Joshua Tree National Park

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Craig

We love visiting National Parks, so we took the opportunity to go to Joshua Tree National Park this past weekend. We were able to hike a number of the trails, and we really enjoyed the variety of landscapes. Joshua Tree is along the juncture of the Mojave Desert to the north and the Sonora Desert to the south. (This region of the Sonora Desert is also referred to as the Colorado Desert.) As a result, the northern and southern portions have different plants. Joshua trees are only found in the northern portions of the park. The southern portions of the park have cholla cactus, ocotillo, palo verde and other plants that are typical of the Sonora Desert.

Joshua Trees

I really had to scramble to get the photo above. The sun was rapidly setting behind the mountains to the west, and I wanted to get a photo of the Joshua trees in warm evening light. This image was captured about two minutes before the sun slipped below the mountain ridge. I love the effect of the warm, yellow sunlight contrasting against the clear blue sky.

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The Old Mission at San Juan Capistrano

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Craig

This past weekend was a good opportunity to visit San Juan Capistrano and San Diego. I’m not sure if it was good or bad planning, but we ended up touring the old mission at San Juan Capistrano the weekend before the return of the swallows. We missed the crowds, but also the birds. (I think I saw one swallow, but I’m not 100% sure.) You can see more photos from our California adventures in my California photos web gallery.

Mission at San Juan Capistrano

The photo above is a stitched panorama showing an extreme wide angle view of the original church. Construction was started in 1797, but it was mostly destroyed from a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in 1800.

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Overlook Mesa at Topanga Canyon

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Craig

After two cold and rainy weekends, we had some beautiful weather this weekend. We took advantage of the day to hike the Overlook Mesa trail in Topanga Canyon State Park. The panorama below shows a 180 degree view looking south along the trail to the overlook. Click on the photo to view a larger version.

Overlook Mesa at Topanga Canyon State Park

The trail starts at the parking area at the Topanga Canyon State Park. After a short climb, the trail follows a peak that runs between the Topanga Canyon to the West and the Santa Ynez Canyon to the East. In all, it’s a little over three miles from the parking area to the overlook. There isn’t much of an elevation gain in total, but the trail has quite a bit of up and down, so it ends up feeling like you’ve climbed a good sized hill. The views along the way and at the overlook are well worth the effort.

Santa Monica Beach

The overlook sits a the end of the ridge about 1500 feet above the ocean. From there, you get quite a panoramic view. Looking south-east you’re treated to a view of the sweep of the Santa Monica beaches. In the distance, you can see Venice Beach and Catalina Island. Unfortunately, you also get a pretty good view of the LA smog.

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Changing Photoshop’s Background Color

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Craig

I just recorded a new tutorial describing one of my favorite techniques for evaluating my image in Photoshop. I don’t remember where I first ran across the idea, but photos look markedly different on white, gray and black backgrounds. When I’m editing the photo, I switch my view between all three backgrounds and tinker with the photo until it looks good all three ways.

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Before and After Photoshop

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Craig

I love before and after versions of photos. I’m a firm believer that all photos need to be developed to their potential. Some images area easy, then they just fall into place with the default processing settings in your camera, or in your processing software. Other images seem to fight you every step of the way. You know what you want, you just have to coax the image into going there with you.

The photo below is a good illustration of how dramatically you can change a photo through post-processing. The original image right out of the camera (bottom photo, obviously) is dull and lifeless. Even with a 2-stop graduated neutral density filter to brighten the foreground, the contrast range in the image nearly exceeds the camera’s dynamic range. The camera recorded what it was able to see, but that sure wasn’t how the scene appeared to me.

The top photo is the result of about 45 minutes of work in Photoshop. I used a layer mask to be able to adjust the brightness and saturation of the foreground independent of the sky. That allowed me to boost the brightness and color saturation in the foreground without ruining the colors in the sky. You’ll notice little change in the pink clouds in the middle-right side of the image. I also spent a fair amount of time adding local contrast and color by hand to give the photo more texture.

You may or may not like my end result, and that’s OK. I’m not trying to convince you that my version is the best, or that it should be your favorite. The point is to illustrate the power of post processing to move an image so that it matches your vision.

You can see a before-and-after rollover version of the image here. Click on the link to open the image in a new browser window, then move you mouse pointer on and off the image to see it change.

Alabama Hills sunrise - after processing in Photoshop

Alabama Hills sunrise - before processing in Photoshop

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