Feed: Outdoor Exposure Photo - AggScore: 73.2

David Cobb and I came across this cracked, peeling mud layer in a wash while hiking in the desert along Hole in the Wall Rd in Utah. We were drawn, not only to the curled and cracked patterns, but the pock marks that must have been left by a rain shower.  Without the cracks it would be hard to tell apart from a high altitude view of the moon’s surface.

There was harsh 10 o’clock light at the time, so I shaded the area with my jacket and noticed a great warm glow on the curled portions which was reflecting from the brightly lit bank of the wash. There was also a very slight blue cast in the flat sections which were reflecting the sky. The RAW file has pretty low contrast, but after working a bit in both RAW conversion and in PS to draw out the histogram and increase the contrast, this is the result. I often look for low contrast scenes to photograph knowing that the effect of enhancing the contrast later will give results that I find visually exciting.

Canon 5DII, 24-105mm f/4L IS, 1/6 sec @ f/22, ISO 100

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I recently had a question from a photographer about achieving the classic blurred water effect that many landscape photographers use during full daylight.  The blurry water effect comes from using a long shutter speed (.5 sec to 10 sec depending on speed of water) to allow the motion of the water to appear smooth.   In low light situations it can be easy, and sometimes unavoidable, to get a long enough shutter speed without any assistance.  When more exposure time is needed also make sure you are using a tight aperture (f/22+) to let in less light and a low ISO (50-100) to decrease your camera’s sensitivity to light.  In slightly brighter conditions a polarizing filter, which holds back about 1 stop of light, can help give a long enough shutter speed to get blurry water.  In brighter daylight conditions you might also need to use a neutral density (ND) filter, or combinations of ND filters, to block some light (3 stop up to 10 stops depending on how bright it is) and give you a slower shutter speed.  Singh-Ray and other filter makers also have variable ND filters that allow you to “dial in” the amount of filtration you need.

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I’m proud to announce the release of my second iPhone app which is called Oregon Exposure for iEnvision.  As with my first iPhone app, Outdoor Exposure for iEnvision, it was created in partnership with the fine folks at Open Door Network.  They produce an entire line of iPhone apps based on their iEnvision software platform.

Oregon Exposure for iEnvision runs on any iPhone or iPod Touch.  It contains nearly 100 stunning images that show the grandeur and beauty of Oregon.  The images are arranged into galleries by region.  Each photo captures a bit of Oregon’s personality with the artistic attention to composition and light that my photography has become known for.

I’m really excited about this application because as resident of Oregon for 35 years it is a place that I am very close to and feel strong connections with the geology, nature, climate and culture.  Several years worth of photography work have gone into creating the images in this new iPhone application.   I really wanted the app to be a worthy tribute to my home state and a way that people who share my enthusiasm can take a bit of it with them.  It is a great way to keep Oregon close at heart and to share it with others who might not have had the opportunity to visit.

You can download the app from the iTunes store: http://itunes.com/app/oregonexposureforienvision

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Want to help me select the images I enter in the 2009 NANPA Showcase competition? I have narrowed it down to the photos in this gallery on facebook.  You’ll need to have or sign up for a facebook account to enter your votes.   I can only enter 6 images in the competition, and it gets really tough to narrow them down. This is where you come in.  Vote for your 6 favorites by commenting with a “Yo!”. The first person who v otes for all 6 of the images I submit will win an 8×12 print of their choice. My final selection may or may not be the 6 with the most votes, so vote for your favorites not just the most popular. Thanks in advance for your help.

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It never hurts to check back through old images.  I apply a fairly rigorous editing process to my images.  After a shoot I download the images and then begin the deleting.  Using Adobe Lightroom I first find any images that are out of focus, poorly exposed, etc. and delete them.  Next I go through and flag all the images that I think may have some promise.  Looking at just the flagged images I now go through again and give each image a rank from one to three stars, with three stars being the top level images.  Finally I give color codes to some of the stared images, red to indicate a prime select and yellow to indicate a basic stock image.  Once this is done I am now able to quickly get back to the best images from a shoot as well as sort them by their potential future use.

However, I need to stay in the practice of going back and looking through the images that didn’t receive a star or a color label from time to time.  Often I will find a great image that slipped through the cracks or that I had a bias against at the time, but looks more appealing once I have distanced my mind from it a bit.  The photo above of one of the rock formations and beach near Bandon is one such photo.  When I took the photo I was hoping for a brilliant sunrise, so when the dawn came with gray conditions I was disappointed, but still dutifully took a few images.  My lack of enthusiasm for the day affected how I saw this image when I was first editing the group of images it was in and it didn’t make the cut.  Nearly a year later I came across it while searching for different beach images.  Now that I have had time to distance my mind from the fact that there wasn’t a colorful sunrise the image really stands out to me.  Now I rather like the dramatic, dark and somewhat ominous feel and muted tones.  I have also moved the image quite a bit higher in my ranking system.

The painted hills in central Oregon is one of my favorite places in the state.  The Painted Hills are located in the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument along Hwy 26 just west of Mitchell.  Even though the hills don’t cover much area, the patterns and shapes and the way light plays across them is visually absorbing.  I often take wide landscapes, but for this image I decided to zoom in for an intimate and abstract study.  When photographed like this, the hills really do look painted…or rather, they create a photograph that looks like a painting.  I’ll have to print this large on canvas and see how it looks.

Social networking is quickly surpassing more
traditional means of communicating and
sharing ideas and information on the web,
such as email and bulletin boards.  In the
month since I started the official Sean
Bagshaw Photography page on facebook the
number of fans (facebook’s term, not mine)
has grown to nearly 900 with members from every part of
the world.  Facebook is an efficient way for
me to quickly share Outdoor Exposure Photography information, new
photos, photography tips and signed print
give-aways, much more efficient than my blog
or newsletters.  Best of all, it provides a
platform for fans to participate by posting
their own thoughts, tips, questions and
photos.

Click here to follow my photography on facebook.

Twitter is a social networking site that I’m
just starting to experiment with.  The idea
is that I can use twitter to post very short
dispatches from the field, photo tips of the
day and random thoughts from the day in the
life of an outdoor photographer.

Click here to follow me on Twitter.

The Rogue Galley & Art Center in Medford, Oregon will be opening a new photography exhibit called “Of Our Time and Place”.  The show will be a group exhibit that showcases the photography of several artists from the Rogue Valley region.  This juried show will be on exhibit at the Rogue Gallery through September 26.  The reception will be open to the public and be held on Friday, August 21, 2009 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.

Four of my large prints will be part of the exhibit.  In keeping with the theme of the show, I selected images that depict defining and well known landscapes around the Rogue Valley with my signature attention to dramatic light, sweeping compositions and a sense of adventure and mystery.  The locations featured in my images include Crater Lake, the Rogue River, the Greensprings foothills and the old Wood House near Eagle Point, all icons of our time and place.

The Rogue Gallery & Art Center is one of the finest community visual arts organizations in Southern Oregon. Founded in 1960 by artists, educators, and community leaders, it serves as an art center and artistic catalyst for the region.  More than 40 years later, it continues to serve the citizens of the Rogue Valley with art education, exhibitions, and artists’ services.

Location and contact information for the Rogue Gallery:

40 South Bartlett, Medford, OR 97501

541-772-8118

www.roguegallery.org

Mt. Lassen National Park in northern California seems to be one of the lesser known and visited national parks.  It make lack some of the panache, history or supreme grandeur that the better known parks have.  However, as a photographer, I really enjoy the diversity, volcanic activity and wilderness feel it has.  On my most recent trip, in addition to some of your more standard nature images,  I was able to take some photos that I feel are truly unique and artistically intriguing.

Several lakes in the park provide views and reflections of Mt. Lassen and other peaks.

The boiling mud pots in Bumpass Hell are a sight you won’t see outside of Yellowstone.  With some special light or atmospheric conditions they have the potential for some very interesting photography.

Kings Creek Falls is just one of many along a spectacular stretch over a mile long that drops steeply into a canyon.

But so far, the area around Butte Lake, in the north east corner of the park is my favorite for photography.  The large cinder cone makes a great photo subject in itself, and from its summit one can photograph the surreal Painted Dunes and lava beds.  The forest of ponderosa pine and carpets of pine cones also make interesting photography subjects.

The Jefferson Wilderness in the Oregon Cascades, located to the north of Santiam Pass, east of Salem and West of Sisters, is one of the most amazing natural mountain environments on the west coast.  Mt. Jefferson itself is awe inspiring as the second highest peak in Oregon and host to the largest glaciers in the state other than those found on Mt. Hood.

In days past I have trekked into Jefferson Wilderness on several occasions, either backpacking or to climb Three Fingered Jack or Mt. Jefferson itself.  This was my first time to visit specifically to take photographs.  The wilderness is home to some extremely photogenic countryside.  For the dedicated photographer willing to backpack in with camera gear and spend a couple days exploring it is a wonderland.

In July I spent a memorable week with fellow photographer, David Cobb (www.dmcobbphoto.com), photographing in two different parts of the wilderness area.

First, we backpacked in to the popular Jefferson Park area via the Woodpecker Ridge Trail which is accessed by a forest road (road 040) a few miles to the east of the town of Detroit.  Jefferson Park can be overcrowded on weekends in August, but midweek in July, when there is still quite a bit of snow on the ground and the mosquitoes are at their peak, we only saw three or four other parties in three days.  Jefferson Park is popular for a reason.  The flat alpine basin at over 6,000 feet of elevation has several lakes and numerous small tarns  that reflect some of the best views of the mountain available.  As the snow melts wildflowers carpet the marshy meadows.  The position of the Jefferson Park area on the north side of the mountain means that in summer the peak gets great side light for photography at both sunrise and sunset.

After three days on the north side of the wilderness we hiked out, drove over Santiam Pass and down the east side of the cascades where we drove along more forest roads (road 12 to 1230 to 1234) to reach the Canyon Creek trail head.  The Canyon Creek trail starts at Jack Lake ascends toward Canyon Creek eventually arriving at Canyon Creek Meadow at the base of the north east side of Three Fingered Jack.  Three Fingered Jack isn’t the highest of the Oregon Cascades, but it is one of the cragiest with the most interesting geologic patterns of colors and layering.  Canyon Creek Meadow is located in a glacier carved basin directly at the base of the sheer north face of Three Fingered Jack.  In late July it is home to one of the most amazing wildflower blooms in the state.  We were a week or two too early for the peak of the flowers, so I look forward to getting the timing better next year.  Even still the early morning light on the peak with winding streams, reflecting pools and green meadows below made it one of the more memorable campsites and photography locations I have had.  A high ridge blocks the late evening light, so we cooked dinner and hid from the voracious mosquitos in the tent.  However, the morning light is sublime.  We spent over an hour finding one composition after another as the warm glow of the rising sun slowly progressed down the mountain face.

Greg Vaughn gives good directions and photography suggestions for both these locations in his book Photographing Oregon.