Mar

2010

A Labyrinth of Stone

You will immediately recognize that the image above was shot at or near Bryce Canyon National Park, since there isn’t anything like these particular Hoodoo and fin formations anywhere else on the planet (okay, at Cedar Breaks National Monument as well, but that is part of the same geological structure). Bryce Canyon is actually more a cliff than a canyon, and it forms the upper tread in the series of steps that forms the Grand Staircase, leading down through the Pink and Grey Cliffs, through the White Cliffs and Zion NP, across the Sevier Fault to the Vermilion Cliffs, and ending finally, at the Grand Canyon NP. In geological terms, Bryce Canyon is an escarpment of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The escarpment exposes the limestone, shale, and sandstone components of the Claron Formation.

If you’ve been to the park, or read anything at all about it, you probably know that it is named after Ebenezer Bryce, a Scottish immigrant and LDS pioneer. The Bryce family lived in the nearby Paria River valley for a short time, during which time the place became known as Bryce’s Canyon. The family soon moved on to (Bryce) Arizona, but the canyon kept its name. An often-recited quote due to Bryce, that the canyon is ‘One Hell of a place to loose a cow’, sums up a practical pioneer’s view of the beautiful but maze-like qualities of the place. Perhaps Ebenezer was a student of the classics, since according to Greek mythology, Daedalus built a labyrinth for King Minos in order to contain the Minotaur, the half-bull/half-human scourge of the Greeks.

Bryce Canyon is about 15 miles southeast of Panguich, UT, on UT63, which runs south of the junction from UT12. There are accommodations in Panguich, and a bit closer at the Ruby’s Inn Megaplex, however I prefer to stay at the Lodge inside of the park, as this makes it a little easier to get into position for the sunrise shoot. For those of you who may be visiting other parks in the area, Bryce Canyon NP is between Zion NP (along UT9 and US89) to the southwest, and Capitol Reef NP to the northeast (along UT12) – both within striking range if you are keen for a brief visit.

The image above was recorded on September 12, 2009 at about 07:30 MST using the Nikon D700 and the AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens at 70mm. Exposure was f/16 at 1/15s, ISO 200. Processing included blending of the green channel into the red channel to improve contrast, followed by curves adjustments on the (new) red and green channels.

Of course there are many excellent opportunities to indulge your photographic exploits here, and in my opinion the best of the points along the rim are, from north to south: Sunrise and Sunset points, Bryce Point, and Rainbow Point. Be warned that these spots can be extremely crowded – and I mean Grand-Canyon-south-rim type of crowded. During high season for example, at dawn, there may be over 100 photographers lining the area around Sunrise Point – and believe it or not over half of them have tripods set up, legs literally intertwined. If you want a good spot, you need to be on site not less than one hour before sunrise or sunset.

Tags: Bryce Canyon NP, Ebenezer Bryce, The Grand Staircase
Posted in Adventure, National Parks and Monuments | 2 Comments »

Feb

2010

The Myth of the Golden Hour, Part IV

The image above was recorded in The Wave at about 12:20 MST on August 27, 2009, using the Nikon D700 and the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens at 45mm. Exposure was f/16 at 1/250s, with an ISO of 200. The Wave is found in the Coyote Buttes North section of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Utah/Arizona.

In a previous installment in this series I’ve indicated that the contribution to image contrast of the individual red, green, and blue channels are unequal. In fact, the green channel contributes twice as much as the red channel, and the red channel contributes three times as much as the blue channel. There are quite natural reasons for this curious channel weighting, which we will consider in a future entry. For the current consideration we will focus on how we can modify the apparent weighting of the contributions of the individual R, G, and B channels.

The book says that an image recorded at midday is likely to be weak, e.g., lacking color saturation and contrast. Admittedly, perhaps the composition is a bit ordinary, but there is nothing lacking in the image above in terms of image contrast and color saturation. On the other hand, and as is shown below, that is not how this image started out.

Well, this is obviously an overexposed image you might say. Nope, check the histogram.

I bracketed this shot too, and this is the best compromise between overexposed and muddy. The lack of contrast is a result of shooting the scene with the sun pretty much exactly overhead – what audacity!

