Showing posts with label Jeff Knox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeff Knox. Show all posts
Friday, May 4, 2012
All that jazz
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, August 16, 2010
My God, it's full of stars!
This is the image right off the camera, only resized for the blog.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Camera Conversion
A couple of months ago I converted one of my D70s for full spectrum shooting. I replaced the hot mirror that blocks IR and UV for a clear filter that passes all frequencies.
Tonight I finally got out to take a few test shots. I haven't fiddled with the settings - including white balance - so this is straight off the camera. Here is the original image as recorded by the camera:
(d70, ISO 1600, 50mm, f1.8, 15 seconds)
The image is shifted towards red because the filter is no longer blocking the IR frequencies.
This next image is after some fiddling in Photoshop's RAW import utiltity.
For a first test I'm really happy with this pictures. I've never been able to get so much detail out of the Milky Way. Now I need to figure out how to refine the process. Some of the larger stars are blown out and I'm not getting the colors out of the Milky Way that I've seen in other pictures. Overall it is a good start.
Tonight I finally got out to take a few test shots. I haven't fiddled with the settings - including white balance - so this is straight off the camera. Here is the original image as recorded by the camera:
(d70, ISO 1600, 50mm, f1.8, 15 seconds)
The image is shifted towards red because the filter is no longer blocking the IR frequencies.
This next image is after some fiddling in Photoshop's RAW import utiltity.
For a first test I'm really happy with this pictures. I've never been able to get so much detail out of the Milky Way. Now I need to figure out how to refine the process. Some of the larger stars are blown out and I'm not getting the colors out of the Milky Way that I've seen in other pictures. Overall it is a good start.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Pinhole Photography Day
Sunday is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. Pinhole cameras are really cool and have nearly limitless depth of field.
Does anybody have a darkroom anymore?
Does anybody have a darkroom anymore?
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Handheld Pano
I was sitting on the wall at Zabriskie Point and decided to try a handheld panorama. This is a Photoshop stitch of nine pictures. It encompasses a view of around 200 degrees.
I imported the raw files into the photomerge feature and let it do its thing. This is my first panorama and I'm impressed with the ease of the process. After the import I only did normal photo editing and cropping. The merge didn't seem to have any problem with parallax distortion.
Interesting, Blogspot reduced the image from 5223 x 800 to 1600 x 245.
Death Valley Wildflowers - 2010
I have finally gotten to the wildflowers! The whole point of this trip to Death Valley.
I love when there are big blooms in the valley. Areas that are normally just dirt and rock are covered in color. It is a sight to behold. I need to work on my closeup and macro photography but this tour started in Titus Canyon.
It seems I wasn't the only one looking at the wildflowers.
As I passed by Ubehebe Crater on my way to Racetrack Playa the ground was carpeted in purple. These flowers were low to the ground and very small. The flowers were about a quarter inch in diameter. That's a lot of blossoms to cover so much ground.
In the same area the cactus were also in bloom. They always put out a spectacular flower.
The area around Badwater is covered in yellow.
I will survive!
This lonely flower had laid claim to its own piece of Death Valley. Just look at the ground around the plant and you can see what most people see when the visit the park. There is nothing else growing near this survior.
I have no idea what this odd little plant is, besides being another survivor.
The predominate color in the valley was yellow. Red, orange, white and purple were a rare find and very striking when spotted.
Here is an interesting plant. The leaves felt rubbery and moist. I only saw a few of them groing along a short strech of road on the way up to Dante's Peak.
The Sun begins to dip below the mountains at the end of my adventure.
It was a wonderful two days in the desert.
I love when there are big blooms in the valley. Areas that are normally just dirt and rock are covered in color. It is a sight to behold. I need to work on my closeup and macro photography but this tour started in Titus Canyon.
It seems I wasn't the only one looking at the wildflowers.
As I passed by Ubehebe Crater on my way to Racetrack Playa the ground was carpeted in purple. These flowers were low to the ground and very small. The flowers were about a quarter inch in diameter. That's a lot of blossoms to cover so much ground.
In the same area the cactus were also in bloom. They always put out a spectacular flower.
The area around Badwater is covered in yellow.
I will survive!
This lonely flower had laid claim to its own piece of Death Valley. Just look at the ground around the plant and you can see what most people see when the visit the park. There is nothing else growing near this survior.
