Iceland: Part 2

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

As we continued up Route 47 to the waterfall at Kirkjufell, a series of intermittent showers began to tantalize us with a series rainbows shimmering in the fjord (Hvalfjörður, which is about 30 km long and 5 km wide). We finally found a place with enough room to park off the road, but as we scrambled out of the vehicle we were immediately buffeted by extremely strong wind gusts. Nevertheless, a complete rainbow hung over the water and we would not be deterred.

Rainbow over Hvalfjörður fjord, Iceland

This was the last we saw of any sunshine on this day. By the time we reached the waterfall, the wind was approaching gale force (my opinion, based on the fact the rain was going more or less sideways). But extreme weather can be an exhilarating experience and while I captured no memorable photos at this waterfall, I’m not likely to forget the power of the wind and rain during my brief excursion around the falls.

Based in Hellnar for the night, we headed out to Arnarstapi for a twilight photograph of the Gatklettur Rock, a natural arch formed on the beach. The rain had slackened, and the dark clouds provided a foreboding scene. Two members of our group can be seen in the lower left corner of the first image, prviding a sense of scale.

Gatklettur Natural Arch from Overlook

Gatklettur Natural Arch, Close View from Overlook

Since the images of the horses were well received, here is one more which I suspect is an equine interpretation of the verb “photobomb.”

I failed to mention in the previous post that the horses were located in a large pasture along Route 47, about 7 km northeast of the intersection of Route 1 and Route 47.

To be continued….

Iceland: Part 1

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

I’ve finally returned from Iceland and while the weather was not highly cooperative, the country’s famous scenery made it possible to capture images at most of the spots we visited. Probably the most agreeable conditions occurred at an unplanned stop on the morning we departed Reykjavik. About two hours northwest of the capital, we spotted a sunlit pasture with about a dozen of Iceland’s famous horses.

According to the Lonely Planet Guide and other sources, all horses in Iceland can be traced back to the animals imported by the Vikings. The small breed is hardy and long-lived, well-conditioned for the country’s harsh conditions and still plays an important role in Icelandic life. Icelandic law prevents horses from being imported into the country and exported animals are not allowed to return. They have five gaits, including the unusual töit, a running walk so smooth that riders can drink a glass of beer without spilling a drop. In addition to performance competitions, horse racing is a popular sport and the animal is also used for traditional sheepherding. Some are raised for slaughter and much of the meat is exported to Japan.

Based on our brief experience interacting with the herd we encountered, the Icelandic horse is social, curious, and seems to enjoy having its nose petted.

Shortly after we resumed our drive, the weather took a turn for the worse.

To be continued…..

Off to Iceland!

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

Tomorrow I will be heading up to Iceland with a pair of photo colleagues for about eight days on a photo workshop.

We have been on several joint ventures previously but this will be the first time our little trio has joined a workshop. It’s also the first of our photo expeditions to a location that none of us has seen before and our first international destination. Given all of that, this promises to be an interesting time.

After the workshop I will be heading to New York City for about 5 days where I hope to meet up with a few fellow bloggers. The itinerary will probably prevent any postings for a while, but I hope to resume sometime after the 3^rd week in September.

So, in the meantime, here are a few images from some of my previous photo shoots with my two colleagues.

Potomac River Rapids, near Great Falls, Virginia

Elakala Falls, Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia

Shays Creek, Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia

Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia

Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park, California

Yosemite National Park, California

Clearing Storm at Sunset, Yosemite Valley

ABFriday Week 57

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

This week’s ABFriday Forum was in serious jeopardy of not happening because our usual hostess (Stacy Fischer of Visual Venturing) is out of town this week. However, a heroic rescue by Loré Dombaj of “Snow’s Fissures and Fractures” has made it possible for all of us to continue. As usual, this week’s forum allows pparticipants to submit an example of how they transform an image to reveal their creative vision. You can see all of the others at Loré’s post here. And as always, you can get all the guidelines for participating in this forum by checking out Stacy Fischer’s site here.

Sometimes its a good idea to go back and review the image files from a major shooting session to see if a good image might have been overlooked. This week’s submission to ABFriday is an example.

Before Image (Original RAW File)

The above image apparently escaped my attentiona few months ago when I was selecting images for an exhibit. on Antarctica. But this image caught my eye during a subsequent review of the image files a couple weeks ago. I remembered the scene as being much more colorful and thought there might be some potential.

The scene was taken as our boat was heading north in the Gerlache Strait at about 10:45 PM. The sun’s last light hitting the top of the mountain was similar to the alpenglow effect I had seen in the past.