We appear to have quite a way to go to bring the source image to the final image, but it’s actually quite straightforward. Begin by reviewing the red, green and blue channels of the source image. First copy the Background layer, (cntl>j (<cmd>j on the Mac) to generate a new layer (Layer 1). Then select the red, green, and blue channel panels in turn in the CHANNELS palette.

As you can clearly see below, the green channel possesses much better contrast than the red channel – this channel is in pretty good shape.

The blue channel (below) has much better contrast than the red channel.

To enhance contrast in that weak red channel we simply replace the red channel (blend) with the blue channel. To accomplish this replacement, we employ the Apply Image tool to execute the blend by first selecting the red channel, and then typing Image > Apply Image, and then specifying that the blue channel be added to the red channel in Normal blending mode at 100% opacity. The result is shown below.

While you might be able to appreciate the contrast enhancement, the resulting influence on color dominates your impression. We can restrict the influence of channel blending by changing the blending mode of the Background copy layer to Luminosity. The result of the change in blending mode is shown below, with the original source image shown below that image for comparison.

This is a significant improvement. The contrast is then further enhanced by applying a curves adjustment to the red and green channels (you could also apply a curve to the blue channel, the influence on the overall image contrast would be small).

To finish processing of the image we apply the image to itself in Multiply blending mode by first flattening the image, and then copying the resulting layer and changing the blending mode to Multiply.

Finally, we apply Shadow/Highlight adjustment to open up the mid tone range a bit: select Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlights…

I hope that you’ve found this entry useful. If so, please drop me a line and let me know what you’d like to see in future posts. Cheers, P.

Tags: blending modes, Channel Blending, Coyote Buttes North, The Wave, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
Posted in Adventure, Methods, National Parks and Monuments | 2 Comments »

Feb

2010

A Moment in Time Recovered

Whether it’s a box of photos, or pages in an album, to a keen archivist it’s the challenge of the undiscovered country, a set of visions created by dear friends or relatives, to be rendered in modern digital terms.

The image above represents three generations. On the left is Meredith, her mother Helen in the middle, and her mother-in-law, Margaret, on the right. Standing behind her mother and grandmothers is the HP as a young lady. This is just an awesome composition, but what attracts me most to this image is the HP’s classic Mona Lisa smile, and those eyes.

My father in law, Carl J. (Joe), was an inspired shooter, who has left his family with a great wealth of images. Joe shot using a number of formats, including Kodak 126 format and and 35mm, with output rendered at the local photo mill standards of the time. The image above was recorded using a Praktica 35mm camera. The source image for the restoration, shown below, was a scan of the printed image generated using an HP ScanJet at 1200 dpi – yes, there are better scanners, but honestly, I’m not certain that they help much.

The image was scanned into RGB colorspace. Contrast was enhanced by adding a curves adjustment to the individual red and green channels. The image was then converted to BW, and the contrast then further enhanced using Nik Silver Efex Pro. Noise and dust were removed a combination of the Clone Stamp and Healing Brush tools in Photoshop CS4. In practice I find that regions that have a constant tone are most efficiently repaired using the Clone Stamp tool, whereas the Healing Brush tool generally works better on regions that contain complex patterns. In all cases, keeping the brush size as small as possible generally produces the most favorable results.

The heavy lifting in this image was the removal of an outdoor service outlet along the wall just above and to the right of the head of little HP. I cloned in a replacement seam from the set of shakes that lies to the right of where that service outlet exists using the Clone Stamp tool. Reasonably convincing if I do say so myself.

If you are serious about image recovery, there are a number of excellent published texts on the subject. My current working texts are Scott Kelby’s ‘The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers’, Katrin Eismann’s (with Wayne Palmer) ‘Photoshop Restoration and Retouching’, and Ctein’s ‘Digital Restoration from Start to Finish, Second Edition: How to repair old and damaged photographs’.

Tags: High Priestess, HP, restoration, retouching
Posted in Methods, Restoration & Retouching | 2 Comments »

Feb

2010

The Magic Mouse

If you live on computers, as more and more of us do, then finding a proper pointing device, e.g., the mouse, is critical. From their initial conception and design, up through only very recently, these things remained essentially unchanged (okay, RF-cordless was a key design improvement).

