Fall colors in Maine

Two weeks ago I was again in Maine, and it was pretty much peak time for the famous New England foliage colors. I was working, so there was very precious little time to take pictures, only in the morning and at dusk, but those are usually the best times anyway.

A friend was nice enough to take me on a long and strenuous hike up Borestone Mountain at about 6 am in below-freezing temperature and strong winds. I somehow managed to get on top, and the view was well worth the excruciating expedition:

The view from the top was fantastic, but also on the way up and down there were a few nice scenes, like this boat on one of the ponds along the trail, and, of course, lots of colorful trees...

I took the remaining pictures (the one on top and the one here on the left) when the sun was already very low and the air hazy, so it was hard to strike a balance between the darkening trees and the sky still bright with diffused light. The first picture required some work in Lightroom (some fill light, exposure and contrast adjustment, and negative vignetting correction) but I believe that the result is quite nice.

The last picture is the first I took; nothing special, I just stopped the car on the side of the road on my way up to the central part of the state, but it shows the nice scenary that you can find pretty much anywhere in Maine, especially in the fall.

Seattle, WA, northern Idaho and Western MT

Last week we went for a few days to Glacier National Park; I'll post some pictures about it in the next few days, but for now I'll stick to the first part of our trip: Seattle, Washington state, northern Idaho and western Montana. Seattle is pretty far from Glacier NP, but direct flights into Montana on short notice are extremely expensive, so we had to do it this way.

It turned out to be a very good idea, because the city is very interesting, and so is the drive through Washington state, Idaho and the mountains of western Montana.

I took the first picture (below) by the ocean (actually Puget Sound) in Seattle; I didn't do any post-processing: the sky is as it was, and the street lamps are green because of the way the camera sees (I think) hot mercury vapors. Overall the effect is rather interesting.


The second picture is a lucky shot of some wild horses happily running on the crest of a hill near the Columbia river in Washington state. I just accentuated a bit the contrast of the thunderstorm clouds.


The third picture is an abandoned barn in Montana, along route 28, near the aptly named "Rattlesnake Gulch Road". I didn't see any rattlesnakes, but I bet there are many. This really is cowboy country!

Well, since you read this far, I'll let you in on a secret: the "wild horses" are not a lucky shot: they are steel sculptures that have been placed on top of the hill as a "Wild Horse Monument". They can be seen from a rest area just off I-90.

How to categorize photographs

I've been wondering for a long time how to categorize and organize my pictures online and I was never very satisfied.
Last week I think I finally got it.
First of all, I thought about what are the elements that make a good photograph; I think they are the following:

• The light
• The colors
• The mood
• The subject

I then went through all of my pictures (about 11,000) trying to decide which element was most prominent in each photograph. Obviously some pictures excel in more than one aspect, and the best pictures you hope to take would excel in all of them, but it's fairly easy to look at any given picture and see which element is more prominent.

After that I tried to describe more in detail the quality of the element in each picture; this is what I came up with:

Light:

• Interesting interaction of light and shadows
• Reflections
• Soft light
• Night light
• Harsh light, or controluce
• Muted, cloudy light

Color:

• Red
• Orange, yellow
• Green
• Blue
• Infrared

Mood:

• Cold
• I should find a lot more, but this is much more subjective and more difficult to recognize; it will take me more time

Subject:

• Nature
• People
• Flowers
• Architecture

This is it, and this is how I finally categorized my new galleries.

I'm pretty happy with the way it worked out and I think this will help me focus my photographic efforts in the future, because I think it will make it easier to understand ahead of time which photographic opportunities can turn out well. So far it was always a hit or miss.

PS: In case you are interested, I made the navigation pages in Adobe Photoshop and converted them in html using the Photoshop add-on ImageReady.
I made the galleries with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom: it's a great tool for organizing pictures, doing quick edits and corrections, and to create slideshows and web galleries. You should check it out. If you prefer free software, Google's Picasa is also a good bet.

New Gallery

I'm back after a pretty long pause.

In the meanwhile I have taken a few new pictures and updated my galleries:

In the next few days I'll post some new pictures and explain how I decided to organize my galleries.

