The Terra Galleria Blog – QT Luong

Shenandoah National Park stretches along the crest of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains for 105 miles. Only one mile wide at places, at at most thirteen miles wide, for many visitors, the Park is the Skyline Drive. The winding road offers uncountable numbers of scenic overlooks on both sides. However the topography is gentle rather than spectacular, the immediate surroundings look at bit too manicured (the National Park Service cuts down trees to clear vistas), and in many instances, the hand of man can be seen in the form of pastures, farms, and small towns in the distance.

To experience the real beauty of the place, you must get off the road and walk into the woods. There are two type of trails in the park. The first consists of sections of the Appalachian trail, which parallels Skyline Drive. They are well marked with white blazes, and relatively level, but do not lead to places of particular interest. The second consists of park trails, marked with blue blazes, which in general run perpendicularly to the Skyline Drive, following streams, and leading to waterfalls. Those trails are often steep. Since you are starting at the top, do not underestimate the return trip, which can be strenuous.

The easiest of those trails is the Dark Hollow Falls, which is 1.4 miles RT with an elevation gain of 440 feet. The trailhead is 50.7 miles from the north entrance, at the Dark Hollow Falls Parking. Although the waterfall is impressive, I found its photographic potential to be limited.

However, it gets better. At the bottom of the Dark Hollow Falls Trail, you will see a bridge that leads you to the Hogback Branch Falls Trail. This section of the trail from there, down to the junction with the Hogcamp Branch of the Rose River, follows the stream for about a mile. The fast-flowing river creates hundreds of small cascades and falls of great beauty. From there, you could hike back, or continue onto the Rose River Trail. After maybe another mile and half, you will spot the highest waterfall on the stream. Continuing up let you follow the stream for maybe a quarter miles of more waterfalls and cascades. The last mile is in the forest, then the trail meets the Skyline Drive at the Fishers Gap Overlook, at mile 49.4. The total elevation gain is about 1000 feet. For an easy shortcut, you could skip Dark Hollow Falls, and walk directly from Fishers Gap Overlook to the junction of the Dark Hollow Falls Trail and the Hogback Branch Falls Trail through a well graded fire road.

Spring is when the streams and waterfalls are at their best, before drying out as the season advances. Fall on this trail is spectacular, as in many places in the park. In general, the two middle weeks of October are the best for fall color. When I was there, there was only a trickle of water left, but it was sufficient to create beautiful images with longer exposures (tripod required !). As in many deep forest scenes, the even light of an overcast day is much easier to work, however, on sunny days, you can wait for the hillside to go in the shade in the late afternoon.

CPS is a great service that used to be under the radar for many Canon photographers, because it is not widely advertised, and membership requirements were strict. CPS offers expedited and discounted repairs, as well as free equipment loans.

I’ve read of people waiting weeks for their cameras to be repaired. On four occasions, I sent out equipment for repair through “pro rush”. Each time, I shipped through Fedex Ground on Monday, and received my equipment back on Friday.

You can request “service loaner” equipment to replace the one you send out for repair, as well as for evaluation. I used this program to borrow a 600/4 for a week and half. I had to pay only for return shipping. A similar rental cost is about $400. The only catch is that you can request the same piece of equipment for evaluation only two times.

For membership approval, you had to submit documents attesting of your status of professional photographer, such as promo pieces or tear sheets of published work. The membership needed to be renewed every two years. This changed about a year and half ago. Although the CPS website still states “Applicant must be: An individual, self-employed or an employee of a professional imaging business, that, as a full-time profession, is directly involved in the creation of images; either moving or still.”, no credential verification seems to take place anymore, and there is even a checkbox for “part timer”.

While membership was free, there are now three tiers of membership, Silver, Gold, and Platinium, with increasing benefits, the latter two requiring an annual fee of $100 and $500 respectively. In my opinion, the $100 fee for Gold (which offers benefits similar to the old free membership) is a good value. Instead of submitting credentials, you just need to prove ownership of pro-level gear (1 or 2 bodies and 3 lenses) by entering their serial number. Even those requirements have been diluted. When I signed up, a year and half ago, you needed two pro-grade bodies. Checking their web page for this post, I noticed that now a single 1Ds3 or 1D4 is sufficient.

1DsIII, 600/4 + TC 2x

In Carlsbad Caverns National Park, the same 250-million year old limestone reef that forms the Guadalupe Mountains has been dissolved into caves. The gypsum that forms the rare sand dunes – last week’s photo spot – is one of the by-products of the dissolution of limestone by sulfuric acid.

