Shiprock
© Joe Bridwell
2nd Place
Scenic Class Award
Professional Category
2009 New Mexico State Fair
© Joe Bridwell
2nd Place
Scenic Class Award
Professional Category
2009 New Mexico State Fair
Light’s Subtle Luminance
From my vantage point along the ancient dike, the sun dropped below the western horizon, casting long shadows down Shiprock’s backside. Yet, direct sunlight was reflecting from Shiprock. A slight cod front was trending southeastward from Utah, up north past Four Corners. Highest cirrus clouds, seeming to consolidate the eye, jaded from Shiprock’s beauty, trailed to the edge of the world.
The basalt dike, Mother Nature's bold brickwork wall, trending in a spiral from the upper right edge toward distant Shiprock, acted as an arresting lower frame for our eye. Magic Hour's shifting sunset pastels, some direct, some reflected, add a softer, evocative tone.
Shiprock, that ancient almost Gothic spire, lit by golden hues of the setting sun, assists with the same silent wonder. It bears prolonged witness to ancient man's long time wanderings back and forth across this dry, semi-arid desert. The distant Roman nose shape of Sleeping Ute Mountain is another famous, dominant Four Corners landmark.
Fall shots of Shiprock can capture many interesting, yet subtle pastel colors. The combination of light sky, golden haze, and sundown’s reflection from Shiprock create part of a captivating natural scene. But it's the foreground dike's grand swirl which immediately frames, then focuses our eye to liberate Shiprock itself.
Shiprock is a unique New Mexico landmark with international recognition. It's actually the 27 million year old eroded core of an extinct volcanic neck. Volcanic dikes, read ‘bold brickwork wall’, radiate away from Shiprock.
In Memoriam…
I want to honor two people whose influence finally brought me to Shiprock…
My mother graced my boyhood home and present abode with wonderful charcoals, pastels, and oils of churches, landscapes, and seascapes. As an award winning artist, she provided a sense of beauty, permanence, and artistic endeavor which I would only come to rather late, after a life in science… her paintings adorn my walls, providing me deeply emotional windows into our past.
If I could talk with her now, I would say, “Each, in our own way, has put brush to canvas to create beauty…” and share my feeling ‘Shiprock was a winner when I shot it’, then eagerly listen to her evocative response!
Thanks, Anno! Mary Anno Brown Bridwell, 1905-1979.
A remarkable author led me through intriguing mystery, Navajo tradition, and the byways of ancient Anasazi land – the Four Corners Region of the southwestern US. As an award winning author, Tony Hillerman wrote so many deeply satisfying novels in the famous Leaphorn-Chee series. "I love the place," Tony Hillerman wrote of vast tribal lands that span the northeast corner of Arizona and straddle the borders of New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. "I need only drive west from Shiprock into that great emptiness to feel my spirit lift."
I have often followed his spiritual dictum, cassette tape instilling his intricately involved mysteries in my reeling brain, as I trample byways and seek out-of-the-way wilderness beauty of this fascinating land.
Thanks, Tony! Anthony Hillerman, 1925-2008.
As to the living, I would thank Jack Houser and Eric Jones. One day Eric said, “Joe, your pictures are flat…!” Jack taught me Photoshop. To which I now respond, Thanks, Guys, your inspirations have really helped!
Digital Darkroom
Our high dynamic range HDR image is a composite of three images shot at +/- 2 EV using a Nikon D300 in raw mode at 14 bits. Photomatix Pro compiled an initial tone compressed HDR version - but at default settings. Adobe Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 were used for initial global and final local tone mapping.
Photomatix
We shoot many HDR nature images at dusk. Such high contrast captures maybe noisy, usually have a distinct bimodal histogram, and require delicate tone mapping.
While Photomatix can assemble a 32-bit HDR image, its default choice of detail enhancer seems to mutilate a bimodal histogram - a rather nasty pitfall. Through experimentation, we found it's second choice, tone compressor, if carefully used with default settings, provides us the best histogram while creating a good 32-bit HDR image. We save that image as 32-bit hdr, then convert it to 16-bit tiff.
Lightroom
We use Lightroom for initial HDR global tone mapping, following the Adobe Camera Raw workflow set out by Fraser and Schewe (2008). With Adobe's latest Camera Profiles, we drop down to the Camera Calibration panel and choose a preset which most closely resembles our visual memory of the scene.
We then begin in the Basic panel adjusting Clipping, Clarity, and Vibrance. We move to Curves panel, usually setting Medium Contrast. We then examine individual elements of sky and foreground with Gradient Filter using Targeted Adjustment Tool (TAT).
If required, we use this versatile TAT tool to also process Hue, Saturation, and Luminance.
Lightroom provides us with an initial pass which usually makes global corrections so we can begin our more precise tone mapping in Photoshop.
Photoshop CS4
CS4 is unparalleled for its remarkable power of adjustment layers and selective masking in creating a final version for our digital workflow. Through precise tone mapping, we're able to bring our images alive with a vibrant, almost Velvia-like ambience.
For Shiprock, we darkened the sweeping dike frame, removing distracting bushes in the lower right-hand corner. We also cloned the sky/dike interface to provide a smooth frame swirl – Mother Nature was more random… We carefully removed noise from the lemon/peach sky between dike and Sleeping Ute to emphasize Shiprock itself. We masked the far sky, and used TAT tool to slightly enhance the peach effect. Finally, we selectively sharpened portions of the dike, then Shiprock itself, using Pixel Genius’ Creative Sharpener.
Closure
I want to thank our judges; Glen Hohnstreiter, Marlene Loria, Jessica Lazoya, Peter Barrett, and Dana Foy. For one brief moment, Shiprock, scored at 88, was the highest score that evening. But, as in all endeavors, you can't count your chickens till the fat lady sings...
