Another image captured North of San Juan Bautista in San Benito County, California. I used a telephoto lens at 200 mm to bring the trees and clouds closer. The longer lens also helps find pleasing compositions by excluding unwanted elements in the scene. This image, and the others in this series, are five bracketed exposures blended together in Photomatix Pro.
February, 2010
23
Feb 10
Oaks on a Ridge
19
Feb 10
Cumulus Cloud Detail
An HDR image of A cumulus cloud taken near San Juan Bautista, California. Five exposures bracketed 1 stop apart and blended together in PhotoMatix Pro.
16
Feb 10
Solitary Oak on Ridge
Photogrpah of a oak tree and cloud in San Benito County, California
As the storm cleared. patches of sun alternated with shadow. This lone oak on the top of the ridge was momentarily bathed in sunlight. Taken with a 200 mm telephoto lens in San Benito County, California.
15
Feb 10
Greens and Yellows in San Benito County
Green and yellow are the dominant colors in Central Coast California in February. The hills begin to show the saturated greens from the winter rains. Wild mustard appears along the highways and on the hillsides. Unsettled weather brings dramatic clouds as storm systems clear. I went to the hills above San Juan Bautista in San Benito County to look for oak trees on ridge tops. Large cumulus clouds were blowing through from the Pacific. I used a telephoto lens to isolate individual oaks with clouds in the background.
12
Feb 10
Traffic Lights in Las Vegas
A second image of intentionally blurred car lights in Las Vegas. The shutter speed was longer, 1.3 seconds, to lengthen the trails of the headlights and taillights of the cars. The motion suggests the continual flow of visitors, cars and money in Las Vegas.
9
Feb 10
HDR in the Lobby of the Mandalay Bay Resort
The interior of the Mandalay Bay Resort seems quite removed from the natural world, my normal photographic home. The marble, the grandeur, the illusion doesn’t attract me, but I wondered if I could capture the extreme range of light from the shadows in the plants to the overhead skylight and the reflections from the windows. I took five exposures, one stop apart, and blended them together with Photomatix Pro to create this High Dynamic Range image.
8
Feb 10
Hotel Reflections in Las Vegas
The black glass of the Luxor hotel reflects part of the pyramid and a palm tree in the early morning in Las Vegas. 1/100th of a second, f /6.3. The image was processed with Photomatix to bring out the detail in the shadows.
2
Feb 10
Flowing Traffic in Las Vegas
In September 2009 I attended a Photoshop conference in Las Vegas. It was my first visit to Las Vegas and I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a landscape photographer, I was more drawn to the hills around the city than to the casinos, but I decided to see what I could find. This shot was taken from one of the pedestrian walkways above the main strip. I slowed the shutter speed to 1/2 second to blur the lights of the cars and suggest some of the frenetic energy of the city.
1
Feb 10
White Mustang with Flowing Mane and Tail
One of several wild mustangs from Nevada at Redwings Sanctuary in Lockwood, California. The mission of Redwings is to eliminate the causes of equine suffering. More information is available here.
1/1000th of a second at f / 4.5, taken with a 70-200 mm lens.