The Night Sky - Test Shots

I love night photography, especially astrophotography. A goal I've had for a long while is to get a nice, clean shot of a dark sky (i.e. no moon) that shows off the Milky Way and also has a bit of landscape in the scene to give a visual sea level.

Two weekends ago, I was hunting in the Texas Hill Country in a location that has little light pollution. I took several shots one evening about 2 hours after sunset and about 30 minutes before moonrise (the moon was waning and about 90% full, so if I tried shooting after moonrise, the sky would have been too light).

click to see larger pic

Canon 5D + 24-70mm f/2.8L
30 sec., 24mm, f/2.8, ISO 1600 (and then pushed +1 stop in RAW processing)

And here are two more shots taken at about the same settings as stated above:

click to see larger pics

The greenish light on the trees is from a sodium vapor light on a nearby cabin. The light streak in the photo just above (left) is from a couple of guys on 4-wheelers passing by.

Getting a shot like this is difficult given the limitations of the equipment. Exposure times are limited to 15 to 30 seconds because the goal is to NOT have star trails. With a reasonably wide focal length (24mm in this case), star trails will just start to become noticeable around 25 - 30 seconds exposure time (actually, it depends on the final output of the photo; for web-sized images you could probably go 60 seconds, but my ultimate goal is a nice, largish print: 8x10 or even 11x17).

I shot wide open (f/2.8) at ISO 1600. I found that the resulting exposure is still a little too dark. I pushed the exposure +1 stop during RAW processing, but that increased the digital noise in the file to a point where it greatly degraded image quality. ISO 1600 looked pretty good, but ISO 3200 (effectively) did not. Post-processing noise reduction works well, but it also kills the fine detail (there's an amazing amount of tiny stars visible in the sky, and that's the fine detail I want to see in the final print).

The exposure that worked out best (providing the best-looking sky) from my series of test shots was this: 30 sec., ISO 3200, f/2.8. However, ISO 3200 is not really usable and 30 seconds is just a little too long (star trails).

So, I'm going to have to get a faster lens or a camera that is better at very high ISO :-)

Bastrop State Park

Two months ago, Jeff Kohn and I took a photography trip to Bastrop State Park. I had visited the park earlier this year with my family (see pics) and enjoyed shooting there, particularly in the bracken ferns. I really wanted to go back for more.

Jeff and I had been planning to get together for a serious photo outing for months, but you know how life gets busy and gets in the way of "hobbies" :-) In late September, we finally found a free weekend that didn't have excessive heat or hurricanes and made a one-day trip to the park.

click to enter gallery

I haven't seen any of Jeff's work from Bastrop yet. Maybe this post will get him movin' ;-)

Jeff doing his thing :-)

The weather was fairly nice during our trip. We hiked several miles and scouted around the park in the early afternoon. My heart sank when we arrived at the ferns and found them burned to a brown crisp. The drought conditions earlier in the summer had wiped out most of them. However, it did appear that they were making a comeback. A few bright green ferns stood proud above the crunchy forest floor.

Jeff and I made the best of it. It was good to get outdoors, talk photography, and shoot some. I certainly enjoyed it.

I got a chance to process my photos last weekend. I had shot several series of exposures attempting to capture some difficult backlit forest scenes. TuFuse worked extremely well and produced excellent results straight off. The first two photos in my photo gallery were TuFuse'd blends. I was fortunate that there was no breeze during the exposures and the trees remained perfectly still.

Those first two shots feature an oak tree beside a rock outcrop that Jeff and I became enamored with and photographed extensively. I'm looking forward to seeing his take on the scene.

I really enjoy seeing other people's work from group shoots. It's fascinating to see what different perspectives and ideas come from the same scene at the same time.

Great Photography Stuff Online

I thought I'd mention a few great photography related sites and give you an idea of what I read on an almost daily basis. Hope you can spend some time with some of this content. It's what inspires, teaches, and entertains me.

The Mindful Eye www.tmelive.com

Several years ago, Craig Tanner started the Radiant Vista. As of late last month, it's been split up amongst major Radiant Vista contributors, and Craig's baby is the new "The Mindful Eye" site.

Craig, along with the help of many different contributors, has produced (and will keep producing) damn fine photography content all for free at TME. Content such as the Daily Critique, shooting tutorials, Lightroom tutorials, etc. are there for free. It's like Radiant Vista on steroids.

Check out TME and spend some time with it. Join the community (forum) there and participate in discussions and photo sharing. It's a great place!