As usual, the image was first opened in Adobe Camera RAW.(ACR) and the adjustments were fairly standard (setting the black and white points, reducing Highlights, opening up the Shadows, adding some Clarity and Vibrance). Then, in Photoshop CC, two Curves Adjustment Layers were added, one to increase the contrast of the mountain and snow, the second to darken the sky. A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was used to slightly increase the saturation of the sky. Next a bit of the sky was cropped out for balance in the composition and, as a final step, a gradient layer was used to darken the sky (Blend Mode: Soft Light). Now it looked like the scene I saw that night.

Final Image

Thanks again to Loré Dombaj for organizing this week’s After Before Friday Forum. Please visit her site to see all of the other submissions by clicking here.

ABFriday Forum– Week 51

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

Week 51!!!

Next week is the 1^st Anniversary Edition and that will be extra special but there never will be another Week 51.

The AfterBefore Friday Forum has been adroitly managed by Stacy Fischer for 51 consecutive weeks, allowing anyone with an interest in image post-processing to participate. Guidelines and this week’s edition are available for all to see at her Visual Venturing site.

My submission this week takes a look at one of my favorite tools in Photoshop, the Photomerge process. If you have never tried this, it’s really easy to do. For example, let’s stay with the theme of last week—“Road Trip”–and use a location that is a little further west: Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park, Montana. The late afternoon sun made the colorful boats stacked on the dock a natural subject and the result of the first image taken is shown below.

Robin Kent ABFriday Week 51 Before

First Image, Unprocessed RAW File

But while this was a reasonably decent image, it didn’t seem to convey the great expanse of the scene that I saw. Thinking a panorama format would do the trick, a second shot (same exposure as the first) was taken with the camera swung to the left but partially overlapping the first image.

Both images were opened in Adobe Camera RAW, but only minimal changes were needed. So minimal, we won’t waste time on them. Next, they both were opened in Photoshop and then the command sequence File–>Automate–>Photomerge was executed to bring up the display shown below:

The Photomerge Dialog Box

The first step is to click on “Add Open Files,” (Red Arrow) which brings all open images into the list. If any appear that are not supposed to be there, highlight them and click on “Remove.” Most of the time, the “Auto” process will work just fine (Red Arrow.) Make sure you click on “Blend Images Together.” (Red Arrow) Then click “OK.” (Blue Arrow) Something like the screen capture below will appear.

The process produces separate layers for each image used. In this case we have only two (Red Arrow). The image must first be flattened before any further work is done (Layer–>Flatten Image). Next, a judicious crop removes the uneven edges (Yellow Arrows) and one is ready to continue with whatever additional adjustments are necessary.

Very little additional work was needed at this point. A slight boost in contrast using a Curves Layer Adjustment (Preset: Linear; Blend Mode: Normal), then a neutral density gradient layer for the sky and mountains (Blend Mode: Soft Light), and finally, a teeny bump with a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer (Saturation: +6). The final result is shown below.

Please visit Stacy Fischer’s Visual Venturing Site to see all of the other submissions. There are always many interesting ideas to be found.

AfterBefore Friday Forum–Week 50

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

The philosophy of the After-Before Friday Forum is to discuss how to take an image you’ve captured and change it into the image you want it to be. Usually, the approach is to make the changes during “post-processing” where the original image is optimized using Lightroom, Photoshop, or some other software program(s). But there are no rules, so this post will have a new wrinkle—how to improve the original image by evaluating your results in the field and making some significant changes on the scene before you get anywhere near a computer.

“Before” Image

The first image of this scene (Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota) is shown above. It is what I call a “Parking Lot Shot.” I saw the scene, liked the leading line of the path up the hill as it curved around the tree on the hill, and stopped the car to take the shot. But I wasn’t thrilled with the result. There was something missing. The empty sky looked….well, empty. Behind me was a path up another hill that would give a different angle so I walked up that hill and realized that there was a totally different scene waiting to be captured. I took the shot and liked what I saw much better. A little more work would be needed in Photoshop, but this one seemed to have more promise.

2nd Image, from the Hillside Above

On returning home, the first step was to give a small boost to the overall contrast, and I used a Curves Adjustment Layer. I chose the Linear Contrast preset (red arrow), left the Blend mode on the default setting of “Normal” (yellow arrow) and the Opacity at 100% (green arrow). The screen capture below shows the settings.

Adding a Curves Adjustment Layer

Next, it seemed that the greens needed a little punch to restore the look of what I saw that afternoon so a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was used, with the colors set to “Green” (green arrow), the Saturation to +42 (yellow arrow), the Blend mode on the default setting of “Normal,” and the Opacity at 100%. The screen capture below shows the Hue/Saturation settings.

Adding a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer

The mountains and sky in the background were too light, and a gradient filter effect was the logical way to go. I created a new layer, selected a gradient (foreground to transparent), and dragged the mouse down to the large tree (red arrow). I have promised in the past to do a more detailed discussion on the gradient tool, and I still intend to do so. But not today. I chose “Soft Light” as the Blend Mode (yellow arrow) and left the Opacity at 100%. The settings are shown below.

