John Williams Photography: Blog https://www.williamspix.com/blog en-us (C) John Williams Photography [email protected] (John Williams Photography) Mon, 16 Mar 2020 06:31:00 GMT Mon, 16 Mar 2020 06:31:00 GMT https://www.williamspix.com/img/s/v-12/u786432395-o65917755-50.jpg John Williams Photography: Blog https://www.williamspix.com/blog 120 113 Leave the room by 4:15 AM! https://www.williamspix.com/blog/2012/12/leave-the-room-by-4-15-am So this Photo was taken on September 8th, 2012 in the Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.  I was staying in Las Vegas at Ceasers Palace for a conference and had at least a half day before I had to attend meetings.  So I set the alarm for 4:00am that Saturday having prepared the night before so  I could head out by 4:15am for the Valley of Fire.  I use the Photographers Ephemeris application on my Galaxy Nexus which shows you the exact Sun and Moon schedules for anywhere you are.  I was the only one there when I arrived about one and a half hours later.  I had to scope out the park very quickly because the glow of light was already getting a small start.  This image was taken only about 20 yards from the main drive that cuts through the park.  I had enough time to set up the tripod and start clicking.  This exact image was snapped at 6:22AM.  The first ones I took started just a few minutes before this and you can see the changes to the light quite dramatically in just a 5 to 10 minute time period.  The red color of the ground as well as the rock formations in this park are amazing, thus the name Valley of Fire.  Getting there even 15 minutes later would have missed that magical time.

For the photographers, this was taken with the Canon 5D M3 and the EF16-35mm lens set at 31mm, f/9.0 and ISO of 320.   This image was originally three separate bracketed exposures and then combined using Photomatix Pro and then Stylized in Photoshop using Topaz Adjust and finished in Lightroom 4.  The HDR process enables proper exposure of the rising sun while still having good details of the desert scene.    I also have a super wide panoramic from the same spot that is actually 11 vertical shots stitched together that came out quite well; but that makes for a mighty wide high resolution image.

]]> [email protected] (John Williams Photography) Desert Early Las Vegas Morning Photography at dawn Red Rocks Southwest USA State Park Sunrise Travel Up Early Valley of Fire https://www.williamspix.com/blog/2012/12/leave-the-room-by-4-15-am Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:18:36 GMT Waiting for the right moment https://www.williamspix.com/blog/2012/11/waiting-for-the-right-moment This is an image taken at the west end of the south rim as serviced by the shuttle bus from the Grand Canyon Village.  Mary and I got there in time to watch the Sun go down.  It was very difficult to see anything at the time because we were directly in the path of light from the Sun and while you can see and appreciate the view of the Canyon including the Colorado River in this photo, we really couldn't see it very well at the time.  I was so pleased to have this image come together after as it was taken without knowing for sure what was captured.

This image was taken by actually combining three separate exposures, called bracketing, and then merged through a special HDR process followed by stylizing adjustments and edits.  Originally there was a healthy lens flare that detracted from the image and some other stuff that cropped into the image from the lower left corner that was removed.  Using the mulitple exposer technique was the only way to bring out the beautiful details of the Canyon while still preserving that awesome sunset.

I lay no claim to the beauty of this image, this is God's work!

Best,  John

]]> [email protected] (John Williams Photography) Colorado HDR Right River canyon grand moment sunset https://www.williamspix.com/blog/2012/11/waiting-for-the-right-moment Sun, 18 Nov 2012 01:20:13 GMT