Dobson Central Photography

Yosemite El Capitan - HDR Panorama #2

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:00 +0000

You may be thinking to yourself that this photo doesn't look anything anything like a typical panorama photo. The Yosemite El Capitan panorama photo from last week looked like a panorama photo. It was long and narrow. Last week, the photo was only split up into two sections, and each of those two sections had three photos each for the HDR process. This photo on the other hand, is divided into three sections, each section containing three photos for the HDR process. You would think that this photo would be longer. Right? Well I decided to try something completely different from normal and I went portrait style. What I was going for, was to capture more of the sky and overall scene that my own eyes were taking in, as I stood on the bank of the Merced River. What I ended up with, was a taller panorama, instead of a wider panorama. In addition to more sky, I got a more natural looking river in the foreground from last week. See if you can see what I am talking about and compare this photo from last week's photo.

Yosemite El Capitan - HDR Panorama #1

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:00 +0000

While our time was very limited in Yosemite, I made sure to take extra special care when taking photos. Taking lots of photos for planned HDR photos doesn't necessarily mean you'll always nail what you came for. If you do it right though, and you have the right lighting, sky and composition, you should be able to get a couple of decent photos. The exact same recipe goes for collecting photos to make a panorama photo. The problem I had, is that I went for both HDR and panorama photos. It was a gamble, but I believe it was worth it in the end. This shot ended up looking like an oil painting.

El Capitan and Lower Yosemite Falls

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:00 +0000

After leaving the base of lower Yosemite Falls, on your way out is another little pull out that allows you to get right up next to the river. In the foreground of this photo, is the Merced River. To your left is the famous El Capitan. Off to your right is lower Yosemite Falls.

Lower Yosemite Falls #2

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 07:00 +0000

After visiting lower Yosemite Falls, I pulled out of the parking lot, only having to stop off the side of the road again. With just a very short jaunt down the road, it completely changed the view of the falls. The nice thing was that sunset was happening and it provided some nice warm lighting on the mountain next to the falls. Another three shot HDR image allowed me to capture the highlights of the dusk colored sky and the warmth of the sunset and put them all together.

Lower Yosemite Falls

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 07:00 +0000

We didn't get to spend much time in Yosemite, but I made it a point to get to at least one of the Yosemite falls. I was able to grab this from the parking lot. It's another HDR image but with only three photos this time. I did try capturing the falls from the base of it, however, the water spray proved to be way too much to get anything in focus. The Yosemite falls were running abnormally strong at this time of year, as we discovered from the locals.

Ellery Lake - Panorama

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:00 +0000

This shot of Ellery Lake in Yosemite, California is comprised of nine different photos. I divided the scene up into three different sections and took three photos for each section, knowing full well that I would attempt to make an HDR image out of all these shots. The trick of this whole ordeal, was to merge them together using a combination of Photomatix and Photoshop. All in all, with the processing, the merging, the mistakes and interruptions, this probably took three hours to finally see what lies before you.

Ellery Lake #2

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:00 +0000

This image of Ellery Lake is actually three shots combined into an high definition range (HDR) image. A little post processing work was done in Photoshop, however, most of the processing came from Photomatix. I like how the sky and moodiness of the clouds were kept throughout the three photos and processing.

Ellery Lake

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:00 +0000

On our first stop in Yosemite National Park, we visited Ellery Lake. While capturing some photos, this stranger walked right into my shot. Instead of getting upset or waiting until she left, I continued to take photos. I hoped she would add a little bit of extra interest to the photo. In the end, I actually preferred her in the photo, than without her.

Circus Circus Ceiling

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:00 +0000

My son wanted to go on some rides while we were in Las Vegas and the first two days we made promises that we just never could keep. The time just got away from us every day and on top of that, our feet were killing us from all the walking around. So the final day, we headed over to Circus Circus and made good on our word. We actually ended up enjoying a nice leisurely day, going on rides and just generally taking it easy. The roller coaster that they had there was awesome! It was the first time I had ever been on a roller coaster that did a loop. Well this one did two loops, back to back. It was so much fun, my son went on that ride four times!The entire time were there, I kept gawking up at the ceiling and noticing how neat the girders looked all in unison. I finally found a decent area to get this shot that sits before you. In post processing, I found that it actually looked better in black and white instead of color. The simplicity of black and white is what was drawing me to keep looking at the ceiling in the first place, not the color.

Las Vegas Strip

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:00 +0000

While visiting Vegas for three short days, it really came down to the wire of me capturing a night shot of the Las Vegas strip. I tried visiting the rooftop of the Stratosphere, but was told tripods were not allowed up on top of the roof. Why? I still have absolutely no idea. So, my family proceeded to the roof while I walked off in a huff to the nearest parking garage. I was then quickly approached in an empty parking lot by a couple of security guards on bikes. They told me that the parking lot (the top most part of this parking garage) was closed. They also proceeded to tell me that they don't allow tripods anywhere on the Stratosphere premises. SERIOUSLY? Needless to say, it sent my blood pressure sky rocketing and I was quickly beginning to hate Vegas.

The second night, we decided to do the Eiffel Tower, but they closed the tower due to lightning. Great. Just freaking great!!

Fast forward to our last night in Vegas. Another attempt at Paris and the Eiffel Tower. My son smuggled in the tripod. I came in last, blending in with the crowd like a chameleon or super spy from mission impossible. I didn't talk to my family until were all up at the top. We all made it. Tripod and all. (giggity) This here photograph was the last ditch effort of my attempts to get a shot of the Las Vegas strip at night. It's nothing like I wanted or had envisioned, but it sure did wet my appetite and cooled down my anger a little bit over businesses and morons in general who are banning hating those pesky, menacing, evil tripods that were created to eliminate off all of man kind from existence. Muhahahahaha!!I must leave now, so that I can continue my efforts in conquering the world.