Christmas Tree ?

I decided to play around in Photoshop to relax I have been working long hours. I was trying to make the leafs standout in the pine tree limbs and got carried away. . The result reminded me of a Christmas Tree. Bruce

Dead Tree at Big Bend

This is a scene in Zions National Park at a place called The Big Bend due to a big bend in the river as it goes around these rock formations. There must be some really big water flows here at certain times of the year. This is a 5 shot HDR that I massaged some in Photoshop to get it to be vibrant enough for me. LYLE

A Little White

I saw your white photo so I'm sending a photo with the only white around here. Bruce

Curvacious Color-Natural

Along with the next photo these are the same scene, this one processed using the 'natural' setting in Photomatix Pro 3.2. I think it is very nice and just the way it looked, but study the next one. LYLE

Curvacious Color

I am learning that I need to shoot HDRs way underexposed to get the color that I really like. This is just another view of the falls at the Emerald Pools in Zions. Now I know that this scene does not look like this in reality, I also know it is responsible for giving HDR a bad rap, but I happen to like it. LYLE

Rainbow Rock

I can't even begin to say what I have done to this photo except that it is very modified to get the colors the way I wanted them. Isn't it fun being an artist? I shot this with my wide angle lens as an HDR then tonemapped it in 'Grunge' mode but even modified that setting. The blacks wanted to be purple so I modified it with selective colors. LYLE

The Valley of the Virgins

I shot this scene a year ago with a 36 capture HDR panorama and really liked it. This year when I was there I shot it with my 10-24 wide angle lens and liked it almost as much but since I already have a nice shot of it I decided to play a bit with it. When I turned it to B&W it jumped off the screen for me. This is a 5 shot HDR, tonemapped 'grunge' prior to going B&W. Ansel would be proud. LYLE

Fall at Home

I came in from work the wind was still and the leaves were glistening in the evening light. I set up and tried to catch the moment. F22 4sec ISO 1000 Bruce

Light Painting on a Mountain

While returning from 'light painting' on some dead trees we spotted this scene. A road crew was working on a stretch of highway across from this mountain. Their lights lit up this mountainside. Just as I opened up my lens for a 30 second capture a pickup pulled in and lit up the foreground with its headlights. At first I was upset but when I saw the results I was thrilled. This is a once in a lifetime shot that simply could not be repeated. LYLE

Fall has Arived

The leafs are starting to turn down here but I have been too busy to really take advantage of the beauty of fall. I stopped on the side of a small road set up and shot a few exposures but the wind was blowing so I couldn't shoot HDR. I thought the yellow would make the picture more interesting, I guess it did because without it I wouldn't have tried to save it. I cropped it top and bottom and used curvers filter to bring out the colors a little bit and lightened it. 1/125 sec, f29, Iso 320, 52mm. Bruce

The Curved Wall

This is a view of the overhang at Emerald Pools. I really like the way HDR brings out the colors and allows a view into the shadows. LYLE

Virgin River

This is the river that is largly responsible for Zions National Park. I shot this as the -.7 shot of a HDR series but didn't like the way it tonemapped. The mountain peak in the background is called Mt. Jacob, it is one of 3 peaks refered to as The Patriarchs, Mt Abraham, Mt Isaac and Mt Jacob. Most of the features in the park are named after figures in the scriptures. LYLE

The Thermos Bottle

These shots are all from the same series, the first one is the 0 step of a 5 shot HDR, the second one has been tonemapped using Photomatix, the third one was further processed in CS4 using a filter for a woodcut look. The original one is quite nice all by itself while the two processed ones take on a life of their own, but still quite nice. LYLE

Painted Landscape

This HDR was tonemapped and then I used a filter for an oil painting effect. I sort of like the way it came out. It is a scene in Zions National Park. Sometimes it is fun to really mess with a photo. LYLE

Gotta Buck?

This little 2 point was only about 10 feet from me and completely unconcerned about my presence. We finally tossed a small rock in the grass just to get his attention, when he did I got this shot. LYLE

The Painted Tree

I read an article on painting an item with light when it was totally dark outside so decided to try it while I was in Zions National Park. There was no moon out and it was about 10:30 at night so we tried it. We had about 4 flashlights with us including a million candle power flood light. I don't think it was used on this shot. I set the shutter at 30 sec., f4.5, ISO 100 and fired away. You can see the movement of the stars in the background (I know that it is actually the Earth that is moving). It would be hard to find three grown guys, all ready for retirement, running around in the dark laughing like we were that night. LYLE

Craggy Peaks of Zion

This is the range of mountains that greet you as you enter Zions National Park from the southwest. I shot this as an HDR, processed it in 'painterly' and then took the micro-contrast to 100%. Initally the mountains had some color and detail in them but they looked strange until I moved the micro-contrast. I shot it right at sunset so the clouds were beautiful pink. There is actually a hole through the peaks that appear to be an arch on the right side. LYLE

The Blue Wall

As we were wading up the Narrows in the Virgin River this stand of cottonwood trees was as far as I could go. I had to turn around and as I did so I noticed how nice this sandstone wall looked as it was bathed in a flow of water that turned the wall black and then reflected the blue of the bright sky above. I thought the contrast was quite nice with the yellow trees in front. HDR. LYLE

Slot Canyon in Zions

I have been wandering around Zion's National Park for the past 4 days with a couple of friends. I took somewhere around 800 photos (many of them 5 shot HDRs) and found this little slot canyon. It was about 20 feet deep and a couple hundred yards long. It has been carved out of sandstone. They are a bit spooky just because you are so vulnerable to flash floods, you can see the sky was turning cloudy, or imaginary animal attacks. This is a 5 shot HDR through my 10-24 wide angle lens. LYLE

Remember the Alamo!!!!

In Texas. the battle cry is remember the Alamo! I think the voters sent a message to remember the constitution!!! Bruce

San Antonio River Walk

I was looking through some older photos and played with this one because I liked the composition. I was using a Nikon 3100 point and shoot. Bruce