My birthday gift from Mother Nature came a couple days early in 2019 as I awoke to the sight of dense fog outside my hotel room in Hochatown, Oklahoma. Wake up call came well before dawn, and only the lights of the parking lot outside gave any indication to the heavy blanket of fog outside the hotel room door. In an instant my original plans for a vivid sunrise vanished, replaced instead with new ideas and new locations that I had scouted on previous visits to the area. Grabbing our …
Show and Tell: Trails on the Prairie
Seeing as one of my most popular articles here in the Learning Center is my ‘Stacking Star Trails in Photoshop CC’ – decided to share this non-stacked single frame star trail to show what can be done with a single exposure – as well as the challenges in capturing them. Where most star trails are shot at around 30-60 seconds per shot and then stacked with either Photoshop of another specialized application such as StarStax, this photo was taken in a single 2100 second exposure… doing the math, that’s 35 …
Landscapes 301 – Long Exposures
Photographs have the ability to not only show the world as it is, but also how we perceive it, and with the right tools, far beyond how the human eye can interpret it. In some ways the camera is inferior to the human eye (which in the wide natural world is far from being all that impressive), but in other ways the camera can be manipulated to capture views of the world that the human eye never could. Examples range from capturing the Milky Way in all of its detail, …
Show and Tell: Ketetahi Falls
Tongariro National Park, home to the major volcanoes of New Zealand’s North Island. And where there are mountains, there will be streams of water flowing down from the high elevations, and where there is flowing water, with a little luck there will be a waterfall or two. Ketetahi Falls is one of the smallest named falls within the National Park, but that makes it no less picturesque and worth a visit. Located at the end of the popular Alpine Crossing hiking trail, most hikers pass it right by in the …
Astrophotography Lenses – Beyond the f-number
Just getting started in Astrophotography? Please check out my introductory article, ‘Astrophography – Seeing the Light in the Darkest Places’ first before you dive in here. It’s been recently updated for 2017! Astrophotography is a wonderful, and at the moment wildly popular, style of photography. From the peace that comes from sitting in the still darkness taking in the sights of the night sky, to the wonder of seeing far more than the eye can behold light up the back side of your camera’s screen after each click – there …
Show & Tell: Rocky Coast Long Exposure
When myself and a group of six other photographers started discussing where we wanted to go on a Pacific Northwest photography adventure one name kept coming up: Thor What does the Norse God of Thunder have to do with Oregon? It is the name of a geological formation on Cape Perpetua on the central Oregon coast. I had been there once before, two years prior, and while I was happy with the photos at the time, having researched other photos at the location told us one thing – sunset was the …
Landscapes 101 – Beyond the pretty snapshot
Every photography site out there seems to have one, the “How to improve your Landscape Photography” article. Usually they have 5, or 10, or even 12 bullet points that cover the same general set of tips to taking better landscape photos. And this is mine. Why should you read it? Well, for starters, you’re already here, so you might as well. Additionally, I’m not so far removed from ‘before I knew these tips’ that I’ll assume you already know why they are important. I’m going to take the time to say …
The PNW Chronicles – Central Oregon Coast
What I consider the Central Oregon coast and what locals might consider it may in fact be slightly two different regions, though I’m sure there’s a lot of overlap. What we can probably agree on is that the cities of Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, Waldport, Yachats and Forence would be considered on the central coast. I’ve spent most of my time in the stretch around Newport as my parents, until just recently, had a summer home there. Both of my two major photo trips to Oregon have included several …
Star Trails – Astrophotography in Motion
Photography, as they say, is about capturing a moment in time. Some moments are a fraction of a second, like a batter swinging for the fences, or a Kingfisher as it dives for its breakfast. Other moments might capture a full second of time, such as a waterfall flowing over Niagara Falls. Some moments are longer yet, such as letting light flow through the camera long enough to capture eddies in a river, or soften a raging surf into a misty fog. When you start dragging out the length of …
The PNW Chronicles – North Oregon Coast
You can’t think of the northern Oregon Coast without thinking about the iconic sandy shores of Cannon Beach with its iconic Haystack Rock standing like a beacon but actually is a safe haven for hundreds of sea birds. However there is much more to see and explore along the northern end of the Oregon coast than just Cannon Beach. That said, don’t pass up an opportunity to spend an evening on the beach! All roads lead to Cannon Beach. In this case that’s more or less true. Highway 101 heads north and …
Show & Tell: Cascading waters in Oklahoma
When most people think of Oklahoma, they do not immediately think of rolling hills, tall trees, and most of all – waterfalls. However, there are pockets of the state that defy the generalizations most people have about Oklahoma. McCurtain County in the south eastern corner of the state is just such a pocket. And at Beavers Bend State Park you can indeed find cascading waterfalls – if the timing is right. Bound and determined to shake the ‘curse’ of my last two trips to Broken Bow and Beavers Bend, …
Exceeding Photoshop’s PSD 2GB File Size Limit
I remember when my family got their first computer. It was an Acer, it was this huge, heavy, dark colored tower case and even heavier 15″ CRT monitor. It was top of the line, Pentium 100 mhz (yes, mhz), and it had a 1 GB hard drive. Our neighbor exclaimed that we’d never possibly fill up a 1 GB hard drive. Six months later my father was none too pleased when I proved the old phrase “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Somehow, over a 56k modem, I had …
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