Couple More from Yesterday
Just a couple more shots from my trip up Bishop Creek Canyon yesterday morning…
The Road to Nowhere
Intake II
Sabrina Basin in color
Thanks for looking!
Middle Fork, Bishop Creek
Took a quick drive up Middle Fork to Lake Sabrina this morning for a few shots. The fall colors are fantastic up there, and getting better. This heavy storm rolling in made a cold, but good morning…
Sabrina Basin
Bishop Creek below Sabrina
Lake Sabrina
Lake Sabrina
Anyhow…it was just a quick trip, but I think the storm made for some very interesting lighting. It was fun.
Thanks for taking the time to look!
The Orton Effect
The Orton effect was first used by Michael Orton. Using color slide film, he would take 2 shots of the same subject, one over-exposed and blurry, the other in focus. He would then sandwich these two slides together and the effect would have a very surreal, almost dream-like quality to them. I have heard it referred to as “painterly”, “artistic”, and “dreamy”. Whatever you choose to call it…it’s pretty cool.
It can easily be applied digitally with today’s editing software…
Creating the above image was really quite simple. I use Corel’s Paint SHop Pro Photo 12, so this “tutorial” may not be helpful to those of you that use Photoshop…
The first step is basic processing of the base image. I make brightness/contrast, high pass sharpen, and clarify adjustments to get a solid base image to start with. Than I copy this image, and paste it as a new layer.
I make the top layer invisible, so I can see the bottom layer, and increase the brightness a bit, than apply a Gaussian Blur. I typically use a 15-25 pixel radius, but I have used higher. Be warned…you CAN overdo it.
Once my bottom layer is nice and blurry, I switch to my top layer, and increase the sharpness using High Pass Sharpen once again. Than I decrease the opacity of the top layer, until I can see the blurry layer underneath. Than it’s a matter of taste, adjusting the opacity of the top layer to achieve the desired amount of blur and “halo” from the blurred bottom layer.
Once I have the desired amount of blur and sharpness, I flatten the image, and continue processing, as necessary. For the top image, the processing ended at merging the layers. For the above image, I boosted contrast a touch and clarify just a bit after merging to bring out some of that texture in the rocks.
And that’s really all there is to it. Play around with it. I have found that the images most suited to the Orton effect seem to be those with lots of leaves, trees, or water. These tend to make a really neat dream-scene using this effect.
I hope you enjoyed this, and Thanks for reading!
The Range of Light
The eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California is often referred to as “The Range of Light”. There is good reason for this. Where I live, in Bishop, California, I live in a HUGE valley nestled between the Western Slope of the Inyo/White Moutanins and the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I live in the perfect place for clouds and light to come out and play in the mountains together…
Pre-dawn Silouhette
Good Morning!
Basin Mt. and Mt. Tom basking in some alpenglow...
Waking Mt. Tom--shot in monotone
Into the distance; A Ribbon of Black--shot ion monotone
Granite Glow
Portrait in Granite
Colorful Cascade
And of course, while at Pine Creek, I took some shots using the 2X + 4X Prinze Closeup filters…
A very cold fly...
At least they don't die alone...
Season's Change
Thanks for following me! It was a LOT warmer than I expected it to be this morning, which was nice. I hate getting up early as it is, but freezing my balls off to do it just sucks…
Autumn Reflections
Autumn is a time when many of us find ourselves reflecting back on the summer’s activities with fondness and, sometimes, a little bit of sadness. But you know damn well that this is not about that…
We had a really long rainstorm come through yesterday afternoon and it rained clear through until this morning. It dumped close to 2 inches of rain on us. Of course…this means puddles. Lots of puddles…
Cottonwood Reflections
Ripple Effect 1
Ripple Effect 2
When I went outside for a smoke, I noticed that we had a newly built swimming pool where my driveway used to be. I also noticed that the angle of the sun behind me was causing some spectacular reflections of the trees across the way and the cars in the lot. So…I grabbed my camera, squatted down to maximize the reflections, tossed in a pebble or two, and started shooting. I kinda like the way they look, so I thought I would share.
Hope you enjoyed them!
Randomness
More random photos and stuff.
I’ve been playing with some of the car show pictures and wanted to share this one, as I am reasonably happy with it. Actually…the best one, in my opinion. What do you think?
This was probably the “cleanest” shot of the day, with very few distractions, no telephone wires, and very few people milling about. So…I converted it to monochrome, pasted that on top of the original, erased the car from the monochrome version, and added a Gaussian blur to the monochrome. I think it came out fairly well…
And of course…some more macros…
Western Pygmy Blue Butterfly
Degrees of Change
Almost Gone
Fallen Beauty
Sticky Situation
So…that’s about it. Just some random signs of the coming of winter, and a really cool shot of a really neat old truck. Thanks for looking!
What Happened?!?
