Photos of the Southwest

[Hae-Yu]

I took up photography and have tons of pictures of the Southwest over the last year. I haven't had a chance to go over most of them.

The Death Valley ones were a couple of weeks ago. Sammie, I used photobucket because I saw you did. I didn't know where else hosted for free without too many strings, so thanks for that unofficial recommendation.

Lone Train in the Mojave (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/Mojave-MinneolaRd-2a.jpg)

Nine Inch Nails at 2005 Coachella (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/Coachella2005-NiN-1.jpg)

Bristlecone Pine at Bryce Canyon, Ut (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/060128-Bryce-332.jpg)

Unknown Flowering Tree, LA County Arboretum, Arcadia, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/LAArboretum-038.jpg)

Paris Casino, Las Vegas, Nv (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/ParisHotel-BellagioGarage-3.jpg)

Lone Hiker on Badwater playa, Death Valley, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/DeathValley-BadwaterPlaya10.jpg)

Seagulls at Stearn's Wharf, Santa Barbara, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/StearnsWharf7ab-w.jpg)

Moonrise over Valley of Fire, NV (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/ValleyofFire-158.jpg)

Yosemite Tunnel View, Picture number 1500235835702 (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/Yosemite-TunnelView39.jpg)

Beehives, Valley of Fire, Nv (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/ValleyofFireSunday-08.jpg)

Hiker in the Hoodoos, Bryce Canyon, Ut (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/060128-Bryce-133.jpg)

Penguins, San Diego Sea World, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/SanDiegoSeaWorld-40a.jpg)

Joshua Tree at Turquoise Peak, Halloran Springs, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/TurquoisePeak-JoshuaTree-6.jpg)

Misty Giants, Zion National Park, Ut (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/060127-Zion-Zion-MtCarmelHwy-34.jpg)

Flower Close-Up (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/JoanahsBouquet-3.jpg)

Prodigy at Coachella 2005 (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/Coachella2005-Prodigy7.jpg)

City Hall, Pasadena, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/PasadenaCityHall-3.jpg)

Sunrise at Red Rocks, Nv
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/RedRocksCanyonNVVisitorCenter.jpg)

Korean Friendship Bell, San Pedro, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/KoreanFriendshipBell-35.jpg)

Giraffe At San Diego Wild Animal Park, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/SanDiegoWildAnimalPark-27crop.jpg)

Seal King and Cohort, San Diego sea World, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/SanDiegoSeaWorld-05.jpg)

Winter at Bryce National Park, Ut (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/060129-Bryce-102.jpg)

Sunset at Valley of Fire, Nv (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/ValleyofFireSunday-45.jpg)

Lytle Creek After Fire, Cucamonga Wilderness, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/LytleCreek-31.jpg)

Red Flowers at Kaweah River,Sequioa National Park, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/SequoiaNP-MiddleForkKaweahRiver12.jpg)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Wayfarer's Chapel, Palos Verdes, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/WayfarersChapel-08.jpg)

Eco-grafitti at Death Valley Lakebed (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/DeathValley-MormonPoint13.jpg)

Unknown Family Scrambling over Artist's Pallet, Death Valley, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/DeathValley-ArtistsPalletDrive10.jpg)

Badwater Drive Wildflowers, Death Valley, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/DeathValley-Wildflowers-TelescopePe.jpg)

Peacock at LA County Arboretum, Arcadia, Ca (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/LAArboretumHerbGarden-24.jpg)


Red Canyon Cliffs, Ut (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/060129-RedCanyon-32.jpg)

Here's my Wolfen (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/Hae-Yu/Wolfen.jpg). Ares doesn't have any good shots, but he doesn't mind.

[Sammie]

Nice pics Ultra.

I esp like the one of Paris/Vegas

And I love your dog :D

I actually pay 19 bucks a year to photobucket so I dont have to worry about bandwith. I upload a ton of stuff so its worth it to me.
I've been with them for 2 years now and I've been very pleased.

[L1veUndead]

Nice picks indeed.

[Sammie]

what camera are you using?

