The Death Valley photography workshop will officially kick off in a couple of hours.  But some of the attendees have already shown up and we’ve been out shooting last night and this morning.  It’s all been very informal.

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One week from today I’ll be arriving in Death Valley National Park for the 2010 Death Valley Photography Workshop that runs from February 20-23.   This will be the second time Jack Graham and I have teamed up for this exciting workshop.  And we have a great one planned. 

Death Valley is filled with photographic opportunities.  February in Death Valley is really extraordinary, especially this year.  It’s an El Nino year which for California means we’re getting higher than average rain fall.  And Death Valley is getting its fair share – relatively speaking that is. Already Death Valley has received its average annual rainfall with more storms on the way.

A friend who was in Death Valley a couple of weekends ago reported that Cotton Balls Basin was already filling with water.  Cotton Balls Basin is the large salt pan north of Furnace Creek and near the Harmony Borax Works.  Oh, and I learned where it got its strange name.  Cotton Balls is another term for borax.  In the old days they mined borax there.  Cotton Balls Basin is where we got the unbelievable Death Valley Reflection photographs last year.

If the water is still there this year we’ll be out there for sunrise.

Speaking of sunrise, we will be shooting sunrises and sunsets of course.  For sunrises we will photograph that fantastic period before the sun comes up when the earth is awash in the cool, soft dawn light.  After the sun sets we’ll continue to shoot the beautiful twilight light.  And we’ll take full advantage of the wonderful warm light and long shadows of the golden hour, the hour after sunrise and before sunset. 

But in the middle of the day, when the light is simply not there, we’ll devote our time to photo reviews and instruction.  Every participant will have an opportunity to share the photos they are taking with Jack, me and the other participants for some instant feedback.  And we’ll  be covering some great photography topics.

I’ll be talking about the photo foundation – exposure and focus.  I’ll also do a presentation on composition as well as one on the important subject of HDR.  Jack will talk about his 20 tips to be a great photographer, his workflow and close up or macro photography.  And in the field, Jack and I will be working closely with the students to help them get the most out of each location.  You can see in addition to great photography this workshop is packed with photographic learning opportunities.

So, like I said at the start, we have an exciting workshop planned for next week.  If you want to get in on the fun but missed the Death Valley workshop, Jack and I will be leading more.  You can find Jack’s photography workshop schedule on his website.  And my workshops are listed on my site.

But as far as Death Valley is concerned, we’ll definitely be back next February.

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The Death Valley Workshop is less than a month away – February 20-23, 2010 .  This is shaping up to be a fantastic winter.  The storms that rolled through California last week dropped a half inch of rain in Death Valley.  Now, that may not sound like much until you realize that that is half the annual rainfall and just in one week.  With more storms on the way this is shaping up to be a very exciting winter.

Last year we also encountered some incredible weather and while we can’t promise a lake in Cotton Balls Basin like the picture above, we can anticipate some exciting photo opportunities.  One never knows that’s in store but the more weather, the better the chances of experiencing something amazing.

But we only have six spaces left.  So if you want to be there this winter with a group of fellow photographers, all passionate about landscape photography, this would be the time.

Check us out.  Click this link for more information.

Death Valley Workshop

You won’t want to miss out.  But remember, there are only six spaces left and when they’re gone, there won’t be any more until next year.  So sign up now.

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People have already started asking me if we’re doing the Joshua Tree Gathering again in 2010.  The answer is, “You bet!”  The date is March 5-7, 2010.

If you haven’t attended the Joshua Tree Gathering in the past, a few words may be in order.  First of all, Joshua Tree National Park is our own national park her in Southern California.  It’s named after the impressive Joshua Trees that grow there.  These trees are a member of the yucca family and are found growing only in the high desert.

Another distinctive feature of JTNP is the outcroppings of granite.  They seem to boil up out of the ground and are reminiscent of of lava lamps.  They attract climbers from all over the world, especially this time of year.

But JTNP is not only high desert.  The southern entrance to the park is in the low desert so there’s a fascinating diversity of climate zones in the park along with the different flora and fauna that inhabits both.  This is the home of the cholla gardens where cuddly looking cholla cactus grow in profusion and the ocotillo patch where these Dr Seuss like plants raise their spindly and spiky branches to the sky.

