel to the next one. I don't know the exact reason for this and it is nature's mystery (at least to me).
Grand Canal - Venice, Italy
One of my most favorite cities that I have ever visited is Venice, Italy. I have been there only once, back in 2008 at the end of a Mediterranean cruise. Italy was my grandparents' homeland and they emigrated to the US before my mother was born. Maybe that is why it holds a special place in my heart.
To say that Venice is a magical place would be an understatement. It is very hard to describe it to someone who hasn't been there. There is a feel to the "city" that is unlike anywhere else I have been. Venice actually lies in a lagoon that is protected from the sea by thin strips of land that have three small inlets. Rather than an island, Venice is actually made up of 124 small islands connected by small bridges.
There is nothing that I would rather do than to walk the along the canals and watch the boats and gondolas manuevering through the city. Add to the scene the great old architecture and you get transported to a different time. This view was taken from one of the more famous bridges in Venice, namely Rialto Bridge.