Photoblog 2.0

Lake Tenaya Reflections, photo by Harold Davis.

On my trip, I left Yosemite Valley and drove across Tioga Pass. (I’ll write more about this segment of my journey in another blog entry.)

I stopped at the west end of Lake Tenaya for a little down time in the sun (would you believe I was going to read a copy of the New York Times I had picked up in the Valley?) and encountered the wonderful reflection, enhanced a bit with my polarizer.

I’ve been asked a number of times rcently how I process my photos before I upload them to flickr. So I thought I’d write about what I do.

It takes me roughly an hour an image. Often, this is more time than it took to take the photo — more evidence to me that digital photography is a cyborg, one part photographer and one part computer.

There’s nothing that says that you have to do anything so elaborate. For the most part, a Jpeg image straight from your camera will look OK. (But you should know that the Jpeg format automatically sharpens and adjusts the color and contrast balance of images — something that a good human operator can probably do better.)

Here’s how I processed this image (and most of my photos) for display on flickr. (As you may know, I use flickr as the image management software behind this photoblog.)

First, I have my camera set to capture all photos in RAW and Jpeg formats. The RAW version — which is unoptimized but provides all the information from the original capture — is what I’ll use, because I do a better job of finishing a photo than the Jpeg algorithm.

But it is useful to have an initial Jpeg capture because this will tell you (at least most of the time) what the finished image will look like a little better than the RAW version.

I use Adobe Bridge software to scan images to see what came out well enough to bother with. As I said, mostly the Jpeg version gives one a better quick impression of a photo than the RAW version.

You can use the Bridge to tag (and later on filter) photos for quality as a kind of sorting system, but I usually don’t bother with this. Instead, I jot down on a pad of paper the images I am interested in working with further.

Once I’ve settled on an image for further work, I open it in Adobe Photoshop. (Note: I use Photoshop, but for everything I describe in this entry you could use the far less expensive Photoshop Elements with almost exactly the same effect.)

When you open the RAW image in Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements), you can make many adjustments. (See my earlier entry for more information about opening RAW images in Photoshop CS2, and a related piece about processing digital photos.)

Generally, and this is based on my personal preferences, I tend to make the color in my photos more dramatic before I open them by upping the color temperature, tint, and saturation.

I also go for a more dramatic effect by upping shadows and contrast, and compensate by also upping brightness and the exposure.

But all photo conversion effects when converting the RAW image need to be monitored sensitively. It is easy to go too far.

It’s useful to know that once you get the RAW conversion right for one photo in a set (taken in the same light conditions), you can use the same settings for the rest of the photos — by telling Photoshop to use the previous conversion rather than the camera defaults, or by selecting a previously converted image to use as the model for the conversion.

Once the converted image opens in Photoshop, the first thing you want to do is save it off as a PSD file (Photoshop’s native format). You want to be sure to do this so that the original file is never touched by your manipulations.

Next, if the image is to be cropped, use the Photoshop Crop Tool to crop it.

The next step is to adjust the image levels by choosing Image > Adjustments > Levels. The idea here is to manually adjust the histograms represnting the R, G, and B levels to eliminate color outliers that either show spikes in the given primary color, or do not show any color at all. Here’s the Red level pushed in to eliminate the spikes at both ends (you’d also push the ends in if no color at all were shown at the ends):

You need to be a little careful with this. If adjusting the level for a given RGB primary color makes the image less pleasing, then you should also tweak the color using the slider shown in the center of the Levels dialog.

Once I’m satisified with my manual adjustment of levels, I generally put the image through Image > Adjustments > Auto Levels. If I’ve down everything right, this doesn’t have too much impact, but does kind of smooth things out. I also try Image > Adjustments > Auto Contrast and Image > Adjustments > Auto Color to see what they do. But be careful: more often than not Auto Color produces a lousy effect, and I have to undo it.

Next, I work on detail areas of the photo (if there are any). This usually means removing imperfections and artifacts with the Clone Stamp Tool and/or slightly adjusting the color in specific selected image areas using the Selective Color dialog (Image > Adjustments > Selective Color).

The photo is now almost there, but needs to be sharpened. To do this, first I apply the Unsharp Mask (Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask). I sharpen it somewhere between 50% and 70% with the radius set low (between 1 and 2 pixels). Then I use the Smart Sharpen filter (Filters > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen), shown here:

I don’t use Smart Sharpen at a high percentage - no more than 30%. And I watch the impact of the radius setting carefully. The higher the number of pixels used in the radius setting, the more apparent sharpness. But setting the radius high — above 5 pixels — actually causes information to be lost, and can lead to a sort of weird fuzzy-but-sharp look. So you need to be careful with this.

When you are happy with it, save the image in its PSD format. It’s now ready to be archived, and you can used the PSD version if you ever want to make a print or reproduce the photo via Photoshop.

