Canon 16-35mm f2.8L II

  1. The Mighty Sequoias of the Mariposa Grove

    This is an HDR photo taken in the Mariposa Grove which is located in the Yosemite National Park. It's about a half hour from the Yosemite Valley. At some point in your life you've probably seen a small car or beetle driving through a giant Sequoia tree. That tree use to be in this grove until it collapsed. Turns out you can't cut a giant hole through a tree and expect it to live. I guess they didn't realize that in the 1960's.

    To create this look I used three exposures, each two stops from each other. Combined them to form a single HDR photo in Photomatix then used Photoshop for a bunch of color and I applied a texture that I layered a few times mixing the blending modes between Overlay, Hard Light and Darken. 

    Today's HDR Photo

    Mariposa Grove Sequoias. Some of the mighty Sequoias of the Mariposa Grove. With a few texture layers.

  2. The Great Yosemite Valley

    This HDR photo is taken from the view right as you enter Yosemite Valley. It's pretty breath taking in real life. There is so much scale and scope to this place you feel so small driving through it. Kind of like the Grand Canyon. I like this place better though. More stuff to do.

    I did my usual processing on this photo. It's a three exposure sequenced combined in Photomatix then only processed in Lightroom 4. Usually I'll bring my photos into Photoshop for a little extra color and touch up work that just can't be done in Lightroom, but in this case there was no need. 

    Today's HDR Photo - The Great Yosemite Valley

    The Great Yosemite Valley of California This is an HDR Photo of Yosemite Valley right as you enter from the upper road. I never came this way last time I was here so this view was new to me. And pretty much one of the most amazing things I've seen.

  3. Venice Beach Walk

    This photo was taken between Venice Beach and Marina Del Ray at around sunset. I was more on the Marina Del Ray side looking towards the Venice Beach Pier. For the extreme long exposure I had to use my Light Craft Workshop ND 500. It's an ND filter that cuts down the light by 9 stops. This one is a lot of fun. 

    I'm still hoping to one day move down to this awesome little spot.

    Today's Photo - Venice Beach Walk

    Venice Beach Walk This shot is between Venice Beach and Marina Del Ray. More on the Marina Del Ray side. It's an extreme long exposure view of the Venice Beach Pier taken at sunset.

  4. Trail Through Mariposa Grove

    After staying in Yosemite Valley all day and night it was time to head home. On the way back we stopped at the Mariposa Grove. The largest  Sequoia Grove in Yosemite. There was this cool little bridge and the sun was peaking out just for a second to warm up the trees a bit with it's light. 

    This is actually one of those photos where I kind of wish I would have shot it HDR since the dynamic range of the scene was fairly high, but it was cold and I didn't want to deal with my tripod. When it's in the 30's-40's touching a metal tripod with bare hands isn't fun. None the less it turned out pretty cool. Sequoias are surprisingly really difficult to shoot because they are so big.

    Today's Photo - Trail Through Mariposa Grove

    Trail through the Mariposa Grove This is the largest Sequoia Grove in Yosemite. I thought this spot was cool as you cross this wooden bridge near the entrance of the grove. Every time I'm up here I'm always impressed by how huge the Sequoia trees can get.

  5. Old Couple of Yosemite Valley

    I haven't been doing too many HDR's lately but this shot called for it. There was this old couple just sitting there and soaking up the beauty of Yosemite Valley and the epic Half Dome. I love having people in my landscapes. It really helps with scale and just seems to add a whole new element.

    When my generation is old we'll be sitting there but playing on our ipones since we are too a.d.d. to just stop and enjoy what's around us. 

    Today's HDR Photo - Old Couple of Yosemite Valley

    Old Couple of Yosemite Valley It was pretty refreshing seeing this old couple pull out some chairs to just sit and soak up the beauty around them. You don't see people doing this much anymore.

  6. Sun Flares at Yosemite Falls

    There are two types of Landscape Photographers. Those that have a monks patience and can sit around waiting for the time of day and weather to be perfect, and those who know Photoshop.

    I did a lot of Photoshop work on this one. Here is what it looked like out of my camera.

    Yosemite Falls Raw

    To get the photo I used the Light Craft Workshop ND 500 which gave me 9 stops of ND. This allowed me to set my shutter to 30 seconds to get the nice streaky falls. Then I took the bright sun at the top and enhanced it to give me a lens flare look. I really like a good lens flare look and the Canon 16-35mm f2.8 II just won't do it. So I added it in post by painting color and setting the blending mode to hard light. 

    Next I added a lens flare and did a bunch more color in Photoshop. The final color I did in Lightroom. Right now my workflow is a little messy because there are some effects I want but can only do in Photoshop. But I still do like to do a lot of my coloring in Lightroom because I feel like it's much quicker. But it does have its limiations. 

    Today's Photo - Sun Flares at Yosemite Falls

    Sun Flares at Yosemite Falls You don't realize it until you're there but the falls this time of year give off so much mist, while standing there watching them you slowly find yourself getting wet. Shooting the falls is like the grown up version of being a kid and running through the sprinklers.

  7. Looking up at the Yosemite Falls

    I was lucky enough to get to go to Yosemite for my second time this weekend. One of the many great thing about being married to my Japanese wife is when her friends and family visit from Japan, they always want to go on awesome road trips. This time we were thinking of going to the Grand Canyon but opted for Yosemite instead. Reason being, the Grand Canyon is only exciting for about 20 minutes, the you're bored. At Yosemite National park you could live there and never get bored. So much to do and see. 

    It's nice to be doing photography again. Bronchitis kicked my butt for about two weeks.

    Today's HDR Photo - Looking up at the Yosemite Falls

    Looking Up at the Yosemite Falls My second time to Yosemite National Forest. I went last year when I first started to get back into photography. Since then I've got a few new lenses and a whole new perspective. Weather was a bit nicer this time as well. Everything was a bit greener, and more wildlife was out and about. It's truely spring there.

  8. California Purple Daisies

    I don't usually take pictures of flowers but, my mom was with me and she told me to. She actually had a few cool ideas how I could take pictures of flowers that would look awesome hung on walls. Giant macro photos and paintings of flowers are sort of in style right now and I actually have some cool ideas on how I can shoot some. But I'll need that Canon 100mm macro lens. It's on my lenses to buy list but I have other financial priorities currently.

    Today's Photo - Purple Daisies

    Purple Daisies These are some perfectly bloomed Purple Daises from when I was up near Pismo Beach. Everything is so green and in bloom and colorful up there in the spring. It's so impressive.

  9. Manly Beacon of Zabriskie Point

    The Manly Beacon of Zabriskie Point. Such an incredible name. This was just to the right of the Golden Mudstones of Death Valley. This scene is actually kind of ugly, but beautiful at the same time, if that makes sense. It's just amazing seeing all the different earthen tones together. 

    Today's Photo - Manly Beacon of Zabriskie Point

    Manly Beacon Manly Beacon at Zabriskie Point of Death Valley. Zabriskie Point is such a unique and beautiful and weird looking place. All at the same time.

  10. The Wife and Me in Death Valley

    This was taken at the Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley.

    This is one of those, frame the camera, set the timer and run. It was a lot and back and forth to get it just right, but I had fun. It's now one of my favorite photos of my wife and I, It was all her idea too.

    Such a amazing and epic place. Glad we did a photo here.

    Today's Photo

    The Wife and Me in Death Valley Picture of my wife Yumiko, and Me at the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley

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