Photo of the Day - August 2009

[tonyeck]

My favorite place to watch the sun set at the Grand Canyon South Rim is at Desert View. At this view point you can look east over the Painted Desert over the Navajo Indian Reserve, or West to see the sun set spectacularly through the Canyons.

In my opinion it's the best place to see it in Arizona, but I am sure other people have their preferences!

This particular view, over the Painted Desert, gives you a great view of the very east end of the Grand Canyon and the greatest view of the Colorado River from the top of the rim. Again, just like my prior photos of this place, once the sun starts to set, the walls of the Canyon are illuminated with all these fabulous colors.

This photo is taken just as the sun had set and I left the shutter open for a around 30 seconds to bring in the reds from the sky, and you can just see them creeping in from the left of the shot. At this point, it had gotten a little darker but there was still enough light to make the shot work for me. Also it's great at this point as most tourists leave as soon as the sun passes under the horizon so you are left with a very peaceful scene. Usually it will be just you and other photographers there...

This was shot with my Canon 5D mark II, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L and a 0.9 Graduated ND filter.

 

[SelfMadeCelo]

Nothing spectacular, but I went to Hearst Castle today:

 

[luminosity]

My favorite place to watch the sun set at the Grand Canyon South Rim is at Deserts View. At this view point you can look east over the Painted Desert over the Navajo Indian Reserve, or West to see the sun set spectacularly through the Canyons.

In my opinion it's the best place to see it in Arizona, but I am sure other people have their preferences!

This particular view, over the Painted Desert, gives you a great view of the very east end of the Grand Canyon and the greatest view of the Colorado River from the top of the rim. Again, just like my prior photos of this place, once the sun starts to set, the walls of the Canyon are illuminated with all these fabulous colors.

This photo is taken just as the sun had set and I left the shutter open for a around 30 seconds to bring in the reds from the sky, and you can just see them creeping in from the left of the shot. At this point, it had gotten a little darker but there was still enough light to make the shot work for me. Also it's great at this point as most tourists leave as soon as the sun passes under the horizon so you are left with a very peaceful scene. Usually it will be just you and other photographers there...

This was shot with my Canon 5D mark II, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L and a 0.9 Graduated ND filter.

See now, that's not fair to the rest of us. Spectacular shot!

But, while you're displaying the full power of the 5D Mark II, here's the D700 at similarly full strength.

D700+85/1.8 at 25,000 ISO. Not 2,500, but 25,000. No post processing.

 

[tonyeck]

D700+85/1.8 at 25,000 ISO. Not 2,500, but 25,000. No post processing.

Haha, the detail for that ISO is just insane! Hard to believe!

 

[romanaz]

heres another one w/ some processing from that sunset a few days back. Did some dodging, a bit sloppy. CnC please =D

 

[luminosity]

Haha, the detail for that ISO is just insane! Hard to believe!

Amazingly enough, she looked better at 25K than 6400 ISO. The grain looks almost film-like.

 

[Phrasikleia]

...Used just a touch of various filters to get some texture - Film Grain, Fresco, Cutout, Watercolour - subtle settings, low opacity...experimenting with different blend modes...

I never would have guessed this part. Thanks for sharing!

Now that is an excellent capture! The light on the river really makes it special.


And here's mine for the day: a synchronized swimming routine I witnessed yesterday evening.

...oops...no catchlight!

 

[Doylem]

Small lop-sided dwelling in the middle of nowhere...

 

[superted666]

Well i cant possibly compare with tonyeck's effort that is awsome!

Heres mine.
Not done one for a while and its good to be back behind the camera

The port in Monaco, last week.

 

[emt1]

Am I any good at photography? These were all taken in Colorado.

 

[SayCheese]

A Vulcan Bomber.
Taken yesterday at the Bournemouth Air Show.

 

[romanaz]

shot of one of my cats, archie.

 

[davegregory]

I'll see your cat, and raise you a dog

 

[gkarris]

Here's another one - Rachel Luttrell and Paul McGillion ("Stargate: Atlantis") at Chicago Stargate Con 2009.

WHAT A GREAT LENS! I overpaid since I got it at a LFS. You can get one online for about $100 if you are willing to get it sight unseen...

Canon 20D, Sigma 75-300 DL (Nikon-F Mount) at 250mm (400mm equiv), f5, 1/60, ISO1600, Fotodiox Nikon-F to EOS Adapter

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

I liked the airy freeness of this one; overexposed grayscale might work for it. Maybe:



Click the above image for EXIF.

 

[tonyeck]

Ok, I admit, a little bit of Photoshopping was done here. Basically I had taken a 300 second exposure of the stars just as the sun was rising, but during that time, a car drove right in front of me (lights on causing an awful streak and flare in my photo). The stars came out fine, but the foreground was less than satisfactory. So, I took an exposure of the foreground without the car and combined the two images.

Not exactly how I wanted to do it as I don't like to do too much post production (get it right in camera etc.), but this was the image I wanted. It's pretty much what you could see at the time (just static stars obviously). Also, excuse the awful JPEG compression. RAW looks lovely!

This was shot with my Canon 5D mark II, EF 24-70mm F/2.8L and a 0.9 Graduated ND filter.

 

[sangosimo]

 

[Phrasikleia]

Small lop-sided dwelling in the middle of nowhere...

Absolutely splendid. I recognize the house from an earlier photo, but this one has an entirely different mood about it.

 

[MaddMacs]

Weatherford Trail

After many months renovating my guest house, I finally took a half day off and went hiking on one of my favorite trails. It was a beautiful day and the ferns were happy.

 

[CPD_1]

I liked the airy freeness of this one; overexposed grayscale might work for it. Maybe:



Click the above image for EXIF.

Wow, beautiful image. I'd be interested to see it in color (were you implying that it's available as such somewhere?), but I think it makes a wonderful greyscale image. It lets the subjects features really speak. She's got a very gentle, warm look... it feels very orange.

 

[abijnk]

I'm lost when it comes to photographing any type of architecture. C&C please.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Beautiful, may I use it as my wallpaper?

 

[lgrace08]

Gloomy morning and a Pennine farmhouse...

Nice image.

 

[tonyeck]

Beautiful, may I use it as my wallpaper?

Sure! As long as you do not print or sell, it's fine by me! (like others have done with one of my images )

Thanks for asking!

 

[Doylem]

Absolutely splendid. I recognize the house from an earlier photo, but this one has an entirely different mood about it.

I don't think you do...

There are a lot of these funny little buildings round here, which have no obvious pupose: not quite houses, not quite barns.

I'm lost when it comes to photographing any type of architecture. C&C please.

I'm not keen on pix where the camer's been pointed upwards, giving the building that 'falling over' look. Plenty of people shoot this kind of pix, and obviously like them, but it never looks right for me.

The remedy, for me, is to shoot from further away (ie slight telephoto effect, rather than wide-angle) while keeping the camera level. This gives a more natural result.

I appreciate this is not always possible. In cramped surroundings, there has to be a plan B. The expensive option is a shift/tilt lens, a rather specialised piece of kit, which 'corrects' verticals. The budget option (what I do...) is to do some correcting in Photoshop. If the 'correcting' isn't too extreme, the results can look OK too.