I congratulate Peter Davies on Wisdom of Trees, Shiprock's superior, and 2009 Best of Show, Scenic Class, Professional Photography Category - New Mexico State Fair!
Enjoy…
The basalt dike, Mother Nature's bold brickwork wall, trending in a spiral from the upper right edge toward distant Shiprock, acted as an arresting lower frame for our eye. Magic Hour's shifting sunset pastels, some direct, some reflected, add a softer, evocative tone.
Shiprock, that ancient almost Gothic spire, lit by golden hues of the setting sun, assists with the same silent wonder. It bears prolonged witness to ancient man's long time wanderings back and forth across this dry, semi-arid desert. The distant Roman nose shape of Sleeping Ute Mountain is another famous, dominant Four Corners landmark.
Fall shots of Shiprock can capture many interesting, yet subtle pastel colors. The combination of light sky, golden haze, and sundown’s reflection from Shiprock create part of a captivating natural scene. But it's the foreground dike's grand swirl which immediately frames, then focuses our eye to liberate Shiprock itself.
Shiprock is a unique New Mexico landmark with international recognition. It's actually the 27 million year old eroded core of an extinct volcanic neck. Volcanic dikes, read ‘bold brickwork wall’, radiate away from Shiprock.
In Memoriam…
I want to honor two people whose influence finally brought me to Shiprock…
My mother graced my boyhood home and present abode with wonderful charcoals, pastels, and oils of churches, landscapes, and seascapes. As an award winning artist, she provided a sense of beauty, permanence, and artistic endeavor which I would only come to rather late, after a life in science… her paintings adorn my walls, providing me deeply emotional windows into our past.
If I could talk with her now, I would say, “Each, in our own way, has put brush to canvas to create beauty…” and share my feeling ‘Shiprock was a winner when I shot it’, then eagerly listen to her evocative response!
Thanks, Anno! Mary Anno Brown Bridwell, 1905-1979.
A remarkable author led me through intriguing mystery, Navajo tradition, and the byways of ancient Anasazi land – the Four Corners Region of the southwestern US. As an award winning author, Tony Hillerman wrote so many deeply satisfying novels in the famous Leaphorn-Chee series. "I love the place," Tony Hillerman wrote of vast tribal lands that span the northeast corner of Arizona and straddle the borders of New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. "I need only drive west from Shiprock into that great emptiness to feel my spirit lift."
I have often followed his spiritual dictum, cassette tape instilling his intricately involved mysteries in my reeling brain, as I trample byways and seek out-of-the-way wilderness beauty of this fascinating land.
Thanks, Tony! Anthony Hillerman, 1925-2008.
As to the living, I would thank Jack Houser and Eric Jones. One day Eric said, “Joe, your pictures are flat…!” Jack taught me Photoshop. To which I now respond, Thanks, Guys, your inspirations have really helped!
Digital Darkroom
Our high dynamic range HDR image is a composite of three images shot at +/- 2 EV using a Nikon D300 in raw mode at 14 bits. Photomatix Pro compiled an initial tone compressed HDR version - but at default settings. Adobe Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 were used for initial global and final local tone mapping.
Photomatix
We shoot many HDR nature images at dusk. Such high contrast captures maybe noisy, usually have a distinct bimodal histogram, and require delicate tone mapping.
While Photomatix can assemble a 32-bit HDR image, its default choice of detail enhancer seems to mutilate a bimodal histogram - a rather nasty pitfall. Through experimentation, we found it's second choice, tone compressor, if carefully used with default settings, provides us the best histogram while creating a good 32-bit HDR image. We save that image as 32-bit hdr, then convert it to 16-bit tiff.
Lightroom
We use Lightroom for initial HDR global tone mapping, following the Adobe Camera Raw workflow set out by Fraser and Schewe (2008). With Adobe's latest Camera Profiles, we drop down to the Camera Calibration panel and choose a preset which most closely resembles our visual memory of the scene.
We then begin in the Basic panel adjusting Clipping, Clarity, and Vibrance. We move to Curves panel, usually setting Medium Contrast. We then examine individual elements of sky and foreground with Gradient Filter using Targeted Adjustment Tool (TAT).
If required, we use this versatile TAT tool to also process Hue, Saturation, and Luminance.
Lightroom provides us with an initial pass which usually makes global corrections so we can begin our more precise tone mapping in Photoshop.
Photoshop CS4
CS4 is unparalleled for its remarkable power of adjustment layers and selective masking in creating a final version for our digital workflow. Through precise tone mapping, we're able to bring our images alive with a vibrant, almost Velvia-like ambience.
For Shiprock, we darkened the sweeping dike frame, removing distracting bushes in the lower right-hand corner. We also cloned the sky/dike interface to provide a smooth frame swirl – Mother Nature was more random… We carefully removed noise from the lemon/peach sky between dike and Sleeping Ute to emphasize Shiprock itself. We masked the far sky, and used TAT tool to slightly enhance the peach effect. Finally, we selectively sharpened portions of the dike, then Shiprock itself, using Pixel Genius’ Creative Sharpener.
Closure
I want to thank our judges; Glen Hohnstreiter, Marlene Loria, Jessica Lazoya, Peter Barrett, and Dana Foy. For one brief moment, Shiprock, scored at 88, was the highest score that evening. But, as in all endeavors, you can't count your chickens till the fat lady sings...
I congratulate Peter Davies on Wisdom of Trees, Shiprock's superior, and 2009 Best of Show, Scenic Class, Professional Photography Category - New Mexico State Fair!
Enjoy…
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