I have no idea what this odd little plant is, besides being another survivor.
The predominate color in the valley was yellow. Red, orange, white and purple were a rare find and very striking when spotted.
Here is an interesting plant. The leaves felt rubbery and moist. I only saw a few of them groing along a short strech of road on the way up to Dante's Peak.
The Sun begins to dip below the mountains at the end of my adventure.
It was a wonderful two days in the desert.
Critters
On the way through Titus Canyon I ran into this ornery critter. It was stretched out across the road sunning and I tried to coax it out of harms way. This only made it mad and it coiled up and started hissing.
Anybody know what type of snake this is?
(Nikon D60, ISO 110, 70 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec)
(Nikon D60, ISO 200, 2`0 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec)
Later I ran into a rather fat Desert Igauna that liked to pose for the camera.
(Nikon D60, ISO 200, 210 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec)
(Nikon D60, ISO 200, 210 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec)
The pupfish of Salt Creek seemed to be thriving. (If it can be considered thriving when your entire habitat consists of a single, small creek.) The males were vigorously defending the better nesting sites in the shallow water.
(Nikon D60, ISO 200, 70 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec)
(Nikon D60, ISO 200, 210 mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec)
Finally on Dante's Peek I ran into a horned lizard that mugged for the camera. I didn't have my long lens with me and was surprised when it let me get about two feet away for this shot. Enough was enough when the next camera showed up and the lizard skittered away into the nearby shrubs.
(Nikon D60, ISO 200, 70 mm, f/5, 1/400 sec)
It was a good weekend in Death Valley and I haven't even gotten to the wildflowers yet. :^)
Anybody know what type of snake this is?
Later I ran into a rather fat Desert Igauna that liked to pose for the camera.
The pupfish of Salt Creek seemed to be thriving. (If it can be considered thriving when your entire habitat consists of a single, small creek.) The males were vigorously defending the better nesting sites in the shallow water.
Finally on Dante's Peek I ran into a horned lizard that mugged for the camera. I didn't have my long lens with me and was surprised when it let me get about two feet away for this shot. Enough was enough when the next camera showed up and the lizard skittered away into the nearby shrubs.
It was a good weekend in Death Valley and I haven't even gotten to the wildflowers yet. :^)
Monday, April 19, 2010
Little Bee Blue
At Scotty's Castle there was a bush buzzing with some unusual bees. They were a bit bigger than a large bumble bee. At first they looked to be black but when they would catch the sunlight they were a deep, metallic blue.
Moon Rock
My Death Valley excursion was a huge success. I'm still downloading pictures but the D70 only had a few images on it so I'll start with this one.
I stayed out on Racetrack Playa after dark to take some pictures of the moving rocks. This was shot with two off-camera strobes with Rosco gels held on with rubber bands. The intention was to light the rock with the blue and the tacks with the green.
Not being able to get a good preview of the images I took many shots varying the focus. I set the focus both close to capture the rock and far to resolve the stars. This was the best shot of the bunch even though it doesn't have many stars in the field of view. The exposure was a bit long as well so the stars have started to elongate.
The only editing on this picture was to crop it and adjust the sharpness a bit. With minimal work I should be able to bring out the mountains a bit more to add some impact to the image. I'm not sure what is causing the glow behind them. The view was to the south.
One thing I learned in this shoot is that I need to get some light stands. The strobes were too close to the ground and tended to be too hot in many cases.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Wildflower reminder
http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca_dv.html
Just a reminder... I'll be heading to Death Valley this weekend. It looks like this year's bloom is well established (see above link). I'll be heading up on Friday after work and staying until Sunday. Tentative plan (other than the wildflowers) is to head up to Racetrack Playa early Saturday afternoon in hopes of catching the sunset. I want to get up there a couple of hours before sunset to scout out the area and take some pictures. (And to allow time to get out if I decide the road is too bad to travel after dark.)
Everybody is welcome to come along for the whole trip or just for an afternoon.
Just a reminder... I'll be heading to Death Valley this weekend. It looks like this year's bloom is well established (see above link). I'll be heading up on Friday after work and staying until Sunday. Tentative plan (other than the wildflowers) is to head up to Racetrack Playa early Saturday afternoon in hopes of catching the sunset. I want to get up there a couple of hours before sunset to scout out the area and take some pictures. (And to allow time to get out if I decide the road is too bad to travel after dark.)