Most of the caves are formed from top to bottom by weak carbonic acid entering from above. At Carlsbad, sulfuric acid is generated where the hydrogen sulfide from the deep petroleum reservoirs meets the water table, forming the cave from the bottom up. The strength of the sulfuric acid leads to unusually large chambers in Carlsbad Caverns, such as the aptly named 8.2-acre Big Room (4000 feet long, 625 feet wide, 350 high), the third largest cave chamber in the Americas.

If I was to visit only one cave in the National Parks, it would clearly be Carlsbad Caverns. Not only are the underground chambers some of the largest anywhere, they are also filled with decorations of great beauty. While some of the most decorated sections (such as the Kings Palace, Queen Chamber and Papoose Room) can be visited only on guided tours that leave little time for photography, the Big Room can be explored at your own pace on a mile-long self-guided tour. The Big Room is graced with numerous formations, including the Bottomless Pit, Giant Dome, Rock of Ages, and Painted Grotto, that provide a variety of compositions. Unlike other caves where tripods are strictly prohibited, there is no limitation on their use there.

Working in large format, my exposure times often ranged in the fifteen minutes. On my first visit, the film popped and shifted during the long exposures, resulting in unusable double images. On my second visit, I combated the problem by sticking double-sided tape to my film holders.

The cave is open all year, and the underground temperature constant. However, if you want to observe the daily mass exodus of Mexican free-tail bats (400,000 +) that leave the caves to feed at night, you have to come from Memorial Day weekend through mid-October, as in late October the bats migrate to Mexico for the winter. The best bat flights normally occur in July and August. At this time baby bats, born in early summer, join the flight along with migrating bats from colonies further north. Note, however, that photography requires a special use permit that must be obtained from the park at least two weeks in advance. This is because white light disturbs the bats, and the average tourist cannot be trusted to prevent his point and shoot camera to fire its flash when it gets dark.

View all images of Carslbad Caverns National Park

I’ve updated my page of images of Boston with new images from March 2010.

Boston was the first city in the US that I visited, two decades ago. Back in those days, as a computer scientist, we had frequent collaborations with the MIT where I came to give technical talks. About twenty images on the page date from that period. Last March, I went to Boston again to give talks, but this time, it was artist lectures about my photographic projects at a university and museum.

Although I had arrived late in the evening, and gone to bed well past midnight (body time 3am with the jet lag), on the first morning, I got up at 5am to photograph at sunrise from the harbor, knowing that this may be the last time I would see the sun during my stay. It turned out that the weather forecast was right. New England was battered for days by the worst rain storm of the winter.

The combination of near-freezing temperatures, rain, and high winds made it miserable to walk the streets. It was a fair deal of extra work to keep the lens dry, but the weak link was often the photographer. I’d often had to enter a building to warm up, however, this lead me to find a few interesting spaces, such as the Quincy Market, or Harvard’s Memorial Hall. The reward was that wet streets created reflections, especially at night, that made the images more interesting than they would have been in dry weather.

In the cities, there is always this short window of time, around sunset, when no matter what the weather is, for a brief moment between grey and black, the sky turns to a dark blue, and the ambient light still lights up the cityscape enough for it not be overpowered by the lights. On a rainy day, this will be your best scenic opportunity. Do not miss it !

Guadalupe Mountains National Park offers in a compact size a great variety of scenery and juxtapositions, including the highest mountains in Texas, canyons, desert, and sand dunes. The vegetation range from desert plants, to woodland trees whose color in autumn rival New England. Being among the least visited of the parks in the continental US, the park is mostly free of crowds, except maybe in the main canyon during the peak of fall colors. It is not well known amongst nature photographers offering the opportunity to create relatively fresh images.

There are more iconic or productive spots in the park, however since in the past I have featured only relatively well-known sites, this time I will describe an interesting location that I bet you haven’t visited yet.

Undocumented (the NPS map says to call for directions), unmarked, and out of the way, the Salt Basin Gypsum Sand Dunes are one of only two gypsum dune fields in the US. The other is nearby White Sands National Monument, in New Mexico, which is huge, and sees heavy recreational use. The small size of the island of dunes, surrounded by desert scenery and the backdrop of the massive escarpment of the Guadalupe Mountains, create a very different effect of intimacy and solitude. You will not be bothered by footprints. During my visit, in November, I did not meet another person there. The area has been included within the park boundaries only for a decade.

To get there, drive South on US 62 for 23 miles from the visitor center to Salt Falt. Make a right turn and follow county road 1576 for 16 miles, then make another right turn on the access road, driving towards East for 7.5 miles to a parking area before a the locked gate. Hike about 2.5 miles down the dirt road to the dunes. The driving time from the visitor center is about one hour. In 2000, there were no signs and absolutely no facilities (the closest are in Dell City about 4 miles West from the access road).

The clay that makes up the surface of the access road becomes extremely slippery during rainy weather, and would be unsafe to drive. At 3640 feet, the Salt Basin Dunes are lower in elevation than most of the park. They are warm in winter, and very hot in summer. During the spring, high winds can make the area inhospitable, sometimes even obscuring the road with sands.

You will be West of the Guadalupe Range. To capture the dunes in the foreground, with the impressive reef behind, late afternoon to sunset light is the best. When I was there, wispy clouds on the East catched the colors of sunset, so I used only a wide angle to take in the dunes, mountains, and sky. If the sky is not as spectacular, a longer lens could be used to frame the mountains more tightly.

View all images of Guadalupe Mountains National Park
View all images of Salt Basin Sand Dunes

Remoteness makes Big Basin National Park one of the least visited National Parks. The park lies 325 miles from El Paso, the closest major city. The three roads that lead to the park end there. They do not pass through to another location.

A diverse topography, flora, and fauna surprise the visitor who takes the long trip. Three distinct environments are found in the park. The desert, at the edge of the Chihuahuan, offers more variety of cactus than any other desert in North America. The Chisos Mountains, a compact mountain range that is the southernmost in the US, rise to 8000 feet in the center of the park. The canyons of the Rio Grande River form the border with Mexico. Northern trees (such as Aspen and Maple) mix with southern trees (like Pinyon Pine and Juniper). Blooming flora is found in almost every season.

Driving into the Chisos Basin, you experience in a few miles a change from the hot desert to a cool sub-alpine environment. Consider hiking three trails from the Chisos Basin, the Windows Trail, Lost Mine Trail, and South Rim Trail. On the Window Trail, concentrate on close views of the pools and stream, as the view of the Windows is better from the overlook of the same name. The Lost Mine trail (4.5 miles RT) provides good views with a moderate hiking distance.

The South Rim of the Chisos Mountains offer by far the most spectacular panoramic views in the park. From there, the desert below stretches as far as the eye can see into Mexico. Agaves and cactus on the rim form interesting foregrounds. I prefer to photograph those compositions with a wide angle lens such as a 24mm.

The South Rim Trail is 13 miles RT, with an elevation gain of 2000 feet. As the light is often quite flat mid-day, I recommend to camp overnight on the top of the rim to catch both the early morning and late evening light. Although you will meet a springs on your way up, it is probably safer to take all the water you need with you. There are some flat spots, well sheltered by pines, close to the rim. On my outing, I did not bring a tent.

The Chisos are much cooler than the surrounding desert, yet during the summer the temperatures are probably too high to enjoy such a long hike, and thunderstorms may present a hazard on the ridge. When I visited in mid-November, the temperatures were perfect. Winter can bring sub-freezing temperatures to the desert and mountains. The desert blooms in spring, but note that from February to July the southern part of trail is usually closed for peregrine falcon breeding season, which would limit your explorations, although the remaining section of the trail will still offer plenty of superb views.

View all images from South Rim of Chisos Mountains
View all images from Big Bend National Park

I’ve posted new images of the towns of Portsmouth, Walpole, and Concord.

Last March, I found myself again in New England. I had originally planned to travel in the mountains to photograph winter scenes.

It turned out to be the warmest March on record. Places that were normally covered in feet of snow were dry. At least a month away from greening up, the landscape looked bleak. Historically, this was a stark time, when people were running out of food and starving. Bare forests and trees do have a stark beauty, especially under cloudy skies, and you’ll see quite a few of those images in this spring’s installments.

As I also needed to create images with more popular appeal, I chose on that trip to concentrate on towns and villages, since they did not look that different from other seasons.

My favorite town to explore in New Hampshire was Portsmouth, which I found to have a lot of character, as well as variety for such a small town. However, I found each New Hampshire town interesting. Even though the purpose of my visit to Walpole – a village far from usual tourist destinations – was to visit Dayton Duncan and Florentine Films, I was quite taken with the harmony and architectural homogeneity of the place. There is something special about places that have been lived in continuously for a long time.

At the edge of the Painted Desert, erosion is washing away soft badlands to expose fossilized remnants of ancients forests. Petrified Forest National Park is the place to see a large concentration of perfectly preserved trunks, turned cell-by-cell to colorful stone. What makes the park unique is that eroded badlands with a variety of textures and shapes surround the petrified wood.

