I AM OFF OF THE BLOG FOR A DAY OR TWO

My primary photography computer is getting some upgrades.

MAD RIVER PROJECT

COLORS OF THE MAD, RUTH DAM, 2012

I went to the Mad River at Ruth yesterday with Hal Work. We were gathering photographs for our upcoming show at the Mad River Brewing Company. In looking through my images for the day this one stands out for me. I just now did my preliminary work on the image, and now I will let it sit for awhile.

MORE EUREKA MORNINGS

REDWOOD CAPITAL BANK, EUREKA, 2012

I spent quite a bit of time working this image. I did a fair amount of cropping to the right edge and the bottom. I think I could almost title this Two Sentries in keeping with my image of Umqua Bank and its six sentries. Perhaps I have a sub theme for my Eureka project.

Arts Alive tomorrow, Saturday. Please come to see my work at the RAA Gallery at 603 F Street, Eureka - across from the Morris Graves.

AN EXAMPLE FROM MY LESSONS

THE UMPQUA BANK BUILDING, EUREKA, 2012, or SILENT SENTINELS

I took this earlier this year.  I had not really put the finishing touches on it then. Yesterday, I decided to look at it again by working it in Photoshop as an HDR image. As per my usual work flow, I did the remaining aspects in Lightroom-4.

I actually printed the earlier version of this some months back, and I even exhibited it in a judged show. It did not win any awards, but I understand that the judge liked  the image, but thought that the trees were too close to the top of the composition. I corrected that in this rendition, and I completely reworked the luminance values in almost every aspect.

DOING, A WHAT COMES NATURALLY

SUNSET COLORS AT THE ARCATA MARSH, 2012

I cannot imagine any thing that I would rather do than to create these images. I feel that I am in the flow. Each time I create a new image I feel more so. I think that acts of creating are one of the higher forms of prayer/meditation. I think that by doing so in what ever format we use that we come closer to manifesting our true nature and purpose in life.

MONUMENT TO THE ANCESTOR TREES, ARCATA, JULY 2012

This is an image that I took last night in the evening. It is a composite of about ten images that were processed HDR and then stitched. This is as close as I ever got to fulfilling my vision of these "ghost snags". I first photographed them in the mid 1980's with my four-by-five, but I was never able to get all of the data that was on the negatives to the final prints. I think I am feeling a compulsion to process this as a black and white to see how it compares with my film negatives.

DOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS TO THE SOUL?

RED AND YELLOW, BLACK AND WHITE, EUREKA JULY 2012

I am attempting to conger up something profound to say, and to perhaps even answer some of life's more elusive and meaningful questions. Maybe, just maybe, I did so in the above image. I think I must print it in order to better digest any message that is hidden in this simple composition.

THE EUREKA PROJECT

THE EUREKA THEATER, 2012

I took this photograph in April. I am playing with the composition. I was going to remove that lamp from the edge, but then I got to wondering if leaving it could add to the overall quality of the composition. As I write this I think that it could if there were more if it.  What to do?

LOVING THOSE SKIES

SUNSET AT PRAIRIE CREEK, 2011

I can save you the trouble of asking about this composition - it is bland for my tastes, but I just love the sky. The sky is the only reason I took this image, and that in itself is reason enough. As with others that I shared lately, this image is a composite of three exposures processed as HDR in Photoshop CS4 then worked in Lightroom 4 - a clean and simple process that I have taken to with gusto. This image could have used three more exposures for the trees. My camera will only bracket three at a time, so I need to do it manually or I need to buy a nice add on device for my camera that will automate the process.

MORE BUCK MOUNTAIN SCHOOL

BUCK MOUNTAIN SCHOOL, JULY 2012

This image is another composite of nine or more images that were first processed as HDR and then as a vertical panorama. I am using this technique to give my images a fuller range of light, and a larger field of view.

SECOND LIFE

Hammond Trail Bridge on the Mad River, July, 1012

This  former railroad trestle is serving as a vital link for hikers and bicyclists wishing to avoid highway 101. I rode over this bridge dozens of time back when I commuted from home to work at the airport.

I doubt that this image would win in any juried shows, but I do think it gives a good idea of the structure. I combined nine images to create this one. All were taken with the Canon 17mm Tilt-Shift lens. I kept the camera in one spot, and moved the lens in its holder to get the different parts of the image. I took three exposures of each of the three "shifted" parts of the image. What that means is that I took -2, 0, and +2 exposures of the three  different parts. At home, I took each group of three, and processed them as "HDR" images.  I later combined or stitched the three HDR processed images into a vertical panorama in Photoshop. I took that output and processed it in Lightroom.

I hope that makes some sense. It sounds like a lot of steps, but I think it pays off. I did something similar several months ago with the image of the Eureka Inn April 17, 2012.

http://thomasbethune.blogspot.com/2012/04/one-i-finally-printed.html

GIVE ME SOME SUNSHINE

Mad River Toll House, July, 2012

This is the summer without any sun - at least so far. We sometimes get a break about an hour before sunset. That is when I found this light the other evening.

I suppose that I should not complain. Half of the county is in drought conditions, crops are failing, and people are dying in the heat. Just a few days ago we had over an inch of rain on Fickle Hill. Our lawns are still green, yet we did not water them.

I am attempting to find the silver lining (maybe I can Photoshop it in) to all this, but the gray is getting to me. Perhaps I need a road trip.

The house in the photo above is the same house I photographed about twenty years ago in B&W with my old Mamiya 645. I still have a print of that photo somewhere. In that composition there was a picket fence and a nice deciduous tree in the front yard.