Everybody is welcome to come along for the whole trip or just for an afternoon.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Wildflowers
I'm hoping there will be a good wildflower bloom in Death Valley this year. There has been lots of rain and there is reportedly some good ground cover already. I'm shooting for the middle of April and will be going up for the weekend of the 17th and 18th. With that in mind I booked a room at the lovely Motel 6 for Friday and Saturday nights. It is close enough to Death Valley to gain quick access to the park and doesn't cost nearly as much as the hotels in the park. (Not to mention they are sold out anyway.)
Currently the plan is seek out the wildflower blooms the parched landscape. Perhaps a Kayaker or two will be out in Badwater for the chance to do some paddling nearly 300 feet bellow sea level. I would also like to hit Racetrack Playa and would love to be there for sunrise or sunset but that will depend on the road conditions. Perhaps a trip through Titus canyon might be in order as well. The plan is open at this point and the main points thus far are the wildflowers, sunrise/sunset and Racetrack Playa.
I'm posting a bit earlier this time and anybody is welcome to tag along for all or part of the weekend. I have room for three or drive yourself. Currently the only plans that would require an off road vehicle would be the Racetrack.
If you have been to Death Valley before the rare wildflower blooms are wonderful contrast. If you have never been there then you have been missing some truely unique sights.
And I can guarantee it will be a better time than my last trip through Death Valley:
=8^o
Currently the plan is seek out the wildflower blooms the parched landscape. Perhaps a Kayaker or two will be out in Badwater for the chance to do some paddling nearly 300 feet bellow sea level. I would also like to hit Racetrack Playa and would love to be there for sunrise or sunset but that will depend on the road conditions. Perhaps a trip through Titus canyon might be in order as well. The plan is open at this point and the main points thus far are the wildflowers, sunrise/sunset and Racetrack Playa.
I'm posting a bit earlier this time and anybody is welcome to tag along for all or part of the weekend. I have room for three or drive yourself. Currently the only plans that would require an off road vehicle would be the Racetrack.
If you have been to Death Valley before the rare wildflower blooms are wonderful contrast. If you have never been there then you have been missing some truely unique sights.
And I can guarantee it will be a better time than my last trip through Death Valley:
=8^o
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Rhyolite
There isn't a whole lot to see in Rhyolite. As far as ghost towns go Bodie has a lot more to offer. The train depot is one of the nicer buildings but it is fenced in with an ugly chain link fence and razor wire.
Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.
There is also an open air museum with some unusual artwork.
Pale Rider
A local minor with his trusty penguin.
Last Supper
I had setup to take a shot of the Last Supper at sunset but it started to rain about 45 minutes before. It turned out that it was too overcast anyway and there wasn't any color as the Sun went down.
Instead I went exploring some of the off road trails. There certainly are a lot of scenic views off the paved roads. :^)
Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.
There is also an open air museum with some unusual artwork.
Pale Rider
A local minor with his trusty penguin.
Last Supper
I had setup to take a shot of the Last Supper at sunset but it started to rain about 45 minutes before. It turned out that it was too overcast anyway and there wasn't any color as the Sun went down.
Instead I went exploring some of the off road trails. There certainly are a lot of scenic views off the paved roads. :^)
Stone and Wood
This is just a quick snap from my trip over the Muddy Mountains. There were some really amazing formations on that drive and I could see spending a weekend just exploring the area.
These next two are from Saturday in Rhyolite. Weather worn wood has always fascinated me. This looked a lot better when I was setting up the shot, I'm not really happy with the composition of the shot but the texture of the wood is awesome.
Wooden planks that have been exposed to the desert for twenty five years.
One of my favorite pictures is a shot I took in high school using a pin hole camera. The camera is sitting on the plank of a bleacher and you can see the grain and chipped pain down the entire length. I'll have to see if I can find that picture and scan it in.
These next two are from Saturday in Rhyolite. Weather worn wood has always fascinated me. This looked a lot better when I was setting up the shot, I'm not really happy with the composition of the shot but the texture of the wood is awesome.
Wooden planks that have been exposed to the desert for twenty five years.
One of my favorite pictures is a shot I took in high school using a pin hole camera. The camera is sitting on the plank of a bleacher and you can see the grain and chipped pain down the entire length. I'll have to see if I can find that picture and scan it in.
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