The Photo-Travel Map

I made this website using the Google Maps API:

It's a satellite image of the Earth, where I superimposed markers that show (most of) the place that I have visited. When you click on a marker, a baloon pops up, with the description of the site and, in some cases, a small picture.

The map is a regular Google map, so you can navigate, zoom in and out, and explore.

At this time there are almost 200 markers, so it will take a few seconds to load (if you have high-speed internet - otherwise longer); please be patient. I will add more markers and pictures as I travel to new places.

If you want to make your own photo-travel-map, look at this tutorial.

Good and Bad Landscape Photography

Scenery, character and light

A few times already I have left for a landscape photo-taking trip full of hope and expectations, I have taken a few of what should have been nice pictures, only to be disappointed back at home looking at the result of the effort. It happened again last Sunday after an otherwise nice and pleasant trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I am starting to ask myself, why?

It's obvious that great pictures, by nature and definition, happen only a few rare times. Most of the time we get average pictures. We all know this. Still, we all have felt the disappointment of a failed photo trip, and knowing that we couldn't really have expected anything different is not consolation enough.

None of this is going to change, but I have been trying to at least understand what makes a good landscape photograph, why sometimes it happens and sometimes not, and what, if anything, can be done to make it happen.
The conclusion is somewhat reassuring because it suggests both that for the most part the disappointing results are not my fault but that I can do something about them.

I believe that there are five basic elements to a good lanscape picture. Three of them, the most important, are not in control of the photographer, even though they are in control of the traveler. The other two are partially in control of the photographer, but they are far less important.

The first and most important element is the scenery itself. It may sound obvious, but the fact is that most places just don't cut it anymore. We are too used to seeing the most beautiful places on earth every day on TV, in books and magazine, on the web. The beauty of most places has simply been diluted and devalued. So when the scenery itself is lacking, the chances of getting good landscape photography are significantly reduced. The photographer can't do anything about this, but the traveler can find the right place.

The second element is the character of the scenery. The same place can be boring in the middle of summer but it can become interesting after a light snowfall in winter, or because of the colors of the flowers or foliage in spring or fall. Fog can also add interest to an otherwise plain scenery, as can a storm or the presence of animals. Many things can salvage a poor scenery, but the good ones don't happen often. The photografer has no control over this, but the traveler can sometimes prepare and be in the place at the right time.

The third important element is the light. This is very similar to the previous point; the same place can be boring at noon but become interesting and even dramatic at dawn or dusk. Light passing through a break in thick clouds or shining on a limited part of the subject can give life to an otherwise dull scene. Again, most of the time light won't cooperate. Only the patience and intuition of the traveler will allow the photographer to catch the right light.

The other two elements I mentioned for good landscape photography are squarely in the photographer's domain: composition and exposure.
Considering the preponderance of the scenery in landscape photography, composition does not offer much latitude: it's not hard to figure out a good composition for a natural beauty, and it's hard to do it wrong. Little to be said here.
As fas as the exposure is concerned, it's probably the only photographer's skill that matters, and it does so only when the light is challenging. Otherwise, there isn't much to say here either.

When all of the above elements are right (the scenery, its character and the light) we have great landscapes. Some examples of this can be found in Ansel Adam's work, and in many others.

When only the scenery is right, but its character and the light are plain, we have the typical postcard. Nice to look at, but hardly inspiring.

If the state of the scenery and/or the light are right, we can have good, even great photographs, but rarely will they be good or great landscape photographs.

The conclusion of all this is that good landscape photographs are taken by good travelers; that is, by photographers that go to the right place, at the right time, and are able to catch the right light through luck or patience. There is very little that they can do, technically, to make a plain landscape look good or a great landscape look bad.
The lesson is that we have to be good and smart travelers before we can be good landscape photographers. That's what I'm going to work on in the future.

Welcome

Welcome to my new photography blog.

I will use this space to discuss photography, travel, and of course the combination of the two, to show off some of my work, to hear what you think of my photography and to learn from your comments and your ideas.

You will also find a catalogue of resources of interest to photographers. I will add to this often, as I uncover new useful information.

Please come back often and don't hesitate to leave your comments.