Mike's Journal: www.mikesjournal.com

I met Mike and his young son, Eric, last February at a Radiant Vista photography workshop in Death Valley. Mike brought along copies of his most recent journal at the time, and everyone in the workshop was greatly impressed. Mike's Journal features photography from Mike and sometimes also his son, Eric.

But it's not just straight photography. Mike, with the help of another one of his sons, takes the photos and manipulates them into a collection of dream-like art that flows page-to-page wonderfully. Mike writes brief comments and poetry to go along with the imagery, and the text is overlayed on the designs. Some of the photos are just straight photography, but most are transformed into beautiful designs, often with other bits of photos and graphic designs overlayed.

His journals are artisic, fascinating, intelligent, and just fabulous, unique works of art. You can't get that sort of content at your local mega-bookstore.

Check out his latest offering on journal No. 7, Faces of the Dominican. He's actually giving the first 250 copies away for free! I received mine yesterday and both my wife and I enjoyed it. It's "54 pages, poetry art and a short story".

My Blogroll: (see column of links to the right)

I've been collecting links to other people's photography blogs. These are blogs that I read (actually subscribe to via the Google reader) and enjoy. Some are quite different from each other, but the content is usually interesting, educational, and challenging. And that's what I enjoy these days - stuff that grates against my normal mode of thinking and gets my intellectual and creative juices flowing.

It's not a list of my photo buddies, although I personally know many of the blog owners. These are blogs that I feel offer quality content and are worth reading as often as new posts are made. Enjoy!

Updates 3 of 3 - Visions of Big Bend

And finally, I've updated my Visions of Big Bend photography project. I made some significant changes, such as creating new categories and deleting old ones within the main gallery. I've also updated the gallery with photos from my recent trip to the park.

click for project page

I used the new gallery format too. When you view each photo, the sub-gallery, or "series", will show up below in thumbnail size. This should make browsing easier. Enjoy!

Project-wise, I'm still very much into this photo project and will continue to shoot Big Bend National Park indefinitely. I have a planned week-long trip to the park about a year from now, and hopefully I'll get to make another trip next year sometime. So, updates to the project page will be a ways off, but please stay tuned!

Updates 2 of 3 - Main Photo Galleries

I've revised and updated the main photo galleries on my website. This is a change that I've been working on for almost two months now.

The three main galleries are simply portfolios based a general theme:
Landscapes
Nature & Wildlife
Human Element

I reduced the number of photos in each portfolio from about 30 to about 15. I think that approximately 15 photos are plenty enough for a portfolio to give the viewer a satisfying taste of a photographer's work and capabilities.

The theme of each portfolio represents the major aspects of my photography and the type of photographs I desire to make. I do shoot outside these themes of course, but my main focus falls into the natural world and people or elements of humankind in the natural world.

I've also updated the style and format of the single page views, i.e. the individual pages that display each photo in a large size. These pages will contain the full gallery in thumbnails at the bottom. So, when you view each photo, you'll get a sense of where the photo lies within the portfolio, and will be able to jump to a different photo without having to click back to the main index page.

Hope this looks good and works out for you viewers. Let me know! Thanks.

Updates 1 of 3 - Michael Allen

My main photographic pursuit lately has been our boys, of course. I'm a little behind in posting here, but I updated the boys' page with some new photos last week. Click the link below.

click for new pics

13 Months and Counting

The one year anniversary of my blog passed quietly last month. I would have posted more last month, but I've been a little more occupied than usual :-) (I'm really enjoying spending time with my boys.)

I've enjoyed blogging, and will continue to post here. I don't think I've attracted a huge group of readers, but that's okay. My blog helps me communicate with my family and friends my recent photo work and other important news. I think it serves its purpose quite well.

My wife has her own blog too that she started recently. She's not posted anything since before the baby arrived. Taking care of our boys definitely has occupied all of her time. But she definitely has some new stuff to say, I'm sure ;-)

When I started my blog, I posting just about anything. Several months ago, I steered it down a narrower path towards mostly content about photography. That's what I want right now - an outlet to display my photos and also to discuss photography. Oh, and the occasional beer review too ;-)

So, stick around. Post a comment if you'd like (it's the "..Response" link just below this). I'm looking forward to another year here!

My Photo in Nov. Issue of Texas Highways

Texas Highways magazine has published a photo of mine in their November issue! Check out the Window on Texas section on the inside of the back cover.

I took this photo while hunting a while back, and it is part of my High Lonesome photo project. I definitely remember shooting this photo after being entranced by the amazing colors and iridescence of turkey feathers in the sunlight.

Many thanks to Texas Highways for choosing my photo!