And if that’s not enough, JTNP was the place where fascinating early history played out with ranching, gold mining, cattle rustling, murders, Disney movies and more.

So what does this have to do with the Joshua Tree Gathering?  Well, simply put, JTNP is a great place for photography, a great place to explore and March is a beautiful time to just be there.

How does it work?  We’ll gather in the Jumbo Rock campground Friday.  We’ll try to camp around campsite 19, the one with the photogenic Juniper tree growing behind it.  We’ll gather on Friday and make our plans for photography and exploration the next two days.

Those that like to camp can do so.  We’ll have several campsites pre-reserved so we can camp together.  Those that think that a Motel 6 with a green carpet is their kind of camping can stay in the Motel 6 (or other motels) in nearby Twentynine Palms.  Oh, the Motel 6 doesn’t have green carpets through.  Sorry.

And what does all this cost?  Not counting the entrance fees for the park and possible camping fees, the cost of attending the gathering is to bring a dish to the Saturday Night pot luck.  And if you want to show off just a little, all the better.  The pot luck this year was definitely one of the highlights of the gathering.

So, mark your calendar for March 5=7, 2010 and make your plans to attend.  We’ll have a great weekend of photography, phun and phellowship.

To see more of my photographs click here.

How would you like to experience the beauty of Tuscany  and bring it home in your camera?  Come join us for the 2010 Photography  Workshop in Tuscany, Italy.

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There’s a simple compositional technique you can apply to quickly improve the quality of your pictures.  It’s fun and easy and works in so many situations.  It’s called the “Rule of Thirds,” and it goes a little something like this.

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In part one and two of this series I described how I selected the file to work on and explored the potential of the image in Lightroom.  The treatment I ended up with would be exported into Photoshop and we go from there.

Read Part 1

Read Part 2

After trying several approaches particularly with regard to the color of the light I selected one that was very much like the unadjusted file.  The only change was opening up the shadows in the valley floor a bit.

Now the fun begins.  While Lightroom 2.x supports local adjustments I prefer to do the local adjustments in Photoshop.  I just feel that I have more control in Photoshop.

The first thing to deal with is the silhouette of the pint tree in the lower left hand corner.  I used the clone stamp tool to get rid of that.  I have no qualms about removing things that distract from the image.  But I draw the line at adding things.  Someone asked me if I added the moon in Bristlecone Moonrise.  No, I was there and that was the moon.  What’s the point of faking it.  The experience in the field would simply not be the same.  It’s so exciting to take an image like this and think you’ve got it.  But there’s always the nagging doubt in the back of your head wondering if you overlooked something and messed it up.   You never know until you get back at your computer to see what you really have.

But back to Yosemite.  So the pine tree silhouette had to go.  Also, I checked the image for dust spots and only found one or two.  The spot healing brush took care of them.

The next step was to do some local adjustments with Viveza.  It’s a cool tool from Nik Software that allows you to select an area and control brightness, contrast, saturation and more.  The clouds in the upper right needed contrast enhanced a little.  Next a couple of Curves with layer masks helped open up the valley floor even more.  I tried some vignetting on the bottom and really liked the way it funneled the eye into the center of the image where everything was happening.  I didn’t think I’d need any  vignetting for the top corners but tried it anyway and liked that too.  

I made some global adjustments too.  Selective Color helped warm the reds with some yellow, lighten the yellows and darken the blues.  Color Balance also shifted the overall color just a couple points to the yellow.

Sorry I don’t have images of each of the steps along the way but that pretty much finished up the first evening.  The image was starting to get interesting and it was time to sleep on it and come back another day to take a fresh look at it.

Original Capture

After Photoshop Session 1

Here are the two side-by-side.  It’s starting to take shape.  There’s a little hint of warmth in the clouds and they stand out more from the background.  The valley floor is better defined and the trees stand out a bit more.  There’s actually a subtle feeling of warm light down there.  El Cap and Bridle Vail Falls also are more prominent and their warmer tones contrast more with the overall picture’s coolness.  You can click on the images to enlarge them. 

