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Hello all,
I took Chip Carter around on a quick loop in the valley to see some of the scenery. I shot a few photos using the available lighting...not too patient to wait for the clouds to open up.
When we came home, I downloaded the photos to my computer and played with this photo in Photoshop, mainly using the BuzzPro filters.
By the time I was through, I had the image below.
I know I like people to keep their images down to only 450 pixels or less, but this image needs to be seen a bit larger.
Edit Aug. 2, 2005
The photo at the top of this post was taken on a quick drive-by. I just jumped out of the truck, snapped the shot with the available light. I went back this morning and reshot the scene using morning light, better clouds, and waited for better shadows on the mountains.
Mike Jackson
Last edited by Mike Jackson on Tue Aug 02, 2005 10:48 am, edited 2 times in total.
Mike Jackson / co-administrator Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY
Hi Ron,
Yes, it was taken with the D70...handheld with the 18-70mm lense. My lense has a UV filter on it, mainly to protect the main lense. I didn't use any kind of polarizing filter or any of the cokin graduated filters. We were just out on a quick valley trip and not really on a photo mission. Normally, I'd wait until I got a break in the clouds to light the barn, but we didn't take that extra time. The top photo was straight out of the camera with no adjustments, other than the resizing down to 600 pixels.
With the foreground darkened by the clouds, the mountains and sky were a bit washed out. I could have adjusted for the clouds, but the subject matter would have been too dark. It is fairly easy to isolate the sky and lighter areas in Photoshop, making it easy to adjust the levels down to darken the light areas.
Best regards,
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY
Hi Mike and Ron,
Just got the D70s a week or so ago as I have a trip to England planned for relatively soon and want to settle into some more pub photography.
The photo you show Mike does look like a "doctored" photo although tasteful and well executed! I can hardley wait to settle down to exploring this new camera.
Doug,
Go back up to the top and take a look again. I included both the original (right out of the camera shot) and the artistically modified image. The only thing I did to the original was reduce it to 600 pixels.
You'll like the new camera. I have around 4000 photos on my D70 in only six months. I added the SB800 flash a few months ago and hope to get a 70-300 zoom lense later.
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY
Thanks for the pictures, Mike, I've been trying to get time to get out there all summer. I haven't been out there since after the meet in Banff in '98.
Kevin Carslon
Carlson Art & Sign
Madison, IN 47250
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the note. I've included a flower photo here just for fun. My mom would know what kind it is, but I just thought they were very nice subjects. I shot it outside the Best Western Hotel in Glenwood Springs a couple of weeks ago when Chip and I went down to pick up our Toyata van. I got up very early and caught the photo opportunity before the sun came up over the mountains. A few weeks earlier, I had purchased a new Nikon SB800 flash unit for the D70 camera. One of the nice features with that pair is the off-camera ability for the flash to fire using infrared signals. I use the on-camera flash when I have to, but I had rather have the light coming in from one side or the other, diffused if possible, and not stright on. The SB800 does that great. This shot is actually cropped in a little from the original shot. I adjusted the mid-tone levels a tiny bit to make it a bit more vivid, and sharpened the image once I resized it to 600 pixels.
Lastly, I (of course) know this site is about hand lettering and signmaking. I sometimes hesitate to post photos of non-signs, but I have spent a lot of time learning to use this new camera and accessories. The information will someday translate back to my sign background, but it often takes some experimentation on whatever subject is at hand. The image above is just one of those examples. When Darla and I were in Montpelier, Idaho for one of Corey's summer All-Star tournaments, we went to the Oregon-California Trail National Museum. They let me take the camera inside and photograph whatever I wanted. There were quite a few photos of old buildings and accompanying signs on the walls of the museum. I photographed quite a few, many from a slight angle, and then straightened them up in Photoshop (see my SC article from a long time ago). I will eventually make a page with all of them on it. This is just one of them.
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY
Here's a shot I took Saturday on a ridge above Brooks Lake in the Wind River Range. I shot a couple hundred photos Saturday. Wow, there we plenty of great shots, especially with the clouds causing shadows and highlights on the pinnacle peaks that surround the lake. Besides the big vista views, I found plenty of wildflowers and close up shots.
The photo of the young grizzly bear was taken with the regular lense at a pretty good distance. It's cropped down to fit the page, so it is a little more grainy than I would prefer. The bear was about 75 yards away. I was tempted to walk to the first ridge to get a better shot, but I knew that might be a bad idea if the mother bear was still around to protect it. This kind of shot demands a longer lense and a tripod!
Mike
Mike Jackson / co-administrator Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY
I looked out my upstairs window and saw the nice clouds, then grabbed the camera and shot a few from the porch. The cloud lighting kept getting better, so I jumped in the truck and drove about 10 minutes to get a shot with the Tetons in the scene. The ten minute drive made quite a bit of difference in the sunset, but the one below was still awfully striking.
Mike
Mike Jackson / co-administrator Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY
The photo at the top of this post was taken on a quick drive-by. I just jumped out of the truck, snapped the shot with the available light and headed on down the road. I went back this morning and reshot the scene using morning light and better clouds. This time, I waited around to get a set of much better and dramatic photos. This one is right out of the camera (resized down to 600 pixels and one unsharp mask applied to bring it back into focus).
Each year, about 2 million people pass through Jackson Hole, WY on their way to or from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Unfortunately for some visitors, clouds can sometimes shroud the Teton range for several days, and they never get to actually see them. It's nice to be able to pick and choose which days to photograph and tour this area. On Spring Break this year, we went through the red rock region around Sedona, AZ. The day we were there, there was an overcast sky and I did not get the photos I had wanted. I guess it works both ways.
I couldn't resist taking the opportunity to give this photo some extra "artistic" mood. This one only took a couple of adjustments in Photoshop.
Mike
Mike Jackson / co-administrator Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads