And to wrap up (at least for now, I might revisit some of the photos in the set in the future), here is a set of night photography in Yosemite.

If the one looks familiar, it is the same photo I used as a sneak peak, but I've gone ahead and fixed the yellow color cast that was showing up to light pollution.

- Bill

This photo is one that I am really pleased with how it turned out. Our last night in Yosemite, we stopped at Tunnel View (remember that from the other day?) and I took some last photos of the valley with the Milky Way above (more on those later).

As I turned around to head back to the car, I saw this scene and knew it would make for an interesting image. Well - to be honest, I didn't see it exactly like this - that would have been impossible. Instead, I was able to visualize how an extended exposure would make the tunnel look against the dark sky. I knew that the exposure time I would need to make the sky visible would cause the lights inside the tunnel to over-expose or "blow out".

The scene ended up looking almost exactly like I expected it to... and when I look at it, it has a very primordial feel to it - almost like that cave contains a burning fire like a volcano, ready to spew forth new life. Almost like Middle Earth existed in Yosemite...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 7 sec at f/4. ISO 12800. Raw conversion Adobe Camera Raw with additional edits in Photoshop CS5.

I'm not normally one for titles on my photos, but something tells me that this one deserves one... I just don't know what would work. Any suggestions?

- Bill

This is Tunnel View... as you enter Yosemite from the south entrance, you pass through a tunnel, when you come out the far side, this is the view you are greeted with. Stunning, no?

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 38mm, 1/120 sec at f/16. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

- BIll

And our last stop on our California roadtrip... Yosemite National Park. This is one of those places where photographs simple can't begin to do it justice. There are hundreds of famous photographers who have dedicated their lives to shooting Yosemite (Ansel Adams for example), and even they can't begin to impart the majesty and grandeur that this park possesses. So if you have never been to Yosemite, I highly recommend it to be added to your bucket list (though I'd wait until the recent hantavirus outbreak is cleared up). As I said, I don't expect my photographs to truly impart the true feeling of wonder one gets from being in this park... so if any other photographs in the next few days worth of posts impress you, multiply that feeling by a couple thousand times to get an idea of what it is like to be there in person.

We'll start with one of my favorite shots (that I've processed so far - I still have about 100 more to go)... Yosemite Valley from the Merced River.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/100 sec respectively at f/8. ISO 100. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

I took this shot basically laying on my belly overhanging the bank of the Merced River. I used the live-view on the back of the camera to be able to line up my shot (though I did still have to crop and rotate slightly to get the horizon level). I had the camera just inches above the water to get this perspective, and I really love the detail of the rocks under the water in the foreground juxtaposed with the massive peaks in the background.

Welcome to Yosemite.

- Bill

Just inside the south entrance to Yosemite National Park is the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. As we have seen before, photographing trees - especially massively large ones - can be quite challenging, but you just can't pass up an opportunity to shoot such incredibly impressive organisms.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye (borrowed), 1/40 sec at f/5.6. ISO 800. Raw processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Normally, I try to eliminate random other people from my photos, but in this case, it helps to serve as a point of reference to show just how huge these trees are.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye (borrowed), 1/20 sec at f/5.6. ISO 800. Raw processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

In both of the above shots, I used a friend's fisheye lens to help me get the entire tree in the shot - here in the second shot, Anya provided a lovely model to provide the point of reference. The natural distortion of the fisheye lens certainly creates a distinct view, and to some extent, it actually hides the immensity of the trees.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/60 sec at f/5.6. ISO 800. Raw processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

We even got a shot with the two of us... and yes, if you're wondering - sequoias make me feel short.

- Bill

PS: As an additional trivia note, Sequoia is one of the shortest English words that contains all five vowels!

Continuing along on our recent California trip (yes, I am posting in order now), we made a visit to Hearst Castle. I'm not going to go too in-depth as to what exactly Hearst Castle is all about, but suffice to say it is the result of someone (William Randolph Hearst) with ridiculous amounts of money and a bit of craziness... The place is pretty well over the top in terms of lavishness for even today's standards, and was started back in the 1920's.