Even before I fell asleep that night I was thinking of what needed to be done next.  As you work on an image you become satiated to the colors, tonalities and contrast and you can’t tell if they are good or not.  You also get emotionally involved.  So it’s good to stop, get away from it and return another day.  Sometimes when you return you are pleased and other times you say to yourself, “What was I thinking?”  When I get the latter reaction it usually means starting over from the beginning.  We’ll come back to this technique when you get far enough along to start making proofs.

So come back for #4 in this series to see if I  said, “What was I thinking?” or if I picked up from where I left off.

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The 2009 Digital Summit was held in Zion National Park this year.  I’ve attended it every year for the past four years now and always come away with several really good new ideas and techniques.  And also a few good photographs.

For various reasons I was not overly enthusiastic about the photos this year.  The light failed to materialize for the classic Watchman shot, there are composition issues with the Court of the Patriarch shot and on and on.  But last night I tried something that I’ve been wanting to do for some time now; that being, photograph the calcium deposits at Weeping Rock.

It turned out to be more difficult than I thought but there were actually several good images.  Here is my favorite.

I’ll definitely be coming back.

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Zion National Park in Southwest Utah has a sundown tradition amongst photographers of all kinds.  We gather on the bridge over the Virgin River in hopes of being there for one of those spectacular sunsets that can only be viewed here.

It doesn’t always happen.  But the ritual continues.  About two hours before sunset we start assembling.  Talk to your fellow photographers and you’ll likely find people from around the world.  Or, someone from your own back yard.

Soon the crowd builds and begins to spread out across the bridge, jockeying for the best locations.  So we tend to bunch up around the premium spots.

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I spent a night in Yosemite Valley a few weeks ago.  See 24 Hours in Yosemite.  It was great to be back; no, it was fantastic to be back.  Both sunset and the following sunrise were shot from Tunnel View, the parking area just as you emerge from the tunnel on state highway 41.  You can always count on company, especially for sunset.

I’m working on one of the photographs taken there that weekend.  But before showing you the image, let’s start with some comments about the light.  Sunset was a near cloudless sky.  The only clouds were a few cotton balls floating over Half Dome.  The rest of the sky was clear.  As the sun set the shadows filled the valley, eventually claiming to the tops of the cliff faces.  But as they did beautiful warm light embraced the the mighty granite but gradually gave way to approaching night.

The morning was quite the opposite.  During the night the anticipated storm rolled in and rain started to fall.  The valley was now full of clouds swirling about, shrouding the eternal granite.  And snow flurries came, keeping all of us at Tunnel View on our toes, protecting our camera gear and warming our fingers.

It was an image from the morning shoot that I selected to work on.  There were long periods of waiting.  The snow flurries passed over us and moved on up the valley obscuring most or all of it.  Then they would pass but the clouds wouldn’t be in the right positions.  Eventually a wonderful, exciting light came shortly after sunrise, imparting a very faint warm cast to some of the clouds.  The rest of the scene was cool, both in light quality and air temperature.

This is the image I started from as it appears unaltered in Lightroom.  I selected it because of the sense of mystery created by the clouds that just give us glimpses of Bridle Vail Falls and the Cathedral Spires on the right and towering El Capitan on the left.  The hints of the beautiful warm hues in the clouds that I would try to pull from the image are present but not apparent in this image.  Rather, we see the predominantly cool mood.

Over the next several posts I’ll take you through the process of trying to recreate what I saw and felt that morning as well as what I discovered in this image.  There were some wonderful surprises in store.  So stay tuned.

The journey continues – read part 2.

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I was fortunate enough to have all three photographs accepted for the Orange County Fair this year.  And I was very surprised to learn that all three had won awards.  To today I finally made it out to the fair and sure enough they all had ribbons.

Death Valley Reflections had an Honorable Mention ribbon.

Bristlecone Moon also had an Honorable Mention ribbon.

And Virgin River and the Watchman had a 2nd Place ribbon.

You can see more of my work at http://RalphNordstromPhotography.com