The Terra Galleria Blog – QT Luong

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) ?

Mesa Verde National Park includes the best-preserved and most notable Ancient Pueblo cliffs dwellings in the country, which bear witness to the most developed civilization in Ancient America.

Cliff Palace is not only the largest cliff-dwelling in Mesa Verde (and in North America) it is also the one that offers the most varied photographic opportunities.

You can photograph Cliff Palace in the shade (with reflected light) in the morning, but it also receives direct sun in the afternoon. There are great views of Cliff Palace from Mesa Top Loop across the Cliff Canyon (the light if better in the afternoon) and from the top overhang under which it nests. You can include the canyon for context, or focus on the ruins. You can also take a tour for closer views from the approach trail, and from the structure itself.

The only limitation is that the Cliff Palace Loop is closed in winter, during which time no tours are conducted, and you cannot drive to the viewpoint directly above Cliff Palace (although you could hike or ski). Mesa Top Loop does not close.

The densely packed, brightly colored hoodoos in Bryce Amphitheaters are so stunning that missing to make a striking image from any of the overlooks is difficult.

However, if asked about my favorite overlook along the amphitheater, I would easily pick Sunset Point. Despite it’s name, Sunset Point is excellent through the day. Unlike other viewpoints, Sunset Point is situated within the amphitheater, rather than on the rim, therefore it offers you excellent views in more than one direction. The hoodoos are not as dense there than at Inspiration point, but still more dense than from other overlooks, and on the other hand, I prefer their placement along ridges here, esp. looking towards the Queen’s Garden. Last, Sunset Point is the trailhead to the Najavo Trail which lead you to two of best sights within the amphitheater.

Sunrise offers the most dramatic conditions, with warm and low light striking the hoodoos, but do not underestimate the possibilities offered by shooting backlit later in the day, to take advantage of the reflected light, in late afternoon, or even at dusk, where the even light reveals the subtlety of the colors. Winter multiplies the opportunities of contrasting verticality and ridges, blue shadows and red rock.

View all images of Bryce Canyon from Sunset Point
View all images of Bryce Canyon National Park

I’ve posted new images of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

After last winter’s installments on the Western National Parks, this is the first of several installments about the North East (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, New York) that will be posted through the spring.

A highlight of the 2009 trip through New Hampshire was the Flume, a narrow granite gorge with 90 feet walls. Since this is a popular attraction, at the height of the fall foliage season, I was concerned that it would be difficult to work with a tripod on the boardwalk. I showed up right at the opening time. It turned out that the day I visited, it rained all the time.

A weatherized camera such as my Canon 1Ds mk3 is relatively trouble-free in wet weather. The challenge in photographing in the rain is to keep your lens front element dry, esp. if you are changing lenses a lot, as I do. A single drop of water will show as a smear in a portion of the image. Although this was a bit of a chore to operate, I was able to work in the pouring rain using a clamp to attach a large unbrella to my tripod. After spending most of the day in the rain, I was quite soaked myself, but It was well worth it. Not only the rain kept the crowds down, but it enhanced the colors of the vegetation, and provided a nice, even light.

You can see Mount Rainier, the centerpiece of Mount Rainier National Park, more than 100 miles away. The mountain looks huge even from Seattle. While within the park, you can see Mount Rainier from almost everywhere, several lakes around the mountain offer particularly scenic compositions where you can include the reflection of the mountain.

When exploring the park, another wondrous sight, much smaller, lies right at your feet. Fed by the largest snow accumulation in the continental US, wildflowers carpet the sub-alpine meadows below Mount Rainier. I have not seen more dense, reliable, and diverse displays in North America at such an accessible location as the meadows along the trails of Paradise. Because of the heavy snow pack, the flowers do not really start until well into summer, usually mid-July, often peak in early August, and last into early September.

At Reflection Lakes, situated a few miles south east of Paradise, along the loop road, you can enjoy all of those sights at the same spot.

As often, the reflections are clearer when no or little sunlight hits the lake. Close views of flowers benefit from a soft light and a windless time. The mountain views are enhanced by cross-lighting. All those elements point to sunrise, which will be quite early in summer !

I’ve posted new images of Berkeley, CA. Berkeley was the first place where I lived in the US, from 1993 to 1995. Since then, I have traveled widely in the country. I’ve seen many places that are closer to great wilderness areas than the 3-4 hour drive to the Sierras. However, if we were talking only about the cities themselves, I have still yet to see another place I’d prefer to Berkeley.

