Tetoncam Timelapse

Just for fun...

Brothers All Are We

Different but alike in so many ways, we stand shoulder to shoulder in this increasingly crowded world, 7 billion of us sharing fears,sorrows, dreams and aspirations, trying to do the best we can, though at times at odds with each other more often than not for unimportant reasons, growing, working, and striving, laughing, loving, and living each day, realizing that by turning outward our empathy, compassion, and desire to serve others increases, that by so doing true happiness, peace, and goodness are found and grow within our hearts.

View other images from the "Words and Images" Project...




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Big Gallery

It's all about LIGHT, It's all about MAGIC

After processing and viewing this image, I am reminded once again that it is all about light. Of all the considerations that go into a great photo, light must be of prime importance. The direction, the color, the quality of light work together with a particular subject and composition to endow the image with character, feeling, and even emotion.

This image taken a few minutes after sunrise is dull, yellowish, and lifeless... And yet, just moments before at the instant of sunrise the scene has a much more pleasing character and interesting light... Still earlier during "Civil Twilight" and about 20 minutes before sunrise the light is soft and warm, much more powerful and evocative than the later images... This principle has been demonstrated and reinforced with me many times as occurred on this recent morning at Convict Lake where my first shot about ten minutes before sunrise was unquestionably the best...

Always remember to get to a location early, even an hour before sunrise to catch the fleeting and inviting light of that magical time, Civil Twilight!

A New Perspective

I'm always looking for a new, interesting, or unique perspective on a common subject. And so shooting this image has been a rewarding project for me and motivated a quick early winter trip to Moab, Utah and Arches National Park.



It all started last Christmas when my Brother and Sister-inlaw gave me this beautiful National Parks photography book.


I was immediately struck with the cover image of Delicate Arch and it's shadow from a perspective I had never seen before. Voltaire said "Originality is nothing but judicious imitation." So with this thought in mind I decided to attempt my own spin on this beautiful and unique image. And so started a year long project.

The first thing I needed to do was find out the time of year the image was taken. I used an ipad app called LightTrac to determine the time of the year that the arch shadow would be in the position in the cover photograph. This app is very helpful in planning sunrise and sunset shoots especially if you are not familiar with an area. It will also show moonrise times and angles which is awesome if you want a moonshot!

It seemed to be December. And so I would have to wait a year for the attempt. Another thing was that there was no snow or wet rock. Arches often gets snow in December and January so I thought to make the attempt late November or early December.

Next I had to determine vantage point. Using Google Maps Satellite view I was able to determine that the shot was taken from a ledge to the south of Delicate Arch. The ledge is often visible on images of the arch from a more traditional perspective. I had just never noticed it.



Now I had to plan to get to that point at sunrise. I figured I would be hiking in the dark and I had never been there before so I again used Google Maps to determine the waypoints for the location and the point where I would need to deviate from the normal trail. I also wanted to make sure I was walking on rock and avoid any cryptobiotic soil that may be present. This is a very important consideration if leaving a prescribed trail to avoid any environmental damage. If you don't know what cryptobiotic soil is find out before you leave the trail!

Finally I entered the waypoint coordinates in another Ipad app called MotionX-GPS HD by MotionX. I also downloaded the Google Satellite image and cached it so it would be visible on my hike.


The blue line is my track the first morning. The red is the track the 2nd day. It was then a piece of cake to follow the trail with my Ipad and deviate at the proper point even in the dark getting me to my destination 30 minutes before sunrise.

Alignment Update

The latest version of Photomatix Pro 4.1.1 has a much improved alignment routine. I almost didn't notice the unheralded improvement. So I tried a handheld bracketed set which Photomatix previously had a problem with and the results were quite amazing. The alignment was similar to that achieved with Photoshop CS5.





This change is quite liberating for me making handheld HDR much easier and attractive. Thank you HDRsoft!