Michael Allen is Here!

I'm proud to announce the birth of our second son, Michael. I have a photo gallery online here.

Michael was born this morning, and both he and Tanya did very well. Henry is excited about his new baby brother and keeps talking about him. Stay tuned, more pics to come very soon!

added 20-Oct-2008:
Be sure to check this page for updated photos:
www.texbrick.com/photo/averybros

Gray Skies Over Big Bend

I used to sigh and put the camera away at the sight of heavy, gray clouds hanging over the landscape. The flat, dim lighting used to not inspire me photographically. But my approach to photographing in these conditions has changed in the past year and I think it has a lot to do with the realization of my photographic style.

Essentially, what I've realized is that the form of the land can be visually described with great clarity and impact. The landscape is distilled to its basic shapes and lines, i.e. it's core content. It's like looking at a pen and ink sketch instead of a color photograph.

Well, that's sorta obvious :-) No revelations there. But there are a couple of tricks that can help to make better such photos of dimly-lit landscapes with gray skies: 1) using the patterns and shapes that are present in the clouds, and 2) strong compositions. It is, however, a matter of taste and subject to your own personal photographic vision.

These type of photos usually convey a moody emotion - typically sadness, isolation, or deep calm. I get that too sometimes, but I also feel like I'm experiencing the raw landscape on a deep level. It's not colored by pretty light, and I prefer black and white to take away the typically muted and dull colors found in dim, diffused light (this isn't always the case; one example being the bright yellow and orange leaves of trees in the fall season, but this post is more about exposed landscapes that have little color in such lighting conditions).

Tornillo Creek near the Hot Springs, #1
(click for slightly larger pic)

Canon 5D with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L
25mm, f/11, ISO 100, blend of 2 exposures: 1/50 & 1/20 sec.

On a recent trip to Big Bend National Park, one afternoon I experienced unusually heavy, gray clouds that blanketed the entire sky. This condition would have turned me off, photographically speaking, but I became very inspired because of the patterns in the clouds. I knew that I could work with those patterns and find strong forms and lines in the landscape to create photos that featured the essence of the land.

Tornillo Creek near the Hot Springs, #2
(click for slightly larger pic)

Canon 5D with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L
27mm, f/11, ISO 100, blend of 2 exposures: 1/50 & 1/20 sec.

Whether you like them or not, again, is a matter of your personal taste. Nearly all photos of Big Bend are in color and a good many of them feature some sort of dramatic lighting condition.

I see a lot of photographers whose style focuses on the light, particularly golden, directional, and dramatic light. You've probably seen this style announced with a statement of their creed of "chasing", "following", "capturing", or "being led by" the light. There's nothing wrong with that, and I've done a lot of that in my own photography. I think nearly everyone is attracted to dramatic lighting conditions and finds them appealing and moving. At the very least, they are certainly eye-catching.

But I also think that amazing light can be very distracting from the true form of the landscape. The land is beautiful even when distilled down to its basic components of shape and line. If you take away the warm light, dramatic shadows, and eye-piercing colors, you are then left to focus entirely on (and enjoy) the core essence of the landscape. (Like when I tell my wife that she's just as beautiful without makeup on - but she never believes me.)

BTW, my portfolio of photos from this trip to Big Bend is now complete and online:
www.texbrick.com/photo/bb_sept_08

There is also an extended gallery that is a visual trip report:
www.texbrick.com/photo/bb_sept_08/all_pics.html

The Window, Part 2

Part 2 covers the second morning I spent shooting in the Basin of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park. This morning produced dramatically different clouds and light than the previous morning.

Parts 1 and 2 cover my attempts to document the Window in my own way for my ongoing photo project on Big Bend.

click for slightly larger pic

Canon 40D with Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L & polarizer
24mm, f/8, ISO 200, blend of exposures from 1/30 to 1/10 sec.

I wasn't inspired to take a tightly composed, cropped-in photo of the Window. I'd say the majority of the Window shots I see are just that - only the Window, i.e. a tight shot of the classic V-notch (and also the view through the Window to the lower desert beyond, but the air is often too hazy to make out good details).

The photo above is the tightest composition I could stand to take, but I still included a lot of the surrounding mountains and sky.

What I think best reflects my experiences in Big Bend, and particularly in the Basin, is more of the whole package rather than some isolated component. What pleases my eye is seeing the surrounding components and the stuff that connects to the main feature to tell the story better and put the main feature into proper context.

click for slightly larger pic

Canon 5D with Canon 17-40mm f/4L & polarizer
19mm, f/11, ISO 100, blend of exposures from 1/15 to 1/2 sec.