As I usually do in situations like this (where crowds of people make it rather difficult to take photos of the larger setting), I tended to focus in on details and tried to eliminate random people in my photos. Add to that, any time we were inside, the conditions were dim and poorly lit with incandescent lighting, and then outside was a harsh mid-day light that made the contrast very stark.

I'm just going to give a nice little mega-set today to get through all of these photos in one posting. Enjoy...

The trip is far from over, so be sure to stop back again tomorrow. We go back to some marine mammal photos...

- Bill

Unfortunately, we didn't get any spectacular sunsets during our whole trip...

Technical Data:Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/250 sec at f/8. ISO 200. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control.

I'd found this piece of driftwood earlier in the evening as we strolled along the beach and instantly knew I wanted to use it as a foreground element in a sunset photo. So we (well, mostly Anya) carried it along on our walk until the sun started setting. Unfortunately, the colors of the sunset were pretty muted, and I struggled with getting just the shot I wanted. I knew I wanted to be close to the water, which meant I had to shoot hand-held (plus I'd left my tripod back in the hotel room).

I tried all kinds of combinations - including using the flash remotely to give just a little bit of light to provide some detail on the driftwood. It was far from simple as I was shooting from a very low angle using the live-view on the back of the camera, holding the flash with my left hand to get it far enough away and on a pleasing angle, and of course watching for incoming waves (one of which did end up getting my sandals wet.

In the end, I guess I came away with a couple acceptable shots (of the set, the one above is my personal favorite), and more importantly a good learning experience of things to try or not try in the future.

Here's a few more - both with and without this driftwood...

I am still making progress through the photos, so hopefully I can get more frequent with the posts. There is still plenty of cool stuff to come....

- Bill

Ok - it looks like the photos from this last trip are going to take me a while to process and upload, so I figured I would share a quick sneak peek (or should that be peak) to whet your appetite.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye (borrowed), 30 sec at f/4. ISO 12800. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5.

As you can see, I even need to go back and redo this one and get rid of that yellow color cast the sky has picked up (not quite sure where that even came from and how I hadn't noticed it before). But that is just one of the awesome things we got to see on this trip... if you're wondering, that's the Milky Way over Half Dome (the peak on the right side of the center valley).

More to come - albeit slowly more than likely.

- Bill

So on our trip to Niagara Falls, we only managed to stop at the falls the first night. It was cold (and the other days were colder with rain/snow/sleet), but I had the thought to try some HDR to see about getting a nice shot of the falls but maintaining the color from the lights.

The results are mediocre at best. In particular, the bottom right corner is screwed up in the shadows (and I don't know how to fix it), and it seems (at least with the green lights) the color has shifted a bit.... but being my first attempt, I figured I'd share just the same.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 22mm, 2.5, 1.3, 0.6, 1/6, 1/3 sec respectively at f/4. ISO 800. RAW processing in Adobe Camera RAW and HDR processing Adobe Photoshop CS5.

If you mouse over each smaller thumbnail, you will see the series of shots used to create the HDR image. Individually, you can see that no single shot could capture everything - either the lights on the falls would over expose or the shadow areas would just become fields of black.

Looking at it again really illustrates just how bad the HDR processing is, and I definitely think it warrants trying another processor to see if I can come up with better results... but for now, you get the idea.

- Bill

When we go on dive trips, our group always makes sure to spend some time top-side exploring the exotic places that we visit. In St. Kitts, we visited a batik factory (yes, like the one we visited in Bali) located on the grounds of Romney Manor that was once owned by the great great great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson.

On the grounds is a Saman Tree (Albizia saman). This tree is absolutely incredible... it is over 350 years old, 24 feet across at the base of the trunk, and the branches span over half an acre.

So obviously, it presented some challenges for getting a good composition that worked well to capture it. In all honesty, I should have put Anya in the frame near the base of the tree as a point of reference. Additionally, the late afternoon (almost 4PM) tropical light certainly presented some exposure issues (between a bright sky and dark branches and shared area under the tree).

Wider Composition, 1/120 sec at f/11	Tighter Composition, 1/200 sec at f/11

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/120 and 1/200 sec respectively at f/11. ISO 400. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5. Romney Manor, St. Kitts.

Usual drill here - mouse over the thumbnails for the larger view, then place your vote and leave a comment letting me know why you chose what you did.

- Bill