Imaging the Natural World

Antelope Canyon

On Monday morning our group visited Antelope Canyon. Some of us opted to tour two different locations, one called rattlesnake canyon and the other upper antelope. Rattlesnake was quite tight and required scaling ladders to access the furthest reaches of the canyon. Upper antelope was much easier to negotiate but also was filled with many more people on tours.  I used the tour to try my hand at High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. I have to say I am very excited about the results. The imge below is made up of seven individual images spanning 14 f/ stops.  Tuesday morning we returned to Horseshoe Bend and enjoyed much more favorable conditions. I presented my talk on color correction techniques in Adobe Photoshop CS4 on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday finds us on our way to Bryce Canyon.

Antelope Canyon High Dynamic Range Image

Return to the Southwest

I had intended to keep this site updated on a daily basis but found unreliable WiFi at our destination. We arrived in Phoenix early Saturday afternoon and immediately “got out of Dodge” and headed north to Sedona where we had a room booked for the  night. From the doorstep we had the view of Cathedral Rock pictured below. We enjoyed window shopping in town and had a fantastic dining experience at the Cowboy Club. Our hosts at the B&B were wonderful and we enjoyed Sedona so much that we decided to make it a stay on our way back to Phoenix at the end of our trip to the Southwest.

Cathderal Rock, Sedona

Horse Shoe Bend Near Page Arizona

After an hour or so photographing, we had enough of the high winds and headed to our destination for the day at the Lake Powell Resorts and Marina. The views as we traveled along the edge of the lake to the resort were spectacular.

Two Places at Once

I can’t be in two places at once!  I will be in the air somewhere between Arizona and Connecticut on May 2nd so  “Basic Color Management for the Digital Photgrapher” that was scheduled for that date has been moved to the same time, same place but on June 6th.

Off to Page Arizona

I’m looking forward to a change in scenery! On Saturday we will be leaving the northeast for the Digital Imaging Association Conference in Page, Arizona. Our flight is taking us to Phoenix and we will drive to Page with an overnight stop in Sedona.  The group is meeting at Horseshoe Bend for some photography on Sunday and hopefully I will catch up with them there.

I will be presenting a talk on identifying and correcting color casts in Adobe CS4 during the conference. The group has side trips planned for Antelope Canyon and Monument Valley.

The southwest is one of my favorite locations for photography. My plan is to concentrate on HDR and panoramas. If anyone has any suggestions for a “must” see or photography let me know. I will post some images on my retrun.

The ospreys are back, sort of

I finally got a break in my teaching action and drove out to Old Black Point to check on how the osprey pair I have photographerd for the last four years was doing. I was very disappointed to find the nest empty this year. Other osprey nests are alrady actiuve, so my favorite pair may not be returning, or are very late. Hopefully it is the latter.

Egret Cruising

I spent only about 45 mintues watching several other nests when this handsome egret cruised by.  For the momnet, that satisfied by photographic urges. I will try to get back to Old Black Point again this weekend. Hopefully my ospreys will have returned.

Granite Street Course Schedule

Last winter’s ten 2 hour “mini-courses” appeared to fit student’s schedules well and allowed them to select material that was most applicable to their needs.

The same ten courses are being offered again but the schedules have been reversed. Classes that were held on Monday nights are now being offered on Saturday mornings and those that were held on Saturday mornings are now being offered on Monday nights. See the side bar for course detailed course descriptions and dates.

End Color Woes in Your Digital Image Work

Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Intermediate Users – Going Beyond the Basics

THREE RIVERS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

This course assumes the students have taken the beginners course or have already mastered the basics of Photoshop CS3. We will create custom work spaces for Adobe Bridge and Photoshop that will allow improved performance. We will use the features of Photoshop to create
slide shows, PDF presentations and the merging of images into a single one. The course will cover the use and editing of metadata associated with images. We will work with adjustment layers to fine tune images and use layer masks to limit the extent of image adjustments.
The Adobe RAW processor will be used to process RAW format image files to get the very most out of the data included will be the double processing of RAW image files. Sharpening strategies and preparing an image for printing will be covered. Automating Photoshop routines
using actions and droplets will be explored. Strategies for file structures and workflow will be reviewed and the subject of color management will be introduced.