[Hae-Yu]

Thanks.
An Olympus C-5060. The only filters I have are a circular polarizer and the UV glass. It's the same camera I bought a long time ago when I was looking around. It's a really nice prosumer camera but not SLR or anything.

I made sure to save them with all of the metadata there so you can see all the settings (right click, properties, summary, advanced). I also use a little freeware Windows Explorer plugin called PixVue to make sure as much info as possible is saved (EXIF, Windows, and IPTC) to the file itself. I'm not sure how much of that is visible, but importing it into most photo programs will recognize the data (PS, PSE, PSP, iView, BreezeBrowser).

[Hae-Yu]

Also one thing I learned about photographing Las Vegas is that the parking garage upper levels are the best places to take pictures. The Paris was from the top level of the Bellagio's parking garage. If I'm not in a hurry (I always am though) I try to park on the top levels, look around and take mental notes.

[Sammie]

I've been tempted to update my camera. Cannon has a new digital SLR out that looks pretty tempting.
I can hardly justify it though since I dont use my Nikon near enough.
So I'm holding off for now.

You have a really good eye for composition and color.

I'm still trying to figure out why all of my pictures come out slanted.
I guess I'm not balanced. But whether its a free hand or a tripod pic, they are always a bit crooked.

[Hae-Yu]

Thanks for that, but not really.

I take a ton of pictures. A ton. Everything is bracketed. The Paris I took between 40 and 100 pictures. One of those is just bound to turn out.

The problem is, my ex had a much better eye than I did and she would sit with me and decide the keepers.

In addition I do try to "make it" in the shot, but the composition is done by cropping. That's why picture sizes are all over.

For me though, taking the shot is getting something usable down and then afterwards is where I find the picture.

Also don't worry about slanted pictures. That's what Photoshop's for.
I would like to buy a D-SLR too, but I don't think I've learned my camera enough for it yet. My girl had a EOS Digital Rebel and the color was fantastic. My camera won't shoot RAW in brackets, only High jpgs. I'd like to shoot in RAW for the better quality but I don't know exposure well enough yet to not shoot brackets.

[Hae-Yu]

Also a DSLR would have made the train shot much better. The moving train and moving car headlights end up blurry because it's evening and they are darker than the clouds which I metered. A faster camera would have lessened that. But it does add motion so it works I guess.

[Sammie]

I'm the same way. I will take hundreds and hundreds of pics. I usually shot something at least 5 times before moving on, in hopes that one will turn out well.

My camera shots raw but I dont use it b/c I dont understand it. I have to admit I have not bothered looking into it either.
I use the tiff setting for large format. The raw does something wierd and the image seems tiny, maybe that's what the bracketting is?

I have 5 setting available on my camera but most of the time I just use the jpeg fine setting. Its just below the tiff setting.

And I'm with you, I dont feel that I know my camera well enough to consider delving into another one.

Its been a long time since I've used a regular 35mm. My camera has the ability to use the manual 35mm settings but its all in digital format which just feels weird. I would like a camera that had the settings on the lense like a normal 35mm.

I messed around a little bit with the manual settings when we were in amsterdam but I ended up changing something that I didnt mean to and didnt realize it for about a day and a half. I ruined a lot of incredible shots b/c of it.

[Hae-Yu]

I use the tiff setting for large format. The raw does something wierd and the image seems tiny, maybe that's what the bracketting is?

No, bracketing is where it takes an exposure at normal, + one up and one down. So 3 exposures of the same shot, one right after the other like burst mode. I use .5 steps and .3 steps. I will usually end up with one frame that's the right exposure. The downside is I end up sorting 3 times as many pictures.

Because RAW has large file sizes, it takes almost 10 seconds between RAWs, whereas I can burst or bracket up to 5 High jpgs. A D-SLR is supposed to be fast enough to handle this.

The small RAW is on the LCD or your PC? If PC, it could be the software because RAWs are all proprietary - Canon, Olympus, Nikon, etc are all mutually exclusive and usually you have to use their included software. Do you use Nikon software or Adobe Camera RAW? If you google Microsoft Power Toys, it has a RAW viewer which plugs right into Windows Explorer. Otherwise RAWs won't display at all or be screwed up.