About a year or so ago, the classic mouse design reached a pinnacle in the version released by Logitech with its V550 Nano Cordless Laser Mouse (M/N: M-RCS143). This is an awesome Bluetooth based device. It is concise and responsive, and has one of the best combination button/wheel mechanisms ever produced. This device works very well with both PC and Mac based systems. It comes in a brushed-aluminum color that makes it a nice match for the MacBook Pro finish. The cost of the V550 is about $40 (Amazon).

Late last year, the people at Apple released the Magic Mouse. Although I’m not easily impressed, and believe that as often as not new products from Apple are as much hype as substance, I gotta admit that the Magic Mouse is the real deal. It takes a few minutes to get the feel for the new virtual three button mouse – it has a curious curved low-profile shape – but the responsiveness, especially the momentum-queued scrolling, is amazing. The device is not cheap at $69, but for those of us who spend long hours in front of an Apple laptop computer, it is well worth the $.

Semi-unfortunately, the minimum requirements for use of the Magic Mouse as per the Apple website is: ‘Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later with Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0* or Mac OS X v10.6.1 or later with Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0′.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Feb

2010

The Wave Experience

If you follow photoblogs like this one at all, you will certainly have heard of ‘The Wave’. I’ll argue that it’s not just a place, but more of an experience sort of thing. Among other things, it is an adventure….

For many, the adventure begins with the quest for a permit. The Wave is part of a specially designated section of Vermillion Cliffs National Monument known as Coyote Buttes North, and legal access requires you to obtain a permit. Permits are available through an online application , however the competition for these is fierce. The only option for many folks is to show up at the BLM Paria Contact Station by 9 AM (that’s Utah time) to participate in the permit lottery. The ranger station opens at 8:30 AM and the rangers accept applications from the hopefuls, of which there typically 30+. At 9 AM a bingo cage is set up and loaded with tokens for each application. Note that permits corresponding to 10 persons total will be awarded – the actual number of permits released depends on the number of people in each of the successful groups.

The image above, of the HP in The Wave, was recorded at 09:53 MST on August 27, 2009, using the Nikon D700 and the AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens at 17mm. Exposure was f/16 at 1/200s, ISO 200. One of the most surprising features of The Wave is just how small it is – maybe 100 meters square or so. For this reason, although I am usually solidly against any sort of restrictions on access, I gotta go along with the permit system.

The date was August 26, 2009. The room of literally full of people, a good fraction of whom are returnees from the previous day. The HP and I were number 6. The cage rolls, and a number chosen. Is that 6 or 9?!!! You gotta be kidding…6…we win on the first draw! All those years of practicing good karma have finally paid off. Now we can relax and see how the rest plays out. Quite a lot of tension I must admit – resolved in the end into a mixture of joy and disappointment. The odds are against you, and it’s a bit of a stunned feeling to be among the lucky few with winning numbers. You have the rest of the day to contemplate your good fortune, since the permit is actually valid for the following day.

If it’s summer, and the weather is seasonal, you had better get an early start. You will be in the open on sand or sandstone the entire day, and there is no shade anywhere. Yeah, I suppose you could lay on the ground under a juniper bush, but that is just plain undignified. No matter how prepared you think you are, I can assure you that you are inadequately prepared. The rangers advise one gallon of water per person or the day. Seems like a lot you are thinking… If you bring that much you will return to your car feeling like you are dying of thirst – if you bring less, you may actually be. No joke, this place is as potentially deadly as it is beautiful. Depending on your pace, it will take you between an hour and two hours to reach The Wave. The final stretch takes you up a steep sandstone face that is covered with sand, and the tough going guarantees that you will need a short rest before you enter The Wave proper.

The image above, of the main body of The Wave, was recorded at 10:17 MST on August 27, 2007, using the Nikon D700 and the AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens at 15mm. Exposure was f/16 at 1/200s, ISO 200 (-0.67 EV). This shot was made from a position a bit deeper into the main body than the previous shot that includes the HP (or maybe it should now be The HP).