To make a version for flickr, save it as a Jpeg using the highest possible resolution.

Next, upload it to flickr. I use the Flickr Uploadr, a bit of software that you download from flickr. But be somewhat warned: this software is officially beta, and sometimes acts like it! It’s nice that you can upload multiple images at the same time with it.

People use flickr for many reasons. For example, my primary use of flickr is for image management. But I’m also happy to be part of the wonderful flickr community. As part of the community, once your photos have been uploaded to flickr, you should tag them, organize them into “Sets,” and add them to flickr Groups to share them with others. Two good flickr groups for this purpose are 1-2-3 and Macro-1-2-3.

Have you heard the latest on online universities? They’ve been expanding their programs to include thing like online art and design degrees and other great topic areas. So if you’ve been waiting to learn more about art online be sure to look into getting an bachelors degree at one of the many great online learning centers.

Valley Sunset, photo by Harold Davis.

Happy but foot weary I came down the trail from Vernal and Nevada Falls, determined if it was before 3PM (I didn’t have a watch with me) to stick to Plan A. Plan A being to get on the shuttle bus, find my car, and drive up and around to the country near Glacier Point.

At an elevation of 7,000 or more, this country would stay bright (and photographable) much later than the Valley.

Once I got up there, I decided to hike up to Sentinal Dome, which is about a mile from the road and has a view extending west to the great California valley and east to the Sierra Crest.

This view of Yosemite Valley sinking into sunset and shadows is from the summit of the dome, as are these photos of rocks and blasted trees:

Rainbow, photo by Harold Davis.

When I saw the sun shining newly risen at the top of Vernal Falls, I couldn’t still my wandering feet.

“Onward,” they said to me, “and upwards!”

Where one’s feet go, one’s soul must follow. And so I climbed the Mist Trail, a giant stairway that brought me past the rainbow (and other wonders).

The postscript is that once on top of Vernal Falls, I couldn’t just stay there but must needs climb higher - to the top of Nevada Falls and more wonders.

Vernal Falls Morning Light, photo by Harold Davis.

I spent the first couple of nights of my road trip in Yosemite Valley.

I stayed at Curry Village for $29.00 per night in a canvas tent. Delaware North Corporation (DNC) runs the place along with all the concessions in the Valley. It’s a wonder that DNC can’t even keep the place moderately clean. The food is so awful that David and Jennie Curry, who founded the place as a way to let working people enjoy nature, would turn over in their graves — the early Camp Curry was known for its fine food!. (More on Camp Curry…)

DNC and the Park Service must have a cozy relationship made up one part cronyism, one part shared ideology, and one part kick-backs. My own experience of nature was marred by a loud exhaust fan that ran all night. Although this subject is worth some serious investigative reporting, enough ranting! I had a great time anyhow.

At this time of year (mid-October) the Valley floor only gets sunshine in the middle of the day, say about 10 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon.

I woke to a beautiful day! My plan was to photograph late afternoon and sunset from Sentinal Dome and Glacier Point, but I thought I’d start out by stretching my legs and walking up to the first bridge on the Vernal-Nevada Falls trail.

Oh, I should mention that the big Valley waterfalls were mostly dry. Yosemite Falls was not flowing. One ranger told me that tourists regularly requested that he “turn the waterfalls” back on.

Anyhow, I walked took the shuttle bus to the trailhead and walked the mile to the first bridge. I was alone in the early morning shade. I looked up. Sunlight was hitting the top of the falls. It was time to take out my camera and tripod!

This page sponsored by Garden-Fountains.com.

Yosemite Autumn, photo by Harold Davis.

I’m just back from a week trip to the mountains and the desert.

Phyllis is a saint and took care of the three kids more-or-less solo. I think Julian wanted to come with me so much that he really was acting out. Handling the three of them at once is no piece of cake for one person.

I visited Yosemite, the eastern Sierra, and the desert.

On this trip I took over 1,000 images, and as time goes by I’ll be processing and blogging the best of them. I’m very excited by these photos, but they are stark.

The purpose of the entry is to explain in an overview fashion where I went.

If you look at the map, you can see I first drove to Yosemite, where I spent several days hiking. (You can click on the map or here to see it in a larger size.)

After Yosemite, I went over Tioga Pass and into Owens Valley.

I drove south down Owens Valley, stopping to take pictures, and then turned east towards Westgard Pass, the ancient Bristlecone Pines, and the desert.

From Beatty, Nevada I explored the ghost town of Rhyolite, and then entered Death Valley National Park.

I returned to Owens Valley near Lone Pine, watched the sunrise shed morning alpenglow on Mount Whitney, and spent several sessions photographing the Alabama Hills.

Turning north, I headed for Bridgeport, photographed Twin Lakes, and had a straight shot home over Sonora Pass.

This is the macro picture. Stay tuned for more photos, and stories of my travels in more detail.