The bonus with RAW is that it doesn't use the camera's built-in sharpening, noise filters, white balance, compression, etc so when you run it through Photoshop, you are working with the RAW "negative." When you shoot jpeg, your camera is "pre-processing" it. On the surface a jpg looks nicer than a RAW, but that's like saying a picture that was run through Photoshop is better than one that hasn't. All that stuff I'd rather do myself.

[Sammie]

excellent explaination

I didnt realize that was the problem and I was opening them in Corel.

The burst mode is the drawing feature for a D-SLR. I have not set my camera to burst even in jpegs. I'll have to check that out. Although, I imagine that it will be slow.

Have you used an external flash?

I have yet to find a camera that I care for the flash images, even when there are mutiple settings.

[Hae-Yu]

No external flash. I have a hard time choking up $200+ for a flash. Maybe one day when I invest in a heavier camera system, but not now.

[Hae-Yu]

The one thing I want is a Graduated Neutral Density Filter and it's a necessity when doing landscapes. You use them to get the sky AND ground the same exposure.

Right now, I go to spot metering and put the focus point just barely above the horizon. It's alright but most of the time.

You can buy a cheapie round GND that screws on for $20, but that limits your horizon lines to the center. I want a $$$ one that can adjust up and down. I've researched it, but I'd need to buy a lot of stuff to make it work on my camera.

I can do any other filter in Photoshop easy, but not a GND. Once the sky is overexposed or the ground underexposed all those details are gone.

[papa smurf]

excellent explaination

I didnt realize that was the problem and I was opening them in Corel.

The burst mode is the drawing feature for a D-SLR. I have not set my camera to burst even in jpegs. I'll have to check that out. Although, I imagine that it will be slow.

Have you used an external flash?

I have yet to find a camera that I care for the flash images, even when there are mutiple settings. i once saw a pair of batteries for 50$/€ they had a 3 week life expecstancy and u had 2 charge them 4 5 days straight:eek:

[Sammie]

The one thing I want is a Graduated Neutral Density Filter and it's a necessity when doing landscapes. You use them to get the sky AND ground the same exposure.

Right now, I go to spot metering and put the focus point just barely above the horizon. It's alright but most of the time.

You can buy a cheapie round GND that screws on for $20, but that limits your horizon lines to the center. I want a $$$ one that can adjust up and down. I've researched it, but I'd need to buy a lot of stuff to make it work on my camera.

I can do any other filter in Photoshop easy, but not a GND. Once the sky is overexposed or the ground underexposed all those details are gone.

I usually play around with the auto focus to get my exposures more even between land and horizon, unless I'm going for a different perspective incorporating shadows and hightlights. It depends on what I want to focus on in the picture

I had not heard of the GND filter. I will have to look into that.

I still have so much to learn, but I enjoy it

btw: have any of you checked out www.gfxartist.com (http://www.gfxartist.com) ?

pretty cool site with a lot of different artists, mediums and styles

[devil_dog]

I used to do a lot of photography. I've never stepped up to the plate to buy a nice digital SLR camera, so my old 35mm SLR just collects dust. I may sell it and put the money towards a nice digital.

Personally I like Cannon, but Nikon has some really nice stuff too. Too bad I don't have any work I can share with you guys.

dd

[papa smurf]

I used to do a lot of photography. I've never stepped up to the plate to buy a nice digital SLR camera, so my old 35mm SLR just collects dust. I may sell it and put the money towards a nice digital.

Personally I like Cannon, but Nikon has some really nice stuff too. Too bad I don't have any work I can share with you guys.

ddAwwwww:cry:

[Hae-Yu]

I'm starting to get antsy. This class is kicking my butt and I've been chained to my PC the last 5 weeks. That's why I've been posting so much. I've been out of the house twice. Once to Primm for some practice with night shots and once to a friend's graduation yesterday afternoon.

I have this new camera and I haven't had a chance to really play with it yet. Oh well, today's the last day and I can start taking mathematics classes again.