I will divide The Wave into six areas; the antechamber, the main body, the grandstand, the cheapseats, the Wave2, and the backrooms. As suggested by its name, the antechamber is the entrance to The Wave, and is among the most exciting parts of The Wave experience. It’s not just that it comes first, although that is clearly a big part of it, but the antechamber is beautiful in its own right, and the view looking north from its southern end is as good as it gets. The main body of The Wave is just that. Please do not linger in the main body. There are no very good angles to shoot there, and you will totally mess up everyone else’s shot. On the day we visited The Wave, a kooky little French clown in red converse high-tops danced around in there for about 30 mins shooting freehand until a chorus of photographers chased him out.

The grandstand is where most of the photographers will be setup, and for reference is the point from which most published images of The Wave are/were shot. It can get a bit crowded here, but most shooters are polite, and rotate positions often enough so that everyone gets a chance to make a memorable image. The Wave2 is well worth a visit too, and although it lacks the intense color variations found in the The Wave, has deeper striations that are best complemented by the morning light – I said to get an early start, right? The backrooms are all of the areas which lie south of The Wave and the grandstand and a bit east of The Wave2.

The image above, of the grandstand area shot from the cheapseats, was recorded at about 13:15 MST on August 27, 2009, using the Nikon D700 and the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens at 26mm. Exposure was f/16 at 1/125s, ISO 200 (-0.67 EV).

I hope that you find these notes useful on your experience in The Wave.

An image of the Coyote Buttes North area appear below courtesy of Google Earth. The entire route is shown, starting with entrance to the Buckskin Gulch near the top, to The Wave, towards the bottom middle of the image. The North Teepees; which are outside of the special permit zone, are to the right of The Wave.

Tags: Arizona Strip, BLM Paria Contact Station, Coyote Buttes North, High Priestess, HP, The Wave, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument
Posted in Adventure, National Parks and Monuments | No Comments »

Feb

2010

The Myth of the Golden Hour, Part III

In Part II in the series we discussed an overlay method that improves definition in the highlight areas of the image. Part II was published on January 22, and Part I was published on January 13. In this installment, we will consider a method for enhancing contrast by application of a curves adjustment layer. Our working image is shown below.

Currently, we have three layers: the top layer is a copy of the original unprocessed copy of the image in darken mode, a middle layer overlay layer, and the original image on the bottom. Let’s flatten the layer by opening the Layers submenu (click the downward point arrow in the upper right hand corner of the Layers tab) and selecting the Flatten option.

Then copy the resulting Background layer to generate a new Background copy layer.

A curious condition of RGB images is that the contribution of the red, green, and blue channels to the luminosity (contrast) present is not equal. We will leave a technical discussion for why this is so for a future entry, but in fact the green channel is most important, followed the red channel and then the blue channel in the ratio 6:3:1. This suggests that we could delete the blue channel and retain 90% of the current image contrast – it’s true!

To review the contribution of the individual channels we open the Channels menu, select Window on the Photoshop top menu bar, and then select the Channels item from the drop down menu.

By selecting the individual Red, Green, and Blue channels in the CHANNELS tab in turn, we can see what each of these elements brings to the overall image – note that when a channel is selected, the channel indicator turns blue ( assuming default Photoshop behavior).

Select the red channel panel to activate only that channel.

Select the green channel panel to activate the green channel only.

Finally, select the blue channel panel to activate the blue channel.

Careful review of the individual channels confirms that they are all about equal in terms of providing elements of contrast to the image. This will not always be the case, especially in images recorded in red rock country. In this case, the most straightforward approach to improving contrast will be to apply curves adjustment to the individual red and green channels (the blue channel may be adjusted, but in practical terms, such adjustments have minimal impact).

Begin by conducting a merge-copy by typing <cntl><shft>alt>e (<cmd><shft>alt>e on the Mac) This merges the current three layers into one layer, and then copies that layer on top of the others. We could have simply flatten the three layers and then copied the result, however the merge-copy gives us a bit of additional flexibility, e.g., we could always delete the merge-copy layer and then rework the darken or overlay layers.

So that we can remember how all the current layers were generated, let’s rename them by selecting (double-click) the text in the LAYERS tab.

