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In the Mood

Jay Patel — April 19, 2013

I don’t typically post black and white photos… but I am intrigued by the world of monochrome images and would like to do more. So, here is one feeble attempt. The mist hanging around lake Crescent that morning was wonderful, and we spent hours photographing this location.

I used a long shutter speed to remove distracting ripples from the water, and then converted the image to black and white with NIK Software’s SilverEFex Pro. My goal was to create a dark, moody scene. Once the conversion was complete, I made targeted adjustment to the highlights and shadows in Photoshop.

In Photo of the Day black and white, Olympic National Park

Twin Lake Storm

Jay Patel — April 17, 2013

While driving to our destination in Aspen Colorado, we took the scenic route through the Twin Lakes region. As we stood there photographing this little spot, clouds started to move in – within 10 minutes, the blue skies were all but covered up by dark clouds.

This is a manually blended image created from 3 bracketed shots using out iHDR workflow. The dynamic range of this photo was extreme, and the horizon was not level – so a graduated neutral density filter was out of the question. I chose to place complementary colors close together to make those brilliant trees stand out. I used a 4-stop neutral density filter and a circular polarizer to slow down the shutter speed.

In Photo of the Day autumn, Colorado, river

The End of Days

Varina Patel — April 12, 2013

This is a shot from the Big Island of Hawaii. Here, the lava flows in to the sea. I loved the chaos of this location. The slow shift of the fiery lava that created a startling new landscapes overnight. The intense heat against my skin – and the steady breeze off the sea that tossed my hair, and provided a breath of fresh air above the burning. The furious boiling as hot lava hit the cool ocean – and the rush of steam that seemed to have a life of its own. The lava creates a brand new landscape – by destroying everything in its path. Houses. Trees. Livelihoods. We walked for two hours and saw just one living creature – a tiny spider that had laid claim to the wasteland and spun a little hammock to call home. In some places – where the lava was old – tiny plants were springing up. Harbingers of a new world to come.

In Photo of the Day Hawaii, nature, photography, water

Utah Skies

Jay Patel — April 10, 2013

In this photograph, the incredible geology of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument seems to have found its match in the incredible skies overhead. When we visited this place with one of our students, he described the breathtaking scene before him with a wide-eyed “FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!” We visited this spot several times before the skies decided to put on a show.

This image highlights textures and patterns in nature. I chose to fill the image with different textures and repeating patterns. Because the colors in the sky were high overhead, I chose a vertical composition for this shot.

How many basic rules of the composition can you identify in this photograph?

In Photo of the Day Photography composition, utah

Life on Another Planet

Varina Patel — April 9, 2013

All right. It’s not another planet. It’s tiny spots of lichen growing on rocks on a beach in California. I loved the brilliant color and the repeating pattern of spots. I have to admit that lichen always draws my eye. So very tiny – and usually unnoticed – and yet there’s a whole little world here on the rocks by the sea. This is some prime real estate, and they have a heck of a view!

In Photo of the Day California, macro

Impressionism

Jay Patel — April 3, 2013

Here is a photograph I took accidentally – I fired the shutter by mistake. I cleaned it up, gave it a fancy title – Impressionism - and posted it as an “artistic” shot.

I like it – but is it a work of art? Or is it still a mistake?

While setting up a composition, I accidentally hit the shutter release and had to wait a few moments until I could see through the viewfinder again. Rather than waiting for the exposure to finish, I picked up the camera and went to help a student. The result was a ghostly impression in the foreground, and a streak of moon in the sky. I cloned out the blurry streak of the moon, and replaced it with the one you see here.

In Photo of the Day California, Death Valley National Park

The Artist

Varina Patel — April 2, 2013

These beautiful pots are made entirely by hand in the village of Catarina in Nicaragua. Aren’t the details incredible?

We visited the shop with the kids from Empowerment International during our workshop with The Giving Lens. On that day, we were working with the kids to teach the fundamentals of Photojournalism. We wanted the kids to focus on telling a story with their photographs. We asked them to get in close to their subject and include only those elements that were important to the story. They tried to avoid elements that might be distracting. You can see my own photo-journalistic photo below.

I converted this second image to black and white to remove color as a distracting element, helping the viewer to focus on the artist and his detailed work. I chose an angle that let me show his face and hands and his beautiful artwork… but nothing in the background except for the textured wall behind him. I chose to photograph this artist because he was sitting near a high window that allowed beautiful soft light to highlight his work, enhancing the shape of the pot and the details he is working to create.

What would you have done differently? Would you have cloned out the logo on his shirt? It’s distracting… but maybe it’s part of the story? Would you have chosen an angle that showed the workshop in the background? What about the black and white conversion? Would you prefer to present an image like this in full color to show the reality of the scene?

In Photo of the Day

Eruption of Masaya

Jay Patel — March 29, 2013

On our earlier visit to Masaya with Empowerment International and The Giving Lens, Masaya was belching out lots of sulfur dioxide… and the clouds of sulfur looked liked erupting mushroom clouds. I caught this cloud at its peak as the sun was putting on a fantastic show overhead.

My goal was to preserve textures in every part of the image…and keep it looking natural. Normally I would have used a GND filter to capture such a photograph, but because the GND Filter would darken the top of the smoke cloud, I chose to use our iHDR manual blending technique instead. That way, I could bring out the details I needed with the help of layers and masks in Photoshop.

In Photo of the Day

A Pig for the Feast

Varina Patel — March 28, 2013

When little Eveling got sick, her family was very worried. They prayed for her recovery. When she was well again at last, they purchased this little pig. They are fattening him up to prepare for a feast, celebrating their answered prayers.

Barrios - Granada, Nicaragua

When we visited Granada last year, we were invited to take photographs for one of the Empowerment International families in the barrios. Maybe you remember this photo from that morning. Juanita is washing little Eveling’s hair as they prepare for school in the morning.

When we returned to Granada this year, we were thrilled to be able to return and visit the children again. We brought prints (donated by SmugMug) of the photos we took last year and gave them to the families. It was great to see these girls again. Their mother told us that it had been a hard year. Eveling’s illness took it’s toll, but they are so grateful that she is healthy and strong today. Both girls had grown since our last visit, and I got lots and lots of hugs! Lucky me!

Would you like to help?

Empowerment International: http://empowermentinternational.org
The Giving Lens: http://www.thegivinglens.com

In Photo of the Day Children

Garden of Eden

Jay Patel — March 27, 2013

I am pretty sure that the Garden of Eden would have looked something like this. I love this spot in Eagle Creek in Northern Oregon. The best time to visit this location is when it has been raining – or under heavily overcast skies. Filtered light brings out the rich greens and reduces the overall dynamic range.

This was my third attempt to photograph this location….and if I had to try 300 more times before getting a shot like this, I wouldn’t mind in the least. I enjoyed every minute of it.

I wanted to create a sense of depth in the finished image. To do this, I placed the camera close the surface of the water and used a wide-angle lens. I stood in the water (did I mention that the water was icy cold because of Spring snow melt?) for about 45 minutes and waited for just the right distribution of the bubbles to go by me to capture their streaks with a long shutter speed. By the time I was done, my feet were numb… I think I could feel my toes again after another hour and a half. ;)

In Photo of the Day composition, oregon, photography, waterfalls