Gone to See America 2006 Driving Tour. Day 11: North Cascade National Park, Lake Chelan, Washington.
Five years ago I took the Lady of the Lake ferry from Chelan to Stehekin and back. It was about two weeks since I purchased a Nikon D200 camera. This was my first DSLR, and I barely knew how to use it. I took this image of a female mallard with a 80-400 mm VR lens. I really liked the look, and it became one of the reasons that I have been spending much of my time learning how to be a better photographer. There are three images, the original and two crops. My sister also made a print of this image that I have in my dining room.
Female Mallard Duck on Lake Chelan. Image taken with a Nikon D200 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/9, 1/320 sec). (David J. Mathre)Female Mallard Duck on Lake Chelan. Image taken with a Nikon D200 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/9, 1/320 sec). (David J. Mathre)Female Mallard Duck on Lake Chelan. Image taken with a Nikon D200 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/9, 1/320 sec). (David J. Mathre)
Lambertville Station Inn with the Delaware River at Near Flood Stage, Post Hurricane Irene.
I took these images of the Lambertville Station Inn with the waters from the Delaware River up to the level of the parking lot. The Lambertville Station Inn is right next to the Lambertville — New Hope bridge, which I cross on my way to work in Pennsylvania. This bridge remained open. These images were taken just after the river peaked at about 12 feet above normal. The official NWS flood stage is 13 feet. The USGS has a website where you can see a graph of the river level at this location.
Lambertville Inn. Delaware River at Near Flood Stage after Hurricane Irene. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 36 mm, f/8, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Silver Efex 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Lambertville Inn. Delaware River at Near Flood Stage after Hurricane Irene. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 42 mm, f/8, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Lambertville Inn. Delaware River at Near Flood Stage after Hurricane Irene. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Lambertville Inn. Delaware River at Near Flood Stage after Hurricane Irene. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 42 mm, f/8, 1/640 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Lambertville Inn from the Lambertville New Hope Bridge. Delaware River at Near Flood Stage after Hurricane Irene. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/8, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Lambertville Inn from the Lambertville New Hope Bridge. Delaware River at Near Flood Stage after Hurricane Irene. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Dead Tree Floating Down the Delaware River after Hurricane Irene. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 180 mm, f/8, 1/800 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)Crow on the Lambertville New Hope Bridge. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 28-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define 2, and Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Four years ago on a lark I drove from Boulder to Colorado Springs and then to Manitou Springs to take the Cog Wheeled Railroad to the summit of Pikes Peak. Little did I know that you needed reservations for the cog rail trip to Pikes Peak, and that all trips were sold out for the day. I was very lucky that someone in line before me was unhappy that their party was not all sitting together and turned in their tickets. Once I got on board the train, I realized that I won the lottery since my ticket was for the front seat. This allowed me to set up a tripod and camera to capture images for a time-lapse video for the train ride. So as not to annoy the other passengers on the train I used a small Gitzo travel tripod, my smallest camera body, and a small lens. Going up the mountain I used a 18-200 mm lens at 18 mm. Going down the mountain my seat was now in the rear of the train looking back. For this I used a 10.5 mm fisheye lens. This was a case of being in the right place at the right time!!!
Steam Engine at Pikes Peak Cog Railroad. Image taken with a Nikon D200 and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, Focus Magic, Topaz Define, and Photoshop CS5.
Four years ago I drove the recently opened Trail Ridge Road to the pass. At that time I took 5 vertical images with a Nikon D200 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens to be combined into a panorama. At that time the software to combine images for a composite panorama image were just starting to be available (including manually moving layers in Photoshop CS3), and don’t have the capabilities of the programs available today. The first panorama is the composite of 5 raw images using Auto Pano Giga 2.5. The second panorama used Auto Pano Giga with the Neutralhazer plugin (to reduce the effect of long distance haze). The folks from Kolor that created the dehazer claim that the program reduces the effect of light traveling through long distances of air. The third panorama adds the Topaz Detail (Color Jump) filter to the above. Let me know what you think about the three versions.
Rocky Mountain National Park Panorama on Trail Ridge Road. Images taken with a Nikon D200 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 100, 105 mm, f/11, 1/160 sec). Composite of five images using Auto Pano Giga 2.5. Additional processing with Photoshop CS5.Rocky Mountain National Park Panorama on Trail Ridge Road. Images taken with a Nikon D200 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 100, 105 mm, f/11, 1/160 sec). Composite of five images using Auto Pano Giga 2.5 and the DeHaze Plugin. Additional processing with Focus Magic, Nik Define, and Photoshop CS5.Rocky Mountain National Park Panorama on Trail Ridge Road. Images taken with a Nikon D200 and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (ISO 100, 105 mm, f/11, 1/160 sec). Composite of five images using Auto Pano Giga 2.5 and the DeHaze Plugin. Additional processing with Focus Magic, Nik Define, Topaz Detail (Color Jump), and Photoshop CS5.
Last night I got an e-mail link to the June 2011 Newsletter from Tuner Photography. The first thing I noticed was the image of an old car in front of the Cow Canyon Trading Post in Bluff, Utah. I remembered taking a snapshot of this vehicle as we were driving by back in February 2008 as part of an Elderhostel (now Road Scholar) Photography Workshop I was attending with my father and brother. Ever since I have wanted to go back to spend some more time in Bluff. Since then based on Winston’s image it looks like the Cow Canyon Trading Post has added a Gallery. If you do a search on the Internet you see a number of images of the Cow Canyon Trading Post and this old car parked out front. Back to Winston’s Newsletter — How to be creative where many have (and/or are) taking images from the same location. I remember a session at Delicate Arch where it seemed that the tripod positions were so used that they were marked in the rocks.
I’ve attended several workshops with Winston, and recommend him as a teacher. As a new digital photographer, I learned a lot during his workshops, both out in the field and back in the classroom “after the click” processing the images. It is because of a comment he made during one of his workshops that I try to share at least one image a day (preferably one taken on that day). I started doing this on Facebook, but after dropping Facebook it morphed into my “Images of the Day” photo-blog. I do recommend that you also to sign up for Winston’s monthly Tuner Photography Newsletter. Some day I hope that I can attend his Balloon Festival Workshop in Albuquerque.
Below are two versions of the image I took of the old car in 2008. I admit it is a snapshot or “grab” as I was in the back seat of a van and we were moving when I took the picture. One in color, the other converted to B&W with Nik Silver Efex Pro. Is this just a historical picture from somewhere I have been, or something artistic. I am still digesting Thom Hogan’s 20-June-2011 essay “How Thick is Your Skin”
Back to the images of the old car — I think that it is a Buick from the mid-50’s but am not sure. If you can identify the make/model and year let me know.
Cow Canyon Trading Post. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec).Cow Canyon Trading Post. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 sec). NIK Silver Efex Pro 2.