So this may come as a surprise, but prior to this new release, there was only a dozen of images of Berkeley on the website. Part of the reason is that my standards have raised in the intervening years. What I though was a good image did no longer satisfy me, if only for small details (for instance images of buildings taken without perspective correction).

But I think the main factor is that I’ve tended to overlook the place I live as a place to photograph, a pattern I’ve unfortunately repeated (and seen repeated by others) many times. We often do not see the place where we live as a destination to explore. Sometimes, out of town visitors with guidebooks may help us discover a thing or two. If we do not pay attention, it’s only when we become far away that we are interested, yet proximity and familiarity should help us do our best work.

How much have you explored or photographed the place where you live ?

Crater Lake is always stunning at first sight. No other lake combines such a nearly perfect large circular shape, deep blue color, and uniformly sheer surrounding cliffs almost two thousand feet high. However, past the first impression, many of the viewpoints around the lake lack either an unobstructed view, or interesting features.

For this reason, I usually concentrate only on a few locations along the 33-mile drive that circles the lake. Of these, the first I would recommend is the fire lookout on the Watchman. Mt Scott is the highest peak around the lake, but it is slightly distant, while the Watchman raises directly on the lake rim, above tree line. In addition, the Watchman is right above Wizard Island. By far the largest of the two islands in the lake, Wizard Island has an interesting shape that varies with viewpoint. From most locations on the rim, the top of Wizard Island merges with the opposite rim, but on the Watchman (even just at the trailhead), you are high enough to separate them.

The trailhead to the Watchman is about 4 miles from Rim Village. The trail is 0.7 miles each way with an elevation gain of 300 feet. Although the main attraction are the expansive views from the top, in summer, there are also a great number of wildflowers along the trail. From October to early July, he trail is usually covered in snow. From late autumn to late spring, the road from Rim Village to the Watchman is normally closed.

The Watchman is a great place to capture a rising sun above the lake. Then, in early morning, the lake is backlit, but by late morning, the sun rises high enough to reveal the incredibly blue color of the lake. The lake is at its more intense blue by mid-day, in summer, on a calm day. I have found the color to be less intense in the afternoon.

If you’d like to capture the whole lake, you’d need an unusually wide angle lens. A 17mm will not suffice, the first two images below were shot with a 20mm and 24mm respectively. A panoramic format would work best since the foreground isn’t that interesting. The last image was done by stitching together two 17mm frames. It was not taken from the top of the Watchman, but rather from the overlook close to the trailhead, which is an alternative if you don’t want to hike the short, but steep trail.

View more images of Crater Lake National Park

I have posted new images of Yosemite National Park from November 2009.

Although I have engaged in a range of activities in the park, this was the first time I came wearing formal attire. Lanchi was there too, wading the slushy snow in an elegant dress. The occasion was an invitation by Dayton Duncan to attend the Bracebridge Dinner, a wonderful five-hour long Christmas dinner at the Ahwanhee Hotel, enlivened by beautiful music and a large cast of performers in renaissance costumes.

I was told several times that no pictures could be taken at the event, however the next day I found a few new nature images in the park. In El Capitan meadow (a spot that I designated as my favorite in Yosemite National Park), the fog made it possible to create evocative images that emphasized the starkness of the trees in ways that I hadn’t seen before, despite my repeated visits to the location.

The last image of Lower Yosemite Falls may look like just another waterfall image, but if my calculations are right, that is the only time of the day (very early morning) and year that such an image can be made. The waterfall in a deep recess, and at other times of the year reached by the sun only at mid-day, by which time the angle would not produce a rainbow. During peak run-off times, the strength of the spray does not even approach that closely you (and your front lens element) getting soaked.

Returning fittingly to Yosemite, this installment concludes the series of updates to National Parks of the West that I have been posting this winter.

I have posted new images of Sequoia National Park.

Last summer, I visited the last easily accessible site in the park that had eluded me, Crystal Cave, one of only five caves open to visitors in the National Parks (the others are Mammoth Cave, Carlsbad Caverns, Wind Cave, and Lehman Cave in Great Basin). I was glad to have waited that long. Because the visit has to be in a guided tour during which tripods are not permitted, it would have been more difficult to photograph during the film days. I was able to take advantage of technology advances, setting my camera at ISO 1600, which let me handhold in dim light with my 24-105 stabilized lens. I also used this high sensibility setting to make the night photograph that appears in the previous blog entry.

The cave itself is reached after a windy drive, and then a half-mile hike down a canyon where waterfalls are found. Tickets need to be purchased at a visitor center, rather than at the cave entrance or trailhead.