We now load the red channel by selecting that channel in the CHANNELS tab, and then apply a curve to the channel by typing <cntl>m (<cmd>m on the Mac).

Notice that I have steepened the curve near the maximum on the right hand side of the histogram (note that I have rendered the histogram so that it displays the amount of light – this is the default setting, however I usually rig it to show % pigment/ink). The right side of the histogram is where the luminosity of the lighter rock surfaces is represented, and steepening the curve in this region increases contrast in the rocks.

We apply a curves adjustment to the green channel to further enhance the contrast in the rocks.

Since we are working in RGB color space, luminosity and color are intrinsically tied together. Thus the curves we have applied to the red and green channels generate not only a change in luminosity (contrast in the BW sense), but also a color shift. We can fix this easily by simply changing the blending mode of the Merged-copy Layer to luminosity to produce the contrast-enhanced (only) image shown below.

Compare this image (above) to the one we started with in this entry (below).

Next, we merge-copy to generate a new layer on top, and change the blending mode of the new layer to multiply.

Finally we adjust the opacity to until things agree with our vision of the place, about 60%, to finish up this lesson.

This was a long discussion, perhaps too long for most. Anyway, I hope you find it useful. Send questions if you got ‘em. There is a quote by Edward Weston that I favor: “Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be”.

Tags: Curves Adjustment Layer, Horseshoe Bend, Luminosity Blending Mode, Multiply Blending Mode, Page
Posted in Adventure, Methods | 2 Comments »

Jan

2010

The Myth of Golden Hour, Part II

The image we will consider in this entry is the often-photographed Horseshoe Bend site near Page, AZ. The overlook is located about 6 miles south of Page on US 89, at the end of a 0.75 mile hike (one-way) over rolling sandy terrain. The final processed image is shown below.

The source image (shown below) was was recorded on July 22, 2009, at about 14:40 MST, using the Nikon D700 and the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens at 27mm. Exposure was f/16 and 1/125s, ISO 200. Minimal processing of the RAW image was conducted during the conversion.

The image exhibits the anticipated washed-out attributes that we would anticipate given the time of day at which the image was recorded. In this instance, as we so often find, photographing this amazing scene during the Golden Hour is simply not tractable, since long shadows would fill the canyon, generating an uninteresting image. Our only option is to record the image when the sun is relatively close to its zenith, and hope to enhance detail and color post-capture.

Below, I include a screen capture of the ACR Raw conversion interface below to illustrate that although the image it pretty washed out, the histogram indicates that things aren’t too bad – this is common is images recorded near midday on sunny days.

There are several things would should like to improve. The clouds on the horizon are attractive, but a bit blown out. There is dramatic color variation, but it definitely could be much better. Specifically, both contrast (luminosity) and color variation would be improved by both darkening the sandstone surfaces throughout the image and by expanding the subtle range of color present.

We’ll tackle the clouds/sky issue first. We begin by copying the Background layer to generate the Background copy layer.

The next move is difficult to motivate, but the results are compelling. Apply the blue channel of the RGB image to the R,G, and B channels in Normal blending mode – select Image > Apply Image… Note that the Invert box is checked – this is important. See the dialog box and resulting image below.

Not yet clear where this is headed? Try changing the blending mode of the Background copy layer from Normal to Overlay blending mode as shown below.

Although you may be able to see that we have increased definition in the clouds, the image still looks pretty strange., and specifically there is an odd loss of resolution throughout most of the image We clear this up by blurring the Background copy Layer. Make certain that the Background copy layer is selected (the layer icon will turn blue if you are using default settings). Then select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur… The Gaussian Blur dialog box will appear, and allow you to vary the radius parameter.

The proper setting of radius depends on the resolution of the image. As you increase radius, the image will gain back the original resolution of the source image, but the clouds – and – other highlight regions of the image – will have improved definition. For this 12MP image, I had to apply the maximum value, 250 pixels, twice. The Photoshop engineers definitely need to increased the range of the radius parameter to accommodate current and future image sizes. The resulting image is shown below.

Careful comparison between the working image shown above and the original image indicates that the Overlay procedure has left the image much lighter. We restore the original luminosity by first copying the Background image to generate a new layer named Background copy 2, and then draging that new layer to the top of the layers stack as shown below.

Of course, since the blending mode of the new layer is Normal, the view you now have of the image is exactly the same as when you started – placing any image with blending mode set to Normal at the top of a layer stack simply displays that image. Things get interesting when you convert the blending mode to Darken as shown below.

The influence of the processing becomes clear when we view a section of the sky as shown below – original image on the upper half.

Note that not only has the definition in the clouds improved, but the canyon walls have also been enhanced. This is a good stopping point for the current entry. Stay tuned for part III.

One final note. I didn’t invent any of the methods discussed in this entry. My approach is a combination of a wide range of influences, including ideas discussed by Martin Evening, Bruce Fraser, Scott Kelby, Dan Margulis, Deke McClelland, Jeff Schewe, Rov Sheppard, and a number of others – all of the folks listed by name publish excellent texts on image processing and are well worth owning.

An image of the Horseshoe Bend area is shown below courtesy of Google Earth Imaging.

Tags: AZ, blending modes, Horseshoe Bend, overlay blending mode, Page
Posted in Adventure, Methods | 2 Comments »

Jan

2010

Midwinter at Farmington Bay

Snow on the ground…fog in the air (or is it still that inversion)…Farmington Bay is a starkly beautiful place this time of year. The proper name of the area is the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, and it is administered through the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. The WMA is located about 25 miles north of Salt Lake City, UT, just a couple of miles off of I15, and just outside the city of Centerville.

The image above, of a Bald Eagle resting on a snag, was recorded on January 17, 2010 at about 13:00 MDT. This eagle did not move from its roost during the three or so hours that we were in the WMA. The eagles winter here, but don’t expect to see them flying around too much. Apparently this loafing behavior is part of their effort to conserve energy.

The eagle image was captured using the Nikon D3s and the AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED lens at 240mm. Exposure was f/8 and 1/1250s, ISO 200. Image converted to BW using Nik Silver Efex Pro. The NIKKOR 200-400mm is the newest hardware acquisition, and was on test for the first time today. All of the images recorded for this entry were recorded with the D3s/200-400mm setup.

We saw several Great Blue Herons (the one above scarcely visible). Curiously, all but one of these were hunting, e.g., doing that stealth walk thing they do, not in the water, but on the snow covered marsh. Although I had normally thought of Herons as dining exclusively on fish (or water bugs and such), apparently they will go after small terrestrial critters when the situation calls for it. The image above was recorded at 13:43 MDT.

American Kestrels are among my favorite birds – not only for their coloring, which is lovely, but mostly for their behavior. You may find them calmly perched as above, but when they are active, they execute a most remarkable behavior. They will fly up next to the road to an altitude of about 50 or 60 feet, hover for a few seconds, and then dive close to the ground. They repeat this antic three or four times and then fly off. They are among the least skittish birds, and often seem content to perch very near the road. Image recorded at 14:00 MDT.

The image above is a Northen Harrier. My initial estimate was that this might be a juvenile bird, but I have still a lot to learn. Jack Skalicky, good friend and expert birder, adds the following: ‘It might be an adult female as most winter juvenile birds (2009 hatch year) would have a more rufous/orange in the chest, belly, flanks, and vent. This plumage is very bright. The streaking on this bird on a light background suggests an adult bird. I’m not sure of the molt timing in Northern Harriers but if they molt early in Utah this could easily be a first winter bird.’ Thanks Jack! The image was recorded at about 14:40 MDT.

It might be an adult female as most winter juvenile birds (2009 hatch
>>year) would have a more rufous/orange in the chest, belly, flanks, and
>>vent. This plumage is very bright. The streaking on this bird on a light
>>background suggests an adult bird. I'm not sure of the molt timing in
>>Northern Harriers but if they molt early in Utah this could easily be a
>>first winter bird.

Tags: American Kestrel, D3s, Eagle, Farmington Bay, Harrier, Northern Harrier
Posted in Adventure, Birds | 2 Comments »

Jan

2010

Save Your Edits!

A key element of processing images for contrast enhancement and color correction and enhancement is tracking what works well. To accomplish this, you will need to record all the adjustments you make on your more challenging/succesful projects. Fortunately, Photoshop will easily sort all of this out for you. After experimenting with a number of variations, I suggest the following. Begin by opening the General Preferences dialog box by selecting File > Preferences > General:

Activate history logging by selecting the History Log check box. Next direct the log to the file metadata by selecting the Metadata radio button. Finally, select Detailed from the Edit Log Terms pull-down menu to record a complete record of the adjustments.

To review the your adjustments, select File > File Info…, and advance the tab to the History panel. The History panel will provide a sequential list of literally every adjustment made to the processed image. It may take you a little while to get the hang of interpreting the history dialog, but soon you sort it all out.

Any adjustments made in the image processing are now automatically saved in the image file. Just a little effort in reviewing why things seemed to look better goes a very long way. At any rate, feel free to check for more practical hints on converting your captures into excellent final processed products.

Posted in Methods | No Comments »

Jan

2010

The Myth of Golden Hour, Part I

The Golden Hour is a classic photographic nutshell that recommends that the best times for recording images are approximately the first hour after sunrise, and the first hour prior to sunset. This concept is so neatly set in the minds of photographers that it has come to suggest that high quality images can only be recorded during the Golden Hour intervals. The point of this series of entries is not so much to debunk the idea, as to provide a practical example of the relatively facile and powerful modern digital processing methods.

We should first consider what it is about the Golden Hour that make this time so special for recording photographic images. During the Golden Hour, the angle of the sun with respect to the horizon is small, certainly less than 15°, so that the light directly from the sun travels a greater distance though the atmosphere; which reduces its intensity, and also produces characteristically relatively long shadows. Moreover, the relative contribution to the overall light intensity from the sky is enhanced. This sky light is characteristically extremely diffuse, e.g., think of the sky as the ultimate light diffuser. In terms of the color of the light, the longer path traveled by the light leads to a relative decrease in the blue component due to dispersion, leaving a relative enrichment in yellow and red components.

On the day that the image shown above was recorded, August 28, 2009, sunrise occurred at approximately 06:50 MST. The image was recorded at 10:45 MST, well outside of the Golden Hour, and exhibits the overwhelming highlights and deep harsh shadows that are characteristic of images recorded near mid-day. The image was recorded using the Nikon D700 and the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens at 44mm. Exposure was f/16 at 1/125s, ISO at 200.

The image is pretty washed-out/over-exposed. Although we might have been able to do more with an exposure at -0.67 EV, there is little doubt that this image would most probably be more appealing, at least in the classic photographic sense, if it had been recorded between 19:00 and 20:00, since sunset on this date occurred at 20:00 (the image was recorded looking westward, e.g., into the rising sun, not a tractable shooting scenario). The problem was, as it often is, that I wasn’t there during the Golden Hour! Moreover, obviously most life occurs at sometime other than during the Golden Hour. Is there anything we can do to add more pleasing contrast and color saturation to such images? I certainly think so, otherwise I would have written this entry!

Let’s begin with a simple fix, which is to add a new layer on top of the original layer, and change the blending mode of the new layer to ‘Multiply’. Begin by dragging the Background layer to the copy layer icon, thus generating the Background copy layer as shown below:

Now change the ‘blending mode’ of the Background copy layer to Multiply as shown below – note that the pull-down menu tab contains a number of blending options – select the downward pointing arrow to the right of ‘Normal’ underneath the Layers tab to reveal them.

The result is shown below. I’d suggest that there may be no simple move that produces such a dramatically improved result as the addition of a Multiply-layer to a washed-out or overexposed image:

Finally, we can vary the extent of the blending of the top layer into the bottom layer by adjusting the opacity of the top layer.

I hope that you have found this entry to be useful. Good luck on your own efforts. Keep shooting, and don’t believe ‘em if they tell you you can’t make solid scenic color images outside of the Golden Hour.

Tags: blending modes, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Golden Hour, Lake Powell, Multiply blending layer, Wahweap Marina
Posted in Methods, National Parks and Monuments | 2 Comments »

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