Using the Gradient Tool

But the sky at the very top edge still was a bit too bright. So the Gradient Tool was deployed one more time. But only with a slight touch. The mouse was dragged down a very short distance, the Blend Mode was “Soft Light” again, but the Opacity was cut back to 80%. The final result is the “After” image for this week and is shown below. The differences from the original “2nd shot” are small, but the difference between the first and second locations is pretty substantial.

So, it often is a good idea to evaluate initial results in the field and make some adjustments in the point of view rather than passing the buck to Photoshop right away. Or, as I like to say….

Keep Shooting…..

Check out the submissions of the other participants this week. There is always something interesting over there from some very talented photographers. You can find them by clicking here.

Antarctica–Lessons Learned

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

Last December I wrote a guest post “Up for Discussion- Travel Photography” for Leanne Cole, a talented photographer and writer in Australia. Both she and I were planning major trips to completely different destinations—New York City and Antarctica—and we asked readers to offer their thoughts on what gear we should be taking. The responses were numerous and full of good ideas.

After my Antarctica trip was completed, Leanne suggested a “Lessons Learned” post might be of interest. I saw it as also as an opportunity to thank those who commented on the original article. Their collective wisdom was of great help in my pre-trip research. On the subject of pre-trip research I would also recommend a post by Susan Portnoy, an exceptional travel photographer and writer based in New York City.

My Lessons Learned essay, along with a number of images from Antarctica, has just been posted on Leanne’s site so If you have an interest on how to prepare for a major photography trip, please check it out here. Leanne’s blog has a wide readership so there is bound to be some interesting commentary from her followers.

Early Morning, Antarctica

Virginia Bluebell Bonanza

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

Every year in mid-April, a few wooded areas in northern Virginia (as well as Maryland) are briefly transformed with dazzling carpets of blue. It seems only certain places, usually bordering a stream or the Potomac River itself, have the perfect conditions for a magical wildflower, the Virginia bluebell.

Virginia bluebells & other wildflowers along Potomac River side channel, 2009

The plant has a fleeting existence above ground. They appear when only a few weeks of warm weather remain before the life giving sunlight is blocked out by the emerging leaves of the overhead tree canopy. On the Virginia side of the Potomac, large tracts can be found in public places such as Riverbend Park along the Potomac River and Bull Run Regional Park along Cub Run.

Another location, which requires permission to enter, is the Madeira School, located in McLean, Virginia along the Potomac River. One morning last week, when the blooms were at their peak, I tagged along with fellow photographer and blogger Stacy Fischer who did have permission for a photo shoot at Madeira. Please check out her report by clicking here.

Here are a few iumages from that morning. Some technical notes are included at the bottom keyed to the numbers in parentheses.

View from a bluff above the Potomac as it exits Mather Gorge (1)

The trail leading to Black Pond (2)

Bluebells, with Black Pond in background (3)

Black Pond, spring fed and almost completely encircled by a bedrock terrace (4)

Outlet stream from Black Pond (5)

Moss covered log and bluebells

*Some technical notes:

Image 1: Telephoto image cropped for equivalent of 250mm view;

Image 2: Two images combined with Photomerge in Photoshop

Image 3: Two wide angle(36 mm) images; one focused on flowers, second on pond & rocks, then supermimposed on each other in Photoshop. Masking technique used to reveal only portions in focus.

Image 4: Three images combined with Photomerge in Photoshop.

Image 5: Single image, but difficult lighting required 6 Curves Adjustment layers and two Gradient layers in Photoshop.

Image 6: Two telephoto (200 mm) images; one focused on log, second on bluebells, then supermimposed on each other in Photoshop. Masking technique used to reveal only portions in focus. Should have taken two more images because log on right side and moss on left side are not sharp. There is very little depth of field with telephoto images of close objects, even at F/16.

Thanks again to Stacy for inviting me along. I’ve been an avid fan of her Visual Venturing Blog since I discovered it early last year and her AfterBefore Friday Forum series has been great fun.

Iguazu Falls

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

Iguazu Falls was the final destination of our journey south last month. This is one of the great waterfalls on our planet, wider and taller than Niagara Falls and, because it is actually a combination of many separated falls, second in width only to Victoria Falls in Africa. Victoria has an uninterrupted curtain of water one mile wide. But the one waterfall that would dwarf all others, if it still existed, is the virtually unknown Dry Falls in the state of Washington, USA. With a width of 3.5 miles and a height of 400 feet, it once carried ten times more water than currently flows through all the rivers of the world. But that was more than 10,000 years ago.

