Back from Arizona...

[Speed]

How about this for a perspective on how big Meteor Crater is?

This was taken from a commercial airplane, 30,000 feet up. Focal length 54mm.

Great shot Kelly!

How is it you keep finding clean windows to shoot out of? ;-)

[opus]

Speed, the windows are never clean. But when you're pressing the lens up against the window, the noseprints aren't a big factor. I do have to remove the "film" of window and atmosphere in my post processing.

[opus]

Hey, this suddenly reminds me of a question:

I see the crater. Where is the meteor?

[Speed]

Speed, the windows are never clean. But when you're pressing the lens up against the window, the noseprints aren't a big factor. I do have to remove the "film" of window and atmosphere in my post processing.

Gotcha! You're a talented girl. I wouldn't know how to remove that stuff in PS. The shot looks great though!

[opus]

speed, it really is just a levels adjustment.

I can't use auto adjustment on these aerial shots though, because ps brings out the most unusual colors from the soil. Lots of iron greens and reds. It's neat, but unrealistic.

[schrackman]

Hi Ray,

Looks like I should spend more time on the Viewfinder board, I am glad I haven't missed your tread. My favorites pictures happens to be the very first one, the red barn in the snow and the perfectly centered tree in the snow (a clever composition, it usualy wouldn't work but it definately doe's in your case!!).

I'd be curious to hear a little about the post-processing that was involved here. Your series have unique aestethic which I find very strong and that I have rarely seen.

regards

Seb

Hi Seb,

First, thank you for the kind words. I am pleased that you enjoyed the photos.

As for post-processing, it all actually begins in the camera itself. The DRebel, like many other digital cameras, allows you to customize certain parameters for contrast, sharpness, saturation, etc. I've set these to my liking, and for these particular photos I chose to use the cloudy setting for white balance to provide a bit more of a reddish tone to the images (to bring out the natural color of the soil in Arizona). When I brought them into photoshop, I slightly adjusted to the positive the saturation of the reds and yellows, used selective color to lighten the whites, adjusted curves to the lower midtones, adjusted contrast, added unsharp mask, and finally adjusted levels for all channels to 8 on shadows), 248 on highlights, and 1.02-1.05 for the midtones slider, and then added border. It's not really that complicated and doesn't take very long, and it's how I like to "process" my pictures for a consistent asthetic. Hope that answers the question.

Ray

[schrackman]

How about this for a perspective on how big Meteor Crater is?

This was taken from a commercial airplane, 30,000 feet up. Focal length 54mm.

Wow! That is a great aerial shot, Kellybean. We were told that to walk around the crater would be a 2 mile hike. That's how large that hole is. Of course, it's just a pimple in comparison to the size of the earth itself.

Ray

[schrackman]

Ray,

I checked out the larger version and it is awesome! Thanks for putting the link up.

You're welcome. Glad you liked it! A wide-angle lens, however, would have really helped me out here. But it looks like I'm getting one for Christmas. Wahoo!

Ray

[schrackman]

Hey, this suddenly reminds me of a question:

I see the crater. Where is the meteor?

The rest melted away on impact or exploded into a gazillion tiny fragments.

Ray

[Seb]

Hi Seb,

First, thank you for the kind words. I am pleased that you enjoyed the photos.

As for post-processing, it all actually begins in the camera itself. The DRebel, like many other digital cameras, allows you to customize certain parameters for contrast, sharpness, saturation, etc. I've set these to my liking, and for these particular photos I chose to use the cloudy setting for white balance to provide a bit more of a reddish tone to the images (to bring out the natural color of the soil in Arizona). When I brought them into photoshop, I slightly adjusted to the positive the saturation of the reds and yellows, used selective color to lighten the whites, adjusted curves to the lower midtones, adjusted contrast, added unsharp mask, and finally adjusted levels for all channels to 8 on shadows), 248 on highlights, and 1.02-1.05 for the midtones slider, and then added border. It's not really that complicated and doesn't take very long, and it's how I like to "process" my pictures for a consistent asthetic. Hope that answers the question.

Ray

Hi Ray,

I am taking good note of your explanations. It is always interesting to learn how another photographer works. Thank you for sharing your methods.

Seb