The shot above puts the Window about as small as possible by using almost the widest focal length I have, and it's my favorite shot from that morning. It's perhaps a little ordinary because of the simple composition - the Window is dead-smack in the center.

But when I look at it, I feel something. It stirs up some emotions. It possibly captures more essence of the Basin than just specifically the Window itself. You see how the Basin is this fertile, green pocket that's walled-off by mountains and clouds. Yet, despite the wide angle of view, the main feature (the Window) is highlighted by direct light.

I like it, but that's just me. What do you think?

The Window, Part 1

The Window is a feature of the Chisos Mountain Basin in Big Bend National Park. It's a notch in the mountains that ring the Basin, and it's the primary drainage path for rain water. It's also a great "frame" for watching and photographing the sunset (you face west when looking through The Window from within The Basin).

These two photos (below) were taken at sunrise when the light was hitting the Window directly. I spent two mornings in a row, during our recent trip to the park, observing and photographing the sunrise from atop a large boulder in the Basin.

click for slightly larger pic

Canon 5D with Canon 17-40mm f/4L
17mm, f/11, ISO 100, blend of two exposures: 1/4 & 1/2 sec.

I try to avoid photographing subjects that are cliché and obvious because they're often overdone and boring. The Window is one of the primary features of Big Bend that most park visitors get to see and photograph. If you've been to Big Bend, or you've seen published photos from the park, chances are you've seen the Window, Casa Grande, Santa Elena Canyon, and/or the South Rim of the Chisos. The park's website even has live photos of the Window from a webcam permanently mounted in the Basin.

But, as I continue to work on my Big Bend project, I realize that I do not have any good photos of this well-known icon. Our recent trip gave me good opportunities to photograph it because we were staying at the lodge in the Basin and taking things very easy (my wife is 8 months pregnant; i.e. we were not doing our usual routine of backcountry camping and all-day hiking). I woke up early for the sunrises and wrapped up my shooting sessions just about the time the sweet light was ending and my family was finishing up breakfast and ready to depart for our morning venture.

click for slightly larger pic

Canon 5D with Canon 17-40mm f/4L & polarizer
23mm, f/11, ISO 100, blend of two exposures: 1/5 & 0.40 sec.

It's not impossible to come up with fresh, interesting photos of well known subjects but it's certainly a challenge. Fortuntely, there are an infinite amount of combinations of camera positions, focal lengths, lighting conditions, weather, etc.

I'm not sure I pulled off some good shots here - you be the judge of that. I decided to feature the great clouds present during this shoot and make the Window (the notch in the lower left) smallish in the frame by using wide focal lengths. These compositions also feature another great aspect of Big Bend - the skies. The frequent, huge, and unobstructed views throughout the park allow people to see for miles and that's quite refreshing for those park visitors confined into city living back home. One thing I always look foward to when visiting the park are the amazing vistas.

At the time these photos were taken, the light had lost its early morning warmness and become somewhat harsh. The scene's colors were a little boring and muted. I tried two approaches to create more interest - 1) using a color-enhancing filter, and 2) black and white.

The black and white helps viewers to really focus on the subject matter and its form, IMO. Effective monochromatic photos are sometimes hard to make, but having a good, strong composition (and nice clouds :-) ) certainly helps. For me, this works well because what I'm most interested in is the rugged line of mountains (including the notch of the Window) and the wide-open, huge view of the sky. These are quintessential features of Big Bend.

For the color shot, I used a Singh-Ray gold-n-blue polarizer. I'm new to using this filter, but it can produce some garish results. I "dialed" in the filter to a nice warm spot somewhere between its two points of maximum effect. In post-processing, I further subdued the effect of the filter by fine-tuning the white balance in RAW conversion. The end result, as you see above, is a warm, pastel color scheme that I think looks more like the sweet light that comes immediately after sunrise.

Anyway, I've got more sunrise shots of the Window from my second day of morning shooting in the Basin. I'll have these up in the next few days.

One from the Rest Stop

On our way out to Big Bend National Park recently, we stopped at the nice rest area along Highway 90 near Sabinal, Texas. We enjoyed a picnic dinner in the early evening just before sunset. Nearby, the gardens beside the restrooms were abloom with butterfly weed. The swallowtails were in abundance and I spent some time shooting them.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly on Butterfly Weed

Canon 40D, Canon 400mm f/5.6L
1/400 sec. hand-held at f/5.6 and ISO 400

Many thanks to our state for building and maintaining one of the cleanest and best rest stops I've ever seen!