Joshua Tree over President's Day weekend
BeachBill
Registered Users Posts: 1,311 Major grins
Spent three days in Joshua Tree National Park February 18,19,20.
First time there. It's a place where you need to park the car and get out. Nothing very exciting from the road, but once you start exploring on foot, the possibilities are endless.
It's hard to pick just a few favorites, but I'll try. The complete gallery is available here.
#1 Cholla Cactus Garden (pretty but dangerous)
#2 Keys Ranch water tank
#3 Ryan Adobe ruins (after the rain)
#4 Early morning ice reflecting the blue sky
#5 Syncronized duck diving at Barker Dam
First time there. It's a place where you need to park the car and get out. Nothing very exciting from the road, but once you start exploring on foot, the possibilities are endless.
It's hard to pick just a few favorites, but I'll try. The complete gallery is available here.
#1 Cholla Cactus Garden (pretty but dangerous)
#2 Keys Ranch water tank
#3 Ryan Adobe ruins (after the rain)
#4 Early morning ice reflecting the blue sky
#5 Syncronized duck diving at Barker Dam
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[FONT="] The Cholla Cactus Garden is my favorite shot. I really like the detail. The cactus would make a great macro project if you dared to get close enough. Knowing me, I'd carefully approach the cactus, get a few shots, trip over my own feet and find myself in the hospital.
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Bill, did you use any filters to enhance the desert colors?
Moderator of: Location, Location, Location , Mind Your Own Business & Other Cool Shots
Wow the colours
These are picture post cards, beautifully done.
... Skippy
.
Skippy (Australia) - Moderator of "HOLY MACRO" and "OTHER COOL SHOTS"
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:skippy Everyone has the right to be stupid, but some people just abuse the privilege :dgrin
I dream things that never were and say
"Why Not?"
The ducks are hilarious, and the trees are gorgeous. Stunning blue skies! I've also never seen ice formations like that before. Does the striping have to do with the wind?
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
well i still see any good picture of the sunset taking by you on that weekend, you have some good shot of the park but it's too bad you could not go to a better location to witness that amazing sunset color. All day long the sky was showing sign of a great event, the storm was approching the park from the Los Angeles Basin. Sorry you could not choose a better place
I shoot in raw. In PP I usually accept the automatic suggestions in Adobe Raw, then in Photoshop I make minor adjustments to taste, which include none, some or all of the following:
Sometimes I will adjust the levels, but usually if I get the exposure set right in Adobe Raw, then I don't need to do this.
Highlights/Shadows - usually between 0 and 10%
Midtone Contrast - usually +0 to +10
Contrast - increase slightly
Saturation - increase to taste, but don't overdo it; I don't want fake colors, I want it to look like it really was - somewhere between +0 and +30 (this is where the colors really come out)
Sharpening via USM - this varies a lot. I adjust the amount between 25% and 50% and the radius between 2.0 and 4.0.
Sometimes I mask the sky and work on it separately from everything else.
I currently do not use curves. If I were to get brave and learn more about and become comfortable with curves, I could replace most of what I do with one step. Some day.
The colors are pretty much as they appeared to the human eye (at least *my* eye).
So that's my secret. Pretty amateurish PP, but it gets the job done for now.
By the way, here is a shot of me at work in Joshua Tree. The conditions weren't always like this, for example my sunrise shots were taken while the little ones were snuggled up warm in their beds at the hotel with mom.
Thanks. It's an interesting place to visit. Don't let a drive through the park fool you. It doesn't appear very interesting from the car, but once we parked and starting walking, I found all kinds of interesting things to photograph.
The ducks were obviously eating, but it was funny how those three were syncronized in doing it.
The ice was just a small puddle left over from the rain the day before. I would guess the striping was caused by ripples in the wind. The blue/white areas the ice was thicker than the clear area; just stepping on the dirt near the puddle would have caused the ice to break.
Prior to arriving at the cactus garden, we stopped along the road and I got out to take some pictures of cholla. I knelt down (supposedly on dirt) and felt a very sharp pain in my knee (through my jeans). Yes, I was attacked by some of those cholla needles that had fallen to the ground. Fortunately they were easily removed (they didn't actually penetrate my skin) and it reminded me I needed to use my knee pads. Later at the cactus garden I read the warning about the cholla, i.e. they may look pretty but they can be very painful to remove.
I really love #2, #3, and #4. However, the #3 image of the adobe ruins is so compelling I keep going back to look at it. Very Nice!
my apology, that's easy with little one on your shoulder
Thanks much. One interesting thing about the Ryan adobe is that the park rangers have covered the original remaining adobe brick structure with the coating of adobe as seen in the photos. The ranger from our Keys Ranch tour said they have adobe parties out there every so often to patch up problem spots. They want what's left to remain standing for future generations.
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www.davidsnookphotography.com/blog
Kevin
www.rightangleimages.com