The Falls as seen from the Hotel’s Terrace (Argentina Side)

Iguazu Falls cannot be seen all at once unless you are riding in a helicopter. In fact, you have to travel to another country to see a significant portion. The main feature, the Devil’s Throat, is in Argentina but some spectacular sections are in Brazil. To appreciate the scale, one should experience both. Access to most of the sections is not difficult, as long as you don’t mind walking a fair distance in very hot and humid conditions. It didn’t help that the tour gave us very little time to explore the spectacle, let alone devote enough time to photograph it.

About 15 minutes walk from the Hotel

I’ll refrain from describing all the logistical lessons we learned, but anyone who has questions can raise them as a comment and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Partial View of Devil’s Throat

As the images suggest, the walkways take you very close to the edge of the falls. The lack of any reference objects makes it difficult to gauge scale. The falls facing each other above are actually part of a continuous loop that goes around behind the camera. I would guess it is at least a 200-foot drop in the view here. To give you a sense, the image is a photomerge of 4 separate images taken with my wide angle zoom at 26mm.

Grey Crowned Crane

OK, the above image is not a waterfall. But on our way over to the Brazilian side of the falls the tour company included a stop at a bird “sanctuary.” It was actually OK if you didn’t desperately want to see (and photograph) Iguazu Falls.

Iguazu Falls, Brazilian Side

After the tour of the bird sanctuary and the lengthy processing through Brazilian customs, we finally arrived at Brazil’s national park for Iguazu Falls. This was quasi-familiar territory since I had discovered Google has a “Street View” of this park during my pre-trip research. (Click Here to see it) So I knew where to ask that the bus drop me off to maximize the time I had available. The image above shows the view from the top level of the multi-level viewing structure. There is an elevator from this point that takes you down

Iguazu Falls, Brazil

to here, the lower viewing platform. The dress code here is somewhat different from Antarctica. From the photographer’s right, there is a ramp that takes you to other viewing locations but I decided to concentrate on this spot.

Iguazu Falls, Brazil

The above image is a 2-image photomerge taken from about the same spot as the 4 young women in the previous image. Again, this is a wide angle image (24mm). For the majority of these images I was using a high shutter speed (1/5,000th sec. above). But since I had a tripod and a variable neutral density filter, a time exposure seemed like it might also be interesting.

Iguazu Falls, Time Exposure

I would have liked to stay and continue taking pictures but the bus back to Argentina was about to leave so it was time to go.

Journey to Antarctica – Part 5

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Robin S. Kent

The Final Leg, Paradise Bay to Half Moon Island

The variability of weather and scenery continued as our ship moved north from Paradise Bay, to Neko Harbor, and then out of the Antarctic Zone toward Deception Island and the return to Argentina.

Paradise Bay lived up to its name as our good luck with weather—at least from the photographer’s viewpoint—continued. And I’ve since discovered that the scenery of Antarctica also lends itself nicely to Black and White images.

View from Zodiac, Paradise Bay

Paradise Bay, Mid-morning Light

Vicinity of Neko Harbor, Evening Light

Neko Harbor, Evening Light

Deception Island, part of the South Shetland Islands, is considered one of the safest harbors in Antarctica. I guess you could say that, except the island is the caldera of an active volcano and your ship’s captain must know exactly where that submerged rock is located in the very, very narrow entrance (see map). Deception Island Map 02

Map of Deception Island

Inside the Caldera, Deception Island, mid-morning

We were told that the island got its name because sailors had been going past it for decades until finally one curious ship captain found the narrow entrance was hiding a perfectly formed harbor. For us, the deception was the weather. When we arrived, everything was very nice. But a few hours later a snow squall spun up making it a little difficult for the Zodiac drivers as they maneuvered alongside the ship. (Click here to see a Vimeo clip) But please overlook my limited video skills.

Our last stop in Antarctica was Half Moon Island, a 400-acre speck of land that was home to a chinstrap penguin colony which we were bound and determined to see.

Antarctica 32

Chinstrap Penguin Admiring the Snow

Chinstrap Penguin Colony

Interestingly, Google has a lite version of its “Street View” application captured (on a much nicer day) from this location, apparently the sole basis for its claim that it has covered all 7 continents. Click here for a view not far from my image above and, although you may have to rotate the scene with your mouse, you will recognize the jutting rock on the right.

Fresh Snow, Half Moon Island, Antarctica

Next—Iguazu Falls

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Tag Archives: landscape photography

Iceland: Part 2

Iceland: Part 1

Off to Iceland!

ABFriday Week 57

ABFriday Forum– Week 51

AfterBefore Friday Forum–Week 50

Antarctica–Lessons Learned

Virginia Bluebell Bonanza

Iguazu Falls

Journey to Antarctica – Part 5

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