Of all the badlands areas, the most spectacular may be the Blue Mesa, where petrified logs can also be found in abundance. There, a well-marked one-mile trail leads you from the top of the rim into the bottom of a canyon surrounded by eroded cliffs, providing you with a variety of viewpoints over blue, gray and tan-stripped cliffs.

From the top of the mesa, look for abstract images of erosion patterns. As you come down, check the buttes stripped with colors. Inside the canyon, many logs can be found at the base of the washes. In particular, a gully on the west side of the trail features a chute of logs. Although the light is generally better in the afternoon, that particular gully would be lit in the morning. I waited for it to be fully in the shade of late afternoon. In the evening, the bottom of the canyon is in the shade. The Park is day use only with an exception made for backcountry permit holders. Even though, such a permit does not allow you to drive around after park closure. At sunset, you will need to be in your car, heading for the park exit, but if the conditions are right, it is possible to grab an image of the whole canyon with good light before heading out, especially in the shorter days of winter. I’d avoid visiting in summer, as temperatures can be hot.

View more images of Petrified Forest National Park

Thank you for those who voted on yesterday’s polls about the Potato Harbor sunsets. I am with the majority opinion. I prefer the third image because it looks more natural, as the contrast was down to reasonable levels, while the two other images have a “HDR” look. Of those two, I prefer the first one because of the sun light. Those who ventured to guess the processing techniques got it generally right. I used HDR to handle the more extreme contrast of the first image, and worked manually on the last image. In fact the last image could have been captured in a single exposure but with two images I was able to obtain cleaner tones in the darker areas.

In addition to the three sunsets, I have also posted new images from the trip to Santa Cruz Island on Channel Islands National Park.

While Anacapa Island offers the most spectacular viewpoint (Inspiration Point), one can hike all the Anacapa trails in less than one hour, and all the viewpoints are cliff-top. Santa Cruz Island, over 96 square miles in size and California’s largest island, offers ample room to roam, even though the National Park extends only on the westernmost 25% of the island (the rest is owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy). The topography varies from wide beaches to mountain ranges rising above 2000 feet.

The Scorpion campgrounds, nested in a eucalyptus groves situated in a sheltered canyon, offer a pleasant stay on the island. The closest is only half-a-mile from the landing pier, with water available. Unlike the outer islands (Santa Rosa and San Miguel), which are serviced by Island Packers only from late spring, Santa Cruz Island is accessible year round, so one can come there while the grass is still green and the wildflowers in bloom.

On the first day, we hiked the loop along the bluff through Cavern Point to Potato Harbor. If you stay there for sunset, you can conveniently return in the dark through an old road rather than a trail. On the second day, after a sunrise above Scorpion Harbor, we hiked the Scorpion Canyon loop trail let to explore a bit of the island interior.

On the way to the Island, the boat stopped near a school of dozens of dolphins. Although we traveled to the island on a Thursday, the boat was packed. If you want to get away from the busy Southern California mainland to explore a wonderfully peaceful island, plan your trip now.

Here are three sunset images from my recent trip to Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the five islands that make up Channel Islands National Park.

They were taken at Potato Harbor Overlook, which is reached through a 5-mile RT hike that is the most rewarding in the Scorpion Ranch area. The fjord-like Potato Harbor has a more dramatic shape than the over coves I have seen so far in Channel Island.

As I was photographing straight into the sun, it was necessary to control the contrast, otherwise the sky would have been blown out or the seascape totally dark. On my 5×7 camera film camera, I had no choice but to use a graduated neutral density filter. However, for those digital images (Canon 1Ds III), I preferred to blend multiple exposures in order to avoid the darkening of the cliff on the left which would have resulted from using the filter.

The three images were taken from slightly different viewpoints, 15 minutes before sunset, at sunset, and 15 minutes after sunset, respectively.

Which image do you prefer ? (click link for poll)

I used three different techniques to blend the exposures. One of the images was blended using directly Photoshop’s HDR function (except for the water, where this created nasty ghosting artifacts). The two other images were done by superimposing (using layers) a bright image over a dark image, and then adjusting locally the transparency of the bright image. For the first, I selected the brightest areas using a luminosity mask, that I then erased. The advantage of luminosity masks is that they produce continuous, gradual selections that don’t result in visible transitions or halos. For the other image, I worked entirely manually, erasing the upper layer by hand with the eraser tool, with the brush set to hardness 0.

Are you able to tell
which one was processed most automatically (Photoshop HDR) ?
which one was processed less automatically (just the eraser) ?