Where the hell did Autumn go?!?! Last week it was 90*F, yesterday it snowed. Today it is freezing out. Last week I had the A/C running to keep me from overheating, today I have the heater running. Right about now I could use a little Global Warming…
Anyhow…Fall colors are shot. The trees that started to change have frozen and turned brown. The green trees are spotted with frost spots, and half the aspens have lost their leaves. No colors this year. But wait…
'69 Plymouth Road Runner
The Owen’s Valley Cruisers were in town this week. Their Fall Colors Car Show is always a treat. Unfortunately, I work Saturdays and can’t get to the Shine and Show proper. But I can make it to the Cruiser Meet Up on Friday Evening…
'55 Chevy Nomad
Early 1940's Chevy Truck
1930's Flaming Ford
The Heartbeat of America
Ford Custom Deluxe
Chevy a Go-Go
I also went up Pine Creek Canyon the other day. The goal was to get sunrise shots and Alpenglow on a spectacular granite peak…but it snowed on us, and blocked out the alpenglow. Oh well…
That’s it. I’m freezing my ass off. I need to get out and get some shots of the snow covered peaks after last night’s storms. But it’s cold. Brrr… I know…I’m a wuss…
Thanks for taking the time to look!!
Ok…I’m Hooked…
Wow. That’s all I can say. This closeup filter I’ve been playing with has opened me up to a whole new way of thinking about photos. And there is always something worth shooting lying around…
I’m gonna pass on the story. These are all just random leaves and stuff around the house that I shot while I was smoking. Now you can see why I’m so happy with this filter.
Thanks again for looking!
More Macros…
Well, like any other new technique I am trying to learn…I am currently shooting a ton of macros. I like the fact that I no longer need to find an interesting subject…I just need an interesting picture. Textures, colors, shades, tones, lines…the tiniest little details become so much more important, and the scope of photography takes on a different feeling.
Anyhow…
Ashes to Ashes
Summer's End
Make a Wish
These butterflies…they actualy let me get within a couple of inches before they got spooked and took off. I’m not sure if it was the temperature, the season, or what could have made them so patient, but they had no problem with me getting down on my belly and inching my lens closer to them for shots. They were cool…
Day of Macros and Change…
So…I mentioned yesterday that John loaned me a 4X Closeup filter. Today…I took it for a walk around town. Now…macros are something I don’t have a lot of experience with, and as such…I’m still trying to figure out the compositions, lighting, and all the good stuff that makes a decent shot a great macro. But here is a sampling…
Dedicated to Imogen and Ansel
Trio of Change
Impressions of Change
This closeup filter is giving me a reason to look at little things in new ways. I admit…I still need to work on “seeing” the right compositions. But even a blind dog occasionally finds a bone…
Thanks for looking!
Great Day to Shoot…
I went up the South Fork of Bishop Creek today with my friend John in search of early Fall Colors. Well…it was a good day…
First, I needed to go back up to Gable Creek and shoot those falls in better light.
I still didn;t get great shots of all of them, but I got a couple decent ones. Anyhow…Onwards and upwards…
The colors are REALLY starting to come in along the South Fork, so John and I stopped to snake some pics along the way.
Than John wanted to show me a cool old cabin falling apart in the woods…
It was cool, but I found a lot of much more interesting stuff closer to the ground…
John let me borrow his 4X closeup filter. It was really a load of fun to shoot with, and helped me develope a whole new appreciation for macro photography. Only problem is…now I gotta get a set. Thanks John… 
Anyhow…thanks for coming along!
Fall Color
Ahh…Autumn in the Eastern Sierra. It’s a special time and place to be alive…and own a camera.
Took a quick drive up the South Fork Bishop Creek Canyon this afternoon, trying to see if any fall colors are starting to develope. It is…
South Fork Bishop Creek Canyon
Season Change
The cherry leaf changing colors is on a tree outside my house. It looked really cool, so I took a shot.
Anyhow…I expect the fall color will be kicking very well come next weekend, and the first weekend in October. Make your plans, grab your gear, and come up here for some spectacular fall color landscape shots! Gold and red Aspens will be lining the mountains slopes any day now!!
Thanks for coming along.
Bishop Creek Canyon
I went walking around up in Bishop Creek Canyon with my friend John today, taking some shots of a variety of different things. We didn’t even stay on one fork…we were all over…North Lake, South Lake, Middle Fork…it was fun.
Backlit Pine
North Lake Mountains
Gnarly Pine
We are starting to get some early fall colors coming up around North Lake and the higher elevations. 2-3 weeks, and fall colors will be absolutely spectacular. And just to prove that I still know how to take a shot in color…
Early Colors
I had a really nice time today. It was fun getting out and shooting, and John showed me where there will be a really nice waterfall in the spring. I looked for it a couple times this year and never found it…because it already went dry. But it comes every spring and dries up every fall, and now I know where it is, so…
Anyhow…Thanks for looking!
